global glass onion: week ending Jun 15

May’s inflation report gives the Fed breathing room -- The Federal Reserve, which is set to provide future rate predictions this afternoon, got a bit of good news this morning from the May inflation report. Inflation came in below expectations, across the board. The Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers was unchanged in May on a seasonally adjusted basis, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported. Over the last 12 months, the all-items index increased 3.3%. Both of these numbers came in lower than the expectations for 0.1% monthly and 3.4% annual. Core inflation, which removes food and energy, also fell below expectations, rising 0.2% for the month and 3.4% year-over-year. Annual core inflation, while still too high, has now fallen from 5.3% in May 2023 to 3.4% in May 2024, a very encouraging trend. The BLS pointed to two key factors in the May report: Gasoline prices fell 3.6% for the month and are now up 2.2% year-over-year. That was offset by a continuing increase in shelter costs, up 0.4% for the month and 5.4% year-over-year. More data from the report:

The costs of food at home were unchanged in May and are up only 1.0% for the year.
The medical care index rose 0.5% in May after rising 0.4% in April.
Costs of prescription drugs rose 2.1% for the month.
Airline fares fell 3.6% in May and are down 5.9% for the year.
Costs for used cars and trucks rose 0.6% but are down 9.3% year over year.
Costs for new vehicles fell 0.5% and are down 0.8% for the year.
Apparel costs fell 0.3% for the month.
Costs of motor vehicle insurance fell a meager 0.1% for the month, but are up 20.3% for the year.

Here is the one-year trend for annual all-items and core inflation, showing how core inflation has finally begun falling from levels near 4.0%: Investors in Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities and U.S. Series I Savings Bonds are also interested in non-seasonally adjusted inflation, which is used to adjust principal balances on TIPS and set future interest rates for I Bonds. For May, the BLS set the inflation index at 314.069, an increase of 0.17% over the April number. The May CPI index will reset principal balances for all TIPS higher by 0.17% in July, after rising 0.39% in June. Keep in mind that non-seasonal inflation tends to run higher than headline CPI from January to June, and then lower at the end of the year. Eventually, over a year, the numbers balance out.Here are the new July Inflation Indexes for all TIPS.

FOMC Holds Rates As Expected, Dot-Plot Shifts More Hawkish In 2024 -- tl;dr: there were 10 Fed members who saw rates at 4.625% or below by end 2024 in March... now there are none... June Dots summary:The Fed re-arranged 2024-2025 dots from 2+3 to 1+4, and marked-to market their Core PCE forecast for year-end - signaling they are just being extra careful, and want some more evidence before committing to a cut.⚠️ Whether or not dots were revised post-CPI... the takeaways are: (1) FOMC agree '24 will see 1 or 2 cuts; (2) wide range of views on how policy plays out after this; (3) but overall dots have shifted up; (4) two schools of thought on R* (some higher vs. others no change) $USDpic.twitter.com/1yPNtOCk9q Additionally, The Fed increased its end-2024 expectations for inflation...but kept its unemployment expectations unchanged... There were no dissents today.This is not what the market was looking for... but will Powell reverse this in the presser.

FOMC Statement and Projections: No Change to Fed Funds Rate - FOMC Statement:Recent indicators suggest that economic activity has continued to expand at a solid pace. Job gains have remained strong, and the unemployment rate has remained low. Inflation has eased over the past year but remains elevated. In recent months, there has been modest further progress toward the Committee's 2 percent inflation objective. The Committee seeks to achieve maximum employment and inflation at the rate of 2 percent over the longer run. The Committee judges that the risks to achieving its employment and inflation goals have moved toward better balance over the past year. The economic outlook is uncertain, and the Committee remains highly attentive to inflation risks. In support of its goals, the Committee decided to maintain the target range for the federal funds rate at 5-1/4 to 5-1/2 percent. In considering any adjustments to the target range for the federal funds rate, the Committee will carefully assess incoming data, the evolving outlook, and the balance of risks. The Committee does not expect it will be appropriate to reduce the target range until it has gained greater confidence that inflation is moving sustainably toward 2 percent. In addition, the Committee will continue reducing its holdings of Treasury securities and agency debt and agency mortgage‑backed securities. The Committee is strongly committed to returning inflation to its 2 percent objective. In assessing the appropriate stance of monetary policy, the Committee will continue to monitor the implications of incoming information for the economic outlook. The Committee would be prepared to adjust the stance of monetary policy as appropriate if risks emerge that could impede the attainment of the Committee's goals. The Committee's assessments will take into account a wide range of information, including readings on labor market conditions, inflation pressures and inflation expectations, and financial and international developments. Here are the projections. Since the last projections were released, the economy has performed close to FOMC expectations. In March, the FOMC participants’ midpoint of the target level for the federal funds rate was around 4.75% at the end of 2024. The FOMC participants’ midpoint of the target range is now at 5.125% at the end of 2024. Market participants expect the target range to be between 4.75% and 5.0% at the end of 2024.The BEA's second estimate for Q1 GDP showed real growth at 1.3% annualized. Early estimates for Q2 GDP are around 2% to 3% annualized, and projections for Q4 2024 were revised down slightly.GDP projections of Federal Reserve Governors and Reserve Bank presidents, Change in Real GDP¹(table) ¹ Projections of change in real GDP and inflation are from the fourth quarter of the previous year to the fourth quarter of the year indicated. The unemployment rate was at 4.0% in April and the projections for Q4 2024 were revised up slightly.Unemployment projections of Federal Reserve Governors and Reserve Bank presidents, Unemployment Rate²(table) Projection ² Projections for the unemployment rate are for the average civilian unemployment rate in the fourth quarter of the year indicated. As of April 2024, PCE inflation increased 2.7 percent year-over-year (YoY). The projections for PCE inflation were revised up.Inflation projections of Federal Reserve Governors and Reserve Bank presidents, PCE Inflation¹(table) PCE core inflation increased 2.8 percent YoY in April. The projections for core PCE inflation were revised up.

US Fed pushes back on interest rate cuts - The US Federal Reserve has kept interest rates on hold with a majority of the members of its governing body indicating they expect at most only one cut before the end of the year. With the decision to keep interest rates at their present level widely expected, the main focus of attention was the once every three months “dot plot” where Fed officials indicate where they think rates will go. And here there was a significant change. Back in March they signalled as many as three cuts for the year. On this occasion four members of the policy-making committee said they expected to make no cuts, seven said they thought they would make one cut and eight forecast two. At the start of the year financial markets were pricing in as many as six rate cuts for the year. Now there are doubts there will even be one. What was described as a “hawkish” outlook came despite data released just hours before the Fed made its decision, which showed lower than expected inflation for May, raising the prospect of rate cuts. Fed chair Jerome Powell seemed to lean to the side of at least two cuts, describing the inflation number as “encouraging,” and said the committee’s forecasts of higher inflation had an element of “conservatism.” He noted that 15 of the 19 had indicated one or two cuts and either option was “plausible.” In his press conference, he said the latest inflation data, which showed that the consumer price index for May was up 3.3 percent for the year compared to 3.4 percent for April, was a “step in the right direction … but you don’t want to be too motivated by any single data point,” and that in order to cut rates “we’ll need to see more good data.” As has been the case since rate tightening began, the Fed will direct particular attention to the labour market where Powell said supply and demand had come into “better balance” and which was “relatively tight but not overheated.” While there has been no change in the Fed rate, the decision to keep rates higher for longer will have an effect. Increasing concerns are being raised that the elevated rates, which started in March 2022, will soon have significant effects on the commercial property market. Earlier this month, the investment management firm PIMCO said it expected more regional bank failures because of what it called a “very high” concentration of problematic commercial real estate loans on their books. The head of the firm’s commercial real estate operations John Murray told Bloomberg that “the real wave of distress is just starting” for lenders in everything from shopping malls to offices. Smaller regional banks, which piled into commercial real estate when interest rates were low, are now left with assets that are worth considerably less than they were at their peak. “As stressed loans grow to maturities … we expected that banks will start selling these more challenged loans to reduce their troubled loan exposures,” Murray said.

Fed holds rates steady, indicates only one cut coming this year - The Federal Reserve on Wednesday kept its key interest rate unchanged and signaled that just one cut is expected before the end of the year. With markets hoping for a more accommodative central bank, Federal Open Market Committee policymakers following their two-day meeting took two rate reductions off the table from the three indicated in March. The committee also signaled that it believes the long-run interest rate is higher than previously indicated. New forecasts released after this week's two-day meeting indicated slight optimism that inflation remains on track to head back to the Fed's 2% goal, allowing for some policy loosening later this year."Inflation has eased over the past year but remains elevated," the post-meeting statement said, echoing language from the last statement. In the only substantive change, the new statement followed with, "In recent months, there has been modest further progress toward the Committee's 2 percent inflation objective."The previous language said there had been "a lack of further progress" on inflation. Traders seemed encouraged by these comments, with the S&P 500 jumping to a record Wednesday after the statement was issued. The committee, in its closely watched "dot plot" of individual participants' rate expectations, did indicate a more aggressive cutting path in 2025, with four reductions totaling a full percentage point anticipated, up from three.For the period through 2025, the committee now sees five total cuts equaling 1.25 percentage points, down from six in March. If the projections hold, it would leave the federal funds rate benchmark at 4.1% by the end of next year.Another significant development occurred with the projection for the long-run rate of interest, essentially a level that neither boosts nor restricts growth. That moved up to 2.8% from 2.6%, a nod that the higher-for-longer narrative is gaining traction among Fed officials.In a further indication of a hawkish bent from central bankers, the dot plot showed four officials in favor of no cuts this year, up from two previously.Elsewhere in the FOMC's Summary of Economic Projections, participants raised their 2024 outlook on inflation to 2.6%, or 2.8% when excluding food and energy. Both inflation projections were 0.2 percentage point higher than in March. The Fed's preferred inflation gauge is the Commerce Department's personal consumption expenditures price index, which showed respective readings of 2.7% and 2.8% for April. The Fed focuses more on core inflation as a better long-term indicator. The SEP indicates inflation returning to the 2% target, but not until 2026.The decision and informal forecasts from the 19 meeting participants come during a volatile year for markets and investors' hopes that the Fed would start easing after it raised benchmark rates to their highest level in some 23 years. The federal funds rate, which sets overnight borrowing costs for banks but feeds into many consumer debt products, is targeted in a range between 5.25%-5.50%, the result of 11 rate increases between March 2022 and July 2023. Earlier in the day, as Fed officials were preparing their economic and rate outlooks, the Bureau of Labor Statistics released the consumer price index for May. The report showed that inflation was flat on the month while the annual rate edged lower from the rate in April to 3.3%. During a press conference, Powell said that report was better than almost anyone had expected, and was factored into the FOMC's decision. "We see today's report as progress and as, you know, building confidence," Powell said. "But we don't see ourselves as having the confidence that would warrant beginning to loosen policy at this time." Inflation remains well above the Fed's 2% target, while also being considerably below the peak of just over 9% seen nearly two years ago. Core readings excluding food and energy prices were at 0.2% from the prior month and 3.4% from the year-ago period. In the first quarter of 2024, economic data softened from where it had been for most of the previous year, with GDP rising at just a 1.3% annualized pace. April and May have been a mixed bag for data, but the Atlanta Fed is tracking GDP growth at 3.1%, a solid pace especially in light of persistent recession worries that have dogged the economy for the past two years. Inflation data, though, has been equally resilient and has posed problems for central bankers.

Fed Sees Only 1 Rate Cut in 2024, Holds Rates at 5.50% Top of Range, QT Continues at Slower Pace as Announced in May - By Wolf Richter -- FOMC members voted unanimously today to maintain the Fed’s policy rates unchanged, as Fed governors have uniformly telegraphed in their speeches:

Federal funds rate target range: 5.25% – 5.5%.
Interest it pays the banks on reserves: 5.4%.
Interest it pays on overnight Reverse Repos (ON RRPs): 5.3%.
Interest it charges on overnight Repos: 5.5%.
Primary credit rate: 5.5% (banks’ costs to borrow at the “Discount Window”).

To douse Rate-Cut Mania, starting at the January meeting, the Fed had added new language to its statement. At today’s meeting, it repeated that language for the fourth time:“In considering any adjustments to the target range for the federal funds rate, the Committee will carefully assess incoming data, the evolving outlook, and the balance of risks.”“The Committee does not expect it will be appropriate to reduce the target range until it has gained greater confidence that inflation is moving sustainably toward 2 percent.”And it repeated what it had said since the rate hikes started: “The Committee is strongly committed to returning inflation to its 2 percent objective” – with which the Fed whacks back at folks that are pushing it to raise its inflation target to 4% or whatever.The FOMC statement maintained the new language on the labor market being in “better balance” that it had introduced in May:“The Committee judges that the risks to achieving its employment and inflation goals have moved toward better balance over the past year.”In its updated “Summary of Economic Projections” (SEP) today, which includes the infamous “dot plot,” each of the FOMC’s 19 participants jots down where they see various economic metrics – the Fed’s policy rates, unemployment rates, GDP growth, PCE inflation, etc. – by the end of 2024, by the end of 2025, etc. The median value of these projections (the value in the middle) becomes the headline projection for that metric. These median projections are not a decision by the Fed, nor a commitment. They’re a summary of how the 19 participants are seeing the economy evolve.The median projection for the federal funds rate at the end of 2024 was 5.125%: only 1 rate cut of 25 basis points in 2024 — down from the three cuts envisioned since the December meeting — bringing the Fed’s target to a range between 5.0% and 5.25%.Four of the 19 participants saw no rate cuts in 2024, seven saw 1 rate cut, and 8 saw 2 cuts. None (zero) of the 19 participants saw 3 cuts or more in 2024. This is a hawkish dial-down from the last dot plot in March, when 10 participants saw 3 or more cuts.The mid-point has been 5.375% since the July 2023 meeting. Here is how the 19 participants saw the rate scenario for 2024:

4 see 5.375%: No cuts (up from 2 participants in March)
7 see 5.125%: 1 cut (up from 2 participants in March)
8 see 4.875%: 2 cuts (up from 5 in March)
0 see 4.625%: 3 cuts (down from 9 in March)
0 see 4.375%: 4 cuts (down from 1 in March).

Higher-for-longer: The median projection for the “longer-run” federal funds rate rose to 2.8% from 2.6% in the March SEP, slowly but steadily advancing with every meeting along the higher-for-longer theme.GDP growth projections: The median projection for GDP growth for 2024 remained at 2.1% (from 2.1% in the March SEP, and from 1.4% in the December SEP).Higher inflation projections: The median projection for “core PCE” inflation by the end of 2024 rose to 2.8% (from 2.6% in March and from 2.4% in December).Unemployment rate projections: The median projection for the unemployment rate remained at 4.0% by the end of 2024.QT continues at the slower pace announced in May, to avoid the kind of mess the Fed experienced with the repo market blowout in September 2019 after QT-1. “By going slower, you can get farther,” Powell had said at the press conference after the last meeting. The Fed has already shed over $1.7 trillion in assets since it started QT in July 2022. It will continue to shed assets but at a slower pace.The slower pace of QT starts this month. The Treasury roll-off was reduced from $60 billion a month to $25 billion. On the other hand, the Fed removed the $35-billion cap from the MBS roll-off.MBS come off the balance sheet via passthrough principal payments that result from mortgage payoffs, but mortgage payoffs have collapsed as refis have collapsed and homes sales have plunged, and these passthrough principal payments have become a trickle of around $17 billion a month. If the mortgage business ever picks up again so that more than $35 billion a month in MBS come off, these MBS will just come, and goodbye, but the excess over $35 billion will be replaced with Treasury securities.Here is the whole statement:

Federal Reserve interest rate decision is a gift to Trump - On Wednesday, the Federal Reserve announced it is leaving interest rates unchanged ataround 5.3%, their highest level since 2001. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powellsuggested that one or two rate cuts could come before the end of the year — but almost certainly not until fall. Wednesday’s decision to maintain current rates, though, was a mistake: The Fed should be cutting rates already. And every month it refuses to do so is a gift to Donald Trump.Voters’ economic worries have long been among President Joe Biden’s biggest obstaclesto re-election. Some of this discontent is rooted in partisanship: Republicans almost entirely flipped their views on the economy the moment Biden was inaugurated. Some of it can be traced back to the pandemic’s disruptions. But there’s no denying that a 20% increase in prices since Biden took office has played a role in those frustrations, even as wages have outpaced prices the last two years. The Fed says it’s maintaining current interest rates to fight inflation. It might seem that that’s good for Biden. But that isn’t the case. To be clear, the Fed’s theory has nothing to do with politics. (Trump has already promised he won’t reappoint Powell as chair.) Earlier Wednesday, the Consumer Price Index report put year-over-year inflation at 3.3%, slightly below expectations, and far below its 9.1% peak in June 2022, but still above where the Fed would like it. Combine that news with Friday’s jobs report, which showed job and wage growth accelerating in May, and it seems obvious why Powell and company are fearful of reversing course.But a look beneath those top-line numbers shows this cautious reading is a mistake. The May jobs numbers may have been above expectations, but other data is less encouraging. First-quarter GDP growth was only 1.3% on an annual basis. The unemployment rate hit 4% for the first time in more than two years, and other metrics also show a softening labor market. Also, Wednesday’s inflation number may be misleading. On a monthly basis, prices were flat for the first time in two years. Grocery prices were flat as well, and gas prices declined. Even auto insurance, which has jumped 20% over the past year, finally fell. The biggest factor in persistent inflation rates — housing — uses a metric that lags private-sector measures by months; the latter measures have shown housing prices declining more recently.In the push and pull between fighting inflation and avoiding recession, other central bankers are beginning to lean toward the latter. The notoriously inflation-averse European Central Bank, as well as central banks in Canada, Switzerland and other countries, have cut rates. Yet the Fed is persisting.The problem is that, by design, higher interest rates are not victimless. The very point is to put a brake on economic growth by making consumers reduce spending. But elevated rates increase the cost of mortgages, credit cards and car loans. These increased interest expenses are not reflected in the CPI, but they are absolutely on Americans’ minds when they complain about the rising cost of living.The Fed’s delay is particularly frustrating because interest rates are a clumsy tool for fighting this bout of inflation.Nor is this burden equally distributed. Just as rising prices disproportionately hurt poorer Americans, who spend more of their money on food and energy, higher interest rates are a bigger burden on those who can’t pay off credit card bills every month or who are looking to move out of a starter house.The Fed’s delay is particularly frustrating because interest rates are a clumsy tool for fighting this bout of inflation. Higher rates can be useful when inflation is primarily a problem of too much consumer demand. But recent inflation has been driven far more by supply chain bottlenecks, other pandemic disruptions and corporations seeking bigger profits. (One study by the Groundwork Collective found that“corporate profits drove 53 percent of inflation” in the middle six months of 2023.) Higher interest rates can still reduce inflation, but only in a roundabout fashion. And in the crucial housing sector, higher rates make homeowners more reluctant to take out a new mortgage to move, further raising prices amid the country’s broader housing shortage. As The New York Times’ Peter Coy put it, “The blunt tool of high rates is coming down on the heads of the working class.” Pandemic-era savings have dried up, and Americans are cutting back, as evidenced by giant corporations like McDonald’s and Walmart cutting prices to woo back customers. The last time Trump was in the White House, he often tried to undercut the Federal Reserve’s longstanding independence from the White House. That independence exists for a reason: to give credibility to the central bank’s economic targets. It’s ironic, then, that the Fed’s mistaken interest rate policy is unnecessarily risking the economy, raising the cost of living and buttressing a key voter concern that may help bring Trump back.

Fed Liabilities under QT Drop $1.71 Trillion, to $7.22 Trillion: Reserves, ON RRPs, Currency, TGA, Foreign Official RRPs By Wolf Richter --- Total liabilities on the Fed’s balance sheet have dropped by $1.71 trillion since the end of QE in April 2022, to $7.22 trillion, the lowest since December 2020, according to the Fed’s weekly balance sheet today. The liabilities have dropped as a result of QT, in lockstep with the Fed’s assets, which have also dropped by $1.71 trillion over the same period. There are five big liabilities. Two of them – “reserves” and “ON RRPs” – are hotly discussed by Powell and Fed governors, and by everyone on Wall Street, because they represent liquidity in the financial system that is now getting drained by QT:

Reserves: cash that banks deposit at the Fed
Overnight reverse repurchase agreements (ON RRPs): cash from domestic counterparties, mostly approved money market funds
Currency in circulation: paper dollars in pockets and under mattresses globally
Treasury General Account (TGA), cash the government puts into its checking account
Reverse repurchase agreements with foreign official counterparties. The Fed’s assets are mostly securities and loans. The Fed’s liabilities are forms of liquidity – cash that the Fed owes other entities.

During QE, the Fed’s purchases of securities pumped up its assets to nearly $9 trillion, and its liabilities followed in lockstep because a balance sheet must balance. On any balance sheet: assets = liabilities + capital. The Fed’s capital is fixed by Congress, so what moves in lockstep are its assets and liabilities. The two liabilities that move with QE/QT:

Reserves: -$265 billion since the beginning of QT in July 2022, to $3.46 trillion.Reserves are liquidity in the banking system. Banks pay each other out of their reserve accounts at the Fed once a day. They’re the center of the US payments system for banks. The Fed has been paying banks 5.4% in interest on their reserve balances since the last rate hike in July 2023.QT is draining liquidity from the financial system, and reserves are one place where this liquidity drains out of. But it’s not the only place – the Fed’s ON RRPs are mostly where the QT liquidity drain has taken place so far.Cash also shifted between reserves and ON RRPs. Reserves peaked just before the Fed began tapering QT in late 2021, then fell sharply as the funds shifted to ON RRPs via the money markets. Since that December 2021 peak, reserves have dropped by $821 billion. The level of reserves is what the Fed looks at to determine how far it can take QT. Toward the end of QT-1, reserve balances dropped so low (below $1.4 trillion) that banks stopped lending to the repo market, even as repo rates began to rise sharply and it would have been profitable for banks to lend to the repo market. And so the $5-trillion repo market blew out, and the Fed ended up stepping in to calm the panic, thereby undoing a big part of QT-1.As a result of this repo market blowout in 2019, the Fed, in July 2021, revived its Standing Repo Facility that it had killed in 2009 during QE, and that it then didn’t have in September 2019 when it needed it. The SRF is designed to supply cash to approved banks via repos, the way it had done it before 2009. Banks can then use this cash to lend to the repo market at higher rates and make money on the spread.Powell and other Fed governors have said that no one knows how low reserves can drop without causing issues in the banking system – they’re shooting for “ample” reserves, down from the currently “abundant” reserves. And they will keep their eyes out for signs that they’re approaching that ample level, they said.
ON RRPs: -$1.92 trillion from peak, to $448 billion. This iswhere the $1.71 trillion in QT has come out of. And the remainder ($0.2 trillion) has shifted from ON RRPs to reserves.The Fed offers ON RRPs to domestic counterparties and currently pays 5.3% interest on them. They have been used mostly by money market funds. Other approved counterparties are banks, government-sponsored enterprises (Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, etc.), the Federal Home Loan Banks, etc.ON RRPs represent excess cash that money markets don’t know what else to do with. ON RRPs have existed for decades, but in normal times, they’re zero or near zero. And now they’re going back toward their normal level:

The three liabilities not affected by QE/QT:

Currency in circulation: $2.35 trillion. These “Federal Reserve Notes,” as it says on each of the bills, are in wallets and under mattresses in the US and globally. It’s entirely demand-based: When customers demand currency, the banking system must have enough on hand. Foreign banks have relationships with US banks to get US currency for their customers. Banks get the currency from the Fed in exchange for collateral, such as Treasury securities, with the effect that the Fed’s interest-earning assets increase with currency in circulation dollar for dollar.
Treasury General Account (TGA): $650 billion. The Treasury Department’s checking account at the New York Fed has massive daily inflows from its Treasury auctions, tax collections, tariffs, fees, etc., and massive daily outflows to pay for what the government spends. During periods when debt sales are limited by a debt-ceiling fight in Congress, the TGA gets drawn down to scary low levels, at which point the debt ceiling fight is resolved, and the government issues a lot of T-bills to bring the TGA back up to operational levels.
RRPs with foreign official counterparties: $385 billion. The Fed offers reverse repurchase agreements to “foreign official” accounts, where other central banks can park their dollar cash. The account balances are determined by decisions of foreign central banks and are not a result of QE or QT. The chart shows both, ON RRPs with domestic counterparties (red) and RRPs with foreign official accounts (blue). ON RRPs will go to zero or near zero as QT progresses; while foreign official RRPs will keep doing their thing.

Powell says fixing inflation is 'the best thing we can do' for housing — Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said it will take more than an interest rate cut to rein in rising housing costs. During his post Federal Open Market Committee press conference on Wednesday, Powell said the best thing the Fed can do to address rising shelter costs is stay the course on stabilizing prices. "Ultimately, the best thing we can do for the housing market is to bring inflation down so that we can bring rates down, so that the housing market can continue to normalize," Powell said. "There will still be a national housing shortage, as there was before the pandemic." Powell said a lower interest rate would alleviate the lock-in effect — in which current homeowners are incentivized to hold on to their ultralow mortgage rates, resulting in fewer homes for sale — but indicated that such a benefit was not worth rushing to lower easing monetary policy. "We understand that if we wait too long, that could come at the cost of economic activity and performance of the expansion. We understand that if we move too quickly, we could end up undoing a lot of the good we've done and have to start over and it could be very disruptive," Powell said. "So, we're extremely aware of both of those risks and are just basically trying to manage them. And what we said is that we don't think it'll be appropriate to begin to loosen policy until we're more confident that inflation is moving down to 2% in a sustainable way." Powell's comments came after FOMC voted to keep its benchmark interest rate unchanged at between 5.25% and 5.5%, where it has been since last July. The Fed's decision to hold steady comes as government measures of price growth showed significant signs of slowing. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics's monthly report on the consumer price index, or CPI, which was released Wednesday morning, showed flat overall price growth last month. Factoring out food and energy costs — as the Fed typically does — inflation was 0.2% last month and 3.4% during the preceding 12 months, the best readings in several months. One outlier in the CPI report was shelter, which ticked up 0.4% last month and is up 5.4% during the past year. The report notes that housing costs were the driving force behind the uptick for all items minus food and energy. n Powell attributed this rise to lagging data about new rental agreements, which are a key component to how shelter prices are calculated. "Those playing into rollover rents much more slowly for existing tenants than new tenants," he said. "What we've found now is that there is a bulge of high past increases in market rents that has to get worked off, and that may take several years." Mortgage lenders, affordability advocates and politicians have all grown frustrated with how the Fed's policies have impacted the costs of housing. "This housing-related inflation is directly driven by high interest rates: Reducing rates will reduce the costs of renting, buying, and building housing, lowering Americans' single highest monthly expense," wrote Sens. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., John Hickenlooper, D-Colo., and Jacky Rosen, D-Nev., in a letter to Fed Chair Jerome Powell on Monday. "Lowering interest rates will likely also decrease the cost of auto insurance as well, which has risen due to factors completely unrelated to the cost of lending."

Is the Fed's tough love approach to housing too tough? | American Banker - The Federal Reserve's tough love approach for the housing market has fueled a long simmering debate about the central bank's role in the country's ongoing affordability crisis. After this week's Federal Open Market Committee meeting, Chair Jerome Powell said the best thing the Fed can do for the housing sector is keep interest rates high until inflation is fully under control. "The housing situation is a complicated one, and you can see that's a place where rates are really having a significant effect," Powell said during his post FOMC meeting press conference. "Ultimately, the best thing we can do for the housing market is to bring inflation down so that we can bring rates down, so that the housing market can continue to normalize. There will still be a national housing shortage, as there was before the pandemic." When the Fed raises interest rates, its goal is to curb demand in the market by increasing borrowing and financing costs. For the housing sector, the thinking goes, as mortgages become more expensive, fewer people want to buy homes and prices stabilize. But some economists say reality is not so simple. Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody's Analytics, said the elevated rates are not only curbing demand for new mortgages, they are also weighing on the supply side of the housing market in various ways, making it more costly to acquire land and develop both rental and for sale homes. Zandi added that many existing homeowners feel "locked in" to their current, ultra-low mortgage rates, "thus limiting the supply of existing homes for sale, and reducing demand for homeownership and thus increasing rental demand and rents." This is especially significant given that rents — and rental equivalents for owned homes — are how shelter costs are measured in inflation indexes. "Given the unusual circumstances in the nation's housing market, the higher rates are weighing on housing supply, pushing up rents and housing inflation as measured by the CPI and PCE deflator," Zandi said. Meanwhile, other economists and policy experts support the Fed's approach. Diane Swonk, chief economist at the financial services firm KPMG, said cutting rates would induce greater demand in an already supply-constrained market, thereby increasing prices further without addressing the key factor holding back new supply: local zoning and land use laws. "Washington can point at the Fed and say fix [the housing market], but the Fed doesn't really have the tools to fix it," Swonk said. "The tool they do have, if they were to wield it right now, the fear is that they would just stoke a more pernicious bout of inflation rather than defeat it." But others say the Fed has another tool to address housing affordability in a more meaningful way than by cutting interest rates alone: its balance sheet. At the onset of the pandemic, the Fed purchased mortgage-backed securities en masse as part of a quantitative easing effort aimed at keeping financial markets functional. Its MBS holdings more than doubled during the next two years, peaking at $2.7 trillion before the Fed began allowing the assets to roll off their books. It still holds more than $2.3 trillion of mortgages today. "The Fed bought way too many mortgages for way too long in the name of COVID relief and is now, somehow, perplexed that home prices continue to appreciate," said Aaron Klein, a senior fellow in economic studies at the Brookings Institution. "Part of the problem was caused by the Fed's balance sheet purchases. The solution may also lie on the balance sheet." The Fed's mortgage holdings — which include securities backed by the government-sponsored entities Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and Ginnie Mae — make up a significant portion of the overall market for outstanding agency MBS, which totals more than $9 trillion. The Fed's purchases provided liquidity to the mortgage market, driving down yields and driving up asset prices. To reverse this, Klein said, the Fed could sell its MBS assets into the market, though he noted that such a move would not be welcomed by existing homeowners. "Having propped up home prices, the Fed is now loath to lower home prices," he said. "It's very politically unpopular to lower somebody's home price."

Powell Admits The Biden Admin Is "Overstating" Jobs | ZeroHedge -- Every first Friday of this year (here, here and here) we have spent hours deconstructing the glaring propaganda peddled by Biden's Labor Department, meant to show just one thing - how "strong" the economy is under the current administration - and exposing just how ugly the underlying labor data truly is. Last Friday's nonfarm payrolls was the most recent case in point: for those who didn't read our extended analysis titled "Inside The Most Ridiculous Jobs Report In Years", which dissected the laughable claim that the US added 272K payrolls (more than the highest estimate), here is what we found. While the Establishment Survey did indeed report that 272K "jobs" were added, this number also included multiple job holders; stripping those out, we get that the actual number of "employed" workers plunged by 408K... ... which is also why the unemployment rate actually went up to 4.0% for the first time in over three years, despite this marvelous "increase" in payrolls. More importantly, it means that gap between the always upward sloping (and market moving) Establishment Survey - which counts the number of payrolls - and the flatlined Household Survey - which counts the number of actually employed workers - which hasn't made a new high since late 2023 and is back to where it was last summer, is now a stunning 9 million, the biggest on record. In response to a question from a Bloomberg journalist during the post-FOMC presser, asking the Fed chair to comment on the state of the labor market, the Fed Chair said that two years ago the labor market was "overheated" and has since gotten back to "normal", largely thanks to "supply from to immigration" - translation: illegal aliens have been the main reasons for the increase in employment and the drop in wages and thus, overall inflation, which as we discussed recently, is the narrative that is being pushed out to mitigate demands by most Americans to halt illegal immigration. Translation: the reason why inflation has dropped in the past year is because low-paid immigrants (legal, one hopes) have taken jobs that lazy Americans don't want https://t.co/Yw4hsBaRbS Where things got very interesting, however, is when Powell was discussing the demand-side of the labor market: here, he addressed the dropping quits level, the decline in job openings and wages, but more importantly, the rising unemployment rate - from 3.4% to 4.0% which clearly goes against the narrative of red hot payrolls - all of which the Fed chair summarized as strong job creation, yet caveated by saying that "there is an argument that [payrolls] may be a bit overstated." Note: he didn't say "understated" because the "-stating" always goes in just one direction: the one that makes the resident of the White House look good. In other words, the jobs - like so many things about this Potemkin economy - are a lie, and while Powell immediately realized what he had said, and tried to couch it by adding that payrolls are "still strong", suddenly the entire narrative of a strong labor market imploded in front of our eyes, because if the Biden admin will lie about a "bit" of the jobs report, it will lie about any part of it. And, as we have shown above and every month this year, lie is precisely what the Biden administration has been doing, month after month, year after year. And the biggest stunner, as Edward Snowden put it so eloquently, is that he's "not sure I've ever seen the chairman of the Federal Reserve publicly accuse the White House of cooking the books on employment numbers, but here we are."

‘Stealth Erosion’—IMF Issues ‘Striking’ U.S. Dollar Collapse Warning As The Fed Primes Bitcoin, Ethereum And XRP For A Crypto Price Boom – Forbes - Bitcoin, along with other major cryptocurrencies ethereum and XRPXRP, have rocketed higher this year (with a China earthquake potentially about to cause bitcoin price chaos). The bitcoin price has just had a $4 trillion "watershed moment,"while ethereum, XRP and other major coins are braced for a Wall Street bombshell.Now, after the Federal Reserve quietly admitted gold is replacing the U.S. dollar, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has warned of a "striking" decline in the U.S. dollar's share of allocated foreign reserves of central banks and governments."Strikingly, the reduced role of the U.S. dollar over the last two decades has not been matched by increases in the shares of the other 'big four' currencies—the euro, yen, and pound," IMF economists Serkan Arslanalp, Barry Eichengreen and Chima Simpson-Bell wrote in a report."Rather, it has been accompanied by a rise in the share of what we have called nontraditional reserve currencies, including the Australian dollar, Canadian dollar, Chinese renminbi, South Korean won, Singaporean dollar, and the Nordic currencies," they wrote, pointing to "new digital financial technologies such as automatic market-making and automated liquidity management systems," as powering that shift.This recent trend is all the more striking given the dollar’s strength, which indicates that private investors have moved into dollar-denominated assets," the economists added.Earlier this month, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York wrote areport outlining the narratives around "declining dollar shares in official reserves, and increasing roles for gold holdings by central banks," which it says has been "inappropriately" generalized beyond "the actions of a small group of countries."However, some commentators disagreed with the New York Fed's appraisal of the situation."The Fed now admits some countries are moving to gold," tech investor and former Coinbase chief technology officer Balaji Srinivasan posted to X, pointing to what the Fed says is a "small group" that "represents 3 billion people. So 37.5% of the world is moving away from dollars towards gold."Former billionaire and All In podcast "bestie" Chamath Palihapitiya predicted bitcoin could "completely replace gold" as countries adopt it—potentially pushing it's market capitalization toward gold's $15.7 trillion.

Stellar 10Y Auction Sees Surge In Foreign Demand, Near Record Stop Through --Unlike yesterday's subpar, tailing 3Y auction, moments ago the Treasury sold $39BN in a 10Y reopening auction (9-Year, 11-month), which was nothing short of stellar.The high yield stopped at 4.438%, down 5bps from last month's 4.4830%, and stopped through the When Issued by 2.0bps, which not only followed three consecutive tails, but was the biggest stop through since February 2023.There's more: the bid to cover shot up to 2.67 from 2.486, the highest since Feb 2022, and was well above the six-auction average of 2.50.The internals were also stellar, with Indirects taking down 74.5%, the most since February 2024 when foreigners took down 79.5%. And with Directs awarded 13.8%, down from 18.7% in May and the lowest since August 2021, Dealers ended up holding 11.6%, the lowest since August 2023.Overall, this was a stellar auction, arguably the best 10Y sale in well over a year, and understandably yields slumped 3bps to session lows on the news...

Congress’ defense fight to focus on pay raises, total military spending --House and Senate lawmakers on Friday offered a preview of this summer’s fight over defense policy changes for next year, with overall military spendingand troop pay raises hanging in the balance.Members of the Senate Armed Services Committee unveiled their draft of the massive defense authorization bill Friday morning, just as House lawmakers narrowly adopted their version of the measure, mostly along party lines in a 217-199 vote.After the full Senate amends its committee’s draft over the next few weeks, the two chambers will begin negotiations over a compromise bill to send to the president’s desk later this year.The legislation, which has passed Congress annually for more than 60 years, includes a host of pay authorizations, program changes and policy updates that impact almost every corner of the Defense Department. As such, the bill is closely watched by Pentagon planners and military advocates all year long, and it commands significant attention from lawmakers both on and off the military oversight committees.While the authorization bill doesn’t provide direct funding for military operations (the annual appropriations bill does that), the overall spending levels prescribed in the measure typically set the tone for debate over how much money the Defense Department will get next year.In the House, that total is about $884 billion, in line with a debt ceiling agreement between the White House and Congress last summer to cap spending increases for fiscal 2025 at 1%.The Senate authorization bill comes in at $923 billion, a 5% boost in overall defense spending, including $12.5 billion in emergency funding for military disaster recovery construction in Guam following Typhoon Mawar last year.U.S. Air Force personnel search the grass for debris from Typhoon Mawar at Andersen Air Force Base on Guam on Oct. 25, 2023. The base sustained severe damage. The roughly $25 billion extra in non-Guam funding provided in the Senate bill would allow the Defense Department to pursue several additional shipbuilding, procurement and military construction priorities.“If you look at this bill overall, you would definitely see that the pivot to the Indo-Pacific is also a pivot to sea power, and more and more focus is going to be on the sea power investments,” Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., who chairs the committee’s sea power panel, told reporters after the markup.For instance, the extra spending in the bill partially helps fund a second Virginia-class attack submarine against the Navy’s wishes; the service requested a single attack submarine for FY25 due to production delays in the industrial base. The Senate bill authorizes $1.1 billion in partial funding for the second submarine, slightly more than the House version.The Senate bill also allows for an extra $4 billion in munitions procurement across the services, including to expand capacity for production lines for items like the Precision Strike Missile as well as the Standard Missile-2 and -6 weapons.Another $3.1 billion would go toward military construction projects for the unfunded priorities lists submitted by various services and combatant commands.Sen. Roger Wicker of Mississippi, the top Republican on the committee, successfully offered the amendment to increase defense spending beyond the FY25 debt ceiling caps, arguing that the U.S. needs to spend more on the military to compete with China and Russia. However, the increase was less than the extra $55 billion he initially sought for FY25.The committee’s chairman, Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I., voted against his panel’s authorization plan because of the high spending total. But a majority of Republicans and Democrats on the committee backed the increase in a 22-3 vote. Sens. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and Tom Cotton, R-Ark., also voted against it.

House GOP adds culture war amendments to annual defense bill - House Republicans added a host of culture war amendments to the annual defense bill on Thursday, complicating the traditionally bipartisan measure’s path to final passage later this year. Among the additions to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) approved on Thursday was a measure to block a Biden administration policy to reimburse service members for the travel costs when obtaining an abortion. The amendment, led by Rep. Beth Van Duyne (R-Texas), is a top priority for conservatives and passed 214-207. Reps. John Duarte (R-Calif.) and Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.) were the lone GOP “no” votes, while Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-Texas) was the only Democrat to support the amendment. The House also approved amendments to ban the Pentagon from providing gender-affirming care to transgender people, and to dismantle diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) offices and positions. Those measures are all but sure to sink Democratic support for the bill when it comes to the House floor on Friday — even though it passed by a near-unanimous vote out of committee — a dynamic that will force GOP leaders to rely on their slim majority to get the legislation over the finish line. “Amendments like this cheapen the National Defense Authorization Act,” Rep. Mikie Sherrill (D-N.J.) said during debate of the Van Duyne abortion services reimbursement amendment. “Once again, this majority has chosen not to treat matters of national security with the seriousness with which they deserve to be treated, and they are choosing to use that National Defense Authorization Act to shove their extremist culture war agenda down the throats of the American people.” Van Duyne, though, said that her amendment is about going back to longtime policy with the same principles as the Hyde amendment, a repeatedly approved policy rider that prohibits federal funds from being spent on abortion. “I would ask my kind colleagues to tell me, please, how supporting and paying out of [Department of Defense] funds for a woman to travel across the country to get an abortion has anything to do with protecting our national security,” Van Duyne said.

Majority of Republicans vote down Greene’s anti-Ukraine aid proposal -- A majority of Republicans joined with Democrats on Thursday to vote down Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s (R-Ga.) amendment to the annual Defense bill that called for preventing any funds in the legislation from going toward assistance for Ukraine. The chamber voted 74-343 on Greene’s measure for the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), with all support coming from Republicans. Most Republicans — 138 of them — voted “no.” The amendment specifically said “None of the funds made available by this Act may be used for assistance to Ukraine.” House Armed Services Committee Chair Mike Rogers (R-Ala.), however, took issue with the measure, noting that the NDAA does not appropriate any funds for Ukraine. He did note that the amendment would cut off funding to maintain the presence of Marines at the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv and that it would prevent the Department of Defense (DOD) from being able to monitor U.S. weapons systems already in Ukraine, urging members to vote against it. “My colleague from Georgia will be pleased to learn that there is nothing in this year’s NDAA that authorizes assistance to Ukraine. That money is provided through the supplemental appropriations bills,” Rogers said during debate on the House floor Thursday. “The problem with this amendment is it would cut off funds to maintain the deployment of Marines to secure our embassy in Kyiv, and it would also cut off the DOD’s ability to conduct and use monitoring of weapons systems in the U.S. already has provided to Ukraine,” he added. “We don’t want them to fall into bad hands, we need to ensure those weapons stay in our hands. I urge members to oppose this amendment.” Greene went on to point out that the NDAA includes nearly $300 million for the Defense Security Cooperation Agency, which she claimed funds Ukraine. The lackluster support for Greene’s amendment, nonetheless, came nearly two months after the House passed a bill to send roughly $61 billion to Ukraine, which capped off a bitter, months-long debate in the GOP conference — and Republican Party overall — about the U.S.’s role in the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine. The issue pitted isolationist Republicans, many of whom are supporters of former President Trump, against Reagan-minded traditionalists who are in favor of interventions overseas. A total of 112 Republicans voted against the aid for Kyiv, surpassing the 101 GOP lawmakers who supported the funding.

Defense spending bill would defund Biden’s Gaza pier - The House Appropriations Committee on Thursday advanced its fiscal 2025 defense spending bill while adding a provision that would eliminate the military’s makeshift pier off the coast of the Gaza Strip, which has struggled to deliver an adequate level of humanitarian aid to Palestinians facing famine-like conditions. The committee voted 34-25 along party lines to send the $833 billion bill to the House floor with Democrats objecting to the provision that would shut down the pier, which will cost anywhere between $230 and $320 million according to Pentagon estimates. The amendment from Rep. Andrew Clyde, R-Ga., bans the Defense Department from building or maintaining a pier or Joint-Logistics-Over-the-Shore capabilities “in the vicinity of Gaza.” “The pier has been plagued by prolonged delays, hijacked humanitarian aid, additional costs and debilitating damages,” Clyde said ahead of the vote. “President [Joe] Biden’s Gaza pier has been a total failure. It’s not provided anywhere near the expected amount of aid to the Palestinians as promised by this administration.” The Appropriations Committee adopted Clyde’s amendment by voice vote over objections from Democrats, who also opposed the final bill due to a series of socially conservative policy riders and a lack of Ukraine aid. Rep. Betty McCollum of Minnesota, the top Democrat on the committee, noted that the Defense Department does not intend to continue its Gaza pier operation through FY25, which begins in October. “A month ago, the head of the United Nations World Food Program announced that northern Gaza has entered a full-blown famine,” said McCollum. “This operation is only for a limited period of time and it ends in August when the weather and the seas will make it untenable to continue.” Democrats on the Appropriations Committee also criticized a provision in the defense spending bill that bans funding for United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East. Another provision in the bill would prevent the president from withholding weapons deliveries to Israel and force the Pentagon to deliver the single shipment of roughly 3,500 air-to-ground munitions that Biden withheld in April. Lawmakers on Wednesday also added two other amendments defunding the Gaza pier to the FY25 defense policy bill, separate legislation that the full House is expected to vote on Friday. The House adopted the provisions from Republican Reps. Nancy Mace of South Carolina and Warren Davidson of Ohio as part of a bipartisan package of amendments that both parties agreed to by voice vote. The House on Wednesday added another amendment to the defense policy bill by voice vote that would bar the Defense Department from using funds to rebuild Gaza, though there’s no money allocated to do so in the defense spending bill. Lawmakers adopted the amendment from from Rep. Brian Mast, R-Fla., by voice vote over Democratic objections. The House narrowly passed another Mast amendment 204-199 that would bar the Pentagon from evacuating Palestinian refugees to the United States, though the Defense Department has no plans to undertake such an operation.

Committee Approves FY25 Defense Appropriations Act | House Committee on Appropriations – Republicans – Today, the House Appropriations Committee met to consider the Fiscal Year 2025 Defense Appropriations Act. The measure was approved by the Committee with a vote of 34 to 25.Defense Subcommittee Chairman Ken Calvert (R-CA) said, “This bill provides the resources necessary for our military to deter conflict and prevail in war. The spending priorities included in this bill acknowledge that the threats against the United States are no longer a future challenge, but a current reality. The Fiscal Year 2025 Defense Appropriations Bill provides our warfighters with the resources they need to meet these challenges by prioritizing capabilities that counter China, increasing investments in rapidly-fielded innovative technologies, reforming the Pentagon’s business practices, and increasing the Department’s role in countering the China-supplied fentanyl crisis. Recognizing that our national security is only as resilient as our military members and families are, this bill fully funds a military pay raise and includes a historic pay increase for our junior enlisted servicemembers. I am proud of this bill and pleased to see it pass full committee today, and grateful to Chairman Cole for his leadership.” Chairman Tom Cole (R-OK) said, “Freedom endures because of the selfless people willing to defend their nation at all cost. Our troops have committed to that sacred oath, and their cause continues to be summoned. Renewed threats and aggressors across the globe echo imperialism of the past and challenge U.S. safety and interests. It’s why providing our men and women in uniform with the tools needed to deter, fight, and win is imperative. This FY25 bill strengthens America’s defense and the readiness of our armed forces. Chairman Calvert focused resources on the Pentagon’s core mission of delivering a combat-ready military that can prevent war and protect our great nation. Voting to advance this bill is core to keeping our military the strongest fighting force in the world.”

UN Security Council Adopts Gaza Ceasefire Resolution - On Monday, the UN Security Council adopted a US-drafted ceasefire resolution for Gaza based on a proposal recently outlined by President Biden. Fourteen members of the 15-member body voted in favor, and Russia abstained.The US claims Israel has accepted the proposal, but Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has publicly rejected it and continues to rule out the idea of a permanent ceasefire. Russia said it couldn’t support the resolution because it wasn’t clear what Israel had agreed on and that the language was too “vague.”While Hamas hasn’t formally responded to President Biden’s proposal, it welcomed the ceasefire resolution and released a statement showing strong support. The Palestinian group said it was ready to “enter into indirect negotiations on the implementation of these principles.”The resolution outlines a three-phase deal. The first phase includes an “immediate, full, and complete ceasefire with the release of hostages including women, the elderly, and the wounded, the return of the remains of some hostages who have been killed, and the exchange of Palestinian prisoners.”The first phase would also involve an Israeli withdrawal from densely populated areas of Gaza, the return of displaced Palestinians, and a significant increase in humanitarian aid.The two sides are supposed to negotiate a permanent ceasefire during the first phase, and the second phase would see a permanent end to hostilities “in exchange for the release of all other hostages still in Gaza, and a full withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza.” The third phase would start “a major multi-year reconstruction plan for Gaza, and the remains of any Israelis in Gaza would be returned to Israel.The resolution calls on Israel and Hamas to implement the deal “without delay and without condition.” US officials are claiming Hamas is the only thing standing in the way of a deal despite Netanyahu reaffirming his opposition to a permanent ceasefire. “My message to governments throughout the region, to people throughout the region, is – if you want a ceasefire, press Hamas to say ‘yes,'” Secretary of State Antony Blinken told reporters during a visit in Cairo. US officials told NBC News that the Israeli operation in Nuseirat that killed over 200 Palestinians and freed four Israeli hostages makes a ceasefire deal less likely since it has emboldened Netanyahu. While claiming it has been pushing for a ceasefire, the US supported the massacre by providing intelligence.

US Mulls Separate Deal With Hamas To Free 5 American Citizens - Hamas on Tuesday announced that it accepts the UN Security Council's Gaza ceasefire resolution which was passed Monday after it was proposed by the United States. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who is traveling in the region this week, has called the development a "hopeful sign". Senior Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri told Reuters that the group is ready to negotiate over the details, but that it is Washington's responsibility to ensure Israel abides by it.So in many ways this simply means more of the same blame-game... "Hamas accepts the UN security council resolution in regard to the ceasefire, withdrawal of Israeli troops and swap of hostages for detainees held by Israel, he said," Reuters writes."The U.S. administration is facing a real test to carry out its commitments in compelling the occupation to immediately end the war in an implementation of the UN Security Council resolution," Abu Zuhri said.But Israel has not agreed to withdrawing its troops from the Gaza Strip as a condition for the release of hostages first. Both sides have continued to point to the other for blocking a truce. This as Rafah fighting has only expanded in the last days and weeks, and hundreds of thousands of refugees have fled to other parts of the Strip.Meanwhile, the Biden administration is growing impatient and is reportedly mulling its own separate deal with Hamas, mediated via Qatar, toward freeing five US-Israeli dual nationals captured during the Oct.7 terror attack on southern Israel. Another three Americans are believed to be deceased, and their families are seeking the remains.Citing administration sources, NBC said "The officials did not know what the United States might give Hamas in exchange for the release of American hostages.""But, the officials said, Hamas could have an incentive to cut a unilateral deal with Washington because doing so would likely further strain relations between the U.S. and Israel and put additional domestic political pressure on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu," the report added.The very possibility of the US and Hamas striking a separate deal for the release of Americans strongly points to the White House not having much faith that a bigger hoped-for deal will actually materialize.What now? The reality is that despite the UNSC resolution, talks will continue to be at a stalemate...On Monday, US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield told the security council that "We’re waiting on Hamas to agree to the ceasefire deal it claims to want." She added, "With every passing day, needless suffering continues."But now that Hamas has verbalize it 'accepts' the deal, the question is what's next? The vote at the UNSC was little more than symbolic, with the real deal-making having to take place between the warring parties.

Report: US Considers Talks With Hamas To Free Five American Citizens -- NBC News reported Monday that the Biden administration is considering holding Qatari-mediated talks with Hamas on a potential unilateral deal not involving Israel to secure the release of five American citizens who were captured during the October 7 attack on southern Israel.Another three American citizens are believed to have been killed on October 7, and their families are seeking their remains. It’s unclear what the US could offer Hamas in exchange for the hostages, something that US officials acknowledged in comments to NBC.The fact that the US is considering opening negotiations for a separate agreement signals that it doesn’t expect progress with the potential hostage deal that was recently outlined by President Biden.Secretary of State Antony Blinken is currently in Israel discussing the deal, but Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu continues to insist he won’t agree to a permanent ceasefire, which is a key Hamas demand. US officials believe a deal between the US and Hamas could put more pressure on Netanyahu.US officials also told NBC that the Israeli operation in the Nuseirat camp that killed over 200 Palestinians, including many women and children, and freed four Israeli hostages made a ceasefire deal less likely. The Biden administration claims it’s pushing for a ceasefire but gave Israel intelligence support for the massacre in Nuseirat and celebrated the operation despite the massive civilian death toll.

Hamas Responds to Biden's Ceasefire Proposal, Wants Firm Timeline for Permanent Ceasefire - Hamas has submitted to Egyptian and Qatari mediators its formal response to a Gaza ceasefire proposal that was recently outlined by President Biden. The Palestinian group is seeking stronger assurances on a permanent ceasefire and Israeli withdrawal from Gaza.Under the initial proposal, the two sides would negotiate a permanent truce during the first phase and implement it in the second phase.An official familiar with the talks told The Washington Post that Hamas’s response contained “amendments to the Israeli proposal, including a timeline for a permanent ceasefire and the complete withdrawal of Israeli troops from the Gaza Strip.” Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad said in the joint statement that the response “prioritizes the interests of the Palestinian people and emphasizes the need for a complete halt to the ongoing aggression in Gaza.”When President Biden outlined the ceasefire proposal on May 31, he said it would bring about a permanent end to Israel’s military operations in Gaza. But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu quickly rejected the idea of a permanent ceasefire and has repeatedly said the onslaught won’t end until Israel achieves its goals, which includes the destruction of Hamas.Israeli officials previously told Axios that the language in the ceasefire proposal was vague enough for Israel and Hamas to enter the first phase of the deal, which involves a six-week truce and initial hostage and prisoner exchange, without Israel committing to a permanent ceasefire. But they said Netanyahu’s comments would likely sabotage the chances of an agreement since it would make Hamas seek stronger guarantees, which they have done.Israeli officials are now accusing Hamas of rejecting the ceasefire proposal by asking for more assurances. “This evening, Israel received, via the mediator, the Hamas response. In its response, Hamas has rejected the proposal for a hostage release that was presented by President Biden,” an Israeli official told Reuters. “They have changed all of the main and most meaningful parameters.”Hamas’s response came a day after the UN Security Council passed a resolution calling for a ceasefire in Gaza based on the proposal outlined by Biden. In response to the resolution, Hamas said it was ready to “enter into indirect negotiations on the implementation of these principles.”

Blinken Says If Gaza Truce Deal Fails Only Hamas Is To Blame: "It's On Them" US Secretary of State Antony Blinken while in the Middle East has said that if the ceasefire deal which is currently being pushed hard by the White House doesn't go through then there will only be Hamas to blame. He said this week to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that the US has "reaffirmed his commitment" to a Gaza ceasefire plan, and that lack of progress will be the fault of Hamas. As we've explained previously, Biden is pushing a plan that neither side has really embraced from the start as this is really much about Biden admin PR and damage control going into the November election. Hamas leaders have never backed off their insistence of a full Israeli military withdrawal from the Gaza Strip as a key condition for a lasting truce. And now Blinken has quickly suggested the deal could be off (but it was never really "on" or even close to begin with...) . "Hamas has proposed numerous changes to the proposal that was on the table… Some of the changes are workable, some are not," he said in a press conference with Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani in Doha. "A deal was on the table that was virtually identical to the proposal that Hamas made on May 6 — a deal that the entire world is behind, a deal Israel has accepted." Blinken continued: "Hamas could have answered with a single word. ‘Yes.’ Instead, Hamas waited nearly two weeks and then proposed more changes, a number of which go beyond positions that had previously taken and accepted."When earlier this week the UN Security Council voted to formally back the US-proposed plan, which Biden has previously also called an Israeli-proposed plan, Hamas issued a statement declaring that it 'accepts' the deal. Blinken in his fresh statement from Doha continued, "As a result, the war — [which] Hamas started on October 7 with its barbaric attack on Israel and on Israeli civilians — will go on. More people will suffer, more Palestinians will suffer, more Israelis will suffer.""But in the days ahead, we are going to continue to push on an urgent basis with our partners, with Qatar with Egypt, to try to close this deal. Because we know it’s in the interests of Israelis, Palestinians, the region, indeed, the entire world," he added. He then strongly suggested Hamas is being a 'bad faith' negotiator: "At some point in a negotiation — and this has gone back and forth for a long time — you get to a point where if one side continues to change its demands, including making demands and insisting on changes on things that they had already accepted, you have to question whether they’re proceeding in good faith or not."

Blinken Slams Hamas Response to Ceasefire Proposal - Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Wednesday slammed Hamas’s response to the Gaza ceasefire proposal, claiming some of the Palestinian group’s conditions were not “workable.”Blinken made the comments in Doha alongside Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim al-Thani. “Hamas has proposed numerous changes to the proposal that was on the table,” Blinken said. “Some of the changes are workable. Some are not.”Hamas’s response contained amendments to the proposal that would give them stronger assurances that Israel would agree to a permanent ceasefire and full withdrawal from Gaza since Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly rejected those ideas. Israeli officials previously said Netanyahu’s public opposition to a permanent ceasefire would likely sabotage the chances of a deal.But Blinken and other US officials are putting all the blame on the lack of a deal on Hamas and claiming Israel accepted the ceasefire proposal. “Hamas could have answered with a single word: yes. Instead, Hamas waited nearly two weeks and then proposed more changes, a number of which go beyond positions it had previously taken and accepted,” Blinken said. He added that as a result of Hamas’s response, the Israeli slaughter and starvation of Palestinians in Gaza will “go on” and that more people will “suffer.”

Biden Says There Will Be No Gaza Ceasefire Deal Soon - President Biden said on Thursday that he doesn’t expect a Gaza ceasefire deal to be reached anytime soon as the Israeli slaughter and starvation of Palestinians continues.According to The Associated Press, Biden was asked at the Group of Seven summit if he thought a truce deal would be reached soon. He simply replied, “No,” and added that he still hasn’t “lost hope.”His comments came a few days after Hamas responded to the ceasefire proposal that President Biden publicly outlined on May 31. The Times of Israel reported that the main sticking point is that Hamas wants Israel tocommit to a permanent ceasefire and withdrawal from Gaza up front.The initial proposal involved a first phase with a six-week ceasefire, and during that time, a permanent truce would be negotiated and then implemented in the second phase. Israeli officials thought the language was vague enough that Israel and Hamas could enter the first phase without Israel actually committing to a permanent ceasefire.After Biden first outlined the proposal, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected it, saying he wouldn’t agree to a permanent ceasefire until Israel achieves its goals in Gaza, which includes the destruction of Hamas. Netanyahu’s repeated rejection of a permanent truce led Hamas to seek stronger assurances. Despite Netanyahu’s rejection of Biden’s proposal, US officials continue to claim it was accepted by Israel and are putting all the blame for the lack of a deal on Hamas.

Report: US Thinks Israel Is Rushing Into War With Hezbollah With No Clear Strategy - The Biden administration is concerned that the violence on the Israel-Lebanon border could soon escalate into a full-blown war and that Israel is rushing into the conflict without a clear strategy, Axios reported on Wednesday.US officials told Axios that the administration has cautioned Israel against the idea of a “limited war,” warning that Iran could intervene and militants in Iraq and Syria could join the fighting.The report said the White House believes a ceasefire in Gaza is the only thing that could reduce tensions on the Israel-Lebanon border. However, Israeli officials have previously threatened to escalate in Lebanon if a truce is reached in Gaza.The report comes after Israeli airstrikes killed a Hezbollah commander who was described as the most senior member of Hezbollah to be killed by Israel since October 2023. Hezbollah responded with a large volley of rockets. On Thursday, Israeli soldiers were spotted launching large fireballs into southern Lebanon to start fires.According to a tally from AFP, Israeli bombings in southern Lebanon have killed at least 468 people in southern Lebanon since October, including 89 civilians. On the Israeli side, Israeli authorities have said 15 soldiers and 11 civilians have been killed by Hezbollah.The US is calling for de-escalation on the border after the latest round of strikes, but there’s no sign diplomatic efforts are making any progress. There’s also no sign that the US is putting any real pressure on Israel to change what it’s doing in the north since US military aid continues to flow.

US Drone Flights Over Gaza Supported Israeli Operation That Killed Over 200 Palestinians in Nuseirat - Israel received intelligence support from the US in its Saturday operation in central Gaza’s Nuseirat camp that killed over 200 Palestinians and freed four Israeli hostages.The intelligence support included information provided by US drone flights over Gaza. The US began flying MQ-9 Reaper drones over Gaza days after October 7 and deployed special operations forces to Israel, demonstrating that US military support for Israel goes beyond providing weapons.The Washington Post reported that a team of US special operations soldiers and intelligence personnel based at the US Embassy in Jerusalem provided the intelligence support. Besides the drone flights, the US provided communications intercepts, and Israel also received intelligence support from the UK. Local residents said the Israeli special forces who carried out the raid were disguised as displaced Palestinians from Rafah, and others entered the camp in an aid truck. The Israeli military denied it used an aid truck, but Israeli media reported Israeli soldiers meant to blend in as Arabs were part of the attack. Israeli warplanes pounded Nuseirat as the Israeli commandos on the ground moved to locate the hostages.According to Gaza’s Health Ministry, 274 Palestinians were killed in the attack on Nuseirat, and 678 were wounded. Gaza’s Media Office said 64 of the dead were children, and 57 were women. The total death toll in Gaza since October 7 has surpassed 37,000.Israel claimed it killed less than 100 people in the assault, while the US said it didn’t know how many people died. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan celebrated the assault and also acknowledged that “innocent people” were killed.“We, the United States, are not in a position today to make a definitive statement about that. The Israeli defense forces have put out one number. The Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry has put out another number,”Sullivan said. “But we do know this … Innocent people were tragically killed in this operation.”Hamas alleged that the Israeli attack killed three other Israeli hostages, including an American citizen. The Palestinian group released a video of three corpses, but they were unidentifiable.

UN commission finds Israel guilty of “extermination,” “crimes against humanity,” killing Palestinians and Israeli hostages - The Israeli government and military have committed systematic “crimes against humanity,” including “extermination,” during their eight-month-long assault on Gaza, a key United Nations commission found in a report published Wednesday. The report is the first in-depth investigation by the United Nations into the events that have happened since October 7 and is based on detailed interviews with victims and witnesses. The three-person commission is led by Navi Pillay, a former United Nations human rights chief. The commission concluded that the Israeli military and government “committed the war crimes of starvation as a method of warfare; murder or willful killing; intentionally directing attacks against civilians and civilian objects; forcible transfer; sexual violence; outrages upon personal dignity; and [sexual and gender-based violence] amounting to torture or inhuman and cruel treatment.” It found that Israel was responsible for the crimes against humanity. According to the report “extermination; murder; gender persecution targeting Palestinian men and boys; forcible transfer; and torture and inhuman and cruel treatment were committed.” This report lends further weight to the charges by Karim Khan, the lead prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant are guilty of war crimes and crimes against humanity. While the 2023-24 Gaza genocide shares elements of previous Israeli assaults on Gaza, it is of a totally different magnitude and intensity. The report asserted that “Israel’s military operation and attack in Gaza has been the longest, largest and bloodiest since 1948. It has caused immense damage and loss of life.” It noted that “hostilities between 2005 and 2023 resulted in less than a tenth of the fatalities since October 7. The Commission has also observed an increasing trend in the number of fatalities of women and children compared with previous hostilities.” The massive civilian death toll is due to the fact that, in the words of the commission, the “Israeli government has given [the Israeli military] blanket authorization to target civilian locations widely and indiscriminately in the Gaza Strip.” The systematic mass bombing of Palestinian civilians is accompanied by a deliberate effort to starve the population of Gaza into submission in a form of collective punishment. The report concludes that “Israel has used starvation as a method of war, affecting the entire population of the Gaza Strip for decades to come, with particularly negative consequences for children.” This is a war crime. The report concludes, “At the time of writing this report, children have already died due to acute malnutrition and dehydration. Through the siege it imposed, Israel has weaponized the withholding of life-sustaining necessities, cutting off supplies of water, food, electricity, fuel, and other essential supplies, including humanitarian assistance. This constitutes collective punishment and reprisal against the civilian population, both of which are clear violations of [international humanitarian law].”

Momentum grows behind Democratic boycott of Benjamin Netanyahu speech --A growing chorus of House Democrats say they’re planning to steer clear of next month’s speech by Benjamin Netanyahu before a joint meeting of Congress, arguing that the Israeli prime minister’s handling of the Hamas war — and his repeated snubbing of President Biden’s preferred approach to the conflict — demand a show of protest from liberals on Capitol Hill. Some Democrats had foreshadowed the boycott earlier in the year amid speculation that Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) was poised to invite Netanyahu to the Capitol to push back against Democratic criticisms of the conservative Israeli leader. With the invitation now official, and the speech set for July 24, more and more progressive Democrats are emerging with a formal declaration of their own: We won’t be there.“I won’t attend and turn my back towards him,” Rep. Hank Johnson (D-Ga.) said. “So I’m just gonna stay away.”The bad blood between Netanyahu and liberals on Capitol Hill is hardly new. Progressive Democrats have long denounced Netanyahu’s conservative policies, including his sharp criticisms of the Iran nuclear deal under former President Obama, which led to a boycott of the prime minister’s last speech to Congress almost a decade ago. Those old hostilities are still lingering, even as Democrats have found new reason to revile Netanyahu over his military campaign in Gaza. “He imported a little bit of controversy the last time he was here,” Rep. Stephen F. Lynch (D-Mass.) said. “I thought it was disrespectful to the president, so I’m inclined not to attend.”A boycott may not be the only way lawmakers showcase their opposition to Netanyahu when he visits Washington next month. Rep. Lloyd Doggett (D-Texas), a deputy whip for the Congressional Progressive Caucus who has served in the House since 1995, said conversations are underway about the best method for protesting the controversial speech.“There’s still some debate about the best way to respond to his coming,” Doggett told The Hill.“I’m not planning on attending, and/or I’ll be participating in whatever events there are to express that we want this war to end and we want both him and Hamas to agree to a cease-fire,” said Rep. Greg Casar (D-Texas), a first-term member.The boycotting liberals will cut a sharp contrast with other Democrats who are vowing to attend the speech to demonstrate a degree of solidarity with a democratic ally in a time of war. “They’re our strongest ally in the Middle East. He’s obviously the leader that they’ve chosen. And I respect the country very much, and I will be there,” Rep. Juan Vargas (D-Calif.) said. Top House Democrats are already bracing for the internal divisions that will accompany the Israeli leader’s visit to the Capitol. Rep. Pete Aguilar (Calif.), the chair of the House Democratic Caucus, said “it is their right and an ability” if members want to skip the event, and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.), who will attend, said each lawmaker will have to make their own determination ahead of the speech.“All of us recognize that every individual member has to make that decision to participate on their own based on what they believe is consistent with the district that they represent,” Jeffries said last week.There is some precedent for the current situation. Netanyahu faced a sizable boycott during his last address to Congress in 2015, when he used his time in the House chamber to vilify Obama and the administration’s Iran nuclear deal, marking an unprecedented attack by a foreign leader on U.S. soil. Fueling the controversy, then-Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) coordinated Netanyahu’s speech without consulting the White House.At least 58 lawmakers skipped that speech, according to CNN, some of whom are planning to avoid the event again, including Doggett and Rep. Jan Schakowsky (Ill.), a Jewish Democrat.“The role that the prime minister is playing is very negative, and I don’t want to be there,” Schakowsky told The Hill.“He needs to be staying in Israel and working for the peace that he has been unwilling to support in the past,” Doggett echoed. “Despite the Hamas atrocities and all the wrong that exists there, the indiscriminate bombing that he has encouraged that has led to loss of lives that should never have happened. He has not prioritized the hostages; he ought to be doing that instead of coming here.”

Saving Gaza Is About More Than Saving Gaza. It's Also About Saving Ourselves by Caitlin Johnstone - Saving Gaza is about more than saving Gaza. It’s also about saving ourselves. Saving ourselves as individuals. Saving ourselves as a society. Saving ourselves as a species. Saving ourselves from what we’ll become if we just watch this happening right in front of our eyes without doing everything we can to stop it. Saving ourselves from what the sociopaths who rule over us are trying to turn us into. Saving ourselves from the way the propagandists are trying to twist and train our minds. Saving ourselves from the kind of future humanity will have if our rulers can get away with such a brazen act of extreme depravity. Saving ourselves from the other horrors that will be unleashed upon our world if this kind of thing becomes normalized and accepted. Saving ourselves from the dark dystopia we are plunging into at breakneck speed. Saving ourselves from a world where journalism is dead and dissent is forbidden. Saving ourselves from a world where the bastards will do the worst things imaginable without even having to hide it, and just stare us in the eyes daring us to do something. Saving ourselves from a world where the powerful have decided to respond to the public’s widespread access to information and raw video footage by just committing their evil deeds right out in the open and forcing us to get used to it. Saving ourselves from this relentless push by propagandists and politicians to amputate that sacred part of our humanity which screams “NO” to all this. Saving our hearts. Saving our compassion. Saving our tenderness. Saving our children. Saving our humanity. Saving our world.

Ignoring Daily Massacres In Gaza While Still Babbling About October 7 by Caitlin Johnstone - We’re seeing new massacres every goddamn fucking day, but western politicians and media can’t stop babbling about one single massacre happening hundreds of days ago. It’s a waste of breath trying to argue that it’s unjust to massacre over two hundred Palestinians rescuing four Israeli hostages; Israel supporters would have been happy if the number was over two million. They simply do not regard Palestinians as human beings. You may as well say they had to kill two hundred chickens to free four hostages. They don’t care. Ever since the Gaza onslaught began we’ve been seeing US officials play dumb about all the massacres and atrocities Israel has been committing, constantly telling the press “Yeah sorry we don’t have any further information about that incident, we’re talking to Israel, you should ask the Israelis.” But a recent New York Times report says US and UK intelligence operatives “have been in Israel throughout the war” collaborating with Israeli intelligence to facilitate its operations there, which means they’re clearly lying about how much information they have about these incidents. On one hand you’ve got the far right zealots who openly say Palestinians should be exterminated like vermin, and on the other you’ve got the mainstream liberals who effectively support the same actions as the rightists but pretend to be very concerned about human rights in Gaza. And it’s actually hard to say which one is more disgusting. I mean, at least the rightists are being honest about who they are and what they’re doing.

The Media Skew Public Perception By Manipulating People's Attention by Caitlin Johnstone --“Israel Rescues 4 Hostages in Military Operation; Gazan Officials Say Scores Are Killed,” reads a New York Times headline from Saturday. It’s a very odd-looking headline even if you don’t know anything about the propagandistic tactics being employed in it. The first half is very clear, while the second half is unintelligible and reads like some weird kind of riddle or word puzzle. The New York Times is performing these bizarre, cryptic linguistic gymnastics to discuss the latest Israeli massacre in Gaza which as of this writing has a reported death toll of 236. Right off the bat we can see something weird in this headline with the use of the word “scores” to describe the number of people reported killed in the massacre. The New York Times article itself says it was reported that “more than 200 people were killed in central Gaza,” so the correct quantifier for the headline would be “hundreds”, not “scores”. This would be like a headline saying “dozens” of people were killed on 9/11 instead of “thousands”; it would technically be correct since the number of people killed were mathematically speaking many many dozens, but it would give readers the wrong impression of the lethality of the incident. Next, notice the bizarre switch mid-headline from active, certain voice to passive, doubtful voice. Four Israeli hostages were definitely rescued by Israel, while Gazan officials are alleging that scores were killed. Scores of what? Cats? Chickens? Israelis? Killed by what? Salmonella poisoning? Traffic accidents? Congolese militias? There’s no way to tell from the headline.The mass media in general and The New York Times in particular are notorious for their passive language “Palestinian child ceases breathing after encountering bullet” headlines when promoting Israeli information interests, but it really drives the point home when you see it switch from normal human language to something that sounds like a clue The Riddler would leave Batman within the very same headline.And what’s interesting is that nothing The New York Times editors did here is technically a lie. Every word they meticulously selected for their headline is technically true, but it is shaped in such a way that it draws the reader’s attention away from the fact that Israel just massacred hundreds of human beings. They could have just as easily written “Israel Kills Hundreds of Palestinians in Central Gaza Attack; 4 Hostages Rescued” and it would have been just as true, but then public attention would have been drawn in the opposite direction. The New York Times never, ever draws public attention in that direction; the slanting only ever goes one way.

UN's World Food Program Pauses Aid Deliveries in Gaza Through US-Built Pier - The UN’s World Food Program (WFP) has paused aid shipments into Gazathrough the US-built pier just days after they resumed as the project continues to fail to bring any relief to starving Palestinians.WFP chief Cindy McCain said the deliveries were paused due to safety concerns. The US-built pier was just reconnected to Gaza’s coast on Friday after being repaired from damage due to heavy seas.“I’m concerned about the safety of our people,” she told CBS News on Monday. “We’ve stepped back for the moment … to make sure we’re on safe terms and on safe ground before we’ll restart. But the rest of the country is operational. We’re doing everything we can in the north and the south.”McCain also said two WFP warehouses in the area were “rocketed” and that a staffer had been injured. She didn’t share details about the shelling of the warehouses, but it came as Israel significantly escalated its bombardment of central Gaza. McCain’s comments come amid allegations that Israel used the US-built pier in its operation in central Gaza’s Nuseirat camp that killed over 200 Palestinians and freed four Israeli hostages. Video of an Israeli helicopter operated near the pier spread online, and Palestinians said Israeli special forces entered Nuseirat in an aid truck. The Pentagon acknowledged that Israel operated “near” the pier but denied that it or any of the 1,000 US military personnel deployed off the coast were involved. “It was near, but I think it’s incidental. Again, the pier, the equipment, the personnel all supporting that humanitarian effort had nothing to do with the IDF rescue operation,” said Pentagon spokesman Pat Ryder.Israel also denied that some of its forces entered Nuseirat in an aid truck, allegations that initially came from eyewitnesses speaking to the media. But on Monday, the Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS) formally accused Israel of using an aid truck in the attack.“The occupation forces deceived people by disguising themselves under the cover of aid that civilians desperately need amid their suffering from severe food insecurity,” the PRCS said. “This endangers the safety of relief teams.”Other reports said some of the Israeli commandos who entered Nuseirat were disguised as displaced Palestinians from Rafah.

US Sanctions Israel Group Attacking Aid Shipments - Tzav 9 has targeted humanitarian aid trucks traveling through the West Bank to GazaThe US blacklisted an Israeli organization for interfering with aid shipments headed to Gaza. The group, Tzav 9, demands that no aid enter the Strip until all Israeli hostages are released and uses violence to curb deliveries of humanitarian assistance to Palestinians. The organization operates in open view of Israeli security forces and is supported by top officials in Tel Aviv.In a press release published on Friday, the State Department described Tzav 9 as a “violent extremist Israeli group that has been blocking, harassing, and damaging convoys carrying lifesaving humanitarian assistance to Palestinian civilians in Gaza.”“For months, individuals from Tzav 9 have repeatedly sought to thwart the delivery of humanitarian aid to Gaza, including by blockading roads, sometimes violently, along their route from Jordan to Gaza,” the statement continued. “On May 13, 2024, Tzav 9 members looted and then set fire to two trucks near Hebron in the West Bank carrying humanitarian aid destined for men, women, and children in Gaza.” Tzav 9, or “Order 9,” refers to the call-up letter that Israeli reservists receive when they are ordered to active duty. The group receives supportfrom Israeli National Security Minister Itmar Ben-Gvir, who has ordered police to leave the aid trucks unguarded.National security adviser to President Joe Biden, Jake Sullivan, said the US has repeatedly brought up the interference with aid shipments to Tel Aviv. Israelis have obstructed the trucks since the days following the October 7 Hamas attack.The blocking of humanitarian convoys has become more problematic since Israel attacked Rafah in early May and shuttered Gaza’s border crossing with Egypt. Now, most aid that enters Gaza comes from Jordan and must cross the West Bank, giving Tzav 9 ample opportunity to interfere with the meager supplies allowed into the Strip. The group demands that Tel Aviv stops all aid from entering Gaza unless Hamas releases Israeli hostages and has used various methods to prevent aid from entering the Strip. Since October 7, Israeli civilians have held protests to prevent aid trucks from passing. However, Tzav 9 has also used violent means, including looting or destroying shipments, setting aid trucks on fire, and attacking drivers.Tzav 9 is just part of a broader Israeli network that prevents assistance from reaching Gaza. Tel Aviv has implemented an onerous inspection regime for the trucks entering the Strip that slows the process and blocks life-saving aid deliveries. Additionally, Israeli forces have routinely attacked aid workers, trucks, and warehouses.The people of Gaza are in desperate need of the aid that is blocked by the Israeli government and groups like Tzav 9. World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told reporters on Wednesday that “A significant proportion of Gaza’s population is now facing catastrophic hunger and famine-like conditions,” while UNICEF has warned that about 90 percent of children in Gaza lack nutrition and face “severe” threats to their “survival, growth and development.”

US and British Strikes Killed 16 Civilians in Yemen on May 30 - US and British missile strikes on Yemen that were launched on May 30 killed 16 civilians and wounded 35 more, according to the Yemen Data Project (YDP).Fourteen civilians were killed in strikes on a coast guard site at a port in the Red Sea province of Hodeidah, and two were killed in a bombing of a radio broadcast building that was also in Hodeidah.At the time, the US and the UK shared little detail about the strikes, only claiming to have hit Houthi targets. The YDP said it was unclear which military was responsible for the strikes that killed civilians.The US and British bombing campaign on Yemen started in January and has failed to deter the Houthis, as the Yemeni group continues to attack commercial shipping in response to the Israeli onslaught in Gaza. Two ships were reported to be struck by missiles off the coast of Yemen on Saturday.According to the YDP, the US and the UK have launched a total of 171 strikes and dropped 393 munitions on Yemen in the first 141 days of the bombing campaign. The US and Britain have launched several rounds of airstrikes together, but most bombings have been unilateral US strikes.The US backed a brutal Saudi/UAE war against the Houthis from 2015-2022 that involved heavy airstrikes and a blockade, and the Houthis only became more of a capable fighting force during that time.The war killed at least 377,000 people, with more than half dying of starvation and disease caused by the siege. A ceasefire between the Houthis and Saudis has held relatively well since April 2022, but new US sanctions are now blocking the implementation of a lasting peace deal.

G7 Expected To Announce Plan To Provide Ukraine With Billions Using Frozen Russian Assets - The US is pushing to provide a $50 billion loan to Ukraine that will be paid back with interest made on Russian assetsby Dave DeCamp June 11, 2024 at 6:28 pm ET CategoriesNewsGroup of Seven leaders will begin a summit in Italy this Thursday and are expected to announce a plan to set up a fund for Ukraine using interest generated by frozen Russian assets, Nikkei Asia reported on Tuesday.Earlier reports said the Biden administration was pushing for the EU and other G7 nations to agree to a plan to provide Ukraine with a $50 billion loan that would be paid back over time using income made by Russia’s frozen Central Bank assets.The US and its allies have frozen approximately $280 billion in Russian Central Bank funds, the vast majority of which are held in Europe. President Biden recently signed a law giving him the power to take the $5 billion in Russian assets held in the US, but the EU doesn’t want to steal all of the Russian assets it’s holding.Instead, the EU has agreed to a plan to use the interest to provide about $3 billion per year, which Ukraine has said isn’t enough. The US proposal to provide Ukraine with a big loan that would be paid back over time using the profits is seen as a compromise between the two plans.

US Lifts Ban on Arming and Training Ukraine's Neo-Nazi Azov Brigade - The State Department announced Monday that it has formally lifted a ban on arming and training the Azov Brigade, an infamous Ukrainian neo-Nazi military unit.The Azov Brigade celebrated the news, saying the “eligibility for US assistance will not only increase Azov’s combat effectiveness.”“This is a new page in the history of our unit. Azov is becoming more professional and more effective in defending Ukraine against the invaders,” Azov wrote on X.The Azov Brigade was founded as a militia in 2014, known as the Azov Battalion, to fight Ukrainian separatists in the Donbas and was later absorbed by Ukraine’s National Guard.The military unit’s founder, Andriy Biletsky, is known for his neo-Nazi and white supremacist rhetoric. In 2014, Biletsky was also the leader of an ultra-nationalist organization known as the Social National Assembly (SNA), which dissolved in 2015.BBC reported in 2014 that the SNA wrote in online publications that it aimed “to prepare Ukraine for further expansion and to struggle for the liberation of the entire White Race from the domination of the internationalist speculative capital.” The group also sought “to punish severely sexual perversions and any interracial contacts that lead to the extinction of the white man.”Biletsky was elected to the Ukrainian parliament in 2014 and later left Azov due to a ban on elected officials serving in the military. He became the leader of the National Corps Party in 2016, which he still leads today, and lost his seat in parliament in 2019. Supporters of the Azov Brigade have tried to rebrand the military unit and distance it from Biletsky. But the regiment still uses the Wolfsangel symbol, which is associated with neo-Nazi ideology, and its current leader has been associated with the wider Azov movement going back to 2014.

US Lifts 10-Year Weapon Ban On Ukraine's Neo-Nazi Azov Brigade - The US State Department on Tuesday announced that it is lifting a longtime ban on giving weapons and training to Ukraine's notorious Azov Brigade (often referenced by its earlier name Azov Battalion). The question must immediately be asked: Do Washington policy-makers think enough time has passed that people have simply forgotten that this is an unabashed neo-Nazi outfit? Do they think we no longer remember this from just a y Even mainstream media has long grudgingly admitted that "in response to the neo-Nazi ideology of the group's founders, the US had banned the regiment from using American weapons in 2014."But the State Department is now claiming it has found "no evidence" that the extremist militant group has committed human rights violations or war crimes (in which case US law would prohibit providing weapons or training). This after President Volodymyr Zelensky himself has long been seen paling around with Azov commanders in public appearances. The group's members have never been shy about sporting Nazi-inspired patches either. But all the while mainstream pundits in the West have sought to downplay and soften these obvious symbols of their ideology. The Associated Press too in its following Tuesday reporting attempts to awkwardly downplay all of this as merely a 'few bad apples' type of situation, which the AP also says is fundamentally stoked by Russia: The Azov Brigade is among Ukraine’s most effective and popular fighting units but it has been dogged by its origins as a volunteer battalion that drew fighters from far-right circles and criticism for some of its tactics. The U.S. had banned the regiment from using American weapons, citing the neo-Nazi ideology of some of its founders. The current members of the Azov Brigade, which has been absorbed into Ukraine’s National Guard as the 12th Special Forces Brigade, reject accusations of extremism and any ties with far-right movements. But the Kremlin has seized on the regiment’s origins in its efforts to cast Russia’s invasion as a battle against Nazi influence in Ukraine. The New York Times and other publications earlier characterized controversy surrounding Azov as merely "thorny" and "complicated". Below is a small sampling of the kinds of patches that appear on Ukrainian military uniforms with "some regularity" - in the words of the NY Times: The supposedly 'regularized' Azov Brigade is now celebrating the Biden administration's change of heart. "This is a new page in our unit’s history," it wrote on Instagram. "Azov is becoming even more powerful, even more professional and even more dangerous for occupiers." "Obtaining Western weapons and training from the United States will not only increase the combat ability of Azov, but most importantly, contribute to the preservation of the lives and the health of personnel," the statement said. This reminds us of the way Al-Qaeda in Syria underwent constant name iterations and new branding efforts in hopes of attracting Western support in the drive to topple Assad.

US To Send Another Patriot Missile Battery to Ukraine - President Biden has approved the delivery of another Patriot missile defense system to Ukraine, The New York Times reported on Tuesday. The system is being pulled out of Poland and will be the second Patriot battery the US has sent to Ukraine. It could be deployed to the frontlines within the next several days. Germany and the Netherlands have also provided Ukraine with one Patriot missile system each and are in talks to supply a second.The US has been sending a steady supply of Patriot missiles to Ukraine since first sending the battery in 2023. Ukrainian troops have been training on how to use the advanced missile system at a US military base in Oklahoma. The news comes after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and other Ukrainian officials have been pleading with the US to send more Patriot systems, of which there is a limited supply. Zelensky has said Ukraine needs two batteries in Kharkiv to defend itself from the Russian offensive in the region.The US is still pouring weapons into Ukraine despite the reality that Ukrainian forces have no chance of beating the Russians on the battlefield. The US and some of its NATO allies are also taking extreme steps that risk major escalations, including allowing Ukraine to strike Russian territory with Western missiles.

Biden, Zelensky sign bilateral security agreement - President Biden and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Thursday signed a bilateral security agreement between the two countries, marking a major milestone in long-term support from the U.S. for Ukraine in its defensive war against Russia. The two presidents signed the agreement at the end of the first day of the Group of Seven summit being held in Puglia, Italy, and spoke of their commitments during a press conference, standing side by side. “Our goal is to strengthen Ukraine’s credible defense and deterrence capabilities for the long term,” Biden said. “A lasting peace for Ukraine must be underwritten by Ukraine’s own ability to defend itself now and to deter future aggression anytime in the future. The United States is going to help ensure that Ukraine can do both.” The agreement between the U.S. and Ukraine is also expected to serve as an eventual bridge to Ukraine’s membership in NATO, with alliance members also pursuing their own bilateral agreements with Kyiv. The president laid out the agreement, specially noting that it does not include U.S. troops on the ground, pushing back on some calls in Europe that the next step in supporting Ukraine is by providing foreign troops. Biden said the U.S. is committed to continue military and economic aid for the war-torn country. “Not by sending American troops to fight [in] Ukraine but by providing weapons and ammunition, expanded intelligence sharing, continue to train brave Ukrainian troops at bases in Europe and the United States, enhancing interoperability between our militaries in line with NATO standards, investing in Ukraine’s defense industrial base so in time … they can supply their own weapons,” Biden said. Both leaders added that the agreement also includes working with partners to build a future for Ukraine that is “strong, sustainable, and resilient” and supporting economic and energy recovery for Ukraine after the Russian attacks. When asked whether the U.S. is changing course to allow Ukraine to fire U.S. weapons into Russia, Biden pushed back and said he had changed that policy — even as earlier guidance from the White House to Ukrainian officials was that American weapons should not be used to strike targets inside Russia. “It makes a lot of sense for Ukraine to be able to take out or combat what is coming across that border,” Biden said. The president further said that Ukraine would have some of five Patriot air defense systems “relatively quickly,” amid urgent Ukrainian pleas to get at least seven of the air defense systems. Zelensky described the signing of the bilateral agreement as “a truly historic day” and said that the security agreement is an agreement for the “protection of human lives.” “This is an agreement on steps to guarantee sustainable peace and therefore it benefits everyone in the world because the Russian war in Ukraine is a global threat,” Zelensky said. The Ukrainian president described the agreement as holding “detailed, legally binding” American commitments to Ukraine maintaining its status as an independent, sovereign country. The commitments include military, defensive support for Ukraine as it continues its fight to push back Russian forces from its territory, “and also for a period of peace after the war, and we will definitely ensure peace,” Zelensky said.

G7 agrees on $50 billion loan for Ukraine from frozen Russian assets - Ukraine’s supporters have agreed to move forward with a $50 billion loan to Kyiv, financed by profits from frozen Russian assets in Europe and the U.S., the leaders of the Group of Seven (G7) countries announced Thursday. The agreement marks a significant achievement for President Biden, with the U.S. spearheading the effort to get the broad grouping of Ukraine’s supporters to agree on seizing Russian assets to support Kyiv and counter Russian President Vladimir Putin. “I’m very pleased to share that this week … the G7 signed a plan to finalize and unlock $50 billion from the proceeds of those frozen assets, to put that money to work for Ukraine and other reminders to Putin, we’re not backing down. In fact, we’re standing together against this illegal aggression,” Biden said Thursday at a press conference alongside Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. “Thank you Mr. President for your leadership in the G7’s decision on $50 billion loan for Ukraine; it’s a vital step forward in providing sustainable support for Ukraine in winning this war,” Zelensky said. “Russian immobilized assets should be used for defending Ukrainian lives from Russian terror and for repaying the damage the aggressor caused to Ukraine. It’s fair and absolutely right.” The proposal was led by the U.S. and agreed on during the first day of the G7 summit in Italy. G7 members froze about $280 billion in Russian assets after the invasion began in February 2022, and the proposal would use the interest generated on the frozen assets, which is about $2.6 billion to $3.6 billion a year, to pay back a $50 billion loan to provide to Ukraine immediately. “This has been something that the United States has put a lot of energy and effort into,” national security adviser Jake Sullivan said in a briefing with reporters Thursday morning ahead of the day’s events. “We see proceeds from these assets as being a valuable source of resources for Ukraine at a moment when Russia continues to brutalize the country, not just through military action on the front end, but through the attempted destruction of its energy grid and its economic vitality.” The commitment from G7 countries comes as Russia’s more than two-year illegal war against Ukraine is straining unity among Kyiv’s military and financial backers. That has translated into battlefield losses for Ukraine without adequate military resupplies, though Ukraine was able to largely push back Russia’s latest offensive around the city of Kharkiv. Last week, in a meeting with Zelensky on the sidelines of the 80th anniversary of D-Day, the president apologized for the seven-month delay in getting a billion-dollar aid package passed in Congress. And countries supporting Ukraine are under further pressure to lay the groundwork for long-term commitments amid shifting domestic political trends. There’s concern among Ukraine and its supporters that former President Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, would pull back U.S. commitments for Kyiv or NATO — and that it would benefit Putin. And while far-right parties demonstrated a strong showing in European Union parliamentary elections, analysts say that there’s not a major threat to European support for Kyiv in the short-term. In particular, they point to Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, the G7 host who, despite being described as right-wing, has come out as a strong supporter for Ukraine and critic of Russia. Her party demonstrated a strong return in the EU elections. The agreement to use profits from frozen Russian assets is an important stopgap measure amid ongoing debates and disagreements over whether the frozen assets should be seized entirely. So far, each country is working out its own legal justifications for such a move. In April, Biden signed into law the REPO Act, part of the national security supplemental package, that allows the U.S. to seize frozen Russian assets for Ukraine’s reconstruction. Estonia similarly passed its own version of such a bill in May. “I think it is very critical, first, to support Ukraine with financial resources, it’s evident that it’s needed, also for the rebuilding effort and keeping the Ukrainian state going,” Estonia’s ambassador to NATO, Jüri Luik, said in an interview with The Hill in Washington last week. “It’s also a very important kind of punishment for the Russian regime because it’s a corrupt regime — they love power but they also love money, so I think this would also be a very good move, in that direction.”

US Is Shadowing Russian Warships Heading to Cuba - The US Navy and Coast Guard are shadowing three Russian warships and a nuclear-powered submarine that are due to arrive in Cuba on Wednesday and will conduct military drills in the Caribbean Sea.A US official told CBS News that two US Navy destroyers and two ships that tow sonar equipment are shadowing the submarine, while another destroyer and a US Coast Guard cutter are following the three Russian warships, which include a frigate, a fleet oil tanker, and a tugboat.The US ships will follow the Russian vessels to Cuba and wait for them to depart and will continue to shadow them during the drills in the Caribbean. A US official said the drills will be the first simultaneous air and naval maneuvers Russia has carried out in the Caribbean since 2019.Both the frigate and the submarine are capable of carrying nuclear warheads, but Cuban officials said they would not be armed with nuclear weapons. US officials said they assessed that as well.The Pentagon framed the Russian deployment as “routine” and said it doesn’t pose a threat to the US. A Russian Navy ship docked in Havana last year, and according to Newsweek, Russian naval visits to Cuba happened every year from 2013 to 2020.But the White House has also acknowledged that the deployment could be related to US involvement in Ukraine, which has significantly escalated in recent weeks as President Biden has given Ukraine the green light to strike Russian territory with US missiles.“Clearly, this is them signaling their displeasure about what we’re doing for Ukraine,” White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told CBS. “So we’re going to watch it, we’re going to monitor it, it’s not unexpected. … But we don’t anticipate, we don’t expect that there’ll be any imminent threat or any threat at all, quite frankly, to American national security in the region, in the Caribbean region, or anywhere else.”The Russian Defense Ministry said Tuesday that the Russian frigate Admiral Gorshkov conducted live-fire drills in the Atlantic Ocean on its way to Cuba. The Admiral Gorshkov is armed with advanced hypersonic missiles.

US Deploys Sub Hunter P-8 Poseidon Off Florida Coast To 'Shadow' Russian Flotilla -- OSINT analysts say a "KC-135R Stratotanker circling near the group, probably refueling a P8 Poseidon or two (reg. 63-8019)" off the southern tip of Florida. According to Newsweek, multiple open-source intelligence analysts have said the US has deployed air and naval assets off Florida's eastern coast to 'shadow' Russian warships. This comes as Russian warships are expected to arrive in Cuba this week ahead of military drills in the Caribbean.Open source intelligence (OSINT) analysts on Tuesday posted updates showing the CG Stone coastguard vessel, the USS Truxtun and USS Donald Cook destroyers, and the Royal Canadian Navy frigate HMCS Ville de Quebec travelling southwards down the Florida coast, purportedly following the Russian ships headed to Cuba. Above them, at least one US Navy P-8A Poseidon appeared to be conducting surveillance. -NewsweekOSINT analysts on X weren't clear which of Russia's four-ship grouping, made up of the Gorshkov frigate, the nuclear-powered submarine Kazan, the fleet oil tanker Pashin, and the rescue tug Nikolai Chiker, were transiting in international waters off the coast of Florida. Still, they posted flight tracking data that showed at least one Boeing P-8 Poseidon circling above. The Russian warships are expected to arrive in Havana in the coming days and stay through early next week, according to Cuba's Foreign Ministry. This deployment signals Russia's capacity to operate globally while still fully engaged in its third year of war in Ukraine. "This is about Russia showing they are still capable of some level of naval power projection," a US senior official told McClatchy and the Miami Herald, adding, "We should expect more of this activity going forward." Meanwhile, Jake Broe, a former US Air Force nuclear and missile operations officer, stated on X on Sunday, "Russians on Kremlin State TV yesterday declared that Mexico was their military ally and they are wanting to place their missiles on Mexican territory so Mexico can attack the United States." I have no idea why this is not getting mainstream media coverage but the Russians on Kremlin State TV yesterday declared that Mexico was their military ally and they are wanting to place their missiles on Mexican territory so Mexico can attack the United States. This is insane.pic.twitter.com/SU7CdhgDEK

Watch: Russian Warships Dock In Cuba To Give 'US A Dose Of Its Own Medicine' -At a moment Russian warships are once again entering a Cuban port to dock vessels of its Northern Fleet at the longtime Latin American 'enemy' country of the United States, Russian state media is declaring that this is giving the US a dose of its own medicine."I think we can definitely see this as a direct Russian reply to the general US declaration of conducting what it calls ‘Freedom of navigation’ exercises. Although, as far as we know, no one has challenged the freedom of navigation," geopolitical analyst and American citizen Mark Sleboda, who lives in Russia, has told Sputnik."They patrol their navy up and down off Russia’s and China’s and Iran’s coast, saber-rattling and threatening as part of their policy of containment," Sleboda added.The Russian naval strike group vessels, listed as the nuclear-powered Kazan submarine, the Admiral Gorshkov frigate and a rescue tugboat identified as the Nikolai Chiker - have entered the port of Havana Wednesday. Two formal Cuban government and military welcoming ceremonies took place at the port. CNN details that "Russian frigate Admiral Gorshkov – the first of a four-ship convoy – fired a 21-gun salute after entering Havana harbor, which was answered by the Cubans with cannon fire from an 18th-century colonial fort built by the Spanish to guard the port.""The Gorshkov is one of the Russian Navy’s most modern ships, and was followed by the nuclear-powered submarine Kazan, a rescue tug, and an oil tanker," the outlet added.Watch the Russian frigate "Admiral Gorshkov" enter the port of Havana: 🇷🇺🇨🇺👻🇺🇸 The Russian frigate "Admiral Gorshkov" entered the port of Havana. pic.twitter.com/6PFllL8FUg It is a significant show of force (but certainly isn't the first time) which involved the Russian naval ships sailing just 90 miles off Florida's coast, also as US surveillance airplanes and ships monitored the group's progress.Wednesday's docking kicks off a five-day official visit the Caribbean island, and the Russian embassy in Havana has declared that "the general public" will be able to tour sections of the Admiral Gorshkov frigate. Some are calling this Russian naval maneuvering in America's backyard a game of Cold War-style chess...

State Department-Linked Group Smears Antiwar.com in 'Anti-Ukrainian' List - A State Department-linked Ukrainian NGO published a study on June 6 that listed hundreds of individuals and organizations that oppose aid to Ukraine in an effort to smear them as spreading “Russian propaganda.”The NGO Texty.org.ua listed Antiwar.com and several of its staff members, including Eric Garris, Scott Horton, Kyle Anzalone, and many Antiwar.com contributors. Organizations that Antiwar.com works closely with were also named, including the Libertarian Institute and the Ron Paul Institute.The American Conservative, which was also included in the list, reported that Texty.org.ua was co-founded by Anatoly Bondarenko. Bondarenko has worked as an instructor for a State Department program known as TechCamp, which provides training for foreign journalists and activists.TechCamp’s website lists Bondarenko as a trainer for a Ukraine programthat brought together “more than 60 local journalists, civil society, community leaders, and private sector partners in Eastern Europe” with the goal of helping to increase “digital and media literacy.”The Texty.org.ua report is titled “Roller Coaster: From Trumpists to Communists. The forces in the US impeding aid to Ukraine and how they do it.”The study acknowledges that most of the people listed “do not have direct, proven ties to the Russian government or propagandists.” But it claims that “the arguments they use to urge authorities to distance themselves from Ukraine echo key messages of Russian propaganda aimed at depriving Ukrainians of the ability to defend themselves with Western weapons and funds.”The report links to Antiwar.com’s Ukraine news page as an example of “anti-Ukrainian statements.”Other listed people and organizations are from across the political spectrum, from former President Donald Trump to Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein. Dozens of Republican members of Congress were named, including Senators Rand Paul (R-KY), J.D. Vance (R-OH), Josh Hawley (R-MO), and many others. Media outlets frequently linked to on the front page of Antiwar.com were also listed, including Responsible Statecraft and The Grayzone. Peace groups, including CODEPINK, Veterans for Peace, World Beyond War, and others, were also smeared.

"This Is Insane": US-Linked Ukrainian NGO Unveils 'Enemies List' Including ZeroHedge, Tucker, Elon And Trump - The Ron Paul Institute for Peace and Prosperity's Daniel McAdams has revealed a rather concerning US government-affiliated non-governmental organization (NGO) based in Ukraine, which has published a list of 'enemies' that includes American journalists, business leaders, media outlets, websites, and basically anyone who has been critical of the Biden administration. And of course - they've already backpedaled.NGO "Data Journalism Agency," also known as (TEXTY), published a report last week titled "American swing. From Trumpists to communists, who and how is campaigning for the end of aid to Ukraine."The report intends to smear American conservative journalists, media outlets, and organizations as disseminators of Russian propaganda. But it's really a list of anyone opposed to the war in Ukraine, or Biden, or the left in general.A total of 390 individuals and 76 organizations are included in what McAdams describes as Ukraine's "enemies list." More from McAdams:The report also includes such prominent American politicians and journalists as Sen. JD Vance, Sen. Rand Paul, Rep. Matt Gaetz, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, Rep. Jim Jordan, and Col. Douglas Macgregor.Even our friends at Antiwar.com…and your own correspondent (!) find ourselves appearing on the Ukrainian "enemies list": Continued: Perhaps what is most shocking about this attack on American citizens is the fact that the Data Journalism Agency (TEXTY) has a long affiliation with the US Government itself! In fact, the founder of the publication Anatoly Bondarenko appears prominently on a US Government website as a participant in the US State Department's "TechCamp" project. The Data Journalism Agency (TEXTY) is listed as an "Implementing Partner" of the US Agency for International Development's Transparency and Accountability in Public Administration and Services/ TAPAS Project.The Ukrainians seemingly love to make lists of their "enemies." One of their most notorious of these is the infamous "kill list" put out by the Mirotvorets Center in Kiev. From that list several have already been murdered by Ukraine, including prominent Russian journalist Daria Dugina.One wonders how, for example, former US President Donald Trump and dozens of members of the US Congress will react when they hear that US tax dollars are being sent to Ukraine for US-backed Ukrainian organizations to make "hate lists" and "kill lists" of patriotic Americans like themselves. Commentator Robby Starbuck chimed in on X; "This is insane. A Ukrainian NGO just put out an enemies list that includes US citizens. This list blames us for Ukraine's issues on the battlefield," adding "Here's where it gets crazy… The founder of this NGO (http://Texty.org.ua) was TRAINED by the US State Department." The list includes me, @elonmusk , @DavidSacks , @Jim_Banks , @RandPaul , @JackPosobiec , @charliekirk11 , @RealCandaceO , @JDVance1 , @michaeljknowles , @HawleyMO , @Eric_Schmitt , @benshapiro , @RonDeSantis , @DonaldJTrumpJr , @realDonaldTrump , @Jim_Jordan , @LauraLoomer , @ggreenwald @TuckerCarlson , @RonPaul , @RepThomasMassie , @timburchett , @dbongino , @TateTheTalisman , @Cobratate , @RobertKennedyJr and more. Elon Musk has made the list.

Rep. Gaetz and Sen. Vance Request Information About State Department's Role in Ukraine 'Enemies List' - Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) and Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH) sent a letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Wednesday seeking information about the State Department’s ties to a Ukrainian organization that compiled a list of hundreds of individuals and organizations who oppose US military aid to Ukraine. The NGO Texty.org.ua included Antiwar.com and several of its staff members in the report, which was titled “Roller Coaster: From Trumpists to Communists. The forces in the US impeding aid to Ukraine and how they do it.” Gaetz and Vance’s letter noted that the list included 116 House Republicans and 21 Republican senators. Gaetz and Vance described the report as a “substantively thin piece, largely an excuse to smear a large group of Americans who have been skeptical of aid to Ukraine in one form or another. But it is being broadcast as a part of a coordinated media strategy that has all the hallmarks of a US-targeting influence operation.” Anatoly Bondarenko, one of the founders of Texty.org.ua, has worked as an instructor for a State Department program known as TechCamp, which provides training for foreign journalists and activists. “If this were merely some random news outlet in a foreign nation, such a hit piece would be easily ignored. But the founder of the group itself, Anatoly Bondarenko, is listed on a US government website as supported by the United States Department of State,” the Republican lawmakers wrote. They noted that it was not the first time a Ukrainian organization published a list of Americans in an effort to smear them. In July 2022, the Center for Countering Disinformation, a Ukrainian government agency,issued a list of individuals it accused of pushing “Russian narratives,” including prominent American foreign policy analysts and current and former members of Congress. Gaetz and Vance asked Blinken to provide the following to assess if there’s been a violation of US law related to the Texty.org.ua list:

Provide all releasable material related to Department of State support for Anatoly Bondarenko or Texty.org or Texty.org.ua, including copies of any grant agreements or assurances provided by any of those parties to the Department from January 1, 2022, to June 11, 2024; and
Provide a list of any Department of State directives, master agreements, or other policies that outline obligations of grantees or subgrantees of the Department relevant to the above publication, if any; and
Provide a list of any grants or other awards by the Department to Anatoly Bondarenko or Texty.org or Texty.org.ua, and the dates and amounts of those awards; and
Inform us whether or not the Department of State is initiating any investigation into violations of Departmental policy regarding this

US Sanctions More Chinese Companies Over Trade With Russia - The US Treasury Department announced more Russia-related sanctions on Wednesday that target companies based in China and other countries that are accused of supporting Russia’s “war economy.”New sanctions were imposed on more than 300 individuals and entities based in Russia, China, Turkey, and the UAE.“We are increasing the risk for financial institutions dealing with Russia’s war economy and eliminating paths for evasion, and diminishing Russia’s ability to benefit from access to foreign technology, equipment, software, and IT services,” Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said in a statement.The US has been trying to pressure China to reduce its trade relationship with Russia and announced its first significant round of Russia-related sanctions on Chinese companies last month. However, trade between the neighboring countries has increased in recent years in response to US sanctions, and new ones aren’t expected to discourage the growing relationship.Russia has vowed that it will respond to the new US sanctions. “As always in cases like this, Russia will not leave such aggressive actions without a response,” said Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova.Following the announcement of the sanctions, Russia’s main stock exchange said it was halting trade in the US dollar and euro.The US and NATO accuse China of fueling the war in Ukraine even though Beijing doesn’t send military aid to Russia, and it’s the Western powers that have been pouring weapons into Ukraine and discouraging peace talks.

US Wants To Create 'Hellscape' of Drones If China Attacks Taiwan - The US military is planning to create a “hellscape” of drones in the Taiwan Strait if China moves to attack Taiwan, the top US military commander in the region has told The Washington Post.Adm. Samuel Paparo, the head of US Indo-Pacific Command, told Postcolumnist Josh Rogin that the idea would be to send thousands of drones, unmanned submarines, and drone boats into the Strait to buy time for the US and Taiwan to prepare a defense of the island.“I want to turn the Taiwan Strait into an unmanned hellscape using a number of classified capabilities,” Paparo said. “So that I can make their lives utterly miserable for a month, which buys me the time for the rest of everything.”The US has taken steps in the direction of developing swarms of drones for a future war with China. Last year, Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks outlined a plan to deploy thousands of drones controlled by Artificial Intelligence, known as the “Replicator Initiative.”“With Replicator, we’re beginning with all-domain, attritable autonomy, or ADA2, to help us overcome the [People’s Republic of China’s] advantage in mass: more ships, more missiles, more forces,” Hicks said at a conference in September 2023. She added that the US plans to deploy the drones “at a scale of multiple thousands, in multiple domains, within the next 18-to-24 months.”Paparo framed the plan as necessary to deter China from attacking Taiwan, but the US military buildup in the region and its new support for Taiwan has only raised tensions and is making a conflict more likely. The admiral also used Cold War-style language when discussing the situation in the Asia Pacific, saying regional countries need to make a choice between the US and China.“The region has got two choices. The first is that they can submit, and as an end result give up some of their freedoms … or they can arm to the teeth,” Paparo said. “Both cases have direct implications to the security, the freedom, and the well-being of the citizens of the United States of America.”

Four American Educators Stabbed In China -Four American college instructors from a small Iowa college were stabbed in broad daylight during a teaching trip to China, highlighting the increasing dangers abroad amid rising Sino-US tensions. Beijing says the incident was "isolated," and foreigners are safe there.The four educators are from Cornell College, a private liberal arts college in Mount Vernon, Iowa. The school's president, Jonathan Brand, told CNN the educators were involved in a "serious incident" during a daytime visit to a public park. "We have been in contact with all four instructors and are assisting them during this time," Brand said. The injured educators were walking with faculty members from the school's Chinese partner school, Beihua University, when the incident occurred in the northeastern Chinese city of Jilin. Graphic footage circulating on X shows the educators covered in blood on the ground, accompanied by a police officer. The incident comes as Chinese leader Xi Jinping pushes for more student exchanges to bolster US-China relations.The latest. pic.twitter.com/v1jnrcHZeB China's foreign ministry spokesman, Lin Jian, said the incident was "isolated" and that Beijing would protect the safety of foreigners in the country. "The police preliminarily judged that the case was isolated. Further investigation is underway," Jian said, adding the incident would not "affect the normal development of China-US people-to-people exchanges."

US Begins Withdrawal from Niger - US Africa Command announced on Saturday that it has begun the process of withdrawing military assets from Niger as the US has a September 15 deadline to get out of the country.“The US Department of Defense and the Nigerien Ministry of National Defense of the Republic of Niger announce that the withdrawal of US forces and assets from Niger has progressed from initial preparations to redeployment,” AFRICOM said in a joint statement with Niger’s military. “This significant transition began with the departure of a US Air Force C-17 Globemaster III from Air Base 101 in Niamey on June 7, 2024,” the statement said. The US has about 1,000 military personnel to remove from two bases in the country, Air Base 101 and Air Base 201. The American troops could be redeployed elsewhere in Africa, but AFRICOM said some of them “have already redeployed from Niger to their home stations as their mission contributions concluded.” “Both US and Nigerien officials are dedicated to completing a safe, orderly, and responsible withdrawal by September 15, 2024. They emphasize their commitment to the protection and security of American forces during this process,” the statement added. The US finally began its withdrawal months after Niger asked the US to leave. The Biden administration tried to negotiate a deal with the military-led government, which took power after a July 2023 coup, to allow a continued US presence, but the effort failed. A whistleblower told Congressthat the initial US refusal to leave Niger put US troops in danger.Nigerien Prime Minister Ali Mahaman Lamine Zeine told The Washington Post last month that the US was asked to leave due to threats from US officials over Niger’s relationship with Russia and Iran.Zeine pointed to threats made by Molly Phee, the State Department’s top official for African affairs. “When she finished, I said, ‘Madame, I am going to summarize in two points what you have said,’” Zeine said. “First, you have come here to threaten us in our country. That is unacceptable. And you have come here to tell us with whom we can have relationships, which is also unacceptable. And you have done it all with a condescending tone and a lack of respect.”Zeine also said that the US troops in Niger stopped helping with counterterrorism operations following the coup, which ousted former President Mohamed Bazoum. “The Americans stayed on our soil, doing nothing while the terrorists killed people and burned towns,” he said.

Oil lobby groups sue over Biden EV push - Oil and gas lobbying groups are suing the Biden administration over its effort to move the nation toward electric vehicles (EVs). In two separate filings, trade groups representing the oil and gas industry challenged a rule from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) that aims to shift new car sales toward electric vehicles. The American Petroleum Institute, a major oil and gas lobbying organization, filed one suit alongside the lobby groups for corn growers and agricultural interests, as well as six auto dealers. “Today, we are taking action to protect American consumers, U.S. manufacturing workers and our nation’s hard-won energy security from this intrusive government mandate,” said Ryan Meyers, senior vice president and general counsel of the petroleum group, in a written statement. “EPA has exceeded its congressional authority,” he added. A second suit was filed by other energy-related groups including the American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers and the Texas Oil & Gas Association. The EPA rule in question sets new emission limits for automakers’ fleets, and the agency projects that it could make 56 percent of new car sales electric and 13 percent plug-in hybrids by 2032. The EPA declined to comment on the lawsuits. When it issued its rule, the agency pointed to reductions in planet-warming emissions and improvements to air quality that would come from the shift away from gas-powered cars.

Trump Criticizes Biden's "Crazy" EV Mandate, Pledges Policy Reversal -In a recent meeting with House Republicans, former President Donald Trump declared his intention to completely reverse President Joe Biden's electric vehicle (EV) policies if he is re-elected. Trump criticized the current administration's push towards battery-powered cars, describing the mandate as "crazy," according to Idaho Representative Russ Fulcher. He emphasized that, if given the opportunity, he would overturn Biden's EV policies entirely.Trump's remarks, delivered at the Capitol Hill Club, reflect his longstanding opposition to electric vehicles. He has consistently argued that EVs are ineffective and detrimental to American autoworkers, suggesting they primarily benefit countries like China and Mexico. Virginia Representative Morgan Griffith also highlighted Trump's sentiment, noting that Trump believes Biden is forcing Americans into buying electric cars, which he deems unreasonable.Trump's comments come amid legal challenges to one of Biden's key EV policies. On Thursday, oil and ethanol industry groups filed a lawsuit to block the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) new air-pollution limits, which they argue would compel automakers to increase their electric vehicle sales unlawfully.Biden's administration has set an ambitious goal to have 50% of all new vehicle sales be electric by 2030. To support this transition, the administration offers consumers tax credits of up to $7,500 for purchasing electric vehicles. In stark contrast, Trump has vocally opposed these measures, criticizing them as impractical and harmful to the domestic automotive industry.The opposition from Trump and the ongoing legal disputes underscore the significant political and industry resistance to Biden's EV initiatives. As the debate over the future of electric vehicles in the U.S. continues, the oil and gas industry, along with other stakeholders, will be closely monitoring the evolving policies and their implications.

Supreme Court asks Biden administration for feedback on Hawaii Big Oil lawsuit --The Supreme Court solicited the Biden administration’s views on two lawsuits by the city of Honolulu that accuse the oil and gas industries of knowingly suppressing the truth about their roles in climate change. “The Solicitor General is invited to file a brief in these cases expressing the views of the United States,” the court wrote Monday. The Hawaii capital first sued several major fossil fuel companies in 2020, alleging they had created a public nuisance with their contributions to climate change and failing to warn the public about how their products would affect the environment. Hawaii’s top court had earlier ruled that the lawsuit could proceed, writing that the defendants “knew about the dangers of using their fossil fuel products, failed to warn consumers about those known dangers, and engaged in a sophisticated disinformation campaign to increase fossil fuel consumption, all of which exacerbated the impacts of climate change in Honolulu.” The defendants responded by appealing to the nation’s highest court. The court’s request will push back its decision on whether to review the case. Justice Samuel Alito did not participate in the consideration. While the order does not provide an explanation, Alito’s most recent available financial disclosures indicate he owns stock in ConocoPhillips, one of the defendants in the lawsuits. Several states and localities are the plaintiffs in ongoing lawsuits seeking to hold oil and gas companies civilly liable for the effects of climate change. The Honolulu cases are the furthest along, and a Supreme Court decision on either side could have major implications for such legal arguments. In a statement, Ted Boutrous, counsel for Chevron Corp., said “the Hawaii Supreme Court’s decision flatly contradicts U.S. Supreme Court precedent and federal circuit court decisions, including the Second Circuit which held in dismissing New York City’s similar lawsuit, ‘such a sprawling case is simply beyond the limits of state law.’ These meritless state and local lawsuits violate the federal constitution and interfere with federal energy policy.” Shell, ConocoPhilips and Exxon Mobil declined to comment to The Hill.

US Democrats Escalate Oil Price Fixing Crackdown to DOJ -- The House Judiciary Committee of Democrats has urged the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) to investigate potential collusion among oil and gas companies to inflate prices artificially. The call, made through a letter to Attorney-General Merrick Garland and Assistant Attorney-General Jonathan Kanter, comes after the House Committee of Democrats for Energy and Commerce initiated a probe into the matter. Both lower house committees cited the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) accusation that former Pioneer Natural Resources Co. chief executive Scott Sheffield had schemed with representatives from the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and OPEC ally countries to curb production to boost prices. The FTC found out about Sheffield’s purported attempts at price fixing during an extended anti-trust review of Exxon Mobil Corp’s $64.5 billion acquisition of Pioneer. It banned Sheffield from holding a board or advisory position at ExxonMobil as a condition in granting anti-trust clearance, according to an FTC statement May 2. While Sheffield retired from the chief executive role last year, he remained on the Pioneer board. Pioneer then issued a statement saying Sheffield would not contest the condition and prevent the merger. Pioneer however argued that the FTC accusation “reflects a fundamental misunderstanding of the U.S. and global oil markets and misreads the nature and intent of Mr. Sheffield’s actions”. “On the contrary, Mr. Sheffield focused on legitimate topics such as investor feedback on independent oil and gas company growth and capital reinvestment frameworks; unfair foreign practices that threatened to undermine U.S. energy security; and, through dialogue with government officials, the need to sustain a resilient, competitive and economically vibrant oil and gas industry in the United States”, Pioneer said. ExxonMobil announced the completion of the merger May 3. In the letter to the DOJ leadership, the Democrat lawmakers claimed, “Taken together, the FTC’s allegations suggest a potentially widespread conspiracy among U.S. oil producers to keep prices high by artificially suppressing production”. “Gas prices today average $3.60 per gallon, up from last year”, they said. “As Americans contend with the rising cost of living, prices at the pump play a major role. In a single month last year, rising gas prices made up more than half of the overall increase in the rate of inflation”. “Troublingly, the full extent of this price-fixing conspiracy may never have come to light had Exxon not acquired Pioneer”, stated the letter, signed by 10 legislators including Jerrold Nadler, ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee of Democrats. “[T]he antitrust enforcement authorities must immediately open full investigations into this illegal scheme”, the letter said. “Because DOJ has sole authority for criminal antitrust enforcement, your Department must take the lead in this effort. “We urge you to immediately open an investigation into a potential antitrust conspiracy among U.S. oil producers, OPEC, and OPEC+. We strongly encourage you to use every tool at the Department’s disposal, including criminal penalties, to uncover and punish wrongdoing”. Responding to the recent conspiracy about price fixing, industry lobby group American Petroleum Institute (API) said U.S. producers have played a key role in helping “rebalance” the global oil and gas market, but has not directly addressed the allegations of collusion. “While we don’t know the details of the FTC’s allegations against one individual, the FTC itself acknowledges the undeniable fact that U.S. producers have led the world in production gains over the past few years”, API spokesperson Andrea Woods told Rigzone in comments about the probe by the House Committee of Democrats for Energy and Commerce. “This increase in American production has been instrumental in meeting growing demand and helping rebalance markets—especially in the face of supply cuts from OPEC and other producers”, the statement added.

Senate confirms new energy regulators, extending Biden's grip on panel that backs renewable energy(AP) — President Joe Biden’s grip on a key federal energy commission will last beyond his first term, giving a boost to the Democrat’s push for renewable energy regardless of the election results in November. The Senate ensured that political reality as lawmakers approved three new members of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, including two Democrats. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said confirmation of the three nominees allow FERC to “keep its quorum and continue its mission of providing Americans with affordable, reliable, safe energy.” The five-member commission oversees natural gas pipelines and other energy infrastructure, including transmission of electricity across state lines, hydropower and interstate transportation of oil and natural gas. The panel approved a long-awaited rule last month making it easier to transmit renewable energy such as wind and solar power to the electric grid — a key part of Biden’s goal to eliminate greenhouse gas emissions economy-wide by 2050. The rule is aimed at boosting the nation’s aging power grid to meet surging demand fueled by huge data centers, electrification of vehicles and buildings, artificial intelligence and other uses. Earlier this week, the agency approved a request by the nearly $8 billion Mountain Valley Pipeline to send natural gas across rugged mountainsides in West Virginia and Virginia, despite longstanding objections from environmental groups, landowners and some elected officials. On Wednesday, the Senate confirmed the nominations of Democrat David Rosner and Republican Lindsay See for three and four-year terms, respectively, on the commission. Senators on Thursday confirmed Democrat Judy Chang’s nomination to a five-year term. Chang replaces Democrat Allison Clements, whose term expires June 30. The votes give Democrats a 3-2 majority on the commission until at least June 2026, when the term of Democratic Chairman Willie Phillips is set to expire.

Trade War Concerns Loom Over US and UK Elections - 2024 will be a year of big elections, particularly for the United Kingdom and the United States. Amid what many experts consider to be an escalating trade war, citizens in both countries can’t help but wonder what lies in store for UK and US trade. On July 4, the UK electorate will go to the polls to vote in a national election. As in the United States, two parties will largely dominate the choice. The UK has a small Green party and a left-of-center Liberal/Democratic party, both of which perform well in local municipal elections but rarely garner more than 10% of the national vote. There is also the single-policy Reform Party, which has a sole focus on immigration. Recent polls suggest the country will vote in favor of the left-of-center Labour party and oust the decade-old, marginally right-of-center Conservative Party. However, no one outside the country will notice any difference. The same cannot be said for the US presidential election on November 5. Unlike the election in the UK, America’s choice presents a stark contrast: the continuation of an aging Joe Biden or the return of an also-aging Donald Trump. Many would like to see younger candidates on both sides, but it is what it is. At this stage, it is too close to call, but should Donald Trump get back in, we can likely expect a return of “America First on steroids.” But when looking at US trade, it seems that Europe, or at least Europe’s media, has largely misunderstood what the former President was trying to achieve in his previous term. When the Trump administration slapped tariffs on steel and aluminum in the name of national security, free marketers met them with howls of protest, labeling the efforts as blatant protectionism. However, both US political parties now seem to be aware of the fact that the West remains embroiled in an economic trade war. A key indication of these is a 30-year trade imbalance cumulatively approaching $20 trillion. If the US and UK continue to lose the trade war, they face the very real threat of losing a fighting war (if it ever comes to it).A country cannot sustain an effective defense on the back of retail demand or services; it needs a manufacturing base. As Russia recently learned, the enemy’s first move in a fighting war is to hinder your ability to import and export primary products – steel, base metals, chemicals, semiconductors, etc. China produces some 50% of the total global output of such products, while the US, like Europe, is a net importer of all of them.So, while the rhetoric was unconventional, the logic behind putting up barriers to support domestic production remains sound. Are tariffs in themselves enough? Asian economies like Japan, South Korea, and, more recently, China, clearly didn’t think so. These nations poured state support into the development of substantial domestic industries. In the US, the same level of state support did not follow the imposition of trade barriers. Instead, the country largely relied on the market to respond to the “opportunity.” The result has been modest at best.There was some minor investment in the steel industry, but nothing spectacular. Meanwhile, aided by state support, Century recently announced its intention to build the first new primary aluminum smelter in 45 years. However, even after the imposition of the tariffs, the US aluminum industry continued to shrink.The problem clearly lies not just imports but domestic power costs. The Biden administration’s Inflation Reduction Act partially intended to address this. In fact, the $500 million flowing to Century arises from this package. But many argue that the IRA tried to solve too many problems at once, such as alleviating living conditions and pollution in disadvantaged areas.While noble, these goals will not be as effective in supporting America’s manufacturing. Clearly, they would not be as effective as a policy focused solely on creating lower power costs for manufacturers facing competition from countries openly supporting such policies for a decade or more.

8 Suspected Illegal Alien Terrorists Arrested In New York, Philadelphia & LA - For nearly a quarter-century, Americans have been subjected to mass surveillance via the Patriot Act. Yet, while the government violates the privacy rights of Americans with warrantless surveillance, the safety of the country is being undermined by top left-wing officials flooding the open southern border with millions of illegal aliens, some of which are known terrorists and or terrorist-linked. Disastrous open southern border policies pushed by the Biden administration make absolutely no sense in a world that is dangerously fracturing into a multi-polar state of war and conflict. America's enemies can walk right in, and that's exactly what's happening. NBC News reported Tuesday that eight men from Tajikistan with potential ISIS connections out of central Asia were arrested in New York, Philadelphia, and Los Angeles. The FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force and US Immigration and Customs Enforcement were tracking the suspects for months after they crossed Biden's open southern border in the spring of 2023.While they have not been charged with a terrorist connection or plot yet, the FBI alerted ICE they should be arrested because of potential ties to ISIS, and they were arrested on immigration charges, two sources say. They are detained and face removal proceedings before an immigration judge, and they could later face terrorism-related charges, two sources say. –NBC One X user made this point, " Here are the results finally coming out, due to the mass illegal border crossers, hundreds of thousands of them, surely more with ties to terrorist orgs. Why do Americans still have to abide by the patriot act while migrants are free to roam? This is a failed president Biden https://t.co/3R3JFeGVph When one tries to rationalize the White House's decision to allow tens of millions (est.) of illegal aliens into the country, the outcome here is a manufactured crisis that has left the country vulnerable to attack. In April, FBI Director Christopher Wray warned lawmakers that there is fear of a "coordinated attack" in major US cities. This warning came weeks after ISIS attacked a concert hall in Moscow, killing 145 people. "Our most immediate concern has been that individuals or small groups will draw twisted inspiration from the events in the Middle East to carry out attacks here at home. "But now, increasingly concerning is the potential for a coordinated attack here in the homeland, akin to the ISIS-K attack we saw at the Russia concert hall a couple weeks ago," Wray told a House Appropriations subcommittee earlier this year.

Chuck Schumer critiques Mitch McConnell's meet up with Donald Trump --Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) expressed disappointment on Thursday that Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) attended the meeting with former President Trump at the National Republican Senatorial Committee’s headquarters on Capitol Hill on Thursday. In an interview on CNN’s “Erin Burnett OutFront,” Schumer was asked whether he was surprised that McConnell shook Trump’s hand at their meeting — the first time the two Republican leaders had spoken since their fallout in 2020. “Well, let me just say this. I think there are a good number of Republicans, McConnell included, who know deep in their hearts and deep in their minds what a danger he is to democracy, and what a disaster he’d be as president,” Schumer said. “McConnell should have had the courage not to show up. He knows, I think, he knows deep in his heart what Trump is like and what Trump would do,” Schumer added. Trump returned to Capitol Hill for the first time since the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, and he met with House Republicans before having lunch with Senate Republicans. McConnell — who has been critical of the former president but then endorsed his candidacy once it became clear Trump would clinch the 2024 presidential nomination — spoke positively to reporters about the meeting Thursday. “We had a really positive meeting. He and I got a chance to talk a little bit, shook hands a few times,” McConnell said after the meeting. “It was an entirely positive meeting,” he added. “I can’t think of anything out of it to tell you that was negative.”

Matt Gaetz says Donald Trump trashed Ukraine aid during House GOP meeting -Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) said former President Trump criticized the $61 billion for Ukraine passed under Speaker Mike Johnson’s (R-La.) leadership and signaled his disinterest in sending the war-torn country more support during his Thursday meeting with House Republicans. ‘They’re never going to be there for us,’” Gaetz wrote in a post on the social platform X, sharing comments from Trump at the morning meeting. According to Gaetz, Trump also asserted the U.S. should “pay OUR TROOPS” instead of sending billions of dollars to Ukraine. “Trump trashing the Ukraine Aid to @SpeakerJohnson’s face is so epic,” Gaetz added. Gaetz, who has long been critical of sending more aid to Ukraine, met with Trump and other House Republicans on Capitol Hill, in a meeting Gaetz earlier likened to a “pep rally.” Trump had a second meeting with Senate Republicans, which included some of his sharpest GOP critics in Congress. The meetings mark the first time Trump has traveled to Capitol Hill since the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol.

Liz Cheney rips Mitch McConnell over Donald Trump meeting: 'History will remember the shame' -Former Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) hit Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) for meeting with former President Trump alongside the Senate GOP on Thursday. Cheney, who left Congress after losing reelection to her seat in 2022, said the meeting shows McConnell is enabling the former president, whom she called “a danger to our Republic.” “Mitch McConnell knows Trump provoked the violent attack on our Capitol and then ‘watched television happily’ as his mob brutally beat police officers and hunted the Vice President,” she wrote on social platform X. “He knows Trump refused for hours to tell his mob to leave and ‘even then with police officers bleeding … he kept repeating his election lies and praising the criminals.’” “He knows Trump committed a ‘disgraceful dereliction of duty’ and is a danger to our Republic,” she continued. “Trump and his collaborators will be defeated, and history will remember the shame of people like McConnell who enabled them.” Trump’s meeting with Republican senators marked the first time he was on Capitol Hill since 2021. It also marked the first time he had been in the same room with McConnell since 2020, following years of feuding between the two. McConnell told reporters after the meeting that it was “positive.” “He and I got a chance to talk, we shook hands a few times. He got a lot of standing ovations,” he said. “It was an entirely positive meeting. I can’t think of anything to tell you out of it that was negative.” The former president also met with the House GOP earlier Thursday — a meeting that comes as Republicans in both chambers begin to prepare a bullish agenda in the event he is reelected and the GOP controls both the House and Senate. Cheney was one of a handful of Republicans who consistently tried to hold Trump responsible for the attack on the Capitol. She served on the House Jan. 6 committee, and cited the Capitol riots as responsible for her fallout with the GOP. The former congresswoman has since turned into one of Trump’s loudest critics in the party. Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah), a similarly vocal critic, initially planned not to attend the meeting though changed his mind when a flight out of town was canceled.

Jan. 6 panel chair: 'How dare Trump show his face' on Capitol Hill? --Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.), who chaired the committee tasked with investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, sharply rebuked former President Trump for returning to Capitol Hill on Thursday — the first time since that infamous day. “After inciting a deadly insurrection that defiled the halls of Congress, how dare Trump show his face on these grounds? Congressional Republicans allow him to waltz in here when it’s known he has no regard for democracy,” Thompson said in a statement about Trump’s visit to D.C. Trump met with House Republicans at the Capitol Hill Club in the morning and joined Senate Republicans at the National Republican Senatorial Committee’s headquarters for a lunch. The visit marked Trump’s first return to Capitol Hill since a mob of his supporters stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, many with the stated goal of preventing the transfer of power from Trump to President Biden. It also comes just two weeks after a 12-person jury in New York found Trump guilty on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in a conspiracy to shield the American public from potentially damaging information ahead of the 2016 presidential election. Trump faces three other felony indictments: one federal case related to his efforts to keep classified documents after leaving office and obstruct the federal government’s efforts to retrieve the sensitive material; and two other cases related to his efforts to stay in power after losing the 2020 presidential election, one in federal court and one in Georgia. Thompson, in his statement, said Trump has continued to flout the rule of law since the Capitol attack. “Since January 6th, Donald Trump, a twice-impeached convicted felon, has repeatedly doubled down on his disrespect for the rule of law and continues to sow hate and division,” Thompson said. “He still presents the same dire threat to our democracy that he did three years ago — and he’d be wise to head back to Mar-a-Lago and await his sentencing.” The Jan. 6 select committee, led by Thompson and then-Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.), ended its 18-month probe by recommending criminal charges against the former president and releasing an 845-page final report including much of the testimony and evidence gathered in the process.The committee found Trump was “directly responsible” for summoning a mob of his supporters to Washington, D.C., on Jan. 6, encouraging them to march to the Capitol, and “further provoking the already violent and lawless crowd” by posting on social media that then-Vice President Mike Pence should stop the election certification, according to the executive summary the committee released.The committee also noted Trump’s inaction on the day of the riot — despite numerous requests from staff and family to tell his supporters to go home — and his disinclination to send security assistance to the Capitol amid the violence.

"I Take Responsibility": Pelosi Admits Fault For The Lack Of Security Precautions On Jan 6th - For years, some of us have asked why the Capitol was so poorly prepared for the January 6th riot. As part of the coverage on that day, I remarked at the start of the protests that I had never seen the Capitol so thinly protected for a major demonstration. Some paths to the Capitol were protected by a handful of bicycle officers and thin barriers.Now, a previously-unreleased video taken on Jan. 6, 2021 shows then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., admitting that she was responsible for the lack of preparedness.The video shows Pelosi in an exchange with Chief of Staff Terri McCullough on the evacuation. Pelosi states:“We have responsibility, Terri. We did not have any accountability for what was going on there. And we should have. This is ridiculous.You’re going to ask me in the middle of the thing when they’ve already breached…that, should we call the Capitol Police? I mean the National Guard?Why weren’t the National Guard there to begin with?…They clearly didn’t know, and I take responsibility for not having them just prepared for more.”The video was never released by the J6 Committee, which was criticized for its highly choreographed and scripted hearings with little balance in the presentation of evidence. The lack of emphasis on the security issues was glaring and raised by critics throughout the hearings.While Democrats and the media dismissed the issue and claims that Trump offered to supply the national guard, it was later confirmed that those offers were made to Congress and rejected.

James Comer investigating news-rating group NewsGuard - House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer (R-Ky.) announced Thursday he is launching a probe into a news-rating system that seeks to guard against misinformation by scoring news and information sites based on their reliability, trustworthiness and financial conflict of interest. Comer said the probe will focus on “the impact of NewsGuard on protected First Amendment speech and its potential to serve as a non-transparent agent of censorship campaigns.” In a letter to NewsGuard’s chief executive officers, veteran news executives Steven Brill and Gordon Crovitz, Comer requested documents on the company’s contracts with federal agencies and “its adherence to its own policies intended to guard against appearances of bias,” including how the company avoids conflicts of interest. “The Committee seeks to make an independent determination about whether NewsGuard’s intervention on protected speech has been in any way sponsored by a federal, state, local, or foreign government,” Comer wrote in his letter. “The Committee does not take issue with a business entity providing other businesses and customers with data-based analysis to protect their brands. Rather, we are concerned with the potential involvement of government entities in interfering with free expression. Truthfulness and transparency about the purpose and origin of inquiries and managing conflicts of interest that may impact the public good are also relevant,” Comer added in the letter. NewsGuard is a web extension that rates the reliability of news sources, in what appears as a nutrition label. The scores come from a team of “expert journalists” who rate publishers on a scale of 0-100, based on “a set of apolitical criteria of journalistic practice,” according to the website. The factors include whether the site repeatedly publishes “false or egregiously misleading content,” whether it presents the information “responsibly,” whether it has “effective practices for correcting errors,” and whether it treats opinion and news differently. Other criteria include avoiding deceptive headlines, disclosing ownership and financing and revealing possible conflicts of interest.

Garland contempt vote set to hit floor despite GOP reservations -A vote to hold Attorney General Merrick Garland in contempt of Congress could be on thin ice, with almost half a dozen Republican lawmakers expressing reservations about backing the move to censure him in an expected Wednesday vote. Two sources familiar with internal conversations told The Hill that at least five GOP members have expressed opposition to backing a contempt resolution against the attorney general. One source said that additional members have expressed hesitation over taking the vote. No Republicans have publicly said they plan to vote against the measure, but just two GOP defections are enough to sink a bill with the party’s razor-thin margins. The House Rules Committee cleared the way Tuesday for the resolution to be considered on the full House floor. House leadership had delayed a vote on the Garland resolution for nearly a month after it was passed by both the House Judiciary and Oversight committees. The measure has simmered even after Republicans vowed to conduct greater oversight of the Justice Department following the unrelated state-level prosecution of former President Trump. House Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) was noticeably absent during a House Rules Committee meeting to consider the measure Tuesday, but he sought to project confidence even as he avoided directly answering whether the GOP had the votes. “I think we do, but you have to check with the whip,” he told reporters Tuesday night. The move comes after both the committees subpoenaed audio of President Biden’s interview with special counsel Robert Hur. The panels already have a transcript of the conversation. The Justice Department has argued that releasing the audio could chill cooperation in future investigations from those not wishing to have their conversations shared with Congress. Biden has also claimed executive privilege over the audio, which largely provides legal cover to Garland as the assertion is generally considered to foreclose any prosecution over the covered materials. Reps. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.) and Garret Graves (R-La.) both said they were undecided on how to vote in the matter.

DOJ memo says Garland cannot be prosecuted for contempt over Biden-Hur audio --More An internal Justice Department (DOJ) memo argued Attorney General Merrick Garland would be protected from prosecution for contempt of Congress given President Biden’s assertion of executive privilege over audio tapes Republicans have sought by subpoena. The 57-page memo from the department’s Office of Legal Counsel (OLC), obtained by The Hill, lays out the case for Garland’s refusal to turn over the audio of Biden’s conversation with special counsel Robert Hur. The GOP already has a transcript of the interview. The OLC, which operates as a legal adviser for the department, wrote that no administration official has been prosecuted for failing to comply with a subpoena when the president has claimed executive privilege. “For nearly seven decades and across presidential administrations of both parties, the Executive Branch has taken the position that the criminal contempt of Congress statute … does not apply to Executive Branch officials who do not comply with a congressional subpoena based on a presidential assertion of executive privilege,” according to the memo. “Consistent with this longstanding position, no U.S. Attorney has pursued criminal contempt charges against an Executive Branch official asserting the President’s claim of executive privilege.” The memo lays out in detail the response that Congress is likely to get from the Justice Department if it chooses to recommend contempt for Garland in a Wednesday vote. Contempt of Congress largely serves as a recommendation to the Justice Department, which must then weigh whether to bring charges. Republicans have fumed over Garland’s decision not to turn over the audio of Biden’s interview after the DOJ shared the transcript with the House Oversight and Judiciary committees. “The president has waived any executive privilege over these audio recordings by releasing a transcript of the entire interview to the public,” House Oversight and Accountability Chair James Comer (R-Ky.) said during a House Rules Committee meeting Tuesday. But the OLC refuted that argument in the memo. “Because the committees have the transcripts of the special counsel’s interviews, the needs the committees have articulated for the recordings are plainly insufficient to overcome a privilege claim grounded in these important separation of powers concerns,” according to the memo. “The audio recording will not reveal any information relevant to the committees’ stated needs that is not available in the transcripts.” Garland had resisted sharing the transcripts, expressing concern it could chill the Justice Department’s ability to get cooperation with witnesses who would oppose having their conversations shared with Congress. And in a separate legal battle from outside groups seeking the audio, the Justice Department argued sharing the audio created the risk for manipulation. Congressional Democrats have also argued that the GOP wants the tapes for campaign commercials ahead of the election. GOP members, meanwhile, contend that hearing Biden’s response to questions could illuminate Hur’s comments about the president’s memory and offer insights into his mental acuity. “The memo reaffirms the executive branch’s long standing position that the criminal contempt of Congress statute does not apply, and could not constitutionally be applied, to executive branch officials who do not comply with a Congressional subpoena based on a presidential assertion of executive privilege,” the memo stated.

FBI figures show drop in violent crime -- Violent crime dropped considerably in the first months of 2024 compared to the same time last year, according to statistics released Monday by the FBI. Crime reporting for the first quarter of the year showed a 15 percent drop in violent crime overall, including a 13 percent drop in aggravated assault.Serious violent crime like murder and rape both decreased by about 26 percent. The figures were a victory for the Biden administration, which sought to highlight the dip as the GOP focuses on crime ahead of the 2024 election.“This data makes clear that last year’s historic decline in violent crime is continuing,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a release alongside the crime report.“When I became Attorney General over three years ago, we knew that grappling with the violent crime that surged early in the pandemic would be one of the greatest challenges we would face at the Justice Department. That is why we have poured every available resource into working with our law enforcement and community partners to drive down violent crime.”Other serious crime also dipped in the first quarter compared with the same period in 2023.Robbery decreased by 18 percent and property crime declined 15 percent.

Admission Of Failure? Democratic Cities Stop Reporting Crime Stats To FBI -The Biden administration's statisticians at the Bureau of Labor Statistics have painted a rosy economic picture for the job market. Yet, voters know damn well the economy is in a persistent inflation storm sparked by Bidenomics. That's why President Biden's reelection odds are sinking by the month. The most recent BLS jobs report shows just how absurd these reports get by the month, and there is no shame by the gov't statisticians as working poor Americans struggle to pay rent and put food on the table. Context about the political BLS is crucial to understanding that data massaging doesn't stop there. The White House has recently unleashed its propaganda cannons, claiming nationwide crime has plunged to a half-century low. The problem with this narrative is that it's at odds with imploding progressive cities that do not uphold law and order and fail to arrest and prosecute criminals. Plus, on top of this all, Democrats have flooded the nation with ten million illegal aliens.The data is at odds with reality. Recently, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre touted: "Violent crime is at a near 50-year low…" Responding to Griffin's post on X, Red State's Bonchie said, "Pretty amazing what happens when left-wing cities just stop reporting crime to the FBI." Bonchie cited a recent NRA-ILA report explaining how the Crime Prevention Research Center found that "one factor contributing to the ostensible dip in violent crime is that almost 40% of local law enforcement agencies are no longer transmitting their information to the national Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) database." Violent crime across America must be so out of control in failed leftist metro areas that radical leftists in local governments just stopped reporting crime data to the FBI. This is an admission the woke utopia of criminal and social justice reforms is an utter disaster. Here's more from the NRA-ILA report: In "2021, 37% of police departments stopped reporting crime data to the FBI (including large departments for Chicago, Los Angeles, and New York)," and for other jurisdictions, like Baltimore and Nashville, crimes are being underreported or undercounted. This leaves a large gap; by 2021, the real crime data collected by the FBI represented only 63% of police departments overseeing just 65% of the population. When compared to pre-2021 data, the result is a questionable "decline" in crime. One X user provides the three easy steps under progressive control to reduce crime: Democrats plan to reduce crime in 3 easy steps
1. Don't arrest criminals.
2. Don’t prosecute criminals
3. Don't report crime statistics
Historic press secretary Karine Jean Pierre: “Crime is at a 50-year low.” Massaging economic data, like in the BLS' case, or, Democratic cities just not reporting data to the FBI achieves the intended result: A former alleged FBI agent on X explained: "The problem is, that all the cities didn't stop sending arrest data in at the same time. The problem has been getting worse and worse as mayors got tired of claiming crime was down and then being called liars by people pulling up the FBI reported crime. Their answer increasingly became to just stop reporting the crimes (and also there was some reclassifying of violent crimes as well, like calling an armed robbery a larceny). And, even the murder rates suffered from a data problem that's really not anyone's fault. Trauma care just keeps better and better and a whole lot of shooting victims who have died just a few years ago, now are saved. (Baltimore saw this phenomena when they opened their shock trauma center and murders inexplicably went down while attempted murders went up.)" The problem is, that all the cities didn't stop sending arrest data in at the same time. The problem has been getting worse and worse as mayors got tired of claiming crime was down and then being called liars by people pulling up the FBI reported crime. Their answer… To sum it up, the government is rigging statistics—be it about the economy or crime. You're living in one giant matrix. This time, the bullshit is clearer than ever.

Cuomo Blames COVID-19 Nursing Home Order On Unknown Staffer During Testimony To Congress -Former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo told members of Congress on June 11 that he was not responsible for an order requiring nursing homes to accept residents discharged from hospitals even if they still had COVID-19, according to lawmakers in the room.Mr. Cuomo did “tell us that he did not know that this directive existed, that he did not authorize it, that his department of health commissioner did not authorize it, that somehow it just popped up from an unknown staff member,” Rep. Nicole Malliotakis (R-N.Y.) told reporters in a briefing after the closed-door hearing.Ms. Malliotakis said it was “outrageous” that the governor didn’t know the mandate came out of his administration.“The governor finds out about this directive that kills thousands of seniors a month later,” she said. “And he did not do an internal investigation to find out who this lowly staff member, who’s still unknown, who that person was? That to me is unconscionable.”The March 25, 2020, directive from the New York Department of Health stated that nursing home operators couldn’t refuse to accept residents even if they tested positive for COVID-19. “No resident shall be denied readmission or admission to a nursing home solely based on a confirmed or suspected diagnosis of COVID-19,” the order stated.Nursing homes were also barred from requiring COVID-19 testing if hospital staff determined the residents were medically stable before discharging them. Mr. Cuomo said that nursing home operators could lose their licenses or be fined if they did not follow state policies.More than 15,000 nursing home residents in New York state died from COVID-19, according to state data. The numbers were adjusted upward after Mr. Cuomo left office and several state agencies found the Cuomo administration had undercounted nursing home deaths. Mr. Cuomo partially reversed the order in May 2021 but kept other elements in place for additional months.

NIH Scrambled After ZeroHedge Report On Fauci Beagle Experiments, Scrubbed Database, Then Fed WaPo Disinformation | ZeroHedge -Last week, Rep. Majorie Taylor Greene took a detour from grilling Anthony Fauci over COVID-19, to confront him with photos of beagles who had been subjected to animal testing experiments widely reported to be funded by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) under the National Institutes of Health (NIH), following a 2021 investigation series by the group White Coat Waste Project."We should be recommending you to be prosecuted," Greene told Fauci. "We should be writing a criminal referral because you should be prosecuted for crimes against humanity. You belong in prison," she continued, adding "That man does not deserve to have a license. As a matter of fact, it should be revoked and he belongs in prison." These experiments, signed off by Fauci, included injecting and force-feeding the puppies with experimental drugs, infesting them with ticks, and placing them in cages with infectious…pic.twitter.com/v8AnQii4uC This opened up a can of worms which includes a response from White Coat Waste, and triggered the Washington Post's Glenn Kessler to do a deep dive into 'Beaglegage' in an effort to debunk Greene. When we first saw Greene hold up the photo, we figured this would be easy to debunk — another in a string of misleading attacks against Fauci, who became the public face of the government’s response to the pandemic. -Washington Post Only to discover that the NIH appears to have lied about funding the experiment, which involved beagles between 6 and 8 months old obtained from the kennels of the Pasteur Institute of Tunis. In the study, the beagles were sedated and then exposed to hundreds of sand flies that had been deprived of food for 24 hours. This exposure took place as part of research into zoonotic visceral leishmaniasis (ZVL), a disease carried by sand flies that can affect dogs and humans.After ZeroHedge amplified the White Coat Waste report (archived), there was a full blown panic.In late October 2021, CNN asked Fauci to appear for an interview, and one of his staff members suggested late on Oct. 24 that Fauci pause any TV interviews “until we get a handle on this.” Early the next morning, Fauci emailed 12 officials and asked them to “tell me what grant or contract they are referring to.” “I want this done right away since we are getting bombarded by protests.” Within two hours, one of the researchers involved, Abhay Satoskar, a professor of pathology and microbiology at Ohio State University, emailed to say that NIAID had been mistakenly cited as a funder of the study and that he would seek a correction from the journal. One NIAID official wrote in an email that Satoskar “stated that it was mistakenly cited because he was not clear of the true purpose of US funding acknowledgment” and that the program in question had been funded only by the Pasteur Institute. Satoskar, meanwhile asked Shaden Kamhawi, the editor of the journal, to correct the article. Kamhawi initially agreed, but noted internally that she may have a conflict of interest as a NIAID employee. She then sent an email in a panic over the ZeroHedge articlepotentially inviting "a lot of noise & unwanted attention for [Fauci]. They also called us an "illegitimate blog of no credibility," which is high praise considering the source.

Pentagon Ran Secret Campaign To Smear China’s Covid Vaccine --The program used hundreds of fake internet profiles to stoke fear about the Chinese jab. The US military carried out a clandestine smear campaign to damage public opinion about China’s coronavirus vaccine, Sinovac, according to a Reuters investigation.The propaganda drive targeted populations across the developing world at the height of the pandemic and continued into the Joe Biden administration.Reuters outlined the operation in a report published on Friday, citing unnamed US military officials familiar with the mission. The campaign was run from a “psychological operations center” in Florida between the spring of 2020 and mid-2021, and aimed to discredit the Chinese vaccine using a “combination of fake social media accounts on multiple platforms.”“We weren’t looking at this from a public health perspective. We were looking at how we could drag China through the mud,” a senior military officer involved in the program admitted to Reuters.The outlet identified around 300 phony X accounts used to disparage Sinovac in the Philippines, and described similar efforts in Central Asia, the Middle East, and elsewhere in the developing world. The fake profiles garnered tens of thousands of followers before they were deleted from the platform. Muslim users were targeted in particular, with the campaign seeking to “amplify the disputed contention that, because vaccines sometimes contain pork gelatin, China’s shots could be considered forbidden under Islamic law.”The operation in the Philippines was carried out despite “strong objections” from top US diplomats in the region, and the Pentagon reportedly ignored concerns about the “collateral impact” of its disinformation. At least six senior State Department officials opposed the strategy, arguing that a global pandemic was “the wrong time to instill fear or anger through a psychological operation.”The Sinovac smear campaign was part of a broader information war against US adversaries, which was intensified under the Donald Trump administration. While the military previously required State Department approval to carry out propaganda missions abroad, a secret Pentagon order allowed commanders to sidestep those restrictions starting in 2019. The order was later codified into law, explicitly authorizing secret “influence operations” against other countries – including “outside of areas of active hostilities.”The military appears to have used similar tactics to push “pro-Western narratives” on several other social media sites in recent years. Some of the same fake accounts targeting Sinovac were previously flagged in a 2022 study by Graphika and the Stanford Internet Observatory, which found a network of profiles engaged in “manipulation” and “inauthentic behavior” on seven platforms.

Federal judge blocks Joe Biden's Title IX transgender protections -A federal judge in Texas halted President Biden’s proposed changes to the interpretation of Title IX on Tuesday, which reccomended protections for transgender students.Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) sued the federal government after the guidance was first proposed.District Judge Reed O’Connor ruled with Paxton, explaining that the federal government “engaged in unlawful agency action taken in excess of their authority, all while failing to adhere to the appropriate notice and comments requirements when doing so.”The non-binding guidance is separate from a similar final rule guidance for Title IX in April.Paxton and conservative groups commonly file suits in the Northern District of Texas, hoping to be assigned O’Connor, a nominee of former President George W. Bush. He was the judge who ruled in 2018 that the Affordable Care Act was unconstitutional and ruled in multiple cases that later became landmark Supreme Court decisions, including the 2015 Obergefell v. Hodges decision, which enshrined the right to gay marriage.O’Connor has ruled against Democratic presidents’ attempts to expand Title IX before. In 2016, he went against the Obama administration when it gave guidance that colleges and universities could not discriminate by sex, in a similar attempt to expand protections to transgender students. An appeal to his decision was rescinded when former President Trump came to office.The judge’s reasoning in Tuesday’s ruling, that the Biden administration went beyond its authority and did not allow correct time for comment, is the same as his explanation for the Obama administration decision.

Judge strikes down Florida ban on gender-affirming care -A Florida law banning gender-affirming health care for transgender minors and restricting access to care for certain adults is unconstitutional, a federal judge ruled Tuesday. The decision by U.S. District Court Judge Robert Hinkle permanently blocks a law championed by Republican state lawmakers and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R), as well as rules adopted by the state’s medical boards in 2022 that prevent minors from accessing treatments like puberty blockers and hormones. The law, signed by DeSantis in May 2023, barred health care providers from administering gender-affirming care to minors and set up significant barriers for transgender adults seeking care. Gender-affirming health care for transgender adults and minors is considered medically necessary by every major medical organization, though not every trans person chooses to medically transition or has access to care. “Florida has adopted a statute and rules that ban gender-affirming care for minors even when medically appropriate,” Hinkle wrote Tuesday in a 105-page decision. “The ban is unconstitutional.” Hinkle, who temporarily blocked enforcement of the law last June, added that the law was motivated by state lawmakers’ “anti-transgender animus” and a “deeply flawed, bias-driven” report from Florida’s Agency for Health Care Administration that determined gender-affirming care for minors is experimental and should be excluded from Medicaid coverage. Florida’s medical boards, for their part, “imposed requirements that have no medical justification and were plainly intended to prevent or impede patients from receiving gender-affirming care,” Hinkle wrote. “Transgender opponents are of course free to hold their beliefs. But they are not free to discriminate against transgender individuals just for being transgender,” Hinkle wrote in Tuesday’s ruling. “In time, discrimination against transgender individuals will diminish, just as racism and misogyny have diminished. To paraphrase a civil-rights advocate from an earlier time, the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.” “In the meantime, the federal courts have a role to play in upholding the Constitution and laws,” Hinkle wrote. “The State of Florida can regulate as needed but cannot flatly deny transgender individuals safe and effective medical treatment—treatment with medications routinely provided to others with the state’s full approval so long as the purpose is not to support the patient’s transgender identity.”

Senate Republicans eye bill promoting 'restorative reproductive rights' -- Senate Republicans are introducing a bill that would support alternatives to in vitro fertilization (IVF) by promoting medical services that attempt to address causes of infertility among women.The Reproductive Empowerment and Support through Optimal Restoration Act, or RESTORE Act, was announced Thursday and co-sponsored by GOP Sens. Cindy Hyde-Smith (Miss.) andJames Lankford (Okla.). The purpose of the bill appears to be to reduce the use of IVF services among people trying to have children.The legislation would do so by promoting awareness and access to what is called restorative reproductive medicine, which the International Institute for Restorative Reproductive Medicine defines as “any scientific approach to reproductive medicine that seeks to cooperate with or restore the normal physiology and anatomy of the human reproductive system.”The bill specifically cites conditions such as endometriosis, adenomyosis, polycystic ovary syndrome, uterine fibroids and blocked fallopian tubes as common causes of infertility. It would also prohibit “discrimination” against health care providers who don’t provide “assisted reproductive technology,” such as IVF.Funds from Title X awards would also be made eligible to potential grant recipients engaged primarily in restorative reproductive medicine, per the release.IVF became a hot-button topic in the national reproductive rights conversation this year after the Alabama Supreme Court ruled that frozen embryos created through IVF could be considered children under state law pertaining to the wrongful death of a minor. “I strongly support treatments such as IVF, which have helped so many families experience the miracle of life,” Hyde-Smith said in a statement. “Healing the actual causes of infertility will only help increase the success rate for couples trying to conceive.” “It’s time that we look at paying serious attention helping women and couples affected by infertility by treating the underlying conditions that make it hard, if not impossible, to have a baby,” she added.The Alabama Supreme Court ruling halted IVF services in the state as providers deemed the legal risk too great. The Alabama Legislature later passed a bill providing civil and criminal immunity to providers less than a month after the state’s Supreme Court ruling.The issue put Republicans in a tough spot as they both supported the court’s ruling to consider embryos the same as children while denouncing the fallout of that decision, limiting access to a treatment that enables patients to become parents. At the core of the conversation was the disposal of frozen embryos that are ultimately not used for pregnancy. Lankford cited this issue when speaking to NOTUS, who were the first to report the introduction of the RESTORE Act.“There are so many embryos created and frozen that are then abandoned, that becomes an issue for someone — just a moral, ethical issue,” Lankford said.

Klobuchar slams Republicans who voted against IVF legislation -- Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) slammed her Republican colleagues who voted to block legislation on Thursday that would have codified into law the national right to access in vitro fertilization (IVF). In an interview on CNN’s “The Source,” Kaitlan Collins asked Klobuchar what her message is to Senate Republicans who say they support IVF but voted against the legislation because of “political grandstanding” by Democrats. “I‘d like them to say that to the two women that I met with this morning from Minnesota, both of whom have lovely children because of IVF,” Klobuchar responded. “Eight million […] kids born in the United States with IVF. Over 1,100 just in my state alone last year. These are real families. These are families that look at this with horror.” “And, of course, we want to codify it into law,” Klobuchar continued, directing her message at Republicans. “And so if they want to do it, don‘t just talk about it. Do it.” The bill on Thursday needed 60 votes in order to move forward, which would have required nine Republicans to break ranks and vote with Democrats. The final vote was 48-47, with only two Republicans defecting: Sens. Susan Collins (Maine) and Lisa Murkowski (Alaska). The Right to IVF Act, sponsored by Democratic Sens. Tammy Duckworth (D), Patty Murray (D) and Cory Booker (D), is a package of four bills that would both establish a nationwide right to IVF and other assisted reproductive technology, as well as lower the costs of IVF treatment to make it more accessible. The vote Thursday is the latest in a series set up by Senate Democratic leadership about codifying reproductive rights. It comes a week after Republicans blocked a similar bill from Democrats that would have guaranteed the right to contraception. Republicans criticized the vote as an election year stunt, expressing concerns about unfunded mandates and the impact on religious freedom. GOP senators Wednesday tried to bring up their own alternative IVF bill from Sens. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Katie Britt (R-Ala.) that would bar states from receiving Medicaid funding if they implemented a ban on IVF but would not stop a court from restricting the procedure. Cruz and Britt also said the legislation would ensure IVF is fully protected by federal law, though it does not create a right to IVF. Murray blocked the bill, saying on Wednesday it “explicitly allows states to enact restrictions and burdensome requirements that would force IVF clinics to close their doors,” adding, “That bill is nothing but a PR stunt, providing cover for Republicans to keep somehow pretending they’re not going to control women’s bodies.”

Donald Trump proposes ending taxes on tips - Former President Trump on Sunday said he would end taxes on tips as the “first thing” he does in office if reelected, marking his latest push to appeal to voters in the service industry.“For those hotel workers and people that get tips, you’re going to be very happy. Because when I get to office, we are going to not charge taxes on tips,” Trump said at a rally in Las Vegas.“We’re not going to do it, and we’re going to do that right away, first thing in office, because it’s been a point of contention for years and years and years,” he added. “And you do a great job of service, you take care of people and I think it’s going to be something that really is deserved.”Changes to taxation on tipped income would require congressional approval. Lawmakers will look at the nation’s tax policy next year upon the expiration of Trump’s 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Cut Act (TCJA), which cut the corporate tax rate and brought down individual tax rates depending on the tax credit.As the law currently stands, service workers are required to report their tips to the IRS, which views tips as regular taxable income.The 2017 Trump tax cuts did not include provisions on tips, but if Republicans retake the White House and Senate and hold the House, they would have the opportunity to add to and extend Trump’s previous policies.Trump, in a later post on Truth Social, went after President Biden in an attempt to contrast himself from the incumbent’s policy on taxes.“Crooked Joe Biden has taken the totally opposite approach, trying to TAX more and more of their Tips, even hiring 88,000 IRS Agents to collect!” Trump wrote. The Culinary Workers Union Local 226, based in Las Vegas, criticized Trump’s pledge on Sunday. “Relief is definitely needed for tip earners, but Nevada workers are smart enough to know the difference between real solutions and wild campaign promises from a convicted felon,” Culinary Union Secretary Treasurer Ted Pappageorge wrote in a statement.

Trump knocks 'ridiculous' mandatory military service report -Former President Trump is shooting down the “ridiculous idea” that he could push for mandatory military service if he wins reelection this year and slamming a Washington Post article on the issue as an effort to “damage” him with voters.“The Fake News Washington Post came up with the ridiculous idea” that Trump will call for mandatory military service, he claimed in a post on Truth Social on Tuesday.“The Story is completely untrue. In fact, I never even thought of that idea.”“This is only a continuation of their EIGHT YEAR failed attempt to damage me with the Voters,” he added.Trump has not taken a public position on whether young people should be required to serve in the military. The U.S. hasn’t instituted the draft since 1973, and military service is voluntary.The Washington Post story leans heavily on Christopher Miller, who took over the Department of Defense (DOD) in the chaotic close of Trump’s tenure. At the time of his appointment in November 2020, Trump had lost his reelection bid and fired Defense Secretary Mark Esper with a post on social media.Miller, according to the Post report, is “among a cluster of influential former administration officials and GOP lawmakers who have mused aloud about a national service mandate.” In an interview, Miller suggested that a military mandate should be “strongly considered,” according to the report.

Trump to Christian advocacy group: 'You're going to make a comeback' if I win -Former President Trump on Monday virtually addressed a conservative Christian advocacy group that supports the end of abortion, telling the organization’s members if he’s reelected they would “make a comeback like just about no other group.”Trump delivered a roughly two-minute recorded video message at the Danbury Institute’s Life and Liberty Forum, which featured remarks from evangelists and Christian leaders. He made nomention of abortion in his remarks to the group, though he vowed to defend “innocent life” if reelected.“These are difficult times for our nation, and your work is so important. We can’t afford to have anyone sit on the sidelines,” said Trump, the presumptive GOP nominee for November’s presidential election. “Now is the time for us all to pull together and to stand up for our values and for our freedoms. And you just can’t vote Democrat.” Trump claimed Democrats are “against religion,” though President Biden speaks often about his Catholic faith.“We have to defend religious liberty, free speech, innocent life, and the heritage and tradition that built America into the greatest nation in the history of the world. But now we are, as you know, a declining nation,” Trump told the group.“I know that each of you is protecting those values every day, and I hope we’ll be defending them side by side for your next four years,” he continued. “These are going to be your years, because you’re going to make a comeback like just about no other group.”Trump’s virtual appearance at the Danbury Institute made headlines given the group’s hard-line approach on certain issues. The group describes itself as “committed to truth and virtue in a world that validates absurdity as normal and ridicules what 10 years ago was taken for granted.” Its website likens abortion to “child sacrifice on the altar of self” and claims marriage “is a unique union between one man and one woman for life, and sexual intimacy is to be expressed only within this marital relationship.”On the campaign trail, Trump has repeatedly taken credit for ending Roe v. Wade through his appointment of three conservative Supreme Court justices. But he has also declined to take a position on a federal limit for abortion, instead saying it should be left up to individual states to decide through legislation or referendum how to handle the procedure.

Trump, Giuliani in drag photo used by Democrat to protest NDAA amendment - Rep. Robert Garcia (D-Calif.) on Thursday protested an amendment added to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) that bars funding for drag performances with a blown-up photo of former President Trump and Rudy Giuliani, a former New York City mayor and Trump attorney, dressed in drag. An amendment filed this week to the annual defense policy bill by Rep. Josh Brecheen (R-Okla.) would prevent funding made available by the measure from being used for drag events. The amendment passed Thursday by voice vote. “The bulk of our fighting forces are inspired by GI Joe; they are not inspired by ‘be a Barbie girl in a Barbie world,’” Brecheen said Thursday while introducing his amendment. He accused the Department of Defense, which banned drag shows on military bases last year, and President Biden of “pushing a sexual agenda” on service members and young children. Garcia on Thursday criticized Brecheen’s amendment, which he said reflects anti-LGBTQ sentiment more broadly. “My Republican colleagues want us to believe that gays are trying to murder us,” Garcia said Thursday while gesturing to a meme of Jennifer Coolidge’s character in HBO’s “White Lotus.” “They want to believe that drag is harmful or immoral or wrong. This is completely ridiculous.” “Now, I hate to break it to my Republican colleagues, but LGBTQ people have fought and died for this country since the American Revolution, even if they were forced to hide their true selves,” Garcia continued. “The USO and Red Cross hosted drag shows during World War II — the army that defeated Hitler and saved the world included drag queens.”

House panel blocks lawmakers from getting pay raises -- Legislation that could have ended a years-long freeze on pay raises for lawmakers was changed to uphold the pause as it passed out of committee on Thursday. The House Appropriations Committee sent the annual spending bill to fund the legislative branch to the floor for consideration with a 33-24 vote. The House is expected to take up the bill in July, as leaders press on with an aggressive schedule to pass all 12 funding bills before August recess. Notably absent from the initial version of the measure was language that kept intact a 15-year freeze on cost of living adjustments for congressional members. However, just before it passed out of committee on Thursday evening, lawmakers voted to add back in language maintaining the pause. But not without opposition from both sides of the aisle. Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-Md.), the former House majority leader, called the matter “a serious issue as to whether or not the only people that could serve here are rich people.” “I know this is politically controversial, and I know members on my side and members on your side will demagogue this issue, and that’s unfortunate, because it’s like cutting off our nose to spite our face,” he said during the hearing. He also agreed with comments made during the hearing moments before by Rep. Andrew Clyde (R-Ga.), member of the House Freedom Caucus who said an amendment adopted keeping intact the pay freeze had “constitutional problems.” “This [cost-of-living-adjustment (COLA)] was to be capped at the annual percentage of every other federal employee would receive,” he said. “In exchange for the annual COLA, all members of Congress were prohibited or severely limited from earning additional outside income, like speaking fees or other fees that could easily be translated into pay-for-play arrangements, resulting in potentially ten of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of dollars, in additional income, especially for more popular or more powerful members.” “I certainly agree with the prohibition of this type of outside income for members of Congress, and I disagree with the manner in which the manager’s amendment addresses the COLA,” he said. “If Congress wants to eliminate the annual COLA, Congress can certainly do so. But this cannot be done through the appropriations process and remain in compliance with the Constitution.” Rank-and-file members of Congress received a 2.8 percent pay increase in January 2009 and have since earned $174,000 a year. Congressional leaders receive higher salaries, with the Speaker of House earning the most, at $223,500. While federal salaries for Congress are set to increase annually according to the 1989 Ethics Reform Act, members’ pay has remained unchanged for over a decade because of legislation.

Supreme Court Rules 9–0 For IRS, Denying Refund In Estate Tax Dispute -- The Supreme Court ruled unanimously in favor of the IRS on June 6 in a dispute over taxing shareholders’ life insurance policies. Justice Clarence Thomas wrote the court’s 9–0 decision in Connelly v. Internal Revenue Service.The case concerns two brothers’ closely held corporation. After one of the brothers died, tax authorities and the estate didn’t agree on the value of the stock.Closely held corporations commonly enter into agreements that require the redemption of a shareholder’s stock after the shareholder dies to preserve the closely held nature of the business. Under such routine estate-planning devices, corporations purchase life insurance on the shareholder to make sure the transaction is funded.The Supreme Court held that life insurance proceeds that will be used to redeem a decedent’s shares must be included when calculating the value of those shares for purposes of the federal estate tax.The appeal of Thomas Connelly, executor of the estate of Michael Connelly, was rejected by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit in June 2023.The IRS said the estate owed close to $1 million after it found that St. Louis-based Crown C Corp., a building materials business, failed to report life insurance proceeds after Michael Connelly died in 2013.Michael Connelly, who was president and CEO of the corporation when he died, owned 77.18 percent of the company’s shares, while Thomas Connelly owned 22.82 percent.

Sheldon Whitehouse calls on Samuel Alito for info on ‘improper’ interview --Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), a top Senate Judiciary Committee member, is calling on Justice Samuel Alito to provide information about an interview he gave The Wall Street Journal on Supreme Court ethics, a request that comes after Alito declined to recuse himself from cases involving Jan. 6, 2021, and the 2020 election. Whitehouse said the interview, in which Alito said there is “no provision in the Constitution” that gives Congress the authority to regulate the court, was “improper.” The interview was published in July, more than a month after ProPublica reported that the associate justice vacationed with a top GOP donor to Alaska for a fishing trip. “The interview raised several problems,” Whitehouse said in a letter. “It thus appears that you offered an improper opinion regarding a question that might come before the Court; did so in the context of a known ongoing legal dispute involving that precise question; did so at the behest of an interviewer who as a lawyer represented a client in that ongoing dispute; and did so to the benefit of his client, your personal friend, and to the benefit of yourself, as a recipient of undisclosed gifts that are the subject of our investigation.”“I note that the Supreme Court is the only place in all of government where issues of this nature have no place or means of investigation or resolution,” Whitehouse continued. “So far, my questions regarding these events seem to have disappeared into a black hole of indifference.”The latest letter to the court comes as Democrats continue to be stonewalled by justices and Republicans in the fight over judicial ethics reform. The battle has only heated up after revelations that an upside-down flag flew over Alito’s home in Alexandria, Va., in the days surrounding Jan. 6 and President Biden’s inauguration. Alito told Whitehouse and Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) in a recent letter that he will not recuse himself from a pair of cases the Court is set to rule on that involve Jan. 6, 2021, and the 2020 election. One of them will determine whether former President Trump is immune from prosecution. In another communication between justices and the Court, Roberts told the pair that he will not meet with them to discuss the matter, saying it would be “inadvisable.” Democrats have been unwilling to try to subpoena the chief justice over the ethics concerns surrounding the court because it is unclear whether they have the votes and that it would create tensions on the panel.

Ocasio-Cortez, Raskin plan to present Supreme Court ethics legislation -Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) on Tuesday said they will be introducing legislation in response to the increased ethics concerns related to the Supreme Court. Ocasio-Cortez and Raskin, who serve as the ranking and vice-ranking members, respectively, on the House Oversight Committee, were part of a committee roundtable Tuesday regarding these concerns. They explored various “avenues” for holding Supreme Court justices accountable, they told MSNBC anchor Chris Hayes. “And so, it is not a question…of if Congress has jurisdiction and power over the Supreme Court. It is, what power are we going to exercise in order to rein in a fundamentally unaccountable and rogue court?” Ocasio-Cortez said Tuesday night. “Congressman Raskin and myself will be introducing forthcoming legislation to even have the Supreme Court be subject to the same $50 gift rule that he and I are subject to, as everyone else who are members of Congress,” she added later. The Supreme Court has come under scrutiny over the past year following a series of reports detailing various undisclosed luxury trips, gifts, and questionable extrajudicial activities involving multiple justices. The reports spiked interest in congressional oversight of the justices’ behavior and the gifts they accept.Senate Judiciary Committee Democrats have repeatedly pushed for legislation to increase oversight of the Supreme Court. This pressure increased last month after reports surfaced about a pair of flags flown over Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito’s homes, including anupside-down American flag over his Alexandria, Va. residence in the days surrounding Jan. 6, 2021, and President Biden’s inauguration.“It’s the highest court in the land with the lowest ethical standards. These are the only governmental officials in the land who are not governed by a binding ethics code. There’s no process by which we can hold any of them accountable,” Raskin said.“And so, we need to clean that up. And that’s why we said we’re going to start with something simple that the whole country will be able to understand immediately and intuitively,” Raskin said. “We want a $50 gift ban for U.S. Supreme Court justices. They make $300,000 a year. Pay for your own lunch and pay for your own vacation.”Earlier on Tuesday, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) told reporters Democrats are planning to try moving legislation on Supreme Court ethics on the floor this week via unanimous consent. A Republican senator is widely expected to deny consent.

Justice Alito’s wife vows revenge for flag controversy in secret recording - The wife of Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito said that she wants to get back at people who raised a controversy after she and the justice were criticized last month for flying politically affiliated flags at their homes.“You come after me, I’m gonna give it back to you,” Martha-Ann Alito said in the recording of a private conversation at the Supreme Court Historical Society’s annual dinner on June 3. “There will be a way, it doesn’t have to be now, but there will be a way they know,” she added. “Don’t worry about it.”The remarks were recorded by progressive filmmaker Lauren Windsor, who attended the event as a member of the society under her real name, though she posed as a conservative to elicit answers from Alito and others. The recordings were published by MSNBC and Windsor’s activist site The Undercurrent — the second set released Monday after previous recordings of Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Alito in Rolling Stone.Alito’s flag controversy began last month when it was discovered that an “Appeal to Heaven” flag and an upside-down American flag were flown at the couple’s homes. The symbols have been associated with far-right politics, Christian nationalism, and those who participated in the Jan. 6 Capitol riots.Alito said the flags were not political statements, but merely responses to personal attacks from his wife against a neighbor, though the neighbor has publicly doubted the justice’s story. The controversy has sparked widespread criticism from Democrats in Congress, including multiple high-profile members demanding he recuse himself from Jan. 6-related cases. In the recording, Martha-Ann Alito also committed to flying a “Sacred Heart of Jesus” flag at her homes this month to protest the display of an LGBTQ Pride flag nearby. The Sacred Heart of Jesus flag is a symbol associated with the Christian right wing, specifically used to protest Pride.She said that her husband, the justice, has asked her not to put up flags at their properties.“I won’t do that because I’m deferring to you,” Alito said she told her husband. “But when you are free of this nonsense, I’m putting it up and I’m gonna send them a message every day, maybe every week, I’ll be changing the flags.”Alito added that she has designed her own flag in her head, which she wants to have made and flown. It features the Italian word “vergogna,” which means shame. “Shame, shame, shame on you, you know?” Alito said, apparently referring to the flying of the Pride flag.Windsor’s conversation with Justice Alito included him agreeing with her assertion that the U.S. should strive to be a Christian nation and his admission that much of the court’s business comes down to political ideology. Roberts fought against her ideas in the pair’s own recorded conversation.Windsor told The Hill that she felt “justified” to record those at the meeting surreptitiously because the court is “shrouded in secrecy, and they’re refusing to submit to any accountability in the face of overwhelming evidence of serious ethics breaches.”

Clarence Thomas fails to disclose 3 more Harlan Crow trips, Senate records show -- Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas failed to disclose three trips that were paid for by GOP mega-donor Harlan Crow, according to information obtained by the Senate Judiciary Committee and released Thursday. According to the panel, Thomas did not disclose information on three trips he took on private jets funded by Crow: a trip from St. Louis to Montana and back to Dallas in 2017; round-trip travel from Washington to Savannah, Ga., in 2019; and round-trip travel from Washington to San Jose in 2021. The information was obtained through documents and information that Crow delivered to the committee dating back seven years. Also included in the trove of Crow’s documents was information about the 2019 trips to Indonesia and California, which included private jet travel for both and an eight-day yacht excursion in Bali. The committee noted that a recent report totaled the gifts Thomas has received at nearly $4.2 million, far exceeding the totals of other justices. “Nearly $4.2 million in gifts and even that wasn’t enough for Justice Thomas, with at least three additional trips the Committee found that he has failed to disclose to date,” Senate Judiciary Chair Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) said in a statement. “The Senate Judiciary Committee’s ongoing investigation into the Supreme Court’s ethical crisis is producing new information — like what we’ve revealed today — and makes it crystal clear that the highest court needs an enforceable code of conduct, because its members continue to choose not to meet the moment.” Elliot S. Berke, an attorney for Thomas, said the information disclosed by Crow fell under the “personal hospitality exemption” and was not required to be disclosed. “The Judicial Conference changed this provision last year, and Justice Thomas has fully complied with the new disclosure requirement,” Berke said in a statement. “Prior to this change, the provision, set forth in the Administrative Office of U.S. Courts’ Guide to Judiciary Policy, stated that federal judges should not report gifts of personal hospitality based on personal relationships.” “Consequently, and as Justice Thomas has already explained, he and many other federal judges were advised that they were not required to report gifts of personal hospitality from friends who did not have business before the Court.”

RFK Jr. Inching Closer To Qualifying For CNN's June 27 Presidential Debate -Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is simultaneously working to get on the ballot in all 50 states and the District of Columbia, and racing to meet a June 20 deadline to qualify for CNN’s presidential debate.The independent presidential candidate is getting closer to accomplishing both objectives.After submitting 3,300 signatures in Minnesota on June 7, Mr. Kennedy noted that he has ballot access in 19 states with 278 Electoral College votes.CNN is scheduled to host the earliest televised presidential debate in history on June 27.According to debate qualification rules listed by CNN, a candidate’s name must appear on a sufficient number of state ballots to reach the 270 electoral vote threshold to win the presidency by June 20.The Kennedy–Shanahan ticket is officially on the ballot in nine states—California, Delaware, Florida, Hawaii, Michigan, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Texas, and Utah.The campaign said it had collected enough signatures for ballot access in 10 other states—Idaho, Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, and Ohio.Candidates must also get “at least 15 percent in four separate national polls of registered or likely voters that meet CNN’s standards for reporting.”The window to determine eligibility for the June 27 debate opened on March 13 and will close on June 20, according to CNN.CNN issued a long list of polls that meet its standards for debate eligibility, including surveys from CNN, ABC News, CBS News, Fox News, Marquette University Law School, Monmouth University, NBC News, The New York Times/Siena College, NPR/PBS News Hour/Marist College, Quinnipiac University, the Wall Street Journal, and The Washington Post.According to his campaign, Mr. Kennedy has met the requirements for three of those polls. Last week, he gained 17 percent support in a Marquette Law School survey. In April, he gained 16 percent backing in CNN and Quinnipiac polls.

Trump on alien lifeforms: ‘There could be’ but ‘it’s not my thing’ --Former President Trump pondered alien lifeforms on a podcast appearance published Thursday, acknowledging that “there could be” alien life out in the universe, but that he wasn’t convinced.Trump appeared on YouTuber Logan Paul’s “Impaulsive,” where he spent minutes discussing the possibility of life beyond Earth and whether unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAPs) could in fact be aliens.“Am I a believer? No, I probably I can’t say I am,” Trump said. “But I have met with people that are serious people that say there’s some really strange things that they see flying around out there.”UAPs have become a hot topic in Congress in the last year, with a small group of bipartisan House members questioning the military over claims that it could be hiding evidence of alien activity or ultrafuturistic technology. Paul raised the same concerns about government transparency, which Trump downplayed.Trump said that he spent significant time looking into the phenomena when president, and that he doesn’t believe that government agencies are keeping information from the public.“They have people that are very smart and very solid [who] have said they believe there was something out there and, you know, it makes sense that they could be,” he said. “I’ve never been convinced, even despite that, you know. I just, for some reason, it’s not my thing. But a lot of people believe that it’s true. A lot of very good, solid people believe it’s true.”A Pentagon report in March found “no evidence” that the U.S. government or any private companies have reverse-engineered extraterrestrial technology, nor are there any confirmed sightings of UAPs having alien origin, contradicting high-profile whistleblowers who had made the claims without evidence.Trump also emphasized, while noting that he is not personally a believer in aliens, that they could be real, nonetheless.“It’s very believable. It’s very possible that there is something,” he said. “And why wouldn’t it be, you know, you take a look at the universe, and you see all of the different planets and you see this, you know, look at, we are one relatively small planet, why wouldn’t it be on a planet that’s, you know, 400 times the size?”

Adam Schiff repeats 'guilty' 34 times at hearing on Trump hush money conviction - Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) sought to make a statement about former President Trump’s criminal conviction Thursday, repeating the word “guilty” 34 times in a row, once for each of the former president’s guilty counts in the Manhattan hush money case. The move by Schiff came at the beginning of his line of questioning during the House Judiciary Committee’s hearing on Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s (D) office and its investigation into Trump’s hush money scheme during the 2016 election.After being recognized by Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) during the hearing, Schiff said, “I want to begin by quoting the jury in the Manhattan hush money payment trial.”“Guilty, guilty, guilty, guilty, guilty, guilty, guilty, guilty, guilty, guilty, guilty, guilty, guilty, guilty, guilty, guilty, guilty, guilty, guilty, guilty, guilty, guilty, guilty, guilty, guilty, guilty, guilty, guilty, guilty, guilty, guilty, guilty, guilty, guilty,” he said. “This was what the jury pronounced, unanimously on every count.”Trump was found guilty of 34 felony counts of falsifying business records late last month, making him the first former U.S. president to be criminally convicted.The charges were in connection with reimbursements made to Michael Cohen, Trump’s former fixer and onetime attorney, for a $130,000 payment made to adult film star Stormy Daniels in exchange for her silence about an alleged past affair with Trump, which he has denied.Republicans in Congress were quick to lambast the trial and conviction as a fundamentally unfair trial that was politically motivated. Thursday’s hearing, spearheaded by the GOP-led committee, brought that argument to the forefront, with the committee writing in a statement: “With his unprecedented, politicized indictment of President Trump, Manhattan District Attorney Bragg has opened the door for politically motivated prosecutions of federal officials by state and local prosecutors.”Schiff pushed back on the claims but quipped that Republicans did not directly argue against the charges.“My Republican colleagues don’t really contest Donald Trump’s guilt; this is the fascinating thing,” Schiff, who is running for the California Senate seat left open by the late Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D), said. “Their argument is essentially he should have never been prosecuted, or they falsely claim it was a political prosecution, or they falsely claim it should have been a misdemeanor, not a felony.”“But they don’t contest — not really — that Donald Trump was making hush money payments to a porn star to hide their affair from voters,” the lawmaker continued. “What they’re really saying is they’re more than comfortable electing — nominating and electing as the president of the United States — someone making hush money payments to a porn star.”

Georgia prosecutors ask court to dismiss Donald Trump's Fani Willis appeal --Fulton County prosecutors asked a Georgia appeals court to toss out former President Trump’s appeal of a state court’s ruling that allowed the county’s district attorney, Fani Willis (D), to continue prosecuting him and several allies for attempting to subvert the state’s 2020 presidential election results. In a filing late Wednesday, prosecutors with the district attorney’s office urged the Georgia Court of Appeals to dismiss the appeal Trump and eight co-defendants filed, suggesting a lack of sufficient evidence meant the appeal had been “improvidently granted.” They also argued that trial courts are granted deference on matters of credibility or evidentiary weight unless those determinations are “flatly incorrect,” contending that Trump and his co-defendants did not provide enough evidence of misconduct by Willis to warrant any review. “The State respectfully submits that, with such due deference afforded to the trial court’s factual findings, there exists no basis for reversal of the order at issue,” prosecutor Donald Wakeford wrote, adding that the “substantial leeway” Judge Scott McAfee gave the defense to prove its claims makes the assertion “particularly true.” The appeals court froze Trump’s criminal trial proceedings last week as it weighs whether Willis should be removed from prosecuting the case due to her romantic relationship with a top prosecutor who was also working on the case. Willis’s prior romance with Nathan Wade was exposed by Trump co-defendant Michael Roman’s attorney, Ashleigh Merchant, earlier this year. Explosive hearings where Willis and Wade took the stand to defend their past relationship and professional integrity followed. McAfee ultimately ruled that Willis could remain on the case if Wade resigned, which he did, though both prosecutors have maintained their relationship was not improper. Questioned over whether he believed his relationship with Willis was a mistake in an interview with CNN on Wednesday night, Wade said “absolutely not.”In a statement, lead Trump attorney Steve Sadow called the district attorney’s motion to dismiss their appeal an apparent “last ditch effort” to stop appellate review of Willis’s “misconduct.”

Donald Trump's calls for political vengeance worry Senate GOP --Some Senate Republicans are expressing concerns over former President Trump’s calls for political vengeance after the 2024 election, warning that retaliatory prosecutions will lead the country down a bad road.The Senate GOP’s top leaders — Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) and Whip John Thune (S.D.) — have shown no desire to embrace Trump’s calls to prosecute senior Biden administration officials or his longtime nemesis Hillary Clinton.And some GOP senators are pushing back against conservative colleagues who want to freeze Justice Department funding or defund special counsel Jack Smith’s criminal prosecutions of Trump.They don’t want to stumble into a government shutdown by waging war over the Justice Department’s budget or taking other retaliatory steps favored by Trump’s allies.Sen. Mike Rounds (R-S.D.) says he thought Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s (D) case against Trump was “an unjust prosecution.”But he’s concerned about Trump’s vow to retaliate with politically motivated prosecutions from his own Justice Department if he’s elected in November.“This is not the direction we want this country to go,” he said. “I think it’s time for adults to take over with regard to the Senate, and it’s time for adults to take over in regards [to] how we treat the judicial climate in this country.“I don’t want to see a tit for tat on prosecution. I think that’s the wrong direction. I think that’s the wrong path for us to go down,” Rounds said. “I think we’ve got to get back to what the Founding Fathers wanted in the first place, which is a judiciary which is not full of political appointees that are hard far left or hard far right.”Trump made waves when he told Phil McGraw, the host of the television show “Dr. Phil,” in an interview Thursday that revenge “can be justified.”“Well revenge does take time, I will say that. And sometimes revenge can be justified, Phil, I have to be honest. Sometimes it can,” Trump said.Trump last month said he would consider appointing Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton to serve as U.S. attorney general in his administration, an idea that didn’t get a warm response from some Senate Republicans.Asked about the prospect of Paxton, who was acquitted on impeachment charges in the state Senate last year, heading the Justice Department, Texas Sen. John Cornyn (R) offered a measured response.“I’m sure he’ll have a lot of people to choose from,” Cornyn said.

John Bolton: People not taking Donald Trump revenge threats seriously -- Former National Security Adviser John Bolton, who worked in the Trump administration, warned in a Tuesday interview that the public is not taking former President Trump’s threats of revenge seriously enough.“I don’t think enough people are,” Bolton said in an interview on MSNBC’s “The 11th Hour,” when asked whether people take the threats seriously enough.“When you hear Trump saying things like, ‘People are saying that I’m – that retribution can be justified,’ what he really means is: ‘I’m saying retribution can be justified,’” Bolton added. “And I think he’s got a long list of adversaries he wants to go after.” Trump – who was criminally indicted four times after leaving office, including in two federal cases – has frequently signaled an interest in going after his political opponents if he retakes the White House, telling his supporters frequently at his rallies ahead of the campaign launch, “I am your retribution.”Bolton said he worries the federal judiciary will be put “under real pressure” if Trump, the presumptive GOP presidential nominee, is elected to a second term in office.“But I think the Justice Department under a Trump administration will be in continuing chaos, as he tells his political appointees to go after Mr. X or Ms. Y, whether there are grounds to do it or not. And what those lawyers do will tell you a lot about their legal integrity,” he said.Trump was found guilty last month by a jury on all 34 counts of falsifying business records to conceal alleged affairs during his 2016 campaign. It makes him the first former U.S. president to be convicted of a felony.The former president has railed against his legal woes, calling it “election interference” and claiming it is being orchestrated by the Biden White House. There is no evidence President Biden, or his aides have had any involvement in Trump’s legal cases.In an interview on “Dr. Phil” late last week, Trump pushed back at the host’s suggestion that Trump didn’t have time to “get even” with his critics.“Well, revenge does take time, I will say that. And sometimes revenge can be justified, Phil, I have to be honest. Sometimes it can,” Trump responded in the interview.“I think the country is really worse for what they’ve done, and I think you see that when you look at the poll numbers,” Trump continued. “When you see that almost $400 million has poured in since this horrible decision was made. That was a few days ago. Numbers that nobody’s ever heard of in politics before. It’s a great honor. The people of our country get it.”Following the verdict, Trump told Fox News’s Sean Hannity he would have “every right to go after them” after his own prosecution.The former president told Newsmax last week it was “very possible” Democrats could face prosecution down the road.

New Jersey reviewing Donald Trump golf club liquor licenses The attorney general’s office of New Jersey is reviewing whether former President Trump’s recent conviction in the New York hush money case could impact him holding liquor licenses at three of his golf courses in the state.A spokesperson for the attorney general’s office confirmed that the liquor licenses at Trump National Golf Club Colts Neck, Lamington Farm Club and Trump National Golf Club Pine Hill remain active as of Monday. The Lamington Farm Club is Trump’s golf club located in Bedminster, New Jersey.New Jersey Attorney General’s Division of Alcoholic Beverage Control “is reviewing the impact of President Trump’s conviction on the above referenced licenses, and declines further comment at this time,” the spokesperson said in an email.According to New Jersey law, no liquor license “shall be issued to any person under 18 years old or to any person who has been convicted of a crime involving moral turpitude.” The divisionhandbook states that crimes connected to “moral turpitude” are generally “those deemed serious by society.”It also requires those applying for liquor licenses to have a “reputable” character and be expected to operate the business in a “reputable manner.”A jury found the former president guilty last month on 34 counts of falsifying business records in connection to a reimbursement made to Trump’s ex-fixer, Michael Cohen, for making a payment to adult film star Stormy Daniels to stay silent about an alleged affair with Trump.The former president has denied the affair and had pleaded not guilty. He is scheduled to be sentenced just four days before the Republican National Convention next month, where he will likely be officially nominated as the GOP’s presidential candidate.He has also vowed to appeal the verdict.The Hill has reached out to Trump’s campaign and the Trump Organization for comment.

North Dakota voters pass ballot measure setting age limit for congressional candidates -A ballot measure to institute an age limit on members of Congress will pass in North Dakota, according to a projection from Decision Desk HQ.The measure will prohibit anyone from being elected or appointed to represent the state in the Senate or the House if they would be 81 years old by the end of the year preceding the end of their term. But the measure will likely face legal challenges before it can go into effect. The Constitution sets minimum age requirements for those serving in Congress — 25 years old for the House and 30 years old for the Senate — but it does not reference any upper limit. A 1995 Supreme Court ruling that decided states cannot impose additional restrictions on candidates for Congress, like term limits, may be a barrier for the measure to proceed. The measure would not affect presidential candidates. But its passage comes as questions have been raised about how old is too old, or if any limit should exist, to serve in public office. The two major parties’ presumptive presidential nominees, President Biden and former President Trump, are both the two oldest individuals to be major nominees for president in U.S. history.

Michael Rulli wins Ohio special election to fill Rep. Bill Johnson's seat -Ohio voters picked Republican Michael Rulli to fill the vacancy left by retired Rep. Bill Johnson (R-S.C.) in the 6th Congressional District, Decision Desk HQ reports. Rulli, an Ohio state senator, was favored to win the seat in the red district after advancing from the March primary alongside Democrat Michael Kripchak. However, the race — which saw low turnout — proved to be closer than many expected.His win adds another Trump ally to Republicans’ numbers in the House. Johnson served in Congress for over a decade before exiting in January to lead Youngstown State University, shrinking the GOP’s thin majority and leaving a monthslong vacancy in his place. Heading into Tuesday’s special election, Kripchak’s campaign was in an uphill battle against a Trump ally in a district the former president won back in 2020. They’ll go against each other again in the fall when they compete for a full two-year term – but a forecast from Decision Desk HQ/The Hill puts Rulli with a 99 percent chance of winning against his Democrat rival.

$800K transfer from billionaire donor to US Chamber raises curtain on dark money -The U.S. Chamber of Commerce received an $800,000 wire transfer from billionaire donor Hank Meijer days after it endorsed his son, then-Rep. Peter Meijer (R-Mich.), in a contentious 2022 primary, according to previously unreported internal emails reviewed by The Hill. Within days of the transfer, the Chamber spent $381,000 on “Media Advertisement – Energy and Taxes – Mentioning Rep. Peter Meijer,” according to a report filed with the Federal Election Commission (FEC). But because the ad — titled “Thank you, Rep. Peter Meijer” — does not explicitly advocate for his election or defeat, the pro-business lobbying giant did not have to legally disclose the donation from Hank Meijer, the co-chair and CEO of the Meijer chain of superstores. It also did not have to disclose any other potential contributions behind the $1.8 million it told the FEC it spent on “electioneering communications” that cycle.Emails obtained by The Hill lay out the timeline of the endorsement, donation and ad buy just weeks before the Aug. 2, 2022, House GOP primary in Michigan. Campaign finance experts told The Hill that the emails pull back the curtain on a surge of “dark money” in U.S. elections, spending where the ultimate source of the money is not publicly disclosed.“They’re exploiting a legal loophole to help them conceal the sources of election spending in this race,” said Saurav Ghosh, director of federal campaign finance reform at the nonprofit watchdog Campaign Legal Center (CLC), which filed a complaint during the 2020 cycle alleging an individual later identified as Hank Meijer tried to obscure separate donations by using a limited liability corporation (LLC) to donate to another super PAC supporting his son.“And they’re doing it in a very sophisticated way, but ultimately the voters suffer as a result,” Ghosh added. Nonprofits such as the Chamber are not legally required to publicly disclose their donors. The Supreme Court recently ruled nonprofit disclosure requirements violated donors’ First Amendment rights and risk deterring donors who don’t want their names to be public.Under federal campaign finance law, however, it is illegal for a campaign and spender to coordinate on so-called “independent expenditures” — election communications such as an ad. But the involvement of a candidate’s family member is not de facto coordination, campaign finance experts told The Hill, and so long as the group does not coordinate with the candidate, campaign or its agents on an endorsement, or spending touting that endorsement, they would legally be in the clear.

Ronald Reagan’s daughter: 'There are a lot of Hunter Bidens in this world' -- Patti Davis, the daughter of President Reagan, pointed to Hunter Biden’s ongoing trial as a symptom of all-too-common systemic drug addiction, looking less at its political impacts and more about what it says about the pressure of scrutiny and danger of illegal drugs.“Hunter Biden’s legal case is, at its root, a story about the toxic, careless choices made by a drug addict,” she wrote in a New York Times op-ed Monday. “It’s about the fact that addicts weave tragedy into their own lives and into the lives of those around them. Addicts don’t think about other people; they think about themselves. And they lie — that’s how they supply their addiction.”Biden, the president’s son, is on trial for gun charges, accused of illegally purchasing a handgun while addicted to drugs. The jury began deliberations late Monday, and the trial has seen a whirlwind of testimony and evidence recalling his drug addiction in salacious detail.Davis recounted that she struggled with drug addiction in her youth. She appeared sympathetic to Biden, saying she understood “what it’s like to live under a glaring, unforgiving spotlight that never dims.”She encouraged the country to show him the same sympathy, seeing him not as a political figure but as a victim of drug addiction ravaged by past mistakes.“There are a lot of Hunter Bidens in this world, people who fell in way over their heads, who long for someone to believe they can recover and construct their lives differently,” she wrote. “You just don’t hear about them on the evening news.”Davis described Biden’s situation as one of tragedy, where a man of “every advantage and opportunity” still fell victim to drug addiction.“How even though he has worked hard on getting and staying clean, his past mistakes and sins follow him, collide with him and demand to be addressed,” she wrote.

Trial of Hunter Biden on federal gun charges goes to jury -- The 12-person jury in the trial of Hunter Biden began deliberations on Monday afternoon, the sixth day of the proceedings against the son of US President Joe Biden in federal court in Wilmington, Delaware. Department of Justice prosecutor Leo Wise gave a one-hour summary followed by a 90-minute closing argument by Biden’s attorney Abbe Lowell, before Delaware District Court Judge Maryellen Noreika delivered instructions to the jury. The younger Biden has been charged with three offenses in connection with his purchase and possession of a .38 caliber Colt Cobra revolver while he was allegedly a drug addict in 2018. He has pleaded not guilty to all counts. Prosecutors charge that Biden lied on his gun application and lied to a federally licensed gun dealer on October 12, 2018, by stating he was not a drug user or addict at the time. The present trial is one of two cases against Hunter Biden that began with an investigation launched five years ago by David Weiss, the US attorney for Delaware appointed by then-President Donald Trump. In the second case in Los Angeles federal court, Hunter Biden faces charges for nine tax offenses. In August 2023, Weiss was appointed as a special counsel in the Hunter Biden investigations by Attorney General Merrick Garland. The appointment of Weiss was made after a plea agreement on the gun and tax charges was blocked by Judge Noreika, the judge overseeing the present trial. If convicted on the gun charges, the president’s son could face a maximum of 25 years in prison and fines of up to $750,000. Legal experts say, however, as a first-time offender who was in possession of the gun for less than two weeks and never used it, it is unlikely Hunter Biden will receive anything close to the maximum sentence. While the charges against him are quite serious, the trial of the younger Biden, along with the media attention it is receiving, is part of ongoing internecine conflict and political warfare within the US ruling class. Coming quickly on the heels of the conviction of Donald Trump on 34 felony counts over hush-money payments to a porn star, the trial of Hunter Biden is generating a similar stream of prurient details about prostitutes, drug dealers and crack pipes. As in the Trump hush-money trial and conviction, the prosecution of Hunter Biden for illegally completing a firearm application has the effect of degrading public consciousness and avoids the real crimes committed by both political parties. Far more media attention has been devoted to Hunter Biden’s false affidavit than to indicting the massive war crimes committed by his father in arming and sanctioning Israeli genocide in Gaza, in which tens of thousands have died. Judge Noreika, appointed by Donald Trump in 2018, scuttled the plea deal—which would have resulted in a misdemeanor conviction on two tax offenses and a “pretrial diversion agreement” on the gun offenses. Now the case is being used to undermine President Biden’s campaign for reelection. The trial is the outcome of a years-long and so far unsuccessful campaign by Republicans to connect the corrupt business practices and substance abuse by Hunter Biden—who has publicly acknowledged his addictions—to his father. Hunter Biden was trading on his father’s role as vice president when he obtained a well-paid post at Burisma in 2014, while Joe Biden was in charge of Ukraine policy for the Obama administration. In both Ukraine and in subsequent dealings in China in 2016, he had no apparent qualifications for business relationships other than his father’s position in government. But these issues have been pushed into the background by the present trial. Meanwhile, Republicans face considerable political contradictions in the case. As pointed out by the New York Times on June 5, the trial of Hunter Biden on gun charges “undermines their views on gun rights and on a ‘weaponized’ Justice Department.”

Delaware jury finds Hunter Biden guilty on all 3 felony counts -- The jury in a Wilmington, Delaware, federal court convicted Hunter Biden, the son of US President Joe Biden, on all three felony charges Tuesday morning after three hours and five minutes of deliberations. The younger Biden was found guilty of lying on a gun application and to a federally licensed gun dealer about his drug use and illegally possessing a gun while addicted to drugs in October 2018. Although the offenses were committed prior to Joe Biden’s term in office, the conviction of Hunter Biden is the first time a member of a sitting US president’s immediate family has been found guilty of a crime. Responding to the jury’s decision, President Biden said he accepted the outcome of the case and “will continue to respect the judicial process as Hunter considers an appeal.” The 12-person jury deliberated for one hour on Monday afternoon following closing arguments and two hours on Tuesday morning, reaching a unanimous decision so swiftly that the president’s wife, Jill Biden, did not make it into the courtroom in time to hear the verdict. Speaking to CNN on Tuesday afternoon, one juror said the jury was not focused on Hunter Biden’s lifestyle but on the evidence. Another juror told CNN that all 12 jurors agreed that Hunter had knowingly lied on the gun application about his addiction. A third juror told CNN that the trial should never have been brought and “seemed like a waste of taxpayer money.” The president’s son was indicted on the gun charges in September by US Attorney David Weiss, who had been appointed special counsel by Attorney General Merrick Garland a month earlier. After the verdict, Weiss said that it was “not just about addiction” but about “illegal choices” Hunter Biden made, and that “no one is above the law.” The sentencing of Hunter Biden by Judge Maryellen Noreika is expected to take place in early October. The maximum sentence on the three offenses is 25 years in prison and $750,000 in fines, although it is unlikely as a first-time offender that Biden will receive anything close to this. In addition, all or part of his sentence could, at the judge’s discretion, be served while on probation. The guilty verdict brings to a conclusion the first of two cases brought by Weiss against Hunter Biden. The second involves tax offenses in a Los Angeles federal court and is scheduled to go to trial in September. David Weiss began an investigation of Hunter Biden in 2018 after being appointed US Attorney for Delaware by then-President Donald Trump. Responding to the verdict, the Trump campaign sent a statement to CNN saying the trial has been “nothing more than a distraction from the real crimes of the Biden Crime Family.” Trump’s top adviser Stephen Miller posted on Twitter/X that the Department of Justice charged Hunter Biden with a minor gun violation “in order to protect the BIG GUY before the election. DOJ is Biden’s election protection racket.”

Hunter Biden convicted on all charges: 5 takeaways = Hunter Biden was found guilty Tuesday of all three charges relating to a 2018 gun purchase. Jurors in Wilmington, Del., deliberated for about three hours before convicting President Biden’s only surviving son. The charges centered on Hunter Biden lying about drug use on his paperwork to buy the gun. He possessed the gun for less than two weeks before his then-girlfriend, Hallie Biden, found it and threw it away. Hallie Biden is the widow of Beau Biden, the president’s elder son, who died from brain cancer in 2015. Her later relationship with Hunter Biden was relatively brief. Hunter Biden saw a plea deal relating to the gun offenses and unrelated tax charges fall apart last year. The trial on the tax charges is scheduled for September. The impact of his conviction on his father’s political fortunes may be slight, however. The behavior under scrutiny has no clear relevance to the president’s public duties.

Two separate themes were entangled in the trial. One was Hunter Biden’s struggles with addiction to alcohol and crack cocaine, which he had documented in a 2021 memoir. Many Americans, touched by addiction themselves or among their friends and family, may feel empathy on this. The narrower question was whether he broke the law — and there only ever seemed one likely verdict. The central issue was his answer of “no” to a question on the federal form would-be gun-buyers have to complete. The question asks whether the applicant is “an unlawful user of, or addicted to” marijuana or narcotics. The defense had to argue that even though Hunter Biden was clearly experiencing crack addiction during this general time, he was not using during the 11-day period when he bought and owned the gun. Jurors evidently found that implausible, given evidence including a text message where he stated he was “sleeping on a car smoking crack” two days after the gun purchase. Hallie Biden told the court she found the gun in Hunter Biden’s car, along with “remnants of crack cocaine” and drug paraphernalia. It would have been a big shock if the jurors had returned any other verdict.
President Biden’s schedule for Tuesday changed abruptly soon after the verdict was announced. The White House said the president would not return to his official residence after a speech at a Washington hotel but instead would travel to Wilmington. It is safe to surmise the president wanted to be with his son, whose prior travails have caused the President Biden understandable concern. In the wake of the verdict, the president issued a statement expressing love for his son and pride in seeing him “come out the other side” of addiction. The president also said he would “accept the outcome of this case and will continue to respect the judicial process as Hunter considers an appeal.” Those words suggest the president will not pardon his son, but they don’t rule out such a move. Politically, it would be a lot easier for the president to issue a pardon if he won a second term – or, if he lost, during the lame-duck period. Doing so in the run-up to a presidential election would cause a furor.
A lengthy jail sentence is possible but unlikely. Hunter Biden faces a maximum sentence of 25 years in prison. He is all but certain to avoid that fate, however. He has no prior convictions, and the gun was not used for any other crime. Maximum sentences for lying on gun forms are usually levied in very different scenarios, such as when someone serves as a “straw buyer,” purchasing a firearm for someone else who cannot lawfully possess it. In addition, Hunter Biden says he has been clean and sober since mid-2019, so there seems minimal risk of reoffending. None of that makes incarceration impossible, of course. Broad sentencing guidelines for illegally possessing a firearm, one of the counts on which he was convicted, call for between 15 and 21 months in prison, according to Reuters.
Trump and other GOP figures point to other alleged misdeeds. Former President Trump was uncharacteristically quiet about the conviction on his Truth Social account, at least in the few hours immediately after the decision. Trump’s campaign press secretary Karoline Leavitt issued a statement contending that the trial was “nothing more than a distraction from the real crimes of the Biden Crime Family.” This is a reference to Republican allegations that Hunter Biden and the president’s brother James Biden profited off the family name in their business dealings — and did so in such a way as to endanger national security. But neither man has been charged with any crime on that score, and both vigorously deny wrongdoing.
Hunter Biden got de facto support from some unexpected quarters. Among fervent defenders of the Second Amendment, some argue that drug users should not be prohibited from owning firearms — an argument that would render the prosecution of the Hunter Biden unconstitutional. Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) wrote on social media: “Hunter might deserve to be in jail for something, but purchasing a gun is not it.” Massie added: “There are millions of marijuana users who own guns in this country, and none of them should be in jail for purchasing or possessing a firearm against current laws.”

Ken Buck: America would understand if Joe Biden pardoned Hunter Biden -- Former Rep. Ken Buck (R-Colo.) suggested Americans would understand if President Biden chose to pardon his son, Hunter Biden, who was convicted on three felony gun charges Tuesday.“President Biden wouldn’t do anything until after the appeals are finished, number one, and that’s going to happen after the election,” Buck said Tuesday on CNN. “So, he’s going to have much more flexibility after the election whether he wins or loses to make a decision like this.”“Now, if he were to engage in a pardon of President Trump — and President Trump was convicted of a federal crime — at the same time that he pardoned his own son, I think Americans would understand a father doing that,” Buck added.Hunter Biden, 54, was found guilty of all three felony gun charges for lying in 2018 on a mandatory firearm-purchase form on which he claimed he was not using or addicted to illegal drugs. He then purchased the gun and unlawfully possessed it for 11 days. Biden reaffirmed last week said he would not give pardon to his son and would accept the outcome of the gun trial, which took place in Delaware. In remarks Tuesday, Biden said, “As I said last week, I am the President, but I am also a dad. I love our son, and we are so proud of the man he is today.” “I think he [Biden] made the right statement at the time, and that is I’m not going to show preferential treatment to a member of my own family,” Buck said.The president’s son faces a maximum penalty of 25 years in prison and $750,000, though actual sentences for federal crimes are often less than the maximum penalties, especially for first-time offenders.

Report: Hunter Biden Expected to Appeal Gun Conviction Hunter Biden is expected to appeal his gun conviction, people in his orbit and legal experts told the New York Times.A successful appeal would be “an uphill climb,” according to the outlet, but Hunter can still file the appeal once the judge sentences him in the coming weeks.Hunter’s gun trial judge, Maryellen Noreika, recently delivered a one-year sentence to a defendant in a similar gun case. The defense asked for a six-month sentence, but Noreika gave him one year. The White House was silent Wednesday on whether President Joe Biden would commute his son’s sentence. Hunter would likely base his appeal on the following bases, the Times reported:Mr. Biden’s lawyer Abbe Lowell has also signaled that any appeal would be based on the Supreme Court’s landmark decision in 2022 that vastly expanded gun rights, a ruling that spawned legal challenges to the part of the federal firearms form at the center of the Biden case. In Mr. Biden’s case, it included a question asking buyers about their drug use.…That Hunter Biden, 54, would base an appeal on a Supreme Court decision that his father has described as an affront to “common sense and the Constitution” is perhaps the crowning paradox in a case replete with complexities. The Supreme Court’s ruling in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen paved the way for potential challenges to other gun laws, including those that deny firearms to people addicted to drugs.One of the biggest tests of the scope of that decision unfolded in New Orleans, in February 2023, when a conservative appeals court panel struck down part of a federal law that prohibited people under domestic violence restraining orders from owning firearms. The Supreme Court will soon decide whether to uphold or reverse that decision.Hunter’s lawyer, Abbe Lowell, said Tuesday after the conviction that legal challenges to the jury’s verdict would be pursued. “We respect the jury process, and, as we have done throughout this case, we will continue to vigorously pursue all the legal challenges available to Hunter,” he said in a statement. Hunter also faces tax charges in California. That trial is set for September 2024.The government does not appear ready to “cut a deal” with Hunter to avoid a second trial, people close to Hunter told the Times. A deal is still possible, however, the report noted.

Nancy Mace invites Scarlett Johansson to testify on OpenAI’s ChatGPT assistant ‘Sky’ - A House Oversight and Accountability subcommittee is aiming to give a star-studded boost to the conversation surrounding artificial intelligence (AI) and deepfakes, extending an invitation to actor Scarlett Johansson to testify at an upcoming hearing. The “Black Widow” star has been invited to testify at a House Oversight Subcommittee on Cybersecurity, Information Technology and Government Innovation hearing on July 9. According to a letter from the subcommittee’s chair, Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.), the hearing would “provide a platform” for Johansson to “share [her] concerns” with Congress and “inform the broader public debate concerning deepfakes.” “The hearing will address the broader issues surrounding the uses and abuses of deepfake technology,” Mace’s office said in a statement. Last month, 39-year-old Johansson said she was “shocked” and “angry” after ChatGPT released its voiced artificial intelligence assistant, “Sky,” which she said sounded “eerily similar” to her voice. In a statement, Johansson said she had previously declined an invitation from OpenAI CEO Sam Altman to voice an AI assistant for the company. “When I heard the released demo, I was shocked, angered and in disbelief that Mr. Altman would pursue a voice that sounded so eerily similar to mine that my closest friends and news outlets could not tell the difference,” the “Her” star said in a statement to The Hill in May. A source close to Johansson told ITK on Monday that the actor would be out of the country on the scheduled date of the House subcommittee hearing in July and unavailable to attend.

Elon Musk threatens to ban Apple at his firms over OpenAI integration -- Tech CEO Elon Musk said he would ban employees of his companies from using Apple devices if the tech giant goes forward with a plan to launch an artificial intelligence (AI) feature announced Monday.Apple said its “Intelligence” feature, which would integrate OpenAI’s ChatGPT, will personalize a phone to the user’s needs and add functionality. “If Apple integrates OpenAI at the OS level, then Apple devices will be banned at my companies. That is an unacceptable security violation,” Musk wrote on his social media platform X.Musk, who leads X, car manufacturer Tesla and space firm SpaceX, launched his own artificial intelligence venture xAI last year. The OpenAI competitor claimed it raised $6 billion last monthat an $18 billion valuation.The threat expands Musk’s feud with OpenAI, which he co-founded but is no longer affiliated with. Musk’s rivalry became a legal battle in March when he sued the company and its leader, Sam Altman, alleging they broke a contract in which Altman promised to develop AI for the benefit of humanity. That legal challenge sparked the founding of xAI, Musk later said.Through Apple Intelligence, users will be able to prioritize their notifications or help rewrite language across apps, including in emails, notes or messages, the company announced Monday.The feature will be included as part of the launch of the new iOS18, as well as updates coming to operating systems for the Mac and iPad, which will be released in the fall.ChatGPT access will be baked into its Siri voice assistant, Apple said, and will be accessible on other of the company’s devices.

Binance co-founder beseeches Elon Musk to address cryptocurrency scams on X - Elon Musk’s X.com isn’t doing enough to prevent the proliferation of cryptocurrency scams on the social media platform. That’s the apparent sentiment from Binance co-founder Yi He, who took to the app recently to question whether its billionaire owner would address the problem. Yi He’s concern was brought up in reference to a purported impersonation scam running on the X platform. She posted images showing accounts which were blatant imitations of both her X handle (@heyibinance) and her proper name.According to the Binance executive, one specific impersonation scam directed users to click on a link purported to give access to Binance-backed memecoins. Yi He was quick to point out that no such coins have been issued and that clicking the link could result in loss of funds: “I have not issued any new MEMEcoins. Clicking on the link will result in your money being stolen. Many people were tricked by this hacker link and lost a significant amount of money today. Is there any way to address this issue?” As Cointelegraph recently reported, cryptocurrency scams have proliferated on X.com to the point where, according to analysts, scammers on the platform are to blame for an outsized portion of all crypto scams.Analysis from Scam Sniffer, a web3 anti-scam company with a presence on X, nearly $50 million are lost each month with account impersonation on X.com being a primary driver behind the issue.As many pundits have noted, these problems have been around long before Elon Musk took over the reins of Twitter and changed its name to X. However, lingering confusion over the new owner’s controversial paid verification service — wherein ostensibly anyone with a smartphone can register and receive verification — may be a contributing factor in the general public continuing to fall for impersonation scams on the platform.A cursory review of Musk’s statements surrounding the Twitter takeover show that he iterated on several occasions that he intended to do something about the “bot” and “spam” problems. But it’s unclear whether he specifically addressed cryptocurrency scams.

Cryptocurrencies fall as investors await Fed decision, bitcoin dips under $67,000 -- Cryptocurrencies slumped on Tuesday as bitcoin extended its recent slide and investors awaited the Federal Reserve's next rate decision. The price of bitcoin was last lower by 3% at $67,582.34, according to Coin Metrics, extending a decline that began Friday when bitcoin retreated from the $70,000 level. Earlier in the day, it fell as low as $66,140.67. Ether fell 4.8% to $3,496.32. Cryptocurrencies broadly, along with crypto-related equities, were in the red. Coinbase and MicroStrategy were each down more than 2%.Bitcoin losses may have been triggered by a wave of long liquidations, which forces traders to sell their assets at market price to settle their debts. In the past 24 hours, $56 million in long bitcoin liquidations have occurred across centralized exchanges, according to CoinGlass.The market saw another $56 million in long bitcoin liquidations on Thursday, ahead of a better-than-expected May U.S. jobs report Friday. Bitcoin fell back under $70,000 after briefly testing the level to begin the month. Like stock market investors, crypto traders worry that the Federal Reserve may not reduce interest rates this year. The central bank has kicked off its two-day policy meeting and is expected to give its decision on Wednesday."When equities sell off, other risk assets follow," said Bartosz Lipiński, CEO of the crypto trading platform Cube.Exchange. "This feels largely like the market is losing confidence that the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates anytime soon … and greater fears about the impact of high rates over the long-term are beginning to take hold.""One look at options positioning shows long-term expectations are for a rally," he added. "For now though, we may continue to see volatility until there is a clearer picture of the Fed's plans for the remainder of the year."Lipiński also said the sell-offs on Tuesday and last Friday are further evidence of the ongoing "malaise" in the market."Despite spot ETH ETFs seemingly being on the verge of coming to the market in the U.S., there has been no real catalyst to drive prices higher," he said. "Underlying fundamentals are strong for bitcoin, with supply being hoarded by ETFs, but sentiment has yet to catch up."

Trump Wants Bitcoin "Made In The USA" After Hosting Mining Industry Heads - Donald Trump reiterated his support for the Bitcoin mining industry on Wednesday after hosting a meeting with several executives from United States crypto mining firms.Today was a historic moment in our journey towards hyperbitcoinization. The former and next President of the United States gathered America’s hashrate and committed to championing our cause in DC and on the global stage. Bitcoin will THRIVE in 🇺🇸 Orange Man+Orange Coin= Good pic.twitter.com/YhfzoJg19g As Bitcoin Magazine reports, among the attendees were representatives from leading Bitcoin mining firms, including CleanSpark, Riot Platforms, Marathon Digital, and other notable industry players. Key figures present included S Matthew Schultz from CleanSpark, Jason Les and Brian Morgenstern of Riot Platforms, Salman Khan of Marathon Digital, and Terawulf board member Amanda Fabiano, formerly Head of Mining at Galaxy and Director of Bitcoin Mining at Fidelity.Today, Riot CEO, @JasonLes_, and Riot’s Head of Public Policy,@MorgensternNJ, met with @realDonaldTrump to discuss #Bitcoin mining and energy. 🇺🇸 "President Trump will protect your right to own Bitcoin, to mine Bitcoin, to transact with Bitcoin, and for many of us, to work in…pic.twitter.com/T0CFKR3hOv “Our industry has faced an enormous amount of political struggle, fueled by misinformation and misguided narratives,”TeraWulf’s Fabiano said on X. “Our industry needs politicians that are interested in learning about the benefits of Bitcoin and Bitcoin mining.” In a June 11 post on the Trump-owned Truth Social, the presidential candidate said he wanted “all the remaining Bitcoin to be MADE IN THE USA!!! [sic]” and claimed it would help the country be “energy dominant.” He claimed Bitcoin was the country’s “last line of defense” against a central bank digital currency. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said in March the U.S. was “nowhere near recommending or let alone adopting a central bank digital currency in any form.” Trump recently stressed that the United States must not settle for “second place” when it comes to crypto and even declared himself as the “crypto president” earlier in June.

Donald Trump flips on crypto: From 'scam' to building a 'crypto army' -In a sharp reversal, former President Donald Trump has embraced the cryptocurrencies he once reviled, looking to outflank rivals Joe Biden and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. among the technology’s devoted young fan base — and its deep-pocketed executives.Hours after meeting with bitcoin miners at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida on Wednesday, the former president said on his Truth Socialmedia platform that cryptocurrency users should “vote for Trump!” because he will stand up to “Biden’s hatred of Bitcoin.”The declaration came after weeks of concerted outreach to crypto enthusiasts and the people leading the burgeoning industry — and it already seems to be paying off. One bitcoin mining executive who met with Trump told CNBC that his industry has committed to raising over $100 million and turning out more than 5 million voters to help Trump this fall.But just a few years ago, when Trump was in the White House, he made it clear he was not a fan of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.“I am not a fan of Bitcoin and other Cryptocurrencies, which are not money, and whose value is highly volatile and based on thin air,” he said in a series of social media posts in 2019 while he was still in office. “Unregulated Crypto Assets can facilitate unlawful behavior, including drug trade and other illegal activity.”“We have only one real currency in the USA,” Trump continued, “And it will always stay that way. It is called the United States Dollar!”Trump maintained that position after he left the office and as recently as 2021, when he told Fox Business in one interview that bitcoin “just seems like a scam.” In another interview with the network, he said cryptocurrencies seemed like a “disaster waiting to happen.”“I don’t think we should have all of the bitcoins of the world out there. I think they should regulate them very, very high,” Trump told Fox Business in August 2021.Three months ago, in March, Trump told CNBC that his thinking had changed a bit as bitcoin’s price rebounded after a series of scandals and setbacks, saying crypto was becoming increasingly entrenched and that he was “not sure I’d want to take it away at this point.”By May, Trump had completed his evolution to become a full-throated evangelist of cryptocurrencies in the run-up to the Libertarian Party’s national convention in Washington, where both he and Kennedy spoke.In a speech to the libertarians that was frequently interrupted by boos and jeers, Trump earned applause for vowing to “stop Joe Biden’s crusade to crush crypto.”“I will ensure that the future of crypto and bitcoin will be made in the USA, not driven overseas. I will support the right to self-custody to the nation’s 50 million crypto holders,” he added. “With your vote, I will keep Elizabeth Warren and her goons away from your bitcoin. And I will never allow the creation of a central bank digital currency.”Because mining requires enormous amounts of energy, Trump now portrays crypto as a national and energy security issue, including for the fossil fuel industry that he has promised to defend.His campaign also announced it would become the first major presidential campaign in history to accept donations in cryptocurrency, vowing to “build a crypto army moving the campaign to victory on November 5th.”The move comes as Trump’s campaign feels confident it can pull some young voters — especially young men of color — from their traditional home in the Democratic Party and as Trump and his allies step up their attacks on Kennedy.Kennedy is an outspoken proponent of cryptocurrencies whose first public appearance as a presidential candidate came at a bitcoin conference in Miami last year.“I’m not going to question if it was a political decision,” Kennedy saidwhen asked about Trump’s reversal on cryptocurrency at a conference in Texas last week. “I’m happy he did it, and I hope President Biden does, too.”

Trump and Biden court Wall Street with very different visions — The Biden administration and former President Donald Trump have competing economic pitches to make to Wall Street in a tight presidential election that is increasingly centered on taxes and the economy. "The Trump pitch is a lighter regulatory touch, keeping corporate taxes low," said Brian Gardner, chief policy strategist at Stifel. "The Biden pitch is stability, steady hand, you may not love us but we're not populists and we can get along." Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen traveled to New York City on Thursday, giving a fireside chat at the Economic Club of New York. She also privately met with over a dozen CEOs and business leaders — including major Democratic donors on Wall Street, the investment banker Blair Effron and private equity investor Mark Gallogly, according to a person familiar with the matter. It's not the first outreach she's done for the administration to bankers. Just last month, she met with 25 bank CEOs at a meeting with the Bank Policy Institute, the person said. Also on Thursday, Trump met with CEOs at the Business Roundtable in D.C., a group that includes JPMorgan's Jamie Dimon, Bank of America's Brian Moynihan and Citigroup's Jane Fraser. The Biden administration sent chief of staff Jeff Zients to the roundtable meeting in lieu of the president, who is in Italy for the G7 meeting. It's a critical time in both campaigns to court Wall Street donors. With less than five months to go before election day, both campaigns are pouring money into several key swing states. Wall Street donors are faced with two different visions on how to run the economy. Yellen and the Biden camp are making the case that stability, combined with investments in critical areas like infrastructure and positive results on inflation and unemployment, will fuel long-term economic growth. "We have learned through experience that heavy-handed central planning through government dictates is not a sustainable economic strategy," Yellen said. "But neither is traditional supply-side economics, which ignores the importance of public infrastructure, education and workforce training, and government-supported basic research. Traditional supply-side economics wrongly assumes that policies such as tax cuts for those at the top and deregulation will fuel growth and prosperity for the nation at large." The Trump campaign, meanwhile, is promising deregulation — including for banks — and continued lower taxes for financial firms and other corporations. At least so far, the banking industry's biggest donors are continuing to back mostly Republican groups and causes. In the first 15 months of the election cycle, 59% of election contributions from individuals who work at commercial banks went to Republican candidates and groups, compared to 60.4% in the same period for the 2022 midterm elections and 56% in the 2020 presidential election, according to an analysis of Federal Elections Commission data from Open Secrets done for American Banker. That's not necessarily reflective of how a majority of people in the banking industry think about the election, however. A bulk of those donations come from a small number of individuals, and some small banks rank high in the amount given by individuals because their executives donate heavily.

Fake federal employees target crypto investors, CISA warns - The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) issued an alert on June 12 about a rise in impersonation scams, often using “the names and titles of government employees.”The CISA alert explained that its staff will never request money wiring, “cash, cryptocurrency, or use gift cards.”“If you suspect you are a target of an impersonation scammer claiming to be a CISA employee, do not pay the caller; take note of the phone number calling you; hang up immediately, [and] validate the contact by calling CISA.”Responding to written questions from Cointelegraph, Chainalysis director of investigations Phil Larratt explained that scams “continue to be a major threat to the [crypto] ecosystem at large.” Larratt said that scams are once again “one of the biggest drivers of cryptocurrency-based crime, bringing in at least $4.6 billion in revenue in 2023.”“Impersonation scams, in particular, had the fourth-worst impact on victims in 2023 based on an average payment size of $948, as we found in our Chainalysis 2024 Crypto Crime Report.” In adherence with the actions suggested by the CISA, and on the topic of prevention, Larratt said a first line of defense against large-scale scamming comes from preventative efforts, starting with public education:“This is critical because once crypto assets are transferred to a third party, there is no longer control of that asset without the private keys of the third party’s funds.”

‘Cyber incident’ shuts down Cleveland City Hall - cleveland.com — Cleveland City Hall will be closed Monday as the the city investigates a “cyber incident” affecting some of the city’s computer systems. “All internal systems and software platforms will be shut down until further notice,” the city said in a news release Sunday night. “City Hall and Erieview will be closed on Monday ... except for essential staff and normal business will not be conducted with the public.” The news release says the nature and scope of the cyber incident remains unknown, “but we are taking this incident seriously.” Affected computer systems have been shut down during the investigation. City and emergency services, including the Department of Public Safety (911, Police, Fire, and EMS), the Department of Port Control (Cleveland Hopkins and Burke Lakefront Airports), and Department of Public Utilities (Water, Water Pollution Control, and Cleveland Public Power) have not been affected, the news release says. All daytime 311 calls will be handled by after-hours operators. “We take cyberthreats extremely seriously and are working expeditiously to rectify the situation as soon as possible,” the release says.

Cleveland City Hall investigating ‘cyber event,’ will be closed Tuesday — Cleveland City Hall and Erieview offices will be closed for a second day on Tuesday, June 11, as officials continue to investigate a “cyber event.” Mayor Justin Bibb at a Monday afternoon media briefing said city phone services have been restored and that “other key city IT systems” are being brought back online. “Though we continue to investigate the nature and scope of the incident, we do know that certain city data is currently unaffected,” he said. “Those include taxpayer information held by [Central Collection Agency Division of Taxation] and customer information held by public utilities.” Basic city services, including public safety, public works, public utilities and the airport teams are operational, though with limited computer capabilities, he said. The city said emergency services, such as police, fire, and EMS, were not affected. Kim Roy Wilson, the city’s information technology commissioner, said officials identified “abnormalities” in the city’s IT “environment” on Saturday. Though Bibb in opening remarks referred to the incident as a “breach,” Wilson referred to it as a “cyber event,” stressing the importance of withholding details that could compromise the city’s investigation. “You’re seeing this happen all across the country from city governments to large Fortune 500 companies, to large health care companies as well,” Bibb said. “We wanted to make sure that we contain, manage and get back to business as quickly as possible.” While the city is recovering, residents who need critical documents or other services supported by city networks will have to wait until the issue is resolved and the offices reopen, Wilson said.

Cleveland cyberattack forces city officials to cut network access -- Hackers infiltrated the government networks of the City of Cleveland, Ohio, forcing officials to cut off public access to City Hall on Wednesday. Security teams had already shut down IT systems during Monday's attack in an attempt to contain the damage. In an update on the social media platform X on Tuesday evening, Cleveland officials said that security teams first became aware of “abnormalities” in the city’s IT environment on Monday. After taking “precautionary actions to contain those abnormalities” which involved cutting off access to city systems, the City said it has been busy “investigating the nature and scope of the incident.” The update also made sure to inform the City’s more than 360,000 residents that all emergency services, including 911 call centers, police and fire departments, as well as EMS services are all operating normally. Cleveland is Ohio’s second largest city after Columbus, the state capital. According to the latest update, Cleveland’s City Hall and ErieView Plaza, shuttered in the wake of the attack, will reopen on Wednesday at 11:00 a.m. CT – but only to employees. By late Wednesday, the city decided to close down City Hall to non-employees, at least for the rest of the week, and has advised residents to postpone City Hall business until IT systems are fully operational. As for the possibility of threat actors having gained unauthorized access to sensitive data, officials have confirmed that “certain City data” was unaffected, including Taxpayer information held by the CCA. Customer information held by Public Utilities. "Cyberattacks on cities across the United States have been an escalating issue, exemplified by the recent incident that forced Cleveland City Hall to shut down yesterday,” said Paul Laudanski, Director of Security Research at cybersecurity solutions firm Onapsis. “While it is good that police, fire, and emergency medical services are still functioning in Cleveland, cyber incidents like this have the potential to disrupt public services,” Laundanski pointed out. Luckily, other government services said to have escaped major disruptions include Cleveland’s Department of Public Utilities (water and power), Municipal courts, Trash collection, Recreation department, and Port control at the Hopkins and Burke Lakefront Airports, as well as the 311 resident information line. The city says it collaborating with several key partners who provide expert knowledge and deep experience in this work, and will continue to post updates on social media. So far, no cybercriminal group has claimed the attack. Cybernews has reached out to Cleveland's Mayor Justin Bibb's office and will Among Western nations, smaller and midsize cities with populations below the million mark have been a steady target for ransomware groups over the past few years. Laundanski explained that “State and local governments are prime targets for cybercriminals due to their outdated security systems and shortage of skilled cybersecurity professionals.” “The insufficient allocation of resources towards cybersecurity heightens the vulnerabilities of these organizations,” he said. Full restoration of IT networks for these compromised municipalities can often take weeks, if not months, with some government officials choosing to pay the ransom demand – although not a practice supported by the FBI. Previous attacks include the two California cities of Modesto and Oakland last February, the City of Dallas, Texas, in May, and the City of Leicester, England, in March. Police in the California city of Modesto were forced to fall back on "old school policing" with handheld radios, and pen and paper during patrols during a February cyberattack carried out by the Snatch ransomware gang. All the attacks mentioned were eventually claimed by active ransomware gangs within weeks of them taking place., including the Snatch cybercriminal gang, the Play cartel, the Royal gang (now known as BlackSuit), and the INC Ransom group, respectively. All the ransomware outfits boasted of having exfiltrated troves of sensitive data during the attacks, eventually leaking the alleged caches onto the dark web when negations for ransom demands eventually failed. Laundanski said the Cleveland attack further highlights the persistent vulnerabilities in municipal cybersecurity, and underscores the need for robust defensive measures. “Addressing this challenge requires a multi-faceted approach beginning with having the right skilled professionals, and fostering a strong culture of cybersecurity awareness,” he said.

Cleveland remains paralyzed by cyberattack — Cleveland City Hall remains shut down for residents as officials work to contain and eradicate a cyber incident that has disrupted the city's systems for six days. Residents have been unable to access birth certificates, death certificates, building permits and other services. Cleveland resident Eneida Vazquez was angry she was unable to obtain her baby daughter's birth certificate at city hall Thursday morning. "It's really an inconvenience," she said. Due to a family emergency, she will travel to Puerto Rico tomorrow. Vazquez said she must bring her 14-month-old daughter with her and needs the baby's birth certificate to board the plane. "I can't leave her," she said. "She's breastfed. So she needs mom." City workers sent her to Lakewood, where she was able to get the documents. The City of Akron experienced a similar cyber attack in 2019 Chief Technology Manager Darren Rozenek said it took eight to ten days to restore the city's systems because they had to remove and repair problems and put safeguards in place. He also said cyber attacks targeting municipalities are becoming more common. "We do everything we can to protect our environment, our data, our people. We put everything in place to do it, but cyber events are more of a matter of when not necessarily if," he said. He said the "bad actors" who attacked Akron's systems stole financial data and then sold the information. They have yet to be caught. He sympathized with Cleveland and said a cyber attack is "traumatic" for the city employees who work to keep the systems safe. According to Cleveland officials, The Department of Information Technology Services (ITS) has managed to contain the threat and is actively working to restore full functionality to city systems and services. City Hall reopened Wednesday but encountered challenges with technological systems that left residents frustrated by the inconvenience. There was no word from Cleveland officials Thursday evening regarding when City Hall will reopen.

Mastercard asks: Is crypto still too complicated for payments? --The widespread adoption of mobile and digital payments stems from their simplicity — consumers can make a payment with almost any device, without having to type a full account number and with all of the protections they already get from their payment cards. It's a compelling pitch, but is it one that cryptocurrency providers can match? Mastercard is arguing that it can create parity between these two payment methods, and to this end it is adding its scale and name recognition to cryptocurrency credentials, an older concept that attempts to ease the manner in which people identify the rails involved in cryptocurrency payments. This move follows an earlier one from PayPal, another large payment provider that is recruiting crypto-focused companies to support accessibility for payments. Both initiatives are an attempt to generate more demand to expand crypto beyond the most knowledgeable, tech-savvy users and early adopters.Mastercard's crypto credentials employ an alias that crypto exchanges use to process cryptocurrency payments, replacing the blockchain addresses that are normally used. Ablockchain address varies in size and structure, but it's usually between two and three dozen characters that identify the sender and recipient of a cryptocurrency transfer. The alias is a smaller, plain-language identifier that is easier to remember, conceptually similar to an email address. "There are multiple blockchains out there, all operating on the premise that there is a decentralized infrastructure to provide access," said Raj Dhamodharan, executive vice president of blockchain and digital assets at Mastercard. "That is good and is here to stay. But if you want a healthy transaction, what you want is a verified identification. We want to put standards behind that verification." Crypto exchanges verify a user based on Mastercard's crypto credential standards. The user then receives a substitute identifier or alias to send and receive funds. If a recipient's wallet does not support the asset or blockchain involved in the payment, the sender is notified and the transaction does not proceed. This procedure is designed to protect the parties from a loss of funds and to simplify the task of determining whether the recipient can receive a specific crypto transaction. Transfers between Latin America and Europe began earlier in June, with nonfungible tokens, tickets and digital assets to follow. Mastercard also plans to add more cross-border corridors. In the coming months, the crypto credentials and aliases will be available to about 7 million users who access Mastercard's network of supported cryptocurrency exchanges. Bit2Me, Lirium and Mercado Bitcoin are among the early crypto exchange adopters, with Foxbit and Lulubit in the pipeline. "The value of the payments is still moving in a blockchain, but the parties are verified. Know-your-customer checks have been done so the parties know this is secure," Dhamodharan said.

BankThink: The CFPB's proposed rules targeting fintechs are a boon to big banks | American Banker --Last month's Supreme Court decision affirming the funding structure of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau means that the agency is here to stay. And for consumers worried about unfair practices from Wall Street, that's a good thing. The CFPB was established in the wake of the Great Recession to protect Americans from financial exploitation at the hands of financial institutions like big banks.But in recent years, the CFPB has taken aim at a new target: fintech services. CFPB Director Rohit Chopra is trying to repurpose laws originally written to supervise Wall Street and apply them to the very services that offer consumers an alternative to big banks. Under the CFPB's proposed rules, PayPal, Apple Pay and Google Pay would all be treated like banks. Even Meta — which processes more cat memes than payments — would be regulated like a bank under the CFPB's proposal.Dodd-Frank's regulatory hurdles exist for a reason: to keep consumers safe from the financial havoc wrought by big banks. As the Great Recession revealed, safeguarding Americans from Wall Street's worst impulses requires serious oversight.But PayPal isn't about to cause a financial meltdown, and Amazon Pay isn't going to spark the collapse of the housing market. Still, the CFPB is forging ahead and wielding its regulatory hammer to force square pegs into round holes. To make matters worse, the CFPB has failed to establish why there's a need for bank-level scrutiny of tech and fintech services. The consumer watchdog is skipping a crucial step of its own rulemaking process by repeatedly asserting regulatory norms without public consensus, stakeholder input or evidence of consumer harm. The CFPB is supposed to establish a risk to consumers before initiating rulemaking. This process typically involves thorough research, public commentary and analysis of potential impacts. When it comes to fintech, the CFPB has continually failed to demonstrate any systemic risk to consumers or our financial system.

BankThink: Community banks are oddly silent on the looming stablecoin threat | American Banker -- Community banks are key components of the U.S. payment system. Yet, although Congress isconsidering legislation that would disrupt community banks' vital roles as key providers of funding for small businesses and customers nationwide, the voices of community bankers are nowhere to be found in this debate. I am writing about stablecoins, and while the legislation Congress is considering would incorporate them directly into the payment system — threatening community banks by reducing their deposits, increasing their costs and inhibiting them from competing with stablecoins — community bankers' representatives in Washington have been all but silent as these bills move forward.Stablecoins are crypto assets with values pegged to reference assets — frequently the U.S. dollar. Collateralized stablecoins — stablecoins backed by pools of assets — compete directly with banks (if structured as debt instruments) and money market mutual funds (if structured as equity instruments) and should be made to comply with the same laws as their competitors.Bills such as the Lummis-Gillibrand Payment Stablecoin Act and the Clarity for Payment Stablecoins Act (which passed the House Financial Services Committee on a bipartisan vote), however, would form a new regulatory regime for stablecoins that creates a new charter for issuers and allows banks and financial firms to issue stablecoins; limits stablecoins' reserve assets to high-quality liquid assets like Treasuries and short-maturity repos; and subjects issuers to banklike supervision. These bills would effectively treat stablecoins as deposits in narrow banks, just without the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. coverage that is a hallmark of community bank marketing. And yes, stablecoins can offer yield, just like bank deposits and money market fund shares.Enacting such legislation into law threatens to divert deposits away from community banks. To existing bank depositors with more than $250,000 in assets (that is, with accounts above the FDIC's insurance ceiling), stablecoin issuers will have a competitive advantage over traditional banks because investors will perceive those funds as safer as they are restricted only to high-quality liquid assets. In contrast, uninsured deposits are seen as riskier. To depositors below the deposit insurance ceiling, stablecoin issuers may still be more appealing if they can offer higher interest rates than banks — a real possibility, given that money market funds frequently offer higher rates than bank accounts. In addition, the economist Mark Flannery predicts that stablecoin legislation would cause total deposits in the banking system to fall as cash used to purchase Treasury bonds will leave the banking system. Others reject that assertion, but even if total deposits remain steady, they are liable to migrate to larger banks as the sellers of high-quality liquid assets are unlikely to be customers of community banks.Stablecoin legislation also threatens community banks by increasing their costs. Community banks could, of course, mitigate this migration of depositor assets to stablecoins by paying higher interest rates than those offered by stablecoin issuers, but that would squeeze community banks' already-tight margins. At the same time, requiring stablecoins be backed only by high-quality liquid assets will increase costs to community banks that rely on those same assets for liquidity.In a letter to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen last week, the Massachusetts senator highlighted the growing use of cryptocurrencies by malicious organizations abroad and underscored the need for anti-money-laundering and counterterrorism provisions in future proposals.Today, community banks have a competitive advantage over their nonbank competitors in that they can have Federal Reserve master accounts, allowing them to deposit customer assets with the central bank and facilitate cheap bank-to-bank payments. But there is no guarantee this state of affairs will continue: There is nothing in existing law that prohibits stablecoin issuers from receiving master accounts, nor do the legislative proposals under consideration contain that prohibition. At least one stablecoin bill would allow commercial firms to own stablecoin issuers, potentially opening the door to the likes of Walmart, Amazon and Meta receiving master accounts.

What are the tech solutions to Zelle fraud and scam resolution? --As Zelle fraud and scam victims tell their stories of losing large sums of money and Congress continues to hold hearings on this topic, it seems clear banks need to step up fraud detection, fraud investigations and dispute resolution. Some of this will take human effort — for instance, better training of human fraud investigators and customer service reps. But technology that detects, flags and reports on fraud and generative AI that gathers customer and account history data could help humans investigate and handle customer fraud claims more smoothly. Banks have long used traditional forms of AI, such as machine learning, to find unusual transaction patterns that indicate fraud. The use of generative AI to research claims is in the early stages.While the volume of transactions on the network rose 28% last year, the dollar volume of reported fraud and scams dropped nearly 50% to .05% of transactions, according to Ben Chance, chief fraud risk management officer at the company. He would not share the dollar amounts, but said the average payment on Zelle is $275 and total dollar exposure was lower in 2023 than 2022. (According to Consumer Financial Protection Bureau complaint database data, there was a spike in Zelle fraud in 2022.) But even a rate of .05% still translates to about 1.45 million cases of reported fraud and scams per year. And fraud is typically underreported, because people feel embarrassed and don't always know who to report it to. "I question who's determining whether or not a transaction is fraudulent," said Stephanie Tatar, founding attorney at The Tatar Law Firm. "Are they reporting that statistic based on what they perceive as fraud and what they've determined to be fraud? Or is that the percentage of reported fraud from consumers?"Tatar said she and her colleagues receive daily calls from consumers who detail their experiences with scams that result in unauthorized Zelle transactions, and banks that deny that fraud occurred."I would encourage the banks and Zelle to be completely transparent on how they've come to that determination," she said. "There is a shroud of secrecy that permeates all P2P issues, but particularly with Zelle."Chance said Early Warning does not think Zelle fraud is underreported. "We think we do a ton of work with respect to consumer education," he said. "We think we've got a really good mechanism for reporting every fraud and scam type and really detailed classifications on those fraud and scam types." In detecting fraud and scams, banks have to balance the need to deter and prevent attacks against the need to serve legitimate customers who do something unusual that might trigger a fraud alert. "This is the false positive aspect," said Donna Turner, advisor in residence at EY, former fraud executive at Bank of America and former chief operating officer at Early Warning. "How many good customers are impacted in your quest to find the fraud? This, along with the costs of the solutions, directly drives the operating expense you're willing to invest to achieve that outcome." Another challenge is that fraudsters often use synthetic identities — Frankenstein personas based on bits and pieces of real, but stolen, customer data as well as completely made-up data elements. According to Chance, the rate of synthetic identities is low because Early Warning only allows regulated financial institutions with full know-your-customer, anti-money-laundering and Bank Secrecy Act controls in place to use the network. More often, he said, people are duped into being money mules. "They don't know necessarily that their account is being used for a particular type of scam, but someone's approached them and said, 'You're going to receive a payment for $1,000 into your account over Zelle, and when you receive it, I need you to do this with it over ACH or over wire or write a check and you get to keep $200,' just as an example," Chance said. This sometimes attracts people who are young, not financially savvy or looking to make a quick buck. But to the bank, that customer looks legitimate. "The very first time it's really hard to identify a bad actor who's gone from positive intent to negative intent," Chance said. But it can take time for a consumer to realize they've been scammed and report it.

Fed hits Synapse partner Evolve Bank with cease-and-desist order --Regulators have hit Evolve Bancorp with a cease-and-desist order related to its third-party fintech relationships, which include the now-shuttered fintech middleman platform Synapse Financial, imposing a litany of requirements on the bank, including a ban on new fintech partnerships.The Federal Reserve Board announced the action against West Memphis, Ark.-based Evolve Bank & Trust on Friday, citing the community bank's shortcomings related to anti-money-laundering, risk management and consumer protection.Evolve was one of the primary banking partners of Synapse, a middleware provider that sought to serve as a bridge between licensed banks and nonbank entities looking to take deposits and make loans. Synapse abruptly shut down and filed for bankruptcy protection in April, freezing numerous transactions and leaving $85 million of customer deposits unaccounted for, according to the firm's Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings.The Fed noted that the action, which was issued in conjunction with the Arkansas State Banking Department on Tuesday, was made independent of the bankruptcy proceedings. An Evolve spokesperson confirmed that the bank had signed the order and agreed to take various steps to improve its compliance and risk management functions, while downplaying the connection to recent events related to Synapse."This order, which stemmed from a routine regulatory review in 2023 and is similar to orders received by others in the industry, does not affect our existing business, customers, or deposits," the spokesperson said in a written statement. "Evolve remains well-capitalized and continues to show strong growth across all business lines."As a result of the order, Evolve will have to review and revise numerous policies and practices, including those related to Bank Secrecy Act/anti-money-laundering requirements and regulations under the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Asset Control — a body that enforces economic and trade sanctions. The order also calls for Evolve to develop a risk management plan for its Open Banking Division, which caters to fintechs and other emerging financial service providers. It calls for the bank to produce "written policies and procedures to identify, manage, and monitor potential risks, including compliance, and fraud risks, associated with each fintech partner, product, program, service, business line, or customer."

BankThink: The FDIC's badly inaccurate 'problem bank list' should be shut down | American Banker --The FDIC has another problem, and it is unrelated to its toxic workplace scandal detailed in anindependent report leading to the resignation of its longtime director. I am referring to the FDIC's mythical problem bank list, or PBL, which has proven to be as reliable as dart-throwing stock pickerswhen it comes to identifying big banks that are likely to fail.The three big $100-plus billion-asset banks that failed last year, with combined assets exceeding $500 billion and costing the FDIC $35 billion, along with another that was privately rescued this year, were not on their list. However, a big bank that was on their list for more than four quarters in 2021 and 2022 did not fail.The bottom line is that the FDIC's problem bank list is itself a problem and should be shut down.The FDIC identifies problem banks that could fail to hopefully minimize potential losses. The FDIC is ultimately backstopped by taxpayers through the Treasury Department's Federal Financing Bank, as we saw twice when the Deposit Insurance Fund was negative. Thus, everyone wants to get this right, not just regulators or bankers.The FDIC's Quarterly Banking Profile publishes its PBL with the number of problem banks and theircombined assets. Problem banks have the two worst CAMELS composite safety and soundness ratings of 4 or 5 due to "financial, operational or managerial weaknesses that threaten their continued financial viability."CAMELS ratings have been poor predictors of recent big bank failures, since regulators robotically rate banks in the order of the acronym: Capital, Asset quality, Management, Earnings, Liquidity and Sensitivity to risk.The FDIC has been identifying problem banks since the 1970s, and a study dating back to that decade found that, even then, "for all practical purposes banks classified by examiners as 'problem' banks are those with low net capital ratios." Only 1% to 2% of banks are in this category during noncrisis periods, compared to 11% in 2010.The regulatory blind faith in capital is once again evident with the Federal Reserve's proposal to increase capital ratios for large banks in response to recent big bank failures.The three big banks that failed last year and the one that nearly failed this year all had regulatory acceptable capital levels and CAMELS ratings. Thus, none of them was on the PBL. But, all of them were problems, actually really big and costly problems.The regulatory CAMELS focus is not only myopically misplaced on capital but is totally backward and should be reversed to SLEMAC. The three big bank failures were primarily the result of mismanaged interest rate risk and the predictable liquidity problems that followed.Getting appointees confirmed by the Senate can be a time-consuming and painstaking process in ideal circumstances, and doing it in an election year amid a scandal is far from ideal. Even so, the White House and Senate Democrats should be motivated to move fast.Instead of the $47.5 billion of problem bank assets reported in the CAMELS PBL as of December 2022, a SLEMAC PBL would have been $579 billion — 12 times larger — by counting the three brewing failures with serious risk management and liquidity problems.Making the CAMELS PBL problem even worse are false positives. The most glaring example was during the fourth quarter of 2021, when PBL assets skyrocketed by nearly $56 billion to $170 billion, but the number of PBL banks actually declined. The logical conclusion was that a $100-plus billion-asset bank was added. That mystery big bank stayed on the PBL for the first three quarters of 2022 until it was removed during the fourth quarter of 2022.Instead of CAMELS supervisors hammering banks with their capital club, we need SLEMAC supervisors who understand interest rate risk management techniques to see how banks are dealing with more than $500 billion of unrealized losses, including their so-called HTM or "Hide 'Til Maturity" portfolio.

Political lines harden around FDIC workplace scandal — A much-anticipated hearing in the House Financial Services Committee on workplace misconduct at the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. yielded little movement among Democrats toward demanding FDIC Chair Martin Gruenberg's immediate resignation.Republicans — like Chairman Rep. Patrick McHenry, R-N.C. — continued to decry Gruenberg's continued presence atop the agency, where he has served on the board of directors for nearly 20 years and as chair for nearly 10, both in acting and Senate-confirmed capacities. Gruenberg said last month that he would resign from the agency when the White House nominates and the Senate confirms a replacement. In opening remarks, McHenry called Gruenberg's conditioning of his resignation on the presence of a replacement as insufficiently urgent, considering the severity of the allegations brought against the agency."Resigning after the confirmation of a new chair is just more of the status quo," McHenry said. "Chair Gruenberg knows this, which is why he told employees at the FDIC to continue as if he would be there until the end of the year. That is outrageous."Many Democrats also argued their colleagues across the aisle lacked moral authority to demand new leadership. Representative Maxine Waters, D-Calif. — the ranking member on the committee — said the misconduct detailed in the report occurred across many administrations and was unresolved. "Republicans are attacking the Democratic chair, who has already announced he will step down," she noted. "But you won't hear them call for Republican [FDIC] vice chair, Travis Hill, to step down despite him being a senior official under former Chair McWilliams when allegations of misconduct persisted."The FDIC workplace scandal came to light late last year after the Wall Street Journal published an investigation detailing numerous instances of sexual harassment and racial prejudice at the agency spanning decades. The FDIC established a special committee to investigate these claims as a response, appointing FDIC board members Michael Hsu and Jonathan McKernan to lead the investigation. Law firm Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton was ultimately tapped to undertake the independent review, whose results were published last month, largely corroborating the findings of the Wall Street Journal investigation.

'My kind of gal': Elizabeth Warren backs Biden FDIC nominee -Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) threw her support behind Christy Goldsmith Romero to lead the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC) after President Biden announced Thursday he would nominate Romero, a member of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), to replace outgoing Chair Martin Gruenberg.“She is exactly what the FDIC needs,” Warren told reporters Thursday at Capitol Hill. “She’s a strong independent woman. Bankers may not love her,” Warren added, noting Romero’s prior experience as inspector general for the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP), the hundreds of billions in bailouts given to big banks amid the financial crisis and recession of 2007-08.“She has the kind of independence that we want from regulators,” Warren said. “She doesn’t constantly look over her shoulder to see who’s got money or influence. She does what the law tells her to do and she does it without fear or favor — my kind of gal.”As the special inspector general for TARP, Romero oversaw 406 criminal charges brought against people in the financial industry, according to a 2017 report to Congress. This included 55 bankers, one trader, 68 bank borrowers and 83 “homeowner scammers.”Romero’s nomination from the White House comes after Gruenberg announced last month that he intended to resign as FDIC chair following a series of bombshell reports last year from The Wall Street Journal that detailed a toxic workplace culture rife with sexual harassment, misconduct and retaliation at the agency under his leadership.Gruenberg, a Democrat who was nominated by Biden in 2023, had served on the FDIC board since 2005, eventually bowing to pressure from lawmakers on both sides of the aisle to step down from his role once a successor was confirmed by the Senate. This has since left several of the administration’s banking regulations — including a controversial set of international banking regulations known as Basel III Endgame — in limbo. While the Senate will need to confirm Romero’s nomination, Warren expressed confidence that she will have the support of Democrats who currently hold a majority in the Senate. The Massachusetts senator has been an outspoken critic of big banks, calling for major reforms to the banking system, including raising the FDIC cap and cracking down on bank mergers.

White House, CFPB seek to ban medical debt from credit reports - Medical debt will be removed from credit reports and cannot be used in credit decisions under a proposal issued Tuesday by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau announced at the White House. Vice President Kamala Harris announced the CFPB's proposed rule on medical debt at the White House event Tuesday afternoon. Under the proposal, consumers will still owe medical debts but they won't appear on credit reports and lenders would be prohibited from using certain medical billing information in underwriting or credit decisions."No one should be denied access to economic opportunity simply because they experienced a medical emergency," Harris said on a call Tuesday afternoon with reporters. "Americans will see an increase in their credit score by an average of 20 points, which will mean every year an estimated 22,000 more American families will be approved for a mortgage and able to buy a home."The Biden administration has forgiven $650 million in medical debt and has plans to forgive another $7 billion by 2026, due to passage of the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, Harris said. She also called for states, cities and hospitals to forgive medical debt generally. The CFPB did not address a separate proposal that would rein in harmful practices of data brokers. That proposal is expected later this year and would deal with the sale of credit header data, including consumers' names, addresses, Social Security numbers and phone numbers. The CFPB had combined the two proposals because both involved changes to the Fair Credit Reporting Act and required that the bureau convene a small business review panel. In September, the CFPB outlined substantial changes to the FCRA that would require any company that collects and sells consumer data to be covered by the 1970 law. CFPB Director Rohit Chopra said that debt collectors use credit reports as a "weapon" to unjustly coerce payments from consumers that they may not owe. "Billing errors are widespread," Chopra said. "Our action today is an important step toward reducing some of the unnecessary costs of getting sick in America." Chopra said the proposed rule would create guardrails for credit reporting companies, prohibiting them from including medical debt on credit reports sent to lenders. The proposed rule also would prohibit lenders from repossessing medical devices like wheelchairs or prosthetic limbs as collateral to repay a loan. Last year the three credit reporting bureaus — Equifax, Experian and TransUnion — removed medical debts of up to $500 from credit reports. The CFPB's proposal would scrub the remaining 30% of medical debts that have not been removed affecting roughly 15 million Americans that still owe $49 billion in medical debt, Chopra said. "We find that these Americans disproportionately reside in the South and in low income areas," Chopra said. The CFPB has been studying the issue of medical debt for years with a focus on inaccuracies on credit reports. "Medical debt is the easiest, most explainable part of the rules and they wanted to get something out quickly because of the election," said Kim Phan, a partner at Troutman Pepper. "There are a ton of Americans with medical debt and most of them are located in the south and are lower income minorities that Democrats want to attract to their platform by pushing the benefits of eliminating medical debt from credit reports." The CFPB's research has found that half of all debt collections were for medical bills and that most debt collectors have no way of verifying the accuracy of medical debt due. Prices charged for medical debt often are inflated and arbitrary, with many experts blaming skyrocketing medical debt on insurance companies that deny claims. Still, banks and creditors are concerned that without medical debt listed on credit reports they will not have a full understanding of a consumer's debt load. Moreover, the third-party debt collection market is a $17.9 billion industry with more than 6,300 collection agencies.

PNC, Wells Fargo take action on card late fees. Will others follow? - PNC Bank has quietly slashed its credit card late fees to $8, and Wells Fargo is offering a new credit card without any such fees, in moves that suggest the industry is slowly yielding to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's efforts to slash the charges. Industry groups are continuing to battle the CFPB in court over its proposal to cut late fees, arguing $8 is not a large enough penalty to deter tardy payments. Most credit card companies haven't budged from about $32 for the first violation and $41 for subsequent ones.But the moves by PNC and Wells Fargo point to early signs of capitulation by the industry.The earliest mover on cutting late fees was Synchrony Financial, which analysts say is more reliant on those charges than its peers. The Stamford, Connecticut-based credit card company dropped its late fees to $8 in April, though it's making up for the revenue hit partly by raising interest rates and adding a $1.99 monthly fee for paper statements.The industry is still holding out hope that the late fee rule will get "knocked out" in court and the CFPB will come up with a "more reasonable number," said Crystal Kaldjob, a partner at the law firm Morrison Foerster. But card issuers are also increasingly grappling with the demise of substantial late fee revenue."There's probably a resignation that we won't go back to business as usual," Kaldjob said.Still, the majority of card issuers have not reduced the charges since six trade groups sued the CFPB in March to halt the agency's rule. In May, a federal judge preliminarily sided with the industry groups, halting the May 14 implementation date.CFPB Director Rohit Chopra has said the drop in late fees would eliminate $10 billion in revenue. Card issuers collected $4 billion in late fees at the end of 2022, nearly double the amount in 2015, Chopra said in prepared remarks Wednesday before the Senate Banking Committee. That figure is expected to fall to $1.5 billion per quarter, or $6 billion per year, if the late fee rule takes effect. "Credit card companies will still be able to penalize customers, and they will be able to charge a fee exceeding $8 if they can show that it's reasonable," Chopra said. Industry executives have long argued that $8 is too small a penalty to prevent some customers from paying late. They also contend that their current late fee procedures are well disclosed and follow CFPB-imposed requirements.

Chopra sees 'clear interest' in data privacy legislation — Rohit Chopra, director of the Consumer Financial Protection bureau, urged lawmakers to consider open banking legislation, including measures that would protect consumers' financial data. Chopra, speaking in his second day of testimony in Congress at a hearing of the House Financial Services Committee Thursday, said that he's discussed the issue with lawmakers on both sides of the aisle. "In my discussions with members on both sides of the aisle, there's clear interest in doing more to protect privacy," he said in opening remarks, separate from his prepared testimony that the House published. Chopra also changed his prepared testimony to include a line about "tech giants" increasingly entering the financial services marketplace and "harvesting personal data." The CFPB has been active on the issue of open banking and data privacy in the last month. Last week, the bureau finalized part of its open banking rule, establishing criteria for standard-setting bodies in the space. The bureau plans to finalize the rest of its open banking rule — known as the 1033 rule for its title in Dodd-Frank — this coming fall, Chopra said. The proposal would require that consumers be made aware of where their data is held and how it is used, sparking a nuanced debate about whether consumers should be given the option to "opt in" or "opt out" of having their data used for secondary purposes. The bureau is also "moving forward to propose a rule" to restrict uses of certain sensitive data by data brokers. "Around the world, digital data brokers have proliferated," Chopra said. "Right now, data brokers compile dossiers on Americans that can be easily purchased by scammers and stalkers, as well as by state and non-state actors in countries of concern." Chopra urged lawmakers to move forward with legislation that would codify some of these data protections into law. "The CFPB is actively monitoring developments in the market, and we are eager to work with all of you to put into place stronger protections against abuse and misuse of data," Chopra said. "We also believe there are opportunities to advance legislation to accelerate open and decentralized banking in our country."

Chopra fends off new line of attack on CFPB funding in Senate — Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director Rohit Chopra in front of the Senate Banking Committee defended the bureau from a new line of attack about its funding structure, recently the topic of a Supreme Court case decided last month in favor of the CFPB.Chopra, testifying in the first of two days of oversight hearings in Congress, touted the bureau's recent proposals and rulemakings, including one to remove medical debt from credit reports. The bureau has also finalized part of its open banking rule, and has said it will set up a new registry to track corporate repeat offenders of consumer laws. "There's a big difference between taking out a mortgage or credit card or auto loan versus a medical bill appearing on your credit report," Chopra said at the hearing. "There's been over a decade of empirical evidence to show a much higher rate of inaccuracy, and also the lack of predictive power, of medical bills to determine the repayment on other loans." But the most tense moments of the hearing still centered — once again — around the funding structure of the bureau. While the Supreme Court ruled that the CFPB's funding structure is constitutional, the bureau's detractors have surfaced a new line of criticism. The theory, laid out in an editorial for The Wall Street Journal by Harvard Law School's professor emeritus Hal Scott, argues that the CFPB cannot draw funding from the Federal Reserve System if the Federal Reserve System doesn't turn a profit, which Scott said it hasn't since 2022. The line of questioning about the CFPB's funding was picked up by Sen. John Kennedy, R-La. "You've been operating illegally," Kennedy said. "No, that's not true sir," Chopra replied. Chopra said that the CFPB has considered the theory, and that he and the bureau believe it's operating in accordance with the law that set it up in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis. The theory has become a point of contention in recent days among financial lawyers and academics, with dueling blog posts and arguments both for and against the line of reasoning — Adam Levitan, a law professor at Georgetown University, called the line of thinking "bizarre and incorrect." Chopra also received several questions on the growth of nonbanks and fintechs like buy now/pay later loans, and use of artificial intelligence in the financial sector. On nonbanks, Chopra said that the sector is growing, and that he would like to work with Congress to develop more robust oversight. For artificial intelligence, Chopra said that he's concerned about the potential for generative AI and other ways that humans can be simulated to create "an enormous amount of fraud in the financial system, and the weaponization of people's personal data." He also said that he's worried about "foundational" AI models when it comes to financial stability.

BankThink: There are too many cooks in the interchange kitchen | American Banker --Some years back I was paying my child's nursery school tuition when I saw a new notice attached to the bill: For families paying with a credit card, an additional 5% fee will be added to account for interchange fees. Alternatively, families could pay by check and pay no fee. I did some quick back-of-the-envelope math and realized that the convenience of paying with my credit card would cost about $80, which was more than enough incentive for me to dig out the checkbook.It may just be me, but it feels like interchange fees have gone from a back-end payments cog that I never thought about much to a more omnipresent hassle in daily life. Total swipe fees paid by merchants topped $100 billion last year for the first time. Maybe the pandemic and/or inflation are contributing factors; when everything is more expensive, swipe fees go up, too. And when things are more expensive, there's more reason for people to scrutinize what goes into costs. Maybe my particular line of work leaves me spending more time than the average person thinking about interchange fees — but I suspect that it isn't just me.Part of the basis of that suspicion is that the state of Illinois last week passed a budget law that would bar credit card payment networks from charging interchange fees on sales taxes, excise taxes and tips — a provision that seems to have been engineered as a budgeting gimmick to offset the elimination of a separate tax exemption for retailers. And more recently, the Pennsylvania House of Representatives has begun mulling a similar provision designed to relieve "our local merchants of this undue financial burden [that] can make the critical difference for so many businesses already operating on thin margins." Other states are likely to follow suit.But that's not all. The Federal Reserve is also close to finalizing a rule that would cut maximum interchange fees charged to merchants for debit transactions — a rule that arguably might impact financial inclusion, a top administration priority, and that banks are predictably quite upset about. And of course Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin, D-Ill., and Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Kansas, have been shopping a bill around Congress that would require credit cards to be compatible with at least two payment networks — one of which may not be either Visa or Mastercard — as a means of spurring competition in the swipe fee marketplace and thereby driving down costs.There are two distinct impressions that I derive from this landscape: That interchange fees are too high, and there are too many competing efforts to bring those costs to heel.I suspect many readers of American Banker winced when I said that credit card fees are too high just now, and might argue that those fees in fact are fair, well-calibrated and representative of the costs of providing the convenience and security that the public has come to expect from its payments networks. But a price is not based entirely on cost of inputs, production and labor — it is also a representation of what a buyer is willing to pay. The general public's appetite for higher costs of things is never all that robust, but at this moment in time the public is especially sensitive to why they pay so much for things that used to not be so expensive. That's the kind of gripe that lawmakers and regulators listen to, which is why we now have a central bank, at least two states and a little more than a dozen members of Congress working to do something about it.Which brings me to my second point: There are too many cooks in the interchange kitchen. The Fed, for its part, is charged with setting the maximum fees for debit transactions and is within its rights to do so. If their analysis finds that those maximum fees are too high, they are free to adjust them downward — and banks will see them in court. Congress likewise has the power to decide how and under what terms interstate commerce is conducted, and certainly payments networks fall under that jurisdiction.Individual states certainly have a right to establish their state budgets and collect sales taxes, but I'm not as sure that these forays into dictating the terms of swipe fees have as firm a legal footing. Regulating intrastate commerce — in the form of aforementioned sales taxes, for example — is one thing, but the upshot of exempting said taxes and tips from interchange fees is either that merchants have to conduct two transactions for every sale or that credit card networks have to develop an entirely new system that can differentiate between sales, taxes and tips — all so that merchants can run some of those payments on their rails for free. And because so many transactions occur across state lines, the likelihood of this provision being successfully challenged in court as a violation of the interstate commerce clause seems high. Ironically, Illinois' attempt to light the way on interchange fees may create a sense of urgency in Congress to revisit swipe fees and preempt that action — an urgency that Durbin-Marshall has to this point conspicuously lacked. It is also ironic that the place where this kind of national commerce issue can be most comprehensively addressed is also the most dysfunctional. But if more states follow Illinois' lead, the problem will become one that lawmakers cannot ignore.

Companies Unleash 2nd Biggest Stock Buyback Spree On Record Ahead Of Buyback Blackout This Friday -- How powerful are stock buybacks? Think of this way: back on April 22, we bottom-ticked the market when we reported that with the S&P dipping below 5,000, stocks were set to soar as "traders frontrun the end of buyback blackout period." The S&P took and and hasn't looked back since. And even though both institutional and retail activity in the period since the end of April had been rather muted, there has been one constant, relentless, price-indiscriminate buyer all the way: corporate buybacks. Yes, there is a reason why frontrunning the end of stock buyback period was such a powerful force, because in this market, buybacks have long ago emerged as the primary buying force, amounting to some $5 billion in daily stock purchases, eclipsing all other natural buyers. Sure enough, as Bank of America writes in its latest Equity Client Flow Trends report (available to pro subs), "client buybacks give an early read on S&P 500 buyback trends and suggest a continued pick-up." According to the bank, corporate buybacks last week "were the second-largest in our weekly history since ‘10, and have been tracking above typical seasonal levels for 13 weeks."In fact, in 2024, corporate client buybacks as a % of S&P500 mkt. cap are 0.44%, and are well above ‘23 YTD highs 0.34% at this time. And, with the tech sector widely outperforming all others in 2024, it will come as no surprise that "70% of announced S&P 500 buybacks YTD have been in Tech/Comm services," Indeed, one look at Apple's stock today, which has exploded higher, shows what happens when some of the stock's massive $110BN recent buyback authorization is put to use. There is another reason why tech stocks have been surging in recent days on the back of aggressive stock buybacks: the next buyback blackout period is about the begin, and companies either aggressively pursue buybacks now, or are forced to do nothing for the next 4-6 weeks. As Goldman's Vani Ranganath writes in her Share Repurchase Weekly Recap note (also available to pro subscribers), the bank's buyback desk was almost as busy as Bank of America and "flows were active again with desk volumes finishing 2.0x vs 2023 YTD ADTV and 1.1x vs 2022 YTD ADTV skewed toward Financials, Consumer Discretionary, and Tech."Why? Becuase as Vani explains, "this week is the final week ahead of the estimated blackout period. We estimate the upcoming blackout period will run 6/14 – 7/19." And while as of Monday, Goldman estimates that around ~20% of stocks are in blackout ~50% are set to be prohibited from repurchasing their shares once the blackout period begins on Friday, June 14.One final point: on the authorization front, 2024 YTD authorizations stand at $621.4B, up 1.3% vs 2023 YTD authorizations... ... and with executions lagging, it appears that most companies waited until he last possible moment.In other words, companies - such as Apple - are now rushing to buyback as much stock as they can now ahead of the blackout, and spark as much momentum inertia as they can, before the blackout period begins on Friday.

Number of US millionaires grew by 500,000 in 2023: Report - The number of United States millionaires grew by around 500,000 last year, outpacing other countries in the process, according to a new study. The U.S. population of “high-net-worth individuals” grew by 7.3 percent and now sits with over 7.4 million, according to a recent report from Capgemini. In 2022, there were 6.9 million. Capgemini, a French multinational IT firm, defines a millionaire as someone with $1 million of investable assets “excluding their primary residence, collectibles, consumables, and consumer durables.” The 2023 numbers were bounce-back for the wealthy compared to 2022 during which their net worth dropped, according to Capgemini. The firm noted that despite higher interest rates, big-ticket legislation like the Inflation Reduction Act and CHIPS Act and the stock market recovering in late 2023 were some of the keys to wealth bumps recorded in the study. Ultra-high-net-worth individuals are just one percent of the millionaire group, but they hold 34 percent of the wealth, according to Capgemini. On a global scale, the number of millionaires increased by 5.1 percent to 22.8 million and their over wealth expanded by 4.7 percent to $86.8 trillion. Besides North America, the second strongest bump in millionaires was in the Asia-Pacific with 4.8 percent. Europe’s was 4 percent, Latin America was at 2,7 percent, Middle East got 2.1 percent. Africa was the only region where it fell 0.1 percent, according to the report.

Financial Nihilism And The Collapsing American Dream - America has become a nation bifurcated into haves and have-nots, and this is generating large-scale, enduring economic, social and political consequences. In a nutshell, older generations who bought homes and other assets at low prices decades ago have benefited enormously as credit-asset bubbles have pushed the value of these assets to the moon. These generations are wealthy not from any boost in national productivity--they're wealthy simply because they happened to buy assets in the early stages of a multi-generational bubble.Younger generations are experiencing a double-whammy: they're priced out of homes and other assets and they're being crushed by the stagflation that comes with credit-asset bubbles: now that the deflationary impact of globalization has faded, the super-low interest rates of ZIRP (zero interest rate policy) and vast expansions of credit and currency have finally generated embedded inflation and suppressed the only real engine of stable prosperity, increasing productivity.This generational / class divide has led to giving up on the American Dream--or the Chinese Dream: in China, Financial Nihilism is called lying flat or let it rot, expressions of individual rejection of the social pressures to overwork and sacrifice one's life for a rat-race with rapidly diminishing returns. This is an apt description of Financial Nihilism. That the American Dream--homeownership and steady improvements in earning and wealth--is out of reach of most young Americans is painfully obvious, and their response is Financial Nihilism: borrowing and spending freely to enjoy whatever is still within reach and giving up on homeownership and retirement, a trend captured in acronyms such as YOLO (you only live once).This may sound carefree, but it is a profound expression of despair and hopelessness. This reality is visible in headlines such as these:

Consumers are so demoralized by inflation and high rates that they've given up on saving for the American Dream and are spending money instead, economist says.
Key Engines of US Consumer Spending Are Losing Steam All at Once: Americans rely on credit, as disposable income declines.
Gen Zers are paying hundreds for dirty sneakers to show off their 'nonchalant attitude'.

Financial Nihilism is the inevitable result of a Gilded Age level of extreme wealth-income disparity between the haves and have-nots, a stark reality few seem willing to examine as a driver of terminal social decline. What is a young person entering the job and housing market supposed to think about our economy and society after absorbing these realities?

The wealthiest 10% of Americans own 93% of stocks even with market participation at a record high.
An estimated 26% of Fort Worth's single family homes are owned by companies, city says.
Gen Z Sinks Deeper Into Debt: Inflation drives many to credit cards to cover costs, leaving them with bigger balances.

That the ladder of upward mobility is broken is self-evident. The ratio of home prices to median income--at record levels of unaffordability--is telling. So is corporate ownership of vast swaths of America's housing stock: the corporate rich get richer as they jack up rents, while the poor get poorer paying higher rents for zero advance in the quality or quantity of the product. The hopelessness of escaping this downward slide into precarity / financial insecurity is debilitating, and so it is little wonder Why Americans Are Dying from Despair: The unfairness of our economy, two economists argue, can be measured not only in dollars but in deaths."Among advanced economies, this deterioration in pay and job stability is unique to the United States. The problem isn't that people are not the way they used to be. It's that the economy and the structure of work are not the way they used to be. This has had devastating effects on the family and on community life.A more unexpected culprit identified by Case and Deaton is our complicated and costly healthcare system. In order to revive the American Dream for people without college degrees, we must change the way we pay for health care.The dispiriting politics of stasis and scapegoating can prevail for a very long time, even as the damage comes into clearer view. We are better at addressing fast-moving crises than slow-building ones. It wouldn't be surprising, then, if we simply absorbed current conditions as the new normal. We are good at muddling along."The decay of everyday life isn't limited to financial precarity: work and unpaid shadow work demand more of us as diminishing returns bleed us dry. Is Anyone Else's Life as Stupidly Complicated by Digital "Shadow Work" as Mine Is? (May 22, 2024) The Loneliness of the American Worker: More meetings and faceless chats. Fewer work friends. How the modern workday is fueling an epidemic of isolation. Simply put, the system isn't working for the younger generations and those who didn't have the means to buy assets a generation ago. This drives gambling (as the only available avenue to financial security) and populism (rejecting The Establishment in favor of Outsiders who propose throwing a monkeywrench into the well-oiled machine of those relishing their position atop the status quo). This chart of option volume reflects the explosion of speculative betting in the stock market:

Fitch Doesn’t See Bottom of Office CRE Mess, Sees CMBS Delinquency Rates Spike Way Past Financial Crisis Peak in 2025 By Wolf Richter - There has been a recent flurry of declarations by big fund managers with exposure to the office sector of commercial real estate that office CRE has “bottomed out,” or is “near bottom,” or that “we can at least now see the bottom,” or that “while we might not be at the bottom just yet, we’re close to it,” etc. But Fitch Ratings has come out with an updated analysis of the US office market, and it doesn’t see the bottom just yet. Far from it. “CRE office loan performance will continue to weaken as market pressures build,” it said about office loans backing the Commercial Mortgage-Backed Securities (CMBS) it rates. It maintains its “’deteriorating’ outlook” on the office sector through 2024, citing:

“Sustained higher interest rates” (buying into the Fed’s higher-for-longer)
“Slower U.S. economic growth”
“A tighter lending environment” (banks, up to the gills in iffy CRE debt, have severely restricted CRE lending, and so refinancing maturing CRE loans can be difficult to impossible).
“And a secular decline in office demand” (as documented by the astronomical mindboggling amounts of office space that’s on the market for lease)

This “secular decline in the office market” has turned into a flood of office space that is vacant and on the market for lease, as companies have discovered that they don’t need this vast amount of office space, with availability rates in many big office markets at around 30%, topped off by 36% in San Francisco, which was a few years ago the hottest office market in the US (availability rates by Savills): “These factors will exacerbate refinancing challenges, leading to rising loan delinquencies and transfers to special servicing for potential workout or modification,” Fitch said. It raised its office delinquency forecast to 8.4% by the end of 2024, which would surpass Fitch’s peak Financial Crisis delinquency rate of 8.1%. And then in 2025, it sees office CMBS delinquencies to deteriorate further and hit 11%. Office values have dropped approximately 40% so far, Fitch said, compared to 47% during the GFC. But office values “have yet to bottom out,” it said. In May, there were an additional $1.2 billion in CMBS office loans that had become delinquent, according to Trepp, which tracks and analyses CMBS.But a little over $2 billion in delinquent office loans resolved “either because the loans flipped back to non-delinquent during the month, or because the loan was disposed,” Trepp said. Five of those loans accounted for $1.7 billion. And so they flowed out of the delinquency bucket.“If the $2 billion in office resolutions had remained delinquent, the May office delinquency rate would have been roughly 90 basis points higher at 8.48%,” Trepp said.With those $2 billion in office loans having come out of the delinquency bucket, the Office CMBS delinquency rate dipped to 6.94%.

Q1 Update: Delinquencies, Foreclosures and REO -- Today, in the Calculated Risk Real Estate Newsletter: Q1 Update: Delinquencies, Foreclosures and REO A brief excerpt: We will NOT see a surge in foreclosures that would significantly impact house prices (as happened following the housing bubble) for two key reasons: 1) mortgage lending has been solid, and 2) most homeowners have substantial equity in their homes. Last Friday, CoreLogic reported on homeowner equity: CoreLogic: US Homeowners See Equity Increase to Nearly All-Time High in Q1The report shows that U.S. homeowners with mortgages (which account for roughly 62% of all properties) saw home equity increase by 9.6% year over year, representing a collective gain of $1.5 trillion and an average increase of $28,000 per borrower since the first quarter of 2023. This brought total net homeowner equity to more than $17 trillion at the end of Q1 2024. … From the first quarter of 2023 to the first quarter of 2024, the total number of homes in negative equity decreased by 16.1%, to 1.2 million homes or 2.1% of all mortgaged properties.And on mortgage rates, here is some data from the FHFA’s National Mortgage Database showing the distribution of interest rates on closed-end, fixed-rate 1-4 family mortgages outstanding at the end of each quarter since Q1 2013 through Q4 2023 (Q1 2024 data will be released in three weeks). This graph shows the surge in the percent of loans under 3%, and also under 4%, starting in early 2020 as mortgage rates declined sharply during the pandemic. Currently 22.2% of loans are under 3%, 58.1% are under 4%, and 77.0% are under 5%. With substantial equity, and low mortgage rates (mostly at a fixed rates), few homeowners will have financial difficulties. REO (Real Estate Owned) is the amount of real estate owned by lenders. Here is some data on REOs through Q1 2024 …

MBA: Mortgage Applications Increased in Weekly Survey -From the MBA: Mortgage Applications Increase in Latest MBA Weekly Survey -Mortgage applications increased 15.6 percent from one week earlier, according to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) Weekly Applications Survey for the week ending June 7, 2024. The Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, increased 15.6 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from one week earlier. On an unadjusted basis, the Index increased 26 percent compared with the previous week. The Refinance Index increased 28 percent from the previous week and was 28 percent higher than the same week one year ago. The seasonally adjusted Purchase Index increased 9 percent from one week earlier. The unadjusted Purchase Index increased 19 percent compared with the previous week and was 12 percent lower than the same week one year ago. “Mortgage rates were trending lower over the course of last week until a stronger than anticipated employment report resulted in a bounce back, with the weekly average for the 30- year fixed mortgage rate decreasing to 7.02 percent,” “Lower rates earlier in the week meant a strong increase in refinance activity, particularly for VA borrowers, who jumped on the chance to lower their rates. Overall refinance activity was more than 27 percent above one year ago.” “On a seasonally adjusted basis and compared to the holiday-adjusted level from the prior week, purchase activity also increased. Multiple data sources are now indicating that home inventory levels, while still historically low, are up significantly from last year at this time.” ... The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages with conforming loan balances ($766,550 or less) decreased to 7.02 percent from 7.07 percent, with points unchanged at 0.65 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent loan-to-value ratio (LTV) loans. The first graph shows the MBA mortgage purchase index. According to the MBA, purchase activity is down 12% year-over-year unadjusted. Purchase application activity is up slightly from the lows in late October 2023, and below the lowest levels during the housing bust. The second graph shows the refinance index since 1990.With higher mortgage rates, the refinance index declined sharply in 2022, and mostly flat lined since then with a slight increase recently.

"Mortgage Rates Slightly Higher to Start Pivotal Week" From Matthew Graham at Mortgage News Daily: Mortgage Rates Slightly Higher to Start Pivotal WeekThe event calendar ramps up quickly from here and Wednesday will be the most important day of the month due to the release of pivotal inflation data and an updated rate announcement and outlook from the Fed. While there's no chance of a rate cut or hike at this meeting, we should get more clarity on the Fed's interpretation of the very latest trends in inflation. [30 year fixed 7.17%]

Housing June 10th Weekly Update: Inventory up 1.1% Week-over-week, Up 37.8% Year-over-year --Altos reports that active single-family inventory was up 1.1% week-over-week. Inventory is now up 23.8% from the February bottom, and at the highest level since August 2020. This inventory graph is courtesy of Altos Research. As of June 7th, inventory was at 612 thousand (7-day average), compared to 605 thousand the prior week. Inventory is still far below pre-pandemic levels. The second graph shows the seasonal pattern for active single-family inventory since 2015. The black line is for 2019. Note that inventory is up 86% from the record low for the same week in 2021, but still well below normal levels.Inventory was up 37.8% compared to the same week in 2023 (last week it was up 38.4%), and down 34.2% compared to the same week in 2019 (last week it was down 35.7%). Inventory should be above 2020 levels for the same week in the next couple of months.Back in June 2023, inventory was down almost 54% compared to 2019, so the gap to more normal inventory levels is slowly closing.Mike Simonsen discusses this data regularly on Youtube.

Part 1: Current State of the Housing Market; Overview for mid-June 2024 Today, in the Calculated Risk Real Estate Newsletter: Part 1: Current State of the Housing Market; Overview for mid-June 2024 A brief excerpt: This 2-part overview for mid-May provides a snapshot of the current housing market. I always like to start with inventory, since inventory usually tells the tale! ... Here is a graph of new listing from Realtor.com’s May 2024 Monthly Housing Market Trends Report showing new listings were up 6.2% year-over-year in May. New listings are still well below pre-pandemic levels. From Realtor.com: However, sellers continued to list their homes in higher numbers this May as newly listed homes were 6.2% above last year’s levels. While a notable deceleration from last month’s 12.2% growth rate, it marks the seventh month of increasing listing activity after a 17-month streak of decline.Note the seasonality for new listings. December and January are seasonally the weakest months of the year for new listings, followed by February and November. New listings will be up year-over-year in 2024, but still below normal levels. There are always people that need to sell due to the so-called 3 D’s: Death, Divorce, and Disease. Also, in certain times, some homeowners will need to sell due to unemployment or excessive debt (neither is much of an issue right now). And there are homeowners who want to sell for a number of reasons: upsizing (more babies), downsizing, moving for a new job, or moving to a nicer home or location (move-up buyers). It is some of the “want to sell” group that has been locked in with the golden handcuffs over the last couple of years, since it is financially difficult to move when your current mortgage rate is around 3%, and your new mortgage rate will be above 7%. But time is a factor for this “want to sell” group, and eventually some of them will take the plunge. That is probably why we are seeing more new listings now.

How Many Millennials Will Be Rich Enough To Buy The Boomers' Millions Of Unaffordable Bungalows? --There's a peculiarly flawed logic behind the widely held view that the Baby Boomers will seamlessly transfer tens of trillions of dollars of their wealth to the Gen-X and Millennial generations as they exit stage left. This is flawed for a very basic reason: the extremely overvalued assets that will be transferred--real estate and stocks--only reached such extreme overvaluation because there is a surplus of buyers who are sufficiently wealthy (and willing) to pay bubble-inflated prices. Since the ownership of both real estate and stocks is concentrated in the hands of the wealthiest 10% who tend to be older, how many Gen-Xers and Millennials have the means to buy million-dollar bungalows and overpriced portfolios? If buyers are scarce due to entrenched wealth-income inequality, then once Boomers start selling their vast holdings of stocks and millions of overpriced homes, prices will plummet if sellers outnumber qualified and willing buyers. In other words, the bloated valuations Millennials hope to inherit will only remain at the currently overvalued levels if millions of qualified buyers emerge to snap up every Boomer bungalow at today's bubble prices. If there are fewer buyers than sellers, prices will decline accordingly. Younger generations hoping to inherit million-dollar McMansions and stock portfolios overlook that many aging Boomers are planning to sell their stocks and homes to fund their retirement. Boomers who are wealthy on paper are wealthy due to their ownership of stocks and real estate; they need to liquidate these assets to afford to retire at their desired level of comfort. Another overlooked factor is inheritances often require selling the house to split the money between heirs. Once again, the inheritance depends on buyers emerging like locusts to buy up every house being sold at absurdly overvalued prices. How many younger people will have the means or willingness to buy the millions of overpriced bungalows being dumped on the market? Hopeful heirs also overlook that prices are set on the margin. Take a neighborhood of 100 homes. If every home that sells fetches fewer dollars, the sale of only 10 homes can cut the valuations of the other 90 houses in half in a few years. People are living longer nowadays, and since few retirement / nursing homes are being built, many Boomers will have to stay in their own home as they grow old. Assisted living / nursing home fees run around $10,000 to $12,000 or more a month; private nursing care in residential homes typically runs between $6,000 to $9,000 a month. Few can afford these options unless they sell their house. It's far more affordable to continue living at home until the end of one's life. That can either consume the inheritance or extend the transfer of assets to the point the heirs are in their 70s. For example, my Mom is 95 years old, bless her heart, and she sold her house 17 years ago to fund her retirement in an assisted living complex. Her house proceeds funded her retirement years; there will be little left (if any) for her heirs. If we consider the vast concentration of wealth in the top 10% (typically the wealthiest Boomers), it's clear there aren't enough young people who can afford to buy assets at today's valuations to keep the prices at nosebleed levels. As this chart shows, the top 10% own 44% of all real estate in the US, while the bottom 50% of households own a meager 11%.

Hotels: Occupancy Rate Increased 0.9% Year-over-year - From STR: U.S. hotel results for week ending 1 June - Due to Memorial Day, the U.S. hotel industry reported lower performance results from the previous week but slightly positive comparisons year over year, according to CoStar’s latest data through 1 June. ...
26 May through 1 June 2024 (percentage change from comparable week in 2023):
• Occupancy: 62.0% (+0.9%)
• Average daily rate (ADR): US$150.87 (+0.1%)
• Revenue per available room (RevPAR): US$93.50 (+1.0%)
The following graph shows the seasonal pattern for the hotel occupancy rate using the four-week average. The red line is for 2024, blue is the median, and dashed light blue is for 2023. Dashed purple is for 2018, the record year for hotel occupancy. The 4-week average of the occupancy rate is tracking last year and is slightly above the median rate for the period 2000 through 2023 (Blue).The 4-week average of the occupancy rate will now increase seasonally with the summer travel season.

BLS: CPI Unchanged in May; Core CPI increased 0.2% - From the BLS: The Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) was unchanged in May on a seasonally adjusted basis, after rising 0.3 percent in April, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Over the last 12 months, the all items index increased 3.3 percent before seasonal adjustment. More than offsetting a decline in gasoline, the index for shelter rose in May, up 0.4 percent for the fourth consecutive month. The index for food increased 0.1 percent in May. The food away from home index rose 0.4 percent over the month, while the food at home index was unchanged. The energy index fell 2.0 percent over the month, led by a 3.6-percent decrease in the gasoline index. The index for all items less food and energy rose 0.2 percent in May, after rising 0.3 percent the preceding month. Indexes which increased in May include shelter, medical care, used cars and trucks, and education. The indexes for airline fares, new vehicles, communication, recreation, and apparel were among those that decreased over the month. The all items index rose 3.3 percent for the 12 months ending May, a smaller increase than the 3.4-percent increase for the 12 months ending April. The all items less food and energy index rose 3.4 percent over the last 12 months. The energy index increased 3.7 percent for the 12 months ending May. The food index increased 2.1 percent over the last year. The change in both CPI and core CPI were below expectations. I'll post a graph later today after the Cleveland Fed releases the median and trimmed-mean CPI.

Cleveland Fed: Median CPI increased 0.2% and Trimmed-mean CPI increased 0.1% in May --The Cleveland Fed released the median CPI and the trimmed-mean CPI. According to the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, the median Consumer Price Index rose 0.2% in May. The 16% trimmed-mean Consumer Price Index increased 0.1%. "The median CPI and 16% trimmed-mean CPI are measures of core inflation calculated by the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland based on data released in the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ (BLS) monthly CPI report".This graph shows the year-over-year change for these four key measures of inflation. On a year-over-year basis, the median CPI rose 4.3% (down from 4.5% in April), the trimmed-mean CPI rose 3.4% (down from 3.5%), and the CPI less food and energy rose 3.4% (down from 3.6%). Core PCE is for April was up 2.8% YoY, down slightly from 2.8% in March.Note: The Cleveland Fed released the median CPI details. Rent and Owner's equivalent rent are still very high, and if we exclude rent, median CPI would be around negative 1.4% month-over-month.

Beneath the Skin of CPI Inflation: A Stunning Outlier Services CPI Drove Down Everything Else By Wolf Richter -- The Consumer Price Index for May, on a month-to-month basis, was pushed down by the continued sharp drop in durable goods prices, a drop in energy prices, flat food prices, and “core services” prices that rose at the smallest pace since late 2021 in a stunning whiplash-inducing outlier move, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics today. So, we’ll start with that outlier because it’s so big, and because core services are so big — they account for 65% of total CPI — and because that outlier drove everything else. Stunning outlier: Core services CPI increased by 2.7% annualized in May from April (0.22% not annualized), the smallest increase since October 2021 (blue line). These kinds of outliers don’t make a trend; they’re soon reversed, as all other outliers in core services have shown. This massive one-month outlier drove down the six-month reading. The six-month core services CPI rose by 5.5% annualized, the first deceleration since October 2023 (red). Core CPI rose by 2.0% annualized (0.163% not annualized) in May from April, the smallest increase since August 2021 (blue line in the chart below). The month-to-month squiggles can be wild, and this one was driven by the whiplash-inducing outlier in core services CPI. The six-month core CPI, which irons out most of the month-to-month zigzags, rose by 3.7% annualized, the first deceleration, after five months of accelerations in a row. Core services CPI increased by 5.2% year-over-year in May, roughly the same hot pace for the eighth month in a row (red line). Durable goods CPI – after the spike during the pandemic – has been falling across the board since mid-2022, led by the plunge in used-vehicle prices. In May, durable goods CPI was down 3.8% year-over-year, the biggest drop in 20 years (green). Core CPI, which excludes food and energy, rose by 3.4% year-over-year, continuing its deceleration, slowed by the sharp drop in durable goods (blue). Overall CPI rose by 3.3% year-over-year. It has been in essentially the same narrow range since June 2023 when it hit the cycle-low of 3.0% (yellow): Rent of Primary Residence CPI rose by 4.8% annualized in May from April, an acceleration from the prior month (blue). The three-month reading rose by 4.7%, the smallest increase since October 2021. The Rent CPI accounts for 7.6% of overall CPI. It is based on rents that tenants actually paid, not on asking rents of advertised units for rent. The survey follows the same large group of rental houses and apartments over time and tracks the rents that the current tenants actually paid in these units. The Owners’ Equivalent of Rent CPI rose by 5.3% annualized in May from April, an acceleration from the prior month. It remains in the range of which August 2023 had been the low point (+5.1%). The three-month OER CPI also rose by 5.3% annualized, roughly the same as in the prior month. The OER index accounts for 26.6% of overall CPI. It is designed to estimate inflation of “shelter” as a service for homeowners – as a stand-in for the services that homeowners pay for, such as interest, homeowner’s insurance, HOA fees, maintenance, and property taxes. As an approximation, it is based on what a large group of homeowners estimates their home would rent for, the assumption being that a homeowner would want to recoup cost increases by raising the rent. “Asking rents…” The Zillow Observed Rent Index (ZORI) and other private-sector rent indices track “asking rents,” which are advertised rents of vacant units on the market. Because rentals don’t turn over that much, the ZORI’s spike in 2021 through mid-2022 never fully translated into the CPI indices because not many people actually ended up paying those asking rents. The ZORI rose by 0.2% in May from April, seasonally adjusted, and by 3.4% year-over-year. The chart shows the CPI Rent of Primary Residence (blue, left scale) as index value, not percentage change; and the ZORI in dollars (red, right scale). The left and right axes are set so that they both increase each by 55% from January 2017. The ZORI was up by 49% from January 2017, and the CPI Rent was up by 38% over the same period.

YoY Measures of Inflation: Services, Goods and Shelter - Here are a few measures of inflation: The first graph is the one Fed Chair Powell had mentioned when services less rent of shelter was up around 8% year-over-year. This declined, but has turned up recently, and is now up 5.0% YoY. This graph shows the YoY price change for Services and Services less rent of shelter through May 2024. Services were up 5.2% YoY as of May 2024, unchanged from 5.2% YoY in April. Services less rent of shelter was up 5.0% YoY in May, up from 4.9% YoY in April.The second graph shows that goods prices started to increase year-over-year (YoY) in 2020 and accelerated in 2021 due to both strong demand and supply chain disruptions.Durables were at -3.7% YoY as of May 2024, down from -3.2% YoY in April. Commodities less food and energy commodities were at -1.7% YoY in May, down from -1.2% YoY in April.Here is a graph of the year-over-year change in shelter from the CPI report (through May) and housing from the PCE report (through April) Shelter was up 5.4% year-over-year in May, down from 5.5% in April. Housing (PCE) was up 5.6% YoY in April, down slightly from 5.8% in March.This is still catching up with private data. The BLS noted this morning: "the index for shelter rose in May, up 0.4 percent for the fourth consecutive month."Core CPI ex-shelter was up 1.9% YoY in May, down from 2.1% in April.

Used Car Wholesale Prices Continue Plunge, Gave up 59% of Pandemic Spike. But still up 35% from Jan 2020: EVs +72%, ICE Vehicles +34% By Wolf Richter -- Used vehicle prices are in a historic downward spiral, unwinding the hugest-ever price spike that had built up during the pandemic. Despite the plunge, wholesale prices of vehicles sold at auction in May were still 35% above where they’d been in January 2020, according to Manheim, the largest auto auction house in the US. With big differences: From January 2020, EVs are still up 72%; compact pickup trucks are still up 70%; heavy-duty pickup trucks are still up 46%; but at the other end of the spectrum, compact cars are up “only” 20% and midsize cars 25%. More in a moment. Prices of used vehicles that were sold at auctions across the US dipped 0.6%, seasonally adjusted, in May from April, to $18,048, the lowest since March 2021, and down by $5,526, or by 23%, from the peak in January 2022, according to today’s Used Vehicle Value Index by Manheim. The index is adjusted for changes in mix and mileage. Not seasonally adjusted (blue), the index fell 1.2% in May from April, to $18,612. Year-over-year, the index fell 14% in May. Prices fell in all major vehicle categories on a year-over-year basis, according to Manheim, a division of Cox Automotive. These auctions are where dealers buy vehicles to replenish their inventories. Supply to these auctions comes from rental fleets that sell some of the vehicles they pull out of service, from finance companies that sell their lease returns and repos, from corporate and government fleets, etc. From January 2020 through the crazy peak at the end of 2021, auction prices had spiked by a mindboggling 66%, or by $9,443. The historic plunge since January 2022 has surrendered 59%, or $5,526, of that $9,443 spike so far. But since January 2020, the index is still up by 35% — and as we’ll see in a moment, with EVs, which went through the biggest bubble spike of them all, still up 72%, while compact cars up only 20%, and with everything else in between. All data below is not seasonally adjusted.

AAR: Rail Carloads Down YoY in May, Intermodal Up -- From the Association of American Railroads (AAR) Rail Time Indicators. Total U.S. carloads were down 6.0% in May 2024 from May 2023, their fifth straight year-over-year decline. Year-to-date total carloads through May were down 5.0%, or 247,984 carloads, from last year and were the lowest in our records that go back to 1988. We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again: it’s coal’s fault. Coal averaged 49,239 carloads per week in May 2024, down 22.0% from last year and its fifth straight double-digit percentage decline. In our records, only May 2020 and April 2024 had fewer coal carloads. Year-to-date coal carloads in 2024 through May were down 18.3%, or 263,128 carloads, from last year. Still, coal remains the single highest volume carload commodity for U.S. railroads (25% of carloads so far this year). This graph from the Rail Time Indicators report shows the six-week average of U.S. Carloads in 2022, 2023 and 2024: Total originated carloads on U.S. railroads in May 2024 were down 6.0%, or 67,145 carloads, from May 2023. The weekly average in May 2024 was 212,160 carloads, virtually the same as in April 2024. Year-to-date total carloads in 2024 through May were down 5.0% (247,984 carloads) from the same period last year and down 4.4% from the same period in 2022. The second graph shows the six-week average (not monthly) of U.S. intermodal in 2022, 2023 and 2024: (using intermodal or shipping containers): U.S. intermodal volume in May 2024 was up 7.6% (90,744 containers and trailers) over May 2023, its ninth straight gain. Year-to-date intermodal volume through May was 5.57 million units, up 8.7% (443,453 units) over last year but down 3.1% (180,434 units) from 2022.

Shortage Of Skilled-Trade Workers Crippling Some Industries --Many of this summer’s Generation Z college graduates are immediately getting a reality check with large school debt and few job guarantees after college graduation. This dilemma is why many are now suggesting that encouraging high school graduates to learn skilled trades not only is a suitable alternative but also could save several industries that are desperate to find new workers.From plumbers and electricians to welders, auto mechanics, and construction workers, skilled trade jobs far exceed the people available to fill them.According to a recent study by management consulting firm McKinsey, from 2022 to 2032, annual hiring in trades is expected to be more than 20 times the projected annual increase in net new jobs, costing companies more than $5.3 billion annually.With a renewed focus on the lack of skilled trade workers, 47 states in 2023 enacted 115 policies related to career and technical education (CTE), according to the nonprofit Advance CTE, which represents state CTE directors.According to Kevin Koehler, the president of the Construction Association of Michigan (CAM), part of the issue of the dearth of skilled trade workers needed for jobs is the stigma attached to choosing that career path over college.“Obviously, that’s an issue with students coming out of high school. What they don’t realize is that trade jobs offer complete benefits, with some providing over $100,000 a year to provide for your family,” he told The Epoch Times.However, one thing that could energize Gen Z students is the technology component that now exists in many of these available jobs, Mr. Koehler said.“Everything is going computerized, from building online modeling, the use of drones on job sites, and a ton of 3D printing. That is adding to new attraction for some of these students,” he said.

UAW announces contract at Lordstown Ultium Cells setting substandard pay standard for battery plant workers-- The United Auto Workers announced Monday that is has reached a tentative three-year agreement covering 1,600 workers at the Ultium Cells battery plant in Lordstown, Ohio, near the now shuttered General Motors assembly plant. The plant is a joint venture between GM and South Korea-based LG Energy Solution. In announcing the deal, UAW President Shawn Fain declared, “This agreement is a gamechanger for the electric vehicle battery industry, and for the future of Lordstown and towns like it all across this country. This is the kind of agreement that makes thousands of electric vehicle battery workers want to join the UAW and fight for a better future.” Both Ultium Cells and GM management also praised the deal. While Fain calls the tentative contract a “gamechanger,” the few details revealed so far demonstrate the deal is an abject betrayal, setting the precedent for substandard pay for battery plant workers and electric vehicle workers more broadly. Though UAW officials boasted that Ultium Cells workers had been brought under the national UAW-GM contract, the settlement fails to even match the terms of the 2023 national auto contract, itself a sellout of workers’ demands. In a press release Monday, the UAW said that top pay for production workers after one year would rise to $35 an hour by the end of the agreement. That compares to a final $42.95 top rate for GM workers. Top pay for skilled trades journeymen will increase this year to $38.16 compared to the current GM top rate of $42.52. If these are the “highlights” of the agreement, one can only imagine the concessions hidden in the full text of the deal. Ominously Josh Ayers, the UAW Local 1112 shop chairman who helped negotiate the contract, spoke of the agreement containing “language specifically tailored for Ultium Cells in Warren, Ohio.” The UAW press release omits any mention of a cost-of-living allowance (COLA). Further, the three-year term of the agreement appears to mean that the contract expiration does not coincide with the national UAW-GM agreement, effectively separating Ultium Cells workers from the rest of GM, something the UAW claimed it had eliminated. Further, the UAW omits any mention of the exhausting and dangerous 12-hour work schedules that Ultium workers have been subjected to, only stating that time-and-a-half pay will be required after 10 hours. Nor do they state that temps and tiers have been eliminated or that any limits have been placed on the use of lower-paid outside contract workers. The proposed contract sets a low-wage standard for other Ultium Cells battery plants, including one recently opened in Spring Hill, Tennessee, and another in Lansing, Michigan. The UAW is also seeking to organize battery plants in Kentucky and Tennessee operated by BlueOval SK, a joint venture between Ford and South Korean SK On. The UAW earlier had agreed to a substandard, near-poverty wage rate at a battery plant in Marshall, Michigan, that Ford is building.

Realty Tower 'Structurally Unsafe'; International Towers Must Be Evacuated - The Realty Tower “remains structurally unsafe,” and the city fire chief notified the management of the building next to it to evacuate that building. An explosion at Realty Tower on May 28 killed one man, injured several others and displaced the residents of the building's 23 apartments. “Unfortunately, this is not the result we anticipated, however the public safety and well-being of our residents is our top priority,” a news release from Mayor Jamael Tito Brown’s office stated Monday. “We are actively working with the appropriate agencies and organizations to find solutions for the residents as quickly as possible.” Brown is expected to deliver an update at 11 a.m. Tuesday. A message recorded for callers to International Towers says residents don’t have to evacuate Tuesday and that building management has a meeting scheduled Tuesday morning with city officials to learn details of the evacuation order. The determination, which was issued to the city Monday, was made after a structural assessment by Barber & Hoffman Inc. That structural engineering company was contracted by the city to perform a structural assessment of Realty Tower. International Towers is an income-based apartment building for people who are age 62 and older or who have a disability. It’s privately owned. The National Transportation Safety Board is leading an investigation into the cause of the explosion, and a preliminary report is expected late this month. That investigation has been hampered though because investigators weren’t able to enter the building due to safety concerns. NTSB’s early investigation, which officials stressed is preliminary, pointed to an abandoned gas line that had been cut while crews, contracted by the city, were working to relocate utilities in the Realty Tower basement and prepare it for infill as part of the SMART2 project. The crews cut the line, which was pressurized, and the explosion occurred about six minutes later. Part of NTSB’s investigation will include why an abandoned gas line was pressurized.

Family of man killed in Youngstown explosion files lawsuit (WKBN) — The estate of the man killed in an explosion in downtown Youngstown is suing the owner of the building, property management company and the gas company. The civil lawsuit was filed in Mahoning County Court of Common Pleas on Saturday by Traesha Pritchard and Sharnette Crite-Evans, the sister and mother of 27-year-old Akil Drake, who was killed in the explosion. The wrongful death lawsuit lists the defendants as Yo Properties 47, LLC; Youngstown Live Property Management; Greenheart Companies, LLC; Enbridge Gas Ohio, Dominion Energy and its affiliates. The firm that is representing Drake’s family is Clark, Fountain, La Vista, Littky-Rubin & Whitman. In a media release, the firm states they have extensive experience litigating explosion and wrongful death cases citing a $25 million partial settlement against an automotive insurance carrier; a $30.5 million settlement involving a Chinese manufacturer and explosion; and a confidential settlement involving a vehicle fire. Drake was working at the JP Morgan Chase bank located in the Realty Building at the time of the explosion. The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is investigating the cause of the explosion but said in an initial press conference that a cut gas line was found in the basement area where workers had been before the explosion. According to the NTSB, the line was pressurized but was not actively servicing the building. The NTSB’s preliminary report on the investigation was expected within 30 days, while a final report may take 12 to 24 months. Documentation obtained through a public records request by WKBN showed that the Youngstown Board of Control approved hiring Boardman-based property development and management company Greenheart Companies to remove the old utility lines like water, gas, electrical, data and phone lines, sprinkler lines and furnace water tanks from the building. The utility relocation was in preparation for the city’s SMART 2 project, to update public transportation in the city. According to the lawsuit, at the time of the explosion, Greenheart had only four out of a six-person crew present, and the company’s supervisor wasn’t on site at the time. The lawsuit claims that after crew members cut the pipe and realized it was pressurized, they pulled the fire alarm and evacuated the basement.The explosion occurred about six minutes later. The lawsuit alleges negligence by those involved in the work, alleging that the property owner and management company knew the work could be dangerous and failed to maintain the safety of those inside. The lawsuit also alleges that the gas company should have relayed information to contractors about working with pressurized lines and managing any mistakes made in the handling of those lines. The lawsuit asks for judgment for Drake’s loss of life, medical expenses associated with his treatment, funeral expenses and other damages, including pain and suffering.

'No Excuses': Can A Return To Traditional Discipline Save Public Schools? -- On a bright morning in May at the Columbus Collegiate Academy Main, orderliness is on display. Students in khakis and blue tops carrying bulging backpacks walk briskly in line through the front doors of the single-story brick building – looking like young people who really want to be there. In class after class, the predominantly black and Latino student body appears seriously engaged, with pencils in hand or fingers on keyboards. Teachers move rapidly through lessons. Hands shoot up to answer questions. No one is fooling around or disturbing others, which seems remarkable for a middle school full of teenagers. The academy is one of an estimated 1,000 high-performing urban charters that run on the No Excuses model. Its firm rules for behavior require students to sit up at their desks, remain silent unless called upon, and respect each other, which creates calm conditions for learning. After another year of disarray in many urban public schools, with the vast majority of teachers reporting that behavior issues were their biggest challenge, proponents say No Excuses charters provide an example of how to restore order and learning. Instead, they have been banished to the sidelines of public education. Progressive educators who have embraced “anti-racism” as their guiding principle over the last five years have assailed the charters, claiming they single out students of color for stern discipline. The rhetoric has been inflammatory, alleging that the charters “control black bodies” and prepare students for prison, despite the high rate of No Excuses graduates who go on to college. The term “No Excuses” was coined in the 1990s as a plea for educators to stop using excuses, such as poverty and broken homes, for the turmoil in urban schools that made learning impossible. A group of teachers, including David Levin of the charter network KIPP, brought together ideas from their experiences to fashion a new kind of urban school with a culture of high academic expectations and a precise set of rules and consequences to help students reach them. Today, the slogan No Excuses is so controversial that many charters avoid it, even while continuing its practices. Other charter networks, like Achievement First, have completely abandoned the No Excuses model and joined the anti-racism crusade, only to see their performance plummet after ratcheting back discipline and lowering academic standards to ensure students pass courses and graduate. No Excuses leaders admit they made mistakes early on in their zeal to improve urban education. Some networks, such as KIPP, pushed discipline too far by publicly shaming students, a stain on the movement’s record. Others, like Ascend Learning, depended on rote instruction that discouraged students from thinking for themselves and developing the inquisitiveness and agency they would need to succeed in college and beyond. The criticism spurred many No Excuses charters to change, becoming less rule-bound and more student-led, says Steven Wilson, the founder of Ascend Learning.“One of the things that I admire about these high-performing charters is that they are constantly willing to criticize themselves and evolve,” said Wilson, whose book about how anti-racism doctrine is replacing academic instruction will be published this fall. “No Excuses practices could really help traditional schools struggling with high levels of misbehavior if they were willing to evolve, too.” But one core principle of No Excuses hasn’t changed, according to Doug Lemov, author of a popular No Excuses teaching manual entitled “Teach Like a Champion”: Equity for marginalized students starts with their high achievement in school.

Appeals Court Upholds Ban On Student Wearing 'Only Two Genders' Shirt - A U.S. appeals court on June 9 upheld a ban preventing a Massachusetts middle school student from wearing a shirt reading “There are only two genders.” Another prohibition by school administrators, this time blocking the same student from wearing the shirt with “only two” covered by tape, on which was written “censored,” is also allowed under court precedent, according to the ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit. “The question here is not whether the t-shirts should have been barred. The question is who should decide whether to bar them—educators or federal judges. Based on Tinker, the cases applying it, and the specific record here, we cannot say that in this instance the Constitution assigns the sensitive (and potentially consequential) judgment about what would make ‘an environment conducive to learning’ at NMS to us rather than to the educators closest to the scene,” U.S. Circuit Judge David Barron wrote for a unanimous panel of the court. In Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District, the U.S. Supreme Court in 1969 ruled that a ban on students wearing armbands in protest against the Vietnam War violated the students’ First Amendment rights.U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani cited the ruling when in 2023 she ruled in favor of the administrators at the John T. Nichols Middle School (NMS) and Middleborough School District in Massachusetts against Liam Morrison (L.M.), the boy who wore the “two genders” shirt to school.“[The school] permissibly concluded that the shirt invades the rights of others,” Judge Talwani said before quoting Tinker. “Schools can prohibit speech that is in ‘collision with the rights of others to be secure and be let alone.’”The NMS dress code states in part that students must not wear pieces of clothing that “state, imply, or depict hate speech or imagery that [targets] groups based on race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, religious affiliation, or any other classification.”Liam was removed from class after a teacher raised concerns about his shirt. He was ultimately sent home after he declined to remove the shirt, and his father said he would not force the removal.When Liam went to school on another day with the shirt partially covered in tape, administrators told him to take it off, and he did.Lawyers for Liam argued that the shirts did not impinge on the rights of other students. The shirts “like the Tinker children’s armbands, constitute ‘a silent, passive expression of opinion,’” they wrote in a brief to the appeals court.“The school banned L.M.’s t-shirts based on a few subjective complaints that students felt upset, unsafe, or targeted,” they said. “But Tinker bars schools from censuring expression based on the ‘discomfort’ or ‘fear’ that results from exposure to ‘unpopular [viewpoints].’”In a related ruling from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, the court ruled that a school district could not bar speech about “contentious issues” such as “racial customs,” “religious tradition,” or “sexual orientation” without a “particularized reason as to why it anticipates substantial disruption.”The First Circuit panel stated on June 10 that even if the shirts did not invade the rights of others, administrators reasonably forecast that they would disrupt learning.Administrators said the message on the shirt would “materially disrupt transgender and gender non-conforming students’ ability to focus on learning while in a classroom where the message is being displayed.” The court agreed, because of “the demeaning nature of the message” and how administrators attested to knowing of some students who identify as transgender struggling with suicidal thoughts. “In such circumstances, we think it was reasonable for Middleborough to forecast that a message displayed throughout the school day denying the existence of the gender identities of transgender and gender non-conforming students would have a serious negative impact on those students’ ability to concentrate on their classroom work,” wrote Judge Barron, who was joined by U.S. Circuit Judges O. Rogeriee Thompson and Lara Montecalvo.

Sandy Hook families want to seize Alex Jones’ social media accounts -- Families of the Sandy Hook massacre victims moved to take over Alex Jones’ social media accounts on Thursday as a bankruptcy lawsuit over his estate moves into liquidationproceedings.Jones, who was held liable for nearly $1.5 billion in damages for his false claims that the 2012 massacre was in some way faked, has attempted to avoid losing all of his assets in the bankruptcy process.The families and Jones came to an agreement last week that his assets should be liquidated, including his stake in the InfoWars web show, which Jones used to spread false conspiracies. In a court filing Thursday, the families claim Jones’ social media accounts should also be included in the liquidation to prevent him from using them to create future businesses.The families argued that Jones’ 2.3 million-follower X account is “no different than a customer list of any other liquidating business.”A Houston judge is expected to move Jones’ case to Chapter 7 bankruptcy in a Friday hearing, where the motion regarding the social media accounts will be heard. A Chapter 7 judgment ensures the families can continue to collect on his assets and income until the debt is paid, likely the rest of Jones’ life.Jones has estimated in court records that he has less than $12 million in assets, meaning that he will carry an enormous legal debt even after Infowars and his other assets are sold.The massacre killed 22 children and six school staff members in 2012. Jones repeatedly claimed that the killed students were actors and that the massacre was a set-up, leading to harassment against the families.

In another blow to arts education in the US, Philadelphia’s University of the Arts closes down - On May 31, the University of the Arts (UArts) in Philadelphia abruptly announced it would cease operations in a week’s time, shocking and angering students and faculty. The closure follows the shutting down of other art schools in the US, including the Oregon College of Art and Craft (1907-2019), Memphis College of Art (1936-2020), the San Francisco Art Institute (1871-2022) and Hussain College (1946-2023) in Philadelphia—a number of the closures occurring since the outbreak of the pandemic in 2020. The announcement by the board of trustees of UArts, which has been in existence for 154 years, asserted that, like many other institutions of higher learning, the art school “has been in a fragile financial state, with many years of declining enrollments, declining revenues, and increasing expenses,” and that the school lacked the funds to cover significant expenses. The University of the Arts, which had 1,313 students in the 2022-2023 school year, was located in central Philadelphia, a culturally rich environment. After the American Revolution, Philadelphia became home to what is now the oldest art school in the country, the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, founded in 1805. Graduates of UArts include many significant figures, such as watercolorist Samuel Joseph Brown Jr., the first African-American artist during the Depression hired to produce work for the Public Works of Art Project, a precursor to the New Deal’s Federal Art Project; Julian Abele, prominent African-American architect who designed buildings at Harvard, Duke and various museums and libraries around Philadelphia; Stanley Clarke, jazz bassist and pioneer of jazz fusion, along with being a five-time Grammy winner; composer Marc Blitzstein, whose 1937 musical The Cradle Will Rock, directed by Orson Welles, gained particular prominence after it was banned by the Works Progress Administration for its pro-union and left-wing stance; Judith Jamison, dancer and choreographer, for many years the Artistic Director of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater; celebrity portraitist and fashion photographer Irving Penn; and American classical pianist André Watts, among many others. Students and staff at UArts were both shaken by the announcement of the school’s closure on such short notice. The school scheduled a town hall for students and faculty on June 3, but canceled the meeting minutes before it was to begin. Students and faculty organized protests around the campus to demand answers and keep the school afloat, but they went unheeded by the school’s board. The next day, the school’s president, Kerry Walk, resigned from her position and subsequently canceled negotiations with the faculty union to discuss receiving payment for their work. It was unclear to the faculty how they would receive their final paycheck from the university. Some 85 percent of the teachers at the school are adjunct professors, working on a contractual basis. A lawsuit has been filed on behalf of the university’s 700 employees, asking for two months’ pay, healthcare coverage, vacation pay and damages covered under the Pennsylvania Minimum Wage Act. The United Academics of Philadelphia union also filed an unfair labor practice claim with the National Labor Relations Board due to the cancellation of negotiations by the college. Students were also left confused as to how, where and if they would be able to finish their education. The university released a statement indicating that some local colleges, such as Temple, Drexel and Moore College of Art and Design, have offered to accept students from the closing university. Drexel University also offered a 50 percent reduction in tuition costs to students who transferred from the University of the Arts. Despite this reduction, however, tuition for transferring students would still be prohibitive in many cases.

AI is getting very popular among students and teachers, very quickly -The American public as a whole remains on the fence with artificial intelligence, according to many polls, but in education, adoption among teachers and students is rapidly rising. In a little over a year, the percentage of teachers who say they are familiar with ChatGPT — the breakthrough generative AI chatbot from Microsoft-backed OpenAI, which is next headed to the Apple iPhone — rose from 55% to 79%, while among K-12 students, it rose from 37% to 75%, according to a new poll conducted in May by Impact Research for the Walton Family Foundation, in conjunction with the Learning Engineering Virtual Institute's AI Lab.When it comes to actual usage, a similar spike occurred, with 46% of teachers and 48% of students saying they use ChatGPT at least weekly, with student usage up 27 percentage points over last year. Maybe most notable, the reviews from students are broadly positive. Seventy percent of K-12 students had a favorable view of AI chatbots. Among undergraduates, that rises to 75%. And among parents, 68% held favorable views of AI chatbots"It is a lot more positive data than I expected," said Ethan Mollick, professor at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School, and an expert and author on AI who reviewed the polling data.The polling data lines up with the experience of Khan Academy and its founder Sal Khan, who has been working with Newark, New Jersey's school district, among others, to test the use of a customized ChatGPT for education, Khanmigo, over the past year. Khan recently told CNBC that its AI tool will expand from 65,000 students to one million students next year. It also recently announced thatMicrosoft is paying so that AI can be offered to teachers across the U.S. free of charge. (School districts pay per student for usage, which has recently been in the range of $35 per user, though Khan says as the technology scales, it will be possible to bring that price down to as low as a $10-$20 range.)"Unlike most things in technology and education in the past where this is a 'nice-to-have,' I think this is a 'must-have' for a lot of teachers," Khan, founder and CEO of Khan Academy, recently told CNBC's "Squawk Box."While Khan Academy is best known for its educational videos, its interactive exercise platform was one which OpenAI's top executives, Sam Altman and Greg Brockman, zeroed in on early when they were looking for a partner to pilot ChatGPT with that offered socially positive use cases.The adoption rates in education are higher than currently occurring in the world of work, and it is students, who have a high incentive to get help, who are "dragging teachers along for the ride," Mollick said.In fact, teachers were the only demographic polled where year-over-year favorability declined, though a majority (59%) still have a positive view of AI chatbots.Older teachers and parents (those over 45) were less likely to have confidence in their ability to use AI effectively, but Khan said one of the reasons why Microsoft and his nonprofit wanted to get AI access to every educator in the U.S. is because of the time its use is saving teachers.Khan recently told CNBC that often, in the past, teachers have been told "If only you learned this one extra thing ..." and that becomes a burden for an already overworked educator. "Teachers are already spread thin. Especially with these teacher tools, it is one more thing to learn," he said. But Khan's research with school districts to date has saved teachers 5-10 hours per week. "This is the first time in the journey of tech that we can tell teachers, 'This will be fewer things for you to do. Yes, there's a little bit of a learning curve, but it will save you time.'"Only 25% of teachers polled said they have received any training on AI chatbots, and roughly one-third (32%) say that lack of training and professional development are major reasons why they have not used AI. Teachers said they have used AI to generate ideas for classes (37%); for lesson plans and preparation of teaching materials (32%); for student worksheets or examples (32%); and to create quizzes or tests (31%). Mollick described himself as bullish on AI in education over the long term, but in the short term, he said these results are relatively high compared to past polling related to the introduction of new technology. "I was sort of surprised to see the numbers look as good as they do. I was surprised by how positive the feelings were among every group," he said. "It's not universally loved, but we're not seeing the strong negatives we usually see," he said.

US Drug Shortage Reaches Decade High: US Pharmacopeia Reports - Drug shortages are the highest in a decade, with 2023 topping the charts, according to United States Pharmacopeia’s first annual Drug Shortage Report (USP). “The number of drug shortages has increased over a decade, with 125 active drug shortages monitored by FDA at the end of 2023. ... This high number of shortages is a direct result of persistent market vulnerabilities,” the report authors wrote. “According to our analysis, over a quarter of drugs in shortage were new drug shortages (34 products) in 2023.” USP is a nonprofit organization that sets quality standards for medication, dietary supplements, and food ingredients worldwide. The report, published in early June, notes that the average drug shortage lasts more than three years and affects multiple types of drugs. Almost 25 percent of those drugs have been on shortage lists for over five years, and six drugs, including epinephrine injections, have been in short supply for a decade. Injectable generic medications have been hit hardest, comprising more than 53 percent of new drug shortages. These drug shortages indicate vulnerability in the market and affect patient care. “Unexpected shocks can break the system and disrupt the supply of quality medicines,” Anthony Lakavage, senior vice president for Global External Affairs at USP, said in a news release. “This worrisome trajectory leads to more frequent drug shortages, prolonged scarcity, and more people at risk of not getting the medicines they need, when they need them.” The report states that fundamental supply and demand are likely to blame for the drug shortages but adds that the problem in the United States is exacerbated by manufacturing complexity (e.g., sterile injectables). For instance, drug classes like antibiotics need dedicated facilities, and some active ingredients require complicated chemical synthesis. Some of the other reasons for the shortages include:

Race to the bottom: Most of the drugs in short supply cost less than $5 to make. Many of these cheap drugs are solid oral and sterile injectable medicines. The authors found that 66 percent of solid oral medications in shortage cost less than $3, and nearly one-third of the injectables in shortage cost less than $2. From 2022 to 2023, the number of discontinued drugs increased by 40 percent. Almost half of these are solid oral medications that cost less than $4. The report suggests tightening margins have pushed some manufacturers to pull out of the market.
Geographic concentration: The United States produces 44 percent of injectable medication, while India produces 56 percent of solid oral medication. These concentrations of production increase supply-chain vulnerability. A well-known example of injectable drugs is semaglutide weight-loss drugs, which were in short supply during the fall and winter of 2023. These medications often require complex chemical synthesis and take more time to manufacture. They also often require more steps in the manufacturing process.
Quality concerns: Unrelated but still problematic quality concerns have also slowed production. The report shows that in 2023, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) inspected facilities accounting for 40 percent of drug production for having “objectionable conditions.”

New SARS-CoV-2 variant predominates in the United States --The SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes COVID-19 continues to evolve, with a new variant becoming predominant in the United States. Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention showed that the new viral variant, called KP.2, made up 28.5 percent of COVID-19 cases by May 11. It maintained that level as of May 25. The viral variant with the next highest percentage of cases is also new. It is called KP.3, and as of May 25, it makes up an estimated 12.7 percent of cases.The previously predominant variant was JN.1. It now makes up only 8.4 percent of cases in the US. Wastewater surveillance data also demonstrates a rapid increase in the prevalence of KP.2, although in wastewater as of May 11, JN.1 still predominates.To date, only one study has examined the properties of the KP.2 variant. Published in The Lancet Infectious Diseases under the category of “Correspondence”, it is a brief study that provides early results about the variant obtained as quickly and rigorously as possible to inform policy and the public.First, the researchers used surveillance data to estimate the reproduction number or Re of the virus. The reproduction number is the number of new infections that are expected to occur from each existing infected individual in the population. A value greater than 1 means that the virus will spread exponentially. The researchers estimated Re values for the United States, United Kingdom, and Canada of that are 1.22, 1.32, and 1.26 times higher than the Re values for the previously predominant JN.1 virus, respectively. They reported only the relative Re with respect to JN.1, not the absolute Re number. This result means that the new KP.2 variant is more infectious than its predecessor, making it more likely to spread among the population. Notably, in the United Kingdom, JN.1 had a Re that was 1.261 times higher than its predecessor prior to becoming the predominant strain. Thus the virus continues to become more contagious. Notably, the study was done prior to KP.2 becoming the predominant viral variant in the U.S. On the basis of their findings, the researchers correctly concluded that KP.2 had high potential to become the predominant strain worldwide. Indeed, their prediction has come true already in the United States. The researchers also conducted neutralization assays to study the degree to which existing immunity to SARS-CoV-2 variants, whether through infection or vaccination, was protective against KP.2. These assays use blood serum obtained from vaccinated and previously infected individuals. In this study, the sera collected contained antibodies against the previous strains of virus including XBB 1.5, EG.5.1, HK.3, and JN.1. The researchers then combined the serum with cultures of cells that are infected with the same strains of the virus. They then quantified how much serum was required to neutralize the virus, using the 50 percent neutralization titer or NT50. Lower values of NT50 mean that greater quantities of serum are required to neutralize 50 percent of the virus. The researchers found significantly lower NT50 values for the KP.2 variant. The significance of this result is that pre-existing immunity to previous variants is less protective against KP.2. Therefore, KP.2 has an increased immune escape ability as well as greater infectiousness. The net effect is that the recent predominance of KP.2 is in line with its known properties per the lone study to examine it thus far. Although the “herd immunity” approach to the pandemic has already been overwhelmingly discredited, it is demolished even further by the emergence of KP.2, yet another highly infectious SARS-CoV-2 variant that is escaping pre-existing immunity to previous variants. So long as the criminal “let it rip” policy of the ruling class is in place, SARS-CoV-2 will continue to evolve new variants with varying levels of infectiousness, severity of infection, and probability of causing Long COVID. Scientifically, there is no reason to expect that future variants will be less dangerous: each new variant poses a risk that the virus will be more deadly and cause more long-term disability.

Paxlovid tied to 34% lower risk of hospitalization in adolescent COVID patients -Treatment with the antiviral drug nirmatrelvir-ritonavir (Paxlovid) was linked to a 34% lower risk of all-cause hospitalization among COVID-19 patients aged 12 to 17 years, University of Hong Kong researchers report in Nature Communications.The investigators conducted an observational study that incorporated design characteristics from a hypothetical, randomized controlled trial among 49,378 non-hospitalized pediatric COVID-19 patients infected with the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant. Patients received Paxlovid within 5 days of symptom onset or diagnosis from March 2022 to February 2023.Paxlovid user outcomes were compared with those of an equal number of control patients. Most participants in both groups had limited underlying medical conditions, and about 75% were fully vaccinated and/or boosted against COVID-19.In the United States, everyone aged 12 and older who weighs at least 88 pounds, has mild to moderate COVID-19, and is at high risk for severe illness is eligible for Paxlovid treatment. .

Low-cost, at-home antibody test can flag low immunity against COVID-19, researchers say - An at-home antibody test can gauge users' immunity to COVID-19, alerting to the need for a vaccine booster dose, a University of North Carolina–led research team reports in Science Advances.The investigators evaluated the performance of the low-cost lateral-flow antibody test in 168 healthcare workers with weak COVID-19 vaccine responses. They also measured SARS-CoV-2 neutralizing antibody and T-cell responses among all participants before and after a third vaccine dose.By the end of 2022, more than 96% of Americans 16 years old or older had SARS-CoV-2 antibodies from infection or vaccination, the study authors wrote. "However, immunity against SARS-CoV-2 tends to wane over time and is typically less effective against evolving SARS-CoV-2 variants." A negative result on the test indicated low immunity, while a positive result didn't necessarily indicate sufficient immunity. Those who tested positive had higher antibody concentrations than those who tested negative. After wild-type SARS-CoV-2 booster vaccination, all participants gained systemic antibodies against evolving SARS-CoV-2 and related viruses."Our research suggests that an antibody test taken at home will allow at-risk individuals to conveniently identify inadequate immunity to COVID-19 in a world in which population immunity is declining," coauthor John Lafleur, MD, PhD, of George Washington University (GWU), said in a GWU news release. "This can be important information for those who are considering booster vaccination, but question whether or not it is needed." Booster uptake in the United States has been low despite its ability to reduce the risk of severe disease. "Even among 65 and older US residents, the bivalent booster uptake has been reported as under 41%, suggesting the need for new strategies to build confidence and promote the use of the SARS-CoV-2 vaccine," the authors wrote.They noted difficulties interpreting negative results: "Redesigning the tests to specifically detect negative Ab [antibody] results with clear instructions for interpreting those results will prevent any positive results that could mislead people into believing they are completely protected against COVID-19."

Trial shows that COVID vaccine doesn't raise risk of poor outcomes in acute coronary syndrome patients Patients who received one or more COVID-19 vaccine doses after acute coronary syndrome (ACS) had similar rates of all-cause death, heart attack, stroke, urgent coronary revascularization, major cardiovascular events, and hospitalization for chest pain, heart failure, and respiratory infections as their unvaccinated peers, according to a secondary analysis of a randomized clinical trial.The research was published in JAMA Network Open. The trial evaluated the effectiveness of the influenza vaccine post-ACS from July 2019 to November 2020, while the secondary analysis compared the rate of cardiopulmonary events in patients who received at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine in Brazil with that of unvaccinated participants. Patients were not randomized to the COVID vaccine in the secondary analysis.Of 1,801 patients (median age, 56.7 years; 30.3% women), 16.2% had a history of heart attack, and 35.7% smoked. In total, 1,665 patients did not have cardiopulmonary events in the first 90 days, of whom 50.2% had received at least one COVID-19 vaccine dose. Most (63.9%) received at least one Oxford/AstraZeneca dose during follow-up.In the 90-day event-free follow-up analysis of unvaccinated individuals, the rate of all-cause death, heart attack, stroke, urgent coronary revascularization, major cardiovascular events, and hospitalization for chest pain, heart failure, and respiratory infections per 100 patient-years was 9.37, versus 4.81 for vaccinated patients (adjusted hazard ratio [aHR], 0.41). Vaccination didn't significantly lower the rate of MACE (aHR, 0.32), all-cause death (aHR, 0.29), or cardiovascular death (aHR, 0.42). "In this secondary analysis of a randomized clinical trial, patients who received at least 1 COVID-19 vaccine dose after ACS had similar rates of the primary composite end point and MACE compared with unvaccinated patients," the researchers wrote. "However, retrospective studies have demonstrated a short-term reduction in MACE risk after COVID-19 vaccination."

Having symptoms after getting a COVID vaccine may indicate robust immune response -Headache, fatigue, malaise, and chills after COVID-19 vaccination are signs the immune system is marshalling a strong response against future infection, suggests a study posted today in theAnnals of Internal Medicine.University of California at San Francisco (UCSF) investigators analyzed serum neutralizing antibody (nAB) levels against the wild-type SARS-CoV-2 strain and daily symptom surveys in 363 unvaccinated, never-infected adults given two doses of an mRNA COVID-19 vaccine in 2021.About 40% of the participants also wore a biometric device to measure their skin temperature and heart and breathing rate. Most participants were in their 40s to 60s. One and 6 months after receipt of the second vaccine dose, fatigue, malaise, chills, and headache were each tied to 1.4- to 1.6-fold higher nAB concentrations. nAB levels in participants who experienced at least seven symptoms were nearly double the levels of those who reported no symptoms. In participants who wore a biometric device, each 1°C (1.8°F) increase in skin temperature after the second dose was associated with 1.8-fold and 3.1-fold higher nAB levels 1 and 6 months later."Generally, we found that the higher the number of side effects, the higher the level of antibodies," first author Ethan Dutcher, MD, PhD, said in a UCSF news release. "But this wasn't a hard rule: some people without side effects had better antibodies than some people with side effects."The team noted that concerns about vaccine side effects often contribute to vaccine hesitancy. "The toll of COVID is still high for some—sickness, lost work, lasting fatigue and the dreaded long COVID," co–senior author Elissa Epel, PhD, said in the release. "While the symptoms from vaccination can be very unpleasant, it's important to remember that they don't come close to the disease's potential complications," she said.

Study: Previous COVID-19 infection may protect against common colds - Infection with COVID-19 may offer protection against other, less severe endemic coronaviruses (eCOVs) that are often behind the common cold, according to a study today inScience Translational Medicine. COVID vaccines, however, don't appear to afford similar protection.Three coronaviruses can cause severe and fatal disease in humans: MERS-CoV, SARS, and SARS-CoV-2. But four eCOVs typically cause symptomatic, mild respiratory illnesses, accounting for 15% to 30% of "common colds."The study was based on polymerase chain reaction test results from a retrospective cohort of 4,935 people who presented for clinical evaluation for respiratory illness from November 2020 to October 2021 at Boston Medical Center. Participants were grouped into three categories: previous COVID-19 infection (501 participants), previous COVID-19 vaccine but no known infection (1,565), and no SARS-CoV-2 antigen exposures (no prior infection or vaccination; 2,869)."Incidence of symptomatic eCoV infection was significantly lower in those with prior SARS-CoV-2 infection and no vaccination (2 of 275, 0.7%) as compared with the individuals who had been deemed fully vaccinated but had no known prior SARS-CoV-2 infection (44 of 1,463, 3.0%)," the authors wrote.Previous COVID-19 infection was associated with an almost 50% reduced risk of a future symptomatic eCoV during the follow-up period of more than 120 days [hazard ratio 0.48, 95% confidence interval 0.21 to 1.1).

COVID Severity Not Affected By Viral Load Upon First Infection: Study The viral load or quantity of SARS-CoV-2 in the nasal cavity does not predict disease severity, according to a recent JAMA Network Open study. “We observed considerable variability in VL (viral load) at diagnosis,” the authors wrote. “Intriguingly, we did not find an association between VL at diagnosis and severe COVID-19 in this largely outpatient setting.” The findings contradict those of earlier studies that found that patients with severe COVID-19 presentations tended to have a high viral load. “The findings of this study suggest that caution should be exercised in the use of individual-level viral load … as a surrogate for COVID-19 severity, especially given increasing diversity in preexisting immunity,” the authors added. The study authors followed uninfected and unvaccinated people who were part of the placebo group in COVID-19 vaccine trials, finding high variability in viral load that could not be explained. Dr. William Schaffner, a professor of preventive medicine at Vanderbilt University Medical Center who was not involved in the study, said he was not too surprised at the findings. He added that COVID pneumonia, a complication associated with severe COVID-19, is known to be determined by the body’s immune response and less so by viral load. “It’s our immune response that determines [disease] severity. So the vigor of our immune response is largely associated with the pneumonia that occurs,” Dr. Schaffner said. SARS-CoV-2 infects the body in two phases. The first is when the virus attaches to the cells in the nasal cavity and the upper respiratory tract. Symptoms tend to be mild at this stage. In the second phase, the virus reaches the lower respiratory tract and can start disseminating into the body. Some people’s immune systems may mount a highly inflammatory response to the virus, which can transform into severe disease; others may have mild or asymptomatic disease. Studies have offered different explanations for severe COVID-19 disease. Older people or those with metabolic disease tend to be the most at risk of developing severe COVID-19.

Severe neurologic conditions common in hospitalized kids with COVID, MIS-C, data suggest -Pediatric patients hospitalized with severe COVID-19 or the related multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C) experience new neurologic problems and/or impaired function at rates of 18.0% and 24.8%, respectively, an international group of researchers suggests in JAMA Network Open.In a secondary analysis of the Global Consortium Study of Neurologic Dysfunction in COVID-19 study, investigators studied the rates of new severe neurologic conditions among 3,568 COVID-19 or MIS-C patients younger than 18 years hospitalized from January 2020 to July 2021 at 46 centers in 10 countries. The Pediatric Cerebral Performance Category scale was used to define new neurocognitive disorders, and the Functional Status Scale determined functional impairment.The median patient age was 8 years, 45.6% were girls, 42.5% had no underlying condition, 23.0% were Black, 28.7% were Hispanic, 63.6% were non-Hispanic, 54.0% were White, and 24.9% were another race."Children with the SARS-CoV-2–related condition multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C) often require critical care due to multisystem organ dysfunction, with high survival rates but with risk of post–critical illness sequelae," the researchers wrote. "In particular, neurological manifestations of pediatric SARS-CoV-2–related conditions have been associated with morbidity and mortality in prior studies." Most patients (83.5%) had severe COVID-19, and 16.5% had MIS-C. Of the patients hospitalized with severe COVID-19, 18% had a serious neurologic condition, as did 24.8% of those with MIS-C. COVID-19 patients with serious neurologic disease were more likely than those without such a condition to have new neurocognitive disease or functional impairment at hospital release (27.7% vs 14.6%). The most common new neurocognitive disorders or functional impairments in COVID-19 patients were acute encephalopathy (brain dysfunction; 61.9%), seizures or status epilepticus (40.7%), and delirium and coma (7.5%). Among MIS-C patients, acute encephalopathy (76.0%), delirium (11.6%), dysautonomia (disrupted autonomic nervous system;10.9%), and seizures or status epilepticus (9.6%) were most common.A total of 28.0% of MIS-C patients with severe neurologic illness or functional impairment at hospital release had new neurocognitive manifestations and/or impaired function, compared with 15.5% without serious neurologic problems.COVID-19 patients with severe neurologic disorders were less likely to be Hispanic (26.7% vs 30.4%), more likely to have at least one chronic condition (46.6% vs 32.5%), and more likely to have a preexisting neurologic condition (45.7% vs 16.3%) than those without a severe neurologic disorder. Similarly, patients with MIS-C and a severe neurologic condition were more likely to have a preexisting neurologic condition than those without severe neurologic manifestations (11.6% vs 5.9%).After adjustment, among patients with severe neurologic problems, those with acute COVID-19 infection and those with MIS-C were more likely to have new neurocognitive and/or functional impairment at hospital release (odds ratios, 1.85 and 2.18, respectively).Of COVID-19 patients with severe neurologic conditions, 4.8% died in the hospital, compared with 0.3% of those without such conditions. Similarly, among MIS-C patients, those with severe neurologic disorders had a much higher in-hospital death rate (4.9%) than those without such a disorder (0.5%). COVID-19 and MIS-C survivors with severe neurologic problems were also more likely to need physical and occupational therapy and rehabilitation consultations.In a related commentary, Michael Wolf, MD, of Vanderbilt University Medical Center, said the study highlights the critical need for neurologic monitoring in hospitalized children with COVID-19 or MIS-C. "As Francoeur et al observe and emphasize, patients younger than 18 years with new functional and neurocognitive impairments require resource-intensive multidisciplinary care before and after hospital discharge," he wrote. "While programs for structured follow-up are uncommon, there exists a growing focus on long-term, patient-centered outcomes for children recovering from critical illness.""Lessons learned from large cohorts of patients with sepsis, acute SARS-CoV-2 infection, MIS-C, and other systemic illnesses should deepen clinicians' appreciation of the links between short-term disease manifestations and long-term consequences for the most vulnerable pediatric patients," he added.

Black, Hispanic adults at double the risk of losing Medicaid after COVID emergency ended, study finds - Black and Hispanic adults were twice as likely than their White peers to be unable to renew their Medicaid enrollment after the end of the COVID-19 public health emergency (PHE) in spring 2023, a Northwestern University–led study estimates.For the study, published in JAMA Internal Medicine, the researchers analyzed data from seven waves of the US Census Bureau's Household Pulse Survey to estimate the racial distribution of adult Medicaid disenrollment from March to October 2023. A record 94 million Americans were continuously enrolled in Medicaid during the COVID-19 PHE, the study authors noted. "Since the continuous enrollment provision ended March 31, 2023, approximately 10 million people have lost Medicaid coverage as states began redetermining enrollees’ Medicaid eligibility (unwinding period)," they wrote. "Three-quarters of disenrollments occurred for procedural reasons, including incomplete applications, application errors, and inaccurate contact information."Because roughly 60% of Medicaid enrollees are of minority race, experts worry about racial disparities in procedural disenrollment that could lower healthcare access and use—especially among Black and Hispanic adults. "However, state-level information on causes of procedural disenrollments is limited, and only 9 states currently report disenrollments by race and ethnicity," the researchers said. Medicaid disenrollments rose substantially when the PHE ended in April 2023. By October 2023 (the most recent wave assessed), about 32.4 million adults were on the Medicaid rolls. The average enrollee age was 51.6 years, 62.6% were women, 52.0% were White, 19.9% were Hispanic, 17.7% were Black, 4.5% were Asian, and 5.9% were another race.Of the 5 million adults dropped from Medicaid, 57.3% said they no longer qualified, 17.4% of whom said they couldn't complete the renewal process. A greater percentage of adults unable to complete the renewal process were Black or Hispanic, compared with overall proportions of Black (22.0% vs 16.4%) and Hispanic (33.5% vs 22.7%) enrollees. Black and Hispanic enrollees were about twice as likely as their White counterparts to report losing Medicaid coverage because they couldn't complete the renewal process (adjusted odds ratios, 2.19 and 2.08, respectively)."A lot of people got kicked off Medicaid for administrative reasons," senior author Jane Zhu, MD, MPP, MSHP, of Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU), said in an OHSU press release. "Our study found that Black and Hispanic people are twice as likely to lose Medicaid insurance for reasons that can be addressed by systems improvements."The investigators recommended that policymakers reduce racial health disparities by improving Medicaid enrollment processes. States, they added, could make the renewal process less complex by populating renewal forms with enrollee data or allowing more time to return forms."Addressing these barriers may include more transparent race and ethnicity data reporting, expedited administrative processes, expanded renewal assistance, and prioritized redeterminations for beneficiaries most likely to be ineligible," they wrote.

More COVID-19 patients died in understaffed hospitals, new data show - A new study in the International Journal of Nursing Studies suggests chronically understaffed US hospitals had higher rates of COVID-19 patient deaths early in the pandemic."Our study found that individuals' likelihood of surviving was related to hospitals' investments in nursing services prior to the pandemic—in terms of hiring sufficient numbers of RNs [registered nurses], employing nurses with bachelor's educational preparation, and sustaining favorable work environments," said Karen Lasater, PhD, RN, the lead author of the study, in a press release from the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing. The study was based on outcomes seen among 87,000 Medicare enrollees (ages 65 to 99) hospitalized with COVID-19 from April through December 2020 in 237 general acute-care hospitals in New York and Illinois.The authors looked at patient-to-RN staffing ratios, proportion of bachelors-qualified RNs, and nurse work environments in the pre-pandemic period (December 2019 to February 2020) and during the pandemic (April to June 2021) to predict in-hospital and 30-day mortality. About half of hospitals (48.5%) had more than 250 beds, and the greatest percentage of hospitals were non-teaching hospitals (43%), the authors said.Overall, the average age of patients was 78 years, and 31.5 % died within 30 days of admission, with 23% of those patients dying during the hospitalization. Mortality was highest in April 2020 (36.1 % in-hospital mortality; 44.6% 30-day mortality) and dropped in July, then steadily rose through December 2020. The average patient-to-RN staffing ratio on an adult medical-surgical unit in the study was 5.6 patients per nurse. Patient-to-RN staff ratios were highly linked to mortality: Each additional patient in the nurses' workload pre-pandemic was associated with 20% higher odds of in-hospital mortality (odds ratio [OR], 1.20; 95 % confidence interval [CI], 1.12 to 1.28) and a 15% higher odds of 30-day mortality (OR, 1.15; 95 % CI, 1.09 to 1.21).Using a model, the authors predicted if all the study hospitals staffed not more than 4 patients per RN, 3,460 in-hospital COVID-19 deaths could have been prevented during the 9-month study period in the two study states—a 17% reduction in mortality. The authors also estimated that 631 deaths could have been prevented if all hospitals employed a workforce comprising a minimum of 80% of RNs with a bachelor's of science degree in nursing.

AHRQ survey: 7% of US adults reported having long COVID by early 2023 New findings from a US survey from Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) scientists concludes that 6.9% of US adults—or almost 18 million adults—have ever had long COVID as of early 2023, confirming the results of previous surveys.AHRQ fielded the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS) to a sample of 17,418 adults, which extrapolates to 259 million adults. The research was published late last week in JAMA.A total of 8,275 respondents reported a history of COVID-19 infection, of whom 1,202 said they had long-COVID symptoms, extrapolating to 17.8 million (6.9%) of all Americans.Across age-groups, women were more likely than men to report having long COVID (8.6% vs 5.1%). Young and older adults were less likely than adults aged 35 to 64 years to report long COVID, which the authors said may be due to younger people's generally better health and high rates of COVID-19 vaccination and low COVID-19 rates among older people..'White and Hispanic adults had higher rates of long COVID than Black and Asian adults. Asians had the lowest long-COVID rate and the highest rate of COVID-19 booster receipt. Black respondents had the second-lowest incidence of both COVID-19 and long COVID.Recipients of COVID-19 boosters reported lower rates of long COVID (5.8%) than those who had received only the primary vaccine series (8.7%) or had never been vaccinated (8.4%). "These findings suggest that booster shots may enhance protection against long COVID, possibly because booster shots reduce the risk of severe COVID-19," the study authors wrote. "MEPS did not find that booster shots were associated with a reduced risk of having had COVID-19 in general."

New definition of long COVID aims to offer clarity, direction -- The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM), in response to a request from the US federal government, has published a new consensus diagnosis for long COVID.While working groups, national governments, and health organizations have all offered definition of long COVID, no general consensus exists."Inconsistencies in definitions have created challenges, and a consensus definition could promote consistency in diagnosis, aid awareness efforts, help patients access appropriate care, services, and benefits, and help harmonize Long COVID research and surveillance," the authors said.The definition, which can be applied to both children and adults, reads: "Long COVID (LC) is an infection-associated chronic condition (IACC) that occurs after SARS-CoV-2 infection and is present for at least 3 months as a continuous, relapsing and remitting, or progressive disease state that affects one or more organ systems."In a press release on the definition, Harvey Fineberg, MD, PhD, president of the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation and the chair of the authoring committee said, "The lack of a consistent definition for Long COVID has hampered research and delayed diagnosis and care for patients. Our committee hopes this single definition, crafted with input from across research and patient communities, will help to educate the public about this widespread and highly consequential disease state."The NASEM emphasizes that long COVID can follow asymptomatic, mild, or severe cases of COVID-19."LC can be diagnosed on clinical grounds. No biomarker currently available demonstrates conclusively the presence of LC," the authors wrote.The definition, and the term "long COVID," should be used by clinicians, researchers, drugmakers, employers, and educators, the authors said."Long COVID is a devastatingly persistent result of the COVID-19 pandemic that the medical community has yet to fully address," said Victor J. Dzau, MD, president of the National Academy of Medicine. "Serving this patient population through better-coordinated care, more definitive diagnoses, and more efficient and streamlined research are important next steps for addressing its impact.”Last week the NASEM issued a major report outlining findings in patients who have long COVID, including that more than 200 symptoms have been associated with the condition.

FDA modifies strain recommendation for fall COVID vaccine amid variant shifts, uptick in cases - Though the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) last week recommended that vaccine companies switch to the JN.1 variant for updated shots for the fall, yesterday it urgedcompanies to focus on the KP.2 lineage if possible, based on recent shifts and a national rise in cases.On June 5, the FDA's vaccine advisory group recommended a switch to the JN.1 variant, though it held off on recommending the KP.2 offshoot of JN.1, partly due to uncertainties about further evolution of SARS-CoV-2 strains. The group was also concerned about the availability of Novavax, which as a protein-based vaccine that has a longer production timeline and would not be able to switch to the more specific KP.2 lineage.Shortly after, the FDA accepted the advisers' advice but said it would continue to monitor the safety and efficacy of COVID-19 vaccines, along with the evolution of the virus. In its latest variant proportion update, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported another jump in KP.3 proportions, along with a further rise in KP.2 viruses and a steady decline in the JN.1 parent lineage.The two rising offshoots have the mutations that are thought to make them more evasive to immunity from earlier infection or previous vaccination. In its statement yesterday, the FDA said that, based on the latest data, including rises in COVID-19 activity in some parts of the country, the preferred vaccine lineage is KP.2, and that a switch from the original JN.1 recommendation is intended to ensure that 2024-25 COVID vaccines more closely match circulating strains."The agency does not anticipate that a change to KP.2 will delay the availability of the vaccines for the United States," the FDA said. mRNA vaccines have a shorter production timeline and appear well poised to incorporate the change. Novavax, which produces the protein-based option, said its vaccine provides broad cross-neutralization against a range of JN.1 descendant viruses, including KP.2 and KP.3. It also said the vaccine produces conserved T-cell responses against a range of JN.1 offshoots. "These responses indicate that our vaccine technology induces broadly neutralizing responses against multiple variant strains, including to circulating forward drift variants," it said in a statement, which was first posted on June 5, then updated on June 10. The company said it expects to have the vaccine ready for commercial delivery in September, pending FDA authorization. In its data updates today, the CDC reported more rises in its early COVID indicators, which have shown a small uptick over the past few weeks from very low levels. The percentage of tests with positive results rose slightly and is highest in the western region that includes Arizona, California, Hawaii, and Nevada. Emergency department visits from COVID were up modestly. Hawaii has the highest level, which is listed as moderate. Other states are at the minimal level or don't have enough data for analysis. Earlier this week, the Hawaii State Department of Health urged the public to be vigilant because of high COVID levels, which are at the red level, meaning they are at high levels compared to historic trends. "This high level means that recommended precautions are more important for reducing risk," it said.In a respiratory virus illness snapshot today, the CDC estimated that COVID levels are growing or likely growing in 34 states or territories, declining in 1, with the trend uncertain in 14. "An increasing proportion of the variants that cause COVID-19 are projected to be KP.3 and LB.1," the agency said. LB.1 is another JN.1 offshoot showing rising proportions.Hawaii's health department urged people to be up to date with their recommended vaccine doses, especially seniors, to stay home when sick and take extra precautions in the household, to wear a well-fitted mask indoors with other people, and to test if having symptoms.CDC wastewater tracking show that overall levels are low, but up sharply in the West. Meanwhile, the latest data from WastewaterSCAN, a national wastewater monitoring system based at Stanford University in partnership with Emory University, suggest that COVID levels are in the high category nationally and in the South and Northeast, with concentrations medium and on an upward trend over the past 3 weeks. It put the Midwest and the West in the medium category.

RSV hospitalizations for kids doubled in 2022-23 --A new study today in JAMA Network Open shows that pediatric hospitalizations for respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) doubled during the 2022-2023 season compared to the prior year.The population-based cohort study of children aged 5 years and younger in Ontario, Canada, looked at hospitalization and intensive care unit (ICU) admissions for RSV from July 1, 2017, through March 31, 2023.On average, 700,000 children per study year were included. Though the 2021-2022 season peaked a bit earlier than prepandemic seasons, the number of hospitalizations was similar, at 289.1 per 100,000 children in 2021-2022, compared to 281.4 to 334.6 per 100,000 in 2017 through 2020.In 2022-2023, however, RSV season peaked a month earlier and resulted in more than twice as many hospitalizations (770.0 per 100 000).The RSV hospitalizations also led to more ICU admissions. ”The proportion of children admitted to an ICU in 2022-2023 (13.9%) was slightly higher than prepandemic (9.6%-11.4%); however, the population-based rate was triple the prepandemic levels (106.9 vs 27.6-36.6 per 100 000 children in Ontario)," the authors said.The rate of mechanical ventilation use was also two- to three-fold higher in 2022-2023 compared with prepandemic years, the authors said.During 2020 and 2021, cases of RSV dropped as COVID-19 mitigation measures, including masking and school closures, halted transmission of RSV. In Ontario, only 11 RSV hospitalizations and seven ICU admissions occurred during the 2020-2021 season. But in 2022-2023, a resurgence was seen as RSV, flu, and COVID-19 all co-circulated with most mitigation efforts removed. "The unexpected and widespread influences on seasonal respiratory viruses that followed the COVID-19 pandemic underscore the need for ongoing research to understand the impact of pandemic mitigation measures and the unique factors of transmission for common pathogens to ensure societies are better prepared to respond to future pandemics," the authors concluded.

Children with RSV during 2022-23 needed more advanced support, study finds -- A study yesterday in JAMA Network Open shows a 70% increase in the number of children requiring advanced respiratory support when hospitalized with respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) during the 2022-23 season. Advanced respiratory support includes high-flow nasal cannula (HFNC), noninvasive ventilation (NIV), or invasive mechanical ventilation (IMV).The study follows one published earlier this week describing the severity of that 2022-23 RSV season and coincides with a meta-analysis showing good protection of RSV vaccines for both babies and older people.During the first two pandemic winters, mitigation strategies meant to fight COVID-19 significantly limited and altered the spread of RSV, which typically follows a seasonal peak of activity. Once those measures, including school closures and mask-wearing, were lifted, RSV peaked early and caused more hospitalizations for kids. "Emerging data suggest that altered virus seasonality and absent early-life virus exposure during the pandemic have shifted the pediatric RSV and bronchiolitis demographic, with older children requiring hospitalization compared with prepandemic seasons," the study authors wrote.The JAMA study is based on outcomes seen in 288,816 children 5 years or younger treated at 48 pediatric hospitals in the United States from July 1, 2017, through June 30, 2023. Outcomes in 2022-23 were compared to 2017-18, 2018-19, and 2019-20, the prepandemic era.Pediatric RSV infections decreased markedly early in the COVID-19 pandemic, the authors said, with 82.0% less hospitalizations in 2020-21 than the 2017-20 prepandemic annual mean.In 2022-23, hospitalizations almost doubled, to 50,619, compared with 27,114 annually in the prepandemic seasons. There was also a 43.5% increase in intensive care unit admissions that season.Notably, in the 2022-23 season, children requiring more breathing support, were older (median 11.3 compared to 6.8 months), and had fewer co-morbidities.Across all seasons, 21.6% of hospitalized patients required advanced respiratory support. But the total number of hospitalized patients requiring advanced respiratory support was 70% higher in 2022-23.The largest respiratory support increase was in HFNC use, which almost doubled in 2022 and 2023 compared with prepandemic seasons (5,752 vs 2,945 children). NIV support increased 47.1%, and IMV use increased 28.6%."The increased rate of respiratory support needs in older, previously healthy children during the 2022 to 2023 postpandemic season aligns with the hypothesis that an 'immunity debt' in children who evaded RSV infection in their first years of life during the early COVID-19 pandemic has shifted the demographics of pediatric RSV infection in the postpandemic era," the authors concluded.

Household study suggests infants may spread C difficile - A small longitudinal household study suggests sharing of Clostridioides difficile strains is a common event in families caring for an infant, US researchers reported today in Open Forum Infectious Diseases. For the study, a team led by researchers from Rainbow Babies and Children's Hospital in Cleveland, Ohio, recruited 30 families of healthy infants at their child's 4-month well child visit, collected stool samples or rectal swabs from the infants and their parents every 2 weeks, and followed up on the families longitudinally until the infants were 9 months old. With infants known to asymptomatically excrete C difficile throughout the first 2 years of life, the researchers wanted to measure the frequency in which C difficile excreted by infants can be identified in a parent, which could help determine the role infants might play in the spread of the disease in the community.Samples were collected from 33 infants (three sets of twins), 30 mothers, and 19 fathers. C difficile was isolated in at least one member in 28 of 30 families, though no parent or infant was diagnosed as having C difficile infection (CDI). A total of 225 organisms were cultivated from the samples, and 191 were recovered and strain-typed. C difficile strains were shared in 17 of the 28 families harboring C difficile, with three families found to share two separate strains. The infant and at least one adult family member were implicated in 17 of 20 instances of strain sharing, and, in at least 13 of these, the strain was detected in the infant first. Excretion of shared strains was persistent.Although they were unable to demonstrate the directionality of C difficile transmission with certainty, the study authors say the data from the study support adding asymptomatically excreting infants and their families to the list of potential sources of community-associated CDI.

Study details reduced Tamiflu susceptibility in H1N1 flu cases - A study yesterday in Emerging Infectious Diseases spotlights recent H1N1 flu cases with reduced susceptibility to oseltamivir (Tamiflu), the most common antiviral used to limit symptoms from seasonal flu. The reduction in susceptibility has been seen in viruses collected from five continents—with most cases in Europe—from May 20203 to February 2024. The viruses showed a 13-fold reduced inhibition by oseltamivir while retaining normal susceptibility to other antiviral drugs, the authors said. The detections were made as part of standard genetic sequencing of influenza viruses, and included 2,039 H1N1 viruses from the United States (1,274) and 38 other countries (765). The viruses that lost susceptibility to Tamiflu had acquired a novel combination of neuraminidase mutations, NA-I223V + S247N. Overall detection frequency of these two mutations was low (0.67%). Of 101 viruses with this double mutation, 67 were found in Europe. "The first dual mutant was collected from Canada in May 2023, and the latest were collected from 4 countries (France, the Netherlands, Spain, and the United Kingdom) during January–February 2024," the authors wrote. The Netherlands had the most detections (30), followed by France (24), Bangladesh (11), Oman (9), and the United Kingdom (9). Hong Kong had 4 detections, followed by Niger (3), Australia (2), Spain (2), and the United States (2). One dual mutant each was detected in Canada, Ethiopia, Maldives, Norway, and Sweden. "Our study highlights the need to closely monitor evolution of dual mutants because additional changes may further affect susceptibility to antiviral drugs or provide a competitive advantage over circulating wild-type viruses," the authors concluded.

Emergency department data show shift in antibiotics used for pediatric UTIs -- An analysis of US emergency department (ED) visits for pediatric urinary tract infections (UTIs) provides some new insight into antibiotic prescribing practices, researchers reported today in Pediatrics. Led by researchers from Boston Children's Hospital, the analysis aimed to evaluate changes in antibiotic prescribing at US ED visits for pediatric UTIs from 2011 to 2020 using nationally representative data from the National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey (NHAMCS). A previous analysis of NHAMCS data found that, from 1998 to 2007, there was a decline in use of trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole (TMP-SMX) for pediatric UTIs amid rising resistance rates and a significant increase in the use of enteral third-generation cephalosporins (e3GC). That finding raised concerns because e3GC are broad-spectrum antibiotics that can select for antibiotic resistance. In 2014, updated cephalosporin susceptibility criteria for Enterobacterales species made enteral first-generation cephalosporins (e1GC), which target fewer bacterial species, a potential empiric option for uncomplicated UTIs. A total of 1,083 UTI visits by non-pregnant patients ages 18 and younger were included in the analysis. Over the study period, TMP-SMX prescriptions declined from 20.6% to 9.9% of visits, while use of e1GC increased from 15.2% to 32.6% of visits and use of e3CG remained unchanged. The findings persisted despite adjustments for age, sex, region, fever on presentation, payment type, and hospitalization.

ECDC report highlights rising drug-resistance in gonorrhea --New surveillance data released today by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) shows dramatically rising antimicrobial resistance (AMR) amid a substantial increase in gonorrhea infections.Of the 4,396 Neisseria gonorrhoeae isolates submitted by 23 European Union/European Economic Area (EU/EEA) countries to the European Gonococcal Antimicrobial Surveillance Programme in 2022, 25.6% were resistant to azithromycin, compared with 14.2% in 2021. This is noteworthy, because, although ceftriaxone is the recommended antibiotic for treating gonorrhea throughout Europe and elsewhere, azithromycin is often used in combination with ceftriaxone to ensure treatment success.In addition, two isolates with resistance to ceftriaxone were detected—one each in Austria and Germany. One isolate was extensively drug-resistant and the other multidrug-resistant, with one displaying "high-level" azithromycin resistance.ECDC officials say the detection of ceftriaxone resistance, in combination with rising azithromycin resistance, is a worrying trend."Although dual ceftriaxone and azithromycin resistance is exceedingly rare in the EU/EEA, the rapidly decreasing azithromycin susceptibility combined with the continued detection of occasional ceftriaxone resistance is still of concern and threatens the effectiveness of treatment and control of gonorrhea," the ECDC said in an executive summary. The data also show that resistance to ciprofloxacin, which can be an alternative treatment when isolates are shown to be susceptible, rose to 65.9% from 62.8% in 2021 and 57.7% in 2020. Cefixime resistance remained low, at 0.3%, but ECDC officials cautioned that it needs to be monitored closely, since gonococcal strains with resistance to both ceftriaxone and cefixime are spreading internationally.The rise in drug resistance was accompanied by a dramatic rise in gonorrhea infections. A total of 70,881 confirmed cases were reported from 28 EU/EEA countries in 2022, a 48% increase from 2021.

Survey reveals many Americans don't know much about STIs like syphilis - Many US adults harbor misconceptions about sexually transmitted infections (STIs) such as syphilis, despite its potential seriousness and cases rising around the world, the latest University of Pennsylvania Annenberg Public Policy Center (APPC) survey shows. APPC fielded the Annenberg Science and Public Health Knowledge survey to a national probability sample of more than 1,500 US adults from April 18 to 24. Respondents were asked about their knowledge of STIs, with particular attention to syphilis and HIV. The authors noted that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported in January that syphilis cases rose 80% from 2018 to 2022, with more than 200,000 infections in 2022, the most recent year with available data. Just over half of respondents (54%) knew that syphilis can be cured, most (84%) mistakenly believed that a vaccine to prevent the disease is available, and 45% said they weren't sure whether there is a vaccine. Many didn't know the signs and symptoms of syphilis, including sores (30%), swollen lymph nodes (28%), fever (27%), weight loss (16%), dizziness or lightheadedness (13%), and blurry vision (12%). But high proportions were familiar with ways to protect themselves against it, including abstinence (78%) and using a condom (77%). A total of 94% knew that oral contraception, diaphragm use, and getting vaccinated (there is no vaccine) weren't effective against infection, but 71% didn't correctly cite using clean needles as a protective measure. "With the rising number of syphilis cases, knowing the causes, symptoms, and treatment for it assumes added importance," APPC Director Kathleen Hall Jamieson, PhD, said in the news release. Only one third of respondents correctly said that human papillomavirus (HPV) can't be cured, and another third didn't know a vaccine is available to prevent infection and related cancers. But most knew that HIV can spread through unprotected sex (95%), sharing needles (90%), and childbirth (67%) and that the virus can't spread through airborne droplets (89%), touching contaminated surfaces (88%), or using recreational drugs called poppers (85%). Only 33% knew that HIV can also spread via breastfeeding. In total, 42% of respondents correctly indicated that most US HIV patients don't develop AIDS, and 38% knew it's easier to get HIV if a person already has another STI. Considerably less than half (39%) knew that mpox is usually sexually transmitted, and 12% incorrectly identified mosquito-borne Zika as an STI. A total of 98% of respondents knew STIs spread through vaginal sex, and most also indicated they can be transmitted through oral sex (89%), anal sex (93%), and genital contact (91%). Over half of respondents knew that gonorrhea (65%), chlamydia (63%), and syphilis (54%) can be cured, but only 29% knew that mpox has a cure. Others thought that incurable diseases can be cured, including Zika (91%), HPV (65%), genital herpes (42%), and HIV (26%). Most adults (67%) knew that a vaccine is available for HPV, but only 44% knew there is an mpox vaccine. Large proportions didn't know that there's no vaccine for Zika (80%), syphilis (61%), HIV (52%), gonorrhea (57%), genital herpes (55%), and chlamydia (59%). High proportions knew that someone with an STI can spread it to others even if asymptomatic (91%), that drugs can control HIV and prevent disease advancement (87%), that an STI can pass from a pregnant woman to her baby (78%), and that HPV can cause cancer in women (69%).

'Tis the season for swimming and bacteria alerts in lakes, rivers -- With summer about to start, many people flocking to their favorite swimming holes may also want to read up on bacteria warnings. During the busy Memorial Day weekend and shortly afterward, at least 20 people, most of them children, reported E. coli infections after they swam in Lake Anna, a popular recreational destination in central Virginia. Nine of those people were hospitalized. An additional 10 cases are under investigation. In Massachusetts, 22 beaches were closed across the state as of Friday morning. "Bacteria exceedance" accounted for more than half of the shutdowns. On the West Coast, high bacteria levels shut down three beaches in Seattle. E.coli bacteria normally live in the intestines of healthy people and animals. Most strains are harmless, cause relatively brief diarrhea, and most people recover without much incident, according to the Mayo Clinic. But small doses of some strains—including just a mouthful of contaminated water—can cause a range of conditions, including urinary tract infection, cystitis, intestinal infection and vomiting, with the worst cases leading to life-threatening blood poisoning.Cyanobacteria—also referred to as blue-green algae—are plant-like organisms that live in water. They can quickly grow out of control, or "bloom," and some produce toxins that make people and animals sick, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. They can look like foam, scum, mats, or paint on the surface of the water. They can also grow underneath the water."The things that are causing blooms are the excessive nutrients that are flowing into our surface waters through storm water, fertilizers, pet waste, septic systems. That, coupled with the increased sunlight and heat, is just the perfect recipe for cyanobacteria," said David Neils, the chief aquatic biologist with the New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services.He was checking out the blooms in Tuftonboro, along Lake Winnipesaukee, the state's largest lake. State officials warned people not to swim there and in Wolfeboro because of cyanobacteria readings.Neils said this year, the lake had very little ice cover and never really froze over."Warmer water temperatures due to lack of ice cover certainly promotes blooms," he said.Symptoms of cyanobacteria exposure can include skin irritation, stomach cramps, vomiting, nausea, diarrhea, fever, sore throat, headache, muscle and joint pain, mouth blisters, seizures, and acute liver damage. Brain-eating amoeba, also known as Naegleria fowleri, is a single-celled organism that lives in soil and warm fresh water, such as lakes, rivers and hot springs, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It can cause a brain infection when water containing the amoeba goes up the nose. Only about three people in the United States get infected each year, but these infections are usually fatal. Last year, an Arkansas resident died after being infected. State health officials concluded that the person was likely exposed to it at a country club's splash pad.Naegleria fowleri infects people when water containing the amoeba enters the body through the nose, according to the CDC

Federal officials report more cucumber-linked Salmonella cases, second outbreak -- The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) today reported 34 more illnesses linked to a multistate Salmonella Africana outbreak with a suspected link to cucumbers, raising the total to 196. Illnesses have also been reported in 3 more states, putting that total at 28 plus the District of Columbia.The latest illness onset was May 23, and from information on 164 cases, 68 people (41%) were hospitalized. No deaths have been reported. Of interviews with 85 patients, 63 (74%) reported eating cucumbers the week before they got sick.The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said sampling efforts as part of the investigation turned upSalmonella in cucumbers distributed by Fresh Start Produce Sales, which announced a recall of its products. Whole-genome sequencing, however, showed that the cucumbers were positive for Salmonella Bareilly and don't match the outbreak strain. The CDC and the FDA are also investigating a Salmonella Braenderup outbreak that has so far sickened 185 people in 24 states. "The two outbreaks share several similarities, including where and when illnesses occurred and the demographics of ill people. Investigators are working to determine whether the two outbreaks could be linked to the same food vehicle," the FDA said in its update today.

Salmonella linked to pet dragons sickens at least 15 in 9 states - Today the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said at least 15 people in nine states have been sickened with Salmonella linked to pet bearded dragons. Four people have required hospitalization, but no deaths have been reported.New York has reported four cases, Ohio and California have each reported three cases, and Iowa, Texas, Oklahoma, Tennessee, North Carolina, and Georgia have each reported a single case."The true number of sick people in an outbreak is likely much higher than the number reported, and the outbreak may not be limited to the states with known illnesses," the CDC said. The outbreak strain isSalmonella Cotham. Illnesses started on dates ranging from January 8, 2024, to May 16, 2024. Of the 12 people interviewed, 7 (58%) reported contact with a bearded dragon before getting sick. At least one child did not report contact, suggesting he or she was likely exposed indirectly at home."60% of sick people are children under 5 years old," the CDC said in an email to reporters. "Bearded dragons are not recommended as pets for children younger than 5, adults aged 65 or older, and people with weakened immune systems because these people are more likely to get a serious illness from germs that reptiles carry."The CDC warned that pet dragons can shed Salmonella through feces even when appearing healthy. Contact between pet dragons and children 5 and under should be avoided if possible because of the risk of illness.

Illnesses Prompt FDA To Probe Microdosing Chocolate Bars Infused With Mushrooms The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said it is investigating a chocolate bar product infused with mushrooms after eight people fell ill and six were hospitalized in Arizona, Indiana, Nevada, and Pennsylvania. “People who became ill after eating Diamond Shruumz-brand Microdosing Chocolate Bars reported a variety of severe symptoms including seizures, central nervous system depression (loss of consciousness, confusion, sleepiness), agitation, abnormal heart rates, hyper/hypotension, nausea, and vomiting,” the FDA stated. The FDA said it is “working to determine the cause of these illnesses and is considering the appropriate next steps.” In microdosing, people ingest small doses of psychedelics like mushrooms in the hopes of gaining insight while maintaining control in daily life. However, the company says its chocolate bars use non-psychedelic mushrooms like Lion’s Mane, Reishi, and Chaga that “have been shown to potentially help with your overall health and cognitive function.” Microdosing “is designed to elicit subtle effects that enhance your day-to-day activities, meaning you will not face any vivid visions or similar,” the California-based company says on its blog page, adding that “the mushrooms that we use in our products are completely legal and permitted for use, just like the many other natural supplements and plant extracts used elsewhere in the wellness industry.” The mushroom, herb, and root blends form adaptogens, which the company defines as a naturally occurring compound that helps the body “adapt to stress, be it physical, emotional, or environmental.” Common adaptogens are ashwagandha; ginseng; reishi and chaga mushrooms; and holy basil, the company said. “Diamond Shruumz- brand Microdosing Chocolate Bars can be purchased online and in person at a variety of retail locations nationwide including smoke/vape shops, and at retailers that sell hemp-derived products such as cannabidiol (CBD) or delta-8 tetrahydrocannabinol (delta-8 THC),” the FDA said. “The full list of retailers is currently unknown, and FDA recommends that people do not purchase or consume any flavor of Diamond Shruumz-brand Microdosing Chocolate Bars from any retail or online locations at this time.”

Afghanistan, Pakistan report more wild poliovirus cases - Five countries reported new polio cases this week, including Afghanistan and Pakistan, which both reported new wild poliovirus type 1 (WPV1) cases, according to the latest weekly update from the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI).Afghanistan reported one WPV1 case, which involves a patient from Hilmand province, bringing its total for the year to five. Similarly, Pakistan reported a new WPV1 infection, in a patient from Sindh province, also boosting its total for 2024 to five cases.The two countries are among the few where WPV1 is still endemic. The new cases in Afghanistan and Pakistan so far this year are nearly equal to the six cases each reported for all of 2023. Three countries reported more vaccine-derived polio cases. The Democratic Republic of the Congo reported one infection involving circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus type 1 (cVDPV1), lifting its total for the year to four. Two countries reported more circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus type 2 (cVDPV2) cases, South Sudan, with one new illness, and Yemen, with three more cases. South Sudan's case—its fifth of 2024—is from Upper Nile province. Yemen has three more cases, two in Alhudaidah and one in Ibb, lifting the country's total to 10.

Oropouche virus outbreak in Cuba strikes 2 provinces - Following Cuba's health ministry recent announcement of Oropouche virus cases, the World Health Organization (WHO) yesterday provided more details, including that the outbreak is the country's first involving the insect-borne virus. So far, 74 cases have been confirmed, 54 in Santiago de Cuba province and 20 in Cienfuegos province. The cases were found during enhanced surveillance following a rise in febrile illnesses. Illness onsets ranged from May 2 to May 23, with cases peaking during the week ending May 24. The most common symptoms were fever, low-back pain, headache, loss of appetite, vomiting, weakness, joint pain, and eye pain.Slightly more than half of the patients were male, and the median age was 34 years. All patients showed signs of recovery at day 3 or 4 of their illnesses. So far, no severe or fatal cases have been reported. Oropouche virus is transmitted primarily through the bite of the Culicoides paraensis midge. The WHO said since Cuba is experiencing Oropouche virus infections for the first time and the country's population is highly susceptible, contributing to a risk of more cases. The agency also noted a risk of international spread, given that Cuba is a tourist destination and that the midge that carries the virus is widely distributed in the Americas.Earlier this spring, the WHO's Pan American Health Organization warned of Oropouche virus rises in some Americas countries, with cases already reported in Brazil, Bolivia, Colombia, and Peru.

H9N2 avian flu infects children in India, China -India has reported an H9N2 avian flu case involving a child in West Bengal state who was exposed to poultry, marking the country's second such case since 2019, the World Health Organization (WHO) said today in a statement, and China confirmed another pediatric H9N2 infection.The 4-year-old child, who had a history of upper-airway disease, was first hospitalized in February for complications from respiratory virus infections, which included influenza B and adenovirus. In early March, the child was hospitalized again with severe respiratory symptoms, which were positive for unsubtyped influenza A and rhinovirus.Further testing of the flu virus sample revealed H9N2. The child was discharged from the hospital on oxygen support on May 1. The follow-up investigation found that the patient had been exposed to poultry at home. No similar symptoms were reported in the patient's family, community, or healthcare contacts.The WHO said most H9N2 infections are typically mild, though a few hospitalizations and deaths have been reported. It added that sporadic infections will likely continue, though the overall risk is low, given that H9N2 hasn't shown a capacity to transmit easily among people.China's H9N2 case is in Guangxi province, according to a weekly avian influenza update from Hong Kong's Centre for Health Protection. The 3-year-old boy's symptoms began on May 2. No other details were available about his condition or how he likely contracted the virus.H9N2 circulates as a low-pathogenic virus in poultry in many parts of the world. China's mainland has reported five infections involving the virus this year.

USDA reports more H5N1 detections in mice and cats --In its latest updates, the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) reported36 more H5N1 avian flu detections in house mice, all in the same New Mexico county, as well as four more virus detections in domestic cats.On June 4, APHIS first reported H5N1 detections in house mice from New Mexico's Roosevelt County, and today it reported 36 more from the same location, raising the total to 47. Collection dates for the latest detections range from May 6 to May 12. In a notification from the World Organization for Animal Health (WOAH) on the earlier 11 detections in house mice and a red fox from Roosevelt County, New Mexico, officials said the animals were collected from a location where highly pathogenic avian flu had been detected in poultry.Also today, APHIS reported four more H5N1 detections in domestic cats, including one from Oklahoma, which hasn't recently reported the virus in poultry or in dairy cows.The detection in Oklahoma occurred in Harmon County, located in the southwestern part of the state on the border with Texas. The cat is Oklahoma's first detection in a mammal. The sample was collected on March 20, and the virus is a reassortant between the global 2.3.4.4b H5N1 clade and a North American wild bird lineage.The three other H5N1 detections in domestic cats—sampled in late May— were in Michigan's Clinton County, where H5N1 had been found in dairy herds, and in Idaho's Jerome County, where H5N1 has been detected in poultry, alpacas, and dairy herds. The fourth new detection was from a cat from Colorado's Morgan County. So far, the virus has been reported in 21 domestic cats.

Exclusive: Cows infected with bird flu have died in five US states (Reuters) - Dairy cows infected with avian flu in five U.S. states have died or been slaughtered by farmers because they did not recover, state officials and academics told Reuters. Reports of the deaths suggest the bird flu outbreak in cows could take a greater economic toll in the farm belt than initially thought. Farmers have long culled poultry infected by the virus, but cows cost much more to raise than chickens or turkeys.A U.S. Department of Agriculture spokesperson said the agency knew of a few deaths but that the vast majority of cows recover well. Reuters was not able to determine the total number of cows with bird flu that died or were killed in South Dakota, Michigan, Texas, Ohio and Colorado. Avian flu has infected dairy cows in more than 80 herds across 10 states since late March, according to the USDA. Some of the animals died of secondary infections contracted after bird flu weakened their immune systems, said state veterinarians, agriculture officials, and academics assisting in state responses to bird flu. Other cows were killed by farmers because they failed to recover from the virus. Cattle infected with bird flu suffer reduced milk production, digestive issues, fever, and diminished appetite, according to farmers and veterinarians. In South Dakota, a 1,700-cow dairy sent a dozen of the animals to slaughter after they did not recover from the virus, and killed another dozen that contracted secondary infections, said Russ Daly, a professor with South Dakota State University and veterinarian for the state extension office who spoke with the farm. Recent sales updates from Europe's biggest luxury brands did little to give reassurance that Chinese demand for high-end fashion is recovering. "You get sick cows from one disease, then that creates a domino effect for other things, like routine pneumonia and digestive issues," Daly said. A farm in Michigan killed about 10% of its 200 infected cows after they too failed to recover from the virus, said Phil Durst, an educator with Michigan State University Extension who spoke with that farm. Michigan has more confirmed infections in cattle than any state as well as two of three confirmed cases of U.S. dairy workers who contracted bird flu. In Colorado, some dairies reported culling cows with avian flu because they did not return to milk production, said Olga Robak, spokesperson for the state Department of Agriculture. Ohio Department of Agriculture spokesperson Meghan Harshbarger said infected cows have died in Ohio and other affected states, mostly due to secondary infections. The Texas Animal Health Commission also confirmed that cows have died from secondary infections at some dairy operations with avian flu outbreaks. Officials could not provide figures for the number of statewide cow mortalities. New Mexico's state veterinarian, Samantha Uhrig, said farmers increasingly culled cows due to decreased milk production early in the outbreak, before the U.S. even confirmed bird flu was infecting cattle. Culling decreased as farmers learned that most cows gradually recovered, she said. Officials in North Carolina and Kansas said there have been few to no cow deaths associated with bird flu in their states. Idaho officials did not respond to requests for information. Bird flu virus particles were found in beef tissue taken from one dairy cow sent to be slaughtered for meat, and meat from the animal did not enter the food supply, USDA said last month.

Infectious H5N1 influenza virus in raw milk rapidly declines with heat treatment, study shows -- The amount of infectious H5N1 influenza viruses in raw milk rapidly declined with heat treatment in laboratory research conducted by scientists at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health.However, small, detectable amounts of infectious virus remained in raw milk samples with high virus levels when treated at 72 degrees Celsius (161.6 degrees Fahrenheit) for 15 seconds—one of the standard pasteurization methods used by the dairy industry. The authors of the study stress, however, that their findings reflect experimental conditions in a laboratory setting and are not identical to large-scale industrial pasteurization processes for raw milk.The findings were published today in the New England Journal of MedicineIn late March 2024, United States officials reported an outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza virus called HPAI H5N1 among dairy cows in Texas. To date, 95 cattle herds across 12 states have been affected, with three human infections detected in farm workers with conjunctivitis.Although the virus so far has shown no genetic evidence of acquiring the ability to spread from person to person, public health officials are closely monitoring the dairy cow situation as part of overarching pandemic preparedness efforts.

NIAID experiments show H5N1 levels plummet after heat treatment, but not to zero in some cases -Experiments by researchers from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) on milk samples spiked with H5N1 avian influenza found that levels rapidly decline when heated to pasteurization temperatures, but small amount of infectious virus remain. The team reported its findings today in a letter to the New England Journal of Medicine, and they emphasized that the findings reflect experimental lab conditions and don't reflect large-scale industrial pasteurization of raw milk.Using virus isolated and grown from a mountain lion that died from H5N1 in Montana, they mixed the virus with raw cow milk samples, then heated them to 63°C (145.4°F) and 72°C (161.6°F), the temperatures most commonly used in commercial pasteurization, for different periods. Then they cultured the milk sample to see if any infectious virus remained. Heating the milk to 63°C led to a tenfold decrease in H5N1 levels after 2.5 minutes, and they noted that standard pasteurization of 30 minutes would eliminate infectious virus. Heating the milk to 72°C decreased virus levels fourfold within 5 seconds, but they detected very small levels of infectious virus after 20 seconds in one out of three samples."This finding indicates the potential for a relatively small but detectable quantity of H5N1 virus to remain infectious in milk after 15 seconds at 72℃ if the initial virus levels were sufficiently high," the group wrote.Researchers emphasized that the conditions should be replicated with commercial pasteurization equipment and that the study's findings should not be used to judge the safety of the US milk supply.The US Food and Drug Administration still concludes that the US milk supply is safe. Its initial findings on 297 retail dairy product samples were negative for viable virus.

Study shows 'not surprising' fatal spread of avian flu in ferrets --Late last week the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) published a study showing that the current strain of H5N1 (A/Texas/37/2024) avian flu was fatal in six ferrets used as part of an experimental infection study. The findings caused waves across the country, as ferrets are frequently used as an animal model stand-in for people.But Michael T. Osterholm, PhD, MPH, who directs the University of Minnesota's Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy (CIDRAP), publisher of CIDRAP News, was not surprised by the findings.Osterholm said H5 viruses like H5N1 have historically been fatal to ferrets, and, moreover, the ferrets used in the study were immune-naive animals with no previous exposure to any influenza viruses."Previous H5 isolates have also been put into the ferret model and found similar results," said Osterholm. "I would have been surprised had it not done that [killed the ferrets.] This doesn’t minimize what is happening with H5, but there is no evidence to date that would support serious illness in humans."Osterholm said researchers are still trying to understand the wider implications of the H5 cases.In the CDC study, the authors noted that the H5N1 virus, which was taken from the human case-patient in Texas, spread efficiently between ferrets only through direct contact but not via respiratory droplets."This is different from what is seen with seasonal flu, which infects 100% of ferrets via respiratory droplets," the CDC said. "These findings are not surprising and do not change CDC's risk assessment for most people, which is low."

Ocular inoculation with H5N1 proves fatal in ferrets --H5N1 infection was fatal to six ferrets after ocular inoculation with the virus, according to a study today in Emerging Infectious Diseases.The virus used in the experiment was A 2.3.4.4b, a highly pathogenic avian influenza A(H5N1) virus isolated from a human patient in Chile in 2023.The ferrets were inoculated with both low and high doses of the virus via the ocular route. All ferrets inoculated with a high dose of virus had detectable infectious virus in nasal wash, the authors said, and the magnitude and frequency of viral titers in these specimens was reduced, but still present, in animals inoculated with a low dose."Our finding that a clade 2.3.4.4b H5N1 virus isolated from a human can exhibit a virulent and transmissible phenotype after nontraditional inoculation, even with a low dose of inoculum, underscores the public health threat posed by those IAVs [influenza A viruses]," the authors said. Late last week, a study showed the current strain of H5N1 infecting US dairy cattle was fatal to ferrets. The strain used in that study came from a Texas dairy farmworker who was sickened with the virus.So far, three agricultural workers in the United States have been infected with the virus during ongoing farm outbreaks, all with mild illness. The first two workers reported eye infections. "Considering the myriad ways humans may be exposed to IAVs, our study supports the need to consider nontraditional inoculation modalities in risk assessment activities and supports consideration of using eye protection in potentially contaminated environments," the authors concluded.

Wisconsin orders avian flu testing for lactating cattle before fairs and exhibits -The Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade, and Consumer Protection (DATCP) yesterday announcedthat lactating dairy cows must be tested for influenza A before movement to fairs and exhibits to prevent the spready of highly pathogenic H5N1 avian flu in cattle. So far, no H5N1 outbreaks have been reported in Wisconsin, but the virus has been detected in 12 states, including in neighboring Michigan, Minnesota, and Iowa. The testing measure takes effect on June 19, and samples must be collected no more than 7 days before movement to exhibitions. The order will remain in effect until 60 days after the last H5N1 detection in dairy herds in the United States.In other developments, the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) has reported 4 more H5N1 outbreaks in dairy herds, 3 from Idaho and 1 from Iowa, raising its confirmed outbreak total to 94. Also, APHIS reported one more outbreak in poultry, which involves a backyard facility that houses 30 birds in Idaho's Jerome County. The group also reported more than 80 more H5N1 detections in wild birds, which included agency-harvested birds such as sparrows and starlings in Michigan and Idaho counties that have experienced outbreaks in dairy herds. Also, both captive birds and those found dead tested positive in Massachusetts.

USDA reports reveal biosecurity risks at H5N1-affected dairy farms -Shared equipment and shared personnel working on multiple dairy farms are some of the main risk factors for ongoing spread of highly pathogenic H5N1 avian flu in dairy cows, the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) said today in a pair of new epidemiologic reports.One of the reports is an overview based on the results of questionnaires from affected dairy herds, and the other is adeep dive into the dairy cow and poultry outbreaks in Michigan, the state hit hardest by outbreaks in dairy cows, which now number at least 94.At a media briefing today, Kammy Johnson, DVM, PhD, a veterinary epidemiologist with APHIS, said the multistate epi report provides a national clinical picture of the disease in cows and the routes of spread, and the report from Michigan is an early snapshot showing what's happening in the field. Both suggest three key factors for transmission between farms: shared equipment and vehicles, shared personnel who may inadvertently carry the virus between farms on their clothes or boots, and animal movements. "The bigger picture is that enhanced biosecurity is really critical," she said.So far, genomic evidence continues to suggest a single introduction from wild birds, with further spread among dairy farms, such as from Texas to Michigan in the initial weeks of the outbreak. Now the virus is spreading between farms owing to multiple direct and indirect factors, according to the APHIS reports. Questionnaires revealed that more than 20% of farms received cattle within 30 days of clinical signs, and 60% of farms continued to move cattle off the facilities after animals showed signs of illness. Most farms had cats present, and more than 50% of those had sick or dead cats. Also, more than 20% of dairy farms also had chickens or poultry, nearly all of which had sick or dead birds. USDA officials said cats are the canary in the coalmine, but cats and other animals, such as wild birds, probably aren't playing a major role in the spread of the virus, though they could serve as fomites. Clinically, lactating cows are the most affected, with signs of illness in less than 10% of herds and mortality and culling averaging less than 2%. Meanwhile, the report from Michigan is based on data gathered by an APHIS strike team that the Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development invited into the state to probe links between infected dairy farms and spillovers into poultry premises. It includes findings from 15 dairy farms and 8 poultry producers. About 20% of dairy workers, and some of their family members, worked on multiple dairy farms. About 7% of workers on affected dairy farms also worked on poultry farms. Regarding equipment, about 62% of farms shared vehicles to transport cattle, and only 12% cleaned the vehicles before use. The farms also had frequent visitors, such as veterinarians, feed consultants, and contract haulers. Nearly all of the affected farms are part of the same dairy co-op, and the diaries all used the same deadstock hauler. So far, the B3.13 outbreak strain has not been found in Michigan's migratory waterfowl. Johnson said it's too early to assess how H5N1 spread to the three more recently affected states: Iowa, Minnesota, and Wyoming. She added that today's report paints a national picture of what's known about the outbreaks so far and adds some useful context to understanding the events.She said the findings are a solemn reminder that farms already have tools for managing the spread of the virus. "Biosecurity is the key to prevention." Mark Lyons, DVM, who directs the Veterinary Services Ruminant Health Center at APHIS, said it's still not clear if the outbreaks are still gaining steam and that animal health officials are still trying to understand the full scope of the situation, though they expect to find additional cases. As of yesterday, the APHIS total was at 94 dairy farm outbreaks in 12 states. Yesterday, the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship reported the state's third outbreak in a dairy herd, which affected a second location in Sioux County.Responding to questions about Michigan's second case-patient in a dairy worker, who, unlike the other previous patients, had respiratory symptoms, Nirav Shah, JD, MD, principal deputy director for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), said the polymerase chain reaction cycle threshold (Ct) value for the patient's sample was high, suggesting a lower amount of viral RNA in the sample. The situation made it difficult for CDC scientists to generate a full genomic sequence, though they were able to piece together a large portion of it, he said.So far, the findings are reassuring, with no changes to suggest that the virus that infected the patient has a higher ability to transmit and no changes in the neuraminidase that would suggest reduced sensitivity to H5 vaccines or existing therapies, Shah said.Regarding vaccines, David Boucher, PhD, director of infectious disease preparedness and response at the Department of Health and Human Services Administration for Strategic Preparedness, said federal health officials are still on track to produce 4.8 million vaccine doses from bulk antigen on a 3- to 4-month timeline, with manufacturing starting in the middle of July. In other H5N1 developments:

Minnesota reported another H5N1 outbreak in poultry, part of ongoing sporadic detections. The virus struck a commercial turkey farm that has 92,400 birds in Lyon County, located in the southwestern part of the state, according to the latest APHIS update.
The Minnesota Board of Animal Health today announced an H5N1 testing requirement for lactating dairy cattle that will be brought to exhibits. The measure takes effect on June 18 and lasts until the end of 2024, unless the order is extended or rescinded before then.

Bird flu is highly lethal to some animals, but not to others. Scientists want to know why -- In the last two years, bird flu has been blamed for the deaths of millions of wild and domestic birds worldwide. It's killed legions of seals and sea lions, wiped out mink farms, and dispatched cats, dogs, skunks, foxes and even a polar bear.But it seems to have hardly touched people.That's "a little bit of a head scratcher," although there are some likely explanations, said Richard Webby, a flu researcher at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee. It could have to do with how infection occurs or because species have differences in the microscopic docking points that flu viruses need to take root and multiply in cells, experts say.But what keeps scientists awake at night is whether that situation will change. "There's a lot we don't understand," said Dr. Tom Frieden, a former CDC director who currently heads Resolve to Save Lives, a not-for-profit that works to prevent epidemics. "I think we have to get over the 'hope for the best and bury our head in the sand' approach. Because it could be really bad." Some researchers theorize that flu viruses that originated in birds were the precursors to terrible scourges in humans, including pandemics in 1918 and 1957. Those viruses became deadly human contagions and spread in animals and people.A number of experts think it's unlikely this virus will become a deadly global contagion, based on current evidence. But that's not a sure bet. Just in case, U.S. health officials are readying vaccines and making other preparations. But they are holding off on bolder steps because the virus isn't causing severe disease in people and they have no strong evidence it's spreading from person to person. The flu that's currently spreading—known as H5N1—was first identified in birds in 1959. It didn't really begin to worry health officials until a Hong Kong outbreak in 1997 that involved severe human illnesses and deaths. It has caused hundreds of deaths around the world, the vast majority of them involving direct contact between people and infected birds. When there was apparent spread between people, it involved very close and extended contact within households. Like other viruses, however, the H5N1 virus has mutated over time. In the last few years, one particular strain has spread alarmingly quickly and widely. In the United States, animal outbreaks have been reported at dozens of dairy cow farmsand more than 1,000 poultry flocks, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Four human infections have been reported among the hundreds of thousands of people who work at U.S. poultry and dairy farms, though that may be an undercount. Worldwide, doctors have detected 15 human infections caused by the widely circulating bird flu strain. The count includes one death—a 38-year-old woman in southern China in 2022—but most people had either no symptoms or only mild ones, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. There's no way to know how many animals have been infected, but certain creatures seem to be getting more severe illnesses. Take cats, for example. Flu is commonly thought of as a disease of the lungs, but the virus can attack and multiply in other parts of the body too. In cats, scientists havefound the virus attacking the brain, damaging and clotting blood vessels and causing seizures and death Similarly gruesome deaths have been reported in other animals, including foxes that ate dead, infected birds. The flu strain's ability to lodge in the brain and nervous system is one possible reason for "higher mortality rate in some species," said Amy Baker, an Iowa-based U.S. Department of Agriculture scientist who studies bird flu in animals. But scientists "just don't know what the properties of the virus or the properties of the host are that are leading to these differences," Baker said. Unlike cats, cows have been largely spared. Illnesses have been reported in less than 10% of the cows in affected dairy herds, according to the USDA. Those that did develop symptoms experienced fever, lethargy, decreased appetite and increased respiratory secretions. Cow infections largely have been concentrated in the udders of lactating animals. Researchers investigating cat deaths at dairy farms with infected cows concluded the felines caught the virus from drinking raw milk.Researchers are still sorting out how the virus has been spreading from cow to cow, but studies suggest the main route of exposure is not the kind of airborne droplets associated with coughing and sneezing. Instead it's thought to be direct contact, perhaps through shared milking equipment or spread by the workers who milk them.Then there's the issue of susceptibility. Flu virus need to be able to latch onto cells before they can invade them. "If it doesn't get into a cell, nothing happens. ... The virus just swims around," explained Juergen Richt, a researcher at Kansas State University. But those docking spots—sialic acid receptors—aren't found uniformly throughout the body, and differ among species. One recent study documented the presence of bird flu-friendly receptors in dairy cattle mammary glands. Eye redness has been a common symptom among people infected by the current bird flu strain. People who milk cows are eye level with the udders, and splashes are common. Some scientists also note that the human eye has receptors that the virus can bind to. A study published this month found ferrets infected in the eyes ended up dying, as the researchers demonstrated that the virus could be as deadly entering through the eyes as through the respiratory tract. Why didn't the same happen in the U.S. farmworkers? Some experts wonder whether people have some level of immunity, due to past exposure to other forms of flu or to vaccinations. However, a study in which human blood samples were exposed to the virus indicated there's little to no existing immunity to this version of the virus, including among people who'd had seasonal flu shots. A more menacing question: What happens if the virus mutates in a way that makes it more lethal to people or allows it to spread more easily?

PFAS drinking water rule challenged by utility lobby groups -Lobby groups representing water utilities, as well as the chemical and manufacturing industries, have filed court challenges to a Biden administration rule that seeks to limit the presence of toxic chemicals in drinking water. The American Water Works Association and the Association of Metropolitan Water Agencies filed a petition on Friday challenging new drinking water limits that pertain to certain chemicals in a family known as PFAS. On Monday, the National Association of Manufacturer and the American Chemistry Council, trade groups representing the manufacturing and chemical industries, also filed a challenge to the rule. PFAS, which stands for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, is the name of a class of chemicals used in waterproof and nonstick products. These substances have become pervasive in U.S. waterways and drinking water — with the federal government estimating that its rule could limit exposure of 100 million people — and have been linked to illnesses including certain cancers. PFAS are also nicknamed “forever chemicals” because they tend to build up in the environment instead of breaking down over time. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) rule requires drinking water systems to remove some of these pollutants from their systems starting in 2029, which in some cases will require the installation of expensive technology. In a joint statement, American Water Works Association CEO David LaFrance and Association of Metropolitan Water Agencies CEO Tom Dobbins said that the rule “significantly underestimates nationwide costs.” Some water utilities have already begun informing consumers they could see higher water bills as a result of the rule. Dobbins and LaFrance, in the written statement, also questioned the agency’s methods for regulating mixtures that contain multiple PFAS. Meanwhile, Linda Kelly for the manufacturers’ group said that her organization was suing “to overturn this unachievable standard and protect manufacturing operations and jobs across the country.” However, supporters of the rule argue that it’s necessary — and say a legal challenge could leave Americans consuming dangerous chemicals.

Warning labels for gas stoves? A lawsuit is trying to make it happen. -A first-of-its-kind lawsuit is testing whether the District of Columbia’s consumer protection law could be used to require gas stove manufacturers to warn customers of the risks of burning gas indoors.The U.S. Public Interest Research Group Education Fund has filed a lawsuit claiming that GE Appliances failed to notify consumers that normal operation of their stoves could lead to elevated exposure to air pollutants like nitrogen dioxide, which can trigger or exacerbate asthma.“Gas stoves can be harmful to our health when used as directed, but this crucial information is not broadly available to the public,” said Abe Scarr, energy and utilities program director at the U.S. PIRG Education Fund, in a statement.The legal challenge in D.C. Superior Court is the first time that opponents of gas stoves have asked a judge to require warning labels on the appliances, which are used in about 40 percent of American homes. State lawmakers are also considering the question.Lawsuits alleging a failure to warn of a product’s risks have also been used in other contexts like pesticide labeling, as well as challenges brought by cities and states to get fossil fuel companies to pay for climate impacts.The gas stoves case is much more straightforward than recent climate liability lawsuits that rely on a similar theory, said Michael Gerrard, faculty director of the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law at Columbia University.“The major objective of the cases by states and cities against the fossil fuel companies is to put pressure on companies to reduce their social license,” he said. “Whereas this case might help persuade some consumers to buy electric stoves rather than gas stoves. It’s a much more direct impact.”In its case, U.S. PIRG claimed Haier U.S. Appliance Solutions, doing business as GE Appliances, violated protections against deceptive trade practices under the D.C. Consumer Protection Procedures Act.But rather than looking for a payout, the public interest group is asking the company to clearly inform its customers of the potential risks of pollution from stoves that can either cause or worsen asthma.To back up their claim, U.S. PIRG conducted its own research analyzing emissions from GE stoves, which found that normal operation of the appliances led to nitrogen dioxide levels that exceeded EPA health standards for outdoor air. The agency does not regulate indoor air quality, but the pollution levels also exceed indoor air health guidelines set by the World Health Organization.The public interest group also said the owner’s manuals for two models of GE stoves at the center of the lawsuit did not mention air pollution as a potential risk of the product and did not mention ways to reduce risk, such as using a vent hood or opening windows while cooking.

Biden admin invests $11.1M in bolstering Colorado River basin drought resilience - The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and its charitable partner will invest $11.1 million in bolstering drought resilience across the Colorado River basin, the parties announced Thursday. The funds, which will come from the Inflation Reduction Act, will enable the Foundation for America’s Public Lands to deploy technical expertise and implement drought-related restoration projects over the next five years. “Westerners rely on clean, cold water for everything from drinking to fishing to running businesses,” BLM Director Tracy Stone-Manning said in a statement. The collaboration with the foundation, Stone-Manning continued, will enable the BLM “to leverage these critical funds to Invest in America and the health of our public lands and waters in the Colorado River basin.” Chartered by Congress in 2017 and formed in 2022, the Foundation for America’s Public Lands is the BLM’s official charitable partner. The entity operates and raises private funds to encourage stewardship over more than 245 million acre of U.S. public lands and waters, per the BLM. The Colorado River project, which will involve collaborations with other organizations, will span multiple state borders and invest in communities that manage, recreate and work on the land. “Nearly 40 million Americans rely on a healthy Colorado River Basin to sustain their livelihoods,” said I Ling Thompson, CEO of the Foundation for America’s Public Lands, in a statement. “But unprecedented drought is posing an existential threat to their communities, landscapes and economies.”

Court upholds ban on helicopter tours above Mount Rushmore, Badlands National Park --A federal circuit court has upheld a recent prohibition on helicopter tours over Mount Rushmore National Memorial and Badlands National Park in South Dakota, rejecting motions from aircraft companies to repeal the ban.The ban on commercial air tours, which went into effect last month, was the result of an air tour management plan completed by the National Park Service and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in mid-November.Specifically, the plan put an end to all aerial tours and within a half mile of the park’s boundaries, with a goal of preserving natural and cultural resources, sacred tribal sites and wilderness character, according to the government agencies.In January, three aircraft tour companies — Badger Helicopters, Black Hills Aerial Adventures, and Rushmore Helicopters — petitioned the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit to review the plan.Two advocacy groups motioned for “intervenor status” on behalf of the federal agencies in February: Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER) and the Coalition to Protect America’s National Parks. The groups were granted that status the next month.“Hopefully, we are in the final stages of our efforts to restore control over their skies to the national parks,” Peter Jenkins, PEER senior counsel, said in a statement.The implementation of the air tour management plans in Badlands National Park marks the latest victory in the environmental groups’ attempts to enforce the terms of a 2000 law.According to PEER, the National Parks Air Tour Management Act requires the FAA and the National Parks Service to develop plans that prevent commercial aerial tours from disturbing wildlife and visitor experiences in national parks.

US Highway Collapses After 'Catastrophic' Landslide - A mountain pass highway in Wyoming will be closed indefinitely after a huge chunk of it collapsed in a "catastrophic" landslide on Saturday, officials said.Photos and videos show the Teton Pass road, an important commuter link between towns in eastern Idaho and the popular tourist destination of Jackson, Wyoming, with a large section of the pavement gone after the collapse. The road had been closed when the collapse occurred. The section that failed was initially closed on Thursday when a crack and a drop in the road created unsafe driving conditions. A crew temporarily patched the area, and traffic was allowed to resume moving that evening, the Wyoming Department of Transportation (WYDOT) said on social media.But hours later, a mudslide a few miles away led to the road to be closed again. The transportation department said on Facebook on Saturday that the road had "catastrophically failed" at milepost 12.8."WYDOT crews, along with contract crews from Evans Construction, were working in the area to construct a detour around the damage, but the landslide continued to move, taking out the whole road," the department said. "No crews were hurt in the process, and no equipment was damaged. WYDOT is now reviewing a long-term solution and repairs, and more information on planning efforts will be available soon." “The Teton Pass road “catastrophically failed” at milepost 12.8, the Wyoming Department of Transportation said. The road had been closed when the collapse occurred.” The mudslide at milepost 15, the department added, had "breached the roadway with mud and debris, overwhelming the channeled drainage ditch and culvert."The department has been contacted for further comment via its website. Governor Mark Gordon signed an executive order declaring an emergency, which his office said would help the state access additional resources from the Federal Highway Administration to begin repair work.In a statement on Facebook, Gordon said he had met with WYDOT and the Wyoming Office of Homeland Security to coordinate a response to the "catastrophic landslide." Geologists and engineers would be on site to make assessments and "develop a long-term solution to rebuild this critical roadway," he said. The governor said there was no estimated timeline for when the road would reopen. The road serves as a crucial commuter link for people who work in Jackson, close to Grand Teton National Park, but live across the border in Idaho,.

Part of Wyoming highway collapses in landslide, blocking crucial transit route -- Part of Teton Pass, a crucial highway weaving through the mountains of western Wyoming, collapsed Saturday morning in a massive landslide that severed the primary transit route between two cities in the region. Officials said they expect the road will remain closed long-term, potentially jeopardizing almost half the workforce in and around the tourist hubs of Jackson Hole, Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Park. Crews were still examining the site on Monday to determine whether it would be possible to construct some kind of interim road for travelers in place of the collapsed section of the highway. The Wyoming Department of Transportation said that current evaluations from engineers and geologists suggested they would be able to build a temporary detour around the landslide. According to transportation officials, that detour could be open to the public as soon as a few weeks from now.The update came as concerns mounted over the possible economic implications of the Teton Pass collapse. After it happened, Wyoming Gov. Mark Gordon declared a state of emergency in hopes that federal funding would allow the state to access the resources required to begin permanent repairs on the highway, which officials have said are "substantial."The Teton County branch of the transportation department initially announced early Saturday that the road at milepost 12.8 on Teton Pass had "catastrophically failed," and shared several images on social media that showed the extent of the damage. Officials said crews were trying to build a detour around the initial collapse when the landslide broke down further and effectively destroyed a whole section of the surrounding highway. No one was injured."WYDOT is now reviewing a long term solution and repairs, and more information on planning efforts will be available soon," the department said in their announcement. At the time, crews were also working to clear debris from another mudslide at the 15th mile mark on Teton Pass.Carved into the Teton mountain range and running for about 17 miles, Teton Pass is the only direct route between Victor, Idaho, and Jackson, Wyoming. Despite being notoriously treacherous at certain times of year, and typically closed during those times because of weather-related safety concerns, the highway provides vital access to Teton County, which includes Jackson, Yellowstone and Grand Teton, for workers who commute there from eastern Idaho. "We understand this highway is a lifeline for commuters, deliveries, medical care access and tourism, especially with limited alternatives and the summer season upon us," said Darin Westby, the director of the Wyoming Department of Transportation, in a statement after the collapse. "WYDOT engineers, surveyors and geologists mobilized quickly to try to maintain highway viability as long as possible, but catastrophic failure could not be avoided."Westby said the Transportation Department was "decisively engaged on fixing the road and restoring connectivity to the Teton Valley."In a study completed last January on the safety of the Teton Pass corridor, the Federal Highway Administration acknowledged that the highway "offers a critical connection for commuters and recreationists traveling from Victor, Idaho, and Jackson, Wyoming." The trip, from one end to the other, would ordinarily take around 30 minutes or so in a car, or slightly longer on public transit. Because of the steep mountain landscape, alternate routes send travelers on a lengthy detour that takes roughly three times as long and covers some 85 miles.

Heavy rain causes flash flooding and road closures across the Ozarks — Many rivers and roads have flooded or are at risk of flooding after the buckets of rain that poured down into the Ozarks this weekend. Springfield has picked up four inches of rain since Friday night, while areas from Nevada to Alton received four to seven inches of rain. Flash flooding is a major concern for Ozarks campers. The National Weather Service has also rated the James River in Springfield as having a moderate risk of flooding, with the peak levels of flooding moving down the river towards Table Rock. MoDOT’s traveler map shows several roads from Cedar County to Howell County closed due to flooding of low water crossings. The map showing all current road closures in the area can be found here.

Flash floods in Albuquerque arroyos result in one fatality, New Mexico - One person was killed and two others were rescued in Albuquerque, New Mexico, on Sunday, June 9, 2024, after heavy rain caused flash floods in the city’s arroyo system. Flash Flood Warnings were in place at the time of the incident, with 50 – 100 mm (2 – 4 inches) of rain forecasted by the National Weather Service (NWS). Albuquerque Fire Rescue (AFR) responded to two emergencies around 15:00 local time. One involved a report of two people who were swept away in an arroyo channel flowing through Snow Heights, Morningside, Menaul, Montgomery, Osuna, and Alameda. Around the same time, AFR received another emergency call, reporting that one more person was stranded in water near Wyoming and Indian School in northeast Albuquerque. Rescue efforts at the first arroyo location proved successful, with firefighters and police saving one person. However, the second individual was found dead. In a separate rescue, firefighters deployed a harness and belay system to pull the third person from the raging waters near Wyoming Boulevard. Albuquerque’s arroyos, meaning “streams” in Spanish, usually lie dormant, but these channels can turn into raging torrents during heavy rains when water rapidly flows from higher ground, transforming these seemingly dry paths into flash flood hazards. “It is extremely important for our community to understand the dangers of the arroyo system and ditches located throughout the city. Although what may appear as a small storm far away from one location in the city these arroyos will quickly fill and sweep anyone in them with fast moving water. These arroyos are designed to safely divert water away from the city and no one should access or occupy them,” AFR said.

Millions in southwestern U.S. under Excessive Heat Warning - Southwestern U.S. is bracing for another dangerous heat wave, just a week after the region battled scorching temperatures. Excessive Heat Warnings are in effect for over 9 million people. The National Weather Service (NWS) has issued Excessive Heat Warnings and Heat Advisories for California’s Central Valley and the Desert Southwest, with danger zones spreading from Sacramento on Monday, June 10 to Las Vegas and Phoenix by Tuesday, June 11. Phoenix will experience the most intense heat, lasting through Thursday. “Temperatures are expected to rise to heat up heading into midweek. An Excessive Heat Warning is now in effect for most of south-central Arizona Tuesday – Thursday,” meteorologists at the NWS office in Phoenix said. “On Tuesday, temperatures increase to 43.3 °C (110 °F) before peaking at 43.3 °C (110 °F) – 44.4 °C (112 °F) Wednesday and Thursday across the lower deserts.” NWS is urging residents and individuals involved in outdoor activities to stay informed and take necessary precautions. Las Vegas tied its earliest 43.3 °C (110 °F) day on record on June 6, and both the city and Phoenix are desperate to avoid a repeat of last summer’s deadly heat. In 2023, heat-related deaths skyrocketed by 78% in Las Vegas, reaching a staggering 294. Similarly, Phoenix saw a heart-wrenching 50% increase in heat deaths, with a total of 645 fatalities. NWS keeps a close eye on feels-like temperature, also known as the heat index. When forecasts predict it reaching dangerous levels in the next 1 – 3 days, they issue an Excessive Heat Watch. This watch is a heads-up for people to prepare. Things get serious if the heat index is expected to be “extremely dangerous”. In those cases, the NWS upgrades the watch to a warning just 12 hours before the heat hits.

Sarasota hit by record-breaking 1-hour rainfall, all of South Florida under Flood Watch - Disorganized showers and thunderstorms produced by a broad and elongated area of low pressure are affecting parts of Florida. On Tuesday, June 11, 2024, this low pressure dropped record-breaking rainfall over Sarasota, causing significant flash flooding. Heavy rain is expected to continue in the days ahead and the flood threat will remain through the end of the work-week. This system has moved little over the past few hours, but is expected to move northeastward across Florida and move offshore of the U.S. Southeast coast within the next day or so. A Flood Watch is in effect for all of South Florida through Thursday evening, June 14. A broad area of South Florida has received between 76.2 and 177.8 mm (3 to 7 inches) of rain over the past two days. In Sarasota, over 261.6 mm (10.3 inches) was recorded in 24 hours on June 11. Of this total, 99.8 mm (3.93 inches) fell between 19:00 and 20:00 EDT, setting a new record for one-hour rainfall. Weather records in Sarasota have been maintained since 1972. “Statistically, getting this much rain in such a short time is about a 1 : 1,000 year flood for this part of Florida,” said meteorologist Noah Bergren. “That does not mean it happens one only every thousand years, but the chance in any given year is around 0.1%!”

South Florida flooding: Rain soaks a storm-battered Florida for a fourth day — Heavy rainfall that’s caused unrelenting flooding in South Florida since Tuesday is drenching the state for a fourth consecutive day Friday. The days of deadly, torrential storms have turned roads into canals and forced some residents to stand on the roofs of their cars or trudge through waist-deep waters. Two people were killed in a weather-related vehicle crash late Wednesday afternoon southeast of Fort Myers, according to the Florida Highway Patrol. Identified only as a 35-year-old woman and a 25-year-old-man, the two died after their vehicle “lost control due to weather” conditions and crashed into opposing traffic, the FHP said. Two others were injured in the crash.Since heavy rain started swamping the region Tuesday, the flooding has become waist-deep in some places. Hazardous conditions on streets and roadways have stranded drivers and made roads impassable. And they’ve forced some schools in hard-hit counties to shutter and hundreds of flights to be canceled or delayed.With tropical moisture still streaming over South Florida, the Weather Prediction Center has issued a level 3 of 4 flood threat Friday – just one level lower than the rare high risk of excessive rainfall seen Thursday. Robust tropical moisture fueling the soaking storms slowly starts to shift out of the area over the weekend, but Friday marks yet another drenching day for South Florida. By week’s end, multiple cities could see more than 2 feet of rain.“Even moderate rain rates are likely to cause additional flash flooding, as any rainfall will be unable to drain” due to ongoing flooding, the WPC warned Friday.Flood watches remain in effect for over 7 million people across South Florida, including in Miami and Fort Lauderdale, through Friday evening. An additional 2 to 4 inches or more of rainfall is expected through Friday night. Thunderstorm activity is expected to diminish over the weekend, but any rain Saturday or early Sunday could worsen ongoing flooding issues.Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis declared a state of emergency for Broward, Collier, Lee, Miami-Dade and Sarasota counties, and officials have urged locals to stay at home instead of walking or driving through the floodwater, which has covered streets and seeped into homes. Many cities have been distributing sandbags to residents to help combat the rising floodwaters. With flooding from the rainfall deluging South Florida since Tuesday morning, footage on social media has shown water levels in the area reaching to vehicles’ windows and filling up parking decks and neighborhood streets.Notably, many South Florida residents had just finished repairing their homes after catastrophic flooding in April 2023, only to find water lapping at their doorsteps this week.In Miami, video showed stranded cars that were nearly entirely submerged under water. One area family’s yard looked like a lake as belongings floated outside and were pulled from the standing water, according to CNN affiliate WSVN.

Possible Tornado Hits Frazeysburg - The Village of Frazeysburg was preparing to celebrate their annual homecoming festival, instead Thursday morning emergency crews are out assessing damage from a possible tornado that struck around 1am. The Muskingum County EMA Director Jeff Jadwin said that there are several local fire departments assisting in the operation as well as Community Ambulance, the State Highway Patrol, ODOT, AEP and the American Red Cross. Jadwin said several people have been taken to the hospital. Frazeysburg Police said crews are working on clearing roads of debris so AEP can work on downed lines. Emergency crews are also checking homes for any damage or entrapments. They said the main damage path appears to be from around the west village limits to State Street and directly down 3rd street. American Electric Power said local crews have been assessing damage in the early morning hours, with additional field personnel from other areas heading that way to provide restoration support.

Tornadoes are having a record year in Ohio (WKBN) – The severe weather season has been very active across the entire United States, but the state of Ohio is only one tornado away from breaking the record for most tornadoes in a year. The map below shows all of the 62 confirmed tornadoes that have impacted Ohio this year.The 2024 tornado count has already surpassed 2023 which had 60 tornadoes and is in third place for tornadoes dating back to 1950. The average tornado count per year in Ohio is only 22, so 2024 has nearly tripled that number already. 2024 is tied with 1992 for the most tornadoes ever in a year. Summer is an active time for tornadoes in Ohio with four tornadoes on average in June and three on average in July, so it stands to reason that this record will likely be broken by the end of the year. Since 2019, the three most active tornado years have occurred in 2019, 2023, and 2024, and a logical question to ask is why? One of the major factors that caused a record year for tornadoes was the above-normal warmth for both the winter and spring seasons. The 2023-2024 winter along with the 2024 spring season were the second warmest of all time at the Youngstown/Warren Regional Airport, and these numbers were similar across all of Ohio. This provided ample opportunities for severe weather, including tornadoes, in months that would typically not feature strong thunderstorms. Indeed, a tornado outbreak impacted central parts of Ohio on February 28, producing nine tornadoes. Climatologically speaking, the state of Ohio does not average even one tornado during February because temperatures are often too cold for significant thunderstorm activity. The tornadic activity in March was even more impressive in Ohio, with 10 confirmed tornadoes in a month, which usually only averages one. The above-average tornadic activity continued into April (16) and May (23). There have already been four tornadoes in June, which is the total amount expected for the month. However, the above-normal temperatures are just one of the reasons for higher tornado counts over the past few years. Another major factor in the increased tornado reports has been a significant increase in radar technology. Tornadoes are now easier to detect on weather radars than they were in the past. The reason for this is because of increased utilization of polarimetric radars by the National Weather Service (NWS). Polarimetric weather radars transmit and receive in both the horizontal and vertical planes. This is an improvement over earlier NWS radars, which only transmitted in the horizontal plane. Gathering information in the vertical and horizontal planes informs the meteorologist about the size, shape, and orientation of the particles detected by radar. The NWS radar upgrade to polarimetric capabilities was completed around 10 years ago and since then, it has allowed for better detection of tornadic activity because meteorologists can now distinguish between precipitation and debris from a tornado. Tornadoes can now be detected by radar even if there is no one around to see it. Therefore, another reason for increased tornadic activity over the past few years is better detection!

Crops failing as heatwave and extreme drought intensify in central and northern China - Central and northern China continue to grapple with a scorching summer, with temperatures in Henan and Hebei provinces reaching 43 °C (109 °F) or higher and farmers already reporting significant crop failures.

The heatwave and drought are expected to continue to intensify.
An extreme drought warning is in effect, and local governments are urged to take emergency measures and disperse all available water sources in the affected areas.
The provincial government limited water for the service sector to ensure adequate supplies for irrigation.
Plans are being made for artificial rain production to increase efforts.

The agriculture ministry issued an alert for high temperatures and drought in northern and central China, including parts of Henan, Hebei, Shanxi, Shaanxi, Shandong, and Anhui, warning farmers there is a high risk of crop seedlings being damaged.As reported by state-run China Central Television (CCTV), in June the temperatures in parts of Shandong, Henan, and Jiangsu were 1 to 2 °C (1.8 to 3.6 °F) higher than last year, while rainfall decreased by 20 to 50 percent.Henan and Hebei are major hubs of Chinese agricultural production, and the heatwave poses a significant threat to the region’s crop yields. Yang Yajun, an official with the Henan Department of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, stated that current water conservation measures are sufficient for agricultural needs, but expressed concern that continued heat could negatively impact crop growth.The Hebei Meteorological Center has maintained a Red alert for extreme heat due to these soaring temperatures. Local weather forecasts predict further intensification of the heatwave, with drought-like conditions intensifying at least until June 20.On Wednesday, June 12, the Henan Provincial Climate Center issued an Orange alert for drought after 72 national-level meteorological stations across 16 cities observed drought-like conditions for over ten consecutive days.Local governments were instructed to prioritize dispersing all available water sources to residents and livestock in the affected areas, while provincial governments limited water for the service sector to ensure adequate irrigation supplies.

Egypt sets hottest June day in African history; historic heatwave hits Cyprus - Aswan in Egypt recorded 50.9 °C (123.6 °F) on June 7, 2024, setting the highest reliable temperature ever recorded in Egypt and the hottest June day in African history. On the same day, Cyprus experienced its hottest June day ever with temperatures hitting 44 °C (111 °F), breaking its record for the second time this month. On June 7, 2024, Aswan in Egypt reached a staggering 50.9 °C (123.6 °F), setting the highest reliable temperature ever recorded in Egypt and marking the hottest June day in African history. Previously, Egypt recorded a temperature of 51 °C (123.8 °F) on July 4, 1918, also in Aswan, but it was taken without a Standard Stevenson Screen, which raises questions about its accuracy. Additionally, Alula in Saudi Arabia set a new monthly record at 47 °C (116.6 °F) on June 7. The same day saw Cyprus set its new national record for the hottest June day ever, with temperatures soaring to 44 °C (111 °F) — 10 °C (18 °F) above the usual peak June temperatures. This marked the second time in the same month that Cyprus broke its highest June temperature record, following a previous high of 43.7 °C (110.7 °F) set on June 5. On June 11, Rhourd Nouss in Algeria experienced historic temperatures as high as 48.8 °C (119.8 °F) with a minimum of 35.9 °C (96.6 °F). The same day, El Borma in Tunisia registered 48 °C (118.4 °F), and Tripoli in Libya recorded 46.8 °C (116.2 °F), according to climatologist and weather historian Maximiliano Herrera. Other notable temperatures in the region included Rhourd Nouss, which on June 10 recorded a minimum of 34.2 °C (93.6 °F) and a maximum of 47.6 °C (117.7 °F), while El Borma reached 46.1 °C (115 °F) and Essbea near Tripoli hit 46.2 °C (115.2 °F). In Saudi Arabia, Gassim set new June records with a minimum of 34 °C (93.2 °F) and a maximum of 47 °C (116.6 °F), while Najran reached 43 °C (109.4 °F) on June 10.

Historic floods, tenfold increase in wildfires and now a potential extreme drought make triple suffering for Brazil - After historic floods recently claimed 172 lives in coastal Brazil, the country now faces a new crisis as fires rage through the Pantanal wetlands. These fires have surged nearly tenfold compared to the same period last year, setting the stage for a potential catastrophe worse than the devastating fires of 2020. With severe to extreme drought conditions expected, the situation is becoming increasingly dire. Data from the Brazilian space research agency, National Institute for Space Research (INPE) reveals a staggering 980% jump in fires across the Pantanal wetlands this year through June 5, compared to the same timeframe in 2023. This surge is especially concerning as the peak wildfire season for the region is just around the corner, typically starting in July and reaching its worst in August and September. “It’s one of the worst starts of year in terms of hot spots since the beginning of the historical series in 1998,” reported Vinicius Silgueiro, territorial intelligence coordinator at local NGO Instituto Centro de Vida. Spanning an area roughly ten times larger than Florida’s Everglades, the Pantanal is a haven for an incredible diversity of wildlife, from jaguars and tapirs to caimans, anacondas, and even giant anteaters. However, the region’s usual cycle of flooding has been disrupted by weak rains since late last year. This lack of water has left the Pantanal more susceptible to fires. Adding to the worries, data from Brazil’s National Institute of Meteorology (INMET) suggests the Pantanal is likely to experience another severe to extreme drought this year. This comes after a disappointing wet season with rainfall falling short of the average by a significant 60% On the heels of an unusual fire season in late 2023, the latest surge in fires in the Pantanal wetlands owes to El Niño. The El Niño weather pattern delayed the arrival of rain, causing a significant increase in fires. In November 2023 alone, there were 4 134 fires compared to the historical average of only 584 for that month. .

Is increased carbon dioxide good for trees? - One of the climate change denialist memes is that, since plants inhale carbon dioxide and exhale oxygen during the day, then increased CO2 will be *good* for trees. Setting aside the facts that increased desertification and increased coastal flooding are decidedly *not* good for trees, a recent study suggests that it more CO2 doesn’t necessarily result in more/faster tree growth:“Why not? Our new research, published today in Nature, shows it comes down to a below-ground battle for phosphorus, a mineral nutrient in soils that is essential for tree growth. The results suggest in some parts of the world, increased CO₂ means tiny bugs in the soil “hold onto” their phosphorus, making less available for trees.” “Most Australian soils are naturally low in phosphorus, because they are derived from ancient, nutrient-depleted rocks. The same is true for most soils in tropical and subtropical regions. That makes the phosphorus service provided by microbes even more important.“We sampled phosphorus in all parts of the ecosystem, tracing its journey from the soil to the trees. We found under high-CO₂ conditions the microbes keep more of the phosphorus they produce, to aid their own metabolism. This left less available for trees to take up.As the article notes, the study was done in an area that is naturally low in phosphorus. How generalizable this is will have to be tested in other areas. Meanwhile, forests in South America are been cut down to make way for agriculture, and forests in Canada are burning because of global warming. more CO2≠more tree growth

Uplift resumes, considerable air pollution from eruption in Reykjanes Peninsula, Iceland - The latest eruption in Iceland’s Reykjanes Peninsula has entered its 14th day with one crater active and relatively stable. Land uplift has resumed over the past weekend and considerable pollution is now being measured in many parts of the capital Reykjavik and the western part of South Iceland. Activity at the eruptive crater is stable, and seismicity has been very low in the last week, with only a few detected earthquakes. Other measurements suggest that land uplift has started again, and the subsidence that was detected in the first few days of the eruption has ended. According to the Icelandic Met Office (IMO), the rate of uplift cannot be estimated at this time, but it is assumed that the inflow of magma is larger than the outflow from the one active crater. As reported last week, lava flow began to increase at the roots of Sýlingarfell to the west, and Grindavík road was inundated by lava for the third time since the volcanic activity began at Sundhnúkur in November 2023. “The lava tongue still progresses and is now flowing to the northwest along a similar channel as the one that flowed over Grindavík road on Saturday,” IMO said on June 11. However, its active flow front is still a few hundred meters away from the road and moves very slowly. Lava is still accumulating in a lava pond just southeast of Sýlingarfell and could burst again and trigger another surge of lava in the next few days. Considerable pollution from the eruption was measured in many parts of the capital area and in the western part of South Iceland on June 11. Data showed the highest levels of SO2 in the capital area have exceeded 500 μg/m3 and the pollution was expected to persist throughout the day. “It is preferable to limit physical activity outdoors and avoid letting infants sleep outdoors during such high concentrations of gas in the air,” IMO said. “This morning [June 11], fog clouds have settled over the western part of the country, and there has also been visible volcanic smog caused by the conversion of SO2 gas into SO4. When the day is long, as it is now, there is an increased chance that volcanic smog will form.” Volcanic smog is not measured on SO2 gas detectors, but is visible as a blue mist when a certain concentration is reached. Southeasterly winds are expected on June 12, blowing gas to the northwest.

Large cold lava flow hits Biaknabato village after strong eruption at Kanlaon volcano, Philippines - Heavy rains produced a large lahar flow, also known as cold lava flow, in Biaknabato village, Negros Occidental province, Philippines, on June 5, 2024. The lahar, a mixture of volcanic mud and debris, flowed down a watercourse covering the streets in a knee-deep muddy sheet wash. The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (PHIVOLCS) reported the event at around 13:30 local time in the village Biak-na-Bato, near the town of La Castellana. Canlaon City DRRMO reported similar events in Masulog, one of five villages within the permanent danger zone of Mt. Kanlaon — currently at 4 km (2.5 miles) around the volcano. While most villagers chose to stay in their homes and farms, some had to move to evacuation centers. No injuries have been reported, although houses and roads are covered with mud. Teresito Bacolcol, director of PHIVOLCS, mentioned that the extent and volume of the lahar are still being determined. Bacolcol also warned that lahar containing volcanic ash is dangerous. Kanlaon volcano experienced a strong explosive eruption on June 3, producing a thick ash plume up to 7.6 km (25 000 feet) above sea level. This event forced the evacuation of residents from four villages and prompted PHIVOLCS to raise the Alert Level from 1 to 2. Leah Martinez, a local resident, reported hearing a thunder-like sound before the lahar flow, prompting fears of another eruption. Hundreds of people have been evacuated due to falling ash and gases following the eruption and PHIVOLCS warned that more explosive eruptions are possible. In addition, water supply in several villages around the volcano has been declared unfit for drinking due to sulfur contamination. The smell of sulfur from the eruption reached as far as Bacolod City, approximately 85 km (53 miles) from La Castellana — located near the volcano, affecting residents in 24 of Bacolod’s 61 villages.

Lava crosses Grindavíkurvegur road near Grindavik, Iceland -The Icelandic Met Office reported on June 8, 2024, that Grindavíkurvegur road was covered by lava for the third time since the Sundhnúkur eruption began on May 29. The lava, primarily flowing northwest, reached the road after breaching a protective barrier. The Grindavíkurvegur road was once again covered by lava, marking the third instance since the Sundhnúkur volcanic eruption began on May 29, 2024. The eruption, which started at 12:46 UTC, has persisted for eleven days, with significant lava flow observed primarily in the northwest direction. Since June 4, a single active crater has been contributing to the lava flow. The lava has thickened near Sýlingarfell and has slowly extended north past Sýlingarfell and westward. During the night leading up to June 8, the lava flow increased towards Grindavíkurvegur road. On the morning of June 8, efforts were made to close the gap in the protective barrier at Grindavíkurvegur. However, by approximately 10:30 UTC, the lava tongue had reached the road just north of the barrier. The Icelandic Met Office reported at 16:20 UTC that lava had also flowed along the barrier, thickening significantly and crumbling over it in places. Although the speed of the lava flow decreased around noon, the front of the lava field advanced to about 800 m (2 624 feet) from the hot water pipelines and continued to move slowly towards them. The current surge is considered to be over, but the situation remains under close observation. The possibility of another surge in the coming days cannot be ruled out.

Strong solar radiation storm in progress after M9.7 solar flare produced large CME - A strong, long-duration solar flare measuring M9.7 erupted from Active Region 3697 at 01:49 UTC on June 8, 2024. The event started at 01:23 and ended at 02:19 UTC, producing a strong CME. Shortly after, solar radiation storming began on Earth, reaching the S3 – Strong threshold at 08:00 UTC. A Type II Radio Emission, with an estimated velocity of 894 km/s, was detected at 01:28 UTC, suggesting a coronal mass ejection (CME) was associated with the flare event. A 10cm Radio Burst (tenflare) with a peak flux of 370 sfu was detected from 01:26 to 01:46 UTC. This indicated that the electromagnetic burst associated with a solar flare at the 10cm wavelength was double or greater than the initial 10cm radio background. It can be indicative of significant radio noise in association with a solar flare. While this noise is generally short-lived, it can cause interference for sensitive receivers including radar, GPS, and satellite communications. In addition, a Type IV Radio Emission was detected at 01:57 UTC. Type IV emissions occur in association with major eruptions on the Sun and are typically associated with strong CMEs and solar radiation storms. While most of the CME should be directed away from Earth, some of it may impact Earth on June 11. Radio frequencies were forecast to be most degraded over the Pacific Ocean, eastern Asia, Indonesia, and northern Australia.

Mysterious twin of STEVE aurora discovered in Norway - A new auroral phenomenon, potentially a twin of the STEVE — a mysterious ribbon of purple light in the night sky, was photographed over Norway on December 28, 2021. The finding, confirmed by ESA’s Swarm satellite data, reveals an eastward stream of hot gases at dawn, similar to the westward stream seen at dusk. A new auroral phenomenon, potentially a dawn-side twin of the mysterious STEVE, has been discovered in Norway. This finding was made possible through the collaborative efforts of scientists and citizen scientists, leveraging data from the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Swarm satellites and images from an all-sky digital camera at the Ramfjordmoen Research Station. STEVE, a sub-auroral ion drift or strong thermal emission velocity enhancement, was initially discovered by the Alberta Aurora Chasers Facebook group in 2016. It’s a mysterious atmospheric phenomenon that appears as a purple ribbon of light in the night sky, moving westward at dusk. Unlike the traditional aurora borealis, which displays green, blue, and red hues, STEVE’s mauve appearance and brief duration intrigued scientists since its discovery. Now a new study, involving researchers from the University of Electro-Communications in Japan, the Swedish Institute of Space Physics, the Arctic University of Norway, and Hofstra, suggests the existence of a similar phenomenon occurring at dawn — STEVE’s twin. Whilst looking through images of aurora above the Norwegian Arctic captured by all-sky digital camera at the Ramfjordmoen Research Station, photographer Gabriel Arne Hofstra stumbled across something peculiar, something STEVE-like but not STEVE, in an image from December 28, 2021. Their finding has been confirmed by ESA’s Swarm constellation of satellites. Image shows the projection of the day-night-band image and all-sky image to 100 km altitude. Both the purple and green arcs extended east–west widely. White arrows guide the continuity of the purple arc in the day-night-band image. Blue and yellow arrows indicate the trajectories of Swarm A and B, respectively. White grid lines show the altitude adjustment corrected geomagnetic latitude and local time. Credit: Nanjo, S., Hofstra, G.A., Shiokawa, K. et al. While Swarm satellites did not fly directly through the arc at the precise time of the event, data from their electric field instruments measured conditions in the purple region before, during, and after the observation, indicating an eastward ion flow. “Our findings not only open new avenues in auroral physics but also underscore the importance of continuous collaboration between scientists and photographers. Such efforts are particularly crucial in the coming years as solar activity approaches its peak, when we may encounter extraordinary phenomena,” said Sota Nanjo of the University of Electro-Communications. The ability of digital cameras to capture high-contrast images of auroral events played a crucial role in this discovery. As solar activity peaks in the coming year, such collaborations are expected to uncover more extraordinary phenomena. The recent geomagnetic storm on May 10, 2024, one of the most documented aurora events, highlighted the value of citizen science in advancing our understanding of space weather.

End Game Revealed: Carbon Tax Would Fund Universal Basic Income - Marcellus Drilling News - Massive wealth transfer (your money forcibly transferred to other people in other countries)… subjugation of your life by controlling the energy you use… a new form of worldwide Communism. Has MDN gone off its rocker? Does MDN really believe the stuff it writes about issues like a carbon tax aimed at not only stifling the use of fossil fuels but also being a heist — the theft of your money? Well, yes, we do believe it! And we believe it not because of some conspiracy theory spun by a crackpot commentator on the radio. We believe it because we read and listen to the actual words of leftists. We don’t make things up. The left will tell you what it intends to do if you just open your eyes and ears. Case in point… Here is a current headline from a mainstream news service: “Here’s an idea: a worldwide universal basic income paid for by a carbon tax. A study found that it could boost the global GDP by 130%.” Who uses the most fossil energy in the world? We do, here in the U.S. So who would “fund” the vast majority of a guaranteed, worldwide “universal basic income” for the rest of the world via a forced carbon tax? We would — U.S. taxpayers. Still think we’re crazy crackpots?

Group Produces Green Hydrogen Using Wind Turbines on Ships - An Oregon-based sustainable energy innovation group said it has successfully produced green hydrogen through the use of vertical wind turbines on an oceangoing vessel. ONESTONE HOLDINGS on June 3 said the project “represents a major leap forward in harnessing renewable energy sources at sea to create clean fuel.” The company in a news release said it wants to prove its concept of using ships equipped with vertical-axis wind turbines. These ships leverage satellite data to navigate to areas with optimal wind resources, maximizing electricity generation. The captured wind energy is then directly converted into liquid green hydrogen onboard, eliminating the need for complex and energy-intensive onshore infrastructure. This onboard production not only streamlines the supply chain but also minimizes energy losses, ensuring a highly efficient green hydrogen production process. “This achievement marks a significant milestone in our mission to make clean hydrogen more accessible and affordable,” said Mehdi Noormohammadi, president and founder of ONESTONE HOLDINGS, in an email to POWER. “Our vision for a fleet of ships equipped with vertical wind turbines has the potential to revolutionize green hydrogen production, paving the way for a more sustainable future.” The company said that beyond production efficiency, it is pioneering a viable solution for transporting liquid green hydrogen. Green hydrogen offers a clean fuel alternative with zero emissions during production and transportation. As a cryogenic liquid, green hydrogen requires continuous cooling to maintain its state. ONESTONE HOLDINGS’ ships with vertical wind turbines have the potential to generate sufficient green energy onboard to power the cooling system throughout transport, ensuring a sustainable solution from production to end use.

Ohio's Energy Future - – Ohio 12th District U.S. Congressman Troy Balderson, who sits on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, is partnering with West Virginia Senator Shelley Moore Capito, a member of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, to file a Congressional Review Act, joint resolution of disapproval, to formally challenge an Environmental Protection Agency regulation that sets unrealistic emissions requirements on baseload energy power plants. “The Clean Power Plan 2.0 is what we call it,” Balderson said. “It’s something that… it’s too much too quick and we can’t adapt to it. We are going to hurt our baseload energy. We’re trying to onshore more of our manufacturing. So we need the baseload energy of coal fired plants, we need natural gas, nuclear plants are also a part of that equation, and then we can do the whole portfolio. We can talk about renewables but at the end of the day, we have to have that base load energy.” Baseload energy is the necessary minimum amount of electricity that is needed to supply the power grid. Renewable energies like solar, and wind cannot sustainably supply the grid. They’re applied to assist the baseload production during times of peak demand. Ohio Oil and Gas Association Director of External Affairs Mike Chadsey discussed some of the other topics that were covered during the roundtable. “Energy reliability and the grid. And everything from the PGM, interconnects, to power plants, to other facilities in and around Ohio,” Chadsey said. “So much of the conversation that we have been talking about today is about that reliability and our concerns about trying to put new power on the grid that will be baseload, that will be reliable, that will be affordable, that will be abundant. And so trying to express those messages to the congressman and to his team here today.”The ability to offer reliable baseline energy is a vital necessity in the attempt to reestablish Ohio as a world leader in manufacturing as well as preventing a system of rolling blackouts and brownouts for Ohio residents. The Guernsey Power Station is a 1-year-old, state of the art, base electric generation facility that is supplied by natural gas from the recently utilized Utica Shale deposits. Under the requirements set by the Clean Power Plan 2.0, the facility would fail to meet emission standards. Balderson stated that natural gas is 98 percent clean and that by transitioning from coal, the U.S. has cut its emissions by more than 30 percent, leading the world in pollution reduction.

Coterra CEO Tells Jim Cramer Direct Deals with Data Centers Coming -- Marcellus Drilling News - Coterra Energy CEO Tom Jorden sat for an interview with Jim Cramer on CNBC’s Mad Money program Tuesday evening. During the interview, Jorden had an interesting comment and insight that has the power to change the natural gas market. Jorden said that data center operators (big computer server facilities) may cut supply agreements directly with natural gas companies to meet the growing power demands of the artificial intelligence boom. And it may happen a lot sooner than you think.

Whitmer says reopening nuclear plant only way to meet climate goals --Governor Gretchen Whitmer said Monday that restarting a nuclear power plant on Lake Michigan is necessary to reach her goal of generating all the state’s electricity without burning fossil fuels. Whitmer was part of an economic forum in Detroit, where she said affordable and accessible energy is critical to the state’s future. And she said part of her plan to make that possible is reactivating the Palisades Nuclear Generating Station, which would be the first nuclear plant in the U.S. to be restarted after being shuttered. “We’re going to show not only can it be done, but it can be done safely and as great stewards of our resources,” the Democratic governor told the Clean Economy and Community Impact Summit. She said the local impact will include jobs and a boost to the local economy. She said those are immediate effects which can matter more than longer-term challenges like climate change. Whitmer said reopening the plant on Lake Michigan will be for jobs and attracting businesses looking for a reliable source of power. “Many of us are also moved by the fact that it’s going to improve our carbon footprint, it’s going to extend the forward-thinking policies that are about climate and energy for people and know that that’s going to be the primary motivator,” she said. But some environmentalists say Michigan should not be too quick to embrace nuclear as part of the transition to green energy – and the state should not be committing taxpayer funds to the effort to restart a plant on the Great Lakes shoreline. “I think Michiganders rightly want to know about what we’re going to do with all the waste, some of which will be stored on the shores of the Great Lakes — and most importantly, before we bet so much state taxpayer money, we should instead be doubling down on maximizing the buildout of our clean renewable energy-efficient future,” said Nicholas Occhipinti, government affairs director at the Michigan League of Conservation Voters. In March, Whitmer and U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm, a former Michigan governor, announced the federal government will offer a $1.5 billion loan to help the plant’s new owner, Holtec International, restart Palisades. The Legislature has also approved a $150 million subsidy to help reopen the plant and Whitmer has included a request for another $150 million in her new budget proposal. Palisades has been closed since 2022 as other types of energy such as wind and natural gas were considered a better bargain. Holtec International bought the plant with an eye toward decommissioning it but is now open to restarting the facility with the right package of state and federal incentives.

Tax cuts, interest-free loan program for gas pipelines clear Ohio House committee - – Bipartisan members of an Ohio House committee voted Tuesday to advance legislation that would provide interest-free loans and tax cuts for natural gas pipelines in areas deemed to have insufficient gas infrastructure in place. Should the bill become law, local governments could access $20 million of state funds in interest-free loans to buy easements on property intended for a new gas pipeline. And that pipeline’s developer could exempt up to 75% of its value from its property taxes, providing savings on the scale of millions of dollars.

Ohio committee passes bill to build natural gas pipelines - (WKBN) — The Ohio House Economic and Workforce Development Committee passed a bill to build natural gas pipelines. House Bill 349, also known as EnergizeOhio, creates several incentives to build natural gas pipelines and related infrastructure within locally designated zones. If passed, the loans from the legislation would allow communities to acquire resources within a zone. “Despite the blessings of an abundant supply of natural gas within our great state, communities everywhere are plagued by a lack of access to this resource,” said Rep. Tim Barhorst (R-Fort Loramie). “House Bill 349 will help lower long-term costs for companies wanting to invest in natural gas infrastructure and ensure our communities have a shot for economic development opportunities.” The Department of Development is working on a map of areas that will receive the loans. “The United States is currently the number 1 purchaser of natural gas, but the two largest natural gas companies are owned by Russia and China,” said Rep. Don Jones (R-Freeport). “In addition to providing the necessary infrastructure to aid parts of the state without natural gas, House Bill 349 creates necessary infrastructure to keep Ohio’s natural gas in Ohio and not reliant on natural gas from foreign countries.” A total of $20 million will be appropriated to the EnergizeOhio Program Loan Fund for 2025. The bill awaits a vote by the House.

Martins Ferry Sees No Evidence of Cleanup at Austin Master Serv. - Marcellus Drilling News - We have been tracking and reporting on the drama surrounding Austin Master Services (AMS), a radiological waste management solutions company in Martins Ferry (Belmont County), Ohio, located close to the Ohio River, since the Ohio Attorney General lodged charges against the company back in March (see our AMS stories here). AMS has stored at least 10,000 tons of fracking waste (drill cuttings with low radioactivity) at the facility. The facility is rated and permitted to hold 600 tons. In March, Ohio AG Dave Yost asked the Belmont County Common Pleas Court to block AMS from receiving more waste and order it to clean up and comply with its rating. According to Martins Ferry Mayor John Davies, who addressed the city council last Wednesday, nothing has been done so far.

Majority foreign-owned oil, natural gas producer to frack Ohio state parks - Encino Acquisition Partners, LLC has invested $300 million into extracting oil and natural gas from Ohio state parks and other public lands. EAP received mineral rights for four sites in Ohio State Parks, according to an Ohio Department of Natural Resources news release. This includes three sites in Valley Run Wildlife Area in Carroll County and one site in Zepernick Wildlife Area in Columbiana County. Encino Energy, based out of Houston, Texas, along with the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, created EAP as a subsidiary in 2017, according to a CPP news release. The CPP holds 98% equity of the company. The CPP is a public pension distributed by the government to over 22 million Canadians, according to its website. The plan has an independent board tasked with managing funds for policyholders. “If someone (is) working in Toronto and they're paying into this pension plan – well, they're financing fracking in Ohio,” Save Ohio Parks Steering Committee Chair Cathy Cowan Becker said. Along with the rights to Ohio state parks, EAP also bought 900,000 acres of oil and gas assets from Chesapeake Energy, which used to be one of the largest natural gas producers in Ohio, in the Ohio Utica Shale region for $2 million in 2018, according to a CPP news release. According to a report from the U.S. Energy Information Administration, the Utica Shale is an expansive oil and natural gas field that covers 115,000 square miles and spans four states from northern New York to northeastern Kentucky and southern Tennessee. Daniel Karney, an economics professor at Ohio University, said EAP is trying to get a return on its investments to grow its capital. ”They think a good way to do that is to invest in generating, purchasing and then producing oil and natural gas,” Karney said. The U.S. remains the world's top destination for foreign direct investment for the 12th consecutive year, according to the U.S Department of Commerce. This is partially due to strong consumer and government expenditure and robust export levels. Karney said individual states can use parks as assets and sell them to make profits. “It's going to be, at this point, something like 18% to the state of Ohio, but that only lasts for as long as the fracking lasts, and you can only frack one place so many times before there's no more gas left,” Becker said. According to an ODNR news release, however, Ohio is only set to receive 12.5% of royalties from EAP. The operation comes after an Ohio judge dismissed a lawsuit from Save Ohio Parks allowing companies to lease public land, according to a previous Post report. The decision opens over 1,000 parcels of land to oil and natural gas companies. Melinda Zemper, Save Ohio Parks steering committee chair, said communities near fracking operations experience negative economic effects. “The eight main counties in Ohio that have been fracked for decades came to the conclusion that they lost population by about 8% and the number of jobs that they had for the community was also down,” Zemper said. She also said farmers can lease mineral rights to their land and make a lot of money. “It's the most money they've ever seen in their lives and are able to take vacations or buy cars or pass their farms on to the next generation,” Zemper said. Becker added fracking poisons the land, so farmers can’t grow or have animals on it.

Chesapeake Transfers Ohio Leases to Hilcorp --Chesapeake Energy Corp. has transferred nearly 1,100 oil and natural gas leases in and around an underground natural gas storage field in Ohio, to privately held Hilcorp Energy Co.According to a report in the Youngstown Business Journal, Columbiana County records show that Chesapeake assigned most of the 1,097 oil and gas leases to the Houston-based operator effective Feb. 15. It was unclear if the deal between the companies, which was negotiated on Jan. 23, amounted to a bona fide sale, a property swap or a farm-in agreement.The transferred leases were for properties in the six northeasternmost townships in Columbiana: Center, Elkrun, Fairfield, Middleton, Salem and Unity, the Journal noted. It also reported that nine drilled wells were also excluded from the deal. Alan Wenger, an attorney with Youngstown, OH-based law firm Harrington, Hoppe & Mitchell, told NGI the leases were in or near the Brinker Storage Field, a 30,000-acre natural gas reserve in northern and central Columbiana County. The field, which was assembled over several decades, is owned by Columbia Gas Transmission."Columbia has all kinds of leases of various vintages that say all kinds of things," Wenger said. "Some of them are storage leases and others are more conventional, production leases. As this play developed, largely after 2009, a lot of the landowners involved in this area knew their properties had leases on them but had no clue as to what they meant. Many of them had never received a royalty check or anything for years because these were ancient leases on properties that got subdivided into lots and the royalties never followed."That's when Chesapeake came to town, Wenger said. "Chesapeake was running around like a chicken [without a head], leasing anything that they could lease in this area. I don't know that [it], frankly, did a very exhaustive title run before signing a lot of these up. They wound up with a lot of leases that ostensibly were for these parcels, but many of them were already arguably held by production, at least by the storage leases that were held by Columbia."Last September, Columbia, a NiSource Inc. subsidiary, formed a joint venture (JV) with Hilcorp to develop the deep rights to the Brinker Storage Field. Four months earlier, NiSource officials said "advanced discussions" about a JV in the Brinker were ongoing, but they did not identify Hilcorp as its negotiating partner (see NGI, May 7, 2012). "I believe Chesapeake was trying to negotiate such a deal with Columbia but wasn't successful in doing so for whatever reason," Wenger said. Many of the leases would have been hard to develop units without joint venturing with others who already held some rights.Wenger said some of the leases held by Columbia were strictly for one specific geological stratum for gas storage and nothing else, which meant landowners were free to sell the deep rights. But he said most of the older leases covered all geological formations. Wenger added that he did not know the collective value of the deep rights leases, if Hilcorp purchased them outright from Chesapeake or if they were transferred between the two companies for holdings elsewhere. More troubling, he said, was that it did not appear that Chesapeake had filed any information about the leases with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). "I'm not an SEC or a regulatory lawyer, but frankly I don't understand why this would not be reported by Chesapeake," Wenger said, adding that he has searched for records of the assignment in his spare time. "They report assiduously anything that they sell or buy. Maybe they're holding it because they would argue that it's not final yet. But if it were a trade, it should be reported for SEC purposes." Responding to Wenger's comments, Gipson on Friday said Chesapeake "takes the necessary steps to make all required SEC filings."

Newfound Ohio Utica Shale Oil Play Yielding Results -Recent data from the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) confirms an emerging Ohio oil play with untapped potential. Traditionally thought of as a natural gas play, new technologies have unlocked oil production in the Utica Shale that continues to grow: 70 percent since 2021 with 40 percent annual growth from 2022 to 2023. The first quarter (Q1) production results from ODNR indicate the state produced 7,227,503 Bbls of oil, continuing its upward trend. If these numbers continue, 2024 will be a record oil year for the state. News of this untapped market continues to raise eyebrows. The Youngstown Business Journal reported on Q1 results, saying: “Columbiana County’s section of the Utica – traditionally known for its high volumes of natural gas and wet gas – has for the past year delivered skyrocketing oil production that is out of character for the northern tier of the play.” (emphasis added)Similarly, Hart Energy reported on EOG Resources investing in the combo play, with EOG chairman and CEO Ezra Yacob recently declaring:“It’s funny, right? When you take the blinders off and you come with a different perspective from different basins, it’s amazing the things that you can uncover….”EOG executives told investors in May that the Utica oil play can “compete with the best plays in America.”Rob Brundrett, the president of the Ohio Oil & Gas Association, also emphasized Ohio’s “holy trinity of hydrocarbons” when speaking at the Hart Energy DUG Appalachia conference:“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.”Ohio’s oil production is centered in a five-county area that’s responsible for 95 percent of the state’s shale oil production, including Harrison, Columbiana, Guernsey, Carroll and Noble counties. Encino Energy had the top five producing oil wells this quarter, with Southwestern Energy, EOG Resources, and Ascent Resources filling out the remaining top ten producing wells. Hart Energy reports that Encino produced 51 percent of Ohio’s total production, followed by Ascent Energy and Infinity Natural Resources as the top producers.

All clear given after officials evacuated downtown Youngstown amid reported natural gas leak - — Officials from the Youngstown Fire Department have given an all clear to return downtown after a reported natural gas leak led to an evacuation on Friday afternoon. In a post on social media, the Youngstown Professional Fire Fighters Local 312 wrote: "Downtown is now reopened and all events scheduled for this evening are a full go."Earlier in the afternoon, fire officials sent out the following advisory: "Please AVOID downtown Youngstown and surrounding areas. Buildings are currently being evacuated for a natural gas leak."According to 21 News WFMJ in Youngstown, a two-block radius from the George Voinovich Government Center was issued a mandatory evacuation. The evacuations included Youngstown City Hall and the Youngstown Police Department. Youngstown State University also issued a "Penguin Alert" ordering the immediate evacuation of the campus. "Employees will be paid the remainder of the day, there is no need to turn in leave. Students should also leave campus, immediately For those living on campus, they should also vacate their living quarters," YSU wrote in a post on its Facebook page. 3News received the following statement from Enbridge Gas Ohio:"Enbridge Gas representatives are onsite in downtown Youngstown actively investigating a reported odor of natural gas."Public safety is the top priority, and the Fire Department has evacuated buildings in a two-block area around the Voinovich Building as a safety precaution."Our trained crews are walking the area and scoping for the presence of natural gas inside and outside buildings in this area."The report of a gas leak comes just over two weeks after a deadly blast inside the Realty Tower building in downtown Youngstown that resulted in the death of a Chase Bank employee.

Continued Concerns with Water Wells Near EQT Frac-Out in Greene Co. -- Marcellus Drilling News ---In July 2022, MDN brought you news of a possible frac-out, or “inadvertent return” that happens when drilling mud pops out of places where it’s not supposed to — places outside the borehole being drilled (see Possible Frac-Out Reported at EQT Well Site in Greene County, PA). A landowner who lives near a well being drilled and fracked by EQT in Greene County complained her water well was fouled by EQT’s drilling and that a nearby abandoned well was releasing fluids and natural gas. According to the PA Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP), EQT confirmed some of its fluids were “communicating” with the abandoned well. A year later, in August of 2023, the nearby community of New Freeport, where the frac-out happened, said the situation remained unresolved (see Possible Frac-Out Near EQT Pad in Greene County…One Year Later). However, on November 29, 2023, the Pennsylvania Environmental Hearing Board (EHB) accepted a settlement agreement between the PA Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) and EQT involving appeals of DEP actions related to the frac-out, settling the matter. Or so it seemed…

Briggs v SWN Rule of Capture/Trespass Court Case Resurrected - In January 2020, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled in THE most consequential lawsuit for Marcellus Shale drilling we’ve seen, a case called Briggs v Southwestern Energy (see HUGE NEWS: PA Supreme Court Keeps ‘Rule of Capture’ for Fracking). The PA Supremes ruled in favor of Southwestern, retaining the “rule of capture” in the Keystone State. Little did we know, but in 2022, the Briggs filed a new lawsuit, call it “Briggs 2,” along the same lines, alleging that Southwestern’s drilling and fracking on a neighboring property has intruded (“trespassed”) under the property line and drained gas from the Briggs property. Here we go again…

7 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Jun 3 – 9 ---Marcellus Drilling News --Two weeks ago, 31 new permits were issued to drill in the Marcellus/Utica region. Last week, June 3 – 9, the number dropped (dramatically) by 77% to just seven new permits. And that seems to be the pattern: Way up one week, way down the next. Last week, for the second week in a row, Ohio issued ZERO new shale permits. The top permit receiver for last week was HG Energy, which had five permits for a single pad in Doddridge County, WV. The other two permits were issued in PA: one to CNX in Greene County, and the other to Range Resources in Washington County. CNX RESOURCES | DODDRIDGE COUNTY | GREENE COUNTY (PA) | HG ENERGY | RANGE RESOURCES CORP |WASHINGTON COUNTY

EQT Bringing Back Curtailed Natural Gas Supply; CEO Rice Sees Future Where U.S. Production Triples --EQT Corp., the largest natural gas producer in North America, scaled back output earlier this year in response to low prices amid a mild winter. However, with forecasts for sizzling summer heat domestically and abroad, CEO Toby Rice said the Pittsburgh-based company has started to bring back the 1 Bcf/d curtailed in late February. “We are in the process now,” Rice told NGI Tuesday after presenting at the LDC Gas Forums Northeast in Boston. He described it as an incremental undertaking without a specific timeline. He said EQT could unfurl the retrenchment gradually, with the pace determined in part on prices. Depressed gas prices below $2/MMBtu in February galvanized producers to pull back after U.S. output touched all-time highs around 107 Bcf/d early this year. The lofty production intersected with benign weather and soft heating demand. EQT’s decision followed Chesapeake Energy Corp.’s 15% reduction announcement in February.

CNX Releases 'Radically Transparent' Corporate Sustainability Report - Today, CNX Resources Corp. published its thirteenth annual Corporate Sustainability Report, Radical Transparency, highlighting how the Company's distinct corporate strategy and investment approach continues to deliver material results for all stakeholder groups across the Appalachian region and beyond. "The 160-year legacy of CNX is rooted in being thoughtfully innovative, and that innovative spirit has shaped our unique Tangible, Impactful, Local ESG effort which is summarized in this report," commented CNX Chief Risk Officer Hayley Scott. "This document tells the story of our ongoing strategic journey—a journey that has clearly positioned CNX as a differentiated energy solutions company poised to once again lead an energy renaissance from right here in the heart of Appalachia." CNX's 2023 report outlines the Company's continued dedication to transparency, innovation, environmental stewardship, and community engagement, aligning closely with the standards set forth by prominent international frameworks such as the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD), the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB), and the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) Standards. Core to CNX's updated report is the Company's groundbreaking collaboration with the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania where, in partnership with Governor Josh Shapiro's Administration and the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (PADEP), the Company is deploying robust environmental monitoring and data collection of its operations in the state. By publicly disclosing the data in real-time via CNXRadicalTransparency.com, all stakeholders can access and better understand the natural gas development process and its critical role in the economy and environment. "Through our commitment to Radical Transparency, we aim to lead the industry into a new era of responsible domestic energy development—one where facts and data prevail over speculation and ideology," Ms. Scott continued. "Through these efforts, we are proving every day that natural gas development is safe and inherently good for the communities where we are privileged to live and operate."

MVP Restoration Work in Jefferson National Forest Begins - Marcellus Drilling News - A major effort by the radical left to block the 303-mile Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) from crossing a piddly 3.5 miles of the Jefferson National Forest (JNF) failed. But not for lack of trying. Big Green paid protesters to sit in trees, chain themselves to cars, and all manner of illegal tactics to try and slow or stop progress on building the pipeline through JNF (see our MVP in JNJ stories here). The pipeline itself is now completed, and restoration work is underway in some locations like JNF. In the case of JNF, MVP is removing construction debris and replanting native vegetation.

MVP “Mechanically Complete” – Asks FERC to Begin Flowing TODAY! - Marcellus Drilling News - Is today the day we’ve been waiting and writing about for the past nine years? Possibly! Yesterday, Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP), the 303-mile, 2 Bcf/d pipeline from Wetzel County, WV, to Pittsylvania County, VA, filed a request with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to say the pipeline is now mechanically complete, meaning the pipeline is in the ground, covered up, fully tested, and ready to begin operations. MVP asked FERC to allow it to begin flowing gas TODAY, June 11. At best, it’s a 50/50 shot that FERC will allow it to begin operations today. No matter. Whether today, tomorrow, or next week, MVP is done and will begin. WE WON!

Mountain Valley Pipeline is done and ready to go, developers say - After a decade of planning, construction and controversy, developers of the Mountain Valley Pipeline say it’s ready to begin operations. The company asked the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission on Monday to grant authorization by Tuesday that would allow the natural gas pipeline to start service in the coming days. “Mountain Valley confirms that the Project facilities are mechanically complete,” Matthew Eggerding, deputy general counsel for the joint venture, wrote in a letter posted to FERC’s online docket early Monday afternoon. Testing is also completed on all segments of the 303-mile interstate pipeline, including what was required last October by a safety consent order from a federal agency. “The final segments of the Project are currently being purged and packed with natural gas,” Eggerding wrote, referring to a process of venting air from the pipe before gas is introduced. People are also reading… FERC had made no decision by 6 p.m. Monday, according to its online docket. Concerns by opponents – which for years dealt largely with Mountain Valley’s failure to prevent muddy runoff from flowing off construction sites and into nearby forests and streams – have turned more recently to fears about the pipe’s integrity. Questions about whether a protective coating on the pipe’s exterior had been weakened by exposure to the elements intensified May 1, when a segment of the line on Bent Mountain ruptured during pressure testing. “To grant this request on a 24-hour turnaround while reasonable concerns remain about the project’s ability to operate safely will further erode public trust and deliver a final injustice to directly impacted community members who have engaged in this process in good faith,” Russell Chisholm of the Protect Our Water, Heritage, Rights coalition wrote in a letter asking FERC to deny Mountain Valley’s request. The company is still waiting for results from metallurgical testing of the pipe section that ruptured under high-pressure water testing. What caused the pipe to fail has not been determined. Meanwhile, Chisholm wrote, there has not been a full release of results from additional testing that was ordered last October by the U.S. Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration. Some details, made available in response to Freedom of Information Act requests, have prompted concerns by the Pipeline Safety Trust, which wrote PHMSA in April about what it called “inadequate information” provided by Mountain Valley. It was not clear Monday how soon the pipeline will begin transporting natural gas, assuming FERC grants the request. “Final preparations are currently underway to begin flowing gas,” company spokeswoman Natalie Cox wrote in response to questions seeking clarification. But Mountain Valley has made an early June start date a high priority. “Multiple shippers have executed agreements to commence transporting volumes using the Project facilities beginning the day after the Project declares in-service, which further heightens the need for prompt authorization to meet market demands,” Eggerding wrote in his letter. Jessica Sims, the Virginia field coordinator of Appalachian Voices, made the following statement: “The community is in the dark about important safety and environmental considerations from the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration and FERC, while Mountain Valley Pipeline pressures FERC to prioritize the company’s sales schedule.” Records from two rounds of tests, performed by Mountain Valley at the direction of PHMSA, have been released to The Roanoke Times under open-record laws. The first report was for tests conducted last year, mostly in West Virginia, where the project originates before passing through the New River and Roanoke valleys to connect with an existing pipeline near the North Carolina line. Those tests showed about 70 “indications,” or possible flaws with the pipe, and a need for about 15 “cutouts,” or the removal and replacement of part of the pipe. The Pipeline Safety Trust, a watchdog group of the industry and its regulators, said Mountain Valley had not adequately explained its criteria for deciding which sections of the pipe needed repairs. Last month, PHMSA released an introduction letter from Mountain Valley’s report on a second period of testing, from January through the end of March. The actual report was withheld. The cover letter showed about 130 potential problem areas, but did not explain what corrective action was taken. Without that information, safety experts said it was difficult to evaluate the overall integrity of the pipeline. Mountain Valley has notified PHMSA “of its full compliance prior to introducing natural gas to the final segments” of the pipe, Eggerding wrote. A PHMSA spokesman could not be reached Monday. A FERC representative said: “This is a pending request, so we cannot comment.”

Mountain Valley pipeline seeks permission to begin operations -Equitrans Midstream Corp. has completed construction of its 303-mile Mountain Valley natural gas pipeline (MVP) and requested US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission permission to put the 2-bcfd system in service. Equitrans described the pipeline as “mechanically complete,” having finished all welding, testing, cleaning, and drying.MVP’s final segments are being purged and filled with natural gas in advance of startup and Equitrans requested that authorization be provided by June 11, 2024. "Multiple shippers have executed agreements to commence transporting volumes using the project facilities beginning the day after the project declares in-service, which further heightens the need for prompt authorization to meet market demands," the company said in its FERC filing. Equitrans initially requested in-service authorization in April 2024, but supplemented its request the following month (OGJ Online, Apr. 24, 2024). MVP (42-in. OD) runs from Wetzel County, WV, to an interconnect with Transcontinental Gas Pipeline Co.at the latter’s Compressor Station 165 in Pittsylvania County, Va. The pipeline was originally scheduled to begin operations in 2018 but has been delayed repeatedly by litigation.

FERC approves startup of Mountain Valley natural gas pipeline - Oil & Gas Journal Equitrans Midstream Corp. was granted approval June 11 by the US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to put its 303-mile, 2 bcfd Mountain Valley natural gas pipeline (MVP) into operation.FERC’s authorization is the final hurdle for the controversial $7.8-billion project designed to move Marcellus and Utica shale gas to Mid-Atlantic markets. The pipeline was originally scheduled to begin flows in 2018 but was repeatedly delayed by litigation involving environmental concerns and landowners.The pipeline was scheduled to start operations in May, but Equitrans delayed the start to run additional safety tests (OGJ Online, Apr. 24, 2024).“We find that Mountain Valley has adequately stabilized the areas disturbed by construction and that restoration and stabilization of the construction work area is proceeding satisfactorily,” Terry Turpin, FERC’s director of the Office of Energy Projects, said in the order. The commission granted authorization based on “Mountain Valley’s recent construction status reports and supplemental filings, our regular compliance monitoring reporting, a staff inspection the week of May 13-17, and our communications with the Department of Transportation’s Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration,” Turpin added.The 42-in OD pipeline runs from Wetzel County, WV, to an interconnect with Transcontinental Gas Pipeline Co. at compressor station 165 in Pittsylvania County, Va. “We are pleased with the agencies’ decisions and the related communications regarding in-service authorization for the MVP project,” Natalie Cox, an Equitrans spokeswoman, said in a June 11 statement. “Final preparations are underway to begin commercial operations.”

4th Circus’ Final “Screw You” to MVP in Va. Eminent Domain Case ---Marcellus Drilling News --In a clear case of sour grapes for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit (4th Circus clowns) who tried to block the 303-mile Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) by rendering arbitrary decisions that caused years of delays for the pipeline, the court flipped the bird to MVP one last time in a decision issued Tuesday of this week (June 11). Three judges from the 4th Circus re-inflated a jury award against MVP for an eminent domain “taking” case in the Bent Mountain, Virginia, area back in May (see 4th Circus Clowns Punish MVP One Last Time via Eminent Domain Case). MVP appealed to the full 4th Circuit to have all judges re-hear the case, called en banc. On Tuesday, the full court refused, allowing the “screw you” decision by the three loser clowns to stand.

Mountain Valley Pipeline goes into service, starts delivering gas in Virginia Mountain Valley Pipeline, the 303-mile vessel that will deliver natural gas from the Appalachian region of West Virginia into Southwest Virginia, officially went into service Friday, after about a decade of steadfast opposition over concerns about environmental and community impacts in the areas in its path. In a news release, the company said the project is now available to deliver natural gas with a capacity of up to 2 billion cubic feet of gas per day. Roanoke Gas said in a separate release Friday it had begun receiving the fossil fuel. Diana Charletta, president and chief executive officer of Equitrans Midstream Corp, the pipeline’s developer, called the day an “important and long-awaited one,” for the country that will allow “greater access to an abundant supply of domestic natural gas for use as an affordable, reliable, and cleaner energy resource.” The project was first announced in 2014 and planned to deliver natural gas from the Marcellus and Utica shale regions into Pittsylvania County, with an anticipated completion date in 2018. But numerous legal challenges led the U.S. Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals to overturn state permits, finding some agencies failed to adequately ensure protections against sediment erosion and harm to endangered fish species, such as the candy darter. In May 2023, however, Democratic West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin included a measure in a federal stop-gap spending plan, the Fiscal Responsibility Act, that required all state and federal agencies to approve permits necessary for the project to be completed. The measure also prevented any legal challenges until it was completed. With that greenlight, MVP resumed construction in August. The company requested final approval from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission on Monday, stating that the project was “mechanically complete.” On Tuesday, FERC granted the OK, after consultation with the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration revealed the agency “had no objections if Commission staff were to authorize in-service for the Mountain Valley Pipeline project.” MVP had entered into a consent agreement with PHMSA in October, because of conditions posing “an integrity risk to public safety, property or the environment.” Terry L. Turpin, director of the FERC office that oversees the project stated that “Mountain Valley has adequately stabilized the areas disturbed by construction and that restoration and stabilization of the construction work are proceeding satisfactorily.” The cost of the project, initially stated to be $3.5 billion in 2018, more than doubled to $7.85 billion, according to a news release earlier this year.. Scrutiny of the project, including the safety of coatings on the pipeline that laid out in the elements during years of delay and violations for preventing sediment erosion, increased in recent weeks as requests for the project to come online were submitted. On Wednesday, when the pipeline’s activation was imminent, groups who have been advocating on behalf of indigenous people, other community members and the environment in West and Southwest Virginia raised their concerns and called for continued caution. “I don’t know how else to express how angry, infuriated, grief stricken I am in this moment,” said Russell Chisholm, co-executive director of Protect our Water and Heritage Rights. The pipeline would have “repercussions …for everyone upstream in the fracking fields, and everyone downstream, where the gas is shipped and eventually burned, overheating our planet.” Following a test failure on May 1, Appalachian Voices continuously submitted requests for information on inspection reports, in addition to the March 29 quarterly report that was most recently released, but received no response, said Jessica Sims, the group’s Virginia field coordinator. The lack of response from PHMSA and FERC has left community members in the dark with little legal recourse to take action, Sims added, while condemning Manchin’s intervention at the federal level. “The level of congressional interference with the project was unprecedented and certainly concerning as a reality that could happen again,” Sims said. “We remain deeply disappointed that one pet project was put on an unrelated debt bill and used to pressure members of congress on a matter they should not have been weighing in on in that way. That lack of separation of judicial and legislative powers is deeply concerning,” said Sims.

Encore Energy Adds 3 KY Horizontal Wells to Sales, Drilling 3 More --Marcellus Drilling News - Kentucky is not known as a hotbed of shale drilling activity. The Marcellus/Utica does not extend under the Bluegrass State. However, as we wrote about back in 2017, Kentucky does have the Berea Sandstone, which contains oil deposits (seeFracking Comes to Kentucky – Encore Drills First Horizontal Oil Wells). In 2017, we brought you the news that Encore Energy, headquartered in Bowling Green, was just beginning to drill shale wells looking to extract oil from the Berea. Fast forward to today, and over 100 horizontal wells are permitted, drilled, and/or producing in the Berea in Lawrence County. Encore issued a press release yesterday saying it has just turned another three Berea wells online to sales and is drilling three more.

Ameren Seeks to Build 800-MW Gas-Fired Peaker Near St. Louis, MO - Marcellus Drilling News - Ameren Missouri, a subsidiary of Ameren Corporation, recently filed an application with the Missouri Public Service Commission to build an 800-megawatt, simple-cycle “peaker plant” powered by natural gas to serve as a reliable backup source of energy, ready to use when customers need it most. The Castle Bluff Energy Center is designed to bolster grid reliability, deliver energy on the hottest summer days and the coldest winter nights, and complement the increasing amount of renewable energy generation being added to the grid.

Natural Gas Producer Discipline, Demand Momentum Said to Support Prices Through Summer -Drops in natural gas production, declining storage surpluses and stronger summer weather demand in the Lower 48 and abroad all line up in bulls’ favor. These factors could prop up prices through the cooling season and potentially longer, a cadre of analysts agreed this week.Speaking at the LDC Gas Forums Northeast in Boston, Atmospheric G2 meteorologist James Caron said his firm’s seasonal forecasts call for “very, very warm” weather across most of North America and vast sections of Europe and Asia as well. The outlook mirrors predictions by AccuWeather and the National Weather Service. Such conditions have already settled across parts of all three continents, and he looks for the heat to spread in the back half of June. The sultry temperatures are expected to endure through the summer months, he said, fueling robust domestic cooling demand, strong levels of pipeline exports to Mexico, and increased calls for U.S. shipments of LNG to Europe and Asia.

Golden Pass LNG Navigates EPC Bankruptcy Fallout as Market Scrutinizes Commissioning Timeline --While Golden Pass LNG is holding to previous expectations for commissioning to begin in the first half of 2025, FERC staff said the timelines could be impacted as the lead construction contractor navigates bankruptcy. Zachry Industrial Inc. informed the Texas Workforce Commission that it has laid off about 4,400 workers assigned to the 18 million metric tons/year (mmty) export project southeast of Houston. The San Antonio-based parent company filed for bankruptcy in late May, noting “significant financial strain” from attempts to keep Golden Pass on schedule. Zachry had taken on the role of hiring and coordinating the onsite construction staff at Golden Pass as part of a engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) partnership with Chiyoda Corp. and McDermott.

NextDecade, Saudi Aramco sign 20-yr LNG supply deal (Reuters)—U.S. liquefied natural gas (LNG) provider NextDecade has signed a non-binding agreement with Saudi Aramco to supply 1.2 metric MMtpy of LNG for 20 yr. The deal comes at a time when Aramco is seeking to strengthen its position in the LNG market, which is set to grow globally by 50% by 2030, especially in the U.S., where LNG capacity is set to almost double over the next four years. Aramco said the deal was part of its efforts to expand its "presence in international energy markets." Under the terms, LNG will be supplied from the fourth liquefaction train at NextDecade's Rio Grande LNG Facility at the Port of Brownsville, Texas, USA. Earlier this month, Reuters reported that Aramco was in talks with NextDecade, as well as U.S. firm Tellurian on two separate LNG projects as the Saudi firm seeks to boost its gas trading and production. Aramco and NextDecade said they were in the process of negotiating a binding agreement, effective subject to a positive final investment decision on Train 4, which NextDecade said it expects in the second half of 2024. In May, Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) said it had acquired 11.7% stake in phase 1 of NextDecade's LNG project, which included the first three liquefaction trains, and agreed to a 20-yr supply agreement for the fourth train.

Aramco Inks 20-Year HoA for Rio Grande LNG Supply -Saudi Arabian Oil Co. (Aramco) has signed a non-binding heads of agreement (HoA) with NextDecade Corporation for a 20-year liquefied natural gas sale and purchase agreement (LNG SPA) for offtake from Train 4 at the Rio Grande LNG Facility at the Port of Brownsville, Texas, USA. Under the terms of the HoA, Aramco expects to purchase 1.2 million metric tons per annum (mtpa) of LNG for 20 years on a free on board basis, at a price indexed to Henry Hub, according to a joint news release from the two companies. The HoA was executed through their respective subsidiaries. Aramco and NextDecade are currently in the process of negotiating a binding agreement, according to the release. The binding agreement will still be subject to a positive final investment decision on Train 4. Nasir K. Al-Naimi, Aramco Upstream President, said: "We look forward to finalizing the terms of a long-term LNG offtake agreement with NextDecade, as we explore opportunities to expand our presence in international energy markets. We expect LNG to play an important role in meeting the rising demand for secure and efficient energy”. Matt Schatzman, NextDecade Chairman and CEO, said: “We are pleased to have reached a Heads of Agreement with Aramco for LNG from Train 4, as Aramco seeks to expand its LNG portfolio. We look forward to finalizing the LNG SPA with Aramco and to pursuing other opportunities together”. In May, Abu Dhabi National Oil Co. (ADNOC) announced that it would take a 11.7 percent stake in phase 1 of the Rio Grande LNG project, according to a statement Monday. The deal also gives ADNOC 1.9 million tons a year of LNG supply from the project’s future Train 4, according to an earlier statement. ADNOC’s stake in the first phase of Rio Grande will also give it access to Trains 1 to 3, which are parts of the project. NextDecade Corp., through its subsidiary NextDecade LNG LLC, in January secured a total of $62.5 million for various purposes including the development costs of Train 4 at the Rio Grande LNG facility. NextDecade entered into a credit agreement with MUFG Bank Ltd. as lender and administrative agent that provides for a $50 million senior secured revolving credit facility and a $12.5 million interest term loan. Phase 1 of the Rio Grande LNG project, which consists of the first three liquefaction trains and has a nameplate liquefaction capacity of 17.6 mtpa, has long-term binding LNG sale and purchase agreements with TotalEnergies, Shell NA LNG LLC, ENN LNG Pte. Ltd., Engie SA, ExxonMobil LNG Asia Pacific, Guangdong Energy Group, China Gas Hongda Energy Trading Co., Galp Trading SA, and Itochu Corp. According to the company website, Rio Grande LNG is expected to produce lower carbon intensive LNG. Located on a 984-acre site on the banks of an uncongested deepwater channel, it will be the largest privately funded infrastructure project in Texas. Rio Grande LNG claims to be the first and only U.S. LNG project offering carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions reduction of more than 90 percent via planned carbon capture and storage – capturing and permanently storing more than 5 million metric tonnes of CO2 per year, equivalent to removing more than one million vehicles from the road annually.

Freeport LNG Sues EPC Contractors for Alleged ‘Defects’ in Train Motors --Extended outages at Freeport LNG this year were likely caused by defects in its liquefaction trains’ motors, the company claimed in a lawsuit against three engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) firms. Freeport LNG Development LP is seeking damages from Zachry Industrial Inc., Chiyoda International Corp. and CB&I Inc., which built and installed the Texas facility’s three electric-drive trains, for alleged faulty work. In an April petition filed in a Texas district court, Freeport’s lawyers outlined how crews reportedly found the technical faults in January while doing maintenance work after a system trip on Train 3.

FERC Sends Disagreement Over Calcasieu Pass LNG Documents to Administrative Court -Venture Global LNG Inc. has been tasked with cooperating with long-term offakers of its Calcasieu Pass LNG project to share some private information about the Louisiana export terminal. In a recent ruling, FERC appointed an administrative judge to manage negotiations between the liquefied natural gas exporter and a group of customers seeking information about the 10 million metric ton/year facility. If the parties cannot agree to a plan, the administrative judge could create their own protective order to release information to the customers. “Because Venture Global and customers disagree about the terms of a protective agreement, the Commission finds that the most efficient way for the parties to reach an agreement is with the assistance of an administrative law judge,” Federal Energy Regulatory Commission staff wrote in the order.

NGI’s 1Q2024 Natural Gas Supply and Demand Takeaways --Expectations for North American upstream natural gas capital expenditures in 2024 continue to show a year/year decline in the low- to mid-single digits, with subdued rig counts persisting throughout the year. Eventually, those rigs would need to resume work to account for the in-service of more Lower 48 LNG export capacity next year, and possibly to gear up for the rapid growth in data centers – although it is uncertain as to what that opportunity for incremental gas demand may be. NGI's natural gas prices vs Lower 48 production NGI reviewed some of the first quarter of 2024 earnings calls for players in the major North American oil and natural gas production areas in order to gauge future supply and demand trends. NGI’s Patrick Rau, senior vice president for Research & Analysis, also provided a rundown of the top ten themes of 1Q2024 in the latest episode of Hub & Flow. Baker Hughes Co. (BKR) – Baker Hughes has proclaimed this to be “The Age of Gas.” That’s more of a long-term view, and maybe not quite as apropos a description for 2024, at least not in North America (NA). Both Baker Hughes and SLB Ltd. continue to expect NA activity and spending to be down to the low- to mid-single digits for the rest of this year, primarily because of lower natural gas prices. Thus far in 2024, Lower 48 rigs have fallen to 600 from 622, per Baker Hughes. Even with the recent price rally – which has seen NGI’s daily Henry Hub spot market price index increase from a low of $1.240/MMBtu on March 13 to $2.635 June 3 – rigs are down by six this month.

US Natural Gas Prices Rise To 5-Month Highs On Hot Weather Forecasts - Prompt-month natural gas futures have exceeded $3 per million British thermal units on Monday, marking the highest level since mid-January 2024 and hitting a potential four-day winning streak, spurred by forecasts predicting increased cooling demand due to anticipated warm weather in June. Last week, natural gas prices rose by 12.8%, and are currently eyeing the seventh week of gains out of last eight. “With a blanket of heat stalling over the southern part of the country, market bulls maintained control,” said Jodi Shafto, senior natural gas reporter at Natural Gas Intel. Chart: US Natural Gas Price Have Rallied 95% Since Late April’s Lows NatGasWeather highlighted that much of the country is expected to experience temperatures ranging from the upper 70s and 80s in the Midwest and Northeast to the upper 80s and 90s elsewhere, with extreme heat in California and Texas reaching the mid-100s.The American forecast model predicts significantly above-average temperatures from Monday, June 17 to Monday, June 24."Either way, the pattern is hot enough for stronger-than-normal demand," NatGasWeather said. This trend is anticipated to reduce natural gas storage surpluses to around 450 billion cubic feet (Bcf) or slightly below by the end of the month, according to NatGasWeather.In the week ending May 31, U.S. utilities added 98 Bcf of gas to storage, surpassing market expectations of an 89 Bcf increase. This was the ninth consecutive week of seasonal storage increases, bringing the total stockpiles to 2,893 Bcf. This level is 373 Bcf higher than the same period last year and 581 Bcf, or 25%, above the five-year average of 2,312 Bcf.The weekend GFS lost a few CDDs, although the ECMWF gained a few. Both forecast light to moderate national demand through Thursday but then both are quite hot with the US pattern for the 3rd week of June, just with the EC numerous CDDs hotter compared to the GFS. #natgas pic.twitter.com/d28vw0jcka— NatGasWeather.com (@NatGasWeather) June 9, 2024 Companies involved in the natural gas market outperformed oil-related stocks on Monday.

US natgas prices jump 8% to 21-week high on output drop, hotter weather forecasts (Reuters) -U.S. natural gas futures jumped about 8%to a 21-week high on Tuesday on a drop in output in recent days and forecasts for hotter weather that should boost the amount of gas power generators burn to keep air conditioners humming. That price increase occurred despite forecasts for less demand over the next two weeks than previously expected, expectations gas supplies will soon rise with the giant Mountain Valley Pipeline nearing completion, and the tremendous oversupply of gas still in storage. Analysts said current gas stockpiles were still around 24% above normal levels for this time of year. OLL Mountain Valley said its pipeline from West Virginia to Virginia was "mechanically complete" and being "packed with gas." The company sought permission from the U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to place the project into service by Tuesday, June 11. Analysts predicted FERC would probably authorize the project but not necessarily by Tuesday. Front-month gas futures for July delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange rose 22.3 cents, or 7.7%, to settle at $3.129 per million British thermal units (mmBtu), its highest close since Jan. 12. In the spot market, next-day gas at the AECO hub in Alberta, Canada fell to 60 cents per mmBtu, its lowest price since October 2022 for a second day in a row. In other news, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said a tropical disturbance in the Gulf of Mexico had a 20% chance of becoming a cyclone over the next seven days as it blows across Florida and into the Atlantic Ocean off the Carolinas. Meteorologists predict this could be a record-setting year for hurricanes and other tropical storms. Financial firm LSEG said gas output in the Lower 48 U.S. states has fallen to an average of 97.8 billion cubic feet per day (bcfd) so far in June, down from 98.1 bcfd in May. That compares with a monthly record of 105.5 bcfd in December 2023. On a daily basis, output was on track to drop by around 2.8 bcfd over the past four days to a preliminary 20-week low of 95.2 bcfd on Tuesday. Traders, however, noted preliminary data is often revised later in the day. Before recent output declines in June, analysts said increases in May were a sign producers were slowly boosting output due to a 47% jump in futures prices in April and May. Output hit a six-week high of 99.5 bcfd on May 24. Overall, U.S. gas production has remained down around 10% so far in 2024 after several energy firms, including EQT and Chesapeake Energy, delayed well completions and cut drilling activities when prices fell in February and March. Meteorologists projected weather across the Lower 48 states would remain mostly hotter than normal through June 26. LSEG forecast gas demand in the Lower 48, including exports, would jump from 94.7 bcfd this week to 98.8 bcfd next week. Those forecasts were lower than LSEG's outlook on Monday. Gas flows to the seven big U.S. LNG export plants have risen to 13.1 bcfd so far in June, up from 12.9 bcfd in May. That, however, remains well below the monthly record high of 14.7 bcfd in December 2023 due to ongoing maintenance at several plants, including Cheniere Energy's LNG.N Sabine Pass, Venture Global's Calcasieu Pass and Cameron LNG's plant in Louisiana.

US natural gas prices fall 3% after Mountain Valley pipe startup approved (Reuters) -U.S. natural gas futures fell about 3%on Wednesday on expectations that supplies will soon rise with the approved startup of the Mountain Valley gas pipe and news about plans by EQT, the nation's biggest gas producer, to boost output. Federal energy regulators approved the startup of the Mountain Valley Pipeline from West Virginia to Virginia late Tuesday. Analysts expect the Mountain Valley startup will allow Appalachian producers to slowly boost output in coming months as other energy firms fix constraints on connecting pipes in Virginia and other states, allowing gas flows on Mountain Valley to reach the pipe's full 2-billion-cubic-feet-per-day(bcfd) capacity. In other news, EQT CEO Toby Rice told Natural Gas Intelligence at the LDC Gas Forums Northeast conference in Boston that EQT started to bring back some of the 1 bcfd of production it started to curtail in February when gas prices dropped. With gas prices rising in April and May, analysts said they sawsigns that EQT and other producers started to boost output again in May. Front-month gas futures NGc1 for July delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange fell 8.4 cents, or 2.7%, to settle at $3.045 per million British thermal units (mmBtu).On Tuesday, the contract closed at its highest price since Jan. 12. The futures price decline came despite an ongoing drop in output so far in June and forecasts for hotter weather through at least the end of the month that should boost the amount of gas power generators need to burn to keep air conditioners humming. Other factors keeping a lid on futures prices this year include consistently lower spot prices at the U.S. Henry Hub benchmark NG-W-HH-SNL in Louisiana and the oversupply of gas in storage despite six weeks of smaller-than-usualstorage builds. Analysts said current gas stockpiles were still around 24% above normal levels for this time of year. Financial firm LSEG said gas output in the Lower 48 U.S. states fell to an average of 97.7 bcfd so far in June, from 98.1 bcfd in May. That compares with a monthly record of 105.5 bcfd in December 2023. On a daily basis, output was on track to drop by around 2.3 bcfd over the past five days to a preliminary 21-week low of 95.7 bcfd on Wednesday. Traders, however, noted preliminary data is often revised later in the day. Meteorologists projected weather across the Lower 48 states would remain hotter than normal through at least June 27. LSEG forecast gas demand in the Lower 48, including exports, would jump from 95.3 bcfd this week to 98.9 bcfd next week. The forecast for this week was higher than LSEG's outlook on Tuesday. Gas flows to the seven big U.S. LNG export plants rose to 13.1 bcfd so far in June, from 12.9 bcfd in May.

US natgas prices fall 3% on forecasts for lower demand, higher output (Reuters) -U.S. natural gas futures fell about 3% on Thursday on lowered demand forecasts for the next two weeks, expectations supplies will soon rise once the Mountain Valley gas pipeline enters service, and news that recent increases in prices and demand prompted EQT, the nation's biggest gas producer, to start boosting output. Traders said prices were also pressured by upward revisions to past weeks' storage builds in the latest report even though last week's storage build was seasonally small for a fifth straight week. Producers cut output after futures prices dropped to 3-1/2-year lows in February and March. The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) said utilities added 74 billion cubic feet (bcf) of gas into storage during the week ended June 7. But working gas stocks were revised higher for the five-week period from May 3-31 by increasing inventories by 6 bcf to 9 bcf for each week during the period. For the week ended June 7, the stock build was in line with the 74-bcf addition analysts forecast in a Reuters poll. That compares with an increase of 90 bcf in the same week last year and a five-year (2019-2023) average rise of 89 bcf for this time of year. This week's build left stockpiles about 24% above normal for this time of year. Front-month gas futures NGc1 for July delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange fell 8.6 cents, or 2.8%, to settle at $2.959 per million British thermal units (mmBtu). The futures price decline occurred despite forecasts for hotter weather through at least the end of June that should boost the amount of gas power generators need to burn to keep air conditioners humming. . On a daily basis, output was on track to rise by around 0.4 bcfd over the past two days to a preliminary 96.9 bcfd on Thursday, up from a 20-week low of 96.5 bcfd on Tuesday. Before recent output declines in June, analysts said increases in May were a sign producers were slowly boosting output due to a 47% jump in futures prices in April and May. Output hit a six-week high of 99.5 bcfd on May 24. EQT EQT.N said this week that it started boosting output. Overall, U.S. gas production was still down around 9% so far in 2024 after several energy firms, including EQT and Chesapeake Energy, delayed well completions and cut drilling activities when prices fell in February and March. Chesapeake is on track to become the biggest producer after its merger with Southwestern Energy SWN.N. Meteorologists projected weather across the Lower 48 states would remain hotter than normal through at least June 28. LSEG forecast gas demand in the Lower 48, including exports, would jump from 94.9 bcfd this week to 98.5 bcfd next week. Those forecasts were lower than LSEG's outlook on Wednesday.

Strengthening Natural Gas Prices Seen Driving Production Boost in 2025, EIA says --The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) is projecting a Henry Hub natural gas spot price average of $2.50/MMBtu for 2024, up 13% from the average price the agency modeled last month.In the June release of its Short-Term Energy Outlook (STEO), published Tuesday, EIA said it expects the national benchmark’s average spot prices to climb to $3.30 in December from $2.12 in May, because of the decline in Lower 48 natural gas production. EIA said marketed natural gas production in the United States averaged 110 Bcf/d in May, 3% below the average produced in the first quarter of this year.

US weekly LNG exports reach 26 shipments - US liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports reached 26 shipments in the week ending June 5 and pipeline deliveries to US terminals increased compared to the week before, according to the Energy Information Administration.The agency said in its weekly report that 26 LNG carriers departed the US plants between May 30 and June 5. This is the same number of shipments compared to the week before.Citing shipping data provided by Bloomberg Finance, the EIA said the total capacity of these LNG vessels is 94 Bcf.Average natural gas deliveries to US LNG export terminals increased 0.2 Bcf/d from last week to 13.2 Bcf/d, according to data from S&P Global Commodity Insights.Natural gas deliveries to terminals in South Louisiana increased 7 percent (0.5 Bcf/d) to 8 Bcf/d, while natural gas deliveries to terminals in South Texas decreased 4.5 percent (0.2 Bcf/d) to 4 Bcf/d.The agency said that natural gas deliveries to terminals outside the Gulf Coast averaged 1.2 Bcf/d this week, down from 1.3 Bcf/d the previous week. Cheniere’s Sabine Pass plant shipped eight cargoes and the company’s Corpus Christi facility sent four shipments during the week under review.The Freeport LNG terminal shipped five cargoes, while Venture Global LNG’s Calcasieu Pass facility and Sempra Infrastructure’s Cameron LNG terminal each shipped three cargoes during the period.Also, the Cove Point facility sent two cargoes and the Elba Island facility sent one cargo during the week under review.This report week, the Henry Hub spot price rose 1 cent from $2.21 per million British thermal units (MMBtu) last Wednesday to $2.22/MMBtu this Wednesday.The July 2024 NYMEX contract price increased to $2.757/MMBtu, up 9 cents from last Wednesday to this Wednesday.The price of the 12-month strip averaging July 2024 through June 2025 futures contracts also climbed 9 cents to $3.223/MMBtu, the agency said.The agency said that international natural gas futures were mixed this report week.Bloomberg Finance reported that weekly average front-month futures prices for LNG cargoes in East Asia decreased 2 cents to a weekly average of $11.98/MMBtu.Natural gas futures for delivery at the Dutch TTF increased 14 cents to a weekly average of $11/MMBtu.In the same week last year (week ending June 7, 2023), the prices were $9.25/MMBtu in East Asia and $7.95/MMBtu at TTF, the agency said.

EIA: U.S. Crude Oil Production to Average 13.2 million bpd in 2024 | OilPrice.com The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) released its June 2024 Short-Term Energy Outlook (STEO) today. The EIA expects U.S. crude oil production to average 13.2 million barrels per day (b/d) in 2024—an increase of 2% from 2023 levels. The EIA sees U.S. crude oil production averaging 13.7 million bpd in 2025. The increase in production will be led by the Permian, according to the EIA, and Eagle Ford. This production outlook remains unchanged from the May version of the Short-Term Energy Outlook. Meanwhile, weekly U.S. crude oil production data published by the Energy Administration Information has held at an average of13.1 million barrels per day every week for the last twelve weeks. For their global oil production outlook, the EIA sees OPEC+ largely adhering to its production targets announced earlier this month. While OPEC+ extended its production cuts, “our expectation is that OPEC+ crude oil production will follow these new targets until 2025. At that time, we expect that some OPEC+ producers will keep production below the targets in an effort to limit global oil inventory builds,” the EIA said in its report. While crude oil production forecasts have held steady, pricing forecasts have not. In terms of pricing, the EIA is now forecasting Brent crude oil prices to average $84 per barrel in 2024, up from an average of $82 per barrel in 2023 and $101 per barrel in 2022. The EIA’s previous report forecast 2024 Brent spot pricing at $88. For next year, the EIA held its Brent price forecast steady at $85 per barrel. For natural gas, the report anticipates Henry Hub natural gas spot prices to average $2.50 per million British thermal units (MMBtu) in 2024—steady on 2023 levels but up from the $2.20/MMBtu forecasted for 2024 last month, with the agency forecasting U.S. marketed natural gas production increasing by 2% next year. For 2025, the EIA anticipates $3.20/MMBtu for natural gas.

Utilities Planning Plethora of Natural Gas Power in Texas as Demand Soars -- Utility Entergy Texas Inc. is forecasting the need to add 40% more generation capacity to its fleet to meet economic and population growth in southeast Texas. The company filed an application with the Public Utilities Commission of Texas (PUCT) for two natural gas-fired power plants to be named Legend and Lone Star. "The Legend and Lone Star plants will address the critical need to increase power generation capacity, support increased economic activity throughout the region and pave the way for the creation of sustainable energy solutions that will benefit Southeast Texas for decades to come," said CEO Eliecer Viamontes. "These future projects are expected to save customers approximately $370 million over the life of the plants."

Growth in U.S. Oil and Gas Output Slows Down Oil and gas production in the United States hit record highs at the end of 2023 but has since trended lower, and the growth in output has slowed year-over-year.U.S. companies have slowed production growth rates as oil prices stabilized at lower levels last year compared to the 2022 highs, and U.S. natural gas prices saw a slump to multi-decade lows early this year. This year's increase in shale and overall U.S. crude production will be much lower than in the past two years, analysts and forecasters say.The decline in oil and gas prices compared to the spikes seen in 2022, the ongoing merger wave in the U.S. shale industry, and the focus on shareholder returns—instead of production growth—have all combined to drag output growth lower in recent months. The total number of active drilling rigs for oil and gas in the United States saw no change in the last week of May, according to data from Baker Hughes. The total rig count stayed the same at 600, compared to 696 rigs this same time last year.Meanwhile, U.S. crude oil production stayed the same for the eleventh week in a row at an average of 13.1 million barrels per day (bpd) for the week ending May 24—down by 200,000 bpd from the all-time high of 13.3 million bpd.Moreover, Primary Vision's Frac Spread Count, an estimate of the number of crews completing wells that are unfinished, fell by 6 in the week ending May 24, to 257.As a result, growth from the Lower 48 basins was no more than 500,000 bpd in March 2024 from the same month last year, per EIA data cited by Reuters columnist John Kemp. This compares to yearly growth of up to 1 million bpd in the second half of 2023.In other words, U.S. oil production is growing, but at a much slower pace than in 2022 and 2023.

Biden EIA Dumps Detailed Monthly U.S. Shale Drilling Report - Marcellus Drilling News - It is the sad end of an era brought about by the Bidenistas at the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA). For years, since the very first Drilling Productivity Report (DPR) issued by the EIA, MDN has brought you the monthly DPR, a report that delves into the latest numbers for each of the seven major shale plays in the U.S. The monthly DPR reported estimates of production for each play each month, along with DUC (drilled but uncompleted well) counts and other vital statistics. But, no more. We checked the EIA’s DPR report pagetoday and found this notice: “Beginning June 11, 2024, we will publish the shale gas tight oil production data and Drilling Productivity Report data in the Short-Term Energy Outlook (STEO) data tables. These improvements will provide a disaggregated STEO forecast for oil and natural gas production in different regions of the United States.”

Fight over constitutional provisions to guard against oil, gas pollution moves ahead in New Mexico (AP) — A New Mexico judge cleared the way Monday for a landmark lawsuit to proceed that alleges the state has failed to meet its constitutional obligations for protecting against oil and gas pollution.Environmental groups and Native Americans who live near oil wells in the No. 2 producing state in the U.S. initially filed the case in 2023. They are seeking compliance with a “pollution control clause” in the New Mexico Constitution.Judge Matthew Wilson denied a motion by the state to dismiss the case, saying there needs to be more scrutiny of New Mexico’s responsibilities under the constitution and that granting the state’s request would short-circuit that examination.Attorneys for the plaintiffs celebrated the judge’s ruling, saying it will allow residents of New Mexico who have been living with the consequences of more oil and gas development in opposite corners of the state to have their day in court.“The case can go forward on the undisputed facts about the extent of the pollution and the extent of the state’s failure to control that pollution,” said Gail Evans, an attorney with the Center for Biological Diversity.She said plaintiffs have cleared a critical hurdle in the judicial process to bring forward evidence of constitutional violations.“I’m confident the court will definitively enforce the constitutional protection of our state’s beautiful and healthful environment on behalf of the plaintiffs and every resident of New Mexico,” Evans said.Lujan Grisham’s administration has in recent years adopted rule changes aimed at limiting emissions from the oil and gas industry. However, environmental groups have raised concerns that enforcement isn’t keeping pace despite fines being levied against out-of-state energy companies and major settlements being inked to address air pollution.A spokesman for Democratic Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham said Monday evening that the administration was still reviewing the judge’s decision.“We will continue to vigorously defend these claims,” said Michael Coleman, communications director to the governor.Attorneys for the Legislature did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Two major business associations — the New Mexico Chamber of Commerce and the Independent Petroleum Producers Association of New Mexico — have formally intervened in court proceedings, unsuccessfully urging dismissal of the lawsuit.

Oil Paychecks Set a Record Even as Shale Industry Consolidates - Wages for US oil workers set a fresh record in April as a wave of acquisitions in the shale industry has yet to impact the labor force. Average hourly earnings for front-line oil and gas workers rose 0.5% from March to $44.67, according to a Labor Department report released Friday.

Study: Minorities ‘systematically’ underrepresented in US petrochemical workforce This country’s heaviest polluters also rely on a workforce that disproportionately fails to fill good-paying jobs with people of color who are more likely to be affected by their emissions, according to a new study.The research, from Tulane University’s Environmental Law Clinic — currently under peer review — finds that people of color are underrepresented in high-paying jobs in both the chemical manufacturing and petroleum/coal industry.And Louisiana, with one of the largest concentrations of petrochemical facilities in the United States, is the only state where minorities were underrepresented in low-paying and high-paying jobs in both industries.For advocates there, this new report is proof that the good jobs are going to white people while much of the toxic emissions and health risks are being endured by people living in the surrounding communities, which tend to be low-income or predominantly minority.“The pollution versus jobs narrative is really oversimplified because the trade off affects different groups unevenly,” said Kimberly Terrell, director of community engagement and a staff scientist with the Tulane law clinic who led the research team. “Petrochemical jobs that mostly go to white workers can’t offset the harm of petrochemical pollution that mostly occurs in Black and Hispanic neighborhoods.”The research showed that people of color were generally underrepresented in high-paying jobs in both the chemical manufacturing sector and petroleum/coal industry and often were over-represented in low-paying jobs in the chemical industry, with results “mixed” for the same category on the petroleum side.In another recently released report, researchers described a situation in Louisiana’s Plaquemines Parish in which local residents of color were unable to take advantage of construction jobs at a terminal that exports methane, also known as liquefied natural gas.The Mississippi River ferry connecting the plant to the community did not run early enough to get the employees to work by 5 a.m., as required. And prospective workers — many without reliable transportation — had to attend weeks of training in New Orleans 55 miles away, according to researchers from Texas Southern University and the University of Montana.Nationally, higher paying jobs in the chemical manufacturing industry disproportionately went to more white people in Texas, Louisiana and Georgia, where minorities represent 59%, 41% and 49% of their respective states’ populations but held 38%, 21% and 28% of the better-paid jobs within the industry.In the petroleum/coal industry, people of color were underrepresented in higher-paying jobs in at least 14 states — including Texas, California, Louisiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Illinois.

Mexico’s U.S. Natural Gas Imports Hitting All-Time Highs in June – Spotlight --North American natural gas futures for the coming summer months rose above the $3.00/MMBtu mark this week. Expect stronger prices throughout the summer, said analysts who spoke at the LDC Gas Forums Northeast in Boston. They said that sizzling temperatures, combined with lower production, would bolster prices. They also cited rising imports of U.S. natural gas in Mexico. Mexico has imported 7.61 Bcf/d over the past 10 days, according to NGI calculations. Every U.S. region has seen an increase in pipeline pulls from Mexico this month, according to NGI analyst Josiah Clinedinst.

Heatwaves, Supply Outages Supporting Global Natural Gas Prices – LNG Recap --Hot weather and maintenance work cutting into supplies pushed global natural gas prices higher on Monday. NGI's European natural gas storage chart. The Dutch Title Transfer Facility in Europe gained about 3% on Monday, when it neared the $11/MMBtu level. Norwegian output has returned to normal levels of about 12 Bcf/d after volumes dropped roughly 20% last week following an unplanned outage at the Sleipner field that pushed prices to a six-month high. “Surging gas prices across markets last Monday tell a story of vulnerability worldwide,” said Rystad Energy analyst Christoph Halser.

Atlantic LNG shipping rates continue to climb, European prices drop - Atlantic spot liquefied natural gas (LNG) freight rates continued to increase this week, while European prices decreased compared to the previous week.Last week, freight rates increased with the Atlantic rate reaching $52,500 per day.“Atlantic freight rates have experienced a third consecutive week of significant rate increases, with the Spark30 Atlantic rate increasing by $4,500 to $57,000 per day, and the Spark25 Pacific rate staying steady at $45,250 per day,” Qasim Afghan,” Spark’s commercial analyst told LNG Prime on Friday.“The last three weeks have seen the largest week-on-week Spark30 freight rate increases of the year thus far,” he said.In Europe, the SparkNWE DES LNG front month dropped compared to the last week.“SparkNWE DES LNG prices experienced some volatility this week, with the front month price assessed for July delivery rising to a year-to-date high of $11.323/MMBtu on Monday before falling to its current assessment of $10.575/MMBtu, and the discount to the TTF assessed at $0.165/MMBtu,” Afghan said.He said this is a $0.451/MMBtu week-on-week decrease in DES LNG price, the largest week-on-week decrease in six weeks.European prices rose earlier this week after an unplanned outage at Norway’s Nyhamna gas processing plant.Gassco said that the plant, which has a capacity of 79.8 mcm per day, is expected to ramp up capacity to 45mcm/day on Friday.Data by Gas Infrastructure Europe (GIE) shows that volumes in gas storages in the EU continued to rise and storages were 70.86 percent full on June 5. Gas storages were 69.48 percent full on May 29, and 70.54 percent full on June 5 last year.In Asia, JKM, the price for LNG cargoes delivered to Northeast Asia, for July settled at $11.985/MMBtu on Thursday. Last week, JKM for July settled at 11.906/MMBtu on Friday. It rose to 12.050/MMBtu on Monday this week and dropped slightly to 11.990/MMBtu on Tuesday and 11.970/MMBtu on Wednesday. State-run Japan Organization for Metals and Energy Security (JOGMEC) said in a report earlier this week that JKM continued its upward trend last week due to increased demand in Asia for the summer season and increased electricity demand due to the heatwave in India, as well as continued supply uncertainties such as troubles at Chevron’s Gorgon LNG plant in Australia.Chevron Australia resumed full LNG production from the Gorgon facility on May 29. After that, there was a temporary outage at the facility and Chevron resumed full production on June 3. US LNG exports reached 26 shipments in the week ending June 5, the same as in the week before, and pipeline deliveries to US terminals increased compared to the week before, according to the Energy Information Administration. As per spot LNG cargo tenders, Komipo is seeking 3.2-3.8 trillion British thermal units (TBtu) of LNG on a delivered ex-ship (DES) basis.The delivery window is August 7-9 and the volumes will be delivered to a Kogas-operated LNG import terminal in South Korea, according to Komipo.Power producer First Gen is also seeking one spot LNG cargo for delivery in July to its FSRU-based import terminal in Batangas, Philippines.Egypt is reportedly seeking cargoes to meet electricity needs during the summer months. Norwegian FSRU player Hoegh LNG recently confirmed it has signed a deal with Australian Industrial Energy (AIE) and Egypt’s EGAS to deploy the 2019-built FSRU Hoegh Galleon to Egypt.

Europe on Track to Refill Natural Gas Storage Inventories Despite Potential Headwinds --An influx of LNG once again has Europe on track to fill its storage inventories ahead of the winter heating season. A surge in liquefied natural gas imports has offset the loss of Russian pipeline deliveries to Europe since mid-2022, and has helped to keep storage inventories elevated. The continent remains the largest importer of U.S. LNG for the third year in a row. Storage facilities across Europe are 71% full, compared to the five-year average of about 59%. Inventories are expected to continue climbing at comfortable levels and are forecast to hit the mid-90% range by the end of October, Goldman Sachs Commodities Research said in a recent note to clients.

Europe’s Gas Supply Risks Remain Despite Record Storage Levels | OilPrice.com --Europe’s natural gas prices have jumped by 40% over the past three months despite the EU exiting the winter heating season with a record-high level of gas still in storage. The price move higher during the so-called shoulder season when household gas demand is low was the result of concerns about supply disruptions and an uptick in Asia’s LNG imports due to lower spot prices and heat waves in parts of China as well as India and other Southeast Asian countries. The stronger pull of LNG to Asia has left Europe with fewer imports in the spring, and the major surplus in European gas storage levels, while still at a record high and well above seasonal averages, has narrowed since the end of the winter heating season. Risks to Europe’s gas supply remain, as the most recent spikes in the continent’s benchmark prices have shown. Europe will likely fill up its storage sites ahead of its self-imposed November 1 deadline for a second consecutive year, analysts say. But concerns about another cut-off in the remaining supply from Russia and unplanned outages in Norway—now Europe’s single largest gas supplier—will keep the markets on edge and prices elevated toward the end of this year. The EU’s gas storage sites were 72.3% full as of June 11, according to data from Gas Infrastructure Europe.Refilling season has started, and the EU has raised its gas in storage levels from 58% at the end of the winter, which was in itself a record-high level of available gas for the end of a heating season, thanks to a milder winter and muted demand from industry.Now that the refill season is in full swing, it has been an unusually slow start to the pace of refilling, the second-slowest since 2012 and well below the ten-year seasonal average, according to data compiled by Reuters market analyst John Kemp. The surplus of gas stocks, compared to the ten-year average, has narrowed by early June compared to the end of the heating season on March 31. That said, storage levels continue to be well above seasonal averages, and it is likely that Europe will hit its full-storage target well in advance of the November 1 deadline. However, the slower-than-usual build-up of natural gas inventories has put upward pressure on European prices, which have also reflected risks to supply from Norway and Russia in recent weeks. Asia is also increasing competition for LNG supply as heat waves scorch south and Southeast Asia, diverting cargoes away from Europe. This month, Europe’s benchmark natural gas prices have already jumped on two occasions as the market feared supply shocks. First, the Dutch TTF Natural Gas Futures, the benchmark for Europe’s gas trading, surged by 10% on a single day in early June to the highest level in six months, as supply from Norway crumbled amid unplanned outages. The Sleipner hub offshore Norway was shut down, which also stopped operation at the Nyhamna onshore processing plant for several days. The Sleipner Riser offshore hub is a connection point for pipelines connecting the Nyhamna plant on the west coast of Norway with the Easington terminal in the UK. The unplanned outage highlighted the vulnerability of Europe relying on natural gas imports as Norway became Europe’s top gas supplier after the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the slump in Russian gas exports to the EU. Uncertainty about the remaining Russian gas supply via pipelines to Europe also lifted the gas prices at the Dutch hub this week. Prices jumped by 3% on Wednesday morning after German energy giant Uniper terminated its Russian gas supply contracts, leaving the market concerned about the remaining flows of gas from Russia to Europe.The announcement from Uniper and the recent warning from OMV that Gazprom could halt gas supply to Austria due to a foreign court ruling that could interrupt OMV payments to Gazprom Export, rekindled concerns about whether Russian supply would be further limited by Gazprom. Higher Asian Prices Could Accelerate European Refill But as prices in Europe have jumped by 40% in three months and Asia’s spot LNG prices hover around six-month highs, the higher Asian prices could create headwinds to Asia’s LNG demand growth in the near term, Wood Mackenzie said in a report this week. “Lower European demand has depressed prices and pushed LNG into Asia with imports to China alone up 22%,” said Lucy Cullen, Research Director, EMEA Gas & LNG Research at Wood Mackenzie. “Looking ahead, high prices are likely to provide some headwinds to near-term Asian demand growth. As a result, European storage levels remain on track to reach full capacity by the end of September and stay that way through October,” Cullen added. Yet, Europe still faces supply risks, the greatest being Russian gas supply, “whether this be via an early cut of transmission via Ukraine or as a consequence of pending arbitration proceedings between European energy companies and Gazprom.” Moreover, unplanned or extended Norwegian maintenance is set to play a more significant role in Europe’s gas prices and pace of filling up storage, as Norway is now Europe’s biggest gas supplier, WoodMac’s Cullen said.

Germany's Uniper terminates Russian gas supply deals - --German state-owned energy firm Uniper has decided on Wednesday to terminate its long-term Russian gas supply contracts, officially ending its long-term gas supply relationship with Russia’s state-owned Gazprom. According to a statement by Uniper, the decision was made possible after an arbitration tribunal on June 7 awarded the company the right to terminate the contracts and awarded it an amount of more than 13 billion euros ($13.96 billion) in damages for the gas volumes not supplied by Gazprom Export, a unit of Gazprom, since mid-2022. “Although only limited gas volumes had been delivered since June 2022 and no gas volumes since the end of August 2022, the long-term gas supply contracts between the two companies were still legally in force and individual contracts would have continued to exist until the mid-2030s,” it said. After Uniper suffered “substantial losses” due to the Russian gas supply restrictions, the company initiated arbitration proceedings against Gazprom Export at the end of 2022. The option of dispute resolution via an arbitration tribunal was contractually agreed and had in the past in respect of other disputes been invoked repeatedly by both sides, Uniper said. The tribunal, seated in Stockholm, ruled in accordance with Swiss law. The arbitration ruling is legally binding and final, it said. LNG portfolio and pipeline gas “From June 2022, Gazprom Export initially supplied less natural gas to Germany and then none, although such supplies to this day are not sanctioned by the EU,” Uniper said. Uniper had to procure gas for its customers by other means, in some cases at “extremely high market prices, which at times led to additional costs for Uniper in the hundreds of millions of euros every day,” it said. The company said it was only able to bear these additional costs with state support. Uniper’s insolvency was averted with the stabilization agreement in December 2022 and the entry of the federal government as the main shareholder in Uniper. Germany agreed to buy Fortum’s stake in gas and LNG importer, Uniper, to stabilize the firm and prevent an energy shortage. Uniper and its partners developed Germany’s first FSRU-based LNG import facility in Wilhelmshaven. German LNG terminal operator Deutsche Energy Terminal operates this facility and the Brunsbüttel terminal, as well as the Stade-FSRU terminal which is expected to receive its first cargo in the second half of this year, and the upcoming second Wilhelmshaven facility. “Our termination of the contracts with Gazprom Export is the latest in a series of consistent decisions over the last three years,” Michael Lewis, CEO of Uniper said in the statement. “During this time, Uniper has written off its share in the financing of the Nordstream 2 pipeline, its stake in the Russian subsidiary Unipro, and allowed its coal supply contracts with Russia to expire,” he said. “Since then, Uniper has worked hard to diversify its gas business and is now well positioned with its global LNG portfolio and pipeline gas supplies from various regions,” Lewis said.

EU and Ukraine ask Azerbaijan to facilitate Russian gas transit (Reuters)—The European Union and Ukraine have asked Azerbaijan to facilitate discussions with Russia regarding a gas transit deal that is set to expire at the end of this year. "Yes, we were approached by the EU and Ukraine to play a role in the gas transit. We are working on that as a facilitator," Hikmat Hajiyev, a presidential advisor, said. While the EU has cut most of its Russian gas imports, some central European countries still depend on gas from Russia via a pipeline that crosses Ukraine. Austria still receives most of its gas through this route Ukraine said it would not extend the 5-yr transit contract that still transmits close to 15 Bm3y (billion cubic meters per year) of Russian gas to Europe, a fraction of the 150 Bm3y of piped gas that flowed in 2022. The deal expires at the end of December. Hajiyev declined to provide more details on how Azerbaijan might facilitate an alternate contract to take Russian gas to Europe. The EU's imports of Russian LNG have also increased to compensate for the loss of piped gas accounting for 18 Bm3 last year, according to the EU's energy regulator ACER. The EU has been trying to diversify its imports of gas and signed a deal to double imports of Azeri gas to at least 20 Bm3y by 2027, but Hajiyev warned the infrastructure and financing were still not in place to facilitate this expansion. "We need more money to invest in fields and additional investment is needed in the pipelines but the banks are not investing because it's gas," Hajiyev said, referring to limits major banks place on fossil fuel investments in favor of renewable sources. German utility Uniper has been involved in talks to find a solution to keep gas supply flowing through Ukraine to southeastern Europe, Bloomberg reported on Monday. Uniper Vice President Michael Hilmer said on Wednesday the company was seeking to negotiate increasing gas supplies from Azerbaijan in light of an energy partnership between Azerbaijan and the European Commission signed in 2022 that aims to double gas export capacity via the Southern Gas Corridor. "Everybody in the EU says we need gas but imagine Azerbaijan makes its own investment and then the EU later says there is no need for it," Hajiyev said.

Aramco, Ukraine Negotiating Deals for U.S. Natural Gas – --Saudi Arabian Oil Co., aka Aramco, has signed a tentative agreement to purchase 1.2 million metric tons/year (mmty) of LNG from NextDecade Corp.’s Rio Grande export project in South Texas. Aramco, which has been working to expand its liquefied natural gas portfolio, would purchase the super-chilled fuel from Train 4 at Rio Grande over 20 years at prices tied to Henry Hub. NextDecade sanctioned the first 17.6 mmty phase of Rio Grande last year. It expects to sanction the 5 mmty Train 4 by the end of the year. Venture Global LNG Inc. also agreed to provide a subsidiary of Ukrainian power producer DTEK with more than 2 mmty. Under a heads of agreement with D.Trading, Venture Global said it would supply LNG later this year through the end of 2026 from its Plaquemines terminal that is currently under construction. It would also supply 2 mmty for 20 years from the CP2 terminal being developed in Louisiana.

Another LNG Plant Moving Ahead After Adnoc FIDs Ruwais Project --Abu Dhabi National Oil Co. (Adnoc) has reached a final investment decision (FID) and will move ahead with its Ruwais LNG export project that’s expected to come online in 2028 and add to a wave of global supply entering service later this decade. Adnoc also awarded an engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract valued at $5.5 billion to a joint venture of Technip Energies NV, JGC Corp. and NMDC Energy. Technip is to lead the group. The project is being developed in Al Ruwais Industrial City and comes at a time when global liquefaction capacity is set to grow by more than 100 million metric tons (mmt) of annual capacity by 2028, primarily because of projects under construction in the United States and Qatar.

Abu Dhabi’s Adnoc greenlights its biggest LNG export project - Gulf Times -The United Arab Emirates’ biggest energy company approved a major liquefied natural gas export terminal as it seeks to tap into a growing global market for the fuel. Abu Dhabi National Oil Co made the final investment decision to build the LNG plant in the industrial city of Ruwais, according to a statement. The project will add 9.6mn tonnes of annual gas export capacity and more than double Adnoc’s production capability. The company has so far relied on its own funds to build the project and on Wednesday awarded a $5.5bn engineering and construction contract for the facility to a joint venture which comprises Technip Energies NV, JGC Holdings Corp and NMDC Energy. The decision to go ahead with the facility is the latest sign of the state company’s ambition to expand in the market globally, following recent deals for LNG projects in the US and Mozambique. Adnoc has signed some sales deals with Asian and European companies for supply from the project starting in 2028, though is yet to find buyers for all of the gas. The UAE, the oil-rich state of which Abu Dhabi is the capital, aims to boost gas output to become self-sufficient in the fuel by the end of the decade. It’s looking to take advantage of gas’s role as a bridge fuel in the energy transition, but there are concerns among environmentalists that huge methane leaks across the LNG supply chain can make the fuel worse for the environment. The new Ruwais project will compete with vast amounts of supply from its rivals. Saudi Arabia is also bolstering its gas business, with government-owned Aramco boosting production at home, buying into LNG projects in Australia and seeking assets in the US. All three Gulf states are expanding their trading arms to maximise profit from selling gas. Adnoc already has 6mn tonnes of LNG capacity at Das Island, a facility that began operations in 1977. Bloomberg News reported in March that Adnoc planned to make the final investment decision on Ruwais LNG as early as June.

China boosts gas imports in May - China’s natural gas imports, including pipeline gas and LNG, increased in May compared to the same month last year, according to customs data.Natural gas imports during the last month reached about 11.33 million tonnes, rising 6.5 percent compared to some 10.64 million tonnes in May 2023, the data from the General Administration of Customs shows.China paid about $5.42 billion for gas imports last month.During January-May, China’s gas imports reached 54.27 million tonnes, a rise of 17.4 percent year-on-year.The world’s largest LNG importer paid about $26.7 billion for gas imports in January-May, down 0.7 percent compared to the same period in 2023.There is currently no official data for LNG imports in May.China’s LNG imports increased by 22.7 percent to 25.91 million tonnes in January-April.In January this year, China’s LNG import terminals took 7.25 million tonnes of LNG, up by 22.9 percent year-on-year, in February LNG imports rose by 15.2 percent to 5.95 million tonnes, while in March LNG imports increased by 25.1 percent to 6.65 million tonnes, customs data previously showed.In April, the country received 6.22 million tonnes of LNG, up by 31.5 percent year-on-year.China’s LNG imports rose 12.6 percent in 2023, and the country overtook Japan as the world’s largest LNG importer.The country received about 71.32 million tonnes in the January-December period last year.

Chevron Shuts Down Wheatstone LNG for Repairs, Tightening Global Natural Gas Market --Chevron Corp. said Tuesday it has shut down LNG production at its Wheatstone export terminal in Western Australia for repairs at a time when other outages are keeping the global natural gas market tight. A map showing the location and related pipeline infrastructure of the Wheatstone LNG export terminal. The company said it needs to repair the fuel system on an offshore platform that feeds natural gas to the liquefied natural gas terminal and other onshore facilities. A spokesperson said the company does not have an estimate for when the repairs would be finished. Production at the two-train, 8.9 million metric tons/year export terminal has been suspended along with domestic gas production.

Second, major oil spill from barge off Tobago - Trinidad and Tobago Newsday -- The Office of the Chief Secretary (OCS) of the Tobago House of Assembly (THA) has said a large amount of fuel has been discovered drifting away from the capsized Gulfstream barge off the Cove Eco-Industrial Park, Tobago. On February 7, the vessel was found overturned and leaking an oil-like substance some 200 metres off the coast of the Cove. It was later identified as bunker fuel. The Gulfstream was reportedly being towed by another boat, the Solo Creed, when it overturned on a reef. Some 15km of Tobago’s southwestern coast were affected by the oil spill, including Kilgwyn Bay, Canoe Bay, Petit Trou Lagoon, Rockly Bay and Topaz Beach. Millions of dollars have been spent to date cleaning up the original spill, and Energy Minister Stuart Young has said the eventual cost could reach US$20 million. That estimate was given before the news of the latest spill. In a release on June 12, the OCS said Chief Secretary Farley Augustine had held an emergency meeting with stakeholders to discuss the latest development. The meeting included other THA officials, representatives from the Ministry of Energy and Energy Industries, the Environmental Management Authority, Department of Marine Affairs, the TT Coast Guard and Office of Disaster Preparedness and Management. The OCS said a preliminary assessment “indicates that there is currently no imminent threat to the coastline.” But it is believed that the “existing weather and sea conditions inclusive of high tides and high wave swells have disturbed the vessel, resulting in the hydrocarbon deposits.” The OCS said the Ministry of Energy continues to manage the de-inventory of hydrocarbons from the Gulfstream. This process involves pumping hydrocarbons from the cargo tanks on the vessel to a temporary storage location at Cove, Tobago. Tanker trucks then transport the oil to the Port of Scarborough, where it is transferred to a bunkering vessel. This vessel then goes to Pointe-a-Pierre, Trinidad, where the hydrocarbons are offloaded and stored in a tank.

Finland calls for pollution response vessel as oil spill worries mount -- FINLAND has called on the European Maritime Safety Agency to bolster its pollution response network amid fears of a dark fleet* oil spill in the fragile Baltic Sea.The Finnish Ministry of Transport and Communications said the risk of an oil spill in the Baltic (and especially in the Gulf of Finland) has grown as a result of sanctions imposed on Russia, which it said had “forced Russia to transport its oil with older vessels and weaker insurance coverage”.The ministry explained that winter poses an even greater threat, with older vessels carrying sanctioned Russian oil not suited for icy conditions. Oil spill recovery was much more difficult and expensive in icy waters than open water, the department said.Finland is asking the EMSA to station another pollution response vessel in the northern Baltic in case of a major oil spill in the ecologically sensitive region.EMSA has nine response vessels stationed around Europe, including one at Malmo, Sweden, in the southern stretch of the Baltic Sea.But that vessel is more than 600 nautical miles away from the Gulf of Finland, where a large number of dark fleet tankers transit on their way to or from key Russian ports such as Ust-Luga and Primorsk.The demand from Finland follows comments made by Swedish Foreign Minister Tobias Billström earlier this year that Russia “doesn’t care” about a potential oil spill in the Baltic. * Lloyd’s List defines a tanker as part of the dark fleet if it is aged 15 years or over, anonymously owned and/or has a corporate structure designed to obfuscate beneficial ownership discovery, solely deployed in sanctioned oil trades, and engaged in one or more of the deceptive shipping practices outlined in US State Department guidance issued in May 2020. The figures exclude tankers tracked to government-controlled shipping entities such as Russia’s Sovcomflot, or Iran’s National Iranian Tanker Co, and those already sanctioned.

DOH-6 monitors effects of New Washington oil spill – The Department of Health (DOH) Region 6 continues to monitor the effects of oil spill in New Washington town. Oil leak on May 26, 2024 came from the non-operational Barge 102 which was docked in the Metallica shipyard in Barangay Polo, the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) said. Traces of oil leakage affected the fishing communities and livelihood of fisherfolks along Lagatik River, particularly districts 1, 2 and 3 of Barangay Pinamuk-an; Sitio Malogo, Lagatik, Riverside, and Kamingawan of Barangay Poblacion; and Sitio Kamangahan of Barangay Tambak. PCG response teams are taking the lead in oil spill containment and cleanup operations. A team from DOH-6 through its Health Emergency Management Staff (HEMS) conducted rapid environmental assessment in Metallica Shipyard to address health issues related to oil spill. DOH-6 also turned over peak flow meter, Go bags, aquatabs water purification tablets, family health kits, latex gloves, and water testing kits on May 31. Likewise, DOH-6 and New Washington’s Mayor Jessica Panambo and Municipal Health Officer Dr. Daystar Sedillo held a collaborative meeting to ensure the provision of necessary medical interventions and how to address the impacts of the oil spill. In a related development, Mayor Panambo lifted the suspension of fishing activities in affected areas along Lagatik River following the assessment of the Provincial Environment and Natural Resources Office that “the oil spill is already contained due to immediate response” by installing spill booms. The Environmental Management Bureau Region 6 also reported that “the water quality has returned to safe levels for fishing activities” based on a Certificate of Analysis on June 5.

Oil Refining in China Expected to Falter This Year after Decades of Growth - China’s decades-long boom in oil processing could falter this year in a blow to global demand and the aspirations of OPEC+ producers seeking to return supply to the market. Oil refining in the world’s top crude importer is expected to be flat or fall for the first time in data that extends back to 2004 — excluding a Covid-hit 2022 — according to most market watchers surveyed by Bloomberg. The IEA this week also reduced its processing forecast, but still sees a gain. A prolonged property crisis has weighed on China’s economy this year, while the steady uptake of new-energy vehicles and trucks powered by gas are flashing bearish signs for future oil demand. The nation’s refiners are extending maintenance schedules to account for lower consumption. China refined a record 14.76 million barrels a day last year — known as crude throughput — as demand rebounded after the pandemic, but the recovery is showing signs of faltering. The International Energy Agency said in a report Wednesday that the nation’s refinery runs slumped to Covid-era levels in April. Of the six analysts and industry consultants surveyed by Bloomberg, three forecast a year-on-year decline in processing, while two predicted refining would remain flat. One projected a gain. Jianan Sun, a London-based analyst with Energy Aspects Ltd., is in the camp that sees a decrease, along with industry consultants Mysteel OilChem and GL Consulting. Sun only recently flipped his estimate from an increase of 100,000 barrels a day this year to a loss of the same magnitude. The prospect of lower Chinese demand presents OPEC+ with a dilemma when it comes to raising output this year, especially given supply from outside of the group is swelling. The alliance has said it can adjust or reverse production changes if needed, and some analysts think a boost is unlikely. Benchmark oil prices have trended lower since early April on concerns about robust supply and soft demand, particularly from China. Industry consultants FGE and JLC are predicting China’s refining will remain flat in 2024. Rystad Energy sees a gain, but has lowered its estimate to 150,000 barrels a day from 250,000 barrels a day made at the start of the year. The start of mega-refineries such as Shandong Yulong Petrochemical Co., the expansion of China Petroleum & Chemical Corp.’s Zhenhai refinery and Cnooc Ltd.’s Daxie plant will help to underpin an increase in processing, according to Lin Ye, a senior analyst for oil trading & downstream at Rystad. China’s independent refiners — known as teapots — have struggled with lower margins for making fuels, despite access to cheaper barrels from nations such as Iran and Russia. That’s led to more maintenance, while OilChem predicts diesel yields are on track to fall to a historic low this month. Refiners will ramp up slowly from maintenance, but they are expected to have at least 1 million barrels a day of spare processing capacity that they won’t use due to poor demand, according to Mia Geng, an analyst with FGE. The consultant had predicted growth of 200,000 barrels a day earlier this year.

IEA Sees Major Oil Surplus This Decade - The International Energy Agency (IEA) has forecast a surplus petroleum production of up to eight million barrels per day (MMbpd) by 2030 as cleaner transport and electricity generation drive a decline in demand while non-OPEC countries continue to grow output capacity. “Based on today’s market conditions and policies, global oil demand will level off at around 106 mb/d [million barrels a day] towards the end of the decade amid the accelerating transition to clean energy technologies”, the multigovernmental body said in its annual medium-term market report released Wednesday. The decline would be driven by surging sales of electric vehicles, efficiency improvements in air and marine transport and oil displacement in power production notably in the Middle East, according to the report. While global refining capacity is on track to add 3.3 MMbpd between 2023 and 2030, the growth is well below historical trends. Fuel demand would still be met with the concurrent surge in non-refined fuels including biofuels and natural gas liquids, said the report on the IEA website. However, the fall in oil demand this decade would be offset by rising oil use in emerging economies, the booming petrochemicals sector especially in China and increasing fuel use for transport in India so that total oil demand is still projected to rise 3.2 MMbpd between 2023 and 2030, according to the report. The IEA nonetheless maintained its claim that world oil demand could peak by 2030. “The postpandemic rebound has faded, macroeconomic drivers remain weak and the accelerating deployment of clean energy technologies weighs heavily on key sectors and regions”, the report said. “Growth decelerates from 2.1 mb/d in 2023, with demand plateauing at 105.6 mb/d by 2029, and then shifting into a narrow contraction in the final year of our medium-term outlook”. Advanced economies are expected to continue their decades-long decline in oil use. Oil consumption in Europe and the Americas could fall by 2.9 MMbpd by 2030, according to the report. Notwithstanding the decline in demand, oil production capacity is expected to expand this decade, mostly in the United States and other producers in the Americas, at a rate outpacing global demand growth. “Total supply capacity rises by 6 mb/d to nearly 113.8 mb/d by 2030, a staggering 8 mb/d above projected global demand of 105.4 mb/d”, the report stated. Barring the coronavirus pandemic, this spare capacity is unprecedented, the report said. “Such a massive cushion could upend the current OPEC+ market management strategy aimed at supporting prices”, the report said, referring to the 12-member Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and their Plus alliance with 10 other producing nations. While OPEC+ countries with active extra voluntary cuts of up to 2.2 MMbpd agreed to reactivate these barrels by September 2025, the plan “is subject to their caveat that the production increases can be paused or reversed depending on market conditions”, the report noted. IEA Executive Director Faith Birol said in a statement, “This report’s projections, based on the latest data, show a major supply surplus emerging this decade, suggesting that oil companies may want to make sure their business strategies and plans are prepared for the changes taking place”.

OPEC output surges 120,000 b/d in May despite quotas; Russia-led allies cut: Platts survey | S&P Global Commodity Insights - The nine OPEC members subject to quotas boosted crude oil output by 100,000 b/d in May, driven by Nigeria and Iraq, pushing the group 320,000 b/d above their collective targets, while the bloc's Russia-led allies cut production, the Platts OPEC+ survey from S&P Global Commodity Insights shows June 10. With Russia, Kazakhstan and Mexico -- among the non-OPEC allies that formed OPEC+ in 2016 -- seeing cuts to output, the alliance's overall production slid 40,000 b/d month on month to 41 million b/d, the survey found. The producers' alliance is battling to shore up the oil market amid surging production in non-OPEC+ countries like the US, Canada and Guyana, sticky inflation and weak economic indicators in China, the world's biggest crude consumer, making compliance with quotas a growing point of tension in recent months. While the Russia-led allies reduced production by 160,000 b/d month on month in May to a four-year low, putting them 25,000 b/d below their collective quota, production among the OPEC nine rose from 21.45 million b/d in April to 21.55 million b/d in May. Iran, Libya and Venezuela are exempt from production quotas under the OPEC+ accord and collectively produced an additional 20,000 b/d in May. Nigerian output was up 50,000 b/d month on month after four successive monthly declines driven by rampant crude theft and underinvestment, although the country remains below its 1.5 million b/d quota. Strong exports and supplies to the landmark Dangote refinery underpinned the rise. Iraq boosted production by 40,000 b/d to 4.28 million b/d – 280,000 b/d over its current target – despite agreeing in May to compensate for overproduction. The Platts survey estimates current oil output in Iraq's Kurdistan region, over which Baghdad has scant control, at 210,000 b/d. Non-compliant Gabon and the UAE also increased production slightly, leaving both 50,000 b/d over their respective targets. The UAE, which has a huge amount of spare capacity, recently won a quota increase that will be phased in slowly during 2025, highlighting internal competition within the group. By contrast, Russia and Kazakhstan – which have also agreed to submit compensation plans – edged closer to compliance, cutting 50,000 b/d each, but remained above their targets. Russia, which has converted an export cut into a production one and is seeing its refineries come under increasing attack from Ukrainian drones, remains 191,000 b/d above its quota, according to the survey. Kazakhstan's reduction followed maintenance at its critical Tengiz development. Mexico, which is not subject to a quota, also helped reduce OPEC+ output, dropping 50,000 b/d due to declines in ageing fields, while damage to South Sudan's only export pipeline through Sudan kept tens of thousands of barrels offline. Overproducers have until the end of June to submit plans to offset heightened output in the first half of the year. The OPEC+ alliance – formed in 2016 to wrest a larger market share – will then hold its next Joint Ministerial Monitoring Committee, which oversees the alliance's output, on Aug. 1. News of strong production in May could spell greater tensions over compliance, with crude prices slumping after the OPEC+ ministerial meeting on June 2. Platts-assessed Dated Brent fell by over $4/b in the three days after the meeting and was last assessed at $78.315/b on June 7, having edged up from five-month lows of $75.92/b on June 5. During the hybrid meeting, which saw the eight countries making voluntary cuts meet in person in Riyadh and the rest of the group dial in virtually, ministers agreed to roll over 3.6 million b/d of group-wide cuts until the end of 2025 and 2.2 million b/d of voluntary cuts through September, after which they will be gradually eased, subject to market conditions. They also kicked painful discussions about production baselines – from which quotas are calculated – into late 2025. The last round of baseline talks led to Angola quitting the group in January. OPEC+ had earlier moved the meeting from in-person in Vienna to online as the market impact of its aggressive cuts appeared to be waning. Coming alongside increased non-OPEC+ production and weaker-than-hoped demand, which have weighed on prices, the market response illustrated the challenge faced by OPEC+. Nevertheless, the alliance remains the swing producer, with roughly 40% of global production, and is optimistic about rising demand for its crude through 2025.

US Department of Energy lowered its Brent price forecast in 2024 by more than 3% - TASS -- The US Department of Energy lowered its forecast for Brent oil price in 2024 by 3.4% to $84.15 from $87.79 per barrel, according to a report from the Energy Information Administration (EIA).In 2025, the Brent price is expected to reach $85.38 per barrel, as in the previous forecast. The agency noted that OPEC+ statements following the June 2 meeting put pressure on prices, bringing them to $78 per barrel on June 6. Thus, in a June report, the US Department of Energy lowered expectations for the price of Brent oil this year to reflect a lower starting point for the forecast amid the recent decline in prices.Meanwhile, the price of WTI oil is projected to reach $79.7 per barrel in 2024 and $80.88 per barrel in 2025. In addition, the US Department of Energy kept its forecast for oil production in the country for 2024 and expects output to reach 13.2 mln barrels per day (bpd). Expected oil production volumes in the country in 2025 were maintained at 13.7 mln bpd.

The Market Was Well Supported By Hopes of Increasing Fuel Demand This Summer - The crude market on Monday rallied higher, recovering after three weeks of losses. The market was well supported by hopes of increasing fuel demand this summer. Goldman Sachs analysts expect Brent prices to increase to $86/barrel in the third quarter, saying that solid summer transport demand will push the oil market into a third quarter deficit of 1.3 million bpd. The oil market posted a low of $75.23 on the opening and started its upward trend as it failed to test its support at its previous low of $75.21. The market breached its previous high of $76.25 and retraced more than 62% of its move from a high of $80.62 to a low of $72.48 as it rallied to a high of $77.96 ahead of the close. The July WTI contract settled up $2.21 at $77.74 and the August Brent contract settled up $2.01 at $81.63. The product markets ended the session in positive territory, with the heating oil market settling up 6.3 cents at $2.4147 and the RB market settling up 2.83 cents at $2.4109. Goldman Sachs said a healthy growth in consumer spending and solid summer demand will push the oil market to a 1.3 million bpd deficit in the third quarter and increase benchmark Brent prices to $86 a barrel. The bank cut its 2024 oil demand growth forecast by 200,000 bpd to 1.25 million bpd, but maintained that it expects demand growth to be strong mainly due to jet fuel recovery. The modest China-driven demand growth downgrade for 2024 offsets a 100,000 bpd cut to non-OPEC supply and an assumption of higher U.S. strategic petroleum reserve purchases. The Wall Street bank sees Brent averaging at $84/barrel and WTI at $79/barrel in 2024. It continues to expect Brent in $75-$90 range, and kept its 2025 average price forecast unchanged at $82/barrel. The bank’s analysts said they see a $75/barrel floor under Brent as physical demand for oil, including from China and the U.S. SPR, tends to rise when prices fall. Goldman Sachs said OPEC’s agreement on new production baselines through 2026 signals stronger cohesion, further reducing the likelihood of much lower prices. It noted that financial demand for oil is likely to increase substantially if currently very low speculative positioning normalizes. The U.S. Central Command said the Swiss-owned Tavvish and German-owned Norderney container ships were damaged by Iran-backed Houthi anti-ship ballistic missiles fired within the last 24 hours. According to S&P Global Commodities at Sea, Tavvish is destined for Djibouti while Norderney is headed for Dubai’s Jebel Ali. The UK Maritime Trade Operations said the attacks in the Gulf of Aden off Yemen occurred over June 8th-9th. The U.S. announced sanctions on 10 people, ships and companies in a bid to choke off commodity revenue for Yemen’s Houthi rebels. The U.S. Treasury Department said the sanctions targeted the network of Houthi financial facilitator Sa’id al-Jamal, who has already been subjected to repeated sanctions. Also among the targets was Lainey Shipping Ltd. IIR Energy said U.S. oil refiners are expected to shut in about 66,000 bpd of capacity in the week ending June 14th, increasing available refining capacity by 71,000 bpd. Offline capacity is expected to increase to 83,000 bpd in the week ending June 21st

Oil prices up 3% to one-week high on hopes of higher summer fuel demand (Reuters) - Oil prices climbed about 3% to a one-week high on Monday, buoyed by hopes of rising fuel demand this summer despite a stronger U.S. dollar and expectations the U.S. Federal Reserve will leave interest rates higher for longer. The Fed hiked interest rates aggressively in 2022 and 2023 to tame a surge in inflation. Those higher rates have boosted borrowing costs for consumers and businesses, which can slow economic growth and reduce demand for oil. Similarly, a stronger U.S. dollar can reduce demand for oil by making dollar-denominated commodities like oil more expensive for holders of other currencies. Brent futures rose $2.01, or 2.5%, to settle at $81.63 a barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude rose $2.21, or 2.9%, to settle at $77.74. That was the highest close for both crude benchmarks since May 30. "Futures are higher as expectations of summer demand are supportive of prices ... despite the broader macro landscape remaining less optimistic than weeks previous," Goldman Sachs analysts said they expect Brent to rise to $86 a barrel in the third quarter, noting in a report that solid summer transport demand will push the oil market into a third-quarter deficit of 1.3 million barrels per day (bpd). The U.S. dollar, meanwhile, rose to a four-week high against a basket of other currencies as the euro fell sharply due to political uncertainty in Europe after gains by far-right parties in voting for the European Parliament prompted a bruised French President Emmanuel Macron to call a snap national election. Oil last week posted a third straight weekly loss on concerns that a plan to unwind some production cuts by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and its allies, known collectively as OPEC+, from October will add to rising supply. Despite the OPEC+ cuts, oil inventories have risen. U.S. crude stocks increased in the latest week, as did gasoline stocks. Investor attention now turns to the release of U.S. consumer price index data for May on Wednesday for hints on when the Fed may start reducing interest rates. The market is also waiting for the conclusion of the Fed's two-day policy meeting on Wednesday, in which the central bank is overwhelmingly expected to hold interest rates steady. The market is also waiting for monthly oil supply and demand data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) and OPEC on Tuesday and the International Energy Agency (IEA) on Wednesday.

Oil Steadies as Traders Await Fed Interest Rate Decision -- Oil prices steadied as traders await Wednesday’s interest-rate decision from the Federal Reserve to gauge the economy’s strength and the trajectory of oil demand. West Texas Intermediate swung between gains and losses before ending the session near $78 a barrel. Crude had rallied almost 3% on Monday as traders decided to “buy the dip” following a decision by OPEC+ to restore some supply this year. The initial selloff prompted the group to clarify it could pause or reverse production changes if needed. “After recent declines, oil prices have room to recover in the short term,” Morgan Stanley analysts said in a note. “Nevertheless, inventories are currently higher than we expected some time ago, and on current trends, supply/demand balances will likely weaken after the third quarter.” Traders are watching for a Federal Reserve interest-rate decision due on Wednesday. A robust economy and still-high inflation in the US have seen investors pare bets that the central bank’s pivot will happen anytime soon. The resulting strength in the dollar has added pressure to prices. Oil has trended lower since early April on concerns about soft demand and swelling supply from outside of OPEC. Output from Russia last month stayed above a level the country had pledged to the OPEC+ alliance, even as it made the deepest cuts in more than a year. In the US, signs of robust supplies continue. Crude output is expected to swell by 310,000 barrels a day this year to a record above 13.2 million barrels a day, about 40,000 barrels a day more than projected in May, according to a monthly Energy Information Administration report Tuesday. OPEC maintained its forecasts for strengthening demand in the second half on continued economic growth in China and other emerging economies, the organization said in a monthly report. The International Energy Agency will release its monthly report on Wednesday. WTI for July delivery rose 0.2% to settle at $77.90 a barrel in New York. Brent for August settlement advanced 0.4% to settle at $81.92 a barrel.

Oil prices recover from sell-off as OPEC sticks to demand and steady economic growth forecasts - Crude oil futures held to gains Tuesday as OPEC stuck to its demand forecasts, counting on steady economic growth this year.Oil prices rallied more than 2% on Monday with U.S. crude oil booking its best day since Feb. 8. The market has recovered the losses from last week, after selling off to four-month lows in the wake of the decision by OPEC+ to increase crude production in October. Here are Tuesday's closing energy prices:

West Texas Intermediate July contract: $77.90 per barrel, up 16 cents or 0.21%. Year to date, U.S. oil has gained 8.7%.
Brent August contract: $81.92 per barrel, up 29 cents, or 0.36%. Year to date, the global benchmark is ahead 6.3%.
RBOB Gasoline July contract: $2.40 per gallon, little changed. Year to date, gasoline is up 14.5%.
Natural Gas July contract: $3.12 per thousand cubic feet, up 7.67%. Year to date, gas has advanced 24%.

OPEC is projecting oil demand growth of 2.2 million barrels per day for 2024 and 1.8 million bpd in 2025, according to the group's monthly report. The oil producers see global economic growth of 2.8% this year and 2.9% in 2025.OPEC expects the services sector to maintain stable momentum and drive economic growth in the second half of the year, "particularly supported by travel and tourism, with a consequent positive impact on oil demand."Traders appeared to be "buying the dip" after many investors abandoned their long positions in the wake of the OPEC+ production decision. "After oil prices experienced a bearish confluence of events, shook out much length and toyed with being oversold, there is almost an inevitability in the rally back to current levels," . Money managers cut their net long position in Brent by 69% week over week to the lowest level since 2014 in the wake of the OPEC+ decision, according to JPMorgan.Despite the bearish sentiment last week, Goldman Sachs forecast the market will enter into a deficit on summer fuel demand that will push Brent back up to $86 per barrel in the third quarter.Traders are looking ahead to the conclusion of the Federal Reserve meeting and U.S. inflation data for May on Wednesday. The International Energy Agency will release its monthly oil market report the same day.

WTI Bounces After API Reports Crude, Gasoline Draw --Oil prices edged higher today as traders anxiously await tomorrow's CPI and FOMC risk catalysts for any signals on the trajectory of oil demand.“After recent declines, oil prices have room to recover in the short term,” Morgan Stanley analysts including Martijn Rats and Charlotte Firkins said in a note.“Nevertheless, inventories are currently higher than we expected some time ago, and on current trends, supply/demand balances will likely weaken after the third quarter.”Energy stocks ended lower on the day while WTI inched up to $78. All eyes on API for cues on whether this rebound in price can be sustained... API

Crude -2.4mm
Cushing -1.94mm
Gasoline -2.55mm
Distillates +972k

Crude and gasoline stocks saw sizable draws last week as did the inventories at the Cushing Hub... WTI was hovering around $77.80 ahead of the API print and bounced back above $78 on the draw... Along with OPEC+ plans to phase out voluntary output cuts after September, "we think this signals a cautious optimism from the organization when it comes to the trajectory of future supply/demand," says Rohan Reddy, director of research at Global X in emailed comments."The mid-$70s to low-$90s crude pricing we've seen in Brent over the past few quarters seems to be a range that OPEC is comfortable with, as the organization maintains its holding pattern," he adds.Meanwhile, pump prices have fallen to three month lows as crude and gasoline prices have fallen..

WTI Falls After Unexpected Crude & Gasoline Inventory Builds; Biggest Imports In 6 Years Oil prices extended gains this morning following the cooler than expected CPI (supporting rate cuts and potential demand) following API's reported crude draw overnight.“This week’s big recovery has weakened the bears’ hold on the market, although more price action is needed to confirm a bottom,” said Fawad Razaqzada, a market analyst at City Index and Forex.com.“But it is possible we could see crude oil prices come under pressure again after the recent recovery. The lower highs suggest the short-term path of least resistance is still downward, until told otherwise by the charts.” Expectations were for a modest draw in crude from the official data.

Crude +3.73mm
Cushing -1.59mm
Gasoline +2.57mm
Distillates +881k

The official data flipped the API data and showed a sizable crude inventory build last week (and gasoline build)... The Biden admin added 339k barrels to the SPR (the lowest addition since early Dec 2023) US crude production rose by 100k b/d back near record highs, even as the rig count continues to slide...It looks like they flooded the market with imports - the largest in six years...WTI tumbled on the surprise builds...

Crude oil reverses trend on US data - Crude oil prices settled higher on Wednesday as investors assessed inflation and inventories data from the US. Cooler-than-expected consumer prices for May resulted in oil prices hitting session highs. Oil prices pared gains, however, after the US reported a surprise rise in crude and gasoline inventories. Oil prices surged to session highs earlier in the session as a lighter-than-projected reading for US consumer prices fuelled speculations around the Federal Reserve’s rate cut decision. The annual inflation rate in the US eased to 3.3% in May, recording the lowest level in three months, versus April’s reading of 3.4%. The figure was also lower than market expectations of 3.4%. Oil prices were also supported by the OPEC (Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries) keeping its global demand growth forecast for 2024 and 2025 unchanged at 2.2 million barrels per day and 1.8 million barrels per day, respectively. Crude oil prices pulled back from session highs after the EIA (Energy Information Administration) said that US inventories increased by 3.7 million barrels in the week ended June 7. This came as a surprise, with market estimates calling for a decline of 900,000 barrels. Data also showed gasoline stockpiles grew by 2.6 million barrels, while distillate stockpiles rose by 900,000 barrels last week. While distillates were expected to rise by only 400,000 barrels, gasoline stockpiles were projected to contact 500,000 barrels. The IEA (International Energy Agency) slashing its global oil demand growth outlook by approximately 100,000 barrels to 960,000 barrels a day for 2024 also exerted pressure on oil prices later in the session. WTI crude oil for July delivery gained 60 cents, or 0.8%, to close at $78.50 a barrel on the NYMEX (New York Mercantile Exchange) on Wednesday, after surging as high as $79.32 earlier in the session. August Brent crude climbed 68 cents, or 0.8%, to close at $82.60 a barrel on ICE Futures Europe. In other energy trading, July gasoline declined by 0.6% to $2.394 a gallon, while July heating oil added 0.8% to settle at $2.441 a gallon. July natural gas shed 2.7% to reach $3.045 per million British thermal units, after closing at a five-month high during the prior session on projections of higher-than-average temperatures across most of the US. Investors await the release of economic data on natural gas stockpiles from the EIA today. US natural gas inventories, which increased by 98 billion cubic feet during the week ended May 31, are expected to rise by 75 billion cubic feet in the latest week. Data on producer prices from the US will also remain in focus, which is expected to provide direction to oil prices ahead.

Oil Soars on Mideast Tension Despite Fresh Interest Rate Cut Woes | Business Post Nigeria -Oil closed higher on Wednesday as ongoing tensions in the Middle East lent support to prices but possible delays to interest rate cuts following the Federal Reserve’s statement concluding its two-day meeting capped gains. Brent crude futures appreciated by 68 cents or 0.83 per cent to trade at $82.60 per barrel and the US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures grew by 60 cents or 0.77 per cent to $78.50 per barrel. Palestinian militant group, Hamas, has proposed numerous changes to a US-backed proposal for a ceasefire with Israel in Gaza, and according to the US Secretary of State, Mr Antony Blinken, some were unworkable but added that mediators were determined to close the gaps. The US Federal Reserve held interest rates steady on Wednesday and pushed out the start of rate cuts to perhaps as late as December, with officials projecting only one reduction for the year amid rising estimates for what it will take to keep inflation in the world’s largest oil producer in check. This means there won’t be rate cuts before the November 5 US presidential election as officials repositioned from expecting three quarter-percentage-point reductions in March to just one. The European Central Bank (ECB) started cutting interest rates last week, and Canada has followed suit. The ECB’s recent interest rate cut, its first since 2019, marked a significant effort to tackle inflation. Following this, Denmark’s central bank also lowered its benchmark interest rate by 25 basis points to 3.35 per cent. The ECB cited progress in reducing inflation, which fell to 2.6 per cent in the eurozone from 10 per cent in late 2022. JP Morgan economists had predicted that the Federal Reserve would cut rates once or twice this year, and three times next year. The US Energy Information Administration reported an estimated inventory increase of 3.7 million barrels to 459.7 million barrels for the week to June 7. The change compared with a weekly build of 1.2 million barrels for the previous week was also accompanied by builds in fuel inventories, pressuring benchmarks. Last week, the EIA estimated more builds in gasoline and middle distillate inventories. In gasoline (petrol), the authority reported an inventory build of 2.6 million barrels for the seven days to June 7, with production averaging 10.1 million barrels daily. This compared with an inventory build of 2.1 million barrels for the prior week when production stood at an average of 9.5 million barrels daily. However, in the longer term, the EIA, the International Energy Agency (IEA) and the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries this week updated their views on the global oil demand-supply balance for 2024, predicting declines in global oil inventories.

Oil Steadies as Russia Plans Production Cuts | Rigzone Oil steadied after strong gains to start the week, with US economic data signaling inflation is cooling while Russia agreed to dial back output. A report on Thursday showed US producer prices fell the most in seven months, building on signs that consumer price gains are slowing. Still, the Federal Reserve left interest rates unchanged and penciled in only one rate cut this year. West Texas Intermediate fluctuated between gains and losses before settling above $78 a barrel. Futures are up about 4% for the week. Also supporting prices was news that Russia plans to compensate for exceeding its output quota by trimming production. The new pledge includes a cut of 471,000 barrels a day on top of the earlier promised 500,000 barrel-a-day reduction announced last year. The development comes as markets remain amply supplied, with traders still digesting unexpected increases in US crude and gasoline stockpiles. Despite this week’s advance, oil has trended lower since early April on demand concerns and signs of robust supplies. The International Energy Agency said in a report Wednesday that global markets face a major surplus this decade as the shift away from fossil fuels picks up pace. Meanwhile, attacks on ships off Yemen continue. On Thursday, a cargo vessel was on fire after being hit by two projectiles while sailing in the Gulf of Aden, the UK Navy said, marking the second significant assault in the area in as many days. WTI for July delivery gained 0.2% to settle at $78.62 a barrel in New York. Brent for August settlement rose 0.2% to $82.75 a barrel.

Oil edges higher as OPEC comments feed demand hopes (Reuters) - Oil prices rose slightly on Thursday in up-and-down trade, supported by an OPEC forecast for demand growth and as data showing an U.S. easing labor market and slowing inflation which stoked hopes for Federal Reserve rate cuts despite recent comments form Fed officials. Brent crude futures settled at $82.75 a barrel, up 15 cents, or 0.2%. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) U.S. crude futures settled at $78.62 a barrel, gaining 12 cents, or 0.2%. Both benchmarks had gained nearly 1% in the previous session. Fresh comments by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries also helped boost crude prices. The organization expects demand to grow to 116 million barrels a day by 2045, and possibly higher, OPEC Secretary General Hathaim Al Ghais said on Thursday in a rebuke of an International Energy Agency report predicting peak oil consumption by 2029. Al Ghais, writing in Energy Aspects, called the IEA report "dangerous commentary, especially for consumers, and (that) will only lead to energy volatility on a potentially unprecedented scale." The U.S. Labor Department said the producer price index (PPI) for final demand dropped 0.2% on a month-to-month basis in May. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast a 0.1% increase. Separate data showed weekly initial jobless claims exceeded estimates to reach a 10-month high. On Wednesday, the Fed held interest rates steady and pushed out the projected start of policy easing to as late as December. In a press conference after the end of the U.S. central bank's two-day policy meeting, Fed Chair Jerome Powell said inflation had fallen without a major blow to the economy. Powell's comments "implying no definitive time frame for a rate reduction appeared to place additional pressure on the energy complex," Higher borrowing costs tend to dampen economic growth and can limit oil demand. Tomorrow, investors will turn their sights to the University of Michigan's Consumer Sentiment Index for signs of U.S. economic strength or weakness. On the supply side, U.S. crude stockpiles rose more than expected last week, driven largely by a jump in imports, while fuel inventories also increased more than expected, data from the Energy Information Administration showed on Wednesday. Oil traders are also watching continuing talks over a potential ceasefire in Gaza, which could ease fears of oil supply disruptions in the region. In the latest attack on shipping, Iran-allied Houthi militants on Wednesday took responsibility for small watercraft and missile attacks that left a Greek-owned coal carrier in need of rescue near Yemen's Red Sea port of Hodeidah.

The Oil Market Traded Mostly Sideways and Ended Slightly Higher on Thursday - The oil market traded mostly sideways and ended slightly higher, up 0.15% on the day, as the market weighed the builds in crude and product stocks and expectations of slow Federal Reserve rate cuts against the U.S. economic data showing an easing labor market and slowing inflation. The market traded lower in overnight trading as it remained pressured following the EIA’s weekly petroleum stocks report on Wednesday and the bearish IEA report, which warned of excess supply in the near future. The crude market continued to trend lower and posted a low of $77.67. However, the market bounced off its low and retraced its earlier losses and posted a high of $78.89 ahead of the close. The market was supported by hopes that the Federal Reserve will cut rates in September, reinforced by data from the Labor Department showing producer prices unexpectedly falling in May. The largest decline in prices at the factory gate since October following the report on consumer prices on Wednesday showing prices were unchanged in May for the first time in nearly two years. The July WTI contract settled up 12 cents at $78.62 and the August Brent contract settled up 15 cents at $82.75. The product markets ended the session higher, with the heating oil market settling up 4.6 cents at $2.4868 and the RB market settling up 2.12 cents at $2.4156. OPEC’s Secretary General, Hathaim Al Ghais, said OPEC does not see a peak in oil demand in its long-term forecast and expects demand to increase to 116 million bpd by 2045 and may be higher. He called the IEA report “dangerous commentary, especially for consumers, and will only lead to energy volatility on a potentially unprecedented scale.” He said similar narratives have been proven wrong previously. On Wednesday, the IEA said it sees oil demand peaking by 2029, levelling off at around 106 million bpd towards the end of the decade. ANZ Research said it expects OPEC’s supply policy to remain sensitive to oil market fundamentals. It said if demand fails to grow as they expect, they are likely to delay the phasing out of the group of eight’s voluntary 2.2 million bpd cuts for oil. It said the likelihood of oil prices surpassing $100/barrel for a sustained period had diminished greatly. ANZ Research said it maintains its 12-month oil price target of $95/barrel. It said a combination of improving market fundamentals, elevated geopolitical risks and a more positive economic backdrop should lift the Brent crude price over $85/barrel, a level it has failed to breach over the past six weeks. Kpler shipping data is showing EU and UK diesel imports are on track to reach 768,000 b/d in June down from 1.22 million b/d recorded in May. The Russian government said Thursday it has extended its retaliatory measures against a price cap on its oil imposed by Western countries until the end of 2024. The Russian government has banned domestic oil exporters and custom bodies from adhering to Western -imposed price caps on Russian crude oil. The Russian energy ministry said on Thursday that while its oil production totals exceed its OPEC+ quota in May, it was still pledging to make up for this over production during the compensation period until September 2025. It also said its overproduction levels would be resolved in June. Russian officials though did not disclose any specific production totals for the month though.

Oil pares weekly gain on sliding equities and demand concerns -- Oil declined, paring a weekly gain, as falling equity markets in Europe and Asia added to growing concerns over global demand for the commodity. Brent crude futures slipped 0.4 per cent in London, shrinking this week’s advance to 3.5 per cent. The outlook for crude has darkened as the International Energy Agency curbed forecasts for consumption growth this year, and warned of a “major surplus” over the longer term. China’s decades-long boom in oil processing could falter this year for the first time in data that extends back to 2004 — excluding a Covid-hit 2022 — according to most market watchers surveyed by Bloomberg. U.S. Federal Reserve officials this week penciled in only one interest-rate cut this year, cooling market sentiment. “In view of the still uncertain economic outlook for the major economic regions, a further price increase is not to be expected for the time being,” said Barbara Lambrecht, an analyst at Commerzbank AG. European stocks headed for their worst week since January on growing concerns about political turmoil in France. In Asia, MSCI’s Asia Pacific index slipped as losses in Australian and Chinese stocks offset gains in Japan’s benchmark. Crude prices have retreated 11 per cent from a peak reached in mid-April, on concerns over China’s economic outlook and signs of a flood of new oil supplies from the U.S. and other parts of the Americas. The market briefly wobbled after the OPEC+ alliance outlined plans to gradually restore halted output in the fourth quarter, but stabilized after the group signaled it might not go ahead. Still, timespreads are holding in a bullish, backwardated structure, where later-dated contracts trade at a discount to nearer ones, indicating tight supplies. The gap between Brent’s two nearest contracts was at 40 cents a barrel in backwardation, compared with 28 cents a week ago. Prices: Brent for August settlement fell 0.4% to US$82.41 a barrel at 9:55 a.m. in London. WTI for July delivery dropped 0.6% to $78.16 a barrel.

Oil prices settle lower, but snap three-week losing streak on demand hopes - Oil prices settled lower Friday, but still snapped a three-week losing streak, buoyed by hopes that a seasonal fuel demand over the summer period is poised to gather steam and dent crude stocks in the weeks ahead. At 14:30 ET (18:30 GMT), West Texas Intermediate crude futures fell 0.2% to settle at $78.45 a barrel, while Brent oil futures fell 0.1% to $82.66 a barrel.A bulk of crude’s gains this week came as prices rebounded from four-month lows, after the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies (OPEC+) reiterated its commitment to keeping production low to support prices. OPEC+ had, during its June meeting, flagged the possibility of scaling back its 2.2 million barrels per day voluntary production cuts later this year- a signal that was received negatively by the crude markets. The reassurance from OPEC arrived as traders digested mostly bullish forecast for global oil demand. The U.S. Energy Information Administration lifted its world oil demand estimate to 104.5 million barrels per day for next year, up from a prior forecast of 104.3 million bpd, while OPEC maintained its outlook for strong global oil demand in 2024. In sharp contrast, however, the International Energy Agency cut its forecast for 2024 global crude demand by 100,000 barrels per day to 960,000 bpd.Softer U.S. Inflation data seen this week, spurring hopes for sooner rates cuts, also helped lift sentiment on oil, with many now pricing in two rate cuts for the year. President Vladimir Putin said on Friday, on the eve of a peace conference in Switzerland to which Russia has not been invited, that his country would cease fire and enter peace talks if Ukraine dropped its NATO ambitions and withdrew its forces from four Ukrainian regions claimed by Moscow.These conditions are wholly at odds with the terms demanded by Ukraine, with Kyiv stating that peace can only be based on a full withdrawal of Russian forces and the restoration of its territorial integrity.The weekend summit in Switzerland, which will be attended by representatives of more than 90 nations and organisations, is expected to shy away from territorial issues and focus instead on matters such as food security and nuclear safety in Ukraine.

U.S. crude oil snaps three-week losing streak as forecasts point to tighter market -- U.S. crude oil broke a three-week losing streak Friday as analysts see a tighter market heading into the third quarter.Oil prices fell for the day, but finished out the week nearly 4% higher as summer fuel demand is expected to reduce inventories in the coming weeks, even though the season has gotten off to a tepid start. Here are Friday's closing energy prices:

West Texas Intermediate July contract: $78.45 per barrel, down 17 cents, or 0.22%. Year to date, U.S. oil is up 9.5%.
Brent August contract: $82.62 per barrel, down 13 cents, or 0.16%. Year to date, the global benchmark is ahead 7.2%.
RBOB Gasoline July contract: $2.40 per gallon, down 0.66%. Year to date, gasoline is up 14%.
Natural Gas July contract: $2.88 per thousand cubic feet, down 2.64%. Year to date, gas has climbed 14.6%.

"You kind of got the bullish argument that we're going into summer, refinery runs are going to be super strong drawing down inventories," Matt Smith, lead oil analyst at Kpler, said. "We could get up to $90, but we'll come back down again," Smith said. "We're not going to $95, by no means are we going to $100 per barrel here." Though the market has largely shrugged off geopolitical risk and refocused on fundamentals, RBC Capital Markets cautioned investors to keep a close eye on an increasingly precarious situation on the Israel-Lebanon border."We are closely watching whether Benny Gantz's departure from the Israeli wartime cabinet will tip the scales in favor of a ground operation aimed at pushing Hezbollah back from the border," Helima Croft, head of global commodity strategy, told RBC clients in a note Thursday.Oil remains well below annual highs set in April but has regained ground after a sell-off last week that pushed prices to four-month lows after OPEC+ unveiled plans to increase production in the fourth quarter.Still, the cartel is keeping all output cuts in place until October, and has rolled two tranches of reductions over until the end of 2025."We stay with our tactical long crude recommendation, as our expectations for rising seasonal summer demand and lesser step-up in supply remain intact," Deutsche Bank analyst Michael Hsueh told clients in a note Thursday.Deutsche sees the oil supply deficit expanding to nearly 1 million barrels per day in the third quarter, which should support Brent prices rising to the mid-to-upper $80s per-barrel range."It would only take a minor overshoot to bring Brent to around USD 90/bbl at some point during the second half," Hsueh told clients.Citigroup also sees a tighter market in the third quarter, though it will likely enter a surplus in 2025 on solid production growth and slowing demand, according to the bank."When we're looking at the fundamental picture going into 3Q whether its oil, copper or gold, it looks very solid driven by seasonal increases in demand," Jeff Currie, an energy analyst at Carlyle, told "Squawk Box" Thursday."The supply situation given the recent OPEC meeting points to a tighter 3Q," Currie said.

Afghanistan's Taliban Reports $80 Million In Crude Oil Sales In 10 Days Afghanistan has sold 150,000 tons (1.1 million barrels) of crude oil from the Amu Darya basin for more than $80 million over the past 10 days, with Beijing’s investment in the country beginning to bear fruit. On Sunday, Humayun Afghan, the spokesperson for the Taliban's Ministry of Mines and Petroleum, revealed that the group had sold 130,000 tons of crude oil for $71.6 million before it successfully put up another 20,000 tons (146,000 barrels) of crude worth $10.5 million for bidding on the same day. This marks a reversal of fortunes for one of the Middle East’s most volatile regions with the country previously importing the 50,000 barrels of oil it consumes daily from neighboring countries such as Iran and Uzbekistan.It all began a year ago when China’s Xinjiang Central Asia Petroleum and Gas Co, or CAPEIC, signed a 25-year contract with Taliban authorities in Afghanistan. That contract requires CAPEIC to invest $150 million by the first year and a total of $540 million by 2026. So far, CAPEIC’s investment of $49 million in Afghanistan has helped boost the country's daily crude oil output to more than 1,100 metric tons (8,000 barrels per day), a volume that could increase significantly if the company is to fulfill its contract. According to a top Taliban official, CAPEIC fell short of its investment target due to inaccurate estimates of material and labor costs coupled with a three-month delay in the approval of its financial plan by Afghan authorities.“The investments will add up as the contract stipulates,” the Taliban official told VOA on condition of anonymity, adding that the Taliban’s treasury earned about $26 million from the project last year.Spanning Afghanistan and Tajikistan, the Amu Darya basin is estimated to contain 962 million barrels of crude oil and 52,025 billion cubic feet of natural gas, according to a 2011 assessment by the U.S. Geological Survey. To tap into this potential, CAPEIC plans to dig 22 additional wells in 2024, aiming to increase daily production to more than 2,000 tons, or~15,000 barrels. Beijing has been cozying up to Kabul ever since the United States withdrew from Afghanistan in 2021 after a 20-year presence. Chinese diplomats have been meeting their Afghan counterparts almost weekly since the establishment of a Taliban government in Kabul, with western analysts alluding to some sort of emerging “cooperation.” Back in January, Chinese President Xi Jinping received the diplomatic credentials of the Taliban's ambassador to Beijing. The move confounded foe and friend alike because no country has formally declared its recognition of the Taliban government. However, it's not clear if Beijing’s action constitutes diplomatic recognition.“Although the attraction of [Afghanistan’s] mining and energy resources is strong, there is considerable Chinese wariness about the internal security situation, the reliability of Taliban assurances regarding foreign investments, and Afghanistan’s poor infrastructure,” Andrew Scobell, distinguished fellow for China at the United States Institute of Peace, told VOA.

Merchant ship attacked off Yemen coast -- Maritime security agencies say a merchant ship has been attacked in the Red Sea, an area where Yemen-based Houthi rebels have been targeting ships since late last year. The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations said Wednesday it received a report of the ship being struck in the rear by a “small craft” measuring 5-7 meters in length. The security firm Ambrey said the attack happened about 125 kilometers southwest of the Yemeni port city of Hodeida. There was no word on damage or casualties. The Houthis say their campaign of attacks in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden is in solidarity with the Palestinians in Gaza amid the war between Israel and Hamas. The attacks have forced commercial shipping firms to reroute traffic from the area and use a longer and more expensive route around the African continent.

Suicide Drone Boat Hits Bulk Carrier Near Yemen --Yemen's Houthi movement might have expanded its weapon arsenal by attacking a bulk carrier in the Red Sea with a suicide drone boat (the first time in this conflict). This marks a shift from the terror group's usual anti-ship ballistic missiles and or kamikaze aerial drones. On X, the British military's United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations said, "The vessel was hit on the stern by a small craft" about 66 nautical miles southwest of Al Hudaydah, Yemen. Bloomberg said the commodity-hauling bulk carrier is called "Tutor." Ship tracking data shows the vessel switched off its Automatic Identification System late last week after entering the Suez Canal. Maritime security company Diaplous said a suicide drone boat hit Tutor, adding the vessel's engine compartment was taking on water. There is no confirmation if Houthi rebels carried out the attack. However, the terror group has been on a half-year rampage across major shipping lanes in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, attacking Western-linked vessels with missiles and drones. According to an International Maritime Organization document obtained by the Middle East Eye, Houthi rebels have attacked 28 bulk carriers, tankers, container ships, cargo ships, and crude oil tankers.Nine of the vessels were Marshall Island-flagged and three were US-flagged. Others were from Malta, Barbados, Panama, Belize, Greece, Palau, Liberia, Singapore, and Portugal. On Monday, new images published on social media showed missile attack damage to the previously owned US bulk carrier "True Confidence" from March 6.These attacks have snarled global supply chains and sent containerized shipping costs soaring in recent months.

Yemen’s Houthis say they targeted Greek-owned ship in Red Sea | Israel-Palestine conflict News | Al Jazeera -- Yemen’s Houthi rebels have claimed responsibility for a small watercraft and missile attack that left a Greek-owned cargo ship taking water and in need of rescue near the Red Sea port of Hodeidah. There were no immediate reports of casualties in Wednesday’s attack on the cargo ship. It is unclear if the vessel’s ownership has any connection to Israel. The Iran-backed group, which is at war with a Saudi Arabia-led coalition, has been in control of Yemen’s capital Sanaa and its most populous areas. It has been launching scores of drone and missile attacks on shipping in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden since November in support of the Palestinians under Israeli attack in Gaza. They have sunk one ship, seized another vessel, and killed three seafarers in several attacks. The Houthis said the Tutor coal carrier was seriously damaged and vulnerable to sinking after they targeted the vessel with an unmanned surface boat, drones and ballistic missiles. The ship was hit about 68 nautical miles (126km) southwest of Hodeidah, maritime security firm Ambrey said on Wednesday. “The impact of the [unmanned surface vessel] caused severe flooding and damage to the engine room,” the US Central Command (CENTCOM) said in a statement on the attack, which was the Houthis’ first using a boat as a weapon. The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations, which acts as a conduit between ship operators and military and security forces, said on Wednesday the Liberian-flagged Tutor was taking on water and not under the crew’s command after sustaining damage to its engine room. UKMTO said a small craft of white colour collided with the cargo ship’s stern and that an “unknown airborne projectile” also struck the vessel. “It was hit twice by air and by sea. There are no reports of injuries,” a Greek official said on condition of anonymity. The Tutor was sailing to India when it was hit, they said. The Tutor loaded at the Port of Ust-Luga, Russia, on May 18 and discharged at Port Said, Egypt, on June 9, according to the London Stock Exchange Group data. Its next scheduled destination was Aqaba, Jordan, according to it. The Houthi attacks have upended global trade by forcing ship owners to reroute vessels away from the vital Suez Canal shortcut, drawing retaliatory strikes from the United States and the UK since February. On Wednesday, the Houthis said they also carried out two joint military operations with Islamic Resistance in Iraq, an Iran-backed armed group, targeting sites in Israel’s cities of Ashdod and Haifa. The latter confirmed the operations.

Ship hit twice in apparent Houthi cruise missile attack off Yemeni coast | Fox News - A commercial ship was reportedly struck twice Thursday by Houthi-fired cruise missiles in the Gulf of Aden. The Palauan-flagged M/V Verbena was still on fire at the time of U.S. Central Command's report, and the mariner was flown via helicopter to another vessel for medical treatment. "The M/V Verbena reported damage and subsequent fires on board. The crew continues to fight the fire," a statement by Central Command said. The U.S. said Thursday that the Houthis launched two anti-ship cruise missiles and struck a commercial ship in the Gulf of Aden off Yemen, setting it on fire and severely injuring one civilian mariner. U.S. Central Command said the M/V Verbena was still ablaze and the mariner was flown by a U.S. helicopter based on the USS Philippine Sea to another nearby ship for medical treatment. In a statement, Central Command said the Verbena is a Palauan-flagged, Ukrainian-owned and Polish-operated bulk cargo carrier that had docked in Malaysia and was on its way to Italy carrying wood. "The M/V Verbena reported damage and subsequent fires on board. The crew continues to fight the fire," the statement said. The attack is the latest such assault in the Houthis' campaign over the Israel-Hamas war. Earlier Thursday, the British military's United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center said a vessel had been attacked and had caught fire. And the private security firm Ambrey said a merchant vessel made a radio distress call saying it had been struck by a missile. The Houthis did not immediately acknowledge Thursday's attacks, but it typically takes the rebels hours or even days to claim them. The attack follows the Houthis launching a boat-borne bomb attack against a commercial ship in the Red Sea on Wednesday. The Houthis, who seized Yemen’s capital nearly a decade ago and have been fighting a Saudi-led coalition since shortly after, have been targeting shipping throughout the Red Sea corridor. They say the attacks are aimed at stopping the war and supporting the Palestinians, though the attacks often target vessels that have nothing to do with the conflict.

Ship on Fire Near Yemen After Second Attack in as Many Days - A small cargo ship was on fire after being hit by three projectiles while sailing in the Gulf of Aden, marking the second significant incident in two days and a fresh ramp up of attacks.The attack on the Verbena happened about 98 miles (158 kilometers) east of Aden in Yemen and damage control efforts were underway, according to the Joint Maritime Information Centre, which coordinates liaison between military and commercial shipping. One person was injured. A second ship, the Seaguardian, also came under attack inside the Red Sea.The Verbena veered across the Gulf of Aden earlier on Thursday but was continuing to sail, ship-tracking compiled by Bloomberg shows. There were no signals from the Seaguardian at the time it was attacked, suggesting the vessel may have turned off its location transponder while passing the Yemeni coast.A Houthi spokesman said in a televised statement that the group claimed responsibility for both attacks.Yemen’s Houthi attacks on ships in the Red Sea have been a regular occurrence since the end of last year and have caused a reduction in traffic of about 70% compared with the start of December. The group has targeted vessels in what it says is a response to the Israel-Hamas war.On Wednesday, a commodity carrier called Tutor suffered severe flooding in its engine room following the first successful attack from a seaborne drone during the current campaign by the Houthis. The owners of the Tutor and Verbena didn’t respond to requests for comment.

Houthi missile attack severely injures sailor, US says -- A sailor was severely injured after a cargo ship in the Gulf of Aden was struck by two cruise missiles fired by the Houthis in Yemen, the US military said. The injured sailor was airlifted to another ship for medical treatment, the US Central Command (CentCom) reported. It added that crew members were fighting a fire on board the MV Verbena - a Palauan-flagged, Ukrainian-owned, Polish-operated ship. CentCom later said it had destroyed two Houthi patrol boats, one unmanned surface vessel and one drone over the Red Sea in the last 24 hours. "It was determined these systems presented an imminent threat to US, coalition forces, and merchant vessels in the region," CentCom said in a statement. The Houthis earlier said they had carried out attacks on three ships within the past 24 hours, including on the MV Verbena, "in retaliation to the crimes committed against our people in the Gaza Strip, and in response to the American-British aggression against our country". This latest attack comes a day after the Iranian-backed group targeted a Greek-owned ship in the Red Sea, causing severe flooding on board. The armed Houthi group sees itself as part of an Iranian-led "axis of resistance" against Israel, the US and the wider West. Since November, the rebel group has been carrying out attacks on ships they say are linked to Israel in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, saying their actions are in support of the Palestinians in Gaza. The US and the UK have carried out a series of attacks on Houthi targets inside Yemen in response, leading the Houthis to retaliate against ships it believes are linked to those countries. "The Houthis claim to be acting on behalf of Palestinians in Gaza and yet they are targeting and threatening the lives of third country nationals who have nothing to do with the conflict in Gaza," CentCom said. The rebels' attacks on merchant vessels in the Red Sea prompted many shipping companies to stop using the waterway, through which about 12% of global seaborne trade passes. On Wednesday, the Houthis targeted a Liberian-flagged vessel named Tutor using a sea drone in the Red Sea. No casualties were reported.

Israel Hurls Fireballs at Farmland in Southern Lebanon - Israeli attacks on southern Lebanon have already seriously damaged area farmland, and now it appears the situation is getting worse and less incidental. Footage shows Israel using a literal trebuchet to launch fireballs across the border at farms, setting serious fires.Trebuchets are a rotating arm variety of catapult, and were commonly used in the Middle Ages as a weapon for siege warfare. It isn’t clear why Israel’s military has such weapons in this day and age, as they fell out of favor in the 15^th century.Supposedly, the fireballs are being used to clear out the dense vegetation from the border region, as Israeli officials suggest that such areas serve as potential hiding areas for militants, which complicates defense in the area. In practice, both sides increasingly use fire as a weapon of war. Hezbollah’s rocket fire often hits open brushy areas in northern Israel, setting fires that Israeli fire services struggle to contain. Widespread destruction of farmland has resulted from Israel’s general attack on southern Lebanon and has greatly damaged the main economic infrastructure of the region.

Israel's Gantz Quits War Cabinet, Calls for New Elections - Benny Gantz, the chair of Israel’s National Unity party, announced on Sunday that he was quitting the emergency government and war cabinet that was formed after October 7 and called for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to set a date for new elections.Gantz said Netanyahu was preventing Israel from achieving “true victory” in Gaza. “I call on Netanyahu: Set an agreed election date. Don’t let our people be torn apart,” he said.The National Unity party’s exit does not force elections since Netanyahu’s coalition still holds 64 out of 120 seats in the Knesset. Gantz called for others to join him, including Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, who is a member of Netanyahu’s Likud party but recently called out the prime minister over his lack of a clear long-term plan for Gaza.Gantz’s move comes a few weeks after he threatened to quit if Netanyahu didn’t agree to a list of demands by June 8. The demands included agreeing to establish a US-European-Arab-Palestinian administration to manage civilian affairs in Gaza alongside Israeli security control, which would mean long-term Israeli military occupation.Haaretz reported that Gantz informed the White House of his plans to quit several days ago and asked for the US’s opinion. The report said: “US officials told Gantz that while they did not intend on intervening in Israeli politics, they noted the fragile state of the hostage/cease-fire talks. His departure will only lead to added pressure from the US on Netanyahu.” Earlier this year, Gantz visited the US and met with several high-level officials as part of a trip that was not approved by Netanyahu. The Haaretzreport said that US officials have viewed Gantz as their “preferred interlocutor” in the war cabinet.

Ukraine takes out one of Russia’s most advanced fighter jets --Ukraine says it targeted and destroyed one of Russia’s most advanced fighter jets in a strike over the weekend. The Ukrainian Defense Intelligence Agency announced the strike Sunday, saying that it targeted Sukhoi Su-57 fighter jets over the weekend in the Akhtubinsk airfield, which is 360 miles behind the front line of the conflict. The agency posted satellite pictures on its Telegram channel to support the claim, writing “the Russian aerospace forces have only a handful of these combat aircraft in service.”The attack comes just over a week after the U.S. and other NATO allies gave Kyiv permission to use Western advanced long-range weapons for strikes inside of Russia, though initial reports suggest the strike may have been carried out using a Ukrainian drone. The Su-57 is a supersonic, twin-engine, fifth-generation stealth fighter jet and was seen as Moscow’s answer to Western stealth jets like the U.S. Air Force’s F-22 Raptor. According to Flight Global’s 2024 World Air Forces Directory, there are currently 14 Su-57s in active service. First developed in 2002, the first Su-57 entered service in 2020 and Sukhoi only began mass-producing the plane in 2022. The aircraft has faced a series of roadblocks, including a crash in 2019, according to the US military. According to the Foreign Policy Research Institute, an SU-57 costs anywhere from $35 million to $54 million.

Ukraine Says Some of Its F-16 Fighter Jets Will Be Stored Abroad - A senior Ukrainian Air Force official said Monday that Ukraine plans to keep some of the Western-provided US-made F-16 fighter jets that it will receive at foreign military bases to protect them from Russian strikes, an arrangement that risks provoking Russian attacks on NATO territory.“There are a certain number of aircraft that will be stored at secure air bases, outside of Ukraine, so that they are not targeted here,” said Brig. Gen. Serhiy Holubtsov, the chief of aviation in Ukraine’s air force. “And this will be our reserve in case of need for replacement of faulty planes during routine maintenance.” Russian President Vladimir Putin and other Russian officials have previously warned that NATO bases housing Ukrainian jets that are being used in the war could be potential targets.“If they are stationed at air bases outside the Ukrainian borders and used in combat, we will have to see how and where to strike the assets used in combat against us,” Putin said last year, according to The Associated Press. “It poses a serious danger of NATO being further drawn into the conflict.”Putin and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov have also noted that F-16s are capable of carrying nuclear weapons. Lavrov warned last year that Russia would view them as a nuclear threat. The Netherlands recently announced that it would allow Ukraine to use the F-16s it provides in strikes on Russian territory.According to AP, Belgium, Denmark, the Netherlands, and Norway have pledged up to 60 F-16s for Ukraine, but none have been delivered so far. The first planes are expected to arrive this summer, and Ukraine may only receive six at first due to delays in training pilots.

G7 Leaders Agree To Provide Ukraine With $50 Billion Using Frozen Russian Assets - Group of Seven leaders agreed at a summit in Italy on Thursday to give Ukraine $50 billion using frozen Russian Central Bank assets, a step that marks a significant escalation in the economic war against Russia.The plan is to provide the $50 billion to Ukraine by the end of the year in the form of a loan, which will be paid back using profits from the approximately $280 billion in frozen Russian assets held by the US and its allies.The idea is seen as a compromise between the US and Europe, as President Biden wanted to steal all of the frozen Russian funds to give to Ukraine. But the vast majority of the money is held in Europe, and EU leaders were hesitant to do that. Instead, the EU devised a separate plan to provide Ukraine with about $3 billion per year using the interest made by the Russian assets. Ukraine said that amount wasn’t enough, and the US proposed the $50 billion loan.“This has been something that the United States has put a lot of energy and effort into,” National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan told reporters. “We see proceeds from these assets as a valuable source of resources for Ukraine at a moment when Russia continues to brutalize the country, not just through military action on the front but through the attempted destruction of its energy grid and its economic vitality.” Russia has made clear it would view either plan as the theft of its sovereign funds and is preparing to retaliate. Stealing the money makes reconciliation between Russia and the West even less likely since lifting sanctions would mean having to give assets back to Moscow that have already been spent. The move will also reduce faith in the Western banking system and speed up global de-dollarization.

Putin Makes Public Peace Offer to Ukraine - Russian President Vladimir Putin laid out four conditions for Ukraine that he said would lead to an immediate ceasefire and, ultimately, an end to the conflict. According to the Kremlin, Kiev’s neutral, non-aligned, non-nuclear status and the lifting of all Western sanctions are necessary conditions for ending the conflict.In a speech to the Russian Foreign Ministry on Friday, Putin said that if Ukraine withdraws its forces from the four regions annexed by Moscow – Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson – then he would order a halt to operations and begin negotiations to end the war.As well as recognizing Russia’s territorial claims to the formerly Ukrainian regions, Putin demanded that Kiev never join NATO or obtain nuclear weapons and called for an end to Western sanctions on Moscow.The offer is the second from the Kremlin in recent weeks and comes at a crucial time in the nearly two-and-a-half-year conflict, as Moscow’s forces make slow but steady gains in the Kharkiv region. To offset Russian advantages, Kiev’s Western backers have significantly escalated their support by allowing Ukraine to hit targets inside Russia, seizing frozen Russian funds to give to Ukraine, and preparing to deploy NATO trainers to Ukraine.Ukrainian Presidential Adviser Mykhailo Podolyak quickly rejected the Russian offer in a post on X. “There are no new ‘peace proposals’ from Russia. Entity Putin has voiced only the ‘standard aggressor’s set,’ which has been heard many times already,” he wrote. “Its content is quite specific, highly offensive to international law, and speaks absolutely eloquently about the incapacity of the current Russian leadership to adequately assess realities.”The offer is similar to what Russia demanded in the early months of the war. At that time, Moscow was only seeking to annex Crimea. However, Russian forces have made significant advances in the years since, and the Kremlin says it will not relinquish the four regions of southern and eastern Ukraine annexed last year.Kiev’s demands for ending the war include a complete withdrawal of Russian troops from Ukraine’s post-USSR borders, Putin facing an international trial for war crimes, and reparations for war damages.

Far-right victories in EU elections imperil Ukraine support = The sweeping gains made by far-right parties in the European Union (EU) parliamentary elections over the weekend puts support for Ukraine on thinner ice as more skeptical lawmakers take up a bigger share of seats in the legislative chamber. Voters largely elected moderates and leftists, but the gains of far-right members in Europe imperil efforts to support Kyiv or rein in Russia. The biggest threat comes from France’s far-right National Rally party, which won the most seats in France and forced new elections in Paris. The election was driven by domestic concerns across Europe, such as immigration, jobs and efforts to address climate change, but the largest land war on the continent since World War II was the biggest foreign policy question for Europeans as they headed to the polls, and security and defense are among the top priorities for voters. The growing influence of Ukraine-skeptical lawmakers in countries from Germany to Austria also mirrors the ongoing fight in the U.S., where far-right lawmakers have worked to block military aid to Kyiv. Far-right isolationist ideology was something President Biden spoke out against while he was in France to mark the 80th anniversary of D-Day over the weekend, just as the EU elections were underway. But the EU elections highlighted splintering relations rather than harmonic alliances, with once-fringe parties making gains and grabbing headlines. “It’s not the far right taking power, but instead the far right finding themselves as being more mainstream and therefore acceptable for the center-right parties as coalition partners.” The weekend election delivered the most seats in the 720-seat Parliament to the center-right European People’s Party (EPP), which has long held the majority, and the second largest share to the liberal group Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats. But nationalist lawmakers won a record number of seats, with the European Conservatives and Reformists and the Identity and Democracy far-right groups considerably expanding their influence. These lawmakers made surprising gains in Germany and France, both key members of the Western security alliance NATO and among the biggest suppliers of arms to Ukraine. The expansion of far-right parties in the elections could upend both nations’ respective decisions on Ukraine. If they take more power, it could go one of two ways, experts say, citing Italy and Hungary as models. Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s Brothers of Italy party, which has been a dominant force in Italy for the past two years and cemented its influence in the EU election over the weekend, has not been anti-Ukraine and has worked with mainstream EU parties. In contrast, far-right Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has blocked action in the EU to support Ukraine or sanction Russia and has refrained from providing aid to Kyiv. Orbán also met with Russian President Vladimir Putin last year.

Italy’s Giorgia Meloni emerges stronger from EU elections Giorgia Meloni’s far-right party won a decisive victory in European elections in Italy, unofficial results showed on Monday – making her one of the few EU leaders to emerge stronger after the vote. “Thank you!” the Italian prime minister posted on social media alongside a photo of her making a V-for victory. Meloni’s post-fascist Brothers of Italy party had secured 28.82 per cent of the vote Monday with 97 per cent of all votes counted – surpassing the 26 per cent she secured in September 2022 national elections. Meloni had pitched the weekend elections for the European Parliament as a referendum on her leadership, asking voters to write “Giorgia” on their ballots. In brief remarks to the media around 2am, Meloni said she was “extraordinarily proud” of the result, which comes just days before she hosts G7 leaders in Puglia. “I am proud that this nation presents itself at the G7 and in Europe with the strongest government of all,” she said. The result is a remarkable reversal from 2019 European elections, when Meloni’s then-marginal party secured just six per cent of the vote. By contrast it was a tough night for several of Meloni’s fellow EU leaders, notably France’s Emmanuel Macron, who called snap legislative elections after his centrist alliance was routed by Marine Le Pen’s far-right National Rally. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s coalition also suffered a stinging defeat, while Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez’s Socialists were beaten by the right-wing Popular Party. In Italy, the 49.69 per cent voter participation rate was the country’s lowest ever. All eyes will now be on what Meloni will do with her increased influence in Brussels. She has been courted both by Ursula von der Leyen of the centre-right EPP group – who is vying for a second term leading the powerful European Commission – and Le Pen. EU elections dealt stunning defeats to French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz. File photo: Reuters EU elections dealt stunning defeats to French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz. File photo: Reuters “In a few hours Giorgia Meloni could be the best positioned prime minister in terms of political strength in the EU,” noted Lorenzo Castellani, a political analyst at Rome’s LUISS University, on X as the results rolled in. While on the campaign trail, Meloni said she wanted to lead a far-right victory in Europe similar to what she did in Italy. But there are tensions between her and Le Pen, who sit in different groupings in the European Parliament. “I don’t think Meloni wants to go back to working with the likes of Le Pen,” said Daniele Albertazzi, co-director at the Centre for Britain and Europe think tank. “She will have fewer MEPs than Le Pen, but she is prime minister.” “I think she will keep trying now to play the game with the big guys and focus on the EPP” – and the negotiations for the next European Commission chief, he said.

global glass onion

Saturday, June 15, 2024

week ending Jun 15

The three liabilities not affected by QE/QT:

No comments:

Search This Blog

navigating the GGO

note on RSS for this blog

Blog Archive

Followers

view FRED graphs

old links

old links from globalresearch.com

energy tickers

labels (restricted to 20 per post)

depression analysis

about the globalglassonion...

browsing GGO with internet explorer

About Me