Fox News

Russia launches Iranian satellite into space amid fears it will be used to surveil Ukraine

Tue, 09 Aug 2022 21:12:48 GMT

Russia launched an Iranian satellite into space on Tuesday, just weeks after Moscow announced plans to abandon the International Space Station in the next two years.

The launch, which lifted off from the Baikonur launch facility in Kazakhstan, placed the Khayyam satellite into orbit.

Iran claims that the satellite, named after a 12th-century Persian scientist, will be used to improve agricultural productivity, but fears have been raised that Russia will use it to surveil Ukraine and Tehran could use it to monitor Israel.

Two Western security officials told the Washington Post last week that Moscow has informed Iran it will use the high-resolution camera on the satellite to surveil military targets in Ukraine for "several months."

PRESIDENT BIDEN'S NEW WEAPONS PACKAGE FOR UKRAINE IS THE LARGEST ONE YET, PENTAGON SAYS

The satellite will eventually give Iran "unprecedented capabilities" to keep watch over sensitive facilities in Israel and other parts of the Middle East, the official told the newspaper.

The launch also comes as cooperation in space between Russia and the West breaks down amid Putin's invasion of Ukraine.

Yuri Borisov, the recently appointed head of Russia’s state space corporation Roscosmos, said last month that Russia will leave the International Space Station in the next two eyars.

"The decision to leave the station after 2024 has been made," Borisov said in late July, noting that Russia will fulfill its partner commitments before leaving.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

In desperate effort to salvage Iran nuclear deal, will US cave to EU appeasement?

Tue, 09 Aug 2022 21:12:11 GMT

The European Union on Monday submitted a final nuclear arms text to Iran’s regime to temporarily curb Tehran’s ambitions to develop an atomic bomb in exchange for more than $100 billion in sanctions relief.

The elements of the nuclear package disturb many arms controls experts because they believe that the E.U. is on a concessionary negotiation track that is stuck in the past.

"Safeguards issues cannot simply be swept under the rug because the E.U. is trying to restore an element of its foreign policy legacy. 2022 is not 2015. Not only has the Iranian program advanced considerably, but Iranian officials appear increasingly comfortable talking about their capability to produce the ultimate weapon," Behnam Ben Taleblu, a senior fellow for the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD) in Washington, told Fox News Digital.

The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), the formal name for the nuclear deal, was completed in 2015. President Trump’s administration pulled the plug on the atomic accord in 2018 because the deal failed to stop the theocratic state building a nuclear weapons device.

US HIGHLIGHTS ADVANTAGES OF NUCLEAR DEAL BUT ACKNOWLEDGES STALL WITH IRAN

"This was a horrible, one-sided deal that should have never, ever been made," said Trump at the time, adding, "It didn’t bring calm, it didn’t bring peace, and it never will."

The E.U.’s top diplomat, Joseph Borell, said, "What can be negotiated has been negotiated, and it’s now in a final text. However, behind every technical issue and every paragraph lies a political decision that needs to be taken in the capitals. If these answers are positive, then we can sign this deal."

The 2015 deal was an unsigned agreement. It is unclear what difference a signed deal will make in 2022 since the accord is a political understanding.

Ben Taleblu, the FDD Iran expert, fired back in response to Borrell: "The EU’s framing of its recent attempt to develop a final deal based on the JCPOA has it all backward. Political will cannot be grafted onto a technical solution when the technical solution is slated to become the accelerant to yet another nuclear crisis with Iran."

He added, "Rather than re-litigating the pathway to mutual JCPOA compliance, now is the time for creative solutions to repair gaps in the monitoring and verification regime of much more important accords than the JCPOA."

The Middle East expert, Ambassador Dennis Ross, tweeted an additional deficiency of the nuclear talks: "Iran insists that in order to return to JCPOA, the IAEA drop its investigation of the 3 undeclared sites where it discovered traces of uranium. Iran has given no credible explanations for the traces; no surprise, they want the investigation dropped. It has something to hide."

TOP FORMER ISRAELI OFFICER: IRAN NUCLEAR DEAL REVIVAL WOULD HAVE 'UNPRECEDENTED DEVASTATING CONSEQUENCES’

Iran’s regime has boasted over the last few weeks that it can develop a nuclear weapon, and even it went as far to threaten to obliterate New York with an atomic bomb, turning the metropolis into "hellish ruins."

President Biden’s negotiators in Vienna, Austria, have not sought to restrict Iran’s production of its long-range missile program.

Both Republican and Democratic administrations have designated Iran’s regime as the worst international state-sponsor of terrorism. The Iran nuclear deal contains no provisions to stop Tehran’s sponsorship of terrorism across the globe.

IRAN DECLARES IT CAN USE NUCLEAR MISSILES TO TURN 'NEW YORK INTO HELLISH RUINS'

"For our part, our position is clear: we stand ready to quickly conclude a deal on the basis of the E.U.’s proposals," a U.S. State Department official said, adding, "They [Iran] repeatedly say they are prepared for a return to mutual implementation. Let’s see if their actions match their words."

The Biden administration is deeply wedded to the Iran deal, declaring the final text "the best and only basis on which to reach a deal." Biden’s team in Vienna, including his Special Envoy for Iran, Robert Malley, have faced intense criticism from human rights advocates and Iranian Americans for ignoring grave human rights violations in the Islamic Republic of Iran.

As Biden is pressing to reach an allegedly flawed Iran deal, the FBI issued three tweets on Friday about the Iranian threat to Americans.

"The Iranian regime and its terrorist proxies don’t just endanger the Middle East—they also put Americans, U.S. national security, and our country’s critical infrastructure at risk…," noted the FBI in its first tweet to its 3.5 million followers.

Malley’s critics want the Biden administration to address, for example, the Iranian regime’s massacre of nearly 1,500 peaceful protestors in 2019.

The U.S. government-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reported Iran's foreign minister, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, said, "The outcome of this matter depends on whether the United States wants to make an agreement."

Global reaction to Trump raid muted as some Israelis draw similarities to Bibi's treatment by establishment

Tue, 09 Aug 2022 20:56:33 GMT

Global reaction to the FBI’s raid on former President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate was mostly muted on Tuesday, with even his close allies and supporters in Israel refraining from commenting on the events that have created controversy in the U.S.

"A lot of people here [in Israel] are aware of what is going on, but it’s not causing the kind of outcry that you see in the U.S. at the moment and that is understandable," said Marc Zell, an international lawyer, who serves as the Chairman of Republicans Overseas Israel and vice president of Republicans Overseas International.

He said that "as a general rule, Israelis don’t know much about American politics, and they are distracted by their own issues." Zell highlighted the hostilities this past weekend between Israel and Palestinian Islamic Jihad in Gaza, the threat from Iran and upcoming national elections, also in November.

TRUMP SAYS MAR-A-LAGO HOME IN FLORIDA ‘UNDER SEIGE’ BY FBI AGENTS

Zell, who condemned the FBI raid in a tweet, said, however, that parallels could definitely be drawn between Trump and former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

"Trump and Netanyahu are often compared," he said. "Both are very outspoken leaders, very strong-willed leaders, which is something many Israelis admire and by the same token, many Israelis despise, both these people tend to bring up intense reactions from their supporters and their enemies."

Dr. Gadi Taub, a professor of U.S. history at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, told Fox News Digital, that the similarities of the two leaders and the criminal investigations both face now, after being ousted from power, are even closer.

"I think the weaponization of state agencies in both countries is fairly clear," said Taub. "I think we can’t interpret all this fully unless we understand that at the center of all this is an alliance between left-wing media and state agencies."

Aside from Zell, Taub and a handful of others, there was mostly silence about the raid, which Trump supporters said was unprecedented and undermined public confidence in the U.S. justice system.

In other countries too, political leaders, pundits and the media refrained from commenting or criticizing the Biden administration or the U.S. authorities for the raid.

GOP SLAMS 'WEAPONIZATION' OF DOJ AFTER TRUMP'S MAR-A-LAGO RAIDED BY FBI; DEMS CALL IT 'ACCOUNTABILITY'

"Russian media so far has refrained from overtly attacking the Biden administration’s Justice Department or directly supporting former President Trump," said Rebekah Koffler, president of Doctrine & Strategy Consulting, a former DIA intelligence officer and the author of "Putin's Playbook: Russia's Secret Plan to Defeat America."

"The coverage of the FBI’s raid on President Trump’s estate is largely neutral, as Russian media are simply reporting the news coming out of Western outlets," she said.

Koffler noted, "However, the focus of the reporting is on criticisms by GOP officials that criticize the FBI for targeting President Biden’s political opponent and potential future presidential candidate. The most prominent theme is that 100 FBI agents descended on Trump’s home in Florida."

In the U.K., the picture was similar, with most media outlets picking up reporting from the U.S., although the left-wing newspaper The Guardian ran an opinion piece saying the "development has hit Trump and his family hard. Or opportunely, depending on how you look at it."

Myanmar tragedy exposes the dirty underbelly of 'green energy'

Tue, 09 Aug 2022 20:22:39 GMT

The birds no longer sing, and the herbs no longer grow. The fish no longer swim in rivers that have turned a murky brown. The animals do not roam, and the cows are sometimes found dead.

The people in this northern Myanmar forest have lost a way of life that goes back generations. But if they complain, they, too, face the threat of death.

This forest is the source of several key metallic elements known as rare earths, often called the vitamins of the modern world. Rare earths now reach into the lives of almost everyone on the planet, turning up in everything from hard drives and cellphones to elevators and trains. They are especially vital to the fast-growing field of green energy, feeding wind turbines and electric car engines. And they end up in the supply chains of some of the most prominent companies in the world, including General Motors, Volkswagen, Mercedes, Tesla and Apple.

But an AP investigation has found that their universal use hides a dirty open secret in the industry: Their cost is environmental destruction, the theft of land from villagers and the funneling of money to brutal militias, including at least one linked to Myanmar’s secretive military government. As demand soars for rare earths along with green energy, the abuses are likely to grow.

"This rapid push to build out mining capacity is being justified in the name of climate change," said Julie Michelle Klinger, author of the book "Rare Earths Frontiers," who is leading a federal project to trace illicit energy minerals. "There’s still this push to find the right place to mine them, which is a place that is out of sight and out of mind."

The AP investigation drew on dozens of interviews, customs data, corporate records and Chinese academic papers, along with satellite imagery and geological analysis gathered by the environmental non-profit Global Witness, to tie rare earths from Myanmar to the supply chains of 78 companies.

BURMA MILITARY COURT SENTENCES DEPOSED LEADER TO 5 YEARS FOR CORRUPTION

About a third of the companies responded. Of those, about two-thirds didn't or wouldn't comment on their sourcing, including Volkswagen, which said it was conducting due diligence for rare earths. Nearly all said they took environmental protection and human rights seriously.

Some companies said they audited their rare earth supply chains; others didn’t or required only supplier self-assessments. GM said it understood "the risks of heavy rare earths metals" and would source from an American supplier soon.

Tesla did not respond to repeated requests for comment, and Mercedes said they contacted suppliers to learn more in response to this story. Apple said "a majority" of their rare earths were recycled and they found "no evidence" of any from Myanmar, but experts say in general there is usually no way to make sure.

Just as dirty rare earths trickle down the supply chains of companies, they also slip through the cracks of regulation.

In 2010, in response to war in the Congo, Congress required companies to disclose the origin of so-called conflict minerals — tantalum, tin, gold and tungsten — and promise their sourcing does not benefit armed groups. But the law does not cover rare earths. Audits are left up to individual companies, and no single agency is held accountable.

The State Department, which leads work on securing the U.S. rare earths supply, did not respond to repeated requests for comment. But experts say the government weighs the regulation of rare earths against other green goals, such as the sales and use of electric vehicles. With ongoing negotiations in Congress, the issue has become increasingly touchy, they say.

Rare earths are also omitted from the European Union’s 2021 regulation on conflict minerals. A European Commission statement noted gaps in oversight of the supply chain stretching to Europe, and said "it is yet unclear how" a Chinese push to regulate rare earths will work.

With no regulation or alternatives, companies have quietly continued shipping rare earths without environmental, social and governance audits, known as ESG.

"What would be the result if now the world would say, ‘We want to do ESG audits on all rare earths production’?" said Thomas Kruemmer, director of Ginger International Trade & Investment, which does mineral and metal supply chain management. "The result would be that 70% of production would need to be closed down."

The story of rare earths is one of a naked grab for resources while leaving the wreckage to other countries.

Despite their name, these elements are relatively common in trace amounts on the earth’s crust, and possess an extraordinary magnetic power critical to technology. However, extracting enough rare earths requires intense mining that can be environmentally destructive.

The United States offshored its rare earths mining to China in the 1980s because of environmental and cost issues. China’s leader at the time, Deng Xiaoping, declared rare earths China’s answer to "oil in the Middle East." Tens of thousands of Chinese in the countryside discovered that they could make more in a month of mining than years of farming.

For decades the industry prospered. China became the world’s foremost miner of rare earths. A Beijing magazine called the profits "more addictive than drugs."

Then, stung by public criticism, officials in Beijing declared war on the country’s dirty industries, including rare earths mining. At a 2012 press conference in Beijing, a top Chinese industry official brandished photos of the devastation — pockmarked land stripped bare of vegetation.

Caught in the crossfire were miners like Guo, who asked to be identified by his last name only.

BURMA FORCES KILL DOZENS IN DEADLIEST DAY SINCE COUP

For years, Guo, a former car repairman, earned a handsome living after joining the booming rare earths industry in his native Jiangxi province. Then Beijing began enforcing some of the world’s strongest environmental laws, shutting down mom-and-pop operations like his. Chinese satellites now snap photos from space, hunting for hidden mines.

But even while the supply from China is now monitored, the global demand for rare earths is expected to explode by 300% to 700% by 2040, according to the International Energy Agency. The proposed Inflation Reduction Act in the U.S. would increase demand even more by subsidizing the sale of electric vehicles in one of the world’s largest markets.

"The disturbing reality is that the cash that fuels these abuses ultimately comes from the world’s fast-growing demand for these minerals, driven by the scaling up of green energy technologies," said Clare Hammond, a senior researcher at Global Witness, which also conducted field work in Myanmar.

China is also responding to competition from Europe and its greatest rival, the United States, which has called its dependence on rare earths from China a "national security risk." Concerned that its shrinking reserves could allow Western countries to break its stranglehold on the industry, China encouraged companies to look abroad.

"Environmental controls have become much stricter," said a government trade researcher, who declined to be named because he was not authorized to speak to the media. "That’s why imports have increased. It’s better to get rare earths from abroad."

The Chinese Foreign Ministry said it "didn’t understand" the situation and referred a request for comment to other ministries. The industrial and environmental ministries and the Jiangxi regional government did not respond to requests for comment.

As mines in China shuttered, ore prices rose. In neighboring Myanmar, home to some of the world’s richest deposits of what are known as heavy rare earths, opportunity beckoned. Thousands of Jiangxi miners streamed across the border.

"It reminds me of the European colonial attitudes towards Africa," said an industry analyst, speaking on condition of anonymity to avoid damaging ties with the Chinese government. "You just can’t be relying on third-world-type mining practices in a dictatorship like Myanmar. It’s not sustainable."

That does not bother Guo.

In 2019, he got a call. An old contact was opening up shop in Myanmar and needed a technician. Would he like to go?

Guo said yes, joining what he describes as a modern-day gold rush. He recounted primitive working conditions, including clouds of mosquitoes and nights spent burning logs in ramshackle cabins. The miners dug hundreds of feet deep with shovels and their bare, callused hands.

"I lived in a virgin forest, I lived like a savage," he said.

He and other Chinese workers in Myanmar described a web of small, unlicensed private mines that sell to China’s big state-owned mining conglomerates — directly or through trade intermediaries. When cash changes hands, few questions are asked.

WHY IS THE MILITARY TAKING CONTROL IN BURMA?

"I’m only responsible for digging the mountain up and selling it," Guo said. "The rest is none of my business."

Since 2015, imports from Myanmar have grown almost a hundredfold, according to UN trade data. Myanmar is now China’s single largest source of heavy rare earths, making up nearly half of the supply, according to Chinese customs data and expert estimates.

A few years ago, there were just two or three mines in Myanmar, then dozens. Today there are hundreds, and Guo guesses there may soon be thousands. At this pace, he predicts, it won’t be long before Myanmar’s rare earths are all gone.

But Guo cares little about preservation or politics.

"They talk about future generations, I’m talking about survival today," he said. "We just see if we can make money. It’s that simple."

There is a name for what Myanmar has become: A "sacrifice zone," or a place that destroys itself for the good of the world.

The sacrifice is visible from the air, in toxic turquoise pools that dot the landscape covered by mountain jungles just a few years ago. Since rare earth clays in Myanmar are soft and near the surface, they can easily be scooped into these pools of chemicals. Satellite imagery commissioned by Global Witness showed more than 2,700 of these pools at almost 300 separate locations.

The leaching agents have tainted tributaries of Myanmar’s main river, prompted landslides and poisoned the earth, according to witnesses, miners and local activists. Water is no longer drinkable, and endangered species such as tigers, pangolins and red pandas have fled the area.

A villager who lives along a river some 15 miles from the center of the mining sites said his wife used to catch and sell fish. Now the few they can catch make them ill, so they must buy from elsewhere at higher prices instead. Every time he enters the water, his feet feel itchy.

"There are no fish along the creek, not even small fishes," said the villager, who asked to be anonymous for his safety. "Everything went extinct."

Militias are rampant in these northern forest frontier areas, with at least one tied to the Border Guard Force backed by the Myanmar military, or Tatmadaw. Since seizing power last year, the Tatmadaw is under international sanctions for human rights abuses, which means the rare earths money it gets from the militia may be going into a violent crackdown against civilians.

With the armed militias in control, villagers have no recourse to defend their land.

When village leaders filed a complaint about the effects of rare earth mining and testing on land needed for black cardamom, walnuts and livestock, a high-ranking militia leader aligned with the Border Guard Force angrily summoned them. He said rare earth mining would proceed with or without their agreement.

"You, village leaders, should solve this issue," he yelled as he pointed to the leaders, according to a recording of the January meeting obtained by Global Witness, which was shared with and verified by the AP. "Otherwise, I’ll have to start shooting and killing people. Do not underestimate me. I am not a child — this is not child’s play."

The Myanmar military, militia-owned mining companies and militia leaders did not respond to requests for comment.

In the meantime, mining projects continue to get ever closer to the land villagers are trying to protect.

"We dare not complain," said a villager, who also asked to be anonymous for his safety. "If we say something … they beat us. We don’t want to be in prison."

The militias and warlords have turned Myanmar’s frontier with China into a modern-day wild west, with each tiny fiefdom demanding a cut of the profits that flow through its land.

"(The money) has to be going to people that are not nice people," said an executive at a Chinese magnets maker, who declined to be named to speak on a sensitive topic. "There’s no way out of it."

For Dong, a Chinese miner, the hundreds of dollars he hands to the armed men lining the roads in Myanmar are the price of doing business.

"To enter Myanmar, you pay," he said, declining to give his first name to speak on a sensitive topic. "It’s all about the money."

BURMA CITIZENS PUSH FOR GAS SANCTIONS TO STOP MILITARY FUNDING

Dong said police have told him that the rare earths he extracts can only be sold to China, not to the Americans or Japanese, because they are China’s strategic resources. He is under no illusions about the damage from acids so strong that they corrode the shovels of his bulldozers and excavators – something he’d never seen before.

"This stuff is unbelievable," he said. "It’s definitely polluting."

As rare earths from Myanmar travel around the world, they pass through many hands.

The most destructive mining is for heavy rare earths, which are critical to make powerful magnets heat-resistant. Ores are trucked across the border from illicit mines in Myanmar to southern China, where state-owned companies buy them up in sacks by the thousands. Among them: Minmetals, China Southern Rare Earth, and Rising Nonferrous Metals.

Some 70% of China Southern’s rare earth ores came from Myanmar, with the rest from recycling, Jiangxi customs official Liu Jingjing wrote in a paper. China Southern, among the world's largest processors of heavy rare earths, has no active mining in China, according to Liu’s paper. A company post highlighted how it is "seizing overseas rare earth resources" and "opening up" imports from Myanmar.

Minmetals, another major producer, warned shareholders in recent annual reports that it relied heavily on imports, as its one major mining project in China didn’t produce enough. Rising Nonferrous, the third company, wrote on their website in 2020 that their trading subsidiary had won approval from Chinese customs to import Myanmar heavy rare earth ores.

All three companies did not respond to calls, emails and faxes requesting comment.

Those companies in turn supply three major magnet companies: Yantai Zhenghai Magnetic Material, JL MAG, and Zhong Ke San Huan, public agreements show. Rising Nonferrous also supplies Guangdong TDK, a joint venture with Tokyo-based TDK, one of the world’s largest manufacturers of cell phone, laptop, and hard drive components and a supplier of Apple and Samsung. TDK and the magnet companies did not respond to requests for comment.

As the ore is transformed into magnets, it is separated, refined and melted, according to interviews with miners and magnet engineers. Along the way, materials from different sources often get mixed, making it difficult to track any particular shipment of rare earths from Myanmar to a specific batch of magnets.

Chinese magnet makers often don’t know where their rare earths come from because many multinational companies don’t ask, an engineer at one company noted.

"There’s never been like, where do you get your rare earth?" said the engineer, declining to be named to speak candidly. "There should be concern, but there’s no concern within the industry."

The magnet companies go on to supply intermediaries like components manufacturers and trading companies as well as big brands. The rare earths can pass through many more tiers of suppliers before reaching a consumer.

"The transparency in this industry is just so poor that the companies don’t know," said Kristin Vekasi, a professor studying rare earth sourcing at the University of Maine.

Among global carmakers, GM, Volkswagen, and Mercedes said they expect suppliers to adhere to codes of conduct and due diligence, and Mercedes added that they were designing new motors to eliminate heavy rare earths. Ford said they conduct audits and request suppliers to identify sourcing.

Hyundai denied using rare earths from Myanmar, and Stellantis said that "to the best of Stellantis’ knowledge," their rare earth supply chains only involve operations in China. Some auto parts makers, including Bosch, Brose and Nidec, also said they were assured by the magnet companies that their components were free of rare earths from Myanmar. Others, such as Continental AG and BorgWarner, said they expected suppliers to adhere to their codes of conduct.

However, only an order from the Chinese government could force companies to separate rare earths from Myanmar and China, according to Nabeel Mancheri, secretary general of the Rare Earth Industry Association. The group is trying to build a blockchain-based verification to link up international customers with the Chinese companies "upstream."

"Nothing exists on auditing the Chinese supply chain," he said. "Downstream players simply rely on whatever certificate they get from Chinese companies."

Among electronics giants, Samsung said they did not tolerate rights violations or environmental damage but did not answer other specific questions about their suppliers. Toshiba, Panasonic and Hitachi did not comment on suppliers but said they would suspend working with businesses violating human rights.

Thyssenkrupp said it had "initiated measures" to find out more about the origin of the minerals for its magnet supplier. Other machinery manufacturers like Mitsubishi did not respond.

Among wind turbine manufacturers, Siemens Gamesa, which has projects in the United States and Europe, said it audits immediate suppliers and is preparing to trace those further upstream. It said "supplier feedbacks" showed only rare earths from China. Other wind companies, like Xinjiang Goldwind, did not respond.

BURMA CHARGES DOCTORS OVER CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE PROTESTS

But Klinger, the expert on illicit minerals tracing, said the only way for a company to be certain to avoid rare earths from Myanmar is to have their supply chain "entirely outside of Myanmar, China and potentially outside Southeast Asia." She said there are cleaner ways to mine, but they cost more — a huge hurdle in the cutthroat world of commodities.

Mike Coffman, a former congressman who pushed for the original U.S. conflict minerals rules a decade ago, said he would like to see an expansion of the domestic supply of rare earths minerals, which is now before Congress. And U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, a Texas Republican, introduced a measure this year aimed at reducing U.S. reliance on China for rare earths and other critical minerals.

However, alternatives are still a long way in the future. In 2022, the U.S. and Australian governments both backed domestic rare earths projects with multimillion dollar financing, but facilities are years and tons of metals behind China’s current capacity.

Other countries with rare earths deposits are reluctant to mine them. Greenland’s parliament last year voted to halt a rare earth mining project, and efforts to develop a promising deposit in Sweden stalled because of local objections.

In the meantime, villagers still protest in one area in northern Myanmar where the black cardamom and walnuts grow — for now. Standing in the green mountains under a tree, a villager made it clear why they continue to raise their voices even when there’s been no recourse for others just a few mountains away.

"They are mining rare earth everywhere and we are no longer safe to drink water," she said. "There is nothing to support the children. Nothing to eat."

Biden ratifies US support for Sweden and Finland to enter NATO

Tue, 09 Aug 2022 17:44:16 GMT

President Biden signed documents backing the entry of Sweden and Finland into the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) on Tuesday.

"Putin thought he could break us apart… weaken our resolve," Biden said during a news conference announcing U.S. ratification of expanding NATO to include Finland and Sweden. "Instead, he’s getting exactly what he did not want. He wanted the Findalization [Finland-ization] of NATO, but he’s getting the NATO-ization of Finland."

Before signing the documents, Biden touted the expansion as a "watershed moment" that would enhance the security of "not only Europe and the United States, but of the world."

Biden urged the rest of the NATO allies to quickly ratify the expansion as well, noting the shared values Finland and Sweden have with the 30-member alliance.

"Sweden and Finland have strong democratic institutions, strong militaries, and strong and transparent economies that will meet every NATO requirement," the president said.

Finland and Sweden's membership will be the first significant expansion of the alliance since the Soviet Union's collapse in the 1990s. Their acceptance into the bloc marks a rebuke to Russia amid its ongoing invasion of Ukraine.

The Senate approved the move in a rare showing of bipartisan support, voting 95-1 last week in favor of the expansion. Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., was the only senator to vote against the measure, arguing that it would take focus away from China, which he considers America's primary geopolitical foe.

NATO MAKES THE RIGHT CALL ON SWEDEN, FINLAND IN A BIG, BOLD MOVE

"We can do more in Europe... devote more resources, more firepower ... or do what we need to do to deter Asia and China. We cannot do both," Hawley said, according to the Associated Press.

But Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell welcomed the news, arguing that the move would boost national security.

"Their accession will make NATO stronger and America more secure. If any senator is looking for a defensible excuse to vote no, I wish them good luck," McConnell said.

Biden immediately signalled his support for the measure after the Senate vote.

"I look forward to signing the accession protocols and welcoming Sweden and Finland, two strong democracies with highly capable militaries, into the greatest defensive alliance in history," Biden said in a statement last week after the Senate overwhelmingly approved their membership.

Finland and Sweden's application to join NATO came in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February, with membership in the alliance being strongly opposed by the Kremlin.

NATO's 30 current member-states signed the accession protocol for the two countries last month, clearing the way for the members to formally ratify their membership.

All 30 current NATO members must ratify the decision to allow Finland and Sweden's membership before they can be protected by Article Five of the NATO Charter, which states an attack on one NATO country is an attack on all members.

Canada, Germany and Italy have already ratified the accession of the two countries.

NYU student flees COVID lockdowns in Shanghai, only to be trapped in Hainan

Tue, 09 Aug 2022 16:47:54 GMT

Brian Hall fled Shanghai in June to avoid another lockdown of his residential compound, escaping to China's tropical tourist island of Hainan where he could work remotely as a public health professor after undertaking 10 days of quarantine.

Hall, who has worked at the New York University Shanghai for the past two years, is now stuck in Sanya, Hainan's main tourism hub, with no clarity on when he can get out.

"It has become impossible to leave the city. The hotel where I am staying is sealed and guests are not permitted to leave our rooms according to the city's instructions," Hall told Reuters via email.

LOCKDOWNS REMAIN IN SHANGHAI EVEN AFTER CITY HITS 'ZERO COVID' MILESTONE

Hainan province is one of the several Chinese regions that had seen relatively few cases for more than two years which are now battling outbreaks, raising the risk of persistent tight restrictions as the economy weakens.

"My emotions naturally range from complete denial and disbelief, to anger, sadness, and eventually hopelessness," said Hall, who like millions in Shanghai, endured a strict two-month lockdown earlier this year.

"It is not so much the lockdown here, but the memories of the Shanghai lockdown that have revisited me, and the sense of unease about what the fall will bring in Shanghai and elsewhere."

Hainan, which recorded just two local symptomatic COVID-19 cases last year, has reported more than 1,800 domestically transmitted infections already in August.

Although low by global standards, authorities on the island have locked down millions of residents, state media reported, as part of China's "dynamic COVID-zero" policy that aims to stamp out outbreaks as soon as possible. People are only allowed out only for certain reasons such as COVID tests, grocery shopping and essential job roles.

About 178,000 tourists were stranded in Hainan, including around 57,000 in Sanya, state media has reported.

VIRUS TESTING THE NEW NORMAL AS CHINA STICKS TO ‘ZERO-COVID’

Hall, who has to stay in his room and relies on the hotel for daily essentials including food and water, said he couldn't predict what was likely to happen but just had to take it as it comes.

"We must remain flexible in our plans and able to accept these disruptions if we desire to live and work here."

Global health agency to donate breathing machines to frontline Ukrainian hospitals for premature babies

Tue, 09 Aug 2022 15:54:11 GMT

Global health aid agency Unitaid is donating 220 specialized portable breathing devices to Ukraine that can help save lives of premature babies even in frontline hospitals where there is no electrical power.

Russia's invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24 has seen hundreds of hospitals damaged or destroyed, disrupting supply lines and placing newborn babies at risk of death or disability from a lack of access to equipment and oxygen.

Herve Verhoosel, spokesperson for Unitaid, told a media briefing that the war was causing extra stress on pregnant women, leading to an increase in the number of premature births, which had tripled in some areas.

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The new bubble nasal continuous positive airway pressure (bCPAP) devices are now available in 25 facilities across Ukraine, Verhoosel said.

Unitaid funds medical innovation programs mainly in poor countries, and is hosted by the World Health Organization.

WHO spokesperson Margaret Harris said that on a recent visit to a pediatric hospital close to the frontline in Ukraine she had seen medical staff who sleep in the basement every night, and constantly have to move children on ventilation machines.

"So having very portable devices that can function offline is absolutely critical," she told the briefing.

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Unitaid partnered with Vayu Global Health, a non-profit that specializes in low-cost healthcare equipment for developing countries, to provide the Kenya-made bCPAP machines, which cost around $500 each, as well as 125 oxygen blender systems.

Ukraine security services reveal Russian 'mole' in Kharkiv ranks as fighting intensifies in north

Tue, 09 Aug 2022 15:17:13 GMT

Ukraine’s top intelligence and security agency on Tuesday said it had apprehended a suspected Russian "mole" in its ranks in Kharkiv as intense fighting in the northern region continues.

The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) announced it had detained an employee in its Kharkiv directorate who was found to be working for the Russian special services following an investigation, Ukrainian news outlets reported.

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The employee, who formerly served on the Kharkiv City Council, was reportedly recruited by Russian officials in March 2022 and took a job at the SBU’s Anti-Terrorist Headquarters in the northern region.

The "mole" then gained access to and transferred not only contact details of SBU officials, but military offensive routes, checkpoints, military equipment details and data he reportedly entered into closed government systems on a daily basis.

In exchange for his support for Russia, he was allegedly provided security guarantees for himself and his family should Russia succeed in capturing the region.

He has been accused of treason under martial law and has been detained by Ukrainian authorities.

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Details on the suspected mole have not been released and government officials concealed his face in photos taken during his arrest.

The announcement by the SBU comes just over two months after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy fired head of the SBU in Kharkiv, Roman Dudin, in late May for ineffective leadership during the early days of the war.

A subsequent investigation was launched into accusations made against Dudin, Ukrainian news outlets reported.

Kharkiv, roughly 30 miles from the Russian border, has seen intense fighting since the onslaught of Russia’s initial invasion in February and again during its second surge earlier this year.

Fighting has intensified in Kharkiv in recent weeks and Ukrainian forces have won back previously occupied areas of the northern region.

The U.S. assesses that Russia has taken heavy losses and according to Under Secretary of Defense Colin Kahl on Monday, 70,000 to 80,000 Russian soldiers have been killed or wounded in action.

Hezbollah threatens to 'sever' the hand of Israel if it attempts to tap disputed offshore gas

Tue, 09 Aug 2022 15:09:15 GMT

The leader of Hezbollah in Lebanon issued a warning to Israel about attempting to tap offshore gas reserves in disputed waters between the two countries, further complicating U.S. attempts to mediate the dispute.

"The hand that reaches for any of this wealth will be severed," Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of Hezbollah in Lebanon, said during televised remarks in Beirut Tuesday, according to Radio France Internationale (RFI).

The warning comes as the U.S. has intensified efforts to resolve the maritime border dispute between Israel and Lebanon, two countries that have been in an official state of war for over 70 years. Both countries claim an over-300-square-mile stretch of the Mediterranean Sea subject to ongoing negotiations. Lebanon argues that the Karish gas field Israel claims is part of its internationally recognized waters.

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Tensions between the two countries have flared over the summer, with Israel reporting that it had shot down three drones launched by Hezbollah that were reportedly bound for the Karish gas fields. Later in July Hezbollah released a video showing surveillance of Israeli-chartered ships, one bound for the same region.

Negotiations over the disputed region, which resumed in 2020 after stalling out during the 2006 war between the two countries, have picked up as Lebanon seeks to claw out of one of the worst economic crisis in its history. The country sees access to the offshore gas reserves as key to its recovery, with Nasrallah's comments coming as Lebanon awaits a response from Israel to an offer to resolve the dispute that was submitted to U.S. mediator Amos Hochstein last month.

During his address, Nasrallah told viewers that "we are waiting for a response to the demands of the Lebanese state, and we will respond accordingly, but I tell you... we must be ready and prepared for all possibilities"

He made clear that Hezbollah stood ready to escalate the conflict should Israel ignore Lebanese demands.

"We will go all the way, so no one should try us," Nasrallah said.

Cambodian artwork looted during Khmer Rouge era returned by US authorities

Tue, 09 Aug 2022 14:25:47 GMT

Cambodia’s ambassador to the United States said Monday that the transfer of 30 antiquities by U.S. law enforcement authorities to his country was a return of the "souls of our culture."

Ambassador Keo Chhea spoke at a ceremony where a 10th century sculpture, "Skanda on a Peacock," was among several works of art displayed as U.S. and Cambodian officials described the impact the return of 30 antiquities would have on the Southeast Asian nation.

"It's like a returning of the souls of our culture back to our people," Chhea said. "We're very grateful."

Chhea praised the cooperation between the U.S. and Cambodia to enable the return of the antiquities, but he also said they were battling a "global problem" that continues.

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He added that "we need to commit and to continue our fight" to prevent further looting and stop the plundering of precious works of art by tools used by looters, which sometimes results in pieces of sculptures being chopped off.

Some sculptures, including one from the 10th century depicting the Hindu elephant god Ganesha that weighs more than 3 tons, were too heavy to be brought to the ceremony, according to U.S. Attorney Damian Williams.

The sculptures were looted during a long period of civil war and instability in Cambodia, which was ruled by the brutal Khmer Rouge regime in the 1970s.

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Williams said organized looting networks — including looters affiliated with the Khmer Rouge — sent the statues to Douglas Latchford, a well-known antiquities dealer, who then sold them to Western dealers, collectors and institutions.

Latchford died before he could be extradited to the United States to face charges of wire fraud conspiracy and other crimes in Manhattan federal court, the prosecutor noted. The indictment eventually was dismissed due to his death.

Williams said some of the sandstone and bronze sculptures and artifacts were given up by their owners when U.S. authorities told them they were stolen. Others were claimed through court actions. They ranged from the Bronze Age to the 12th century.

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"We commend individuals and institutions who decided to do the right thing, and after learning about the origin of the antiquities in their possession, decided to voluntarily return those pieces to their homeland," Williams said. "We want to encourage anyone out there, who believes that they have illegally obtained Cambodian or other antiquities in their possession, to come forward."