U$A

'These are the 14 lawmakers who voted against condemning Iran’s attack on Israel

BY TARA SUTER - 04/18/24 

An overwhelming majority of the House voted Thursday on a resolution to condemn Iran’s recent attack on Israel.

However, 14 members voted against the resolution: 13 Democrats and one Republican. The group of Democrats includes “squad” members Reps. Jamaal Bowman (N.Y.) and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (N.Y.), while Rep. Thomas Massie (Ky.) was the lone Republican to vote against the resolution.


Last weekend, Iran launched more than 300 missiles and drones on Israel, but Israeli and allied forces were able to shoot down most of them.
Here’s the House members who voted against condemning Iran’s attack:

Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-N.Y.)

In a Thursday statement, Bowman said he “unequivocally” condemns Iran’s recent attack, just as he also condemns a suspected earlier attack by Israel, which is “why” he “voted against the resolution.”

“President Biden has made it clear that he does not support escalating violence in the Middle East, which this resolution will contribute to by supporting further military action,” Bowman continued in his statement. “We must do everything in our power to end the ongoing violence, pursue a lasting ceasefire, and save civilian lives. Instead of pushing resolutions that fan the flames of war, Congress should recognize all of the lives that have been lost, both Palestinian and Israeli. We have a moral responsibility to govern in a way that centers those most impacted and nurtures humanity instead of succumbing to more warmongering and violence.”

Rep. Greg Casar (D-Texas)

Casar said in a post on the social platform X Thursday that he “voted no on a bill that ‘fully supports’ an Israeli military response to Iran’s retaliatory & escalatory attack.”


‘I unequivocally condemn Iran’s attack that risked civilian lives, but I can’t support continued escalation that could drag the US into regional war,” he continued in his post.

Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.)

In a Thursday statement, the Washington Democrat said “Iran’s attack on Israel was a dangerous escalation in what could quickly turn into a larger regional war.”


“I condemned the attack by Iran, as well as the precipitating hostilities that led to the attack, and I called for immediate de-escalation to reduce the threat of these actions widening into a larger regional conflict,” Jayapal said. “I also supported President Biden’s actions, along with allies, in thwarting the Iranian attack and defending Israel against those threats.”

“I voted no on this resolution because I am concerned that it further escalates the situation at exactly the time that we need to do the opposite,” Jayapal added. “It does not mention the precipitating strike on the Iranian embassy by Israel that led to this attack. It ‘fully supports’ further offensive action by Israel and calls for continued arms sales to Israel.”

Rep. Jonathan Jackson (D-Ill.)

Rep. Cori Bush (D-Mo.)

Rep. Hank Johnson (D-Ga.)

Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.)

Rep. Summer Lee (D-Pa.)

Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.)

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.)

Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.)

Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.)

Rep. Delia Ramirez (D-Ill.)

Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.)

Mysterious Accidents at US, Ally's Defense Facilities Spark Sabotage Fears

Published Apr 19, 2024 
By Isabel van Brugen
Reporter

A recent string of mysterious accidents at defense facilities in the U.S. and U.K. that have been producing weapons and equipment for Kyiv's forces in the war in Ukraine has fueled speculation on social media of possible Russian sabotage.

It comes amid rising tensions between Russia and the West, more than two years into Russian President Vladimir Putin's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Russian officials have regularly accused the United States of instigating a new world war in coordination with members of the NATO military alliance, while many, including Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, have warned that Moscow could be gearing up for a wider conflict with NATO.

Newsweek has contacted Russia's Foreign Ministry for comment by email.

On Wednesday, two Russian nationals who were taken into custody by German police in the Bavarian city of Bayreuth were accused of preparing to bomb industrial and military sites in the country.

The federal prosecutor's office said Dieter S, 39, and Alexander J, 37, both German-Russian nationals, had been in contact with Russia's military intelligence agency (GRU) and had plotted to carry out acts of sabotage with the intention of disrupting the supply of military aid to Ukraine.

"Our security authorities have prevented possible explosive attacks that were intended to target and undermine our military assistance to Ukraine. It is a particularly serious case of alleged spy activity for Putin's criminal regime," Germany's Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said during a press briefing in Berlin.

"We will continue to provide massive support for Ukraine and will not allow ourselves to be intimidated," she added.

The Russian Embassy in Berlin called the accusations an "outright provocation," Russia's state-run news agency Tass reported.

The arrests have prompted renewed speculation on social media about two separate incidents this month at arms suppliers in the U.S. and the U.K.

A fire broke out at a military plant in the city of Scranton, Pennsylvania, on April 15, while in Monmouthshire, South Wales, an explosion occurred at a manufacturing plant of BAE Systems, the U.K.'s largest defense contractor, on April 17. Both facilities had been producing supplies for Kyiv's forces in the war.

Investigations have been launched into both incidents.

Responding to the two arrests in Germany this week, David Frum, a Canadian-American political commentator and a former speechwriter for President George W. Bush, said on X (formerly Twitter): "Casts interesting light on those fires that ignited at artillery ammunition factories in US and UK."

Sergej Sumlenny, founder of the German think tank, the European Resilience Initiative Center, drew attention to the incidents.

"UK's only 155-mm shells plant reports a blast (no serious damage for the factory) tonight. Two days ago, fire started at a US ammo facility in Scranton, producing shells for Ukraine. Today, in Germany, two Russian saboteurs have been arrested," he wrote on X.

Other X users questioned the timing of the incidents.

"One day after a fire at a US artillery production plant. Could still be a coincidence, but odd to be sure. Hope both countries will take a close look," one user wrote.

"Didn't this just happen here, in the USA a couple days ago? I'm not believing in coincidences... something is up," another said.

"An explosion occurred at the ammunition production plant of the British company BAE Systems in Wales...This is the second western ammo plant in 2 days.... the Russians are operating in the west carrying out sabotage," an X user added.

After Wednesday's explosion in Wales, BAE Systems said safety protocols were "immediately enacted," according to the BBC, adding that there were no injuries and production was unaffected. The cause was under investigation, it said.

The Scranton Army ammunition plant released a statement about the fire on Facebook on Monday: "At approximately 3:20 p.m. today, emergency personnel responded to a fire at the heat treat building at Scranton Army Ammunition Plant. The fire has since been extinguished, with no injuries and all personnel accounted for. The cause of the fire is unknown at this time. We are currently assessing the damage to determine possible impacts to facilities or production."

Russia has been hit with waves of drone strikes since Putin launched his full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, with many strikes targeting ammunition depots and warehouses. While Moscow tends not to comment on the cause of industrial fires or attacks that have targeted its military facilities, authorities have sought to blame partisans or Ukrainian "saboteurs."

Drought Pushes Millions Into ‘Acute Hunger’ in Southern Africa

The disaster, intensified by El Niño, is devastating communities across several countries, killing crops and livestock and sending food prices soaring.

A farmer in Zimbabwe last month. Several countries have

 declared national emergencies.

Credit...Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi/Associated Press

By Somini Sengupta and Manuela Andreoni
April 18, 2024

An estimated 20 million people in southern Africa are facing what the United Nations calls “acute hunger” as one of the worst droughts in more than four decades shrivels crops, decimates livestock and, after years of rising food prices brought on by pandemic and war, spikes the price of corn, the region’s staple crop.

Malawi, Zambia and Zimbabwe have all declared national emergencies.

It is a bitter foretaste of what a warming climate is projected to bring to a region that’s likely to be acutely affected by climate change, though scientists said on Thursday that the current drought is more driven by the natural weather cycle known as El Niño than by global warming.

Its effects are all the more punishing because in the past few years the region had been hit by cyclones, unusually heavy rains and a widening outbreak of cholera.
‘Urgent help’ is needed

The rains this year began late and were lower than average. In February, when crops need it most, parts of Zimbabwe, Zambia, Malawi, Angola, Mozambique and Botswana received a fifth of the typical rainfall.

That’s devastating for these largely agrarian countries, where farmers rely entirely on the rains.

In southern Malawi, in a district called Chikwawa, some residents were wading into a river rife with crocodiles to collect a wild tuber known as nyika to curb their hunger. “My area needs urgent help,” the local leader, who identified himself as Chief Chimombo, said.

Elsewhere, cattle in search of water walked into fields still muddy from last year’s heavy rains, only to get stuck, said Chikondi Chabvuta, a Malawi-based aid worker with CARE, the international relief organization. Thousands of cattle deaths have been reported in the region, according to the group.

The first few months of every year, just before the harvest begins in late April and May, are usually a lean season. This year, because harvests are projected to be significantly lower, the lean season is likely to last longer. “The food security situation is very bad and is expected to get worse,” Ms. Chabvuta said.

Local corn prices have risen sharply. In Zambia, the price more than doubled between January 2022 and January of this year, according to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization. In Malawi, it rose fourfold.

The F.A.O. pointed out that, in addition to low yields, grain prices have been abnormally high because of the war in Ukraine, one of the world’s biggest grain exporters, as well as weak currencies in several southern African countries, making it expensive to buy imported food, fuel and fertilizers.

Why it’s happening

According to an analysis published Thursday by World Weather Attribution, an international coalition of scientists that focuses on rapid assessment of extreme weather events, the driving force behind the current drought is El Niño, a natural weather phenomenon that heats parts of the Pacific Ocean every few years and tweaks the weather in different ways in different parts of the world. In Southern Africa, El Niños tend to bring below-average rainfall.

El Niño made this drought twice as likely, the study concluded. That weather pattern is now weakening, but a repeat is expected soon.

The drought may also have been worsened by deforestation, which throws off local rainfall patterns and degrades soils, the study concluded.

Droughts are notoriously hard to attribute to global warming. That is particularly true in regions like Southern Africa, in part because it doesn’t have a dense network of weather stations offering detailed historical data.

Scientists are uncertain as to whether climate change played a role in this particular drought. However, there is little uncertainty about the long-term effects of climate change in this part of the world.

The average temperature in Southern Africa has risen by 1.04 to 1.8 degrees Celsius in the past 50 years, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, and the number of hot days has increased. That makes a dry year worse. Plants and animals are thirstier. Moisture evaporates. Soils dry out. Scientific models indicate that Southern Africa is becoming drier overall.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change calls Southern Africa a climate change “hot spot in terms of both hot extremes and drying.”
The costs of adaptation

To the millions of people trying to cope with this drought, it hardly matters whether climate change or something else is responsible for why the skies have gone dry.

What matters is whether these communities can adapt fast enough to weather shocks.

“It’s really important that resilience to droughts, especially in these parts of the continent, should really be improved,” said Joyce Kimutai, one of the authors of the study and a researcher at the Grantham Institute, a climate and environment center at Imperial College London.

There are existing solutions that need money to put into effect: early warning systems that inform people about what to expect, insurance and other social safety programs to help them prepare, as well as diversifying what farmers plant. Corn is extremely vulnerable to heat and erratic rains.

Golden Matonga contributed reporting.


Somini Sengupta is the international climate reporter on the Times climate team. More about Somini Sengupta

Manuela Andreoni is a Times climate and environmental reporter and a writer for the Climate Forward newsletter. More about Manuela Andreoni

A version of this article appears in print on April 19, 2024, Section A, Page 8 of the New York edition with the headline: Drought Leaves Millions Across Southern Africa Facing ‘Acute Hunger’. 

A Nigerian chess champion is trying to break the world record for the longest chess marathon

A Nigerian chess champion and child education advocate is attempting to achieve a Guinness World Record for the longest chess marathon

ByCHINEDU ASADU 

Associated Press 

JOHN MINCHILLO 

Associated Press
April 19, 2024


NEW YORK -- A Nigerian chess champion and child education advocate is attempting to play chess nonstop for 58 hours in New York City’s Times Square to break the global record for the longest chess marathon.

Tunde Onakoya, 29, hopes to raise $1 million for children's education across Africa. He is playing against Shawn Martinez, an American chess champion, in line with Guinness World Record guidelines that any attempt to break the record must be made by two players who would play continuously for the entire duration.

Onakoya had played chess for 42 hours by 10:00 a.m. GMT on Friday. Support is growing online and at the scene, where a blend of African music is keeping onlookers and supporters entertained amid cheers and applause.

The current chess marathon record is 56 hours, 9 minutes and 37 seconds, achieved in 2018 by Hallvard Haug Flatebø and Sjur Ferkingstad, both from Norway.

The record attempt is “for the dreams of millions of children across Africa without access to education,” said Onakoya, who founded Chess in Slums Africa in 2018. The organization wants to support education of at least 1 million children in slums across the continent.

“My energy is at 100% right now because my people are here supporting me with music,” Onakoya said Thursday evening after the players crossed the 24-hour mark.

On Onakoya's menu: Lots of water and jollof rice, one of West Africa’s best known dishes.

For every hour of game played, Onakoya and his opponent get only five minutes' break. The breaks are sometimes grouped together, and Onakoya uses them to catch up with Nigerians and New Yorkers cheering him on. He even joins in with their dancing sometimes.

A total of $22,000 was raised within the first 20 hours of the attempt, said Taiwo Adeyemi, Onakoya's manager.

“The support has been overwhelming from Nigerians in the U.S., global leaders, celebrities and hundreds of passersby," he said.

Onakoya’s attempt is closely followed in Nigeria where he regularly organizes chess competitions for young people living on the streets to boost his cause. More than 10 million children are out of school in the West African country — one of the world’s highest rates.

Among those who have publicly supported him are celebrities and public office holders, including Nigeria’s former Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo, who wrote to Onakoya on X, formerly Twitter: “Remember your own powerful words: 'It is possible to do great things from a small place.’"

The Guinness World Record organization has yet to publicly comment about Onakoya's attempt, which could reach 58 hours by midnight on Friday. It sometimes takes weeks for the organization to confirm any new record.

OPINION: 

The Alternative is Sinking Russian Tankers

In essence, the US is protecting Russian oil exports and allowing Russia to fund the war thereby.

By Steven Kopits
April 19, 2024, 

This pool photograph taken and distributed on September 11, 2023 by Sputnik agency shows the Zvezda shipbuilding complex before the naming ceremony of the Arctic tanker-gas carrier "Alexey Kosygin" and the tanker-shuttle "Valentin Pikul", in Primorsky Krai region. 

(Photo by Vladimir SMIRNOV / POOL / AFP)

It's been a wild week. Over the weekend, Iran unleashed a barrage of missiles on Israel; the world awaits the response. President Trump is in the dock, in a criminal trial he looks set to lose. Speaker Johnson finally appears ready to introduce various funding bills for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, even as the Clown Show tries to take him down. And meanwhile, the US Secretary of Defense, Lloyd Austin, admonished Ukraine to observe proprieties and not make waves as the country fights for its life. The US appreciates that the situation may be desperate, but for goodness sake, please do it quietly! Those attacks on Russia refineries could increase fuel prices and inconvenience all of us.

Ukraine has been facing the twin challenges of an excessively timid Biden administration and a wildly dysfunctional Republican conference in the House. Barring a vote to fund Ukraine this weekend -- and even with it at some point -- Ukraine may be compelled to try to restrict Russian oil exports through the Black Sea. A combination of Russian, western and other tankers export almost $10 billion of Russian crude from the Black Sea every month. That equals the entirety of Russia's defense budget. The oil continues to flow only because the US and western Europe so desire. In essence, the US is protecting Russian oil exports and allowing Russia to fund the war thereby.

Ending this trade would materially degrade Russia's ability to conduct the war. It would also raise oil prices comfortably to $150, and perhaps as high as $200, per barrel. This would push Europe into a steep recession and would similarly punish US consumers. Indeed, US drivers would lose $60 bn / month in added gasoline and diesel costs, with the price of regular gasoline reaching perhaps $6 / gallon ($8 in California). US government support of $60 bn for Ukraine for the entire year would look like peanuts by comparison.

Should that happen, Kyiv would be in a position to shift the blame firmly onto the MAGA Republicans in Congress. Does Marjorie Taylor Greene prefer $6 gasoline to supporting Ukraine? Kyiv can put her to the test.

A strike on a Russian tanker would also panic the White House, prompting a swift and desperately needed restructuring of the Price Cap. Ukraine will not win the war without it.


Attacking Russian tankers is, of course, a politically risky option. A very risky option. On the other hand, certain defeat at the hands of the Russians is a much higher price to pay. If push comes to shove, the Ukrainians need to shove. Marjorie Taylor Greene and the MAGA Republicans need to decide if they want to own $6 unleaded as the Ukraine vote reaches the House floor.

Oil Prices

Brent crested $90 last week, but is trading down a bit, $87 at writing. Nevertheless, copper prices continue to surge. Thus, either copper has to retrace, or Brent might be expected to rise to $96 / barrel.

Urals has closed up, much as expected, to $78 / barrel, $18 / barrel above the Price Cap.







The Urals discount, the difference between Russia's western crude oil export price and Brent, has compressed to around $11 / barrel, again, much as expected.






Urals is now at the highest level for this date in at least nine years.







Despite US fretting, European gasoline and diesel prices do not appear materially affected by Ukraine's attacks on Russian refineries.







Overall, oil prices are developing much as expected and against Ukraine's interest. The easiest, though high risk, way to motivate a desperately needed and vastly overdue restructuring of the Price Cap would be an attack on an oil tanker carrying Russian crude in the Black Sea. If the House fails to fund Ukraine and the White House declines to revisit the Price Cap, it might come down to that.


Steven Kopits heads Princeton Policy Advisors. A strategic management consultant and investment banker, he writes frequently on policy topics for a variety of publications, including Foreign Policy and The National Interest, and is a regular contributor to CNBC and The Hill.

THIRD WORLD U$A

Emergency rooms refused to treat pregnant women, leaving one to miscarry in a lobby restroom

Sacred Heart Emergency Center is pictured Friday, March 29, 2024, in Houston. At Sacred Heart Emergency Center in Houston, front desk staff refused to check-in one woman after her husband asked for help delivering her baby. She miscarried in a restroom toilet in the emergency room lobby while her husband called 911 for help. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)

BY ASSOCIATED PRESS NATIONWIDE
APR. 19, 2024

WASHINGTON (AP) — One woman miscarried in the restroom lobby of a Texas emergency room as front desk staff refused to admit her. Another woman learned that her fetus had no heartbeat at a Florida hospital, the day after a security guard turned her away from the facility. And in North Carolina, a woman gave birth in a car after an emergency room couldn’t offer an ultrasound. The baby later died.

What You Need To Know

Complaints that pregnant women were turned away from U.S. emergency rooms spiked in 2022 after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, federal documents obtained by The Associated Press reveal

The cases raise alarms about the state of emergency pregnancy care in the U.S., especially in states that enacted strict abortion laws and sparked confusion around the treatment doctors can provide

Federal law requires emergency rooms to treat or stabilize patients who are in active labor and provide a medical transfer to another hospital if they don’t have the staff or resources to treat them. Medical facilities must comply with the law if they accept Medicare funding

The Supreme Court will hear arguments Wednesday that could weaken those protections. The Biden administration has sued Idaho over its abortion ban, even in medical emergencies, arguing it conflicts with the federal law

Complaints that pregnant women were turned away from U.S. emergency rooms spiked in 2022 after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, federal documents obtained by The Associated Press reveal.

The cases raise alarms about the state of emergency pregnancy care in the U.S., especially in states that enacted strict abortion laws and sparked confusion around the treatment doctors can provide.

“It is shocking, it’s absolutely shocking,” said Amelia Huntsberger, an OB/GYN in Oregon. “It is appalling that someone would show up to an emergency room and not receive care — this is inconceivable.”

It’s happened despite federal mandates that the women be treated.

Federal law requires emergency rooms to treat or stabilize patients who are in active labor and provide a medical transfer to another hospital if they don’t have the staff or resources to treat them. Medical facilities must comply with the law if they accept Medicare funding.

The Supreme Court will hear arguments Wednesday that could weaken those protections. The Biden administration has sued Idaho over its abortion ban, even in medical emergencies, arguing it conflicts with the federal law.

“No woman should be denied the care she needs,” Jennifer Klein, director of the White House Gender Policy Council, said in a statement. “All patients, including women who are experiencing pregnancy-related emergencies, should have access to emergency medical care required under the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act.”
Pregnancy care after Roe

Pregnant patients have “become radioactive to emergency departments” in states with extreme abortion restrictions, said Sara Rosenbaum, a George Washington University health law and policy professor.

“They are so scared of a pregnant patient that the emergency medicine staff won’t even look. They just want these people gone,” Rosenbaum said.

Consider what happened to a woman who was nine months pregnant and having contractions when she arrived at the Falls Community Hospital in Marlin, Texas, in July 2022, a week after the Supreme Court’s ruling on abortion. The doctor on duty refused to see her.

“The physician came to the triage desk and told the patient that we did not have obstetric services or capabilities,” hospital staff told federal investigators during interviews, according to documents. “The nursing staff informed the physician that we could test her for the presence of amniotic fluid. However, the physician adamantly recommended the patient drive to a Waco hospital.”

Investigators with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services concluded Falls Community Hospital broke the law.

Reached by phone, an administrator at the hospital declined to comment on the incident.

The investigation was one of dozens the AP obtained from a Freedom of Information Act request filed in February 2023 that sought all pregnancy-related EMTALA complaints the previous year. One year after submitting the request, the federal government agreed to release only some complaints and investigative documents filed across just 19 states. The names of patients, doctors and medical staff were redacted from the documents.

Federal investigators looked into just over a dozen pregnancy-related complaints in those states during the months leading up to the U.S. Supreme Court’s pivotal ruling on abortion in 2022. But more than two dozen complaints about emergency pregnancy care were lodged in the months after the decision was unveiled. It is not known how many complaints were filed last year, as the records request only asked for 2022 complaints and the information is not publicly available otherwise.

The documents did not detail what happened to the patient turned away from the Falls Community Hospital.

‘She's bleeding a lot'

Other pregnancies ended in catastrophe, the documents show.

At Sacred Heart Emergency Center in Houston, front desk staff refused to check in one woman after her husband asked for help delivering her baby that September. She miscarried in a restroom toilet in the emergency room lobby while her husband called 911 for help.

“She is bleeding a lot and had a miscarriage,” the husband told first responders in his call, which was transcribed from Spanish in federal documents. “I’m here at the hospital, but they told us they can’t help us because we are not their client.”

Emergency crews, who arrived 20 minutes later and transferred the woman to a hospital, appeared confused over the staff’s refusal to help the woman, according to 911 call transcripts.

One first responder told federal investigators that when a Sacred Heart Emergency Center staffer was asked about the gestational age of the fetus, the staffer replied: “No, we can’t tell you, she is not our patient. That’s why you are here.”

A manager for Sacred Heart Emergency Center declined to comment. The facility is licensed in Texas as a freestanding emergency room, which means it is not physically connected to a hospital. State law requires those facilities to treat or stabilize patients, a spokeswoman for the Texas Health and Human Services agency said in an email to AP.

Sacred Heart Emergency’s website says that it no longer accepts Medicare, a change that was made sometime after the woman miscarried, according to publicly available archives of the center’s website.

Meanwhile, the staff at Person Memorial Hospital in Roxboro, North Carolina, told a pregnant woman, who was complaining of stomach pain, that they would not be able to provide her with an ultrasound. The staff failed to tell her how risky it could be for her to depart without being stabilized, according to federal investigators. While en route to another hospital 45 minutes away, the woman gave birth in a car to a baby who did not survive.

Person Memorial Hospital self-reported the incident. A spokeswoman said the hospital continues to “provide ongoing education for our staff and providers to ensure compliance.”

In Melbourne, Florida, a security guard at Holmes Regional Medical Center refused to let a pregnant woman into the triage area because she had brought a child with her. When the patient came back the next day, medical staff were unable to locate a fetal heartbeat. The center declined to comment on the case.
What's the penalty?

Emergency rooms are subject to hefty fines when they turn away patients, fail to stabilize them or transfer them to another hospital for treatment. Violations can also put hospitals’ Medicare funding at risk.

But it’s unclear what fines might be imposed on more than a dozen hospitals that the Biden administration says failed to properly treat pregnant patients in 2022.

It can take years for fines to be levied in these cases. The Health and Human Services agency, which enforces the law, declined to share if the hospitals have been referred to the agency’s Office of Inspector General for penalties.

For Huntsberger, the OB-GYN, EMTALA was one of the few ways she felt protected to treat pregnant patients in Idaho, despite the state’s abortion ban. She left Idaho last year to practice in Oregon because of the ban.

The threat of fines or loss of Medicare funding for violating EMTALA is a big deterrent that keeps hospitals from dumping patients, she said. Many couldn’t keep their doors open if they lost Medicare funding.

She has been waiting to see how HHS penalizes two hospitals in Missouri and Kansas that HHS announced last year it was investigating after a pregnant woman, who was in preterm labor at 17 weeks, was denied an abortion.

“A lot of these situations are not reported, but even the ones that are — like the cases out of the Midwest — they’re investigated but nothing really comes of it,” Huntsberger said. “People are just going to keep providing substandard care or not providing care. The only way that changes is things like this.”
Next up for EMTALA

President Joe Biden and top U.S. health official Xavier Becerra have both publicly vowed vigilance in enforcing the law.

Even as states have enacted strict abortion laws, the White House has argued that if hospitals receive Medicare funds, they must provide stabilizing care, including abortions.

In a statement to the AP, Becerra called it the “nation’s bedrock law protecting Americans’ right to life- and health-saving emergency medical care.”

“And doctors, not politicians, should determine what constitutes emergency care,” he added.

Idaho’s law does not allow abortions if a mother’s health is at risk. But the state’s attorney general has argued that its abortion ban is “consistent” with federal law, which calls for emergency rooms to protect an unborn child in medical emergencies.

“The Biden administration has no business rewriting federal law to override Idaho’s law and force doctors to perform abortions,” Idaho Attorney General Raúl Labrador said in a statement earlier this year.

Now, the Supreme Court will weigh in. The case could have implications in other states like Arizona, which is reinstating an 1864 law that bans all abortions, with an exception only if the mother’s life is at risk.

EMTALA was initially introduced decades ago because private hospitals would dump patients on county or state hospitals, often because they didn’t have insurance, said Alexa Kolbi-Molinas of the American Civil Liberties Union.

Some hospitals also refused to see pregnant women when they did not have an established relationship with physicians on staff. If the court nullifies or weakens those protections, it could result in more hospitals turning away patients without fear of penalty from the federal government, she said.

“The government knows there’s a problem and is investigating and is doing something about that,” Kolbi-Molinas said. “Without EMTALA, they wouldn’t be able to do that.”

US deports about 50 Haitians to nation hit with gang violence, ending months long pause in flights


by: GISELA SALOMON and ELLIOT SPAGAT, 

Associated Press

Posted: Apr 18, 2024 

MIAMI (AP) — The Biden administration sent about 50 Haitians back to their country on Thursday, authorities said, marking the first deportation flight in several months to the Caribbean nation struggling with surging gang violence.

The Homeland Security Department said in a statement that it “will continue to enforce U.S. laws and policy throughout the Florida Straits and and the Caribbean region, as well as at the southwest border. U.S. policy is to return noncitizens who do not establish a legal basis to remain in the United States.”

Authorities didn’t offer details of the flight beyond how many deported Haitians were aboard.

Thomas Cartwright of Witness at the Border, an advocacy group that tracks flight data, said a plane left Alexandria, Louisiana, a hub for deportation operations, and arrived in Cap-Haitien, Haiti, after a stop in Miami.

Marjorie Dorsaninvil, a U.S. citizen, said her Haitian fiancé, Gerson Joseph, called in tears from the Miami airport Thursday morning to say he was being deported on a flight to Cap-Haitien with other Haitians and some from other countries, including the Bahamas.

He promised to call when he arrived but hadn’t done so by early evening.

Joseph lived in the U.S more than 20 years and has a 7-year-old U.S. citizen daughter with another woman. He had a deportation order dating from 2005 after losing an asylum bid that his attorney, Philip Issa, said was a result of poor legal representation at the time. Though Joseph wasn’t deported previously, his lawyer was seeking to have that order overturned.

Joseph was convicted of theft and burglary, and ordered to pay restitution of $270, Issa said. He has been detained since last year.

Dorsaninvil said her fiancé has “nobody” in Haiti. “It is devastating for me. We were planning a wedding and now he is gone,” she said.

More than 33,000 people fled Haiti’s capital in a span of less than two weeks as gangs pillaged homes and attacked state institutions, according to a report last month from the U.N.’s International Organization for Migration. The majority of those displaced traveled to Haiti’s southern region, which is generally peaceful compared with Port-au-Prince, which has an estimated population of 3 million and is largely paralyzed by gang violence.

Haiti’s National Police is understaffed and overwhelmed by gangs with powerful arsenals. Many hospitals ceased operations amid a shortage of medical supplies.

The U.S. operated one deportation flight a month to Haiti from December 2022 through last January, according to Witness at the Border. It said deportation flights were frequent after a camp of 16,000 largely Haitian migrants assembled on the riverbanks of Del Rio, Texas, in September 2021 but became rare as fewer Haitians crossed the border illegally from Mexico.

Haitians were arrested crossing the border from Mexico 286 times during the first three months of the year, less than 0.1% of the more than 400,000 arrests among all nationalities. More than 150,000 have entered the U.S. legally since January 2023 under presidential powers to grant entry for humanitarian reasons, and many others came legally using an online appointment system at land crossings with Mexico called CBP One.

Homeland Security said Thursday that it was “monitoring the situation” in Haiti.” The U.S. Coast Guard repatriated 65 Haitians who were stopped at sea off the Bahamas coast last month.

Haitian Bridge Alliance, a migrant advocacy group, urged a halt in deportation flights to Haiti, saying Thursday that the U.S. was “knowingly condemning the most vulnerable, who came to us in their time of need, to imminent danger.”

With Republicans seizing on the issue in an election year, the Biden administration has emphasized enforcement, most notably through a failed attempt at legislation, after record-high border arrests in December. Arrests for illegal crossings dropped by half in January and have held pretty steady since then after Mexico stepped up enforcement south of the U.S. border. Biden says he is considering executive action to halt asylum at the border during times when illegal crossings reach certain thresholds.

___

Spagat reported from Berkeley, California.

US vetoes UN resolution for Palestinian statehood in favour of never-ending negotiations

 
The United States vetoed a resolution to accept the State of Palestine as a full member of the United Nations. Of the 15 members of the security council, 12 voted in favour, 2 abstained and the US opposed.

April 19, 2024

The US has vetoed a UN Security Council (UNSC) resolution that would have paved the way for the State of Palestine to gain full membership at the UN. The vote, held during a lengthy session in New York yesterday, saw 12 countries vote in favour of the resolution, while Britain and Switzerland abstained.

Robert Wood, the US deputy envoy to the UN, defended the veto, stating that Washington believes the only path to Palestinian statehood is through direct negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians.

The US has overseen direct negotiations since the 1990s with the Oslo Accords marking the beginning of formal negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Liberation Organisation (PLO). Direct negotiations failed to deliver Palestinians the dream of statehood and instead under US watch, Israel further entrenched its illegal occupation and annexed the very territory set aside for a Palestinian state.

The resolution’s failure was widely anticipated, as the US, a staunch ally of Israel, holds veto power at the Security Council and had previously expressed opposition to its passage. The vote comes amid the ongoing Israeli aggression in Gaza, which has claimed the lives of nearly 34,000 Palestinians, the overwhelming majority of whom are women and children, and created a humanitarian crisis in the coastal enclave.

Read: Slovenia, Spain prioritise recognition of Palestinian State

Currently, the State of Palestine holds non-member observer status at the UN. To become a full UN member, an application must be approved by the Security Council and then gain support from at least two-thirds of the General Assembly.

Ziad Abu Amr, the UN special representative for the State of Palestine, appealed for support before the vote, emphasising Palestinians’ longing for self-determination, freedom, security and peace in an independent state.

Some 139 countries have recognised the state of Palestine and a positive vote in the Security Council would have been an expression of the will of the international community. Israel, aided by the diplomatic cover of Washington, has been hostile to the international consensus.

Israel’s hostility was on display yesterday when the ambassador of the apartheid state to the UN, Gilad Erdan, slammed the council for even considering a resolution on the recognition of a Palestinian state. “If this resolution passes – God forbid – this should no longer be known as the Security Council but as the ‘terror’ council,” he said.

Abu Amr dismissed the US claim that the resolution would jeopardise political negotiations and prospects for peace, citing the establishment of the state of Israel through UN Resolution 181 as a precedent. Israel along with several other countries gained recognition through a vote in the General Assembly and according to one opinion Palestinians can bypass Washington’s obstruction in a similar manner.

Despite the setback, Abu Amr expressed hope that the international community would grant Palestinians the opportunity to become an integral part of the global effort to achieve international peace and security.

U.S. vetoes Palestinian bid for U.N. membership

Riyad H. Mansour, Permanent Observer of the State of Palestine to the United Nations, addresses the Security Council meeting on the admission of new members. He spoke after a resolution on the admission of Palestine as a UN member state failed to pass due to the veto of a permanent member of the Security Council. 

Photo by Eskinder Debebe/UN/UPI


April 19 (UPI) -- The United States blocked a U.N. Security Council resolution on Thursday to recognize the state of Palestine as a full member state of the United Nations, arguing its acceptance by the intergovernmental body will not equal statehood for the Palestinian people.

The Algeria-submitted resolution received 12 votes in favor, two abstentions from Britain and Switzerland and a vote against by the United States, which is one of five permanent members of the 15-member Security Council with veto power.

The vote prevents the resolution from moving on to the 193-member General Assembly where another round of balloting would have been held on the admission of the state of Palestine, which is one of two non-member observers of the intergovernmental organization, along with the Holy See.

An emotional Riyad Mansour, the Palestinian Authority's ambassador to the United Nations, choked back tears during his remarks following the vote.

"Our right to self-determination has never once been the subject of bargaining or negotiation. Our right to self-determination is a natural right, an historic right, a legal right to live in our homeland, Palestine as an independent state that is free and that is sovereign," he said.

"We we will not disappear. The people of Palestine will not be buried."

The state of Palestine first submitted its request to join the United Nations in 2011, which failed to get off the ground, but worked in the government receiving observer status in November the following.

Its application was revitalized amid Israel's war against Hamas in Gaza, which began Oct. 7, when the Iran proxy militia launched a brutal surprise attack on the Middle Eastern country, killing 1,200 Israelis with another 253 taken hostage.

The war has put renewed attention on the lack of a Palestinian state, as the death toll of the war in Gaza has ballooned to nearly 34,000 dead, and more than 76,000 injured. Much of the enclave has also been razed by months of bombing, and as of Sunday, some 1.7 million Gazans, or more than 75% of its population, have been displaced, according to the United Nations Palestinian relief agency.

Both the United Nations and the United States back the creation of the two separate independent and sovereign states of Israel and Palestine as the answer to the Israel-Palestinian conflict, and Washington defended its veto Thursday because acceptance into the intergovernmental body will not bring about this two-state solution.

"We also have long been clear that premature actions here in New York, even with the best intentions, will not achieve statehood for the Palestinian people," Robert Wood, U.S. deputy ambassador to the United Nations, said during the meeting.

"It remains the U.S. view that the most expeditious path toward statehood for the Palestinian people is through direct negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority with the support of the United States and other partners."

He pointed out that the report the council received from the admission committee that the members lacked unanimity if the state of Palestine met the criteria for membership under the U.N. Charter.

"We have long called on the Palestinian Authority to undertake necessary reforms to help establish the attributes of readiness for statehood and note that Hamas -- a terrorist organization -- is currently exerting power and influence in Gaza, an integral part of the state envisioned in this resolution," he said.

In Washington, State Department spokesman Vedant Patel further explained that they believe the most expeditious way for the Palestinians to achieve statehood is through negotiations.

He told reporters during the press conference that due to statutory requirements, admission of the State of Palestine would require the United States to cease funding for the United Nations.

"The U.S. is committed to intensifying its engagement on this issue with the Palestinians and the rest of the region, not only to address the current crisis in Gaza but to advance a political settlement here that we think can create a path to Palestinian statehood and membership in the United Nations," he said.

Israel commended the United States for downing the resolution.

"The proposal to recognize a Palestinian state, more than 6 months after the largest massacre of Jews since the Holocaust and after the sexual crimes and other atrocities committed by Hamas terrorists, was a reward for terrorism," Israeli Foreign Affairs Minister Israel Katz said in a statement.

"Terrorism will not be rewarded."

Why did Biden block UNSC resolution for Palestine statehood? US stand Explained

ByVertika Kanaujia
Apr 19, 2024 

Why did United States block Palestine statehood bid at UNSC? Here's all you need to know


On Thursday, the United States stood alone in opposing a United Nations Security Council resolution to grant the Palestinian territories full UN membership and statehood. The U.S. vetoed the proposal put forward by Algeria on behalf of Arab nations, resulting in the resolution's failure. While twelve of the 15 council members voted in favour, Britain and Switzerland abstained.

The UN Security Council votes on a resolution allowing Palestinian UN membership at United Nations headquarters in New York, on April 18, 2024, during a United Nations Security Council meeting on the situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian question. (AFP)

Had the resolution passed, it would have moved to the U.N. General Assembly, where a two-thirds majority among the 193 member countries would be required for approval. Currently, around 140 U.N. members recognize the Palestinian territories as a state.
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Why did US oppose Palestine statehood at UNSC?

U.S. officials have argued that endorsing statehood at this time could jeopardize the chances of achieving a lasting peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinians. It insists a mutually agreed-upon solution is essential.

“President Biden has consistently emphasized that a lasting peace in the region hinges on a two-state solution reached through mutual agreement,” U.S. representative Robert Wood told the council. “This is the only path that ensures Israel’s security and its future as a democratic Jewish state, while also guaranteeing Palestinians can live in peace and dignity in their own state.

“We also have long been clear that a premature action here in New York, even with the best intentions, will not achieve statehood for the Palestinian people,” Wood said. The United States “fully shared responsibility with its Israeli allies for the deaths of tens of thousands of Palestinian civilians.”

Even before the vote it was widely anticipated that Biden would veto the resolution. The resolution needed nine out of 15 votes for passage and no veto from any permanent member, including the U.S. The administration had actively encouraged members to either vote against or abstain from the resolution to prevent a veto.
Council Members opposed US views on rejecting bid

Despite this stance, the majority of the council disagreed. Many argued that the U.S., due to its unwavering support for Israel, shares responsibility for the ongoing challenges faced by the Palestinian people. Russian Ambassador Vasily Nebenzya criticized the U.S. veto as an attempt to resist the inevitable course of history.

Despite the U.S.'s strong stance, even its closest allies on the council did not support the veto. Britain, for instance, explained its abstention by saying that while they support Palestinian statehood, such recognition should be part of a broader process.

Algeria, the resolution's sponsor, remained resolute, declaring their commitment to the cause until it's achieved.
How Palestine called out US bluff at UNSC

Ziad Abu Amr, representing Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, pointed out that the same 1947 UN resolution that established Israel also called for a Palestinian state. He questioned how granting Palestinian statehood could hinder peace efforts.

“How could granting the state of Palestine full membership of the United Nations ... damage the prospects of peace between Palestinians and Israelis” or international peace? Abu Amr asked. “To those who say that recognizing a Palestinian state must happen through negotiations and not through a U.N. resolution, we wonder again, how was the state of Israel established.”


Israel’s U.N. Ambassador Gilad Erdan vehemently opposed the resolution, dismissing the idea of a Palestinian state meeting membership criteria.

US veto of Palestine's request for full UN membership 'shameful': Türkiye

Turkish deputy foreign minister calls for cease-fire in Gaza as soon as possible, Palestine's full UN membership and two-state solution

19/04/2024 Friday
AA

Türkiye's Deputy Foreign Minister Ahmet Yildiz

Türkiye's Deputy Foreign Minister Ahmet Yildiz on Thursday criticized reports of US plans to veto a draft resolution demanding Palestine's full membership at the UN, saying it is "shameful."

Speaking to Anadolu in an exclusive interview, Yildiz commented on the possibility of a US veto prior to a meeting of the UN Security Council to vote on the resolution.

"A cease-fire (in Gaza) should be reached as soon as possible. Palestine should become a full member (of the UN), and negotiations towards a two-state solution must be initiated with the help of the international community," Yildiz said.

Yildiz said full membership would be a good start for Palestine.


"But it seems that the US will veto it, and of course, it is a shameful situation."

He further expressed deep concern over the deteriorating situation in Gaza, citing widespread destruction and a staggering death toll of nearly 40,000.

Emphasizing the urgent need for international unity in pressuring for a cease-fire, Yildiz noted that while everyone criticizes Israel, there are countries that have reservations and objections when it comes to recognizing Palestine.

He highlighted discussions surrounding the vital role of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, or UNRWA, in supporting Palestinian refugees and denounced attempts to defund or dismantle the organization.


"The (Israeli) occupation forces in Palestine consistently violate international law and fail to meet their obligations," he said.

"It is evident that the current occupation cannot continue. We advocate for Palestine's full membership and urge the international community to initiate negotiations for a two-state solution.”

As expected, the US later vetoed the UN Security Council draft resolution.

The 15-member Council gathered in New York to vote on a draft resolution authored by Algeria recommending the admission of the State of Palestine for UN membership.

The membership was blocked with a vote of 12 in favor and two abstentions, including the UK and Switzerland.

Palestine denounces US veto blocking full UN membership bid

Move ‘unfair, unethical and unjustifiable, challenging the will of the international community,' says Palestinian Presidency

19/04/2024 Friday
AA

File photo

Palestine strongly condemned a decision by the US to veto a UN Security Council draft resolution Thursday demanding Palestine's full membership in the United Nations.

In a statement, the Palestinian Presidency called the move ''unfair, unethical and unjustifiable, challenging the will of the international community.''

It emphasized that this aggressive American policy towards Palestine, its people and their legitimate rights constitutes a blatant violation of international law.

It also noted that the US veto encourages the continuation of Israel's genocidal war against the Palestinian people in Gaza and the West Bank, including occupied Jerusalem.


The Presidency underscored that the veto exposes the contradictions in US policy, which claims to support a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict while preventing the international community from implementing this solution through its repeated use of the veto.

The 15-member UN Security Council gathered in New York to vote on a draft resolution authored by Algeria recommending the admission of the State of Palestine for UN membership.

The membership was blocked with a vote of 12 in favor and two abstentions, including the UK and Switzerland.

​​​​​​​Before the voting, Algeria's envoy to the UN Amar Bendjama said it is time for Palestine to take its rightful place among the community of nations, and seeking UN membership is a fundamental expression of Palestinian self-determination.


Palestine was accepted as an observer state of the UN General Assembly in 2012, allowing its envoy to participate in debates and UN organizations but without a vote.

States are admitted to membership in the UN by a decision of the General Assembly upon the recommendation of the Security Council, according to the UN Charter.

A council resolution needs at least nine votes in favor and no vetoes by the permanent members -- US, Britain, France, Russia or China -- to pass.

Palestine's application for full UN membership comes amid a deadly Israeli offensive on the Gaza Strip since an Oct. 7 cross-border attack by the Palestinian group Hamas, which has killed nearly 34,000 Palestinians.

UAE regrets Security Council failure to adopt full UN membership for Palestine

The Commissioner-General of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees, Philippe Lazzarini, top centre left, addresses the UNSC meeting at UN Headquarters. AP

Gulf Today, Staff Reporter

The UAE expressed its regret at the failure of the UN Security Council to adopt the draft resolution accepting full membership of the State of Palestine in the United Nations, and stressed that granting Palestine full membership is an important step to enhance peace efforts in the region.

Khalifa Shaheen Al Marar, Minister of State, explained in a statement on Friday, that the UAE is steadfast in its commitment to promoting peace and justice and preserving the rights of the brotherly Palestinian people, achieving the two-state solution and establishing an independent and sovereign Palestinian state, in accordance with international legitimacy resolutions and relevant agreements requiring an end to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

He said: The UAE has always called on the international community to strengthen all efforts made to achieve comprehensive and just peace, as this is the only way for the region to emerge from the cycle of tension, violence and instability.

Al Marar stressed the UAE’s position on the necessity of supporting all regional and international efforts to advance the peace process in the Middle East, as well as putting an end to the illegal practices that threaten the two-state solution and the right to self-determination for the brotherly Palestinian people, by supporting the achievement of a just, lasting and comprehensive solution that achieves security, stability and prosperity for the Palestinian and Israeli peoples and the entire region.

Also during the day, Saudi Arabia expressed regret over the failure of the UN Security Council to adopt a draft resolution accepting full membership of the State of Palestine in the United Nations.

The Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs also said in a statement on Friday that it expresses its deep regret over the inability of the Security Council to enable Palestine to become a full member of the United Nations, against the backdrop of the United States use of its veto.

The vote in the 15-member Security Council was 12 in favour, the United States opposed and two abstentions, from the United Kingdom and Switzerland. US allies France, Japan and South Korea supported the resolution.

Algerian UN Ambassador Amar Bendjama, the Arab representative on the council who introduced the resolution, called Palestine’s admission "a critical step toward rectifying a longstanding injustice" and said that "peace will come from Palestine’s inclusion, not from its exclusion.”

Draft resolution demanding Palestine's full membership at UN

'Ireland fully supports UN membership and will vote in favour of any UNGA resolution to that end,' says Irish foreign minister

Burak Bir |19.04.2024 - 

Irish Foreign Minister Michael Martin

LONDON

Ireland is "disappointed" at failure of Security Council vote demanding Palestine's full membership at UN, the country's foreign minister said Thursday.

"Disappointed at outcome of UN Security Council vote on Palestinian UN membership. It is past time for Palestine to take its rightful place amongst the nations of the world," Micheal Martin wrote on X.

His reaction came just after the US vetoes UN Security Council draft resolution that demanding Palestine's full membership at the UN.

The membership was blocked with a vote of 12 in favor and two abstentions, including the UK and Switzerland.

"Ireland fully supports UN membership and will vote in favour of any UNGA resolution to that end," he added.

Ireland is among a few European nations, including Spain that already committed to recognizing the Palestinian state.

 

Chinese envoy criticizes questioning of Palestine's eligibility for UN membership

Xinhua

2024-04-19       

A Chinese envoy on Thursday strongly criticized countries that question Palestine's eligibility for UN membership under the UN Charter, emphasizing that statehood is an "inalienable national right" of the Palestinian people.

During his statement following a vote in which the United States vetoed a draft resolution for Palestine's full membership to the UN, Fu Cong, China's permanent representative to the United Nations, expressed profound disappointment.

"Today is a sad day," because the US veto has ruthlessly dashed "the decades-long dream of the Palestinian people," he said.

Fu highlighted the contradiction in the arguments presented by some nations regarding Palestine's governance capabilities.

"The claim that the State of Palestine does not have the capacity to govern does not align with the reality on the ground," he said, noting significant changes over the past 13 years, including the expansion of settlements in the West Bank.

"Palestine's survival space as a state has been constantly squeezed, and the foundation of the two-state solution has been continuously eroded," he added, condemning what he described as "gangster logic that confuses right and wrong."

Additionally, Fu condemned the implications made by some countries that questioned whether Palestine is a peace-loving state, a criterion for UN membership. "Such an allegation is outrageous and a step too far," Fu said.

He further criticized the political calculations behind opposing Palestine's full membership, suggesting, "If it is out of political calculation to oppose Palestine's full membership of the UN, it would be better to simply say so, instead of making excuses to re-victimize the Palestinian people."

On the broader implications of denying Palestine full membership, Fu argued that this action puts the cart before the horse, especially as "the Israeli side is rejecting the two-state solution more and more clearly."

He advocated for Palestine's full membership as a means to grant it equal status with Israel, which could help create conditions for the resumption of negotiations.

"The wheel of history is rolling forward, and the trend of the times is irresistible," Fu said, expressing confidence that "the day will come when the State of Palestine will enjoy the same rights as other member states at the UN, and the two states of Palestine and Israel will be able to live side by side in peace."

Fu reaffirmed China's commitment to continuing its efforts and playing a constructive role in realizing this vision, hoping for a future where "the Palestinian and Israeli peoples can live in tranquility and happiness."

Source: Xinhua   Editor: Li Jiaohao

Isfahan: A city steeped in history - and home to Iranian nuclear facilities

Israel has targeted the city of Isfahan in retaliation for the barrage of missiles and drones Iran deployed over the weekend. But why Isfahan?

Michael Drummond
Foreign news reporter @MikeRDrummond
Friday 19 April 2024 

Shah Mosque in Naghsh-e Jahan Square, Isfahan, Iran. Pic: AP

The city of Isfahan has been targeted in an Israeli strike in retaliation for the barrage of missiles and drones that Iran unleashed at the weekend.

The attack, details of which are still emerging, coincided with the birthday of Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
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So far, there have not been any reports of damage or casualties.

Where is Isfahan and how significant is it? Sky News takes a look at Iran's third-largest city.

Follow latest: Tehran has 'no plan for immediate retaliation'




It was once the capital of Persia

Located in the centre of modern-day Iran at the nexus of the major north-south and east-west routes, Isfahan emerged as the capital of Persia in 1598.

Today it retains much of its history and the city is famous for its Islamic architecture such as tiled mosques and minarets.

It's home to around 2.2 million people.

The huge Naqsh-e Jahan Square in the city was designated a World Heritage Site by UNESCO.

Naqhsh-e Jahan Square in Isfahan during the festival of Eid-al-Fitr. 

It also has an airbase that has long been home to Iran's fleet of American-made F-14 Tomcat fighter jets, bought before the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

What connection does Isfahan have with Iran's nuclear programme?

Iran's nuclear research has long been a bone of contention with the West - worried that Tehran could be seeking to develop a nuclear weapon.

Israel has vowed never to let Iran obtain nuclear weapons. Iran has always denied having any intention to build a nuclear weapon.

There are nuclear facilities at a range of locations across the country, including in and around Isfahan.

A nuclear site near Isfahan in Iran in 2005. Pic: Reuters

The facility at Isfahan operates three small Chinese-supplied research reactors, as well as handling fuel production and other activities for Iran's civilian nuclear programme.

There's also the Natanz uranium enrichment plant, located in the wider province but outside the city itself.

Nuclear site safe - Iranian media
'There was nothing going on' said an Iranian news agency reporter at the Isfahan nuclear site

What happened to the city in the Israeli strike?

Details are still emerging about the Israeli strike on Iran, including any impact on Isfahan.

Air defences were fired in several Iranian provinces, including from a major military airbase and nuclear facilities near Isfahan, where state media said three drones had been shot down.

Iranian state media television said the nuclear facilities near the city were "fully safe".

The UN's nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, also said there was no damage but said it was monitoring the situation "very closely" and called for "extreme restraint".

Sky News's military analyst Michael Clarke said Isfahan "would make sense" as a target as it hosts one of the least sensitive nuclear sites.

"It's a research site, about 3,000 or so scientists work there and there's no evidence this was targeted on the nuclear site," he added.

"But the fact that Isfahan is one of the cities that does quite a lot of nuclear work is also symbolically quite important, I think, if the Israelis are indicating that they're not frightened to go after these sites."

 

Canary Islands plead with British holidaymakers not to cancel trips despite surge in anti-tourism protests

19 April 2024, 13:34 | Updated: 19 April 2024, 13:49

The Canary Islands tourism minister has urged British holidaymakers not to cancel their trips. Picture: Alamy

By Jenny Medlicott

@JennyMedlicott

The Canary Islands tourism minister has pleaded with British holidaymakers not to cancel their holidays despite anti-tourism protests set to take place

Locals have voiced their outrage in recent weeks over water usage, a lack of housing and pollution across the islands - and have blamed the issues on over tourism.

Messages of 'go home' have been written in graffiti across walls, leaving some feeling unwelcome in the region.

But despite the recent outbreak of anti-tourism rhetoric in the area, the regional tourism chief Jessica de León has stressed that the islands are still open for business.

She told the Telegraph: “It is still safe to visit the Canary Islands, and we are delighted to welcome you.”

Ms de León acknowledged the frustrations of locals over matters such as a lack of housing but added it was “unfair to blame tourism”.

Meanwhile, the Canary Islands president Fernando Clavijo suggested that some of the sentiments expressed by locals “smack of tourist-phobia”.

“People who come here to visit and spend their money must not be criticised or insulted. We are playing with our main source of income,” Mr Clavijo said.

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Anti-tourism protesters have claimed the Canary Islands 'have a limit'. Picture: Alamy

It comes as British holidaymakers have reportedly been calling hotels in Tenerife to ask if it’s still safe for them to visit amid a series of protests planned across the islands.

Tourism accounts for roughly 40 per cent of the local economy in the Canary Islands, as the region welcomes some 12.3 million each year.

Foreign visitors spent more than €20.3 billion in the region last year, accounting for around a fifth of spending throughout Spain.

Last year alone, the islands hosted some 16.2 million tourists, 5.6 million of which were British tourists.

Activists are scheduled to hold a mass demonstration in Arrecife and Lanzarote on Saturday to fight for the “conservation of natural spaces, a tourist moratorium, and tougher regulation for foreigners buying property”.

Flyers for the event assert that the islands “have a limit”.

Activists are planning further marches across Tenerife, Gran Canaria, Fuerteventura, Lanzarote and La Palma in protest against ‘over tourism’.

They allege that the tourism industry is behind increasing rents and a lack of homes, as landlords snap up properties to use as Airbnbs and tourist lets.

Last week, some activists went on a hunger strike in protest of the effects of mass tourism on island life.

Activists have blamed lack of housing on over tourism. Picture: Alamy

They said they wanted the authorities to halt two tourist projects, one over the construction of a five-star hotel by one of Tenerife’s remaining virgin beaches called La Tejita.

Addressing the housing concerns, Ms de León said: “The problem is that the last five years have seen an average of 3,000 homes built on the islands, when demand is for 20,000.

“Last year just 200 public housing units were built.”

Helen, a Scottish regular visitor of Tenerife expressed sympathy with the locals who work in the tourism sector, who earn an average of €1200 a month.

She said: “I think the government should address these concerns and not dismiss them as just a few cranks. Otherwise, the situation probably will escalate.”

Meanwhile, Gabriel González, a councillor for the hard-Left Podemos party in the resort town of Adeje, said: “We have the feeling that we are not living off tourism; it is tourism that is living off us.”

Tourism industry leaders have flagged concerns over the rise in anti-tourism sentiment across the islands.

One restaurant owner in Tenerife, Carlos Magdalena said: “Tourists are worried and they tell us so.“We are being fools right now - they’ll be rejoicing elsewhere.”

He also blamed “savage development” for the area’s environmental issues and lack of housing and public service funds.

Néstor Marrero, secretary of a Tenerife ecology group called ATAN, said: “The number of tourists should be reduced. We should aim for higher-quality visitors, not people in all-included resorts who don’t leave the hotel or interact with locals and our culture in any way.

“Tourists are allowed to behave in ways here that they would not be allowed to at home. Do they fall drunk off balconies in London or Wales, or drive their cars where it is prohibited in a nature reserve?”

Mr Marrero said that if the region does nothing about the situation, it would be the best way to “create tourist-phobia” as he claimed locals are “sleeping in their cars as they cannot afford rents”.

Ms de León said Mr Clavijo’s government had just passed a housing emergency law to free up space for housing and also tighten rules on short holiday lets to ensure they stay on the rental market for locals.