GOP’s far right seeks to use defense bill to defund Ukraine war effort
A group of right-wing House Republicans pushing to load up the annual defense bill with socially conservative policies on abortion, race and gender have another demand: severe restrictions on U.S. military support for Ukraine. The pressure raises the prospect of a divisive floor fight over America’s backing for the war effort just as President Joe Biden tries to rally European allies to support Kyiv in its conflict with Russia. The group’s proposals on military aid stand no chance of passing the House, where there continues to be strong bipartisan support for backing Ukraine’s war effort, or going anywhere in the Senate.
Chinese hackers targeted state and commerce departments, U.S. officials say
Chinese hackers tried to penetrate specific State and Commerce Department email accounts in the weeks before Secretary of State Antony Blinken traveled to Beijing in June, U.S. officials said Wednesday. The investigation of the efforts by the Chinese hackers, who likely are affiliated with China’s military or spy services, is ongoing, U.S. officials said. But U.S. officials have downplayed the idea that the hackers stole sensitive information, insisting that no classified email or cloud systems were penetrated. The State Department’s cybersecurity team first discovered the intrusion. Multiple officials said the attack was aimed at individual email accounts, rather than a large-scale exfiltration of data.
Agriculture Dept. to invest $300 million to measure greenhouse emissions
The Agriculture Department said Wednesday that it would establish a monitoring and data collection network to measure greenhouse gas emissions and determine how much carbon can be captured using certain farming practices. The network, using $300 million in funding from the Inflation Reduction Act, will help quantify the outcomes of so-called climate-smart or regenerative agricultural practices. The Inflation Reduction Act provided some $20 billion to shore up existing agricultural conservation programs. The department has also provided billions in additional funding to farming projects that reduce emissions, in part by capturing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and storing it as carbon in the soil.
To help cool a hot planet,
the whitest of white coats
As the climate crisis worsens, scientists are urgently working to develop reflective materials that could passively cool the Earth. Xiulin Ruan, a mechanical engineering professor at Purdue University, has made a new type of paint to cool down buildings. In 2020, Ruan and his team unveiled their creation: a type of white paint that can act as a reflector, bouncing 95% of the sun’s rays away from the Earth’s surface, up through the atmosphere and into deep space. A few months later, they announced an even more potent formulation that increased sunlight reflection to 98%. In 2021, Guinness declared it the whitest paint ever.
She steals surfboards by the seashore. She’s a sea otter.
For the past few summers, numerous surfers in Santa Cruz have been victims of a crime at sea: boardjacking. The culprit is a female sea otter that local officials call Otter 841. The 5-year-old female is well known, for her bold behavior and her ability to hang 10. But officials now have been forced to take steps that illustrate the ways human desire to get close to wild animals can cost the animals their freedom, or worse, their lives. If authorities succeed in capturing 841, she will live out her days in an aquarium. But so far, multiple attempts to catch her have been made, none successful.
Biden braces NATO for long conflict with Russia, making Cold War parallel
President Joe Biden concluded a meeting of NATO allies Wednesday in Vilnius, Lithuania, with an address to that country, and the world, comparing the battle to expel Russia from Ukraine to the Cold War struggle for freedom in Europe, and promising “we will not waver” no matter how long the war continues. His speech seemed to be preparing Americans and NATO countries for a confrontation that could go on for years, putting it in the context of momentous conflicts in Europe’s war-torn past and casting it as a test of wills with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Russian military hit by uncertainty as one general is killed and another remains absent
One top commander has disappeared since a mutiny. Another was killed in an airstrike. Another accused his leadership of treachery after being fired. And a fourth former commander was gunned down while out on a jog in what may have been an organized hit. The ranks of the Russian military have continued to be roiled by instability in the days since a short-lived insurrection by Wagner mercenaries three weeks ago. On Wednesday, mystery deepened over the fate of Gen. Sergei Surovikin, the country’s former top commander in Ukraine who has not been seen since the Wagner rebellion. One of the country’s top lawmakers said the general was “taking a rest.”
After a bitter fight, European lawmakers pass a bill to repair nature
European lawmakers, after an unexpectedly bitter political battle, approved a bill Wednesday that would require European Union countries to restore 20% of all degraded nature areas within their borders on land and at sea. The measure, a key element of the bloc’s Green Deal environmental initiative, passed with 336 votes in favor, 300 against and 13 abstentions. It now goes to a committee of representatives from the EU executive, Parliament and national governments. Negotiations on a final version could take months. But the vote Wednesday at the European Parliament means the bloc is now required in principle to pass the measure into law.
Palestinian leader visits city Israel raided, trying to signal strength
President Mahmoud Abbas of the Palestinian Authority made his first visit in years to Jenin, the battle-scarred and impoverished Palestinian city in the north of the Israeli-occupied West Bank that was the target of a two-day raid by the Israeli military last week. Abbas’ visit was an effort to demonstrate to both Israelis and Palestinians that he retains authority and control over Jenin, a city in which his security forces are passive spectators to street battles between Israeli soldiers and Palestinian militias opposed to his rule. Jenin is within the roughly 40% of the West Bank that has been nominally administered by the Palestinian Authority since the 1990s.
Mozambican accused in $2 billion ‘Tuna’ Scandal is extradited to New York
Manuel Chang, the former finance minister of Mozambique accused of helping orchestrate a financial corruption scandal that nearly caused the collapse of his nation’s economy and defrauded U.S. investors, was extradited to the United States from South Africa on Wednesday to face charges in U.S. District Court. Chang is suspected of signing off on about $2 billion worth of loans concealed from public view and partaking in a scheme to embezzle hundreds of millions of dollars. He faces charges in the U.S. of conspiracy to commit fraud and money laundering and accusations of luring investors with the promise of development projects in the tuna fishing industry and maritime security.
Johannesburg sees first snowfall in more than a decade
Snow fell in Johannesburg this week for the first time in more than a decade, causing a flurry of activity among residents eager to see the rare winter wonderland. South Africa’s Weather Service confirmed Monday that snow was falling in the province of Gauteng, which includes Johannesburg. Snow was also reported over the Eastern Cape. Parts of South Africa are accustomed to snow during its winter months, June to August. However, snow last fell in Johannesburg in 2012 and before that in 2007, Jennifer Fitchett, a professor at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, told South African newspaper TimesLIVE.
By wire sources