U.S. lawmakers will take an important step towards repealing a decades-old authorization of presidential war powers this week, as an effort to reassert Congress’ authority appears to have growing support.

“Both Democrats and Republicans have come to the same conclusion: we need to put the Iraq war squarely behind us once and for all. And doing that means we should extinguish the legal authority that initiated the war to begin with,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said on the Senate floor last week, praising the bipartisan effort.

Lawmakers have made multiple attempts in recent years to repeal the 2001 and 2002 Authorizations for the Use of Military Force, or AUMFs, that were passed in the wake of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, giving U.S. presidents broad powers to conduct military operations without Congress’ constitutional right to approval.

To date, each attempt has failed amid criticism that repealing those authorizations endangers U.S. national security and U.S. forces abroad.

In addition to repealing the AUMF authorizing the 2003 war in Iraq, the legislation under consideration this week in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee would also repeal the 1991 AUMF that authorized President George Herbert Walker Bush to send forces into Iraq.

“Iraq is a strategic partner of the United States in advancing the security and stability of the Middle East. Sadly, according to these laws that are still on the books, Iraq is still technically an enemy of the United States,” Republican Senator Todd Young, a co-sponsor of the legislation, said in a statement. “This inconsistency and inaccuracy should be corrected. Congress must do its job and take seriously the decision to not just commit America to war, but to affirmatively say that we are no longer at war.”

Presidents of both parties have used the 2002 AUMF as justification for military actions far beyond the scope of its original purpose. In 2014, Democratic President Barack Obama used the AUMF to justify airstrikes without congressional approval against Islamic State militants in Iraq and Syria. Republican President Donald Trump used that same AUMF in 2020 to authorize the airstrike that killed Iranian General Qassim Suleimani in Iraq.

A broad range of U.S. lawmakers now support the legislation, arguing that Congress has neglected its constitutional responsibilities for several decades. The last time Congress formally used its powers to declare war was in 1942 against Romania, Bulgaria and Hungary. Since that time, it has granted U.S. presidents broader authority to conduct military operations.

“Congress is responsible for both declaring wars and ending them because decisions as important as whether or not to send our troops into harm’s way warrant careful deliberation and consensus,” said Democratic Senator Tim Kaine, another co-sponsor of the legislation. “The 1991 and 2002 AUMFs are no longer necessary, serve no operational purpose, and run the risk of potential misuse.”

After the legislation passes committee, it will go to a full floor vote in the Democratic-majority Senate. It is expected to have enough Republican support to overcome a filibuster.

The chances of a repeal in the Republican-majority U.S. House of Representatives is much narrower. Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy has said he will allow an open amendment process, meaning any Senate-passed repeal would likely be added on to the annual National Defense Authorization for consideration later this year.

The Democratic-majority House of Representatives repealed the 2002 AUMF by a vote of 268-161 in June 2021 but it failed to pass the Senate. The 2001 AUMF authorizing the U.S. war in Afghanistan also remains law, despite earlier attempts at a repeal.
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Four American citizens were shot at and kidnapped by armed men after driving across the U.S. border into northeastern Mexico, the FBI said Sunday.

The Americans crossed into Matamoros, in Tamaulipas state, on Friday, driving a white minivan with North Carolina license plates, the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation said in a statement released by the U.S. Embassy in Mexico. 

“Shortly after crossing into Mexico, unidentified gunmen fired upon the passengers in the [minivan]. All four Americans were placed in a vehicle and taken from the scene by armed men,” the FBI said. 

Matamoros, located across the U.S. border from Brownsville, Texas, has been beset by violence linked to drug trafficking and other organized crime. 

Tamaulipas’s highways are considered among the most dangerous in Mexico due to the threat of kidnapping and extortion by criminal gangs. 

The FBI is offering a $50,000 reward for help in the unidentified victims’ rescue and the arrest of the suspects. 

U.S. and Mexican authorities are investigating, the FBI said. 
…

Novak Djokovic has formally withdrawn from the draw for the Indian Wells tournament, organizers said on Sunday in an indication that the world number one’s application for a COVID-19 vaccine waiver to enter the U.S. might have failed. 

The Serbian, who is one of the most high-profile athletes unvaccinated against the virus, applied to the U.S. government last month for special permission to play at ATP Masters events at Indian Wells and Miami. 

“World No. 1 Novak Djokovic has withdrawn from the 2023 BNP Paribas Open. With his withdrawal, Nikoloz Basilashvili moves into the field,” organizers said in a statement late on Sunday. 

The U.S. currently bars unvaccinated foreigners from entry into the country, a policy that is expected to be lifted when the government ends its COVID-19 emergency declarations on May 11. 

Djokovic has not competed at the back-to-back ATP Masters events in Indian Wells and Miami, two of the biggest tournaments on the ATP calendar and known as the “Sunshine Double”, since 2019. 

No one from Djokovic’s team was immediately available to comment on the withdrawal. 

Last Friday, Florida Senators Rick Scott and Marco Rubio wrote a letter to U.S. President Joe Biden urging him to grant the waiver request. 

Indian Wells tournament director Tommy Haas, the United States Tennis Association and the U.S. Open were among those also hoping the 22-time Grand Slam champion would be allowed to enter. 

He would have been a heavy favorite to win his sixth Indian Wells title when the tournament kicks off in the Southern California desert on Wednesday. 

Djokovic, who missed last year’s Australian Open due to his vaccination status and was not allowed into the U.S. for last year’s U.S. Open, has said he would skip Grand Slams rather than have a COVID shot. 

He won his record-tying 22nd major championships at the Australian Open in January.  
…

Judy Heumann, a renowned activist who helped secure legislation protecting the rights of disabled people, has died at age 75.  

News of her death Saturday in Washington, D.C., was posted on her website and social media accounts and confirmed by her youngest brother, Rick Heumann.  

He said she had been in the hospital a week and had heart issues that may have been the result of something known as post-polio syndrome, related to a childhood infection that was so severe that she spent several months in an iron lung and lost her ability to walk at age 2. 

She spent the rest of her life fighting, first to get access for herself and then for others, her brother recalled. 

“It wasn’t about glory for my sister or anything like that at all. It was always about how could she make things better for other people,” he said, adding that the family drew solace from the tributes that poured in on Twitter from dignitaries and past presidents like Bill Clinton and Barack Obama. 

U.S. President Joe Biden said Heumann’s legacy should be an inspiration to all Americans.  In a statement Biden called her “a trailblazer – a rolling warrior – for disability rights.” 

Heumann has been called the “mother of the disability rights movement” for her longtime advocacy on behalf of disabled people through protests and legal action, her website says.  

She lobbied for legislation that eventually led to the federal Americans with Disabilities Act, Individuals with Disabilities Education Act and the Rehabilitation Act. She served as the assistant secretary of the U.S. Office of Special Education and Rehabilitation Services, beginning in 1993 in the Clinton administration, until 2001. 

Heumann also was involved in passage of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which was ratified in May 2008. 

She helped found the Berkley Center for Independent Living, the Independent Living Movement and the World Institute on Disability and served on the boards of several related organizations including the American Association of People with Disabilities, the Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund, Humanity and Inclusion and the United States International Council on Disability, her website says. 

Heumann, who was born in Philadelphia in 1947 and raised in New York City, was the co-author of her memoir, “Being Heumann,” and a version for young adults titled, “Rolling Warrior.” 

Her book recounts the struggle her parents, German-Jewish immigrants who got out before the Holocaust, experienced while trying to secure a place for their daughter in school. “Kids with disabilities were considered a hardship, economically and socially,” she wrote. 

Rick Heumann said his mother, whom he described as a “bulldog,” initially had to homeschool his sister. The experience of fleeing Nazi Germany left the parents and their children with a passion.  

“We truly believe,” he said, “that discrimination is wrong in any way, shape or form.” 

Judy Heumann went on to graduate from high school and earn a bachelor’s degree from Long Island University and a master’s degree in public health from the University of California, Berkeley. It was groundbreaking at the time, which shows just how much has changed, said Maria Town, the president and CEO of the American Association of People with Disabilities, 

“Today the expectation for children with disabilities is that we will be included in mainstream education, that we will have a chance to go to high school, to go to college and to get those degrees,” Town said while acknowledging that inequities persist. “But I think the fact that the primary assumption has changed is a really big deal, and I also think Judy played a significant role.” 

She also was featured in the 2020 documentary film, “Crip Camp: A Disability Revolution,” which highlighted Camp Jened, a summer camp Heumann attended that helped spark the disability rights movement. The film was nominated for an Academy Award. 

During the 1970s she won a lawsuit against the New York Board of Education and became the first teacher in the state who was able to work while using a wheelchair, which the board had tried to claim was a fire hazard.  

She also was a leader in a historic, nonviolent occupation of a San Francisco federal building in 1977 that set the stage for passage of the Americans With Disabilities Act, which became law in 1990. 

Town, who has cerebral palsy, said Heumann was the one who suggested she use a mobility scooter to make it easier to get around. She wasn’t ready to hear it at first after a lifetime of being told she needed to appear less disabled. Eventually, though, she decided to give it a try. 

“And it’s literally changed my life,” Town said. “And that was part of what Judy did. She really helped people accept who they were as disabled people and take pride in that identity. And she helped so many people understand their own power as disabled people.” 
…

Syria’s foreign ministry Sunday condemned a surprise visit by the United States’ top military officer to an army base in the Kurdish-held northeast, dubbing it “illegal,” state media said.

In his snap visit Saturday, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Mark Milley met U.S. troops stationed in areas of war-torn Syria under the control of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).

About 900 U.S. troops are deployed in several bases and posts across northeastern Syria as part of the fight against Islamic State group remnants.

The official news agency SANA quoted a foreign ministry official as saying, “Syria strongly condemns the illegal visit of the American chairman of the chiefs of staff to an illegal American military base in northeast Syria.”

Milley’s visit was “a flagrant violation of the sovereignty and integrity” of Syrian territory, the official added according to SANA, calling on “the U.S. administration to immediately cease its systematic and continued violation of international law and support for separatist armed groups.”

President Bashar al-Assad’s government views the deployment of U.S. forces in SDF-held territory as “occupation” and accuses U.S.-aligned Kurdish forces of “separatist tendencies.”

Kurdish officials deny any separatist aspirations and say they seek to preserve their self-rule, which Damascus does not recognize.

Milley’s spokesperson, Col. Dave Butler, told AFP the U.S. general “visited northeast Syria Saturday… to meet with commanders and troops.”

It was Milley’s first trip to Syria since assuming the chairmanship in 2019. He visited the country before as an army chief, the spokesperson said.

During the visit, Milley “received updates on the counter-ISIS mission,” Butler added using an alternative acronym for the IS jihadis.

The general also “inspected force protection measures and asserted repatriation efforts for the Al Hol refugee camp,” home to more than 50,000 people, including family members of suspected foreign IS militants whose home countries have not taken them back.

The U.S.-led coalition battling IS provides support for SDF, spearheaded by the Syrian Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG).

After the jihadis lost their last territory to SDF-led forces in 2019, SDF has cracked down on remnants of IS, whose members still launch deadly attacks in Syria.

U.S. forces have killed or arrested IS figures in numerous operations, including the group’s leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, in 2019.

On February 19, the U.S. military said troops working with SDF captured an IS provincial official.

The raid came a day after four U.S. troops were wounded as they conducted another raid to kill a senior IS group leader in northeastern Syria, the U.S. military’s Central Command said.
…

BGI Group, one of the world’s biggest genetics analysis companies, said Sunday it never would be involved in human rights abuses after the U.S. government said there was a danger some of its units might contribute to Chinese surveillance.

Three BGI units were among Chinese companies added to an “entity list” last week that limits access to U.S. technology on security or human rights grounds. The Commerce Department cited a risk BGI technology might contribute to surveillance. Activists say Beijing is trying to create a database of genetic information from Muslims and other Chinese minorities.

The Chinese government accused Washington on Friday of improperly attacking China’s companies.

BGI, headquartered in the southern city of Shenzhen, said its services are only for civilian and scientific purposes.

The U.S. decision “may have been impacted by misinformation and we are willing and able to clarify,” BGI Group said in an emailed response to questions. It didn’t mention Uyghurs or other Muslim minorities but previously has denied it provided technology to surveil them.

“BGI Group does not condone and would never be involved in any human-rights abuses,” the company said.

The “entity list” designation requires BGI Research, Forensic Genomics International and BGI Tech Solutions (Hongkong) Co., Ltd. to obtain government permission to acquire sensitive U.S. technology.

Other Chinese companies were cited for their role in the ruling Communist Party’s military modernization or weapons development by Iran and Pakistan and suspected human rights abuses in Myanmar.

Washington has accused China of trying to use civilian companies to obtain processor chip, aerospace and other technologies with possible military or security uses.

Beijing retaliated for earlier U.S. restrictions by creating its own “unreliable entity” list of foreign companies that might endanger China’s national sovereignty, security or development interests.

Lockheed Martin Corp. and Raytheon Technologies Corp.’s Raytheon Missiles and Defense unit were added to the restricted list last month after they supplied weapons to Taiwan, the island democracy claimed by Beijing as part of its territory. They are barred from importing goods into China or making new investments in the country.
…

President Joe Biden is set to pay tribute to the heroes of “Bloody Sunday,” joining thousands for the annual commemoration of the seminal moment in the civil rights movement that led to passage of landmark voting rights legislation nearly 60 years ago.

The visit to Selma, Alabama, Sunday is an opportunity for Biden to speak directly to the current generation of civil rights activists. Many feel dejected because Biden has been unable to make good on a campaign pledge to bolster voting rights and are eager to see his administration keep the issue in the spotlight.

Biden intends to use his remarks to underscore the importance of commemorating Bloody Sunday so that history can’t be erased, while making the case that the fight for voting rights remains integral to delivering economic justice and civil rights for Black Americans, according to White House officials.

This year’s commemoration also comes as the historic city of roughly 18,000 is still digging out from the aftermath of a January EF-2 tornado that destroyed or damaged thousands of properties in and around Selma.

Before Biden’s visit, the Rev. William Barber II, a co-chair of the Poor People’s Campaign, along with six other activists wrote to Biden and members of Congress to express their frustration with the lack of progress on voting rights legislation. They also urged Washington politicians visiting Selma not to sully the memories of the late civil rights activists John Lewis, Hosea Williams and others with empty platitudes.

“We’re saying to President Biden, let’s frame this to America as a moral issue, and let’s show how it effects everybody,” Barber said in an interview. “When voting rights passed after Selma, it didn’t just help Black people. It helped America itself. We need the president to reframe this: When you block voting rights, you’re not just hurting Black people. You’re hurting America itself.”

Few moments have had as lasting importance to the civil rights movement as what happened on March 7, 1965, in Selma and in the weeks that followed.

Some 600 peaceful demonstrators led by Lewis and Williams had gathered that day, just weeks after the fatal shooting of a young Black man, Jimmie Lee Jackson, by an Alabama trooper.

Lewis, who would later serve in the U.S. House representing Georgia, and the others were brutally beaten by Alabama troopers and sheriff’s deputies as they tried to cross Selma’s Edmund Pettus Bridge at the start of what was supposed to be a 54-mile walk to the state capital in Montgomery, part of a larger effort to register Black voters in the South

The images of the police violence sparked outrage across the country. Days later, civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. led what became known as the “Turnaround Tuesday” march, in which marchers approached a wall of police at the bridge and prayed before turning back.

President Lyndon B. Johnson introduced the Voting Rights Act of 1965 eight days after Bloody Sunday, calling Selma one those rare moments in American history where “history and fate meet at a single time.” On March 21, King began a third march, under federal protection, that grew by thousands by the time they arrived at the state capital. Five months later, Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act into law.

As a 2020 White House candidate, Biden vowed to pursue sweeping legislation to bolster protection of voting rights.

Biden unveiled his legislation in 2021 — naming it the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act. It included provisions to restrict partisan gerrymandering of congressional districts, strike down hurdles to voting and bring transparency to a murky campaign finance system that allows wealthy donors to bankroll political causes anonymously.

It passed in the then-Democratic-controlled House but failed to garner the 60 votes needed to win passage in the Senate. With Republicans now in control of the House, passage of such sweeping legislation is highly unlikely.

Keisha Lance Bottoms, director of the White House office of public engagement, said Biden understands civil rights activists’ anger over the lack of progress.

“He’s frustrated,” she said. “But it doesn’t mean we have to stop. It doesn’t mean we stop pushing in the way that then 25-year-old John Lewis led 600 marchers across that bridge in Selma.”

Civil rights activists say the Biden administration can do more on the issue.

Two years ago, on the day of the annual Bloody Sunday commemoration, Biden issued an executive order directing federal agencies to expand access to voter registration, called on the heads of agencies to come up with plans to give federal employees time off to vote or volunteer as nonpartisan poll workers, and more.

But many federal agencies are lagging in meeting the voting registration provision of Biden’s order, according to a report published Thursday by the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights.

Only three of 10 agencies reviewed — the departments of Interior, Treasury and Veterans Affairs — were rated on track in integrating voter registration services into their everyday interactions with the public, according to the report.

The group says if agencies fully implemented voter registration efforts laid out in the executive order, it would generate an additional 3.5 million voter registration applications annually.

“We are two years into this executive order and two years into this administration, and agencies have had plenty of time for evaluation and deliberation,” said Laura Williamson, associate director for democracy at the left-leaning group Demos.

Vice President Kamala Harris said in a statement that the administration will continue to implement the order while pressing Congress to act on broader voting legislation. “If we are to truly honor the legacy of those who marched in Selma on Bloody Sunday, we must continue to fight to secure and safeguard the freedom to vote,” Harris said.

Selma officials hope Biden will also address the January tornado that devastated the city and laid bare issues of poverty that have persisted in Selma for decades.

Biden approved a disaster declaration and agreed to provide extra help for debris cleanup and removal, a cost that Selma Mayor James Perkins said the small city could not afford on its own. Perkins said Selma still needs more help.

“I understand other communities our size and our demographics have similar challenges … but I don’t think anyone can claim what Selma has done for this nation and the contributions that we made to this nation,” he said.
…

Pakistan will host a two-day meeting with the United States starting Monday to discuss cooperation in countering what Pakistan’s foreign affairs ministry called the “common threat of terrorism” facing the two countries.

Christopher Landberg, the U.S. State Department’s acting coordinator for counterterrorism, will lead the U.S. interagency delegation in the talks, the ministry said Sunday.

“The two-day dialogue will provide an opportunity for both sides to exchange views and share their experiences and best practices in the domain of counterterrorism,” the statement added.

A State Department announcement said last week that participants in the Islamabad meeting would “develop policy-oriented strategies regarding cooperation in critical areas such as border security and countering the financing of terrorism.”

The talks come against the backdrop of the resurgence in terrorist attacks in Pakistan being linked to the Taliban takeover of neighboring Afghanistan in August 2021.

The violence, mostly claimed by the outlawed Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan, or TTP, known as the Pakistani Taliban, has killed hundreds of people across the country, most of them security forces.

Pakistani officials allege the TTP, an ideological offshoot and close ally of the Afghan Taliban, is plotting terrorism from sanctuaries in Afghanistan.

Last month, a high-level Pakistani security delegation visited Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan, where they conveyed “serious concerns” to Taliban leaders about the TTP’s escalating terror campaign in Pakistan.

The Pakistani delegation shared “irrefutable” evidence with the Taliban about the presence and activities of TTP leaders in Afghanistan, calling for “practical steps” to rein in the terrorist activity, said officials who were privy to the talks.

An official post-meeting Taliban statement said the bilateral talks focused on “security concerns” and “activities of armed opposition groups,” among other issues. It did not elaborate on or mention the TTP.

“The Afghan Taliban remain very supportive of the TTP and are providing the group with a permissive safe haven. … Some Taliban fighters are also joining the TTP, and there are reports of some recent bombers being Afghan,” the U.S. Institute of Peace said in a recent report.

The Pakistani Taliban, designated a global terrorist group by the United States, provided recruits and shelter on Pakistani soil to the Afghan Taliban as they waged a deadly insurgency against U.S.-led NATO troops in Afghanistan for almost 20 years.

The Taliban stormed back to power in 2021 as foreign forces withdrew from Afghanistan. No foreign government has recognized them as legitimate rulers of the war-ravaged country, citing human rights and terrorism-related concerns.

The United States and other countries have urged the de facto Afghan authorities to prevent terrorist groups from plotting cross-border attacks, in line with Taliban assurances that they would combat transnational terrorists on Afghan soil.

U.S. State Department spokesman Ned Price reiterated the demand at a recent news conference.

“The United States and Pakistan have a shared interest in ensuring the Taliban live up to the commitments that they have made, and that terrorist groups that may be active in Afghanistan – like ISIS-K, TTP, al-Qaida are no longer able to threaten regional stability,” Price said. He used an acronym for the Afghan affiliate of the Islamic State terrorist group, known as Islamic State-Khorasan Province.

The Taliban maintain they are in control of all of Afghanistan’s 34 provinces and that no one is being allowed to threaten other countries.
…

On a recent winter weekday at Penn Station Shoe Repair and Shoe Shine, men hop onto shoeshine chairs and pull out newspapers and phones to read while shoeshiners get to work applying polish and elbow grease to loafers, boots and other leather shoes. When finished, these customers hand over $8 in cash at a counter where a sign reads “We’re not God, but we do save soles.”

Shoeshining has a vaunted history in the U.S. In the 1860s, Horatio Alger popularized the “rags-to-riches” American narrative with his book “Ragged Dick” about a shoeshiner (or “bootblack”) who works his way up to wealth. “Shoeshine boys” (and occasional girls) have subsequently been in countless movies and TV shows.

Today, the tradition of getting a quick polish from a rag-toting shoeshiner is greatly diminished, and many stands similar to the one in Penn Station have disappeared across the country. The decline has been exacerbated by the pandemic, remote working and the rise in popularity of more casual workwear when people did return to the office. SC Johnson, which makes the biggest shoe polish brand, Kiwi, even said in January that it had stopped selling the brand in the U.K. due to softening demand (they still sell it in the U.S.) 

The last time the Census listed shoeshining as a discrete business was 2007, when only 30 establishments were counted. The more-encompassing shoe repair market has declined an estimated 23% between 2013 and 2023 to $307 million, according to market research firm IBISWorld. Shoe polish sales in 2022 totaled 27.3 million units, down 29% compared with 2019, according to figures from Nielsen, a sign of the changes brought on by the pandemic. 

Nisan Khaimov, who owns the Penn Station stand, said his stand would shine 80 to 100 shoes each workday before the pandemic. Now it’s between 30 to 50 on Tuesday to Thursday, and even fewer on Mondays and Fridays. Hybrid work is hurting his business.

“Until people come back to work, the problems will not be solved,” said Khaimov, who benefits from commuters traveling in and out of New York City who can’t get their shoes shined where they live. “And it’s not good for landlords and for tenants also like us. So, we’re waiting. But eventually it will go back to normal, we hope. But when we don’t know.”

Rory Heenan, 38, an accountant in Philadelphia, said that as a young boy he would take the train with his father on his way to work one Friday each month and watch him get a shoeshine.

“I would just sit here as a a little guy, you know, observing,” he said. “And here I am, you know, 30 years later, doing the same thing. So, it’s certainly something that’s passed down over time.”

Across town, in the corridor between the subway and The Port Authority bus terminal, Jairo Cardenas is also feeling the pinch. Business at Alpha Shoes Repair Corp., which he’s run for 33 years, is down 75% compared with prior to the pandemic. He’s down to one shoeshiner, from the three he employed before the pandemic. His shoeshiners used to shine 60 or 70 shoes a day. Now a good day is 10 to 15 shines.

Cardenas’ landlord gave him a break on rent, but he’s still struggling, and has seen several other shoeshine stores in the area close. Still, he is noticing an uptick in people returning to work and hopes business slowly returns to normal by the spring.

Shoe repairs typically bring in more money than shines. At David Mesquita’s Leather Spa, which operates five shoe repair and shoeshine businesses, including two in Grand Central, the bulk of the business comes from shoe, handbag and garment repair. But shoeshines are still a key offering to draw people in to Leather Spa locations since they’re not available everywhere.

Pre-pandemic, Leather Spa had four shoeshine chairs in Grand Central and six shoeshiners rotating, who would do about 120 shines a day. Nowadays, there are three shoeshiners who do 40 or 50 shines on the best days.

But Mesquita is seeing people slowly coming back. His December 2022 shoeshine numbers were up 52% compared with December 2021. Mondays and Fridays are less busy than the middle of the week due to office workers’ hybrid schedules.

“Traffic is slowly coming back in, we’re seeing the commuters come in and everything, but we’re still not back 100% of what we were,” Mesquita said.

Mesquita said shoeshining is not something that will go away completely.

“I think it’s just a little luxury,” he said. “People like to treat themselves, you know, whether it’s once a week or twice a week or, you know, once every two weeks. It’s just nice.”

Besides big city transit hubs, airports are one of the few remaining spots to reliably get a shoeshine. Jill Wright owns Executive Shine, which operates shoeshine stations in the Denver and Charlotte airports. Her business was devastated when air travel shut down.

When airports started to reopen, they were empty. The only people getting their shoes shined were pilots and crew, she said, which kept her company in business. Now, Wright says her businesses is still just 35% of what it was in 2019.

“Travel has really changed,” she said. “Companies are starting to come back but not to the degree that they were.”

Business travel is rebounding, but the U.S. Travel Association predicts 2023 business trips will still be down 10% from 2019, and will return to pre-pandemic levels in 2024. Meanwhile, people are dressing differently when they travel. Instead of traveling in workwear, some travelers that still want to get their shoes shined will travel in tennis shoes, pull out their dress shoes to get a shine, and then put them back in their bag, Wright said.

Like Mesquita, Wright expects demand for shoeshines will never go away completely, because it’s more than just a transactional service. A shine is a moment of connection between two people, particularly at an airport where there is a lot of rushing around and stress, she said.

“People come for a shoeshine, but they also come for the connection and for the conversation and just for a place to relax and talk and be seen and feel some compassion,” she said. 
…

Endangered Mexican gray wolves are making more strides, as more breeding pairs and pups have been documented since reintroduction efforts began in the southwestern U.S. more than two decades ago, federal wildlife managers said Tuesday.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service released the results of its annual survey in New Mexico and Arizona, saying this is the first time the population has topped 200 and the seventh straight year that the numbers have trended upward.

In all, at least 241 of the predators were counted, marking a nearly 23% increase over the previous year and a doubling of the population since 2017.

Since the first wolf release in 1998, the program has had its share of fits and starts due to illegal killings, a lack of genetic diversity and legal wrangling over management.

“To go from zero wild Mexican wolves at the start to 241 today is truly remarkable,” Mexican Wolf Recovery Coordinator Brady McGee said in a statement.

The annual count started in November, with members of the interagency field team conducting ground and aerial surveys of a rugged forested area along the Arizona-New Mexico line. Aside from tracking radio-collared wolves, they used remote cameras and collected scat to estimate the population.

The work is done over the winter when the population is most stable.

It’s estimated that thousands of Mexican wolves once roamed from central Mexico to New Mexico, southern Arizona and Texas. Predator eradication programs began in the late 1800s and within several decades, the wolves were all but eliminated from the wild.

The rarest subspecies of gray wolf in North America, Mexican wolves were listed as endangered in the 1970s and a U.S.-Mexico captive breeding program was started with the seven remaining wolves in existence.

Wolf-livestock conflicts have been a major challenge of the reintroduction program over the past two decades, with ranchers saying the killing of livestock by wolves remains a threat to their livelihood despite efforts by wildlife managers to scare the wolves away and reimburse some of the losses.

Jim deVos, Arizona Game and Fish Department Mexican Wolf Coordinator, said recovery for any endangered species is difficult and this has proven to be the case for the Mexican wolf. Still, he described growth over the last year as stunning.

“By every possible measure, progress was made,” he said, pointing to 31 breeding pairs that produced 121 pups, about two-thirds of which survived to the time of the count. The survival rate for pups in their first year is typically around 50%.

The field team was able to capture and collar 21 wolves during the survey. Officials said the additional collars will help them gain a better understanding of wolf activity and help with on-the-ground management.

The cross-fostering of captive bred pups with packs in the wild also has added to the population and has helped to address concerns about genetic diversity. This year, two of the 11 pups that were fostered survived.

Officials also documented the lowest annual total of wolf deaths since 2017 — six in Arizona and six in New Mexico for 2022. In 2020, 29 wolves were reported dead and another 25 the following year.

Environmental groups celebrated the numbers but cautioned Tuesday that more work needs to be done to improve genetics among the wild population and that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service needs to allow wolves to roam beyond what they call arbitrary boundaries that have been established for the recovery area.

Citing low survival rates for cross-fostered pups, the groups have been pushing for more family groups — adult wolves with pups — to be released into the wild.
…

Two competing, prominent events have put on display a cleaving of American conservatives ahead of next year’s presidential election.

Former President Donald Trump closed out the annual Conservative Political Action Conference near Washington, which for years has been a must-attend event for the right wing of the Republican Party. But many party loyalists, including big campaign contributors, instead attended a rival gathering in Florida.

“In 2016, I declared: I am your voice. Today, I add: I am your warrior. I am your justice. And for those who have been wronged and betrayed: I am your retribution,” Trump told the CPAC attendees shortly after he captured the conference’s Saturday evening straw poll (unofficial balloting among event registrants) for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination.

In the survey, Trump trounced runner-up Ron DeSantis, the governor of the southern U.S. state of Florida, 62% to 20%. It was the fifth consecutive time Trump has won the CPAC straw poll.

Trump, whose speech lasted an hour and 42 minutes, revisited familiar grievances aired at his campaign rallies and repeated the false claim he won the 2020 presidential election. He made no mention of any other declared or expected Republican presidential candidates, instead heaping criticism on the Democrat who defeated him in the 2020 presidential election.

“Joe Biden is leading us into oblivion,” Trump said, adding, “We’re going to have World War III if something doesn’t happen fast.”

“I am the only candidate who can make this promise,” he said. “I will prevent World War III.”

Trump also vowed, if elected again, that he would settle Russia’s war on Ukraine before he arrived back in the Oval Office.

Haley speaks at both events

The former president’s only significant, declared primary challenger so far, his former ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, was on the CPAC stage the previous day. Haley also spoke at the rival event, the four-day gathering of the Club for Growth, a group focused on an anti-tax agenda.

“I know there’s a Republican candidate out there you did not invite to this conference,” she told those at the Palm Beach, Florida, event. “I appreciate being one you did invite.”

Trump was not invited to the Club for Growth retreat, held at a luxury hotel just 5 kilometers north up Ocean Boulevard from his Mar-a-Lago resort.

Florida Governor DeSantis was among the top speakers with dozens of major Republican Party donors attending. Among those in Palm Beach for the conference were several potential presidential candidates: former Vice President Mike Pence; Tim Scott, a U.S. senator from South Carolina; and Chris Sununu, the governor of the Northeastern U.S. state of New Hampshire.

On Tuesday, Trump criticized the conservative, economy-focused group, writing in a Truth Social post the “Club for NO Growth is an insignificant group of Globalists” that would only attract the stragglers in next year’s Republican primary.

Another potential presidential prospect from the Republican Party who spoke at CPAC was Trump’s former secretary of state, Mike Pompeo.

Attendees described the reception to remarks at CPAC by Pompeo and Haley as tepid. Haley was confronted by chants for Trump as she departed the ballroom.

Pompeo took a subtle dig at Trump during his speech, indirectly blaming his former boss for Republican losses in the 2022 midterm elections, combined with the 2020 presidential loss, creating what he called a “crisis in conservatism.”

“We need a party, a conservative party, that we can be proud to call home again, rooted in our founding ideas, led by people of real character, of competence and commitment to the mission that brought you all here today,” he said.

‘A vehicle for Trump’ 

In public remarks so far, prominent Republicans, including those expected to challenge Trump for the party’s presidential nomination, have refrained from directly criticizing the former president, a reflection of the power he wields over the party rank and file.

Conservatives were mostly united around Trump when he unsuccessfully ran for reelection in 2020. Some recent polls show the former president retaining about 50% support among Republicans ahead of next year’s election.

CPAC has turned into the “Donald Trump Family Variety Hour,” said CNN’s conservative commentator Sarah Elizabeth Cupp. “It’s become a vehicle for Trump and Trumpism” and no longer “a stop on way to becoming president.”

Prominent neo-conservative writer Bill Kristol, who served in the administrations of two Republican presidents, was not impressed by either the CPAC or Club for Growth events.

“Competition is a good thing. It leads to better products and choices except when it’s a race to the bottom,” Kristol told VOA. “And it looks like Trump versus DeSantis is more of a race to the bottom than a healthy contest which will improve the choice.”
…

Another train operated by the Norfolk Southern railroad company derailed in Ohio on Saturday, prompting local officials to order residents living near the site of the accident to shelter in place.

Norfolk Southern said the train that derailed near Springfield, Ohio, was not carrying any hazardous materials and that no one was hurt.

The accident occurred a month after a Norfolk Southern train derailed in East Palestine, Ohio, about 290 kilometers northeast of Springfield. The East Palestine derailment sent toxic chemicals into the environment and forced thousands of people to evacuate.

Norfolk Southern said in an emailed statement that Saturday’s derailment of about 20 cars of a 212-car train happened as it was traveling southbound near Springfield. The statement did not give any cause for the derailment.

“No hazardous materials are involved and there have been no reported injuries,” Norfolk Southern said in the statement. “Our teams are en route to the site to begin cleanup operations.”

Clark County officials on Saturday asked residents living within 305 meters of the latest derailment to “shelter-in-place out of an abundance of caution,” according to a statement on the county’s Facebook page.

That statement added that there were power outages in the area because of downed power lines resulting from the accident.
…

The Biden administration is close to tightening rules on some overseas investments by U.S. companies to limit China’s ability to acquire technologies that could improve its military prowess, according to a U.S. official familiar with the deliberations.

The soon-to-be-issued executive order from President Joe Biden will limit American investment in advanced technologies that have national security applications — such as next-generation military capabilities that could help China improve the speed and accuracy of military decision making, according to the official, who was not authorized to comment and spoke on the condition of anonymity.

The expected action is the latest effort by the White House to target China’s military and technology sectors at a time of increasingly fraught relations between the world’s two biggest economies.

In October, the Biden administration imposed export controls to limit China’s ability to access advanced chips, which it says can be used to make weapons, commit human rights abuses and improve the speed and accuracy of its military logistics.

The complicated relationship has become further strained in recent weeks after the U.S. shot down a Chinese spy balloon last month that traversed the country. The Biden administration has also publicized U.S. intelligence findings that raise concern Beijing is weighing providing Russia weaponry for its ongoing war on Ukraine.

The tensions were on display as top diplomats from the Group of 20 industrialized and developing nations ended a contentious meeting in New Delhi on Thursday with no consensus on the Ukraine war and concerns about China’s widening global influence dominating much of the talks.

Meanwhile, China this past week blasted the new House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party after it held its first hearing on countering Beijing’s influence. Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning demanded its members “discard their ideological bias and zero-sum Cold War mentality.”

Administration officials have been consulting with allies as they’ve worked on formulating the new regulations on U.S. investment, according to the official.

The Wall Street Journal first reported Saturday that the Treasury and Commerce departments delivered reports to lawmakers Friday detailing plans for the new regulatory system to address U.S. overseas investment in advanced technologies. The agencies said they expected to seek additional money for the investment screening program in the White House budget, which is scheduled to be released March 9, according to the Journal.

A White House National Security Council spokesperson declined to comment on the Treasury and Commerce reports but noted that administration officials have kept Congress apprised of its progress in crafting an approach to overseas investment.

The expected action is certain to face pushback from U.S. firms. Administration officials have sought to signal to the business community that even as they look to examine rules on U.S. investment in China, they are mindful of not overreaching.

“One of the most important things we can do, from my perspective, is make sure that we draw clear lines between what is competition and what is national security because, fundamentally, my view is that the United States does well when we’re competing on a level playing field with any country in the world,” Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo said at recent Council on Foreign Relations event. “But we also want, in the narrow spaces where we see national security risk, [to] be able to use the tools at our disposal to protect the national security of the United States of America.”

A bipartisan group of lawmakers last year urged Biden to establish a tougher screening system for investments in foreign adversaries with China being top of mind.
…

The nearly eight-year-old U.S. deployment to Syria to combat Islamic State is still worth the risk, the top U.S. military officer said on Saturday, after an unannounced visit to a base to meet U.S. troops in the country’s northeast.

Army General Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, flew to Syria to assess efforts to prevent a resurgence of the militant group and review safeguards for American forces against attacks, including from drones.

While Islamic State is a shadow of the group that ruled over a third of Syria and Iraq in a Caliphate declared in 2014, hundreds of fighters are still camped in desolate areas where neither the U.S.-led coalition nor the Syrian army, with support from Russia and Iranian-backed militias, exert full control.

Thousands of other Islamic State fighters are in detention facilities guarded by Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, America’s key ally in the country.

American officials say that Islamic State could still regenerate into a major threat.

Asked by reporters traveling with him if he believed the Syria mission was worth the risk, Milley tied the mission to the security of the United States and its allies, saying: “If you think that that’s important, then the answer is ‘Yes.'”

“I happen to think that’s important,” Milley said.

“So, I think that an enduring defeat of ISIS and continuing to support our friends and allies in the region … I think those are important tasks that can be done.”

The mission carries risk. Four U.S. troops were wounded during a helicopter raid last month when an Islamic State leader triggered an explosion.

Last month, the U.S. military shot down an Iranian-made drone in Syria that was attempting to conduct reconnaissance on a patrol base in northeastern Syria.

Three drones targeted a U.S. base in January in Syria’s al-Tanf region. The U.S. military said two of the drones were shot down while the remaining drone hit the compound, injuring two members of the Syrian Free Army forces.

U.S. officials say the the attacks are being directed by Iran-backed militia.

U.S. Army Major General Matthew McFarlane, who commands the U.S.-led coalition against Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, described the attacks as a “distraction from our main mission.”

McFarlane cited progress against Islamic State, including through the reduction in the numbers of internally displaced people at refugee camps—a pool of people who could be recruited by Islamic State.

He also noted ongoing operations against the remnants of Islamic State.

“Our number one priority is the enduring defeat of ISIS. And we are making progress,” he said.
…

Tom Sizemore, the “Saving Private Ryan” actor whose bright 1990s star burned out under the weight of his own domestic violence and drug convictions, died Friday at age 61.

The actor had suffered a brain aneurysm on Feb. 18 at his home in Los Angeles. He died in his sleep Friday at a hospital in Burbank, California, his manager Charles Lago said.

Sizemore became a star with acclaimed appearances in Natural Born Killers and the cult-classic crime thriller Heat. But serious substance dependency, abuse allegations and multiple run-ins with the law devastated his career, left him homeless and sent him to jail.

As the global #MeToo movement wave crested in late 2017, Sizemore was also accused of groping an 11-year-old Utah girl on set in 2003. He called the allegations “highly disturbing,” saying he would never inappropriately touch a child. Charges were not filed.

Despite the raft of legal trouble, Sizemore had scores of steady film and television credits — though his career never regained its onetime momentum. Aside from Black Hawk Down and Pearl Harbor, most of his 21st century roles came in low-budget, little-seen productions where he continued to play the gruff, tough guys he became famous for portraying.

“I was a guy who’d come from very little and risen to the top. I’d had the multimillion-dollar house, the Porsche, the restaurant I partially owned with Robert De Niro,” the Detroit-born Sizemore wrote in his 2013 memoir, By Some Miracle I Made It Out of There. “And now I had absolutely nothing.”

The book’s title was taken from a line uttered by his character in Saving Private Ryan, a role for which he garnered Oscar buzz. But he wrote that success turned him into a “spoiled movie star,” an “arrogant fool” and eventually “a hope-to-die addict.”

He racked up a string of domestic violence arrests. Sizemore was married once, to actor Maeve Quinlan, and was arrested on suspicion of beating her in 1997. While the charges were dropped, the couple divorced in 1999.

Sizemore was convicted of abusing ex-girlfriend Heidi Fleiss in 2003 — the same year he pleaded no contest and avoided trial in a separate abuse case — and sentenced to jail. The former Hollywood madam testified that he had punched her in the jaw at a Beverly Hills hotel, and beaten her in New York to the point where they couldn’t attend the Black Hawk Down premiere.

The sentencing judge said drug abuse was likely a catalyst but that testimony had revealed a man who had deep problems dealing with women. Fleiss called Sizemore “a zero” in a conversation with The Associated Press after his conviction.

Sizemore apologized in a letter, saying he was “chastened” and that “personal demons” had taken over his life, though he later denied abusing her and accused her of faking a picture showing her bruises.

Fleiss also sued Sizemore, saying she suffered emotional distress after he threatened to get her own probation revoked. Fleiss had been convicted in 1994 of running a high-priced call-girl ring. That lawsuit was settled on undisclosed terms.

Sizemore was the subject of two workplace sexual harassment lawsuits related to the 2002 CBS show Robbery Homicide Division, in which he played a police detective. He was arrested as recently as 2016 in another domestic violence case.

Sizemore ended up jailed from August 2007 to January 2009 for failing numerous drug tests while on probation and after Bakersfield, California, authorities found methamphetamine in his car.

“God’s trying to tell me he doesn’t want me using drugs because every time I use them I get caught,” Sizemore told The Bakersfield Californian in a jailhouse interview.

Sizemore told the AP in 2013 that he believed his dependency was related to the trappings of success. He struggled to maintain his emotional composure as he described a low point looking in the mirror: “I looked like I was 100 years old. I had no relationship with my kids; I had no work to speak off. I was living in squat.”

He appeared on the reality TV show Celebrity Rehab and its spinoff Sober House, telling the AP that he did the shows to receive help, but also partly to pay off accumulated debts that ran into the millions.

Many of Sizemore’s later-career films had a sci-fi, horror or action bent: In 2022 alone, he starred in movies with such titles as Impuratus, Night of the Tommyknockers and Vampfather. But Sizemore still nabbed a few meaty roles — including in the Twin Peaks revival — and guest spots on popular shows like Entourage and Hawaii Five-O.

A stuntman sued Sizemore and Paramount Pictures in 2016, saying he was injured when the allegedly intoxicated actor ran him over while filming USA’s Shooter. State records obtained by the AP showed that Sizemore was only supposed to be sitting in the unmoving car and that he “improvised at the end of the scene and drove away in his car.” Sizemore was fired from Shooter, and the stuntman’s lawsuit was settled on undisclosed terms.

In addition to his film and TV credits, he was part of the voice cast for 2002’s Grand Theft Auto: Vice City video game. He also taught classes at the LA West Acting Studio, according to recent advertisements.

He is survived by his 17-year-old twin sons, Jayden and Jagger, and his brother Paul, all of whom were by his side when he died.

“I’ve led an interesting life, but I can’t tell you what I’d give to be the guy you didn’t know anything about,” Sizemore wrote in his memoir.
…

The second half-century for the world’s most famous sled dog race is getting off to a rough start. 

Only 33 mushers will participate in the ceremonial start of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race on Saturday, the smallest field ever to take their dog teams nearly 1,000 miles (1,609 kilometers) over Alaska’s unforgiving wilderness. This year’s lineup is smaller even than that of the 34 mushers who lined up for the very first race in 1973. 

The small pool of mushers is raising concerns about the future of an iconic race that has taken hits from the pandemic, climate change, inflation and the loss of deep-pocketed sponsors, just as multiple big-name mushing champions are retiring with few to take their place. 

The largest field ever was 96 mushers in 2008; the average number of mushers starting the race over the last 50 years was 63. 

“It’s a little scary when you look at it that way,” said four-time winner Martin Buser, 64, who retired after completing his 39th race last year. “Hopefully it’s not a state of the event and … it’s just a temporary lull.” 

The Iditarod is the most prestigious sled dog race in the world, taking competitors over two mountain ranges, the frozen Yukon River and treacherous Bering Sea ice in frigid temperatures before ending in the old Gold Rush town of Nome. The roughly 10-day event begins with a “ceremonial start” in Anchorage on Saturday, followed by the competitive start in Willow, about 70 miles (113 kilometers) to the north, on Sunday. 

And while the world-renowned race has the highest winner’s purse of any sled dog competition, the winner only pockets about $50,000 before taxes — a payout that is less appealing amid inflation and the continued reverberations of the pandemic. 

Many mushers supplement their income by offering uniquely Alaska experiences to cruise ship passengers, but for several years the pandemic has meant fewer summer visitors to shell out money for a sled dog ride on a glacier. 

“There’s a lot of kennels and a lot of mushers that rely on that to keep going,” said Aaron Burmeister, a Nome native who is sitting out this year’s race to spend more time with family. Burmeister, who works construction, has had eight top 10 finishes in the last decade. 

“Being able to race the Iditarod and the expense of putting together a race team became more than they could bear to maintain themselves,” he said of mushers. 

Inflation has also taken a toll, and several mushers said they’d like to see a higher prize purse to attract younger competitors. 

Defending champion Brent Sass, who supplements his income as a wilderness guide, isn’t surprised some mushers are taking a break to build up bank accounts. 

Sass, who has 58 dogs, orders 500 bags of high-quality dog food a year. Each bag cost $55 a few years ago, but that has swelled to $85 per bag — or about $42,500 total a year. That’s about how much money Sass pocketed from his Iditarod win last year. 

“You got to be totally prepared to run Iditarod, and have enough money in the bank to do it,” said Sass, who lives in Eureka, about a four-hour drive north of Fairbanks. 

With other race costs, Buser said running the Iditarod now can mean spending $250,000 to win a $40,000 championship. 

The race itself has suffered under the increased inflation, Iditarod CEO Rob Urbach said. Supply costs have gone up about 30%, he said, and last year it cost nearly $30,000 to transport specially certified straw from the lower 48 for dogs to sleep on at race checkpoints. 

The Iditarod also continues to be dogged by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, which has targeted the race’s biggest sponsors. Over the past decade, Alaska Airlines, ExxonMobil, Coca-Cola and Wells Fargo have ended race sponsorships after being targeted by PETA. 

PETA took out full-page newspaper ads in Anchorage and Fairbanks in February with a husky — the predominate sled dog breed — prominently featured with the headline, “We don’t want to go to the Iditarod. We just want the Iditarod to go.” 

But Urbach said the race’s financial health is good, and payouts should be a little higher this year. The top 20 finishers receive payouts on a sliding scale, and every other finisher gets $1,049, reflecting the stated mileage of the race, though the actual mileage is lower. 

Urbach noted they are paying “the healthiest prize money” among competitive sled dog races and called the PETA campaign “pretty offensive, I think, to most Alaskans.” 

There’s also worry about the future of the race because of climate change. 

The warming climate forced organizers to move the starting line 290 miles (467 kilometers) north from Willow to Fairbanks in 2003, 2015 and 2017 because of a lack of snow in the Alaska Range. Poor winter conditions and urban growth likewise led the Iditarod to officially move the start from Wasilla about 30 miles (48 kilometers) north to Willow in 2008, even though Wasilla last hosted the start in 2002. 

Moving the start of the race north will likely become more common as global warming advances, said Rick Thoman, a climate specialist at the International Arctic Research Center at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. Ice on Alaska’s western coast could also get thinner and more dangerous, he said. 

“It doesn’t have to be that there’s waves crashing on the beach,” Thoman said of the impacts of ice melt. “It just has to be at the point where the ice is not stable.” 

As challenges stack up, several veteran mushers with multiple championships have stepped away this year after decades of braving the frigid and windy conditions to train in the dead of the Alaska winter for the Iditarod. They are finding that few are willing to take their place, at least this year. 

“I just got back from Cancun to see the Grateful Dead play on the beaches of Mexico,” said four-time champion Jeff King, who is now 67. “I first said I was going to retire at 40, and I ran the race at 66, so I don’t feel like I’m bailing on anybody.” 

Five-time champion Dallas Seavey said last year’s race would be his last, at least for a while, to spend time with his daughter. Other past champions not racing include Dallas’ father, three-time champion Mitch Seavey, and Joar Leifseth Ulsom and Thomas Waerner, who have one title each. 

Waerner said sponsors are holding back, and it’s too expensive to pay $60,000 to get his team from Norway to Alaska. 

Lance Mackey, another four-time champion, died last year from cancer. He is the honorary musher for this year’s race, and his children, Atigun and Lozen, will ride in the first sled to leave the ceremonial start line in Anchorage and during the competitive start Sunday. 

That leaves two former winners in this year’s field, Sass and Pete Kaiser.

Sass said he is confident the Iditarod will survive this downturn. 

“If we can just keep the train rolling forward, I think it’s going to come back, and hopefully our world can get things under control and things maybe get a little less expensive,” Sass said. “I think that’s going to help get our numbers back up.” 
…

Justin Cherry watches the woodburning fire inside his mound-shaped clay oven. He sticks his hand into the mouth of the oven to feel the heat, waiting for the clay surface inside to get hot enough to bake his homemade bread, which he makes the way it would have been done in the 1700s.

Cherry is at Mount Vernon, a historical attraction in Alexandria, Virginia, which is the planation home of George Washington, who served as the first U.S. president from 1789-1797. Dressed in 18th-century garb, Cherry uses a wooden baking paddle to place a few of the loaves at a time into the oven.

“Using the wood, I heat the oven for about five hours,” he said, “and it stays hot for about four hours, and I get around 50 loaves of bread from one fire.”

Known as a beehive, baking ovens like this were common in 18th century households.

“The historically accurate oven I use is made of clay, mortar and rice straw and is mobile so I can travel with it to different historical sites in the country,” said Cherry, a chef and owner of the Half Crown Bakehouse, who makes a living selling the bread and other food items.

Cherry, 38, a history buff, combined his passion for 18th century food with his love of historical reenactments he did as a child, to become a Colonial baker.

His mother, LuAnn Cherry, said baking runs in the family.

“Justin always liked baking and watched me bake when he was growing up. My mother baked bread and her father had a bakery, so this is a family tradition.”

Besides bread, Cherry also makes cakes, cookies and pies, inspired by recipes from the 1700s.

“Cookbooks back then were only available to people who could afford them,” he told VOA. “I take what I’ve learned through my research and combine it with my knowledge of modern baking.”

In 2019, Cherry was selected as a fellow at Mount Vernon’s Washington Library where he researched 18th century foodways. Later, he was named Mount Vernon’s resident baker where he attends events, sharing his knowledge with visitors while showcasing his bread-making skills.

“It smells amazing, and I like the smokiness and earthy taste,” said visitor Maggie Coleman from Georgia.

Dan Shippey, who portrays George Washington at Mount Vernon, stopped by to get a taste of bread and hoecakes made from corn.

“I normally start my day with hoecakes with a good deal of butter and honey,” said Shippey in character. “I don’t think there is anyone more skilled at making the finest bread than Justin Cherry.”

“I can imagine eating this during George Washington’s time,” said visitor and history teacher Kendra Czernicki from Massachusetts.

Cherry mixes, kneads, proofs and bakes the bread by hand, a process he calls “calming and therapeutic.”

He begins by blending flour, water, salt and ale yeast. “The process is not much different today,” he said.

But what is different, he noted, is the flour used to make today’s bread is enriched and bleached, unlike the bread of yesteryear.

Cherry said his bread is made solely from heritage grains — that go back to the 18th century — that he finds at a small farm in Maryland and a mill in South Carolina.

Leslie Bird, Mount Vernon historic gardens and landscape manager, makes it a point to buy Cherry’s bread when he is at the estate.

“I am gluten intolerant, which means I usually can’t eat bread,” Bird said. “But I think because his bread contains only heritage grains, I can eat it without getting a bad reaction.”

Cherry points out that George Washington was not only the first U.S. president, but he was also one of the country’s first large-scale wheat farmers.

“He experimented with growing wheat, and at one point was working with 16 different kinds of wheat,” he said.

Cherry is working on a cookbook to preserve 18th century culinary history. “I not only want people to learn about the different kinds of food,” he said, “but why the food is an important part of our history.”
…

U.N. countries appeared Friday to be nearing an agreement on a long-awaited treaty to protect the high seas, a fragile and vital treasure that covers nearly half the planet. 

After more than 15 years of informal and then formal talks, negotiators are coming to the end of two more weeks of discussions, the third “final” session in less than a year. 

“I do not believe that a solution is not in sight,” conference chair Rena Lee told a short plenary session Friday afternoon, calling on delegates to “stock up on snacks” as they tried to get the treaty over the finish line before the scheduled end of talks later in the day. 

“We have a window of opportunity to seal the deal, and we mustn’t let this opportunity slip through our hands,” she added, conceding though that the highly political issue of benefit-sharing for marine genetic resources remained a sticking point. 

Even if compromises are found on all the remaining disputes, the treaty cannot be formally adopted at this session, she said. 

But it could be “finalized” without the possibility of reopening discussions on substantive sections before a formal adoption at a later date, Lee added. 

Even without adoption Friday, “it’s a massive step,” Veronica Frank of Greenpeace told AFP. 

Disputes include the procedure for creating marine protected areas; the model for environmental impact studies of planned activities on the high seas; and the sharing of potential benefits of newly discovered marine resources. 

The high seas begin at the border of countries’ exclusive economic zones, which extend up to 370 kilometers (200 nautical miles) from coastlines. They thus fall under the jurisdiction of no country. 

While the high seas make up more than 60% of the world’s oceans and nearly half the planet’s surface, they have long drawn far less attention than coastal waters and a few iconic species. 

Only about 1% of the high seas is currently protected. 

Ocean ecosystems create half the oxygen humans breathe and limit global warming by absorbing much of the carbon dioxide emitted by human activities. 

But they are threatened by climate change, pollution and overfishing. 

North-South ‘equity’

For many, any agreement hinges on equity between the rich North and poor South. 

Developing countries, without the means to afford costly research, say they fear being left aside while others make profits from the commercialization of potential substances discovered in the international waters. 

In a move seen as an attempt to build trust between rich and poor countries, the European Union pledged $42 million (40 million euros) in New York to facilitate the ratification of the treaty and its early implementation. 

The EU also pledged $860 million for research, monitoring and conservation of oceans in 2023 at the Our Ocean conference in Panama, where the United States announced $6 billion in commitments. 

Observers interviewed by AFP said that resolving these politically sensitive financial issues could help ease other sticking points. 

If agreement is reached, it remains to be seen whether the compromises made will result in a text robust enough to protect oceans effectively. 

“The text is not perfect, but it’s got a clear path towards 30 by 30,” said Greenpeace’s Frank, referring to world governments’ commitment to protect 30% of the world’s land and ocean by 2030, as agreed upon in Montreal in December. 
…

Walgreens says it will not start selling an abortion pill in 20 states that had warned of legal consequences if it did so.

The drugstore chain’s announcement Thursday signals that access to mifepristone may not expand as broadly as federal regulators intended in January, when they finalized a rule change allowing more pharmacies to provide the pill.

Here’s a closer look at the issue.

About the abortion pill

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved mifepristone in 2000 to end pregnancy when used in combination with a second drug, misoprostol. The combination is approved for use up to the 10th week of pregnancy.

Mifepristone is taken first to dilate the cervix and block a hormone needed to sustain a pregnancy. Misoprostol is taken a day or two later, causing contractions to empty the uterus.

More than half of U.S. abortions are now done with pills rather than with a procedure, according to the Guttmacher Institute, a research group that supports abortion rights. In rare cases, the drug combination can cause excess bleeding, requiring emergency care.

Widening access

For more than 20 years, the FDA limited dispensing of mifepristone to a subset of specialty offices and clinics due to safety concerns.

The agency has repeatedly eased restrictions and expanded access, increasing demand even as state laws make the pills harder to get for many women.

In late 2021, the agency eliminated an in-person requirement for getting the pill, saying a new scientific review showed no increase in safety complications if the drug is taken at home. That change also permitted the pill to be prescribed via telehealth and shipped by mail-order pharmacies.

Earlier this year, the FDA further loosened restrictions by allowing pharmacies such as Walgreens to start dispensing the drug after they undergo certification. That includes meeting standards for shipping, tracking and confidentially storing prescribing information.

States step in

Typically, the FDA’s authority to regulate prescription drug access has gone unchallenged. But more than a dozen states now have laws restricting abortion broadly — and the pills specifically — following last year’s Supreme Court decision overturning the federal right to abortion.

Last month, attorneys general in 20 conservative-led states warned CVS and Walgreens in a letter that they could face legal consequences if they sold abortion pills by mail in their states.

In addition to state laws, attorneys general from conservative states have argued that shipments of mifepristone run afoul of a 19th century law that prohibited sending items used in abortion through the mail.

Walgreens’ reaction

A Walgreens spokesperson says the company told the attorneys general that it will not dispense mifepristone in their states and it doesn’t plan to ship the drug to them as well.

But Walgreens is working to become eligible through the FDA’s certification process. It plans to dispense the pills where it can legally do so.

The company is not currently dispensing the pills anywhere.

Other drugstores

Rite Aid Corp. said it was “monitoring the latest federal, state, legal and regulatory developments” and would keep evaluating its policies. The Associated Press also sought comment from CVS Health Corp., retail giant Walmart and the grocery chain Kroger.

Some independent pharmacists would like to become certified to dispense the pills, said Andrea Pivarunas, a spokesperson for the National Community Pharmacists Association. She added that this would be a “personal business decision,” based partly on state laws. The association has no specifics on how many will do it.

Other legal issues

In November, an anti-abortion group filed a federal lawsuit in Texas seeking to revoke mifepristone’s approval, claiming the FDA approved the drug 23 years ago without adequate evidence of safety.

A federal judge could rule soon. If he sides with abortion opponents, mifepristone could potentially be removed from the U.S. market.

In January, abortion rights supporters filed separate lawsuits challenging abortion pill restrictions imposed in North Carolina and West Virginia.

Legal experts foresee years of court battles over access to the pills.
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U.S. President Joe Biden’s doctor said Friday that a skin lesion that was removed from the president’s chest last month was a common form of skin cancer.

White House physician Kevin O’Connor, who has served as Biden’s longtime doctor, said “all cancerous tissue was successfully removed” during the president’s routine physical February 16.

O’Conner said in a letter released Friday that a biopsy confirmed the removed legion was a basal cell carcinoma, a common form of skin cancer that does not tend to spread quickly. The slow-growing cancer is often easily treated if detected early.

The doctor said the site of the removal has “healed nicely” and that the president does not need any further treatment.

O’Conner said that Biden previously had “several localized non-melanoma skin cancers” removed from his body before he became president and noted that the president spent a lot of time in the sun when he was younger.

After last month’s physical, doctors described Biden, who is 80, as “healthy” and “fit” to carry out his White House responsibilities.

Biden’s wife, Jill, had two basal cell lesions removed from her body in January.

Their son Beau died in 2015 at the age of 46 from brain cancer.

Some information in this report came from The Associated Press and Reuters.
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China accused Washington on Friday of improperly attacking Chinese companies after genetics analysis giant BGI Group and 17 others were hit with curbs on access to U.S. technology on security or human rights grounds. 

The Commerce Department said it saw a danger that two BGI units might contribute to the government’s surveillance apparatus, which human rights groups say is trying to create a database of genetic samples that Muslims and other minorities were compelled to provide. 

Other companies were cited for their role in the ruling Communist Party’s military modernization or weapons development by Iran and Pakistan and suspected human rights abuses in Myanmar. 

Washington has accused China of trying to use civilian companies to obtain processor chip, aerospace and other technologies that can be used to make weapons. Beijing retorts that the U.S. government is trying to stop potential commercial competitors. 

The United States is “fabricating excuses to suppress Chinese companies,” said a foreign ministry spokeswoman, Mao Ning. She called on Washington to “abandon ideological prejudice” and “stop abusing various excuses to unreasonably suppress Chinese enterprises.” 

Mao said Beijing would “firmly safeguard the legitimate rights” of its companies but gave no indication of possible retaliation. The government has made similar statements following previous U.S. restrictions but often takes no action. 

‘Significant risk’

BGI Research and BGI Tech Solutions (Hongkong) Co. Ltd. were added to an “Entity List” that requires them to obtain government permission to acquire sensitive U.S. technology. 

Their genetic analysis “poses a significant risk of contributing” to surveillance and repression of minorities, the Commerce Department said. It said there was a “significant risk of diversion” to military programs. 

BGI Group didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. 

BGI previously denied accusations it provided technology to surveil Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in China’s northwest. 

Beijing retaliated for earlier U.S. restrictions by creating its own “unreliable entity” list of foreign companies that might endanger China’s national sovereignty, security or development interests. 

Lockheed Martin Corp. and Raytheon Technologies Corp.’s Raytheon Missiles and Defense unit were added to the restricted list last month after they supplied weapons to Taiwan, the island democracy claimed by Beijing as part of its territory. They are barred from importing goods into China or making new investments in the country.
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The United States is taking steps to better protect public drinking water and sewer systems from cyberattacks that could cut off service or contaminate supplies.

The Environmental Protection Agency on Friday issued a new memorandum, ordering all public water systems to meet a series of basic cybersecurity requirements while also making cybersecurity audits a part of regular scheduled safety inspections.

“We know Americans rely on these critical services, and we know that Americans expect that they are resilient to cyberattacks,” White House Deputy National Security Adviser Anne Neuberger told reporters, ahead of the memorandum’s release.

“There have been cyberattacks against water systems in the United States and in countries around the world, so this is an incredibly timely action,” she added.

The rollout of the new cybersecurity requirements for public water systems comes just a day after the White House unveiled what it described as a new, aggressive National Cyber Strategy that seeks to shift much of the responsibility for cybersecurity from individuals and consumers to tech and software companies, in part through more stringent federal regulation.

“We need to change the underlining rules of the game to get ourselves the advantage,” Acting National Cyber Director Kemba Walden told an audience in Washington Thursday. “I want cybersecurity to be an unfair fight.”

According to the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), there are approximately 153,000 public drinking water systems in the U.S. which provide water to more than 80% of the U.S. population.

Another 16,000 publicly owned systems provide wastewater treatment services to about 75% of the U.S. population.

But despite the heavy reliance on these systems, U.S. officials warn cybersecurity has been weak, with some surveys finding that only about 20% of publicly owned water systems have implemented basic cybersecurity measures, leaving the water sector “at risk” to cyberattacks.

“This is not hypothetical,” EPA Assistant Administrator Radhika Fox told reporters.

“This is happening right now,” she said. “We have seen these types of attacks from California to Florida, Kansas, Maine and Nevada.”

Data provided by CISA shows that between 2019 and early 2021, there have been at least five cyberattacks on U.S. public water systems.

Four of the attacks involved the use of ransomware and in one of those incidents, a wastewater treatment center was forced to switch to operate manually until control of the computer system was restored.

In the fifth case, a former employee tried unsuccessfully to contaminate the water supply, using his still active credentials to access the system.

In yet another incident, in February 2021, hackers accessed a water system serving about 15,000 people near Tampa, Florida, and sought to add a dangerous amount of lye to the water supply, though officials say the attempt was detected and stopped before anyone could have been hurt.

U.S. national security and intelligence officials have also warned repeatedly that key sectors, including water, could come under cyberattack from U.S. adversaries.

“We have to be concerned about the possibility of Russian action, Russian aggression against Western infrastructure, Western facilities,” White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said in September 2022, following the sabotage of one of the Nord Stream pipelines.

In its 2022 Worldwide Threat Assessment, the U.S. intelligence community further warned China could seek to exploit cybersecurity gaps plaguing U.S. critical infrastructure.

“China almost certainly is capable of launching cyberattacks that would disrupt critical infrastructure services within the United States, including against oil and gas pipelines and rail systems,” the report said.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security implemented heightened cybersecurity requirements for rail and air transportation in October 2021. New cybersecurity requirements for pipeline owners and operators were introduced last July.
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This month, the U.S. Commerce Department launches its first application under the CHIPS Act to build more semiconductors inside the United States. But officials in Taiwan say the U.S. push to build chips domestically could compromise their national security. VOA’s Jessica Stone reports.
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U.S. President Joe Biden will welcome German Chancellor Olaf Scholz to the White House Friday for discussions on continued support for Ukraine and bilateral cooperation on a range of global security and economic issues. 

The leaders first met in February of last year shortly after Scholz took office, and the visit comes after marking the one-year anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. 

“We’ve closely coordinated our support to Ukraine throughout this conflict, including through joint announcements in January to provide infantry fighting vehicles and tanks,” National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters during a Thursday briefing.

“Germany has provided significant air defense support to Ukraine, including a Patriot battery; the IRIS-T air defense system, which is an infrared seeking system; and five multiple — multiple launch rocket systems,” he said.

Kirby said discussing additional support for Ukraine is high on the agenda for the Friday’s meeting. He also said the United States would be announcing a new package of military aid for Ukraine later in the day.

Scholz addressed the German parliament Thursday, calling on China to use its influence with Russia to convince that nation to withdraw its troops from Ukraine and not to provide Moscow with additional weapons. 

Thursday, Kirby said the U.S. has communicated privately and publicly with China about providing weapons to Russia. 

“We believe it’s not in China’s best interest to move forward in that regard and they should see it the same way,” he said.

Speaking to reporters in Berlin ahead of his departure for Washington, Scholz was asked why he is traveling to Washington to meet with Biden in person when they could have the same conversation via video link. 

He said the two leaders talk on the phone regularly but meeting face to face “is part of the quality of our relationship,” as it should be “in a good life.” He said he sees it as a necessity in a world “where a lot of things have become very complicated.” 

Some information for this report was provided by the Associated Press, Reuters and Agence France-Presse.
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