Extreme weather is nearly universal experience, new poll shows

Floodwaters surround homes and vehicles in Monterey County, California.
Floodwaters surround homes and vehicles in Monterey County, California.
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Updated 23 April 2023
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Extreme weather is nearly universal experience, new poll shows

Floodwaters surround homes and vehicles in Monterey County, California.
  • Overall, about 8 in 10 US adults say that in the past five years they have personally felt the effects of extreme weather, such as extreme heat or drought, according to the poll

WASHINGTON: An overwhelming majority of people in the US say they have recently experienced an extreme weather event, a new poll shows, and most of them attribute that to climate change.
But even as many across the country marked Earth Day on Saturday, the poll shows relatively few say they feel motivated when they talk about the issue.
The findings from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll echo growing evidence that many individuals question their own role in combating climate change. Still, the poll suggests people are paying attention.
About half of US adults say they have grown more concerned about the changing climate in the past year, and a growing number say they are talking about it.
Adriana Moreno said she feels like she’s been talking about climate change for years, but it’s only recently that the 22-year-old high school teacher has noticed her older family members bringing up the issue more and more – “almost every time I see them,” said Moreno, a Democrat in New York.

BACKGROUND

The findings from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll echo growing evidence that many individuals question their own role in combating climate change.

Her family on the East Coast talks about how the seasons have changed while her family in El Salvador talks about how poorly some crops on their farm are faring. After years of hearing about Moreno’s own interest in the issue, her parents have themselves become more interested.
It’s not that they didn’t believe in climate change before, Moreno said, but it was “out of sight, out of mind.”
Overall, about 8 in 10 US adults say that in the past five years they have personally felt the effects of extreme weather, such as extreme heat or drought, according to the poll.
Most of them — 54 percent of the public overall — say what they experienced was at least partly a result of climate change.
They’re not wrong, said the head of the federal agency overseeing weather and climate issues.
“It is a reality that regardless of where you are in the country, where you call home, you’ve likely experienced a high impact weather event firsthand,” National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration chief Rick Spinrad said at a meteorological conference this year, noting that the US has the most weather disasters that cost $1 billion of any nation in the world.
NOAA uses weather disasters that cost $1 billion as a measure of climate change and how it affects people. Last year there were 18 of those events, costing more than $165 billion in total and killing 474 people. That included Hurricane Ian and an ongoing drought in the West.
These types of weather events hit the nation on average once every 82 days in the 1980s, but are now smacking the country at a rate of slightly more than once every two weeks, Spinrad said.
“With a changing climate, buckle up,” Spinrad warned. “More extreme events are expected.”
The poll shows about three-quarters of US adults say recent extreme weather events have had at least some influence on their beliefs about climate change.
After 2 1/2 years living in Agoura Hills, California, Rick Hoeft has noticed extreme weather events that make him concerned about climate change now more than ever before.
He had nOt been face to face with the same weather whiplash when he lived for decades in Hawaii and Michigan, where he’s moving back to this month.
“Hearing about the things like the fires and seeing the hills around here being brown and not getting any rain for three, four, five months in a row ... it’s not something I’d ever thought of anywhere else because I’ve never been in such extreme drought,” the 65-year-old Republican retiree said. Then, “when we finally do get rain, it’s extreme.”
He says his girlfriend, who had lived in California for 45 years, tells him “this isn’t normal.”
Extreme downpours, like the series of winter storms that flooded California, and large droughts are happening more frequently and with more intensity because of climate change, studies show.
Tornadoes are moving further east and the supercells that spawn them are expected to get more frequent and move even further east as the world warms. Wildfires have been devastating for years, worsened by warming.
Half of US adults say they have spoken with friends and family about climate change in the past year, compared with about 4 in 10 who said the same last June.
Still, many say they rarely or never talk about the issue.
John Laubacker, a 36-year-old truck driver from Lockport, New York, says climate is an important issue to him personally. But he doesn’t find himself talking about it much.
Laubacker, a moderate Republican, says he finds the conversation on climate, like other issues, is dominated by those with extreme views on both sides of the aisle.
The poll finds people don’t tend to talk about climate change with people they outright disagree with on the issue. Among those who talk with family and friends, about half say they mostly agree with those they talk to, while most of the remainder say they tend to equally agree and disagree.
A clear majority say they have learned new information in a conversation on the subject, but only 19 percent of US adults say their minds have been changed because of a conversation about climate change.
The poll also finds few feel very hopeful or motivated when they talk about climate change; roughly half feel those at least somewhat. That’s true of anxiety and sadness as well.
Anthony Thompson, a 74-year-old retiree and a Democrat, thinks climate change has accelerated, but he picks and chooses who he talks to about it in “ruby red” Jackson, Tennessee. But if it comes up when tornadoes or hailstorms tear through their area, he offers what he’s learned as “food for thought.”
To Thompson, changes in weather have become more severe – as has his concern.
“I’m more concerned now because I think people kind of take everything for granted and I don’t think they really care, to be quite honest,” he said. “Hopefully if we concentrate on some of this stuff we can at least slow it down.”

 


’Nothing more to say’: Trump cancels plan to testify in NY fraud trial

’Nothing more to say’: Trump cancels plan to testify in NY fraud trial
Updated 11 December 2023
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’Nothing more to say’: Trump cancels plan to testify in NY fraud trial

’Nothing more to say’: Trump cancels plan to testify in NY fraud trial
  • The trial concerns several other crimes, including insurance fraud, and the financial penalty sought by the Attorney General’s office of $250 million

WASHINGTON: Donald Trump changed his mind about testifying in his own defense in his New York fraud case on Monday, he said, announcing that he will not take the stand as expected because he has “nothing more to say.”
The 77-year-old posted the surprise statement on Truth Social on Sunday, adding that he has “already testified to everything” in the ongoing trial against him, his eldest sons Don Jr and Eric, and other Trump Organization executives.
Trump was questioned last month by the prosecution, which has accused him and the other defendants of exaggerating the value of their real estate assets by billions of dollars to obtain more favorable bank loans and insurance terms.
For four hours on November 6, Trump sparred with prosecutors — with his acrimonious answers at times earning rebukes from Judge Arthur Engoron, who warned the current Republican front-runner that “this is not a political rally.”
On Sunday, Trump said that he had already testified “very successfully & conclusively” in the case.
The Trump real estate empire has been put in jeopardy by the civil suit, brought by New York Attorney General Letitia James and one of a slew of serious legal actions facing Trump ahead of next year’s presidential vote.
Even before opening arguments, Engoron ruled that James’s office had already shown “conclusive evidence” that Trump had overstated his net worth on financial documents by between $812 million and $2.2 billion between 2014 and 2021.
As a result, the judge ordered the liquidation of the companies managing the assets in question, such as the Trump Tower and 40 Wall Street skyscrapers in Manhattan — a decision currently under appeal.
The trial concerns several other crimes, including insurance fraud, and the financial penalty sought by the Attorney General’s office of $250 million.
Unlike some of Trump’s legal battles — including the criminal case against him accusing him of conspiring to overturn the 2020 election — the suit brought by James, a Democrat, carries no risk of jail time.
Since the start of the trial, which opened October 2, the billionaire Republican has denounced the proceedings as a partisan “witch hunt.”
At one point during his previous testimony, a visibly angry Engoron told Trump’s lawyer, Christopher Kise, to “control your client.”
Engoron has also slapped Trump with $15,000 in fines for violating a partial gag order, imposed after he insulted the judge’s law clerk on social media.
For their part, Trump’s lawyers have argued that the banks the Trump Organization sent its financial statements did their own proper due diligence and were not financially harmed by the Trump team’s estimates — even bringing out current and former employees of Deutsche Bank, one the banks he’s accused of defrauding, to testify to that effect.
The trial is set to continue without Trump’s testimony, with a ruling expected by the end of January.
 

 


UK creates unit to clamp down on companies evading Russian sanctions

UK creates unit to clamp down on companies evading Russian sanctions
Updated 11 December 2023
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UK creates unit to clamp down on companies evading Russian sanctions

UK creates unit to clamp down on companies evading Russian sanctions
  • Britain warned last week that Russia was trying to circumvent sanctions
  • It announced 46 new measures against individuals and groups from other countries it said were involved in Russia’s military supply chains

LONDON: The British government said on Monday it was creating an enforcement unit to increase its power to crack down on companies evading Russian sanctions.

The Office of Trade Sanctions Implementation (OTSI) will be responsible for the civil enforcement of trade sanctions, investigating potential breaches, issuing penalties and referring cases for criminal enforcement.
It will also help businesses comply with sanctions, the government’s Department for Business and Trade said, and its remit will include activity by any UK national or UK-registered company that may be avoiding sanctions by sending products through other countries.
The unit will launch early next year and work alongside the existing Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation.
“We are leaving no stone unturned in our commitment to stopping (Russian President Vladimir) Putin’s war machine. That means clamping down on sanctions evaders and starving Russia of the technologies and revenues it needs to continue its illegal invasion,” Britain’s Industry and Economic Security Minister Nusrat Ghani said.
“Today’s announcement will help us do that, and send a clear message to those breaking the rules that there is nowhere to hide.”
Britain warned last week that Russia was trying to circumvent sanctions and announced 46 new measures against individuals and groups from other countries it said were involved in Russia’s military supply chains.
This included businesses operating in China, Turkiye, Serbia, the United Arab Emirates and Uzbekistan.
Britain said 20 billion pounds ($25.07 billion) of UK-Russia goods trade has now been sanctioned, with imports from Russia down 94 percent in the year to February 2023, compared to the previous year.


Australia plans to halve migrant intake, tighten student visa rules

Passengers check in at the refurbished Sydney International Airport Terminal. (AFP file photo)
Passengers check in at the refurbished Sydney International Airport Terminal. (AFP file photo)
Updated 11 December 2023
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Australia plans to halve migrant intake, tighten student visa rules

Passengers check in at the refurbished Sydney International Airport Terminal. (AFP file photo)
  • Australia boosted its annual migration numbers last year to help key businesses recruit staff to fill shortages after the COVID-19 pandemic brought tighter border controls, and kept foreign students and workers out of the country for nearly two years

SYDNEY: Australia on Monday said it would tighten visa rules for international students and low-skilled workers that could halve its migrant intake over the next two years as the government looks to overhaul what it said was a “broken” migration system.
The decision comes after net immigration was expected to have peaked at a record 510,000 in 2022-23. Official data showed it was forecast to fall to about a quarter of a million in 2024-25 and 2025-26, roughly in line with pre-COVID levels.
“We’ve worked around the clock to strike the best balance in Australia’s migration system,” Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil said in a statement ahead of the formal release of the government’s new migration strategy later on Monday.
“The government’s targeted reforms are already putting downward pressure on net overseas migration, and will further contribute to this expected decline,” O’Neil said.
O’Neil said the increase in net overseas migration in 2022-23 was mostly driven by international students.
Australia boosted its annual migration numbers last year to help key businesses recruit staff to fill shortages after the COVID-19 pandemic brought tighter border controls, and kept foreign students and workers out of the country for nearly two years.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese over the weekend said Australia’s migration numbers needed to be wound back to a “sustainable level,” adding that “the system is broken.”
Long reliant on immigration to supply what is now one of the tightest labor markets in the world, Australia’s Labor government has pushed to speed up the entry of highly skilled workers and smooth their path to permanent residency.
Under the new policies, international students would need higher ratings on English tests. It will also end settings that allowed students to prolong their stay in Australia.
A new specialist visa for highly skilled workers will be set up with the processing time cut to one week, helping businesses recruit top migrants amid tough competition with other developed economies.

 

 


Zelensky to meet with Biden, Republicans as war funding dries up

Zelensky to meet with Biden, Republicans as war funding dries up
Updated 11 December 2023
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Zelensky to meet with Biden, Republicans as war funding dries up

Zelensky to meet with Biden, Republicans as war funding dries up
  • Republican senators last week blocked $106 billion in emergency aid primarily for Ukraine and Israel after conservatives balked at the exclusion of immigration reforms they had demanded as part of the package

WASHINGTON: Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky will travel to Washington Tuesday to meet President Joe Biden and plead his case before Republicans balking at sending more money for his fight against Russia, amid warnings aid will run out in weeks.
In a flurry of diplomatic activity after the White House announced Zelensky’s visit, an aide for Mike Johnson said the new Republican speaker for the House of Representatives — who has been trying to tie Ukraine aid to funding for US border security — will also meet with the Ukrainian leader Tuesday.
And a Senate official said Democratic majority leader Chuck Schumer and Republican leader Mitch McConnell likewise invited Zelensky to speak at an all-Senators meeting Tuesday morning — one week after several Republicans angrily walked out of a classified Ukraine briefing that he had been due to address via video.
Biden and Zelensky “will discuss Ukraine’s urgent needs” as it fights off a Russian invasion, and “the vital importance of the United States’ continued support at this critical moment,” White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in a statement.
The Ukrainian presidency said the meeting will focus on key issues such as “joint projects on the production of weapons and air defense systems, as well as the coordination of efforts between our countries in the coming year.”
Republican senators last week blocked $106 billion in emergency aid primarily for Ukraine and Israel after conservatives balked at the exclusion of immigration reforms they had demanded as part of the package.
It was a setback for Biden, who had urged lawmakers to approve the funds, warning that Russian President Vladimir Putin would not stop with victory in Ukraine and could even attack a NATO nation.

Shalanda Young, head of the White House Office of Management and Budget reiterated that fear on CBS’s Face the Nation on Sunday, warning that “our national security is also influenced” by Ukraine’s fate.
“What happens if Putin marches through Ukraine, what’s next? NATO countries, our sons and daughters, are at risk of being a part of a larger conflict,” she said.
But Republicans remained skeptical, with Senator JD Vance, a close ally of former US president Donald Trump, dismissing the idea of Putin putting NATO countries in the region at risk “preposterous.”
He told CNN on Sunday that he opposes a “blank check” for Ukraine.
“You need to articulate what the ambition is. What is $61 billion going to accomplish that $100 billion hasn’t?” Vance said.
“What’s in America’s best interest is to accept Ukraine is going to have to cede some territory to the Russians and we need to bring the war to a close.”
The funding row underscores signs that Western support for Ukraine is fraying just as Kyiv’s counteroffensive falters and Putin’s forces push for new gains.
Ukraine’s offensive has employed billions of dollars’ worth of Western weapons — but the front lines have barely shifted in more than a year and Russian attacks along the front have intensified.
The White House said Biden’s meeting will come at a vital moment, “as Russia ramps up its missile and drone strikes against Ukraine.”
At the start of December, Putin signed a decree to boost Russian forces by 15 percent, increasing the army by some 170,000 people.
Moscow has recently given signs about a possible peace deal, although one involving a shrunken, neutral Ukraine that would be impossible to swallow for Zelensky.
The US State Department announced a stopgap $175 million tranche of new aid for Ukraine on Wednesday, including prized HIMARS rockets, shells, missiles and ammunition.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken insisted on Sunday that “Ukraine has done an extraordinary job” defending itself.
“The choice is very clear,” he said on ABC. “If we do this and help Ukraine sustain the achievements that it’s made, help ensure that Russia continues to suffer a strategic failure in in Ukraine. That’s one route to go.
“The other route to go is to do something that the only people who are rooting for it are in Moscow, and maybe in Tehran and Beijing, which is not to provide this assistance,” he said.
 

 


Populist legacy will weigh on Poland’s next government

Populist legacy will weigh on Poland’s next government
Updated 10 December 2023
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Populist legacy will weigh on Poland’s next government

Populist legacy will weigh on Poland’s next government
  • A coalition of pro-EU parties headed up by former European Council President Donald Tusk won a majority in parliamentary elections against the right-wing populist Law and Justice party

WARSAW: Expectations for Poland’s pro-EU government which is due to take power next week are sky-high but current ruling nationalists will still be a powerful and influential opposition, analysts say.

A coalition of pro-EU parties headed up by former European Council President Donald Tusk won a majority in parliamentary elections on Oct. 15 against the right-wing populist Law and Justice party, also known as PiS.

Tusk, who is also a former prime minister, will have his work cut out after eight years of PiS in power.

“There won’t be any miracles” as the new government faces daily battles with PiS which “will continue to fight,” Jaroslaw Kuisz, a political analyst, said.

“It will be like going through mud” and quick change is unlikely as PiS leaves “a judicial minefield,” he said.

PiS will be the biggest single party in the new parliament with 194 out of 460 seats in the lower house and has shown it intends to be a combative opposition.

The party also has allies in the presidency, the central bank and the supreme court, as well as several important judicial and financial state institutions.

It also dominates state media organizations, which have become a government mouthpiece during its rule.

Analysts speak of a “spider’s web” woven by PiS by putting allies in influential roles with mandates that will last long into the new government’s tenure.

President Andrzej Duda is due to step down ahead of a presidential election in 2025 but he could use blocking tactics between now and then, vetoing legislation brought to him by the pro-EU majority in parliament.

The head of state gave an insight into his intentions by initially nominating the PiS Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki to form a new government even though it was clear the party had no majority from the outset. He effectively gave PiS two more months in power.

Tusk has reacted angrily, saying on Friday that PiS has spent its last few weeks in power “wreaking havoc, destroying the Polish state.”

Kuisz said the party has used the time “to reinforce itself institutionally and financially.”

PiS has named two former ministers to head up important state financial institutions and new prosecutors.

The president has also approved 150 new judges nominated by a body that was criticized by the EU as being too much under the influence of PiS.

Controversial judicial reforms introduced by PiS have pushed Brussels to freeze billions of euros in funding destined for Warsaw which Tusk wants to unblock.