Day: August 21, 2017

McConnell: ‘America is Not Going to Default’

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell says there is “zero chance” Congress will allow the country to default on its debts by voting to not increase the borrowing limit.

 

McConnell’s comments came Monday during a joint appearance in his home state of Kentucky with U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin. It was one of McConnell’s first public appearances since President Donald Trump publicly criticized him for failing to pass a repeal and replacement of former President Barack Obama’s health care law.

 

McConnell did not mention Trump in his remarks, and he did not take questions from reporters after the event. But in response to a question about where he gets his news, McConnell said he reads a variety of sources, including The New York Times.

 

“My view is most news is not fake,” McConnell said, which appeared to be a subtle rebuke of one of Trump’s favorite phrases. “I try not to fall in love with any particular source.”

 

The government has enough money to pay its bills until Sept. 29. After that, Congress would have to give permission for the government to borrow more money to meet its obligations, including Social Security and interest payments.

McConnell sought to calm a crowd of nervous business leaders by interjecting at the end of Mnuchin’s answer to a question about what would happen if lawmakers did not increase the borrowing limit.

 

“Let me just add, there is zero chance, no chance, we won’t raise the debt ceiling,” McConnell said. “America is not going to default.”

 

Addressing the country’s borrowing limit will be the most pressing issue when lawmakers return to Washington following their August recess. After that, Republicans will likely turn their attention to overhauling the nation’s tax code.

 

McConnell said Congress is unlikely to repeal a pair of Obama-era laws most hated by conservatives. While negotiations about health care are ongoing, McConnell said the path forward is “somewhat murky.” And he said it would be “challenging” to lift the restrictions placed on banks following the 2008 financial crisis, known as “Dodd-Frank.”

 

On tax reform, McConnell said the only thing lawmakers won’t consider eliminating are deductions on mortgage interest and charitable deductions.

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Farmland Can Sequester Carbon From the Atmosphere

California rancher John Wick says the Marin Carbon Project could help save the world from climate change.

“How would you possibly know, looking out at this beautiful day in front of us, that the Earth is crashing?” he asks, rhetorically.  “But when scientists measure it and see the effect of it, and watch the ocean die-off and everything happening, this is scary as hell.  And, then, we have evidence that there might be something that could stop that.  And, then, we had measurement of something that holds promise to actually reverse it.”

That “something” is carbon farming, using processed compost to cool the Earth.  It’s a theory developed by rangeland ecologist Jeff Creque, who also promotes beneficial land management practices to increase the health of agricultural systems.

“Agriculture is the art of moving carbon dioxide from the atmosphere to the vegetation to the soil and, then, back again,” he says, explaining, “If we can increase the rate of carbon capture and decrease the rate of carbon loss, we can actually begin to bend that Keeling curve of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere in the other direction, which is what we need to achieve.”

Wick met the ecologist when he turned to him for help restoring his ranchland, which had been overgrazed by cattle, and overrun with invasive weeds and brush.  After implementing a strategic grazing disruption plan Creque designed, deep-rooted native flora gradually returned to the property.

Wick was now a firm believer in Creque’s theories, and to prove them, they founded the Marin Carbon Project.  In December, 2008, they covered a carbon-depleted test plot on Wick’s land with one and a quarter centimeters of processed compost, next to another grazed test plot without compost.  They wanted to see if the compost-treated land would pull carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere and sequester durable carbon during photosynthesis.

Good for the soil, air and water

Compost, Wick explains, is like medicine for poor soils, “and when you put this compost on top of soil – not tilling it in – but just setting it on top – good things happen and that’s what our research showed.”

Creque says, as time went on, more good things happened. 

“What we saw every year was that it happened again and again and again.  Each year.  Without any additional compost,” he said. “So a one-time application of this high-carbon soil amendment had resulted in an increase in plant productivity that yielded a full ton of additional carbon [captured] per hectare.  And that continued and continued. That annual on-going increase, the model suggests, will continue for 30 to 40 to 50 years or more.”

The benefits were well beyond expectations. 

“When you put that across 10 million acres of crop land, we’re talking enormous quantities of carbon dioxide absorbed from the atmosphere and sequestered in the soil.  Beneficially sequestered in the soil.  Not just tucked away doing nothing, but, rather, actively supporting the capacity of those soils to produce crops and to hold onto water,” Creque said.  “So, the water implications of this, particularly for a state like California, but really across the American west and much of the arid regions of the world, increasing soil organic matter.  What little bit of rain we do get, allows us to hang on to that and make better use of it.”

Wick is thrilled with the results of the Marin Carbon Project’s experiments and believes carbon farming could make a big difference if it was widely implemented. 

“The implications of this globally are that we can actually cool planet earth, should increase production of food and fiber, fuel and flora in a way that actually enhances resources,” he said. “So the more you do, the more you can do.  It is the most exciting thing ever.”

Not so fast!

But other voices are more tempered. Tom Hedt, a resource conservationist for the Natural Resources Conservation Service, agrees that compost helps capture carbon in the soil and takes some CO2 out of the air.  But it’s just one of a host of land management practices that NRCS encourages to help the soil and the air.  Others include crop cover, reduced tillage, and tree and hedge plantings.

Hedt notes that every plot is unique, and more research needs to be done to fully determine the effectiveness of carbon farming and whether the Marin Carbon Project’s findings hold up on a large scale.

“[Carbon farming] is an emerging issue,” he said.  “There are some people that are very excited about it.  [But] there are dangers of taking a few plots and just doing the math.  Multiplication is pretty easy, but the site-by-site prescriptions are much more complicated than that.”

He says MCP’S data shows enough promise that last year, 14 four-year field trials were initiated on various range and grasslands throughout California to test the use of compost for beneficial carbon farming on different terrains.

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Millions Across US Marvel at Total Solar Eclipse

A rare total solar eclipse began in the Western state of Oregon Monday, as millions of people across the U.S. are watching the phenomenon from the Pacific to the Atlantic for the first time in 99 years.

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Millions Across US Watch Total Solar Eclipse

Millions of people across the United States watched a rare total solar eclipse which darkened the skies from the Pacific to the Atlantic for the first time in 99 years.

The eclipse began Monday morning in the Western state of Oregon, causing the temperature to drop significantly as the moon covered the sun.

An estimated 200 million people were within a day’s drive of Monday’s path of totality, which stretched from Oregon’s Pacific Coast, across the U.S. heartland, all the way to South Carolina’s Atlantic Coast.

Cities, towns and parks across the path had prepared for an influx of people with telescopes, cameras and protective glasses to watch what NASA said it expected to be the most watched and documented eclipse in history.

More than 100,000 people gathered in Madras, a town in Oregon with a population of 7,000 and one of the first places to witness the celestial event. According to the Los Angeles Times, the National Guard had to be called in to assist with traffic jams in Madras because so many people wanted to view the eclipse there.

WATCH: Washington, D.C. eclipse watchers on watching big event

The total eclipse lasted longest near Carbondale, Illinois, at 2 minutes and 44 seconds.

“It’s chilling, it’s cool, it’s a life experience,” said Gregg Toland, who traveled from Palatine, Illinois, to the airport in Perryville, Missouri, to see the eclipse in the path of totality through his telescope.

“It’s something you’ll never forget,” he told VOA.

The path of totality, where the moon’s shadow completely covered the sun, was a band about 100 kilometers wide, which cut diagonally across the country. Those outside that narrow band could still see a partial eclipse, extending up to Canada and down to the top of South America.

Observers at Los Angeles’ Griffith Observatory gathered to witness the partial eclipse. “Seeing it in person was actually pretty cool because I was watching videos on YouTube. Seeing it in YouTube and seeing it real life is a whole different thing,” Jason Salamanca told VOA.

“When you see it on TV, you see it through other people’s eyes, but when you see it with your own eyes, it’s like a very different experience. It’s something I’ve never seen before,” said Angie Salamanca at the Griffith Observatory.

Hundreds of people waited in a line outside the National Air and Space Museum in Washington to see the moon cover more than 80 percent of the sun over the nation’s capital.

“It’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” Shawdi, who watched the partial eclipse outside the museum, told VOA. “Who knows when the next total eclipse will be, so it’s just great sharing this memory with everyone,” she said.

The first city to enter totality was Lincoln Beach, Oregon, at 10:16 a.m. Pacific time and the last city to exit the totality was Charleston, South Carolina, at 2:48 p.m. Eastern time.

A total solar eclipse happens when the moon passes between the Earth and the sun and completely blots out the sun’s light, except for the corona of its outer atmosphere.

From Earth, the moon appeared to be the same size as the sun. This was possible because while the moon is 400 times smaller than the sun in diameter, it is also 400 times closer to Earth than the sun. When the two lined up exactly, the skies went dark.

The next total solar eclipse to touch the United States won’t be for another seven years. Outside of the United States, the next eclipse will occur in 2019 and will be visible from the South Pacific, Chile and Argentina.

VOA’s Kane Farabaugh, Carolyn Presutti and Elizabeth Lee contributed to this report.

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US Health Chief Lauds China for Help With Opioid Control

China has been an “incredible partner” in cracking down on synthetic opioids seen as fueling fast-rising overdose deaths in the United States, U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price said Monday during a visit to the country considered the source of many of the deadly substances sought by addicts.

 

Price said China has been quick to respond when regulators identify a threat from a dangerous drug such as fentanyl, the powerful opioid blamed for thousands of fatal overdoses, including the death of entertainer Prince.

 

“When a particular drug is identified as being a problem, China has been an incredible partner in helping to stop the production of drugs like fentanyl in China,” Price told The Associated Press.

 

A bigger challenge comes from the “rapidly changing ability of individuals to formulate new chemical makeups that are a different drug and that aren’t in the controlled arena,” Price said. “The challenge is to get those taken care of much more rapidly. And so that’s the conversations that we need to be having.”

 

Last month, China banned a designer drug called U-47700 and three others following U.S. pressure to do more to control synthetic opioids.

 

In China, U-47700 had been a legal alternative to fentanyl and potent derivatives like carfentanil. Its usage has been growing among U.S. opioid addicts.

 

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency has long said that China is the top source country for synthetic opioids like fentanyl and its precursors, assertions Beijing has said lack firm evidence. Still, the two countries have deepened cooperation as the U.S. opioid epidemic intensifies.

 

Price also expressed support for continued funding of the World Health Organization amid questions about President Donald Trump’s commitment to the United Nations. The U.S. is currently the largest contributor to the WHO’s budget.

 

Those in Congress responsible for drawing up budget plans “appreciate the importance of WHO, appreciate the incredible importance of the United States’ support of WHO, not just rhetorically, but financially as well,” Price said.

 

 

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Democrat ‘Incredibly Frustrated’ with Leader Over Foxconn

Wisconsin Assembly Democratic Leader Peter Barca was branded as failing “on all accounts” by a fellow Democrat who was “incredibly frustrated and concerned” with his actions after Barca joined Republicans in voting for a $3 billion tax incentive package for Foxconn Technology Group.

 

Emails obtained by The Associated Press show that Democratic state Rep. Lisa Subeck of Madison spelled out her grievances to Barca on Friday, the day after the Assembly passed the incentive package backed by Republicans designed to attract Foxconn to build a massive display panel factory in the state.

Barca was one of three Democrats to vote for the measure Thursday, with 28 Democrats against. Barca, of Kenosha, and the other Democrats who voted for it represent southeast Wisconsin, near where Foxconn plans to build a factory that could employ thousands. Reps. Cory Mason of Racine and Tod Ohnstad of Kenosha joined Barca and 56 Republicans in voting for the bill; two Republicans joined all other Democrats in opposition.

 

Most Democrats were outspoken in their opposition to the measure, branding it as a corporate welfare giveaway that also puts Wisconsin’s environment in jeopardy because of requirements that would be waived to speed construction of the plant that could open as soon as 2020.

 

Barca tried to walk a line, criticizing the process of quickly acting on the bill and saying that more improvements could be made to protect taxpayers, Wisconsin businesses and the environment. But ultimately he said he supported the incentive package because of the backing it has from people in his district.

 

Subeck, in an email sent to all Assembly Democrats obtained by the AP, accused Barca of failing “on all accounts” to differentiate his views on Foxconn with that of the rest of Democrats who voted against the measure. She was particularly upset with Barca for holding an impromptu news conference in the Assembly parlor, right around the corner from his office, shortly after the evening vote Thursday.

 

“I am also concerned that the message you conveyed,” Subeck wrote. “It seems you were trying to justify your own vote rather than share the caucus perspective consistent with our agreed upon message.”

 

She said that Barca’s public comments “have not been consistent with the majority position of the caucus and have served counter to our interest.”

 

Barca wrote in response that he hadn’t planned to have a news conference but after the Thursday vote “we had one outlet in particular that was very aggressive and several others that wanted to talk.” Barca said his staff asked the reporters to move to the nearby parlor, where he and Assistant Majority Leader Dianne Hesselbein of Middleton and Rep. Mark Spreitzer of Beloit answered questions.

 

Barca did not address her concerns about what he actually said.

 

Barca spokeswoman Olivia Hwang said in an email that it was known Democrats had different opinions on the Foxconn bill and he supports efforts to oppose legislation they believe is wrong for their district or the state.

 

Barca does not plan to testify at a public hearing Tuesday in Racine on the bill, she said. Subeck raised concerns in her email about Barca testifying at the hearing scheduled for near where the plant may locate.

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Venezuela’s Maduro Warns of Action Against Price Gouging

Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro says new measures will be rolled out this week to combat economic speculation in the crisis-ridden country.

 

In an interview distributed via state-run media Sunday, Maduro said he was working with a “special commission” of the new, pro-government Constituent Assembly to clamp down on price gouging.

 

The commission is “going to announce a set of actions so that the maximum price of the products is respected,” Maduro said, without providing details. He also warned that “very severe justice” would “shake the society.”

​Venezuelans constantly complain of scarcity of food, medicine and personal hygiene products — and of outrageous prices amid soaring inflation.

The currency has shriveled in value, down from eight bolivars to the dollar in 2010 to more than 8,000 bolivars last month, as CNN Money recently pointed out. A single-serve bottle of water can cost about 1,200 bolivars.

 

Maduro previously declared a war on speculation in 2013, according to the Washington Office on Latin America. 

Carlos Larrazabal, president of Fedecamaras, a union representing Venezuela’s business sector, accused the socialist administration of trying to smother private enterprise.

 

“The government has a political agenda. Instead of correcting problems of supply and production,” the Constituent Assembly has “deepened” Venezuela’s crisis, Larrazabal said in an interview Sunday with Caracas television station Televen.

The assembly declared on Friday that it would wrest legislative power from the opposition-led National Assembly, a move denounced by many in Venezuela and beyond. The United States does not recognize the Constituent Assembly as valid.

 

Larrazabal said Venezuela is suffering “the consequences of bad economic policy, with an exchange mechanism that is not transparent, which does not allow raw materials” into the country. He also complained of price controls.

 

The archbishop of Caracas, Jorge Urosa Savino, recently reiterated his call to the Maduro government to ease Venezuelans’ suffering. He said the Roman Catholic Church has repeatedly urged the opposition “to defend the rights of the Venezuelan people.”

This article originated with VOA’s Spanish service.

 

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Native American Tribes Eye Lucrative Marijuana Market

An increasing number of Native American tribes are looking to the marijuana business to break the poverty on reservations, but they are treading quietly over uncertainties in federal policy, which could shift under President Donald Trump.

Cannabis is big business in states that have legalized its medical or recreational use. Arcview, a California cannabis investor network, says the U.S. marijuana market earned $6.7 billion in 2016.

Apart from its medical and euphoric properties, proponents of cannabis cite the industrial potential of hemp, which is derived from the male cannabis plant. It is used globally in more than 25,000 products, from fabrics to food to pharmaceuticals. Because of its association with marijuana, hemp cultivation is strictly controlled in the U.S., and manufacturers must import hemp fiber, seed and oil.

Environmental, financial benefits

“Let’s just look at one small piece of what hemp can do,” said Leslie Bocskor, founder of Electrum Partners, which works with states and tribes looking to enter the cannabis industry. Hemp, Bocskor said, can be used to manufacture plastics that are more environmentally friendly than plastics made from oil and gas, which aren’t biodegradable.

“When you put hemp plastic into landfill, it will break down into things that are not damaging, at worst, and, at best, it can be additive to the soil it’s put into,” he said. “It also causes far less pollution to produce hemp plastics.”

Tribes stand to realize even greater profits than states due to their tax advantage.

State cannabis producers and retailers can’t deduct business expenses on their federal tax bills and end up paying a larger part of their gross earnings to the government.

But recognized tribes and tribal corporations don’t pay federal income tax on earnings gained on reservations.

“This effectively creates a profit margin — versus non-tribally owned cannabis businesses — of what could be up to 85 percent,” said Bocskor.

So why aren’t tribes leaping at the opportunity?

Conflicting laws

The federal government regulates drugs through the 1970 Controlled Substances Act, which bans the use of marijuana.

“But states have been going ahead with legal marijuana programs ever since 1996, when California was the first to legalize a medical cannabis program,” said Vincent Sliwoski, a Portland attorney who represents cannabis companies. “States have been defying federal law for a long time, and there have been sporadic enforcement and non-enforcement periods.”

In 2013, the Department of Justice (DOJ) issued a guidance memo essentially giving states permission to grow and sell marijuana without fear of federal prosecution — with some restrictions: States may not allow it to grow on public land, for example, be sold to minors, distributed in states where it is illegal or channel profits into drug cartels. DOJ issued similar guidance to tribal governments a few months later.

“Now this is just paper; it isn’t a law,” said Sliwoski, who also teaches cannabis law. “It’s the attorney general telling states, ‘Don’t waste federal funds right now, but maybe our minds will change later.’”

Twenty-nine states and the District of Columbia have legalized some form of marijuana use. Several tribes have attempted to enter the market; most have been shut down by the government.

In July 2015, federal agents raided two reservations in northern California, alleging they were producing unlawful quantities of marijuana, which the tribes denied.Three months later, agents seized industrial hemp plants from Wisconsin’s Menominee Nation,charging that non-Natives with ties to the Colorado marijuana industry were managing the operation and that the plants contained higher levels of THC than permitted. The Menominee said they had invited the government to test the plants and had offered to destroy any plants that tested too high.

In the wake of these raids, South Dakota’s Flandreau Santee Sioux tribe burned its crop and shut down operations, fearing a similar crackdown.

But others, such as the Squaxin Island Tribe in Washington state, where marijuana is legal, have successful retail businesses. Still other tribes, including South Dakota’s Oglala Sioux, have banned marijuana altogether.

It’s not clear why authorities have pressured tribal marijuana operations. Sliwoski said it’s possible some police agencies are interpreting the DOJ memo incorrectly. “It’s also possible that certain local U.S. attorneys have been more zealous than their counterparts in other areas, and that enforcement has fallen disproportionately upon tribes for that reason,” he said.

U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions openly opposes marijuana. And a presidential spokesman said Trump sees a big difference between medical and recreational marijuana. The president understands the use of medical marijuana to ease suffering, the spokesman said, and he suggested that crackdowns on recreational marijuana could be coming.

Bocskor continues to advise tribes and predicts the government will hold back from stricter marijuana enforcement.

“The federal government is in a very difficult position here,” he said, noting that Colorado has received more than $500 million in tax revenue from marijuana sales since it legalized the drug in 2014.

Taking that revenue away from states, he said, “would be a very, very unpopular” move.

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Moon Begins Blotting Out the Sun in Historic US Eclipse

Americans gazed in wonder through telescopes, cameras and protective glasses Monday as the moon began blotting out the midday sun in the first full-blown solar eclipse to sweep the U.S. from coast to coast in nearly a century.

“The show has just begun, people! What a gorgeous day! Isn’t this great people?” Jim Todd, a director at the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry, told a crowd of thousands at an amphitheater in Salem, Oregon, as the moon seemed to take an ever-bigger bite out of the sun.

The celestial show was expected to be the most observed and photographed eclipse in history, with millions staking out prime viewing spots and settling into lawn chairs to watch, especially along the path of totality — the projected line of shadow created when the sun is completely obscured. The path was 60 to 70 miles (96 to 113 kilometers) wide, running from Oregon to South Carolina.

With 200 million people within a day’s drive from the path of totality, towns and parks braced for monumental crowds. Clear skies beckoned along most of the route, to the relief of those who feared cloud cover would spoil this once-in-a-lifetime moment.

Astronomers were giddy with excitement. A solar eclipse is considered one of the grandest of cosmic spectacles.

The Earth, moon and sun line up perfectly every one to three years, briefly turning day into night for a sliver of the planet. But these sights normally are in no man’s land, like the vast Pacific or Earth’s poles. This is the first eclipse of the social media era to pass through such a heavily populated area.

The moon hasn’t thrown this much shade at the U.S. since 1918. That was the country’s last coast-to-coast total eclipse. In fact, the U.S. mainland hasn’t seen a total solar eclipse since 1979 — and even then, only five states in the Northwest experienced total darkness.

Scientists said Monday’s total eclipse would cast a shadow that would race 2,600 miles (4,200 kilometers) through 14 states, entering near Lincoln City, Oregon, at 1:16 p.m. EDT, moving diagonally across the heartland over Casper, Wyoming, Carbondale, Illinois, and Nashville, Tennessee, and then exiting near Charleston, South Carolina, at 2:47 p.m. EDT.

Shawnee National Forest in southern Illinois was in line to see the longest stretch of darkness: 2 minutes and 44 seconds.

All of North America was on track to get at least a partial eclipse, along with Central America and the top of South America.

In the southern Illinois village of Makanda, population 560 and home of the Eclipse Kitchen, lawn chairs were out and excitement was building.

“More and more people are coming in all the time,” said Debbie Dunn, designated car parker for the day.

Joe Roth, an amateur photographer, traveled south from the Chicago area to Alto Pass, Illinois, to catch his first total solar eclipse — on his 62nd birthday, no less. He said the stars aligned for him — “a Kodak moment for me to cherish and experience.”

Kim Kniseley drove overnight from Roanoke, Virginia, arriving in Madisonville, Tennessee, before dawn to get a parking spot at Kefauver Park, where by sunrise dozens of folks had claimed benches and set up tents.

He said he could have stayed home in Roanoke and seen a partial eclipse of 90 percent, but that would have been like “going to a rock concert and you’re standing in the parking lot.”

NASA and other scientists were in position to watch and analyze from telescopes on the ground and in orbit, the International Space Station, airplanes and scores of high-altitude balloons beaming back live video.

From aboard the space station, NASA astronaut Jack Fischer tweeted out a photo showing about a dozen cameras ready for action.

“All hands (cameras) on deck for #SolarEclipse2017 today,” he wrote, adding: “Don’t forget to protect your eyeballs!”

Hundreds of amateur astronomers converged on Casper, Wyoming. Among them was Mike O’Leary, whose camera was outfitted with a homemade eclipse filter, its focus and aperture settings locked in with blue painter’s tape. He was there to log his ninth eclipse.

“It’s like nothing else you will ever see or ever do,” O’Leary said. “It can be religious. It makes you feel insignificant, like you’re just a speck in the whole scheme of things.”

Citizen scientists also planned to monitor animal and plant behavior as daylight turned into twilight and the temperature dropped. Thousands of people streamed into the Nashville Zoo just to watch the animals’ reaction.

Scientists warned people not to look into the sun without protection, except when the sun is 100 percent covered. Otherwise, to avoid eye damage, keep the solar specs on or use pinhole projectors that can cast an image of the eclipse into a box.

The next total solar eclipse in the U.S. will be in 2024. The next coast-to-coast one will not be until 2045.

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China Calls US Intellectual Property Probe ‘Irresponsible’

China expressed “strong dissatisfaction” on Monday with the U.S. launch of an investigation into China’s alleged theft of U.S. intellectual property, calling it “irresponsible.”

The U.S. Trade Representative formally announced the investigation on Friday, a widely expected move following a call from President Donald Trump earlier last week to determine whether a probe was needed.

The investigation is the administration’s first direct measure against Chinese trade practices, which the White House and U.S. business groups say are damaging American industry.

China’s Commerce Ministry said in a statement that the move sent the wrong signal to the world, and would be condemned by the international community.

“The United States’ disregard of World Trade Organization rules and use of domestic law to initiate a trade investigation against China is irresponsible, and its criticism of China is not objective,” an unnamed ministry spokesman said.

“China expresses strong dissatisfaction with the United States’ unilateral protectionist action. We urge the U.S. side to respect the facts, … respect multilateral principles, and act prudently,” the official said, adding that Beijing would take “all appropriate measures, and resolutely defend China’s lawful interests.”

The United States should instead work with China to find consensus and promote healthy trade relations, the ministry said.

Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974, a popular trade tool in the 1980s that has been rarely used in the past decade, allows the U.S. president to unilaterally impose tariffs or

other trade restrictions to protect U.S. industries from “unfair trade practices” of foreign countries.

Beijing would almost certainly challenge any such measures at the WTO.

But China’s policy of forcing foreign companies to turn over technology to Chinese joint venture partners and failure to crack down on intellectual property theft have been longstanding problems for several U.S. administrations.

Administration officials have said that Chinese theft could amount to as much as $600 million, though Chinese officials deny that such forced technology transfers exist. They say the country is continuously improving intellectual property protection.

The probe will likely further complicate the U.S. relationship with China, the country’s largest trading partner.

The Trump administration has been pressing Beijing to take steps to encourage North Korea to curb its nuclear and missile programs.

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Millions Converge Across US to See Sun Go Dark

Millions of Americans converged on a narrow corridor stretching from Oregon to South Carolina to watch the moon blot out the midday sun Monday for a wondrous couple of minutes in the first total solar eclipse to sweep coast to coast in 99 years.

Veteran eclipse watchers warned the uninitiated to get ready to be blown away.

 

Planetariums and museums posted “Sold out of eclipse glasses” on their front doors. Signs along highways reminded motorists of “Solar Eclipse Monday,” while cars bore the message “Eclipse or bust.”

WATCH: Solar Eclipse Fuels Demand, Anxiety, for Viewing Lenses

With 200 million people within a day’s drive of the path of totality, towns and parks braced for monumental crowds. It’s expected to be the most observed, most studied and most photographed eclipse ever. Not to mention the most festive, what with all the parties.

 

In Salem, Oregon, a field outside the state fairgrounds was transformed into a campground in advance of an eclipse-watching party for 8,500.

 

“It’s one of those ‘check the box’ kind of things in life,” said Hilary O’Hollaren, who drove 30 miles from Portland with her two teenagers and a tent, plus a couple friends.

 

Astronomers consider a full solar eclipse the grandest of cosmic spectacles.

 

The Earth, moon and sun line up perfectly every one to three years, briefly turning day into night for a sliver of the planet. But these sights normally are in no man’s land, like the vast Pacific or the poles. This will be the first eclipse of the social media era to pass through such a heavily populated area.

 

The moon hasn’t thrown this much shade at the U.S. since 1918. That was the country’s last coast-to-coast total eclipse.

 

In fact, the U.S. mainland hasn’t seen a total solar eclipse since 1979 — and even then, only five states in the Northwest experienced total darkness before the eclipse veered in Canada.

 

Monday’s total eclipse will cast a shadow that will race through 14 states, entering near Lincoln City, Oregon, at 1:16 p.m. EDT, moving diagonally across the heartland and then exiting near Charleston, South Carolina, at 2:47 p.m. EDT. The path will cut 2,600 miles (4,200 kilometers) across the land and will be just 60 to 70 miles (96 kilometers to 113 kilometers) wide.

 

Mostly clear skies beckoned along much of the route, according to the National Weather Service.

Shawnee National Forest in southern Illinois will see the longest stretch of darkness: 2 minutes and 44 seconds.

 

All of North America will get at least a partial eclipse. Central America and the top of South America will also see the moon cover part of the sun.

 

Michele Arsenault of New York City and her son, Michael, spent Sunday driving south and stopped for dinner in Asheville, North Carolina, at the Tupelo Honey Cafe where several other tables were also occupied by travelers heading to eclipse zones.

Arsenault has been comparing weather charts for days as she finalized plans and had lodging reserved in Knoxville, Tennessee, and a reserved parking spot in Sweetwater, about 50 miles (80 kilometers) away. Her son, who’s about to start graduate school, said he tagged along because “I appreciate the idea of a good adventure.”

NASA and other scientists will be watching and analyzing the eclipse from telescopes the ground and in orbit, the International Space Station, airplanes and scores of high-altitude balloons, which will beam back live video. Citizen scientists will monitor animal and plant behavior as daylight turns into twilight and the temperature drops.

 

NASA’s associate administrator for science missions, Thomas Zurbuchen, took to the skies for a dry run Sunday. He will usher in the eclipse over the Pacific Coast from a NASA plane.

 

“Can’t wait for the cosmic moment Mon morning,” he tweeted.

 

Near Victoria, British Columbia, where 91 percent of the sun will be eclipsed, science and math teacher Clayton Uyeda is planning to watch from a ferry along with his wife. He said he is “expecting to have a real sense of connection with the heavens.”

 

He has similarly lofty hopes for his students if they can bring themselves to look up at the sky instead of down at their electronic devices.

 

Scientists everywhere agree with Uyeda: Put the phones and cameras down and enjoy the greatest natural show on Earth with your own (protected) eyes.

 

The only time it’s safe to look directly without protective eyewear is during totality, when the sun is 100 percent covered. Otherwise, keep the solar specs on or use pinhole projectors that can cast an image of the eclipse.

 

The next total solar eclipse in the U.S. will be in 2024. The next coast-to-coast one will not be until 2045.

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Britain to Treat Internet Hate Crime as Seriously as Offline Offenses

Online abuse will be treated as seriously as offline offences, Britain’s prosecution service said on Monday in new guidance on handling hate crimes.

The rules – which included guidelines on helping disabled and bisexual victims – were meant to encourage more people to come forward and press courts to impose longer sentences, the Crown Prosecution Service said.

“This is a crime that’s under-reported. Sometimes people feel that they just have to put up with it … That’s absolutely not the case,” Alison Saunders, the director of public prosecutions, told the BBC.

The new advice was in response to the growth of social media, the CPS said. There have been several high-profile instances of successful prosecutions of people who had abused lawmakers and other public figures online.

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Stifled in Middle East, Lebanese Band Finds Audience in West

Lebanese band Mashrou’ Leila’s blend of indie rock and lyrics about social and political injustice has won a passionate following among fans seeking an alternative to Arab pop with its romantic themes.

But securing a firm footing in the Middle East has been difficult for the band. Jordanian authorities cancelled its concert in June, for the second year in a row. Lebanese radio stations steer clear of its music.

“They don’t know where to place us,” said Hamed Sinno, 29, the openly gay vocalist of the five-member band formed in 2008 that has stirred controversy in the region with songs tackling oppression, classism, sectarianism and homophobia.

“We can’t play in Syria, we can’t play in Palestine, we can’t play in Jordan apparently, we obviously can’t play in Saudi,” he said, listing places where conflict or social conservatism prohibit them from performing.

And things don’t seem to be changing in the region, Sinno said, so the band has been playing more abroad.

Mashrou’ Leila has played concerts in cities including Paris, London, New York and San Francisco since its 2015 album Ibn El Leil reached number 13 on the Billboard world album chart.

The band’s music has broken away from the norm in a region whose pop stars steer clear of social issues, singing mostly of romances. Arabic music doesn’t really have a tradition of “teenagers rebelling or expressing a lot of anger,” Sinno said.

“Are we the rebellious teenagers of the Middle East? No, I think we’re just a band that’s writing about our lives and about the stuff that affects us,” he said.

“And because of the way we are as individuals and people, a lot of what does inspire us is political, because that’s the stuff that we freak out about on a daily basis.”

The band’s most recent song, Roman, focuses on overcoming betrayal, with references to Judas and Jesus.

The video was directed by a woman, Jessy Moussallem, and is dominated by women, their hair and hijabs flapping in the wind side by side in the back of a truck as Sinno sings among them.

“I think it’s literally speaking about what I would like to see and what I think men should do, especially in the Middle East, which is just to shut up and sit back,” Sinno said in an interview ahead of a concert in the Lebanese town of Ehden.

Focusing on the Music, Not the Audience

At sunset, young fans gathered at the venue, wearing shirts emblazoned with the Arabic numeral “3”, the symbol of Mashrou’ Leila’s latest and third album. Others wore Nirvana and Beatles T-shirts.

Both Lebanese and non-Lebanese fans said they liked the band because it is not at all like traditional Arabic music.

“They have this sort of Western twang,” a Lebanese fan, Anthony, said. “The way he sings and vocalizes, it’s not very clear what he’s saying.”

In fact, Sinno said the music they most identified with growing up came out of the United States and Britain.

The band draws inspiration from R&B, jazz, rock, Seattle grunge and metal, he added, and they listen to a lot of Michael Jackson, Tina Turner, Madonna and Fleetwood Mac.

Beirut, with its eclectic mixture of noise and language, also had a big influence on the band.

Asked if he believes the band’s music had alienated audiences, Sinno said that’s always a risk, but one he’s willing to take.

Critics in the region often focus on Sinno’s way of singing: he elongates words so they are often incomprehensible. The Arabic word for jasmine hung in the air for 11 seconds in a live rendition of “Shim el Yasmine”, or “Smell the Jasmine.”

An hour after listening to the band rehearse in Ehden, someone unfamiliar with their music looked up and said: “You know, I think I can hear them sing the occasional Arabic word.”

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