Elon Musk has his fingers in many pies – internet in warzones, a Twitter buyout, and peacemaker posturing. Plus, the UK media vs the labour movement.
Not content with manufacturing cars, generating energy, getting into space travel – Elon Musk is in the midst of a $44bn takeover of Twitter. Now he has also been involved in foreign policy conflicts – from Russia-Ukraine to China and Taiwan. Musk clearly considers himself a geopolitical player, but he is entering a world in which he has no expertise, just interests.
Contributors: Chris Stokel-Walker – Technology journalist & author, TikTokBoom Peter Micek – General counsel, Access Now Jason Jay Smart – Special correspondent, Kyiv Post Siva Vaidhyanathan – Professor of media studies, University of Virginia; author, Anti-social Media
On our radar:
Rupert Murdoch is on the verge of yet another business move, wanting to combine the two halves of his media empire: the TV side – Fox Corp – with the online news business – News Corp. Producer Meenakshi Ravi explores how the merger is much more an exercise in succession planning than a business deal in itself.
Striking Back: UK’s Unions vs the Media
With the United Kingdom in a state of political disarray, a rare wave of work stoppages has put trade unions – and the media’s treatment of them – into the spotlight. Following successive rail strikes, right-wing newspapers have blamed the unions for travel disruptions, but one union leader – Mick Lynch – has flipped the script – putting journalists on the defensive over their habitual anti-union approach. Daniel Turi reports on the coverage of labour issues in the British media.
Contributors: Aditya Chakrabortty – Senior economics commentator, The Guardian Julia Langdon – Former political editor, The Sunday Telegraph; former political editor, The Daily Mirror; chairwoman, British Journalism Review Nicholas Jones – Former industrial correspondent, BBC
Washington, DC — A top civil rights group in the United States has asked the Supreme Court to review a lower court’s ruling that upheld an Arkansas state law penalising companies that boycott Israel.
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) filed a petition on Thursday asking the top court to take up the case, arguing the Appeals Court decision violates the First Amendment of the US Constitution, which protects the right to free speech.
“When a state singles out particular boycotts for special penalties, as Arkansas has done here, it not only infringes the right to boycott — it also transgresses the First Amendment’s core prohibition on content and viewpoint discrimination,” ACLU lawyers wrote in their filing.
In June, the appeals court ruled in favour of the law, saying boycotts fall under commercial activity, not “expressive conduct” guaranteed by the First Amendment.
The law follows similar measures passed by dozens of US states to curtail the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement, which pushes to pressure Israel through non-violent means to end abuses against Palestinians.
Several rights groups, including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, have said Israel’s treatment of Palestinians amounts to apartheid.
The Arkansas case started in 2018 when The Arkansas Times, a publication in the city of Little Rock, sued the state after refusing to sign a pledge not to boycott Israel to win an advertising contract from a public university.
The law requires contractors that do not sign the pledge to reduce their fees by 20 percent.
A federal district court initially dismissed the lawsuit but a three-judge appeals panel blocked the law in 2021, ruling it violates the First Amendment. In June, a full appeals court reversed the panel’s decision, essentially reviving the law.
The Supreme Court is the final level of appeal and review in the US judicial system. If the top court refuses to take up the case, the appeals court’s decision will stand.
The nine-seat Supreme Court has a conservative majority with three justices appointed by former President Donald Trump, a staunch supporter of Israel.
Rights advocates have warned that anti-boycott measures do not only push to unconstitutionally silence Palestinian rights activism but also threaten free speech rights in general — and are being used to restrict boycotts of other entities, including the fossil fuel industry.
Brain Hauss, a senior staff lawyer with the ACLU, said the June decision to uphold the anti-BDS law in Arkansas “badly misreads” legal precedents and withdraws protection for freedoms exercised by Americans for centuries.
“Worse yet, the decision upholds the government’s power to selectively suppress boycotts that express messages with which the government disagrees,” Hauss said in a statement on Thursday.
“The Supreme Court should take up this case in order to reaffirm that the First Amendment protects the right to participate in politically-motivated consumer boycotts.”
Americans for Peace Now (APN), an advocacy group that describes itself as pro-Israel and pro-peace, also called on the Supreme Court to review the ruling.
“A Supreme Court decision on this case, if it decides to take it up, could have broad repercussions in the United States and beyond,” APN President Hadar Susskind said in a statement.
“We hope the Court discusses the matter and rules that states have no business imposing conditions on the free speech rights of individuals, organizations and companies. You may support or oppose boycotting Israel or the occupation, but as a government you must not impose your opinion on others or sanction them for their views.”
Anti-BDS laws often restrict boycotts of Israel as well as any Israeli-occupied territories. Last year, several US states threatened sanctions against Ben & Jerry’s after the ice cream company decided to stop doing business in the occupied Palestinian West Bank.
According to NASA, the image is set within the vast Eagle Nebula, which lies 6,500 light years away from Earth.
The world’s largest and most powerful space telescope has captured the iconic Pillars of Creation, huge structures of gas and dust teeming with stars, according to NASA.
The James Webb Space Telescope has taken its first shot of the gigantic gold, copper and brown columns standing within the vast Eagle Nebula, 6,500 light years away from Earth, the United States space agency said in a statement on Wednesday.
NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope first captured images of the Pillars in 1995.
But thanks to Webb’s infrared capabilities, the newer telescope – launched into space less than a year ago – can peer through the opacity of the Pillars, revealing new stars forming.
The Webb images show bright red, lava-like spots at the ends of several Pillars. “These are ejections from stars that are still forming,” only a few hundred thousand years old, NASA said
These “young stars periodically shoot out supersonic jets that collide with clouds of material, like these thick pillars,” it added.
‘So many stars’
“By popular demand, we had to do the Pillars of Creation,” Klaus Pontoppidan, science programme manager at the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI), said on Twitter.
STScI operates Webb from Baltimore, Maryland.
“There are just so many stars!” Pontoppidan added.
NASA astrophysicist Amber Straughn summed it up: “The universe is beautiful!” she wrote on Twitter.
This is what you’ve waited for.
Journey with us through Webb’s breathtaking view of the Pillars of Creation, where scores of newly formed stars glisten like dewdrops among floating, translucent columns of gas and dust: https://t.co/5ea1kCzU5x
The image, covering an area of about eight light years, was taken by Webb’s primary imager NIRCam, which captures near-infrared wavelengths – invisible to the human eye.
The colours of the image have been “translated” into visible light.
According to NASA, the new image “will help researchers revamp their models of star formation by identifying far more precise counts of newly formed stars, along with the quantities of gas and dust in the region.”
They also said that “each advanced instrument offers researchers new details about this region, which is practically overflowing with stars.”
Operational since July, Webb is the most powerful space telescope ever built and has already unleashed a raft of unprecedented data. Scientists are hopeful it will herald a new era of discovery.
One of the main goals of the $10bn telescope is to study the life cycle of stars. Another main research focus is on exoplanets, planets outside Earth’s solar system.
Russia has warned the United Nations against investigating its use of drones in Ukraine, amid accusations the weapons came from Iran and were used in violation of UN arms restrictions on the Middle Eastern country.
The United States, France and the United Kingdom called a closed-door Security Council meeting on the drones after an attack on Kyiv on Monday that killed at least five people, and caused widespread damage to power stations and other civilian infrastructure.
Ukraine says its military has shot down more than 220 Iranian drones, formally known as uncrewed aerial vehicles (UAV), in little more than a month and has invited UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to Ukraine to inspect some of the wreckage it has collected.
Speaking after the Security Council meeting on Wednesday, Russia’s Deputy UN Ambassador Dmitry Polyanskiy insisted the weapons had been made in Russia and condemned “baseless accusations and conspiracy theories”.
He called on Guterres and his staff to “abstain from engaging in any illegitimate investigation. Otherwise, we will have to reassess our collaboration with them, which is hardly in anyone’s interests,” he told reporters.
The US and European Union say they have evidence that Iran supplied Russia with Shahed-136s, low-cost drones that explode on landing. Washington says any arms transfer was in contravention of UN Security Council Resolution 2231 which is part of the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), a now moribund deal to curb Iran’s nuclear activities and prevent the country from developing a nuclear weapon.
A close-up of wreckage from what Kyiv has described as an Iranian Shahed drone that was brought down near Kupiansk, Ukraine [File: Ukrainian military’s Strategic Communications Directorate via AP Photo]
On Wednesday, Iran’s UN envoy, Amir Saeid Iravani, rejected the “unfounded and unsubstantiated claims” on the drone transfers and said that Tehran, which has abstained in votes on the war, wanted a “peaceful resolution” of the conflict, which began when Russia sent its troops into Ukraine on February 24.
Iravani said Ukraine’s invitation “lacks any legal foundation” and called on Guterres “to prevent any misuse” of the resolution and UN officials on issues related to the Ukraine war.
“Iran is of the firm belief that none of its arms exports, including UAVs, to any country” violate resolution 2231, he added.
EU prepares sanctions
Under the 2015 resolution, a conventional arms embargo on Iran was in place until October 2020.
But Ukraine and its Western allies argue that the resolution still includes restrictions on missiles and related technologies until October 2023, and can encompass the export and purchase of advanced military systems such as drones.
French UN Ambassador Nicolas de Riviere said Guterres has a “clear mandate twice a year to report on all these things and to make technical assessments, so I think the UN secretariat will have to go and will go”.
Guterres reports twice a year to the Security Council — traditionally in June and December — on the implementation of the 2015 resolution. Any assessment of the drones in Ukraine would probably be included in that report.
“As a matter of policy, we are always ready to examine any information and analyse any information brought to us by Member States,” UN Spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said on Wednesday.
Today I raised in the Security Council the UK’s serious concerns over Iranian drones being used to target civilians in Ukraine by Russia.
The Iranians have denied this but it doesn’t stand up to scrutiny.
Council members have asked the UN to investigate. 1/2
The EU is expected to approve sanctions over the drones ahead of a summit that starts on Thursday in Brussels.
A list seen by the AFP news agency showed the 27-nation grouping would take action against three senior military officials, including General Mohammad Hossein Bagheri, the chief of staff of Iran’s armed forces, as well as drone maker Shahed Aviation Industries, an aerospace company linked to the country’s Revolutionary Guards.
Nabila Massrali, spokeswoman for EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell, said the bloc had “gathered our own evidence” and would prepare “a clear, swift and firm EU response”.
United States immigration officials are set to begin accepting applications for a new parole programme for Venezuelan asylum seekers, in a plan that will see most Venezuelans trying to enter the US through its southern border expelled back to Mexico.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) on Tuesday published a Federal Register notice (PDF) announcing the official start of the programme, which was announced last week, that will allow 24,000 Venezuelans to come into the US by air.
The plan, which is aimed at addressing the growing number of Venezuelans who have been arriving at the US-Mexico border seeking asylum, also includes the expansion of a border expulsion policy known as Title 42.
Up until now, the pandemic-era rule – which allows US authorities to quickly send most migrants back to Mexico without a chance to file a petition – had largely been applied to asylum seekers from Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala.
Due to strained relations with the Venezuelan government, the US had been unable to expel the country’s citizens. It has instead been allowing them to file for asylum and enter the US to pursue their cases.
Migrants, mostly from Venezuela, arriving at a camp where Mexican authorities will arrange permits for their continued travel north, in San Pedro Tapanatepec, Oaxaca [Marco Ugarte/AP Photo]
But now, under the new agreement, Mexico has agreed to take in Venezuelans.
The development comes as the administration of US President Joe Biden has struggled to address the record-high numbers of migrants and asylum seekers arriving at its southern border with Mexico.
With three weeks until critical midterm elections that will determine control of the US Congress, Biden’s Republican rivals have seized on the issue and accused his administration of mishandling the situation at the border.
US and international rights groups have slammed the new border policy for Venezuelans.
“While we welcome steps to provide safe processing for some Venezuelans, the creation of safe pathways should never be wielded to deny other people seeking protection access to asylum,” dozens of human rights organisations wrote in a joint letter last week addressed to DHS secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.
“We are also troubled that the announcement refers to attempted entry at the southern border by Venezuelans as ‘illegal.’ Seeking asylum is legal under both US and international law,” the letter reads.
Migration advocates also argued that the 24,000 cap on Venezuelans who will be allowed into the US is a negligible number that does not address the pressure at the border.
More than 155,000 Venezuelans have been stopped at the US-Mexico border as of the end of August, DHS records show, in a stark uptick from last year when more than 50,000 were apprehended. In August alone, more than 25,000 Venezuelans crossed the border from Mexico, according to the department.
“Personally, it’s hard not to see this as a massive stick and a tiny carrot,” Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, policy director at the American Immigration Council, said on Twitter.
“DHS says 33,000 Venezuelans entered in September and that 3,000 people a day (“mostly Venezuelans”) are crossing the Darien Gap into Panama on their way north. So a cap of 24,000 is, to be blunt, crumbs.”
Personally, it’s hard not to see this as a massive stick and a tiny carrot. DHS says 33,000 Venezuelans entered in September and that 3,000 people a day (“mostly Venezuelans”) are crossing the Darien Gap into Panama on their way north.
Citing an unnamed Mexican official, Mexico’s migration agency said on Monday that President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador had asked the US to take in one Venezuelan asylum seeker for each person expelled to Mexico.
“That way, if the Biden administration takes in 24,000 Venezuelans, Mexico will not accept more of 24,000 Venezuelans expelled from the United States,” the agency said in a statement.
To be eligible for the programme, DHS said applicants must have a sponsor in the US, pass a security check, and fly at their own expense to an airport in the US. Those who are accepted will be able to live and work in the US legally.
DHS has said that the plan is modelled after “Uniting for Ukraine”, a programme advanced by the Biden administration that has so far allowed thousands of Ukrainians fleeing Russia’s invasion to come to live and work in the US if they are able to secure a financial sponsor.
At the same time, more than 6.8 million Venezuelans have fled their country since 2014, when the economy went into free fall. Most have fled to Latin American and Caribbean countries, but in recent months, many have been streaming north towards the US.
White House says Joe Biden and Herzog will discuss deepening regional integration and ‘ironclad’ US-Israel relationship.
US President Joe Biden will host his Israeli counterpart Isaac Herzog in Washington, DC next week to underscore what the White House has called the “enduring partnership and friendship” between the two countries.
On Monday, the Israeli and United States governments said Herzog will meet with key policymakers in the US capital during his visit on October 25-26.
Biden and Herzog will “consult on key issues, including regional and global challenges of mutual concern, opportunities to deepen Israel’s regional integration and ways to advance equal measures of freedom, prosperity and security for both Israelis and Palestinians”, White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters.
She added that the US relationship with Israel is “ironclad”.
The Israeli presidency is a largely ceremonial position, but Herzog’s trip comes shortly before crucial legislative elections in the US and Israel next month.
The Israeli government said Biden extended an invitation for Herzog to visit Washington when the US president was in Israel in July.
“The purpose of the visit is to reinforce the strong partnership between the United States and Israel and to reflect the deep ties between the two nations in these challenging times,” the Israeli government said in a statement on Monday.
“President Herzog and President Biden will discuss strategic, security, and economic issues, including joint initiatives concerning the climate crisis.”
Biden has pledged to strengthen unconditional US military and diplomatic support for Israel, which receives $3.8bn in annual military aid from Washington.
Meanwhile, the US president has failed to deliver on a campaign promise to re-establish a US consulate for Palestinians in Jerusalem.
Despite calling for a two-state solution to the conflict, Biden also has refrained from criticising Israeli abuses against Palestinians, including the expansion of settlements in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem – territories that would be home to a future Palestinian state.
Instead, the US administration has focused on regional “integration”, advancing a vision of the Middle East where Arab countries cooperate militarily and economically with Israel to ward off perceived common threats – namely Iran.
The announcement of Herzog’s visit coincides with an uptick in violence by Israeli settlers and security forces against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank.
Asked about intensifying settler attacks against Palestinians, a State Department official on Monday called for calm from both sides.
“Since mid-September at least 23 Palestinians and four Israelis have been killed, and it is vital that these parties themselves take urgent action to prevent greater loss of life,” State Department deputy spokesperson Vedant Patel told reporters.
“And we continue to emphasise the point that Israelis and Palestinians deserve to have equal measures of security, stability, and justice and dignity and democracy.”
US president said Pakistan is one of the ‘most dangerous’ nations which has ‘nuclear weapons without any cohesion’.
Pakistan’s foreign minister says that the US ambassador to the country has been summoned after President Joe Biden in a speech said Pakistan “may be one of the most dangerous” countries in the world which had “nuclear weapons without any cohesion”.
The 79-year-old Biden made the comments during a reception of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee on Thursday in which he also touched upon the war in Ukraine, China and local domestic issues.
Speaking in the context of China and his relationship with President Xi Jinping, Biden said, “This is a guy [Xi Jinping] who understands what he wants but has an enormous, enormous array of problems. How do we handle that? How do we handle that relative to what’s going on in Russia? And what I think is maybe one of the most dangerous nations in the world: Pakistan. Nuclear weapons without any cohesion.”
Pakistan’s foreign minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari said on Saturday during a news conference in the southern port city of Karachi he was “surprised” by Biden’s statement. “I believe this is exactly the sort of misunderstanding that is created when there is a lack of engagement,” he added.
US President Joe Biden made the comments on Thursday during a reception for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee [File: Brendan Smialowski/AFP]
“If there is any question as to nuclear safety, then they should be directed to our neighbour India, who very recently accidentally fired a missile into Pakistani territory,” Bhutto-Zardari said, citing the firing of a supersonic missile into Pakistan on March 9.
The 34-year-old asserted that he did not think the decision to summon Ambassador Donald Blome will negatively affect Islamabad’s relations with the Americans.
“We will continue on the positive trajectory of engagements we are having so far,” he said.
The controversy came just more than a week after Pakistan’s military chief, General Qamar Bajwa, made a trip to the US and held high-level meetings with US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan.
Moreover, last month, Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif thanked Biden for highlighting and urging the international community to help the South Asian nation recover from devastating floods that have affected some 30 million people.
‘Unwarranted’
Former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan on Saturday condemned Biden’s remarks, saying the US president had reached an “unwarranted conclusion”.
“[H]aving been prime minister, I know we have one of the most secure nuclear command and control systems,” he tweeted.
“Unlike the US which has been involved in wars, across the world, when has Pakistan shown aggression, especially post-nuclearisation?”
I have 2 Qs on this: 1. On what info has @POTUS reached this unwarranted conclusion on our nuclear capability when, having been PM, I know we have one of the most secure nuclear command & control systems? 2. Unlike the US which has been involved in wars https://t.co/nkIrlekBxQ
Khan said Biden’s statement showed that the current Pakistani government – led by Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif – was a “total failure” on foreign policy and “its claims of ‘reset of relations with US’”.
Sharif’s brother and former prime minister also criticised the US president’s remarks, saying that Pakistan was a “responsible nuclear state”.
“Pakistan is a responsible nuclear state that is perfectly capable of safeguarding its national interest whilst respecting international law and practices,” he said on Twitter.
During the previous decade, Pakistan has steadily moved towards its regional ally China for its economic and defence needs, resulting in a gradual cooling-off in its relationship with Washington.
The relationship between the two nuclear-armed nations worsened as Washington accused Islamabad of providing safe havens to Taliban leaders. Pakistan has repeatedly denied the allegations.
Khan was removed from power in April after an opposition alliance brought a no-confidence motion against his government. The former cricketer-turned-politician has accused the US of conspiring with the opposition.
The United States and Mexico have announced a joint migration plan that will see most Venezuelan asylum seekers trying to enter the US through its southern border sent back to Mexico while granting access to the US to thousands of others who come by air.
The effort, announced late on Wednesday, aims to address the growing number of Venezuelans arriving at the US-Mexico border.
Under the new programme, which came into effect immediately, up to 24,000 Venezuelans will be allowed to enter the US by air, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said. Others who try to enter the US through the border without documentation will be returned to Mexico.
“These actions make clear that there is a lawful and orderly way for Venezuelans to enter the United States, and lawful entry is the only way,” US Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas said in a statement.
“Those who attempt to cross the southern border of the United States illegally will be returned to Mexico and will be ineligible for this process in the future,” he said.
President Joe Biden’s administration has struggled to cope with record migrant and asylum seeker arrivals at the southern US border as more people come from Venezuela, Cuba and Nicaragua.
Biden’s Republican adversaries, who are seeking to gain control of Congress in the November 8 midterm elections, have criticised what they view as his failure to secure the border.
Migrants from Venezuela on their way to the US-Mexico border wait to board buses in Guatemala City [File: Luis Echeverria/Reuters]
The expulsions of Venezuelans will be carried out under Title 42, a pandemic-era policy that allows US border officials to swiftly send asylum seekers to Mexico without the chance to submit a claim for protection.
Until now, Mexico had only agreed to accept migrants expelled under Title 42 from Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador, resulting in an uneven enforcement of the rule. The US struggles to expel other nationalities due to costs, strained diplomatic relations and other considerations.
Poor relations with the Venezuelan government have made it nearly impossible to apply Title 42 to Venezuelan asylum seekers, and in recent months, many had been allowed to apply for asylum and are then released into the US while they await their court dates.
In August, Venezuelans were stopped at the US-Mexico border 25,349 times, up 43 percent from 17,652 in July and four times the 6,301 encounters in August 2021, DHS said, signalling a remarkably sudden demographic shift.
Migrant advocates welcomed the new humanitarian programme but slammed what they said was an expansion of Title 42, a Trump-era policy that has denied access to protection to thousands of people.
“The program … should not be viewed as a replacement for asylum protections enshrined in both US and international law,” Krish O’Mara Vignarajah, president and CEO of the Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service, said in a statement. “It provides only temporary protection to a very limited subset of the millions of Venezuelans forced to leave their homeland.”
Vignarajah said the programme will disproportionately affect Venezuelans who deserve protection but do not have ties to the US.
To qualify for entry into the US when arriving by air, an applicant must be sponsored by a US-based person or organisation, DHS said.
Venezuelans who are accepted into the programme will be granted what is known as “humanitarian parole”, allowing them to live and work legally in the US for a limited time but not offering them a path to permanent status.
The US and Mexico said their plan is modelled after the “Uniting for Ukraine” programme, under which the Biden administration has allowed Ukrainians fleeing Russia’s invasion to enter the US to live and work if they can secure a financial sponsor in the country.
The US said it plans to admit up to 100,000 Ukrainians fleeing the war for stays of up two years under the scheme. So far, the US has admitted tens of thousands of Ukrainians.
Meanwhile, more than 6.8 million Venezuelans have fled their country since the economy tanked in 2014, mostly to Latin American and Caribbean countries.
But an increasing number of people have been heading towards the US, and the 24,000 slots that the Biden administration is offering are fewer than the number of Venezuelans who crossed the border from Mexico in August alone.
Alongside the agreement on Venezuelan migrants and refugees, Mexico’s foreign ministry and DHS said the US will make available about 65,000 temporary work visas for lower-skilled industries, roughly double the current annual allotment.
At least 20,000 of those temporary visas will be reserved for people from Haiti and northern Central American countries.
“The United States government has accepted the request of the Mexican government to substantially increase labor mobility in the region,” Mexico’s foreign ministry said in a statement. “The new proposal represents important and innovative progress towards the shared goal of ensuring orderly, safe, regular and humane migration.”
State media says the tests were another successful display of the country’s growing nuclear capability.
North Korea has test-fired a pair of long-range strategic cruise missiles, with leader Kim Jong Un lauding another successful display of the country’s tactical nuclear strike capability.
The test took place on Wednesday and was aimed at “enhancing the combat efficiency and might” of cruise missiles deployed to the Korean People’s Army “for the operation of tactical nukes,” state media KCNA reported on Thursday morning.
It was the latest in a series of weapons launches that have increased tension on the divided Korean peninsula and heightened fears Pyongyang might be about to conduct its first nuclear test in five years.
The cruise missiles travelled 2,000 km (1,240 miles) over the sea, according to KCNA, which said the projectiles hit their intended, but unspecified, targets.
Stressing that the test was another clear warning to its “enemies,” Kim said the country “should continue to expand the operational sphere of the nuclear strategic armed forces to resolutely deter any crucial military crisis and war crisis at any time and completely take the initiative in it”, according to KCNA.
State media has not reported regularly on the country’s missile launches in recent months, but has released a deluge of material in recent days covering various tests overseen by Kim [KCNA via Reuters]
On Monday, state media reported that Kim had supervised two weeks of guided nuclear tactical exercises, including the test of a new intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM) that was launched over Japan as a protest against recent joint naval drills by South Korea and the United States that involved the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, the USS Ronald Reagan.
Mistake to dismiss tests
North Korean state media once reported routinely on the country’s weapons testing but has stopped doing so in recent months.
Analysts said while the recent “deluge of propaganda” could not be trusted, the tests should not be ignored.
“North Korea’s cruise missiles, air force, and tactical nuclear devices are probably much less capable than propaganda suggests. But it would be a mistake to dismiss North Korea’s recent weapons testing spree as bluster or saber-rattling,” Leif-Eric Easley, a professor at Ewha University in Seoul, wrote in emailed comments.
“Pyongyang’s military threats are a chronic and worsening problem for peace and stability in Asia that must not be ignored. Policymakers in Seoul, Tokyo and Washington should not allow domestic politics and other challenges such as Russia’s war in Ukraine to prevent them from increasing international coordination on military deterrence and economic sanctions.”
North Korea’s cruise missiles usually generate less interest than ballistic weapons because they are not explicitly banned under United Nations Security Council resolutions.
Kim made acquiring tactical nuclear weapons—- smaller, lighter and designed for battlefield use — a priority at a key party congress in January 2021 and first tested a “strategic” cruise missile in September of that year.
Analysts said it was the country’s first such weapon to have nuclear capability and was a worrying development because, in the event of a conflict, it might not be clear whether it was carrying a conventional or nuclear warhead.
The country revised its nuclear laws last month to allow pre-emptive strikes, with Kim declaring North Korea an “irreversible” nuclear power, effectively ending the possibility of negotiations over its arsenal.
President Joe Biden unveiled the latest update to the United States national security strategy on Wednesday but it contained only a single reference to North Korea.
Daniel Russel, the top US diplomat for East Asia under former President Barack Obama, said this was striking, “not only because it passes so quickly past a persistent and existential threat, but also because it frames the strategy as ‘seeking sustained diplomacy toward denuclearization,’ when North Korea has so convincingly demonstrated its utter rejection of negotiations”.
South Korea’s SK Hynix confirms it has received permission to obtain equipment for chip production facilities in China.
The United States government has allowed at least two non-Chinese chipmakers operating in China to receive restricted goods and services without their suppliers seeking licenses, easing the burden of a new crackdown on the Chinese chip sector, according to industry sources.
The Biden administration had planned to spare foreign companies operating in China, such as South Korean memory chip makers SK Hynix and Samsung Electronics Co, from the brunt of new restrictions, but the rules published on Friday failed to exempt such firms, the sources said.
South Korea’s SK Hynix on Wednesday confirmed it had received authorisation from the US Department of Commerce to receive chip equipment needed for its chip production facilities in China for one year, without seeking additional licensing requirements.
As published, the Biden administration’s rules require licenses before US exports can be shipped to facilities with advanced chip production in China, as part of a US bid to slow Beijing’s technological and military advances.
The US had planned to grant licenses to supply non-Chinese chip factories on a case-by-case basis, while licenses to Chinese chipmakers will face a presumption of denial.
As of midnight Tuesday, vendors also cannot support, service and send non-US supplies to such China-based factories without licenses if US companies authorise, direct or request them.
But whether a license is approved or not, the time it takes to get through the licensing process could create delays in shipments and halt production.
A US Commerce Department spokesperson did not directly respond to a request for comment on the authorisations but said the department hopes to get input from stakeholders about the rule and may consider changes.
A White House spokesperson also did not respond to a request for comment.
Observers welcome resignations as good step after months of pressure, but say more action needed to tackle systemic violence.
The head of Hockey Canada and the organisation’s entire board of directors are stepping down as the sport’s national governing body faces increased scrutiny and public anger over its handling of sexual assault allegations.
Hockey Canada has been under fire since news broke in May of an alleged gang rape involving members of Canada’s 2018 world junior ice hockey team and subsequent out-of-court settlement reached with the accuser.
“Recognising the urgent need for new leadership and perspectives, the entire Board of Directors announced it will step aside,” Hockey Canada said in a statement on Tuesday.
It said an interim management committee will be put in place, which will guide the organisation until no later than a newly constituted board appoints a new chief executive after the departure of CEO Scott Smith.
Hockey Canada also said its members will be asked to select a new slate of directors by no later than the virtual election scheduled for December 17. The board will not seek re-election and will fulfill its duties until a new board is elected.
NEWS | Hockey Canada has made significant changes to its leadership team.
Smith, who has worked for Hockey Canada in various roles since 1995, said in July – less than a month after taking over as CEO – that he had no plans to resign from his position.
At the time, he told a Canadian parliamentary hearing on the scandal that he was right person to spearhead efforts for positive change within the sport across the hockey-loving country.
The allegations against the unnamed players have not been proved in court but the Canadian federal government has frozen funding to Hockey Canada over its handling of the alleged sexual assault.
Since the news first broke, more alleged gang rapes have come to light, and Hockey Canada has revealed it paid out millions of dollars in settlements to nearly two dozen complainants with sexual misconduct claims over the past three decades.
Canadian media outlets recently reported that Hockey Canada had two slush funds to settle payments for victims of sexual assault.
Hockey Canada has said it will no longer use a fund that was financed by registration fees of players across the country to settle sexual assault claims and also announced a full governance review.
This is huge. That said, it doesn’t mean sexual violence and rape culture in #HockeyCanada will end. There needs to be deep work to address systemic violence and oppression in that organization and in hockey in general. https://t.co/EBFpENDGcG
As recent as last week, Hockey Canada’s interim board chair, who resigned over the weekend, defended the current leadership in place at the national governing body while speaking during a parliamentary committee meeting.
But several provincial hockey associations recently said they would withhold fees typically sent to Hockey Canada over the scandal, while a string of major sponsors, including Nike and coffee chain Tim Hortons, suspended their relationships with the organisation.
Tuesday’s announcement is a “a step toward restoring Canadians’ confidence” in Hockey Canada, Canadian Sports Minister Pascale St-Onge said in a statement. “While we welcome this news, the interim management committee must be made up of people who want to make real change.”
Longtime Montreal Gazette hockey columnist Jack Todd also said on Twitter on Tuesday that “the departures of Smith and the Hockey Canada board is a beginning”.
Sheldon Kennedy, a former Canadian professional hockey player and survivor of sexual abuse by a coach, said it was “not a day of celebration” but rather “a critical juncture for the game of hockey and Canadian sport”.
“We need an inclusive, respectful and safe Hockey system at all levels across Canada,” he said in a statement.
Kanye West once suggested slavery was a choice. He called the COVID-19 vaccine “the mark of the beast”. Earlier this month, he was criticised for wearing a “White Lives Matter” T-shirt to his collection at Paris Fashion Week.
Now the rapper who is legally known as Ye is again embroiled in controversy — locked out of Twitter and Instagram over anti-Semitic posts the social networks said Sunday violated their policies. In one post on Twitter, Ye said he would soon go “death con 3 on JEWISH PEOPLE”, according to internet archive records, making an apparent reference to the United States defence-readiness condition scale known as DEFCON.
“You guys have toyed with me and tried to black ball anyone whoever opposes your agenda,” he said in the same tweet posted late Saturday, which was removed by Twitter.
The comment drew a sharp rebuke from the Anti-Defamation League, which called the tweet “deeply troubling, dangerous, and antisemitic, period”.
“There is no excuse for his propagating of white supremacist slogans and classic antisemitism about Jewish power, especially with the platform he has,” a statement said.
Representatives for Ye did not return requests for comment.
Ye has alienated even ardent fans in recent years, teasing and long tinkering with albums that have not been met with the critical or commercial success of his earlier recordings. Those close to him, like ex-wife Kim Kardashian and her family, have ceased publicly defending him after the couple’s bitter divorce and his unsettling posts about her recent relationship with comedian Pete Davidson.
But the social media lockouts cap a whirlwind week for Ye, even by his standards. On October 3 he wore a “White Lives Matter” T-shirt while debuting his latest fashion line in Paris, prompting harsh criticism. According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, which tracks hate groups, White Lives Matter is a neo-Nazi group.
Rapper Sean “Diddy” Combs posted a video on Instagram saying he did not support the shirt and urged people not to buy it. On Instagram, Ye posted a screenshot of a text conversation with Diddy and suggested he was controlled by Jewish people, according to media reports.
Adidas said Thursday it was placing its lucrative sneaker deal with Ye under review. And on Saturday, Instagram locked out posts by the rapper-entrepreneur over content violations. His Twitter account was locked Sunday, just a day after he returned to the platform following a nearly two-year hiatus — and was welcomed back by Elon Musk.
“Welcome back to Twitter, my friend,” posted Musk, who last week renewed his $44bn offer to buy Twitter following a months-long legal battle with the company. The billionaire and Tesla CEO has said he would remake Twitter into a free speech haven and relax restrictions, although it is impossible to know precisely how he would run the influential network if he were to take over.
The social media policies for Twitter and Instagram prohibit posting offensive language.
Ye’s Twitter account is still active but he cannot post until the lockout ends. Sanctions by Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, may include temporary restrictions on posting, commenting or sending direct messages. Such muzzles can last as little as 12 hours or for days, depending on how serious the violation was or how many other times the account broke the rules.
While a step below a full account suspension, enough of these restrictions can eventually lead to a person being kicked off the social media platforms — temporarily or, in rare circumstances, permanently.
As of Monday afternoon, neither account had posted anything, indicating Ye is still restricted. Neither Twitter nor Meta would say how long they will restrict Ye’s accounts, or how close he might be to becoming suspended or even permanently booted.
Controversial years
Ye has earned a reputation less for his music and more for stirring up controversy since 2016 when he was hospitalised in Los Angeles because of what his team called stress and exhaustion. It was later revealed he had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder.
That year, he ended a show in Sacramento, California, after just four songs but not before a 10-minute tirade about Beyoncé, Jay-Z, Hillary Clinton, Mark Zuckerberg, the radio and MTV. West soon decided to scrap the entire tour.
Since then he has regularly made headlines: Running for president, continuing his feud with Taylor Swift, causing an uproar when he suggested slavery was a choice, publicly defending R Kelly, and once inviting Marilyn Manson and DaBaby on stage with him as they faced sexual assault and anti-gay allegations, respectively.
Ye’s involvement aside, social media restrictions like this incident have been largely routine for the platforms. Twitter took action on nearly 4.3 million accounts between July and December of 2021, according to the latest available data from a transparency report it publishes twice a year. About 1.3 million accounts were suspended in the same period.
Launch is Pyongyang’s seventh weapon test during a two-week period amid American-South Korean military manoeuvres.
North Korea fired two short-range ballistic missiles towards its eastern waters – the latest in its barrage of weapons tests after Pyongyang warned against the US redeployment of an aircraft carrier for a new round of drills with South Korean warships.
South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement it detected the two missiles launched early Sunday from the North’s eastern coastal city of Munchon. Both missiles reached an altitude of 100km (60 miles) and covered a range of 350km (217 miles), Japan’s State Minister of Defence Toshiro Ino told reporters.
South Korea’s military boosted its surveillance posture and maintains a readiness in close coordination with the United States, it said.
The Japanese government said North Korea fired what was possible ballistic missiles.
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida instructed officials to gather and analyse information while ensuring the safety of aircraft and ships around the country.
The Japanese coastguard said it warned ships off the coasts about falling objects and urged them to stay away. Ino said Tokyo would not tolerate the repeated actions by North Korea.
The launch, the North’s seventh round of weapons tests in two weeks, came hours after the United States and South Korea wrapped up a new round of naval drills off the Korean Peninsula’s east coast.
The drills involved the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan and its battle group, which returned to the area after North Korea fired a powerful missile over Japan last week to protest against the carrier group’s previous training with South Korea.
‘Righteous reaction’
On Saturday, North Korea’s defence ministry warned the Regan’s redeployment was causing a “considerably huge negative splash” in regional security.
It called its recent missile tests a “righteous reaction” to intimidating military drills between its rivals.
“Our missile tests are a normal, planned self-defence measure to protect our country’s security and regional peace from direct US military threats,” said state media KCNA, citing an aviation administration spokesperson.
North Korea regards US-South Korean military exercises as an invasion rehearsal and is especially sensitive if such drills involve US strategic assets such as an aircraft carrier.
North Korea has argued it was forced to pursue a nuclear weapons programme to cope with US nuclear threats.
US and South Korean officials have repeatedly said they have no intentions of attacking the North.
Take cover
North Korea’s latest launch added to its record-breaking pace of weapons tests this year.
These included a nuclear-capable missile that on Tuesday flew over Japan for the first time in five years, prompting a warning for residents there to take cover, and demonstrating a range to attack the US Pacific territory of Guam and beyond.
Earlier this year, North Korea tested other nuclear-capable ballistic missiles that place the US mainland and its allies South Korea and Japan within striking distance.
North Korea’s testing spree has indicated its leader, Kim Jong Un, has no intention of resuming diplomacy with the US and wants to focus on expanding his weapons arsenal.
But some analysts said Kim would eventually aim to use his advanced nuclear programme to wrest greater outside concessions, such as the recognition of North Korea as a legitimate nuclear state, which Kim believes is essential in getting crippling UN sanctions on his country lifted.
South Korean officials recently said North Korea was also prepared to test a new liquid-fuelled intercontinental ballistic missile and a submarine-launched ballistic missile while maintaining readiness to perform its first underground nuclear test since 2017.
Britain’s Prime Minister Liz Truss forced to scrap plans to remove the 45 percent top income tax rate on high earners.
Just a few days ago, Britain’s new prime minister was confident she would be able to kick-start economic growth by cutting taxes. Yet the country is still on course for a recession.
Faced with market turmoil and criticism from within her Conservative Party, Liz Truss was forced to scrap plans to remove the 45 percent top income tax rate on high earners.
The U-turn is being seen as a humiliating about-face that leaves Truss’s economic policy and premiership in crisis.
Elsewhere, another wake-up call on the cost of climate change from Hurricane Ian. And we speak to Boeing’s vice president.
Biden administration preparing to ease sanctions if Caracas takes steps towards restoring democracy, report says.
The United States is considering loosening sanctions on Venezuela so Chevron Corp can pump oil in the country if Caracas takes steps towards restoring democracy, the Wall Street Journal has reported.
Under the proposed deal, the Biden administration would ease some sanctions in exchange for Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro resuming talks with the political opposition on the conditions needed to hold free and fair elections in 2024, the newspaper reported on Wednesday, citing people familiar with the proposal.
US officials said the deal had not been finalised and could fall through if Maduro’s government did not resume negotiations with opposition parties, according to the report.
The deal would pave the way for Chevron and US oil-service companies to resume exports of Venezuelan oil to the global market amid spiralling energy prices worldwide.
Energy experts have cautioned that Venezuela’s oil supplies could have a limited effect on prices as the country’s production has plummeted after years of economic crisis, mismanagement and sanctions.
Venezuela’s oil industry has been under tough US sanctions since 2019, when the Trump administration and Western allies declared opposition leader Juan Guaidó the country’s legitimate leader following elections marred by voting rigging allegations.
White House National Security Council Spokesperson Adrienne Watson on Wednesday said the administration had no plans to change its sanctions policy “without constructive steps” for Maduro to restore democracy.
“Our sanctions policy on Venezuela remains unchanged. We will continue to implement and enforce our Venezuela sanctions,” Watson said in a statement following the Wall Street Journal report.
As recently as July, Tesla Chief Executive Elon Musk said the electric-car maker did not have a problem with customer demand, simply a problem making and shipping all the Model Ys and Model 3s consumers were ready to buy.
That may no longer be true.
Analysts see early signs of caution for the world’s most valuable car maker, including for its increasingly premium pricing, at a time when the global economy is slowing and expectations for global auto sales are being dialed back.
Tesla has navigated supply-chain challenges better than most of its rivals and analysts expect it to post strong growth through next year as it expands output, but there are also indications it is being forced to respond to a tougher market.
The most immediate concern: Tesla made more than 22,000 more electric vehicles (EVs) than it delivered to customers in the third quarter, data released this week showed. That is the first time it has had to finance that many cars in inventory.
For most of the past three years, Tesla has been selling more EVs in a quarter than it can produce. The one notable exception was in early 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted deliveries.
While Tesla’s numbers remain low, building inventory has historically been a down-cycle indicator for automakers, forcing markdowns in past recessions of the kind Tesla has not yet faced.
Tesla blamed transport issues for a delivery total that fell short of Wall Street expectations.
If Tesla needs to hold more inventory in coming quarters to smooth deliveries and avoid the end-of-quarter rush that has been its norm, that would add to the $1.2bn in undelivered cars it held at the end of the second quarter.
Analysts believe Tesla still has more demand than it can supply, the bedrock assumption behind its aggressive expansion plan over the next year as it ramps up production at factories in Shanghai, Berlin and Austin, Texas.
Morgan Stanley analyst Adam Jonas said he believed Tesla did not face an immediate demand problem, but added a caution on pricing and Tesla’s ability to buck the economic cycle.
“It would be unreasonable to assume that there is: (a) a limit to how much Tesla can continue to increase prices without demand suffering and (b) that the company was not exposed to decelerating macroeconomic growth,” he said in a research note.
Tesla chief Musk has acknowledged that ‘demand falls off a cliff’ when prices shoot up [File: Bloomberg]
Prices at ’embarrassing levels’
Tesla’s average vehicle transaction price jumped 31 percent to $69,831 in August, compared with $53,132 at the start of 2021, according to the Kelley Blue Book. That outpaced industry-wide price hikes on new cars of 18 percent to $48,301 during the same period.
The waiting time Tesla customers face between order and delivery has also been dropping in both the United States and China, Tesla’s largest markets. In China, that lag, one indicator of the supply-demand balance, has been cut four times since August to a minimum of a week for delivery.
And Tesla, which has resisted marketing and incentives, offered Chinese buyers a rebate of 8,000 yuan ($1,124) if they took delivery before the end of September.
Musk himself in July said Tesla prices were hitting “embarrassing levels” and that “demand falls off a cliff” when prices are rising to “some arbitrarily high level”.
A Tesla output plan reported last week by Reuters, before the third quarter delivery announcement, showed the automaker’s detailed plan to run and source its factories to hit output growth of 50 percent this year and next, a target just beyond the most bullish outside forecasts.
The question of whether and how Tesla sees the supply-demand balance shifting will be central for investors when the company reports quarterly results on October 19.
Evolving economic risks
Musk has offered an evolving view on economic risks. In June, he told Tesla staff he had a “super bad feeling” about the economy, a reason he cited to pause hiring at the time. In August, he told investors he expected a “mild recession” that could last up to 18 months.
Guidehouse Insights analyst Sam Abuelsamid said Tesla needed to get higher production from its newer factories in Austin and Berlin. Musk had earlier compared the start of production in those plants to “gigantic money furnaces.”
“Tesla could end up running into some financial challenges in the third and fourth quarters (of 2023), if those factories continue to be underutilised,” Abuelsamid said.
Fitch Solutions, which provides research on country risk and industries, said on Tuesday that it expected global auto sales to drop 5.4 percent in 2022, before bouncing back only partly in 2023.
Pyongyang’s fifth test in 10 days comes after South Korea and the United States hold military drills.
North Korea has fired a mid-range ballistic missile over Japan, the fifth launch in 10 days, amid expectations that it is gearing up to test its first nuclear weapon in five years.
The missile, detected by the Japanese coast guard and South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff, prompted warning alarms in northern Japan with residents advised to take shelter. Train services in northern regions of the country were suspended temporarily.
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida condemned what he called a “barbaric” act.
TV Asahi, citing an unnamed government source, said North Korea might have fired an intercontinental ballistic missile and that it fell into the sea some 3,000 km (1,860 miles) from Japan.
There were no further details on the weapon.
Pyongyang has conducted a series of launches around military drills held by the United States and South Korea, which it considers a rehearsal for invasion. The US and South Korea, which staged its own show of advanced weaponry on Saturday to mark its Armed Forces Day, say the exercises are defensive in nature.
Leif-Eric Easley, a professor at Ewha University in Seoul, said that firing a weapon over Japan represented a “significant escalation” of recent provocations.
“Diplomacy isn’t dead, but talks aren’t about to resume either,” Easley said in comments by email. “Pyongyang is still in the middle of a provocation and testing cycle and is likely waiting until after China’s mid-October Communist Party Congress to conduct an even more significant test.”
North Korea has conducted a record number of weapons tests this year and analysts see the increased pace of testing as an effort to build its capacity for ballistic weapons, which it is banned from testing under UN sanctions.
Officials in South Korea have suggested North Korea might carry out a nuclear test after the end of the Congress in China and before the US holds its mid-term elections in November. Pyongyang last carried out a nuclear test in September 2017.
US manufacturing activity grew at its slowest pace in almost two and a half years last month, according to the Institute for Supply Management.
United States manufacturing activity grew at its slowest pace in nearly two and a half years in September as new orders contracted while interest rates were aggressively hiked to cool demand and tame inflation.
The Institute for Supply Management (ISM) said on Monday that its manufacturing purchasing managers’ index or PMI dropped to 50.9 in September, the lowest reading since May 2020, from 52.8 in August.
A reading above 50 indicates expansion in manufacturing, which accounts for 11.9 percent of the US economy. Economists polled by Reuters news agency had forecast the index slipping to 52.3.
Some of the slowdown in manufacturing reflects the rotation of spending from goods to services. Government data last Friday showed spending on long-lasting manufactured goods barely rose in August, while outlays on services picked up.
The US Federal Reserve has since March hiked its policy rate from near zero to the current range of 3 percent to 3.25 percent, and last month signalled more large increases were on the way this year.
The higher borrowing costs are undercutting spending on big-ticket items such as household appliances and furniture, which are typically bought on credit.
The ISM survey’s forward-looking new orders subindex fell to 47.1 last month, also the lowest reading since May 2020, from 51.3 in August. It was the third time this year that the index has contracted. Order backlogs are also being whittled down. While that pointed to a further slowdown in manufacturing, it was also a function of easing bottlenecks in the supply chain.
The ISM’s measure of supplier deliveries fell to 52.4 from 55.1 in August. A reading above 50 percent indicates slower deliveries to factories.
With supply chains loosening, inflation pressures at the factory gate continued to subside.
A measure of prices paid by manufacturers dropped to 51.7, the lowest reading since June 2020, from 52.5 in August. The continued slowdown is being driven by retreating commodity prices. Annual consumer and producer inflation decelerated in August, raising hope that prices had peaked.
The ISM survey’s measure of factory employment dropped to 48.7 from a five-month high of 54.2 in August. It was the fourth time this year that the index has contracted. The index has been a poor predictor of manufacturing payrolls in the government’s closely watched employment report. Those have consistently grown despite the gyrations in the ISM employment gauge.
Though job growth is slowing, demand for workers remains strong. There were 11.2 million unfilled jobs across the US economy at the end of July, with two job openings for every unemployed worker.
At least 31 people are confirmed dead, including 27 people in Florida mostly from drowning.
Rescuers searched for survivors among the ruins of Florida’s flooded homes from Hurricane Ian while authorities in South Carolina began assessing damage from its strike.
Now weakened to a post-tropical cyclone, Ian was expected to move across central North Carolina on Saturday then move into Virginia and New York.
At least 31 people were confirmed dead, including 27 people in Florida, mostly from drowning but others from the storm’s tragic aftereffects. An elderly couple died after their oxygen machines shut off when they lost power, authorities said.
Meanwhile, distraught residents waded through knee-high water, salvaging what possessions they could from their flooded homes and loading them onto rafts and canoes.
“I want to sit in the corner and cry. I don’t know what else to do,” Stevie Scuderi said after shuffling through her mostly destroyed Fort Myers apartment, the mud in her kitchen clinging to her purple sandals.
The powerful storm, one of the strongest and costliest hurricanes to ever hit the US, terrorised millions of people for most of the week, battering western Cuba before raking across Florida from the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico to the Atlantic Ocean, where it mustered enough strength for a final assault on South Carolina.
In South Carolina, Ian’s centre came ashore near Georgetown, a small community along the Winyah Bay 95km (60miles) north of historic Charleston. The storm washed away parts of four piers along the coast, including two connected to the popular tourist town of Myrtle Beach.
The storm’s winds were much weaker than during Ian’s landfall on Florida’s Gulf Coast earlier in the week. Authorities and volunteers there were still assessing the damage as shocked residents tried to make sense of what they just lived through.
Anthony Rivera, 25, said he had to climb through the window of his first-floor apartment during the storm to carry his grandmother and girlfriend to the second floor. As they hurried to escape the rising water, the storm surge washed a boat right up next to his apartment.
“That’s the scariest thing in the world because I can’t stop no boat,” he said. “I’m not Superman.”
The official death toll climbed with authorities warning it would likely rise much higher once crews made a more comprehensive sweep of the damage [Joe Raedle/Getty/AFP]
Pawleys Island, a beach community about 117km (73 miles) up South Carolina’s coast from Charleston, was among the places hardest hit by Ian.
Eddie Wilder, who has been coming to Pawleys Island for more than six decades, said the storm was “insane to watch”. He said waves as high as 7.6 metres (25 feet) washed away the pier, just two doors down from his home.
“We watched it hit the pier and saw the pier disappear,” said Wilder. “I’ve seen quite a few storms and this one was wild … We had a front-row seat.”
Even though Ian has long passed over Florida, new problems continued to arise. A 22-km (14-mile) stretch of Interstate 75 was closed in both directions in the Port Charlotte area because of the massive amount of water swelling the Myakka River.
Further southeast, the Peace River was also at a major flood stage early Saturday in Polk, Hardee and DeSoto counties.
The official death toll climbed with authorities warning it would likely rise much higher once crews made a more comprehensive sweep of the damage.
Hurricane Ian has likely caused “well over $100bn’’ in damage, including $63bn in privately insured losses, according to the disaster modelling firm Karen Clark & Co. If those numbers are borne out, that would make Ian at least the fourth-costliest hurricane in US history.
A resurgent Hurricane Ian is barrelling north before making a second expected landfall in the United States, a day after the storm carved a path of destruction across central Florida that left rescue crews racing to reach trapped residents along the state’s Gulf Coast.
Ian, which had weakened to a tropical storm during its march across Florida, was upgraded to a Category 1 hurricane as it churned above the Atlantic Ocean towards South Carolina on Friday, the US National Hurricane Center (NHC) said.
The hurricane – forecast to hit near low-lying Charleston, South Carolina, around 2pm (18:00 GMT) – was bringing maximum sustained winds of 140 kilometres per hour (85 miles per hour), as well as potentially life-threatening flooding and storm surges.
Officials in Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina have urged residents to prepare for dangerous conditions.
Kelsey Barlow, a spokeswoman for Charleston County, home to more than 400,000 residents, said that the county has two shelters open and a third on standby. “But it’s too late for people to come to the shelters,” she said.
“The storm is here. Everyone needs to shelter in place, stay off the roads.”
Barlow said a storm surge of more than seven feet (2.1 metres) was expected, on top of the noon high tide that could bring another six feet (1.8 metres) of water, causing significant flooding.
With the eye of the storm still hours away, torrential rain had already arrived in Charleston. Video clips on social media showed several inches of water in some streets in the historic port city, which is especially prone to flooding.
Ian came ashore on Wednesday on Florida’s Gulf Coast as a monstrous Category 4 hurricane, one of the strongest storms ever to hit the US.
It flooded homes on both the state’s coasts, cut off the only road access to a barrier island, destroyed a historic waterfront pier and knocked out electricity to 2.6 million Florida homes and businesses — nearly a quarter of utility customers.
Authorities in the US state offered the first death toll estimate on Friday, as power outages and a lack of mobile phone service in many areas had made it impossible to reach residents cut off by floodwaters, downed electricity lines and debris, or assess the full scope of the storm’s damage.
Kevin Guthrie, director of Florida’s Division of Emergency Management, said the hurricane has caused at least 21 confirmed and unconfirmed deaths so far.
Among those killed were an 80-year-old woman and 94-year-old man who relied on oxygen machines that stopped working amid power outages, the Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office said. In New Smyrna Beach, a 67-year-old man who was waiting to be rescued died after falling into rising water inside his home, the Volusia County Sheriff’s Office said.
On Thursday, US President Joe Biden had warned that Ian could prove to be the deadliest hurricane in Florida history, saying that preliminary reports suggested a “substantial” loss of life.
Biden has approved a disaster declaration, making federal resources available to areas impacted by the storm. Nearly 2,000 federal emergency response personnel were deployed to Florida within 24 hours of the storm first making landfall, the White House said.
Federal Emergency Management Agency Director Deanne Criswell will be in Florida on Friday.
Meanwhile, rescue crews have piloted boats and waded through riverine streets to save thousands of Floridians trapped amid flooded homes and buildings shattered by the hurricane.
Governor Ron DeSantis said at least 700 rescues, mostly by air, were conducted on Thursday, in operations that involved the US Coast Guard, the National Guard and urban search-and-rescue teams.
“There’s really been a Herculean effort,” he said during a news conference on Friday in state capital Tallahassee, adding that rescue crews had gone door-to-door to more than 3,000 homes in the hardest-hit areas.
‘We’re feeling lost’
Some 10,000 people were unaccounted for across the state, said Guthrie at the Division of Emergency Management, but many of them were likely in shelters or without power, making it impossible to check in with loved ones or local officials.
He said he expected the number to “organically” shrink in the coming days.
Fort Myers, a city close to where the eye of the storm first came ashore, absorbed a major blow, with numerous houses destroyed. Businesses near the beach were completely razed, leaving twisted debris, while broken docks floated at odd angles beside damaged boats.
Hundreds of beleaguered Fort Myers residents lined up at a Home Depot that opened early on Friday on the east side of the city, hoping to buy petrol cans, generators, bottled water and other supplies.
People queue up outside a Home Depot as they wait to shop for power generators and other supplies, in Cape Coral, Florida, September 30, 2022 [Marco Bello/Reuters]
Many said they felt the city and state governments were doing everything possible to help people but said the lack of communication and uncertainty about how they would go on living in the area weighed heavily on them.
Sarah Sodre-Crot and Marco Martins, a married couple and both 22, immigrated from Brazil with their families five years ago, said they rode out the storm in their home in east Fort Myers.
“I know the government is doing everything they can, but we’re feeling lost, like we have no answers. Will energy return in a week? In a month? We just want to know so we can plan our lives a bit,” Sodre-Crot said.
About two million homes and businesses remained without power on Friday, according to tracking service poweroutage.com.
