(NEW YORK) — It’s been nearly one month since the U.S. withdrew all U.S. troops from Afghanistan on President Joe Biden’s order, ending a chaotic evacuation operation after the Afghan government collapsed and the Taliban seized the capital Kabul.
Since then, the U.S. has facilitated the departure of at least 85 U.S. citizens and 79 lawful permanent residents, according to a senior State Department official. In the coming days, they expect to evacuate around 100 more U.S. citizens and residents from the Kabul area.
Even as the last American troops were flown out to meet Biden’s Aug. 31 deadline, other Americans who wanted to flee the country were left behind. The Biden administration is now focused on a “diplomatic mission” to help them leave but some hoping to evacuate are still stuck in the country. Meanwhile, the Taliban announced its new “caretaker” government that includes men with U.S. bounties on their heads — and no women.
Top Pentagon leaders appear before the Senate Armed Services Committee on Tuesday amid bipartisan criticism of the chaotic withdrawal and on the failure to anticipate the Taliban’s swift takeover of the country.
Here are the latest developments. All times Eastern:
Sep 28, 9:30 am
Top Pentagon officials testify before Senate on withdrawal
Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, will face tough questions Tuesday from the Senate Armed Services Committee on Tuesday on the U.S. military’s chaotic exit from Afghanistan. He’s also expected to address reporting that he went outside the regular chain of command with calls to China in the final days of former President Donald Trump’s presidency.
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Gen. Kenneth McKenzie, commander of U.S. Central Command, are also scheduled to appear before the Senate panel alongside Milley. Senators are expected to press the top Pentagon leaders on decisions surrounding the evacuation and of ongoing threats of terrorism in Afghanistan without a U.S. presence on the ground.
It’s been nearly one month since President Joe Biden withdrew all U.S. troops, ending an evacuation operation after the Afghan government collapsed and the Taliban seized the capital Kabul. In those final days, a U.S. drone strike killed at least 10 Afghan civilians, including seven children, an event lawmakers are expected to press military leaders upon on Tuesday.
(SEOUL, South Korea) — North Korea fired a short-range missile toward the East Sea early Tuesday, according to its neighboring countries, South Korea and Japan, marking the third such weapons test this month.
Military officials in Seoul, Tokyo and Washington, D.C. were investigating whether the latest missile was ballistic and if it was launched from a submarine. A ballistic missile launch would violate United Nations Security Council resolutions that ban North Korea from engaging in any ballistic activities, though the council typically doesn’t slap new sanctions on Pyongyang for testing short-range weapons.
“The missile was fired from the North’s Mupyong-ri in Jagang Province eastward at around 6:40 a.m,” South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff told reporters on Tuesday. “South Korean and U.S. intelligence authorities are analyzing the launch for additional information.”
There was “no report of damage to Japan’s aircraft or sea vessels,” according to Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Katsunobu Kato.
“North Korea’s missile launches pose a serious threat to the safety of our nation and the stability of the region,” Kato said during a press conference on Tuesday morning.
Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga told reporters on Tuesday that his “government is on high alert and monitoring the situation.”
North Korea has test-launched missiles six times in 2021 so far, three of which occurred this month. North Korean state media claimed that Pyongyang had successfully tested a long-range cruise missile on Sept. 12 and fired two short-range ballistic missiles off the eastern coast three days later.
A spokesperson for the U.S. Department of State condemned the latest weapons test, calling it a “violation of multiple U.N. Security Council resolutions” — a tacit acknowledgment that the United States believes the missile was in fact ballistic.
“We remain committed to a diplomatic approach to the DPRK and call on them to engage in dialogue,” the spokesperson told ABC News in a statement early Tuesday, using the acronym for North Korea’s official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
During a press briefing on Monday, State Department deputy spokesperson Jalina Porter told reporters that the U.S. government is “prepared to meet with the DPRK without preconditions, and we certainly hope that the DPRK will respond positively to our outreach.”
Tuesday’s missile launch happened an hour after North Korea’s ambassador to the U.N., Kim Song, delivered remarks at the 76th session of the U.N. General Assembly in New York City, during which he attempted to justify his country’s development of a “war deterrent” to defend against threats from the U.S. and other rivals.
“What we mean by the war deterrent is literally the righteous right to self-defense that can deter aggressive war and defend ourselves,” Kim said. “The possible outbreak of a new war on the Korean Peninsula is contained not because of the U.S.’s mercy on the DPRK, it is because our state is growing a reliable deterrent that can control the hostile forces in an attempted military invasion.”
Moon Sung-muk, an analyst and arms control expert at the Korea Research Institute for National Strategy, an independent, not-for-profit think tank in Seoul, said Kim’s speech was asking the international community to acknowledge North Korea’s weapons development as inside legal boundaries.
“North Korea is deliberately offering a condition that the U.S. and South Korea cannot accept so that when negotiations fall apart, they can blame their counterparts,” Moon told ABC News on Tuesday. “As preconditions to resume inter-Korean talks, North Korea told South Korea in a statement last Saturday to consider their missile development as a reasonable act of self deterrence.”
North Korea has been sending mixed messages this year. While test-firing a variety of missiles, Kim Yo Jong, the politically powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, has hinted that Pyongyang is ready to engage in talks with South Korea and formally declare an end to the Korean War.
“South Korea must not try to upset the balance of military force on the Korean Peninsula with such illogical and childish absurd assertion just as the U.S. does,” she was quoted as saying on Saturday by North Korean state media. “I only hope that the South Korean authorities’ moves to remove the tinderbox holding double standards bereft of impartiality, the hostile policy toward the DPRK.”
But Cha Du-hyeogn, an analyst at the Asan Institute for Policy Studies, an independent, non-profit think tank in Seoul, doubted Pyongyang’s will to come back to the negotiation table.
“North Korea never said they are willing to resume talks without conditions,” Cha told ABC News on Tuesday. “The consecutive statements followed by missile provocations can be seen as a double-sided strategy.”
Cha added that Kim Yo Jong is pushing South Korea to convince the U.S. to lift sanctions if the South is so eager to resume dialogue.
“It’s an attempt to incapacitate the U.S.-South Korea cooperation by making use of national, or inter-Korean, cooperation,” he said.
Yang Moo-jin, a professor at the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul, said Pyongyang “is not only testing its missile but also the South Korean government.”
“Pyongyang will wait to see what South Korea has to say about the missile experiment,” Yang told ABC News on Tuesday, “after Kim Yo Jong insisted that South Korea get rid of the double standards on North’s weapons tests if they want inter-Korean dialogue.”
(NEW YORK) — After almost 16 years as leader of Europe’s most powerful economy, Angela Merkel will be leaving the chancellorship behind as Germany votes on a new parliament. Merkel’s successor — either her Christian Democratic Union appointee, Armin Laschet, or Olaf Scholz of the center-left Social Democrats — will be determined only once a new government is formed.
Sunday’s general election saw Scholz’s SPD win 25.7% of the vote, closely followed by the conservative CDU at 24.1%, according to official preliminary results released Monday morning. However, they alone don’t have the majority needed to rule and will have to form strategic coalitions that will determine who will govern the country.
It’s historically rare in German politics that the make-up of a leading coalition and identity of the next chancellor is so unclear. Despite Merkel’s popularity, her CDU struggled to galvanize the conservative party’s traditional base under Laschet, the governor of Germany’s North Rhine-Westphalia state.
Laschet was gaffe-laden during the campaign, including being caught on camera laughing during a tribute to those who died in the devastating floods in West Germany in July. Even on voting day, Laschet made a blunder by folding his ballot the wrong way — making his voting choice visible, which could make his vote invalid.
Climate change has played a central role during the election race. The environmentalist Greens gained more support than anticipated early on.
It could take weeks — if not months — of negotiations between the parties before a coalition government is fully formed. Dr. Ursula Münch from Germany’s Academy of Political Education predicts the transition period to be drawn out.
“Many in Germany are speculating that Merkel might still have to hold the New Years’ speech,” Münch told ABC News.
One thing is certain: Merkel’s exit will mark the end of an era. In her last few weeks, Germans are reflecting on the legacy that she leaves behind.
“Angela Merkel became chancellor when I was 14 years old,” 30-year-old German citizen Svenja Beck told ABC News. “I can hardly remember anyone other than a woman ever ruling our country. It feels crazy that this era is coming to an end. In any case, I hope she can enjoy her well-deserved retirement, especially after these exhausting 1.5 years.”
Indeed, there’s a sense of nostalgia in some young Germans who have only known a country led by the leader known as “mutti,” or mother.
After three terms as chancellor, Merkel is still a popular figure. Last week a survey by Gallup research recorded her approval rating at 71%.
Many Germans have admired her demeanor — an assuring confidence, a pragmatism — others have been assured by her steady economic policies that have enabled the country to weather several crises. She’s also been valued for her ability to reach consensus across governments and political persuasions.
“Merkel’s personal style has left certain marks,” Münch said. “Her rather restrained, unpretentious and matter-of-fact nature does seem to be popular among a large part of the population.”
Beyond that, Münch considers Merkel’s legacy to be defined by her crisis management and ability to deal with adverse situations “step by step.”
Münch noted that while Merkel may approach potential conflicts with hesitation at first, she’ll quickly and thoroughly deal with them once she’s in the thick of it.
“We saw this with the banking crisis, with the Euro rescue, during the refugee crisis and now in particular with the coronavirus,” she added.
But throughout the years, Merkel has received criticism for being too complacent on certain fronts, with environmentalists being particularly vocal in accusing her of not doing enough to tackle climate change.
German citizen Steffen Mechlinski, who voted for the Greens on Sunday, said he’s looking forward to some issues getting more attention under the new leadership:
“After 16 solid years, I am now hoping for an ambitious policy approach, particularly when it comes to climate change, social justice, education and digitalization,” Mechlinski told ABC News.
Internationally, Merkel has enjoyed widespread popularity.
“She’s considered to be a very dependable person in many parts of the world,” Münch said, “although I’m sure that some eastern European and southeastern European states may not agree.”
However, it’s Merkel’s willingness to involve everyone, including smaller states, in policy debates and decisions that gives her a reputation for fairness and dependability.
Münch doesn’t foresee any dramatic changes to Germany’s foreign policy.
“The CDU and the SPD are really not that different from each other,” she said. “Both are transatlantically oriented parties. Both — including the SPD under Olaf Scholz — keep Russia at a distance and approach China with reservations.”
Even the Greens, who will form part of the new government, won’t dramatically impact the direction of Germany’s foreign policy, particularly when it comes to the United States.
“All three parties are transatlantics,” Münch added. “These are all people and parties who care a lot about German-American relations.”
In her years as chancellor, Merkel has resisted taking a tougher stance on China, with trade between the two countries booming.
Münch doesn’t expect doesn’t anticipate dramatic changes toward China, saying that even the Greens must conduct a business-friendly policy.
“Perhaps, when it comes to China, the priority won’t just be foreign trade,” she said, “but that the approach will be more cautious, especially with regards to human rights policies.”
(MOSCOW) — Russia’s best-known opposition figure, Alexey Navalny, has criticized Google and Apple for bending to Kremlin demands for censorship during recent parliamentary elections, accusing the tech giants of “cowardice” and of becoming “accomplices” to president Vladimir Putin’s efforts to suppress political opposition.
Both companies bowed to Russian government pressure to delete content relating to a tactical voting campaign promoted by Navalny during elections last weekend that saw Russia’s ruling pro-Putin party retain its majority amid accusations of widespread ballot-rigging and a crackdown on anti-Kremlin opposition.
“If something surprised me in the latest elections, it was not how Putin forged the results, but how obediently the almighty Big Tech turned into his accomplices,” Navalny said on Twitter on Thursday — a message written from prison and published by colleagues.
Navalny’s campaign, named Smart Voting, had called for people to vote for any candidate with the best chance of defeating the ruling party, United Russia. The online content had contained lists of registered candidates recommended by Navalny’s team.
Google and Apple removed Smart Voting apps from their stores in Russia, and Google blocked two related videos on YouTube.
The removals are the biggest concession the tech firms have made to Kremlin demands to restrict content and it has set off fears among liberal Russians that it is a significant step towards the companies accepting broader censorship in the country.
Russian authorities outlawed Navalny’s movement earlier this year, after jailing the anti-corruption activist and pro-democracy campaigner who survived a nerve-agent poisoning in 2020. The government in June designated Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation and its regional political offices as “extremist organizations,” equating them to violent terrorist groups and requiring social media platforms to ban their content.
The designation has been widely condemned internationally, including by the United States, as politically motivated.
Neither Google nor Apple have made a public statement on the app removals, and each declined to comment to ABC News. In an email explaining the decision to the Anti-Corruption Foundation, published online by Navalny’s team, Apple said it was obliged to follow local laws and cited Russian prosecutors’ allegations that the app enabled “election interference.”
Navalny accused the companies of allowing themselves to be used as instruments of the Kremlin to block legitimate efforts at peaceful opposition, saying they were worried about losing market access to Russia and calling them “hypocrites” for presenting themselves as firms driven by values such as improving the world. Google famously used “Don’t be evil” as a company motto.
“In our case, the very intention to organize voters in order to put competitive pressure on the ruling party was declared criminal, and Big Tech agreed with this,” Navalny wrote.
He also called on employees inside the companies to raise the issue, writing: “I know that most of those who work at Google, Apple, etc. are honest and good people. I urge them not to put up with the cowardice of their bosses.”
Google and Apple in the past largely have resisted Russian government demands that they remove content that criticizes authorities, racking up fines imposed by Russia’s state censor. But recently the Kremlin has escalated pressure on U.S. tech companies amid a broader crackdown on dissent.
The day before Apple and Google each removed the voting app, the companies were made to appear before a committee of Russia’s senate. Andrey Klimov, a prominent senator who heads a commission — Protection of State Sovereignty and Prevention of Interference in the country’s Internal Affairs — accused them of illegal election interference and threatened to penalize them with new legislation.
Days before that, court bailiffs visited Google’s offices in Moscow, demanding the company pay unpaid fines imposed by the state censor. The New York Times reported Google made the decision to remove Navalny’s app after authorities threatened to arrest local employees at Google’s Moscow office.
Security experts have said they’re concerned the Kremlin is now increasingly bent on taming foreign tech giants as it tightens its grip on the Russian internet. The government has blocked a growing number of sites and is developing infrastructure to allow it to cut off Russia’s acces to the global web, if deemed necessary. This year it began slowing down Twitter after the company refused to remove content.
Andrey Soldatov, author of “Red Web,” which examines the Russian government’s efforts to control the internet, said last week’s concession was unlikely to discourage the Kremlin from leaning on Google and Apple further. He said the government was increasingly confident in its technical capabilities to block major international platforms.
“To be honest,” he told ABC News by phone, “things look really, really dark right now.”
(BEIJING) — Bitcoin, Ethereum and other cryptocurrencies dipped in value on Friday after China declared all transactions involving these digital currencies “illegal.”
China’s central bank, the People’s Bank of China, issued a statement on Friday saying that use of these virtual currencies is disrupting economic order and linked to money laundering, fraud and other illicit activities. While Chinese financial institutions already were banned from doing business with cryptocurrencies, the new statement made clear that cryptocurrencies do not have the same status as legal tender and cannot be used as currency in the marketplace.
Bitcoin dropped some 8% on the news, but recouped some initial losses and was down by some 5% late Friday morning. Ethereum initially shed more than 10%, but was down by some 7% as of 11:30 am ET, according to Coin Desk data.
The notoriously volatile digital currencies are down about 30% from all-time highs in the spring, but Bitcoin still is up some 40% since the start of the year and Ethereum has gained a whopping 290% in 2021.
Friday’s notice from Beijing also made clear that it’s illegal for overseas virtual currency exchanges to provide services to Chinese residents through the internet.
The announcement comes as China experiments on a small scale with its own digital currency issued by its central bank, the first to be created by a major economy. The digital yuan is expected to be rolled out at larger scale imminently, and while it has many similarities to current cryptos the major difference is that it can be more easily traced and controlled by the government.
U.S. financial markets held steady on the news, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 both opening relatively flat on Friday. Analysts and investors around the globe have been keeping a close eye on news out of China, however, amid silence on the Evergrande saga. Debt issues plaguing Evergrande, one of China’s largest real estate developers, sent global markets tumbling earlier in the week as many predicted a default with possible spillover effects to the larger economy.
(WASHINGTON) — Amid outrage over images the White House said President Joe Biden found “horrible,” the U.S. Border Patrol has temporarily stopped using agents on horseback against Haitian migrants in Del Rio, Texas, Homeland Security officials said Thursday.
Shortly afterward, White House press secretary Jen Psaki confirmed the decision to end the horse patrols in what critics said was offensively harsh treatment of the migrants.
“We have taken very specific actions as it relates to the horrific photos that we — we’re not going to stand for in this administration,” she told reporters at her daily press briefing.
The agents have been put on administrative leave pending an investigation.
Images of Border Patrol agents using their horses for crowd control on the banks of the Rio Grande have incensed Democratic lawmakers, some of whom drew a connection to white supremacy and slavery.
“Haitian lives are Black lives, and if we truly believe that Black lives matter, then we must reverse course,” Democratic Rep. Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass., said at a news conference Wednesday.
Pressley also called on the Biden administration to “immediately and indefinitely” stop the removal of Haitian nationals back to Haiti. Democrats and immigrant advocates remain concerned that the administration’s rapid removal of migrants from the border has limited their access to humanitarian protections outlined under the law.
Homeland Security official said Thursday the removals would continue.
Law enforcement agencies across the country use mounted patrols on a regular basis to traverse rough terrain, including in remote areas of the border that don’t have paved roads.
While many were disturbed by what appeared to be aggressive behavior by the agents on horseback, Border Patrol agents who spoke to ABC News said their colleagues in the controversial photographs were following procedures. They said it’s common practice for agents on horseback to use “long reins” to control the horse, apparently leading a photojournalist at the scene in Del Rio to describe them as “whips” being used by the agents.
Any use of whips, even on horses, would be out of line with agency policy, Border Patrol Agent and Union Vice President Jon Anfinsen told ABC News.
“These agents are highly trained along with their horses and they were doing exactly what they were trained to do,” Anfinsen said.
About 4,000 migrants remain at the camp and the officials estimated that about two-thirds of the entire group that gathered in Del Rio were families.
(EUROPE) — Lawmakers in Europe on Thursday unveiled a proposal to force smartphone makers to adopt a universal, brand-agnostic charging cable in an effort to reduce electronic waste.
The plans call for a USB-C cable to become the universal standard for all smartphones, tablets and other mobile devices. While years of collaborating with the industry on a voluntary approach have brought the number of mobile charger types from 30 to 3 within the last decade, according to a statement from the European Commission, the new legislation would establish a single common charging solution.
Apple, with its proprietary Lightning cables, remains one of the major holdouts to have a unique charger for its devices — though some of its more recent devices do include USB-C charging. The company has previously argued that the proposal would impede innovation.
“Chargers power all our most essential electronic devices,” Thierry Breton, the EU’s internal market commissioner, said in a statement. “With more and more devices, more and more chargers are sold that are not interchangeable or not necessary. We are putting an end to that.”
“With our proposal, European consumers will be able to use a single charger for all their portable electronics — an important step to increase convenience and reduce waste,” Breton added.
Margrethe Vestager, the European Commission’s executive vice president for the digital age, added that consumers have been “frustrated long enough about incompatible chargers piling up in their drawers.”
“We gave industry plenty of time to come up with their own solutions, now time is ripe for legislative action for a common charger,” Vestager said in a statement Thursday. “This is an important win for our consumers and environment and in line with our green and digital ambitions.”
Some 420 million mobile phones and other portable electronic devices were sold in the European Union in 2020, the lawmakers said, and consumers on average own about three mobile chargers but only use two on a regular basis. The group estimates disposed of and unused chargers pile up to some 11,000 metric tons of waste each year.
The Commission also seeks to unbundle the sale of chargers from the sale of electronic devices in order to reduce the environmental footprint associated with the production and disposal of chargers. It also is asking producers to provide clearer information about charging performance, including how much power is required by a device for charging.
The lawmakers estimate that all together the new measures will help consumers in Europe limit the number of new chargers purchased and save nearly $294 million (€250 million) per year on unnecessary charger purchases.
Apple told ABC News that it is continuing to work with the European Commission to understand the full details of the proposal, but argued that the legislation could disrupt a thriving ecosystem, inconvenience users and actually create electronic waste.
“Apple stands for innovation and deeply cares about the customer experience. Some of the most innovative thinking at Apple goes toward building products with recycled and renewable materials,” an Apple spokesperson said in a statement. “We share the European Commission’s commitment to protecting the environment and are already carbon neutral for all of our corporate emissions worldwide, and by 2030 every single Apple device and its usage will be carbon neutral.”
“We remain concerned that strict regulation mandating just one type of connector stifles innovation rather than encouraging it, which in turn will harm consumers in Europe and around the world,” the statement added. “We look forward to continued engagement with stakeholders to help find a solution that protects consumer interest, as well as the industry’s ability to innovate and bring exciting new technology to users.”
The U.S.-headquartered company also noted that the European Commission previously sought to mandate that all smartphones only use USB Micro-B connectors, which would have restricted the advancement to Lightning and USB Type-C chargers.
The proposal will next need to be adopted by the European Parliament and the Council, and the lawmakers have proposed a transition period of two years — which Apple has called concerningly short — from the date of adoption to give the industry time to adapt.
(NEW YORK) — As the 76th General Assembly of the United Nations went underway in New York City beginning Sept. 14, authorities arrested Enrique Figueroa on Sunday for allegedly posting threats on social media against Luis Abinader, the president of the Dominican Republic, according to a court document.
The charges state that Figueroa “intentionally transmitted in interstate and foreign commerce a communication containing a threat to kidnap and injure” Abinader, according to the criminal complaint filed in federal court.
When questioned, Figueroa denied intent to harm Abinader, according to the complaint.
His arrest resulted from a joint effort by the U.S. Secret Service, the FBI and the New York Police Department, according to the document. That collaboration between the agencies is part of the protocol for maintaining security at the United Nations General Assembly where this year, up to 190 world leaders gathered in Manhattan for the 13-day event.
Threats at the UNGA can be politically-motivated, personnel-related, terroristic or cyber.
Since the UNGA is a designated National Special Security Event, or, an NSSE, and one of the largest annual security events in the world, the U.S. Secret Service is in charge of overall security management. The agency collaborates with other federal, state and local agencies to identify, mitigate or eliminate any threats at the UN’s event.
As the lead agency, the Secret Service has to plan, coordinate and ultimately implement security operations for NSSEs.
For the UNGA, the Secret Service forms an executive steering committee that consists of senior representatives from other federal, state and local entities including the NYPD and the local office of homeland security and emergency management.
The executive steering committee gives final approval over a list of security and operational plans. Although the UNGA happens annually, that planning process is re-examined, revamped and updated every year.
The highest levels of government, including the directors of the Secret Service, FBI and secretary of homeland security are briefed on every facet involved in the UNGA’s security planning. Some security measures include increasing police presence; having SWAT teams on standby; as well as deploying dogs and other bomb-related resources. Even the water is covered — there is marine security staged near the UN.
Once world leaders and UN members are in New York City, there is close coordination among all security agencies. Part of that coordination is setting up operations and coordination centers throughout the city. These operations and coordination centers tackle everything from hotel lodging and logistics, to intelligence deconfliction, communication, medical response and air traffic. There are also redundant coordination centers and plans in place in the unlikely event of a major or catastrophic incident.
Each agency, in turn, conducts its own threat analysis of existing threats and how to manage them.
The Department of Homeland Security also provides a threat assessment of the event and the potential impact on the surrounding area. This assessment, conducted by the DHS Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), is provided to the other agencies to help them develop a full-threat assessment picture of the event.
The FBI typically co-leads security, intelligence and threat management. Through the FBI’s New York Joint Terrorism Task Force (JTTF) and Joint Intelligence Operations Center (JIOC), threats are vetted and responses are coordinated. The JTTF is made up of over 50 federal, state and local partners. Those partners include: the Secret Service, which protects the president and visiting foreign heads of state; the Diplomatic Security Service which protects visiting minister-level officials including the U.S. secretary of state; the U.S. Marshals; domestic and foreign intelligence agencies; and the NYPD.
Any threat can potentially impact the security of the United Nations building such as the 2016 bombings in New York City’s Chelsea neighborhood during that year’s UNGA. That incident was an example of an existing threat that put all agencies involved with the UNGA on high alert.
Planning for an NSSE like the UNGA often takes over a year. During that time the nation’s front-line defenders work diligently to ensure that all risks are minimized and plans coordinated. This framework allows the planners to ensure that if something does happen, the response will be swift and strong.
(NEW YORK) — This summer, the United States has seen the effects of climate change firsthand, as record-breaking wildfires, droughts and hurricanes have devastated parts of the country.
During his United Nations General Assembly speech on Tuesday, President Joe Biden called on countries to bring their best ideas to end climate change to COP26 in Glasgow in November.
“To keep within our reach the vital goal of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius, every nation needs to bring their highest possible ambitions to the table,” the president said.
To keep warming below 1.5 degrees Celsius — which is what the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change says needs to happen to avoid the worst effects of climate change — countries will have to lower emissions. One way to do that is to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
There is already a natural solution available: Take care of and learn more about the oceans. Oceans cover 70% of the world, leading to a vast reservoir capable of pulling in and storing carbon dioxide.
Since the dawn of the industrial revolution, scientists estimate oceans have pulled in around 30% of all the carbon dioxide humans have released into the atmosphere.
How much the ocean takes in each year varies, according to Dr. Jaime Palter, an associate professor of oceanography at the University of Rhode Island, who spoke with ABC Audio’s “Perspective” podcast.
“We really would like to have a quantification of the ocean carbon dioxide uptake narrowed so that we can make really skillful predictions of where [the] climate is going and how quickly temperatures will stop rising once we go to net-zero human-caused emissions,” she said.
Palter is part of a team trying to learn how much carbon the Gulf Stream absorbs and how it transports heat
“It’s the perfect place for the ocean to take up carbon dioxide, both because of the weather of the region — it’s just so stormy — and also because of the oceanography of the region,” said Palter. “Second, once it’s taken off, it can sequester it for hundreds of years if it manages to sink in the deep ocean.”
Palter, along with Saildrone — a company that produces unmanned ocean drones for research — and the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasting will launch six 72-foot autonomous drones off the East Coast this fall.
“Those are very difficult seas, particularly in the winter months, and it’s one reason why we know so little about that area,” Anne Hale Miglarese, the program executive officer for impact science at Saildrone, said on the “Perspective” podcast.
The drones are wind- and solar-powered and are equipped with sensors and cameras to check CO2 levels, wind speed and several other variables. They navigate via predetermined way-points while a pilot supervises on land.
Once launched, the drones will spend the next 12 months crisscrossing the Gulf Stream.
The data will be fed back instantly to researchers on land via satellites.
The mission has two focuses: first, to better understand how the Gulf Stream absorbs carbon, and second, to learn how it transports heat, which is the ECMWF’s focus.
“The European Commission for Medium-Range Weather Forecasting … was very interested in understanding the track of the Gulf Stream and the temperatures, the air temperatures and the water temperatures, and the like,” Hale Miglarese said.
The commission will use the data to improve forecasts.
Palter and the University of Rhode Island will lead the carbon measurement research to learn how much carbon the ocean absorbs.
“[We want to] improve the accuracy on the number, how much carbon goes into the ocean, also where it gets absorbed by the ocean, [and] what are the processes that the ocean takes it up,” said Palter. “We can understand whether this is going to be a set of processes that remains stable into the future or ones that could be vulnerable as the ocean warms and the circulation changes.”
Palter said the Gulf Stream is intriguing because of what could happen to the climate if the natural absorption process were to change.
“If that process were to slow down, the capacity of the ocean to store manmade carbon could also slow down,” Palter said. “These are important things we want to learn so that we can have accurate predictions of future climate.”
(TEXAS) — A mounting crisis is unfolding at the U.S.-Mexico border where thousands of migrants, many from Haiti, have trekked across dozens of countries, facing blistering heat and other dangers to seek refuge in the United States.
But entering the land of the free has proved difficult after migrants waded across the border. They were met by Border Patrol agents and deportation efforts.
All eyes are on the small town of Del Rio, Texas, where at one point more than 14,000 migrants, the majority from Haiti, were sheltering under a bridge.
One of the migrants, Jean Baptiste Wilvens, told ABC News he crossed 11 countries to get to the U.S. after he and his family had been living in Chile for the last four years.
“I’m scared to go back there because right now I cannot live in my country,” he said.
His pregnant wife and 10-year-old daughter are now back on the Mexican side of the border. He said they had made it to the U.S. camp but called it “hell.”
On the U.S. side, Wilvens said they were only given a burrito and a bottle of water per day, but in Mexico, several people came to the camp to give away food, which some migrants got into a fight over.
The mayor of Del Rio, Bruno Lozano, called the scenes unfolding,”heartbreaking.”
“The fact that they’re putting their lives at risk is telling of the situation that they come from,” he said.
Like so many migrants who arrive at the U.S.’ southern border, the current wave has come from Central or South America. Many of them are Haitian refugees who left their country after the 2010 earthquake.
“For a variety of reasons, perhaps mostly economic, the economy suffered with COVID, we have seen them migrate up over the last few months to our southern border,” said Elizabeth Neuman, a former Department of Homeland Security assistant secretary and ABC News contributor.
Now, the world watches to see how the Biden administration handles the influx.
For years after the 2010 earthquake, Haitians living inside the U.S. had been granted temporary protected status. The Trump administration let that designation expire.
However, after the assassination of Haitian President Jovenal Moise in July and another devastating earthquake earlier in August, the Biden administration restored that special status to Haitians.
“While that TPS is only applicable for people that are already here in the United States, that might have given the Haitian community hope that if they somehow got into the United States, maybe they could take advantage of that TPS as well,” Neumann said.
Some of the migrants have claimed asylum and are awaiting the immigration process inside the U.S., but many have already been loaded onto planes and deported back to Haiti.
The Biden administration says one to three flights are leaving a day removing migrants who do not have a valid claim to stay in the U.S. based on Title 42, a Trump-era law prohibiting migrants from seeking asylum in the U.S., citing COVID concerns.
“If you come to the United States illegally, you will be returned. Your journey will not succeed, and you will be endangering your life and your family’s lives,” Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said in a Monday press conference.
“Title 42 is actually not immigration law as much as it is public health law that allows an emergency to be declared and basically the borders to be closed,” Neumann said. “A year ago, you could definitely see the case. We did not have vaccines. We did not have a robust testing capability. We have those things now.”
However, unaccompanied minors, and many families are exempt from Title 42. Still, migrant advocates like Guerline Jozef with the Haitian Bridge Alliance say that’s not enough.
“Title 42 should not be used as a way to trap migrants, as a way to trap asylum seekers,” she said. “Why can’t we make sure they are tested, they are vaccinated and provide them the access? Jozef said.
On Capitol Hill, some lawmakers have called for the end of the use of Title 42.
“I urge President Biden and Secretary Mayorkas to immediately put a stop to these expulsions and to end this Title 42 policy at our southern border,” Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said Tuesday on the Senate floor.
Now, many migrants are living in fear of being sent back to Haiti after their exhaustive and perilous journeys.
One migrant named Josef, a social studies school teacher and father of three who didn’t want to share his last name, told Nightline he crossed 10 countries to get to the U.S. to give his children the chance at a better life.
“When I saw that my child would not get the education that I wanted, I had to think that maybe the U.S., as a superpower, could give me some wisdom, and that my child could get social protection, a protection for education,” Josef said.
Wilvens compared how the U.S. has welcomed Afghan refugees, but is turning away Haitians.
“The U.S. gives nearly 30,000 Afghans the ability to be refugees in the U.S. but Haitians are deported. Why is that?” Wilvens said.
Neumann said that “we have a debt that we owe the Afghan people,” with the withdrawal of American troops in wake of the swift Taliban takeover and end of 10-year war in Afghanistan.
“There is a slightly different sentiment for those trying to reach us from the Southern Hemisphere. And I think that it’s a good question for us to ask ourselves why,” she said.
Harrowing images from the border have emerged over the past week showing border patrol agents on horseback aggressively attempting to push back migrants as they cross the Rio Grande into the U.S.
One image showed an agent on horseback grabbing a man by the back of his shirt.
“As I saw this, this image brought me back to slavery,” Jozef with the Haitian Bridge Alliance said, overcome with emotion.
“As a Black woman, as a descendant of slaves, as a woman from Haiti whose forefathers and ancestors fought to end slavery, fought for freedom of all Black people, it is painful because we keep on being reminded that our lives do not matter, our pain [does] not matter,” she said.
U.S. Border Patrol Chief Raul Ortiz initially defended the agents, saying, “We do not know who are the smugglers or who are the migrants. So it’s important that the Border Patrol agents maintain a level of security,” during a press conference Monday.
Homeland Security later slammed the video as “extremely troubling,” saying a “full investigation, which will be conducted swiftly, will define the appropriate disciplinary actions.”
President Joe Biden said he found the videos of tactics used by Border Patrol agents on horseback against Haitian migrants at the Texas border “horrific and horrible,” said White House press secretary Jen Psaki.
But, Biden doubled down on the handling of the chaos at the border.
“We will get it under control,” he said when asked about the crisis by reporters at the United Nations headquarters Tuesday.
Vice President Kamala Harris condemned the treatment of migrants at the border on Tuesday saying, “Human beings should never be treated that way. I was deeply troubled by it.”
Meanwhile, the Del Rio mayor said of the images, “We don’t know the situation that came out that caused that, that contrast to happen, but I can tell you what I’ve seen is, it’s been a humanitarian effort of proportions that I’ve never seen in my life.”
The union representing Border Patrol agents defended the images, arguing that’s part of their training.
DHS says it now has agency monitors on the ground at the border to make sure policies are being followed.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott visited Del Rio Tuesday and asked the Biden administration for an emergency declaration.
“These border patrol officers are overwhelmed with the amount of work they are ordered to do and they’re suffering the consequences of an administration that is not providing either the personnel or the resources they need,” he said.
Neumann said she hopes the crisis will lead to “public pressure on Congress to once and for all address things that we are now on four presidents that have been trying to address this.”
“We’ve got to fix it because the problem is just going to get worse,” she said. “These are human beings that deserve to be treated better than we’re capable of treating them today.”
Jozef with the Haitian Bridge Alliance said people are coming to the border as a last resort.
“Because they are in need of protection, because they are dying, because they need support,” she said.
Their desire for a better life often makes them vulnerable to smugglers and coyotes who have been known to charge migrants anywhere up to $15,000 per person to take them over the border, she said.
“If those people haven’t had an avenue to properly present themselves to want to seek asylum, there would be no need for them to be engaged with those coyotes, to be engaged with those human traffickers, frankly, to be engaged with people who do not have their best interests at heart,” Jozef added.
For families like those of Haitian school teacher Josef, making this treacherous journey for a chance at a better life is one of the last options they have left.
“I went through all these dangers with my family, my wife and my children, because the United States, I think, it’s the last journey for us to make our dreams come true,” Josef said.
