A New Jersey mayor barred from a White House event earlier this year is among a dozen Muslim Americans suing the U.S. government over its continued use of a terror watchlist created after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. 

Mohamed Khairullah, the five-term mayor of Prospect Park, New Jersey, was invited along with other Muslim elected officials to attend an Eid celebration at the White House in May but was told shortly before the event that he wouldn’t be allowed to enter the compound. 

The Secret Service did not explain why it turned him away but a new lawsuit brought by Khairullah and 11 others claims he was barred because his name was on the terror watchlist between 2019 and 2022. 

“After approximately August 2022, after Defendants removed Mr. Khairullah from the watchlist, they continued — and continue, to this day — to retain records of his past watchlist status and use them to harm and stigmatize him,” the lawsuit says. 

The lawsuit was filed by the Council on American-Islamic Relations, a Muslim advocacy group, against 29 federal agencies, including the Justice Department, the FBI, the Secret Service, Customs and Border Protection, and the Transportation Security Administration. 

The lawsuit alleges that the plaintiffs, including eight U.S. citizens, three permanent residents, and one asylum recipient, were placed on the list because of their religion. 

“All of them have been placed on the federal watchlist even though they have never been investigated or convicted of a terrorism-related crime and even though the federal government has no reason to suspect that they’re terrorists except for their Muslim faith, their Muslim sounding names, their countries of origin from Muslim-majority countries and other markers of their identity as Muslims,” CAIR lawyer Hannah Mullen said in an interview with VOA. 

U.S. officials view the watchlist as a vital security tool and deny using it to target Muslims. They note that only a fraction of the names on the list belongs to Muslim Americans. 

The FBI says the list includes “people reasonably suspected to be involved in terrorism or terrorism related activists” and that sharing the list with other agencies “keeps the American people safe.” 

The Secret Service said it does not comment on pending or proposed litigation. But in a statement to VOA, a spokesperson for the agency said, “As we stated in the past, we were not able to grant entry to the Mayor at the White House and we regret any inconvenience that may have caused.” 

Several other agencies contacted by VOA did not immediately respond.

The lawsuit wants the U.S. District Court in Boston, where the complaint was filed, to order the government to remove the plaintiffs’ names and institute changes to ensure the list is in compliance with the Constitution and the law. 

The case comes on the anniversary of a 2003 presidential directive that established the Terrorist Screening Center, an FBI-run outfit that maintains the Terrorist Screening Dataset, colloquially known as the watchlist.

The watchlist includes more than 1.5 million names of what the government calls “known or suspected terrorists.”

It has two subsets known as the “No-Fly List” and the “Selectee List” that federal agencies use to screen air travelers.

The No-Fly List consists of the names of about 80,000 people who are barred from air travel within, to and from the United States. The smaller Selectee List includes people who are subjected to enhanced screening at airports before they are permitted to board an aircraft. 

The consequences of being placed on the watchlist are not limited to airport hassles. They include being denied jobs, security clearance, U.S. citizenship, visas, gun licenses, and other government benefits, the lawsuit says. 

What is more, even when the FBI drops someone from the list, as it allegedly did with Khairullah, the agency retains the person’s information in its database, the lawsuit says. 

This information can then be used by various agencies to vet the person for access to federal buildings, jobs and programs, as well as for background and security checks, according to the lawsuit.

Mullen said that it was “extraordinary” that a person who was no longer deemed a threat by the government can still face harm and stigma because of their past inclusion in the list. 

Khairullah “is certainly not the only person in this circumstance, and he’s certainly not the only person of which we’re aware who appears to have been harmed by past watchlist status,” Mullen said.  
…

The U.N. General Assembly brings world leaders together in New York this week, with meetings Monday focusing on accelerating efforts to achieve worldwide development goals.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said ahead of Monday’s session that only 15% of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals are on track to be reached by 2030.

“Monday’s SDG Summit will be the moment for governments to come to the table with concrete plans and proposals to accelerate progress,” Guterres said.

The goals include ending poverty, ending hunger, ensuring access to affordable energy, taking urgent action to combat climate change, and promoting gender equality.

A July report said climate crisis impacts, lingering effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, the war in Ukraine and a weak global economy have hurt progress toward reaching the development goals.

U.S. President Joe Biden is among the presidents, prime ministers and monarchs from 145 nations schedule to speak at the General Assembly session, which begins Tuesday.  Biden is due to give his address Tuesday, as is Guterres.

The leaders of Britain, China, France and Russia are not attending, with lower-ranking ministers representing their countries.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is set to address the meeting Tuesday, and to attend a meeting of the U.N. Security Council Wednesday.

Guterres said he will tell the leaders that this is not a time for “posturing or positioning.”

“This is a time to come together for real, practical solutions,” Guterres said. “It is time for compromise for a better tomorrow.”

Some information for this story came from The Associated Press and Agence France-Presse
…

The United Auto Workers’ strike against the three biggest U.S. automakers reached into its third day on Sunday with no resolution in sight, although union negotiations with General Motors were set to resume.

About 12,700 UAW workers were on strike at three factories, one each owned by Ford, Stellantis, and GM, in the most significant U.S. industrial labor action in decades. It was the first time the UAW union had gone on strike simultaneously against all three automakers.

The union and the companies appear far apart in settling on a new pact, with the automakers offering raises of about 20% over a 4½-year contract proposal, including an immediate 10% raise. The unions are demanding a 40% increase.

UAW President Shawn Fain told MSNBC on Sunday that progress in the talks has been slow. Union talks with Stellantis and Ford were set to resume on Monday.

“I don’t really want to say we’re closer,” he said. “It’s a shame that the companies didn’t take our advice and get down to business from the beginning of bargaining back in mid-July.”

Asked in a subsequent appearance on CBS’s “Face the Nation” show whether workers would walk out at more plants this week, Fain said the union was “prepared to do whatever we have to do.”

U.S. President Joe Biden, who has signaled support for the union’s efforts, dispatched acting Labor Secretary Julie Su and economic adviser Gene Sperling to Detroit, the hub of the U.S. auto industry, to speak to the UAW and the automakers.
…

“The Nun 2” and “A Haunting in Venice” virtually tied for the No. 1 spot in U.S. and Canadian theaters over the weekend, with a slight edge carrying the horror sequel over the Hercule Poirot mystery, according to studio estimates Sunday.

In its second weekend of release, Warner Bros.’ “The Nun 2,” a spinoff from the studio’s lucrative “Conjuring” franchise, grossed $14.7 million. If numbers hold, that will give “The Nun 2” (up to $56.5 million total and $158.8 million worldwide) the top spot at the box office for the second straight week.

Very close behind was “A Haunting in Venice,” Kenneth Branagh’s third Agatha Christie adaptation following 2017’s “Murder on the Orient Express” and 2022’s “Death on the Nile.” It opened with $14.5 million.

Final box-office figures will be released Monday.

After the successful run of “Murder on the Orient Express” ($352.8 million worldwide against a production budget of $55 million) and the less-stellar global haul of “Death on the Nile” ($137.3 million against a $90 million budget), the sluggish start for “A Haunting in Venice” may have signaled the death knell for Branagh’s detective.

The 20th Century Studios film, released by the Walt Disney Co., grossed $22.7 million internationally. And it cost less than its predecessor, carrying a production budget of about $60 million.

“The Equalizer 3,” starring Denzel Washington, dropped to third place with $7.2 million. In three weeks, it grossed $73.7 million domestically and $132.4 million worldwide. Fourth place went to “My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3” with $4.7 million in its second weekend of release. It’s grossed $18.5 million domestically.

It was one of the quietest weekends in movie theaters this year, as Hollywood — which has spent much of the last two weeks promoting its films at the Venice, Telluride and Toronto film festivals — treads water in between the summer smashes of “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer” and awaits its top fall movies. Some of those, like “Dune: Part Two,” have already been postponed until next year due to the SAG-AFTRA and WGA strikes.

One anticipated fall film, Sony’s “Dumb Money,” opted for a platform release, debuting in eight theaters over the weekend before expanding next weekend and going wide Sept. 29. The film, a rollicking dramatization of the GameStop stock frenzy, grossed $217,000, for a per-location average of about $27,000.

And “Barbie” also remains in the picture. For the ninth straight weekend, Greta Gerwig’s box-office sensation ranked in the top five films. It added $4 million to bring its domestic total to $625 million and its global haul to $1.42 billion. Meanwhile, “Oppenheimer” has reached $912.7 million, making it the highest grossing biopic ever, passing “Bohemian Rhapsody.”

Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Comscore. Final domestic figures will be released Monday.

1. “The Nun II,” $14.7 million.

2. “A Haunting in Venice,” $14.5 million.

3. “The Equalizer 3,” $7.2 million.

4. “My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3,” $4.7million.

5. “Barbie,” $4 million.

6. “Jawan,” $2.5 million.

7. “Blue Beetle,” $2.5 million.

8. “Gran Turismo: Based on a True Story,” $2.4 million.

9. “Oppenheimer,” $2.1 million.

10. “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem,” $2 million.
    …

Families and a pediatrician are challenging North Dakota’s law criminalizing gender-affirming care for minors, the latest lawsuit in many states with similar bans. 

Gender Justice on Thursday announced the state district court lawsuit in a news conference at the state Capitol in Bismarck. The lawsuit against the state attorney general and state’s attorneys of three counties seeks to immediately block the ban, which took effect in April, and to have a judge find it unconstitutional and stop the state from enforcing it. 

State lawmakers “have outlawed essential health care for these kids simply and exclusively because they are transgender,” Gender Justice attorney and North Dakota state director Christina Sambor told reporters. “They have stripped parents of their right to decide for themselves what’s best for their own children. They have made it a criminal offense for doctors to provide health care that can literally save children’s lives.” 

The bill that enacted the ban passed overwhelmingly earlier this year in North Dakota’s Republican-controlled Legislature. Republican Gov. Doug Burgum, who is running for president, signed the ban into law in April. It took effect immediately. 

“Going forward, thoughtful debate around these complex medical policies should demonstrate compassion and understanding for all North Dakota youth and their families,” Burgum said at the time. 

Tate Dolney, a plaintiff and 12-year-old transgender boy from Fargo, said gender-affirming care helped his confidence, happiness, schoolwork and relationships with others. 

“I was finally able to just be who I truly am,” the seventh-grader told reporters. “It has hurt me all over again to know that the lawmakers who have banned the health care don’t want this for me and want to take it all away from me and every other transgender and nonbinary kid who just wants to be left alone to live our lives in peace.” 

Mother Devon Dolney said Tate was previously severely depressed and angry, but with the care “went from being ashamed and uncomfortable with who he is to being confident and outspoken,” a “miraculous” change. 

North Dakota’s ban has led the family to travel farther for Tate’s appointments, now in neighboring Minnesota, she said. The family has considered moving out of North Dakota, she said. 

Politicians “have intruded on our lives and inserted themselves into decisions that they have no business being involved in,” father Robert Dolney said. 

The law exempts minors who were already receiving gender-affirming care and allows for treatment of “a minor born with a medically verifiable genetic disorder of sex development.” 

But the grandfather clause has led providers “to not even risk it, because that vague law doesn’t give them enough detail of exactly what they can and cannot do” — an element of the suit, Gender Justice Senior Staff Attorney Brittany Stewart said. 

North Dakota Attorney General Drew Wrigley told The Associated Press he hadn’t seen the lawsuit’s filing, but his office “will evaluate it and take the appropriate course.” 

Bill sponsor and Republican state Rep. Bill Tveit told the AP that he brought the legislation to protect children. 

“I’ve talked to a number of people who are of age now and would transform back if they could, and they’re just really upset with their parents and the adults in their life that led them to do this, to have these surgeries,” Tveit said. He declined to identify the two people he said he talked to, but said one is a college student in Minnesota that he became acquainted with while working on the bill. 

North Dakota’s law criminalizes doctors’ performance of sex reassignment surgeries on minors with a felony charge, punishable up to 10 years’ imprisonment and a $20,000 fine. 

The law also includes a misdemeanor charge for health care providers who prescribe or give hormone treatments or puberty blockers to minors. That charge is punishable up to nearly a year’s incarceration and a $3,000 fine. 

Opponents of the bill said sex reassignment surgeries are not performed on minors in North Dakota, and the ban on gender-affirming care would harm transgender youth, who are at increased risk for depression, suicide and self-harm. 

At least 22 states have now enacted laws restricting or banning gender-affirming medical care for transgender minors, and most of those states face lawsuits. A federal judge struck down Arkansas’ ban as unconstitutional, and a federal judge has temporarily blocked a ban in Indiana.
…

Two of President Joe Biden’s top goals — fighting climate change and expanding the middle class by supporting unions — are colliding in the key battleground state of Michigan as the United Auto Workers go on strike against the country’s biggest car companies.

The strike involves 13,000 workers so far, less than one-tenth of the union’s total membership, but it’s a sharp test of Biden’s ability to hold together an expansive and discordant political coalition while running for reelection.

Biden is trying to turbocharge the market for electric vehicles to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and prevent China from solidifying its grip on a growing industry. His signature legislation, known as the Inflation Reduction Act, includes billions of dollars in incentives to get additional clean cars on the roads.

Some in the UAW fear the transition will cost jobs because electric vehicles require fewer people to assemble. Although there will be new opportunities in the production of high-capacity batteries, there’s no guarantee those factories will be unionized, and they’re often being planned in states more hostile to organized labor.

“The president is in a really tough position,” said Erik Gordon, a professor at the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business. “What he needs to be the most pro-labor president ever and the greenest president ever is a magic wand.”

Targeted strike

The union is demanding steep raises and better benefits, and it’s escalating the pressure with its targeted strike. Brittany Eason, who has worked for 11 years at the Ford Assembly Plant in Wayne, Michigan, said workers are worried that they’ll “be pushed out by computers and electric vehicles.”

“How do you expect people to work with ease if they’re in fear of losing their jobs?” said Eason, who planned to walk the picket line this weekend. Electric vehicles may be inevitable, she said, but changes need to be made “so everybody can feel secure about their jobs, their homes and everything else.”

Biden on Friday acknowledged the tension in remarks from the White House, saying the transition to clean energy “should be fair and a win-win for autoworkers and auto companies.”

He dispatched top aides to Detroit to help push negotiations along, and he prodded management to make more generous offers to the union, saying “they should go further to ensure record corporate profits mean record contracts.”

As part of its demands, the UAW wants to represent employees at battery plants, which would send ripple effects through an industry that has seen supply chains upended by technological changes.

“Batteries are the power trains of the future,” said Dave Green, a regional director for the union in Ohio and Indiana. “Our workers in engine and transmission areas need to be able to move into the new generation.”

Executives, however, are keen to keep a lid on labor costs as their companies prepare to compete in a global market. China is the dominant manufacturer of electric vehicles and batteries.

“The UAW strike and indeed the ‘summer of strikes’ is the natural result of the Biden administration’s ‘whole of government’ approach to promoting unionization at all costs,” said Suzanne Clark, CEO of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

Politics come into play

Some environmental groups, conscious of how labor remains crucial to securing support for climate programs, have expressed support for the strike.

“We’re at a really pivotal moment in the history of the auto industry,” said Sam Gilchrist, deputy national outreach director at the Natural Resources Defense Council.

Presidential politics have increased the stakes for the strike, which could damage the economy going into an election year, depending on how long it lasts and whether it spreads. It’s also centered in Michigan, a key part of Biden’s 2020 victory and critical to his chances at a second term.

Former President Donald Trump, the front-runner for the Republican nomination, sees an opportunity to drive a wedge between Biden and workers.

In an interview with NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Trump said that “electric cars are going to be made in China,” not the United States, and he said, “the autoworkers are being sold down the river by their leadership.”

Trump’s comments have not earned him any support from Shawn Fain, president of the UAW.

“That’s not someone that represents working-class people,” he told MSNBC earlier this month. “He’s part of the billionaire class. We need to not forget that. And that’s what our members need to think about when they go to vote.”

But there are also disagreements between Biden and workers.

When the Energy Department announced a $9.2 billion loan for battery plants in Tennessee and Kentucky, part of a joint venture by Ford and a South Korean company, Fain said the federal government was “actively funding the race to the bottom with billions in public money.”

Madeline Janis, co-executive director of Jobs to Move America, which works on environmental and worker issues, said the White House needs to do more to alleviate labor challenges.

“We don’t have enough career pathways for people to see themselves in this future and let go of the jobs in industries that are causing our world to be in crisis,” she said.
…

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton was acquitted Saturday of all charges at a historic impeachment trial that divided Republicans over whether to remove a powerful defender of former President Donald Trump after years of scandal and criminal charges.

The verdict reaffirmed Paxton’s durability in America’s biggest red state and is a broader victory for Texas’ hard right after an extraordinary trial that displayed the fractures within the GOP nationally heading into the 2024 elections. In the end, Paxton was fully cleared by Senate Republicans, who serve alongside his wife, state Senator Angela Paxton.

Angela Paxton was not allowed to vote. But she attended all two weeks of the trial, including the reading of the verdict, when all but two of her fellow 18 Republican senators consistently voted to acquit her husband on 16 impeachment articles that accused him of misconduct, bribery and corruption.

Ken Paxton, who was absent for most of the proceedings, did not attend the verdict.

The Senate also voted to dismiss four impeachment articles that weren’t taken up at the trial. It clears the way for Paxton to reclaim his role as Texas’ top lawyer, more than three months after his stunning impeachment in the Texas House forced him to temporarily step aside.

The outcome far from ends Paxton’s troubles. He still faces trial on felony securities fraud charges, remains under a separate FBI investigation and is in jeopardy of losing his ability to practice law in Texas because of his baseless attempts to overturn the 2020 election.

The jury of 30 senators spent about eight hours deliberating behind closed doors before emerging for the historic vote.

In the Senate gallery, among those who staked out an early seat for the impeachment vote were three of Paxton’s former deputies who reported him to the FBI in 2020 and were key witnesses during the trial for House impeachment managers. One of them left before the conclusion of the verdict as it became clear the votes were going Paxton’s way.

There was no visible reaction from the former deputies — David Maxwell, Ryan Vassar and Blake Brickman — after Paxton was acquitted on Article 6, termination of whistleblowers.

The trial had plunged Texas Republicans into unfamiliar waters as they confront whether Paxton should be removed over allegations that he abused his office to protect a political donor who was under FBI investigation.

The trial confronted Paxton, whose three terms in office have been marred by scandal and criminal charges, with a defining test of his political durability after an extraordinary impeachment that was driven by his fellow Republicans. For nearly a decade, Paxton has elevated his national profile by rushing his office into polarizing courtroom battles across the U.S., winning acclaim from Donald Trump and the GOP’s hard right.

Making one final appeal to convict Texas’ top lawyer, impeachment managers used their closing arguments Friday to cast him as a crook who needed to go.

“If we don’t keep public officials from abusing the powers of their office, then frankly no one can,” Republican state Representative Andrew Murr, who helped lead the impeachment in the Texas House, said in his closing arguments.

In an angry and defiant rebuttal, Paxton lawyer Tony Buzbee on Friday unleashed attacks on a wide-ranging cast of figures both inside and outside the Texas Capitol, mocking a Texas Ranger who warned Paxton he was risking indictment and another accuser who cried on the witness stand.

Leaning into divisions among Republicans, Buzbee portrayed the impeachment as a plot orchestrated by an old guard of GOP rivals. He singled out George P. Bush, the nephew of former President George W. Bush who challenged Paxton in the 2022 Republican primary, punctuating a blistering closing argument that questioned the integrity of FBI agents and railed against Texas’ most famous political dynasty.

“I would suggest to you this is a political witch hunt,” Buzbee said. “I would suggest to you that this trial has displayed, for the country to see, a partisan fight within the Republican Party.”

The case centers on accusations that Paxton misused his office to help one of his donors, Austin real estate developer Nate Paul, who was indicted in June on charges of making false statements to banks. Paul has pleaded not guilty.

Eight of Paxton’s former deputies reported him to the FBI in 2020, setting off a federal investigation that will continue regardless of the verdict. Federal prosecutors investigating Paxton took testimony in August before a grand jury in San Antonio, according to two people with knowledge of the matter who spoke on condition of anonymity because of secrecy rules around the proceeding.

During closing arguments, the defense told senators there was either no evidence for the charges or that there wasn’t enough to rise beyond a reasonable doubt. The House impeachment managers, by contrast, walked through specific documents and played clips of testimony by the deputies who reported Paxton to the FBI.

One of the impeachment articles centers on an alleged extramarital affair Paxton had with Laura Olson, who worked for Paul. It alleges that Paul’s hiring of Olson amounted to a bribe. She was called to the witness stand but ultimately never testified. Another article alleges the developer also bribed Paxton by paying for his home renovations.
…

Nearly one in 10 of America’s unionized auto workers went on strike Friday to pressure Detroit’s three automakers into raising wages in an era of big profits and as the industry begins a costly transition from gas guzzlers to electric vehicles.

By striking simultaneously at General Motors, Ford and Chrysler owner Stellantis for the first time in its history, the United Auto Workers union is trying to inflict a new kind of pain on the companies and claw back some pay and benefits workers gave up in recent decades.

The strikes are limited for now to three assembly plants: a GM factory in Wentzville, Missouri, a Ford plant in Wayne, Michigan, near Detroit, and a Jeep plant run by Stellantis in Toledo, Ohio.

The workers received support from U.S. President Joe Biden, who dispatched aides to Detroit to help resolve the impasse and said the automakers should share their “record profits.”

Union President Shawn Fain said workers could strike at more plants if the companies don’t come up with better offers. The workers are seeking across-the-board wage increases of 36% over four years; the companies have countered by offering increases ranging from 17.5% to 20%.

Workers on the picket lines said that they hoped the strikes didn’t last long but added that they were committed to the cause and appreciated Fain’s tough tactics.

“We didn’t have a problem coming in during COVID, being essential workers and making them big profits,” said Chrism Hoisington, who has worked at the Toledo Jeep plant since 2001. “We’ve sacrificed a lot.”

In its 88-year history, UAW had always negotiated with one automaker at a time, limiting the industrywide impact of any possible work stoppages. Each deal with an automaker was viewed as a template, but not a guarantee, for subsequent contract negotiations.

Now, roughly 13,000 of 146,000 workers at the three companies are on strike, making life complicated for automakers’ operations, while limiting the drain on the union’s $825 million strike fund.

If the contract negotiations drag on — and the strikes expand to affect more plants — the costs will grow for workers and the companies. Auto dealers could run short of vehicles, raising prices and pushing customers to buy from foreign automakers with nonunionized workers. It could also put fresh stress on an economy that’s been benefiting from easing inflation.

The new negotiating tactic is the brainchild of Fain, the first leader in the union’s history to be elected directly by workers. In the past, outgoing leaders picked their replacements by choosing delegates to a convention.

But that system gave birth to a culture of bribery and embezzlement that ended with a federal investigation and prison time for two former UAW presidents.

The combative Fain narrowly won his post last spring with a fiery campaign against that culture, which he called “company-unionism” and said sold out workers by allowing plant closures and failing to extract more money from the automakers.

“We’ve been a one-party state for longer than I’ve been alive,” Fain said while campaigning as an adversary to the companies rather than a business partner.

David Green, a former local union leader elected to a regional director post this year, said it’s time for a new way of bargaining. “The risks of not doing something different outweigh the risks of doing the same thing and expecting a different result,” Green said.

During his more than two-decade career at General Motors, Green saw the company close an assembly plant in Lordstown, Ohio, that employed 3,000 workers. The union agreed to a series of concessions made to help the companies get through the Great Recession. “We’ve done nothing but slide backward for the last 20 years,” Green said, calling Fain’s strategy “refreshing.”

Carlos Guajardo, who has worked at Ford for the past 35 years and was employed by GM for 11 years before that, said he likes the new strategy.

“It keeps the strike fund lasting longer,” said Guajardo, who was on the picket line in Michigan Friday before the sun came up.

The strikes will likely chart the future of the union and of America’s homegrown auto industry at a time when U.S. labor is flexing its might and the companies face a historic transition from building internal combustion automobiles to making electric vehicles.

The walkouts also will be an issue in next year’s presidential election, testing Biden’s claim to being the most union-friendly president in American history.

The limited-strike strategy could have ripple effects, GM CEO Mary Barra said Friday on CNBC.

Many factories are reliant on each other for parts, Barra said. “We’ve worked to have a very efficient manufacturing network, so yes, even one plant is going to start to have impact.”

Citing strike disruptions at its Wayne plant, Ford told about 600 nonstriking workers at the plant not to report to work on Friday, Ford spokeswoman Jennifer Enoch said.

Even Fain has called the union’s demands audacious, but he said the automakers are raking in billions and can afford them. He scoffed at company claims that costly settlements would force them to raise vehicle prices, saying labor accounts for only 4% to 5% of vehicle costs.

In addition to the wage increases, union negotiators are also seeking: restoration of cost-of-living pay raises; an end to varying tiers of wages for factory jobs; a 32-hour week with 40 hours of pay; the restoration of traditional defined-benefit pensions for new hires who now receive only 401(k)-style retirement plans; and pension increases for retirees, among other items.

Starting in 2007, workers gave up cost-of-living raises and defined benefit pensions for new hires. Wage tiers were created as the UAW tried to help the companies avoid financial trouble ahead of and during the Great Recession. Even so, only Ford avoided bankruptcy protection.

Many say it’s time to get the concessions back because the companies are making huge profits and CEOs’ pay packages are soaring.
…

The floods this week in Massachusetts that put a few dams at risk have raised concern the structures may increasingly be at risk as the region is hit by stronger and wetter storms.

There are thousands of dams across New England and many were built decades if not centuries ago, often to help power textile mills, store water or supply irrigation to farms. The concern is they have outlived their usefulness and climate change could bring storms they were never built to withstand.

“When they were built, the climate was different. The design storms were different,” said Robert Kearns, a climate resilience specialist with the Charles River Watershed Association.

Leominster, Massachusetts, Kearns noted, got almost 27.9 centimeters of rain over several hours Monday night. At least two of the city’s 24 dams nearly failed this week, prompting the city to recommend residents evacuate before the threat subsided.

“This infrastructure, the culverts, the dams, they were not built for the volume of water that we’re seeing and we’re going to continue to see in the future,” he added.

A federal database lists nearly 4,000 dams in New England, with 176 categorized as high-hazard structures that are in either poor or unsatisfactory condition. If these dams fail, they would pose a risk to people living downstream as well as roads, neighborhoods and key infrastructure such as water treatment plants.

An investigation by The Associated Press in 2022 found the number of high-hazard dams was on the rise: More than 2,200 nationwide, up substantially from a similar AP review conducted three years earlier. The number is likely even higher, although it’s unclear because some states don’t track the data and many federal agencies refuse to release details about dam conditions.

In the 2019 AP investigation, a review of inspection reports found a host of problems with the dams, including leaks indicating internal failure, unrepaired erosion, holes from burrowing animals and extensive tree growth, which can destabilize earthen dams. In some cases, inspectors flagged spillways too small to handle the amount of water that could result from increasingly intense rainstorms.

Part of the challenge is dam safety has long been ignored by policymakers, requiring many states to run their dam safety programs on shoestring budgets and repairs can take years. Advocates also say many programs lack transparency so communities may not even know a dangerous dam upstream poses a risk, while others complain dam safety officials have been slow to recognize the threat of climate change.

“We are not seeing a shift in mindset related to dams that we should be seeing in light of the massive changes we’re seeing from climate change in terms of particularly more extreme storms,” said Emily Norton, executive director of the Charles River Watershed Association. “We think there should be much more sense of urgency about dam assessment and dam removal.”

Christine Hatch, a University of Massachusetts Amherst hydrogeologist, said Massachusetts needs to do a statewide dam assessment to determine how best to spend its limited resources.

“The reality of climate change is that whatever we thought was safe enough when we built it isn’t safe enough anymore,” Hatch said. “There isn’t enough money to upsize all those or retrofit them.”

An assessment is needed to decide which dams are essential and which are dangerous, Hatch said.

New England has seen numerous dam failures over the years.

More than 50 have failed in New Hampshire over the past century, including the Meadow Pond Dam, which ruptured in 1996, killing a woman and flooding a neighborhood. There have been about 70 in Vermont, including the 1947 failure of East Pittsford Dam that devastated Rutland.

Five failed in Rhode Island during a 2010 storm, prompting the state to examine all dam spillways. A 2019 study found a quarter of the state’s high-hazard dams could not hold up to a 100-year storm — an event with a 1% chance of happening in a given year — and 17% couldn’t survive a 500-year storm, which has a 0.2% chance of occurring in a year.

Several dams nearly failed in Vermont this summer during heavy flooding, including one that would have inundated parts of Montpelier, the capital.

Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey said Wednesday that the administration is keeping an eye on dams across the state.

“We have already monitored the conditions of dams in many communities. Our Office of Dam Safety was on the ground, particularly in Leominster, the other day to take quick action working with others to make sure those dams were shored up. But it’s something we’re going to continue to watch,” Healey said.

Healey has warned about the increasing toll of climate change. A series of recent storms, including torrential rains in July that flooded farms in western Massachusetts, have highlighted the importance or bolstering the state’s defenses, she said.

“Obviously, this speaks to the need for federal funding which I’m pursuing and also the need for continued investments in resilience and in infrastructure because we’ve seen the devastating results of these storms,” she said. “What we’ve seen with these storms, and it is different, is it can turn on a dime. The playbook can’t be the same.”

The Barrett Park Pond Dam, located on a 3.6-hectare pond in Leominster, suffered significant damage during this week’s floods. Failure of the dam, which dates to the 1800s, could have sent water into a residential neighborhood downhill, state officials said.

Last inspected in 2021, the dam was found to be in poor condition. The city received a $163,500 grant for repairs but was still in the design phase when the flooding hit.

“The good news was that the 24 dams held,” said Leominster’s director of emergency management, Arthur Elbthal, adding that proposed repairs must go through the timely budget process.

“I do know what we have here is what we can build on,” he said. “Certainly, we need to pay attention to them. … Every piece of infrastructure, whether it’s a road, a sewer line, a dam, we are always looking to keep them repaired and functioning as they should. I don’t see any change in that now.”
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With Global South leaders concerned that the war on Ukraine will again dominate the U.N. General Assembly at the expense of development challenges, U.S. President Joe Biden will use his Tuesday remarks in New York to argue that the world cannot address one without the other.

Supporting Kyiv and addressing Global South concerns such as poverty, high inflation and debt are connected goals, national security adviser Jake Sullivan told VOA on Friday during a White House briefing.

“Russia’s brutal invasion of Ukraine has caused ripple effects that impact food security, energy security and other forms of harm to countries around the world,” Sullivan said. “And so, ending this war on just terms, on the principles of sovereignty and territorial integrity, will certainly benefit not just the Ukrainian people but people everywhere.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will be attending in person for the first time since the conflict broke out and will make his case directly to the General Assembly on Tuesday. He is set to speak at a U.N. Security Council special meeting on Ukraine on Wednesday that could place him in the same room as Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, who is representing Russia.

Sullivan said there were no plans for Biden to attend the Security Council meeting on Ukraine. Instead, he will host the Ukrainian leader at the White House on Thursday.

The U.S. and its allies must be able to continue to support Ukraine and provide additional economic assistance to the Global South, said former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine John Herbst, who is now senior director of the Atlantic Council’s Eurasia Center.

“Whether or not the Global South ultimately comes to understand the great stakes in stopping the Kremlin aggression in Ukraine, we can stop that aggression,” he told VOA.

Global South goals

Efforts to address Global South needs, including tackling poverty and diseases and improving access to clean water and energy, are trailing far behind the target that U.N. member countries have set for themselves through the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

This year marks the halfway point between the 2015 adoption of the 17 goals – which include ending hunger, reducing inequalities and taking action on the climate crisis – and the 2030 target date for their completion. But according to one multiagency report, only 15% of those goals are on track to be met, due to climate change, economic shocks tied to the COVID-19 pandemic and the war on Ukraine.

Despite the setbacks, the Biden administration has an opportunity to embrace the SDG agenda in a way that is aligned with aspirations of the Global South, Noam Unger, director of the Sustainable Development and Resilience Initiative at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said in a briefing to reporters Thursday.

One way to demonstrate Washington’s commitment is through voluntary national reviews, which all countries who agreed to the SDGs are supposed to do but the U.S. has not done, Unger told VOA.

Marking the beginning of a new phase of hoped-for accelerated progress, the 2023 SDG Summit will be held Monday and Tuesday on the sidelines of the General Assembly.

The Black Sea Grain Initiative will be a key focus of the summit. The now-expired deal among Russia, Ukraine, Turkey and the U.N. created a safe corridor for Ukrainian grain exports via the Black Sea and allowed for Russian food and fertilizer to reach global markets.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is scheduled to meet Turkish, Ukrainian and Russian leaders in New York in a bid to revive the deal, which Russia allowed to expire two months ago.

Security Council reform

Another focus of Biden’s remarks will be support for reform of the  Security Council, Sullivan said.

While the U.S. has long advocated increasing the number of permanent and nonpermanent representatives, in his 2022 speech Biden said that Washington endorses not only “permanent seats for those nations we’ve long supported” — that is, Japan, Germany and India — but also “permanent seats for countries in Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean.”

Since its creation, the Security Council has had the same five permanent members: China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States. The council’s failure to act on the war on Ukraine because of Russia’s wielding of its veto power has reignited decadeslong demands to overhaul the world’s premier body for efforts toward international peace and security.

Biden is also set to hold bilateral meetings on the assembly sidelines, including with Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The U.S. has expressed disapproval of the Netanyahu government’s hard-line policies, including its judicial overhaul plan, which critics say is a danger to the country’s democracy.

It’s also pushing for Israel to normalize diplomatic relations with its Arab neighbors, including Saudi Arabia.

Misha Komadovsky contributed to this report.
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U.S. lawmakers from both major parties have voiced their resolve to rally international pressure for an end to the suffering of the people of Myanmar at the hands of the military junta that cut off democratic rule in the country in February 2021.

“We are rededicating ourselves to human rights and peace for the people of Burma,” said Representative Chris Smith, a Republican and the co-chair of the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission, following a hearing on human rights in Myanmar this week.

“We need to do much more for the people who are suffering so horrifically at the hands of a barbaric regime,” Smith told VOA. He called for renewed efforts “to stop the weapons from flowing,” whether it be from India, China or Russia, and said there needs to be “a more aggressive embargo, particularly on oil, which is a source of great revenue for the junta.”

Representative Ilhan Omar, a Democrat, said members of the committee “want to make sure that the genocide that was experienced by the Rohingya and everything that has gone on in Myanmar will not be forgotten — that we keep it in the forefront here in Congress.”

Omar told VOA the hearing had served to make sure that the world is working together to “care about the people of Myanmar, try to provide humanitarian aid, make sure that there is a civilian government, but also not forget the displaced, and the internally displaced people and refugees, as we try to think about humanitarian aid.”

Democratic Representative James P. McGovern, a long-standing advocate for human rights, is co-chair of the Lantos commission, which according to its website “is charged with promoting, defending and advocating for international human rights as enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other relevant human rights instruments.”

McGovern said in his opening remarks that the primary question for the commission is whether Congress, the Biden administration and the international community “are doing all that we can to be wind at the backs of those fighting for human rights and to restore democracy in Burma.”

He said the hearing was also an opportunity to review the effectiveness of the Burma Unified through Rigorous Military Accountability (BURMA) Act, which was signed into law in December 2022. It contains a number of economic and diplomatic measures to bring pressure for a restoration of democracy in Myanmar.

“Its implementation is underway,” McGovern said, “so today’s discussion is an opportunity to take stock of what has been done and ask: What has been achieved, how do we know if we’re making progress and what more can we do?”

Testimony

U.S. State Department officials who testified at the hearing detailed the government’s efforts to exert economic and political pressure on the junta while highlighting support for humanitarian assistance, including for Rohingya refugees in neighboring Bangladesh.

U.N. Special Rapporteur Tom Andrews, a witness at the hearing and a former U.S. congressman, called for the United States to intensify sanctions against the military rulers, targeting their primary revenue source: oil and gas sales.

“We need to have more sanctions imposed,” Andrews said. “I urge the U.S. to join the European Union and immediately impose sanctions on the junta’s single largest source of revenue, the Myanmar Oil and Gas Enterprise.”

The company, also known as MOGE, is estimated to generate $1.5 billion in annual revenue, about half of the country’s foreign currency earnings.

“If you can stop the money, you can cut their ability to continue these atrocities,” he said, referring to civilian deaths at the hands of the military.

In a post-hearing interview with VOA, Andrews said he was encouraged by the hearing. “The fact that the United States Congress is asking these questions of the administration is a very positive sign,” he said.

Malaki Karen, a prominent Rohingya human rights activist, also testified at the hearing, bringing attention to the plight of the Rohingya community and the need for a sustained commitment by the U.S. and the international community.

“We want more participation from the U.S., the United Nations, Bangladesh and influential countries which care about human rights,” Karen said.
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The United States is sanctioning more than two dozen individuals and entities connected to Iran’s “violent suppression” of protests in the wake of Masha Amini’s death last year while in the custody of Iran’s morality police, the U.S. Department of Treasury said on Friday.

The sanctions target 29 people and groups, including 18 key members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, or IRGC, and Iran’s Law Enforcement Forces, or LEF, as well as the head of Iran’s Prisons Organization, the department said. They also target officials linked to Iran’s internet blockade, as well as several media outlets.

“The United States, alongside the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and our other international allies and partners, will continue to take collective action against those who suppress Iranians’ exercise of their human rights,” U.S. Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Brian Nelson said in a statement.

The first anniversary of Amini’s death is Saturday.

Britain separately announced its sanctions targeting senior Iranian decision-makers enforcing Tehran’s mandatory hijab law, including Iran’s minister for culture and Islamic guidance, his deputy, the mayor of Tehran and an Iranian police spokesman.

Amini, an Iranian Kurd, died September 16, 2022, at the age of 22 after being arrested for allegedly flouting the Islamic Republic’s mandatory dress code. Her death sparked months of anti-government protests that marked the biggest show of opposition to Iranian authorities in years.

The U.S. sanctions target LEF spokesperson Saeed Montazerolmehdi and multiple LEF and IRGC commanders, as well as Iran’s Prisons Organization chief Gholamali Mohammadi. Douran Software Technologies chief executive Alireza Abedinejad, as well as state-controlled media organizations Press TV, Tasnim News Agency and Fars News, were among those sanctioned.

U.S. sanctions generally prohibit Americans from engaging in transactions with those targeted.
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