News of the World

[kyonides]

New Jersey Congressmen Call for Halt of Offshore Wind Projects
Amid Spate of Whale Deaths

Reps. Jeff Van Drew and Christopher Smith of New Jersey, Andy Harris of Maryland, and Scott Smith of Pennsylvania convened the first congressional hearing into the matter amid a surge in whale and dolphin deaths along the New Jersey shore, which they attribute to survey work for the wind farms.

Twenty-nine whales have died on the East Coast since Dec. 1. And six dead dolphins have washed ashore in New Jersey in the past month, including one on the eve of the hearing.

More than 500 gathered in the convention center where the congressional delegation heard public testimony from local experts and stakeholders.

Van Drew explained that Danish energy company Orsted plans to build its newest offshore wind farm along the Jersey coast, just 15 miles from the Wildwood Convention Center.
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“This is their own scientist warning BOEM that offshore wind will severely impact the whales, yet they moved ahead and completely ignored the few people in their group who would tell the truth,” Van Drew said,

Jacob Chansley’s Lawyer Intends to File to Vacate Conviction

Bill Shipley, the lawyer representing Jan. 6 defendant Jacob Chansley, started the process of requesting the court to vacate Chansley’s 41-month sentence next week, Shipley confirmed in an exclusive interview with The Epoch Times on Friday.

Shipley said he intends to file a vacate-conviction motion pursuant to 28 U.S. Code § 2255 (remedies on motion attacking sentence) next week, pending government response to a letter he sent to the DOJ on Friday requesting information about Chansley’s case. That provision in the law states that a “prisoner in custody under sentence of a court established by Act of Congress claiming the right to be released upon the ground that the sentence was imposed in violation of the Constitution or laws of the United States.”

On Friday, Shipley sent a letter to Assistant U.S. Attorney Kimberly Paschall to ask about the factual basis of the government’s representation of Chansley’s case in a separate lawsuit. He said he’s “prepping the battlefield” for a prospective filing to request the court to vacate Chansley’s conviction.

Los Angeles Metro Station Blasts Classical Music to Deter Homeless

“Many of you have noticed that we’re playing music over the public-address speakers, as do many other types of businesses and municipalities,” Metro officials said in a February statement. “The idea is to create an atmosphere that is comfortable for spending short amounts of time transiting through our station, but not conducive to hours-long loitering.”

Crime is now down about 20 percent, and the number of emergency service calls dropped by 75 percent after the music program and other safety measures were launched in mid-February, Dave Sotero, LA Metro spokesman, told the Los Angeles Daily News via email.
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Hammel said it falls in the realm of “hostile architecture,” like a park bench split in half with an armrest, for example, to prevent homeless people from sleeping on it.

“It’s alienating music on purpose,” he told The Epoch Times. “It’s the musical equivalent of turning up the heat to a relatively intolerable temperature.”

Biden Urges Congress to Toughen Penalties for Executives of Failed Banks

President Joe Biden recommended that executives of failed banks should be banned from working in the banking sector again.

The White House released a plan to hold senior management more accountable when their financial institutions collapse and enter Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) receivership. In addition, the administration urged Congress to make it easier for federal regulators to punish bank executives when they engage in mismanagement and take excessive risks.

The announcement on Friday highlighted recent reports that show Silicon Valley Bank CEO Gregory Becker sold about $3 million worth of shares in the entity just days before its failure, citing a Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filing.

One measure would be to claw back compensation from executives at failed banks, such as Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) and Signature Bank. This, according to President Biden, would include gains from stock sales.

The FDIC possesses clawback power under the Dodd-Frank Act, but it only covers large banks.

International Arrest Warrant Issued for Vladimir Putin

Russian President Vladimir Putin has been formally accused by the International Criminal Court (ICC) of war crimes and faces an arrest warrant, which the Kremlin considers illegitimate.

ICC president Piotr Hofmanski said in a video statement Friday that an arrest warrant has been issued for Putin for the “alleged war crimes of deportation of children from Ukrainian occupied territories into the Russian Federation.”

International law prohibits occupying powers from transferring civilians from occupied areas to other territories.

Hofmanski said the contents of the warrants would be kept secret to protect the identities of the allegedly abducted children.
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While the ICC’s judges have issued the warrants, it will be up to the international community to enforce them as the ICC has no police force of its own.

UN Nuclear Watchdog: 2.5 Tons of Uranium Missing in Libya

Some 2.5 tons of natural uranium stored in a site in war-torn Libya have gone missing, the United Nations nuclear watchdog said Thursday, raising safety and proliferation concerns.

However, forces allied to a warlord battling the Libyan government based in the capital of Tripoli claimed on Thursday night that they recovered the material. U.N. inspectors said they were trying to confirm that.

Natural uranium cannot immediately be used for energy production or bomb fuel, as the enrichment process typically requires the metal to be converted into a gas, then later spun in centrifuges to reach the levels needed.

But each ton of natural uranium—if obtained by a group with the technological means and resources—can be refined to 5.6 kilograms (12 pounds) of weapons-grade material over time, experts say. That makes finding the missing metal important for nonproliferation experts.
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Estimates put the Libyan stockpile at some 1,000 metric tons of yellowcake uranium under Gadhafi, who declared his nascent nuclear weapons program to the world in 2003 after the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq.

But the 2011 Arab Spring saw rebels topple Gadhafi and ultimately kill him. Sabha grew increasingly lawless, with African migrants crossing Libya, saying some had been sold as slaves in the city, the U.N. reported.

In recent years, Sabha largely has been under the control of the self-styled Libyan National Army, headed by Khalifa Hifter. On Thursday night, Hifter’s forces issued a statement claiming they had recovered the material.