$8B Aid Package to Taiwan Welcomed     04/23 06:14

   An $8 billion defense package approved by the U.S. House of Representatives 
over the weekend will "strengthen the deterrence against authoritarianism in 
the West Pacific ally chain," Taiwan's President-elect Lai Ching-te said 
Tuesday, in a reference to key rival China.

   TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) -- An $8 billion defense package approved by the U.S. 
House of Representatives over the weekend will "strengthen the deterrence 
against authoritarianism in the West Pacific ally chain," Taiwan's 
President-elect Lai Ching-te said Tuesday, in a reference to key rival China.

   The funding will also "help ensure peace and stability across the Taiwan 
Strait and also boost confidence in the region" Lai, currently Taiwan's vice 
president, told visiting Michigan Representatives Lisa McClain, a Republican, 
and Democrat Dan Kildee at a meeting at the Presidential Office Building in the 
capital Taipei.

   In the face of "authoritarian expansionism," Taiwan is "determined to 
safeguard democracy and also safeguard our homeland," Lai said.

   Also known as William Lai, U.S.-educated former medical researcher is 
despised by Beijing for his opposition to political unification with the 
mainland. In recent elections, the pro-unification Nationalists won a narrow 
majority in the legislature, but their influence on foreign policy and other 
national issues remains limited.

   The Senate will vote Tuesday on $95 billion in war aid to Ukraine, Israel 
and Taiwan.

   The package covers a wide range of parts and services aimed at maintaining 
and and upgrading Taiwan's military hardware. Separately, Taiwan has signed 
billions in contracts with the U.S. for latest-generation F-16V fighter jets, 
M1 Abrams main battle tanks and the HIMARS rocket system, which the U.S. has 
also supplied to Ukraine.

   Taiwan has also been expanding its own defense industry, building submarines 
and trainer jets. Next month it plans to commission its third and fourth 
domestically designed and built stealth corvettes to counter the Chinese navy. 
as part of a strategy of asymmetrical warfare in which a smaller force counters 
its larger opponent by using cutting edge or nonconventional tactics and 
weaponry.

   Lai, of the pro-independence ruling Democratic Progressive Party, won the 
January election handily and takes over next month from President Tsai Ing-wen, 
whom Beijing has sought to isolate for the past eight years.

   China is determined to annex the island, which it considers its own 
territory, by force if necessary and has been advertising that threat with 
daily incursions into waters and air space around Taiwan by navy ships and 
warplanes. It has also sought to pick away Taiwan's few remaining formal 
diplomatic partners.

   While Washington and Taipei have no formal diplomatic ties in deference to 
Beijing, McClain emphasized the need for the entire world to observe the 
strength of the relationship.

   "Peace is our goal. But to do that, we have to have relationships and we 
value your relationship. Not only militarily, but economically," she said.

   Kildee said the timing of the visit was especially significant given the 
recent passage of the funding bill to "provide very important support to insure 
security in this region."

   "It's important for the people of Taiwan, it's important for the people in 
the United States, it's important for the entire world," Kildee said.

MN Leads Pushback on Censorship        04/23 06:17

   

   ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) -- As a queer and out youth, Shae Ross was alarmed when 
she heard that conservative groups were organizing in her community to ban 
books dealing with sexuality, gender and race. So she and her friends got 
organized themselves, and helped persuade their school board to make it much 
harder to remove books and other materials from their libraries and classrooms.

   Ross, an 18-year-old senior in the Minneapolis suburb of Bloomington, is 
glad to see that her governor and leaders in several other states are fighting 
the trend playing out in more conservative states where book challenges and 
bans have soared to their highest levels in decades.

   "For a lot of teenagers, LGBT teenagers and teenagers who maybe just don't 
feel like they have a ton of friends, or a ton of popularity in middle or high 
school ... literature becomes sort of an escape." Ross said. "Especially when I 
was like sixth, seventh grade, I'd say reading books, especially books with gay 
characters ... was a way that I could feel seen and represented."

   Minnesota is one of several Democratic-leaning states where lawmakers are 
now pursuing bans on book bans. The Washington and Maryland legislatures have 
already passed them this year, while Illinois did so last year. It was a major 
flashpoint of Oregon's short session, where legislation passed the Senate but 
died without a House vote.

   According to the American Library Association, over 4,200 works in school 
and public libraries were targeted in 2023, a jump from the old record of 
nearly 2,600 books in 2022. Many challenged books -- 47% in 2023 -- had LGBTQ+ 
and racial themes.

   Restrictions in some states have increased so much that librarians and 
administrators fear crippling lawsuits, hefty fines, and even imprisonment if 
they provide books that others regard as inappropriate. Already this year, 
lawmakers in more than 15 states have introduced bills to impose harsh 
penalties on libraries or librarians.

   Conservative parents and activists argue that the books are too sexually 
explicit or otherwise controversial, and are inappropriate, especially for 
younger readers. National groups such as Moms for Liberty say parents are 
entitled to more control over books available to their children.

   But pushback is emerging. According to EveryLibrary, a political action 
committee for libraries, several states are considering varying degrees of 
prohibitions on book bans. A sampling includes California, Connecticut, 
Delaware, Georgia, Kansas, Massachusetts, Missouri, New York, Pennsylvania, 
Rhode Island and Vermont, though some in conservative states appear unlikely to 
pass. One has also died in New Mexico this year.

   One such bill is awaiting Democratic Gov. Wes Moore's signature in Maryland. 
Washington Gov. Jay Inslee signed a bill last month that sets a high bar for 
removing challenged materials, especially those dealing with race, sexual 
orientation and gender identity. A version pending in New Jersey would protect 
librarians from civil or criminal liability.

   Some proposals are labeled "Freedom to Read" acts.

   "That's what's so critical here. The voluntary nature of reading," said 
Martha Hickson, a librarian at North Hunterdon High School in New Jersey. 
"Students can choose to read, not read, or totally ignore everything in this 
library. No one is asking them to read a damn thing."

   Hickson recalled how parents first suggested her book collections contained 
pedophilia and pornography during a school board meeting in 2021. She watched 
the livestream in horror as they objected that the novel "Lawn Boy" and 
illustrated memoir "Gender Queer" were available to students and suggested she 
could be criminally liable.

   "Tears welled up, shaking" Hickson said. "But once my body got done with 
that, my normal attitude, the fight side kicked in, and I picked up my cell 
phone while the meeting was still going on and started reaching out."

   Book bans have been a sore point for Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, a former high 
school teacher. The Minnesota Senate passed his proposal this month. It would 
prohibit book bans in public and school libraries based on content or 
ideological objections, and require that the key decisions about what books 
will or won't be offered be made by library professionals.

   The state House is considering an approach with more teeth, including 
penalties and allowing private citizens to sue to enforce it.

   "I'm working with stakeholders, with the Department of Education, 
librarians, school districts and their representatives," said Democratic Rep. 
Cedrick Frazier, of New Hope. "We're working to tighten up the language, to 
make sure we can come to a consensus, and just kind of make sure that 
everybody's on the same page."

   Because of her activism, Ross, a student at Jefferson High School in 
Bloomington, was invited when Walz went to Como Park Senior High School in St. 
Paul last month to view a display of books banned elsewhere. The governor 
called book bans "the antithesis of everything we believe" and denounced what 
he depicted as a growing effort to bully school boards.

   At a House hearing last month, speakers said books by LGBTQ+ and authors of 
color are among those most frequently banned. Karlton Laster, director of 
policy and organizing for OutFront Minnesota, who identifies as Black and 
queer, said reading their works helped him "communicate my hard feelings and 
truths to my family and friends," and helped him come out to his family.

   Kendra Redmond, a Bloomington mother with three children in public schools, 
testified about efforts to push back against a petition drive by conservatives 
to pull about 28 titles from the city's school libraries.

   Pushback from Ross, Redmond and others succeeded. The Bloomington School 
Board last month made it much harder to seek removals. Parents can still 
restrict access by their own children to material they deem objectionable.

   Many challenges in the district came from the Bloomington Parents Alliance. 
One of its leaders, Alan Redding, recalled how his son's 9th grade class was 
discussing a book a few years ago when graphic passages about date rape were 
read aloud in class. He said his son and other kids were unprepared for 
something so explicit.

   "They were clearly bothered by this and disgusted," Redding said. "My son 
absolutely shut down for the semester."

   Minnesota Republican lawmakers have argued that instead of worrying about 
book bans, they should be focusing instead on performance in a state where just 
under half of public school students can read at grade level.

   "Every book is banned for a child that doesn't know how to read," said GOP 
Rep. Patricia Mueller, a teacher from Austin.

Foreign Aid to Senate for Final OK     04/23 06:19

   The Senate is returning to Washington on Tuesday to vote on $95 billion in 
war aid to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, taking the final steps in Congress to 
send the legislation to President Joe Biden's desk after months of delays and 
contentious internal debate over how involved the United States should be 
abroad.

   WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Senate is returning to Washington on Tuesday to vote 
on $95 billion in war aid to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, taking the final steps 
in Congress to send the legislation to President Joe Biden's desk after months 
of delays and contentious internal debate over how involved the United States 
should be abroad.

   The $61 billion for Ukraine comes as the war-torn country desperately needs 
new firepower and as Russian President Vladimir Putin has stepped up his 
attacks. Soldiers have struggled to hold the front lines as Russia has seized 
the momentum on the battlefield and forced Ukraine to cede significant 
territory.

   Bidentold Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Monday the U.S. will 
soon send badly needed air defense weaponry. The House approved the package 
Saturday in a series of four votes, sending it back to the Senate for final 
approval.

   "The President has assured me that the package will be approved quickly and 
that it will be powerful, strengthening our air defense as well as long-range 
and artillery capabilities," Zelenskyy said in a post on X, formerly Twitter.

   The legislation also would send $26 billion in wartime assistance to Israel 
and humanitarian relief to citizens of Gaza, and $8 billion to counter China in 
Taiwan and the Indo-Pacific. In an effort to gain more votes, Republicans in 
the House majority also added a bill to the package that could ban the social 
media app TikTok in the U.S. if its Chinese owners do not sell their stake 
within a year. The foreign aid portion of the bill is similar to what the 
Senate passed in February with some minor changes and additions, including the 
TikTok bill and a stipulation that $9 billion of the economic assistance to 
Ukraine is in the form of "forgivable loans."

   The package has had broad congressional support since Biden first requested 
the money last summer. But congressional leaders had to navigate strong 
opposition from a growing number of conservatives who question U.S. involvement 
in foreign wars and argue that Congress should be focused instead on the surge 
of migration at the U.S.-Mexico border.

   The growing fault line in the GOP between those conservatives who are 
skeptical of the aid and the more traditional, "Reagan-era" Republicans who 
strongly support it may prove to be career-defining for the two top Republican 
leaders. Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell, who has made the Ukraine aid a top 
priority, said last month that he would step down from leadership after 
becoming increasingly distanced from many in his conference on the issue and 
others. House Speaker Mike Johnson, who put the bills on the floor after 
praying for guidance, faces threats of an ouster after a majority of 
Republicans voted against them.

   McConnell has made clear that stopping Putin is important enough for him to 
stake his political capital.

   "The national security of the United States depends on the willingness of 
its leaders to build, sustain, and exercise hard power," McConnell said after 
House passage Saturday, adding, "I make no apology for taking these linked 
threats seriously or for urging the Biden administration and my colleagues in 
Congress to do the same."

   Johnson said after House passage that "we did our work here, and I think 
history will judge it well."

   The Senate could pass the aid package, now combined back into one bill, as 
soon as Tuesday afternoon if senators are able to agree on the timing for a 
vote. If Republicans who oppose the legislation decide to protest and draw out 
the process, final votes would likely be Wednesday.

   The legislation was first passed by the Senate in February on a sweeping 
70-29 vote, and it could get even more votes this time after the House added in 
the loan provisions. The idea for a loan started with former President Donald 
Trump, who had been opposed to the aid.

   South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham, a longtime GOP hawk who voted against it 
in February because it wasn't paired with legislation to stem migration at the 
border, praised Johnson after the vote and indicated he will vote for it this 
time. "The idea that the United States will be safer if we pull the plug on our 
friends and allies overseas is wrong," he said on X.

   The revised House package also included several Republican priorities that 
were acceptable to Democrats to get the bill passed. Those include proposals 
that allow the U.S. to seize frozen Russian central bank assets to rebuild 
Ukraine; impose sanctions on Iran, Russia, China and criminal organizations 
that traffic fentanyl; and could eventually ban TikTok in the U.S. if the 
owner, ByteDance Ltd., doesn't sell. That bill has wide bipartisan support in 
the House and Senate.

   Opponents in the Senate, like the House, are likely to include some 
left-wing senators who are opposed to aiding Israel as Prime Minister Benjamin 
Netanyahu has bombarded Gaza and killed thousands of civilians. Vermont Sens. 
Bernie Sanders, an independent, and Peter Welch, a Democrat, both voted against 
the package in February.

   "This bill provides Netanyahu $10 billion more in unrestricted military aid 
for his horrific war against the Palestinian people," Sanders said on X just 
before that vote. "That is unconscionable."

Pro-Palestinian Protests Sweep Campuses04/23 06:22

   

   NEW YORK (AP) -- Columbia canceled in-person classes, dozens of protesters 
were arrested at New York University and Yale, and the gates to Harvard Yard 
were closed to the public Monday as some of the most prestigious U.S. 
universities sought to defuse campus tensions over Israel's war with Hamas.

   More than 100 pro-Palestinian demonstrators who had camped out on Columbia's 
green were arrested last week, and similar encampments have sprouted up at 
universities around the country as schools struggle with where to draw the line 
between allowing free expression while maintaining safe and inclusive campuses.

   At New York University, an encampment set up by students swelled to hundreds 
of protesters throughout the day Monday. The school said it warned the crowd to 
leave, then called in the police after the scene became disorderly and the 
university said it learned of reports of "intimidating chants and several 
antisemitic incidents." Shortly after 8:30 p.m., officers began making arrests.

   "It's a really outrageous crackdown by the university to allow the police to 
arrest students on our own campus," said New York University law student Byul 
Yoon.

   "Antisemitism is never ok. That's absolutely not what we stand for and 
that's why there are so many Jewish comrades that are here with us today," Yoon 
said

   The protests have pitted students against one another, with pro-Palestinian 
students demanding that their schools condemn Israel's assault on Gaza and 
divest from companies that sell weapons to Israel. Some Jewish students, 
meanwhile, say much of the criticism of Israel has veered into antisemitism and 
made them feel unsafe, and they point out that Hamas is still holding hostages 
taken during the group's Oct. 7 invasion.

   Tensions remained high Monday at Columbia, where the campus gates were 
locked to anyone without a school ID and where protests broke out both on 
campus and outside.

   U.S. Rep. Kathy Manning, a Democrat from North Carolina who was visiting 
Columbia with three other Jewish members of Congress, told reporters after 
meeting with students from the Jewish Law Students Association that there was 
"an enormous encampment of people" who had taken up about a third of the green.

   "We saw signs indicating that Israel should be destroyed," she said after 
leaving the Morningside Heights campus. Columbia announced Monday that courses 
at the Morningside campus will offer virtual options for students when 
possible, citing safety as their top priority.

   A woman inside the campus gates led about two dozen protesters on the street 
outside in a chant of, "From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free!" -- 
a charged phrase that can mean vastly different things to different groups. A 
small group of pro-Israel counter demonstrators protested nearby.

   University President Minouche Shafik said in a message to the school 
community Monday that she was "deeply saddened" by what was happening on campus.

   "To deescalate the rancor and give us all a chance to consider next steps, I 
am announcing that all classes will be held virtually on Monday," Shafik wrote, 
noting that students who don't live on campus should stay away.

   Protests have roiled many college campuses since Hamas' deadly attack on 
southern Israel, when militants killed about 1,200 people, most of them 
civilians, and took roughly 250 hostages. During the ensuing war, Israel has 
killed more than 34,000 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, according to the local 
health ministry, which doesn't distinguish between combatants and 
non-combatants but says at least two-thirds of the dead are children and women.

   On Sunday, Elie Buechler, a rabbi for the Orthodox Union's Jewish Learning 
Initiative at Columbia, sent a WhatsApp message to nearly 300 Jewish students 
recommending they go home until it's safer for them on campus.

   The latest developments came ahead of the Monday evening start of the Jewish 
holiday of Passover.

   Nicholas Baum, a 19-year-old Jewish freshman who lives in a Jewish 
theological seminary building two blocks from Columbia's campus, said 
protesters over the weekend were "calling for Hamas to blow away Tel Aviv and 
Israel." He said some of the protesters shouting antisemitic slurs were not 
students.

   "Jews are scared at Columbia. It's as simple as that," he said. "There's 
been so much vilification of Zionism, and it has spilled over into the 
vilification of Judaism."

   The protest encampment sprung up at Columbia on Wednesday, the same day that 
Shafik faced bruising criticism at a congressional hearing from Republicans who 
said she hadn't done enough to fight antisemitism. Two other Ivy League 
presidents resigned months ago following widely criticized testimony they gave 
to the same committee.

   In her statement Monday, Shafik said the Middle East conflict is terrible 
and that she understands that many are experiencing deep moral distress.

   "But we cannot have one group dictate terms and attempt to disrupt important 
milestones like graduation to advance their point of view," Shafik wrote.

   Over the coming days, a working group of deans, school administrators and 
faculty will try to find a resolution to the university crisis, noted Shafik, 
who didn't say when in-person classes would resume.

   U.S. House Republicans from New York urged Shafik to resign, saying in a 
letter Monday that she had failed to provide a safe learning environment in 
recent days as "anarchy has engulfed the campus."

   In Massachusetts, a sign said Harvard Yard was closed to the public Monday. 
It said structures, including tents and tables, were only allowed into the yard 
with prior permission. "Students violating these policies are subject to 
disciplinary action," the sign said. Security guards were checking people for 
school IDs.

   The same day, the Harvard Undergraduate Palestine Solidarity Committee said 
the university's administration suspended their group. In the suspension notice 
provided by the student organization, the university wrote that the group's 
April 19 demonstration had violated school policy, and that the organization 
failed to attend required trainings after they were previously put on probation.

   The Palestine Solidary Committee said in a statement that they were 
suspended over technicalities and that the university hadn't provided written 
clarification on the university's policies when asked.

   "Harvard has shown us time and again that Palestine remains the exception to 
free speech," the group wrote in a statement.

   Harvard did not respond to an email request for comment.

   At Yale, police officers arrested about 45 protesters and charged them with 
misdemeanor trespassing, said Officer Christian Bruckhart, a New Haven police 
spokesperson. All were being released on promises to appear in court later, he 
said.

   Protesters set up tents on Beinecke Plaza on Friday and demonstrated over 
the weekend, calling on Yale to end any investments in defense companies that 
do business with Israel.

   In a statement to the campus community on Sunday, Yale President Peter 
Salovey said university officials had spoken to the student protesters multiple 
times about the school's policies and guidelines, including those regarding 
speech and allowing access to campus spaces.

   School officials said they gave protesters until the end of the weekend to 
leave Beinecke Plaza. The said they again warned protesters Monday morning and 
told them that they could face arrest and discipline, including suspension, 
before police moved in.

   A large group of demonstrators regathered after Monday's arrests at Yale and 
blocked a street near campus, Bruckhart said. There were no reports of any 
violence or injuries.

   Prahlad Iyengar, an MIT graduate student studying electrical engineering, 
was among about two dozen students who set up a tent encampment on the school's 
Cambridge, Massachusetts, campus Sunday evening. They are calling for a 
cease-fire and are protesting what they describe as MIT's "complicity in the 
ongoing genocide in Gaza," he said.

   "MIT has not even called for a cease-fire, and that's a demand we have for 
sure," Iyengar said. ___

   Perry reported from Meredith, New Hampshire, and Collins reported from 
Hartford, Connecticut. Associated Press writers Steve LeBlanc in Boston and 
Susan Haigh in Hartford contributed to this report.

Russia Begins Troop Karabakh Withdrawal04/23 06:23

   

   MOSCOW (AP) -- Russian forces are being withdrawn from Azerbaijan's Karabakh 
region, where they have been stationed as peacekeepers since the end of a war 
in 2020, officials of both countries said Wednesday.

   In a conference call with journalists, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov 
confirmed reports of the withdrawal but did not give further details. Hikmet 
Hajiyev, the head of foreign policy in Azerbaijan's presidential 
administration, also confirmed the withdrawal, saying it was agreed to by both 
countries.

   Hajiyev did not say why the forces were being withdrawn, but their presence 
appeared superfluous after Azerbaijan regained full control of the region last 
year.

   The Karabakh region had been under the control of ethnic Armenians until a 
war in 2020 that resulted in Azerbaijan regaining control of parts of the 
region.

   That war ended with a Russia-brokered cease-fire that called for placing 
about 2,000 peacekeeping troops in the parts of Karabakh that were still held 
by Armenians. The forces' duties were to include ensuring free passage on the 
sole road connecting Karabakh with Armenia.

   But Azerbaijan began blocking the road in late 2022, alleging Armenians were 
using it for weapons shipments and to smuggle minerals, and the Russian forces 
did not intervene.

   After months of increasingly dire food and medicine shortages in Karabakh 
due to the blockade, Azerbaijan launched a lighting blitz in September 2023 
that forced the Karabakh Armenian authorities to capitulate after one day in 
negotiations mediated by Russian forces.

   After Azerbaijan regained full control of Karabakh, which had a population 
of around 120,000, more than 100,000 of the region's ethnic Armenians fled, 
although Azerbaijan said they were welcome to stay and promised their human 
rights would be ensured.

Global Plastic Pollution Treaty Crafted04/23 06:28

   

   (AP) -- Thousands of negotiators and observers representing most of the 
world's nations are gathering in the Canadian city of Ottawa this week to craft 
a treaty to stop the rapidly escalating problem of plastic pollution.

   Each day, the equivalent of 2,000 garbage trucks full of plastic are dumped 
into the world's oceans, rivers and lakes, according to the United Nations 
Environment Programme. People are increasingly breathing, eating and drinking 
tiny plastic particles.

   Negotiators must streamline the existing treaty draft and decide its scope: 
whether it will focus on human health and the environment, limit the actual 
production of plastic, restrict some chemicals used in plastics, or any 
combination of the above. These are elements that a self-named "high ambition 
coalition" of countries want to see.

   Alternatively, the agreement could have a more limited scope and focus on 
plastic waste and greater recycling, as some of the plastic-producing and oil 
and gas exporters want.

   In March 2022, 175 nations agreed to make the first legally-binding treaty 
on plastics pollution, including in the oceans, by the end of 2024. It's an 
extremely short timeline for negotiations, meant to match the urgency of the 
problem. This is the fourth of five meetings of the United Nations' 
Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee for Plastics.

   It's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to fix something everyone knows needs 
to be fixed because plastic in the environment is not natural, said Inger 
Andersen, UNEP's executive director.

   "People globally are disgusted by what they see. The straw in the turtle's 
nose, the whale full of fishing gear. I mean, this is not the world we want to 
be in," she said in an interview.

   Andersen rejected the idea it's an "anti-plastic" process because plastic 
has many uses that help the world. But, she said, the treaty should eliminate 
unnecessary single-use and short-lived plastic products that often are buried, 
burned or dumped.

   Plastic production continues to ramp up globally and is projected to double 
or triple by 2050 if nothing changes.

   Researchers at the federal Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory published a 
report last week examining the climate impact.

   If production grows conservatively, greenhouse gas emissions emitted from 
the process would more than double, they concluded. That could use 21% to 26% 
of the remaining so-called global carbon budget, which is how much carbon 
emissions can still be produced between now and 2050 while staying at or below 
the international goal of limiting warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees 
Fahrenheit) since the 1850s.

   Most plastic is made from fossil fuels. Negotiators at the United Nations 
climate talks known as COP28 agreed last December the world must transition 
away from planet-warming fossil fuels and triple the use of renewable energy.

   But as pressure to reduce fossil fuels has increased, oil and gas companies 
have been looking more to the plastics side of their business as a lifeboat, a 
market that could grow.

   The largest challenge for the negotiations is that major oil and gas 
producing countries do not want a treaty that limits their ability to extract 
and export fossil fuels to make plastic, said Bjrn Beeler, international 
coordinator for the International Pollutants Elimination Network. IPEN wants a 
treaty that places global controls on hazardous chemicals in plastics and ends 
the rapid growth of plastic production.

   "Production is at the center of everything, it's the reason why this is 
moving slow. And it's going to get supercharged," he said. "It's not about 
oceans. It's more about oil."

   U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley of Oregon is leading a congressional delegation to 
Ottawa to advocate for a strong treaty. The U.S. government position, so far, 
is that nations should take voluntary steps to end plastic pollution, but that 
is not enough to drive change, Merkley said.

   "The underlying reason why the U.S. is not ambitious is we are a fossil gas 
country," he said.

   ExxonMobil is increasing plastic production. It's a useful, valuable 
material that improves the quality of lives around the world, and should 
replace other materials that emit more greenhouse gases, said Karen McKee, 
president of ExxonMobil Product Solutions Company and president of the 
International Council of Chemical Associations.

   "That doesn't mean that we're not concerned about plastic waste in the 
environment. We do need to work on that issue," she said. "But I would separate 
the production of plastic from the need to manage end-of-use plastic and to 
improve circularity."

   ExxonMobil broke down more than 45 million pounds of plastic waste last year 
at its massive complex in Baytown, Texas, through a process known as chemical 
recycling, McKee said. It plans to add the capability to many of its other 
manufacturing sites globally.

   Chris Jahn, president and CEO of the American Chemistry Council, the 
industry trade association, agreed with McKee. The focus should be on 
eliminating plastic pollution, without eliminating the benefits of plastic, he 
said.

   When the treaty talks began in Uruguay in December 2022, factions quickly 
came into focus. Some countries pressed for global mandates, some for voluntary 
national solutions and others for both. Progress was slow during Paris talks in 
May 2023 and in Nairobi in November.

   But there's still enough time to advance an ambitious treaty, said Alexis 
Jackson, who will lead a delegation from The Nature Conservancy in Ottawa. The 
Nature Conservancy, Greenpeace and other environmental advocates believe the 
treaty must reduce the amount of plastic that is produced and used in order to 
end plastic pollution.

   "We're more than halfway through the process now so we have an undeniably 
large amount of work to do," Jackson said. "But, I think that we can make 
change happen even when it's difficult."

   Andersen, at the United Nations, also is optimistic there will be a 
meaningful treaty this fall at the final meeting in South Korea.

   "Everybody wants this treaty," she said. "There is a global demand for this, 
for a solution."

Biden Marks Earth Day With $7B Grants  04/23 06:31

   President Joe Biden marked Earth Day by announcing $7 billion in federal 
grants for residential solar projects serving 900,000-plus households in low- 
and middle-income communities -- while criticizing Republicans who want to gut 
his policies to address climate change.

   TRIANGLE, Virginia (AP) -- President Joe Biden marked Earth Day by 
announcing $7 billion in federal grants for residential solar projects serving 
900,000-plus households in low- and middle-income communities -- while 
criticizing Republicans who want to gut his policies to address climate change.

   Seeking reelection in November, Biden said, "Despite the overwhelming 
devastation in red and blue states, there are still those who deny the climate 
is in crisis."

   He took specific aim at supporters of former President Donald Trump's "Make 
America Great Again" movement.

   "My MAGA Republican friends don't seem to think it's a crisis," Biden said 
Monday during a visit to Virginia's Prince William Forest Park, about 30 miles 
(48 kilometers) southwest Washington. "They actually want to repeal the 
Inflation Reduction Act, which provides the funding for the vast majority of 
these projects, and roll back protections for clean air and clean water."

   The president also used the trip to announce that nearly 2,000 corps 
positions are being offered across 36 states as part of his New Deal-style 
American Climate Corps green jobs training program, including jobs offered in 
partnership with the North American Building Trades Unions.

   Biden used executive action last year to create the American Climate Corps 
modeled on Roosevelt's New Deal.

   "You'll get paid to fight climate change," he said Monday.

   Biden made the announcements in a shady spot in Prince William Forest Park, 
which was established in 1936 as a summer camp for underprivileged youth from 
Washington. That was part of President Franklin D. Roosevelt's Civilian 
Conservation Corps to help create jobs during the Great Depression.

   The solar grants are being awarded by the Environmental Protection Agency, 
which unveiled the 60 recipients. The projects are expected to eventually 
reduce emissions by the equivalent of 30 million metric tons of carbon dioxide 
and save households $350 million annually.

   Biden's announcements come as he is working to energize young voters for his 
reelection campaign. Young people were a key part of a broad but potentially 
fragile coalition that helped him defeat then-President Trump in 2020. Some 
have joined protests around the country of the administration's handling of 
Israel's war with Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

   After his speech, Biden was asked by reporters about protests against 
Israel's handling of the war and replied, "I condemn the antisemitic protests." 
But he also added, "I also condemn those who don't understand what's going on 
with the Palestinians."

   The White House issued a statement over the weekend denouncing "harassment 
and calls for violence against Jews." Protests on college campuses, including 
those of Columbia and Yale Universities, prompted scores of arrests.

   Biden's campaign is hoping that his climate efforts can energize young 
voters ahead of November. Senior administration officials said young Americans 
are keenly invested in the Biden climate agenda and want to help enact it and 
that the Climate Corps is a way to do so.

   Solar energy is gaining traction as a key renewable energy source that could 
reduce the nation's reliance on fossil fuels. Not only is it clean, but solar 
energy can also boost the reliability of the electric grid.

   But solar energy can have high costs for initial installation, making it 
inaccessible for many Americans -- and potentially meaning a mingling of 
environmental policy with election-year politics.

   Forty-nine of the new grants are state-level awards, six serve Native 
American tribes and five are multi-state awards. They can be used for 
investments such as rooftop solar and community solar gardens.

   "Broad community-based solar is our brightest hope for protecting people and 
our climate from the scourge of fossil fuels," said Jean Su, director of the 
Energy Justice program at the Center for Biological Diversity. "These targeted 
investments mean low-income families get clean energy that is affordable, 
resilient and protects our ecosystems. It's great to see President Biden 
jumpstart this landmark program."

   The president has often used Earth Day as a backdrop to further his 
administration's climate initiatives. Last year, he signed an executive order 
creating the White House Office of Environmental Justice, meant to help ensure 
that poverty, race and ethnic status do not lead to worse exposure to pollution 
and environmental harm.

   He has tried to draw a contrast with GOP congressional leaders, who have 
called for less regulation of oil production to lower energy prices. Biden 
officials counter that GOP policies benefit highly profitable oil companies and 
could ultimately undermine U.S. efforts to compete with the Chinese in the 
renewable energy sector.

   The new awards came from the Solar for All program, part of the $27 billion 
"green bank" created as part of a sweeping climate law passed in 2022. The bank 
is intended to reduce climate and air pollution and send money to neighborhoods 
most in need, especially disadvantaged and low-income communities 
disproportionately affected by climate change.

   Among those receiving grants are state projects to provide solar-equipped 
roofs for homes, college residences and residential-serving community solar 
projects in West Virginia, a non-profit operating Mississippi solar lease 
program and solar workforce training initiatives in South Carolina.

   The taxpayer-funded green bank has faced Republican opposition and concerns 
over accountability for how the money gets used. EPA previously disbursed the 
other $20 billion of the bank's funds to nonprofits and community development 
banks for clean energy projects such as residential heat pumps, additional 
energy-efficient home improvements and larger-scale projects like electric 
vehicle charging stations and community cooling centers.

   Sens. Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Ed Markey of Oregon spoke at Monday's 
event along with New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, all leading voices in 
the progressive wing of the Democratic Party. Ocasio Cortez referenced 
"peaceful protests" elsewhere while arguing, "It was the power of young people 
who have made today possible."

Financial Markets                      04/23 15:47

   

   NEW YORK (AP) -- U.S. stocks rallied for a second straight day Tuesday to 
blunt the blow of what's been a rough April.

   The S&P 500 climbed 1.2% and pulled further out of the hole created by a 
six-day losing streak. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 263 points, or 
0.7%, and the Nasdaq composite jumped 1.6%.

   A weaker-than-expected report on U.S. business activity helped support the 
market, which remains in an awkward phase. The hope on Wall Street is for the 
economy to avoid a severe recession, but not to stay so hot that it keeps 
upward pressure on inflation.

   The preliminary report from S&P Global released Tuesday seemed to hit that 
sweet spot. Treasury yields eased in the bond market, and stocks added to gains 
immediately after its release.

   A flood of earnings reports also dictated much of trading, highlighted by a 
slew of companies that topped analysts' expectations.

   GE Aerospace flew 8.3% higher after it raised its profit forecast for the 
full year, in addition to beating expectations for first-quarter earnings.

   Kimberly-Clark gained 5.5% after the maker of Huggies, Kleenex and Kotex 
also raised its earnings forecast for the full year. General Motors revved up 
by 4.4% after citing sales of pickup trucks and other higher-profit vehicles. 
Danaher rose 7.2% after pointing to strength in its bioprocessing and molecular 
diagnostics businesses.

   They helped overshadow an 8.9% drop for Nucor after the steelmaker fell 
short of forecasts for both profit and revenue.

   MSCI, whose investment indexes guide much of the industry, fell 13.4% after 
reporting weaker revenue growth than expected. Invesco sank 6.4% after falling 
short of expectations for both earnings and revenue.

   JetBlue Airways lost 18.8% despite topping expectations for the latest 
quarter. Its forecasts for upcoming revenue came up short of what some analysts 
expected, and it said competition in Latin America could weigh on its results.

   All told, the S&P 500 rose 59.95 points to 5,070.55. The Dow gained 263.71 
to 38,503.69, and the Nasdaq composite jumped 245.33 to 15,696.64.

   The market's main event may have arrived after trading finished for the day. 
Tesla reported its results for the first three months of the year, becoming the 
first to do so among the "Magnificent Seven" stocks that accounted for most of 
last year's gains for the S&P 500.

   Expectations are high for each of the "Mag 7" after they rocketed to big 
gains in 2023, and they'll need to at least match them to justify their prices.

   Several had been leading the recent decline for the broader market, which 
saw the S&P 500 fall as much as 5.5% in April. "This underscores the importance 
of earnings in the next two weeks, which will be dominated by the Mag7, and the 
risk that disappointing results may accelerate the sell-off," according to 
Barclays strategists led by Stefano Pascale and Anshul Gupta.

   With skeptics still calling the broad stock market too expensive, criticism 
would ease only if companies were to produce higher profits or if interest 
rates were to fall. The latter has been looking less likely.

   Top officials at the Federal Reserve warned last week they may need to keep 
interest rates high for a while in order to ensure inflation is heading down to 
their 2% target. That was a big letdown for financial markets, dousing hopes 
that had built after the Fed signaled earlier that three interest-rate cuts may 
come this year.

   Lower rates had appeared to be on the horizon after inflation cooled sharply 
last year. But a string of reports this year showing inflation has remained 
hotter than expected has raised worries about stalled progress.

   That's why Tuesday's report suggesting a slowdown in growth for overall 
business activity across the country was so welcomed. It could keep the door 
open for the Fed to cut interest rates the one or two times that many traders 
are currently forecasting.

   The yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to 4.59% to relieve the pressure on 
stocks broadly, particularly high-growth ones and those that pay high 
dividends. The 10-year yield had been at 4.64% just before the report's release 
and at 4.61% late Monday.

   The two-year Treasury yield, which moves more on expectations for Fed 
action, had a similar drop. It fell to 4.92% from 4.97% late Monday.

   In stock markets abroad, indexes rose across much of Europe. They were mixed 
earlier in Asia. Stocks jumped 1.9% in Hong Kong but fell 0.7% in Shanghai.

   ___

   AP Business Writers Matt Ott and Zimo Zhong contributed.

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