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WASHINGTON: An overwhelming majority of people in the US say they have recently experienced an extreme weather event, a new poll shows, and most of them attribute that to climate change.
But even as many across the country marked Earth Day on Saturday, the poll shows relatively few say they feel motivated when they talk about the issue.
The findings from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll echo growing evidence that many individuals question their own role in combating climate change. Still, the poll suggests people are paying attention.
About half of US adults say they have grown more concerned about the changing climate in the past year, and a growing number say they are talking about it.
Adriana Moreno said she feels like she’s been talking about climate change for years, but it’s only recently that the 22-year-old high school teacher has noticed her older family members bringing up the issue more and more – “almost every time I see them,” said Moreno, a Democrat in New York.
The findings from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll echo growing evidence that many individuals question their own role in combating climate change.
Her family on the East Coast talks about how the seasons have changed while her family in El Salvador talks about how poorly some crops on their farm are faring. After years of hearing about Moreno’s own interest in the issue, her parents have themselves become more interested.
It’s not that they didn’t believe in climate change before, Moreno said, but it was “out of sight, out of mind.”
Overall, about 8 in 10 US adults say that in the past five years they have personally felt the effects of extreme weather, such as extreme heat or drought, according to the poll.
Most of them — 54 percent of the public overall — say what they experienced was at least partly a result of climate change.
They’re not wrong, said the head of the federal agency overseeing weather and climate issues.
“It is a reality that regardless of where you are in the country, where you call home, you’ve likely experienced a high impact weather event firsthand,” National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration chief Rick Spinrad said at a meteorological conference this year, noting that the US has the most weather disasters that cost $1 billion of any nation in the world.
NOAA uses weather disasters that cost $1 billion as a measure of climate change and how it affects people. Last year there were 18 of those events, costing more than $165 billion in total and killing 474 people. That included Hurricane Ian and an ongoing drought in the West.
These types of weather events hit the nation on average once every 82 days in the 1980s, but are now smacking the country at a rate of slightly more than once every two weeks, Spinrad said.
“With a changing climate, buckle up,” Spinrad warned. “More extreme events are expected.”
The poll shows about three-quarters of US adults say recent extreme weather events have had at least some influence on their beliefs about climate change.
After 2 1/2 years living in Agoura Hills, California, Rick Hoeft has noticed extreme weather events that make him concerned about climate change now more than ever before.
He had nOt been face to face with the same weather whiplash when he lived for decades in Hawaii and Michigan, where he’s moving back to this month.
“Hearing about the things like the fires and seeing the hills around here being brown and not getting any rain for three, four, five months in a row … it’s not something I’d ever thought of anywhere else because I’ve never been in such extreme drought,” the 65-year-old Republican retiree said. Then, “when we finally do get rain, it’s extreme.”
He says his girlfriend, who had lived in California for 45 years, tells him “this isn’t normal.”
Extreme downpours, like the series of winter storms that flooded California, and large droughts are happening more frequently and with more intensity because of climate change, studies show.
Tornadoes are moving further east and the supercells that spawn them are expected to get more frequent and move even further east as the world warms. Wildfires have been devastating for years, worsened by warming.
Half of US adults say they have spoken with friends and family about climate change in the past year, compared with about 4 in 10 who said the same last June.
Still, many say they rarely or never talk about the issue.
John Laubacker, a 36-year-old truck driver from Lockport, New York, says climate is an important issue to him personally. But he doesn’t find himself talking about it much.
Laubacker, a moderate Republican, says he finds the conversation on climate, like other issues, is dominated by those with extreme views on both sides of the aisle.
The poll finds people don’t tend to talk about climate change with people they outright disagree with on the issue. Among those who talk with family and friends, about half say they mostly agree with those they talk to, while most of the remainder say they tend to equally agree and disagree.
A clear majority say they have learned new information in a conversation on the subject, but only 19 percent of US adults say their minds have been changed because of a conversation about climate change.
The poll also finds few feel very hopeful or motivated when they talk about climate change; roughly half feel those at least somewhat. That’s true of anxiety and sadness as well.
Anthony Thompson, a 74-year-old retiree and a Democrat, thinks climate change has accelerated, but he picks and chooses who he talks to about it in “ruby red” Jackson, Tennessee. But if it comes up when tornadoes or hailstorms tear through their area, he offers what he’s learned as “food for thought.”
To Thompson, changes in weather have become more severe – as has his concern.
“I’m more concerned now because I think people kind of take everything for granted and I don’t think they really care, to be quite honest,” he said. “Hopefully if we concentrate on some of this stuff we can at least slow it down.”
LONDON: Authorities in the UK on Thursday announced plans for a new regime of sanctions against Iran, including expanded powers to target key decision makers in Tehran.
The proposals include new criteria for sanctioning individuals and entities, including those implicated in the supply or use of Iranian weapons and military technologies. The criteria now include activities that undermine regional and international peace, stability and security, or threaten democracy, respect for the rule of law and good governance.
In addition, they would allow sanctions to be imposed in response to activities hostile to the UK, including threats to people, property or security.
The move follows an increase in attempts by the regime in Tehran to kill or kidnap its enemies outside of Iran. British authorities say they have responded to more than 15 threats in the UK against citizens or other individuals since the beginning of 2022.
Iranian intelligence services have also reportedly developed close ties with organized criminal gangs across Europe in an effort to strengthen their networks.
“The Iranian regime is oppressing its own people, exporting bloodshed in Ukraine and the Middle East, and threatening to kill and kidnap on UK soil,” Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said.
“Today the UK has sent a clear message to the regime: We will not tolerate this malign behavior and we will hold you to account. Our new sanctions regime will help to ensure there can be no hiding place for those who seek to do us harm.”
The UK also announced the introduction of new sanctions under existing government mechanisms, which permit the designation of those responsible for serious human rights violations in Iran. They target 13 individuals and organizations, including officials in charge of Iranian prisons and state organizations related to cybersecurity. The sanctions include travel bans, asset freezes, and individuals or organizations in the UK are not permitted to do business with those who are sanctioned.
The UK holds the rotating presidency of the UN Security Council this month and on Thursday was due to lead international opposition to the Iranian regime’s weapons proliferation and nuclear escalation.
British authorities have reportedly provided extensive evidence to council members that Tehran continues to supply weapons to the Houthis in Yemen and to Russia for use in Ukraine, in violation of international law.
LONDON: Salwan Momika, the Iraqi refugee who burned and desecrated a copy of the holy Qur’an outside a Stockholm mosque on Eid Al-Adha, made headlines across the globe as his act went viral on social media.
Momika’s stunt quickly spread across TikTok, Instagram, Facebook and Twitter. What followed was a barrage of threats from understandably angry Muslims and even non-Muslims around the world, who argued that he had other means to deliver his message and that religious symbols must be kept sacred.
As predicted, Momika’s actions caused diplomatic troubles for Sweden; he also reportedly received several death threats via social media and his personal contact information.
As the story continues to unfold, Momika has called upon authorities to extend his refugee status and even grant him citizenship. Now, while there is no doubt the threats to his life are real, an Arab News investigation into his past has raised several questions about the authenticity of his motives and ideological claims.
On June 28, Momika stood in front of the Central Mosque in Stockholm shielded by a wall of Swedish police officers as his friend filmed him ripping pages from the Qur’an, burning them, and covering them with bacon.
“This is my country. I am keen to protect Sweden from this book, I am keen to protect Sweden from this book. This book is a threat to this country,” he shouted at worshipers exiting the mosque and toward his friend, who filmed him.
“I call on every honorable person to step on this book,” he said.
However, not so long ago, the self-proclaimed “liberal” Momika stood dressed in militia attire pledging allegiance to one of the most notorious extreme religious groups in Iraq — the Imam Ali Brigades, the armed wing of the Islamic Movement of Iraq that operates under the terrorist-designated Popular Mobilization Units.
“We either live with dignity or die courageously. I am the officer in charge of Kata’ib Rouh Allah Issa Ibn Miriam (the Brigade of the Spirit of God Jesus, Son of Mary), which is affiliated with the Imam Ali Brigades, peace be upon him,” he said in a video interview ahead of the PMU’s battles against Daesh.
Originally from Qaraqosh in northern Iraq’s Nineveh Plains, he was also a founder of the Syriac Democratic Union party and the Hawks Syriac Forces, an armed militia established in 2014 that was affiliated with the pseudo-Christian militia Babylon Brigades, which took up arms against Daesh as the latter attempted to take control of Iraq in its conquest to assert Shariah across the land.
Now he claims that Muslims are migrating away from their own countries because they are ruled by Shariah. “They flee that country to come here and want to apply their Shariah law. They come here seeking safety, peace, dignity and democracy, and then they say that they want to apply their Shariah law, as if they are the oppressed,” he said.
In another instance, Momika announced that he intended to file a lawsuit against Iraqi Shiite cleric and political leader Muqtada Al-Sadr because he urged people to kill him after he burned a copy of the holy Qur’an.
However, a now-deleted tweet he published on his account on Dec. 2, 2021 shows that he praised and rallied support for the head of the Iraqi Sadrist movement, stating: “In support of the courageous commander Muqtada … neither eastern nor western … a national majority government … they will fight and break it up.”
Arab News contacted several experts in Iraq who all confirmed Momika’s past involvement with the group.
These contradictions, as well as his background, have shed light on why he went on to publicly defame and burn the Qur’an.
“Momika came from a background strongly influenced by Christianity and joined the ranks of the militia to combat a common enemy, Daesh,” said Dr. Hani Nasira, a political and religious expert. “While he adhered to the Christian faith, he worked tirelessly to achieve his goal of attaining importance and relevance. He became an opportunist.”
An Arab News investigation into Momika’s social media profiles and personas highlighted a sharp shift in the Iraqi refugee’s posts. His Facebook and Instagram feed was first dominated by criticism of the Iraqi government following the mass protests of 2019 up until six months ago, when he took an extremely anti-Islamic stance and consistently posted derogatory statements about the Prophet Muhammad and the Muslim faith.
“When the circumstances aligned, he renounced his faith and became an atheist, going to great lengths to make his point and appeal to a niche group that shares his ideology, thus provoking the opposing party,” said Nasira.
“His transition from one extreme to another, even rejecting his own religion and becoming an atheist, was not enough. He failed miserably, so he further pushed his agenda, strategically choosing the right time and place. He utilized social media to gain fame and attention, exploiting Islamophobia to achieve his goals.”
The circumstances in question appear to be tied to Momika’s immigration and refugee status.
According to Swedish immigration law, anyone granted refugee status will be given a three-year residence permit with the opportunity to apply for an extension if protection is still needed. However, with the country tightening its immigration laws, more and more refugees are seeing their permits being withdrawn.
Momika has made known his intention of staying in Sweden. In a phone interview with CNN last week, the Iraqi said he came to Sweden five years ago from Iraq and has Swedish citizenship, however, Arab News could not find any proof to support his statement.
The Iraqi chose the one red line to cross that would ensure his life would be at risk should he be forced to return to Iraq: flagrantly vandalizing the most sacred of symbols in the Islamic world, the Qur’an.
“The most important thing is to take pictures,” Momika shouted in front of the Central Mosque as he burned the Qur’an. “It is the most important thing.”
Prior to the burning, Momika posted an Instagram video informing followers of his success in overturning an initial rejection by the Swedish police for his request to burn the Qur’an in front of the Central Mosque.
“The police want to impose the Qur’an and its respect on the Swedish society, which is impossible and is considered a violation of Swedish laws,” he said.
“With this book, I will also burn the Iraqi flag, which does not represent me. I will grill pork meat on top of them in front of the Iraqi Embassy. This book does not represent me, and this flag does not represent me either. I will grill pork meat on this book’s fire,” he added.
Within the same video, Momika uploaded a copy of his request to the Swedish police, notably censoring his address and ID number but keeping his personal email and phone number visible.
“Considering the potential consequences under Sweden’s new immigration laws, he chose this path to stir up trouble and receive numerous threats. This enables him to manipulate and abuse the system, providing evidence that his life is in danger, just as he claimed when leaving Iraq,” said Jerry Maher, a Swedish political writer and Middle East and Iran specialist.
Maher believes that Momika purposely exposed his identity to the public, revealing his phone number and email on his Facebook page for people to establish contact.
“These tactics are all part of his strategy to present himself to the Swedish authorities as a victim under threat and seek protection. As a former fighter who engaged in battles in Iraq, his asylum papers and residence permit are likely at risk. Recent changes in Swedish migration laws have become more stringent, resulting in several expulsions,” added Maher.
BRUSSELS: EU lawmakers have pushed for an independent probe into a migrant boat tragedy off Greece in which hundreds of people are believed to have died, calling an internal investigation by Athens inadequate.
That stance, also backed by the EU’s Fundamental Rights Agency, seeks to shine a light on the June capsizing of an overcrowded vessel headed from North Africa to Europe.
“Maybe 600 people” drowned and “around” 110 people were rescued, EU home affairs commissioner Ylva Johansson told MEPs, based on information from Greek authorities.
She said the fishing trawler had apparently been used by Egyptian smugglers who sailed it empty from Egypt to pick up to 750 people in Libya for the Mediterranean crossing to Europe.
She said the migrants were packed into the “very, very overcrowded boat” according to how much they paid: Pakistani men “stacked” on the bottom, women and children in the middle, and those with “high status” on top.
A plane with limited fuel and then a drone used by the EU’s border patrol agency Frontex were diverted to overfly the boat, Frontex chief Hans Leijtens told the same European Parliament committee.
The drone, which pulled away to observe another migrant boat two hours distant, returned to find “it already had sunk,” he said.
“We offered to help, but there was no response from Greek authorities,” Leijtens said.
Some survivors allege that the Greek coast guard caused the tragedy by tying a rope to their drifting vessel and then driving off at high power.
The Greek government denies that. It has opened two investigations, one into smugglers it blames for the event, and the other into the actions of its coast guard.
The “seriousness” of the tragedy required an “independent and transparent international investigation,” the MEP chairing the European Parliament hearing, Birgit Sippel, said.
The committee called on Greece and the European Commission to set up a probe “as a matter of urgency” to examine what actions the Greek coast guard and Frontex took in relation with international obligations for search and rescue, she said.
Another MEP on the committee, Sophie in ‘t Veld, called it “naive to say ‘but, you know, the Greek authorities are going to take care of this and we can trust them’“
Johansson stressed that the commission had no powers to conduct its own investigation, nor to set up an EU-wide maritime search and rescue body.
While acknowledging that there were “a lot of unanswered questions” about the tragedy, “it’s the responsibility of the member states to investigate these kinds of things.”
She admitted, though, that “we have to realize that we are not doing enough.”
“Unfortunately this will happen again,” she predicted.
The commission’s energy was being directed at curbing migration from source countries, including many in Africa as well as Pakistan, and transit countries including Egypt, Tunisia, Morocco and Libya, she said.
The EU, which is currently looking at speeding up the return of unsuccessful asylum seekers, has been accused by non-governmental organizations and charities such as Oxfam of implementing a “Fortress Europe” policy.
The head of the bloc’s EU Fundamental Rights Agency, Michael O’Flaherty, told the parliamentary committee that a “proper investigation” was needed into the migrant boat tragedy off Greece.
He also said “we’ve seen a problem” with EU countries applying an “overly restrictive understanding” of what conditions are required to trigger their international duty to launch sea rescues.
The agency provides advice to EU institutions and governments on policy matters and raises awareness on rights, including access to justice and discrimination.
On Thursday it presented a new report on preventing and reporting deaths at sea that O’Flaherty said took “close account” of this latest migrant boat capsizing.
LONDON: Human Rights Watch has called on the French government to reform its policing policies to help eliminate racial profiling and other discriminatory practices following unrest in France sparked by an officer’s killing of a 17-year-old boy.
HRW said in a statement on Wednesday: “In addition to the particularly lax rules governing police use of their weapons during a traffic stop, the current dramatic situation in France has brought back into the public debate the all-too-often discriminatory nature of police interaction with a segment of the population. The government should take urgent action to reform the system of police stops.
“These practices are not only illegal under French and international human rights law, but they are above all violent, humiliating, and degrading, and make those who experience them feel like second-class citizens.”
HRW has joined the UN and several international human rights organizations in calling on French authorities to address the issues of police violence, ethnic profiling and discrimination in the country, saying it was a “well-documented, widespread problem.”
A 38-year-old motorbike traffic officer, named as Florian M., shot and killed Nahel Merzouk, a French youth of Algerian descent, just outside Paris on June 27. The incident has sparked widespread protests in around 500 cities and towns across France.
HRW said that in July 2021 six human rights associations filed a class action suit that is still pending with France’s highest administrative court to end racial profiling, “given the inaction of the French authorities on the issue, who have allowed these illegal and devastating practices to continue for too many years.”
France: Reform Police Stop Practices https://t.co/kFZo9LXnmU
It added: “Systemic racism in the police forces, and the widespread and persistent discriminatory practices, demonstrate a deeply rooted public policy.
“It is important to note that these practices are the product of a system that encourages them, and cannot be seen as the sole act of isolated officers who have abandoned their professional and ethical obligations.”
The New York-based organization said it is calling on the court to require the French authorities to reform identity checks, adopt specific measures for checks targeting children, modify police training, and create an independent and effective complaints mechanism.
HRW added: “An open letter signed by 84 associations, collectives, and trade unions stressed the urgent need ‘to put an end to this scourge’ and noted that the young people targeted by these discriminatory controls and their families live ‘in fear that a future control will be accompanied by violence and that their name will become the next hashtag in a ‘Justice and Truth’ campaign.’”
French President Emmanuel Macron has promised that his government will formulate a response to the riots in the country’s deprived, multi-ethnic suburbs once events have been properly analyzed.
“We all lived through an important moment in the life of our nation,” Macron said in the southern city of Pau on the edge of the Pyrenees.
He added that France now needs “order, calm, unity. And then to work on the deep causes of what happened.”
ISTANBUL: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will travel to Turkiye on Friday for the first time since Russia’s invasion for talks with counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
The Turkish presidency said the two leaders could stage a joint press conference after the talks in Istanbul.
The meeting is due to focus on an expiring deal to ship Ukrainian grain across the Black Sea as well as next week’s NATO summit.
But analysts expect Zelensky to push Erdogan to give a green light for Sweden’s membership of NATO ahead of the July 11-12 alliance summit in the Lithuanian capital Vilnius.
Turkiye is blocking Sweden’s candidacy because of a longstanding dispute about Stockholm’s perceived lax attitude toward alleged Kurdish militants living in the Nordic country.
Both Zelensky and Erdogan also want to extend a United Nations and Turkiye-brokered deal with Russia under which Ukraine has been allowed to ship grain to global markets during the war.
Erdogan has tried to use his good working relations with both Zelensky and Russian President Vladimir Putin to mediate an end to the war.
Turkiye staged two early rounds of peace negotiations and is pushing for more talks.
But Western governments worry about NATO member Turkiye’s growing economic ties with Russia and its resistance to the bloc’s expansion.