AFP USA

US President Donald Trump’s administration on Friday re-approved the use of pesticide dicamba for spraying on top of genetically modified cotton and soybean crops, drawing swift backlash from environmental groups and the Make America Healthy Again movement.The move comes despite federal courts in 2020 and 2024 striking down the Environmental Protection Agency’s previous approvals of the contentious weedkiller. “This decision responds directly to the strong advocacy of America’s cotton and soybean farmers, particularly growers across the Cotton Belt, who have been clear and consistent about the critical challenges they face without access to this tool for controlling resistant weeds in their growing crop,” the EPA said in a statement.A persistent concern about dicamba is “drift”: when the chemical volatilizes in high heat it can spread for miles, poisoning other farms, home gardens as well as trees and plants.The 2020 court ruling that first overturned dicamba’s approval found it caused damage across millions of acres and “has torn apart the social fabric of many farming communities.”The EPA acknowledged this concern as real but said that by imposing certain restrictions, such as reducing the amount used and avoiding application in higher temperatures, it was safe.Agricultural industry giant Bayer, which acquired dicamba when it bought Monsanto, welcomed the news and said the chemical would be marketed under the name “Stryax.””With a federal registration in hand, we’ll begin the process of seeking state approvals,” said Ty Witten, the company’s vice president of commercial stewardship, in a statement.”In the coming weeks, we’ll launch applicator training opportunities, and stewardship education to help ensure that growers and applicators have the best experience possible with Stryax herbicide.”- Lobbyists turned regulators -Environmental advocates dismissed the safeguards as insufficient — pointing out, for example, the new approval allowed year-round use, including in the hottest summer months.”They’re clearly looking out for the interests of polluting companies much more than the interests of the public, and this is because this office is being run by former industry lobbyists,” Nathan Donley, environmental health science director for the Center for Biological Diversity, told AFP. Kyle Kunkler, a former lobbyist for the American Soybean Association, is now the deputy assistant administrator for pesticides in the EPA’s Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention.The decision also rattled MAHA activists — supporters of Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Kelly Ryerson, who last year started a petition calling for EPA administrator Lee Zeldin to resign over pesticide approvals, told AFP she was “very disappointed.””This is clearly the work of the chemical lobbyists who now are staffed throughout the EPA and are not aligned with the MAHA movement or with President Trump’s mandate,” she said.Alexandra Munoz, a molecular toxicologist who works at times with the MAHA movement, also cricitized the move. “EPA’s approval for over-the-top application of dicamba will result in poisonous drift that will damage American farmland, moving us farther away from a future where regenerative agriculture can thrive.” “This decision is not what is needed to make America healthy again,” she told AFP. 

Music’s A-listers are set for Sunday’s Grammy Awards, the industry’s biggest night, with superstars Kendrick Lamar, Bad Bunny and Lady Gaga hoping to make history in Los Angeles.All three are angling to add to their trophy cabinets by taking home the gala’s most coveted award, Album of the Year, for the first time.Lamar, the Pulitzer Prize-winning rapper, has nine nominations this time around for his album “GNX” — the most of any artist.The 38-year-old California native, who won five gramophones last year thanks to his smash diss track “Not Like Us,” is also up for Record and Song of the Year for “Luther” featuring R&B artist SZA.Pop chameleon Lady Gaga and Puerto Rico’s Bad Bunny also are competing in all three top categories.Also nominated for Album of the Year are: pop princess Sabrina Carpenter; R&B singer-songwriter Leon Thomas; Tyler, the Creator; hip-hop duo Clipse (Pusha T and Malice); and pop superstar Justin Bieber — with his first studio effort in four years.Lady Gaga, Bieber, Carpenter and Bruno Mars are set to lead a starry list of performers that also includes Lauryn Hill and a tribute to late rocker Ozzy Osbourne featuring Post Malone.- Bad Bunny’s hot streak -Standing in Lamar’s way for Album of the Year is Bad Bunny, who is on a world tour in support of his album “Debi Tirar Mas Fotos” (I Should Have Taken More Photos) after a hugely successful residency in San Juan.”It was a very exciting album,” musicologist Lauron Kehrer told AFP.”It touched on so much in terms of thematic material and musical material,” Kehrer said, pointing to the allusions to decolonization and use of traditional Puerto Rican rhythms.The 31-year-old Latin megastar, born Benito Antonio Martinez Ocasio, will headline the Super Bowl halftime show a week after the Grammys, where he is up for six awards.His “Un verano sin ti” (2022) was the first Spanish-language album nominated for Album of the Year honors. A win on Sunday would give Bad Bunny another mention in the history books.Lady Gaga, 39, made a splashy comeback to touring with “Mayhem,” her collection of pop bangers with a dark edge that embraces her dramatic side. She has seven nominations.A win for Album of the Year would complete her hat trick of top awards. She took Record and Song of the Year honors seven years ago for the soundtrack hit “Shallow,” from “A Star is Born” — which also earned her an Oscar.This time around, Song of the Year — which honors songwriting — is a crowded category that includes Carpenter’s “Manchild” and “Golden” from the Netflix animated smash hit “KPop Demon Hunters.”Many pundits believe the energetic K-pop hit will triumph.Up for best new artist are Alex Warren, girl group Katseye, Britain’s Olivia Dean, TikTok dancer-turned-singer Addison Rae, The Marias, sombr, Lola Young and Thomas.- ‘Reactionary’ -For musicologist Kehrer, the infusion of rap, reggaeton and K-pop in the top Grammy categories reflects changes in the composition of the Recording Academy’s voting group.More than 3,800 new members have been admitted. Half of those new members are age 39 or younger, and 58 percent of them are people of color, the academy says.Invitations were also offered to all members of the Latin Recording Academy.”The Grammys are more reactionary than anything else,” said Kehrer.”These artists winning those major awards is more of an indication of climate, rather than trying to move or change the climate.”The Grammy Awards will once again be hosted by comedian Trevor Noah. The main broadcast begins at 5:00 pm (0100 GMT Monday), but many of the 95 awards will be handed out at a pre-gala event.

Come Thursday, barring a last-minute change, the final treaty in the world that restricted nuclear weapon deployment will be over.New START, the last nuclear treaty between Washington and Moscow after decades of agreements dating to the Cold War, is set to expire, and with it restrictions on the two top nuclear powers. The expiration comes as President Donald Trump, vowing “America First,” smashes through international agreements that limit the United States, although in the case of New START, the issue may more be inertia than ideology.Russian President Vladimir Putin in September suggested a one-year extension of New START.  Trump, asked afterward by a reporter for a reaction while he was boarding his helicopter, said an extension “sounds like a good idea to me” — but little has been heard since.Putin ally Dmitry Medvedev, who as Russia’s president signed New START with counterpart Barack Obama in 2010, said in a recent interview with the Kommersant newspaper that Russia has received no “substantive reaction” on New START but was still giving time to Trump.A White House official said on condition of anonymity that Trump would like to see “limits on nuclear weapons and involve China in arms control talks.”The way to do that, the official said, Trump “will clarify on his own timeline.”Daryl Kimball, executive director of the Arms Control Association, which supports reducing nuclear risks, said Trump’s second administration, which has sidelined career diplomats and entrusted decision-making only to a handful of people, is not functioning in a normal way that would allow complex negotiations.Trump “seems to have the right instinct on this issue but has thus far failed to follow through with a coherent strategy,” Kimball said.Jon Wolfsthal, director of global risk at the Federation of American Scientists, said Trump and Putin could pick up the phone and agree immediately at a political level to extend New START.”This is a piece of low-hanging fruit that the Trump administration should have seized months ago,” he said.Wolfsthal is among experts involved in the “Doomsday Clock” meant to symbolize how near humanity is to destruction. It was recently moved closer to midnight in part due to New START’s demise.- ‘Empty formality’? -Trump called in October for the United States to resume nuclear testing for the first time in more than 30 years, although it is not clear he will carry it out.Russia in 2023 already suspended a key element of New START, allowing inspections, as relations deteriorated sharply with US President Joe Biden’s administration over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.Alexander Khramchikhin, a Russian military analyst, said the two powers already had indicated they will do as they like.”It’s clear that the treaty has reached its end,” he said. “It’s just an empty formality that will disappear.”Vassily Kashin, director of the Center for Comprehensive European and International Studies in Moscow, said Russia would watch if the United States ramps up its nuclear arsenal and, if so, would decide measures in response.”But if the Americans don’t take any drastic measures, such as installing warheads, Russia will most likely simply wait, observe and remain silent,” he said.- China factor -New START restricted Russia and the United States to a maximum of 1,550 deployed strategic nuclear warheads each — a reduction of nearly 30 percent from the previous limit set in 2002. It also limits launchers and heavy bombers to 800 each, although the number is still easily enough to destroy Earth.During his first term, also faced with New START’s expiration, Trump insisted a new treaty bring in China — whose arsenal is fast growing, although well below the other two powers. A US negotiator even provocatively put an empty chair with a Chinese flag.Biden on taking office in 2021 quickly agreed to extend New START by five years to 2026. Despite his stance on New START, Trump has enthusiastically restarted diplomacy with Russia that Biden cut off over the war, inviting Putin to an August summit in Alaska and unsuccessfully trying to broker a deal in Ukraine.US allies France and Britain also have established nuclear arsenals on a smaller scale, while India, Pakistan, Israel and North Korea have known nuclear weapons but are not part of international agreements.

A powerful snowstorm blasted southern US states on Saturday, snarling travel and bringing subzero temperatures as deadly weather intensified in regions not accustomed to extreme winter conditions.The latest misery came about a week after a monster storm pummeled a wide swath of the United States, killing more than 100 people and leaving many communities still struggling to dig out from snow and ice.Heavy snow fell in North Carolina and neighboring states Saturday, as authorities urged residents to stay off the roads and warned oceanfront structures were threatened by the storm.All of North and South Carolina, and portions of Georgia, eastern Tennessee and Kentucky, as well as southern Virginia were under a winter storm warning.North Carolina saw 750 car crashes on Saturday, the highway patrol said. Faust, North Carolina recorded 14.5 inches (37 cm) of snow, while West Critz, Virginia got 12.5 inches. Harrisburg, Tennessee received more than 9 inches of accumulation.In the town of Cape Carteret, high winds sent thick snow blowing sideways, promoting the National Weather Service to warn that travel was “Treacherous and Potentially Life-Threatening especially if you become stranded.”In dramatic footage released by the Gastonia, North Carolina police, a train plowed at high speed into a semi-truck that had gotten stuck on the tracks, crushing the vehicle. No one was hurt.Saturday’s storm forced more than 1,000 flight cancellations at Charlotte Douglas International Airport in North Carolina, a major hub for American Airlines. A 300-strong “snow team” was working to clear runways, taxiways, roads and sidewalks, the airport said.More than 600 flights were cancelled at Atlanta’s international airport, the world’s busiest.”An explosively deepening coastal cyclone will continue to bring moderate to heavy snow, high winds, and possibly blizzard conditions for the Carolinas,” the National Weather Service said Saturday.”An intense surge of arctic air behind the coastal storm will send below freezing temperatures down toward South Florida by Sunday morning.”Davis, West Virginia recorded the lowest temperature in the lower 48 states on Saturday — a frigid minus 28 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 33 Celsius).Nearly 200,000 customers remained without power Saturday, mostly in the south, according to poweroutage.us, with Mississippi, Tennessee and Louisiana hardest hit. In North Carolina, the National Park Service announced the closure of campgrounds and some beaches at the Outer Banks, a series of barrier islands off the coast of southern state that are vulnerable to storms.It said oceanfront structures were threatened, and a section of highway that threads through its dunes was closed.In another southern state, Mississippi, Governor Tate Reeves said the US Army Corps of Engineers helped to install generators at critical sites, and authorities were opening 79 shelters and warming centers across the state.The freezing weather forced NASA to postpone a key fueling test over the weekend of the 322-foot (98-meter) rocket that is on the Cape Canaveral launch pad in Florida. That in turn is likely to push back by at least a couple of days a planned, manned Moon flyby slated for next month.

Iran’s top security official said Saturday that progress had been made towards negotiations with the United States, even as the Islamic republic’s army chief warned Washington against launching military strikes.US President Donald Trump confirmed the two sides were talking, while keeping the threat of an attack in the foreground.Washington has deployed warships led by the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier off Iran’s shores, after Trump threatened to intervene in the wake of Tehran’s deadly crackdown on anti-government protests.”Contrary to the hype of the contrived media war, structural arrangements for negotiations are progressing,” said Ali Larijani, head of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council.He was speaking a day after the Kremlin said he held talks in Moscow with Russian President Vladimir Putin.Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said Saturday a broader conflict would hurt both Iran and the United States.”The Islamic Republic of Iran has never sought, and in no way seeks, war and it is firmly convinced that a war would be in the interest of neither Iran, nor the United States, nor the region,” he said in a call with Egyptian counterpart Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, according to the Iranian presidency.Later Saturday, Trump confirmed that there was a dialogue between Washington and Tehran.”(Iran is) talking to us, and we’ll see if we can do something, otherwise we’ll see what happens… we have a big fleet heading out there,” he told Fox News.”They are negotiating,” he added.Qatar’s foreign ministry said its premier Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, who also serves as foreign minister, held talks in Tehran with Larijani on Saturday to try to “de-escalate tensions in the region”.- Fears of conflict -The arrival of the US flotilla has raised fears of a direct confrontation with Iran, which has warned it would respond with missile strikes on US bases, ships and allies — notably Israel — in the event of an attack.Trump has said he believes Iran will make a deal over its nuclear and missile programmes rather than face US military action.Tehran has said it is ready for nuclear talks if its missiles and defence capabilities are not on the agenda.Iranian army chief Amir Hatami has warned the United States and Israel against any attack, saying his forces were “at full defensive and military readiness”.”If the enemy makes a mistake, without a doubt it will endanger its own security, the security of the region, and the security of the Zionist regime,” Hatami said, official news agency IRNA reported.Iran’s nuclear technology and expertise “cannot be eliminated”, he added.With tensions heightened, Iranian authorities rushed to deny that several incidents on Saturday were linked to any attack or sabotage.They included an explosion in the southern Iranian port city of Bandar Abbas that local firefighters said was caused by a gas leak.- Naval exercise -On Friday, US Central Command (CENTCOM) said Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) would conduct “a two-day live-fire naval exercise” in the Strait of Hormuz, a key transit hub for global energy supplies.CENTCOM warned the IRGC against “any unsafe and unprofessional behaviour near US forces”, drawing a sharp response from Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi.”The US military is now attempting to dictate how our Powerful Armed Forces should conduct target practice in their own turf,” he wrote on X.The United States designated the IRGC a terrorist organisation in 2019, a move the European Union followed on Thursday, prompting angry reactions from Tehran.The United States carried out strikes on key Iranian nuclear sites in June when it briefly joined Israel’s 12-day war against its regional foe.Nationwide protests against the rising cost of living erupted on December 28, before turning into a broader anti-government movement that peaked on January 8 and 9 in what authorities called “riots” blamed on the United States and Israel.- ‘Serve the people’ -The official death toll from the authorities stands at 3,117. However, the US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) said it has confirmed 6,713 deaths, including 137 children.On Saturday, Pezeshkian urged his government to heed public grievances and “serve the people”. Some Iranians at the Kapikoy border point separating Iran and Turkey, where a little over 100 people crossed on Saturday, said they wanted to be free of the clerical leaders in Tehran.”They were shooting us in the back. We were even targeted through our windows,” said Shabnan, using a pseudonym. “Everyone has lost loved ones, friends, neighbours, acquaintances.”burs-jj/acb/abs/mtp

A US judge delivered a blow Saturday to Minnesota’s bid to force Immigration and Customs Enforcement to suspend its sweeping detention and deportation operation in the state that has left two US citizens dead and fueled massive protests.But while the federal court denied the state’s bid to immediately halt the operation, a judge in a separate case delivered a stinging rebuke of the government and ordered authorities to release a five-year-old Minnesota boy and his father who were detained during the immigration crackdown.”The case has its genesis in the ill-conceived and incompetently-implemented government pursuit of daily deportation quotas, apparently even if it requires traumatizing children,” US District Judge Fred Biery wrote.Masked and heavily armed federal agents have swept through Minnesota communities seeking undocumented migrants, detaining thousands and shooting dead two US citizens in the process.The heavy-handed campaign championed by President Donald Trump has sparked outrage across the United States, with tens of thousands marching in Minnesota on Friday against the operation dubbed Metro Surge.On Minnesota’s bid to obtain a temporary restraining order to end the federal operation, judge Katherine Menendez wrote in a ruling that “ultimately, the Court finds that the balance of harms does not decisively favor an injunction.”Minnesota argues that the month-long federal operation violated its sovereignty as a state.Menendez said she was not making a final judgment on the state’s overall case in her decision, something that would follow arguments in court.She also made no determination on whether the immigration crackdown in the state had broken the law.- ‘Would-be authoritarian king’ -The killings of protesters Renee Good and Alex Pretti by masked, heavily armed agents sparked a nationwide outcry after which Trump withdrew combative Customs and Border Protection commander Gregory Bovino and replaced him with his border point man Tom Homan who pledged to draw down the operation, with conditions.The case of Liam Conejo Ramos, 5, who was detained on January 20, has also stoked outrage. Immigration officers seeking to arrest the boy’s Ecuadoran father, Adrian Conejo Arias, took the pair into custody outside their Minneapolis home as Liam returned from preschool. The pair, both asylum seekers, have been held at a facility in Texas since then.Biery ordered authorities to release them by Tuesday, according to a court order seen by AFP.In the opinion accompanying the order, Biery wrote that the plaintiffs “seek nothing more than some modicum of the process and the rule of law.”He criticized what he called the government’s apparent “ignorance” of the US Declaration of Independence that “enumerated grievances against a would-be authoritarian king over our nascent nation.”He also cited the Fourth Amendment of the US Constitution which protects the right against “unreasonable searches and seizures.”Ahead of Saturday’s ruling on the state’s case to seek an end to the ICE crackdown, Hamline University politics and legal studies professor David Schultz said  Minnesota was arguing that the national government was “trying to force or coerce the state into doing certain things.””Attorney General Pam Bondi sent a letter to the state of Minnesota after Alex Pretti was killed and said, ‘Well, if you want the ICE operations to stop, we want you to do this, this and this.’ It kind of read like a threat,” Schultz said.The mayor of Minneapolis, Minnesota’s largest city and the main target of the immigration raids, voiced disappointment over the ruling.”This decision doesn’t change what people here have lived through — fear, disruption, and harm caused by a federal operation that never belonged in Minneapolis in the first place,” Mayor Jacob Frey said in a statement.Bondi said, in response to the ruling, that “neither sanctuary policies nor meritless litigation will stop the Trump Administration from enforcing federal law in Minnesota.”Minneapolis is a “sanctuary” city where local police do not cooperate with federal immigration officials.