Fraud, Water Rations, & A Desert Island Rescue
April 12, 2024
Hello, readers – happy Friday! Today, we’ll be talking about tension between Iran and Israel, new E.U. migration laws, a $12.5 billion fraud case, water rations, standardized testing, Ohtani’s interpreter, and a miraculous rescue.
Here’s some good news to get you through the weekend: Japan is giving the U.S. 250 new cherry trees to help replace the hundreds that are being ripped out this summer in D.C. Also, Apple announced that, beginning in autumn, owners of “select” iPhone models will be able to repair their devices with used, genuine parts, helping with sustainability and making things cheaper for iPhone owners. The women who became known as “Rosie the Riveters” for helping to lead the U.S. to victory during World War II were honored with a Congressional Gold Medal this week. Finally, Beyoncé’s “Act II: Cowboy Carter” hit No. 1 on the Billboard country albums chart, making her the first Black woman to top the chart since it began in 1964.
“There are some things you learn best in calm, and some in storm.” – Willa Cather
Watching A Conflict Erupt In Slow Motion
For our American readers, we know your taxes are due on Monday. Unfortunately, we’ve got some news to cover that might add to your stress – the U.S., Russia, the U.K., and Germany are all bracing for a potential conflict to break out between Iran and Israel. Things hit a breaking point on April 1, Israel launched an airstrike at the Iranian embassy complex in Damascus, Syria, killing a senior leader of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and seven IRGC officers.
Israel has argued it was “a military building of [the IRGC’s] Quds Forces disguised as a civilian building in Damascus,” but embassies are generally considered civilian objects, meaning a strike like this would violate international law. Iranian leaders have promised a retaliatory attack against Israel. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in response on Thursday that Israel “will act according to the simple principle of whoever harms us or plans to harm us — we will harm them.”
The consensus in the international community seems to be that Iran will imminently attack Israel. Russia has already warned its citizens against traveling to the Middle East in light of the conflict-to-be, and has joined Germany and the U.K. in urging Middle Eastern countries to avoid expanding the conflict. Meanwhile, the Biden White House has announced that its “commitment to Israel security against these threats from Iran and its proxies is iron-clad,” and has sent Gen. Michael E. Kurilla, the U.S. military commander in the Middle East, into Israel to conduct an assessment.
A Continental Border Crackdown
The border will undoubtedly be one of the hottest topics heading into this year’s U.S. presidential election, but immigration is also a hot-button issue across the Atlantic. On Wednesday, E.U. lawmakers approved a massive revamp of the organization’s immigration policy, which lawmakers hope will lessen the toxicity surrounding the topic as June elections draw close and tamp down on the recent growth of the far right across the continent.
The Pact on Migration and Asylum will be put to a vote as soon as late April. The measures include some seriously controversial new regulations, which many on the left have criticized, including processing asylum applications abroad instead of within the bloc, recording facial scans and fingerprints of children ages 6 and up, and detaining applicants during the screening process.
A joint statement from 22 international charity organizations said that the new set of regulations “leaves troubling cracks deep within Europe’s approach to asylum and migration, and fails to offer sustainable solutions for people seeking safety at Europe’s borders.” One Dutch lawmaker told reporters, “I’m not going to open a bottle of champagne after this,” but isn’t it the sign of a good compromise when nobody leaves the table happy?
A Military Budget’s Worth Of Fraud
- On Thursday, a Vietnamese court sentenced real estate tycoon Truong My Lan to death. Her crime? Committing $12.5 billion fraud – an amount worth almost 3% of Vietnam’s 2022 GDP. Apparently, she was able to amass her illegal fortune by unlawfully controlling Saigon Joint Stock Commercial Bank and using her position to divert the funds through a series of shell companies protected by well-placed bribes.
- The sentence comes at a particularly interesting time in Vietnam – the country has undertaken a massive anti-corruption campaign over the past few years, leading to turnover in the country’s political leadership. Van Thinh Phat, Truong’s real estate company, was one of the country’s richest real estate firms, and the scale of her fraud has raised questions about the possibility of other companies conducting fraud operations of a similar (massive) magnitude.
A City On A Plateau Hits A Water Low
- In February, we covered Mexico City’s growing water shortage – it appears that the problem has spread to the southeast, in Colombia’s capital city of Bogotá. Bogotá, which is situated on a mountain plateau way above sea level (just like Mexico City), has instituted water-rationing measures in the face of a severe water shortage brought about by the combination of climate change, the El Niño weather cycle, urban development, and the city’s high altitude.
- “Most cities around the world depend on aquifers for their water supplies. Bogota is different in that almost all our supply comes from surface waters like reservoirs, which are more susceptible to rain patterns,” said an ecology professor at a university in the city. El Niño weather patterns beginning last year created drought conditions, making its reservoirs run dry. The water-rationing rules mark the first-ever time the city has had to regulate locals’ water usage, and the Colombian government has called on city officials to draft up long-term plans to address its increasingly vulnerable water supply, which will only become less reliable as climate change worsens.
More Mixed Nuts
- China sanctions 2 U.S. defense companies and says they support arms sales to Taiwan (AP)
- Wife of Julian Assange says Biden’s comments mean case could be moving in the right direction (ABC)
- Myanmar’s ethnic Karen guerrillas claim to have seized the last army base defending key border town (AP)
- Canada at risk of another catastrophic wildfire season, government warns (CBS)
- Posthumous memoir by Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny to be published Oct. 22 (ABC)
Middle East Mixed Nuts
- Crutches and chocolate croissants: Gaza aid items Israel has rejected (WaPo, $)
- USAID administrator says it is ‘credible’ to assess famine is already occurring in parts of Gaza (CNN)
- Biden administration still at odds with Israel over plans for Rafah invasion (ABC)
The SAT Saunters Back In
- Harvard University announced yesterday that it would reinstate standardized testing as an admissions requirement. Harvard was one of nearly 2,000 colleges across the country that dropped SAT/ACT requirements in recent years, with the idea being that the requirement prevented diversity, but Harvard cited a recent study that found that test scores were a better predictor of academic success in college than high school grades.
- Brown, Yale, Dartmouth, M.I.T., Georgetown, Purdue, and the University of Texas at Austin are among the other schools that have reversed their no-standardized-test-scores rules. The move is making some people worried that Harvard is heading backward – it comes after the Supreme Court struck down affirmative action in college admissions and after the school’s first Black president, Claudine Gay, resigned from her post.
He’s Out – He Was Caught Stealing
- The Justice Department announced yesterday that Ippei Mizuhara, the former interpreter for Los Angeles Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani, is now facing federal charges. Mizuhara is accused of bank fraud for allegedly stealing more than $16 million from Ohtani to “finance his voracious appetite for illegal sports betting,” United States Attorney Martin Estrada said during a press briefing.
- Estrada noted that Ohtani had cooperated “fully and completely” with the investigation and was a victim in the whole scheme. Mizuhara helped Ohtani set up his bank account in Arizona in 2018 and is accused of impersonating Ohtani over the phone with the bank to approve wire transfers to bookies for sports bets. Any winnings were deposited in Mizuhara’s own personal bank account, not any account owned by Ohtani.
More Nuts In America
- RFK Jr. campaign fires staffer who said defeating Biden was her ‘No. 1 priority’ (NBC)
- Bankruptcy documents detail how GOP NC governor nominee Mark Robinson failed to file federal income taxes for 5 years (ABC)
- One dead and five injured in Washington DC shooting, police say (Guardian)
- How Florida and Arizona Supreme Court rulings change the abortion access map (NPR)
- Water pours out of Utah dam as residents prepare for evacuation (Guardian)
- College aid officials warn FAFSA mess will delay many grant and loan offers until May (NBC)
A Hollywood Ending To An Island Vacation
- In a scene straight out of a movie, sailors stranded on an island in the Pacific were rescued after a week of island living. They were only spotted thanks to their bright idea to create a giant “HELP” sign on the beach out of palm tree leaves (did the Gilligan’s Island folks ever try this?), which a U.S. Coast Guard plane miraculously spotted while flying over the area. Apparently, the three sailors had subsisted on coconuts for the whole week before being rescued. Yes, this is a real story.
- On Easter Sunday, the three men (who were all in their 40s and related) had set off on their family trip aboard a 20-foot skiff, making the 115-mile journey from the Polowat Atoll to the Pikelot Atoll. Eventually, a woman called the Coast Guard’s Joint Rescue Sub-Center in Guam, telling the center that her three uncles had gone missing in the area.
- The call kicked off a 78,000-square-nautical-mile search. The plane that spotted them dropped survival packages and a radio to the men before a U.S. Coast Guard Cutter came to the atoll to pick them up. “In a remarkable testament to their will to be found, the mariners spelled out ‘HELP’ on the beach using palm leaves, a crucial factor in their discovery. This act of ingenuity was pivotal in guiding rescue efforts directly to their location,” said a spokesperson from the Coast Guard. So, note to self: the most obvious idea does actually work sometimes.
More Loose Nuts
- ‘Pony Express’: Lost horse wanders around Australia train station to escape rain (USA Today)
- Musk says X received U.S. House query on Brazil actions (NBC)
- French woman found dead in Italian church was searching for ghosts in possible Tik Tok stunt, police say (CNN)
- OJ Simpson, fallen football hero acquitted of murder in ‘trial of the century,’ dies at 76 (AP)
- Banquet room with preserved frescoes unearthed among Pompeii ruins (Guardian)
- Taylor Swift’s music is back on TikTok ahead of her latest album’s release (CNN)