5 key takeaways from Xi's trip to Saudi Arabia - CNN

Editor’s Note: A version of this story appears in CNN’s Meanwhile in today’s Middle East newsletter, a three-times-a-week look inside the region’s biggest stories. Sign up here.

Abu Dhabi CNN  — 

Years of progressing ties between oil-wealthy Saudi Arabia and China, an economic giant in the east, this week culminated in a multiple-day state visit by Chinese President Xi Jinping to Riyadh, where a number of agreements and summits heralded a “new era” of Chinese-Arab partnership.

Xi, who landed on Wednesday and departed Friday, was keen to show his Arab counterparts China’s value as the world’s largest oil consumer, and how it can contribute to the region’s growth, including within fields of energy, security and defense.

The trip was widely viewed as yet another snub to Washington, which holds grievances toward both states over a number of issues.

The United States, which has for more than eight decades prized its strategic alliance with Saudi Arabia, today finds its old partner in search of new friends – particularly with China, which the US worries is expanding its sphere of influence around the world.

While Saudi Arabia was keen to reject notions of polarization or “taking sides,” it also showed that with China it can develop deep partnerships without the criticism or “interference” for which it has long resented its Western counterparts.

Here are five key takeaways from Xi’s visit to Saudi Arabia.

1) Saudi Arabia and China are aligned on most policy

The two countries also agreed to cooperate on peaceful uses of nuclear energy, to work together on developing modern technologies such as artificial intelligence and innovate the energy sector.

Saudi Press Agency//Reuters

During Xi’s visit, Saudi Arabia and China released a nearly 4,000-word joint statement outlining their alignment on a swathe of political issues, and promising deeper cooperation on scores of others. From space research, digital economy and infrastructure to Iran’s nuclear program, the Yemen war and Russia’s war on Ukraine, Riyadh and Beijing were keen to show they are in agreement on most key policies.

“There is very much an alignment on key issues,” Saudi author and analyst Ali Shihabi told CNN. “Remember this relationship has been building up dramatically over the last six years so this visit was simply a culmination of that journey.”

The two countries also agreed to cooperate on peaceful uses of nuclear energy, to work together on developing modern technologies such as artificial intelligence and innovate the energy sector.

“I think what they are doing is saying that on most issues that they consider relevant, or important to themselves domestically and regionally, they see each other as really, really close important partners,” said Jonathan Fulton, a nonresident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council think tank.

“Do they align on every issue? Probably not, but [they are] as close as anybody could be,” he said.

2) They have big plans for security and oil

Xi Jinping, who landed on Wednesday and departed Friday, was keen to show his Arab counterparts China's value as the world's largest oil consumer.

Untitled/AP

An unwritten agreement between Saudi Arabia and the US has traditionally been an understanding that the kingdom provides oil, whereas the US provides military security and backs the kingdom in its fight against regional foes, namely Iran and its armed proxies.

The kingdom has recently been keen to move away from this traditional agreement, saying that diversification is essential to Riyadh’s current vision.

During a summit between China and countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) in Riyadh, Xi said China wants to build on current GCC-China energy cooperation. The Chinese leader said the republic will continue to “import crude oil in a consistent manner and in large quantities from the GCC, as well as increase its natural gas imports” from the region.

China is the world’s biggest buyer of oil, with Saudi Arabia being its top supplier.

And on Friday, the Saudi national oil giant Aramco and Shandong Energy Group said they are exploring collaboration on integrated refining and petrochemical opportunities in China, reported the Saudi Press Agency (SPA).

The statements come amid global shortages of energy, as well as repeated pleas by the West for oil producers to raise output.

The kingdom this year already made one of its largest investments in China with Aramco’s $10 billion investment into a refinery and petrochemical complex in China’s northeast.

China is also keen to cooperate with Saudi Arabia on security and defense, an important field once reserved for the kingdom’s American ally.

Disturbed by what they see as growing threats from Iran and waning US security presence in the region, Saudi Arabia and its Gulf neighbors have recently looked eastward when purchasing arms.

3) Non-interference in domestic affairs is a shared and sacred principle

Chinese leader Xi Jinping and Arab counterparts pose for a group photo during the China-Arab summit in Riyadh on December 9, 2022.

Saudi Press Agency/Reuters

One of the most sacred concepts cherished by China is the principle of “non-interference in mutual affairs,” which since the 1950s has been one of the republic’s key ideals.

What began as the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence between China, India and Myanmar in 1954 was later adopted by a number of countries that did not wish to choose between the US and the Soviet Union during the Cold War.

Today, Saudi Arabia is keen to adopt the concept into its political rhetoric as it walks a tightrope between its traditional Western allies, the eastern bloc and Russia.

Not interfering in one another’s internal affairs presumably means not commenting on domestic policy or criticizing human rights records.

One of the key hurdles complicating Saudi Arabia’s relationship with the US and other Western powers was the repeated criticism over domestic and foreign policy. This was most notable over the killing of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi, the Yemen war and the kingdom’s oil policy – which US politicians accused Riyadh of weaponizing to side with Russia in its war on Ukraine.

China has had similar resentments toward the West amid international concerns over Taiwan, a democratically governed island of 24 million people that Beijing claims as its territory, as well as human rights abuses against Uyghurs and other ethnic groups in China’s western Xinjiang region (which Beijing has denied).

The agreed principle of non-interference, says Shihabi, also means that, when needed, internal affairs “can be discussed privately but not postured upon publicly like Western politicians have a habit of doing for domestic political purposes.”

4) They are not abandoning the petrodollar, just yet

For both China and Saudi Arabia, not interfering in one another's internal affairs presumably means not commenting on domestic policy or criticizing human rights records.

Saudi Press Agency/Reuters

During his visit, Xi urged his GCC counterparts to “make full use of the Shanghai Petrol and Gas Exchange as a platform to conduct oil and gas sales using Chinese currency.”

The move would bring China closer to its goal of internationally strengthening its currency, and would greatly weaken the US dollar and potentially impact the American economy.

While many awaited decisions on the rumored shift from the US dollar to the Chinese yuan with regards to oil trading, no announcements were made on that front. Beijing and Riyadh have not confirmed rumors that the two sides are discussing abandoning the petrodollar.

Analysts see the decision as a logical development in China and Saudi Arabia’s energy relationship, but say it will probably take more time.

“That [abandonment of the petrodollar] is ultimately inevitable since China as the Kingdom’s largest customer has considerable leverage,” said Shihabi, “Although I do not expect it to happen in the near future.”

5) Washington is not happy

John Kirby, Coordinator for Strategic Communications at the National Security Council in the White House, said the US is "mindful of the influence that China is trying to grow around the world."

Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images

The US has been fairly quiet in its response to Xi’s visit. While comments were minimal, some speculate that there is heightened anxiety behind closed doors.

John Kirby, the strategic communications coordinator at the US National Security Council, at the onset of the visit said it was “not a surprise” that Xi is traveling around the world and to the Middle East, and that the US is “mindful of the influence that China is trying to grow around the world.”

“This visit may not substantively expand China’s influence but signal the continuing decline of American influence in the region,” Shaojin Chai, an assistant professor at the University of Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates, told CNN.

Saudi Arabia was, however, keen to reject notions of polarization, deeming it unhelpful.

Speaking at a press conference on Friday, Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud stressed that the kingdom is “focused on cooperation with all parties.”

“Competition is a good thing,” he added, “And I think we are in a competitive marketplace.”

Part of that drive for competitiveness, he said, comes with “cooperation with as many parties as possible.”

The kingdom feels it is important that it is fully engaged with its traditional partner, the US, as well as other rising economies like China, added the foreign minister.

“The Americans are probably aware that their messaging has been very ineffective on this issue,” said Fulton, normally “lecturing” partners about working with China “rather than putting together a coherent strategy working with its allies and partners.”

“There seems to be a big disconnect between how a lot of countries see China and how the US does. And to Washington’s credit, I think they are starting to realize that.”

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The fight to reduce food waste is getting a boost from science - PBS NewsHour

Hate mealy apples and soggy french fries? Science can help.

Restaurants, grocers, farmers and food companies are increasingly turning to chemistry and physics to tackle the problem of food waste.

Some are testing spray-on peels or chemically enhanced sachets that can slow the ripening process in fruit. Others are developing digital sensors that can tell — more precisely than a label — when meat is safe to consume. And packets affixed to the top of a takeout box use thermodynamics to keep fries crispy.

Experts say growing awareness of food waste and its incredible cost — both in dollars and in environmental impact — has led to an uptick in efforts to mitigate it. U.S. food waste startups raised $4.8 billion in 2021, 30% more than they raised in 2020, according to ReFed, a group that studies food waste.

“This has suddenly become a big interest,” said Elizabeth Mitchum, director of the Postharvest Technology Center at the University of California, Davis, who has worked in the field for three decades. “Even companies that have been around for a while are now talking about what they do through that lens.”

In 2019, around 35% of the 229 million tons of food available in the U.S. — worth around $418 billion — went unsold or uneaten, according to ReFed. Food waste is the largest category of material placed in municipal landfills, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, which notes that rotting food releases methane, a problematic greenhouse gas.

WATCH: Food waste is contributing to climate change. What’s being done about it?

ReFed estimates 500,000 pounds (225,000 kilograms) of food could be diverted from landfills annually with high-tech packaging.

Among the products in development are a sensor by Stockholm-based Innoscentia that can determine whether meat is safe depending on the buildup of microbes in its packaging. And Ryp Labs, based in the U.S. and Belgium, is working on a produce sticker that would release a vapor to slow ripening.

SavrPak was founded in 2020 by Bill Birgen, an aerospace engineer who was tired of the soggy food in his lunchbox. He developed a plant-based packet — made with food-safe materials approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration — that can fit inside a takeout container and absorb condensation, helping keep the food inside hotter and crispier.

Nashville, Tennessee-based hot-chicken chain Hattie B’s was skeptical. But after testing SavrPaks using humidity sensors, it now uses the packs when it’s catering fried foods and is working with SavrPak to integrate the packs into regular takeout containers.

Brian Morris, Hattie B’s vice president of culinary learning and development, said each SavrPak costs the company less than $1 but ensures a better meal.

“When it comes to fried chicken, we kind of lose control from the point when it leaves our place,” Morris said. “We don’t want the experience to go down the drain.”

But cost can still be a barrier for some companies and consumers. Kroger, the nation’s largest grocery chain, ended its multiyear partnership with Goleta, California-based Apeel Sciences this year because it found consumers weren’t willing to pay more for produce brushed or sprayed with Apeel’s edible coating to keep moisture in and oxygen out, thus extending the time that produce stays fresh.

Apeel says treated avocados can last a few extra days, while citrus fruit lasts for several weeks. The coating is made of purified mono- and diglycerides, emulsifiers that are common food additives.

Kroger wouldn’t say how much more Apeel products cost. Apeel also wouldn’t reveal the average price premium for produce treated with its coating since it varies by food distributor and grocer. But Apeel says its research shows customers are willing to pay more for produce that lasts longer. Apeel also says it continues to talk to Kroger about other future technology.

There is another big hurdle to coming up with innovations to preserve food: Every food product has its own biological makeup and handling requirements.

“There is no one major change that can improve the situation,” said Randy Beaudry, a professor in the horticulture department at Michigan State University’s school of agriculture.

Beaudry said the complexity has caused some projects to fail. He remembers working with one large packaging company on a container designed to prevent fungus in tomatoes. For the science to work, the tomatoes had to be screened for size and then oriented stem-up in each container. Eventually the project was scrapped.

Beaudry said it’s also hard to sort out which technology works best, since startups don’t always share data or formulations with outside researchers.

Some companies find it better to rely on proven technology — but in new ways. Chicago-based Hazel Technologies, which was founded in 2015, sells 1-methylcyclopropene, or 1-MCP, a gas that has been used for decades to delay the ripening process in fruit. The compound — considered non-toxic by the EPA — is typically pumped into sealed storage rooms to inhibit the production of ethylene, a plant hormone.

But Hazel’s real breakthrough is a sachet the size of a sugar packet that can slowly release 1-MCP into a box of produce.

Mike Mazie, the facilities and storage manager at BelleHarvest, a large apple packing facility in Belding, Michigan, ordered around 3,000 sachets this year. He used them for surplus bins that couldn’t fit into the sealed rooms required for gas.

“If you can get another week out of a bushel of apples, why wouldn’t you?” he said. “It absolutely makes a difference.”

The science is promising but it’s only part of the solution, said Yvette Cabrera, the director of food waste for the Natural Resources Defense Council. Most food waste happens at the residential level, she said; lowering portion sizes, buying smaller quantities of food at a time or improving the accuracy of date labels could have even more impact than technology.

“Overall as a society, we don’t value food as it should be valued,” Cabrera said.

AP National Writer and Visual Journalist Martha Irvine contributed from Belding, Michigan.

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Something from Tiffany's movie review (2022) - Roger Ebert

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Marya E. Gates December 09, 2022

Tiffany's is known for its classic, timeless jewelry. You see that little teal box, and you know to expect something elegant and thoughtfully crafted out of the best materials. Unfortunately, that's not the case with Daryl Wein's "Something from Tiffany's." Overlong at a mere 87 minutes, there's nothing timeless or elegant about this flop entirely composed of elements derived from much better films. 

The beautiful jewel-toned opening scene captures a nostalgic, magical midcentury New York City Christmas vibe. It's all sparkling holiday lights and crisp snowflakes, underscored by Dean Martin crooning "I've Got My Love to Keep Me Warm." If only the rest of the Prime Video rom-com, based on the novel of the same name by Melissa Hill, continued to match this sequence's verve.

A swirl pan from the city streets places us inside the titular Tiffany's, where writer Ethan (Kendrick Sampson, fine) and his daughter Daisy (Leah Jeffries, exuberant) painstakingly pick out just the right ring to propose to his girlfriend Vanessa (Shay Mitchell, who does the best she can with an underwritten character). Their precision is intercut with self-centered tattoo artist Gary (Ray Nicholson, surprisingly bland), who barges through the crowded store, half-heartedly in search of a last-minute gift for his girlfriend Rachel (Zoey Deutch), a chef who is at home getting an elaborate anniversary dinner in order. When the careless Gary walks out of the store straight into an on-coming cab and a bout of amnesia, Ethan rushes to his aid—and their little teal bags get accidentally switched.

The rest of the film finds Ethan and Rachel brought together by accident, only to realize they are with whom they should have been with all along. This is the plot of many screwball comedies, old and new. Unfortunately, instead of finding an original twist on these tropes, screenwriter Tamara Chestna appears to have put elements of Holiday-set rom-coms like "Serendipity," "While You Were Sleeping," "You've Got Mail," and "Sleepless In Seattle" into a blender, leaving all the surface-level pieces intact, but none of the charm—or most importantly any well-developed characters. 

Much of the movie rests on leading lady Zoey Deutch's shoulders, the filmmakers coasting on the zany persona she's been honing since her breakout role in 2018's "Set It Up." But beyond an underwritten backstory about a dead mother and a love for Italian pastries, there's not much to her character beyond her zippy mile-a-minute patter. Allegedly she's in business with her best friend Terrie (Jojo T. Gibbs), but there's not enough chemistry between the actresses to make a lifelong friendship believable. 

Deutch doesn't have any chemistry with anyone in the film—including the two men she's found herself between. Sampson gives emotional glances her way, but Deutch gives nothing back in return. Likewise, Nicholson seems to have been directed to play his role with as little facial emotion as possible while having all his natural heat sapped out. Anyone who's seen his work in 2021's YA series "Panic" knows how much he's been sanded down here.

Aside from a lack of chemistry with its stars, one of the main problems with many modern rom-coms is their overemphasis on hitting situational beats and memeable one-liners over crafting interesting, complex characters. Everyone in this film still feels like a concept of a person rather than a real person. The messy heroine who's a ball of fire. The toxic, careless boyfriend. The single dad with a heart of gold. The precocious kid, wise beyond her years. The sassy Black best friend. The fiance who just doesn't fit. 

Weirdly, the one actor able to overcome his stock character trappings is Connor Hines as Gary's ne'er-do-well friend Finn. Introduced in the third act solely to accidentally reveal some information that undermines everything Rachel thought about Gary's hidden depth and selflessness, Hines is absolutely hilarious, and for about five minutes, the film has a discernible pulse. But, unfortunately, there are still about 20 more minutes to plod through after he leaves the picture. 

LCD Soundsystem's melancholic electro-bop "Oh Baby" makes for an unexpected but welcomed needle drop to the film's inevitable conclusion as Deutch does her best Billy Crystal sprint across the city to share her true feelings. Despite the inspired song choice, the moment lands with a dull thud, rehashing a handful of scenes from a few beloved Meg Ryan movies without even a wink or nod. 

Everything, of course, wraps up in a neat little Christmas bow, the numbers painted so completely that any magic of possibility hanging in the air is snuffed out in favor of unearned closure. Rather than the journey of telling the compelling story of two individuals finding love, it's clear that getting to that rote perfect final moment was always the film's only goal.

Now playing on Prime Video.

Marya E. Gates

Marya E. Gates is a freelance film and culture writer based in Los Angeles and Chicago. She studied Comparative Literature at U.C. Berkeley, and also has an overpriced and underused MFA in Film Production. Other bylines include Moviefone, The Playlist, Crooked Marquee, Nerdist, and Vulture. 

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Something from Tiffany's (2022)

Rated PG for language, some suggestive comments and a drug reference.

87 minutes

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Griner returns to U.S. after release from Russia - ESPN

5:57 AM ET

• ESPN News Services

Brittney Griner returned to the United States early Friday after being freed in a high-profile prisoner exchange following nearly 10 months in detention in Russia.

Griner was seen getting off a plane that landed Friday at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland in Texas.

U.S. officials said Thursday that she would be offered specialized medical services and counseling upon her return but declined to go into specifics, citing privacy concerns.

Griner had been detained in Russia for nearly 10 months. She was exchanged for notorious arms dealer Viktor Bout on Thursday.

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The exchange, made at a time of heightened tensions over the invasion of Ukraine, achieved a top goal for President Joe Biden but carried a heavy price and left behind Paul Whelan, an American jailed for nearly four years in Russia.

In an address from the White House on Thursday, Biden, who had spoken to Griner on the phone, said that these "past few months have been hell for Brittney" but that she was in good spirits.

"This is a day we've worked toward for a long time," Biden said. "We never stopped pushing for her release. It took painstaking and intense negotiations, and I want to thank all the hardworking public servants across my administration who worked tirelessly to secure her release."

Cherelle Griner also spoke at the White House and thanked a number of people who helped secure her wife's release.

"Today, my family is whole, but as you all are aware, there are so many other families who are not whole," Cherelle Griner said. "BG and I will remain committed to the work of getting every American home, including Paul, whose family is in our hearts today as we celebrate BG being home."

Russian President Vladimir Putin addressed the prisoner exchange Friday, saying more U.S.-Russian exchanges are possible.

Asked whether other prisoners could be swapped, Putin replied that "everything is possible," noting that "compromises have been found" to clear Thursday's exchange of Griner for Bout.

"We aren't refusing to continue this work in the future," Putin said.

Griner was arrested at Moscow's Sheremetyevo Airport in February when customs officials found vape canisters with cannabis oil in her luggage. She pleaded guilty in July but still faced a trial because admitting guilt in Russia's judicial system does not automatically end a case. She was sentenced to nine years and had been transferred to a penal colony in November.

She acknowledged in court that she possessed the canisters but said that she had no criminal intent and that their presence in her luggage was due to hasty packing.

The U.S. State Department had declared Griner to be "wrongfully detained" -- a charge Russia sharply rejected.

In releasing Bout, the U.S. freed a former Soviet Army lieutenant colonel whom the Justice Department once described as one of the world's most prolific arms dealers. He was arrested in Thailand in 2008 and extradited to the U.S. in 2010.

Bout was serving a 25-year sentence on charges that he conspired to sell tens of millions of dollars in weapons that U.S officials said were to be used against Americans.

Whelan, a Michigan corporate security executive, has been imprisoned in Russia since December 2018 on espionage charges that his family and the U.S. government have said are baseless.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Public Health Leaders Question Whether Asbestos Facilities Should Be Exempt From Surprise Inspections - ProPublica

ProPublica is a nonprofit newsroom that investigates abuses of power. Sign up to receive our biggest stories as soon as they’re published.

As more workers speak up about being exposed to asbestos in chlorine plants, public health leaders are questioning whether these facilities should be allowed to be in a special program that shields them from scrutiny by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

OSHA’s Star Program, one of its so-called Voluntary Protection Programs, exempts plants with model safety systems from random, unannounced inspections. At least four of the eight chlorine factories that currently use asbestos are in the program, according to OSHA’s website.

“On its face, a company whose business model relies on using asbestos does not have an exceptional health and safety management system,” the American Public Health Association’s Occupational Health and Safety Section wrote in a letter to OSHA last week. “There are alternative processes available and used by (chlorine) plants in the U.S. and in other nations.”

Asbestos has long been known to cause deadly cancers and a chronic lung disease called asbestosis. Its tiny fibers are extremely potent; public health experts say there is no safe level of exposure.

While the vast majority of industries that once used the carcinogen no longer do, two chemical companies, OxyChem and Olin Corp., continue to import hundreds of tons annually for use in their oldest chlorine plants. They use the material as a protective coating on large metal screens that separate volatile chemicals.

The companies say they use asbestos under strict controls and that workers are rarely, if ever, exposed. But workers at an OxyChem plant in Niagara Falls, New York, told ProPublica that asbestos dust hung in the air and accumulated in some places until it was inches thick. Workers at an Olin plant near Mobile, Alabama, said they had scraped dry asbestos off the beams and floors without any protective gear. Workers at three other plants said they, too, were concerned about the potential for asbestos exposure at their workplaces.

The Niagara Falls facility was part of OSHA’s Star Program from 1996 until its closure late last year, government records show. The plant outside of Mobile participated from 2001 until 2015.

In its letter to OSHA, the public health association said it was “alarming for us to read the testimony from former workers about the magnitude of asbestos exposure” at the site in Niagara Falls.

The group also raised concerns about the plant’s management using its status in the Star Program “to game the system.” Plants in the program know when most OSHA inspections will take place. Former employees at the Niagara Falls plant told ProPublica they spent months preparing for such visits, and that work in certain parts of the plant came to a halt when OSHA inspectors were on campus. (Even still, inspectors found asbestos on the floor and covering equipment in 2011, records show.)

The letter, which included a request for a meeting, was signed by three members of the public health association’s leadership team: Angela Laramie, an epidemiologist with expertise in occupational health; Celeste Monforton, a lecturer in public health at Texas State University who previously worked for OSHA; and Mary Miller, an occupational health nurse who retired from the Washington state Department of Labor and Industries.

OSHA told ProPublica it was reviewing the correspondence but declined to comment further.

OxyChem has repeatedly said it complies with federal regulations. “Dating back to the early 1970s, there have been no violations issued by OSHA related to our handling and use of asbestos in any of our chlor-alkali production operations,” the company said in a statement, which it has provided to ProPublica several times.

Olin has not returned calls or emails from ProPublica.

Jordan Barab, a former deputy assistant secretary of labor, said it was unlikely OSHA would remove certain chlorine plants from the Star Program strictly because they use asbestos-dependent technology. “There are a lot of companies that handle dangerous materials,” he said.

Workers Across America Break Their Silence on Decades of Asbestos Exposure

But Barab said OSHA had the power to drop in on plants where workers had complained or even develop a special program to look at hazards specific to the chlorine industry.

“OSHA should be looking at these (plants), without a doubt,” he said. “They should have been doing it before, but especially now.”

Sen. Jeff Merkley, an Oregon Democrat who has been working on legislation that would ban asbestos, echoed that sentiment. “None of this is a one-off safety lapse,” he said in a statement. “It’s systemic throughout the industry and it’s time for OSHA and safety regulators to step up so not one more American falls victim to this preventable hazard.”

OSHA declined to say whether it would investigate any of the plants that use asbestos in response to ProPublica’s reporting.

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Public Health Leaders Question Whether Asbestos Facilities Should Be Exempt From Surprise Inspections - ProPublica

ProPublica is a nonprofit newsroom that investigates abuses of power. Sign up to receive our biggest stories as soon as they’re published.

As more workers speak up about being exposed to asbestos in chlorine plants, public health leaders are questioning whether these facilities should be allowed to be in a special program that shields them from scrutiny by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

OSHA’s Star Program, one of its so-called Voluntary Protection Programs, exempts plants with model safety systems from random, unannounced inspections. At least four of the eight chlorine factories that currently use asbestos are in the program, according to OSHA’s website.

“On its face, a company whose business model relies on using asbestos does not have an exceptional health and safety management system,” the American Public Health Association’s Occupational Health and Safety Section wrote in a letter to OSHA last week. “There are alternative processes available and used by (chlorine) plants in the U.S. and in other nations.”

Asbestos has long been known to cause deadly cancers and a chronic lung disease called asbestosis. Its tiny fibers are extremely potent; public health experts say there is no safe level of exposure.

While the vast majority of industries that once used the carcinogen no longer do, two chemical companies, OxyChem and Olin Corp., continue to import hundreds of tons annually for use in their oldest chlorine plants. They use the material as a protective coating on large metal screens that separate volatile chemicals.

The companies say they use asbestos under strict controls and that workers are rarely, if ever, exposed. But workers at an OxyChem plant in Niagara Falls, New York, told ProPublica that asbestos dust hung in the air and accumulated in some places until it was inches thick. Workers at an Olin plant near Mobile, Alabama, said they had scraped dry asbestos off the beams and floors without any protective gear. Workers at three other plants said they, too, were concerned about the potential for asbestos exposure at their workplaces.

The Niagara Falls facility was part of OSHA’s Star Program from 1996 until its closure late last year, government records show. The plant outside of Mobile participated from 2001 until 2015.

In its letter to OSHA, the public health association said it was “alarming for us to read the testimony from former workers about the magnitude of asbestos exposure” at the site in Niagara Falls.

The group also raised concerns about the plant’s management using its status in the Star Program “to game the system.” Plants in the program know when most OSHA inspections will take place. Former employees at the Niagara Falls plant told ProPublica they spent months preparing for such visits, and that work in certain parts of the plant came to a halt when OSHA inspectors were on campus. (Even still, inspectors found asbestos on the floor and covering equipment in 2011, records show.)

The letter, which included a request for a meeting, was signed by three members of the public health association’s leadership team: Angela Laramie, an epidemiologist with expertise in occupational health; Celeste Monforton, a lecturer in public health at Texas State University who previously worked for OSHA; and Mary Miller, an occupational health nurse who retired from the Washington state Department of Labor and Industries.

OSHA told ProPublica it was reviewing the correspondence but declined to comment further.

OxyChem has repeatedly said it complies with federal regulations. “Dating back to the early 1970s, there have been no violations issued by OSHA related to our handling and use of asbestos in any of our chlor-alkali production operations,” the company said in a statement, which it has provided to ProPublica several times.

Olin has not returned calls or emails from ProPublica.

Jordan Barab, a former deputy assistant secretary of labor, said it was unlikely OSHA would remove certain chlorine plants from the Star Program strictly because they use asbestos-dependent technology. “There are a lot of companies that handle dangerous materials,” he said.

Workers Across America Break Their Silence on Decades of Asbestos Exposure

But Barab said OSHA had the power to drop in on plants where workers had complained or even develop a special program to look at hazards specific to the chlorine industry.

“OSHA should be looking at these (plants), without a doubt,” he said. “They should have been doing it before, but especially now.”

Sen. Jeff Merkley, an Oregon Democrat who has been working on legislation that would ban asbestos, echoed that sentiment. “None of this is a one-off safety lapse,” he said in a statement. “It’s systemic throughout the industry and it’s time for OSHA and safety regulators to step up so not one more American falls victim to this preventable hazard.”

OSHA declined to say whether it would investigate any of the plants that use asbestos in response to ProPublica’s reporting.

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Public Health Leaders Question Whether Asbestos Facilities Should Be Exempt From Surprise Inspections - ProPublica
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How a Jim Crow-era strategy blocked 4.6 million people from voting in 2022 - The Center for Public Integrity

Virginia begins official withdrawal from regional carbon market - Virginia Mercury

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Virginia begins official withdrawal from regional carbon market  Virginia Mercury

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Supreme Court Faces Increasing Scrutiny From Congress After Leaks - The New York Times

The House Judiciary Committee is set to hear from a whistle-blower who says he was tipped off about a religious freedom ruling.

WASHINGTON — Congressional Democrats are intensifying their critical focus on the Supreme Court in the wake of accusations of leaked decisions and improper outside influence, calling for new ethics rules to be imposed on the justices.

House Democrats plan to convene a hearing on the issue on Thursday. Senate Democrats say they are also considering taking a closer look at the court after disclosures of a concerted campaign by evangelical Christians to develop deep contacts among some conservative justices as they weighed major rulings on religious rights, abortion and contraception.

“There are certainly circumstances that need to be questioned,” said Senator Richard J. Durbin, Democrat of Illinois and chairman of the Judiciary Committee, saying he would not rule out the panel zeroing in on the court next year.

The House Judiciary Committee hearing set for Thursday is titled “Undue Influence: ‘Operation Higher Court’ and Politicking at SCOTUS” and is scheduled to feature testimony from the Rev. Robert Schenck, a former anti-abortion activist turned whistle-blower.

Mr. Schenck told The New York Times he received notice of a 2014 ruling in a landmark religious rights case from a financial patron who had a social relationship with Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr., who wrote the opinion. Justice Alito has denied disclosing the decision. Mr. Schenck also said he had engineered a plan to have wealthy donors try to ingratiate themselves with the justices as a way to build relationships with them and encourage their conservative views.

His revelations followed another extraordinary breach at the court earlier this year when Politico obtained the draft ruling in the case that ultimately overturned the landmark Roe v. Wade abortion precedent, another decision written by Justice Alito, weeks before it was issued. Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. has said the court would investigate the stunning disclosure, but no progress report or conclusion has come from the court.

Democrats in both the House and Senate have expressed dismay about what they argued was a dismissive posture from the court regarding congressional calls for information about the new accusations and questions from lawmakers about the propriety of the justices’s activities.

“The goal is to alert the American people to what is going on at the United States Supreme Court, and that is a culture of arrogance, entitlement and unaccountability,” said Representative Hank Johnson, a Georgia Democrat and chairman of the judiciary subcommittee overseeing the courts.

The congressional push comes as the public standing of the court has declined after a string of conservative decisions and Senate maneuvering that ended with President Donald J. Trump naming three conservative justices and moving the court decidedly to the right. Besides the demand for new ethics rules and more public disclosure, some lawmakers and activists have also been pressing to expand the court and impose term limits on justices who now serve for life.

Mr. Johnson and his Senate counterpart with responsibility for oversight of the courts, Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, Democrat of Rhode Island, are pressing legislation that would require the Supreme Court, which is exempt from the ethics rules imposed on others in the federal judiciary, to adopt a code of conduct or see one imposed by Congress.

The measure also would set new standards for recusal from cases and establish financial disclosure rules in line with those established for Congress.

Mr. Whitehouse said he believed a deep Judiciary Committee review of the court was warranted.

“It is our intention to get to the bottom of this and let the public know that this is a Supreme Court that has no place to file a complaint, no process to do an investigation, no means to find the facts, no process for coming up with a final report and no ultimate determination,” said Mr. Whitehouse, a sharp critic of the court and campaigns to place conservative justices on it.

The Supreme Court has long asserted its ability to police itself and keep its distance from congressional intervention, given its status as a separate branch of government.

How far Congress can go in imposing its will on the court is an open question. In a letter to the lawmakers, the legal counsel at the court reiterated Justice Alito’s denial that anything untoward happened. The letter also said that unspecified “relevant rules” prevent gifts from influencing a justice’s opinions and allow the justices to have personal friendships.

Republicans will be taking control of the House next month, and it is unlikely they will have the same interest in scrutinizing the court, but Democrats will retain control of Senate committees and could press the issue. Some Senate Republicans have expressed a willingness to at least explore the idea of new ethics rules for the court, though they are suspicious of Democratic motives and their authority in the matter.

“I’m a bit leery one branch can begin to have that much influence on the other, but I’m open-minded if there are things we need to do,” said Senator Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina and a senior member of the Judiciary Committee. “I would be a bit reluctant, but we will see what the agenda includes.”

Other Republicans said they already saw a political agenda at work.

“Ethics are a legitimate issue, but I think this is in aid of a political narrative to suggest that the Supreme Court is on some sort of juggernaut to reshape the law of the land, which I just don’t believe,” said Senator John Cornyn, Republican of Texas and another veteran member of the Judiciary Committee. “To undermine the legitimacy of the court as a court of law I think is irresponsible.”

But Mr. Johnson, the House Democrat, said Congress can no longer defer to the court on ethics matters. He said the court has essentially told Americans to “just trust us,” and the public has largely accepted that proposition.

“But what we have discovered,” he said, “is that a vast right-wing lobbying campaign has influenced the highest court in the land, which doesn’t even see fit to hold itself to a code of conduct like any federal judge, or state court judges as well.”

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Letitia James Accused of Protecting Top Aide From Harassment Allegations - The New York Times

Sofia Quintanar said that her sexual harassment allegations against the aide were handled differently than similar ones lodged against former Gov. Andrew Cuomo.

When her office’s investigation of sexual harassment at a Manhattan bar was settled this summer, the New York attorney general, Letitia James, was clear about her priorities.

“This settlement is a reminder that no matter the perpetrator, we will not tolerate sexual harassment,” she said in a July statement about the case, which attracted relatively little notice. It was one of many she had issued in which she emphasized the importance of believing women’s accounts of harassment.

But new details from a woman who has accused one of Ms. James’s top aides of harassment have raised questions about whether the attorney general lived up to her words when the accused was one of her closest associates.

The woman, Sofia Quintanar, a former aide to Ms. James, said in an interview that she decided to come forward because she believed that the attorney general was protecting her longtime chief of staff, Ibrahim Khan, and withholding any public finding of wrongdoing rather than aggressively pursuing the investigation.

“I find it just appalling to see how the office handled this publicly,” Ms. Quintanar, 33, told The New York Times in her first public interview about her interaction with Mr. Khan. She said that she decided to come forward because she believed that Ms. James’s office took more care to protect Mr. Khan than the women who accused him of abuse, allowing him to quietly submit his resignation in November with his reputation intact.

Ms. James, in a sit-down interview Wednesday night with Errol Louis of NY1, said that the allegations against Mr. Khan were substantiated and that she believed the women who had accused him of inappropriate touching and kissing.

Asked if the office was considering making a criminal referral, she said that “at this point in time, this is a personnel matter,” but added, “We will consider the possibility of a referral.”

Ms. James said she was angry and disappointed in her longtime aide.

“I’m angry because he was my chief of staff for 10 years. I’m deeply disappointed in him. And there’s no excuse for his behavior at all. None whatsoever,” Ms. James said. “I believe these women. I believe their allegations. And it just, it angers me.”

Earlier, in her first formal statement since The Times reported the investigation into Mr. Khan on Friday, she said that her office “treated this matter as aggressively as every other matter that has come before our office,” enlisting a law firm to conduct an independent investigation as soon as she had been informed of the allegations.

But Ms. Quintanar, who served as a deputy press secretary in the attorney general’s office, said she believed that its approach to her complaint had been far less aggressive than its treatment of harassment allegations against former Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo.

Ms. Quintanar said that she was told by the office that investigators had substantiated her allegation that Mr. Khan inappropriately touched her and aggressively kissed her against her will in November 2021, outside a bar in Brooklyn where they were attending a political fund-raiser.

But Ms. James’s office last week only acknowledged that an “independent, impartial investigation” had been conducted, and that Mr. Khan had “since resigned.”

“Me and the other victims, we deserve the same vindication that was given to these other victims that she stood up for,” Ms. Quintanar said, referring to the women who accused Mr. Cuomo of harassment. “It shouldn’t be any different because it happened in her house.”

Ms. Quintanar said she was troubled that Ms. James’s office handled her complaint far less aggressively than it investigated harassment allegations against former Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo.Dave Sanders for The New York Times

Ms. Quintanar left her job in Ms. James’s office in 2021 to pursue a career as a campaign consultant. She decided to attend the fund-raiser in November for Zellnor Myrie, a state senator in Brooklyn, to drum up business and reunite with old friends, recalled Amy Bettys, a friend who accompanied Ms. Quintanar to the event.

Ms. Quintanar said that she ran into Mr. Khan not long after she arrived at the Someday Bar on Atlantic Avenue.

They talked over drinks about her most recent campaign work and Ms. James’s candidacy for governor, which she launched not long after Mr. Cuomo’s resignation and eventually abandoned.

The bar became too noisy and Ms. Quintanar and Mr. Khan decided to continue what she described as a professional conversation about politics outside. That’s where Ms. Quintanar said that Mr. Khan aggressively grabbed her by her shoulder, pulled her close and “stuck his tongue down my throat.”

“I don’t even know how to describe the feeling, honestly, just disappointment in someone that I considered a respected boss, a former respected boss who just months ago, the Cuomo stuff had just happened to,” Ms. Quintanar said. “And I was just in pure shock. We just went through all of this with someone else. How can you think this was OK?”

Ms. Quintanar said she confronted Mr. Khan, a married father, about the unwelcome kiss before heading back into the bar. Ms. Bettys said she noticed that Ms. Quintanar seemed upset when she returned and that Mr. Khan kept trying to speak into Ms. Quintanar’s ear.

Ms. Bettys and Ms. Quintanar soon left the bar, and Ms. Quintanar immediately told Ms. Bettys what had happened.

A lawyer for Mr. Khan, Fran Hoffinger, disputed Ms. Quintanar’s account. “We deny allegations of wrongdoing and we are not litigating this in the press,” she said.

Mr. Khan contacted Ms. Quintanar the next day, according to a text message reviewed by The Times — a message that Ms. Quintanar also sent to the independent law firm that Ms. James’s office used to investigate the harassment allegations. When they finally spoke, Ms. Quintanar said Mr. Khan asked if she had made it home safely.

“I thought he was calling to apologize but he just acted like it didn’t happen,” said Ms. Quintanar.

For months, she told no one else about the incident.

“There was no reason for me to come forward. No one was there other than him and I. There was alcohol involved,” Ms. Quintanar said. “I just thought, who would ever believe my story?”

She briefly had second thoughts after a friend told her that Mr. Khan had been accused of sexual assault in the past, and that The New York Post had written about it. She said she could not retrieve The Post’s article, and decided to “just take this to the grave.”

But as the months passed, Ms. Quintanar gradually told a small handful of people. She first confided in a former colleague from the attorney general’s office whom she considered a good friend. The woman, whom The Times is not naming, began to cry. Mr. Khan had also made unwanted sexual advances by groping her and kissing her against her will, according to two people familiar with the accusation.

“And that’s when I was like this is not just me anymore,” Ms. Quintanar said. “There’s a pattern. I’m not the only person.”

Two months later, Ms. Quintanar recounted the encounter with Mr. Khan to someone she considered a mentor. That person convinced Ms. Quintanar that what happened to her was wrong and not her fault and subsequently arranged for both women to tell their story to a political consultant for Ms. James. After the consultant spoke with both women, Ms. James was told on Oct. 2 about the allegations of harassment, according to the office.

Late on Monday, the attorney general’s office released a timeline of its handling of the allegations.

On Oct. 3, a day after Ms. James and the office learned of the accusations, the office informed Mr. Khan that he should begin to work remotely; the following day, the office enlisted the law firm, Littler Mendelson, to conduct an independent investigation.

Ms. James’s office provided documentation to support some portions of that timeline, including an email to Mr. Khan, which was sent on Oct. 3, and an exchange with the law firm that confirmed the date that it was engaged. There was not any official memorialization of when Ms. James herself learned of the allegations.

The timeline said that Mr. Khan resigned on Nov. 22 — a note with that date from him to the office’s director of human resources said that his resignation would take effect on Dec. 31 — and that he ceased to be involved in “any official office matter” on Dec. 2, the day The Times reported the allegations.

That same day, Ms. James’s office said that the investigation of Mr. Khan had “substantively” concluded, with those who made the allegations notified, and staff at the office told of Mr. Khan’s resignation.

In a statement, the Sexual Harassment Working Group, an organization that works to prevent harassment in state politics, said, “We expect the attorney general’s office to handle complaints appropriately and communicate effectively about the latest investigation.”

The group acknowledged that it had been appropriate for Ms. James to keep the investigation private while it was ongoing, but said that “once an investigation is concluded, the public is owed a full accounting of the terms and timeline of events and the findings, save for personal details to protect the victims’ privacy and dignity.”

John Kaehny, the executive director of Reinvent Albany, a good-government group, said that questions about Ms. James are “not going to go away because of the sensitivity and the massive resonance with the Cuomo investigation and her role and her office’s role in that.”

This is not the first time that allegations of sexual impropriety have been brought against Mr. Khan, who began working as Ms. James’s spokesman during her 2013 campaign for public advocate, before becoming her chief of staff.

In 2017, The New York Post reported that a former employee of the public advocate’s office, where Mr. Khan was chief of staff, accused him of drugging and sexually assaulting her at a holiday party. Both the Manhattan district attorney’s office and the city’s Department of Investigation looked into the charge and then closed the inquiry.

The article about Mr. Khan is no longer available on The Post’s website and the former employee did not respond to multiple requests for comments.

The Post, in a more recent article about Mr. Khan, said that the article was removed because the newspaper learned that the woman had not identified Mr. Khan as the person who drugged and assaulted her and that she “had no memory of who the attacker was.” Iva Benson, a spokeswoman for The Post, declined to comment further.

Ms. Quintanar said she knew she had to be brave and speak out when she learned about the possibility of more victims. She noted that when she worked for Ms. James, Ms. Quintanar had written “speeches about believing women, especially speeches about women of color.”

That just made it worse when she saw Mr. Khan’s carefully worded statement about his resignation, which asserted that an investigation “found no official workplace misconduct,” a statement that has not been corroborated by Ms. James’s office or the outside law firm investigating the allegations.

“To see how Ibrahim responded by splitting hairs and saying, ‘Oh it wasn’t workplace, it didn’t happen in the workplace,’ like that’s supposed to make it better,” she said.

Susan C. Beachy contributed research.

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