RIYADMEDIA

Seoul, South Korea — North Korea condemned Ukraine’s incursion into Russia as an unforgivable act of terror backed by Washington and the West, adding it would always stand with Russia as it seeks to protect its sovereignty, state media said Sunday.

Ukraine’s drive into Russia is a product of the anti-Russia confrontational policy of the United States, which is pushing the situation to the brink of World War III, KCNA news agency said.

The U.S. handed “astronomical” sums of lethal weapons to Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the report said.

“We strongly condemn the armed attack against the Russian territory by the Zelenskyy puppet regime under the control and support of the United States and the West as an unforgivable act of aggression and terror,” North Korea’s foreign ministry said in a statement, according to KCNA.

North Korea has dramatically upgraded its ties with Russia in the past year with two summit meetings by their leaders who pledged closer cooperation in all areas.

In June, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a pact in Pyongyang on a “comprehensive strategic partnership” that included a mutual defense agreement.

South Korea, Ukraine and the United States have accused North Korea of supplying artillery and missiles to Russia for use in its unprovoked war against Ukraine. North Korea and Russia have denied the allegations. 
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Seoul, South Korea — The leaders of South Korea, Japan and the United States issued a joint statement Sunday marking the anniversary of their summit at Camp David and reaffirmed a pledge to jointly tackle regional challenges, South Korea’s presidential office said.

The principles on trilateral cooperation established at the summit last year continue to serve as a roadmap for the three countries’ cooperation, the statement issued by South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol’s office said.

“We stand by our commitment to consult on regional challenges, provocations and threats affecting our collective interests and security,” it said.

U.S. President Joe Biden, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and Yoon met on Aug. 18 last year and agreed to deepen military and economic cooperation and take a united stand against China’s growing power and security threats from North Korea.

South Korean media have said the leaders plan to meet again this year, citing unnamed sources, but it was not yet clear when, especially since Kishida has announced he would be stepping down.

A senior South Korean presidential official said there will be two or three occasions where the three leaders will have the chance to meet and discussions over those plans are still in the early stages.

The spirit of cooperation among the three countries will live on even after Biden and Kishida leave office, the official told reporters on the condition of anonymity.

“The three main actors who established the Camp David framework of cooperation won’t be in their roles forever,” he said.
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Moscow — Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived in Azerbaijan’s capital Baku on Sunday for a two-day state visit, Russian news agencies reported.

Russian television broadcast images of the president’s plane as it arrived in Baku in the evening.  

His visit to the Caucasus country, a close partner of both Moscow and Turkey but also a major energy supplier to Western countries, comes against the backdrop of an unprecedented Ukrainian military offensive on Russian soil.  

Putin is due to hold talks with his Azerbaijani counterpart Ilham Aliyev on bilateral relations and “international and regional problems”, the Kremlin said.

The two leaders are dining Sunday evening at the Azerbaijani president’s official residence, local official news agency Asertac said.

On Monday, Aliyev and Putin will sign joint documents and make statements to the press, said Russian agency Ria Novosti.

Putin will also lay a wreath on the tomb of Heydar Aliyev, father of the current leader, who was president from 1993 to 2003.   

Earlier, the Kremlin said they would also discuss “the question of settling (the conflict) between Azerbaijan and Armenia.”  

Azerbaijan reconquered the mountainous enclave in September 2023 from the Armenian separatists who had held it for three decades.

Armenia accused Russia of inadequate support in its conflict with Azerbaijan over Nagorno-Karabakh.

Since then, Armenia has sought to deepen its ties with Western countries, especially the United States, much to the annoyance of Moscow, which considers both former Soviet republics to be in its sphere of influence.

Azerbaijan is a major producer of natural gas, to whom many European countries turned to make up for the sharp reduction in Russian deliveries after the start of the conflict in Ukraine in February 2022.

It is also hosting the COP29 climate conference in November.

Putin’s last visit to Azerbaijan was in September 2018.  

Putin has been under an arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court since March 2023 for the “deportation” of Ukrainian children to Russia, an accusation the Kremlin denies.

While the threat of arrest has limited Putin’s travels abroad, Azerbaijan is not a signatory to the Rome Statute treaty that established the ICC.
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NEW YORK — Hopes for an economic soft landing are once again powering U.S. stocks higher, as encouraging data relieve recession worries following a brutal sell-off earlier this month.

The S&P 500 .SPX has rebounded more than 6% since Aug. 5, when a steep drop pushed the benchmark U.S. index to its biggest three-day slide in over two years. A rapid return to calm was also evident in the Cboe Volatility Index .VIX, or Wall Street’s “fear gauge,” which has retreated from last week’s four-year highs at a record pace.

Driving the turnaround are last week’s reports on retail sales, inflation and producer prices, which helped allay worries over an economic slowdown sparked by weaker-than-expected employment data at the start of the month. The favorable data has bolstered the case for investors looking to hop back aboard many of the trades that have worked this year, from buying Big Tech stocks to a more recent bet on small and mid-cap names that accelerated in July.

“There was a real growth scare that had emerged,” said Mona Mahajan, senior investment strategist at Edward Jones. “Since then, what we’ve seen is the economic data has actually come out in a much more positive light.”

Some of 2024’s biggest winners have staged strong rebounds since Aug. 5. Chipmaker Nvidia NVDA.O has bounced more than 20%, while the Philadelphia SE Semiconductor index .SOX has gained more than 14%. Small-cap shares, which had been strong performers in July, have also recovered from recent lows, with the Russell 2000 .RUT up nearly 5%.

Meanwhile, traders are unwinding bets that the Federal Reserve will need to deliver jumbo-sized rate cuts in September to stave off a recession.

As of late Thursday, futures tied to the Fed funds rate showed traders pricing a 25% chance that the central bank will lower rates by 50 basis points in September, down from around 85% on Aug. 5, CME FedWatch data showed. The probability of a 25 basis point cut stood at 75%, in line with expectations that the Fed will kick off an easing cycle in September.

“You can’t necessarily rule out the hard landing scenario outright, but there’s a lot of reason to believe that at this point that economic momentum is being sufficiently sustained,” said Jim Baird, chief investment officer with Plante Moran Financial Advisors.

The Fed’s plans could become clearer when Chair Jerome Powell speaks at the central bank’s annual economic policy symposium in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.

“We think a key highlight of Powell’s speech will be the acknowledgement that progress on inflation has been sufficient to allow the start of rate cuts,” economists at BNP Paribas said in a note on Thursday.

For the year, the S&P 500 is up more than 16% and is within about 2% from its July all-time closing high.

Mahajan, of Edward Jones, expects the soft-landing scenario, combined with lower interest rates, to help pave the way for more stocks to participate in the market’s rally, instead of the small number of megacaps that have led indexes higher for much of this year.

Analysts at Capital Economics believe that a U.S. economic soft landing will support the artificial intelligence fervor that helped drive markets higher.

“Our end-2024 forecast for the S&P 500 remains at 6,000, driven by a view that the AI narrative which dominated in the first half of the year will reassert itself,” they wrote. That target would be some 8% from the S&P 500’s closing level on Thursday.

The recent economic data, while reassuring, is far from an all-clear for markets heading into September, which has historically been one of the year’s more volatile periods. Investors will be closely watching Nvidia’s earnings at the end of the month, and another employment report on Sept. 6.

“There’s been a sigh of relief in the market, clearly,” said Quincy Krosby, chief global strategist at LPL Financial. “The question now is, will the next payroll report underpin what the market expects at this point in terms of the soft landing.”
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Kyiv — Russia on Sunday carried out its third ballistic missile attack on Kyiv this month but preliminary data indicated that most of the projectiles were shot down on approach, the military administration of the Ukrainian capital said.

“This is already the third ballistic strike on the capital in August, with exact intervals of six days between each attack,” Serhii Popko, the head of the Kyiv military administration, said on the Telegram messaging app.

Popko said the Russians had most likely used North Korean-made ballistic missiles.

Reuters could not independently verify the type of missiles launched. 

Separately, the commander of Ukraine’s air force, Lt. Mykola Oleshchuk, said it had destroyed eight Russian attack drones and five out of eight missiles launched overnight across the country, including Kyiv.

Oleshchuk said anti-aircraft combat, anti-aircraft missile troops, mobile firing groups and electronic warfare units had downed 13 air targets in the Kyiv, Sumy and Poltava regions.

He said Russia launched eight missiles Sunday morning, including three ballistic, three cruise and two guided aircraft missiles. Ukraine shot down five of them, he said, and the three missiles it missed had failed to reach their targets.

Kyiv officials said there were no immediate reports of casualties or damage in the capital. However, Kyiv region governor Ruslan Kravchenko said two private houses were destroyed and 16 others were damaged by falling debris.

“Russia always knows where it is hitting with its missiles and bombs, and this is deliberate and targeted Russian terror,” President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Telegram.

He said Russia had launched more than 40 missiles, 750 guided aerial bombs and 200 attack drones this week against Ukrainian villages and cities.

Reuters could not independently verify the scale of damage in the Kyiv region. A Reuters witness heard blasts that sounded like air defense systems early Sunday.

About two hours after the initial attack, Kyiv, its surrounding region and most of central and northeast Ukraine were under fresh raid alerts, with threats of more missiles heading toward the city, Ukraine’s air force said.

Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine two-and-a-half years ago and now holds about 18% of its territory in the east and south. 
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Ankara — Firefighters in Turkey have brought under control two large forest fires that had been burning for three days, with several other wildfires across the country expected to be put out soon, the Forestry Minister said on Sunday.

The blazes in Turkey’s western coastal province of Izmir and northern province of Bolu started late on Thursday and firefighters have been working to contain them since then.

Speaking in Izmir’s Karsiyaka district, Forestry Minister Ibrahim Yumakli said cooling efforts were under way to fully extinguish the fires. A small fire that started in Izmir’s Urla district on Saturday was also under control, he said.

More forest fires in Izmir’s Menderes district and in the western provinces of Aydin, Manisa and Usak as well as the northern province of Karabuk were still burning. Planes, helicopters and other vehicles had been brought in to douse the flames and all were “close to being contained.”

Turkish authorities warned of a high risk of further wildfires in northern and western Turkey for the next couple of days due to high temperatures, low humidity and strong winds.

Several parts of Turkey, especially its coastal regions, have been ravaged by wildfires in recent years as summers have become hotter and drier, which scientists attribute to climate change. 
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paris — French actor Alain Delon, who melted the hearts of millions of film fans whether playing a murderer, hoodlum or hitman in his postwar heyday, has died, French media reported on Sunday. He was 88.

Delon had been in poor health since suffering a stroke in 2019, rarely leaving his estate in Douchy, in France’s Val de Loire region.

With his striking blue eyes, Delon was sometimes referred to as the “French Frank Sinatra” for his handsome looks, a comparison Delon disliked. Unlike Sinatra, who always denied connections with the Mafia, Delon openly acknowledged his shady pals in the underworld.

In a 1970 interview with The New York Times, Delon was asked about such acquaintances, one of whom was among the last “Godfathers” of the underworld in the Mediterranean port of Marseille.

“Most of them, the gangsters I know … were my friends before I became an actor,” he said. “I don’t worry about what a friend does. Each is responsible for his own act. It doesn’t matter what he does.”

Delon shot to fame in two films by Italian director Luchino Visconti, Rocco and His Brothers in 1960 and The Leopard in 1963.

He starred alongside venerable French elder Jean Gabin in Henri Verneuil’s 1963 film Melodie en Sous-Sol (Any Number Can Win) and was a major hit in Jean-Pierre Melville’s 1967 Le Samourai (The Godson). The role of a philosophical contract killer involved minimal dialogue and frequent solo scenes, and Delon shone.

Delon became a star in France and was idolized by men and women in Japan, but never made it as big in Hollywood despite performing with American cinema giants, including Burt Lancaster when the Frenchman played apprentice-hitman Scorpio in the eponymous 1973 film.

In the 1970 film Borsalino, he starred with fellow French actor Jean-Paul Belmondo, playing gangsters who come to blows in an unforgettable, stylized fight over a woman.

Crowning moments also included 1969 erotic thriller La Piscine (The Swimming Pool), where Delon paired up with real-life lover Romy Schneider, in a sultry French Riviera saga of jealousy and seduction.

Troubled man

Born just outside Paris on November 8, 1935, Delon started life on the back foot: he was put in foster care at age 4 after his parents divorced.

He ran away from home at least once and was expelled several times from boarding schools before joining the marines at 17 and serving in then-French-ruled Indochina. There, too, he got into trouble over a stolen jeep.

Back in France in the mid-50s, he worked as a porter at the Paris wholesale food market Les Halles and spent time in the red-light Pigalle district before migrating to the cafes of the bohemian St. Germain des Pres area.

There he met French actor Jean-Claude Brialy, who took him to the Cannes Film Festival, where he attracted the attention of an American talent scout who arranged a screen test.

He made his film debut in 1957 in Quand la femme s’en mele (Send a Woman When the Devil Fails).

Sulphurous friends

Delon was a businessman as well as an actor, leveraging his looks to sell branded cosmetics and dabbling in racehorses with old underworld friends. He invested in a racehorse stable with Jacky “Le Mat” Imbert, a notorious figure in a thriving Marseille crime scene.

Delon’s more louche friendships exploded to the surface when a former bodyguard-cum-confidant, a young Yugoslav called Stefan Markovic, was found dead in a bag, with a bullet in his head, discarded in a rubbish dump near Paris.

The actor was interrogated and cleared by police but the “Markovic Affair” snowballed into a national scandal.

The man police charged with the Markovic murder — he was later acquitted — was Francois Marcantoni, a Corsican cafe owner and friend of Delon who thrived in the hustle and bustle of the Pigalle district in the aftermath of World War II.

Outspoken

Delon was outspoken offstage and courted controversy when he did so — notably when he said he regretted the abolition of the death penalty and spoke disparagingly of gay marriage, which was legalized in France in 2013.

He publicly defended the far-right National Front and telephoned its founder, Jean-Marie Le Pen, an old friend, to congratulate him when the party did well in local elections in 2014.

Delon’s lovers included Schneider and German model-turned-singer Nico, with whom he had a son. In 1964, he married Nathalie Barthelemy and fathered a second son before ending the marriage and embarking on a 15-year relationship with Mireille Darc. He had two more children with Dutch model Rosalie van Breemen.

In a January 2018 interview, Delon told Paris Match he was fed up with modern life and had a chapel and tomb ready for him on the grounds of his home near Geneva, and for his Belgian shepherd dog, called Loubo.

“If I die before him, I’ll ask the vet to let us go together. He will give the dog an injection so he can die in my arms.”

Delon’s last major public appearance was to receive an honorary Palme d’or at the Cannes film festival in May 2019.

In his last years, Delon was the center of a family feud over his care, which made headlines in French media.

In April 2024 a judge placed Delon under “reinforced curatorship,” meaning he no longer had full freedom to manage his assets. He was already under legal protection over concerns over his health and well-being.
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NEW YORK — They’re adorable. They require less food and space. And without much coaxing, they might help cut the grass. 

Americans are showing more interest in owning miniature cows, goats, donkeys and other diminutive farm animals, a trend driven by hobby farmers looking for easy-to-manage livestock and homesteaders who like the idea of having a petite pig or a scaled-down sheep as a pet. 

Animal breeders say sales of pint-sized farm animals have grown since the COVID-19 pandemic, when more people started raising backyard chickens for fun and fresh eggs. Like chickens, mini farm animals appeal to beginners who want the taste of a rugged, agrarian lifestyle. 

“A lot of people don’t have access to several acres, but if they have a one-acre plot, they can keep a miniature cow or a few miniature goats,” said Brian Gazda, who has a small farm in East Idaho and with two friends runs a YouTube channel called “Hobby Farm Guys.” 

Platforms like YouTube and especially TikTok have played an important part in raising the profile of mini farm animals, said Martin Fysh, a vice president and divisional merchandising manager for rural lifestyle retailer Tractor Supply Co. On any given day, TikTok users put cuteness on parade with videos of tiny blue-eyed goats and 2-foot-tall horses that have received millions of views. 

But Fysh thinks the trend also reflects a natural progression among customers who started out with a backyard hen coop. In response, Tractor Supply has increased its selection of treats for both mini and regular sized pigs, and goats. 

“They’re seen as part of the extended family, ” Fysh said. 

While some people buy small farm animals as a stepping stone to owning larger ones, others don’t have a desire to expand. Some owners of mini farm animals turn their hobbies into side hustles by giving visitor tours, breeding animals, and blogging about their pastoral experiences. 

But before playing Old Macdonald, newcomers need to weigh the pros and cons, Gazda and other hobby farmers said. 

Among the challenges: the volatile nature of prices for each of the types of miniature farm animals. And while they’re cute, they also can be aggressive. 

Mini goats 

Brittany Snow, a high school English teacher in Florida, owns several small-sized Nigerian Dwarf goats. She realized her dream of living on a farm three years ago when her family moved from the Jacksonville suburb of Middleburg to nearby Melrose. 

She said her family wanted to be more self-sustaining after the pandemic and now sources its own dairy products, such as milk and eggs. She sticks mostly with miniature animals because they’re easier to take care of and cost less to acquire and feed. 

Snow, 32, started with four Nigerian Dwarf goats: Buttercup, Snowflake, Cash and Peanut. The herd has since expanded to include Pancake and Oreo, the kids of Peanut and Buttercup. 

Snow purchased the Nigerian Dwarf goats intending to milk them to make cheese and products like soap and lotion. But that hasn’t worked yet because goats only lactate after giving birth, and Buttercup only recently had her kids. 

“The past few years have been a learning curve,” Snow said. 

Mini goats are one of the most popular entry-level mini animals. In the past year, animal breeders have registered roughly 8,330 mini goats with the Miniature Dairy Goat Association. That’s a 73% jump from the 12 months before July 2021, when registrations — mostly for newborn females sought after by breeders — totaled just under 4,800, said Angelia Alden, a business operations manager for the North Carolina-based organization. 

Many folks who favor mini goats, however, tend to sell them after a few years because it can be challenging — and expensive — to take care of them, Alden said. Rising animal feed costs can be a headache, as is finding adequate medical care due to a shortage of farm veterinarians. 

Mini cows and donkeys 

A farm animal can be both mini and mighty. Some of the four-legged stars on social media are furry cows that can weigh 500-600 pounds. The smallest, which stand under 3 feet in height, are known as micro-miniatures. The slightly bigger miniatures can be as tall as 42 inches, according to Allie Sine, a TikTok creator with more than 737,000 followers on the platform. Videos showcasing some of her mini cows have gotten millions of views. 

Sine, 28, launched her own business breeding and selling mini cows in 2020 after reselling a sick mini cow that cost $350 for $5,000. Last year, she sold about 190 calves through her Missouri-based business, Mini Moos LLC. The calves were roughly split between mini and micromini cows that can cost from $2,000 to $30,000. 

“Everything just skyrocketed,” Sine said. 

Others report a similar boom. 

Kim Furches, who owns a farm with her husband, Ken, in West Jefferson, North Carolina, said the couple bred mini donkeys for about 20 years and currently own dozens of Mediterranean miniature donkeys, which stand 3 feet high or less. 

Before the pandemic, they would typically sell about eight donkeys per year and count themselves lucky if they received a couple thousand dollars for one. They now sell about 20 per year. The last mini donkey sold for $7,500, Furches said. There are some she’s only willing to sell for $9,000 or more. 

New types of ‘exotic’ pets 

Though some of their customers plan to breed and sell mini animals, too, many say many are just looking for “exotic” pets, Gazda said. 

Earlier this year, Jamie Campion, 41, and her husband, Jeff, bought two Southdown Babydoll sheep from a local breeder near their home in Thompson’s Station, Tennessee, for $800 each. The couple moved from Chicago in March 2022 after the pandemic made them rethink their lifestyle. They now live in a modern-style farmhouse built on an acre of land. 

While Biscuit and Buttermilk have become excellent lawn trimmers, Jamie Campion said she considers the animals — which weigh about 70 pounds and stand 20 inches high — similar to a dog or a cat. 

“They eat the grass, so we don’t even have to buy food (for the sheep) on a weekly basis,” said Campion who discovered the breed on Instagram. 

But it can be challenging. 

One time, Jeff Campion tried to inject one of sheep with oral medication to treat parasites, and it tore his bicep. 

But more often, the sheep give her joy. Jamie Campion recalls taking them out on a snowy day for a walk in the neighborhood, without a leash. 

“They just followed right behind,” she said. “There’s a whole sheep and shepherd relationship. ” 

Miniature animals offer therapy 

Others see therapeutic benefits. 

Lisa Moad, who owns Seven Oaks Farm in Hamilton, Ohio, and has 13 miniature horses and three regular-size horses, operates a therapy farm for older people and others. She also used to take the miniature horses to local nursing homes and hospitals. But since the pandemic, she has spent most of her timing conducting online training for those looking to embrace the same mission. 

That includes teaching horses how to maneuver around wheelchairs and into elevators of hospitals. She said her miniature versions still weigh 175 to 200 pounds, though much less than her regular horses, which range from 1,200 to 1,500 pounds. 

“They’re docile, but they can get frightened easily, ” she said. “You just can’t walk into a hospital with a horse.” 
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WARSAW, Poland — Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk on Saturday reacted to reports that revived questions about who blew up the Nord Stream pipelines in 2022, saying the initiators of the gas pipeline project should “apologize and keep quiet.” That comment came after one of his deputies denied a claim that Warsaw was partly responsible for its damage.

The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday that Ukrainian authorities were responsible for blowing up the Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines in September 2022, a dramatic act of sabotage that cut Germany off from a key source of energy and worsened an energy crisis in Europe.

Germany was a partner with Russia in the pipeline project. Poland has long said its own security interests have been harmed by Nord Stream.

“To all the initiators and patrons of Nord Stream 1 and 2. The only thing you should do today about it is apologize and keep quiet,” Tusk wrote on the social media portal X Saturday.

Tusk appeared to be reacting specifically to a claim by a former head of Germany’s foreign intelligence agency, BND, August Hanning, who told the German daily Die Welt that the attack on the Nord Stream gas pipelines must have had Poland’s support. Hanning said Germany should consider seeking compensation from Poland and Ukraine.

Hanning, who retired from his spy chief job, did not provide any evidence in support of his claim. Some observers noted that he served under former German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, who went on to work later for Russian state-owned energy companies, including Nord Stream.

Krzysztof Gawkowski, a deputy Polish prime minister and the minister of digital affairs, strongly denied reports that Poland and Ukraine had damaged the Nord Stream gas pipeline in an interview Friday on the Polsat broadcaster.

Gawkowski alleged that the comments of the former member of the German intelligence service were “inspired by Moscow” and were aimed at destabilizing NATO countries.

“I believe that this is the sound of Russian disinformation,” he added.

On Wednesday, Polish prosecutors confirmed that they had received a warrant for a Ukrainian man wanted by Germany as a suspect in the pipeline attack, but that he left the country before he could be arrested.

The Nord Stream project, with its two pipelines created to carry gas from Russia to Europe along the Baltic Seabed, went ahead despite opposition from Poland, the U.S. and Ukraine.

They allowed Russia to send gas directly to Western Europe, bypassing Poland and Ukraine. With all gas previously going over land, Warsaw and Kyiv feared losing huge sums in transit fees and political leverage that came with controlling the gas transports.

The Wall Street Journal said in its report published Thursday that it spoke to four senior Ukrainian defense and security officials who either participated in or had direct knowledge of the plot. All of them said the pipelines were a legitimate target in Ukraine’s war of defense against Russia. Ukrainian authorities are denying the claims.

Nord Stream 1 was completed and came online in 2011. Nord Stream 2 was not finished until the fall of 2021 but never became operational due to Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. 
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moscow — A magnitude 7.0 earthquake struck off the coast of Russia’s far-eastern Kamchatka Peninsula early Sunday morning local time, according to the regional earthquake monitoring service.

The local emergencies ministry said tremors were felt along the coast including in the region’s capital Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky.

“Operational teams of rescuers and firefighters are inspecting buildings,” the regional branch of Russia’s emergencies ministry in the Kamchatka region said on Telegram.

The earthquake struck at a depth of nearly 50 kilometers just after 7 a.m. local time, some 90 kilometers east of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, the United States Geological Survey reported.

The U.S. National Tsunami Warning Center had initially issued a tsunami threat, but later said the threat had passed. Local authorities never issued a tsunami alert.

Several aftershocks were recorded after the initial quake, but of lower intensity, the Kamchatka branch of Russia’s Unified Geophysical Service reported on its website.

“Most of the aftershocks are imperceptible,” the regional emergency authority said on Telegram.

The peninsula lies on a seismically active belt surrounding most of the Pacific Ocean known as the “Ring of Fire,” and is home to more than two dozen active volcanoes. 
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DETROIT — Canada’s two largest railroads are starting to shut down their shipping networks as a labor dispute with the Teamsters union threatens to cause lockouts or strikes that would disrupt cross-border trade with the U.S. 

Both the Canadian Pacific Kansas City and Canadian National railroads, which haul millions of tons of freight across the border, have stopped taking certain shipments of hazardous materials and refrigerated products. 

Both are threatening to lock out Teamsters Canada workers starting Thursday if deals are not reached. 

On Tuesday, CPKC will stop all shipments that start in Canada and all shipments originating in the U.S. that are headed for Canada, the railroad said Saturday. 

The Canadian Press reported Friday that, Canadian National barred container imports from U.S. partner railroads. 

Jeff Windau, industrials analyst for Edward Jones & Co., said his firm expects work stoppages to last only a few days, but if they go longer, there could be significant supply chain disruptions. 

“If something would carry on more of a longer term in nature, then I think there are some significant potential issues just given the amount of goods that are handled each day,” Windau said. “By and large the rails touch pretty much all of the economy.” 

The two railroads handle about 40,000 carloads of freight each day, worth about $1 billion, Windau said. Shipments of fully built automobiles and auto parts, chemicals, forestry products and agricultural goods would be hit hard, he said, especially with harvest season looming. 

Both railroads have extensive networks in the U.S., and CPKC also serves Mexico. Those operations will keep running even if there is a work stoppage. 

CPKC said it remains committed to avoiding a work stoppage that would damage Canada’s economy and international reputation. “We must take responsible and prudent steps to prepare for a potential rail service interruption next week,” spokesperson Patrick Waldron said in a statement. 

Shutting down the network will allow the railroad to get dangerous goods off IT before any stoppage, CPKC said. 

Union spokesperson Christopher Monette said in an email Saturday that negotiations continue, but the situation has shifted from a possible strike to “near certain lockout” by the railroads. 

CPKC said bargaining is scheduled to continue Sunday with the union, which represents nearly 10,000 workers at both railroads. The company said it continues to bargain in good faith. 

Canadian National said in a statement Friday that there had been no meaningful progress in negotiations, and it hoped the union “will engage meaningfully” during a meeting scheduled for Saturday. 

“CN wants a resolution that allows the company to get back to what it does best as a team, moving customers’ goods and the economy,” the railroad said. 

Negotiations have been going on since last November, and contracts expired at the end of 2023. They were extended as talks continued. 

The union said company demands on crew scheduling, rail safety and worker fatigue are the main sticking points. 

Windau said the trucking industry currently has a lot of excess capacity and might be able to make up some of the railroads’ shipping volumes, but “You’re not going to be able to replace all of that with trucking.” 
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Istanbul — Wildfires raged across western Turkey for a third straight day Saturday, exacerbated by high winds and warm temperatures, authorities said. 

More than 130 fires have erupted across the country in the past week, according to Turkey’s Disaster and Emergency Management Directorate. Most have been brought under control, but eight major fires continued in the provinces of Izmir, Aydin, Manisa, Karabuk and Bolu. 

Thousands of firefighters were tackling the blazes on land and from the air, with dozens of aircraft and hundreds of vehicles aiding in the emergency response. 

Thousands of people have been evacuated from the affected areas, but there have been no reported casualties, according to Agriculture and Forestry Minister Ibrahim Yumakli, who spoke to reporters Saturday as he toured the affected provinces. 

Yumakli cited low humidity, high winds and high temperatures as exacerbating factors. The General Directorate of Forestry warned people not to light fires outside for the next 10 days because of the weather conditions across western Turkey, warning of a 70% greater risk of wildfires. 

Meanwhile, authorities detained four people in Bolu in connection with the fires, two of whom were arrested and two released. 

In June, a fire spread through settlements in southeast Turkey, killing 11 people and  leaving dozens of others requiring medical treatment. 
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DEARBORN, Michigan — Of the thousands of delegates expected to gather Monday at the Democratic National Convention, only 36 will belong to the “uncommitted” movement sparked by dissatisfaction with U.S. President Joe Biden’s handling of the Israel-Hamas war.

But that small core has an outsized influence.

Anger over U.S. backing for Israel’s offensive in Gaza could generate unwelcome images for convention organizers, with raucous protests expected outside and potentially inside the Chicago arena where Vice President Kamala Harris will accept the nomination Thursday.

Top Democrats have spent weeks meeting with “uncommitted” voters and their allies — including a previously unreported sit-down between Harris and the mayor of Dearborn, Michigan — in an effort to respond to criticism in key swing states such as Michigan, which has a significant Arab American population.

Months of meetings and phone calls between pro-Palestinian activists and the Harris campaign have fallen into an effective impasse. The activists want Harris to endorse an arms embargo to Israel and a permanent cease-fire. Harris has supported Biden’s negotiations for a cease-fire but rejected an arms embargo.

Rima Mohammad, one of Michigan’s two “uncommitted” delegates, said she sees the convention as a chance to share their movement’s concerns with the party leadership.

“It is a way for protesters outside to be able to share their frustration with the party,” she said.

Harris meets key Arab American mayor

Questions remain about the leverage “uncommitted” voters hold now that Biden has stepped aside and Harris has taken his place. Democrats have seen a significant surge in enthusiasm for Harris’ campaign, and concerns about voter apathy in key areas, such as Detroit’s large Black population, appear to have diminished.

But Harris and her team have still made communication with Arab American leaders a priority.

During a campaign trip to Michigan last week, Harris met with Abdullah Hammoud, the 34-year-old mayor of Dearborn, a Detroit suburb that has the largest number of Arab Americans of any city in the United States. The meeting was disclosed by a person who was not authorized to discuss it publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.

The person familiar with the meeting did not provide specific details but said the focus was on Harris’ potential policy, if elected, on the Israel-Hamas conflict. Hammoud declined to comment.

“Vice President Harris supports the deals currently on the table for a permanent cease-fire in Gaza and for the release of hostages,” her campaign said in a statement. “She will continue to meet with leaders from Palestinian, Muslim, Israeli and Jewish communities, as she has throughout her vice presidency.”

Campaign manager Julie Chavez Rodriguez on Thursday held separate one-on-one meetings with leaders in the Arab American community and “uncommitted” movement in metro Detroit.

“They are listening, and we are talking,” said Osama Siblani, publisher of the Arab American News, who met with Chavez Rodriguez. “But none of us can garner votes in the community without public statements from Harris. She doesn’t need us; she can win over votes by saying and doing the right thing.”

According to Siblani, Chavez Rodriguez agreed that “the killing has to stop.” In response, Siblani said he pressed: “How? There is no plan.”

Lavora Barnes, the Democratic chair in Michigan, said the party would “continue working toward our goal of coming together to defeat Donald Trump and Republicans up and down the ballot.”

“We are committed to continuing these conversations with community leaders, activists and organizations because we want to ensure that everyone in the Michigan Democratic Party has a seat at the table,” Barnes said in a statement.

No agreement on an arms embargo

Some on the Democratic Party’s left have called for including a moratorium on the use of U.S.-made weapons by Israel in the platform of policy goals that will be approved during next week’s convention. But such language isn’t included in a draft platform party officials released earlier this summer, and it’s unlikely that those close to Harris’ campaign would endorse including it.

The Uncommitted National Movement has also requested a speaking slot at the convention for a doctor who has worked on the frontlines in Gaza, along with a leader of the movement. And they have asked for a meeting with Harris “to discuss updating the Gaza policy in hopes of stopping the flow of unconditional weapons and bombs” to Israel, said Abbas Alawieh, another “uncommitted” delegate from Michigan and one of the founders of the movement.

Before a Harris rally just outside Detroit last week, Alawieh and Layla Elabed, co-founders of the movement, briefly met with the vice president. They requested a formal meeting with Harris and urged her to support an embargo on weapons shipments to Israel. According to them, Harris seemed open to the idea of meeting.

However, shortly after news of the meeting became public, Harris’ national security adviser, Phil Gordon, reaffirmed that she does not support an arms embargo. Alawieh mentioned Wednesday that the group has not received any further response from Harris’ team or the DNC regarding their requests ahead of the convention.

“I hope she doesn’t miss the opportunity to unite the party,” said Alawieh.

Trump campaign continues its outreach

Elsewhere in metro Detroit this week, Massad Boulos, the father-in-law of Trump’s youngest daughter and now a leader in his Arab American outreach, was holding meetings with various community groups. Boulos has come to Michigan often for the outreach, along with Arab Americans for Trump chair Bishara Bahbah.

According to Bahbah, their pitch highlights the situation in Gaza under Biden’s administration and a promise from Trump’s team to give the community a seat at the table if he wins.

“We have been told by the Trump circle, which is not part of the campaign, that in return for our votes, there would be a seat at the table and a voice to be heard,” said Bahbah.

But any apparent political opportunity for Trump in the Arab American community or the “uncommitted” movement may be limited by his past remarks and policies.

Many Arabs remain offended by Trump’s ban, while in office, on immigration from several majority Muslim countries, as well as remarks they consider insulting. Trump also has criticized Biden for not being a strong enough supporter of Israel.

Speaking to an audience of Jewish supporters Thursday, Trump painted the protesters expected in Chicago as antisemitic and invoked an Arabic term that is sometimes used by Muslims to mean war or struggle.

“There will be no jihad coming to America under Trump,” he said.

But Bahbah acknowledges that his and Boulos’ strategy isn’t necessarily aimed at converting voters to support Trump — but to stop them from voting for Harris.

“If I can’t convince people to vote for Trump, having them sit at home is better,” said Bahbah.
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Helsinki, Finland — Western officials and analysts are suspicious of Beijing’s admission this week that a Chinese container ship damaged the Balticconnector — a vital Baltic Sea gas pipeline linking Estonia and Finland — in October.

The South China Morning Post reported August 12 that the Chinese government notified Finland and Estonia 10 months after the incident that it was caused by a Hong Kong-registered ship called Newnew Polar Bear, but blamed a storm for what it called the accident.

In an interview August 13 with Estonia’s public radio, ERR, Estonian Defense Minister Hanno Pevkur said he was skeptical of China’s claim that a storm caused the incident.

“Personally, I find it very difficult to understand how a ship’s captain could fail to notice for such a long time that its anchor had been dragging along the seabed, but it is up to the prosecutor’s office to complete the investigation,” he said.

Markku Mylly, the former director of the European Maritime Safety Agency, told local media in Helsinki there were no storms in the Gulf of Finland at the time. The Finnish newspaper Iltalehti consulted data from the Finland Meteorological Institute and confirmed that Mylly’s memory was correct.

Pevkur told ERR that Estonia would not give up claims against China for compensation.

The Baltic Sea oil and gas pipeline, which was built with EU assistance, was commissioned in 2019 at a total cost of around $331 million, to wean Finland and the three Baltic countries — Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania — off their dependence on Russia for natural gas.

The pipeline was the source of almost all of Estonia’s natural gas supply after Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine sparked European restrictions on the import of Russian gas.  After the damage, Estonia had to temporarily rely on Latvia for natural gas.

The pipeline was reopened for commercial operations in April after repairs that cost about $38 million, a senior vice president at Gasgrid Finland told The Associated Press. A few telecoms cables were also damaged in the incident.

Finnish and Estonian investigative agencies recovered the ship’s 6-ton anchor from the sea floor near the damaged pipeline after the incident and tracked it to the ship, which they tried to contact; it refused to respond.

The damage occurred at a time of heightened tension between Europe and Russia over sanctions against Moscow for its invasion of Ukraine, and critics suspected it was a deliberate act of sabotage by Russia or its ally China.

After the damage to the pipeline, the Newnew Polar Bear first sailed to St. Petersburg and Arkhangelsk in Russia and later docked in China’s port of Tianjin. 

Eoin Micheal McNamara, a global security expert at the Finland Institute of International Affairs, told VOA that Finnish people doubt Beijing’s claim that the ship’s damage to the pipeline was an accident.

“Undersea infrastructure elsewhere in the wider Nordic-Baltic region has also been damaged by ‘manmade activity’ in recent years. There was the Nord Stream sabotage in 2022 and the severing of a data cable between Norway and its Arctic island of Svalbard before that,” McNamara said. “As geopolitical tensions rise, more targeted sabotage is being expected.”

German media reported this week that investigators asked Poland to arrest a Ukrainian diving instructor for allegedly being part of a team that blew up the Baltic Sea’s Nord Stream gas pipelines, which supplied Russian gas to Europe. Russia blamed Britain, Ukraine and the United States for the sabotage, which they denied.

McNamara said there are suspicions that Russia was involved in the damage to the Balticconnector pipeline. “Plausible deniability is a key tenet for hybrid interference. There are suspicions that use of a Hong Kong-registered vessel was a tactic to gain this plausible deniability,” he said.

Russian President Vladimir Putin last year dismissed the idea that Russia could have been behind an attack on the pipeline as “rubbish.”

Estonia and Finland are still jointly investigating the ship, which China’s NewNew Shipping Company owns.

The Estonian prosecutor’s office, which oversees the investigation, said under international law, China’s statement acknowledging the ship caused the damage as an “accident” cannot be used as evidence in a criminal investigation because China has not invited Estonian criminal investigators to participate in Beijing’s own investigation.

VOA contacted the Chinese Foreign Ministry about the matter but was referred to the Chinese shipping departments.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian at a news briefing on August 13 said, “China is advancing the investigation in accordance with the facts and the law and is in close communication with relevant countries. It is hoped that all parties will continue to promote the investigation in a professional, objective and cooperative manner, and jointly ensure that the incident is handled in a sound manner.”

Finnish Foreign Minister Elina Valtonen told VOA in an email, “We are constantly cooperating with China and exchanging information regarding this matter, but we will not go into details because the investigation is still ongoing.”

The Finnish National Bureau of Investigation, or NBI, which is investigating the case, told VOA that the Finnish and Estonian authorities have been cooperating with the Chinese authorities on the matter. The NBI said it will publish the findings with the Estonian side as early as this fall.

“Based on the evidence collected and information analyzed during the investigation, it can be stated that the course of events is considered clear and there are sufficient reasons to suspect that the container vessel Newnew Polar Bear is linked to the damages. The cause for the damages seems to be the anchor and anchor chain [struck] the mentioned vessel.”

The NBI added, “It must be stated that the investigation is still ongoing and final conclusions, what was behind these incidents (technical failure — negligence, poor seamanship — deliberate act), can be made only after all necessary investigative measures have been finalized, and this will still take some time.”

VOA’s Adrianna Zhang contributed to this report. Some information was provided by Reuters.
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LONDON — A fire broke out Saturday at Somerset House, a large arts venue on the River Thames in central London.

Smoke billowed from the building and flames could be seen coming from the roof as firefighters on tall ladders showered it with water.

The cause of the fire was not yet known, the London Fire Brigade said. Fifteen engines and about 100 firefighters were deployed.

Somerset House said all staff and the public were safe and the site was closed. The venue had been scheduled to host a breakdancing event.

The neoclassical building, which is nearly 250 years old, houses the Courtauld Gallery that features works by Van Gogh, Manet and Cezanne.
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TOKYO — Outgoing Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida is finalizing plans to visit the United States in late September for the U.N. General Assembly and a possible meeting with President Joe Biden, the Yomiuri newspaper reported on Saturday.

The visit may take place for several days starting on September 22, the report said, citing multiple government sources it did not identify.

The Japanese Foreign Ministry, in response to a request for comment from Reuters, said “nothing has been decided yet.”

Kishida on Wednesday dropped out of the leadership race for the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, meaning he will step down as prime minister when his term as party leader ends in late September.

The date of the LDP election is not yet set. It could be as early as September 20, in which case Kishida would likely address the General Assembly after Japan’s parliament, where the LDP has a majority, has chosen his replacement as prime minister, according to Yomiuri.

Some in the Japanese government think it best if Kishida’s successor does not develop close ties with Biden, who is scheduled to leave office in January, the newspaper said.

Biden, who dropped out of November’s U.S. presidential election, was replaced as the Democratic Party nominee last month by Vice President Kamala Harris. She faces the Republican nominee, former President Donald Trump.
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MOSCOW — Russia’s Foreign Ministry said Ukraine used Western rockets, likely U.S.-made HIMARS, to destroy a bridge over the Seym River in the Kursk region, killing volunteers trying to evacuate civilians.

“For the first time, the Kursk region was hit by Western-made rocket launchers, probably American HIMARS,” Maria Zakharova, spokesperson for the Russian Foreign Ministry, said late Friday on the Telegram messaging app.

“As a result of the attack on the bridge over the Seym River in the Glushkovo district, it was completely destroyed, and volunteers who were assisting the evacuated civilian population were killed,” she said.

There was no indication of how many volunteers were killed in Friday’s attack.

Ukrainian army chief Oleksandr Syrskyi said that Kyiv’s forces had advanced between 1 and 3 kilometers (up to 1.8 miles) in some areas in the Kursk region on Friday, 11 days since beginning an incursion into the western Russian territory.

Kyiv claimed to have taken control of 82 settlements over 1,150 square kilometers (444 square miles) in the region since August 6.

Russia’s Defense Ministry, cited by the Interfax news agency, said on Saturday that Russian forces repelled several Ukrainian attacks in the Kursk region, but it did not report recapturing any territory.

It said Ukrainian forces had unsuccessfully attempted to advance towards the villages of Kauchuk and Alekseyevskiy, which lie roughly halfway between the Ukrainian border and the Kursk nuclear power plant.

In a separate statement, the ministry accused Ukraine of planning to attack the plant in a false flag operation.

Reuters could not independently verify either side’s battlefield accounts.

Russia has accused the West of supporting and encouraging Ukraine’s first ground offensive on Russian territory and said that Kyiv’s “terrorist invasion” would not change the course of the war.

The U.S. HIMARS rockets provided to Ukraine have a range of up to about 80 kilometers (50 miles).

The United States, which has said it cannot allow Russian President Vladimir Putin to win the war he launched in February 2022, so far deems the surprise incursion a protective move that justifies the use of U.S. weaponry, according to officials in Washington.
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Stockholm — Health authorities warned Friday that Europe must be ready for more cases of a deadly strain of mpox that has killed hundreds of people in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The World Health Organization urged pharmaceutical firms to ramp up vaccine production and China said it would screen travelers for the disease after the first cases of the more deadly strain to be recorded outside Africa were announced in Sweden and Pakistan.

France’s Prime Minister Gabriel Attal said his country was on the “highest alert” and would implement “new recommendations” for travelers to risk areas.

Mpox is caused by a virus transmitted to humans by animals but can also spread human-to-human through close physical contact.

It causes fever, muscular aches and large boil-like skin lesions.

The WHO on Wednesday declared the rapid spread of the new Clade 1b strain an international public health emergency — the agency’s highest alert.

This follows the spread of the more deadly mpox from Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to other African countries.

“We do need the manufacturers to really scale up so that we’ve got access to many, many more vaccines,” WHO spokesperson Margaret Harris told reporters.

The WHO is asking countries with vaccine stockpiles to donate them to countries with outbreaks.

Harris said mpox was “particularly dangerous for those with a weak immune system, so people who maybe have HIV or are malnourished,” and was also dangerous for small children.

The United States has said it will donate 50,000 doses of an mpox vaccine to DRC and Attal said France would also send vaccines to risk countries.

Danish drugmaker Bavarian Nordic said Thursday it would be ready to make up to 10 million doses of its mpox vaccine by 2025 but that it needed contracts to start production.

The Stockholm-based European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) said the overall risk in Europe was “low.” But it warned that “effective surveillance, laboratory testing, epidemiological investigation and contact tracing capacities will be vital to detecting cases.”

“Due to the close links between Europe and Africa, we must be prepared for more imported clade I cases,” ECDC director Pamela Rendi-Wagner said in a statement.

Hundreds killed in DRC

The virus has swept across DRC, killing 548 people so far this year, the government said Thursday.

Nigeria has recorded 39 mpox cases this year, but no deaths, according to its health authorities. Previously unaffected countries such as Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda have reported outbreaks, according to the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Sweden’s Public Health Agency announced Thursday it had registered a case of Clade 1b.

The patient was infected during a visit to “the part of Africa where there is a major outbreak of mpox Clade 1,” epidemiologist Magnus Gisslen said in a statement.

The mpox strain in the Pakistan case was not immediately known, the country’s health ministry said in a statement.

It said the patient, a 34-year-old man, had “come from a Gulf country.”

China announced it would begin screening people and goods entering the country for mpox over the next six months.

People arriving from countries where outbreaks have occurred, who have been in contact with mpox cases or display symptoms should “declare to customs when entering the country,” China’s customs administration said.

Vehicles, containers and items from areas with mpox cases should be sanitized, it added in a statement.

Vaccination drive

Mpox has two subtypes: the more virulent and deadlier Clade 1, endemic in the Congo Basin in central Africa; and Clade 2, endemic in West Africa.

A worldwide outbreak beginning in 2022 involving the Clade 2b subclade caused some 140 deaths out of about 90,000 cases, mostly affecting gay and bisexual men.

France reported 107 cases of the milder mpox variant between January 1 and June 30 this year.

The WHO’s European regional office in Copenhagen said the Sweden case was “a clear reflection of the interconnectedness of our world.”

But it added: “Travel restrictions and border closures don’t work and should be avoided.”
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kyiv, Ukraine — Ukraine’s air defenses shot down all 14 Russian drones fired in an overnight attack, the Ukrainian air force said Saturday. The air force said in a statement on the Telegram messaging app that the Shahed drones were downed over six Ukrainian regions in the south and center of the country.

Meanwhile, Russia’s foreign ministry said Ukraine had used Western rockets, likely U.S.-made HIMARS, to destroy a bridge over the Seym river in the Kursk region, killing volunteers trying to evacuate civilians.

“For the first time, the Kursk region was hit by Western-made rocket launchers, probably American HIMARS,” Maria Zakharova, spokesperson for the Russian foreign ministry, said late Friday on the Telegram messaging app.

“As a result of the attack on the bridge over the Seym River in the Glushkovo district, it was completely destroyed, and volunteers who were assisting the evacuated civilian population were killed.”

Ukrainian army chief Oleksandr Syrskyi said on Friday that Kyiv’s forces were advancing between 1 and 3 kilometers in some areas in the Kursk region, 11 days since beginning an incursion into Russia. Kyiv has claimed to have taken control of 82 settlements over an area of 1,150 square kilometers in the region since August 6.

Reuters could not independently verify either side’s battlefield accounts.

Russia has accused the West of supporting and encouraging Ukraine’s first ground offensive on Russian territory and said Kyiv’s “terrorist invasion” would not change the course of the war.

The United States, which has said it cannot allow Russian President Vladimir Putin to win the war he launched in February 2022, so far deems the surprise incursion a protective move that justifies the use of U.S. weaponry, officials in Washington said. 
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LOS ANGELES — As wildfires scorched swaths of land in the wine country of Sonoma County in 2020, sending ash flying and choking the air with smoke, Maria Salinas harvested grapes.

Her saliva turned black from inhaling the toxins, until one day she had so much trouble breathing she was rushed to the emergency room. When she felt better, she went right back to work as the fires raged on.

“What forces us to work is necessity,” Salinas said. “We always expose ourselves to danger out of necessity, whether by fire or disaster, when the weather changes, when it’s hot or cold.”

As climate change increases the frequency and intensity of wildfires around the world, a new study shows that farmworkers are paying a heavy price by being exposed to high levels of air pollution. And in Sonoma County, the focus of the work, researchers found that a program aimed at determining when it was safe to work during wildfires did not adequately protect farmworkers.

They recommended a series of steps to safeguard the workers’ health, including air quality monitors at work sites, stricter requirements for employers, emergency plans and trainings in various languages, post-exposure health screenings and hazard pay.

Farmworkers are “experiencing first and hardest what the rest of us are just starting to understand,” Max Bell Alper, executive director of the labor coalition North Bay Jobs with Justice, said Wednesday during a webinar devoted to the research, published in July in the journal GeoHealth. “And I think in many ways that’s analogous to what’s happening all over the country. What we are experiencing in California is now happening everywhere.”

Farmworkers face immense pressure to work in dangerous conditions. Many are poor and don’t get paid unless they work. Others who are in the country illegally are more vulnerable because of limited English proficiency, lack of benefits, discrimination and exploitation. These realities make it harder for them to advocate for better working conditions and basic rights.

Researchers examined data from the 2020 Glass and LNU Lightning Complex fires in northern California’s Sonoma County, a region famous for its wine. During those blazes, many farmworkers kept working, often in evacuation zones deemed unsafe for the general population. Because smoke and ash can contaminate grapes, growers were under increasing pressure to get workers into fields.

The researchers looked at air quality data from a single AirNow monitor, operated by the Environmental Protection Agency and used to alert the public to unsafe levels, and 359 monitors from PurpleAir, which offers sensors that people can install in their homes or businesses.

From July 31 to November 6, 2020, the AirNow sensor recorded 21 days of air pollution the EPA considers unhealthy for sensitive groups and 13 days of poor air quality unhealthy for everyone. The PurpleAir monitors found 27 days of air the EPA deems unhealthy for sensitive groups and 16 days of air toxic to everyone.

And on several occasions, the smoke was worse at night. That’s an important detail because some employers asked farmworkers to work at night due in part to cooler temperatures and less concentrated smoke, said Michael Méndez, one of the researchers and an assistant professor at University of California-Irvine.

“Hundreds of farmworkers were exposed to the toxic air quality of wildfire smoke, and that could have detrimental impact to their health,” he said. “There wasn’t any post-exposure monitoring of these farmworkers.”

The researchers also examined the county’s Agricultural Pass program, which allows farmworkers and others in agriculture into mandatory evacuation areas to conduct essential activities like water or harvest crops. They found that the approval process lacked clear standards or established protocols, and that requirements of the application were little enforced. In some cases, for example, applications did not include the number of workers in worksites and didn’t have detailed worksite locations.

Irva Hertz-Picciotto, a professor of public health sciences at the University of California-Davis who was not part of the study, said symptoms of inhaling wildfire smoke — eye irritation, coughing, sneezing and difficulty breathing — can start within just a few minutes of exposure to smoke with fine particulate matter.

Exposure to those tiny particles, which can go deep into the lungs and bloodstream, has been shown to increase the risk of numerous health conditions such as heart and lung disease, asthma and low birth weight. Its effects are compounded when extreme heat is also present. Another recent study found that inhaling tiny particulates from wildfire smoke can increase the risk of dementia.

Anayeli Guzmán, who like Salinas worked to harvest grapes during the Sonoma County fires, remembers feeling fatigue and burning in her eyes and throat from the smoke and ash. But she never went to the doctor for a post-exposure health checkup.

“We don’t have that option,” Guzmán, who has no health coverage, said in an interview. “If I go get a checkup, I’d lose a day of work or would be left to pay a medical bill.”

In the webinar, Guzman said it was “sad that vineyard owners are only worried about the grapes” that may be tainted by smoke, and not about how smoke affects workers.

A farmworker health survey report released in 2021 by the University of California-Merced and the National Agricultural Workers Survey found that fewer than 1 in 5 farmworkers have employer-based health coverage.

Hertz-Picciotto said farmworkers are essential workers because the nation’s food supply depends on them.

“From a moral point of view and a health point of view, it’s really reprehensible that the situation has gotten bad and things have not been put in place to protect farmworkers, and this paper should be really important in trying to bring that to light with real recommendations,” she said.
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