World
Desperate for Cash, Afghans Toil in Mines That Are Deadlier Than Ever
CHINARAK COAL MINE, Afghanistan — Choking on mud, Mir Abdul Hadi emerged from the slender mine shaft with a sack of coal hanging heavy on his again and his pores and skin stained black. For hours he had hacked away on the coal at the hours of darkness tunnel, terrified it would collapse on him, and now he was relieved to step again into daylight.
Mr. Hadi, a 29-year-old former authorities soldier, was amongst 1000’s who flocked to northern Afghanistan’s notoriously harmful mines after the Taliban seized energy final 12 months — determined to scrape out a dwelling amid an economic system in ruins.
The backbreaking work affords a couple of {dollars} a day, simply sufficient to purchase bread and tea for his household to outlive. Nevertheless it comes at a steep value: Since he arrived in October, three mines on this mountain have caved in. The newest collapse final month killed 10 miners, all of whom suffocated after being trapped inside a mine shaft for days.
“That evening I needed to go away this job, to by no means come again to the mines,” Mr. Hadi mentioned. “However then I went dwelling and noticed there was nothing to eat.”
For greater than six months, Afghanistan has been gripped by a devastating financial disaster that has worn out incomes, despatched meals costs hovering and left thousands and thousands hungry. Now, determined to make ends meet, many Afghans are going to more and more drastic lengths to outlive.
Households in rural areas have repaid money owed with youngsters they can’t afford to feed, promoting them to better-off households or native bosses. Within the northwestern metropolis of Herat, males have offered their kidneys on the black market. And alongside the Iranian border, 1000’s in search of work overseas have endured brutal beatings by safety forces.
Within the Chinarak mines of Baghlan Province, a mountainous slice of northern Afghanistan, 3 times as many males have come to work in latest months than earlier than the Taliban takeover, based on mine operators. They’re former troopers and policemen, NGO employees and shopkeepers, among the many thousands and thousands who’ve misplaced their incomes in latest months.
For many years, the casual mining operation has been a dangerous possibility for impoverished villagers determined to earn a couple of {dollars} a day. Round 200 folks have died within the mines since coal was found right here 50 years in the past, based on village elders.
Reporting From Afghanistan
However the mines have change into much more lethal for the reason that Taliban seized energy, miners say. In contrast to the earlier authorities, the Taliban haven’t provided engineers to watch poisonous fuel, or timber to help tunnels that stretch for a whole lot of yards. The result’s a lethal mixture of much less structurally sound mines and inexperienced miners who can’t spot indicators of hazard.
“The financial state of affairs is forcing everybody right here, however they know they may die. It’s extra harmful than ever,” mentioned one miner, Baz Mohammad, 35, who has labored within the mines since he was 15. “If I had some cash, I wouldn’t keep right here for one more second.”
The work at Chinarak begins at daybreak, when the style of smoke from wood-burning stoves hangs heavy within the air and the morning fog paints the foothills in a cloudlike haze. Carrying shovels and pickaxes, miners make their approach down the winding path of reddish clay to the coal-filled mountain.
From the bottom of the mountain, a path of blackened earth — an indication of coal — zigzags throughout its face like a treasure map. Strapping on headlamps, the lads duck into mine openings scattered throughout the hillside and crawl by way of subterranean tunnels that stretch so far as 300 yards.
Sitting on a boulder exterior one mine, Zahir Kazimi, 33, mentioned he may barely transfer his physique after his first day on the mines in January. A tailor by commerce, Mr. Kazimi went to work in stitching retailers on the age of 13 — decided to save lots of up the cash to marry a woman he favored. A decade later, he married and opened his personal tailor store. He was joyful then, he mentioned.
However after the Taliban seized energy, his as soon as regular stream of shoppers dried up, and shortly his financial savings did, too. So he took his brother’s donkey to the mines and joined the throng of sweaty males with black mud caked into their pores and skin. Twelve hours later, he returned dwelling together with his again aching and cursing himself for getting married in any respect — if he had been single, he wouldn’t should earn a lot to feed 4 mouths at dwelling.
“For those who come right here and work, you may get some cash to purchase meals for your loved ones. If not, they’ll go hungry,” Mr. Kazimi mentioned. “There is no such thing as a different strategy to go. We should work.”
Standing exterior a mine’s entrance, Mr. Hadi, the previous soldier, wiped his hand on his shirt and checked out his calloused palm. His father, a farmer, all the time chided him to go to high school as a baby, dreaming that in the future his son may change into a district governor or a commander. For some time, Mr. Hadi hoped he may, too. At 18, he joined the Afghan Nationwide Military and earned a good wage.
However jobless and broke after the previous authorities collapsed, he offered the massive carpet in his front room and used the cash to purchase a donkey he may take to the mines. Contained in the darkish tunnels, he works by way of the ache that shoots by way of his again and arms as he slams a pickax into the wall of coal over and time and again.
The labor is grueling, he says, however even worse is the concern: the concern of choking on poisonous fuel, the concern that the rock hitting your again is the beginning of a collapse, the concern of being buried alive with no hope of rescue.
“Each time I am going within the tunnel, I’m afraid,” Mr. Hadi mentioned. “Once I’m selecting coal, I’m all the time telling myself that is the final one for right this moment.”
By noon at Chinarak, the mines are buzzing with a whole lot of miners — some previous males of their 60s, some youngsters barely 10. As they work, the sounds echo down the mountain: the thuds of males dropping satchels of coal on the bottom. The hiss of coal pouring out of the luggage. The clucks from youngsters coaxing donkeys carrying a great deal of coal down the mountain.
The coal is unloaded onto vehicles that head down the tough highway to a Taliban checkpoint, a single-story constructing that overlooks a big riverbed and the mountain vary’s snow-covered peaks. The constructing as soon as belonged to businessmen who operated these mines in mafia-like preparations with the earlier authorities. At the moment, vehicles of coal leaving the mines could be taxed first by these firms, after which once more by the Taliban, who levied casual taxes to fund their insurgency.
Since seizing energy, Taliban officers say they’ve pushed out these strongmen and “nationalized” the mining business. Abid Atullah, the Taliban’s supervisor of mines within the Nahrain district, mentioned they collected $16,000 to $30,000 in tax income from the Chinarak mines every day — a modest however welcome income stream for the cash-strapped authorities.
Nonetheless, miners complain concerning the lack of presidency help. For months, their petitions to the native authorities to supply engineers, oxygen tanks, toxic-gas meters and picket help beams have gone unanswered, they are saying. Some who informally run the mines have bought the timber themselves — slicing miners’ day by day wages by round 40 p.c to afford it. Others have forgone it, forcing miners to dig narrower tunnels which might be tougher to work in and never structurally sound.
The collapse of a mine final month epitomized the heightened dangers: Miners mentioned inexperienced employees had prolonged the tunnel too far, and that there weren’t any beams to help it. For 2 days, almost everybody on the mountain helped attempt to break by way of the wall of earth that trapped almost two dozen miners inside, pushed by the lads’s muffled cries for assist. Seventeen hours in, their voices pale because the oxygen ran out. Nobody made it.
Their destiny haunts the lads who should maintain returning.
Rising from a mine entrance, Taza, 30, slammed the bag of coal on the bottom and set free a loud cough. A policeman beneath the previous authorities, and a father of six, he started working within the mines in September, regardless of all of the horrific tales he grew up with about what number of methods there have been to die there.
Weeks later, he realized the risks for himself: Inside a tunnel, he started to really feel scorching and his head oddly heavy. Inside minutes his lungs seized up — a symptom of inhaling the poisonous fuel that was slowly filling the tunnel. Dropping his sack of coal, he dashed to the mine’s entrance and collapsed on the bottom.
Just a few days later, he went again to the mountain.
“I don’t have another possibility,” he mentioned. “My children are hungry.”
Christina Goldbaum and Yaqoob Akbary reported from Chinarak, Afghanistan. Najim Rahim contributed reporting from Houston, and Sami Sahak from Los Angeles.
World
Lo que nos dice la decisión de Trump de involucrarse en disputa de gastos sobre los próximos 4 años
WASHINGTON (AP) — Tras días de amenazas y exigencias, Donald Trump tuvo por qué mostrar una vez que los legisladores aprobaron un acuerdo presupuestario en las primeras horas del sábado, evitando por poco que las dependencias estatales se vieran obligadas a cerrar antes de Navidad por falta de fondos.
El presidente electo logró que los republicanos de la Cámara de Representantes eliminaran algunos gastos, pero no logró su objetivo principal de elevar el límite de la deuda. Esto demostró que, a pesar de su decisiva victoria electoral y sus frecuentes promesas de represalias, muchos miembros de su partido aún están dispuestos a desafiarlo abiertamente.
La decisión de Trump de involucrarse en el debate presupuestario un mes antes de su toma de posesión también mostró que sigue siendo más hábil para destruir acuerdos que para hacerlos, y presagió que su segundo mandato probablemente estará marcado por las mismas luchas internas, el caos y el juego al borde del precipicio que caracterizaron su primer mandato.
“Estén atentos. Abróchense los cinturones. Prepárense”, dijo el congresista Steve Womack, republicano de Arkansas, un asignador presupuestario sénior.
Una mirada a la agenda de Trump muestra una cascada de oportunidades para enfrentamientos similares en los años venideros. El presidente electo quiere ampliar los recortes fiscales que promulgó hace siete años, reducir el tamaño del gobierno, aumentar los aranceles a las importaciones y tomar medidas enérgicas contra los inmigrantes no autorizados. Muchos de esos esfuerzos necesitarán la aprobación del Congreso.
Para muchos de los seguidores de Trump, la disrupción podría ser un objetivo en sí mismo. El 37% de los que votaron por él este año dijeron que querían “un cambio total y completo”, según AP VoteCast, una extensa encuesta de más de 120.000 votantes. Un 56% adicional dijo que querían “un cambio sustancial”.
Pero los últimos días dejaron claro la dificultad que Trump podría enfrentar para cumplir rápidamente sus objetivos, especialmente dado que los republicanos solo cuentan con mayorías escasas en la Cámara de Representantes y el Senado. Algunos legisladores ya parecen cansados de la aparente ausencia de una estrategia unificada.
El senador Kevin Cramer, republicano de Dakota del Norte, dijo que la batalla presupuestaria fue “una lección valiosa sobre cómo organizarnos”.
El fracaso de las exigencias de Trump
El problema comenzó cuando los principales legisladores publicaron una copia de la iniciativa de ley, conocida como una resolución continua, que era necesaria para asegurar el funcionamiento del gobierno federal hasta marzo. No fue el presidente electo, sino Elon Musk, el hombre más rico del mundo y confidente de Trump, quien primero comenzó a generar oposición a la ley en las redes sociales al calificarla de gasto excesivo.
Trump eventualmente se sumó a la batalla. Ordenó a los republicanos cancelar el acuerdo bipartidista que habían hecho con los demócratas y exigió que aumentaran el límite de la deuda, el tope de cuánto puede pedir prestado el gobierno, con la esperanza de evitar que ese espinoso problema surgiera cuando ya estuviera en funciones.
Aumentó la presión incluso después de haber modificado sus demandas iniciales. Primero quería eliminar el límite de la deuda por completo. Luego quería suspenderlo hasta 2027. Luego propuso una extensión hasta 2029.
Si las dependencias estatales se vieran obligadas a cerrar por falta de fondos, el presidente demócrata Joe Biden sería culpado, insistió Trump.
“Todos los republicanos, e incluso los demócratas, deberían hacer lo que es mejor para nuestro país y votar ‘A FAVOR’ de esta iniciativa de ley, ¡ESTA NOCHE!”, escribió Trump el jueves, antes de una votación sobre una versión del proyecto de ley que incluía un límite de deuda más alto.
En cambio, 38 republicanos votaron en contra. Fue un desaire sorprendente para Trump, quien a veces pareciera no tener ningún control sobre su propio partido.
“Sin esto, nunca deberíamos hacer un acuerdo”, escribió en Truth Social, su red social.
Si no conseguía lo que quería, Trump dijo que debería haber un cierre del gobierno. También dijo que sus correligionarios pagarían el precio en las elecciones primarias si se negaban a seguir adelante, y dijo que “los obstruccionistas republicanos tienen que ser eliminados”. Señaló especialmente al representante Chip Roy, de Texas, por su nombre y con insultos.
Pero al final, los legisladores dejaron fuera ese aumento del techo de la deuda, y un acuerdo final se aprobó el sábado a primera hora.
Musk y otros aliados de Trump intentaron presentarlo como una victoria porque la ley final se redujo significativamente y omitió elementos impopulares como un aumento salarial para los miembros del Congreso. Charlie Kirk, un prominente activista conservador, escribió en X que Trump ”¡ya está dirigiendo el Congreso antes de asumir el cargo!”.
El presidente de la Cámara de Representantes, Mike Johnson, republicano de Luisiana, dijo que había estado en “contacto constante” con Trump, quien, aseguró, estaba “ciertamente feliz con este resultado”.
Si Trump estuvo de acuerdo, él mismo no lo dijo.
Tras días de publicaciones frecuentes en redes sociales, Trump volvió a guardar silencio el viernes. No ofreció una reacción a la votación final ni emitió ningún comunicado. En cambio, fue a jugar golf en su resort en Florida.
Karoline Leavitt, una vocera de Trump, dijo que el presidente electo ayudó a prevenir un acuerdo original “lleno de despilfarros demócratas y aumentos salariales para los miembros del Congreso”.
“En enero, el presidente Trump y el Departamento de Eficiencia Gubernamental (DOGE, por sus siglas en inglés) continuarán esta importante misión de eliminar el despilfarro de Washington, una ley a la vez”, dijo. El DOGE es un panel asesor que será liderado por Musk y el empresario Vivek Ramaswamy.
Más enfrentamientos en el horizonte
La atmósfera circense de la lucha por el presupuesto recordó al primer mandato de Trump. En aquel entonces, un enfrentamiento presupuestario llevó a un cierre del gobierno cuando Trump exigió dinero para su muro fronterizo entre Estados Unidos y México. Después de 35 días, el cierre más largo de la historia, accedió a un acuerdo sin haber logrado los fondos que había exigido.
Fue un punto bajo político para Trump, y el 60% de los estadounidenses lo culparon por el cierre, según una encuesta realizada por The Associated Press y el NORC Center for Public Affairs Research en ese momento.
Trump no dejó de intentar doblegar a los republicanos a su voluntad en ese entonces y ciertamente no lo hará en este momento.
Trump está aumentando la presión sobre su propio partido por sus elecciones para el gabinete, empujando a senadores republicanos reacios a aceptar algunos de sus nombramientos más controvertidos, como el activista antivacunas Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a quien eligió como secretario de Salud y el presentador de Fox News Pete Hegseth como secretario de Defensa.
Pareciera que los debates sobre el presupuesto del próximo año definitivamente pondrán a prueba aún más la influencia de Trump en la Cámara de Representantes. Muchos conservadores ven el rápido crecimiento de la deuda federal como una amenaza existencial para el país que debe abordarse. Pero algunos republicanos temen una reacción negativa de los votantes si se realizan recortes drásticos a los programas federales de los que dependen los estadounidenses.
Las preocupaciones sobre el gasto deficitario podrían intensificarse si Trump impulsa los recortes fiscales costosos que prometió durante la campaña, como eliminar los impuestos sobre las propinas, la Seguridad Social y el pago de horas extras.
Trump también pretende ampliar los recortes fiscales que promulgó en 2017 y que deberán llegar a su fin el próximo año. Ha pedido una reducción adicional de la tasa de impuestos corporativos de Estados Unidos del 21% al 15%, pero sólo para las empresas que producen en Estados Unidos.
Trump ha dicho que pagará las caídas en los ingresos con aranceles agresivos nuevos, los cuales, advierten los economistas, resultarán en precios más altos para los consumidores.
El representante Dan Crenshaw, republicano de Texas, dijo que la reducción del gasto público probablemente seguirá siendo un abismo entre Trump y los republicanos de la Cámara de Representantes.
“Eso nunca ha sido realmente una promesa de campaña de Trump, pero es una gran prioridad para los republicanos de la Cámara de Representantes”, dijo.
No había indicios de que la animosidad estuviera disminuyendo el sábado. Algunos republicanos culparon al liderazgo de la Cámara de Representantes por no asegurar la “bendición” de Trump en el acuerdo original. Los demócratas presentaron a Trump como segundo violín de Musk.
Mientras Trump se mantenía callado, Biden anunció que había promulgado la ley presupuestaria.
“Este acuerdo representa un compromiso, lo que significa que ninguna de las partes obtuvo todo lo que quería”, dijo. “Pero rechaza el camino acelerado hacia un recorte de impuestos para multimillonarios que buscaban los republicanos, y asegura que el gobierno pueda continuar operando a plena capacidad”.
___
Boak reportó desde West Palm Beach, Florida, y Colvin desde Nueva York.
____
Esta historia fue traducida del inglés por un editor de la AP con la ayuda de una herramienta de inteligencia artificial generativa.
World
Pope to skip outdoor Sunday prayer after catching cold days ahead of Christmas Eve, Day Masses
The pope has contracted a cold and will skip his usual outdoor Sunday prayer, instead giving the blessing indoors just days ahead of his Christmas Eve and Day Masses, the Vatican said Saturday.
Chilly weather and the pope’s busy schedule during Christmas week were cited as reasons for the 88-year-old giving the blessing from his residence at the chapel of the Vatican’s Santa Marta quarters.
The pope usually addresses the public from the window of St. Peter’s Basilica overlooking St. Peter’s Square on Sundays.
BIDEN HEADING TO VATICAN CITY NEXT MONTH TO MEET WITH POPE FRANCIS, MELONI IN FINAL OVERSEAS TRIP
Pope Francis exchanges the season’s greetings with Vatican employees on Saturday. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)
Pope Francis sounded congested on Saturday as he gave his annual Christmas greeting to Vatican bureaucrats.
The octogenarian has suffered from bronchitis before, including last year when he was hospitalized, and he also missed a climate change meeting in Dubai last year because of the flu and lung inflammation.
The pope has contracted a cold and will skip his usual outdoor Sunday prayer, instead giving the blessing indoors just days ahead of his Christmas Eve and Day Masses, the Vatican said Saturday. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)
POPE FRANCIS REVEALS HE WAS NEARLY ASSASSINATED DURING HISTORIC IRAQ TRIP
The pope developed pleurisy in his 20s and was forced to have part of his lungs removed in his native Argentina.
The pope usually addresses the public from a window of St. Peter’s Basilica overlooking St. Peter’s Square on Sundays. (Riccardo De Luca/Anadolu via Getty Images)
Christmas Eve also marks the beginning of the Vatican’s Holy Year in which around 32 million pilgrims are expected to head to Rome throughout 2025.
The pope will open the Holy Door of St. Peter’s Basilica on Christmas Eve and On Dec. 26, he will go to Rome’s main prison to inaugurate the start of the Holy Year there.
The Holy Year, also known as the Jubilee, is usually held every 25 years.
The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.
Iceland has traditionally been ambivalent about joining the bloc but issues like the 2008 financial crisis, Brexit and a range of domestic issues has meant the country is slowly warming to the idea of membership.
Iceland’s new government has said it aims to put the question of EU membership to a referendum by 2027.
The incoming administration of Prime Minister Kristrún Frostadóttir, which takes over on Sunday, also said it will set up a panel of experts to look into the advantages and disadvantages of retaining the Icelandic crown over adopting the Euro.
“We agreed that a motion in parliament be agreed upon, stating that we will have a referendum on the continuation of Iceland’s European Union accession talks and that this referendum be held no later than 2027,” said incoming Foreign Minister, Þorgerður Katrín Gunnarsdóttir.
Gunnarsdóttir also heads the pro-EU Liberal Reform party and is widely expected to spearhead any accession talks.
According to a poll conducted by market research company Maskína in June, support for EU membership among Iceland’s population is growing.
That poll found just over 54% of respondents were in favour of joining the bloc, with the majority saying they thought households would be financially better off as part of the EU.
That’s a significant swing in favour of membership in a country that has generally been ambivalent about joining the EU.
In his ‘Public Opinion on the EU in Iceland since 1980’ paper published by Denmark’s Aarhus University, Ragnar Auðun Árnason said that for much of the 1980s and 1990s, Iceland was broadly split into three equal camps regarding EU membership; for, against and undecided.
But issues like the 2008 financial crisis, Brexit and a range of domestic issues has meant that Icelanders seem to be slowly warming to the idea of joining the bloc.
And a significant majority of those polled by Maskína – 74.2% – said it was important that the issue be decided by referendum.
New government unveiled
The new government was presented to the public by president Halla Tómasdóttir at a ceremony in the southwestern town of Hafnarfjörður.
Prime Minister Kristrún Frostadóttir, who is the leader of the centre-left Social Democratic Alliance, said she aims to cut inflation and interest rates.
“This new government will face challenges united. Our first task is to stabilize the economy and lower interest rates with strong leadership in fiscal policy. In the meantime, this government will break the deadlock, and work towards greater creation of wealth in the private sector. The quality of life in the country will be increased through unity surrounding these challenges,” she said.
The Social Democratic Alliance became the biggest party in November’s snap elections, called after the previous coalition government led by Bjarni Benediktsson collapsed due to infighting.
It agreed to form a government with the Liberal Reform Party and the centrist People’s Party. It’s the first time in Iceland’s history that the leaders of all the governing parties will be women.
ADVERTISEMENTNational broadcaster RUV reported that at 36, Frostadóttir will be Iceland’s youngest ever PM.
RUV also said that the incoming administration aims to reduce the number of government ministries in order to cut some administrative costs.
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