United News of Bangladesh

Amid a delayed return to civilian rule, the deteriorating security and the dire humanitarian and human rights situation in Mali, the mandate of the UN Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali should be extended for another year, speakers told a Security Council meeting on the situation in Mali on Monday. UN Mission's mandate needs to be bolstered "While the challenges in Mali are numerous and complex, they are far from being insurmountable," said El-Ghassim Wane, special representative of the secretary-general in Mali and head of the UN mission, expressing hope for breakthroughs. Echoing Secretary-General Antonio Guterres's acknowledgement of the need for the mission's continued presence and recommendation to extend its mandate for another year, Wane stressed the importance for the mission to be allowed to move freely to fulfil its mandate. Armed conflicts have led to massive displacement, said Sadya Toure, director of Mali Muso, a non-profit for girls' education, when briefing the council on behalf of civil society. Also read: 2 UN peacekeepers killed in 6th incident in Mali in 2 weeks "Women are not safe anywhere," and many schools have closed across the country, affecting some 450,000 children, she said, adding that teenagers in Mali have grown up in a violent environment without any prospects, and high rates of unemployment "have led to insecurity and social unrest," making teenagers easily recruited for armed groups. Addressing these issues must be a priority if the international community wants to ensure long-lasting peace and reconciliation, she said, emphasizing the need to bolster the UN mission's mandate to allow it to operate alongside Malian forces to combat terrorism. Broad support In the ensuing discussion, members broadly supported the extension of the mandate. Nicolas de Riviere, the permanent representative of France to the United Nations, proposed renewing the mission's mandate for another year. Meanwhile, he said the Malian transitional authorities must also take up their responsibilities and remove obstacles to the mission's activities and the rotation of contingents. The mission would benefit from stronger support in troop contribution, capacity-building on counter-terrorism measures and provision of adequate logistics, said Harold Agyemag, Ghana's permanent representative, also speaking for Gabon and Kenya. While highlighting the critical role of the mission, India's permanent representative T. S. Tirumurti emphasized the importance of not burdening the mission with direct counter-terrorism-related operations, injecting a different perspective. These operations need to be undertaken by national security forces, he said, adding the concerns raised by the mission regarding the capacity gaps result from the withdrawal of international forces from Mali. Also read: UN peacekeeping convoy attacked in Mali -- 1 killed, 3 hurt Noting most victims were from the pastoralist Fulani groups, Odd-Inge Kvalheim, Norway's deputy permanent representative, pointed to the ethnic dimension of the violence, and insisted the UN mission "be given full and unrestricted access to investigate such crimes." The conflict in the northern part of the country has spilled into its center, spread across the entire nation and has now reached neighboring states, said Malian Foreign Minister Abdoulaye Diop, noting that to reverse this trend, the government has invested massively in national defense and security forces. Deteriorating security According to the secretary-general's latest report on Mali dated June 2, the departure of French and other international forces is likely to create a vacuum in parts of Mali that terrorist armed groups may exploit. The violence involving Islamic State-affiliated groups, which killed hundreds of civilians and displaced 32,000 people in the eastern Malian region of Menaka, can be attributed to the imminent departure of these forces, according to the report. Since February, Mali's authorities have been blocking the rotation of 2,480 uniformed personnel from seven West African countries. This was in response to the sanctions the Economic Community of West African States imposed on Mali in January, due to the delays in Mali's political transition to restore constitutional order after coups d'etat in 2020 and 2021, according to the Security Council report. Mali remains one of the most dangerous places for peacekeepers. Established in April 2013 following a military coup and the occupation of the north by radical Islamists, the UN mission in Mali supports political processes and performs tasks related to security and civilian protection. ■

India and other Asian nations are becoming an increasingly vital source of oil revenues for Moscow despite strong pressure from the U.S. not to increase their purchases, as the European Union and other allies cut off energy imports from Russia in line with sanctions over its war on Ukraine. Such sales are boosting Russian export revenues at a time when Washington and allies are trying to limit financial flows supporting Moscow’s war effort. India, an oil-hungry country of 1.4 billion people, has guzzled nearly 60 million barrels of Russian oil in 2022 so far, compared with 12 million barrels in all of 2021, according to commodity data firm Kpler. Shipments to other Asian countries, like China, have also increased in recent months but to a lesser extent. In an interview with The Associated Press, Sri Lanka’s prime minister said he may be compelled to buy more oil from Russia as he hunts desperately for fuel to keep the country running amid a dire economic crisis. Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said Saturday said he would first look to other sources, but would be open to buying more crude from Moscow. In late May, Sri Lanka bought a 90,000-metric-ton (99,000-ton) shipment of Russian crude to restart its only refinery. Read: WTO holds big meeting to tackle vaccines, food shortages Since Russia’s invasion in late February, global oil prices have soared, giving refiners in India and other countries an added incentive to tap oil Moscow is offering them at steep discounts of $30 to $35, compared with Brent crude and other international oil now trading at about $120 per barrel. Their importance to Russia rose after the 27-nation European Union, the main market for fossil fuels that supply most of Moscow’s foreign income, agreed to stop most oil purchases by the end of this year. “It seems a distinct trend is becoming ingrained now,” said Matt Smith, lead analyst at Kpler tracking Russian oil flows. As shipments of Urals oil to much of Europe are cut, crude is instead flowing to Asia, where India has become the top buyer, followed by China. Ship tracking reports show Turkey is another key destination. “People are realizing that India is such a refining hub, taking it at such a cheap price, refining it and sending it out as clean products because they can make such strong margins on that,” Smith said. In May, some 30 Russian tankers loaded with crude made their way to Indian shores, unloading about 430,000 barrels per day. An average of just 60,000 barrels per day arrived in January-March, according to the Helsinki, Finland-based Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air, an independent think tank. Chinese state-owned and independent refiners also have stepped up purchases. In 2021, China was the largest single buyer of Russian oil, taking 1.6 million barrels per day on average, equally divided between pipeline and seaborne routes, according to the International Energy Agency. While India’s imports are still only about a quarter of that, the sharp increase since the war began is a potential source of friction between Washington and New Delhi. The U.S. recognizes India’s need for affordable energy, but “we’re looking to allies and partners not to increase their purchases of Russian energy,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken said after a meeting of U.S. and Indian foreign and defense ministers in April. Meanwhile, the U.S. and its European allies are engaged in “extremely active” discussions on coordinating measures, perhaps forming a cartel, to try to set a price cap on Russian oil, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen told a Senate Finance Committee meeting on Tuesday. The aim would be to keep Russian oil flowing into the global market to prevent crude oil prices, already up 60% this year, from surging still higher, she said. Read: UN elects new council members including Japan, Switzerland “Absolutely, the objective is to limit the revenue going to Russia,” Yellen said, indicating the exact strategy had not yet been decided on. While Europe could find alternative sources for its purchases of about 60% of Russia’s crude exports, Russia also has options. India’s foreign minister, Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, has emphasized his country’s intention to do what is in its best interests, bristling at criticism over its imports of Russian oil. “If India funding Russian oil is funding the war … tell me, then buying Russian gas is not funding the war? Let’s be a little even-handed,” he said at a recent forum in Slovakia, referring to Europe’s imports of Russian gas. India’s imports of crude from Russia rose from 100,000 barrels per day in February to 370,000 a day in April to 870,000 a day in May. A growing share of those shipments displaced oil from Iraq and Saudi Arabia, most of it going to refineries in Sika and Jamnagar on India’s western coast. Up until April, Russian oil accounted for less than 5% of the crude processed at the Jamnagar oil refinery run by Reliance Industries. In May, it accounted for more than a quarter, according to Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air. India’s exports of oil products like diesel have risen to 685,000 barrels per day from 580,000 barrels per day before the invasion of Ukraine. Much of its diesel exports are sold in Asia, but about 20% was shipped via the Suez Canal, headed for the Mediterranean or Atlantic, essentially Europe or the US, said Lauri Myllyvirta, a lead analyst at CREA. It’s impossible to quantify the exact amount of Russian crude in refined products being shipped out of India, he said. Still, “India is providing an outlet for Russian crude oil to get through the market,” he said. China’s imports also have risen further this year, helping Russian President Vladimir Putin’s government record a current account surplus, the broadest measure of trade, of $96 billion for the four months ending in April. It’s unclear if such exports might eventually be subject to sanctions meant to cut the cash flowing to Russia. Regarding the sanctions, “Are those measures effective? And if not, how is the oil market working around them?” Myllyvirta said.

The head of the World Trade Organization predicted a “bumpy and rocky" road as it opened its highest-level meeting in 4-1/2 years on Sunday, with issues like pandemic preparedness, food insecurity and overfishing of the world’s seas on the agenda. At a time when some question WTO's relevance, Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala hopes the meeting involving more than 120 ministers from the group's 164 member countries yields progress toward reducing inequality and ensuring fair and free trade. Okonjo-Iweala acknowledged the Geneva-based trade body needs reform but said she was cautiously optimistic that a deal might be reached on at least one of the meeting’s main ambitions like fisheries or COVID vaccines. Also read: FDA restricts J&J’s COVID-19 vaccine due to blood clot risk “The road will be bumpy and rocky. There may be a few landmines on the way,” Okonjo-Iweala said. “We’ll have to navigate those landmines and see how we can successfully land one or two deliverables.” In her opening address, she said a “trust deficit” had emerged over the years following the failure of negotiations known as the Doha Round more than a decade ago. “The negativism is compounded by the negative advocacy of some think tanks and civil society groups here in Geneva and elsewhere who believe the WTO is not working for people," she said. "This is, of course, not true, although we’ve not been able to clearly demonstrate it.” She cited an array of crises facing the world such as the COVID-19 pandemic; environmental crises like droughts, floods and heat waves; and inflationary pressures that have been compounded by food shortages and higher fuel costs linked to Russia's war in Ukraine. She noted higher prices are“hitting poor people the hardest.” “With history looming over us, with that multilateral system seemingly fragile, this is the time to invest in it, not to retreat from it,” Okonjo-Iweala said. “This is the time to summon the much-needed political will to show that the WTO can be part of the solution to the multiple crises, the global commons that we face.” The WTO chief insisted that trade has lifted 1 billion people out of poverty, but poorer countries – and poor people in richer ones – are often left behind. Blockaded ports in Ukraine have impeded exports of up to 25 million tons of grain from the key European breadbasket. Ministers at the meeting will consider whether to lift or ease export restrictions on food to help countries facing a shortage of wheat, fertilizer and other products because of the war in Ukraine. They also will decide whether to increase support for the U.N.’s World Food Program to help needy countries around the world. “I strongly urge the WTO members with the capabilities to commit at MC12 to exempt their donations to the World Food Program from any export restrictions,” said Katherine Tai, the U.S. trade representative, referring to the 12th ministerial conference at the WTO. Okonjo-Iweala hopes the member nations, which make decisions by consensus, also can strike an agreement about whether to temporarily waive WTO’s protections of intellectual property on COVID-19 vaccines. Also read: Yunus for creating social business pharm companies to bring vaccines, medicines to common people The topic has generated months of contentious negotiations. The pharmaceutical industry wants to protect its innovations while advocacy groups say the pandemic's devastation merits an exemption to the usual rules and developing countries say they need better access to vaccines. Some experts and diplomats say two decades of WTO efforts to limit overfishing in the world's seas appears to be as close as it ever has to reaching a deal. The draft text on fisheries aims to limit government subsidies — such as for fuel — to fishing boats or workers who take part in “illegal, unreported and unreported” fishing, or national subsidies that contribute to “overcapacity or overfishing.” Some workers in developing countries could qualify for exemptions. “This agreement is crucial to the 260 million people around the world whose livelihoods depend directly or indirectly on marine fisheries,” Okonjo-Iweala said. “It is also central to the sustainability of our oceans, where the latest studies show close to 50% of stocks for which we have data are overfished.” An umbrella group of nongovernmental groups, “Our World Is Not For Sale,” said over 50 NGOs were stripped of access that they had been previously granted to attend the opening day events. WTO spokesman Daniel Pruzin said that because of “space limitations” at WTO and events inside, “we were unfortunately unable to grant accredited NGOs access, both civil society groups as well as business groups.” He said they would be granted access for the rest of the ministerial starting Monday. The World Trade Organization, created in 1995 as a successor to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, has seen a slow unraveling — often because U.S. objections have largely hamstrung its dispute-resolution system. The WTO hasn’t produced a major trade deal in years. The last one, reached nearly a decade ago, was an agreement that cut red tape on goods clearing borders and was billed as a boost to lower-income countries.

The World Trade Organization is facing one of its most dire moments, the culmination of years of slide toward oblivion and ineffectiveness. Now may be a chance to turn the tide and reemerge as a champion of free and fair trade — or face a future further in doubt. For the first time in 4 1/2 years, after a pandemic pause, government ministers from WTO countries will gather for four days starting Sunday to tackle issues like overfishing of the seas, COVID-19 vaccines for the developing world and food security at a time when Russia’s war in Ukraine has blocked the export of millions of tons of Ukrainian grain to developing nations. Facing a key test of her diplomatic skill since taking the job 15 months ago, WTO Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala in recent days expressed “cautious optimism” that progress could be made on at least one of four issues expected to dominate the meeting: fisheries subsidies, agriculture, the pandemic response and reform of the organization, spokesman Fernando Puchol said. Diplomats and trade teams have been working “flat out — long, long hours” to serve up at least one “clean text” for a possible agreement — that ministers can simply rubber-stamp and not have to negotiate — on one of those issues, Puchol told reporters Friday. Also Read: Global trade in medical goods up 16.3% in 2020: WTO The Geneva-based body, barely a quarter-century old, brings together 164 countries to help ensure smooth and fair international trade and settle trade disputes. Some outside experts expect few accomplishments out of the meeting, saying the main one may simply be getting the ministers to the table. “The multilateral trading system is in a bad way. The Ukraine situation is not helping,” said Clemens Boonekamp, an independent trade policy analyst and former head of WTO’s agricultural division. “But the mere fact that they are coming together is a sign of a respect for the system.” Alan Wolff, a former WTO deputy director-general, sounded optimistic that members could make at least some headway. They might reach an agreement, he said, to help relieve a looming global food crisis arising from the war in Ukraine by ensuring the U.N. World Food Program receives a waiver from food export bans imposed by WTO countries eager to feed their own people. Wolff, now senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics in Washington, expressed confidence in Okonjo-Iweala, saying, “I’m not willing to sell her short.” He said members “seem to be making progress” on an agreement to scale back subsidies that encourage overfishing — something they have been trying to do for more than two decades. “Do they wrap it up this time?” Wolff asked. “Unclear. It’s been a drama.’’ One problem — among many — is that the WTO operates by consensus, so any one of its 164 member countries could gum up the works. In short, the WTO has become an important diplomatic battleground between developed and developing countries, and some experts say reform is needed if it’s ever to get things done. The trade body, created in 1995 as a successor to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, has seen a slow unraveling. It hasn’t produced a major trade deal in years. The last big success was a 2014 agreement billed as a boost to lower-income countries that cut up red tape on goods clearing borders. Years ago, the United States started clamping down on the WTO’s appeals court, which in theory delivers the last word on trade disputes, such as a high-profile one between the U.S. and EU involving plane-making giants Airbus and Boeing. Then, U.S. President Donald Trump came along, threatening to pull America out of the WTO over his insistence that it was unfair to the U.S. In the end, he didn’t, and simply bypassed the WTO — slapping sanctions on allies and foes alike and ignoring the trade organization’s rulebook and dispute-resolution system. Once a champion of the WTO, the United States has rued the admission of China and insists Beijing has been violating the trade body’s rules too much. The U.S. accuses China of excessively supporting state-run companies and impeding free trade, among other things. China denies those allegations. A generation ago, the WTO drew huge, vituperative, even violent protests — notably from anti-globalists and anarchists who detested its closed-door secrecy and elites-decide-all image. William Reinsch, a former U.S. trade official, warned that the WTO is now in danger of becoming irrelevant. The best way to show that it still matters, he wrote this month, is to negotiate an agreement, perhaps on fisheries, COVID-19 vaccines or a more difficult issue: encouraging more free trade in farming. Reinsch, now at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, said the United States needs to be doing more — including making compromises — to ensure the WTO can reach agreement on contentious issues. “The future of the WTO is at risk,” he said. “Failure would be bad for the fish and the farmers, but it would also be bad for a rule-of-law-based global economy.” END/AP/UNB

In President Joe Biden’s estimation, the U.S. is in a strong position to overcome the worst inflation in more than 40 years. But so far, inflation just keeps getting the better of the U.S. economy and of the Biden administration. The president’s policies, his deals with the private sector, regulatory actions and public jawboning have failed so far to stop prices from marching upward. Biden on Friday pledged to keep fighting against inflation while touring the Port of Los Angeles, America’s busiest port and a place that the White House said last October would be key for reducing price pressures. “My administration is going to continue to do everything we can to lower the prices for the American people,” the president said after a decidedly bleak new report on consumer prices. The Labor Department reported Friday that consumer prices climbed 8.6% in May from a year ago. That’s the worst reading since December 1981 and a troubling sign for the economy as rate hikes by the Federal Reserve have yet to tamp down inflation as gasoline costs are surging upward. Rising prices are imperiling the U.S. economy as well as Democratic control of the House and Senate, putting Biden on the defensive. AAA separately reported that average U.S. gas prices reached a record $4.99 a gallon, an increase that has overwhelmed the president’s previous efforts to reduce overall inflation. The pain at the pump is hurting Biden’s public approval ahead of the midterm elections. The president on Friday also blamed corporate profits for inflation, saying that some companies — including shipping firms and the oil industry — are focused on maximizing profits. Biden specifically targeted ExxonMobil for not doing more to increase oil production. “Exxon made more money than God this year,” he said. ExxonMobil responded to Biden’s comment by saying that it is producing more oil. “We have been in regular contact with the administration, informing them of our planned investments to increase production and expand refining capacity in the United States,” Casey Norton, a spokesperson for the company, said in an email. “We increased production in the Permian Basin by 70%, or 190,000 barrels per day, between 2019 and 2021. We expect to increase production from the Permian by another 25% this year.” The Port of Los Angeles moved to round-the-clock operations last October under an agreement that the White House helped to shepherd. The goal was to clear backlogs of ships waiting to dock and containers waiting to flow into the country, a logjam that was pumping up prices as the world began to recover from the coronavirus pandemic. READ: Biden says US sending medium-range rocket systems to Ukraine The port is now moving out a record 200,000 containers on a rolling 30-day average. But the forces driving inflation have largely shifted to rising energy and food costs in the aftermath of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. There has also been a broader increase in prices that go beyond supply chain issues. Housing, airfare and medical services expenses rose significantly in May. Gene Seroka, executive director of the Port of Los Angeles, said there were many levers that caused performance to improve in terms of getting goods to consumers and businesses faster. But he specifically credited the “convening powers of the federal government to bring people to the table” and the Biden administration’s focus on the supply chain. “We’ve reduced those ships that have been waiting to get into the port by 75% this year,” Seroka said. “These guys are really working because we’ve got strong consumer demand still.” The Biden administration is seeking to further reduce shipping prices with a bipartisan bill that the House could pass as soon as next week. The bill would give the Federal Maritime Commission tools to make ocean-based trade more efficient and price competitive, improving the flow of exports and imports. “What I have found here in California is that they want us to do whatever we could possibly do to address the inflation problem — and this is clearly one significant part of the problem,” said Rep. John Garamendi, D-Calif., a sponsor of the bill. Rep. Dusty Johnson, R-S.D., said he saw a need for the additional tools in part after a cheese processor in his state had two million pounds of lactose rot because no carriers would take the product even though 60% of shipping containers were going back to Asia empty. “This is not a silver bullet with regard to inflation,” said Johnson, who sponsored the bill. But he noted that, as the provisions get implemented, “this will absolutely have an impact on inflation.” Strong consumer demand has been a mixed blessing for Biden. It reflects the robust job growth and solid household balance sheets that followed the $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package passed last year. But demand has consistently outpaced supply, causing prices to rise to levels that are forcing the Federal Reserve to try to slow growth and possibly risk a recession. The White House contends that the U.S. can tackle inflation without stumbling into a downturn because the economy is so strong with its 3.6% unemployment rate that it can withstand a slowdown. Biden is also trying to frame inflation as a global challenge, having been triggered first by the pandemic and then by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The president is attempting to rebut criticism by Republican lawmakers that inflation was the result of his government aid being too generous and his restrictions on U.S. oil production too onerous. Biden has attempted to slow inflation by improving port operations and twice releasing oil from the U.S. strategic reserve, in addition to other regulatory initiatives and a domestic agenda that includes budget deficit reduction and would need congressional approval. The visit to the port occurs as Biden has been hosting the Summit of the Americas in Los Angeles. On Friday, he will also announce a declaration on migration and hold a working luncheon with the heads of government and state attending the conference for nations in the Western Hemisphere. And mindful of the campaign season, Biden on Friday will attend two fundraising receptions for the Democratic National Committee.

U.N. member nations elected five countries to join the powerful U.N. Security Council on Thursday with no suspense or drama because all were unopposed -- Ecuador, Japan, Malta, Mozambique and Switzerland. Winning a seat on the 15-member Security Council is considered a pinnacle of achievement for many countries because it gives them a strong voice on issues of international peace and security. Today, the war in Ukraine is at the top of the list. Although Russia’s veto power has prevented the council from taking action, it has held numerous meetings since Moscow’s Feb. 24 invasion that have seen contentious exchanges between top diplomats from both countries and their supporters. But many other conflicts are also on its agenda from Syria and Yemen to Mali and Myanmar as well as international security issues from the nuclear threat posed by North Korea and Iran, and attacks by extremist groups such as the Islamic State and al-Qaida. The results of the secret ballot vote in the 193-member General Assembly were Ecuador 190, Japan 184, Malta 184, Mozambique 192, and Switzerland 187. Even if a country is running unopposed, it must obtain the votes of two-thirds of the member states that voted in order to win a seat on the council. Also Read: UNGA chief calls for shift to green economies on Mother Earth Day General Assembly President Abdalla Shahid announced the results of the secret-ballot vote and congratulated the winner. It will be Mozambique and Switzerland’s first time serving on the council, Japan’s 12th time, Ecuador’s third time and Malta’s second time. The five new council members will start their terms on Jan. 1, replacing five countries whose two-year terms end on Dec. 31 -- India, Ireland, Kenya, Mexico and Norway. They will join the five veto-wielding permanent members of the council -- the United States, Russia, China, United Kingdom and France -- and the five countries elected last year: Albania, Brazil, Gabon, Ghana and United Arab Emirates. The 10 non-permanent seats on the council are allotted to regional groups, who usually select candidates, but sometimes cannot agree on an uncontested slate.

After a record-setting Midwestern rainstorm that damaged thousands of homes and businesses, Stefanie Johnson’s farmhouse in Blandinsville, Illinois, didn’t have safe drinking water for nearly two months. Flood water poured into her well, turning the water a muddy brown and forcing Johnson, her husband and their two young children to use store-bought supplies. Even after sediment cleared, testing found bacteria — including E. coli, which can cause diarrhea. The family boiled water for drinking and cooking. The YMCA was a refuge for showers. “I was pretty strict with the kids,” said Johnson, who works with a private well protection program at the local health department. “I’d pour bottled water on their toothbrushes.” Though estimates vary, roughly 53 million U.S. residents — about 17% of the population — rely on private wells, according to a study conducted in part by Environmental Protection Agency researchers. Most live in rural areas. But others are in subdivisions near fast-growing metro regions or otherwise beyond the reach of public water pipes. While many private wells provide safe water, the absence of regulation and treatment afforded by larger municipal systems may expose some users to health risks, from bacteria and viruses to chemicals and lead, studies have found. Risks are elevated after flooding or heavy rainfall, when animal and human feces, dirt, nutrients such as nitrogen and other contaminants can seep into wells. And experts say the threat is growing as the warming climate fuels more intense rainstorms and stronger and wetter hurricanes. Also Read: 37 dead in heavy rains in Brazil “Areas that hadn’t been impacted are now. New areas are getting flooded,” said Kelsey Pieper, a Northeastern University professor of environmental engineering. “We know the environment is shifting and we’re playing catch-up, trying to increase awareness.”  Pieper is among scientists conducting well testing and education programs in storm-prone areas. After Hurricane Harvey caused widespread flooding along the Texas coast in 2017, sampling of more than 8,800 wells in 44 counties found average E. coli levels nearly three times higher than normal, she said. Sampling of 108 wells in Mississippi following Hurricane Ida in 2021 produced a similar bump in E. coli readings. Other studies turned up higher levels in North Carolina after Hurricane Florence in 2018. The following year, above-average snowfall and a March storm unleashed flooding in Nebraska. Levees and dams were breached. Fremont, a city of more than 25,000, turned into an island when the nearby Platte and Elkhorn rivers overflowed. The municipal system continued to supply drinking water but some nearby private wells were damaged or contaminated. Julie Hindmarsh’s farm was flooded for three days, and it took months to make the well water drinkable again. At times, the cleanup crew wore protective suits. “They didn’t know what was in that floodwater,” she said. Read: Diarrhoea breaks out in flood-hit Sylhet CONTAMINATION RISK Groundwater is often a cleaner source than surface supplies because soil can provide a protective buffer, said Heather Murphy, an epidemiologist at the University of Guelph in Canada. But she said that can give well owners a false sense of security, leading them to forgo testing, maintenance and treatment. “There’s a big misconception that it’s underground, therefore it’s safe,” said Murphy, who estimates 1.3 million cases of acute gastrointestinal illness in the U.S. are caused annually by drinking untreated water from private wells. Old, poorly maintained wells are especially vulnerable to floodwaters entering through openings at the top. “It just runs right in and it’s full of bacteria,” said Steven Wilson, a well expert at the University of Illinois. It doesn’t always take a flood or hurricane to pollute wells. Industrial contamination can reach them by seeping into groundwater. Around 1,000 residential wells in Michigan’s Kent County were tainted for decades with toxic per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, in landfill sludge from footwear company Wolverine World Wide. The pollution, discovered in 2017, spurred lawsuits and a $69.5 million settlement with the state that extended city water lines to affected houses. “We thought we were getting this pristine, straight-from-nature water and it would be much better for us,” said Sandy Wynn-Stelt, who has lived across from one of the dump sites since the early 1990s. She said tests detected high levels of PFAS chemicals in her water and blood, leaving her fearful to drink or even brush her teeth with well water. In a suit later settled, she blamed the contamination for her husband’s 2016 death from liver cancer. She was diagnosed with thyroid cancer four years later. LITTLE REGULATION FOR WELL OWNERS While many well owners don’t have the option of hooking up to a public water system, others are happy with well water. They might favor the taste or want to avoid monthly bills and government regulation. “What I hear from people is freedom,” said Jesse Campbell, private well coordinator for the Midwest Assistance Program Inc., which addresses rural water needs. Private well owners are responsible for them. While public water systems must meet federal safety standards, those rules don’t apply to wells that have fewer than 15 connections or serve fewer than 25 people. State and local standards usually involve only construction and design, although some states set tougher rules. New Jersey requires water quality testing before sales of property with private wells. Rhode Island requires testing when new wells are built and when property with a well is sold. But many states rely on public outreach and voluntary action to protect private well users. “There’s an overall lack of education,” Campbell said. He meets with well owners from Montana to Missouri, providing free inspections and advice. A lot of harm can be prevented if owners make sure the well’s top keeps out debris and that the pump is turned off before a storm to keep out floodwaters. Experts recommend testing after a flood and decontaminating wells with chlorine if a problem is found. “People aren’t regularly testing,” said Riley Mulhern, an environmental engineer at the research group RTI International. Indiana’s health department offers testing for bacteria, lead, copper, fluoride and other contaminants. Some land-grant universities and private labs provide similar services. While many owners know how to maintain their wells, others ignore problems even if the water isn’t sanitary. Water that tastes fine can still be contaminated. “I wish I had a nickel for everyone who’s walked into a workshop and said, ‘I’ve been drinking this water forever and it’s fine,’” said Jason Barrett, who directs a Mississippi State University program that educates well owners. It provides free testing. But where such assistance isn’t available, costs can run to a few hundred dollars, according to experts. Some owners avoid testing because they are concerned it will reveal an expensive problem. Johnson, the Illinois resident whose well was fouled by the 2013 downpour that killed four people and caused $465 million in flood damage, paid about $3,500 for repairs and upgrades. “Luckily, none of us became ill,” she said. Even ordinary rainstorms can carry diseases into groundwater, said Mark Borchardt, a microbiologist formerly with the U.S. Department of Agriculture. “A lot of times people say, ‘Well, no one got sick,’” Borchardt said. “It’s hard to see when people get sick unless it is a huge outbreak.” Bea and Neil Jobe live in Primm Springs, Tennessee, an hour’s drive from Nashville. Several times a year, when there is heavy rain and a nearby creek floods, their well water turns “dingy,” Bea Jobe said. The discoloration disappears after a few days but Jobe takes precautions such as keeping bottled water available. “I guess I’m used to it,” she said.

The Jennifer Lopez documentary “Halftime” is kicking off the 21st Tribeca Festival on Wednesday, launching the annual New York event with an intimate behind-the-scenes portrait of the singer-actor filmed during the tumultuous year she turned 50, co-headlined the Super Bowl and narrowly missed out on an Oscar nomination. The star-studded, musical premiere at the United Palace in Washington Heights serves as an appropriate opener for the Tribeca Festival, which has jettisoned “Film” from its name to better reflect the wide array of concerts, talks, television premieres, podcasts and virtual reality exhibits that increasingly fill its busy live-event schedule alongside movies. This year’s festival, running through June 19, will trot out plenty of big personalities, from Al Sharpton (the subject of the festival-closing documentary “Loudmouth”) to Taylor Swift (who will sit for a talk with filmmaker Mike Mills about the 2021 short film she directed), to fill some of Manhattan’s biggest theaters. There will be reunions (Michael Mann’s “Heat”) and directorial debuts (among them Ray Romano “Somewhere in Queens”). But after a scuttled 2020 edition and a largely outdoor 2021 festival timed to New York’s initial pandemic cultural reopening, Tribeca has turned to Bronx native Lopez, whose hits include “Let’s Get Loud,” to bring Tribeca all the way back. Also Read: Rickshaw Girl: A Movie by Amitabh Reza won Award in International Film Festival  “Halftime” director Amanda Micheli hopes the documentary, premiering June 14 on Netflix, presents a new — sometimes vulnerable, often powerfully resilient — side to its famous subject. “I had the impression of her as a wildly successful, glamorous person,” Micheli said in an interview. “Then when I met her I was like, ’This woman is a world-class athlete. She’s a jock. The way she carries herself and the way she works. She’s an artist but I really connected with that side of her. She’s a fighter.”

Workers pulled scores of bodies from smashed buildings in an “endless caravan of death” inside the devastated city of Mariupol, authorities said Wednesday, while fears of a global food crisis escalated over Ukraine’s inability to export millions of tons of grain through its blockaded ports. At the same time, Ukrainian and Russian forces battled fiercely for control of Sievierodonestk, a city that has emerged as central to Moscow’s grinding campaign to capture Ukraine’s eastern industrial heartland, known as the Donbas. As the fighting dragged on, the human cost of the war continued to mount. In many of Mariupol’s buildings, workers are finding 50 to 100 bodies each, according to a mayoral aide in the Russian-held port city in the south. Petro Andryushchenko said on the Telegram app that the bodies are being taken in an “endless caravan of death” to a morgue, landfills and other places. At least 21,000 Mariupol civilians were killed during the weeks-long Russian siege, Ukrainian authorities have estimated. The consequences of the war are being felt far beyond Eastern Europe because shipments of Ukrainian grain are bottled up inside the country, driving up the price of food. Ukraine, long known as the “bread basket of Europe,” is one of the world’s biggest exporters of wheat, corn and sunflower oil, but much of that flow has been halted by the war and a Russian blockade of Ukraine’s Black Sea coast. An estimated 22 million tons of grain remains in Ukraine. The failure to ship it out is endangering the food supply in many developing countries, especially in Africa. Russia expressed support Wednesday for a U.N. plan to create a safe corridor at sea that would allow Ukraine to resume grain shipments. The plan, among other things, calls for Ukraine to remove mines from the waters near the Black Sea port of Odesa. But Russia is insisting that it be allowed to check incoming vessels for weapons. And Ukraine has expressed fear that clearing the mines could enable Russia to attack the coast. Ukrainian officials said the Kremlin’s assurances that it wouldn’t do that cannot be trusted. Read: Ukraine recovers bodies from steel-plant siege European Council President Charles Michel on Wednesday accused the Kremlin of “weaponizing food supplies and surrounding their actions with a web of lies, Soviet-style.” While Russia, which is also a major supplier of grain to the rest of the world, has blamed the looming food crisis on Western sanctions against Moscow, the European Union heatedly denied that and said the blame rests with Russia itself for waging war against Ukraine. “These are Russian ships and Russian missiles that are blocking the export of crops and grain,” Michel said. “Russian tanks, bombs and mines are preventing Ukraine from planting and harvesting.” The West has exempted grain and other food from its sanctions against Russia, but the U.S. and the EU have imposed sweeping punitive measures against Russian ships. Moscow argues that those restrictions make it impossible to use its ships to export grain, and also make other shipping companies reluctant to carry its product. Turkey has sought to play a role in negotiating an end to the war and in brokering the resumption of grain shipments. Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu met on Wednesday with his Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov. Ukraine was not invited to the talks. Read: Russia hits Kyiv with missiles; Putin warns West on arms Meanwhile, Moscow’s troops continued their painstaking, inch-by-inch campaign for the Donbas region with heavy fighting in and around Sievierodonetsk, which had a prewar population of 100,000. It is one of the last cities yet to be taken by the Russians in Luhansk, one of the two provinces that make up the Donbas. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called Sievierodonetsk the “epicenter” of the battle for the Donbas and perhaps one of the most difficult battles of the war. He said the Ukrainian army is defending its positions and inflicting real losses on the Russian forces. “In many ways, it is there that the fate of our Donbas is being decided,” Zelenskyy said in his nightly video address, which was recorded in the street outside his office in Kyiv. An adviser to Zelenskyy’s office said Russian forces have changed their tactics in the battle, retreating from the city while pounding it with artillery and airstrikes. As a result, Oleksiy Arestovych said, the city center is deserted, and the artillery hits an empty place. “They are hitting hard without any particular success,” he said in his daily online interview. Luhansk Gov. Serhiy Haidai acknowledged the difficulties of battling Russian forces, saying, “Maybe we will have to retreat, but right now battles are ongoing in the city.” “Everything the Russian army has — artillery, mortars, tanks, aviation — all of that, they’re using in Sievierodonetsk in order to wipe the city off the face of the Earth and capture it completely,” he said. The city of Lysychansk, like Sievierodonetsk, is also wedged between Russian forces in Luhansk province. Valentyna Tsonkan, an elderly resident of Lysychansk, described the moment when her house came under attack. “I was lying on my bed. The shrapnel hit the wall and went through my shoulder,” she said as she received treatment for her wounds. Russia’s continuing encroachment could open up the possibility of a negotiated settlement between the two nations more than three months into the war, analysts said. Russian President Vladimir Putin “has the option of declaring his objectives met at more or less any time in order to consolidate Russia’s territorial gains,” said Keir Giles, a Russia expert at the London think tank Chatham House. At that point, Giles said, Western leaders may “pressure Ukraine to accept their losses in order to bring an end to the fighting.” Zelenskyy said Russia is unwilling to negotiate because it still feels strong. Speaking by video link to U.S. corporate leaders, he called for even tougher sanctions to weaken Russia economically, including getting it “off the global financial system completely.” Zelenskyy said Ukraine is willing to negotiate “to find a way out.” But a settlement cannot come “at the expense of our independence.” Meanwhile, to the north, Russian shelling of the Kharkiv region killed five people and wounded 12 over the past 24 hours, Ukrainian authorities said. The Russian military said it used high-precision missiles to hit an armor repair plant near Kharkiv. There was no confirmation from Ukraine of such a plant being hit.

The World Bank has sharply downgraded its outlook for the global economy, pointing to Russia’s war against Ukraine, the prospect of widespread food shortages and concerns about the potential return of “stagflation” — a toxic mix of high inflation and sluggish growth unseen for more than four decades. The 189-country anti-poverty agency predicted Tuesday that the world economy will expand 2.9% this year. That would be down from 5.7% global growth in 2021 and from the 4.1% it had forecast for 2022 back in January. “For many countries, recession will be hard to avoid,” said David Malpass, the World Bank’s president. The agency doesn’t foresee a much brighter picture in 2023 and 2024: It predicts just 3% global growth for both years. Read: Overseas aid cuts imperil SDGs: UN chief For the United States alone, the World Bank has slashed its growth forecast to 2.5% this year from 5.7% in 2021 and from the 3.7% it had forecast in January. For the 19 European countries that share the euro currency, it downgraded the growth outlook to 2.5% this year from 5.4% last year and from the 4.2% it had expected in January. In China, the world’s second-biggest economy after the United States, the World Bank expects growth to slow to 4.3% from 8.1% last year. China’s zero-COVID policies, involving draconian lockdowns in Shanghai and other cities, brought economic life to a standstill. The Chinese government is providing aid to ease the economic pain. Emerging market and developing economies are collectively forecast to grow 3.4% this year, decelerating from a 6.6% pace in 2021. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has severely disrupted global trade in energy and wheat, battering a global economy that had been recovering robustly from the coronavirus pandemic. Already-high commodity prices have gone even higher as a result, threatening the availability of affordable food in poor countries. Read: High prices, Asian markets could blunt EU ban on Russian oil “There’s a severe risk of malnutrition and of deepening hunger and even of famine,” Malpass warned. The World Bank expects oil prices to surge 42% this year and for non-energy commodity prices to climb nearly 18%. But it foresees oil and other commodity prices both dropping 8% in 2023. It likened the current spike in energy and food prices to the oil shocks of the 1970s. “Additional adverse shocks,” the agency warned in its new Global Economic Prospects report, “will increase the possibility that the global economy will experience a period of stagflation reminiscent of the 1970s.’’ The prospect of stagflation poses a dilemma for the Federal Reserve and other central banks: If they continue to raise interest rates to combat inflation, they risk causing a recession. But if they try to stimulate their economies, they risk driving prices higher and making inflation an even more intractable problem. The World Bank noted that the previous period of stagflation required rate increases so steep that they tipped the world into recession and led to a series of financial crises in the poor countries of the developing world.