International

Arizona to remove shipping container wall on US-Mexico border

Photo: Patrick T. Fallon / AFP

| By AFP | Paula Ramon |

Arizona agreed Wednesday to dismantle a wall of shipping containers at the Mexican border that critics said was an expensive, ecologically damaging political stunt that did nothing to keep migrants out of the United States.

The state’s Republican Governor Doug Ducey spent $90 million of taxpayers’ money lining up rusting boxes in what he said was a bid to stem the flow of people crossing into the country.

The corrugated containers, which snake for four miles (seven kilometers) through federal lands like a huge stationary cargo train, divide an important conservation area that is home to vulnerable species, but which is so difficult to traverse that people traffickers routinely avoid it.

Now Ducey, who leaves office early next year, will have to get rid of the 915 containers from the Coronado National Forest.

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In an agreement reached Wednesday with the federal government, Ducey’s administration said it will “remove all previously installed shipping containers and associated equipment, materials, vehicles, and other objects from the United States’ properties on National Forest System lands within the Coronado National Forest.”

Biodiversity

From close up, the double-stacked container wall looks like the clumsy handiwork of a giant playing with building blocks.

Its presence is so jarring that, in addition to the federal court case, it was also the subject of two lawsuits by the Center for Biological Diversity, an environmental organization that has been active in the area for three decades.

“The biodiversity of this region is off the charts,” Russ McSpadden, a member of the organization, told AFP.

“It’s one of the most important conservation areas in the entire United States.”

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Arizona shares around 370 miles (600 kilometers) of border with Mexico, including environmental preservation areas, national parks, military zones, and indigenous reservations.

Until the 2017 arrival in the White House of Donald Trump — who was propelled to power on his pledge to “Build That Wall” — there was very little in the way of a physical barrier separating it from Mexico.

Now vast stretches of the border have a fence that towers up to nine meters high.

Before the containers arrived in the Coronado National Forest — an area that can only be reached by dirt roads — the border here was demarcated by a wire fence.

That meager barrier was more than equal to the task of keeping people at bay, says McSpadden, whose cameras have picked up jaguars, and who has worked with teams collecting data on ocelots.

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“I’ve never captured migrant traffic on any of the remote cameras,” he said.

“It’s an incredibly wild valley. There’s no real urban population anywhere nearby. It’s a very difficult part of the border for migrants to cross.”

And even if this were a heavily trafficked route, a casual observer can see that the shipping containers would not be very effective.

In several places that AFP visited, the boxes do not line up because of the uneven terrain, leaving gaps easily large enough for a person to walk through.

Others have holes rusted in them, and in some spots, it appears to have been impossible for workers to find a place stable enough to put a container.

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A viral video shows a determined climber scaling the six-meter-high barrier in a matter of seconds, gaining easy purchase on the textured box walls.

But what the shipping containers do block is a waterway and the migration routes of the animals McSpadden studies.

“Jaguars know no borders,” he says.

“Southern Arizona, northern Mexico, it’s the same for them.”

With males known to range hundreds of miles, it’s easy for animals that came north to hunt to get trapped away from breeding populations south of the border.

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“Jaguars want to move back and forth freely,” he says.

“This is their range, and the border wall bisects the jaguars’ home.”

International

Bill Gates Admits “Serious Mistake” Over Epstein Ties

Bill Gates acknowledged he made a “serious mistake” by associating with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, telling employees at his philanthropic organization that he regretted the relationship and its impact on the foundation’s work. He also admitted to having had affairs with two Russian women but denied any involvement in Epstein’s criminal activities.

The Microsoft co-founder is among several high-profile figures mentioned in documents from the so-called Epstein files released by the U.S. Department of Justice. The records reference personal associations, financial dealings and private communications involving Epstein’s network.

During a staff-wide meeting at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation on Tuesday, a recording of which was reviewed by The Wall Street Journal, Gates said he regretted spending time with Epstein and arranging meetings between foundation executives and the financier.

“It was a big mistake to spend time with Epstein,” Gates told employees, adding that the association had harmed the foundation’s reputation.

In a draft email released by the Justice Department, Epstein claimed that Gates had engaged in extramarital relationships. The message alleged that their interactions ranged from assisting Gates in obtaining drugs to cope with personal matters to facilitating meetings with married women.

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Gates, 70, acknowledged during the internal meeting that he had two affairs but firmly denied any connection to Epstein’s crimes.

The revelations come amid renewed scrutiny over Epstein’s network of prominent contacts following the public release of investigative files.

International

Stephen Hawking Photo Appears in Newly Released Epstein Documents

A previously unseen image of renowned theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking has surfaced among documents recently released by the U.S. Department of Justice as part of its investigation into financier Jeffrey Epstein.

The photograph shows the British scientist, who died in 2018 at age 76, smiling while seated between two women wearing swimsuits in what appears to be a beach setting. In the image, Hawking appears to be holding a drink while reclining on a sun lounger.

The exact context of the photo — including the date and location — has not been officially confirmed. However, it is known that Hawking attended a scientific conference funded by Epstein in March 2006 in the U.S. Virgin Islands, where several academics participated in events and activities organized by the financier prior to his criminal charges.

No Allegations Against Hawking

Hawking’s appearance in the files does not imply involvement in illegal or inappropriate conduct, and there are no formal charges linking him to any criminal activity in connection with the Epstein case.

The physicist is mentioned in numerous documents, primarily in relation to his participation in academic events associated with Epstein’s efforts to build connections with prominent figures in the scientific community.

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The release of the files has prompted renewed public interest in the scope of Epstein’s network, though inclusion in the documents alone does not indicate wrongdoing.

International

Larry Summers Steps Down from Harvard Role Amid Epstein Controversy

Former U.S. Treasury Secretary Larry Summers has resigned from his academic post at Harvard University due to his ties to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, the university said Wednesday.

Summers, who led the U.S. Treasury Department under former President Bill Clinton and later served as president of Harvard in the early 2000s, appeared in Justice Department files related to Epstein as having maintained extensive exchanges with the late financier.

According to a university statement, “Harvard Kennedy School Dean Jeremy Weinstein has accepted the resignation of Professor Lawrence H. Summers from his role as co-director of the Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business and Government,” noting that the decision was connected to the Epstein case.

Meanwhile, Clinton is scheduled to testify Friday before a congressional committee regarding the Epstein matter. Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is expected to appear before the panel on Thursday.

The development marks another high-profile repercussion stemming from renewed scrutiny surrounding Epstein’s network of associations.