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London/Kyiv As global political and business leaders prepare to meet in London for the Ukraine Recovery Conference (Weds 21 Thurs 22), the internationally renowned British landmine clearance charity The HALO Trust is urging governments and the private sector to join forces in the mission to clear the country of landmines.

HALO is warning that reconstruction efforts depend on removing explosives from up to 30 per cent of Ukraines territory, including 1000 km of a densely fortified frontline. This will require a multi-year effort to reverse more than $135bn of damage to infrastructure including housing, transport, energy and prime agriculture land.

Ukraine faces the heaviest landmine contamination the world has seen since the Second World War, according to the UK-based charity. Its teams are clearing landmines from liberated territories across five oblasts, including areas flooded by the Kakhovka dam breach. HALO deminers found over 5000 landmines across Kharkiv and Mykolaiv oblasts in the last eight weeks alone.

JAMES COWAN, CEO OF HALO SAID:

The HALO Trust is training the largest group of deminers in its history to clear the biggest battlefield in Europe, so that farmers can plant their crops and restore vital grain supplies. Even as the fighting continues, we have mobilised a demining operation run by Ukrainians for Ukrainians, symbolising the spirit of partnership required for the countrys long-term recovery. There are now 800 men and women around the country, clearing anti-tank mines daily from valuable farmland. They come from all walks of life and their courage and determination is remarkable.

YULIA SVYRYDENKO, FIRST DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER MINISTER OF ECONOMY OF UKRAINE, SAID:

The government of Ukraine plans to return over 470,000 hectares of the most valuable agricultural land to productive use within four years. This is a difficult but realistic task. Both government and non-government operators have surveyed more than 120,000 hectares to date. Their coordinated work continues at this very moment. With the support of international partners, we will strengthen the demining capacity of our government institutions. We are grateful for the intentions of reliable partners such as The HALO Trust to strengthen their capabilities in Ukraine because there are even more ambitious goals ahead. Our plan is to survey, clear and return to use most of all potentially contaminated areas within ten years.

The reconstruction effort aims to rebuild an economy in which Gross Domestic Product shrank by 29.2 per cent in 2022. The agricultural sector has suffered $4.3 bn of estimated damages, reaching nearly 15 per cent of Ukraines capital stock. The combined estimated value of livestock loss damages exceeds $136m, and the estimated cost of replacing and repairing the damaged machinery is over $926.1m.

HALO is surveying land in recently liberated areas using methodology it has tried and tested in over 30 countries during its 35-year history and increasing its mechanisation to achieve high rates of clearance. Since the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, The HALO Trust has cleared 150 hectares of land and found 10,000 mines and other items of ordnance, protecting lives and livelihoods.

The knock-on effect of landmines on Ukrainian soil is increasing food insecurity in some of the worlds most vulnerable regions. Ukraine is typically responsible for six per cent of all calories traded on the global market, and along with Russia accounts for a quarter of global wheat and grains exports and 80 per cent of sunflower oil exports.

JAMES COWAN, CEO OF HALO, CONCLUDED:

HALO is working with the Ukrainian government and a growing coalition of private and public partners. With greater investment we could clear more land faster, helping to meet the Ukrainian governments ambition to get its crops back on the global market. The Ukraine Recovery Conference must signal the start of an unprecedented effort to restore an industry that feeds the rest of the world.

References

For estimates of size of contaminated areas in Ukraine, see Demining Ukraine report by Globesec

For impact on GDP and estimation cost of war damage see Ukraine Rapid Damage and Needs Assessment

For estimated cost of damage to agricultural sector see Draft Ukraine Recovery Plan from the Audit of War Damage Working Group

For estimated cost of livestock loss and machinery repair see Ukraine agricultural sector has lost $4.3 billion from war damage

For estimates on loss of sunflower oil industry see One Year On: The Economic Costs and Lessons of the Russo-Ukrainian war

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Clear Landmines To Rebuild Ukraine And Feed The World - Ukraine - ReliefWeb

Biden added that the U.S. has done a lot to make sure Ukraine has the ability to coordinate militarily.

Biden on Saturday also conveyed a hopeful outlook on U.S.-China relations ahead of Secretary of State Antony Blinkens trip to Beijing this weekend.

Blinken had been set to visit China in February but the trip was canceled after a U.S. fighter jet downed a Chinese spy balloon off the coast of the Carolinas.

Biden indicated to reporters that the balloon may not have been an intentional spying effort by the Chinese government.

I dont think the leadership knew where it was, and knew what was in it, and knew what was going on, Biden said. I think it was more embarrassing than it was intentional.

In addition to Blinkens visit, Biden indicated that he would meet with Chinas President Xi Jinping again over the next several months to discuss how to get along despite legitimate differences.

Upon arrival in Philadelphia, where Biden is scheduled to headline a rally with labor unions and overfly the site of the I-95 bridge collapse, the president was greeted by adviser Anita Dunn, Sen. Bob Casey, Rep. Brendan Boyle, Gov. Josh Shapiro and Sen. John Fetterman.

At a press briefing with the Pennsylvania officials following the aerial tour of the I-95, Biden said theres no more important project right now in the country, as far as Im concerned, and said he was directing his team not figuratively, but literally, to move heaven and earth to get this done as soon as humanly possible.

Biden also committed that the federal government would reimburse 100 percent of the first phase of I-95 reconstruction, and then 90 percent of the expenses thereafter.

Asked earlier whether he anticipated a contentious presidential campaign, Biden quipped: It depends on who the nominee is.

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Biden: We won't 'make it easy' for Ukraine to join NATO - POLITICO

Enslaved people on Thomas Jefferson's Monticello estate lived in small cabins like this one. Photo: Russell Contreras/Axios

Historic sites linked to enslavement and emancipation are getting new attention and funding for preservation after years of neglect.

The big picture: The popularity of Juneteenth and the racial reckoning after George Floyd's murder in 2020 led several cities and states to rethink how they commemorate difficult chapters of American history, including slavery.

State of play: Hundreds of historic sites from Massachusetts to Texas offer windows into enslaved people's lives yet vary in status, sit abandoned or rarely appear in visitors' guides.

The push to recognize places that were part of unflattering episodes in U.S. history has years of resistance, preservation activists say especially from local historic commissions.

Zoom in: Popular tourist attractions such as Thomas Jefferson's Monticello and James Madison's Montpelier have placed physical reminders about slavery in recent years, thanks in part to pressure from descendants of those who were enslaved.

Pressure and new funding from public and private entities are beefing up demand to include the voices of enslaved people at sites.

Between the lines: The Action Fund announced last week it had awarded $3.8 million to protect 40 Black American historic sites.

What they're saying: "We believe that not until Black history matters will Black Lives Matter," Leggs said.

What's next: The African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund is developing a mapping project to identify and locate all Black American cultural sites, including those linked to enslavement.

Originally posted here:
Juneteenth puts focus on preserving enslavement sites - Axios

In the early 2000s, the wage gap between Black and white workers in the U.S. was as large as it had been in 1950.

That is a shocking statistic and a sign of the countrys deep racial inequality. Over the past five years, however, the story has changed somewhat: The wage gap, though still enormous, has shrunk. Its a pretty meaningful reversal, Elise Gould, a senior economist at the Economic Policy Institute, told me.

In todays newsletter on Juneteenth Ill try to explain why the gap has narrowed and what would have to happen for it to narrow more. After all, even with the recent progress, the median Black worker makes 21 percent less than the median white worker.

There appear to be three main causes of the recent trend, and the most significant is the countrys tight labor market. The unemployment rate has been falling for most of the past decade and has recently been near its lowest levels since the 1960s.

Tight labor markets help almost all workers, and they tend to help disadvantaged workers the most. As Gould put it, When employers cant be quite as choosy when employers have to look beyond their network that can provide more opportunities for historically marginalized groups.

This dynamic helps close the Black-white wage gap because Black workers are overrepresented among low-wage workers. (A Times story set in Philadelphia went into more detail, focusing on Markus Mitchell, a worker there.) The Hispanic-white wage gap has also declined recently.

William Spriggs, a labor economist and Howard University professor who died unexpectedly this month, often made this point. In one of his last interviews, Spriggs told my colleague Ben Casselman that he was concerned the recent Federal Reserve interest-rate increases would weaken the labor market and undo the recent progress of Black workers.

You should see from this moment what you are truly risking, Spriggs said. (If you have a few minutes this morning, I recommend reading his Times obituary.)

Of course, inflation is also a serious economic problem, which is why the Fed has raised rates. But the recent narrowing of racial wage inequality is a reminder that the Fed faces risks both from doing too little to fight inflation and from doing too much. Tight labor markets make almost everything else easier, said Suzanne Kahn, a historian who works at the Roosevelt Institute, a think tank.

More than a decade ago, a group of fast-food workers in New York City began agitating for a higher minimum wage. They attracted the support of Senator Bernie Sanders, the leaders of the Service Employees International Union and other high-profile allies. The movement became known as the Fight for $15.

It has not persuaded Congress to lift the federal minimum wage, mostly because of opposition from congressional Republicans. The federal hourly minimum has been $7.25 since 2009, even as inflation has eroded its value. But the Fight for $15 movement has helped change policy in states and cities.

A minimum wage well above $7.25 is a broadly popular idea, including among many Republican voters and independents. Ballot initiatives to raise the minimum wage have passed over the last decade in Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Florida, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada and several other states. As a result, the effective national minimum wage a weighted average of state minimum wages, adjusted for inflation has risen to nearly its highest level in 40 years (before falling a bit lately because of high inflation.)

Minimum-wage increases tend to shrink the racial wage gap for the same reason that tight labor markets do: Black workers disproportionately work in low-wage jobs. As a result, one powerful way to reduce racial inequality is to reduce economic inequality.

The flip is also true. The racial wage gap widened in the 1980s, 1990s and early 2000s mostly because income inequality was soaring.

After a Minneapolis police officer murdered George Floyd on May 25, 2020, racial inequity became a focus of intense national attention. Many companies promised to diversify their work forces and leadership ranks, and some took concrete action.

At Fortune 500 companies, for example, Black board members occupied less than 9 percent of all board seats in 2020, according to Deloitte. By last year, the number had risen to 12 percent (compared with 14 percent of the U.S. population). It remains unclear how widespread the changes in corporate America have been; corporate boards obviously make up a tiny share of jobs. But the recent emphasis on diversity has probably played at least a modest role in narrowing racial gaps.

There is a larger point here. Yes, a reduction in economic inequality can substantially shrink the Black-white wage gap. But that gap will never approach zero so long as racial inequities remain as large as they are in the U.S. today.

The problem is not only that Black workers disproportionately work in low-wage job categories; its also that Black Americans make less money on average than similar white Americans. According to the Economic Policy Institute, a typical Black worker last year made 13 percent less than a typical white worker who was the same age and gender, had the same amount of education and lived in the same region. And the racial wealth gap is even larger than the wage gap.

Related: A new book, Just Action, offers policy ideas for reducing residential segregation, much of which is the legacy of subsidized mortgages that were designed to exclude Black Americans. Today, write the authors, Richard and Leah Rothstein, Placing Black Lives Matter signs is not enough.

The Dannahue: A prestigious rose breeder is naming a new bloom for a Black gardener.

Discovery: Archaeologists found a 3,000-year-old sword so well preserved its still gleaming, CNN reports.

Cash crop: An Oregon border town is booming thanks to the Idahoans who visit its legal weed shops.

Metropolitan Diary: Whats a vegetarian doing in a pastrami palace?

Lives Lived: Donald Triplett was widely considered the first person to be diagnosed with autism. His happy life later became the subject of a book and documentary. He died at 89.

Gen Zs favorite tote: TikTok has spread the gospel of Baggu totes. Videos highlighting the lightweight, foldable bags have collected over 130 million views. Now, self-described Baggu girlies are filling farmers markets and public parks with the brands vibrant prints recognizable without a logo.

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The Racial Wage Gap Is Shrinking - The New York Times

The red heart emoji is one of the most commonly used emojis, and dozens more have a heart in them. Perhaps the example with the trickiest meaning to define is the black heart emoji , which seems to offer a mixed message between the love conveyed by the heart and the dark theme. So what does the black heart emoji mean?

There isnt one definitive answer to this question. Weve outlined how the emoji is most commonly used to help you avoid a misunderstanding.

Matt Horne / Android Authority

The black heart emoji meaning can relate to a dark or sad theme, but not necessarily. And in any event, its still a heart emoji. Sometimes its useful to convey both a black color and the usual meaning of a heart. Here are some examples of how it might be used.

The most obvious situation in which you might want to show love but also want to acknowledge a bleak situation is when youre being supportive of someone in a sad moment.

Dark humor can be risky as it could easily be misinterpreted, especially via text messages. The black heart can be used to clarify or acknowledge dark humor.

People often use the heart color that best relates to the thing theyre supporting. If thats a sports team that plays in black, for example, the black heart emoji makes sense. It has also been used in support of the Black Lives Matter movement.

Theres no reason not to use the black heart emoji to express love. It might be especially pertinent if your partner enjoys a gothic aesthetic.

As with any emoji, it completely depends on the context. The black heart emoji can be used in ways like those outlined above, but if someone is using it to accuse you of having a black heart, you might want to clarify why they are suggesting that.

The black heart emoji isnt inherently offensive in itself, but it could be used as part of an offensive or insensitive message.

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What does the black heart emoji mean? - Android Authority