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NZ Herald
11-08-2025
- Politics
- NZ Herald
The Russian past of Alaska, where Trump and Putin will meet for summit talks on Ukraine war
Bering's expedition kicked off a century of Russian seal hunting, with the first colony set up on the southern Kodiak Island. In 1799, Tsar Paul I established the Russian-American Company to take advantage of the lucrative fur trade, which often involved clashes with the Indigenous inhabitants. However, the hunters overexploited the seals and sea otters, whose populations collapsed, taking with them the settlers' economy. The Russian empire sold the territory to Washington for US$7.2 million ($12m) in 1867. The purchase of an area more than twice the size of Texas was widely criticised in the US at the time, even dubbed 'Seward's folly' after the deal's mastermind, secretary of state William Seward. Hunters return from a trip along the coast of the Bering Sea near the climate change-affected Yupik Eskimo village of Quinhagak in Alaska. Photo / Mark Ralston, AFP Languages and churches The Russian Orthodox Church established itself in Alaska after the creation of the Russian-American Company, and remains one of the most significant remaining Russian influences in the state. More than 35 churches, some with distinctive onion-shaped domes, dot the Alaskan coast, according to an organisation dedicated to preserving the buildings. Alaska's Orthodox diocese says it is the oldest in North America, and even maintains a seminary on Kodiak Island. A local dialect derived from Russian mixed with Indigenous languages survived for decades in various communities – particularly near the state's largest city Anchorage – though it has now essentially vanished. However, near the massive glaciers on the southern Kenai Peninsula, the Russian language is still being taught. A small rural school of an Orthodox community known as the 'Old Believers' set up in the 1960s teaches Russian to around a hundred students. The Saint Sophia Orthodox Church where the Reverend Michael Trefon who is of Yupik Eskimo descent, is the rector and conducts Russian Orthodox church services. Photo / Mark Ralston, AFP Next-door neighbours One of the most famous statements about the proximity of Alaska and Russia was made in 2008 by Sarah Palin, the state's then-Governor – and the vice-presidential pick of Republican nominee Senator John McCain. 'They're our next-door neighbours, and you can actually see Russia from land here in Alaska, from an island in Alaska,' Palin said. While it is not possible to see Russia from the Alaskan mainland, two islands facing each other in the Bering Strait are separated by just 4km. Russia's Big Diomede Island is just west of the American Little Diomede Island, where a few dozen people live. Further south, two Russians landed on the remote St Lawrence Island – which is a few dozen kilometres from the Russian coast – in October, 2022, to seek asylum. They fled just weeks after Putin ordered an unpopular mobilisation of citizens to boost his invasion of Ukraine. For years, the US military has said it regularly intercepts Russian aircraft that venture too close to American airspace in the region. However, Russia is ostensibly not interested in reclaiming the territory it once held, with Putin saying in 2014 that Alaska is 'too cold'. -Agence France-Presse
Epoch Times
07-08-2025
- Business
- Epoch Times
Communist China's Pain Is America's Gain
AD Much of the foreign investment capital flight out of China is flowing into the United States. The U.S. flag flies over a container ship unloading it's cargo from Asia, at the Port of Long Beach, Calif., on Aug. 1, 2019. Mark Ralston/AFP via Getty Images 8/7/2025 | Updated: 8/7/2025 The days of nearly unlimited foreign direct investment (FDI) money flowing into China from all parts of the world are over. That's not an exaggeration. James R. Gorrie is the author of 'The China Crisis' (Wiley, 2013) and writes on his blog, He is based in Southern California. Author's Selected Articles
Scotsman
27-04-2025
- General
- Scotsman
Teachers must not be left to 'interpret' gender legal rulings after Supreme Court verdict, union warns
Sign up to our daily newsletter – Regular news stories and round-ups from around Scotland direct to your inbox Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... A leading education union has warned that teachers across Scotland must not be left 'trying to interpret' the law in the wake of the landmark Supreme Court ruling on how women are defined and a significant Court of Session case over the provision of single sex lavatories in schools. The National Association of Schoolmasters Union of Women Teachers union (NASUWT) stressed it was 'vital' the Scottish Government provides 'clarity and guidance' to schools and colleges throughout the country 'as quickly as possible'. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad The recent legal developments are likely to have sweeping implications across the education sector, with the Court of Session case expected to bring about widespread changes in the provisions of toilets in schools around Scotland. In the wake of that judicial review, brought by parents against Scottish Borders Council after the local authority installed only gender neutral lavatories at a new-build primary, a judge has ordered that schools must provide single-sex toilets for students. The issue of gender neutral toilets has gained prominence after last week's Court of Session hearing. Picture: Mark Ralston/AFP via Getty Images | AFP via Getty Images An interlocutor issued by Lady Ross, the judge who presided over the hearing, states that under regulation 15 of the School Premises (General Requirements and Standards) (Scotland) Regulations 1967, save where paragraph 15(1A) of the same regulations apply, mixed sex schools must provide 'separate sanitary accommodation for boys and girls'. The gender critical campaign group, For Women Scotland (FWS), which supported Sean Stratford and Leigh Hurley in their judicial review, has previously pointed to the same 58 year-old legislation when advancing its argument for single-sex lavatories. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Now, Mike Corbett, NASUWT's Scotland national official, has called on Scottish ministers to make clear that schools and teaching staff are not at risk of misinterpreting the changes. He said: 'The implications of both this week's ruling and the Supreme Court judgement will need to be considered carefully, and it is vital that the Scottish Government provides clarity and guidance to schools and colleges as quickly as possible. 'Schools and teachers have an obligation and a desire to ensure all pupils are treated with respect and equality and must not be left in a position of trying to interpret the law for themselves.' Susan Smith and Marion Calder, right, co-directors of For Women Scotland with campaigners celebrate outside the Supreme Court in London after terms "woman" and "sex" in the Equality Act were ruled to refer to a biological woman and biological sex. Picture: Lucy North/PA Wire | PA A spokesman for the EIS union said: 'School toilet provision should be arranged such that all children and young people, including non-binary learners, girls and boys who are transgender and those who are not, disabled and non-disabled learners, can have their rights and dignity fully upheld and respected.' Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad It remains unclear how many schools across the country have mixed-sex toilets. But research conducted last year by FWS indicated that around a fifth of secondaries had installed the facilities; around 16 per cent provided a combination of single-sex and mixed-sex toilets, while 5 per cent provided mixed-sex toilets only, according to the group. In February, ministers announced plans to 'refresh and modernise' school premises regulations, which set out the broad minimum standards that school buildings must meet. Following the Court of Session judicial review, the Scottish Government said it would carefully consider the implications. A spokesperson said: 'Local authorities have statutory responsibility for the school estate, including provision of toilets. The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring that our transgender guidance for schools remains up to date and fit for purpose.
Yahoo
07-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Where China's Retaliatory Tariffs Could Hit Hardest
A truck passes by shipping containers at the Port of Los Angeles, Long Beach, California Credit - Mark Ralston / AFP via Getty Images A trade war usually goes like this: one country imposes tariffs, essentially taxing products that come from another country. Then the other retaliates with tariffs on goods from the initiating country. That's exactly what happened between the U.S. and China after the Trump Administration announced a 10% tariff on goods from China. China imposed retaliatory measures, including a 15% tariff on American coal and liquified natural-gas products as well as a 10% tariff on crude oil, agricultural machinery, and large-engine cars. These retaliatory tariffs could make it more difficult for certain U.S. manufacturers to export products to China because the products will cost more for the Chinese companies buying them. China's retaliatory tariffs, which go into effect Feb. 10, are most likely to hurt small towns in states like North Dakota, Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky, and West Virginia—in short, some of the communities that voted for President Donald J. Trump, according to a new analysis by the Brookings Institution. 'These global face-offs have very local side effects,' says Mark Muro, senior fellow at Brookings Metro and one of the authors of the study. Read More: How Trump's Tariffs Will Affect U.S. Consumers. Though the places likely to see the most jobs affected are in populated cities like Houston and Detroit, the communities that could feel the biggest sting from the tariffs are in rural areas where affected industries make up a large share of the local economy. In Sargent County, N.D., only about 1,600 jobs could be affected, the Brookings paper found, but those jobs make up about 59% of the overall employment market. Other counties which may have a small number of jobs but a big share of potentially affected companies include Gibson County, Ind.; Noble County, Ohio; and Irion County, Tex. Overall, the paper found, nearly two-thirds of jobs potentially affected by the retaliatory tariffs are in counties that voted for Trump in the 2024 election. This is a stark contrast to the Chinese retaliatory tariffs enacted in 2018, during the first Trump Administration, which were more broad-based and affected both blue and red counties. The Brookings study estimates that there are between 400,000 to 700,000 U.S. jobs that could be affected by the retaliatory tariffs. They're at car and truck companies, petroleum companies, and firms that make construction equipment, to name a few. 'If a factory has to downsize, that could have a significant impact on local employment,' says Rob Maxim, a co-author of the Brookings study. Separate research from January 2024 found that the 2018-2019 trade war also had negative economic impacts on Republican-leaning areas, including the lower Mississippi Valley, Midwestern industrial states like Ohio and Indiana, and manufacturing-oriented Southern states like North Carolina. But Trump didn't pay a price for the pain the trade skirmish created. In fact, the research found, residents of regions affected by tariffs actually became less likely to identify as Democrats and more likely to vote for Trump in 2020. 'Although the goal of bringing back jobs to the heartland remained elusive, voters in regions that had borne the economic brunt of Chinese import competition in the 1990s and 2000s were particularly likely to reward the Trump government for its tariff policy,' that paper concluded. Read More: How Doctors Are Pushing Medical Credit Cards on Patients. The same could happen for the regions affected by the 2025 retaliatory tariffs from China, says Brookings' Maxim. 'A big part of the appeal for Trump, in some smaller communities, is that he's doing something.' West Virginia is a case in point. The U.S. does not export a large amount of coal, but nearly half of it comes from the state. Local coal miners could therefore be significantly affected by the Chinese retaliatory tariffs, says Chris Hamilton, president of the West Virginia Coal Association. But that will not sway the association's support for President Trump, Hamilton said. The Trump Administration has long pledged to reverse Democratic policies that seek to wean the U.S. power grid off of coal, and Hamilton is anticipating that this will lead to job growth in the industry. 'We're all in and supportive of President Trump,' he tells TIME. Even when his trade war has consequences. Contact us at letters@
