Republican-led states file lawsuit to block Biden's student loan repayment plan

Scientists plan to study solar eclipse with planes and NASA probe

For the millions of people across North America who will be treated to a total solar eclipse on April 8, it will be spectacular show — a chance to see the moon fully obscure the sun’s face.

But for scientists, it is a rare opportunity to study Earth, the moon and the sun “in entirely different ways than we usually do,” said Pam Melroy, NASA’s deputy administrator.

One of the agency’s main priorities will be to observe the sun’s outer atmosphere, or the corona, which normally can’t be seen because the star is too bright. During a total solar eclipse, the corona comes into view as faint wisps around a glowing halo when the moon blocks light from the sun’s surface.

“Things are happening with the corona that we don’t fully understand, and the eclipse gives us a unique opportunity to collect data that may give insights into the future of our star,” Melroy said in a news briefing last week.

Scientists are interested in the corona because it plays a key role in transferring heat and energy into the solar wind, the constant stream of charged particles released from the sun’s outer atmosphere. The solar wind ebbs and flows, occasionally shooting high-powered solar flares into space. These can hit Earth with electromagnetic radiation, which can cause radio blackouts and knock out power grids.

Amir Caspi, a solar astrophysicist at the Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colorado, has an instrument installed in the nose of a WB-57 aircraft that will study the sun’s atmosphere as the plane chases the eclipse.

It’s a golden opportunity, he said, since even the special telescopes that can block out a star’s light, known as coronagraphs, have limitations.

“A total solar eclipse is like nature’s perfect coronagraph,” he said. “The moon comes between us and the sun, and it’s exactly the right size in the sky to block out the disc of the sun but not too much more.”

Caspi will focus on trying to understand the origin of the solar wind. He also hopes to gather clues about a long-standing mystery: why the corona is millions of degrees hotter than the surface of the sun.

He pioneered this method of imaging the sun’s corona in 2017, during the last total solar eclipse to cross the continental U.S.

“We didn’t know what we would get,” he said. “It was nail-biting for quite some time, and then we got amazing data. I could see it coming down off the live satellite feed.”

The WB-57 plane can fly at an altitude of 60,000 feet, well above any clouds and high enough that Earth’s atmosphere won’t interfere as much with the observations.

Many researchers plan to gather data about the sun’s atmosphere from other vantage points during the eclipse, including from space.

Several spacecraft, including NASA’s Parker Solar Probe, will have their eyes trained on the sun throughout the celestial event. The probe launched in 2018, so it wasn’t available to study the 2017 solar eclipse.

In 2021, the Parker probe became the first spacecraft to fly through the corona, and it has since flown more than a dozen close approaches to “touch” the sun. Due to the timing of its orbit, the probe will not be on a close encounter on April 8. But it will be near enough to the sun to measure and image solar wind as the charged particles stream by, according to Nour Raouafi, the Parker Solar Probe project scientist and an astrophysicist at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory.

Additionally, a spacecraft from the European Space Agency, known as Solar Orbiter, will be circling almost directly above the Parker Solar Probe at the time of the eclipse. Together, the observatories will tag-team to capture details of the sun’s atmosphere and the solar wind.

“It’s one of the rare occasions that these two spacecraft come so close together,” Raouafi said. “So, we will have a lot of synergies between them, in between all the observation we will do during the eclipse from Earth, which is something totally, totally unprecedented.”

The sun has been ramping up toward a peak in its roughly 11-year cycle of activity, expected in 2025. That means the Parker Solar Probe will have a front-row seat should any eruptions belch from the sun.

There are no guarantees that such outbursts will happen during the eclipse, but Raouafi said measurements of the solar wind from space will still be crucial to understanding the effects of the sun’s activity on Earth.

“These are the drivers of space weather, and the probe is probably the best tool we have out there, the best spacecraft mission we have out there, to help us understand that,” he said. “And the way to do it? Let’s hope for the sun to give us the biggest show it can produce.”

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Malaysia’s Plan to Cut Subsidies This Year Hits a Speed Bump

(Bloomberg) — The Malaysian government’s long-awaited plan to cut fuel subsidies this year and tighten its finances has hit a major speed bump: Most citizens aren’t cooperating.

Republican-led states file lawsuit to block Biden’s student loan repayment plan

Republican-led states file lawsuit to block Biden’s student loan repayment plan – CBS News

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Eleven Republican-led states are suing the Biden administration to block the president’s latest student loan forgiveness program. The federal lawsuit argues that the Saving on a Valuable Education program, known as SAVE, isn’t different compared to Mr. Biden’s first attempt at student loan cancellation, which the Supreme Court struck down last year. CBS News White House reporter Bo Erickson reports.

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National Park Service sued over plan to remove Puerto Rico’s famous stray cats

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — A nonprofit organization said Thursday that it sued the U.S. National Park Service over a plan to remove Puerto Rico’s famous stray cats from a historic district in the U.S. territory.

The lawsuit filed by Maryland-based Alley Cat Allies comes four months after the federal agency announced it would contract an animal welfare organization to remove an estimated 200 cats that live in an area surrounding a historic seaside fortress in Old San Juan.

The organization would decide whether the trapped cats would be adopted, placed in foster homes, kept in a shelter or face other options. It wasn’t immediately clear if an organization has been hired.

At the time, the National Park Service said it would hire a removal agency if the organization it contracted failed to remove the cats within six months.

The agency did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Tourists and locals have long considered the cats both a delight and a nuisance, with the National Park Service stating in 2022 that the population had grown too much as it noted the smell of urine and feces in the area.

Activists have decried the plan, saying six months is insufficient time to remove so many cats and worried they would be killed.

In its lawsuit, Alley Cat Allies requested additional environmental statements from the federal agency and asked that a judge find its actions allegedly violate acts including the National Environmental Protection Act.

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The presidents of France and Brazil meet and announce a $1.1 billion investment plan for the Amazon

SAO PAULO (AP) — The Brazilian and the French presidents on Tuesday announced a plan to invest 1 billion euros ($1.1 billion) in the Amazon, including parts of the rainforest in neighboring French Guiana.

The two countries’ governments said in a joint statement the money will be spread over the next four years to protect the rainforest. It will be a collaboration of state-run Brazilian banks and France’s investment agency. Private resources will also be welcomed, Brazil and France said.

French President Emmanuel Macron and his Brazilian counterpart Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva are meeting this week to revive the relationship between the countries after years of frictions with former President Jair Bolsonaro, deepen cooperation to protect the rainforest and boost trade.

Macron started his three-day visit to Brazil in the Amazon city of Belem, where he met his long-time ally Lula. The French president then took a boat to the Combu island to meet with Indigenous leaders.

Both Macron and Lula saw a protest by Greenpeace Brazil with banners that read “No oil in the Amazon.” Brazil’s government has contemplated allowing the tapping of oil in a region close to the Para state, where Belem lies.

Lula said during a speech that Macron’s visit is part of a global effort to beef up rainforest protections.

“We want to convince those who have already deforested that they need to contribute in an important way to countries that still have their forests to keep them standing,” Lula said in a speech next to the French president.

Macron’s office prior said to the trip that a potential European trade deal with the South American bloc Mercosur won’t be on the agenda. The French president is an opponent of such an agreement as long as South American producers don’t respect the same environment and health standards as Europeans, after farmers raised concerns during protests across France and Europe.

The French president decorated Indigenous leader Raoni Metuktire with the prestigious Legion of Honor medal for efforts at conserving the rainforest.

“You were in Europe and I promised to come here to your forest and be with your people in this forest that is coveted,” Macron told the Indigenous leader, according to French radio RFI. “President Lula and I have a common cause for one of our friends in this land that belongs to you.”

Lula and Macron will seek to “set a common course” to fight both climate change and poverty, Macron’s office said, as Brazil is to host the summit of the Group of 20 leading economies in Rio de Janeiro in November and UN climate talks in Belem next year.

On Wednesday, Macron and Lula will launch a diesel-powered submarine built in Brazil with French technology at the Itaguai shipyard outside Rio de Janeiro. The French president will then head to metropolis Sao Paulo to meet with Brazilian investors. On Thursday, the French president will head to Brasilia to again meet with Lula.

____ Corbet reported from Paris.

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Japan approves plan to sell fighter jets to other nations in latest break from pacifist principles

TOKYO — Japan’s Cabinet on Tuesday approved a plan to sell future next-generation fighter jets that it’s developing with Britain and Italy to other countries, in the latest move away from the country’s postwar pacifist principles.

The contentious decision to allow international arms sales is expected to help secure Japan’s role in the joint fighter jet project and is part of a move to build up the Japanese arms industry and bolster its role in global security.

The Cabinet also endorsed a revision to Japan’s arms equipment and technology transfer guidelines to allow coproduced lethal weapons to be sold to countries other than the partners.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi said the changes are necessary given Japan’s security environment, but stressed that Japan’s pacifist principles remain unchanged.

“In order to achieve a fighter aircraft that meets the necessary performance and to avoid jeopardizing the defense of Japan, it is necessary to transfer finished products from Japan to countries other than partner countries,” Hayashi told reporters, adding that Tokyo will follow a strict approval process for jet sales.

“We have clearly demonstrated that we will continue to adhere to our basic philosophy as a peaceful nation,” he said.

Japan has long restricted arms exports under the country’s pacifist constitution, but has rapidly taken steps to deregulate amid rising regional and global tensions, especially from nearby China.

The decision on jets will allow Japan to export lethal weapons it coproduces to other countries for the first time.

Japan is working with Italy and Britain to develop an advanced fighter jet to replace its aging fleet of American-designed F-2 fighters, and the Eurofighter Typhoons used by the British and Italian militaries.

Japan, which was previously working on a homegrown design to be called the F-X, agreed in December 2022 to merge its effort with a British-Italian program called the Tempest for deployment in 2035. The joint project, known as the Global Combat Air Program or GCAP, is based in Britain.

Japan hopes the new plane will offer advanced capabilities Japan needs amid growing tensions in the region, giving it a technological edge against regional rivals China and Russia.

Because of its wartime past as aggressor and the devastation that followed its defeat in World War II, Japan adopted a constitution that limits its military to self-defense. The country long maintained a strict policy to limit transfers of military equipment and technology and ban all exports of lethal weapons.

Opponents have criticized Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s government for committing to the fighter jet project without providing an explanation to the public or seeking approval for the major policy change.

To address such concerns, the government is limiting exports of codeveloped lethal weapons to the jet for now, and has promised that no sales will be made for use in active wars.

The government also assured that the revised guideline for the time being applies only to the jet and that Cabinet approval would be required. Potential purchasers will also be limited to the 15 countries that Japan has signed defense partnership and equipment transfer deals with.

Recent polls suggest that public opinion is divided on the plan.

In 2014, Japan began to export some nonlethal military supplies, and in December, it approved a change that would allow sales of 80 lethal weapons and components that it manufactures under licenses from other countries back to the licensors. The change cleared the way for Japan to sell U.S.-designed Patriot missiles to the United States, helping replace munitions that Washington is sending to Ukraine.

In its decision, the Cabinet said that the arms export ban on finished products would hinder efforts to develop the new jet, and limit Japan to a supporting role in the project. Italy and Britain are eager to make sales of the jet in order to defray development and manufacturing costs.

Kishida sought Cabinet approval before signing the GCAP agreement in February, but it was delayed by resistance from his junior coalition partner, the Buddhist-backed Komeito party.

The change also comes as Kishida is planning an April state visit to Washington, where he is expected to stress Japan’s readiness to take on a greater role in military and defense industry partnerships.

Exports would also help strengthen Japan’s defense industry, which historically has catered only to the country’s Self-Defense Forces, as Kishida seeks to build up the military. Despite its effort over the past decade, the industry has still struggled to draw customers.

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MoD has ‘serious’ concerns over plan

The Ministry of Defence (MoD) has “serious national security concerns” over a proposed electricity link between England and France.

Aquind Ltd wants to lay cables through Portsmouth, Hampshire, to Normandy.

The MoD submitted a letter to the planning inspectorate after a delay in the project’s planning decision was announced in January.

An Aquind spokesperson said the company was “keen” to address the concerns “in good faith”.

The verdict now rests with Claire Coutinho, the secretary of state of energy security and net zero.

In its letter, the MoD stressed the need for further collaboration with the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero to address its concerns in a manner consistent with their “sensitive nature”.

It asked the government department to clarify the proposed process and allow both the MoD and Aquind to provide feedback, along with a six-week extension to prepare representations.

The MoD expressed reluctance to engage with Aquind recently due to the absence of an agreed process “which affords appropriate protection to MoD’s concerns”.

It added that it would keep this situation “under review” as it develops its evidence.

In October 2021, the BBC’s Panorama programme revealed that Aquind was part-owned by Russian-born former oil executive Victor Fedotov.

The company has donated more than £700,000 to 34 Conservative MPs since the Aquind project began.

In 2023, the government’s decision to refuse permission for the £1.2bn link was overturned in the High Court.

Aquind spokesperson Ben Iorio said it was disappointing that the “alleged concerns” were not outlined.

He said: “The manner of the MoD’s last-minute interference will have negative impacts on all proposed developments and marine users in and around Portsmouth, including renewable energy, interconnectors, fisheries and many others.”

He added that the company “remain ready and willing” to address the MoD’s planning-related questions.

Follow BBC South on Facebook, X, or Instagram. Send your story ideas to south.newsonline@bbc.co.uk or via WhatsApp on 0808 100 2240.

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Senior doctors in South Korea submit resignations, deepening dispute over medical school plan

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Senior doctors at major hospitals in South Korea began submitting their resignations en masse Monday in support of medical interns and residents who have been on a strike for five weeks over the government’s push to sharply increase medical school admissions.

The senior doctors’ action won’t likely cause an immediate worsening of hospital operations in South Korea because they have said they would continue to work even after submitting their resignations. But prospects for an early end to the medical impasse were also dim, as the doctors’ planned action comes after President Yoon Suk Yeol called for talks with doctors while suggesting a possible softening of punitive steps against the striking junior doctors.

About 12,000 interns and medical residents have faced impending suspensions of their licenses over their refusal to end their strikes, which have caused hundreds of cancelled surgeries and other treatments at their hospitals.

They oppose the government’s plan to increase the country’s medical school admission cap by two-thirds, saying schools can’t handle such a steep increase in students and that it would eventually hurt South Korea’s medical services. But officials say more doctors are urgently needed because South Korea has a rapidly aging population and its doctor-to-population ratio is one of the lowest in the developed world.

In a meeting with ruling party leader Han Dong-hoon on Sunday, representatives of medical professors and doctors at some 40 university hospitals — where the junior doctors worked while training — expressed support for the striking doctors, saying the government’s recruitment plan “would collapse our country’s medical system,” Kim Chang-soo, head of the emergency committee at those universities, said Monday.

Kim called Yoon’s overture a positive step but said the current standoff between doctors and the government won’t be resolved unless the government rolls back its recruitment plan.

He said doctors at the universities were expected to stick to earlier plans to submit resignations voluntarily and cut back their working hours to 52 hours per week — the maximum weekly number of legal working hours. Observers say senior doctors have been grappling with excessive workloads after their juniors left their hospitals.

“If the government has an intention of withdrawing its plan or has an intention of considering it, we’re ready to discuss all pending issues with the government before the public,” Kim said.

Later Monday, an unspecified number of senior doctors went ahead and handed in their resignations, according to doctors involved in the protests. They said some doctors had already submitted resignations last week.

After Sunday’s meeting, Han asked Yoon’s office to “flexibly handle” the issue of planned license suspensions for the striking doctors. Yoon then asked his prime minister to pursue “a flexible measure” to resolve the dispute and seek constructive consultations with doctors, according to Yoon’s office.

It’s unclear whether and how soon the government and doctors would sit down for talks and reach a breakthrough. Some observers say the government’s likely softening of punishments for the striking doctors and its pursuit of dialogue with doctors were likely related to next month’s parliamentary elections as further disruptions of hospital operations would be unhelpful for ruling party candidates.

The striking junior doctors represent less than 10% of South Korea’s 140,000 doctors. But in some major hospitals, they account for about 30% to 40% of the doctors, assisting senior doctors during surgeries and dealing with inpatients while training.

Public surveys show that a majority of South Koreans support the government’s push to create more doctors, and critics say that doctors, one of the highest-paid professions in South Korea, worry about lower incomes due to a rise in the number of doctors.

Officials say more doctors are required to address a long-standing shortage of physicians in rural areas and in essential but low-paying specialties. But doctors say newly recruited students would also try to work in the capital region and in high-paying fields like plastic surgery and dermatology. They say the government plan would also likely result in doctors performing unnecessary treatments due to increased competition.

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Conservative groups sue to block Biden plan canceling $39 billion in student loans

Two conservative groups are asking a federal court to block the Biden administration’s plan to cancel $39 billion in student loans for more than 800,000 borrowers.

In a lawsuit filed Friday in Michigan, the groups argue that the administration overstepped its power when it announced the forgiveness in July, just weeks after the Supreme Court struck down a broader cancellation plan pushed by President Joe Biden.

It asks a judge to rule the cancellation illegal and stop the Education Department from carrying it out while the case is decided. The suit was filed by the New Civil Liberties Alliance on behalf of the Mackinac Center for Public Policy and the Cato Institute.

The Education Department called the suit “a desperate attempt from right wing special interests to keep hundreds of thousands of borrowers in debt.”

“We are not going to back down or give an inch when it comes to defending working families,” the department said in a statement.

It’s part of a wave of legal challenges Republicans have leveled at the Biden administration’s efforts to reduce or eliminate student debt for millions of Americans. Biden has said he will pursue a different cancellation plan after the Supreme Court decision, and his administration is separately unrolling a more generous repayment plan that opponents call a “backdoor attempt” at cancellation.

The Biden administration announced July 14 that it would soon forgive loans for 804,000 borrowers enrolled in income-driven repayment plans. The plans have long offered cancellation after borrowers make 20 or 25 years of payments, but “past administrative failures” resulted in inaccurate payments counts that set borrowers back on their progress toward forgiveness, the department said.

The new action was announced as a “one-time adjustment” that would count certain periods of past nonpayment as if borrowers had been making payments during that time. It moved 804,000 borrowers across the 20- or 25-year mark needed for cancellation, and it moved millions of others closer to that threshold.

It’s meant to address a practice known as forbearance steering, in which student loan servicers hired by the government wrongly pushed borrowers to go into forbearance — a temporary pause on payments because of hardship — even if they would have been better served by enrolling in one of the income-driven repayment plans.

Under the one-time fix, past periods in forbearance were also counted as progress toward Public Service Loan Forgiveness, a program that offers cancellation after 10 years of payments while working in a government or nonprofit job.

Biden’s action was illegal, the lawsuit says, because it wasn’t authorized by Congress and didn’t go through a federal rulemaking process that invites public feedback.

“No authority allows the Department to count non-payments as payments,” the lawsuit says. It adds that the action came in “a press release that neither identified the policy’s legal authority nor considered its exorbitant price tag.”

The conservative groups say Biden’s plan undercuts Public Service Loan Forgiveness. The Mackinac Center and Cato Institute say they employ borrowers who are working toward student loan cancellation through the program. They say Biden’s action illegally accelerates progress toward relief, diminishing the benefit for nonprofit employers.

“This unlawful reduction in the PSLF service requirement injures public service employers that rely on PSLF to recruit and retain college-educated employees,” the suit alleges.

The Cato Institute previously sued the administration over the cancellation plan that was struck down by the Supreme Court. The Mackinac Center is separately challenging Biden’s pause on student loan payments, which is scheduled to end this fall with payments resuming Oct. 1.

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The Associated Press education team receives support from the Carnegie Corporation of New York. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

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The White House proposes new plan to eliminate hepatitis C

The White House proposes new plan to eliminate hepatitis C – CBS News

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CBS News chief medical correspondent Dr. Jon LaPook joins “CBS Mornings” with an inside look at a new White House initiative to eliminate hepatitis C in the U.S., a disease that kills thousands of Americans every year despite being curable with treatments.

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