Good morning.
Joe Biden has pardoned thousands of people convicted of marijuana possession in a move described as “long overdue”. It could herald federal legalization and even set in motion a wider reappraisal of drug prohibition.
The president also called on the secretary of health and the attorney general to begin the administrative process to review marijuana’s scheduling in the highest bracket of federal law – higher than the classification of fentanyl and methamphetamine, two drugs that are fueling an overdose epidemic.
The pardons cover “simple possession”, which is a low-level offense, meaning people imprisoned for trafficking, sales or other marijuana charges will not be covered. The White House said no one is currently incarcerated in federal prison solely for “simple possession”.
‘Biden had an obligation to act’. DeAnna Hoskins, president of JustLeadershipUSA, highlighted that the president was behind the infamous crime bill in 1994 that paved the way for the “war on drugs”.
Racial disparity in conviction rates for people of color. Biden has acknowledged that “while white and Black and brown people use marijuana at similar rates, Black and brown people have been arrested, prosecuted and convicted at disproportionate rates.”
Mother of dead Iranian schoolgirl accuses authorities
The mother of an Iranian teenager who died after joining demonstrations over the death in custody of Mahsa Amini has accused the authorities of murdering her daughter and pressuring her into saying it was suicide.
In a video sent to Radio Farda, a US-funded media outlet, Nasrin Shahkarami said she was under pressure to give a false statement about the death of 16-year-old Nika, who went missing on 20 September after leaving to join an anti-hijab protest in Tehran.
Protests have erupted across Iran after the death of Amini, a 22-year-old Iranian Kurd, who died in custody following her arrest by the morality police in Tehran for allegedly breaching the Islamic Republic’s strict dress code for women.
The scale of the crackdown by the Iranian authorities is becoming clear. Human rights groups say more than 1,200 people have been arrested at street demonstrations, with 92 picked up in preventive raids by the security services. Last Friday, security forces opened fire on protesters in Zahedan, Sistan and Baluchestan province, killing, according to Amnesty International, 87 people.
FBI reportedly has evidence for Hunter Biden prosecution
Federal agents believe there is enough evidence to criminally charge Hunter Biden over alleged tax crimes and lying about drug use while buying a handgun. However, the US attorney in Delaware, who is overseeing the investigation of the president’s son, has apparently not yet decided whether to file charges.
There is “frustration inside the FBI over the time it is taking prosecutors to deliberate over this case” and the FBI “is trying to pressure prosecutors to act,” according to sources close to the president.
Meanwhile, Hunter Biden’s lawyer, Chris Clark, accused federal agents of illegally leaking information, and asked the justice department to investigate and prosecute the leak.
Business ethics in Ukraine long under scrutiny. Hunter Biden was paid $50,000 a month by the Ukraine-based firm Burisma and the ethics of his connections to foreign businesses has long been under examination given his father’s political influence.
In other news …
A forest fire that tore through part of an archaeological site on Easter Island has caused “irreparable damage” to some of its monumental carved stone figures, known as moai and believed to have been carved in the 13th century, authorities said.
Joe Biden warned the world could face “Armageddon” if Vladimir Putin uses a tactical nuclear weapon to try to win the war in Ukraine. Biden said the world was the closest to nuclear catastrophe since the Cuban missile crisis.
In Thailand, 37 people – mostly young children – are now confirmed to have died at a rural preschool after a former police officer opened fire and stabbed children as they slept in Uthai Sawan, a town about 300 miles north-east of Bangkok around noon yesterday.
Six people, including police and match organisers, are facing criminal charges in Indonesia after a crowd crush at a football game killed at least 131 people last weekend.Police officers had fired teargas as hundreds of fans tried to flee a riot and some exits remained locked.
Stat of the day: agricultural chemical companies fund Australia’s pesticides regulator
Like “big pharma” the global agricultural chemical companies run very sophisticated marketing and sponsorship networks that reach into almost every facet of rural life. Known as agvet companies, they fund government bodies, including – most controversially – providing 90% of the budget of the Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority, which operates on a user-pays basis, writes Anne Davies.
Several reviews have raised concerns about whether the regulator is overly close to the agvet industry and not sufficiently cognisant of consumer and environmental perspectives. A class action is now under way involving 700 people who have used glyphosate and who allege it caused their cancer.
Don’t miss this: Niemann faces credibility test as chess cheating saga continues
Hans Niemann, the 19-year-old who has confessed to cheating in online games but denies any illegalities over the board in person, faces a crucial credibility test at St Louis on his US Championship debut after winning his first contest. The organisers have strengthened security: spectators are barred, a new metal detector to frisk players has been introduced and there will be a 30-minute delay before the games are displayed to online viewers, writes Leonard Barden.
“Hans became the fastest rising top player in classical, over-the-board chess in modern recorded history,” said a recent report by the chess platform chess.com that concluded he has “probably cheated more than 100 times” amid the “statistically extraordinary” rise of the teenager.
Climate check: African countries urge rich nations to honour $100bn climate finance pledge
Rich countries are under pressure over a failure to meet a 2009 funding promise to provide $100bn a year to developing countries by 2020 to help cut greenhouse gas emissions and cope with the impact of the climate crisis on those most affected.
Wael Aboulmagd, Egypt’s special representative for Cop27, said ahead of next month’s UN climate summit that it was “shameful” the developed world had reneged on its promise despite it being predominantly European and US carbon emissions that were responsible for where the world was “right now”. At an official preparatory meeting in Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of the Congo on Wednesday, speakers roundly echoed Aboulmagd’s frustration.
Last Thing: Steven Donziger sounds alarm over ‘terrifying’ supreme court case
A little-known case called Moore v Harper, which could lock in rightwing control of the US for generations, is to be consider the virtues of formerly fringe legal notion called the independent state legislature theory that “posits that an obscure provision in the US constitution allowing state legislatures to set ‘time, place, and manner’ rules for federal elections should not be subject to judicial oversight.”
Human rights lawyer Steven Donziger writes that if the supreme court takes a positive view of the theory, then: “In other words, state legislatures should have the absolute power to determine how federal elections are run without court interference.”
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