A giant slab of ice bigger than the Spanish island of Majorca has sheared off from the frozen edge of Antarctica into the Weddell Sea, becoming the largest iceberg currently afloat in the world, the European Space Agency said on Wednesday.
The newly calved berg, designated A-76 by scientists, was spotted in recent satellite images captured by the Copernicus Sentinel-1 mission, the space agency said in a statement posted on its website with a photo of the enormous, oblong ice sheet.
Its surface area spans 4,320 square km (1,668 square miles) and measures 175 km (106 miles) long by 25 km (15 miles) wide.
By comparison, Spain’s popular tourist island of Majorca in the Mediterranean occupies 3,640 square km (1,405 square miles). The US state of Rhode Island is smaller still, with a land mass of just 2,678 square km (1,034 square miles).
The enormity of A-76, which broke away from Antarctica’s Ronne Ice Shelf, ranks as the largest existing iceberg on the planet, surpassing the now second-place A-23A, about 3,380 square km (1,305 square miles) in size and also floating in the Weddell Sea.
Another massive Antarctic iceberg that had threatened a penguin-populated island off the southern tip of South America has since lost much of its mass and broken into pieces, scientists said earlier this year.
A-76 was first detected by the British Antarctic Survey and confirmed by the US National Ice Center based in Maryland using imagery from Copernicus Sentinel-1, consisting of two polar-orbiting satellites.
The Ronne Ice Shelf on the flank of the Antarctic Peninsula is one of the largest of several enormous floating sheets of ice that connect to the continent’s landmass and extend out into the surrounding seas.
Periodic calving off of large chunks of those shelves is part of a natural cycle. But some ice shelves along the Antarctic Peninsula have undergone rapid disintegration in recent years, a phenomenon scientists believe may be related to climate change, according to the US National Snow & Ice Data Center.
Antarctica gives birth to world’s largest iceberg
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Antarctica gives birth to world’s largest iceberg
- Its surface area spans 4,320 square km (1,668 square miles) and measures 175 km long by 25 km wide
Legal experts say Trump official broke law by saying ‘Buy Tesla’ stock but don’t expect a crackdown
- “It will never be this cheap,” US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said Wednesday. “Buy Tesla.”
NEW YORK: When a White House adviser in the first Trump administration told TV viewers to “Go buy Ivanka stuff,” top government lawyers sprang into action, telling her she had violated ethics rules and warning her not to do it again.
Government ethics experts have varying opinions on whether the 2017 criticism of Kellyanne Conway went far enough, but many agree such violations now might not even draw an official rebuke.
A week after President Donald Trump turned the White House lawn into a Tesla infomercial for Elon Musk’s cars, a second sales pitch by a US official occurred, this time for Tesla stock.
“It will never be this cheap,” US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said Wednesday. “Buy Tesla.”
Government ethics experts say Lutnick broke a 1989 law prohibiting federal employees from using “public office for private gain,” later detailed to include a ban on ”endorsements.” Although presidents are generally exempt from government ethics rules, most federal employees are not and are often punished for violations, including rebukes like the one Conway got.
As of Friday, no public action had been taken against Lutnick and it was unclear whether he would suffer a similar fate.
“They’re not even thinking of ethics,” said Trump critic and former Republican White House ethics czar Richard Painter of administration officials.
Painter has equally low expectations of that other possible brake to future violations — public opinion: ”I don’t know if people care.”
In his first term, Trump opened his hotel near the Oval Office to foreign ambassadors and lobbyists in what many legal scholars argued was a violation of a constitutional ban against presidents receiving payments or gifts that could distort public policy for private gain. His company launched a new hotel chain called “America Idea” in hopes of cashing in on his celebrity. Trump even once proposed holding a G-7 meeting of world leaders at his then-struggling Doral golf resort.
The ‘Buy Ivanka’ rebuke
But the reaction to Conway’s “Ivanka stuff” comment suggested certain lines couldn’t be crossed.
Within days of Conway’s TV comments, the head of the federal ethics agency, the Office of Government Ethics, wrote a letter to the White House saying Trump’s adviser may have broken the law and urging a probe. A White House lawyer then met with Conway to remind her of the law and reported to the ethics office that she had assured him she would abide by it in future.
But this time, there is no head of the Office of Government Ethics. He was fired by Trump. Ditto for the inspector generals of various agencies who would head any investigation.
“What is likely to happen now? I really don’t know,” said Kedric Payne, chief lawyer at the Campaign Legal Center, a non-profit watchdog that sent a letter to the government ethics office on Friday calling for an investigation. “We no longer have the head of the Office of Government Ethics to push the Commerce Department to make sure the secretary acknowledges the law.”
Payne said Lutnick’s comment on TV may seem like a small transgression but it could snowball into a bigger problem if not punished.
“It starts with one TV appearance, but can develop into multiple officials asking people to support companies and products,” Payne said. “If there are no consequences, you get into a danger zone of a corruption.”
Trump critics point to other signs that Trump is careless with the law and ethical norms, citing his pardons for Jan. 6 Capitol rioters, a decision to allow his Trump Organization to strike business deals abroad and his attack on the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act banning US company bribes abroad to win business.
Jelly beans and airlines
When it comes endorsing products, presidents used to be far more circumspect.
Their comments were mostly quick asides expressing opinions of taste, such as when Harry Truman called Pillsbury flour the “finest” or John F. Kennedy said United Airlines was “reliable.”
Ronald Reagan famously enthused about his jelly beans habit, remarking that they were the “perfect snack.”
Trump had five Teslas lined up in the White House driveway last week as he praised Musk’s company. Then he slipped into a red Model S he had targeted for personal purchase, exclaiming, “Wow. That’s beautiful.”
“Presidents are allowed to have personal opinions on products they like and dislike,” said ethics lawyer Kathleen Clark, referring to the Truman through Reagan examples. ”But what Trump did was transform the White House into a set for advertising the products of a private company.”
“It’s the difference between holding an extravaganza and holding an opinion.”
Calls for Musk investigation
In the aftermath of the Tesla White House event, Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren and three other senators wrote a letter to the Office of Government Ethics saying that, while presidents are exempt from ethics law banning endorsements, Elon Musk isn’t and calling for an investigation.
A spokeswoman from Warren’s office said the government ethics office had not yet responded about what it planned to do about the White House Tesla endorsement. The Office of Government Ethics itself said it would not comment on either the Warren letter or Lutnick’s TV appearance.
The Commerce Department did not respond to Associated Press requests for comment.
Asked whether Lutnick would be reprimanded or an investigation opened, White House spokesman Kush Desai defended Lutnick, lauding “his immensely successful private sector career” and his “critical role on President Trump’s trade and economic team.”
Former White House ethics chief Painter says Democrats have also played loose with the ethics law.
He is harshly critical of the Clinton charity, the Clinton Foundation, which was taking donations from foreign governments when Hillary Clinton was the country’s chief diplomat as secretary of state. Painter also blasts former President Joe Biden for not removing his name from a University of Pennsylvania research institute when he was in office even though it appeared to be helping draw donations overseas.
But Painter says the slide from caring about ethics laws and norms to defiance has hit a new low.
“There’s been a deterioration in ethics,” he said. “What Biden did wasn’t good, but this is worse.”
Trump admits Musk ‘susceptible’ on China
WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump said Friday that Elon Musk should not be allowed to see top secret US plans for any war with China, in a rare admission that his billionaire ally’s business links raised potential conflicts of interest.
Trump strongly denied media reports that the world’s richest man, who is now leading the cost-cutting Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), would receive a classified Pentagon briefing on its war strategy.
Tesla and Space X boss Musk has major business interests in China but also has huge US defense contracts, while his status as an unelected adviser to Trump has raised concerns about his influence.
“I don’t want to show it to anybody. You’re talking about a potential war with China,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office.
“Certainly you wouldn’t show it to a businessman who is helping us so much... Elon has businesses in China and he would be susceptible perhaps to that.”
Trump, who was unveiling a contract for Boeing to build the next-generation F-47 fighter jet, described Musk as a “patriot” and hailed his efforts to slash back the US federal government, including the Defense Department.
Musk was at the Pentagon on Friday, but Trump attacked reports, first published in the New York Times, about the visit.
“They really are the enemy of the people,” Trump said of the Times, which reported Musk was to receive a briefing in a secure room dubbed “The Tank” on maritime tactics and targeting plans.
The paper said the briefing was called off after it was publicized.
The US increasingly sees China as its biggest rival and tensions have soared since Trump’s inauguration as the world’s two largest economies hit each other with tariffs.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth hailed the “amazing visit” by Musk to the Pentagon.
“I look forward to continuing our work together,” Hegseth said on X.
Musk joined the chorus of criticism of the Times, labeling it “pure propaganda” on his social media platform X.
“I’ve been to the Pentagon many times over many years. Not my first time in the building,” he wrote.
Musk has long-standing business ties to China, however.
His automaker Tesla produces some of its electric vehicles at a huge so-called gigafactory in Shanghai and is trying to compete with fast-growing Chinese manufacturers.
The entrepreneur has become a cult figure in China and has fostered ties with its leadership. He has also suggested the self-ruled island of Taiwan should become part of China.
In the US, Trump has repeatedly insisted that Musk has no conflicts of interest, even as Musk leads a harsh overhaul of US government agencies that in some cases his companies have dealings with.
Musk’s SpaceX has US government defense contracts worth billions of dollars, including for launching rockets and for the use of the Starlink satellite service.
Trump has recently further blurred the line by promoting Tesla cars after attacks by vandals over Musk’s links to the White House. Trump suggested Friday that such vandals could be deported to prisons in El Salvador.
Democrats have meanwhile blasted Trump for handing administration policy to Musk despite him undergoing no background checks and heading companies with government contracts.
Italy’s Meloni torn between Trump and European allegiance
- Meloni was the only EU leader to attend Trump’s inauguration in January and has carefully steered clear of any criticism of the US president, even as he has hit Europe with tariffs and threatened to abandon Ukraine in its war with Russia
ROME: Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni finds herself playing a political balancing act as Europe moves to bolster its defenses.
A nationalist with deep admiration for US President Donald Trump, she is battling to reconcile the growing gulf between her ideological instincts, which lie with Washington, and Italy’s strategic ties to the European Union, analysts say.
Meloni was the only EU leader to attend Trump’s inauguration in January and has carefully steered clear of any criticism of the US president, even as he has hit Europe with tariffs and threatened to abandon Ukraine in its war with Russia.
While she has taken part in emergency talks with European partners on how to navigate the upheavals caused by Trump’s foreign policy, her engagement at times has seemed unenthusiastic, prompting critics at home to accuse her of isolating Italy within the EU.
Meloni, who has been in power since 2023, dismissed suggestions that she was under the sway of Trump as she headed into a summit of European leaders this week.
“I don’t blindly follow either Europe or the United States ... I am in Europe because Italy is in Europe, so it’s not like we’re thinking of going somewhere else, but I also want the West to be compact,” she told parliament.
Ever since Meloni founded her Brothers of Italy group in 2012, she has placed close ties with the United States at the heart of her foreign policy, while watering down initial, fierce euroskepticism.
Trump’s strong-arm tactics with old allies as he looks to enhance American power has wrong-footed pro-Atlanticists, while forcing Europe to hastily review its geopolitical options and shore up its defenses.
The turmoil has put on hold Meloni’s hopes of serving as a bridge between Europe and the White House, with Europe’s two nuclear powers France and Britain taking the lead in forging a response to Trump, while Germany grabs headlines with plans for a huge spending splurge to scale up its military.
“Right now, Meloni does not have the leverage to play a mediating role with Trump,” said Giovanni Orsina, a politics professor at Rome’s Luiss University.
“If Trumpism enters a second, more constructive phase, she might be able to play a role, leveraging political and personal affinities.”
Defense budget
Meloni last month called for an “immediate summit” between the US and its allies after Trump lambasted Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in the White House, but Washington ignored her appeal.
Sources in Meloni’s office, who declined to be named, said the Italian leader was seeking a meeting with Trump later in March or early April, when the European Union is due to impose counter tariffs on 26 billion euros ($28 billion) worth of US goods in response to US tariffs on steel and aluminum.
In her address to parliament this week, Meloni questioned the wisdom of retaliatory tariffs and urged Europe to continue its military cooperation with the United States inside NATO.
Spooked by Trump’s suggestion he might not defend NATO members in future, the European Commission has laid out plans to boost the bloc’s military spending by 800 billion euros ($869 billion), while France has offered to consider extending its nuclear umbrella to European allies.
Migrant deaths hit record in 2024
- Asia was the region with the most reported fatalities, with 2,788 migrant deaths, followed by the Mediterranean Sea with 2,452 and Africa with 2,242
GENEVA: Nearly 9,000 people have died last year attempting to cross borders, the UN agency for migration said on Friday.
The death toll set a new record for the fifth year in a row.
The International Organization for Migration recorded at least 8,938 migrant deaths in 2024.
However, the actual death toll is likely much higher given that many deaths go unreported or undocumented, IOM said in a statement.
“The rise of deaths is terrible in and of itself, but the fact that thousands remained unidentified each year is even more tragic,” Julia Black, coordinator of IOM’s Missing Migrants Projects, said in the statement.
Asia was the region with the most reported fatalities, with 2,788 migrant deaths, followed by the Mediterranean Sea with 2,452 and Africa with 2,242.
IOM said there were also an “unprecedented 341 lives lost in the Caribbean,” 233 in Europe, and 174 in the Darien crossing between Colombia and Panama, a new record.
News of the record death toll comes only days after the agency announced it was suspending many “lifesaving” programs around the world and firing hundreds of employees due to US-led aid cuts impacting millions of vulnerable migrants worldwide.
Namibia inaugurates its first woman president
- Nandi-Ndaitwah succeeds Nangolo Mbumba, who had stood in as Namibia’s president since February 2024 following the death in office of President Hage Geingob. Nandi-Ndaitwah was promoted to vice president following Geingob’s death
WINDHOEK: Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah was sworn in as Namibia’s first female president on Friday, reaching the highest office in her land nearly 60 years after she joined the liberation movement fighting for independence from apartheid South Africa.
The 72-year-old Nandi-Ndaitwah won an election in November to become one of just a handful of African female leaders after the likes of Ellen Johnson Sirleaf of Liberia, Joyce Banda of Malawi, and Samia Suluhu Hassan of Tanzania.
Sirleaf and Banda, now former leaders of their countries, and current Tanzania President Hassan all attended Nandi-Ndaitwah’s inauguration.
Nandi-Ndaitwah’s swearing-in coincided with the 35th anniversary of Namibia’s independence, but the ceremony was switched from a soccer stadium where thousands were due to attend to the official presidential office because of heavy rain.
The new president made her pledge to defend, uphold, and support the constitution in front of other visiting leaders from South Africa, Zambia, Congo, Botswana, Angola, and Kenya.
Nandi-Ndaitwah succeeds Nangolo Mbumba, who had stood in as Namibia’s president since February 2024 following the death in office of President Hage Geingob. Nandi-Ndaitwah was promoted to vice president following Geingob’s death.
Nandi-Ndaitwah is just the fifth president of Namibia, a sparsely populated nation in southwestern Africa which was a German colony until the end of World War I and then won independence from South Africa in 1990 after decades of struggle and a guerilla war against South African forces that lasted more than 20 years.
“The task facing me as the fifth president of the Republic of Namibia is to preserve the gains of our independence on all fronts and to ensure that the unfinished agenda of economic and social advancement of our people is carried forward with vigor and determination to bring about shared, balanced prosperity for all,” Nandi-Ndaitwah said.
Nandi-Ndaitwah is a veteran of the South West Africa People’s Organization, or SWAPO, which led Namibia’s fight for independence and has been its ruling party ever since.
She was the ninth of 13 children; her father was an Anglican clergyman, and she attended a mission school that she later taught in.
She joined SWAPO as a teenager in the 1960s and spent time in exile in Zambia, Tanzania, the former Soviet Union, and the UK in the 1970s and 1980s.
She had been a lawmaker in Namibia since 1990 and was the foreign minister before being appointed vice president.
She said she would insist on good governance and high ethical standards in public institutions and promote closer regional cooperation.
She pledged to continue calling for the rights of Palestinians and the people of Western Sahara to self-determination and demanded the lifting of sanctions against Cuba, Venezuela, and Zimbabwe.
She also said Namibia would continue contributing to efforts to fight climate change, a persistent threat for an arid country of just three million people that regularly experiences droughts.
Nandi-Ndaitwah’s husband is a retired general who once commanded Namibia’s armed forces and was formally given the title “first gentleman.”
Nandi-Ndaitwah’s inauguration came a day after Namibia’s Parliament elected its first female speaker.
