WASHINGTON: The Washington Post reported on Saturday that South African-born billionaire businessman Elon Musk worked illegally in the United States during a brief period in the 1990s while building a startup company.
The news outlet reported that Musk arrived in Palo Alto, California, in 1995 to attend Stanford University but never enrolled in his graduate studies program there. Instead, he developed software company Zip2, which sold in 1999 for around $300 million, according to the outlet.
Two immigration law experts quoted by the Post said Musk would have needed to be enrolled in a full course of study in order to maintain a valid work authorization as a student.
Musk did not respond to requests for comment sent to four of his companies — SpaceX, Tesla, the social media company X and The Boring Company — nor did Musk’s lawyer Alex Spiro.
Musk in a 2020 podcast cited by the Post said: “I was legally there, but I was meant to be doing student work. I was allowed to do work sort of supporting whatever.”
The Washington Post cited two former Musk colleagues who recalled Musk receiving his US work authorization in or around 1997.
Musk has endorsed Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump in the Nov. 5 US election.
Trump has for years portrayed migrants as invaders and criminals, and during his 2017-2021 presidency took stringent steps to curb legal and illegal migration. He is promising the biggest deportation effort in US history if he is reelected.
Elon Musk briefly worked illegally in US in 1990s, Washington Post reports
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Elon Musk briefly worked illegally in US in 1990s, Washington Post reports
- Musk reportedly arrived in California in 1995 to attend Stanford University, and instead of enrolling he went on to develop a software company
- Musk supports Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, who has for years portrayed migrants as invaders and criminals
Indonesian forests pay the price for the growing global biomass energy demand
- Biomass is organic material like plants, wood and waste, and many coal-fired power plants can be easily modified to burn it alongside coal to make energy
JAKARTA, Indonesia: Enormous swathes of pristine forest are being cut down across Indonesia to supply the rapidly rising international demand for biomass material seen as critical to many countries’ transitions to cleaner forms of energy.
Nearly all of the biomass from forests destroyed for wood pellet production since 2021 has been shipped to South Korea and Japan, The Associated Press found in an examination of satellite images, company records and Indonesian export data. Both countries have provided millions of dollars to support the development of biomass production and use in Indonesia.
Indonesia’s state-run utility also has plans to dramatically increase the amount of biomass it burns to make electricity.
Experts and environmentalists fear the rising international and domestic demand, coupled with weak domestic regulation, will accelerate deforestation at the same time it prolongs the use of highly polluting fossil fuels. Biomass is organic material like plants, wood and waste, and many coal-fired power plants can be easily modified to burn it alongside coal to make energy.
“Biomass production — which is only recently starting to be seen on an industrial scale in Indonesia — is a dire new threat to the country’s forests,” said Timer Manurung, director of Auriga Nusantara, an environmental and conservation organization in Indonesia.
As countries accelerate their energy transitions, demand for biomass is growing: The use of bioenergy has increased an average of about 3 percent per year between 2010 and 2022, the International Energy Agency said.
Experts including the IEA say it’s important for that demand to happen in a sustainable way, such as using waste and crop residue rather than converting forest land to grow bioenergy crops. Deforestation contributes to erosion, damages biodiverse areas, threatens wildlife and humans who rely on the forest and intensifies disasters from extreme weather.
And many scientists and environmentalists have rejected the use of biomass altogether. They say burning wood-based biomass can emit more carbon than coal and tree-cutting greatly reduces forests’ ability to remove carbon from the atmosphere. Critics also say that using biomass to co-fire, instead of transitioning directly to clean energy, simply prolongs the use of coal.
In Indonesia, biomass production is causing deforestation across the archipelago.
Auriga Nusantara reports that more than 9,740 hectares (24,070 acres) of forest have been cleared in areas where biomass production is permitted since 2020. Permits have been issued for over 1.4 million hectares (3,459,475 acres) of energy plantation forests in Indonesia, with over one-third of that land being undisturbed forest. Over half of these concession areas are the habitat of flagship species such as sumatran rhino, elephants, orangutans and tigers, said Manurung.
In the carbon-rich forests of Gorontalo, Sulawesi, the felling, shredding and shipping of old trees to make energy-dense wood pellets has been streamlined. Over 3,000 hectares (7,410 acres) of forest have been razed in a concession owned by Banyan Tumbuh Lestari, from 2021 to 2024, according to satellite analysis shared with AP by international environmental organization Mighty Earth. An additional 2,850 hectares (7,040 acres) were cleared for logging roads.
After trees are cut down, they’re turned into wood pellets at a facility near the concessions owned by Biomasa Jaya Abadi, the largest exporter of wood pellets from Indonesia from 2021-2023, according to data Auriga Nusantara compiled from the Indonesian Ministry of Environment and Forestry database. The database has no records of wood pellet exports prior to 2020.
Biomasa Jaya Abadi did not respond to repeated requests for interviews or comment. Banyan Tumbuh Lestari do not have contact information publicly available; AP contacted their main shareholders seeking comment but got no response. Indonesia’s ministries of Environment and Forestry; Energy and Mineral Resources and Maritime Affairs and Investment did not respond to requests for comment.
Nearly all of Indonesia’s wood pellet production is shipped overseas to meet international demand, said Alloysius Joko Purwanto, an energy economist at the Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia.
Most of Indonesia’s wood pellets went to South Korea (61 percent) and Japan (38 percent) from 2021-2023, according to government data.
“It’s clear that Japan and South Korea’s governments are trying to buy more biomass from Indonesia to lower their own domestic emissions,” said Bhima Yudhistira, executive director of the Indonesia-based Center of Economic and Law Studies.
Both countries have provided millions of dollars of financial support toward the development of biomass in Indonesia through research, policy, construction and other support, according to a review of publicly available business and government agreements by AP.
South Korea’s Forest Service, which drives South Korea’s biomass expansion and policy, did not reply to requests for comment. Japan’s Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries also did not respond to a request for comment.
The promotion of biomass production and use has coincided with the ramping-up of Indonesia’s domestic biomass use.
The country’s state electricity company, Perusahaan Listrik Negara (PLN), plans to implement 10 percent biomass co-firing for 52 coal plants across the country. PLN estimates that would take 8 million tons of biomass a year — far greater than the wood pellet industry’s capacity at the end of 2023 of less than 1 million tons, according to Indonesian civil society organization Trend Asia.
To achieve PLN’s ambitions, a 66 percent increase in forest plantation land would be needed — “which would likely come at the expense of intact, carbon-rich and carbon-absorbing forests,” according to a report by Mighty Earth.
PLN spokesperson Gregorius Adi Trianto told AP that the company’s plan relied on biomass from “organic waste such as tree branches, rice waste, and wood industry waste ... rather than from actively logged forests.”
With Indonesia lacking clear regulations and oversight of its expanding biomass industry, experts fear deforestation is likely to spike for years to come.
“We’re already far behind when it comes to monitoring and regulating issues around biomass production in Indonesia,” said Yudhistira. “There’s definitely a lack of due diligence, and forests are suffering.”
Iran should not respond to Israel’s strikes, Pentagon chief says
WASHINGTON: US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin warned Tehran on Saturday against responding to Israel’s strikes on military sites in Iran and said he stressed in a call to his Israeli counterpart the opportunities to de-escalate tensions in the region.
“Iran should not make the mistake of responding to Israel’s strikes, which should mark the end of this exchange,” Austin said in a statement.
‘Take our lives seriously,’ Michelle Obama pleads as she rallies for Kamala Harris in Michigan
- Obama warned that Trump’s potential return to the White House would undermine women’s health and reproductive freedom
- She accused Trump of “doubling down on ugly, misogynistic, racist lies as a substitute for real ideas and solutions that will actually make people’s lives better”
KALAMAZOO, Michigan: Michelle Obama delivered a searing denunciation of Donald Trump on Saturday in Michigan and challenged voters to support Kamala Harris as the United States’ first female president.
“By every measure, she has demonstrated that she’s ready,” the former first lady said. “The real question is, as a country, are we ready for this moment?”
It was Obama’s first appearance on the campaign trail since she spoke at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago over the summer, and her remarks were forceful and passionate, even vulnerable.
She said she fears for the country and struggles to understand why the presidential race remains close.
“I lay awake at night wondering, ‘What in the world is going on?’” she said.
Her voice vibrating with emotion, Obama warned that Trump’s potential return to the White House would undermine women’s health and reproductive freedom.
“I am asking y’all from the core of my being to take our lives seriously,” she said.
The rally in Kalamazoo followed Harris’ visit to a local doctor’s office in Portage to talk with health care providers and medical students about the impact of abortion restrictions. One of them said they have patients visiting from other parts of the country where there are strict limitations on abortion, and another said she’s worried that people won’t want to practice in important areas of medicine because of fears about government intrusion.
“We are looking at a health care crisis in America that is affecting people of every background and gender,” Harris told reporters before visiting the doctor’s office.
Meanwhile, President Joe Biden went to a union hall in Pittsburgh to promote Harris’ support for organized labor, telling the audience to “follow your gut” and “do what’s right.”
Harris appeared with Beyoncé on Friday in Houston, and she campaigned with former President Barack Obama and Bruce Springsteen on Thursday in Atlanta.
It’s a level of celebrity clout that surpasses anything that Donald Trump, the Republican nominee, has been able to marshal this year. But there’s no guarantee that will help Harris in the close race for the White House. In 2016, Hillary Clinton lost to Trump despite firing up her crowds with musical performances and Democratic allies.
Trump brushed off Harris’ attempt to harness star power for her campaign.
“Kamala is at a dance party with Beyoncé,” the former president said Friday in Traverse City, Michigan. Trump, the Republican nominee for president, is scheduled to hold a rally in Novi, a suburb of Detroit, on Saturday before a later event in State College, Pennsylvania.
Saturday is the first day that early in-person voting became available across Michigan. More than 1.4 million ballots have already been submitted, representing 20 percent of registered voters.
When Clinton was running against Trump, Michelle Obama inspired Democrats with the slogan “when they go low, we go high.”
But this year, at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, she adopted a more biting approach. She accused Trump of “doubling down on ugly, misogynistic, racist lies as a substitute for real ideas and solutions that will actually make people’s lives better.”
At a campaign event in Pittsburgh, Biden spoke with the Laborers’ International Union of North America. He mentioned that Harris once walked a picket line with the United Auto Workers — “she has a backbone like a ramrod” — while Trump has undermined organized labor.
“He views unions as getting in the way of the accumulation of wealth for individuals,” Biden said. “It’s in labor’s interest to defeat Donald Trump, more than any other race you’ve been in.”
Biden’s remarks to the mostly male audience referenced the gender divide that has been a consistent feature of this year’s presidential race.
Speaking on Trump, Biden said, “I’m just gonna say straight up, he’s a loser as a man.”
He also said that women deserve more opportunities than they’ve received in the past.
“They can do anything any man can do, including be president of the United States of America,” Biden said.
How can Arab American voters better influence US foreign policy?
- Illinois Democrat Suzanne Akhras says on “The Ray Hanania Radio Show” Arab and Muslim Americans should prioritize local efforts at the grassroots
- On the same show, Ahmed Ghanim recounts meeting in Detroit where Harris aides confronted him and escorted him out without explanation
CHICAGO: Arab American voters are deeply affected by events in the Middle East, most notably the Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip, which has led to the deaths of nearly 43,000 Palestinians in a little more than a year. However, a leading Illinois candidate suggests this voter group should prioritize local efforts at the grassroots to better influence US foreign policy.
Suzanne Akhras, a Democrat running for the 82nd Illinois State House district, noted a new survey jointly conducted by Arab News and YouGov, highlighting how the Middle East conflict is shaping Arab American voter choices in the presidential race between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump.
The Syrian American, who has lived in Illinois for 42 years, anticipates a higher turnout among Arab and Muslim voters in the Nov. 5 elections, driven in part by the prolonged Gaza war and its expansion into Lebanon.
However, she urged Arab and Muslim Americans to focus on “their neighbors’” immediate concerns to address both national and foreign policy issues effectively. “They must elect more Arab and Muslim Americans to local municipal and state offices to strengthen their voices,” she said on “The Ray Hanania Radio Show” on Thursday.
“I truly believe that if you want to change something on top, you need to start on the bottom,” she said. “You need to grow the grassroots. Having a strong grassroots base will affect policy down the line. It's not going to happen overnight. It’s going to take time.”
Noting this is her first candidacy for public office, she explained that building local relationships reinforces public understanding, which can ultimately impact Congressional votes. “Just being present in different spaces at the local level, I think, is really important,” she said. “Having those one-on-one conversations, people see your point of view when you humanize it.”
Akhras’s husband, Dr. Zaher Sahloul, is the founder of MedGlobal, a US-based NGO providing medical assistance to refugees in the Middle East and Europe. Akhras emphasized her mission to aid people both domestically and abroad, building alliances to establish a foundation for advocating broader foreign policy changes.
“At the local level, you can agitate, you can do things, you can bring up legislation. You have more power than we think,” she said, noting that Arab Americans “have not really channeled that energy on the local level to care about local issues. We should care about our neighbors.”
“We should care about what’s happening here — our taxes, the curriculum, education. I feel sometimes these are missed opportunities where we don’t advocate for what benefits all Illinoisans.”
Describing US policy in the Middle East as “unfortunate,” she said: “I’m so sad. It breaks my heart because we saw this in action in Syria. We’re seeing this now.”
She identified her top three issues for residents of the 82nd Illinois House District as women’s healthcare, community safety through responsible gun laws, and mental health resources.
The 82nd Illinois House District spans several major suburbs in Chicago’s western and southwestern areas, home to a significant Arab and Muslim population. “My top three issues are ensuring we protect women’s access to health, including reproductive rights and maternal health,” Akhras said. “They need support in every aspect.”
“Second is community safety and gun sense laws. I am a gun sense candidate through Moms Demand Action because no one is above experiencing gun violence at school, a mall, or anywhere.”
She added: “My third priority is mental health and bringing resources to the district. No one is immune to mental health issues.”
As a medical professional, Akhras helped found the nonprofit Syrian Community Network to support refugee resettlement, assisting people from the Middle East and beyond in partnership with the US State Department.
Meanwhile, Democratic nominee Kamala Harris’s attempt to win Arab American voters away from Green Party candidate Jill Stein faltered when her aides expelled a prominent Democrat from a meeting on Oct. 22, 2024.
Ahmed Ghanim, who ran in the Democratic primary for Michigan’s 11th Congressional seat, was invited to discuss issues with Harris and her team in Detroit. After screening and seating Ghanim, Harris aides confronted him and escorted him out without explanation — an experience he insists was no “mistaken identity” incident.
“There was no way they don’t know me,” Ghanim told “The Ray Hanania Radio Show” on Thursday. “I ran a full campaign here and spoke at the Royal Oak Democratic Club.”
Arab Americans criticized Harris for not taking a stronger stand against Israel’s retaliatory attack on Gaza in response to the deadly Oct. 7 assault by Hamas-led Palestinian militants, with many threatening to “abandon” her in favor of Stein.
“I was not engaged in any conversation around me. There was no provocation,” he said. “In order to toss someone out without explanation. Those are your base.”
Despite a detailed security check before the meeting, Ghanim said the Harris campaign later issued an apology but gave no reason for the expulsion. Some speculated it was due to his name’s similarity to Hamtramck Mayor Amer Ghalib, who had endorsed Trump weeks earlier.
The Gaza war and Harris’s perceived reluctance to oppose US military help for Israel have driven Arab American voters toward other alternatives. Ghanim’s removal further strained relations between the voter group and the Harris campaign, with attendees leaving the meeting without making any commitments.
“It affects the community because I’ve been active in politics for 20 years, and for us, politics means working in the Democratic Party,” Ghanim said. “But now, new generations are asking, why are we bound to the Democratic Party if they don’t respect us?”
Harris has held numerous meetings with Arab American leaders in swing states like Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania. But tensions have persisted, with pro-Harris billboards near Arab communities suggesting support for Stein helped elect Trump in 2016.
Polls show Harris and Trump are running neck and neck, with undecided voters seen as pivotal to the election. A YouGov poll commissioned by Arab News reflects the tight race and the preference many Arab Americans have for Stein.
“The Ray Hanania Radio Show” airs every Thursday on the U.S. Arab Radio Network on WNZK AM 690 Radio in Michigan at 5 p.m. EST, with a rebroadcast the following Monday. The show, sponsored by Arab News, is also available via podcast at ArabNews.com/rayradioshow and Facebook.com/ArabNews.
Ruling party set to win Georgia election amid opposition protests
- The election result would indicate a new setback to the Caucasus country’s bid to join the European Union and put it on a path of closer ties with neighboring Russia
TBILISI: Georgia’s ruling party was on course to win a closely watched election Saturday, according to partial results that were rejected as “falsified” by pro-Western opposition parties which denounced a “constitutional coup.”
The election result would indicate a new setback to the Caucasus country’s bid to join the European Union and put it on a path of closer ties with neighboring Russia.
Brussels has harshly criticized the policies of the Georgian Dream governing party and has said the election will determine Georgia’s chances of joining the bloc.
With votes from more than 70 percent of precincts counted, the central election commission said Georgian Dream was leading with 53 percent, while the main opposition union was on 38 percent.
The result would give Georgian Dream 89 seats in the 150-member parliament — enough to govern but short of the absolute majority it wants to make sweeping constitutional changes. Final results were expected on Sunday.
“Georgian Dream has secured a solid majority,” the party’s executive secretary, Mamuka Mdinaradze, told reporters.
Tina Bokuchava, leader of the opposition United National Movement (UNM), said the results were “falsified” and the election “stolen.”
“This is an attempt to steal Georgia’s future,” she said.
Nika Gvaramia, leader of the Akhali party, called it a “a constitutional coup” by the government. “Georgian Dream will not stay in power,” he said.
The opposition has staged mass demonstrations in recent months against what it says are the government’s attempts to curtail democratic freedoms and steer the country of four million off its pro-Western course.
Rival exit polls published after voting ended had shown the ruling party and the opposition ahead.
Pro-opposition Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili hailed a victory for “European Georgia” despite “attempts to rig” the vote after one exit poll said the opposition won.
After another showed a win for the government, Georgian Dream’s billionaire founder Bidzina Ivanishvili hailed the party’s “success in such a difficult situation.”
“I assure you, our country will achieve great success in the next four years. We will do a lot,” he said.
Hungary’s nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orban hailed Georgian Dream’s “overwhelming victory” on social media.
In Tbilisi, voters expressed diverging views over their country’s future direction as they cast ballots.
“Of course, I have voted for Europe. Because I want to live in Europe, not in Russia. So, I voted for change,” said Alexandre Guldani, an 18-year-old student.
But Giga Abuladze, who works in a kindergarten run by the Orthodox Patriarchate, said “We should be friends with Russia — and Europe.”
“There is an opposition and so be it but it mustn’t be disruptive. We need to help each other,” the 58-year-old said, praising Ivanishvili.
Opposition parties alleged incidents of ballot stuffing and intimidation during voting.
Zurabishvili said there had been “deeply troubling incidents of violence” at some polling stations.
A video circulated on social media showing a fight between dozens of men outside a polling station in suburban Tbilisi.
Another showed scuffles outside a campaign office in Tbilisi of the United National Movement (UNM), Georgia’s main opposition force, founded by jailed ex-president Mikheil Saakashvili.
The were also videos of an alleged ballot stuffing incident in the southeastern village of Sadakhlo.
“Global war party”
In power since 2012, the party initially pursued a liberal pro-Western policy agenda. But it has reversed course over the last two years.
Its campaign centered on a conspiracy theory about a “global war party” that controls Western institutions and is seeking to drag Georgia into the Russia-Ukraine war.
In a country scarred by Russia’s 2008 invasion, the party has offered voters bogeyman stories about an imminent threat of war, which only Georgian Dream could prevent.
In a recent TV interview, Ivanishvili painted a grotesque image of the West where “orgies are taking place right in the streets.”
Georgian Dream’s controversial “foreign influence” law this year, targeting civil society, sparked weeks of street protests and was criticized as a Kremlin-style measure to silence dissent.
The move prompted Brussels to freeze Georgia’s EU accession process, while Washington imposed sanctions on dozens of Georgian officials.
The ruling party has also mounted a campaign against sexual minorities. It has adopted measures that ban LGBTQ “propaganda,” nullify same-sex marriages conducted abroad, and outlaw gender reassignment.
The opposition coalition agreed a pro-European policy platform outlining far-reaching electoral, judicial and law enforcement reforms.
It had wanted an interim multi-party government to push through reforms before calling fresh elections.
