Good morning.
More than 250 Venezuelans deported from the US to El Salvador by the Trump administration have suffered systemic and prolonged torture and abuse including sexual assault in detention, according to a new report.
The report by Human Rights Watch (HRW) and Cristosal – a group investigating violations in Central America – says conditions at El Salvador’s giant Terrorism Confinement Center (Cecot) violate the UN’s standard minimal rules for the treatment of prisoners.
The organizations accuse the Trump administration of wilful complicity after it deported the detainees to El Salvador in March and April, arguing the administration was conscious that they faced mistreatment or even threats to their lives.
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What rights violations do they report? Being subjected to “constant beatings”, as well as other forms of ill treatment, including some cases of sexual violence, according to the report. They also report lengthy incommunicado detention and being provided with inadequate food.
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What do we know about who the detainees are? Despite the administration accusing the deportees of being members of Tren de Aragua, an organized crime gang, the report found that just 3% had been convicted in the US of a violent crime.
Fossil fuel projects ‘threaten the health of 2 billion people’ globally
More than 2 billion people – a quarter of the world’s population – live within three miles of active fossil fuel projects, according to a landmark piece of research that suggests their health is being threatened by the industry.
More than 18,300 oil, gas and coal sites are distributed across 170 countries worldwide, according to the Amnesty International report. Proximity to fossil fuel facilities heightens the risk of cancer, respiratory conditions, heart disease, premature birth and death.
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How many more sites are planned? About 3,500 new sites are proposed or under development, placing the health of a further 135 million people at risk.
US House to vote on bill that could end longest-ever government shutdown
The House on Wednesday was preparing to vote to end the shutdownafter a splinter group from the Democratic caucus voted with the Republicans despite a lack of concession on healthcare.
The House speaker, Mike Johnson, has instructed lawmakers to return to Washington after the chamber remained out of session for more than 50 days. Wednesday’s vote takes place on day 42 of the shutdown, which is the longest in US history and has led hundreds of thousands of furloughed federal workers to miss paychecks.
The stalemate looks set to end after a group of Senate Democrats broke off from their caucus to side with Republicans to advance legislation that would fund the federal government through the end of January, without extending the tax credits. It comes after the US supreme court on Tuesday enabled the Trump administration to continue withholding funds for food stamps, leaving millions of Americans in the lurch.
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When will the Snap funding freeze expire? After midnight on Thursday. Forty-two million Americans rely on the food aid program – here, a person who relies on Snap shares her experience.
In other news …
mRNA vaccines seem to activate an immune response that raises the median survival time by about 75% for certain cancer patients, according to a recent study published in Nature. While the findings are still being developed, the research could indicate a powerful new way of repurposing medicines that are already known to be safe.
Don’t miss this: The intersex campaigners fighting to limit surgery on children
A small proportion of babies are born with genitals that don’t neatly fit into the categories of typically male nor female. Many have historically been operated on, drawing on now-debunked gender-informed medical guidance theories from the 1960s. Lucy Knight speaks to the campaigners who want to limit the number of intersex children who are operated on.
Climate check: Supply boom in cheaper renewables will make end of fossil fuel era ‘inevitable’, says IEA
Transition away from fossil fuels is “inevitable” despite the current green backlash, the global energy watchdog has said, owing to the growing affordable supply of renewable energy. The sector will be the fastest-growing energy source in the next decade, according to the International Energy Agency’s annual report: the world is set to build more renewable energy projects in the next five years than have been created over the last 40.
Last Thing: Through Jell-O hell and back
Jell-O might seem pretty retro – but it’s back in vogue, no doubt thanks to its photogenic qualities (at least when you get it right). Tim Dowling embarked on a gelatine odyssey to work out how to make a few varieties, with mixed results. But the G&T Jell-O? That one was a winner.
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