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Support for King Charles?

When King Charles ascended the throne, he didn’t ask for anyone’s opinion, but that doesn’t mean that people don’t have one. Since he succeeded his mother as Britain’s new monarch, backing for the new King has dramatically increased, in contrast to polls earlier this year. There was a similar increase in backing for his wife Camilla, the Queen Consort.

Now, 63% think the 73-year-old will be a good king, a rise of 24 percentage points since March, while 15% believe he will do a bad job, compared with 31% six months ago, the poll published on Tuesday found.

Over the years, Charles has been outspoken about his views. But many thought that it wasn’t his role to talk about issues like alternative medicine and climate change. His mother hid her personal opinions throughout her seven decades on the throne.

Charles’ supporters, though, say some of his views have been visionary, calling for action on the environment and sustainability decades before they became frontline issues for governments.

Since becoming king, Charles has repeatedly said he would follow his mother’s example, and in his first televised address to the nation, he said his role would not be the same now he was king.

“My life will of course change as I take up my new responsibilities,” he said. “It will no longer be possible for me to give so much of my time and energies to the charities and issues for which I care so deeply.”

Many who gathered at the ceremonies that have followed Elizabeth’s death have spoken warmly about the new monarch, with loud cries of “G-d Save the King” when he has appeared.

Despite the support, recent surveys have shown that younger generations see the monarchy as irrelevant, with young people far less supportive or just ambivalent about the monarchy.

Tuesday’s YouGov poll found 62% of respondents supported the institution, with 21% opposed.

That is a reflection of how backing for the royals has declined over the last few years amid a period of turmoil for the family that included the Meghan Markle debacle in which she and Prince Harry shunned the monarchy and allegations leveled against Prince Andrew, who had to quit his royal role.

Charles and Camilla were the targets of the public’s ire after the death of Princess Diana in 1997. As recently as five years ago, at the 20th anniversary of Diana’s death, polls suggested the majority of people had a generally negative perception of him.

Royal biographer Robert Lacey noted that so far Charles had successfully combined leading the mourning for Elizabeth, while providing authority, humanity and reassurance.

“There was a question mark people have always inevitably thought about him as the deputy,” Lacey told Reuters. “I think in the sad circumstances, it’s a very good start, though of course the sad circumstances help – the reverence and the reflectiveness prompted by death have helped as well.”

In Peru, the Old is New Again

Water scarcity is nothing new in Peru. In fact, it dates back hundreds of years.

This year, Guillermo Palmadera, the mayor of a remote area in Peru’s Andes, is tackling the water shortage in a unique way: by bringing the past to the present.

Worried that a harsh dry season could spoil his district’s crops of barley, alfalfa and local tubers in the Andes, Palmadera found a solution by turning to archaeology. A scientist found that parts of a old stone wall in the district were actually part of an ancient dam.

Kevin Lane, an archeologist at the

14 University of Buenos Aires, had identified 18 abandoned dams built in Pamparomas before the Spanish colonization of The Jewish Home | SEPTEMBER 15, 2022 the Americas. Lane proposed refurbishing an old dam. “The problem of water scarcity is not new in Peru,” Lane noted Water scarcity is so intertwined with Andean history, he added, that he believes water wars were fought there in the past. With financial support from Germany’s Gerda Henkel Foundation, Lane and local farmers built a 3-meter-high dam on top of old remains at 4,600 meters above sea level using stones, clay and modern materials such as geotextile. Those are easy to replace in an area prone to earthquakes and big temperature variations that can crack other materials like concrete. Using these materials also kept the costs low – around $100,000 as compared to the estimated $1 million using concrete. With the dam finished, 300 neighbors from the Pamparomas district are waiting for the rainy season to start. They expect to collect 15,000 cubic meters of water. “We are very impatient,” a resident said. “With the water we’ll feed some cows to make cheese, and guinea pigs for

Iran Deal Stalls

For now, it seems like the revival of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal has stalled.

According to U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Monday, “Iran seems either unwilling or unable to do what’s necessary to reach an agreement, and they continue to try to introduce extraneous issues to the negotiations that make an agreement less likely,”

He added, “What we’ve seen over the last week or so in Iran’s response to the proposal put forward by the European Union is clearly a step backward and makes prospects for an agreement in the near-term, I would say, unlikely.”

On Saturday, Blinken warned that Washington was “not about to agree to a deal that doesn’t meet our bottom-line requirements.”

The U.S. pulled out of the so-called Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action in May 2018 and reimposed sanctions, prompting Iran to abandon many of its own commitments and ramping up its stockpiles of enriched uranium beyond the limits set in the pact.

While there had been initial optimism about prospects for reviving the nuclear deal in recent weeks, it has gradually dissipated, with world powers claiming that Iran made unreasonable demands at the last minute.

On Sunday, Germany, France, and the United Kingdom issued a statement expressing “serious doubts” over Iran’s sincerity in seeking a nuclear agreement.

Israel’s Prime Minister Yair Lapid on Monday called on the U.S. and Europe to stop pursuing the “failed negotiations with Iran.” A senior official, who was traveling with Prime Minister Yair Lapid’s delegation to Berlin, said in a briefing with reporters that the “Americans decided to toughen up after the dialogue with the Israelis.”

Speaking on condition of anonymity, he added: “We gave information to the Europeans that proved that the Iranians are lying while talks are still happening.”

Israel has long opposed a revival of the 2015 accord.

A major obstacle in negotiations for the new deal has been Tehran’s insistence that the UN’s International Atomic Energy Agency drop a probe into unaccounted-for traces of enriched uranium at three sites in Iran, a point that the agency and the West have rebuffed out of hand.

President Biden has recognized that the original deal fails to address Iran’s ballistic missile program along with its malign activities abroad. However, he maintains that the JCPOA at least keeps Tehran’s nuclear program “in a box” and that other issues are only compounded when the program remains unrestrained.

Dutch Gov’t to Pay for Energy?

If you live in the Netherlands, be prepared for your energy bills to hit the roof. Like other European Union member countries, electricity costs are now skyhigh.

But being Dutch could spell relief for low-income families grappling with choking energy costs. According to a

16 proposal circulated on Monday in The Hague, the Dutch government could take over the payment of electricity and gas The Jewish Home | SEPTEMBER 15, 2022 bills for households unable to raise mon ey to pay them. The plan under consideration would create a relief fund of several hundred million euros to protect about one million households from power or gas cuts during the coming winter, according to a report by public broadcaster NOS, citing government sources. At present, people who fail to pay utility bills end up receiving debt counseling, which also comes at a cost to the state. In addition, according to the report, energy companies would also benefit from the scheme, as they would not have to deal with customers who could not pay their debts. For this reason, the Dutch government is considering picking up the costs, although it has previously stated that there is “no room for maneuver” in the budget for such assistance.

The bill is not yet approved, although that could take place next Friday in the Council of Ministers.

The cost of living in the Netherlands is around 6% cheaper than living in the U.S.

A Push to the Americas

In an effort to help move the production of semiconductors from Asia to the Americas, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is attempting to persuade officials from Mexico to join in the movement.

On Monday, Mexican Foreign Affairs Secretary Marcelo Ebrard said Blinken spoke to President Andrés Manuel López Obrador about recently passed legislation that would provide $28 billion in incentives for semiconductor production, $10 billion for new manufacturing of chips, and $11 billion for research and development.

López Obrador, for his part, explained his plan to make the northern border state of Sonora a leader in lithium, electric vehicle, and solar energy production. Lithium is a key component of batteries for electric vehicles.

The U.S. delegation was in Mexico for a new round of the so-called High Level Economic Dialogue. The U.S. side was represented by Blinken, Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, Deputy U.S. Trade Representative Jayme White, and Juan González, the National Security Council’s senior director for the Western Hemisphere.

The dialogue, which was launched by then-Vice President Joe Biden in 2013, resumed last year in Washington after stalling during the Trump administration.

The global shortage of semiconductors has slashed production of autos, household appliances and other goods, fueling high inflation.

Last month, López Obrador said the government had created the state-run lithium company that would be in charge of the exploration and extraction of the mineral. Mexico nationalized lithium production in May.

The two countries certainly have a lot to discuss in other areas. Foremost is immigration, with U.S. border officials saying that encounters with Mexican nationals have increased over the last year, while encounters with those originating from El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala have decreased.

Mexico is also suffering from widespread crippling violence. In response, López Obrador recently transferred the National Guard to the Defense Ministry, a move which has garnered international condemnation.

At López Obrador’s daily news conference on Monday, the president said he planned to submit a proposal to the U.N. aimed at ending Russia’s war in Ukraine. López Obrador, who did not join other countries by imposing economic sanctions on Russia, proposed creating a mediation commission made up of Pope Francis, the U.N. secretary general, and India’s prime minister that would open talks between the presidents of Russia and Ukraine.

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The results from Sweden’s election on Sunday night were too close to call, Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson said.

At first, it was thought that the incumbent left-wing coalition was swinging towards victory, but surprisingly, results showed that the right-wing bloc was pushing through with a possible win. It could take until the middle of the week until the final tallies are counted.

Crime and integration of communities were major issues in the campaign. Violence used to be contained to certain areas in the country. Now, it is spreading to parks and other public areas, concerning Swedes who have enjoyed a safe and peaceful country for decades.

Whatever the result, the far-right Sweden Democrats have made significant gains, appearing to become the country’s second-largest party behind the Social Democrats.

However, its leader, Jimmie Akesson, is unlikely to become prime minister even if the right-wing bloc wins the largest number of seats. Instead, Moderate Party leader Ulf Kristersson (whose party is set to come in third place) is likely to take that role, with the Sweden Democrats hoping to become part of his government.

Swedes are used to complex coalition politics but this election race has been viewed as nail-biting and at times confusing by voters from across the spectrum.

Born out of a neo-Nazi movement at the end of the 1980s, the anti-immigration Sweden Democrats entered parliament with 5.7% of the vote in 2010, increasing to 17.5% in 2018. It looks set to win more than 20% this time. Moderate Party leader Ulf Kristersson orchestrated a major shift in Swedish politics in 2019 by starting talks with the Sweden Democrats, who had long been treated as pariahs by other political parties.

Magdalena Andersson’s Social Democrats have governed Sweden since 2014 and have dominated the country’s political landscape since the 1930s.

Voter turnout in this election was expected to be high, with more than 80% of the country’s 7.8 million eligible voters expected to cast ballots.

Taliban Uses U.S. Helicopter for Training

Three people were killed and five injured after a Black Hawk helicopter crashed during a Taliban training exercise in Afghanistan last week.

The chopper crashed in Kabul due to a “technical problem,” the group’s defense ministry said on Saturday.

Video of the crash shows the helicopter seemingly nose-dive before it hit the ground.

Other footage shared on Twitter showed a cloud of smoke billowing around the alleged crash site.

The crash comes as three civilians were injured when a bicycle bomb exploded in the capital city, an attack possibly linked to Islamic State. The incidents are not believed to be connected.

Enayatullah Khwarizmi, spokesman for Afghanistan’s Ministry of Defense, confirmed the crash, saying, “An American Black Hawk helicopter, which was flown ... for training, crashed due to a technical problem inside the campus of the National Defense University.”

The Taliban took control of some American-made aircraft after they seized the country in mid-August last year. It remains unclear how many are operational.

In the mad, chaotic rush to leave Afghanistan as the Taliban took over the country in mere days, U.S. troops left mounds of military hardware and equipment on the ground. Some of the hardware and equipment, like helicopters and tanks, were deliberately damaged by U.S. troops who hoped to not let the military equipment end up in Taliban hands. Some of them, though, were still opera-

The Jewish Home | SEPTEMBER 15, 2022 We Don’t Want a King

The prime minister of Antigua and Barbuda said the Caribbean country will hold a referendum on whether to become a republic and remove King Charles III as the head of state within the next few years.

The former British colony gained its independence from the United Kingdom in 1981 but is one of 14 countries in addition to the UK where the British monarch is head of state. It is also a part of the Commonwealth, a 56-member organization of mostly former British territories.

After confirming King Charles III as the King of Antigua and Barbuda on Saturday, Prime Minister Gaston Browne told ITV News that he planned on holding a referendum on whether the country becomes a republic in the next three years.

“This is a matter that has to be taken to a referendum for the people to decide,” he said, adding that it is not mean to “represent any form of disrespect to the monarch. This is not an act of hostility, or any difference between Antigua and Barbuda and the monarchy.”

He explained that it would be “a final step to complete the circle of independence to become a truly sovereign nation.”

Questions were raised in March about the monarchy’s continued role in the region after the then-Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, William and Catherine, visited three Commonwealth realms – Belize, Jamaica, and the Bahamas – on a trip aimed at celebrating Queen Elizabeth’s 70 years on the throne.

The trip was beset with issues; they were told by Jamaica’s prime minister that the country was “moving on” and will attain its “true ambition” to be “independent.”

Last year, Barbados severed its final imperial links to Britain by declaring itself a republic.

Barbados’s decision marked the first time in nearly three decades that a realm opted to remove the British monarch as head of state. The last nation to do so was the island of Mauritius in 1992. Like that country, Barbados has remained part of the Commonwealth.

Antigua and Barbuda is a sovereign island country in the West Indies in the Americas, lying between the Caribbean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. It consists of two major islands, Antigua and Barbuda, and smaller islands. Around 97,000 people call the country their home.

Arrests in Iran for Assassination

This week, Tehran said that several people had been arrested over the assassination of a top general that officials have blamed on Israel.

Col. Hassan Sayyad Khodaei, a senior member of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, was shot dead outside his home, on a quiet street in Tehran, on May 22 by two assailants on a motorcycle.

“Several people have been arrested in

Days after the killing, the New York Times cited an unnamed intelligence official as saying Israel told U.S. officials it was behind the Khodaei assassination, which it carried out to warn Tehran against the continued operation of a covert unit the target helped lead.

According to the Times report, Israeli officials claimed Khodaei was deputy head of the so-called Unit 840, a shadowy division within the IRGC’s expeditionary Quds Force that carries out kidnappings and assassinations of figures outside of Iran, including against Israelis. Khodaei was specifically in charge of Unit 840’s Middle East operations, but he had been involved in attempted terror attacks