TILTON, United States: Peace activists are urging US voters considering candidates for November’s presidential election to instead write “ceasefire” on their ballots in protest over Joe Biden’s handling of the Israel-Hamas war.
“Vote Ceasefire” — a coalition of local anti-war groups — says the effort allows Americans to give voice to their anger at the Democratic president over the mounting toll of civilian deaths in Gaza as Israel responds to the deadly October 7 Hamas attacks.
Voters in New Hampshire will pick their preferred candidate in either the Democratic or Republican nominating contests on Tuesday but the push is aimed at progressives wishing to put the White House on notice.
“For the last three months, as the world has watched the war in Gaza continue to worsen, the Biden administration has refused all demands to call for a ceasefire and to end US support for Israel,” the campaign posted on X, formerly Twitter.
“So we’re taking our fight to the place Democrats care about the most — the polls. While Joe Biden will almost certainly win the Democratic nomination later this year, he must know that the road to get there will be long and hard if he refuses to listen to his constituents.”
The October 7 attack resulted in the death of around 1,140 people in Israel, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on the latest official Israeli figures.
In response, Israel has carried out a relentless air, land and sea offensive that has killed at least 25,295 people in Gaza, around 70 percent of them women, children and adolescents, according to the latest toll issued Monday by the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza.
“Vote Ceasefire” organizers have not indicated what kind of turnout would constitute a success for the campaign and it is unclear how much affect it will have.
Biden himself is not on the ballot and is largely ignoring the contest, after New Hampshire officials clashed with the national party over scheduling.
A separate campaign is urging supporters to write Biden’s name on the ballot in exactly the same manner that “Vote Ceasefire” is promoting.
The outcome will not affect the nomination process in any case, as the Democratic National Committee has declared the New Hampshire primary illegitimate.
Biden is expected to win the nomination comfortably.
“I’m doing this as over 80 percent of Democratic voters are in favor of a ceasefire for Gaza and are opposed to the continuing slaughter of civilian men, women and children in Palestine, with the United States-supplied weapons,” campaign volunteer and former Democratic state representative Chris Balch said in a video posted to X.
But self-help author Marianne Williamson, who is on the Democratic ballot, said the “Vote Ceasefire” campaign was doing nothing to help the citizens of Gaza.
“A way to actually help create a ceasefire would be to vote for a candidate who has called for one from the very beginning,” she posted in response to the campaign’s social media statements.
Gaza activists urge voters to write ‘ceasefire’ on US primary ballots
https://arab.news/5qsfe
Gaza activists urge voters to write ‘ceasefire’ on US primary ballots
- A separate campaign is urging supporters to write Biden’s name on the ballot in exactly the same manner that “Vote Ceasefire” is promoting
Philippines discovers new gas deposit to boost depleted reserves
- Source near Malampaya field believed to contain 2.8 billion cubic meters of gas
- It will not take much time to access the gas, expert says, as infrastructure is ready
MANILA: The Philippines on Monday announced a new natural gas discovery, with the reservoir near the country’s largest offshore site estimated to be enough to power about 5.7 million households per year.
About 2.8 billion cubic meters (98 billion cubic feet) of gas were found 5km east of the Malampaya field near the island of Palawan, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said in a Facebook video.
“This is equivalent to nearly 14 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity per year. That means it could supply power to more than 5.7 million households, 9,500 buildings, or nearly 200,000 schools,” Marcos said.
“This helps Malampaya’s contribution and strengthens our domestic gas supply for many years to come. Initial testing showed that the well flowed at 60 million cubic feet (1.7 million cubic meters) per day.”
Malampaya, discovered in 1989 and operational since 2001, is the Philippines’ most important natural gas field, located off the west coast of Palawan Island. It is also a key part of the country’s energy infrastructure.
It supplies natural gas for electricity generation in Luzon, the main island of the Philippines, powering several major plants.
Prime Energy Resources Development, which manages the Malampaya project, said in a statement that the new reservoir, Malampaya East-1, was discovered by a “a fully Filipino-led team, reflecting the country’s growing capability in upstream energy development.”
Prime Energy’s well data indicate that Malampaya East-1 volumes are equivalent to about one-third of the remaining producible gas volumes at the original Malampaya.
Against the backdrop of Malampaya’s decline, it will help to secure the country’s gas supplies. It will also keep operational the expensive infrastructure that was installed to operate the legacy field.
“The original Malampaya was like 2.3 trillion cubic feet, so it’s like 4 percent of the original find. I still think that is significant in light of the decline of the Malampaya gas field,” said Alberto Dalusung III, energy transition adviser at the Institute for Climate and Sustainable Cities.
The new gas discovery benefits from ready access to processing facilities such as the 504 km undersea pipeline that was built for Malampaya, which will make it available sooner.
Dalusung estimated it would take up to two years for Filipino consumers to benefit from the new resources.
“The infrastructure is already there,” he said. “You don’t have to build the pipeline. All you have to do is find new gas resources, which we did.”
