New York Post - USA (2020-12-01)

New York Post, Tuesday, December 1, 2020

nypost.com

Members of OPEC are expected to
continue to keep oil production lev-
els lower to boost prices after a vir-
tual meeting Monday, as the corona-
virus pandemic has dramatically
dampened demand for crude, ac-
cording to a report.
OPEC, led by Saudi Arabia, must
reach an agreement among its mem-
bers and those in the group known
as OPEC Plus, led by Russia, which
meets Tuesday, ABC News reported.
Algerian Energy Minister Abdel-
madjid Tebboune said OPEC
reached an agreement to keep pro-
duction levels down.
“There is consensus at the OPEC
level... on extending the current 7.
million barrels per day cuts until...
the end of March,” Tebboune, presi-
dent of the coalition, said before
Monday’s meeting. But The Wall
Street Journal reported that mem-
bers have decided to put off making
any decision until Tuesday so they
can meet with Russian oil producers.
As coronavirus cases continue to
surge globally, the cartel is trying to
determine how long demand will be
down, the report said.
Some experts fear the global mar-
ket will never fully recover because
of COVID-19 lockdowns and travel
restrictions, and efforts to cut fossil-
fuel use in the battle against global
warming.
Cartel members have been under
pressure for months as they restrict
output.
“There becomes too much tempta-
tion for countries to exceed their
production targets.” Jacques Rous-
seau, managing director at Clear-
view Energy Partners, told ABC
News. Mark Moore, Wires

OPEC eyes

keeping

output low

On Dec. 31, China reported a clus-
ter of pneumonia cases of unknown
origin to the World Health Organi-
zation. By Jan. 31, WHO declared an
outbreak of a novel coronavirus a
global health emergency. Come
March 11, the world was facing
down the COVID-19 pandemic.
Parents sat children down to ex-
plain what a pandemic is. Related
terms stormed into everyday con-
versation. Over time, we were pan-
demic baking and pandemic dating
and rescuing pandemic puppies
from shelters.
All of which led Dictionary.com
on Monday to declare “pandemic”
its 2020 word of the year.
Searches on the site for the word
spiked more than 13,500 percent on
March 11. AP

‘Pandemic’ a

viral search

New Zealand authorities filed

criminal charges Monday against 10

organizations and three people in

connection with the volcanic erup-

tion on White Island, where 22 peo-

ple were killed and dozens left with

horrific burns last year.

Safety watchdog WorkSafe inves-

tigated why 47 tourists were at the

site in December 2019, just weeks

after the threat alert level was raised.

“This deeply tragic event was un-

expected but that does not mean it

was unforeseeable,” chief executive

Phil Parkes said. “The victims...

had a reasonable expectation that

they could go to the island knowing

that the organizations involved had

done all they were required to do to

look after their health and safety.”

Parkes declined to reveal who was

facing charges. But Prime Minister

Jacinda Ardern said two government

agencies were being prosecuted —

GNS Science, responsible for moni-

toring volcanic activity, and the Na-

tional Emergency Management

Authority. Yaron Steinbuch, Wires

NZ death-volcano charges

A post-Thanksgiving dinner brawl

turned deadly in Chicago when the

host’s boyfriend was killed after

confronting a guest who’d dug into

leftovers with his bare hands, prose-

cutors said.

James Dixon, 29, is facing a first-

degree murder charge in the stab-

bing of Vincell Jackson, 52, who

prosecutors said escorted Dixon to

the door of a Marquette Park resi-

dence at about 3:15 a.m. Friday over

the uncouth act, officials said.

On the porch, Dixon stabbed Jack-

son nine times, leaving him with

wounds to his head and face, and

fled as the older man held onto a

banister, Assistant State’s Attorney

Susie Bucaro told Judge Susana Or-

tiz on Sunday.

Jackson was later pronounced

dead at a hospital and Dixon was ar-

rested about eight hours later at a

hospital where he had gone for cuts

on his neck and finger.

An attorney for Dixon claimed he

had acted in self-defense.

Joshua Rhett Miller

Thanksgiving-leftovers slay

By Kevin Sheehan

and Bruce GoldinG

Metal-and-concrete shields

that are supposed to protect the

Kosciuszko Bridge from poten-

tial terror attacks are being held

together by hundreds of nylon

straps, The Post has learned.

Photos shot by The Post show

that the shields around all 56 ca-

bles on the Queens-bound side

of the bridge appear to have

been reinforced with black

strapping, with some shields also

showing discoloration where

other straps were replaced.

The Post counted a total of 339

black ratchet straps cinched

around the two-part shields,

some of which had lengthwise

gaps between the pieces that

were nearly two inches wide.

One device was being secured

with 14 straps, and several shields

were marked by a white, chalky

buildup around their lower edges.

A pending federal suit filed

earlier this year alleges that the

anti-terror armor was plagued

by “aggressive corrosion” and

“severe delamination and sepa-

ration of the parts” that posed “a

severe and imminent threat to

public safety, the implications of

which cannot be overstated.”

Maryland-based plaintiff Hard-

wire LLC claims in court papers

that blame for the screw-up lies

with a former employee who

stole the company’s technology

and misused it to underbid

Hardwire for a contract to build

and install the shields.

A day after exclusively report-

ing on the suit in March, The

Post spotted defendant Irvin

“Skip” Ebaugh IV and an assist-

ant tightening one of three metal

straps around a shield with sec-

tions that didn’t appear flush.

At the time, a spokesman for the

bridge’s construction company —

a joint venture of Skanska, Kiewit

and ECCO III — claimed that

work “was previously scheduled

and identified in a routine fall

2019 bridge inspection.”

Hardwire founder and CEO

George Tunis told The Post that

the Kosciuszko’s cable-protec-

tion job appeared to be “an engi-

neering disaster in progress.”

“The armor parts are literally

hanging by straps,” he said.

“They are a threat to the public if

they fall off.”

The state Department of

Transportation, which oversaw

the replacement of the 80-year-

old Kosciuszko, has previously

called the allegations in Hard-

wire’s suit “categorically false”

and said the straps that Ebaugh

installed in March had “nothing

to do with the lawsuit or the

safety of the bridge.”

A spokesman for the DOT said

Monday that the bridge is “

percent safe.”

SKE Joint Venture did not re-

turned a request for comment. A

defense lawyer said that Ebaugh

“has no comment at this time.”

Nylon holding up

Kosciuszko shields

Photos: Matthew McDermott

‘Hanging by StrapS’:‘Hanging by StrapS’:‘Hanging by StrapS’:‘Hanging by StrapS’: Protective shields around cables on the Kosciuszko Bridge Protective shields around cables on the Kosciuszko Bridge Protective shields around cables on the Kosciuszko Bridge Protective shields around cables on the Kosciuszko Bridge Protective shields around cables on the Kosciuszko Bridge Protective shields around cables on the Kosciuszko Bridge Protective shields around cables on the Kosciuszko Bridge Protective shields around cables on the Kosciuszko Bridge

are secured by black nylon (inset) that one contractor calls “a threat if they fall off.”