WORLD ROUNDUPU.S.-Mexico Stand-Off Over Genetically Modified Corn | Troop Deaths and Injuries in Ukraine War Near 500,000 | How Geopolitics Is Complicating the Move to Clean Energy, and more

U.S. Escalates Trade Dispute with Mexico Over Limits on Genetically Modified Corn  (AP / VOA News) The U.S. government said Thursday that it was formally requesting a dispute settlement panel in its ongoing row with Mexico over Mexican limits on genetically modified corn.
The U.S. Trade Representative’s Office objected to Mexico’s ban on GM corn for human consumption and its plans to eventually ban it as animal feed.

Austria ex-Chancellor Kurz Charged with False Statement (DW)
Austria’s prosecutor’s office for economic crimes and corruption (WKStA) on Friday said former Chancellor Sebastian Kurz had been charged with giving a false statement. 
The 36-year-old resigned in 2021 amid a series of accusations in the aftermath of the “Ibizagate” scandal that enmeshed the far-right Freedom Party (FPÖ), Kurz’s former coalition partner.
The prosecution relates to statements made by Kurz to an investigative committee of the Austrian parliament.
Kurz allegedly downplayed his role in the appointment in June 2020 of Thomas Schmid, the boss of the state holding company Öbag.
Kurz claimed at the time that he was informed in advance about the decision, but did not participate any further.
However, because of evidence from chat messages, the public prosecutor’s office alleges that he was much more involved in the appointment.
The charge of giving false evidence under oath can carry a prison sentence of up to three years.

Troop Deaths and Injuries in Ukraine War Near 500,000, U.S. Officials Say  (Helene Cooper, Thomas Gibbons-Neff, Eric Schmitt and Julian E. Barnes, New York Times)
The total number of Ukrainian and Russian troops killed or wounded since the war in Ukraine began 18 months ago is nearing 500,000, U.S. officials said, a staggering toll as Russia assaults its next-door neighbor and tries to seize more territory.
The officials cautioned that casualty figures remained difficult to estimate because Moscow is believed to routinely undercount its war dead and injured, and Kyiv does not disclose official figures. But they said the slaughter intensified this year in eastern Ukraine and has continued at a steady clip as a nearly three-month-old counteroffensive drags on.
Russia’s military casualties, the officials said, are approaching 300,000. The number includes as many as 120,000 deaths and 170,000 to 180,000 injured troops. The Russian numbers dwarf the Ukrainian figures, which the officials put at close to 70,000 killed and 100,000 to 120,000 wounded.
But Russians outnumber Ukrainians on the battlefield almost three to one, and Russia has a larger population from which to replenish its ranks.
Ukraine has around 500,000 troops, including active-duty, reserve and paramilitary troops, according to analysts. By contrast, Russia has almost triple that number, with 1,330,000 active-duty, reserve and paramilitary troops — most of the latter from the Wagner Group.

How Geopolitics Is Complicating the Move to Clean Energy  (Peter S. Goodman, New York Times)
Indonesia boasts the earth’s largest reserves, making it something like the Saudi Arabia of nickel. But harvesting and refining those stocks is largely dependent on investment and technology from Chinese companies. And that has limited Indonesia’s access to the United States.
In Washington, the Biden administration has proffered tens of billions of dollars in tax credits to spur electric vehicle manufacturing. To qualify, cars sold in the United States must include an increasing share of parts and materials produced either in domestic factories or in countries deemed friendly to American interests.
Some within the Biden administration argue that this stance is shortsighted. Climate change is an existential threat. Nickel is a central component of the transition away from fossil fuels, making access to Indonesia’s stocks an objective of greatest urgency. But that logic has failed to win over powerful administration figures — especially on the National Security Council — who maintain that nothing should be subordinated to limiting China’s might.

Blood Simple. Several Russian Journalists and Activists Were Poisoned in Europe (Michael Weiss, The Insider)
Elena Kostyuchenko, Natalia Arno, and Irina Babloyan, have long worked to expose the Kremlin’s lies. While traveling through Europe in the last year, each was poisoned by unknown toxins. Their cases remain unsolved. Why?