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Tag: experts

Egg surcharge hits diners’ wallets: Experts say consumers should fear menu price hikes more

FOX Business’ Jeff Flock has the details from a farm in Columbus, New Jersey, on ‘Varney & Co.’

Consumers are being hit with temporary surcharges due to the ongoing egg shortage in the U.S. food system. But experts told FOX Business that these surcharges are the lesser of two evils when compared to overall menu price increases.

Michelle Korsmo, the CEO of the National Restaurant Association (NAR), said that these surcharges are a temporary measure and can be removed from menus when macroeconomic conditions improve.

“When a restaurant operator adds a surcharge to their menu in a situation like this, it’s generally because they are optimistic that it will be resolved quickly and because they want to be transparent with their customers about their rising costs,” Korsmo told FOX Business.

For instance, the Waffle House, a Southern breakfast food chain, added a temporary 50 cent-per-egg surcharge to all of its menus on Monday.

WAFFLE HOUSE, OTHER COMPANIES ADD EGG SURCHARGE AMID SHORTAGE

The company blamed the ongoing egg shortage caused by highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) – or bird flu – for the dramatic increase in egg prices, saying that “consumers and restaurants are being forced to make difficult decisions.”

While the company didn’t specify when the charge would be removed, it said that it will adjust or remove the surcharge when market conditions allow.

A menu in a Waffle House restaurant displays a sticker advising customers of a 50 cent price hike per egg “due to the nationwide rise in the cost of eggs,” in Houston, Texas, on Feb. 6, 2025. (Gianrigo Marletta/AFP via Getty Images / Getty Images)

Changing the price on a menu will often add to an operator’s costs. It also doesn’t give them the opportunity to have the same transparency with customers about why the price is changing, Korsmo added.

TRUMP’S PROPOSED TARIFFS COULD DRIVE UP FOOD PRICES, EXPERTS SAY

“I think that most of the time, what we see with other types of inflation . . . it never really comes back down as low as it was in a pre-inflationary period, which is where we just get this kind of ongoing sense of a tougher economy,” Korsmo said.

Customers at a restaurant at the Ferry Building in San Francisco, California, US, on Friday, May 31, 2024. (David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images / Getty Images)

Sylvain Charlebois, professor and senior director of the Agri-Food Analytics Lab, highlighted that surcharges can be adjusted or removed as costs fluctuate, whereas menu price changes are more permanent and noticeable.

“Customers tend to react more negatively to visible price hikes than to separate fees, even if the net cost remains the same,” said Charlebois. “While consumers may dislike extra fees, surcharges provide transparency by itemizing specific costs, such as supply chain disruptions, labor expenses or credit card processing fees,”

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Forrest Leighton, senior vice president of marketing at customer intelligence platform Chatmeter, told FOX Business that many restaurant customers are questioning the value of higher-priced menu items.

Chatmeter helps restaurants analyze customer feedback to inform decisions around menu items, prices, and operations. Its data shows that the number of pricing-related reviews calling restaurants “overpriced” rose more than 40% in 2024, while the number mentioning the word “cheap” dropped over 10%.

However, surcharges can provide customers with transparency around why the price is going up, which helps make it more palatable, Leighton said, adding that loyal customers are less likely to walk away from a price increase they deem to be temporary and beyond the brand’s control, which surcharges often are.

Diners on the outdoor patio of a restaurant in Atlanta, Georgia, on Monday, Sept. 16, 2024. (Photographer: Elijah Nouvelage/Bloomberg via Getty Images / Getty Images)

Max Chodorow, one of the owners of Jean’s in New York City, told FOX Business that he wished he could add a surcharge, but legally, he can’t in the city.

“Our costs are constantly growing, and there’s only so much we can raise prices with consumer psychology,” Chodorow said.

Chodorow said that a surcharge is easier to implement because people primarily react to sticker shock of the menu price. The only surcharge that restaurants are allowed to apply in New York state is an auto gratuity on parties over a certain size or special events, and it needs to be disclosed to the customer along certain guidelines, according to Chodorow.

They are not allowed to do anything with the fee “beyond pass it directly to tipped employees,” Chodorow said.

February 7, 2025
Experts slam UN action plan for combating antisemitism: ‘phony exercise in futility’

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Last month, the United Nations (U.N.) released its “Action Plan to Enhance Monitoring and Response to Antisemitism,” partially in response to a “surge in antisemitic incidents targeting Jews and Jewish institutions in Europe, the United States of America and elsewhere.

Anne Bayefsky, the director of the Touro Institute on Human Rights and the Holocaust and the president of Human Rights Voices, told Fox News Digital that the Action Plan was a “phony exercise in futility,” that was “produced by what she claimed is the leading global purveyor of antisemitism…to pretend to do something to combat antisemitism.”

Developed by the U.N. Alliance of Civilizations (UNAOC), the U.N.’s Action Plan emphasizes that “the ability to understand and identify antisemitism is crucial to global efforts to combat hatred and prejudice.” Despite the critical nature of understanding antisemitism, the plan wholly fails to define what constitutes antisemitism.

The Action Plan mentions, but does not adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance definition of antisemitism, which 45 member states have endorsed and which Bayefsky said “the vast majoriy of major Jewish organizations and institutions around the world accept,” because it “recognizes the connection with Zionism and Israel.”

ISRAELI PRESIDENT HERZOG HIGHLIGHTS ANTISEMITISM IN UN SPEECH AS NEW REORT SHOWS SHOCKING TREND

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addresses the 78th session of the United Nations General Assembly on Friday, Sept. 22, 2023. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

“The U.N. champions the idea that victims of hate and intolerance define their own experience of discrimination, isolation, and violence – except when it comes to Jews,” she said.

UNAOC Director Nihal Saad was asked by Fox News Digital why the Action Plan does not define antisemitism and whether lacking this definition would hinder efforts to identify and curtail anti-Jewish prejudice.

Saad said that “the Action Plan underlines the importance of understanding antisemitism rather than focusing on the definition of antisemitism and entering into a debate about it, which proved distracting from the real goal here, which is enhancing our responses to antisemitism.”

Referencing other issues where there is no consensus over “definition of the subject matter,” Saad explained that a lack of a “definitive agreement among member states on the definition of terrorism” had not hindered the development of the United Nations Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy, which Saad called “a unique global instrument to enhance national, regional and international efforts to counter terrorism.”

Edmund Fitton-Brown, a senior advisor to the Counter Extremism Project and a former U.N. Monitoring Team coordinator, told Fox News Digital that “the CT[counterterrorism] strategy is a mess.”

ISRAEL ORDERS UNRWA TO CEASE OPERATIONS IN COUNTRY OVER TERROR TIES: ‘MISERABLY FAILED IN ITS MANDATE’

Secretary-General Antonio Guterres delivers a statement at U.N. headquarters on the situation in the Middle East following the terrorist attack by Hamas on Israel. (Lev Radin/Pacific Press/LightRocket via Getty Images)

Though he said that some U.N. efforts to counter terrorism are effective, he said that given the lack of agreement over what constitutes terrorism, the U.N. particularly struggles with identifying groups like Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis as terrorists. “If something really dramatic happens, then often a group will find it is being accused of being a terrorist group,” Fitton-Brown said, noting how the U.N. condemned the Houthis in the aftermath of their 2022 attack on Abu Dhabi airport but failed to designate them as a terror group. “On Hezbollah, the U.N. has been hopelessly weak,” he explained.

He said that Hamas was “a good example of where the absence of a definition is problematic because you get something like the 10/7 attack…and the U.N. just completely failed in its response to that, and that is partly because of its failure to judge that a group that adopts terrorist tactics is a terrorist group.”

Bayefsky said that the U.N. Security Council “has never condemned Hamas for October 7th because they can’t agree on what counts as terrorism. That isn’t a success story. It’s a malevolent dereliction of duty.”

A view of the United Nations Headquarters building in New York City on July 16, 2024. (Jakub Porzycki/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

No Plan for Self-Monitoring

Among the Action Plan’s proposals are the implementation of training modules to help staff “recognize and understand antisemitism,” and the requirement that senior U.N. officials “continue to denounce antisemitic manifestations as and when they occur.”

Bayefsky questioned the implementation of these plans. “The U.N. says it is committed to educating U.N. staff about antisemitism without knowing what counts as antisemitism. Any actual educator gives that lesson plan an ‘F,’” she explained.

ISRAEL BANS UN SECRETARY-GENERAL OVER ANTI-ISRAEL ACTIONS: ‘DOESN’T DESERVE TO SET FOOT ON ISRAELI SOIL’

U.N. Special Rapporteur on the Palestinian Territories Francesca Albanese attends the Maghreb-Mashreq Social Forum in Tunis, Tunisia, on May 11, 2024. (Mohamed Mdalla/Anadolu via Getty Images)

From the highest levels, Bayefsky claimed that the world body is not currently standing up against anti-Jewish prejudice. Though U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told the world on International Holocaust Remembrance Day that “we must condemn antisemitism wherever and whenever it appears,” Bayefsky said that “if the when and the who are inside the U.N., [Guterres is] not only sitting down, he goes mute.”

“Take the cases of U.N. Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese and U.N. Commission of Inquiry head Navi Pillay, both widely condemned for egregious antisemitic behavior,” Bayefsky claimed. “The Secretary-General claims their ‘independence’ leaves him impotent. Nothing prevents him from using his platform to speak out about right and wrong. He’s mute by choice.”

Fox News Digital asked Saad whether the Action Plan would allow for the U.N. to make critical comments when special rapporteurs make antisemitic remarks in the name of the institution. “Special Procedure Mandate Holders/Special Rapporteurs are independent human rights experts appointed by the U.N. Human Rights Council,” Saad responded. “They act in an individual capacity, and exercise their functions in accordance with their mandate, through a professional, impartial assessment of facts based on internationally recognized human rights standards. The views expressed by special procedures mandate holders remain those of the mandate holder and may not represent positions held [by] the wider United Nations system.”

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Fox News Digital asked Farhan Haq, spokesperson for Guterres, whether the Action Plan would allow him to comment on antisemitism emanating from the U.N., including from its special rapporteurs. “The Secretary-General has no authority over the independent experts who report to the Human Rights Council, and he does not comment on their activities or remarks,” Haq said. “But the UNAOC plan is designed to educate U.N. staff about antisemitism.”

Bayefsky said that the U.N. “can’t combat antisemitism without acknowledging its guilt and starting with ‘mea culpa.’”

Neither Navi Pillay nor Francesca Albanese responded to Fox News Digital questions concerning the allegations of antisemitism leveled against them.

February 6, 2025
Migrants at Guantanamo could result in legal challenges, experts say

The Trump administration’s plan to detain some of the most dangerous illegal immigrants arrested in the United States in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, could raise legal concerns and challenges, which could slow efforts to deport them to their home countries, experts say.

President Donald Trump has instructed the Pentagon to prepare the facility to house up to 30,000 “criminal illegal aliens” at the U.S. military base. Flights to the facility began this week.

Around 150 Marines are at the Naval Station and have set up tents for around 1,000 migrants in the other part of the installation. But those facilities with latrines and showers are not yet ready for an onslaught of 30,000 migrants as promised by Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.

TRUMP-ERA SOUTHERN BORDER SEES MIGRANT ENCOUNTERS PLUMMET BY OVER 60% AS NEW POLICIES KICK IN

A migrant prepares to board a flight to Guantanamo Bay. The detention of illegal immigrants at Guantanamo could raise legal challenges, experts say. (Department of Homeland Security)

Among the uncertainties of the plan, what’s inevitable is that those detained will most likely file petitions for a writ of habeas corpus, which asks a judge to review the legality of the prisoner’s detention, said Eugene Fidell, a visiting lecturer at Yale Law School who teaches a course on military law and Guantanamo Bay.

“Nothing has changed in terms of that basic guideline, which means that the writ of habeas corpus, which is protected by the U.S. Constitution in so many words, applies there,” Fidell told Fox News. “And what that means is that the people who are being taken to Guantanamo as part of the administration’s current effort are going to have access to the United States District Court.”

The first 10 criminal migrants who arrived this week will be held under U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) control in a separate wing of the detention facility where the 15 remaining 9/11 military combatants, including Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the principal architect of the 9/11 terror attack, are housed.

TRUMP ADMIN DEPORTING ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS CONVICTED OF A CRIME IS WILDLY POPULAR AMONG NEW YORK VOTERS: POLL

In this photo reviewed by U.S. military officials, the control tower of Camp VI detention facility is seen on April 17, 2019, in Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, Cuba. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)

The arrival of illegal immigrants to Guantanano will almost certainly result in legal challenges, wrote John B. Bellinger III, adjunct senior fellow for international and national security law at the Council on Foreign Relations.

“Unauthorized immigrants transferred (or threatened with potential transfer) from the United States to Guantánamo will file a vast array of legal challenges, providing a lot of business for the courts,” he wrote in an article published Tuesday. “Haitian and Cuban refugees previously held on Guantánamo—as well as many of the terrorism suspects—filed numerous suits challenging the detention and conditions, several of which were ultimately heard by the Supreme Court.”

Hegseth said the administration knows there will be legal challenges but that securing the border requires bold measures.

“You’ve got the hardened facility for Tren de Aragua, violent gang member types who need that kind of lock down. And then you have on the other side of the island of Guantanamo Bay Naval Station, a place built for migrants, for those who peacefully are going to be extricated out of the United States,” he said. “We know there will be legal challenges.”

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, right, pats Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr., on his shoulder as he answers questions from reporters after arriving at the Pentagon on Monday. (AP Photo/Kevin Wolf)

“Here’s what we know. What President Trump knows is that border security and internal enforcement is national security. Because we were invaded for the last four years under Joe Biden,” Hegseth added. “Tens of millions of people entered our country. We have no idea who they are. We’re going to find those here illegally, prioritizing those with violent or sketchy past and use Guantanamo Bay as a transit way to remove them and send them back to their home country.”

Bellinger noted that all the prior cases by those detained at Guantanamo involved people detained outside the U.S. Those arrested in the U.S. will be able to file additional claims, he said.

“Unauthorized immigrants detained in the United States also have a right to counsel and to be visited by a consular official from their country of nationality,” he said. “Such immigrants may claim that their transfer to Guantanamo will interfere with their ability to exercise these rights.”

DOZENS OF ILLEGALS ARRESTED IN TRUMP’S HOME COUNTY IN FLORIDA

In 2008, a landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision gave anyone sent to Gitmo the right to habeas corpus, meaning anyone at Guantanamo can challenge the legality of their detention. The ruling has played a factor that has slowed the government’s ability to complete the prosecution of Mohammed and the other 9/11 planners.

“This is not a convenient venue,” said Fidell. “It’s not a venue that insulates the government’s activities from the oversight of the federal courts.”

Fidell noted that previous administrations have resisted efforts to get the federal court to exercise oversight of Guantanamo, resulting in a series of court cases, notably the U.S. Supreme Court case of Zadvydas v. Davis, noting that those cases dealing with the indefinite detention of illegal immigrants could apply.

“What you’re going to see is an intersection of habeas corpus law generally with the very robust body of law that has grown up over the years in the immigration field,” he said. “And the notion that people can be held for prolonged periods of time is one that I think is going to meet with a lot of resistance in the courts.”

TOM HOMAN CALLS DESIGNATING CARTELS AS TERRORIST ORGANIZATIONS A ‘GAME CHANGER’

This image shows migrants boarding a flight to Guantanamo Bay. (Department of Homeland Security)

In the Zadvydas case, the high court ruled that the plenary power doctrine doesn’t allow the indefinite detention of immigrants under order of deportation whom no other country will accept. The case stems from Kestutis Zadvydas, who was a resident alien in the U.S. and was ordered deported in 1994 because of his criminal record. Zadvydas was born to Lithuanian parents in Germany, but was not a citizen of either country, neither of which would accept him.

In 1995, he filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus in a federal court, which was eventually granted and he was released under supervision. The government appealed and the ruling was overturned.

From 1991 to 1993 and from 1994 to 1996, part of the base at Guantanamo was used to house large numbers of Haitians and Cubans who fled their countries on boats and rafts to claim asylum in the U.S.

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In addition to legal challenges that could slow the deportation process, housing these migrants could cost taxpayers millions of dollars.

“There’s a theatrical dimension to this. But this is it. This is an operetta for which the seats are extremely expensive,” Fidell said. “We know that it is costing the taxpayers a fortune to keep Guantanamo open for the handful of people being tried by the military commission, as well as the even smaller handful of people who are simply being held pending repatriation or being sent somewhere that will accept them who are long-term detainees.”

“Congress is going to have to appropriate some money because it’s not going to be free for the taxpayers,” he added. “I think this is a battle that’s going to be fought out not at Guantanamo. It’s going to be fought out at John Marshall Place in Washington, D.C., where the federal court sits.”

February 6, 2025
Foreign policy experts split on whether Trump will follow through with Gaza takeover: ‘It’s a wakeup call’

Middle East and foreign policy experts are split on President Donald Trump’s eyebrow-raising call for the U.S. to “take over” Gaza, with some arguing it is a reversal of his “America First” policy and others saying it is just the catalyst required to secure lasting change in the region.

Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., led the charge opposing Trump’s proposal on Wednesday, declaring on X that taking over Gaza would be “yet another occupation to doom our treasure and spill our soldiers’ blood.” Some Middle East experts see Trump’s move differently, however.

James Carafano, a senior counselor at the Heritage Foundation, argued that Trump’s proposal was “dressing down to the entire international community.”

“[It’s] a wake up call that the world really needs to get serious. The notion that we could ever have a safe harbor in the Middle East where people can organize something like Oct. 7 again is unthinkable,” he told Fox News Digital on Wednesday. “We are not going back to the bad old days of a hellhole run by Hamas and funded by UNRWA, so people need to start putting some serious equity on the table.”

‘LEVEL IT’: TRUMP SAYS US WILL ‘TAKE OVER’ GAZA STRIP, REBUILD IT TO STABILIZE MIDDLE EAST

THE HISTORY OF GAZA AMID TRUMP’S PLAN TO REBUILD ENCLAVE

Michael Singh, managing director at the Washington Institute for Near East policy, argued that Trump’s offer is meant to be a catalyst for the region, rather than a real plan for the U.S. to deploy in Gaza.

“President Trump obviously likes to be provocative, and his proposal on Gaza is certainly that,” Singh told Fox. “It will elicit strong reactions in the region, but at its heart are two principles that are spot on: America needs to take a leadership role in the Middle East on one hand, but our regional partners need to step up and do more on the other.”

U.S. President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu answer questions during a joint press conference in the East Room at the White House in Washington, D.C., on Feb. 4, 2025. ( REUTERS/Leah Millis)

“I do not think the U.S. will take over Gaza; but if President Trump’s salvo prompts regional states to step forward with practical ideas of their own and to do more to address regional crises, it will have served its purpose,” he added.

TRUMP’S MIDDLE EAST ENVOY EXPLAINS GAZA TAKEOVER PROPOSAL: ‘MORE HOPE’ FOR PALESTINIANS’ FUTURES

While delivering remarks alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanhyahu on Tuesday, Trump said that Palestinians should be settled outside the Gaza Strip, and that the U.S. will transform the region, which he described as a “demolition site.”

“The U.S. will take over the Gaza Strip,” Trump declared, saying, “we’ll own it, and be responsible for dismantling all of the dangerous unexploded bombs and other weapons on the site … level it out, create an economic development that will supply unlimited numbers of jobs and housing for the people of the area.”

“I do see a long term ownership position,” Trump said of the region.

Hamas gathers in a show of strength during a parade by the terror group in Gaza on Jan. 25, 2025. (TPS-IL)

Joe Truzman, a senior research analyst at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies who focuses on Palestinian militant groups and Hezbollah, argues Trump is serious about his plan rather than using it as diplomatic posturing.

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“A plan to end the cycle of violence is in the United States’ interest and does not conflict with Trump’s America First policy,” Truzman told Fox, noting that the weakened state of Hamas and Iran’s terrorist proxies in the region present a unique opportunity.

“Trump is serious about his plan. Hamas, Iran, and other bad actors in the region who’ve been heavily invested in the conflict understand this. How they react in the coming days and weeks will be an important sign of what is in store for the region,” he added, predicting pushback from al-Qaeda and other groups that benefit from instability in the region.

Anders Hagstrom is a reporter with Fox News Digital covering national politics and major breaking news events. Send tips to [email protected], or on Twitter: @Hagstrom_Anders.

February 5, 2025
Experts rally around Trump’s under the radar executive order unlocking ‘critical’ project blocked by Biden

President Trump signed an executive order overlooked by some in the media on his first day of office that experts tell Fox News Digital will play a critical role in developing mineral resources in the United States.

On the first day of his presidency, Trump signed an executive order advancing the Ambler Access Project, a 211-mile industrial road through the Brooks Range foothills that enables commercial mining for copper, zinc and other materials in a remote Arctic area in Northwest Alaska.

That executive order, one of dozens signed by Trump in the early hours of his administration, reverses a move by former President Biden to block the project and represents a significant change in energy policy, according to experts who spoke to Fox News Digital.

“President Biden issued 70 executive actions that discouraged tapping into Alaska’s natural resources and public lands access,” Gabriella Hoffman, Independent Women’s Forum Center for Energy & Conservation Director, told Fox News Digital. “Unlike his predecessor, President Trump recognizes Alaska’s potential to meet domestic energy and national security needs for reliable energy and critical minerals—including restoring the Ambler Access Project connecting to the Ambler Mining District.”

EXPERTS SOUND ALARM ON BIDEN’S OFFSHORE DRILLING BAN HAVING REVERSE EFFECT ON ENVIRONMENT: ‘DISGRACEFUL’

President Donald Trump, left, and the Gates of the Arctic National Park and Preserve, Alaska, right (Getty )

“The Ambler Access Project has endured extensive environmental review and would bring economic development to rural communities in dire need of it without despoiling Alaska’s natural beauty,” Hoffman added. “”Those who would benefit from employment by Ambler also hunt, fish, and enjoy public lands.”

Research by the University of Alaska Center for Economic Development on the economic impact of the project concluded that the development of the Ambler Mining District could create thousands of direct, indirect, and induced jobs and the project could mean a projected $1 billion for the state in revenue, mining license tax revenue, corporate income taxes, and production royalties.

“Ambler Road is the equivalent of a shoe lace on a football field: a blip in the vast remoteness of Alaska’s wilderness,” Power The Future founder and Executive Director Daniel Turner told Fox News Digital, “Yet somehow bureaucrats in DC who do not live there and cannot find it on a map have the authority to prevent Alaskans from developing their own land and growing their economy. It’s insanity.”

AMERICA’S ENERGY CRISIS IS HIDING IN PLAIN SIGHT AND IT’S WORSE THAN YOU KNOW

U.S. President Donald Trump talks to reporters from the Resolute Desk (Getty Images)

Unlocking the project comes under the backdrop of China’s emergence in the market for critical minerals as the country controls roughly 60% of the world’s production of rare earth minerals and materials prompting warnings from U.S. officials on the over-reliance on foreign suppliers.

Turner explained that projects like Ambler Road being held up by the Biden administration have increased US dependency on China.

“Critical projects in Alaska like Ambler Road and Pebble Mine and oil and gas exploration in ANWR which are held up by radical green ideologues have forced our dependency on China for these raw materials, compromised our national security, but also prevented our fellow Americans in Alaska from the prosperity and economic opportunities they deserve,” Turner said.

“So many raw materials we need are in Alaska, and Governor Dunleavy is hamstrung by green insanity in San Francisco and Washington, DC from developing them and growing his state’s prosperity. The Trump Administration could be the most pro-Alaskan Presidency since Lincoln bought it.”

Hoffman told Fox News Digital that “critics” of the Ambler project “ignore” is that “access to the Ambler Mining District is guaranteed by the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act (ANILCA) of 1980.”

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Sunset Inside Passage near Sitka, Alaska, Inside Passage. (Education Images/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

“My fellow Lower-48ers treat Alaska as a national preserve to be untouched and unexplored–dismissing locals and their perspectives,” Hoffman said. “President Trump is actually listening to Alaskans and their needs.”

In a statement to Fox News Digital, Alaska GOP Sen. Dan Sullivan said he looks forward to “working with President Trump’s administration and Alaskan leaders in the region to fully implement President Trump’s Alaska-specific EO, which includes reversing Biden’s denial of the Ambler road.”

“After enduring a four-year onslaught of 70 executive orders and actions by the Biden administration targeting my state, Alaskans have a new sense of hope and optimism for our future across a whole host of sectors and projects, including in our ability to develop our vast deposits of critical minerals and metals—many of which the United States is almost wholly dependent on China for,” Sullivan said.

Sullivan added that he worked “closely” with the first Trump administration to approve a road to the Ambler Mining District before the Biden administration “issued an order that killed that road last June, even though federal law mandates it.”

“Ironically, during Joe Biden’s final overseas trip as president, he announced $600 million in aid to build a railroad in Angola to help that country produce and market its critical minerals. That’s insane.”

Trump also signed an executive order which he said will “unleash American energy” by directing agencies to revise and rescind actions that impose undue burdens on domestic mining.

“The Trump Administration is unwavering in its commitment to securing America’s energy future, strengthening national defense, and fostering economic growth,” White House Deputy Press Secretary Anna Kelly told Fox News Digital.

“By unlocking one the world’s largest undeveloped mineral belts, President Trump is ensuring a domestic supply of critical minerals, reducing our reliance on foreign adversaries, and creating thousands of American jobs. This project is a win for national security and the American people.”

Andrew Mark Miller is a reporter at Fox News. Find him on Twitter @andymarkmiller and email tips to [email protected].

February 5, 2025
Researchers blame CA wildfires on climate change, peddle ‘alarmist’ non-peer reviewed studies: experts

An international research group backed by billionaire Jeff Bezos and the progressive George Soros Foundation has made headlines in major news outlets recently for its study claiming that the LA wildfires were caused by “human-induced” climate change.

The World Weather Attribution (WWA) group, founded in 2014 by Dr. Friederike Otto and Dr. Geert Jan van Oldenborgh, has published many scientific studies built on the presupposition that climate change may affect, and even cause, extreme weather events. The group also receives funds from the Grantham Institute and the European Climate Foundation.

On Jan. 28, the research group published what it called a “rapid attribution” study titled, “Climate change increased the likelihood of wildfire disaster in highly exposed Los Angeles area,” and was subsequently picked up by several major media outlets.

EDERAL AGENCIES SCRUB CLIMATE CHANGE FROM WEBSITES AMID TRUMP REBRANDING

Burned residential areas in Los Angeles on Jan. 12, 2025. (Lokman Vural Elibol/Anadolu via Getty Images)

Some environmental critics are pushing back on the group’s rise to notoriety in the media and classified it as “alarmist,” fueled by “leftist organizations that are driving the climate narrative.”

“They’re just trying to manipulate people, and it’s effective. It works. I’ve talked to people that are saying that this is caused by climate change, and it’s frustrating,” Jason Isaac, founder and CEO of the American Energy Institute, a nonprofit think tank group platforming environmental policies that “promote economic freedom,” told Fox News Digital in an interview.

“There’s no peer review that’s been done on this data,” he added. “They rush out a flash study that supposedly found that global warming boosted fire weather conditions in the area by 35% and intensity by 6%. Well, what about the fires that happened in 1895? Who’s to blame for those? This is just a geography that’s sort of right for this situation to happen from time to time.”

Isaac added that California’s “poor management” is largely to blame and will “happen when they’re telling people they can’t clear their land.”

Isaac criticized California’s spending priorities, noting that while the state allocates tens of billions of dollars to its climate commitment – originally over $50 billion, later reduced to around $45 billion – it spent roughly $4.2 billion on fire prevention in the 2024-2025 fiscal year.

TRUMP ELIMINATING LNG PAUSE TO HAVE ‘QUICKEST EFFECT’ ON ENERGY INDUSTRY: RICK PERRY

A helicopter drops water on the Palisades Fire in Mandeville Canyon, Jan. 11, 2025, in Los Angeles. (Etienne Laurent/AP Photo)

“You would think it would be a major priority for California, because of how susceptible they are to wildfires,” he said.

Steve Milloy, former Trump EPA Transition Team member, also told Fox News Digital that the WWA’s recent study was problematic, and dubbed it “pal-reviewed.”

“There’s no peer review going on. It’s not science,” Milloy said. “You know, this whole attribution thing is bogus. There’s no scientific foundation for it. It’s good propaganda, because they have the whole system organized where no one in the media asks any questions, they hide the origin and everything, and it makes for good headlines.”

The sun rises over the Pacific Palisades neighborhood, in the aftermath of devastating wildfires in the Los Angeles area, Jan. 9, 2025. (Maria Alejandra Cardona/Reuters)

Both Milloy and Isaac agreed that there will likely be an uptick in climate change-driven initiatives after President Donald Trump signed an executive order last month to axe the Biden-era U.S. climate commitments, which aimed to reduce emissions 61-66% by 2035.

The WWA co-founder, Otto, has previously claimed in a 2022 U.K. magazine article that “Who ‘does science’ is a hugely important issue,” and that if “climate change is worked on exclusively by white men, it means that the questions asked are those that are relevant to white men.”

“But people most affected by climate change are not white men, so if all these other people are effectively excluded from the scientific process, the problems we have to face in climate change will not be properly addressed and you will not find solutions for how to best transform a society,” Otto wrote.

CLIMATE ACTIVISTS HIT WITH FELONY CHARGES AFTER DEFACING US CONSTITUTION’S DISPLAY CASE

There is an ongoing debate on whether climate change has any impact on wildfires. (iStock)

According to the WWA’s FAQ page on its website, “rapid attribution studies are published before peer review in order to release the results soon after events have taken place” and adds that its studies are later published in peer-reviewed journals.

“Scientific studies on extreme weather events, going through peer-review, are usually published months or even years after an event occurred, when the public has moved on and questions about responsibilities, rebuilding or relocating have been debated without taking scientific evidence on the influence of climate change into account,” the WWA website states.

TRUMP MEETS WITH CALIFORNIA RESIDENTS, FIRE AND LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICIALS TO SEE LA WILDFIRE DAMAGE FIRST HAND

President Donald Trump signs a series of executive orders at the White House on Jan. 20, 2025. (Jabin Botsford /The Washington Post via Getty Images)

On its website, WWA lists several papers included in peer-reviewed journals, including in the Weather and Climate Extremes, Environmental Research: Climate and Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences, among others.

WWA conducts its studies by analyzing real-world weather data from regional weather stations to determine how rare and intense an extreme weather event is, according to its website. Researchers then compare the likelihood of such events currently with their expected frequency before the widespread burning of fossil fuels in the late 1800s.

WWA researchers occasionally face difficulties that prevent them from providing numerical results in their studies. These challenges may arise, its website states, if there isn’t enough reliable weather data available or if the computer models used for analysis are not well-suited to accurately simulate the specific weather event being studied.

“If a study does not have a conclusive result because of these challenges, that does not necessarily mean that climate change played no role in the weather event,” the WWA website states.

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WWA did not respond to repeated requests for comment from Fox News Digital.

Jamie Joseph is a writer who covers politics. She leads Fox News Digital coverage of the Senate.

February 4, 2025
Researchers blame CA wildfires on climate change, pedal ‘alarmist’ non-peer reviewed studies: Experts

An international research group backed by billionaire Jeff Bezos and the progressive George Soros Foundation has made headlines in major news outlets recently for its study claiming that the LA wildfires were caused by “human-induced” climate change.

The World Weather Attribution (WWA) group, founded in 2014 by Dr. Friederike Otto and Dr. Geert Jan van Oldenborgh, has published many scientific studies built on the presupposition that climate change may affect, and even cause, extreme weather events. The group also receives funds from the Grantham Institute and the European Climate Foundation.

On Jan. 28, the research group published what it called a “rapid attribution” study titled, “Climate change increased the likelihood of wildfire disaster in highly exposed Los Angeles area,” and was subsequently picked up by several major media outlets.

EDERAL AGENCIES SCRUB CLIMATE CHANGE FROM WEBSITES AMID TRUMP REBRANDING

A general view of the burned residential areas as wildfires continue to wreak havoc, reaching their fifth day and leaving extensive damage in residential areas in Los Angeles, California, United States on January 12, 2025. (Lokman Vural Elibol/Anadolu via Getty Images)

Some environmental critics are pushing back on the group’s rise to notoriety in the media and classified the group as “alarmist,” fueled by “leftist organizations that are driving the climate narrative.”

“They’re just trying to manipulate people, and it’s effective. It works. I’ve talked to people that are saying that this is caused by climate change, and it’s frustrating,” Jason Isaac, founder and CEO of the American Energy Institute – a nonprofit think tank group platforming environmental policies that “promote economic freedom” – told Fox News Digital in an interview.

“There’s no peer review that’s been done on this data,” he added. “They rush out a flash study that supposedly found that global warming boosted fire weather conditions in the area by 35% and intensity by 6%. Well, what about the fires that happened in 1895? Who’s to blame for those? This is just a geography that’s sort of right for this situation to happen from time to time.”

Isaac added that California’s “poor management” is largely to blame and will “happen when they’re telling people they can’t clear their land.”

Isaac criticized California’s spending priorities, noting that while the state allocates tens of billions of dollars to its climate commitment – originally over $50 billion, later reduced to around $45 billion – it spent roughly $4.2 billion on fire prevention in the 2024-2025 fiscal year.

TRUMP ELIMINATING LNG PAUSE TO HAVE ‘QUICKEST EFFECT’ ON ENERGY INDUSTRY: RICK PERRY

A helicopter drops water on the Palisades Fire in Mandeville Canyon, Saturday, Jan. 11, 2025, in Los Angeles. (Etienne Laurent)

“You would think it would be a major priority for California, because of how susceptible they are to wildfires,” he said.

Former Trump EPA Transition Team Member, Steve Malloy, also told Fox News Digital that the WWA’s recent study was problematic, and dubbed it “pal-reviewed.”

“There’s no peer review going on. It’s not science,” Malloy said. “You know, this whole attribution thing is bogus. There’s no scientific foundation for it. It’s good propaganda, because they have the whole system organized where no one in the media asks any questions, they hide the origin and everything, and it makes for good headlines.”

Sun rises over the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of west Los Angeles, in the aftermath of devastating wildfires in the Los Angeles area forcing people to evacuate, in California, U.S., January 9, 2025. (Maria Alejandra Cardona/Reuters)

Both Malloy and Isaac agreed that there will likely be an uptick in climate change-driven initiatives after President Donald Trump signed an executive order last month to axe the Biden-era U.S. climate commitments, which aimed to reduce emissions 61-66% by 2035.

The WWA co-founder, Otto, has previously claimed in a 2022 UK magazine article that “Who ‘does science’ is a hugely important issue,” and that if “climate change is worked on exclusively by white men, it means that the questions asked are those that are relevant to white men.”

“But people most affected by climate change are not white men, so if all these other people are effectively excluded from the scientific process, the problems we have to face in climate change will not be properly addressed and you will not find solutions for how to best transform a society,” Otto wrote.

CLIMATE ACTIVISTS HIT WITH FELONY CHARGES AFTER DEFACING US CONSTITUTION’S DISPLAY CASE

Firefighter spray water to bushfire. Tropical wildfires release carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions that contribute to climate change and global warming. (iStock)

According to the WWA’s FAQ page on its website, “rapid attribution studies are published before peer review in order to release the results soon after events have taken place” and adds that its studies are later published in peer-reviewed journals.

“Scientific studies on extreme weather events, going through peer-review, are usually published months or even years after an event occurred, when the public has moved on and questions about responsibilities, rebuilding or relocating have been debated without taking scientific evidence on the influence of climate change into account,” the WWA website states.

TRUMP MEETS WITH CALIFORNIA RESIDENTS, FIRE AND LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICIALS TO SEE LA WILDFIRE DAMAGE FIRST HAND

Washington , DC – January 20: President Donald Trump signs a series of executive orders at the White House on January 20, 2025, in Washington, DC. (Photo by Jabin Botsford /The Washington Post via Getty Images) (Getty)

On its website, WWA lists several papers included in peer-reviewed journals including in the Weather and Climate Extremes, Environmental Research: Climate and Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences, among others.

WWA conducts its studies by analyzing real-world weather data from regional weather stations to determine how rare and intense an extreme weather event is, according to its website. Researchers then compare the likelihood of such events currently with their expected frequency before the widespread burning of fossil fuels in the late 1800s.

WWA researchers occasionally face difficulties that prevent them from providing numerical results in their studies. These challenges may arise, its website states, if there isn’t enough reliable weather data available or if the computer models used for analysis are not well-suited to accurately simulate the specific weather event being studied.

“If a study does not have a conclusive result because of these challenges, that does not necessarily mean that climate change played no role in the weather event,” the WWA website states.

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WWA did not respond to repeated requests for comment from Fox News Digital.

Jamie Joseph is a writer who covers politics. She leads Fox News Digital coverage of the Senate.

February 4, 2025
How can Trump achieve campaign pledge to eliminate Dept of Education? Experts weigh in

As President Trump reportedly weighs his options for accomplishing his campaign promise of eliminating the Department of Education, experts spoke to Fox News Digital about what that process will look like and what hurdles the president will have to overcome.

“The administration is right to push to eliminate the ineffective and unpopular Department of Education,” Jonathan Butcher, Will Skillman Senior Research Fellow in Education Policy at The Heritage Foundation, told Fox News Digital shortly before the Wall Street Journal reported that Trump officials are mulling an executive order calling for a legislative proposal to get rid of the department.

“One thing I’ll be doing very early in the administration is closing up the Department of Education in Washington, DC, and sending all education and education work it needs back to the states,” Trump said in a 2023 campaign video.

A White House official told Fox News Digital on Monday night that Trump plans to fulfill his campaign promise by reevaluating the future of the department.

TRUMP’S DEPT OF EDUCATION REVERSES BIDEN’S TITLE IX REWRITE: ‘COMMON SENSE RETURNS!’

President Trump vowed on the campaign trail to eliminate the Dept of Education and bring the power back to the states. (Getty Images)

Butcher told Fox News Digital, “Congress should heed the call and advance policy to eliminate most of the agency’s programs and spending while moving remaining programs to other federal agencies.”

“President Trump can declare that the Education Department’s powers are unconstitutional and request a memo from the Department of Justice to support such a position. The president could, conceivably, do the same for specific programs, the Higher Education Act, for example.”

“Another approach would be to relocate the agency someplace away from Washington, DC and require employees work in-person, 5 days per week,” Butcher added. “The White House can still remove any non-essential, or non-exempt, positions in the meantime. Even this process would need congressional support to void union contracts.”

Butcher told Fox News Digital that even with these possible actions from Trump, the executive branch “still has to spend appropriations as required.”

“So, the best-case scenario remains that Congress considers a proposal to close the agency,” Butcher said.

“In the proposal, Congress should consider creating block grants for large spending programs such as Title I so that states have more autonomy over what is best for schools within their borders,” Butcher explained. “And Heritage has proposed moving certain offices that we believe should remain to other agencies, such as the office of civil rights to the Department of Justice.”

Julian Epstein, longtime Democratic operative, attorney, and former chief counsel to the House Judiciary Committee, told Fox News Digital that Trump will “likely need an act of Congress” to eliminate the department since it is a statutory created agency unless he can “figure out how to do it through reconciliation.”

However, Epstein explained that eliminating the department could ultimately cause Trump headaches.

“But Trump may want to think twice before he eliminates the department as it has important clubs to promote his agenda,” Epstein said. “The department is the principal enforcement agency to protect women’s sports, prevent discrimination through DEI quotas for favored groups, stop harboring antisemitism, and to address the rather blatant intellectually intolerant, partisan, anti Western ideological factories they have become. To do that, Trump might be well advised to keep the department of education and its core enforcement functions while scaling down its size.”

The DOE was established under former President Carter in 1979 when he split it from the Health and Human Services Department. It’s charged with regulating federal student aid funds and ensuring equal access to education, among other responsibilities.

TRUMP WANTS TO DISSOLVE THE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION. EXPERTS SAY IT COULD CHANGE PUBLIC SCHOOLS

The US Department of Education building is seen on August 21, 2024, in Washington, DC. (Tierney L. Cross)

Republicans have called to dismantle the agency for decades since former President Carter established itt in 1979, making the case that decisions regarding schools should be determined at the local level.

Democrats argue the department provides stability and an opportunity to enforce more generalized policies – civil rights protections, reducing educational disparities and addressing systemic inequalities.

Tesla and Space X CEO Elon Musk, who was tasked with leading the Trump administration’s effort to cut back government waste through the DOGE effort, has previously voiced support for eliminating the department.

Experts who spoke to Fox News Digital in November echoed the belief that any effort to fully abolish the department would need the help of Congress.

WISCONSIN MOM URGES TRUMP ADMIN TO LAUNCH ‘PIVOTAL’ PROBE INTO ALLEGED RACE-BASED DISCRIMINATION AGAINST SON

President Donald Trump signs executive orders in the Oval Office on January 20, 2025, in Washington, DC. Trump takes office for his second term as the 47th President of the United States. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

“President Trump does not have the ability to eliminate a federal department. Eliminating it would require congressional action, including a supermajority of 60 votes in the Senate,” Andrew Stoltmann, an attorney and law professor, said.

“So, even if Trump can follow through with what he says, he has to pull in some Democrats in the Senate, and that will likely be impossible.”

Stoltmann explained that Trump‘s “best bet is to appoint somebody who will effectively be a figurehead at the Department of Education.”

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Former administrator of the US Small Business Administration and US education secretary nominee Linda McMahon (Valerie Plesch/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

“This doesn’t eliminate the department, but it effectively neuters it during his term,” Stoltman said.

The timing of a Trump executive order is unclear although some believe the administration will wait until Trump’s pick to lead the department, former SBA Administrator Linda McMahon, is confirmed, although no timetable for that confirmation is currently set.

Fox News Digital reached out to the White House for comment.

Fox News Digital’s Aubrie Spady, Liz Elkind, and Taylor Penley contributed to this report

Andrew Mark Miller is a reporter at Fox News. Find him on Twitter @andymarkmiller and email tips to [email protected].

February 4, 2025
Legal experts respond to RFK Jr’s conflict-of-interest dilemma with drugmakers

Amid scrutiny over Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s pledge to transfer his financial interest in vaccine lawsuits to his family, legal experts have criticized the move but note that Kennedy’s approach is not significantly different from actions taken by other public officials in the past.

During Kennedy’s confirmation hearings last week, the potential next secretary of Health and Human Services was probed over his financial stake in personal-injury lawsuits tied to vaccines, in particular his ties to a suit against pharmaceutical company Merck and its Gardasil cervical cancer vaccine. While Kennedy would not initially commit to letting go of his stake against Merck, he reversed course in a written response to lawmakers’ questions following a hearing, noting he would amend his pledge and “will divest my interest in any such litigation via an assignment to my non-dependent, adult son.”

While some legal experts have argued the move does not go far enough to quash potential conflicts for Kennedy, others say this approach is akin to that taken by several other public officials who have found themselves in a similar situation. Meanwhile, one legal expert suggested to Fox News Digital that the pass from Kennedy to his son “is more than sufficient to meet any ethical concerns.”

LA TIMES OWNER SLAPPED WITH COMMUNITY NOTE AFTER AUTHOR OF RFK JR OP-ED CLAIMS ARTICLE EDITED OUT CRITICISM

An image of HHS Secretary nominee RFK Jr. juxtaposed next to a bottle of pills made by drug manufacturers. (iStock/Getty )

“That may comply with ordinary conflict of interest issues,” Jim Copland, director of legal policy at the Manhattan Institute, said. “I just don’t think the head of the Department of Health and Human Services has any business being involved in any way with litigation against Merck.”

Fellow Manhattan Institute legal expert Ilya Shapiro said he is unsure whether Kennedy’s move will suffice in avoiding any real conflict, but added that he did recognize “it’s not unusual in light of past examples.”

Both Democrats and Republicans have used family to shield themselves from ethics complaints related to their personal business dealings, with former President Joe Biden being a recent and notable example after a multi-year probe into his family business dealings that found both his son and brother were engaged in risky business relationships with foreign entities, such as China. Biden has repeatedly denied his involvement in those business dealings.

Questions still swirl around former President Joe Biden and whether his office was used to financially benefit his son Hunter and brothers James and Frank. (Getty Images)

Former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi similarly sought to defend her family’s business dealings after it was revealed her husband was making money investing in companies that had business in front of his wife. In response to questions from reporters about whether she agreed with efforts to ban federal lawmakers’ spouses from trading in stocks, Pelosi replied that “they should be able to participate in that.”

Other notable figures who have used their families to shield their personal business dealings include President Donald Trump, who handed over control of his Trump Organization business empire to his sons, and the late Sen. Dianne Feinstein, whose investor husband, Richard Blum, managed investments through his firm Blum Capital Partners that often intersected with his wife’s work while she was in Congress.

Then-Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and her husband, Paul Pelosi. (AP Photo/Kevin Wolf)

TRUMP-ALIGNED GROUP PUTTING PRESSURE ON REPUBLICAN SENATORS IN PUSH TO CONFIRM RFK JR.

“It is my opinion that RFK, Jr.’s plan to pass on any financial stake in possible vaccine injuries to his son is more than sufficient to meet any ethical concerns,” Hans von Spakovsky, a senior legal fellow at the Heritage Foundation, told Fox News Digital. “This is particularly true because of the limitations imposed by federal law on any claims made against vaccine manufacturers that severely limit possible compensation for anyone claiming a vaccine was somehow defective.”

Spakovsky posited that the federal government’s National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program, which prohibits civil litigation against drugmakers and instead directs the federal government to administer any vaccine-injury payments, serves to buffer the impact Kennedy could potentially have on vaccine-related injury payments.

“RFK would have no authority whatsoever [over this program],” he said. “The point is that all of this is so disconnected from RFK, Jr.’s potential Cabinet position if he is confirmed, that anyone who says this is a ‘serious’ ethics problem is wrong.”

Activists attend a press conference on Supreme Court ethics reform outside the Capitol on May 2, 2023.

Copland, who agreed with Spakovsky that the vaccine compensation program diminishes much of Kennedy’s advantage, said RFK Jr. could still benefit in an indirect manner.

“I think it’s a more concerning conflict of interest than just saying, ‘Oh, you own a lot of equity interest in some company that may incidentally benefit you know,’” Copland said. “I mean, if you had a Defense Department secretary who was a CEO of a major military contractor, and then he passes that off to his son, I think you’d still have a concern about that due to the obvious conflict of interest there, which is different than a sort of ordinary, ‘Oh, I own a company, and it’s going to, incidentally, benefit from the government.’”

RFK JR SPENT WEEKEND TALKING TO KEY SENATOR WHO COULD MAKE OR BREAK HIS CONFIRMATION

Fox News legal analyst Andy McCarthy was more critical of Kennedy’s decision to pass off his financial interests to his son, noting that the fact he is “struggling to come up with a scheme to retain his stake, rather than doing the obvious right thing by abandoning it, underscores that this is a real conflict of interest.”

“The comparison to family asset transfers in other contexts is inapposite and, in any event, misses the point,” McCarthy said. “Whatever one thinks of President Trump’s arrangements regarding his family business, voters knew about that business and elected him anyway – and the president is not in a position to recuse himself from executive decision-making based on conflicts of interest. By contrast, Kennedy wasn’t elected by anyone.”

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McCarthy added that after years “of justifiably complaining that President Biden was corruptly enriched by payments… made to his son and brother,” he finds it hard to believe “that Republicans can turn a blind eye to a financial stake, which would create a significant conflict of interest for RFK Jr. as HHS secretary, on the pretext that he plans to transfer the stake to his son.”

February 3, 2025
Earthquakes near Greek island of Santorini worry experts, residents
- More than 200 undersea earthquakes have been recorded near Aegean Sea islands, popular summer vacation destinations, over the past three days.
- Local authorities are taking precautions, including deploying emergency crews, banning access to some seaside areas near cliffs and instructing hotels to drain swimming pools.
- Greek experts say the quakes are not linked to Santorini’s volcano, which was the source of one of the largest volcanic eruptions in human history more than 3,500 years ago.
Schools were closed and emergency crews deployed on the volcanic Greek island of Santorini on Monday after a spike in seismic activity raised concerns about a potentially powerful earthquake.

Precautions were also ordered on several nearby Aegean Sea islands — all popular summer vacation destinations — after more than 200 undersea earthquakes were recorded in the area over the past three days.

“We have a very intense geological phenomenon to handle,” Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said from Brussels, where he was attending a European meeting. “I want to ask our islanders first and foremost to remain calm, to listen to the instructions of the Civil Protection (authority).”

EARTHQUAKE OFF COAST OF MAINE SHAKES NORTHEAST

Mobile phones on the island blared with alert warnings about the potential for rockslides, while several earthquakes caused loud rumbles. Authorities banned access to some seaside areas, including the island’s old port, that are in close proximity to cliffs.

“These measures are precautionary, and authorities will remain vigilant,” Civil Protection Minister Vasilis Kikilias said late Sunday following an emergency government meeting in Athens. “We urge citizens to strictly adhere to safety recommendations to minimize risk.”

While Greek experts say the quakes, many with magnitudes over 4.5, are not linked to Santorini’s volcano, they acknowledge that the pattern of seismic activity is cause for concern.

The volcanic island of Nea Kameni, left, is seen from Fira, Santorini’s main town, as Greek authorities take emergency measures in response to intense seismic activity on the popular Aegean Sea holiday island in Greece, on Feb. 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)

Government officials met with scientists throughout the weekend and on Monday to assess the situation, while schools were also ordered shut on the nearby islands of Amorgos, Anafi and Ios.

Residents are concerned

The frequency of the quakes, which continued throughout Sunday night and into Monday, has worried residents and visitors.

“I have never felt anything like this and with such frequency — an earthquake every 10 or 20 minutes. Everyone is anxious even if some of us hide it not to cause panic, but everyone is worried,” said Michalis Gerontakis, who is also the director of the Santorini Philharmonic Orchestra.

“We came out yesterday and performed. Despite the earthquakes, the philharmonic performed for a religious occasion,” Gerontakis said. “When you are playing, you cannot feel the quakes but there were earthquakes when we were at the church. No one can know what will happen. People can say whatever they like, but that has no value. You cannot contend with nature.”

Residents and visitors were advised to avoid large indoor gatherings and areas where rock slides could occur, while hotels were instructed to drain swimming pools to reduce potential building damage from an earthquake.

Fire service rescuers who arrived on the island on Sunday set up yellow tents as a staging area inside a basketball court next to the island’s main hospital.

“We arrived last night, a 26-member team of rescuers and one rescue dog,” said fire brigadier Ioannis Billias, adding that many residents, including entire families, spent the night in their cars.

Some residents and local workers headed to travel agents seeking plane or ferry tickets to leave the island.

“We’ve had earthquakes before but never anything like this. This feels different,” said Nadia Benomar, a Moroccan tour guide who has lived on the island for 19 years. She bought a ferry ticket Monday for the nearby island of Naxos.

“I need to get away for a few days until things calm down,” she said.

Tourists pass by closed shops in Fira town as Greek authorities prepare for a potential earthquake following the detection of more than 200 undersea earthquakes nearby, on the island of Santorini, Greece, on Feb. 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)

Others said they were willing to take the risk. Restaurant worker Yiannis Fragiadakis had been away but said he returned to Santorini on Sunday despite the earthquakes.

“I wasn’t afraid. I know that people are really worried and are leaving, and when I got to the port it was really busy, it was like the summer,” Fragiadakis said. “I plan to stay and hopefully the restaurant will start working (for the holiday season) in three weeks.”

South Korean tourist Soo Jin Kim, from Seoul, arrived Sunday on a family vacation.

“We had dinner last night at the hotel and felt mild shakes about 10 times. But at midnight we felt a big one, a big shake, so I checked the news report. We are half-worried and half-looking to see what the situation is,” she said, adding she didn’t plan to change her travel plans.

Santorini volcano blew up 3,500 years ago

Crescent-shaped Santorini is a premier tourism destination with daily arrivals via commercial flights, ferries, and cruise ships. The island draws more than 3 million visitors annually to its whitewashed villages built along dramatic cliffs formed by a massive volcanic eruption — considered to be one of the largest in human history — more than 3,500 years ago.

That eruption, which occurred around 1620 B.C., destroyed a large part of the island, blanketed a wide area in feet of ash and is believed to have contributed to the decline of the ancient Minoan civilization, which had flourished in the region.

Although it is still an active volcano, the last notable eruption occurred in 1950.

Prominent Greek seismologist Gerasimos Papadopoulos cautioned that the current earthquake sequence – displayed on live seismic maps as a growing cluster of dots between the islands of Santorini, Ios, Amorgos, and Anafi — could indicate a larger impending event.

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“All scenarios remain open,” Papadopoulos wrote in an online post. “The number of tremors has increased, magnitudes have risen, and epicenters have shifted northeast. While these are tectonic quakes, not volcanic, the risk level has escalated.”

In Santorini’s main town of Fira, local authorities designated gathering points for residents in preparation for a potential evacuation, though Mayor Nikos Zorzos emphasized the preventive nature of the measures.

“We are obliged to make preparations. But being prepared for something does not mean it will happen,” he said during a weekend briefing. “Sometimes, the way the situation is reported, those reports may contain exaggerations… so people should stay calm.”
February 3, 2025