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AleAnna, Inc. Announces Completion of Business Combination between Swiftmerge Acquisition Corp. and AleAnna Energy, LLCDAMASCUS (AP) — Exuberant Syrians observed the first Friday prayers since the ouster of President Bashar Assad , gathering in the capital's historic main mosque, its largest square and around the country to celebrate the end of half a century of authoritarian rule. The newly installed interim prime minister delivered the sermon at the Umayyad Mosque, declaring that a new era of “freedom, dignity and justice” was dawning for Syria. The gatherings illustrated the dramatic changes that have swept over Syria less than a week after insurgents marched into Damascus and toppled Assad. Amid the jubilation, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with allies around the region and called for an “inclusive and non-sectarian” interim government. Blinken arrived in Iraq on a previously unannounced stop after talks in Jordan and Turkey, which backs some of the Syrian insurgent factions. So far, U.S. officials have not talked of direct meetings with Syria's new rulers. The main insurgent force, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, has worked to establish security and start a political transition after seizing Damascus early Sunday. The group has tried to reassure a public both stunned by Assad's fall and concerned about extremist jihadis among the rebels. Insurgent leaders say the group has broken with its extremist past, though HTS is still labeled a terrorist group by the United States and European countries. HTS's leader, Ahmad al-Sharaa, formerly known as Abu Mohammed al-Golani, appeared in a video message Friday congratulating “the great Syrian people for the victory of the blessed revolution.” “I invite them to head to the squares to show their happiness without shooting bullets and scaring people,” he said. “And then after, we will work to build this country, and as I said in the beginning, we will be victorious by the help of God.” Syrians celebrate in the historic heart of Damascus Huge crowds, including some insurgents, packed the historic Umayyad Mosque in the capital's old city, many waving the rebel opposition flag — with its three red stars — which has swiftly replaced the Assad-era flag with with its two green stars. Syrian state television reported that the sermon was delivered by Mohammed al-Bashir, the interim prime minister installed by HTS this week. The scene resonated on multiple levels. The mosque, one of the world's oldest dating back some 1,200 years, is a beloved symbol of Syria, and sermons there like all mosque sermons across Syria were tightly controlled under Assad's rule. Also, in the early days of the anti-government uprising in 2011, protesters would leave Friday prayers to march in rallies against Assad before he launched a brutal crackdown that turned the uprising into a long and bloody civil war. “I didn’t step foot in Umayyad Mosque since 2011," because of the tight security controls around it, said one worshipper, Ibrahim al-Araby. “Since 11 or 12 years, I haven’t been this happy.” Another worshipper, Khair Taha, said there was “fear and trepidation for what’s to come. But there is also a lot of hope that now we have a say and we can try to build.” Blocks away in Damascus' biggest roundabout, named Umayyad Square, thousands gathered, including many families with small children — a sign of how, so far at least, the country's transformation has not caused violent instability. “Unified Syria to build Syria,” the crowd chanted. Some shouted slurs against Assad and his late father, calling them pigs, an insult that would have previously led to offenders being hauled off to one of the feared detention centers of Assad’s security forces. One man in the crowd, 51-year-old Khaled Abu Chahine — originally from the southern province of Daraa, where the 2011 uprising first erupted — said he hoped for “freedom and coexistence between all Syrians, Alawites, Sunnis, Shiites and Druze.” The interim prime minister, al-Bashir, had been the head of a de facto administration created by HTS in Idlib, the opposition's enclave in northwest Syria. The rebels were bottled up in Idlib for years before fighters broke out in a shock offensive and marched across Syria in 10 days. Similar scenes of joy unfolded in other major cities, including in Aleppo, Homs, Hama, Latakia and Raqqa. US and its allies try to shape a rapidly changing Syria Al-Sharaa, HTS' leader, has promised to bring a pluralistic government to Syria, seeking to dispel fears among many Syrians — especially its many minority communities — that the insurgents will impose a hard-line, extremist rule. Another key factor will be winning international recognition for a new government in a country where multiple foreign powers have their hands in the mix. The Sunni Arab insurgents who overthrew Assad did so with vital help from Turkey, a longtime foe of the U.S.-backed Kurds . Turkey controls a strip of Syrian territory along the shared border and backs an insurgent faction uneasily allied to HTS — and is deeply opposed to any gains by Syria's Kurds. In other developments, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said Turkey’s Embassy in Damascus would reopen Saturday for the first time since 2012, when it closed due to the Syrian civil war. The U.S. has troops in eastern Syria to combat remnants of the Islamic State group and supports Kurdish-led fighters who rule most of the east. Since Assad's fall, Israel has bombed sites all over Syria, saying it is trying to prevent weapons from falling into extremist hands. It has also seized a swath of southern Syria along the border with the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, calling it a buffer zone. After talks with Fidan, Blinken said there was “broad agreement” between Turkey and the U.S. on what they would like to see in Syria. That starts with an "interim government in Syria, one that is inclusive and non-sectarian and one that protects the rights of minorities and women” and does not “pose any kind of threat to any of Syria’s neighbors,” Blinken said. Fidan said the priority was “establishing stability in Syria as soon as possible, preventing terrorism from gaining ground, and ensuring that IS and the PKK aren’t dominant” — referring to the Islamic State group and the Kurdistan Workers Party. Ankara considers the PKK within Turkey's borders a terrorist group, as it does the Kurdish-backed forces in Syria backed by the U.S. A U.S. official said that in Ankara, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Fidan both told Blinken that Kurdish attacks on Turkish positions would require a response. The official spoke to reporters on condition of anonymity to discuss private diplomatic talks. The U.S. has been trying to limit such incidents in recent days and had helped organize an agreement to prevent confrontations around the northern Syrian town of Manbij, which was taken by Turkey-backed opposition fighters from the U.S.-backed Kurdish forces earlier this week. In Baghdad, Blinken met with Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed al-Sudani, saying both countries wanted to ensure the Islamic State group — also known by its Arabic acronym Daesh — doesn't exploit Syria's transition to re-emerge. “Having put Daesh back in its box, we can’t let it out, and we’re determined to make sure that that doesn’t happen," Blinken said. The U.S. official who briefed reporters said that Blinken had impressed upon al-Sudani the importance of Iraq exercising its full sovereignty over its territory and airspace to stop Iran from transporting weapons and equipment to Syria, either for Assad supporters or onward to the militant Hezbollah group in Lebanon. ___ Lee reported from Ankara, Turkey. Associated Press writers Suzan Fraser in Ankara and Sally Abou AlJoud in Beirut contributed to this report. Albert Aji And Matthew Lee, The Associated PressTwenty years after the wave

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Former Congressman Steve King said he received a letter from Summit Carbon Solutions that demanded he refrain from making false statements about the company and its proposed carbon dioxide pipeline system. The conservative firebrand is among at least six people who were recipients of Summit's cease and desist letters in the past month. At least one of the allegedly defamatory statements dates back to last year, and it's unclear why the company is threatening legal action now. A Summit spokesperson did not respond to a request to comment about the matter. Ex-U.S. Rep. Steve King campaigns for Vivek Ramaswamy Thursday Jan. 11, 2024, at the Columbus Club in Davenport. "These are just simply threats that say, 'Shut up or we'll sue you because we don't like the truth and what it does to damage our business model,'" King told radio host Jeff Stein on the Eastern Iowa KXEL radio station Friday. King did not mention what specific comments of his the letter targeted but said it will not deter him from speaking against the company's proposed five-state pipeline system. The system would transport captured carbon dioxide from ethanol plants to North Dakota for underground storage. Indeed, King spent most of his airtime Friday lambasting the project as "the biggest boondoggle the world has ever seen." He said it would wrongly be funded by billions of dollars of federal tax incentives for carbon sequestration and the production of low-carbon fuels, and would erode landowners' rights if allowed to use eminent domain to force people to host the pipe. "Why do they think that somebody who has faced as much criticism as I have is going to be intimidated by a silly letter?" King said. King was a longtime congressman who represented conservative northwest Iowa and was known for making inflammatory remarks that drew the ire of liberals. But some of those comments eventually led House Republicans to strip him of his committee assignments, and Congressman Randy Feenstra defeated him in a 2020 primary. In the Friday radio interview, King criticized Summit's cofounder, Bruce Rastetter, for allegedly using his political connections and wealth to get the project approved. King also sought to link Erik Helland — the chairperson of the Iowa Utilities Commission that approved a permit for the project — to the company because he started a business in Alaska with a similar name. State records show Helland formed 49th Summit Solutions in 2016 and that the company offered Medicaid mediation services. Five other people have received letters that claim their statements against Summit's project "exposed you to significant legal liability," King said. The Gazette has confirmed these five other recipients: Jess Mazour, of the Sierra Club of Iowa; Trent Loos, a Nebraska farmer and podcaster; Barb Kalbach and Tom Mohan, of Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement; and Robert Nazario, who with King is part of the Free Soil Foundation. The letter Nazario received — which he provided to The Gazette — includes a newspaper quote from Nazario about the potential for carbon dioxide plumes to kill people. "There is no proof that Summit Carbon Solutions' pipeline — or any CO2 pipeline — has ever caused death," the letter says. At least two of the anti-Summit statements that were a subject of the letters were published by the Iowa Information newspaper group. The company's president did not respond to a request to comment for this article. Summit's letters demand that their recipients retract the statements and "refrain from making false and defamatory statements about Summit Carbon Solutions." The letters threaten "alternative legal remedies" and allude to lawsuits. The company has obtained route permits in Iowa, Minnesota and North Dakota. Summit has reapplied for a permit in South Dakota, which rejected its initial proposal last year. 2024 is set to be the hottest year on record, with global average temperatures exceeding 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, according to the EU's Copernicus Climate Change Service. Extreme weather events, including droughts, floods, heatwaves, and cyclones, have devastated regions worldwide. Carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuels remain the primary driver of global warming, with emissions projected to reach record highs this year despite green pledges. Scientists warn that even a potential cooling from a La Nina event in 2025 won't reverse the long-term warming trend. How sustainable is an electric vehicle whose manufacturing process depends heavily on natural gas? How "green" can a LEED-certified building be when it is constructed with materials with major carbon footprints such as glass and concrete? Even when creating sustainable products, industrial activities like construction and manufacturing contribute greatly to pollution. These activities account for nearly a third of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. Addressing climate change is one of President Joe Biden's top priorities, and his administration has taken aim at some of these unsustainable industrial practices in part of his executive order to achieve net-zero carbon emissions throughout the U.S. economy by 2050. Machinery Partner researched the U.S. government's commitments to reducing carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions resulting from manufacturing industry processes over the past few years. Between the executive order and funding from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law of 2021 and the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, there has been substantial activity to reduce U.S. industrial pollution. This has taken the form of direct investments into research and technologies to reduce pollution in manufacturing, as well as using the purchasing power of the federal government to prioritize products with lower carbon footprints. In addition to protecting Earth from the devastating effects of climate change, these efforts also support the U.S. manufacturing industry. By focusing investments in American-made low-emission products, the federal government can prop up domestic companies and grow jobs in an industry that has been struggling for several decades. The Department of Energy allocated more than $6 billion in funding for clean manufacturing technology projects in March 2023. With this funding, the federal government will pay for up to half of the costs for the chosen early-stage, private-sector projects that would reduce emissions in industrial processes that utilize a lot of energy. The program, called the Industrial Demonstrations Program, will select projects and finalize awards by spring 2024. In June 2023, a smaller DOE program provided $135 million for 40 projects to research, develop, and pilot-scale methods of reducing energy consumption and emissions in the industrial sector. The projects—taking place at national laboratories, universities, and companies across the U.S.—focus on reducing emissions in cement and concrete, food and beverages, chemicals, petroleum refining, and iron and steel. The month after, the DOE also announced $100 million in grants for state and local governments and public utilities to procure and use products made with converted carbon emissions. These grants will cover up to half the cost of these materials for awardees, creating further demand for these low-emission products in the economy. In addition to these direct funding opportunities, federal agencies have begun to demand lower-emissions materials for their infrastructure projects. Biden's 2021 executive order created the Buy Clean Initiative , which prioritizes using low-carbon, American-made construction materials in federal projects. Putting $630 billion in annual federal spending on the line—plus even more in state government spending—has pressured greener practices among U.S. manufacturing companies. After years of developing and testing low-emissions material requirements, the General Services Administration released official standards in December 2023 for asphalt, concrete, glass, and steel. The month before, the agency also announced plans to invest $2 billion across more than 150 federal projects utilizing these lower-emission products. The GSA estimates that incorporating these lower-carbon materials will reduce the carbon emissions from these projects by tens of thousands of metric tons. Throughout 2023, the GSA and other agencies announced several high-profile projects using low-carbon procurement standards, including the Department of Homeland Security's new headquarters and the Alexander Hamilton U.S. Custom House in New York City. The GSA set the first "Buy Clean" standards for concrete and asphalt in March 2022; by December, it had awarded a concrete contract based on the new concrete standards. GSA drafted more comprehensive requirements by May 2023, setting standards for carbon emissions for concrete/cement, asphalt, steel, and glass. Following the release, the agency ran a six-month pilot program applying the requirements to 11 federal projects, including new construction, land port of entry, modernization, and paving projects. The value of affected materials across these projects totaled around $300 million. In fall 2022, the Department of Transportation released its Buy Clean policies, another major feat considering that transportation comprises another near-third of greenhouse gas emissions. By October, the department had distributed $7.1 million to state DOTs to identify ways to reduce emissions in highway construction, with a focus on sustainable pavements. Other agencies, such as the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Department of Housing and Urban Development, have also readily incorporated low-carbon materials into their projects. By encouraging green manufacturing and creating demand for low-emission materials, these federal programs are forging the way to greener U.S. industrial production. Story editing by Shannon Luders-Manuel. Copy editing by Paris Close. This story originally appeared on Machinery Partner and was produced and distributed in partnership with Stacker Studio. 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