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Arbër Agalliu and Italians without citizenship
CC BY-NC-ND
— The Italian-Albanian activist Arbër Agalliu has been advocating for more than a decade for a reform of the obsolete Italian citizenship law, which not only makes life impossible for aspiring Italian citizens, but also makes many young people feel like foreigners in their own country. Our interview
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Russian Strikes Target Ukraine's Southern Kherson Region; Ambulance Hit By Drone
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— Russian forces targeted more than a dozen settlements in Ukraine’s southern Kherson region, an official said, and a Russian drone hit an ambulance, wounding its driver.
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'We did it!': France breathes sigh of relief after Olympics ceremony
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The concept had been derided as overly ambitious and the location criticised as a prime security risk. But after years of preparation, France could Saturday breathe a sigh of relief – it had pulled off the Olympic opening ceremony for the 2024 Paris Games.
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Concern grows as Venezuela blocks election observers
Public Domain
— Caracas, Venezuela — Concerns grew Friday over the fairness of Venezuela's presidential elections as Caracas was accused of blocking international observers from arriving for the Sunday vote, including a delegation of ex-presidents.
In the latest blow to an already fraught election run-up, Panama said authorities had prevented a flight carrying former Latin American leaders -- all critics of President Nicolas Maduro -- from leaving its international airport.
Colombian officials reported being denied entry at Caracas airport, as did Spanish MPs.
Socialist Maduro, 61, will seek reelection Sunday to a third six-year term amid accusations of opposition harassment by an increasingly authoritarian regime.
His government agreed with the opposition last year to hold free and fair elections in 2024, with international observers present -- winning a temporary easing of sanctions from the United States.
But he since reneged on some of the conditions, and loyalist institutions barred opposition leader Maria Corina Machado from running against him.
On Friday, Panama said its former president Mireya Moscoso, as well as former leaders Miguel Angel Rodriguez of Costa Rica, Jorge Quiroga of Bolivia and Vicente Fox of Mexico, had their plane held up.
The group, which also included former Colombian vice president Marta Lucia Ramirez, got off to allow the plane, with many Venezuelan voters on board, to take off.
Panamanian authorities said the delay affected several flights to and from Venezuela.
Panama has summoned Venezuela's diplomatic representative in the country to explain.
Diosdado Cabello, vice president of Venezuela's ruling party, had warned this week the former presidents would be expelled if they came, calling them "enemies of this country."
"A bad sign for Sunday," Fox said Friday in an interview with Mexico's Grupo Formula radio. "We were removed from the plane with blackmail and pressure from Venezuela."
Colombian radio reported that senator Angelica Lozano was denied entry upon arrival in Caracas, and then deported.
And in Spain, the conservative opposition People's Party (PP) said a 10-member delegation of its parliamentarians were detained in Caracas by "the tyrant Maduro."
Party leader Alberto Nunez Feijoo on X demanded their "immediate release" and intervention from the Spanish government.
Sources in the foreign ministry told AFP the party had been informed their request to observe the vote had been denied by Caracas.
"Chavismo doesn't want witnesses," PP spokesman Miguel Tellado said, referring to the populist movement created by Maduro's predecessor Hugo Chavez.
"It does not want the international community to have eyes and ears in Venezuela this weekend," he added on X.
Caracas this week also withdrew an invitation to observe the vote to Argentina's ex-president Alberto Fernandez after he publicly urged Maduro to accept the outcome, even if he loses.
It had earlier canceled an invitation to European Union experts, while allowing monitors from the UN and the U.S.-based Carter Center.
'Bloodbath'
Maduro will on Sunday face off against little-known ex-diplomat Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia, 74, who replaced Machado on the ballot and should win, polls say, by a large margin.
Analysts, observers and many opposition supporters doubt Maduro, who counts on a loyal electoral machinery, military leadership, courts and state institutions, will let him.
Maduro has already warned of a "bloodbath" if he loses, drawing opprobrium from Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who said: "Maduro has to learn: if you win, you stay. If you lose, you go."
On Friday, Argentina's right-wing libertarian President Javier Milei, at odds with many of his leftist counterparts in the region, said in a message to Machado that his country supported Venezuela "in this struggle for freedom" and called for voting rights to be respected.
The Foro Penal, an NGO advocating for the rights of "political prisoners" in Venezuela, meanwhile, reported the arrests of 135 people with links to the opposition campaign since January.
Forty-seven are still detained.
Maduro's 2018 reelection was rejected as illegitimate by most Western and Latin American countries.
But years of tough U.S. sanctions and other pressure failed to dislodge the president, who enjoys support from Cuba, Russia and China.
The formerly rich petro-state has seen GDP fall by 80 percent in less than a decade, driving some seven million of its citizens to flee.
Most Venezuelans live on just a few dollars a month, with the health care and education systems in total disrepair and biting shortages of electricity and fuel.
The government blames U.S. sanctions for the state of affairs, but observers say it all started with deep-rooted corruption and mismanagement.
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Paris Olympics become a matter of medals after stars reign on the Seine
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The first medals will be handed out at the Paris Olympics on Saturday after the 2024 Games were officially launched with a spectacular four-hour, rain-soaked ceremony along the river Seine.
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Mysterious bones could hold evidence of Japanese war crimes, activists say
Public Domain
— TOKYO — Depending on whom you ask, the bones that have been sitting in a Tokyo repository for decades could be either leftovers from early 20th-century anatomy classes, or the unburied and unidentified victims of one of the country's most notorious war crimes.
Activists, historians and other experts who want the government to investigate links to wartime human germ warfare experiments met last weekend to mark the 35th anniversary of their discovery and renew a call for an independent panel to examine the evidence.
Japan's government has long avoided discussing wartime atrocities, including the sexual abuse of Asian women known as "comfort women" and Korean forced laborers at Japanese mines and factories, often on grounds of lack of documentary proof. Japan has apologized for its aggression in Asia, but since the 2010s it has been repeatedly criticized in South Korea and China for backpedaling.
Around a dozen skulls, many with cuts, and other parts of skeletons were unearthed on July 22, 1989, during construction of a Health Ministry research institute at the site of the wartime Army Medical School. The school's close ties to a germ and biological warfare unit led many to suspect that they could be the remains of a dark history that the Japanese government has never officially acknowledged.
Headquartered in then-Japanese-controlled northeast China, Unit 731 and several related units injected prisoners of war with typhus, cholera and other diseases, according to historians and former unit members. They also say the unit performed unnecessary amputations and organ removals on living people to practice surgery and froze prisoners to death in endurance tests. Japan's government has acknowledged only that Unit 731 existed.
No trials for leaders
Top Unit 731 officials were not tried in postwar tribunals as the U.S. sought to get hold of chemical warfare data, historians say, although lower-ranked officials were tried by Soviet tribunals. Some of the unit's leaders became medical professors and pharmaceutical executives after the war.
A previous Health Ministry investigation said the bones couldn't be linked to the unit, and concluded that the remains were most likely from bodies used in medical education or brought back from war zones for analysis, in a 2001 report based on questioning 290 people associated with the school.
It acknowledged that some interviewees drew connections to Unit 731. One said he saw a head in a barrel shipped from Manchuria, northern China, where the unit was based. Two others noted hearing about specimens from the unit being stored in a school building, but had not actually seen them. Others denied the link, saying the specimens could include those from the prewar era.
A 1992 anthropological analysis found that the bones came from at least 62 and possibly more than 100 different bodies, mostly adults from parts of Asia outside Japan. The holes and cuts found on some skulls were made after death, it said, but it did not find evidence linking the bones to Unit 731.
But activists say that the government could do more to uncover the truth, including publishing full accounts of its interviews and conducting DNA testing.
Kazuyuki Kawamura, a former Shinjuku district assembly member who has devoted most of his career to resolving the bone mystery, recently obtained 400 pages of research materials from the 2001 report using freedom of information requests, and said it shows that the government "tactfully excluded" key information from witness accounts.
Vivid descriptions
The newly published material doesn't contain a smoking gun, but it includes vivid descriptions — the man who described seeing a head in a barrel also described helping to handle it and then running off to vomit — and comments from several witnesses who suggested that more forensic investigation might show a link to Unit 731.
"Our goal is to identify the bones and send them back to their families," said Kawamura. The bones are virtually the only proof of what happened, he said. "We just want to find the truth."
Health Ministry official Atsushi Akiyama said that witness accounts had already been analyzed and factored into the 2001 report, and the government's position remains unchanged. A key missing link is documentary evidence, such as a label on a specimen container or official records, he said.
Documents, especially those involving Japan's wartime atrocities, were carefully destroyed in the war's closing days, and finding new evidence for a proof would be difficult.
Akiyama added that a lack of information about the bones would make DNA analysis difficult.
Disturbing memory
Hideo Shimizu, who was sent to Unit 731 in April 1945 at age 14 as lab technician and joined the meeting online from his home in Nagano, said he remembers seeing heads and body parts in formalin jars stored in a specimen room in the unit's main building. One that struck him most was a dissected belly with a fetus inside. He was told they were "maruta" — logs — a term used for prisoners chosen for experiments.
Days before Japan's August 15, 1945, surrender, Shimizu was ordered to collect bones of prisoners' bodies burned in a pit. He was then given a pistol and a packet of cyanide to kill himself if he was caught on his journey back to Japan.
He was ordered never to tell anyone about his Unit 731 experience, never contact his colleagues, and never seek a government or medical job.
Shimizu said that he could not tell if any specimen he saw at 731 could be among the Shinjuku bones by looking at their photos, but that what he saw in Harbin should never be repeated. When he sees his great-grandchildren, he said, they remind him of that fetus he saw and the lives lost.
"I want younger people to understand the tragedy of war," he said.
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Africa struggles to regulate climate cooling systems industry as demand expands
Public Domain
— ABUJA, Nigeria — As the sun blazes down in Abuja, Ahmed Bukar turns on his home air conditioner to a blast of hot air. The cooling gas that the appliance runs on is leaking from the charging valve on the unit. A technician had recently helped him refill the air conditioner with gas, but he didn't test for possible leaks.
In Abuja and across Nigeria, air conditioners sprout from the walls as the appliance turns from a middle-class luxury into a necessity in an increasingly hot climate. The industry is governed by regulations prohibiting the release of cooling gases into the air - for example, by conducting leak tests after an appliance is fixed. Still, routine release of gases into the atmosphere because of shoddy installations, unsafe disposal at the end of use, or the addition of gas without testing for leaks is a common problem in Nigeria, though unlawful.
The cooling gases, or refrigerants, have hundreds to thousands of times the climate warming potency of carbon dioxide, and the worst of them also harm the ozone layer. Following global agreements that promised to limit these gases from being spewed into the air, like the Montreal Protocol and Kigali Amendments, Nigeria has enacted regulations guiding the use of these gases. But enforcement is a problem, threatening Nigeria's commitments to slash emissions.
"Those laws, those rules, nobody enforces them," said Abiodun Ajeigbe, a manager for the air-conditioning business at Samsung in West Africa. "I have not seen any enforcement."
'I was not taught'
The weak regulatory system for the cooling industry in Nigeria is evident in the rampant lack of proper training and awareness of environmental harm caused by refrigerants among technicians, according to Ajeigbe. And it is common to see.
After uninstalling an air conditioner for a client who was moving to another neighborhood, Cyprian Braimoh, a technician in Abuja's Karu district, casually frittered the gas from the unit into the air, preparing it to be refilled with fresh gas at the client's new location.
If he followed the country's regulations, he would collect the gas into a canister, preventing or minimizing the gas's environmental harm. Technicians like Braimoh and those who serviced Bukar's appliance without testing for leaks are self-employed and unsupervised. But they often get customers because they offer cheaper services.
"I was not taught that; I only release it into the air," said Braimoh, who originally specialized in electrical wiring of buildings before fixing air conditioners to increase his income options. He received patchy training that did not include the required safety standards for handling refrigerants. And he still did not conduct a leak test after installing the air conditioning unit at his client's new location, which is required by the country's cooling industry regulations.
Installations done by well-trained technicians who follow environmental regulations can be costlier for customers. It's often the case in Nigeria, where hiring the services of companies like Daibau, who later helped Bukar fix his leaks, could result in higher costs.
Manufacturers who offer direct refrigeration and air-conditioning installation services to big commercial customers have tried to self-regulate with safety training and certifications for their technicians, Ajeigbe said.
Potent greenhouse gases
According to industry professionals and public records, the most common air conditioners in Africa still use what's known as R-22 gas. This refrigerant is less harmful to the ozone layer compared to the older, even more damaging coolants called chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs). CFCs have been largely eliminated, thanks to the 1987 Montreal Protocol, which was created to protect the ozone layer, the vital shield in the atmosphere that protects against cancer-causing ultraviolet rays.
But R-22 is 1,810 times more damaging to the climate than carbon dioxide, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Just one pound of the coolant is nearly as potent as a ton of carbon dioxide, the most common greenhouse gas, but while CO2 can stay in the atmosphere for over 200 years, R-22 stays in the atmosphere for around 12 years. R-22 air conditioners also have low energy efficiency and most of the electricity powering them in Africa is from fossil fuels.
Nigeria plans to phase out the R-22 refrigerant by January 1, 2030. But with lax enforcement, meeting the phaseout target is in doubt, Ajeigbe said.
Newer air conditioners that use a family of gases called hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) don't harm the ozone and consume less electricity. But HFCs are still potent greenhouse gases and account for around 2% of all human-caused warming in the atmosphere.
One HFC, R-410A, which is still a common refrigerant in Europe and the United States, has a warming potential 2,088 times greater than that of carbon dioxide and lasts roughly 30 years in the atmosphere. Air conditioners running on it are the next most common in Africa.
Another HFC, R-32, is 675 times more potent than CO2, lasts about five years in the atmosphere, and is more energy-efficient. But it is just "marginally" in the African market, Ajeigbe said.
Air conditioners running on HFCs are more expensive, meaning they're less popular than the more polluting ones, according to sellers and technicians in Abuja and Lagos.
A wider problem
It's not just Nigeria. In Ghana, the cooling industry also struggles to get technicians to comply with environmental standards.
According to the Environmental Protection Agency, "poor servicing practices prevalent" in the country are largely driven by consumers, who choose low-trained technicians on price considerations and neglect recommended standards.
In Kenya, the demand for cooling systems is growing as temperatures warm, the population grows and electricity access expands. Air conditioners running on R-22 are still very common in Kenya, but the National Environmental Management Authority told The Associated Press there have not been new imports since 2021, in line with 2020 regulations.
The regulations require technicians handling refrigerants and cooling appliances to obtain a license, but that is not enforced, technicians told AP, leaving space for environmentally unsafe practices.
"You just need to be well-trained and start installations. It's a very simple industry for us who are making a living in it," said Nairobi-based technician Jeremiah Musyoka.
One cooling gas that's energy-efficient and less harmful to the atmosphere, R-290, is slowly gaining traction as an alternative for refrigeration and air conditioning in developed markets like the European Union. The demand for efficient heat pumps is rapidly expanding in the EU, but adoption in Africa remains insignificant because of cost barriers and limited awareness.
Countries like Nigeria, Ghana and Kenya have also identified R-290 as the product that will ultimately replace HFCs, but models using it are not commercially available. And they still have to worry about specialized training for technicians because of R-290's high flammability.
"It worries me there is not enough training and existing regulations are not enforced," Ajeigbe, manager at Samsung, said. But he said enforcing the import ban on banned gases and the appliances that use them would make a difference.
Anastasia Akhigbe, a senior regulatory official at Nigeria's National Environmental Standards and Regulations Agency, added that increasing awareness among appliance importers, technicians and consumers about the environmental impacts of certain refrigerants would also help.
"Enforcement is a known challenge, but we are moving gradually," Akhigbe said.
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Olympic competition nears total gender parity.
Public Domain
— GENEVA — The founder of the modern Olympics and former International Olympic Committee president Pierre de Coubertin once said women competing in the Games would be "impractical, uninteresting, unaesthetic and improper."
More than a century later, the 2024 Paris Olympic Games are targeting gender parity in the same city where women made their Olympic debut in 1900.
The IOC set a goal of a 50-50 split among the more than 11,000 men and women, including backups, registered to compete from July 26 to August 11. However, the latest numbers from the IOC suggest organizers might fall just short of that target.
More medals at stake for men
There is still a slight edge toward men among the 329 medal events at the Paris Olympics. The IOC has said there are 157 men's events, 152 women's events and 20 mixed-gender events.
Of the 32 sports, 28 are " fully gender equal," the IOC said, including the new event of breaking to music. Rhythmic gymnastics is still for women only but men are allowed to compete in artistic swimming.
Mixed-gender team events were strongly pushed. In Tokyo three years ago, vivid images were created by debuts for 4x400 meters mixed relay on the track and 4x100 mixed medley relay in swimming.
"There is nothing more equal than a male and female competing as one team on the same field of play towards the same sports performance," the IOC's sports director, Kit McConnell, has said.
How many athletes entered to compete in Paris?
One week before the opening ceremony, the official IOC database for the Paris Olympics showed 11,215 athletes, including backups, registered to compete: 5,712 in men's events and 5,503 in women's events or a 51-49% split.
In track and field, which has qualifying standards the athletes much reach, there were 50 more registered for the men's events than women's: 1,091-1,041. In swimming, the difference was 464-393.
In soccer, with 16 teams in the men's tournament and just 12 in the women's, the athlete tally was 351-264.
The wrestling entry has 193 men and 96 women, with a men-only category in Greco-Roman.
In equestrian, where men and women compete in the same events, entries were 154-96.
No men were registered in artistic swimming or rhythmic gymnastics, which have a total of 200 women. There's no men's category in rhythmic gymnastics.
Which teams have more athletes in women's events?
As the biggest team at the Paris Olympics, the United States has the most competitors in women's events with 338, or 53% of its 638-strong delegation, according to the IOC's games database this week.
The 38 fewer men is partly because the U.S. qualified a squad of 19 in women's field hockey but didn't qualify in the men's competition, and registered nine women in artistic swimming.
France, with invitations to compete in every team event, had 293 female athletes registered. Australia had 276, China 259 and Germany 239.
Other teams, albeit with many fewer athletes, have more women on their squads.
Guam, a U.S. island territory east of the Philippines, led the way with 87.5% women — seven in its team of eight athletes, according to the IOC database. Guam's seven women are in six different sports. Nicaragua is set to arrive with 86% women — six of its seven athletes — and Sierra Leone with 80%.
Kosovo's strength in women's judo — four of its total team of nine athletes — lifts its percentage of women to 77%. North Korea, Laos and Vietnam each has 75% female athletes on their teams.
Which teams have the fewest women?
Six of the 205 official Olympic teams had no elite-level female athlete registered to compete: Belize, Guinea-Bissau, Iraq, Liechtenstein, Nauru and Somalia.
Qatar, which wants to host the 2036 Olympics, has just one woman in its 14-athlete team or 7%. Half the Qatari team represents men's track and field, including the defending champion in high jump Mutaz Essa Barshim.
Mali and South Sudan are at 7%. Mali will send 22 male soccer players and South Sudan 12 athletes in men's basketball.
El Salvador has one woman among eight athletes (12.5%).
Two nonbinary athletes competing
The registered entries to women's events in Paris include two athletes who identify as nonbinary and transgender.
Nikki Hiltz won the 1,500 meters event at the U.S. track and field trials last month and will make their Olympic debut at Stade de France.
Quinn won Olympic gold with the Canadian soccer team in Tokyo three years ago and returns to help defend the title.
When did women first compete in Olympics?
Paris hosted the first female athletes at the 1900 Olympics — in the second modern Games — with 22 of the 997 athletes in competition, or 2.2% of the total. The modern Olympics began in 1896 in Athens.
Women competed in tennis and golf, plus team events of sailing, croquet and equestrian in Paris.
Charlotte Cooper of Britain was the first female individual gold medalist in tennis singles.
Gender parity over the decades
Just 4.4% of the athletes were women when Paris again hosted the Olympics 100 years ago. In 1924 — the games that the movie "Chariots of Fire" centered on — there were 135 women competing among 3,089 athletes, according to the IOC's research.
The number rose to 9.5% at the 1932 Los Angeles Olympics, dropped to 8.4% in Berlin four years later, and got back to 9.5% when the Summer Games were held in London in 1948.
The rise included a bump to 20.7% female athletes in Montreal in 1976 and got close to 23% when the Games returned to Los Angeles in 1984. That's when rhythmic gymnastics and artistic swimming, then called synchronized, made their debuts.
The IOC put pressure on Olympic teams that traditionally sent only men to complete. Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Brunei included women for the first time at the 2012 London Olympics. That's where 44.2% of the athletes competed in women's events at the Olympics. The number rose to 45% in Rio 2016 and reached 48% at the Tokyo Games, where teams were encouraged to select a man and a woman to be flag-bearers at the opening ceremony.
How did we get here?
The IOC formally committed to "foster gender quality" as part of a package of wide-ranging reforms pushed in December 2014 by the recently-elected president Thomas Bach.
The IOC's sports department worked with the sports' governing bodies to remove some men's medal events and add more for women. The federations have since achieved more equity on the field of play for female athletes than for women in their own offices.
A 2020 review of the 31 sports governing bodies at the Tokyo Olympics found only one achieved 40% women on its board and 18 had female representation of 25% or less.
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Judge's ruling temporarily allows for unlicensed Native Hawaiian midwifery
Public Domain
— HONOLULU — A Hawaii judge has temporarily blocked the state from enforcing a law requiring the licensing of practitioners and teachers of traditional Native Hawaiian midwifery while a lawsuit seeking to overturn the statute wends its way through the courts.
Lawmakers enacted the midwife licensure law, which asserted that the "improper practice of midwifery poses a significant risk of harm to the mother or newborn, and may result in death," in 2019. Violations are punishable by up to a year in jail, plus thousands of dollars in criminal and civil fines.
The measure requires anyone who provides "assessment, monitoring, and care" during pregnancy, labor, childbirth and the postpartum period to be licensed.
A group of women sued, arguing that a wide range of people, including midwives, doulas, lactation consultants and even family and friends of the new mother would be subject to penalties and criminal liability.
Their complaint also said the law threatens the plaintiffs' ability to serve women who seek traditional Native Hawaiian births.
Judge Shirley Kawamura issued a ruling late Tuesday afternoon barring the state from "enforcing, threatening to enforce or applying any penalties to those who practice, teach, and learn traditional Native Hawaiian healing practices of prenatal, maternal and child care."
Plaintiffs testified during a four-day hearing last month that the law forces them to get licensed through costly out-of-state programs that don't align with Hawaiian culture.
Ki'inaniokalani Kahoʻohanohano testified that a lack of Native Hawaiian midwives when she prepared to give birth for the first time in 2003 inspired her to eventually become one herself. She described how she spent years helping to deliver as many as three babies a month, receiving them in a traditional cloth made of woven bark and uttering sacred chants as she welcomed them into the world.
The law constitutes a deprivation of Native Hawaiian customary rights, which are protected by the Hawaii constitution, Kawamura's ruling said, and the "public interest weighs heavily towards protecting Native Hawaiian customs and traditions that are at risk of extinction."
The dispute is the latest in a long debate about how and whether Hawaii should regulate the practice of traditional healing arts that date to well before the islands became the 50th state in 1959. Those healing practices were banished or severely restricted for much of the 20th century, but the Hawaiian Indigenous rights movement of the 1970s renewed interest in them.
The state eventually adopted a system under which councils versed in Native Hawaiian healing certify traditional practitioners, though the plaintiffs in the lawsuit say their efforts to form such a council for midwifery have failed.
The judge also noted in her ruling that the preliminary injunction is granted until there is a council that can recognize traditional Hawaiian birthing practitioners.
"This ruling means that traditional Native Hawaiian midwives can once again care for families, including those who choose home births, who can't travel long distances, or who don't feel safe or seen in other medical environments," plaintiff and midwife trainee Makalani Franco-Francis said in a statement Wednesday. "We are now free to use our own community wisdom to care for one another without fear of prosecution."
She testified last month how she learned customary practices from Kahoʻohanohano, including cultural protocols for a placenta, such as burying it to connect a newborn to its ancestral lands.
The judge found, however, that the state's regulation of midwifery more broadly speaking is "reasonably necessary to protect the health, safety, and welfare of mothers and their newborns."
The ruling doesn't block the law as it pertains to unlicensed midwives who do not focus on Hawaiian birthing practices, said Hillary Schneller, an attorney with the Center for Reproductive Rights, which represents the women. "That is a gap that this order doesn't address."
The case is expected to continue to trial to determine whether the law should be permanently blocked.
The state attorney general's office said in an email Wednesday that it was still reviewing the decision.
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'Les Français,' Olympic hosts, can't be pigeonholed
Public Domain
— paris — They're often thought to have practically cornered the market on romance, yet they also can bicker and squabble as though they were Olympic sports.
They practically wrote the book on fraternity, liberty and equality — words inscribed on their schools and town halls — but also recognize that those ideals aren't always applied to citizens of color.
Les Français — the French, as the people of France call themselves — simply don't fit neatly into any one box.
Now that they're hosting the Olympics, here's a look at some of the particularities that make the French, well, French:
The basics
France has one of Europe's most diverse populations, thanks to centuries of conquest and, in the last 200 years, immigration from Italy, Spain, eastern Europe and France's former colonies overseas.
Although comic-strip hero Asterix the Gaul is something of a national icon, loved by generations of French readers for his feisty ingenuity and pluck, the ancient Gauls who populated much of what is now France more than two millennia ago — and whom some in France still call "our ancestors" — were followed by waves of others.
Romans, Franks (from whom France got its name), Normans (who lent their name to what is now Normandy ) and more fought for the rich lands boxed in by the Mediterranean's waters and mountains of the Alps and Pyrenees in the south, the mighty Rhine river in the east, and seas to the west and north.
Those natural barriers still largely delineate the borders of what is the largest territory in the European Union and its roughly six-sided shape — the reason the French often refer to their country as "the Hexagon."
The national statistics agency, Insee, says France's population at the start of this Olympic year numbered 68.4 million. That includes the 2.2 million inhabitants of five formerly colonized territories in the Caribbean, South America and Indian Ocean that are administered as overseas regions of France — considered as French as Paris, the Olympic host city.
By Insee's count, France has 2 million more women than men. But France has never had a female president and counts dozens of women killed in domestic violence each year. Of the 78 luminaries honored by being inducted in the Panthéon, the centuries-old Paris resting place for the good and great of France, just five are women. The first, scientist Marie Curie, wasn't added until 1995.
A colorblind rainbow nation
Officially, France is blind to the many colors of its inhabitants. Intending to treat all equally, the republic doesn't count citizens by race or religion. Some French people, especially those who are white, consider it racist to even discuss skin color.
But people of color and human-rights watchdogs say France's ideal of colorblind universalism results in discrimination that goes unmeasured and unsolved. The problem has repeatedly boiled over into violent unrest, often in underprivileged parts of France with immigrant populations. Race bias and religious intolerance have contributed to a deep polarization of French politics.
The anti-immigration, far-right National Rally party surged this year in elections marked by unusual violence. Its leaders have long targeted immigrants and their France-born children for supposedly failing to integrate.
A godless nation of many religions
After centuries of religious conflict, modern France is constitutionally secular, with church and state separated. Faiths are kept out of shared public spaces like schools, hospitals, courts and sports fields, where students, staff and players aren't allowed to wear ostentatious crosses, kippahs or Islamic head coverings. France won't allow its Olympians to wear headscarves at the Paris Games — a blanket ban that won't apply to athletes from other nations.
But France also legally guarantees the right to believe — or to not believe — and to practice one's faith. Its religious architecture — from Paris' iconic Notre Dame Cathedral to modernist architect Le Corbusier's Chapel of Notre-Dame du Haut in Ronchamp, eastern France — is stunning in its variety, beauty and history.
France has about 100,000 places of worship, including those that are no longer used, with the vast bulk of them built for the Catholic faith, according to the Observatory of Religious Patrimony, a preservation group.
Quiet churches and busy mosques speak to a changing picture of faith and worship in France. A major and rare public study published by Insee last year, which questioned more than 27,000 adults aged 18-59, found interest in religion fading. Just over half of the respondents declared that they have no faith, a growing trend particularly pronounced among people born in France and without any immigrant backgrounds.
Less than one-third identified as Catholic — still the largest single group of believers, although under 10% of them said they were regular churchgoers.
Muslims were the second-largest group of believers, accounting for 10% of respondents.
Wine and food
Ah, the reds, whites and rosés! The French used to guzzle their wines without moderation. It wasn't until 1956 that the government barred children — under 14, that is — from being served alcohol in school canteens.
But since the 1960s, when French drinkers were downing a woozy 130 or so liters (35 or so gallons) of wines each per year, plus many more liters of beer and cider, they have steadily sobered up, cutting their consumption by around three-quarters and drinking higher-quality wines than the rotgut that washed down older generations' meals, Insee data show.
Food habits are changing, too. Schools play a key role in passing from generation to generation France's high regard for freshly cooked meals, with canteens typically offering a starter and a main course followed by a milk product (cheese, yogurt) and/or a dessert.
The Agriculture Ministry says about 60% of students eat at their school canteens at least four times a week. Schools also offer tasting classes, and school canteens are obliged to offer at least one vegetarian menu per week.
"Does your family pray before eating?" asks one joke about French eating habits. The punchline: "No, we are French, we know how to cook."
The French are just behind the Italians as the least overweight population in the European Union, according to the most recent figures from the EU's statistics agency, from 2019. It found that 47% of French adults were overweight, with a body mass index of 25 or above, compared with 46% of Italian adults.
But French people also have become fans of what they call "le fast food" — burgers, pizzas, kebabs and so forth.
In the 45 years since McDonald's opened its first restaurant in France in 1979, the country has become one of its largest markets in Europe, with 1,560 eateries in cities and towns nationwide.
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Experts: Volunteering has health benefits, especially for older adults
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Puerto Rico bans discrimination against those who wear Afros, other styles
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— SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — Puerto Rico's governor on Wednesday signed a law that prohibits discrimination against people wearing Afros, curls, locs, twists, braids and other hairstyles in the racially diverse U.S. territory.
The move was celebrated by those who had long demanded explicit protection related to work, housing, education and public services.
"It's a victory for generations to come," Welmo Romero Joseph, a community facilitator with the nonprofit Taller Salud, said in an interview.
The organization is one of several that had been pushing for the law, with Romero noting it sends a strong message that "you can reach positions of power without having to change your identity."
While Puerto Rico's laws and constitution protect against discrimination, along with Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, a precedent was set in 2016 when a U.S. Court of Appeals dismissed a discrimination lawsuit and ruled that an employer's no-dreadlock policy in Alabama did not violate Title VII.
Earlier this year, legislators in the U.S. territory held a public hearing on the issue, with several Puerto Ricans sharing examples of how they were discriminated against, including job offers conditional on haircuts.
It's a familiar story to Romero, who recalled how a high school principal ordered him to cut his flat top.
"It was a source of pride," he said of that hairstyle. "I was a 4.0 student. What did that have to do with my hair?"
With a population of 3.2 million, Puerto Rico has more than 1.6 million people who identify as being of two or more races, with nearly 230,000 identifying solely as Black, according to the U.S. Census.
"Unfortunately, people identified as black or Afro descendant in Puerto Rico still face derogatory treatment, deprivation of opportunities, marginalization, exclusion and all kinds of discrimination," the law signed Wednesday states.
While Romero praised the law, he warned that measures are needed to ensure it's followed.
On the U.S. mainland, at least two dozen states have approved versions of the CROWN Act, which aims to ban race-based hair discrimination and stands for "Creating a Respectful and Open World for Natural Hair."
Among those states is Texas, where a Black high school student was suspended after school officials said his dreadlocks fell below his eyebrows and ear lobes, violating the dress code.
A March report from the Economic Policy Institute found that not all states have amended their education codes to protect public and private high school students, and that some states have allowed certain exceptions to the CROWN Act.
A federal version was passed by the U.S. House of Representatives in 2022, but it failed in the Senate. In May, Democratic lawmakers reintroduced the legislation.
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Breakers weigh pressure, excitement as they make Olympic debut at Paris Games
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Global cruise industry sees growing demand, wary of port protests
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— MADRID — The global cruise industry expects to carry 10% more passengers by 2028 than the 31.7 million who took cruise holidays in 2023, when the sector surpassed pre-pandemic levels, but sees some routes exposed to protests over overtourism.
Long criticized for its impact on the environment and coastal communities, the industry has ordered 57 more cruise ships in addition to some 300 now in operation to meet the projected demand, said the European director of Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA), Marie-Caroline Laurent.
At the same time, companies are working to adapt the ships so they can switch to electricity from highly polluting marine fuel when they are moored at ports and to be ready to comply with EU maritime environment regulations by 2030.
But as travel continues to grow, cruise operators face a growing debate about excessive tourist numbers in crowded European port cities such as Spain's Barcelona, the scene of protests this month in which a small group sprayed tourists with water pistols.
Cruise ship passengers represent just 4% of all tourists visiting Barcelona, CLIA representatives said.
Jaume Collboni, the mayor of Barcelona, which is the biggest cruise ship port in Europe, told Reuters his administration would seek a new deal with the port to reduce the number of one-day cruise calls.
CLIA's Laurent said violent protests could have an impact on the itineraries in the future.
"There will be some consideration of adapting the itineraries if for some reason we feel that all passengers will not be well-treated," she said.
Instead, the industry could offer more cruise holidays in Asia, in northern Europe and the Caribbean in the coming years, as well as different ports in the Mediterranean.
The World Travel & Tourism Council expects Spain's tourism revenues to reach nearly 100 billion euros this year, 11% above pre-pandemic 2019 levels.
Meanwhile, the cruise industry forecasts a 5% increase in visitors in Spain during 2024, below the 13% increase in summer visitor arrivals projected by Spanish authorities.
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Job losses, protests present difficulties for Chinese Communist Party
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— Auckland, New Zealand — Job losses and wage cuts from China's economic downturn are hitting key industries, according to the South China Morning Post, and analysts say the situation could lead to political difficulties for the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
Rights groups say the situation has triggered a sharp increase in protests and strikes around the country – not enough to threaten the rule of the CCP or President Xi Jinping, but enough that an analyst sees a "hidden danger" for Chinese authorities unless they can rejuvenate the economy.
Mr. Wang, in his early 40s, lives in Bao'an District, Shenzhen, in southern China. He was formerly employed at a well-known business travel platform but was laid off earlier this year. He prefers not to disclose his full name or the company’s name due to the matter's sensitivity.
Wang tells VOA, "In the area of business travel software, our company is at the forefront of China in terms of R&D and sales, and it is also one of the top 500 private enterprises in China. But now many companies have run out of money, our sales have plummeted, and the layoffs finally fell on our group of old employees."
He compares China’s economic slowdown to a high-speed train suddenly hitting the brakes, and everyone on the train hitting the ground, even those better-off, like himself.
China’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth rate has been dropping since hitting 10.6% in 2010, well before the COVID pandemic, which cut growth to 2.2% in 2020, according to the World Bank.
The global lender says growth bounced back to 8.4% in 2021 but then fell to 3% in 2022 before a moderate recovery to 5.2% in 2023. The World Bank expects China’s growth rate to drop back below 5% this year.
Several Chinese workers VOA talked with said they were unprepared for the economy to slow so quickly.
Two large IT companies laid off Mr. Liu in Guangzhou in the past two years, and his life has turned gloomy. He also prefers not to disclose his full name due to the matter's sensitivity. Still struggling to find a job, Liu has a second child, and his wife was diagnosed with early-stage breast cancer.
"When I was laid off for the first time, I got decent severance pay because I had worked there for a long time," says Liu. "Later, when I came to a large company, I was laid off again, and I felt that I was quite unlucky. Fortunately, we don't have too much debt."
According to South Morning China Post's (SCMP) July analysis of the annual reports of 23 top Chinese companies, 14 of them carried out large layoffs in 2023, with technology and real estate companies among the worst hit amid a glut of empty buildings.
The online newspaper reports that one company, Poly Real Estate, laid off 16.3% of its workforce in the past year, or 11,000 people; Greenland Holdings, a Shanghai-based real estate company, also saw a 14.5% drop in the number of its employees.
The SCMP reports online retail giant Alibaba cut 12.8% of its workforce, or about 20,000 jobs, in the 2023 fiscal year, while technology conglomerate Tencent's headcount fell 2.8% in 2023 to about 3,000, and in the first quarter of 2024, the company laid off another 630 people.
In addition, Chinese internet tech firms ByteDance, JD.com, Kuaishou, Didi Chuxing, Bilibili and Weibo have all conducted layoffs this year.
China’s National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) is painting a rosier picture this month, calling employment and the national economy "generally stable" and citing "steady progress." In June, it showed only a 0.2% drop in urban jobs compared with the same period last year.
The NBS also claimed China’s lowest youth unemployment rate this year, 13.2%, after it removed students from the calculation. The new methodology was introduced after China hit a record high 21.3% youth unemployment in June 2023, prompting authorities to suspend publication of the statistic.
Chen Yingxuan, a policy analyst at the Taiwan Institute of National Defense and Security Studies who specializes in Chinese unemployment, tells VOA that Beijing’s job worries have shifted from fresh graduates and the working class to middle class and senior managers.
She says many have faced salary cuts or layoffs to reduce costs and increase efficiency as China struggles with a weak housing market, sluggish consumption, high government debt, foreign investment withdrawals, and trade barriers.
Even people with relatively stable incomes, such as workers at state-owned enterprises, are feeling the pinch.
Ms. Zhang, who works for a state-owned commercial bank in Guangzhou and prefers not to disclose her full name due to the matter’s sensitivity, says many bank employees are seeing paychecks shrink.
"State owned banks such as China Construction Bank and Agricultural Bank of China, or joint-stock banks, are now cutting salaries, let alone urban commercial banks in many places," she tells VOA. "Salary cuts already started last year, and it seems to be worse this year."
She projects the cuts will be 20% to 30% by the end of the year.
In July, China's 31 provincial-level administrative regions issued regulations calling for party and government organs to "live a tight life," focusing on budget cuts and reductions in public spending.
Analysts say further job and wage cuts could lead to intensified protests and strikes, leading to greater instability.
Rights group China Labor Bulletin (CLB) in 2023 counted 1,794 strike incidents in China, more than double the number in 2022.
In the past six months alone, the group documented about 1,200 incidents in protest of the wage cuts, unpaid wages, unforeseen layoffs, and unfair compensation, a more than 50% increase from the same period in 2023.
CLB estimates "only 5% to 10% of all collective actions of workers have been recorded," suggesting many more protests are taking place.
But Chen of the Taiwan Institute of National Defense and Security Studies says the wage cuts and unemployment have not yet been severe enough to spark large-scale protests that threaten the power of the ruling party or President Xi.
"Although there has been an increase in protests, they are still relatively sporadic. There are no large-scale incidents, and local governments can easily quell them," she says. "So, for the legitimacy of the CCP and Xi's third term, it is more of a hidden danger than an imminent crisis."
While protests in China are usually by working class people, Wang notes the economic pain is spreading to other, more influential groups.
"Whether for blue-collar, white-collar, or even gold-collar workers, the economic losses are now very large," says Wang. "The worse the economy and the more emergencies there are, the more the CCP will suppress it with high pressure. It's a vicious circle, where people suffer more, and stability is more costly."
Meanwhile, analysts say Chinese authorities are struggling to come up with a plan to reverse the unemployment and wage cutting trend.
The communiqué of the Third Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, released on July 18, mentioned employment only once, saying "it is necessary to improve the income distribution system and the employment priority policy."
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Old Video Of Indian Men’s Relay Team Shared As Paris Olympics
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— BOOM found that the event in the viral video is from the August 2023 World Athletics Championships held in Budapest, Hungary.
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How often do you need to deworm? Here’s all you need to know
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— Full Text On July 3, 2024, Dr George (@GeorgeAnagli) shared a video on X showing worms being removed from a human body during surgery. The 36-second clip has garnered over 1.5 million views, 1,400 reposts, and 577 replies. The post was accompanied by a caption, “This is why it’s important to deworm regularly. Especially individuals …
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Amid revolution, Myanmar’s NGOs face a deficit of donor solidarity
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— Relationships need to move beyond oversight to solidarity
The post Amid revolution, Myanmar’s NGOs face a deficit of donor solidarity appeared first on New Mandala.
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Will the Real Wickremesinghe, Premadasa and Dissanayake Please Stand Up?
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— With the Presidential election slated for September 21, three leading candidates stand out: the incumbent President Ranil Wickremesinghe (RW), the leader of the Opposition Sajith Premadasa (SP) and the leader of the…
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IOC apologizes for South Korea gaffe in Olympics opening ceremony
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— SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA — The International Olympic Committee apologized Saturday for a gaffe during the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympics in which South Korean athletes were incorrectly introduced as North Korean.
As the South Korean delegation sailed down the Seine River in the French capital, they were introduced with the official name for North Korea: "Republique populaire democratique de Coree" in French, then "Democratic People's Republic of Korea" in English.
"We deeply apologize for the mistake that occurred when introducing the South Korean team during the broadcast of the opening ceremony," the IOC said in a post on its official Korean-language X account.
The error sparked displeased reactions in South Korea, a global cultural and technological powerhouse that is technically still at war with the nuclear-armed and impoverished North.
South Korea's sports ministry said in a statement it "expresses regret" over the "announcement during the opening ceremony of the 2024 Paris Olympics, where the South Korean delegation was introduced as the North Korean team."
Second vice sports minister Jang Mi-ran, a 2008 Olympic weightlifting champion, has asked for a meeting with IOC chief Thomas Bach to discuss the matter, it added.
The sports ministry has also asked the foreign ministry to "deliver a strong protest to the French side" over the issue, the statement said.
South Korea's National Olympic Committee plans to meet with the Paris Olympics Organizing Committee and the IOC to voice their protest, request measures to prevent a recurrence, and send an official letter of protest under the name of the head of its delegation, the sports ministry said.
North Korea was correctly introduced with the country's official name.
Relations between the two Koreas are at one of their lowest points in years, with the North bolstering military ties with Russia while sending thousands of trash-carrying balloons to the South.
In response, Seoul's military blasts K-pop and anti-regime messages from border loudspeakers and recently resumed live-fire drills on border islands and near the demilitarized zone that divides the Korean peninsula.
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Belgium Orders 3 Chechens Jailed On Terrorism Charges
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— Belgium was hit by suicide bombers in 2016, who attacked the country's main airport and its subway system.
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Bali water forum discusses managing the Mekong
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Challenges remain as transboundary issues along the Mekong River come under the microscope at World Water Forum
This content was first published on Mekong Eye, at Bali water forum discusses managing the Mekong
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US claims TikTok collected user views on issues like abortion, gun control
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— WASHINGTON — In a fresh broadside against one of the world's most popular technology companies, the Justice Department late Friday accused TikTok of harnessing the capability to gather bulk information on users based on views on divisive social issues like gun control, abortion and religion.
Government lawyers wrote in a brief filed to the federal appeals court in Washington that TikTok and its Beijing-based parent company ByteDance used an internal web-suite system called Lark to enable TikTok employees to speak directly with ByteDance engineers in China.
TikTok employees used Lark to send sensitive data about U.S. users, information that has wound up being stored on Chinese servers and accessible to ByteDance employees in China, federal officials said.
One of Lark's internal search tools, the filing states, permits ByteDance and TikTok employees in the U.S. and China to gather information on users' content or expressions, including views on sensitive topics, such as abortion or religion. Last year, The Wall Street Journal reported TikTok had tracked users who watched LGBTQ content through a dashboard the company said it had since deleted.
The new court documents represent the government's first major defense in a consequential legal battle over the future of the popular social media platform, which is used by more than 170 million Americans. Under a law signed by President Joe Biden in April, the company could face a ban in a few months if it doesn't break ties with ByteDance.
The measure was passed with bipartisan support after lawmakers and administration officials expressed concerns that Chinese authorities could force ByteDance to hand over U.S. user data or sway public opinion towards Beijing's interests by manipulating the algorithm that populates users' feeds.
The Justice Department warned, in stark terms, of the potential for what it called "covert content manipulation" by the Chinese government, saying the algorithm could be designed to shape content that users receive.
"By directing ByteDance or TikTok to covertly manipulate that algorithm; China could for example further its existing malign influence operations and amplify its efforts to undermine trust in our democracy and exacerbate social divisions," the brief states.
The concern, they said, is more than theoretical, alleging that TikTok and ByteDance employees are known to engage in a practice called "heating" in which certain videos are promoted in order to receive a certain number of views. While this capability enables TikTok to curate popular content and disseminate it more widely, U.S. officials posit it can also be used for nefarious purposes.
Justice Department officials are asking the court to allow a classified version of its legal brief, which won't be accessible to the two companies.
Nothing in the redacted brief "changes the fact that the Constitution is on our side," TikTok spokesperson Alex Haurek said in a statement.
"The TikTok ban would silence 170 million Americans' voices, violating the 1st Amendment," Haurek said. "As we've said before, the government has never put forth proof of its claims, including when Congress passed this unconstitutional law. Today, once again, the government is taking this unprecedented step while hiding behind secret information. We remain confident we will prevail in court."
In the redacted version of the court documents, the Justice Department said another tool triggered the suppression of content based on the use of certain words. Certain policies of the tool applied to ByteDance users in China, where the company operates a similar app called Douyin that follows Beijing's strict censorship rules.
But Justice Department officials said other policies may have been applied to TikTok users outside of China. TikTok was investigating the existence of these policies and whether they had ever been used in the U.S. in, or around, 2022, officials said.
The government points to the Lark data transfers to explain why federal officials do not believe that Project Texas, TikTok's $1.5 billion mitigation plan to store U.S. user data on servers owned and maintained by the tech giant Oracle, is sufficient to guard against national security concerns.
In its legal challenge against the law, TikTok has heavily leaned on arguments that the potential ban violates the First Amendment because it bars the app from continued speech unless it attracts a new owner through a complex divestment process. It has also argued divestment would change the speech on the platform because a new social platform would lack the algorithm that has driven its success.
In its response, the Justice Department argued TikTok has not raised any valid free speech claims, saying the law addresses national security concerns without targeting protected speech, and argues that China and ByteDance, as foreign entities, aren't shielded by the First Amendment.
TikTok has also argued the U.S. law discriminates on viewpoints, citing statements from some lawmakers critical of what they viewed as an anti-Israel tilt on the platform during its war in Gaza.
Justice Department officials disputes that argument, saying the law at issue reflects their ongoing concern that China could weaponize technology against U.S. national security, a fear they say is made worse by demands that companies under Beijing's control turn over sensitive data to the government. They say TikTok, under its current operating structure, is required to be responsive to those demands.
Oral arguments in the case is scheduled for September.
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This Video showing an Electric Battery Explosion in an Elevator in China is not Caused by Magnetic F...
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— A widely circulated video on social media shows an EV battery catching fire inside an elevator, severely injuring the person holding it. The video is shared with claims that the battery turned the area into a magnetic field resulting in the explosion. Additionally, some posts allege the incident occurred in Singapore and that the explosion [...]
The post This Video showing an Electric Battery Explosion in an Elevator in China is not Caused by Magnetic Field appeared first on FACTLY.
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‘Maybe you’ll even come back’. Two Russian men recount how their own families tried to make them go ...
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— When journalist Irina Snegovskaya posted a poem on social media about a Russian mother telling her son to join a mercenary formation to pay off his debts, she meant for it to be satirical. But after someone left a comment arguing that such a thing had never happened, Russian men began responding with their own stories of being pressured by their mothers and wives to join the war in Ukraine. The RFE/RL news outlet Current Time, where Snegovskaya works, reached out to these commenters and asked them to recount their situations in detail. Meduza shares two of these men’s stories in English.
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California's largest wildfire explodes in size as fires rage across US West
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2 Seychelles' football clubs will go to preliminary rounds of 2 CAF competitions
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— Two Seychelles' football clubs, St. Louis and Foresters, will participate in the preliminary round of two competitions of the Confederation of African Football (CAF), the Champions League and Confederation's Cup, respectively.
St. Louis football club, the Seychelles Premier League title holder, will compete in the Champions League with the continent league winners. The Seychelles' side has been drawn against Grupo Desportivo Sagrada Esperança (GDSE) from Angola.
GDSE finished as runner-up in the Angolan first division last season but has won the league title twice in its history.
Should St.Louis get past their opponents, they will meet the winners of the match between US Zilimadjou of Comoros and Enugu Rangers of Nigeria.
Zilimadjou are the Comoros League Champions, a title they have now won for the fifth time, while Rangers are the champions of Nigeria.
Rangers have won the Nigerian Premier League eight times in its history and are one of the nation's top teams.
Until now no club from Seychelles has ever made it to the group stage of the CAF Champions League. St.Michel came close in 2001 when they reached the final qualifying round, but lost 6-0 on aggregate to eventual winners and record champions Al Ahly of Egypt.
Meanwhile, Foresters will face Orapa United of Botswana in the first preliminary round of the CAF Confederation's Cup.
Orapa United FC plays in Botswana Premier League after being promoted from the country's First Division North League in the 2013–14 season. The side qualified for the Confederations Cup after losing in the country's Football Association (DA) Cup to League champions Jwaneng Galaxy.
The winner of this encounter will face Dynamos of Zimbabwe or Zesco United from Zambia in the next round. Dynamos are 21 times champions of Zambia, making them its most successful club. Zesco United have won the Zambia league nine times in their history.
The CAF Confederation Cup was established in 2004 from a merger of the CAF Cup and the African Cup Winners' Cup and organized by CAF.
It is the second-tier competition of African club football, ranking below the CAF Champions League. The winner of the tournament faces the winner of the aforementioned competition in the following season's CAF Super Cup.
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Mass breeding of desert locusts unlocks new food source
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— Researchers have developed a way of breading locusts as a source of protein for animals and people.
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136 New Rental Units Proposed in Six-Storey Building on Ashley Street, Near Cannon and Wentworth
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— Hamilton's Design Review Panel will meet on August 8 to review the proposal. Development will need zoning amendment approval from City Council
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Payments to college athletes to range from a few dollars to more than $1M under settlement
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Circle of Beads Continues to Seek Voting Indigenous Hamilton Council Seat
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— "The point is that a seat should be reserved for the Indigenous community, which had mainstream political processes imposed upon it and have not had a meaningful voice in these processes, to the community’s ongoing detriment," reads a press statement.
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Dust in the air: Lack of transparency over Gauteng farming project funding
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— A number of organisations that received funding from the Gauteng Department of Social Development through the Daracorp non-profit, say Daracorp never delivered on their promises
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Another commissioner resigns from the SDC board
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— Serina Chavez, who was elected to represent the Social Development Commission’s District 5 and serves as the board’s secretary, resigned from the SDC Board of Commissioners on Friday.
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What impact did Netanyahu’s US visit have?
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— Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed a divided U.S. Congress Wednesday, with many Democratic lawmakers boycotting his speech and protesters surrounding the U.S. Capitol. But congressional Republicans said the speech was key to reaffirming the U.S. commitment to its Middle Eastern ally in the midst of the 10-month-old war with Hamas. Netanyahu’s speech to Congress was as much an address to the Israeli and Arab worlds about Israel’s goals as it was an address to the American public about the importance of U.S. support of Israel. VOA Flashpoint: Global Crises host Steve Karesh speaks with Avi Melamed, author and former Israeli intelligence officer and negotiator, for a look at how Netanyahu’s message was received at home. In addition to addressing the U.S. Congress, Netanyahu also met with U.S. President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, and 2024 Republican nominee for President, Donald Trump. What did the trip achieve? Professor Michael Provence, who teaches modern Middle East history, focusing on the 20th century Arab East, at the University of California, San Diego shares his insight. Scott Paul, Oxfam America Associate Director of Peace and Security discusses the ongoing humanitarian concerns in Gaza after it released a scathing report on conditions there. Plus, Agusta University political science professor discusses the latest developments in the 2024 U.S. Presidential election following President Joe Biden’s withdrawal.
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Blinken arrives in Laos, set for talks with Chinese foreign minister
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— Vientiane, Laos — U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived early Saturday in Laos, where he will attend a regional meeting and hold talks with his Chinese counterpart, part of a multination Asia visit aimed at reinforcing ties with regional allies in the face of an increasingly assertive Beijing.
The top U.S. diplomat is due to meet China's Wang Yi on the sidelines of an Association of Southeast Asian Nations foreign ministers meeting being held in Vientiane.
Blinken has prioritized promoting a "free and open" Asia-Pacific region – a thinly veiled criticism of China's regional economic, strategic and territorial ambitions.
During a series of ASEAN meetings, "the secretary's conversations will continue to build upon the unprecedented deepening and expansion of U.S.-ASEAN ties," the State Department said in a statement shortly before Blinken touched down in Vientiane.
This is Blinken's 18th visit to Asia since taking office more than three years ago, reflecting the fierce competition between Washington and Beijing in the region.
He notably arrived two days after the foreign ministers of China and Russia met with those from the 10-nation ASEAN bloc – and each other – on the sidelines of the summit.
Wang and Blinken would "exchange views on issues of common concern," China's foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said Friday.
Blinken is expected to "discuss the importance of adherence to international law in the South China Sea" at the ASEAN talks, according to the U.S. State Department.
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The kamalkosh cane mat tells a story
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— Prabhati Dhar is a master weaver of mats that incorporate auspicious motifs like banana trees
and peacocks. Weaving a kamalkosh is a rare skill and one that she is passing on to younger
people here in Cooch Behar district of West Bengal
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Magnificent and humbling: the Paris opening ceremony was a tribute to witnessing superhuman feats of...
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— There has never been an opening ceremony quite like it.
For the first time in Olympic Games history, the ceremony took place outside a stadium arena. Despite a rainy and miserable Paris evening, enormous crowds – most who paid no fee to attend – lined the banks of the Seine to witness this outdoor promenade of history, art and sport as 100 boats carrying 10,500 athletes sailed down the river.
Designed to showcase the depth of French culture and celebrate the Olympics as a source of human greatness and unity, the ceremony combined the traditional and the irreverent.
Paris featured as the unmistakable backdrop. The ceremony marked the first since 2018 that has not had to work around COVID restrictions. As the world watched, it took place amid a global context of war, invasion and genocide. Within the performances and speeches featured in the ceremony, there were aspects designed to address and acknowledge this, and promote peace and inclusion.
A mission across Paris
The ceremony was divided into thematic chapters, including Fraternite (fraternity), Sororite (sorority), Sportive (sportsmanship), Solidarite (solidarity), Solennite (solemnity) and Eternite (eternity). These were used as prompts to underpin each section of the sprawling, epic ceremony.
Across the three hours, we travelled throughout Paris. Artists and sportspeople from across the broad spectrum of each of these fields were featured and celebrated.
All was underpinned by an amazing soundtrack featuring French electro-pop bangers, classical music and opera.
The ceremony was anchored by a masked torch bearer who initially arrived at the Olympic stadium only to realise they were in the wrong place. They embarked on a Parkour-like mission across the rooftops and streets of Paris with the torch held aloft.
Kicked off by a short film featuring French soccer star Zinedine Zidane, followed by a performance from Lady Gaga, the ceremony brought together the iconic and the unexpected.
Images of beret-wearing accordion players under bridges and the high kicks of 80 dancers in hot pink performing the can-can were interspersed with tributes to the French revolution and the contemporary rebuild of Notre Dame.
There were stylishly considered moments. A single opera performer sung the French national anthem on the roof of the Grand Palais, as tribute was paid to the history of women in France. During this moment, ten golden statues featuring prominent French female political advocates, anarchists, explorers, botanists, intellectuals, journalists, artists and writers from across history emerged from plinths situated in the river.
The moment ended with a soaring rendition of the anthem as the singer on the roof was accompanied by a chorus of children on a bridge across the river.
The ceremony brought together tradition and contemporary performance. In a stunning moment, French-Mali singer Aya Nakamura performed with 60 musicians of the Republican Choir Guard dressed by Dior (obviously).
Profoundly stunning images such as a concert pianist playing on a bridge over the River Seine on a raindrop covered piano were juxtaposed with an animated film featuring the beloved Minions (created by a French animation studio).
BMX riders, breakers and circus performers on large pontoons performed death-defying stunts in front of illuminated fountains. A fashion parade on a bridge across the river featured up and coming French designers and included a demonstration of Eurodance styles including krumping, vogueing and breaking. DJs on decks and drag performers turned the Seine into Paris’ largest outdoor nightclub.
Peace, inclusion and solidarity
Toward the end of the three hour extravaganza, Paris was plunged into darkness as a singer standing near a burning grand piano floating on a barge delivered a poignant version of John Lennon’s Imagine.
The words “We Stand and Call for Peace” in both English and French appeared on screen. This elicited an enormous cheer from the crowd, and underscored a theme appearing in speeches and theatrical images throughout the ceremony: inclusion, respect, solidarity and the role the Olympics can play in supporting these notions across global borders.
“In our Olympic World we all belong,” claimed the International Olympic Committee chair Thomas Bach in his speech.
Taking this idea further, as part of Solidarite, an illuminated silver mechanical horse carrying a rider wearing the Olympic flag appeared to gallop down the river. We watched images of Olympic moments over the years that united the world – and at times challenged dominant thinking.
The rider emerged from the river on a dappled grey horse at the Trocadero at the base of the iconic and resplendent Eiffel Tower. A parade of flag bearers from all countries assembled behind the rider as they walked together through the streets of Paris to raise the Olympic flag and sing the Olympic anthem.
It was magnificent and humbling.
Zidane returned in person near the end of the ceremony to meet the masked torch bearer and was handed the Olympic torch. As the Eiffel Tower lit up with a jaw-droppingly spectacular laser display illuminating across the city, the torch travelled back down the river on a boat with athletes Rafael Nadal, Serena Williams and Carl Lewis. It continued its journey toward its final destination with a sign-interpreted electronic dance banger in the background.
A parade of extraordinary French athletes completed the torch’s journey to the Olympic cauldron – a hot air balloon, a tribute to daring French inventors.
The cauldron was set aflame and the balloon lifted into the air above Paris to the cheers of the crowds.
Underneath the illuminated Olympic rings on the Eiffel Tour, Celine Dion sung Edith Piaf’s Hymne A l'amour. Dion’s journey to this performance has been publicly marked by illness.
Her stirring and flawless performance against the odds speaks to the Olympic spirit of perseverance and witnessing superhuman feats of the extraordinary, reminding us sport and performance have much in common.
Let’s hope the rest of the sporting event can match this creative beginning.
Sarah Austin does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
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Vale Ray Lawler: the playwright who changed the sound of Australian theatre
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— © Commonwealth of Australia (National Archives of Australia) 2023., CC BYRay Lawler, who died this week at 103, was one of the artists responsible for establishing the first non-commercial repertory theatre in Australia – the Union Repertory Theatre Company, now Melbourne Theatre Company – and the writer of its best-known play, Summer of the Seventeenth Doll.
It is impossible to think of the two achievements separately. So pronounced was the Doll’s success, it cemented the position of the company. The story of the production of the play is the story of the rise of the Union Theatre.
Both are inception events for the structure, outlook and values of Australian theatre today.
The ‘non-existent’ Australian plays
Lawler was born in Footscray in 1921, leaving school when he was 13 to work in a factory. Taking acting classes whenever he could, he started writing plays during the war after being rostered on night shift.
His first job in theatre was on the vaudeville circuit, playing “straight man” to American comedian Will Mahoney. In 1953 came an all-important meeting with John Sumner, founder of the Union Theatre, and the man who would lead it for 35 years.
Sumner persuaded Lawler to try directing, and Sumner prevailed upon Lawler to let the Union Repertory Theatre Company produce the Doll.
The Doll was not an obvious choice. In 1954, it shared first prize with Oriel Gray’s The Torrents in a playwrights competition. But this meant little. Australian plays often achieved literary recognition. It was getting them staged that was the problem.
Ray Lawler, right, on stage in The Doll, with June Jago and Lloyd Berell.
© Commonwealth of Australia (National Archives of Australia) 2023., CC BY
Challenges continued into rehearsals. In 1965, Niall Brennan, the Union Theatre’s front of house manager, recalled:
The theatre in those days was an imported thing; Australian plays, in commercial terms, were virtually non-existent […] The play was set in Carlton, literally almost over the road from the theatre. It was very hard for everyone to realise that we were so close to home. Was it a play about shearers and wombats, muttered one critic?
On November 28 1955, the Doll opened. There had been successful Australian plays before this time, notably Steele Rudd’s On Our Selection (1912) and Sumner Locke-Elliot’s Rusty Bugles (1948). It is the extent and penetration of the Doll’s impact that makes it such a signal work, as well as the quality of its dialogue, characters, and comedio-tragic narrative.
An Australian classic
Lawler’s tale of the deterioration and collapse of the unconventional relationship between two Queensland cane-cutters and their off-season, Melbourne-based lovers was both an assault on the wowserism of the times, and a clear-eyed dissection of values we would now call masculinist.
Unlike other plays of the 1950s, it retains its force and appeal. It is one of the few we can justly call an Australian classic.
Supported by the Australian Elizabethan Theatre Trust (predecessor to Creative Australia), the Doll toured nationally, Lawler playing the role of Barney.
The national tour’s final curtain call in Darwin Town Hall, 1960.
© Commonwealth of Australia (National Archives of Australia) 2023., CC BY
With the help of Lawrence Olivier, the production then transferred to London’s New Theatre, where it had a similar seismic impact on British audiences, running for over eight months, and winning the Evening Standard Award for Best New Play.
Ken Tynan, the rising star of theatre criticism, wrote of Lawler’s “respect for ordinary people”, amazed at his ability to portray working class characters who were neither incidental nor the butt of class humour. Not until John Osborne, Arnold Wesker and Shelagh Delaney did English drama manage a similar feat.
In 1959, the Doll was turned into a film by Hecht Hill Lancaster. In 1996, it was adapted as a chamber opera by Richard Mills.
A singular event
Lawler had a long career in theatre, but never repeated the triumph of the Doll. In 1957, he left Australia to live in Denmark, Britain and Ireland. Returning in 1975, he rejoined Sumner at the Melbourne Theatre Company until both retired in 1987.
In 1975 and 1976, Lawler wrote two prequel plays, Kid’s Stakes and Other Times. Together, they make up The Doll Trilogy, complementing other trilogies in the Australian repertoire such as Peter Kenna’s Cassidy Album (1978), Janis Balodis’ The Ghosts Trilogy (1997) and Jack Davis’ The First Born Trilogy (1988).
In retrospect, two things can be said about the Doll’s success.
First, it is easy to take for granted and fall into rote deprecation of its influence, like the theatre critic Harry Kippax when complaining about a rush of subsequent plays he dubbed “the Doll clones”. Playwrights are not responsible for the drama they inspire, only the work they create. The Doll remains a singular event for Australian theatre, and for Australian culture more broadly, as it has tacked away from its British colonial origins.
Second, while many Australians have heard about Summer of the Seventeenth Doll, and a good proportion have seen it, the play remains largely unproduced overseas. Here, the drama’s strengths may count against it. The authenticity of language and character that grabbed audiences in the 1950s, and remains impressive now, is hard to reproduce for non-Australian actors.
The power and the challenge of the Doll is that it resists globalised interpretation: it remains supremely and stubbornly an Australian play.
The last word can perhaps be given to Brennan about that opening night audience:
None of us could understand it. The jinx [on Australian drama] had just gone! They clapped the house curtain when it went up, and they clapped the set. They clapped every actor who came on and the roars which greeted Ray’s own entrance were tremendous. When the curtain came down at the end, the theatre almost shook.
Julian was Associate Director and Literary Adviser at Melbourne Theatre Company 2002-2007.
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Ukrainian adviser says agreement with Russia is 'deal with the devil'
Public Domain
— KYIV, Ukraine — Signing an agreement with Russia to stop the war with Ukraine would amount to signing a deal with the devil, a top adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said, as pressure mounts on the country to seek an end to more than two years of fighting.
A deal would only buy time for Russian President Vladimir Putin to strengthen his army and usher in another,potentially more violent chapter in the war, Mykhailo Podolyak told The Associated Press in an interview Thursday.
"If you want to sign a deal with the devil who will then drag you to hell, well, go for it. This is what Russia is," Podolyak said when asked about the prospects for a peace deal for Kyiv, whose forces are locked in a bloody war of attrition with Moscow's troops in eastern Ukraine.
"If you sign anything today with Russia, that will not lose the war and will not be legally responsible for mass crimes, this will mean that you have signed yourself a ticket to continue the war on a different scale, with other protagonists, with a different number of killed and tortured people," he said.
Morale appears to be eroding
It is a view held across Zelenskyy's camp and reflected broadly among Ukrainians. But it also increasingly comes up against the current of Western pressure, as Kyiv continues to face difficult front-line conditions against Moscow's larger, better equipped army, as well as uncertainty over the level of future political support from Ukraine's closest ally, the U.S.
War fatigue also appears to be eroding the morale of Ukrainians, who have struggled with constant bombardment, electricity outages and the loss of loved ones. A poll by the Kyiv International Institute for Sociology found that the number of Ukrainians opposed to territorial concessions to Russia in exchange for peace has continued to fall. It was 55% in July, compared with 74% in December.
Even Zelenskyy hinted at a willingness to negotiate with Russia for the first time since the 2022 full-scale invasion, suggesting Moscow should send a delegation to the next global peace summit, which is expected in November.
But Podolyak insisted that an agreement now would only delay greater violence.
"Yes, it can be a freeze of the conflict for a certain time. But this means that the Russian Federation will work on its mistakes and update its own army," he said. "An aggressor country did not come to the territory of Ukraine to sign a peace agreement. That's nonsense!"
A lasting peace that works for Ukraine would ensure a steady erosion of Russian military might encompassed by the "three tools" often reiterated by Zelenskyy: increased military support, effective economic sanctions and diplomatic pressure to isolate Russia.
As he spoke, Ukraine Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba was in China, one of Russia's closest allies, on a mission to forge closer ties. Podolyak said the goal was to provide explanations for Ukraine's positions and for why China should play a more "active intensive function in ending the war on the terms of international law."
On good terms with both US parties
Few countries are watching the twists and turns of the U.S. presidential election more intently than Ukraine. But Zelenskyy is confident that his government has established good relations with both sides in the U.S. election, Podolyak said.
"Ukraine has fine relations ... with both the Republican Party and the Democratic Party," he explained. "It's not a matter of personal relationships, only on the candidate-leader level. This is a question of the institutional relations between the parties of the United States and the parties and institutions of Ukraine."
Some leading Republican politicians, including Republican nominee Donald Trump's running mate, Ohio Senator JD Vance, have voiced support for withdrawing vital American military support to Ukraine, and Trump is often portrayed as favoring Russian leader Vladimir Putin.
Zelenskyy, however, took Trump's nomination as an opportunity and had a phone call with him shortly after the Republican National Convention. Podolyak asserted that the phone call between the two was positive.
As for the Democratic Party, Podolyak said he has "great sympathy" for President Joe Biden's administration despite what he said was its slow decision-making regarding Ukraine.
"But they made all the decisions that Ukraine needed, one way or another: arms supplies to Ukraine; additional permits for strikes on the border territories of the Russian Federation; global diplomatic and informational support of Ukraine, and so on."
Whichever party emerges victorious from the November election, Podolyak asserted that Ukraine will continue to have strong relations with the U.S.
"Regardless of who will be the head of the White House, I don't see a scenario where it is possible to stop aid to Ukraine," he said.
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FBI says Trump struck by bullet during assassination attempt
Public Domain
— WASHINGTON — Nearly two weeks after Donald Trump's near assassination, the FBI confirmed Friday that it was indeed a bullet that struck the former president's ear, moving to clear up conflicting accounts about what caused his injuries after a gunman opened fire at a Pennsylvania rally.
"What struck former President Trump in the ear was a bullet, whether whole or fragmented into smaller pieces, fired from the deceased subject's rifle," the agency said in a statement.
The FBI statement marked the most definitive law enforcement account of Trump's injuries and followed ambiguous comments earlier in the week from Director Christopher Wray that appeared to cast doubt on whether Trump had been hit by a bullet.
Wray's comment drew fury from Trump and his allies and further stoked conspiracy theories that have flourished on both sides of the political aisle amid a lack of information following the July 13 attack.
Until now, federal law enforcement agents involved in the investigation, including the FBI and Secret Service, had repeatedly refused to provide information about what caused Trump's injuries. Trump's campaign has also declined to release medical records from the hospital where he was first treated or to make the doctors there available for questions.
Updates have instead come either from Trump himself or from Trump's former White House doctor, Ronny Jackson, a staunch ally who now represents Texas in Congress. Though Jackson has been treating Trump since the night of the attack, he has come under considerable scrutiny and is not Trump's primary care physician.
The FBI's apparent reluctance to immediately vouch for the former president's version of events — along with the ire he and some supporters have directed at the bureau in the shooting's aftermath — has raised fresh tension between the Republican nominee and the nation's premier federal law enforcement agency, which he could soon exert control over again.
Questions persist
Questions about the extent and nature of Trump's wound began immediately after the attack, as his campaign and law enforcement officials declined to answer questions about his condition or the treatment he received after he narrowly escaped an attempted assassination by a gunman with a high-powered rifle.
Those questions have persisted despite photos showing the trace of a projectile speeding past Trump's head, photographs that show Trump's teleprompter glass intact after the shooting, and the account Trump himself gave in a Truth Social post within hours of the shooting saying he had been "shot with a bullet that pierced the upper part of my right ear."
"I knew immediately that something was wrong in that I heard a whizzing sound, shots, and immediately felt the bullet ripping through the skin," he wrote.
Days later, in a speech accepting the nomination at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Trump described the scene in detail, while wearing a large, white, gauze bandage over his right ear.
"I heard a loud whizzing sound and felt something hit me really, really hard, on my right ear. I said to myself, 'Wow, what was that? It can only be a bullet,'" he said.
But the first medical account of Trump's condition didn't come until a full week after the shooting, when Jackson released his first letter last Saturday evening. In that letter, he said the bullet that struck Trump had "produced a 2-cm-wide wound that extended down to the cartilaginous surface of the ear." He also revealed that Trump had received a CT scan at the hospital.
But federal law enforcement involved in the investigation, including the FBI and Secret Service, had declined to confirm that account. And Wray's testimony offered apparently conflicting answers on the issue.
"There's some question about whether or not it's a bullet or shrapnel that hit his ear," Wray testified, before he seemed to suggest it was indeed a bullet.
"I don't know whether that bullet, in addition to causing the grazing, could have also landed somewhere else," he said.
FBI clarification
The following day, the FBI sought to clarify matters with a statement affirming that the shooting was an "attempted assassination of former President Trump which resulted in his injury, as well as the death of a heroic father and the injuries of several other victims." The FBI also said Thursday that its Shooting Reconstruction Team continues to examine bullet fragments and other evidence from the scene.
Jackson, who has been treating the former president since the night of the July 13 shooting, told The Associated Press on Thursday that any suggestion Trump's ear was bloodied by anything other than a bullet was reckless.
In his letter Friday, Jackson insisted "there is absolutely no evidence" Trump was struck by anything other than a bullet and said it was "wrong and inappropriate to suggest anything else."
He wrote that at Butler Memorial Hospital, where the GOP nominee was rushed after the shooting, he was evaluated and treated for a "Gunshot Wound to the Right Ear."
The FBI declined to comment on the Jackson letters.
Asked if the campaign would release those hospital records or allow the doctors who treated him there to speak, Trump campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung blasted the media for asking.
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G20 finance ministers agree to work toward effectively taxing super rich
Public Domain
— RIO DE JANEIRO — Finance ministers from leading rich and developing nations agreed Friday to strive toward effectively taxing the super rich, a joint ministerial declaration said.
"With full respect to tax sovereignty, we will seek to engage cooperatively to ensure that ultra-high-net-worth individuals are effectively taxed," the declaration said after the two-day meeting in Rio de Janeiro.
Brazil has made a proposal to impose a 2% minimum tax on billionaires a top priority of its presidency of the Group of 20, ahead of the November 18-19 summit in Rio.
While the final declaration stops short of agreeing on a specific global tax, Brazilian Finance Minister Fernando Haddad nevertheless called it a "significant step forward."
"We were always optimistic about this result, but it really exceeded our initial expectations," Haddad told reporters.
Brazil's proposal to tax billionaires has divided G20 nations. France, Spain and South Africa have expressed support, while the U.S. is against.
"Tax policy is very difficult to coordinate globally, and we don't see a need or really think it's desirable to try to negotiate a global agreement on that," U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen told journalists Thursday.
Money transfers
Governments fear the super rich would transfer their money to tax havens if a country individually adopted such a tax, said economist Rogério Studart, a senior fellow at the Brazilian Center for International Relations think tank.
"When action is done collectively, everyone wins. When there is fragmentation, many lose," Studart said.
The richest 1% have amassed $42 trillion in new wealth over the past decade, nearly 36 times more than the entire bottom 50% of the world's population, according to an Oxfam analysis released Thursday ahead of the finance ministers meeting.
Billionaires currently pay the equivalent of 0.3% of their wealth in taxes, according to a report by Gabriel Zucman, commissioned by Brazil. A 2% tax would raise $200 billion to $250 billion per year globally from about 3,000 individuals, money that could fund public services such as education and health care as well as the fight against climate change, the report said.
Zucman, who is the founding director of the Paris-based EU Tax Observatory, celebrated the outcome of the finance ministers meeting.
"For the first time in history, there is now a consensus among G20 countries that the way we tax the super rich must be fixed, and a commitment to work together for this. It's an important step in the right direction," he said in a statement.
Nongovernmental organizations also welcomed the declaration, while encouraging further action at the G20 summit in November.
Extreme weather events made more likely by climate change are expected to cost "trillions of dollars every year, and it is outrageous to expect that the regular taxpayer should pay for it," Camila Jardim, an international politics specialist with Greenpeace Brazil, said in a statement.
Brazil has put inequality, poverty and hunger at the heart of its presidency of the G20. President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva defended the need for increased taxation of the world's richest in Rio on Wednesday when he unveiled plans for a global alliance against hunger and poverty.
Brazil is also pushing for changes in global governance institutions and advocating for a sustainable energy transition.
On the sidelines of the discussions around taxation, Haddad and Yellen on Friday announced the launch of a climate partnership between Brazil's Ministry of Finance and the U.S. Treasury.
It will seek "to address today's most pressing environmental challenges and strengthen the region's green economy," Yellen said, citing efforts to bolster clean energy supply chains and improve the integrity and effectiveness of the voluntary carbon market.
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Balik-Tanaw | ‘Broken banga’
Attribution+
— The 71-year old congregation to which I belong to, took a hit early 2023 when many of our members seceded in relation to a wider struggle of the church that is dividing the institution globally. Despite being relatively small in number, we decided to move on with new leadership and vowed to continue serving and worshipping as those who came before us did. In my view, this experience has broken an old “banga”, which was molded from the grounds by diverse communities of faith journeys and witnessing experiences.
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Southeast Asia aims to attract remote workers with new visa scheme
Public Domain
— bangkok — Countries in Southeast Asia are hoping to boost their economies by luring long-staying professionals with digital nomad visas.
In recent years East and Southeast Asian countries including Indonesia, Malaysia and Japan have launched digital nomad visas, which allow remote workers to live and work within their borders. International tourism and foreigners’ spending contributes significantly to these countries’ economies.
Indonesia launched its KITAS E33G visa, known as the remote worker visa, earlier in 2024. Bali, the holiday island hotspot, is one of the most popular destinations for digital nomads in the country.
Dustin Steller, from the U.S. state of Missouri, works remotely as the owner of his marketing company and has lived in Bali for two years.
“I immediately fell in love with the culture, the food, the lifestyle and the people – both locals and expats,” he told VOA.
Bali has become a popular “place to base” for social media influencers and cryptocurrency investors in recent years. With cheaper living costs than in Western countries, living in Bali allows professionals to build their businesses while spending less.
“Bali offers tremendous opportunity for serious nomads who want to connect with like-minded people,” Steller told VOA.
“Bali is the Silicon Valley of tech, AI and crypto,” he added. “There are highly intelligent people doing some good work here. I have found the community of likeminded entrepreneurs is bigger and more concentrated here in Bali.”
Malaysia released its digital nomad visa in 2022, while the Philippines reportedly has plans to announce its own scheme.
Remote workers who travel have existed since the development of the internet and the availability of global travel, but the term “digital nomad” has only been popularized in recent years. Five years ago, the digital nomad visa scheme didn’t exist. Estonia became the first country to launch such a scheme in 2020 while many people began working from home during the COVID-19 pandemic.
According to a recent survey on YouGov, digital nomads favor countries in Asia for their vibrant work culture, solid infrastructure such as reliable internet and modern facilities, and flexible options for visas. The top 15 countries among people from Singapore include Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam, Philippines and Cambodia, all Southeast Asian countries.
Now Thailand is the latest country in the region to launch its own version of a digital nomad visa.
The Destination Thailand Visa (DTV), available since July 15, allows digital nomads, freelancers and remote workers to live, work and travel in the country for up to 180 days per entry and is valid for five years.
Applicants can attain the visa if they participate in Thailand’s “soft power” activities, including Muay Thai boxing, and short-term education courses. The fee for the visa is $270, while applicants must be able to show proof of funds equating to approximately $13,855 in savings.
For many remote workers, living in Thailand is an exciting prospect.
Samantha Haselden, a British expat who owns an IT business with her husband in the United Arab Emirates, is looking into applying.
“We’ve been going to Thailand for years. My aunt and uncle retired there; it always feels like home. We’ll be visiting Thailand in a few weeks and will be seeing a solicitor that deals with visas and see what he thinks of our chances of being accepted are,” she told VOA.
“We’re in our late 40s. Never fancied Bali because it looks like a place for under 25-year-olds,” she added.
Members of several Thailand-visa Facebook groups have also praised Thailand’s quick internet speed, low cost of living, great food and friendly people as reasons for wanting to apply for the DTV visa.
But since the announcement, the high volume of interest on social media has provided more questions than answers over eligibility.
VOA contacted Thailand’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs for comment on this but has yet to receive a response.
For Thailand, the importance of overseas arrivals benefiting its economy is evident. Tourism accounted for 11.5% of the country’s overall GDP in 2019 with a record year of 39 million visitors. Thailand is forecasting 36 million arrivals for 2024 and a record-breaking 41 million in 2025.
The Thai government also relaxed visa requirements for visitors from 93 countries to enter the country for 60 days. Previously, visitors from dozens of countries were allowed a 30-day stay, and some had to apply for a visa prior to arrival.
Gary Bowerman, a tourism analyst based in Kuala Lumpur, says Thailand’s visa exemptions are aimed at boosting its economy.
“Thailand’s challenge is to expand the high-yield composition of its tourism base. While it leads Southeast Asia by a long way in terms of visitor arrivals, per-visitor spend[ing] remains comparatively low. These measures are designed to attract more visitors who will stay longer, travel more widely and spend more in different locations,” he told VOA.
But questions remain about whether Thailand could suffer from “overtourism.” The term is used when mass tourism disrupts everyday life for residents.
Spain has seen street protests against overtourism in multiple locations, including Barcelona and Madrid. Complaints centered on high rental prices, which prompted the Spanish government to ban short-term rentals from 2028.
Pravit Rojanaphruk, a veteran journalist at Khaosod English, thinks it's too soon for Thailand to worry about such growth.
“Real estate may go up, particularly in Bangkok, and make it less affordable for some locals. But we are far from there, considering that 100 million people visited France in 2023, while only 28 million visited Thailand despite both countries having roughly the same land size and population,” he told VOA.
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US sanctions DRC rebel groups for violence, human rights abuses
Public Domain
— nairobi, kenya — The U.S. government has sanctioned three rebel leaders accused of fomenting political instability, conflicts and civilian displacement in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The U.S. Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control on Thursday imposed sanctions on Corneille Nangaa, leader of the Congo River Alliance, a rebel group accused of seeking to overthrow the government and driving political instability in the DRC. Nangaa was previously targeted with sanctions in 2019.
Washington also sanctioned Bertrand Bisimwa, the leader of the March 23 movement rebel group, for destabilization and human rights violations. Charles Sematama, deputy military leader of another rebel group, Twirwaneho, was also sanctioned.
'They are standing with them'
Great Lakes region political researcher and analyst Ntanyoma Rukumbuzi said the United States is trying to show it cares about the DRC and wants to punish those who want to create instability in the central African nation.
“The U.S. wants to convince the Congolese, the general audience, that they are standing with them and paying attention to what is happening in the DRC," said Rukumbuzi. "They can still do something to push or force the rebel groups to stop fighting. As you can see, some of these sanctions seem to disregard and overlook the entire complexity of the violence in eastern DRC."
In a statement, the U.S. government said the action it is taking reinforces its commitment to hold accountable those who seek to perpetuate instability, violence and harm to civilians to achieve their political goals.
The M23 as a group is also under U.S. sanctions. For several years, it has been fighting the Congolese army and other rebel groups in the east of the country. According to United Nations estimates, more than 7.2 million Congolese are displaced due to conflicts.
Oliver Baniboneba, a Congolese refugee living in Uganda, said U.S. sanctions won't end the suffering of the Congolese.
There is a country with money that is supporting Nangaa, said Baniboneba. "It will continue to fund him, and the killing goes on," he said.
High hopes for sanctions
The Congolese government has accused Rwanda of supporting the M23 rebel group, a claim denied by Kigali. Rukumbuzi also said the sanctions won't stop the operations of the rebel groups.
"They have been fighting for several reasons," said Rukumbuzi. "There are different individuals and groups who have something to fight for. It may disturb them and try to understand and possibly try to dispatch roles to different individuals, but this won't stop the rebels from fighting."
The U.S. hopes the sanctions against the leaders and groups will change their violent ways and persuade them to find a peaceful means to address their grievances instead of killing and displacing innocent people from their homes.
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Harris urges Netanyahu to end war; Trump says he’ll resolve it if elected
Public Domain
— washington — Likely U.S. election rivals Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump offered competing views on Israel’s conduct in its war in Gaza, as they separately met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu this week.
While reiterating support for Israel’s right to self-defense “from Iran and Iran-backed militias,” and condemning Hamas as a “brutal terrorist organization,” Harris delivered a forceful call to immediately reach a cease-fire.
“As I just told Prime Minister Netanyahu, it is time to get this deal done,” Harris said Thursday during remarks that followed a photo opportunity with Netanyahu where she appeared polite but firm and businesslike.
Reiterating her commitment to a two-state solution, Harris projected an empathetic tone on “the scale of human suffering” of the Palestinian people.
“What has happened in Gaza over the past nine months is devastating — the images of dead children and desperate, hungry people fleeing for safety, sometimes displaced for the second, third or fourth time,” she said.
“We cannot look away in the face of these tragedies. We cannot allow ourselves to become numb to the suffering. And I will not be silent,” Harris vowed.
In an apparent nod to the large swath of Democratic voters who are angry at the Biden administration’s staunch support for Israel’s military campaign, Harris said, “I see you and I hear you,” while appealing to the American people to “acknowledge the complexity, the nuance and the history of the region.”
Her grave and measured remarks stand in stark contrast to ad-libbed comments from Trump, who blamed the Biden administration for the turmoil in the Middle East and baselessly claimed that he would quickly resolve the Gaza conflict if elected.
“If we win, it’ll be very simple. It’s all going to work out and very quickly,” Trump told reporters gathered at his Florida residence Friday as he began his meeting with Netanyahu.
“If we don’t, you’re going to end up with major wars in the Middle East and maybe a third world war. You are closer to a third world war right now than at any time since the Second World War,” he said. “You’ve never been so close, because we have incompetent people running our country.”
Saying that he was “very good to Israel, better than any president's ever been,” Trump highlighted pro-Israel policies during his first term, including brokering the Abraham Accords that normalized Israel’s diplomatic ties with some Arab neighbors, moving the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem and recognizing the Israeli annexation of the Golan Heights.
Trump soured on Netanyahu in January 2021 after the Israeli leader congratulated Biden for winning the 2020 election, which the former president falsely insists he won. He has since repeatedly criticized Netanyahu publicly over the Gaza war.
On Friday, the two appeared to have mended their relationship, with Trump forcefully pulling the Israeli leader’s arm to hold his body close as he shook his hand.
Eager for cease-fire
Both Harris and Trump are eager for a cease-fire and impatient with Netanyahu’s prosecution of the war, but for sharply different reasons.
“Harris wants Netanyahu to prioritize the humanitarian crisis and minimize civilian casualties. Trump wants Israel to win decisively — and quickly— before he takes office,” said Laura Blumenfeld, Middle East analyst at the Johns Hopkins School for Advanced International Studies.
Harris sees it as a “moral issue,” she told VOA, while Trump views it as a “mess.”
Warning: This video includes graphic images that some may find disturbing. Viewer discretion is advised.
Eager to win back progressive and young voters, as well as Muslim and Arab American voters angry at the Biden administration’s policy on Gaza, Harris may strive for a more balanced approach.
“Harris’s approach to Gaza would embrace the gray ‘complexity’ of the Middle East, in contrast with Biden’s, which was characterized by a bright clarity that at times could be interpreted as blinding,” Blumenfeld said. Their approaches may differ more in style than in substance, but “managing emotions among the traumatized parties in the Middle East can make or break a peace agreement.”
Polls show more Americans opposing than supporting Israel’s military action in Gaza, particularly Democrats. In the more than 290 days since the October 7 Hamas attack that killed roughly 1,200 Israelis, Israel’s military response has killed more than 39,000 people, mostly civilians, according to the Hamas-run Gaza health authority. In May, Israel estimated the toll at 30,000.
Still, whoever wins the November election, a new administration in Washington could bring some shift in U.S.-Israel relations, whether or not Netanyahu stays in power, said Aaron David Miller, a former U.S. negotiator for the Middle East who is now with the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
“Whoever is prime minister is going to have to deal with, on one hand perhaps a more critical Democratic approach under Kamala Harris, and an unpredictable one under President Trump,” he told VOA.
While a second Trump administration would be “definitely supportive” of Israel, Miller said the notoriously transactional Trump “instrumentalizes his relations.”
“When people are useful to him, he praises them, and when they're not, he can easily abandon them,” he said. “He's very, very unpredictable.”
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NASA Mars rover captures rock that could hold fossilized microbes
Public Domain
— washington — NASA's rover Perseverance on Mars has made what could be its most astonishing discovery to date: possible signs of ancient life on the Red Planet.
The six-wheeled robotic explorer came across an intriguing, arrow-shaped rock dubbed "Cheyava Falls" that may harbor fossilized microbes from billions of years ago, when Mars was a watery world.
Perseverance drilled into the enigmatic rock to collect a core sample on July 21, as it traversed Neretva Vallis, an ancient river valley.
The samples carefully stowed beneath the rover's belly are destined to eventually return to Earth, where they will undergo more comprehensive analysis.
"Cheyava Falls is the most puzzling, complex, and potentially important rock yet investigated by Perseverance," project scientist Ken Farley of Caltech said Thursday.
Three compelling clues have scientists buzzing.
White calcium sulfate veins run the length of the rock, a telltale sign that water once flowed through it.
Between these veins is a reddish middle area, teeming with organic compounds, as detected by the rover's SHERLOC (Scanning Habitable Environments with Raman and Luminescence for Organics and Chemicals) instrument.
Finally, tiny off-white splotches ringed with black, reminiscent of leopard spots, contain chemicals that suggest energy sources for ancient microbes, according to scans by the PIXL (Planetary Instrument for X-ray Lithochemistry) instrument.
"On Earth, these types of features in rocks are often associated with the fossilized record of microbes living in the subsurface," said David Flannery, an astrobiologist and member of the Perseverance science team from the Queensland University of Technology in Australia.
The quest to confirm ancient Martian life is far from over, however.
The real test will come when Perseverance's precious rock samples are returned to Earth as part of the Mars Sample Return Program, a collaboration between NASA and the European Space Agency slated for the 2030s.
While there are alternative explanations for these findings that do not involve microbes, there is a tantalizing chance that Perseverance's core sample might contain actual fossilized microbes — potentially making history as the first proof of life beyond Earth.
"We have zapped that rock with lasers and X-rays and imaged it literally day and night from just about every angle imaginable," said Farley.
"Scientifically, Perseverance has nothing more to give. To fully understand what really happened in that Martian river valley at Jezero Crater billions of years ago, we'd want to bring the Cheyava Falls sample back to Earth, so it can be studied with the powerful instruments available in laboratories," he explained.
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Harris urges Netanyahu to end Gaza war; Trump says he’ll solve it if elected
Public Domain
— Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump offered competing views on the war in Gaza as they met separately with Israel's prime minister this week. White House Bureau Chief Patsy Widakuswara reports. Warning: This video includes graphic images that some may find disturbing.
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UN fund warns of $23M deficit in Haiti's education system as it announces grant
Public Domain
— PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — No chairs. Missing blackboards. A lack of bathrooms.
Schools in Haiti's capital and beyond are crumbling as gang violence deepens poverty and disrupts basic government services while the state education system faces a $23 million deficit.
"The country needs help," said Yasmine Sherif, executive director of the U.N. global fund Education Cannot Wait, for education in emergencies and crises.
On Friday, she announced a $2.5 million grant that is expected to help nearly 75,000 children via cash transfers, school feeding programs and other initiatives.
Sherif was in Haiti as part of a three-day trip during which she visited schools and met with teachers, principals, state officials and civil society members. She pleaded with the European Union and countries including France and the U.S. to help close the educational deficit as she noted the effect violence has had on education.
"My main concern is security," she said.
Gangs killed or injured more than 2,500 people in the first three months of the year, with violence disrupting life in the capital, Port-au-Prince, and elsewhere.
At least 919 schools remain closed in Port-au-Prince and in the central region of Artibonite because of gang violence. The closures have affected more than 150,000 students, according to the U.N.
"Education is part of the solution," Sherif said. "That would end extreme poverty, extreme violence, and create political stability and create a reliable workforce."
Gang violence also has left 580,000 people homeless across Haiti, with many crowding into makeshift shelters or taking over schools, causing them to shut down.
Schools that remain operational are increasingly forced to take students from other institutions that have shuttered.
The Jean Marie Vincent School in central Port-au-Prince, for example, has accepted students from a dozen other schools.
"We're confronting enormous problems," said its principal, Charles Luckerno. "We're not the only ones."
He said that when classes end for the day, people left homeless by gang violence stream into the school and sleep in the yard.
"That also creates very bad hygienic problems," said Luckerno, who nevertheless allows them to stay. "We are human. We cannot throw them out."
Williamson Bissainthe, a 22-year-old high school student who is preparing to take his final exam to graduate, lamented the state of some schools.
"A lot of schools are missing benches or chairs. Teachers do not show up on time. The hardest part of this is that there are no bathrooms," he said.
"I hope that the generation that comes after me doesn't have to go through the same suffering," he said.
Private schools are out of reach for many in Haiti, a country of more than 11 million people, with more than 60% earning less than $2 a day.
Among those who have been forced to flee their homes is Megane Dumorcy, 20, who also is preparing to graduate.
She would like to become an agronomist, but education has been a challenge.
"The insecurity has had a huge impact on my life," she said, noting that some students have been forced to leave their backpacks behind as they flee gangs. "The state should find a solution for that. We shouldn't be living in a country where our movement is limited."
She said her school is only half built and lacks a library, a computer room, a blackboard and chairs. She does research on her phone when needed.
Another blow to Haitian schools was a program that the administration of U.S. President Joe Biden launched in late 2022 that allows Haitians and people from a handful of other countries to enter the U.S. on humanitarian grounds.
"A lot of teachers left," said Frantz Erine, deputy principal at the Jean Marie Vincent School.
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Trump vows to return to site of assassination attempt; Obamas endorse Harris
Public Domain
— WASHINGTON — Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump said Friday he will return to the Pennsylvania town where he narrowly survived an assassination attempt, while Vice President Kamala Harris capped her weeklong bid to become the Democratic presidential nominee with former president Barack Obama's endorsement.
"I WILL BE GOING BACK TO BUTLER, PENNSYLVANIA, FOR A BIG AND BEAUTIFUL RALLY," former president Trump wrote on his Truth Social site, without providing details on when or where the rally would take place.
Harris, the first Black woman and first Asian American to serve as vice president, swiftly consolidated Democratic support after President Joe Biden tapped her to succeed him Sunday. A handful of public opinion polls this week have shown her beginning to narrow Trump's lead.
A Friday Wall Street Journal poll showed Trump holding 49% support to Harris' 47% support, with a margin of error of three percentage points. A poll by the newspaper earlier this month had shown Trump leading Biden 48% to 42%.
'Couldn't be prouder to endorse you'
Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle, endorsed Harris on Friday, adding their names to a parade of prominent Democrats who coalesced behind Harris' White House bid after Biden, 81, ended his reelection campaign under pressure from the party.
"We called to say Michelle and I couldn't be prouder to endorse you and to do everything we can to get you through this election and into the Oval Office," Obama told Harris in a phone call posted in an online video by the campaign.
'We're gonna have some fun with this'
Smiling as she spoke into a cellphone, Harris expressed her gratitude for the endorsement and their long friendship.
"Thank you both. It means so much. And we're gonna have some fun with this, too," said Harris, who would also be the nation's first female president if she prevails in the November 5 election.
Barack Obama, the first Black U.S. president, and Michelle Obama remain among the most popular figures in the Democratic Party, almost eight years after he left office. A Reuters/Ipsos poll early this month showed that 55% of Americans — and 94% of Democrats — viewed Michelle Obama favorably, higher approval than Harris' 37% nationally and 81% within the party.
The endorsement could help boost support and fundraising for Harris' campaign, and it signals Obama is likely to get on the campaign trail for Harris.
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High water temps prompt hoot-owl fishing restrictions on portion of Yellowstone River
CC BY-NC-ND
— Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks has issued hoot-owl fishing restrictions on the Yellowstone River from the U.S. Highway 89 Bridge Fishing Access Site east of Livingston to the U.S. Highway 212 bridge in Laurel due to high water temperatures and low flows. The restrictions will go into effect 2 p.m., Saturday, July 27. Hoot-owl restrictions […]
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