Mass evacuations as monster cyclone draws bead on India

Abstract: BHUBANESWAR, INDIA - Nearly 800,000 people in eastern India have been evacuated ahead of a major cyclone packing winds gusting up to 200 kph (125 mph) and torrential rain, officials said Thursday. The Indian weather service said Extremely Severe Cyclonic Storm Fani should make landfall on Friday around noon (0630 GMT) in Odisha state and barrel north-northeastwards toward Bangladesh on a pathway that is home to more than 100 million people. As it progresses into West Bengal state it should weaken gradually into a severe cyclonic storm with winds of 90-100 kph and gusts of 115 kph before entering Bangladesh as a cyclonic storm on Saturday evening with winds of 60-70 kph. In Odisha on Friday, along with “extremely heavy” rainfall in places, a storm surge of about 1.5 meters (5 feet) is “very likely” to inundate some low-lying areas, according to the Indian Meteorological Department. A state relief department official told AFP that 780,000 people were moved to safer places overnight from at least 13 districts of Odisha, home to 46 million people, which will bear the brunt of the storm. “We are expecting more than a million people to move out of the danger zone in next 12 hours,” Bishnupada Sethi, Odisha Special Relief Commissioner, told AFP. Some 3,000 shelters in schools and government buildings have been set up to accommodate more than a million people. More than 100,000 dry food packets are ready to be dropped if needed, reports said. On Thursday the storm, which reports said was the biggest to hit eastern India in nearly two decades, was brewing in the Bay of Bengal and moving steadily and ominously toward land. It was predicted to pack sustained wind speeds of 180-190 kph and gusts up to 200 kph, equivalent in strength to a Category 3 to 4 hurricane. It was expected to make landfall near the Hindu holy town of Puri, a major tourist hot spot. More than 100 trains have been canceled in the past 48 hours, according to Indian Railways. Three special trains were running from Puri to evacuate pilgrims and tourists. Flights have been cancel led in and out of Odisha’s capital Bhubaneswar for 24 hours from midnight (1830 GMT). Authorities have asked tourists to leave coastal areas and avoid unnecessary travel. Special buses have been deployed in Puri and other towns. The management of one hotel in Puri visited by AFP as intermittent heavy rain fell outside had been told to vacate all 175 rooms, causing a wedding party to be cut short. Dozens of officials were making announcements on hand-held megaphones across the coastal belt asking residents to leave their homes. Fishermen have been advised not to venture out and the Indian Navy has also been put on alert. India’s biggest oil and gas producer ONGC has evacuated close to 500 employees from offshore installations and moved drilling rigs to safer locations, the Press Trust of India reported. “Heavy rains are expected in all the coastal districts amid fears of flash floods. We are all geared up for the challenge,” said Sethi. Forecasters have warned of the “total destruction” of thatched houses, the bending and uprooting of power and communication poles, the “flooding of escape routes” and damage to crops in some areas. Bangladesh disaster management chief Mohammad Hashim said that 3,600 cyclone shelters had been opened in 13 coastal districts. Coastal-area farmers in Bangladesh were instructed to harvest their paddy fields as a surging tide may inundate and ruin crops. Fani is the fourth major storm to slam into India’s east coast in three decades, the last in 2017 when Cyclone Ockhi left nearly 250 people dead and more than 600 missing in Tamil Nadu and Kerala. The worst cyclone on record in Odisha in 1999 killed almost 10,000 people and caused an estimated $4.5 billion worth of devastation. “I am not scared,” said Loknath, 24, who works in a bookshop in Cottack in Odisha. “I am accustomed to such types of situation… Nothing will happen except rain and wind.”

india
bangladesh
floods
disasters
cyclone fani


I've protected many, Julian Assange tells U.K. court as he fights U.S. extradition warrant

Abstract: LONDON - WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange told a London court on Thursday his work had protected “many people” and refused to agree to be extradited to the United States to face trial for one of the largest compromises of classified information in history. The United States has requested the extradition of Assange, who was dragged from the Ecuadorean Embassy in London on April 11, and has charged him with conspiracy to commit computer intrusion, which carries a maximum penalty of five years. Asked at a preliminary hearing at Westminster Magistrates’ Court whether he agreed to be extradited to the United States, Assange, appearing via a video link from a British prison, said: “I do not wish to surrender for extradition. I’m a journalist winning many, many awards and protecting many people.” Assange made international headlines in early 2010 when WikiLeaks published a classified U.S. military video showing a 2007 attack by Apache helicopters in Baghdad that killed a dozen people, including two Reuters news staff. To some, Assange is a hero for exposing what supporters cast as abuse of power by modern states and for championing free speech. To others, he is a dangerous rebel who has undermined U.S. security. On Wednesday, he was sentenced to 50 weeks in prison by a British court for skipping bail after fleeing to Ecuador’s Embassy in London, where he remained for seven years until police dragged him out last month. Assange had sought refuge in the embassy in June 2012 to avoid extradition to Sweden to face an allegation of rape, which he denies, saying he feared he would be sent to the United States to face action over the WikiLeaks’ release of classified U.S. diplomatic cables. Hours after his arrest last month, U.S. prosecutors said they had charged Assange with conspiracy in trying to access a classified U.S. government computer. “The charge relates to one of the largest compromises of classified information in the history of the United States,” said Ben Brandon, the lawyer representing the United States. He said in early 2010, former U.S. Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning had downloaded 90,000 activity reports relating to the Afghan war, 400,000 relating to the conflict in Iraq, 800 Guantanamo Bay detainee assessment briefs and 250,000 U.S. diplomatic cables. The vast majority of these were later released on WikiLeaks. There were computer room chats showing real-time discussions between Manning and Assange over cracking a password to gain access to classified U.S. documents and the public release of the information, Brandon said. “Despite what you heard from the prosecutor in the courtroom today, this case is not about hacking,” Assange’s lawyer Jennifer Robinson said outside court. “This case is about a journalist and a publisher who had conversations with a source about accessing material, encouraged that source to provide material and spoke to that source about how to protect their identity. This is protected activity that journalists engage in all the time.” She said the action against him had been launched under former U.S. President Barack Obama and aggressively pursued by the administration of Donald Trump. The case was adjourned until May 30 for a procedural hearing with a more substantial hearing planned for June 12. The full extradition hearing was some months away, Judge Michael Snow told the court.

julian assange
extradition
wikileaks
ecuador
chelsea manning
u.s .
u.k .


White House letter blasts Mueller report, saying Trump has right to tell advisers not to testify

Abstract: WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump has the right to instruct advisers not to testify before congressional oversight probes related to the Russia investigation, the White House said in a letter that blasts special counsel Robert Mueller’s report as defective. White House legal counsel Emmet Flood, in an April 19 letter to Attorney General William Barr obtained by Reuters on Thursday, said Trump’s decision to let advisers cooperate with the Mueller probe does not extend to congressional oversight investigations. “It is one thing for a president to encourage complete cooperation and transparency in a criminal investigation conducted largely within the Executive Branch. It is something else entirely to allow his advisers to appear before Congress…, ” the letter said. The letter was transmitted to Barr a day after the release of the Mueller report, in which the special counsel determined that Trump did not collude with Russia during the 2016 presidential campaign but pointedly did not say whether the president committed obstruction of justice. Flood’s letter said the Mueller report itself suffers from “an extraordinary legal defect.” According to relevant law, the letter said, Mueller should have rendered a judgment on whether to prosecute or not to prosecute. Instead, Mueller produced “a prosecutorial curiosity — part ‘truth commission’ report and part law school exam paper,” the letter said.

donald trump
congress
robert mueller
emmet flood
william barr
u.s .
russia probe


Sri Lanka Mass canceled over fresh 'specific threat' fears

Abstract: COLOMBO - Sri Lanka’s Catholic Church scrapped plans to resume Sunday services following a “specific threat” against two religious locations after the deadly Easter attacks. The archbishop of Colombo, Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith, said Thursday that a “reliable foreign source” had alerted him to possible attacks this weekend. “The information we have from a reliable foreign source is that attackers are planning to hit a very famous church and a Catholic institution,” the Cardinal said in a statement. He did not name the source. He also said that Catholic schools which were due to re-open after an extended Easter vacation on Monday would now remain shut “until further notice. Sri Lankan authorities had advance warnings from Indian intelligence of the impending Easter attacks in which 257 people died, but police and security forces ignored them. However, the government said all 10,194 public schools will reopen on Monday amid tight police and military security, with at least one armed guard outside each one. “We have been assured that all schools will be searched and safe for us to resume the new school term,” Education Minister Akila Kariyawasam told reporters in Colombo. Last Sunday, a week after the April 21 attacks, all public masses were canceled and Cardinal Ranjith conducted a private memorial service for the victims that was broadcast live on television. Armed guards have been stationed outside churches, Buddhist temples and mosques across the country since the April 21 attacks on three churches and three luxury hotels. All political parties scrapped May 1 rallies amid fears of bomb blasts. The Cardinal has also been given several bodyguards and a large security contingent but returned a bullet-proof limousine given to him by the government. “I am not afraid. I don’t need bullet-proof vehicles to go about. The Lord is my protector,” he said. “But I want security for my people, and for the country.” Ranjith said he had concerns about the progress of security operations against jihadis behind the worst single-day attack against civilians in the country’s history. Police say they have arrested more than 150 suspects since the attacks and have accounted for all six jihadi suspects who were declared as most-wanted. Two suspects have been killed while four others were in custody, police said. President Maithripala Sirisena announced on Friday that the authorities believed there were 140 Islamic State-inspired jihadis in Sri Lanka and he had ordered security forces to track them down. The Easter attacks were blamed on the local National Thowheeth Jama’ath (NTJ) whose leader was among the suicide bombers. The group had pledged an oath of allegiance to the Islamic State group. Meanwhile, police said Muslim clerics had refused to preform burial rites for 10 Muslim radicals who were killed during a confrontation with security forces in the island’s east last week. Three suicide bombers killed themselves and three women and six children inside an Islamist safe house near the town of Kalmunai. Another four people defending the house were shot dead by security forces. “No relatives or clerics agreed to perform the final rites, so the police took steps to bury them,” spokesman Ruwan Gunasekera said. The six children were spared that fate, he added. Clerics have previously said they would not undertake last rites for any of the suicide bombers involved in the attacks.

sri lanka
catholic church
islamic state
terrorism
national thowheeth jama'ath
sri lanka attacks


Main U.K. parties take Brexit battering in local elections

Abstract: LONDON - Britain’s governing Conservatives and the Labour main opposition took a drubbing Friday in English local elections as voters vented their frustration with the Brexit deadlock. Prime Minister Theresa May’s Conservatives lost control of several local authorities and hundreds of seats but Labour failed to capitalize, with votes going instead to smaller parties. The results do not bode well for the two main parties ahead of the European Parliament elections, set to take place in Britain on May 23. Britain was meant to leave the European Union on March 29 — meaning it would never have contested the polls later this month — but now has an extension until October 31. Voters went to the polls Thursday in mainly rural and suburban areas of England, with more than 8,000 seats up for grabs. “It looks as though the key message from the voters to the Conservatives and Labour is ‘a plague on both of your houses,’ as both of them find themselves losing both votes and seats on an extensive basis,” polling expert John Curtice told the BBC. The main parties “have been losing votes most heavily in those wards where they were strongest,” with the Conservatives losing seats in southern England and Labour in the north. All 11 local authorities in Northern Ireland were also being contested among the province’s own parties. The Conservatives are traditionally strong in the areas being contested on Thursday and were defending a high water mark. These local authority seats were last contested in 2015, alongside the general election in which then prime minister David Cameron won a surprise majority for the centre-right party. But even though left-wing Labour were fighting from a low base, they too lost ground. With more than a third of the votes counted, the anti-Brexit Liberal Democrats and Greens saw gains, along with independent candidates. Meanwhile the pro-Brexit United Kingdom Independence Party did better than in last year’s local elections. “The Liberal Democrats are the big winners of this year’s elections, with already our best result for over 15 years and more gains expected,” said party leader Vince Cable. “Voters have sent a clear message that they no longer have confidence in the Conservatives, but they are also refusing to reward Labour while the party prevaricates on the big issue of the day: Brexit.” The problems for the two main parties could worsen at the European elections when they will also face the Brexit Party, who are riding high in the opinion polls, and the anti-Brexit group Change UK, largely formed of centrist Labour defectors. Neither of the newly-formed groups contested the local elections, the polls coming too soon to find the thousands of candidates.

brexit
elections
conservatives
labour
liberal democrats
u.k .


Senate upholds Trump veto of bill to end U.S. support in Yemen war

Abstract: WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump’s embattled Yemen policy received a lifeline Thursday as the U.S. Senate failed to override his veto of a measure that would end American support for the Saudi-led coalition in a country devastated by war. Congress dealt Trump a harsh rebuke in March when both chambers passed a historic resolution that would have curtailed a president’s war-making powers, and on April 16 Trump issued just the second veto of his presidency to block the measure. The Senate on Thursday voted 53 to 45 to override Trump’s veto. But 67 votes are needed to do so in the 100-member chamber, and the minority Democratic camp could only muster crossover support from a handful of Republicans. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who supports Trump on Yemen, said the vote offered lawmakers “a second chance to send the right message regarding America’s commitments to our partners in the region, to important humanitarian missions, and to eradicating al-Qaida from the Arabian Peninsula.” Trump has argued that U.S. support for the bloody war between the Saudi-backed Yemeni government and Iran-aligned Houthi rebels was necessary for a variety of reasons, including protecting the safety of more than 80,000 Americans residing in certain coalition countries. Democrats have long complained that U.S. involvement in the Yemen conflict — through intelligence-sharing, logistical support and now-discontinued aerial refueling — is unconstitutional without congressional authority. Bernie Sanders, the liberal senator who is running for president in 2020 and is a sponsor of the resolution that passed Congress, framed the veto vote as a life or death issue. “We can save thousands upon thousands of people if we override Donald Trump’s veto,” he tweeted shortly before the vote. The war in Yemen is the world’s worst humanitarian crisis, with millions of people at risk of famine. The World Health Organization estimates that nearly 10,000 people have been killed in Yemen since March 2015, while rights groups say the toll could be far higher. Another U.S. presidential hopeful, Sen. Kamala Harris, called Trump’s veto a “mistake,” and that U.S.-backed war “has led to famine, destruction, and senseless death.” Bipartisan anger has simmered in Congress since the murder last October of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi by commandos from Riyadh.

yemen
donald trump
congress
republicans
conflict
bernie sanders
jamal khashoggi
u.s .
saudi arabia


Venezuela's top court orders re-arrest of key opposition figure Leopoldo Lopez

Abstract: CARACAS - Venezuela’s top court on Thursday ordered the arrest of opposition figure Leopoldo Lopez, who has sought refuge in the Spanish embassy since claiming to have been freed from house arrest two days ago by rebel military personnel. Lopez, who was imprisoned in 2014 and transferred to house arrest three years later, made a sensational public appearance alongside opposition leader Juan Guaido on Tuesday as the National Assembly president tried to incite a military uprising against President Nicolas Maduro. Later that day Lopez sought refuge in the Chilean Embassy with his wife and daughter before moving to the Spanish Embassy. The Supreme Court accused Lopez, 48, of “flagrantly” violating the terms of his house arrest. Lopez’s wife, Lilian Tintori, claimed on Twitter on Wednesday that their house had been robbed and ransacked while they were away. Lopez was sentenced to 14 years in prison in 2014 after he was accused of having incited violent protests against Maduro that left 43 people dead. At the time he was a leading opposition figure and the founder of the Popular Will party, which counted Guaido among its members. The Harvard-trained Lopez comes from a prominent family — some of his ancestors held top government positions — but has been branded as “far right” and a “coup plotter” by socialist Maduro. Popular Will describes itself as a progressive center-left movement.

venezuela
leopoldo lopez
juan guaido
nicolas maduro


Russia and Assad forces seen stepping up attacks on rebel-held northwest Syria

Abstract: AMMAN - Russian and Syrian forces intensified airstrikes and shelling in rebel-held northwestern Syria overnight, the heaviest assault since the area was declared a demilitarized zone under a Russian-Turkish deal, residents and medics said on Thursday. The targeted villages and towns in northern Hama and southern Idlib fall within a buffer zone agreed last September between Russia and Turkey as part of a deal which averted a major offensive on the area. Schools, health facilities and residential areas have been hit, United Nations regional humanitarian coordinator Panos Moumtzis told Reuters on Thursday. “The barrel bombing is the worst we have seen for at least 15 months.” He added that 300,000 people live in the buffer zone where there are hostilities. Earlier this week, the United States warned violence in the buffer zone “will result in the destabilization of the region.” Since Tuesday, attacks have forced thousands of civilians to flee to camps further north along the Turkish border and damaged four medical facilities, according to Idlib civil defense officials and a U.S. medical aid agency working in the area. “Medical facilities are being evacuated, leaving the most vulnerable with no access to medical care. We are on the edge of a humanitarian catastrophe,” Khaula Sawah, vice president of the U.S.-based Union of Medical Care and Relief Organizations said in a statement on Wednesday. Syrian army helicopters have dropped barrel bombs, which are drums or cylinders packed with explosives and shrapnel that cause indiscriminate destruction, killing at least 15 civilians and injured dozens, rescuers in Idlib province said. Opposition-run civil defense agencies say hundreds of people, mostly civilians, have been killed by Russian and Syrian strikes since the September deal, which prevented a potentially devastating offensive on Idlib and nearby areas held by insurgents and now home to over 3 million people. Syrian state media, quoting army sources, blamed rebels for the assaults and said it had targeted “terrorist groups” in towns in northern Hama including Kfr Nabouda. It also said al Qaeda-inspired groups have stepped up drone attacks on Russia’s main air base near the Syrian Mediterranean coast, but that these have been unsuccessful. The military escalation is expected to be a focus of talks in Geneva on Friday between envoys from seven countries including U.S. Ambassador James Jeffrey and U.N. Special Envoy for Syria Geir Pedersen. Idlib is the last major area of Syria still in rebel hands after a string of government offensives backed by Russian air power since 2015 turned the tables in a protracted civil war. President Bashar Assad has regained control over most of the country, with the northeast held by Kurdish groups backed by the United States. Idlib is held by an array of rebel groups. The most powerful is Tahrir al-Sham, an amalgam of Islamist groups dominated by the former Nusra Front — an al-Qaida affiliate until 2016. Turkey, which has supported the rebels and has troops to monitor the truce, has been negotiating with Moscow to halt the strikes with little success. The main Turkish-backed rebel grouping said they were rushing extra fighters to the main fronts to face all “possibilities.” In response to the escalation, rebels said they mounted several rocket attacks on army positions including the Breideej army base in northern Hama, injuring and killing at least four Russian soldiers in a mortar attack that hit their vehicle. “We have stepped up our readiness and sent troop reinforcements to confront any attack (by) the regime and the Russians on any area,” said Naji al-Mustafa, spokesman for the National Liberation Front coalition of rebel groups. “We cannot leave matters like this. … We are preparing for any possibility…,” he added.

russia
syria
hama
idlib
panos moumtzis
bashar assad
conflict
u.n .


Chinese family lost $6.5 million in Stanford admissions scam

Abstract: HONG KONG - The mother of a Chinese student admitted Friday she paid $6.5 million to the man at the heart of a U.S. college admission scandal but said she was duped into believing the sum was a charitable donation. American academia has been rocked by a colossal bribery scandal run by William “Rick” Singer who has pleaded guilty to working with corrupt coaches, university administrators and exam monitors to get the children of wealthy families into prestigious colleges. The $25 million scam, which was revealed by U.S. prosecutors earlier this year, has seen some 50 people charged including Hollywood actors and industry CEOs. Most of the cases that have come to light through indictments or guilty pleas have involved parents paying anywhere between $15,000 and $600,000 to ensure their children got into college. But earlier this week U.S. media reported that Singer received a huge payment of $6.5 million from a wealthy Chinese family whose daughter Yusi Zhao got into Stanford in 2017. On Friday, Hong Kong-based lawyers for Zhao’s mother released a statement on her behalf in which she said the payment was made but that Singer had led her to believe it was a legitimate donation that would go towards Stanford’s staff salaries and scholarship program. “The donation is in the same nature as those that many affluent parents have been doing openly to prestigious universities,” the statement read, adding they had made it a month after their daughter was accepted into Stanford. “Since the matters concerning Mr. Singer and his foundation have been widely reported, Mrs. Zhao has come to realize she has been misled, her generosity has been taken advantage of, and her daughter has fallen victim to the scam,” it added. Law firm Mayer Brown declined to give the mother’s full name or say whether Yusi Zhao is still at the prestigious Ivy League college. The New York Times said her father is a wealthy businessman who made his fortune in traditional Chinese medicine and health supplements. A reporter from the paper who visited the family’s home in an ultra-wealthy district on the outskirts of Beijing this week said a Ferrari, a Tesla, a Bentley and a Land Rover could be seen parked outside a California-style mansion. Prosecutors in the U.S. have not filed any charges against the Zhao family. American colleges are highly sought after among Chinese families and a booming industry has flourished offering consulting and test preparation advice. Chinese students have also become a hugely lucrative demographic for those colleges. U.S. media have reported only one other family paid Singer a seven figure sum — a Chinese family who allegedly paid $1.2 million to get their daughter into Yale.

stanford
universities
china
u.s .
fraud
william singer


Cute or creepy: Why humans love some species, loathe others

Abstract: PARIS - The Chinese giant salamander, the largest amphibian in the world, is not cute. Weighing as much as an adult human, it has slimy brown skin, a giant mouth curled to a gormless grin, and puny, mistrustful eyes. It is also one of the world’s most endangered species. And yet, unlike its compatriot the giant panda, the giant salamander rarely makes the news. Why do some animals strike a chord with humans, prompting them to donate millions toward their conservation, while others draw little more than disgust? And is a sad-eyed panda really worth saving more than a slimy salamander? Size, intelligence, behavior, rarity, how closely an animal resembles the human form — all play a part in our reaction to various endangered creatures. “One of the biggest factors is ‘cuteness’: physical characteristics such as big eyes and soft features that elicit our parental instincts because they remind us of human infants,” Hal Herzog, emeritus professor at West Carolina University’s Department of Psychology. An expert in human-animal relationships, Herzog said the dark rings around pandas’ eyes triggered humans nurturing instincts. “Compare that to the Chinese giant salamander,” he said of the 2-meter, 70-kg creatures. “Google it. It looks like a 6-foot-long, 150-pound bag of brown slime with beady little eyes.” The salamanders are a vital part of their ecosystem, just as worms are essential to soil health around the steams and lakes they live in — which is just about everywhere. Yet, like maggots, rats and snakes, the main instinct they inspire in humans is revulsion. According to Graham Davey, a specialist in phobias from the University of Sussex’s School of Psychology, we learn to revile certain creatures at a young age. “Disgust is a learned emotion. Babies are not born with it. … It’s probably transmitted socially, culturally and within families,” he said. Some animals are reviled due to their resemblance to “primary disgusting things” such as mucus or feces, Davey said, while others are perceived — rightly or wrongly — to pose a direct danger to the beholder. “In terms of threat to humankind, disease and illness are bigger than being attacked by an animal,” he said. This might explain why most of us don’t find lions and bears repellent — they are covered with the same type of soft fur that coat cuddly toys for children, even if it might be better to avoid one in real life. As with most things, popular culture has a huge effect on how society perceives animals. Whereas the movie “Free Willy” prompted a wave of sympathy for the endangered orcas, “Arachnophobia” hardly helped spiders’ cause. And no need to mention what “Jaws” did for sharks. Even the depiction of fictional creatures can have a knock-on effect on public perception toward certain animals. Take the main being in “Alien,” for example. “Seeing the one from the first film that had that mucus-y drawl dripping from the alien’s mouth … sensitizes people to disgusting things,” Davey said. Nor is it just the public at large who are liable to “speciesism,” or discrimination against other species in favor of our own. A study in 2017 found a strong correlation between society’s preferred animals and those most studied in scientific research. “Maybe that’s because it’s easier to get money” to study well-known animals, said Frederic Legendre, a researcher at France’s National History Museum. And popular species make money in return, according to Christo Fabricius from WWF — a conservation group indelibly linked to its panda logo. “Reptiles, for example, are not very marketable,” he said. Not that favoring certain cute or charismatic species is necessarily a bad thing for conservation. “When we protect an iconic species, we protect their habitat and therefore all the organisms within it also benefit,” said Legendre. But such species can become a victim of their own popularity. One recent study suggested that a “virtual” presence of wild animals such as elephants and tigers — be that on computer screens, T-shirts or in children’s books — can fool people into thinking they are more common in the wild than they really are. The populations of most megafauna — from hippos to giraffes and gorillas — remain in peril. Then there is the risk of poaching. The rarer the species “the more value they provide for traditional medicine, for trophy hunting, and therefore they are poached more often,” said Franck Courchamp, an ecologist at France’s National Centre for Scientific Research. So the next time you see a picture of a giant Chinese salamander, remember that there is more to saving Earth’s wild species than looks.

endangered pandas animals psychology film nature zoos


Monstrous rumors stoke hostility to Pakistan's anti-polio drive

Abstract: PESHAWAR, PAKISTAN - His bearded face was half-covered by a shawl, but Hameedullah Khan’s fear and ignorance was on full display as he delivered a chilling message for anyone who tries to vaccinate his children against polio. “I will stab anyone who comes to my house with polio drops,” Khan growled, refusing to be filmed or photographed as he shopped in a fly-blown bazaar on the outskirts of Peshawar, a city scarred by years on the front line of Islamist militancy in Pakistan. This dangerous hostility to immunization teams flared last week after religious hard-liners in the city spread false rumors, raising a scare on social media that some children were being poisoned and dying from contaminated polio vaccines. The rumors spread like wildfire, triggering mass panic in northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. Mobs burned a village health center, blocked a highway and pelted cars with stones. Medical workers were harassed and threatened. Mosques made announcements that children were having cramps, vomiting and diarrhea after they were given “poisonous” polio drops. Word went out on social media that some children had died. Panicked parents rushed their children to hospitals, overwhelming health authorities. In Peshawar alone, about 45,000 children were brought to hospitals complaining of nausea and dizziness. Officials described it as mass hysteria, asserting there had been no deaths confirmed. It is easy to feed the fears of communities that feel under siege, as in northwest Pakistan. Mistrust of outsiders and modernity goes a long way to explaining why Pakistan and neighboring Afghanistan are two of just three countries in the world — Nigeria is the third — where polio remains endemic. Some Muslim clerics have peddled stories that the vaccines are part of Western plot to make Muslims sterile, while militant groups have killed nearly 100 health workers and their guards since 2012 on the pretext that they could be Western spies. Those killings escalated after a doctor in Peshawar involved in the campaign against polio helped U.S. forces track down and eliminate al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in 2011. Just late week, militants shot and killed a medical worker and two policemen guarding other vaccination teams in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and neighboring Baluchistan province. But the scale of the most recent backlash against a campaign to eradicate polio is something new for government officials, who worry that the suspicions and backward thinking of a hard-line minority has infected the wider public. “The mistrust in one segment of society, that refuses vaccinations due to religious beliefs, is translating into the rest of the country, which is something not seen in the past,” Babar Atta, the government’s top coordinator in the drive against polio, said. Every year Pakistan’s government mounts public education campaigns and recruits Muslim religious leaders to reassure people, but their suspicions persist. As a result of last week’s false rumors, families of hundreds of thousands of children in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and elsewhere refused to participate in the latest campaign to eradicate a virus that can cause paralysis or death. “No drops for us in the future!” Saif-ur-Rehman, a father of eight, repeating the rumors that the vaccines were contaminated or expired. “Even my son was saying: ‘The next time they bring polio drops to school, I am going to get up and run away from school.’ I said, ‘Do that.'” An inquiry found the false stories originated at two schools on the outskirts of Peshawar. Health workers seeking to vaccinate pupils from the Dar-ul-Qalam and Roza-tul-Atfaal schools had met with repeated refusals, according to provincial officials. Investigators also identified and arrested a man seen in a video telling dozens of children to pose as if the vaccine had rendered them unconscious, Farooq Jameel, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s senior-most health official, said. Police also arrested 16 other men, some of whom had threatened vaccination teams on the streets. A provincial leader of a conservative Islamist party that officials suspected had some links to the schools’ owners denied any connection and went on to endorse the immunization program. “I have been vaccinating my own children and will continue to give them polio vaccine till a certain age, but people have some misconception and doubts about polio vaccine, and the government needs to address their concerns,” Abdul Wasey, secretary-general of Jamat-e-Islami Pakistan in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, said. But the damage has been done. Pakistan has made huge strides in tackling polio, but officials say that while the latest immunization drive succeeded in inoculating 37.6 million children, 1.4 million were left unprotected. Citing fears of attacks on health workers, authorities called off a two-day catch up for the vaccination drive last week. The global campaign against the disease over the past few decades has been a great success story, with the World Health Organization (WHO) reporting just 33 cases of polio worldwide in 2018. But most of them were in Pakistan and Afghanistan, and the danger is that so long as a single child remains infected the virus can quickly spread into polio-free countries and unimmunized populations. There is no known cure for polio, but the disease can be prevented if children are given multiple treatments with the vaccine. Nadia Gul, a housewife, is among the volunteer health workers who make up the vaccination teams. Two children in her close family are victims of polio. Covering her face with a veil to talk with strangers, Gul spoke of the dangers she faces due to the heinous slurs propagated by ill-educated opponents, but she refuses to be cowed. “We have fears in our minds and in our hearts, but we will not lose courage,” Gul said. “Our aim, the aim of all the polio workers, is that we end this scourge in our country, so that no child, God forbid, is crippled.”

pakistan
polio
social media
disease
fake news


Monster Cyclone Fani smashes eastern India

Abstract: NEW DELHI - Cyclone Fani tore through India’s eastern coast on Friday as a grade 5 storm, lashing beaches with rain and wind gusting up to 205 kilometers (127 miles) per hour and affecting weather as far away as Mount Everest. The India Meteorological Department said the “extremely severe” cyclone in the Bay of Bengal hit the coastal state of Odisha around 8 a.m., and was forecast to weaken to a “very severe” storm as it moved north-northeast toward the Indian state of West Bengal. In Bhubaneswar, a city in Odisha famous for an 11th-century Hindu temple, palm trees whipped back and forth like mops against skies made opaque by gusts of rain. The national highway to Puri, a popular tourist beach city with other significant Hindu antiquities, was littered with fallen trees and electricity poles, making it impassable. A special train ran Thursday to evacuate tourists from the city. The airport in Kolkata, the capital of West Bengal, closed from 3 p.m. Friday to Saturday morning. At least 200 trains were canceled across India. The National Disaster Response Force dispatched 54 rescue and relief teams of doctors, engineers and deep-sea divers to flood-prone areas along the coast and as far afield as Andaman and Nicobar Islands, a group of islands that comprise a state located about 1,300 kilometers (840 miles) east of mainland India in the Bay of Bengal. On Mount Everest, some mountaineers and Sherpa guides were descending to lower camps as weather worsened at higher elevations. The government issued a warning saying that heavy snowfall was expected in the higher mountain areas with rain and storms lower down the mountain, and asked trekking agencies to take tourists to safety. Hundreds of climbers, their guides, cooks and porters huddled at the Everest base camp, according to Pemba Sherpa of the Xtreme Climbers Trek, who said weather and visibility was poor. May is the best month to climb the 8,850-foot (29,035-foot) Everest when Nepal experiences a few windows of good weather to scale the peak. “It is still the beginning of the month, so there is no reason for climbers to worry” that weather from the cyclone will cost them their chance to reach the summit, Sherpa said. On India’s cyclone scale, Fani is the second-most severe, equivalent to a Category 3 hurricane. Its timing is unusual, according to data from the Meteorological Department. Most extremely severe cyclones hit India’s east coast in the post-monsoon season. Over roughly half a century, 23, or nearly 60 percent of the cyclones, to hit India were observed between October and December. Because Fani spent 10 days gathering strength over the sea, it delivered a huge blow when it made landfall. Some of the deadliest tropical cyclones on record have occurred in the Bay of Bengal. A 1999 “super” cyclone killed around 10,000 people and devastated large parts of Odisha. Due to improved forecasts and better coordinated disaster management, the death toll from Cyclone Phailin — an equally intense storm that hit in 2013 — were less than 50, according to the World Meteorological Organization. The 1999 super cyclone reached wind speeds of 260-280 kph (161-173 mph)r, said India Meteorological Department scientist Dr. M. Mohapatra. “This is not as bad,” he said. Around 1.2 million people were evacuated from low-lying areas of Odisha and moved to nearly 4,000 shelters, according to India’s National Disaster Response Force. Indian officials put the navy, air force, army and coast guard on high alert. Odisha Special Relief Commissioner Bishnupada Sethi, who said the evacuation effort was unprecedented in India, said communications were disrupted in some areas, but no deaths or injuries had been reported. In the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh just south of Odisha, Fani topped electricity poles and uprooted others, leaving them in sharp angles. In the Srikakulam district, where around 20,000 people had been evacuated, thatched-roof houses collapsed and fishing boats left unmoored on beaches had been sliced into shards. The district experienced wind speeds of 140 kph (87 mph) and received heavy rains but no loss of life or major damage was reported, district collector J. Niwas said. The Bangladesh Meteorological Department said the storm would reach the southwestern part of Bangladesh by Friday. Aid agencies warned that the more than 1 million Rohingya from Myanmar living at refugee camps near the coastal district of Cox’s Bazar were at threat. Hillol Sobhan, local communications director for the aid group Care, said it had emergency supplies for the refugees in Cox’s Bazar. The Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority said it suspended operations of all vessels. Authorities also halted activities at Chittagong Seaport, which handles 80 percent of the country’s overseas trade.

cyclone fani
india
storms
weather
disasters
typhoons


Pentagon warns about risk of Chinese submarines in Arctic

Abstract: WASHINGTON - Deepening Chinese activities in the Arctic region could also pave the way for a strengthened military presence, including the deployment of submarines to act as deterrents against nuclear attack, the Pentagon said in a report released on Thursday. The assessment is included in the U.S. military’s annual report to Congress on China’s armed forces and follows Beijing’s publication of its first official Arctic policy white paper in June. In that paper, China outlined plans to develop shipping lanes opened up by global warming to form a “Polar Silk Road” — building on President Xi Jinping’s signature “Belt and Road” initiative. China, despite being a non-Arctic state, is increasingly active in the polar region and became an observer member of the Arctic Council in 2013. That has prompted concerns from Arctic states over Beijing’s long-term strategic objectives, including possible military deployments. The Pentagon report noted that Denmark has expressed concern about China’s interest in Greenland, which has included proposals to establish a research station, establish a satellite ground station, renovate airports and expand mining. “Civilian research could support a strengthened Chinese military presence in the Arctic Ocean, which could include deploying submarines to the region as a deterrent against nuclear attacks,” the report said. The Pentagon report noted that China’s military has made modernizing its submarine fleet a high priority. Its navy operates four nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarines, six nuclear-powered attack submarines and 50 conventionally powered attack submarines, it said. “The speed of growth of the submarine force has slowed and (it) will likely grow to between 65 and 70 submarines by 2020,” the report predicted. The United States and its allies, in turn, are expanding their anti-submarine naval deployments across East Asia. This includes stepped-up patrols of America’s advanced, sub-hunting P-8 Poseidon planes out of Singapore and Japan. The expansion of China’s submarine forces is just one element of a broad — and costly — modernization of its military, which U.S. experts say is designed largely to deter any action by America’s armed forces. Although Beijing’s official defense budget for 2018 was $175 billion, the Pentagon estimated that China’s budget actually topped $200 billion, when including research, development and foreign weapons procurement. It estimated that China’s official defense budget would likely grow to about $260 billion by 2022. Much of China’s military doctrine is focused on self-ruled Taiwan, which Beijing sees as a renegade province. On Jan. 2, Xi said in a speech that China reserved the right to use force to bring Taiwan under its control but would strive to achieve peaceful “reunification.” The Pentagon report outlined a number of potential scenarios that China might take if Beijing decides to use military force on Taiwan, including a comprehensive campaign “designed to force Taiwan to capitulate to unification, or unification dialogue.” But the U.S. analysis appeared to downplay prospects for a large-scale amphibious Chinese invasion, saying that could strain its armed forces and invite international intervention. It also noted the possibility of limited missile strikes. “China could use missile attacks and precision air strikes against air defense systems, including air bases, radar sites, missiles, space assets, and communications facilities to degrade Taiwan’s defenses, neutralize Taiwan’s leadership, or break the Taiwan people’s resolve,” the report said. China has repeatedly sent military aircraft and ships to circle the island on drills in the past few years and worked to isolate Taiwan internationally, whittling down its few remaining diplomatic allies. It has also strongly objected to U.S. warship passages through the Taiwan Strait, which have greatly increased in frequency in the past year. Taiwan’s military is significantly smaller than China’s, a gap that the Pentagon noted is growing year by year. Recognizing the disparity, the Pentagon report noted, “Taiwan has stated that it is working to develop new concepts and capabilities for asymmetric warfare.” Separately on Thursday, a senior official said that the United States rejects attempts by countries such as China that are not members of the eight-nation Arctic Council to claim a role in crafting policies governing the polar region. U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will attend the meeting of the eight-nation Arctic Council in Rovaniemi, Finland, starting on Monday. The United States, Canada, Russia, Finland, Norway, Denmark, Iceland and Sweden make up the Arctic Council, while China, India, South Korea, Singapore, Italy and Japan have observer status. “The eight Arctic states conduct governance of the Arctic region and we reject attempts by non-Arctic states to claim a role in this process,” the official told reporters to preview Pompeo’s trip, which will also include Germany, Britain and Greenland. “Observers have interests, but we know for example that China sometimes refers to itself as a ‘near-Arctic state’ and there is no such definition in the council’s lexicon,” the official added. The council, which coordinates Arctic policy, is gaining clout as sea ice thaws and opens up new trade routes, intensifying competition for oil and gas — estimated at 15 percent and 30 percent of undiscovered reserves. China has become one of the biggest mining investors in the region, while Russia has been pouring money and missiles into the Arctic, and reopening and building bases there. Tensions have emerged in the run-up to the meeting over Washington’s refusal to sign off on draft language on climate change, the Washington Post reported on Thursday. The Arctic, especially its islands, is warming far quicker than the world average as the retreat of snow and sea ice exposes darker water and ground that soaks up ever more of the sun’s heat. President Donald Trump has stood by his 2017 decision to withdraw from the Paris climate accord signed by almost 200 governments in 2015. They agreed to limit a rise in average global temperatures to “well below” 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial times by 2100. Worldwide, temperatures are up about 1 Celsius. The U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday passed its first climate-change bill in a decade, voting 231-190 to require that administration keep the United States as a party to the Paris accord.

arctic
military
china
arctic council
denmark
greenland
u.s .


Indonesia sentences Pole to five years for links to Papua separatist rebels

Abstract: WAMENA, INDONESIA - A Polish man was sentenced to five years in prison for treason on Thursday after meeting with rebels in the restive Indonesian province of Papua. Jakub Fabian Skrzypski, 39, was arrested in August and accused of plotting to overthrow the Indonesian government and making contact with an outlawed separatist group. “The charges of treason have been proven legally and convincingly,” said Wamena district court head judge Yajid, who like many Indonesians goes by one name. Skrzypski has denied all wrongdoing and his lawyer, Latifah Anum Siregar, told AFP he would appeal the verdict, which was lighter than the 10 years’ jail demanded by prosecutors. Jakarta is deeply sensitive about Papua, where a low-level insurgency against the central government has simmered for years, and routinely blames separatists for violence in the region. Prosecutors said the Pole had met with leaders of the Free Papua Organization (OPM) and was found with documents and video detailing the Papuan struggle for independence. Papua shares a border with independent Papua New Guinea (PNG), just north of Australia. The former Dutch colony declared itself independent in 1961, but neighboring Indonesia took control of the region two years later on the condition it allow a referendum on independence. About 1,000 handpicked Papuans then unanimously chose to be part of Indonesia in the UN-backed vote, which many consider a sham. One of Indonesia’s poorest regions, Papua has seen several spasms of violence over the past year, including in December when at least 16 employees of a state-owned company — who were building bridges in a major infrastructure push for the impoverished region — were killed by separatist rebels. Indonesian security forces have long been accused of rights abuses against Papua’s ethnic Melanesian population including extrajudicial killings of activists and peaceful protesters.

indonesia
papua
jakub fabian skrzypski
papua new guinea


Three-eyed snake found in Australian town of Humpty Doo

Abstract: SYDNEY - A three-eyed snake found slithering down a road in the northern Australian town of Humpty Doo has sparked amusement in a country already accustomed to unusual wildlife. Rangers dubbed the unusual serpent “Monty Python” after finding it on a highway in late March. X-rays showed all three of its eyes were functioning and the extra socket likely developed naturally while the snake was an embryo, the Northern Territory Parks and Wildlife Commission said in a Facebook post, noting that such deformities are common among reptiles. Wildlife officers told the Northern Territory News the 40-centimeter (18-inch) carpet python was about 3 months old and died after about a month in captivity. “It’s remarkable it was able to survive so long in the wild with its deformity, and he was struggling to feed before he died last week,” ranger Ray Chatto told the newspaper on Friday. But the late Monty Python found a new life on the internet after the Wildlife Commission posted photos of it on their Facebook page this week. “I tried to come up with a few jokes, but they just got cornea and cornea,” wrote one user. Another thought the joke was elsewhere: “Not even disturbed by the three eyed snake … just incredibly amused that there’s a place called Humpty Doo.”


Vietnamese woman in Kim Jong Nam murder case freed, but plotters may never face trial

Abstract: KUALA LUMPUR - A Vietnamese woman who had been accused of assassinating the North Korean leader’s half-brother was freed from prison Friday, ending legal proceedings over the brazen killing after an often-bizarre two-year saga. Kim Jong Nam, the estranged relative of Kim Jong Un and once seen as the heir apparent to the North’s leadership, died in agony after having his face smeared with a banned nerve agent as he waited at Kuala Lumpur’s airport in February, 2017. The sensational killing made headlines around the world and sparked a furious diplomatic tussle as Seoul accused Pyongyang of an elaborate plot to murder a figure who had spent years in exile and been critical of his family’s rule. Doan Thi Huong, from Vietnam, and Indonesian Siti Aisyah were arrested after being spotted on CCTV approaching Kim but always denied murder, insisting they had been tricked into carrying out the hit by North Korean agents who said it was a prank for a reality TV show and then fled Malaysia after the killing. The women went on trial, but in March prosecutors dropped the murder charge against Aisyah, 27, after diplomatic pressure and she flew home. Then last month they withdrew murder charges against Huong, who pleaded guilty to a reduced count of “causing injury” and was told she would be released in May at the end of her sentence. More than two years after her arrest, the 30-year-old former hair salon worker was freed from prison outside the Malaysian capital at about 7:20 a.m., said her lawyer, Hisyam Teh Poh Teik. Journalists waiting outside the prison saw a van and a car with tinted windows race past, and a court official at the scene also confirmed Huong had been released. After her sentencing last month, Huong told reporters she wanted to “sing and act” when she returned to Vietnam. While there is relief for the women, no one else is in custody over the murder and those behind the plot are unlikely to ever be punished. “The assassins have not been brought to justice,” said Hisyam, adding that the women’s legal teams consistently argued that four North Koreans who fled Malaysia after the killing, and were charged in absentia, were the real murderers. The killing took place early on a February morning two years ago. Kim Jong Nam, a balding man and wearing a gray suit, entered the Kuala Lumpur airport, glanced up at the departures board and walked to check in for his flight to Macau. Moments later, his killers struck. A few steps away from a Starbucks cafe and a Puffy Buffy Malaysian food stall, a woman stood in front of Kim to distract him. Her partner approached from behind, pulled from her handbag a cloth drenched in liquid VX, a chemical weapon, reached around his head and clamped it to his face. That was enough to deliver deadly poison. Carrying a backpack containing $100,000 and four North Korean passports, Kim had been traveling under the pseudonym “Kim Chol,” police said. After the attack, he approached a help desk and explained that someone seemed to have grabbed or held his face and now he felt dizzy. He was taken to a small glass-fronted surgery one floor down, near the arrivals area, but it was too late. Kim, who had fallen from grace in the North after a bizarre attempt to visit Tokyo Disneyland, died in agony shortly afterwards in an ambulance on the way to a hospital. The women, who faced death by hanging if convicted of murder, went on trial in October 2017 but the case was slow-moving due to the large number of witnesses and appeals from the defense teams. After Aisyah’s release in March, Vietnam then stepped up pressure for Huong’s murder charge to be dropped. Their initial request was refused, but at the start of April prosecutors offered her a reduced charge, paving the way for her release. The assassination sparked a furious row between North Korea and Malaysia, previously one of nuclear-armed Pyongyang’s few allies, and prompted both countries to expel each other’s ambassadors. Ties have improved in recent times however with Malaysia saying it plans to reopen its embassy in Pyongyang, which was closed shortly after the murder.

kim jong nam
murder
north korea
kim jong un
doan thi huong
siti aisyah
malaysia
chemical weapons


Busy schedule ahead for Japan's new Crown Prince Akishino and family

Abstract: New Crown Prince Akishino is set to have an even busier schedule after he assumed the title on Wednesday, in line with Emperor Naruhito’s accession to the imperial throne the same day. Crown Prince Akishino, 53, first in line to the throne, and his wife, Crown Princess Kiko, 52, will take over most of the official duties that Emperor Naruhito, 59, and Empress Masako, 55, performed when they were crown prince and crown princess. In June, Crown Prince Akishino, the brother of the new emperor, is slated to visit Poland and Finland for his first overseas trip in the role. Crown Prince Akishino and Crown Princess Kiko will inherit from the emperor and empress the tasks of attending the national green conservation meeting, the national high school sports festival, the national sports festival for people with disabilities and the national forest conservation festival. The crown princess will take on the solo role of participating in the national convention for promoting blood donation. Crown Prince Akishino is slated to maintain his current honorary positions. The crown prince, who serves as honorary patron for the Rugby World Cup, to be held in Japan this year, is scheduled to declare the opening of the quadrennial event in September. Among other members of the family, 12-year-old Prince Hisahito, who is the only son of the crown prince and crown princess and is second in line to the throne, advanced to Ochanomizu University Junior High School in April after graduating from the elementary school affiliated with the national university in March. The couple’s eldest daughter, Princess Mako, 27, is set to take part in three annual events that have been attended by her father, including the national urban green festival. Princess Kako, the couple’s 24-year-old daughter who graduated from International Christian University in March, is likely to expand the scope of her official activities. In October, she is slated to attend for the first time the national sports festival for people with disabilities.

crown prince akishino
crown princess kiko
prince hisahito
royalty
imperial family
imperial change


Japan and Vietnam defense ministers agree to peacefully tackle Beijing's South China Sea expansion

Abstract: HANOI - Defense Minister Takeshi Iwaya and his Vietnamese counterpart, Ngo Xuan Lich, confirmed Thursday that the two countries will work together to peacefully resolve the issue of China’s rapid expansion in the South China Sea. Meeting with Vietnam’s minister of defense in Hanoi, Iwaya also stressed the importance of steadily implementing U.N. Security Council sanctions resolutions against North Korea to realize the country’s denuclearization. Iwaya asked for Vietnam’s support in resolving North Korea’s abductions of Japanese nationals decades ago. Lich indicated Vietnam’s readiness to cooperate on the denuclearization issue. “Japan hopes to further deepen ties with Vietnam in the era of Reiwa,” Iwaya said at the outset of talks with Lich, referring to the nation’s new imperial era under Emperor Naruhito, who ascended the throne Wednesday. Lich expressed his congratulations over the succession, and told Iwaya that he hopes his visit to Vietnam will “contribute to pushing bilateral defense ties to a new stage.” In line with Iwaya’s visit to Vietnam, the two countries’ defense authorities exchanged a memorandum of understanding stipulating the two governments’ intention to call for cooperation between the Japanese and Vietnamese defense industries. Based on the MOU, cooperation is likely to be promoted in fields such as maritime security, humanitarian assistance, disaster relief and cybersecurity, sources with knowledge of the matter said. Tensions remain high in the South China Sea, with China pushing its claims to almost the entire body of water — a vital shipping lane with rich fishing grounds and possibly large oil and natural gas deposits. Vietnam as well as Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines and Taiwan claim parts of the waters. During the talks, Iwaya explained Japan’s latest national defense guidelines that were endorsed in December last year, which called China’s military activities in the South China Sea and surrounding waters “a serious security concern for the region including Japan and for the international community.” Japan is locked in a territorial dispute with China in the East China Sea over the Japanese-controlled Senkaku Islands, which China calls Diaoyu. The discussions in the Vietnamese capital were the first official talks between the two countries’ defense ministers since June last year.

defense
south china sea
china
security
military
vietnam-japan relations


Japanese Defense Ministry mulls further steps against power harassment as SDF recruiters struggle

Abstract: The Defense Ministry plans to compile a set of measures this summer to prevent power harassment, a senior ministry official said Friday. The ministry believes existing measures have been ineffective in light of the increasing number of punishments that have been issued for power harassment. While receiving advice from two outside experts, the ministry will draw up a specific direction for new measures in June. The steps might even include a review of the defense minister’s orders related to the execution of duties, the senior official said. One of the external advisers is University of Tsukuba professor Ichiyo Matsuzaki, who wrote the book “Crusher Joshi” (“Crusher Bosses”), which analyzes bosses who engage in harassment. The other is Yoshitomo Takahashi, a professor at the same university who is well-versed in issues related to suicide. In the book, Matsuzaki says diversity in human resources tends to be poor at workplaces where so-called crusher bosses have a strong presence. The measures taken so far by the ministry include the establishment of a consultation hotline and education against power harassment, but they have failed to produce results. Cases of power harassment-related penalties at the Defense Ministry and in the Self-Defense Forces rose to 94 in fiscal 2016 and 114 in fiscal 2017, compared with 42 in fiscal 2013. Apparently behind the increase is the organizational culture at the SDF. The senior official stressed the need to get rid of such a culture, saying the SDF cannot be truly strong if superiors use power harassment as a tool to control subordinates. The plan to work out new measures is also believed to reflect the ministry’s eagerness to change the image of the SDF among young people following recent shortfalls in their recruitment goals.

defense ministry
harassment
self defense forces


On Constitution Day, Abe again vows to revise Japan's top law, aiming for enactment in 2020

Abstract: Seventy-two years after the enactment of Japan’s pacifist Constitution, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe renewed his pledge Friday to revise the supreme law and emphasized that he still hopes to see an amended Constitution go into effect in 2020. “I made clear at this very forum, two years ago, that I hoped 2020 would be the year this nation sees a newly revised Constitution come into effect. That hope hasn’t changed for me,” Abe said in a prerecorded video message shown during a forum to discuss constitutional change hosted by a conservative grassroots group aligned with Japan Conference (Nippon Kaigi). The pacifist Constitution has been a topic of debate because its war-renouncing Article 9 bans the country from maintaining any “war potential.” Abe has argued the article should be revised to formalize the legal status of the Self-Defense Forces, although the government has long maintained the SDF are constitutional despite Article 9 and polls have shown a majority of voters support that interpretation. Pacifist political forces remain opposed to Abe’s ideas, fearing any revision of Article 9 could change the status quo and lead to unrestrained reinterpretation of the article in the future. Referring during Friday’s forum to a poll that indicated about 90 percent of respondents had a positive impression of the Self-Defense Forces, Abe said: “This level of trust is something the SDF has earned for themselves,” and that “now it is time for us in politics to do our part as well.” “We must write the role of the Self-Defense Forces into the Constitution to put an end to the debate over its constitutionality,” he added. Abe proposed such a revision at the same rally in 2017, adding at the time that he hoped to see an amended top law enacted in 2020. In a video message shown at last year’s forum, however, Abe didn’t mention the 2020 target, in a move that observers said underlined the political difficulty he faced in achieving his long-held ambition. This year Abe re-emphasized the 2020 goal, but Diet sessions on constitutional matters have remained stalled. Political observers say that whether Abe is able to reboot his drive for constitutional change will depend on the results of the Upper House elections scheduled for July. The forum is hosted by a conservative group that has promoted a revision of the top law and this year attracted 1,100 people to its main event, held on Constitution Day, according to the organizers. Among groups supporting the event is Japan Conference, the nation’s largest political group representing conservative, right-wing and nationalist causes. Abe is known to be a strong advocate of constitutional revision, but his push for change has been brought to a deadlock in recent months with opposition parties resisting reforms and Upper House elections looming in the summer. Discussions at the Commission on the Constitution at the House of Representatives have been on hold since the start of the year when the ordinary Diet session opened. A bill to revise the national referendum law was tabled for discussion, but following a data scandal that found statistical inaccuracies in employment figures opposition parties have refused to attend discussions at the commission. Unlike other parliamentary committees, custom dictates that the commission’s discussion on constitutional reforms must be held with consensus among all members about meetings being held, so as to ensure that a majority bloc alone cannot change fundamental political systems purely in their own favor. The situation was further exacerbated when Liberal Democratic Party lawmaker Koichi Hagiuda spoke on an internet broadcast aired in mid-April, saying that with talks of constitutional change stalling and a new imperial era on the horizon it may be necessary to “get a bit rough” about pushing discussions forward. He added that lawmakers had been “very patient” with the lack of commitment from opposition representatives. A flurry of criticism followed, and Hagiuda eventually apologized for his remarks. Following that apology, a brief meeting was held — the first this year — ahead of the long Golden Week holiday period. Attendees agreed that a meeting requested by the opposition to discuss television commercials for national referendums would be held after Golden Week. Conservative politicians have claimed that holding commission meetings and discussing constitutional revision will pave the way for a referendum, and that refusing to engage in any discussions at all deprives voters of their right to have a say on the matter. Constitutional revision itself, however, appears low on the agenda for the public. In a survey conducted by the daily Asahi Shimbun in April, with multiple answers allowed, the leading issues respondents said they would use as the basis for their choices during this summer’s elections were employment and the economy, at 66 percent, followed by social security, at 65 percent. Constitutional reform ranked low for importance, with only 22 percent saying that they would consider it when voting. In a separate poll, conducted jointly by Sankei Shimbun and broadcaster FNN in October following Abe’s Cabinet reshuffle, 30 percent of respondents said they hoped the new Cabinet would work on social security issues such as pensions and nursing, and 16 percent said they hoped to see better economic and employment policies implemented. Only 3 percent said the government should be working on constitutional reform.

constitution
shinzo abe
japan conference
nippon kaigi
article 9
self defense forces


In utero at time of Hiroshima A-bomb, hibakusha tells U.N. that quest for nuke-free world will outlive him

Abstract: NEW YORK - Jiro Hamasumi, who was in his mother’s womb when the United States dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima in 1945, told the United Nations on Wednesday he and other survivors will persist with their efforts to spare future generations the suffering caused by nuclear weapons. “The hibakusha, whose average age has exceeded 80 years old, have endeavored to create a world without nuclear weapons in our lifetime, so that future generations will be free from the fear of having another hell on earth,” he said in a speech. He was speaking at the third and final session of the preparatory committee for the 2020 review conference of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty that got underway on Monday and ends May 10. Hibakusha refers to those who were exposed to fallout from the atomic bombs. The first bomb was dropped over Hiroshima on Aug. 6, 1945, in the closing days of World War II. Nagasaki was hit three days later. As assistant secretary-general of the Japan Confederation of A- and H-Bomb Sufferers Organizations, Hamasumi was speaking along with the mayors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki as well as an activist from the Japan Council against Atomic and Hydrogen Bombs — Gensuikyo in Japanese — and other members of civil society. Hamasumi recalled growing up looking at the portrait of his father, who died in the initial blast, and the hardships his mother faced while raising seven children by herself. He is among an estimated 7,200 hibakusha exposed in utero through their mothers, he said. Despite living with fears about his health and the welfare of his family, he has committed to pursuing a world free of nuclear weapons. “We believe it is the mission of the hibakusha, as well as that of each and every one of the adults all over the world, to hand down the blue and clear sky free of nuclear weapons and wars to our children,” he said. The discussions are viewed as a critical step in setting the tone for what can be expected to be achieved at the five-year review of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, lasting roughly a month. Next year will be the 50th anniversary of the treaty, which came into effect in 1970. This year’s negotiations are taking place in an environment marred by heightened security challenges. Against this backdrop, the United States and Russia in particular — the two countries with the largest nuclear arsenals — are increasingly at odds. The situation was exacerbated in February when U.S. President Donald Trump announced Washington was withdrawing from its bilateral nuclear arms control treaty that dates back to 1987. The move was a response to alleged violations carried out by Moscow, stoking fears it may spark a new arms race involving other nations, such as China. “We see disturbing trends, including the recent intention of the U.S. and Russia to terminate the INF Treaty,” said Hiroshima Mayor Kazumi Matsui, who also spoke at the conference. He voiced concerns about a global security system that remains based on the doctrine of nuclear deterrence, and nuclear-armed states that keep modernizing their arsenals. Nagasaki Mayor Tomihisa Taue raised concerns about the approximately 14,500 nuclear warheads in the world and called on leaders of nuclear-armed states to do more to live up to the promise of reducing their arsenals. “Please work in better faith for nuclear arms reductions in keeping with the promise you have with the world under the special status afforded you in the framework of the NPT,” he said, adding Moscow and Washington have a “responsibility to initiate a dialogue.” After the session, Sueichi Kido, a survivor of the Nagasaki bombing and secretary-general of the Japan Confederation of A- and H-Bomb Sufferers Organizations, handed over a petition with 9.4 million signatures calling for the elimination of nuclear weapons to Malaysian Ambassador Syed Mohamad Hasrin Aidid, chair of the session. Called the Hibakusha Appeal, it was last presented in the fall of 2018 by Kido and Hamasumi to an ambassador who chaired a committee tackling disarmament and international security. At that time there were more than 8 million signatures. “Listening to the hibakusha you can somehow feel the pain, but it is not the same, so we hope that the delegates listen to what they have been saying and work towards a world free of nuclear weapons,” Aidid said after meeting hibakusha for the first time.

hiroshima
hibakusha
atomic bombings
nuclear weapons
nagasaki
u.n .


Tokyo police investigating drone flights near imperial residences a day after emperor's accession

Abstract: Police are looking into a number of witness reports of drones being flown Thursday night near the Imperial Palace and other locations in Tokyo linked to the imperial family, investigative sources said. The Metropolitan Police Department began receiving reports from riot police in central Tokyo after 8 p.m. of drones flying near the Imperial Palace and the Akasaka Estate, currently home to a few members of the imperial family including Emperor Naruhito, who ascended the throne Wednesday, the sources said. Witnesses said the drones flew above the imperial residences through late Thursday and had flashing red and white lights, according to the sources. A drone was also witnessed flying near the Musashino Imperial Graveyard in Hachioji, western Tokyo, where imperial family members — including the great-grandfather and grandfather of Emperor Naruhito — are buried. The law prohibits the operation of drones in central areas of cities, densely built-up areas and around airports. People are also banned from flying them at night anywhere in the country.

tokyo
drones
imperial palace
imperial family
akasaka estate
emperor naruhito
musashino imperial graveyard
hachioji
abdication


Mount Aso belches smoke over Kyushu in first eruption since mid-April

Abstract: KUMAMOTO - A small eruption on Mount Aso shot smoke as high as 1,600 meters over Kyushu on Friday, the Meteorological Agency said. The eruption in Kumamoto Prefecture was the first since the small eruptions on April 16 and April 19. There were no immediate reports of injuries. The latest one occurred at 3:40 p.m. at the No. 1 Nakadake crater, the agency said. The volcanic alert level for Mount Aso remains at 2 on a scale of 1 to 5. This means municipalities have restricted access to areas within 1 km of the crater.


Asian Development Bank to spend $5 billion in fight against marine waste

Abstract: NADI, FIJI - The Asian Development Bank has announced plans to spend $5 billion, including through syndicated loans, from 2019 to 2024 to help the Asia-Pacific region tackle plastic waste and other forms of marine pollution. The Manila-based ADB also plans to support sustainable tourism and fishery operations in the region, its Japanese president said. “Healthy oceans are essential to our planet and for millions of people in Asia and the Pacific. But our oceans are in danger,” ADB President Takehiko Nakao said in his opening address at the bank’s annual meeting in Nadi on Friday. Noting that rising water temperatures, untreated wastewater and plastic pollution are damaging the oceans, Nakao warned, “If we do not act now, by 2050, 90 percent of the region’s coral reefs will be dead, and there will be no commercially exploitable wild fish stocks left.” The $5 billion will cover four areas, including the development of sustainable port infrastructure. The aid will help countries in the region “reduce, reuse and recycle” plastic waste and address other marine pollution problems, the former vice finance minister for international affairs said. The ADB will also provide technical support while working to attract private-sector investment. At the annual meeting, a seminar was held on marine environment protection. Measures to tackle marine waste are expected to be high on the agenda at the summit of the Group of 20 advanced and emerging economies in Osaka in June.

waste
plastic
plastic waste
adb
takehiko nakao


Japan calls on Asian Development Bank to reduce loans to China

Abstract: NADI, FIJI - Finance Minister Taro Aso called on the Asian Development Bank on Saturday to scale back easy money to countries like China that have developed to the point of no longer needing financial aid. “ADB should hold substantive discussions on a concrete path toward graduation while prioritizing its assistance in areas conducive to graduation,” Aso said in a speech at the bank’s annual conference. His remarks were a dig at China, which has continued to receive low-interest loans even as it has grown into the world’s second-largest economy and its income levels have risen. China accounted for 12 percent of ADB’s contracts in 2018, second only to India. Critics have also pointed to China’s large amount of lending to developing economies through its “Belt and Road” infrastructure initiative which has saddled some countries with significant debt. In the speech in the Fiji resort city of Nadi, Aso said, “In order to make effective use of its limited resources, ADB should prioritize assistance to low-income and vulnerable countries, including small island states.” The World Bank, whose largest contributor is the United States, is set to cut back its loans to China, while Japan ended its official development assistance to the country in March. In an interview with media outlets last month, ADB President Takehiko Nakao said his bank is not planning to downsize the amount of lending to China, saying that it will focus on environmentally friendly projects and those that will positively impact neighboring countries. He also stressed some merits of loans to China, such as keeping a constructive relationship. Yet the issue is likely to come up again at a meeting of Group of 20 finance leaders to be held in the city of Fukuoka in June.


Momo-3 is Japan's first private rocket to reach space

Abstract: KUSHIRO, HOKKAIDO - A Japanese aerospace startup successfully launched a small rocket on Saturday, making it the country’s first privately developed model to reach outer space. Interstellar Technology Inc. said the unmanned Momo-3 launched from its test site in Hokkaido and reached about 110 kilometers (68 miles) in altitude before falling into the Pacific Ocean after 10 minutes of flight time. “It was a complete success. We’ll work to achieve stable launches and mass-produce (rockets) in quick cycles,” said company founder Takafumi Horie. Measuring 10 meters in length and 50 centimeters in diameter and weighing 1 ton, it was first due to be launched Tuesday, but that launch was shelved due to a glitch in the fuel system. On Saturday, the first launch attempt at 5 a.m. was called off at the last minute due to the detection of an abnormality. The cause of the problem was identified before the second attempt. According to the company, Momo-3 was launched at 5:45 a.m. and its liquid fuel was burned for about two minutes as planned. About 1,000 people gathered to watch the liftoff. It was the venture company’s third launch attempt after previous tries failed in 2017 and 2018. In 2017, the operator lost contact with Momo-1 shortly after launch. In 2018, Momo-2 only made it some 20 meters off the ground before crashing and bursting into flames due to a problem with a control system. Founded in 2013 by Horie, former Livedoor Co. president, Interstellar Technology aims to develop low-cost commercial rockets to carry satellites to space.

momo-3
rockets
space
interstellar technology
takafumi horie


SoftBank said to be considering IPO for $100 billion Vision Fund

Abstract: A handful of executives at SoftBank Group Corp. are weighing the idea of an initial public offering for its Vision Fund, the $100 billion behemoth that has invested in technology companies ranging from Uber Technologies Inc. to WeWork Cos. The idea is in an early stage, said a person familiar with the situation who asked not to be identified because it was private. If pursued, an IPO would give investors in the fund a way to cash out part or all of their stakes. The fund might consider a direct listing rather than a traditional IPO, the person said. A listing of any sort would be unusual for a venture firm, but the Vision Fund has operated outside of traditional venture parameters since its debut in 2016. It dwarfs other funds in size and invests more broadly than most venture funds, including in mature companies like chipmaker Nvidia Corp. The Vision Fund has explored raising an additional $15 billion to keep funding its ambitious investment activities. SoftBank is planning a second Vision Fund, and is also launching a Latin American fund in the mold of the Vision Fund. A representative for SoftBank declined to comment. Discussions about a potential Vision Fund IPO were reported earlier by The Wall Street Journal. The Vision Fund’s largest investor is Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, which came under fire last year when the country’s crown prince was accused of involvement in the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in Turkey. Other investors include Mubadala Investment Co., Abu Dhabi’s strategic investment fund. The Vision Fund owns a 16.3 percent stake in Uber, which is set to list next week on the New York Stock Exchange. It also has a stake in Slack Technologies Inc., which like Uber and WeWork, is planning to go public. SoftBank Chief Executive Officer Masayoshi Son said in an interview last year that he planned to raise $100 billion every two to three years to create Vision Fund successors.

softbank
ipos
investment
softbank vision fund


Venezuela's neighbors accuse Nicolas Maduro of protecting 'terrorist groups' in Colombia

Abstract: LIMA - The Lima Group regional bloc on Friday accused the government of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro of protecting “terrorist groups” in Colombia, keeping up pressure days after an attempted military uprising failed to dislodge Maduro from power. The bloc, a dozen countries in the Americas that meet regularly to discuss Venezuela, did not provide details on the groups in Colombia that it alleged Maduro was protecting. But it said in its joint statement that it rejected any attempt to assassinate Colombian President Ivan Duque or undermine regional security. Duque said on Twitter on April 27 that explosives set off at a military base had been orchestrated from Venezuela, where he alleged Maduro was protecting Colombian ELN rebels. Maduro’s government did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Maduro often accuses the right-wing Duque, the Lima Group and the United States of plotting to overthrow his socialist government. The Lima Group, which includes Canada, Brazil, Argentina and Chile, reiterated on Friday that it opposes military intervention to remove Maduro from power, and encouraged Venezuelans to continue efforts to keep fighting for democracy. “This process must be done peacefully and respecting the constitutional order in Venezuela,” Peruvian Foreign Minister Nestor Popolizio told journalists after meeting with his counterparts in a Lima Group meeting in Peru. The Lima Group backed Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido’s push to oust Maduro on Tuesday, which failed to trigger the military defections needed to wrest control of key institutions. The Lima Group said it wants Maduro’s ally Cuba to join efforts to end the political crisis in Venezuela, and called for an urgent meeting with the EU-backed International Contact Group, which has placed more emphasis on dialogue to find a solution.

venezuela
nicolas maduro
colombia
ivan duque
peru
juan guaido


U.S. targets Iranian uranium but lets 2015 nuclear deal stay alive

Abstract: WASHINGTON - The United States said Friday it would start imposing sanctions over Iranian exports of enriched uranium allowed under a nuclear deal rejected by President Donald Trump, even as it granted waivers to allow the accord to survive. The move comes amid growing Iranian frustration with the nuclear deal, with which U.N. inspectors say Tehran is complying but which has not led to a promised economic boom, with the Trump administration instead imposing sweeping sanctions. Under the 2015 deal, which was negotiated under former President Barack Obama and still enjoys strong support among European powers, Iran was limited to keeping 300 kg of uranium enriched up to 3.67 percent — far below the level needed to build nuclear weapons. As part of the agreement, Iran was to sell any enriched uranium above that threshold on international markets in return for natural uranium, with Russia a key player. But in Friday’s policy change, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the United States would start to impose sanctions on anyone involved in the trade of natural for enriched uranium — as well as in the storage of Iranian heavy water that was in excess of limits. “The Trump administration continues to hold the Iranian regime accountable for activities that threaten the region’s stability and harm the Iranian people. This includes denying Iran any pathway to a nuclear weapon,” State Department spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus said. At the same time, the United States issued new three-month waivers to allow the continuation of the major parts of the nuclear deal. In particular, the United States said it will not target the transfer of scrap and spent nuclear fuel out of Iran and will not impose sanctions over work at Bushehr, the country’s only civilian nuclear power station, although it said it may punish any activity that expands the site. The Trump administration pulled out of the nuclear accord a year ago and instead vowed “maximum pressure” aimed at curbing the regional role of Iran, an archrival of U.S. allies Saudi Arabia and Israel. Some observers believe the Trump team is trying to goad Iran into breaking the terms of the nuclear deal, thereby causing it to collapse and significantly deepening Tehran’s international isolation.

iran
sanctions
nuclear weapons
u.s .
nuclear energy


South Sudanese parties agree on six more months to form unity government

Abstract: JUBA - South Sudan’s ruling and opposition parties agreed on Friday to give themselves six more months to form a unity government as part of a peace deal they signed in September, the regional group IGAD said in a statement. Also on Friday, President Salva Kiir lifted a state of emergency imposed in 2017 in five northern states of the country, South Sudan Radio reported, in a bid to help foster peace. South Sudan gained independence from Sudan in 2011 but descended into a civil war two years later. After a string of failed agreements, a peace deal was signed last September between the two sides, represented by Kiir and his former deputy turned rival, Riek Machar. As part of the peace deal, the two sides aimed to form a national unity government by May 12. The parties met in neighboring Ethiopia’s capital, Addis Ababa, on Friday to seek a way forward on the unity government. “The Parties identified lack of political will, financing and time constraints as the major challenges that have delayed implementation of the Pre-Transitional tasks and underscored the need to ensure that specific pending tasks are adequately funded within a clearly set out and reasonable time frame,” IGAD said in a statement. “In light of the above, the Parties unanimously agreed to extend the Pre-Transitional period by an additional six (6) months effective from 12th May 2019 to enable the execution of the critical pending tasks,” the intergovernmental group added. While the peace deal has helped to reduce fighting and partly alleviated the humanitarian crisis afflicting the country, a U.N. panel of experts on South Sudan said in a report on Tuesday that the country still faces significant challenges. IGAD, which has been helping to mediate between the two sides, said the new agreement will be presented for consideration at its council of ministers meeting to be held on 7th to 8th May in Juba in South Sudan.


Congo's Ebola deaths top 1,000

Abstract: KINSHASA - More than 1,000 people have now died of Ebola in Congo, authorities said, as aid workers warned that the highly contagious virus combined with insecurity in the restive region was creating a “deeply worrying situation.” The current outbreak is the second-deadliest on record, after an epidemic killed more than 11,300 people in West Africa in 2014-2016. Efforts to roll back the outbreak of the hemorrhagic fever have been hampered by fighting but also by resistance within communities to preventative measures, care facilities and safe burials. “In total, there have been 1,008 deaths (942 confirmed and 66 probable),” the health ministry said in a daily update late Friday. The central African country declared a 10th outbreak of Ebola in 40 years last August centred in the city of Beni in North Kivu province before the virus spread into the neighboring Ituri region. The World Health Organization had initially voiced hope it would be able to contain the outbreak, thanks in part to a new vaccine. But in recent weeks senior WHO officials have conceded that insecurity, scarce financial resources and local politicians turning people against health workers had seriously undermined the containment effort. “We are dealing with a difficult and volatile situation,” Michael Ryan, the executive director of WHO’s Health Emergencies Program, told reporters in Geneva on Friday. “We are anticipating a scenario of continued, intense transmission,” he added. The long-standing presence of various rebel groups in Ituri and North Kivu has made it difficult for health workers to access those who might have come into contact with Ebola, a figure that currently stands at 12,000 people. But beyond the militias, communities in the aftermath of DRC’s December elections “are being manipulated” against cooperating with Ebola responders, Ryan said. “Communities … need to be assured that all parties are supporting the public health response and that Ebola should not become further politicized in the process,” he added. Ryan said the U.N. health agency currently has enough vaccine stocks to meet its needs but doses may run short. “We don’t necessarily know which way this outbreak is going,” he said. More than 110,000 people have been vaccinated since the outbreak began. Neighboring Rwanda and Uganda have also been vaccinating health workers. Humanitarian groups meanwhile warned Friday of health risks faced by tens of thousands of people uprooted by the resurgence of violence in the east of the country. Among them, some 7,000 displaced people are housed in a primary school where the only water source is a nearby river and there are not enough toilets, 18 non-governmental organizations said in a statement. In such conditions, the “risk of disease spread is high,” they added. “This is a deeply worrying situation. These people fear going back to their homes and are being forced to live in cramped, unsanitary conditions in an area where Ebola remains a significant threat,” said Tamba Emmanuel Danmbi-saa from Oxfam, one of the groups that signed the document. “These people urgently need food and adequate sanitation facilities as well as clean water and health services.” The groups said violence in the region, with rival rebel groups competing for resources and power, made it very difficult for humanitarian aid to reach those who need it, with some 60,000 people displaced in April alone. Many of them, added the NGOs, find themselves trapped between the Ugandan border to the east, a region in their own country plagued by violence, and another nearby that is riddled with Ebola. “As a result, some displaced people are being left with little choice but to return to the villages they fled, where they are at risk of further attacks. “Others are avoiding official border points and choosing to cross illegally through the forests along the border or by boat across Lake Albert. This also increases the risk of Ebola being spread, since people are not being screened as they would be at the official border crossings.” In the conflict-ridden country as a whole, more than 13 million people need humanitarian aid, the NGOs said. More than 5 million have had to flee their homes, and Uganda is already home to more than 1.2 million refugees.


Major U.N. biodiversity report to call for 'Paris moment' to protect nature and avoid human misery

Abstract: PARIS - Revamping global food production, retooling the financial sector, moving beyond gross domestic product as a measure of progress and other “transformative changes” are needed to save nature and ourselves, a major U.N. biodiversity report will conclude. Delegates from 130 nations were to wrap up weeklong negotiations in Paris on Saturday on the executive summary of a 1,800-page tome authored by 400 scientists, the first U.N. global assessment of the state of nature — and its impact on humanity — in 15 years. The bombshell Summary for Policymakers, to be unveiled on Monday, makes for very grim reading. Up to a million of Earth’s estimated 8 million species face extinction, many of them within decades, according to a draft version. All but 7 percent of major marine fish stocks are in decline or exploited to the limit of sustainability. At the same time, humanity dumps up to 400 million tons of heavy metals, toxic sludge and other waste into oceans and rivers each year. Since 1990, Earth has lost 2.9 million hectares — an area more than eight times the size of Germany or Vietnam — of forests that play a critical role in absorbing record emissions of carbon dioxide. The heavily negotiated text does not make explicit policy recommendations but will serve “as a basis for redefining our objectives” ahead of a key meeting of the U.N. Convention on Biological Diversity in China next fall, said Yunne Jai Shin, a researcher at the Research Institute for Development in Marseilles, France. But the pressure to set clear targets — similar to the cap on global warming in the 2015 climate treaty inked in the French capital — has sparked calls for a “Paris moment” on biodiversity. The report details how humans are undermining Earth’s capacity to produce fresh water, clean air and productive soil, to name a few “ecosystem services.” The direct causes of nature’s degradation — in order of importance — are: shrinking habitat and land-use change; hunting for food or illicit trade in body parts; climate change; pollution; and predatory or disease-carrying alien species such as rats, mosquitoes and snakes. “There are also two big indirect drivers of biodiversity loss and climate change: the number of people in the world and their growing ability to consume,” Robert Watson, chair of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), said ahead of the meeting. The way humanity produces, distributes and consumes food — accounting for a third of land, 75 percent of the use of fresh water and a quarter of the emissions of greenhouse gases — is especially destructive, the report shows. Fertilizer use, which degrades the soil’s ability to grow plants and absorb carbon dioxide, has risen fourfold in just 13 years in Asia and doubled worldwide since 1990. “Feeding the world in a sustainable manner entails the transformation of food systems,” the report notes. Local food production, less demand for meat, fewer chemical inputs, use of renewable power, sustainable limits for fisheries, a sharp decline in tropical deforestation — all are feasible and would help restore nature. The report also spotlights “harmful subsidies” that encourage environmentally damaging fishing, agriculture, livestock raising, forestry and mining. It cites estimates that tax havens finance about 70 percent of vessels implicated in unregulated fishing, and an equal share of the soy and beef sectors that are ravaging the Amazon. The summary for policymakers maps out what Watson calls “several plausible futures,” some inviting, others less so. One, labeled “economic optimism,” sees burgeoning international trade unfettered by regulation. In this scenario, population growth slows but per capita consumption is high, leading to more climate change and pollution. A “reformed markets” variant features more policies aimed at poverty alleviation and protecting the environment, but consumer demand would remain high, although more equally distributed. “Global sustainable development” would see politicians and the public prioritize environmental issues and strict regulations. Policies and education would promote low population growth, sustainable production and a concept of progress based on well-being, not just gross domestic product. In such a scenario, people eat a lot less meat, and energy consumption declines. “All variations of this archetype are beneficial for biodiversity,” the underlying report says. In a kindred world, international institutions would weaken, but regional ones would pick up the slack toward the same ends. Finally, the last two scenarios — “business-as-usual” and “regional competition” — would plunge the planet into a nightmarish, downward spiral of conflict, growing inequality and continuing degradation of nature.

biodiversity
nature
climate change
pollution
animals
u.n .
endangered