Simone Biles cites racism in gymnasts, support for protests

Simone Biles said she believes Black Lives Matter protests against police brutality and racial inequality this summer in the United States are "working." File Photo by Terry Schmitt/UPI | License Photo

July 23 (UPI) -- Team USA's Simone Biles says she was just 16 when she first dealt with racism on the gymnastics circuit. The four-time Olympic gold medalist now is one of the most-prominent athletes in support of the Black Lives Matter movement.

Biles, 23, spoke about her experience Thursday on Today. She also detailed the racism in an article for Vogue. Biles was scheduled to compete in the Summer Games this year in Tokyo before the Olympics was postponed until 2021 due to the pandemic.

"I didn't really notice racism until 2013," Biles said on Today. "I was on a world scene, and what made the news was, another gymnast saying that if we painted our skin black maybe we would all win because I had beaten her out of beam medal, and she got upset.
"That [was] really the news, rather than me winning worlds."

RELATED Watch: Simone Biles shows off Olympic form with rare gymnastic move

Biles became the first Black woman to win the all-around title at the 2013 World Championships in Antwerp, Belgium. After the event, Italian gymnast Carlotta Ferlito told a teammate: "Next time we'll have our skin black also so we can win, too."
Ferlito later apologized for the comment and said she didn't want to "sound rude or racist."

Gymnastics superstar @Simone_Biles talks about how she keeps her head in the game amid the postponed 2020 #TokyoOlympics.

RELATED USA Gymnastics offers Larry Nassar survivors $215M to settle lawsuits


"Training has been a little bit different, it's been crazy ...but going in everyday knowing and hoping that 2021 is on the horizon keeps me going." pic.twitter.com/EbEjVwdcrA— TODAY (@TODAYshow) July 23, 2020

"Other than that, it happens every day, and I feel like every Black athlete or colored athlete can say that they've experienced it through their career," Biles told Today. "But you just have to keep going for those little ones looking up to us. It doesn't matter what you look like. You can strive for greatness, and you can be great."

Biles continued to use her voice to support the Black Lives Matter movement on social media amid unrest in the United States after the deaths of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor. She spoke about the protests in her interview with Vogue.

RELATED Simone Biles, 22, wins record 25th world gymnastics medal

"We need change," Biles said. "We need justice for the Black community. With the peaceful protests it's the start of change, but it's sad that it took all of this for people to listen.

"Racism and injustice have existed for years with the Black community. How many times has this happened before we had cell phones?"

Biles also cited former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick's protests against racial inequality and police brutality.

"We tried peaceful protesting. Then Colin Kaepernick -- he lost his job. He lost his career," Biles said. "They took his whole entire career away from that poor man. And look at us now.

"It's working. You just have to be the first and people will follow."
The Summer Games now are scheduled to start July 23, 2021, in Tokyo. Biles cried after she learned the Summer Games were postponed, but now believes organizers made the correct call amid coronavirus outbreaks around the work.

"Ultimately it was the right decision," Biles said.

House approves commission to study societal challenges of Black men and boys

WHITE POWER & WHITE PRIVILEGE

U.S. House lawmakers on Monday approved a bill to create a non-partisan commission to study the social inequities faced by Black men and boys in the United States. File Photo by Ken Cedeno/UPI | License Photo

July 27 (UPI) -- Lawmakers in the U.S. House on Monday overwhelmingly passed legislation to create a new commission to study the societal struggles of Black men and boys in the United States.

The new Social Status of Black Men and Boys Act would authorize a bipartisan, 19-member commission made up of lawmakers, agency representatives and non-government advocates to look at policies and circumstances that create barriers for Black men and youth to participate fully in American life, supporters said.

"The commission will review police brutality, gun violence, fatherhood, recruiting and training Black male teachers, and even sneakers, which play an important role in the lives of black boys," sponsor Rep. Frederica Wilson, D-Fla. said in a statement Monday.

"Too often [Black boys] are perceived as criminals by the time they reach the age of 5. They're labeled delinquent, not rowdy. They are hardened criminals, not misguided youth. Their very existence is often seen as a threat. It is a tragic reality that Black males in America are treated as their own class of citizens," Wilson added.

The proposed commission would create a yearly report to Congress with policy recommendations.

The bill passed by a 368-to-1 vote. The lone nay vote was cast by Rep. Mo Brooks, R.-Ala. Companion legislation in the Senate has been co-sponsored by Marco Rubio, R-Fla., Kamala Harris, D-Calif., and Cory Booker, D-N.J.

Wilson said she felt "bittersweet" that the passage of the bill was not witnessed by the late Rep. John Lewis, who died last week at age 80. The late Georgia Democrat was a supporter of the bill, which was first introduced several years ago.

The police-involved deaths of George Floyd and others and the Black Lives Matter protests sweeping the country have pushed forth interest in structural inequalities based on race, said supporters.

"As we witness the deadly outcomes of interactions between Black men and police from Walter Scott to George Floyd, we must seek comprehensive reforms that will change this narrative," said Majority Whip James Clyburn, D-S.C., in a statement. "Police reforms are necessary, but we must also restructure the system that has adversely impacted Black men since birth."

North Dakota Republican Rep. Kelly Armstrong said his experience as a defense attorney showed him that the legal system treated Black males differently.

"As a defense attorney, I saw how sentence disparities on drug crimes, minimum mandatory sentencing, school board sentencing, pretrial release policies often had racial impacts," Kelly said, as reported by The Hill.

"By creating a bipartisan commission to study inequality in government programs, we take the necessary steps to identify and address disparities for Black American men and boys," Kelly added.

upi.com/7024621

National Guard official to testify about 'unprovoked escalation' against protesters


A man holds a sign in Black Lives Matter Plaza while standing in front of the General Andrew Jackson Statue in Lafayette Square late last month. File Photo by Leigh Vogel/UPI | License Photo

July 27 (UPI) -- A National Guard officer will testify Tuesday to Park Police's 'unprovoked escalation' against protesters in Lafayette Square in Washington, D.C., on June 1.

National Guard Maj. Adam DeMarco prepared a written statement for his testimony on the incident before the House Committee on Natural Resources on Tuesday.

DeMarco was deployed to Lafayette Square outside the White House on June 1 as a liaison between the D.C. National Guard's "Task Force Civil Disturbance," with approximately 250 personnel from the D.C. National Guard and the Park Police. The D.C. National Guard's mission was to support the Park Police.

On the evening of June 1, witnesses said, the Park Police and D.C. National Guard fired smoke canisters and pepper balls at protesters to allow President Donald Trump to walk through the area and visit the shuttered St. John's Episcopal Church for a photo opportunity in which he held a Bible

DeMarco said in his statement that no National Guardsmen were armed with lethal or non-lethal munition that evening, but Park Police had tear gas canisters.

"Members of the Committee, the events I witnessed at Lafayette Square on the evening of June 1 were deeply disturbing to me, and to fellow National Guardsmen," DeMarco said in his statement.

"Having served in a combat zone, and understanding how to assess threat environments, at no time did I feel threatened by the protesters or assess them to be violent.

"In addition, considering the principles of proportionality of force and the fundamental strategy of graduated responses specific to civil disturbance operations, it was my observation that the use of force against demonstrators in the clearing operation was an unnecessary escalation of the use of force.

"From my observation, those demonstrators -- our fellow American citizens -- were engaged in the peaceful expression of their First Amendment rights. Yet, they were subjected to an unprovoked escalation and excessive use of force."

He added that he was inspired to speak out because of something the late Rep. John Lewis once said: "When you see something that is not right, not just, not fair, you have a moral obligation to say something, to do something."

RELATED Federal officers use tear gas, munitions on Portland, Ore., protesters

Although curfew wasn't until 7 p.m., Park Police began to issue warnings for the crowd of approximately 2,000 people to disperse, from near the statue of President Andrew Jackson approximately 50 yards from the demonstrators, about 6:20 p.m., DeMarco said in his statement.

Since warnings were barely audible from where he was standing, approximately 20 yards away from them, DeMarco said he did not believe the protesters were aware of warnings to disperse.

When the Park Police began to remove protesters from Lafayette Square in front of the White House, DeMarco saw smoke,, which he said he was told was "stage smoke," but he could feel irritation in his eyes and nose. Based on previous training, he recognized the irritation as consistent with tear gas.

DeMarco said the D.C. National Guard's job was to move behind the Park Police as it cleared the perimeter, and no National Guard personnel participated in the used of force against the protesters in Lafayette Square.

He also said that he observed unidentified law enforcement personnel behind the National Guardsmen using "paintball-like" weapons to fire "pepper balls" into the crowd.

The June 1 protest came amid many nationwide demanding justice after the police-involved killing of George Floyd on Memorial Day.

DeMarco's testimony will follow other testimony about the incident, including an Australian television journalist, Amelia Brace, who testified that she and a cameraman were shoved with a riot shield.

Brace also said that a Park Police officer grabbed a camera lens and struck her colleague in the neck with a rubber bullet.

Jonathan Turley, a George Washington University law professor, testified that the clearing probably was lawful, but the committee would have to examine "the rapid escalation of force" and decide whether the means used exceeded the intent of the law.

The American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia last month on behalf of Black Lives Matter D.C. and individual protesters in the district.

The plaintiffs argued that both First and Fourth amendment rights were violated when U.S. law enforcement agents fire tear gas, pepper spray, rubber bullets and flash bombs to force them and other peaceful protesters to disperse from near the White House that day.

The Justice Department inspector general announced Thursday the opening of an investigation into the use of force by federal law enforcement agents on protesters in Portland, Ore., and Washington, D.C.

Secretary of Defense Mark Esper said earlier this month it's unclear who gave the order to disperse protesters in Lafayette Square.

On June 11, Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Mark Milley apologized for his role in the photo opportunity on June 1. A day before Milley apologized, hundreds of former Justice Department employees called for a probe of Attorney General William Barr's involvement in the police action at Lafayette Square.

upi.com/7024627

Germany's forests decimated by insects, drought

Rising temperatures and droughts have made trees in Germany more vulnerable to attacks by bark beetles and other insects. That's led to a nearly sixfold jump in trees destroyed by pests over the past two years.



Around 32 million cubic meters (1,130 million cubic feet) of wood damaged by insects had to be removed from Germany's forests in 2019, the Federal Statistical Office reported Monday.

That total is three times higher than the 11 million cubic meters that was destroyed in 2018, and an almost sixfold increase on the 6 million cubic meters felled due to pests in 2017.

"In recent years, the native forests have suffered from drought and hot spells," the Wiesbaden-based statisticians said.

"Pests like bark beetle can multiply increasingly quickly in already weakened trees."


Beetle-infested trees have to be cut down to prevent the pest from spreading through entire forests.

Read more: Foresters fighting to save Germany's threatened woodlands

Alarming forest decay

The statistics office pointed out that more and more trees were also showing signs of drought stress, such as drooping leaves and thinning crowns. And then there are other threats such as storms, wildfires, snowfall and fungal infestations.

Last year, timber damaged by insects and other threats accounted for two-thirds of all felling in German forests, compared to 20% in 2010. Most of the species cut down — 83% — were conifers such as spruce, fir, pine and larch.

Restoring the German forest

Experts have warned that climate change and the proliferation of insects like the bark beetle are having a catastrophic impact on native forests.

"This combination did not exist before," Michael Müller, forest protection expert at the Technical University of Dresden, said.

"We are currently experiencing the most serious forest damage … since the beginning of regulated sustainable forest care and management, so more than 200 years ago."

FORESTS IN GERMANY PHOTOS

https://www.dw.com/en/germany-forest-dying/a-54330242

Berchtesgaden National Park

It's the only German national park in the Alps. Because of its high mountain location, with a bit of luck, hikers here can spot such rare animals as the alpine ibex, golden eagle, alpine hare and alpine marmot.

Portugal declares state of alert over wildfires

Firefighters have brought a huge wildfire sweeping across central Portugal under control. But with the risk of further outbreaks high, the country has been placed on alert.


Portugal has issued a fire alert for Monday and Tuesday amid hot conditions, as more than 800 firefighters successfully fought a huge wildfire blazing across central regions of the country.

The country' meteorology agency, IPMA, said the risk of fire was elevated in most of the country, with temperatures of 37 degrees Celsius (99 F) in some regions. The alert puts firefighters, police and emergency medical services in increased readiness, and there is a ban on lighting fires along with limits on forest access.

The government says more than 12,000 firefighters are on standby, backed by 60 water bombers.

Read more: Wildfires: Climate change and deforestation increase the global risk 

A firefighter tries to extinguish a wildfire in Vale da Cuba
Several injured

The alert, the second in 10 days, comes as a wildfire raging in the municipality of Oleiros and two neighboring municipalities over the past two days was brought under control on Monday morning.

The fire had forced a number of people to evacuate their homes and endangered houses as it approached isolated villages.

A 21-year-old firefighter was killed in a road accident on Saturday while fighting the fire. Several other people were injured in the crash.

Two other firefighters have already been killed this summer in the course of their work.

Two major blazes in the country three years ago claimed the lives of 106 people.

Volkswagen hunts for informer who leaked secret talks
JUST LIKE TRUMP

Nearly 50 hours of secretly recorded conversations appear to show Volkswagen engaging in legally dubious behavior in a dispute with a supplier. Now the carmaker is investigating who released them to the media.


German automaker Volkswagen (VW) is searching among its own employees for an informer who recorded and shared conversations from a sensitive project in 2017 and 2018, VW told news agency dpa on Monday.

Online magazine Business Insider (BI) on Saturday published excerpts from the recordings, which concerned VW's response to an intense dispute with Bosnian supplier group Prevent.

Read more: Could 400,000 car industry jobs in Germany be lost?

VIDEO Permalink https://p.dw.com/p/3fwiM

VW said it was shocked to learn that internal and confidential meetings were documented and that such information would be "released to the public without authorization."

"The case will of course be investigated," VW said.

The reason for the spying was not initially clear.

Secret working group

BI claimed to have nearly 50 hours of secretly recorded conversations.

A spokesman for Prevent, which supplies seat covers and gearbox parts, said the company had no knowledge of the recordings.

Transcripts of the recordings reveal the existence of a VW working group called "Project 1," whose mission was to terminate a contentious working relationship with the supplier.

Responsible for the team was then-Group Head of Purchasing Francisco Javier Garcia Sanz and Volkswagen Brand Procurement Board Member Ralf Brandstätter. The latter has since been promoted to Chairman of the Board of Management VW Passenger Cars, the automaker's core brand.

In a statement, VW said the group was tasked with "averting further damage from the company, its customers, employees and suppliers. All possible solutions were openly discussed, but many were also rejected. It wasn't a decision-making body."

Insider dealings

According to BI, the tapes reveal VW had coordinated efforts with fellow automakers Daimler and BMW to keep the owners of Prevent from acquiring headrest and center console manufacturer Grammer.

"This is currently the discussion between us, Daimler and BMW. And a financial investor who would do it for us," the transcript read. "Yesterday I already had a first draft of how something like this would look."

Volkswagen denies the allegations that it meddled in acquisitions.

"There have been no coordinated actions with other original equipment manufacturers," VW said.

Read more: Opinion: A big defeat for Volkswagen

Prevent had previously filed a $750-million (€640-million) damages lawsuit in the US alleging VW violated competition law by putting pressure on suppliers there not to merge with the Prevent. In Germany, pending legal disputes between the two parties concern specific supply contracts.

VW, for its part, is seeking to recover over €100 million in damages incurred in 2016 when a dispute caused Prevent subsidiaries to stop supplying VW with seat covers and gearboxes, forcing production to a halt at multiple VW plants.\\\

Date 27.07.2020
Author Kristie Pladson
Related Subjects Volkswagen (VW)
Keywords Volkswagen, Prevent, secret recording, VW
Permalink https://p.dw.com/p/3fwiM

ProPublica shares database of complaints against police amid US protests

Investigative news platform ProPublica has bypassed a judge's order and released thousands of complaints filed against New York City police. Meanwhile, protests against police tactics escalated in cities around the US.


Investigative journalism platform ProPublica on Sunday published a database containing previously-confidential disciplinary records for New York City police officers as protests in support of police reform erupted into violence in US cities over the weekend.

ProPublica Deputy Managing Editor Eric Umansky said the non-profit news group had requested the information from the Civilian Complaint Review Board — the police watchdog agency in New York City — last month after the repeal of a state law that for decades had prevented police disciplinary records from being disclosed.

Read more: Opinion: Trump's shock and awe White House survival plan

Unions representing police officers then sued the city in an attempt to keep Mayor Bill de Blasio from following through with his plan to post misconduct complaints on a government website. The unions argued that the presence of unproven or false complaints among the files could compromise officers' reputation and safety.

Last week, a federal judge had issued a temporary restraining order that halted the city from publicly releasing the information.

Protesters and federal officers clash in Portland

Good of sharing 'outweighs' potential harm

In a note on its website, ProPublica explained that it was not obligated to comply with the order because it was not involved in the lawsuit against the city.

The news organization said it had refrained from publishing allegations that investigators deemed unfounded.

The database contains 12,056 complaints against 3,996 active New York Police Department officers.

"We understand the arguments against releasing this data. But we believe the public good it could do outweighs the potential harm,'' ProPublica Editor-in-Chief Stephen Engelberg said. "The database gives the people of New York City a glimpse at how allegations involving police misconduct have been handled, and allows journalists and ordinary citizens alike to look more deeply at the records of particular officers.''

Protests turn violent

The release of the information followed a weekend of unrest in cities around the US, where protests for racial justice and police reform have repeatedly turned violent.

A small group of protesters set fire to a courthouse and smashed windows at other federal and police buildings in Oakland, California on Saturday, news agency AP reported, an escalation after weeks of peaceful marches in the city.

Violence also flared in other cities in California. In Sacramento, a group of 150 protesters wearing black clothing and protective gear broke windows and spray painted graffiti. In Los Angeles, a peaceful protest was disrupted when individuals in the crowd attacked police officers, local police said on Twitter.

In Seattle, Washington, local news channels reported police retreating into a precinct station early Sunday following a large demonstration in the city.

President Donald Trump has deployed federal agents to cities around the country to crack down on protests that have taken place nightly since the death of George Floyd at the hands of a police officer in Minneapolis on May 25.

On Friday, a protester was shot and killed at a demonstration in Austin, Texas after a person drove through a crowd of marchers. Another person was shot and wounded in Aurora, Colorado, after a car drove through a protest there, authorities said.

VIDEOS

https://www.dw.com/en/propublica-shares-database-of-complaints-against-police-amid-us-protests/a-54326041

#REYNARDTHEFOX

Germany: Fox steals over 100 shoes in Berlin

Residents in one Berlin neighborhood were bemused when their shoes began vanishing. The prolific shoe thief turned out to be a fashion-conscious fox with a passion for footwear.



A fox has stolen around 100 shoes from people's homes in Berlin's southwestern Zehlendorf neighborhood, according to local media reports.

All types of footwear had started disappearing from outside homes in the district, including slippers and sandals as well as sneakers, before the unlikely thief was unmasked by local resident Christian Meyer.

Meyer initially noticed his running shoes had disappeared and posted an inquiry on Germany's community noticeboard-sharing platform Nebenan.de, reported Berlin newspaper Tagesspiegel.

After posting, it became apparent that his were not the only shoes to have vanished in the area.


Read more: 'Hitler's alligator' that survived Battle of Berlin dies in Moscow

Mystery solved

Meyer later spotted the fox on a patch of wasteland in the district and managed to snap a picture of the creature "caught red-handed with a pair of blue flip flops in his mouth."

Meyer also uncovered the fox's haul of multicolored footwear.

Sadly, Meyer has yet to find his lost running shoes, but three other pairs have been successfully reclaimed by their owners.

France’s post-Covid healthcare reform pushes midwives to the brink


Issued on: 27/07/2020 -

A pregnant patient waits at the House of Doctors of Pré-Saint-Gervais (Seine-Saint-Denis), July 25, 2020. Sarah Leduc, France 24 © Sarah Leduc / France 24
Text by:Sarah LEDUC

Although they were on the front lines throughout the peak of the Covid-19 epidemic, midwives feel forgotten by the healthcare reforms France adopted in the wake of its coronavirus crisis.

A team of four midwives (two of whom are ultrasound specialists) and four general practitioners has done everything possible to guarantee safety and serenity at the House of the Doctors of Pré-Saint-Gervais in Seine-Saint-Denis in greater Paris. Three spacious waiting rooms have been dedicated to pregnant women, patients with Covid-19 symptoms and another for "traditional" patients.

Midwife Adrien Gantois received his first patient at 9:15 am with a relaxed smile last Saturday. He called her by her first name and knew her file by heart. "I am totally confident here, I even recommend the house to my patients," Malyza, herself a general practitioner, told FRANCE 24.

At this clinic, located in the poorest department in France, the carers like the proximity to their patients, the long-term follow-ups and the individual stories. Those who work here do so by choice, doing everything they can to care for at-risk women.

To many people, ‘we're still just birthing attendants’
Since agreements on France’s healthcare reform, known as the Ségur de la santé, were signed on July 13, Gantois has been gritting his teeth. Like many of his fellow midwives, he feels "despised" by the Ségur.

"The Ségur was an opportunity to recognise the profession of midwifery and to value it at its true worth. It was a failure," lamented Gantois, who has been a private midwife for six years and is president of the National College of French Midwives (Collège national des sages-femmes de France). "In the collective imagination, we are still birthing attendants. But we have evolved in both training and competence," he said.

Adrien Gantois, midwife and president of the National College of French Midwives, on July 25, 2020. Sarah Leduc / France 24 © Sarah Leduc / France 24

Midwives complete five years of study, including a year of medicine and four years of specialisation in gynaecology and obstetrics. They can then perform hospital and home births as well as offering pregnancy monitoring, postpartum care, medical abortions and contraception, and responding to emergencies.

Mid-morning, loud crying rocked the tranquillity of the little house in Pré-Saint-Gervais. Behind closed doors, the distress of a mother-to-be was palpable. Gantois had just detected that her cervix was too dilated, which carries a risk of premature birth. The diagnosis was confirmed by ultrasound. Within 10 minutes, emergency services had whisked her away to her maternity hospital. "Her file has already been transferred," Gantois said, once the crisis had passed.

"The key to success is clear: We have to work hand in hand with the hospitals to streamline procedures. And that, too, escaped the attention of the Ségur, which did not aim to reform the system," he said with regret.

"The Ségur is a disgrace," said Gantois, going on to raise another point that makes him bristle. "The fact that midwives are forgotten is a political and symbolic deficit that says a lot about patriarchy in France," he asserted. "Midwives are respected in countries more advanced in gender equality, where the importance of women's health is recognised."

Cécile Caze, midwife coordinator of the Seine-Saint-Denis perinatal network, feels the same way. "We are 99 percent a female profession and, on top of that, we take care of women: it's a double disadvantage," she said.

Caze deplored the profession’s lack of political weight, with "only" 24,000 practitioners in France (compared to more than 700,000 nurses) they are rarely recognised and were excluded from the Ségur negotiations.

Under the agreed reform, midwives – who are considered part of the medical profession just like doctors and dentists – will receive a pay rise of €183 (net) per month. But they deplore the persistent lack of recognition.

"When [Minister of Health] Olivier Véran says that the wage increases are the fruit of trade union negotiations, we have to remember that the midwives' unions couldn’t take part in the Ségur and that the other unions do not recognise the specific nature of our profession," she said about comments made by Véran in a France 2 television interview last week, in which he insisted that midwives had not been “forgotten" in the push for reform.

Need for rest and recognition
The lack of representation is all the more difficult to swallow because, like other medical professions, midwives have remained on duty since the beginning of the Covid-19 crisis. "Women don't stop giving birth during Covid," said Caze, who, like Gantois, was part of the national crisis unit that worked throughout the lockdown.

Seine-Saint-Denis was one of the departments most affected by Covid-19 during the peak of the crisis – with more than 200 pregnant women testing positive for the virus – and the House of Doctors continued its mission without pause.

"We gave it everything," said Gantois. That included developing a coronavirus protocol, setting up teleconsultations, and continuing to offer emergency care and ultrasound scans.

Masks were bought at pharmacies, gowns were provided by town hall and hair nets were donated by a physiotherapy practice.

"We were like reeds in a storm," Gantois said. But their patients were able to rely on them.

Diagnosed with Covid-19 in February – six and a half months into her pregnancy – Rebecca was first referred to the emergency room and then prepared for the birth by teleconsultation and essential in-patient care. "I was told that the risk of fetal transmission was minimal, so I clung to that idea. The midwives reassured me," she recounted as she came out of her postpartum follow-up consultation.

Seine-Saint-Denis once again surpassed the alert threshold for Covid-19 with an incidence rate of 10.1 contaminations per 100,000 inhabitants in July, for the first time since the end of May. The midwives say they are more prepared than they were when lockdown began in March. They are also more tired.

Since coronavirus restrictions began easing in mid-May, in-person consultations have resumed under strict conditions and the schedule is full once again.

"The future generation of the lockdown," laughed Gantois, his blue eyes smiling above his mask. But the mask doesn't hide his exhaustion. "I need rest to be able to perform in case of a second wave. I also need some distance because the Ségur was the coup de grâce. If we are not OK, we can't provide good care. And that's what the ministries don't understand."

This article has been translated from the original in French.

#ENDBLASPHEMYLAWS
Egypt female social media influencers get two-year jail terms
Issued on: 27/07/2020 -

Logo of social media app TikTok Olivier DOULIERY AFP/File

Cairo (AFP)

An Egyptian court Monday sentenced five female social media influencers to two years in jail each on charges of violating public morals, a judicial source said.

The verdict against Haneen Hossam, Mowada al-Adham and three others came after they had posted footage on video-sharing app TikTok.

"The Cairo economic court sentenced Hossam, Adham and three others to two years after they were convicted of violating society's values," the judicial source said.

The ruling, which can be appealed, included a fine of 300,000 Egyptian pounds ($18,750) for each defendant, the source noted.

Hossam was arrested in April after posting a three-minute clip telling her 1.3 million followers that girls could make money by working with her.

In May, authorities arrested Adham who had posted satirical videos on TikTok and Instagram, where she has at least two million followers.

Lawyer Ahmed Hamza al-Bahqiry said the young women are facing separate charges over the sources of their funds.

The arrests highlight a social divide in the deeply conservative Muslim country over what constitutes individual freedoms and "social norms".

Human rights lawyer Tarek al-Awadi has previously told AFP that the influencers' arrests showed how society was wrestling with the rapid rise of modern communications technology.

Internet penetration has reached over 40 percent of Egypt's youthful population of more than 100 million.

- 'Dangerous indicator' -

"The verdict is shocking, though it was expected. We will see what happens on appeal," said women rights lawyer Intissar al-Saeed.

"It is still a dangerous indicator... Regardless of the divergent views on the content presented by the girls on TikTok, it still is not a reason for imprisonment."

Egypt has in recent years cracked down on female singers and dancers over online content deemed too racy or suggestive.

Last month, an Egyptian court sentenced belly dancer Sama al-Masry to three years over inciting "debauchery" on social media after posting a TikTok dance video.

In 2018, a female singer was detained for "incitement to debauchery" after an online video clip which included sensual oriental dance moves went viral.

The previous year, a female pop singer was sentenced to two years in prison on similar charges, also over a video deemed provocative. Her sentence was reduced to a year on appeal.

"The charges of spreading debauchery or violating family values are very loose ... and its definition is broad," said Saeed.

Egypt has in recent years enforced strict internet controls through laws allowing authorities to block websites deemed a threat to national security and to monitor personal social media accounts with over 5,000 followers.

© 2020 AFP