US adopts map of Morocco that includes DISPUTED Western Sahara 

A UN RECOGNIZED AUTONOMOUS ZONE

OF THE POLISARIO PEOPLE

People walk in a market street in Western Sahara's main city 

of Laayoune in November 2018 

FADEL SENNA AFP/File

Issued on: 12/12/2020 -

Rabat (AFP)

The United States adopted Saturday a "new official" map of Morocco that includes the disputed territory of Western Sahara, the ambassador to Rabat said.

"This map is a tangible representation of President Trump's bold proclamation two days ago -- recognising Morocco's sovereignty over Western Sahara," Ambassador David Fischer said according to a statement seen by AFP.

He then signed the "new official US government map of the kingdom of Morocco" at a ceremony at the US embassy in the capital Rabat.

The map will be presented to Morocco's King Mohammed VI, he added.

Western Sahara is a disputed and divided former Spanish colony, mostly under Morocco's control, where tensions with the pro-independence Polisario Front have simmered since the 1970s.

Morocco on Thursday became the fourth Arab state this year, after the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Sudan, to announce it had agreed to normalise relations with Israel.

US President Donald Trump in turn fulfilled a decades-old goal of Morocco by backing its contested sovereignty in Western Sahara.

The Polisario condemned "in the strongest terms the fact that outgoing American President Donald Trump attributes to Morocco something which does not belong" to the country, namely sovereignty over Western Sahara.

The movement dismissed the announcement and vowed to fight on until Moroccan forces withdraw from all of Western Sahara.

The prime minister of Algeria -- Morocco's neighbour and regional rival, and the key foreign backer of the Polisario Front -- on Saturday criticised "foreign manoeuvres" that he said aimed to "destabilise Algeria".

"There is now a desire by the Zionist entity to come closer to our borders," Prime Minister Abdelaziz Djerad said, in reference to Israel.

© 2020 AFP

LIBERATION THEOLOGY
Black Jesus born in burnt Amazon at Brazil church manger

A woman takes a selfie with a nativity scene calling for the end of racism and protection of the Amazon in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on December 08, 2020 

MAURO PIMENTEL AFP

Issued on: 13/12/2020

Rio de Janeiro (AFP)

Instead of a manger in Bethlehem, Jesus will arrive this Christmas in a badly burned clearing in the Amazon rainforest, a black baby born to a black virgin with indigenous cherubs looking on.

The symbolically charged nativity scene is already turning heads in Rio de Janeiro's Gloria square, where the nearby Church of the Sacred Heart has a history of using its annual Christmas display to address contemporary issues.

There was a lot to choose from in 2020, but the church picked two topics that have become particularly pertinent in Brazil since far-right President Jair Bolsonaro took office last year: racism and rampant deforestation in the Amazon.

"This nativity scene is meant to show that people who torch mother nature, people who attack their brothers and sisters because their skin is a different color, don't have God in their hearts," said church spokesman Mauricio Rodrigues dos Santos, 63.

The church has been making mangers with a message for the past decade, taking advantage of its prime location near Gloria square, a busy metro stop in front of the Rio archdiocese headquarters.

Two years ago, the church depicted a bare-breasted Mary nursing her baby, after a series of incidents in which authorities stopped mothers from breast-feeding in public.

The year before, vandals trashed the church's nativity scene, which depicted the fight against corruption.

Last year, priest Wanderson Guedes, who is also the artist behind the installations, decided against doing a nativity scene on Amazon deforestation after receiving threats.

However, the church -- which constructs the scenes itself using volunteer labor and members' donations -- decided to press ahead this year, and add an anti-racism message, as well.

They are salient subjects in Bolsonaro's Brazil.

The far-right leader has presided over a surge of destruction and fires in the world's biggest rainforest.

He has also been charged with hate speech for making derogatory comments about black Brazilians.

Despite the tense political climate, Dos Santos said the church community was not fearful for this year's nativity scene.

"If (vandals) break something, so be it. We have a whole year to rebuild," he told AFP.

"They can't break the idea. They can't break the spirit. That will remain."

© 2020 AFP

Ukraine seeks World Heritage status for Chernobyl zone

RADIOACTIVE WOLVES AND GIANT GLOWING WORMS

Authorities say giving the zone special status would be a big boost at a site which currently boasts this lone souvenir stall          GENYA SAVILOV AFP

Issued on: 13/12/2020 - 02:18

Chernobyl (Ukraine) (AFP)

A soft snow fell as a clutch of visitors equipped with a Geiger counter wandered through the ghostly Ukrainian town of Pripyat, frozen in time since the world's worst nuclear accident in 1986.

More than three decades after the Chernobyl nuclear disaster forced thousands to evacuate, there is an influx of visitors to the area that has spurred officials to seek official status from UNESCO.

"The Chernobyl zone is already a world famous landmark," guide Maksym Polivko told AFP during a tour on a recent frosty day.

"But today this area has no official status," the 38-year-old said of the exclusion zone where flourishing wildlife is taking over deserted Soviet-era tower blocks, shops and official buildings.

That could be set to change under the government initiative to have the area included on the UNESCO heritage list alongside landmarks like India's Taj Mahal or Stonehenge in England.

Officials hope recognition from the UN's culture agency will boost the site as a tourist attraction and in turn bolster efforts to preserve ageing buildings nearby.

The explosion in the fourth reactor at the nuclear power plant in April 1986 left swathes of Ukraine and neighbouring Belarus badly contaminated and led to the creation of the exclusion zone roughly the size of Luxembourg.

Ukrainian authorities say it may not be safe for humans to live in the exclusion zone for another 24,000 years. Meanwhile, it has become a haven for wildlife with elk and deer roaming nearby forests.

Dozens of villages and towns populated by hundreds of thousands of people were abandoned after the disaster, yet more than 100 elderly people live in the area despite the radiation threat.

In Pripyat, a ghost town kilometres away from the Chernobyl plant, rooms in eerie residential blocks are piled up with belongings of former residents.

- 'The time has come' -

Polivko said he hoped the upgraded status would encourage officials to act more "responsibly" to preserve the crumbling Soviet-era infrastructure surrounding the plant.

"All these objects here require some repair," he said.

It was a sentiment echoed by Ukrainian Culture Minister Oleksandr Tkachenko, who described the recent influx of tourists from home and abroad as evidence of Chernobyl's importance "not only to Ukrainians, but of all mankind."

A record number of 124,000 tourists visited last year, including 100,000 foreigners following the release of the hugely popular Chernobyl television series in 2019.

Tkachenko said obtaining UNESCO status could promote the exclusion zone as "a place of memory" that would warn against a repeat nuclear disaster.

"The area may and should be open to visitors, but it should be more than just an adventure destination for explorers," Tkachenko told AFP.

The government is set to propose specific objects in the zone as a heritage site before March but a final decision could come as late as 2023.

After the explosion in 1986, the three other reactors at Chernobyl continued to generate electricity until the station finally closed in 2000. Ukraine will mark the 20th anniversary of the closure on December 15.

Tkachenko said the effort to secure UNESCO status was a new priority after work on a giant protective dome over the fourth reactor was completed in 2016.

With the site now safe for one hundred years, he said he hoped world heritage status would boost visitor numbers to one million a year.

"Before, everyone was busy with the cover," Tkachenko said of the timing of the heritage initiative.

"The time has come to do this."

© 2020 AFP

Ailing newspapers abandon newsrooms as pandemic deepens woes

The New York Daily News has joined other newspapers in abandoning their newsrooms and headquarters amid a deepening crisis for the industry during the pandemic 

SPENCER PLATT GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/AFP/File

Issued on: 13/12/2020 - 

New York (AFP)

The buzzing newsroom has long been the lifeblood of American newspapers. But in recent months the buzz has become virtual as the pandemic deepens the industry crisis and forces journalists to work remotely.

In recent months, established dailies such as the New York Daily News, Miami Herald and Baltimore Sun have joined other news outlets abandoning their headquarters, amid pandemic workplace restrictions that had already left them empty.

Tribune Publishing, owner of the Baltimore daily and others, has acknowledged it is re-evaluating its real estate needs as it struggles with a difficult environment, with lower print circulation, falling advertising revenues and increased costs for health and safety.

But many journalists say the loss of the newsroom has changed the nature of their work and worry that newspapers may not re-establish newsrooms even after the pandemic.

"A newsroom is a lot more collaborative than a lot of other workspaces are," said Emily Brindley, a reporter at the Tribune-owned Hartford (Connecticut) Courant, which shut its newsroom this month.

"I definitely think that it's going to have an effect on the product," added Brindley, an organizer of the Courant Guild, which represents journalists. "I do feel that there will be some intangible effects."

One of Brindley's colleagues in Hartford, Daniela Altimari, said she believes the pandemic "proved that we could all work from home and still put out a newspaper," making it unlikely the newsroom will reopen. She fears for the quality of the work.

"Newsrooms are factories for ideas in a way. There's a lot of chance encounters," Altimari said. "You get ideas by talking to colleagues. Those chance encounters can really lead to better work."

Victor Pickard, a professor who follows the sector for the University of Pennsylvania's Annenberg School for Communication, said the pandemic "is certainly accelerating and exacerbating the journalism crisis, but this crisis predated the pandemic by years."

He said large newspaper chains such as McClatchy and Tribune "are seizing this opportunity to cut costs, as they often do in order to maximize profits," while adding that at the moment "they're not very profitable these days."

The move out of the newsroom follows a long crisis for the sector that has seen consolidation by major chains, the closing of many smaller papers, and hedge funds buying newspapers only to slash costs and squeeze out as much profit as possible.

- End of the myth -

For decades, the newsroom has been a mythical place whose atmosphere was captured in films from "His Girl Friday" to "All the President's Men" to "Spotlight."

"There's a sort of alchemy that happens when you have a lot of reporters in a room together," said Marijke Rowland of the California-based Modesto Bee.

"There's nothing quite as interesting, vibrant and at times weird as working in a newsroom," she said. "That's an incalculable loss, for local journalism particularly."

Some major newspapers such as the New York Times, Washington Post and Wall Street Journal have maintained or even boosted their journalistic staffs even as they adapt to remote journalism.

"No one doubts that (the major dailies) will reopen when it's safe to do so," said Dan Kennedy, a Northeastern University journalism professor.

But smaller local and regional newspapers are in more difficult straits and may struggle to get their newsrooms back, he noted.

"I just hope that any newspaper owner who is committed to doing a good job understands the importance of having a newsroom," Kennedy said.

But with an industry in turmoil and facing challenges from a shift to digital news consumption, some fear the newsroom will become a relic of the past.

"These trends are so structural that they have very few options," Pickard said.

"The advertising revenue model is irreparably damaged and will never come back for newspapers. For those that are not able to sustain themselves through subscriptions, which includes nearly all newspapers other than the national big three, there's not much they can do.

"It's very difficult to remain profitable, so they're going to continue to cut costs."

© 2020 AFP

'Profits over people': Virus overruns Malaysian glove factories

A large coronavirus outbreak at factories run by Top Glove, the world's largest rubber glove manufacturer, has brought workers' living conditions under scrutiny Mohd RASFAN AFP

Issued on: 13/12/2020 - 

Kuala Lumpur (AFP)

Bangladeshi migrant worker Sheikh Kibria recalls with horror the filthy, overcrowded dormitory where he was housed by the world's biggest rubber glove manufacturer when a coronavirus outbreak erupted and infected thousands.

Malaysia's Top Glove saw profits soar, and its stock price jump as much as 400 percent this year as countries worldwide rushed to buy protective gear as the pandemic intensified.

But in interviews with AFP, the South Asian migrants working flat out to make the gloves -- who typically earn around $300 a month -- described appalling living conditions, in cramped dormitories where up to 25 people sleep in bunk beds in a single room.

Some claim the company did not do enough to protect them despite repeated warnings.

The scandal has added to growing pressure on the firm, already under scrutiny after the United States banned the import of some of its gloves over allegations of forced labour earlier this year.

The infections also prompted factory closures and look set to have an impact on global supply.

Top Glove, which commands about a quarter of the world's market, has warned of delays to deliveries and rising prices.

- 'Didn't keep workers safe' -

More than 5,000 workers -- almost a quarter of the firm's workforce -- have tested positive after the outbreak at an industrial area housing factories and dormitories outside the capital Kuala Lumpur.

"The accommodation is so overcrowded," said the Bangladeshi worker Kibria.

"The room itself is a bare minimum. It is quite impossible to maintain cleanliness when so many people live in a single room. It is like an army barracks -- only less maintained."

When the situation escalated last month, Top Glove began shifting infected workers to hospital and their close contacts to quarantine centres, reducing the numbers in dormitories.

Kibria, 24, was suspected of having Covid-19 so was first put in hospital, although he later tested negative and was moved to a hotel.

But critics say the actions were too little too late.

"The company had discussed decreasing people in the rooms before infections began but it never happened," a Nepali production line worker, Karan Shrestha, told AFP.

"The rooms stayed crowded -- and in the end coronavirus cases started to increase."

"The company didn't keep the workers safe. They are greedy and were more concerned about their income and profits," he added.

AFP used pseudonyms to protect the workers' identities, as they were fearful about speaking out.

- 'Really scared' -

As cases spiralled, the government ordered 28 Top Glove factories to close, out of the 41 it operates in Malaysia.

Authorities are planning legal action against the company over poor worker accommodation, which could result in heavy fines.

The firm, which has 21,000 staff and can produce 90 billion gloves a year, insists it is making improvements.

It has spent 20 million ringgit ($5 million) purchasing new worker accommodations in the past two months, and plans to build "mega-hostels" kitted out with modern facilities that can house up to 7,300 people.

"We are mindful there is much more to be done to uplift the standard of our employee welfare and promise to rectify shortcomings immediately," said managing director Lee Kim Meow.

His comments came this week as the company announced a 20-fold jump in quarterly net profit to 2.4 billion ringgit ($590 million).

For those campaigning for low-paid migrants, the controversy highlights how companies continue to put profits before people.

"The company, its investors and its buyers have prioritised the delivery of more gloves, more quickly and at higher profitability over the welfare of its mainly migrant worker labour force," said Andy Hall, a migrant labour specialist who focuses on Asia.

Malaysia, a relatively affluent Southeast Asian country of 32 million, has long attracted migrants from poorer parts of the region to work in industries ranging from manufacturing to agriculture.

Top Glove says the vast majority of workers who tested positive have already been released from hospital, and some factories are now reopening.

But some workers remain terrified at the prospect of returning to the production line, despite the company trying to enforce social distancing and providing protective gear.

"If we work in the factory, I would be really scared," said Salman from Bangladesh, speaking from his hostel.

"Even with extra safety, it is really tough to prevent an outbreak."

burs-sr/reb/qan

© 2020 AFP

France: Nearly 150 arrested at Paris protest over security bill

The proposed legislation is aimed at combating "radical Islamism," which has sparked outrage in a number of cities across France. The interior minister has described some of the protesters as "thugs."


Protests against a proposed legislation in France turned violent on Saturday

Nearly 150 people were arrested in Paris on Saturday after protests against proposed security laws turned violent.

Riot officers and police vehicles escorted the march through rainy Paris but tempers flared and some protesters were left with bloody faces following clashes between law enforcers and those demonstrating.

French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin tweeted police had made 142 arrests after "several hundred thugs had come to commit violence."


The proposed bill could make it more difficult for witnesses to film police officers

Filming police under the spotlight

Saturday marked the third weekend in a row marchers have taken to the streets across France to air their frustration at a proposed security law aimed at combating "radical Islamism."

The law's most contested measure could make it more difficult for citizens to film police officers. It aims to outlaw the publication of images with intent to cause harm to police.

Critics say the proposal is inefficient, will stigmatize Muslims, erode media freedom and make it more difficult to expose police brutality.

Slogans emblazoned on placards carried by protesters in Paris said "I will never stop filming" and "Camera equals mutilation?"

There were also protests in other French cities, such as Lyon, in the southeast, where authorities reported five arrests among people they said attacked police and sought to loot shops.

#LUMPENPROLETARIAT

Pro-Trump protests staged across US, rival groups clash in Washington

Members of the far-right group Proud Boys make 'OK' hand gestures indicating "white power", near the Washington Monument, amidst protests against the results of the election, in Washington, U.S., December 12, 2020. REUTERS - JIM URQUHART

Issued on: 13/12/2020 - 

Text by:NEWS WIRES

Conservative groups claiming without evidence that the Nov. 3 election was stolen from President Donald Trump staged protests across the country on Saturday, with one in Washington turning violent at times as police broke up sporadic clashes after dark.

Organizers of Stop The Steal, linked to pro-Trump operative Roger Stone, and church groups urged supporters to participate in "Jericho Marches" and prayer rallies.

But groups of pro-Trump "Proud Boys" protesters and "Antifa" counterprotesters brawled in downtown Washington on Saturday night. Police moved in quickly to separate them, using pepper spray on members of both sides, Reuters witnesses said.

Around 200 members of the Proud Boys, a violent far-right group, had joined the marches earlier on Saturday near the Trump hotel. Many wore combat fatigues, black and yellow shirts and ballistic vests, carried helmets and flashed hand signals used by white nationalists.

Earlier, police in riot gear and on bicycles kept the opposing demonstrators apart by blocking streets. After dark fell, the protesters - including members of the aggressive far-left anti-facism movement - splintered into smaller groups to roam the streets in search of their rivals.

Protests were also held in other communities around the country, including Atlanta, Georgia, another state where Trump's campaign has sought to overturn Joe Biden's election victory, and Mobile, Alabama, according to local news coverage.

Local media in the Washington state capital of Olympia reported that one person was shot and three arrested after clashes between pro- and anti-Trump protest groups.

Thousands of people have gathered at Freedom Plaza for the main #MarchForTrump rally in Washington DC demanding to #stopthesteal

According to videos online, proud boys march has now joined the main crowd, while some scuffles broke out at BLM plaza.

📹 By Dakota Santiago (FNTV) pic.twitter.com/Qm5R7W4PKZ— @SCOOTERCASTER (FNTV) (@ScooterCasterNY) December 12, 2020

'Take a deep breath'

More than 50 federal and state court rulings have upheld Biden's victory. The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday rejected a long-shot lawsuit filed by Texas and backed by Trump seeking to throw out voting results in four states.

"Whatever the ruling was yesterday ... everybody take a deep, deep breath," retired Army General Mike Flynn, Trump's former national security adviser, told protesters in front of the Supreme Court, referring to the court's refusal to hear the Texas case.

Flynn who twice pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about contacts with the former Russian ambassador, spoke in his first public address since Trump pardoned him on Nov. 24.

"My charge to you is to go back to where you are from" and make demands, Flynn told the crowd, without being more specific. The U.S. Constitution is "not about collective liberty it is about individual liberties, and they designed it that way," he said.

Trump, a Republican, has refused to concede defeat, alleging without evidence that he was denied victory by massive fraud. On his way to Andrews Air Force Base and then the Army-Navy football game in New York, Trump made three passes in the Marine One helicopter over the cheering protesters.

During his first debate with Biden in September, Trump gave fuel to the Proud Boys movement by telling the group to "stand back and stand by." He later said he condemned the group and "all white supremacists".

Maskless protests

Trump's supporters carrying his campaign flags and signs marched between the Supreme Court, the Capitol and downtown Washington, which was closed to traffic by police vehicles and dump trucks.

Few of the marchers wore masks, despite soaring COVID-19 deaths and cases, defying a mayoral directive for them to be worn outside. Several thousand people rallied in Washington, fewer than during a similar protest last month.

As some in the crowd echoed far right conspiracy theories about the election, a truck-pulled trailer flew Trump 2020 flags and a sign reading "Trump Unity" while blaring the country song "God Bless the U.S.A."

"It's clear the election has been stolen," said Mark Paul Jones of Delaware Water Gap, Pennsylvania, who sported a tricorner Revolutionary War hat as he walked toward the Supreme Court with his wife.

Trump "is being railroaded out of office," he said, adding that Biden won with the complicity of the Supreme Court, FBI, Department of Justice and CIA. The Supreme Court "didn't even take the time to hear the case," Jones said.

Eddy Miller of Philadelphia, who was selling Trump campaign T-shirts, said he was sure "there was fraud despite what I see on the news" about court rulings striking down fraud allegations.

Battle of Jericho

Some protesters referenced the Biblical miracle of the battle of Jericho, in which the walls of the city crumbled after soldiers and priests blowing horns marched around it.

In his speech, Flynn told the protesters they were all standing inside Jericho after breaching its walls.

Ron Hazard of Morristown, New Jersey, was one of five people who stopped at the Justice Department to blow shofars - a ram's horn used in Jewish religious ceremonies - to bring down "the spiritual" walls "of corruption."

"We believe what is going on in this county is an important thing. It's a balance between biblical values and anti-biblical values," Hazard said.

His small group, including one member who wore a Jewish prayer shawl known as a tallit, are Christians "who love the Jewish people. We love Israel," he said.

(REUTERS)

Thousands of Trump supporters again rally in Washington

Protesters gather in Washington in support of President Donald Trump on December 12, 2020; they insisted, without evidence, that he had lost the presidential election in November only through massive fraud

 TASOS KATOPODIS GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/AFP

Issued on: 13/12/2020 - 

Washington (AFP)

Thousands of red-hatted protesters filled Washington streets Saturday to support Donald Trump's baseless claims of election fraud, undeterred by the US Supreme Court's rejection of what may have been his last chance to overturn the results.

Thousands gathered around Freedom Plaza, a few blocks from the White House, in a festive atmosphere earlier in the day, while scuffles broke out later between protesters and counter-demonstrators.

Police, some in riot gear, used their bodies and bicycles to keep the groups apart. There was also at least one clash between police and counter-protesters.

Six people were arrested, following five arrests Friday night related to a brawl, local media reported.

Some pro-Trump demonstrators showed up in tactical gear, chanting "USA" and "four more years" for the outgoing president.

It was a sizable crowd, but noticeably smaller than a similar rally a month ago when 10,000 people converged near the White House to support Trump.

"We're not gonna give up," said Luke Wilson, a sixty-something protester who had come all the way from the western state of Idaho.

"I believe there is a big injustice being done to the American people," added Dell Quick, a regular at Trump's political rallies. He brandished a flag defending gun rights.

Protesters offered no shortage of explanations for the results of the November 3 election won by Democrat Joe Biden, even though it has been affirmed by state election officials -- several of them Republican -- and by judges in several key states.

Every state has now certified Biden's victory, giving the Democrat 306 votes in the Electoral College to Trump's 232, with 270 required for election. Electors are to formally cast their votes Monday.

But protesters insisted, as Trump has repeatedly done, that there was widespread fraud in the election.

Some pointed to "foreign interference," others to software that allegedly erased millions of votes for the president -- but not those for other Republican candidates on the same ballots.

Quick told AFP that "there's no way possible" Biden was elected.

Susan Bowman, a 62-year-old from Hampton, Virginia, said "this is not a banana republic. We need to fix the election."

Those who addressed the crowd included Michael Flynn, Trump's former national security adviser who lied about his Russian contacts and was recently pardoned by the president.

- 'Stolen' election -

Dozens of court cases alleging fraud or contesting the result have been decided -- virtually all in Biden's favor, with some judges offering stinging criticism of the lack of evidence.

But that was not enough for 47-year-old Darlene Denton, who wore a "Trump 2024" badge on her sweatshirt.

"Nobody wants to hear evidence, nobody wants to hear cases, everything just gets thrown out," said Denton, who had come from Tennessee to support a president she said had given "a voice to the people."

Trump, in stark defiance of the clear result and of US tradition, has refused to concede to Biden.

"Wow! Thousands of people forming in Washington (D.C.) for Stop the Steal," he tweeted early Saturday. "Didn't know about this, but I'll be seeing them!"

Not long afterward, his helicopter lifted off from the White House grounds and passed over the crowd -- many singing the US national anthem -- as Trump headed to New York to attend the annual Army-Navy football game.

Among the protesters, members of the far-right militia group the Proud Boys were clearly visible -- in their signature black-and-yellow outfits, some wearing bulletproof vests -- and they often drew cheers from others in the crowd.

Some blocks away, supporters of the Black Lives Matter movement held their own, much smaller, rally, chanting "Nazis out!"

© 2020 AFP

Trump allies protest Biden win in D.C.


Former national security adviser Michael Flynn addresses a pro-Trump rally outside the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington, D.C. Photo by Kevin Dietsch/UPI | License Photo

Dec. 12 (UPI) -- Supporters of President Donald Trump marched Saturday in Washington, D.C., challenging the election results that gave President-elect Joe Biden the win.

The protesters gathered in Freedom Plaza in the morning as part of the "March for Trump," Organizers expected the crowd to grow to up to 15,000 people, according to a permit from Women for America First, a conservative group, which also organized Saturday's along with last month's "Stop the Steal" rally, USA Today reported.

The Washington Post reported that few demonstrators wore masks and as of midday there were few counterprotesters. The newspaper said hundreds of the Proud Boys -- a group linked to white nationalism -- and six men in the Three Percenters militia were among the crowd.

The protesters marched from Freedom Plaza to the Supreme Court, where former national security advisor Michael Flynn spoke to the crowd. Trump granted Flynn a pardon last month after he pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI during the probe into Russia's interference in the 2016 election.

RELATED More than 100 House Republicans back Texas election challenge


The march comes one day after the U.S. Supreme Court rejected Texas' effort to overturn election results in four battleground states.

Flynn expressed hope of fighting the election results.

"Don't get bent out of shape," Flynn told the crowd of protesters gathered outside the U.S. Supreme Court. "There are still avenues -- We're fighting with faith and we're fighting with courage."

Trump offered his support to the march participants.

"Wow! Thousands of people forming in Washington D.C. for Stop the Steal," he tweeted Saturday morning. "Didn't know about this, but I'll be seeing them!"

The Electoral College is set to make Biden's 306-232 delegate win official Monday, but Trump and his allies have repeated allegations of voter fraud. U.S. elections and security officials, as well as Attorney General William Barr, have said there's been no evidence of widespread fraud.

Among the rally speakers were former Trump aide Sebastian Gorka as well as South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem and MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell, both of whom traveled to the capital from COVID-19 hotspots. South Dakota, which has the second-highest rate of COVID-19 infections in the country with 10,136 cases per 100,000, and Minnesota -- Lindell's home -- had on average 85.5 daily cases per 100,000 reported in the past seven days, according to the CDC.

Pro-Trump election protests descend into violent clashes

Tensions between pro-Trump demonstrators and counter protesters descended into violence, with reports of at least 4 people being stabbed.

Saturday's rallies drew a large number of "Proud Boys" who faced off with counterprotesters

A rally of pro-Trump demonstrators descended into violence in the late hours of Saturday, as members the Proud Boys group clashed with Antifa counter protesters.

Protesters marched in support of outgoing President Donald Trump's baseless claims that the election was rigged, and that Democrat Joe Biden wrongfully won the election.
Stop The Steal

The rallies, where few people wore masks, were organized by Stop The Steal, linked to Roger Stone, an ally of the outgoing president.

Trump celebrated the protest on Twitter, saying: "Wow! Thousands of people forming in Washington (D.C.) for Stop the Steal. Didn’t know about this, but I’ll be seeing them!"


During the early hours, the president's motorcade drove by the protesters. The Marine One helicopter carrying Trump to the Army-Navy football game passed over a rally at the National Mall in the afternoon, and was met with cheers from the crowds.

Organizers and church groups urged supporters to participate in "Jericho marches" and prayer meetings. Protests were also planned in states where Trump's campaign has challenged the election outcome, such as Georgia, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Nevada and Arizona.

All of Trump's campaign claims of election fraud have been rejected by state and federal courts. The Electoral College is scheduled to meet on Monday, to formally elect Biden as the president.

"My charge to you is to go back to where you are from and make demands. The US Constitution is "not about collective liberty it is about individual liberties, and they designed it that way," Mike Flynn, Trump's former national security adviser told the crowds.

Tense atmosphere after rallies

Saturday's rallies drew a large number of "Proud Boys," a neo-fascist group. As the rallies ended, there were some tensions in downtown Washington among Proud Boys and Antifa activists. There was heavy police presence, with some in riot gear.

Around 200 Proud Boys gathered after the rallies, dressed in the group's colors of black and yellow, with ballistic vests and helmets.

The two groups shouted insults at each other from across the streets, and some set off fireworks, but were kept apart by the authorities, Reuters reported. Police pepper sprayed at least two counter protesters, soon after which Proud Boys left the area.

Around 8 pm, violence broke out between the Proud Boys and counter protesters. The brawl ensued for several minutes before police arrived. An officer told The Washington Post that a man in his 20s had been stabbed, and was taken to the hospital with serious injuries.

Fox 5 DC tweeted that at least 23 arrests had been made related to the protests, citing the DC Mayor's office.

Trump is yet to concede defeat in the elections. President-elect Biden will be sworn in on January 20 next year.

tg/aw (AP, Reuters)

High-tech fixes for the food system could have unintended consequences

New technology is needed for our failing food systems; but anticipating trade-offs is crucial to making sure fixes do not create unmanageable new problems

INTERNATIONAL CENTER FOR TROPICAL AGRICULTURE (CIAT)

Research News

 

IMAGE: A FARMER IN BEORA, A SMALL COMMUNITY IN RUPANDEHI DISTRICT OF NEPAL. view more 

CREDIT: NEIL PALMER / INTERNATIONAL CENTER FOR TROPICAL AGRICULTURE

Protein derived from organic waste to feed livestock could decrease demand for soybean meal. This could lead to less deforestation caused by soy farming. But decreased production of soybean, which is also used to produce oil for food products, could increase demand for palm oil. This could clear more forests for oil palm plantations.

This is just one example of how innovations to fix our food systems could backfire. In a new analysis in The Lancet Planetary Health, a team of scientists builds on recent research that discusses how new technology is needed to improve human health and the wellbeing of the planet.

The authors say that the urgency to meet the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (called SDGs; there are 17) must be tempered by the understanding that there are no quick fixes to ending poverty, eliminating hunger and conserving biological diversity.

"The food system is in the mess it is right now because we introduce technologies and approaches to managing it without fully understanding all the indirect impacts the intervention can have," said Andy Jarvis, a co-author and the associate director of the Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT.

Symptoms of our ailing food system include unsustainable farming practices, habitat destruction, biodiversity loss and the waste or loss of about 30 percent of all food produced. Some 2 billion people are unhealthy because of their diets and some 8 million people died in 2019 due to dietary risk factors.

In addition to tapping organic waste to produce microbial protein (called "circular feed") the authors looked at trade-offs of three other food-system remedying technologies on the horizon:

• Using cereals to replenish nitrogen in soils (called "nitrogen fixation") could decrease the overuse of chemical fertilizers and its unsustainable impacts on the environment such as water pollution. But this could reduce prices for already over-consumed foods, potentially leading to further increases in non-communicable diseases (NDCs) like diabetes.
• Personalized nutrition technologies could substantially reduce NDCs by tailoring diets to people's genetic profiles and metabolism. But this could lead to a rapidly unsustainable increase in demand for healthy foods (see: Mexico's avocado sector). The cost of personalized nutrition could also be out of the economic reach of many. And, were it to become widespread, personalized nutrition would generate high volumes of sensitive personal data.
• Automation and robotics could increase the reach of precision agriculture. This could reduce food prices, stabilize food supply and reduce overuse of fertilizers and water, which would benefit the environment. But this could reduce the need for unskilled labor, further threaten the precarious livelihoods of smallholder farmers, and drive more migration to haphazardly growing megacities.

"Exciting new technologies are needed for transitioning towards a sustainable food system," said Ana Maria Loboguerrero, a co-author and the Alliance's research director for climate action. "But we must be aware that "win-win" technological solutions do not always exist, with losers and winners and trade-offs and synergies across different SDGs."

Helping the SDGs

The study was led by Mario Herrera, the chief research scientist at CSIRO, Australia's national research agency. The authors calculated the potential direct effects of different technologies on the food system (including digital agriculture, gene technology and resource efficiency) and their indirect effects on the SDGs.

The analysis showed most technologies will have neutral or varying degrees of positive impacts across most of the SDGs. But in the case of decent work and economic growth for all (SDG 8), reduced inequality (SDG 10) and peace, justice and strong institutions (SDG 16), the results will be mixed.

Some of the SDGs, which were created in 2015 to expand upon 2000's Millenium Development Goals, are not trending in the right direction. Hunger was already increasing before the COVID-19 pandemic made undernourishment worse. Rapid action is necessary and the temptation to adopt quick-fix actions with unknown negative impacts may be greater now than ever.

The authors conclude, "[C]hange and innovation come with trade-offs, but we now have methods, the science, the targets, and the socioeconomic mechanisms in place to ensure that the trade-offs of our actions do not become insurmountable. Now is the time to put our arsenal of sociotechnical innovation and immense human ingenuity to use to secure the future of our planet and the next generations."

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About the Alliance

The Alliance of Bioversity International and the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) delivers research-based solutions that harness agricultural biodiversity and sustainably transform food systems to improve people's lives. Alliance solutions address the global crises of malnutrition, climate change, biodiversity loss, and environmental degradation. The Alliance is part of CGIAR, a global research partnership for a food-secure future. http://www.bioversityinternational.org http://www.ciat.cgiar.org http://www.cgiar.org

Republican attorney appointed by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis resigns in protest after raid on Rebekah Jones' home

Zac Anderson
Sarasota Herald-Tribune


Fired Florida data scientist Rebekah Jones shares video on Twitter when police enter her home


A Florida Republican attorney has resigned from a state commission in protest after a law enforcement raid on the home of a former Department of Health employee who said she was fired after refusing to manipulate coronavirus data.

A longtime member of the 12th Judicial Circuit Judicial Nominating Commission, which nominates judges to fill vacancies on the bench in Sarasota, Manatee and DeSoto counties, Ron Filipkowski is a registered Republican who was reappointed last year by Gov. Ron DeSantis.

But, in his resignation letter, Filipkowski wrote, “I have been increasingly alarmed by the Governor’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic.”

“I believe the policy of this state towards covid is reckless and irresponsible,” he added.

Despite his concerns, Filipkowski said he stayed on the commission because “health policy was unrelated to my job.”

But after state law enforcement officers raided the home of former Department of Health employee Rebekah Jones, Filipkowski said the issue is “now a legal one rather than just medical,” and he decided that “I no longer wish to serve the current government of Florida in any capacity.”


Jones is a former Department of Health data scientist who built the state’s COVID-19 dashboard, which provides regular updates to the public on coronavirus infections, hospitalizations, deaths and other vital statistics related to the pandemic. She said she was fired after refusing to “manipulate data.”

State officials said Jones was fired for insubordination after multiple reprimands.

Who is Rebekah Jones? Former Florida COVID-19 data scientist had home raided by authorities


State officials are investigating a complaint by the Department of Health that somebody hacked into the agency’s emergency communications channel and sent a text message to 1,750 employees with the DOH and other agencies stating: “It’s time to speak up before another 17,000 people are dead. You know this is wrong. You don’t have to be a part of this. Be a hero. Speak out before it’s too late.”

Agents seized Jones’ computer equipment. She has denied hacking into the emergency communications system. An affidavit filed by a state investigator said the text message came from an Internet Protocol (IP) address linked to Jones' Comcast account.

Even if Jones did send the message, Filipkowski questioned whether it was a crime.

“What’s the crime here?” he asked. “The crime is her sending an email telling people to tell the truth?”

He also deemed the raid as inappropriate.

“You don’t send 12 armed officers to raid her computer for doing that,” he said. “That’s Gestapo. That’s authoritarian dictator tactics. That’s not America. It really viscerally bothered me.”

Filipkowsi, 52, said he is a lifelong Republican who served as the president of the South Sarasota County Republican Club and was active in the Sarasota GOP, serving as the party’s general counsel. A former state and federal prosecutor, Filipkowski is now a defense attorney, and in 2008 he ran for public defender in the 12th Judicial Circuit as a Republican, losing in the primary to Larry Eger. His son is named Ronald Reagan Filipkowski.

But Filipkowski opposed President Donald Trump and voted for Democrat Joe Biden, although he voted for all Republicans in down-ballot races. He said the GOP under Trump “is more of a personality cult that worships a supreme leader.” He worked with the Lincoln Project, a group of former Republicans opposed to Trump, and was featured on three billboards around Florida criticizing the president.

Yet while he opposed Trump, Filipkowski said “I was fine with DeSantis until COVID; I just think he’s totally sold us out.”

A DeSantis spokesman did not respond to a message seeking the governor's reaction to Filipkowski's resignation.

FLORIDA STAZI

Under fire for strong-arm tactics, DeSantis lashes out at former data scientist Rebekah Jones

John Kennedy

Sarasota Herald-Tribune

TALLAHASSEE – Gov. Ron DeSantis lashed out Friday at a former Florida data scientist turned whistleblower whose home was raided by a state law enforcement team wielding a sledgehammer earlier this week.

“Just because you’re a darling of some corners of the fever swamps, that does not exempt you from following the law,” DeSantis said during an appearance in Tampa.

The video of law enforcement’s arrival at the Tallahassee home of Rebekah Jones has gone viral and the former health department data scientist has denied allegations that she accessed a state emergency alert system to urge former co-workers to speak out about the DeSantis administration's handling of the coronavirus.

DeSantis said Friday that what Jones is accused of doing is “clearly a felony offense.” Jones, who has not been charged, was fired from the Department of Health in May.

Rebekah Jones:Former Florida COVID-19 data scientist pushes back after raid on home

Jones said she was let go by the agency for refusing to falsify data on COVID-19.

The governor said that the Florida Department of Law Enforcement’s approach to the case followed investigative guidelines. While a body-camera recording of the incident shows an officer apparently poised to use a sledgehammer to open a door if Jones continued to refuse to respond to the team’s phone calls and knocks, DeSantis defended officers.

DeSantis also sidestepped when asked if he knew the raid was about to occur.

“I knew there was an investigation,” DeSantis said. “I didn’t know what they were going…and it’s not a raid. I mean, with all due respect, what you just said is editorializing. These people did their jobs. They’ve been smeared as the Gestapo for doing their jobs.”

DeSantis said that in the course of the investigation an Internet Protocol (IP) address attached to a computer at Jones’ home was used to access the state site.

“They did a search warrant. Why did they do a search warrant on the house? Because her IP address was linked to the felony. What were they supposed to do? Just ignore it?” DeSantis said.

Jones has made several appearances on national television since law enforcement seized her computer and cellular phone. Jones, who has created an online database that challenges some of the state’s own reporting on COVID-19, says she thinks the state’s action is designed to threaten dissidents within the governor’s own administration.

DeSantis denied her claims. “I think Floridians want government to protect them,” he said. “They want these sensitive systems to be protected.”

Follow John Kennedy on Twitter: @JKennedyReport.