Ginza shoppers clean hands, phones with high-tech wash stations

By Chris Gallagher, Hideto Sakai

DECEMBER 18, 2020


TOKYO (Reuters) - Shoppers washed their hands and sterilised their smartphones in the streets of Tokyo’s posh Ginza district on Saturday using handwashing stations that a Japanese start-up hopes will revolutionise access to clean water and better hygiene.

WOTA Corp set up 20 of its WOSH machines near popular Ginza stores in an initiative with a district association aimed at encouraging shoppers to wash their hands to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.

The machines don’t require connection to running water and don’t use fresh and waste water tanks. Instead they recycle the water through a three-stage process of membrane filtration, chlorine and deep ultraviolet irradiation.

They also have a device that cleans smartphones through 20-30 seconds of ultraviolet light exposure while users are washing their hands, since touching a dirty smartphone would otherwise negate their handwashing efforts.

The firm had already been developing the machine in part to alleviate long lines at rest rooms when the COVID-19 crisis hit early this year, Chief Executive Yosuke Maeda told Reuters.

“Amid the impact of COVID-19 we thought we had to implement this as soon as possible,” Maeda said. “So we sped up development and got things moving to have it in December in time for the third wave of the coronavirus.”

On average 20 litres of water provides around 500 washes, while the filters should be changed after about 2,000, he said.

The machine, however, needs connection to a power supply.

WOTA has now begun shipments within Japan of roughly 4,000 units. It aims to expand internationally next year, with many inquiries coming from the United States.

Maeda hopes the smartphone feature in particular will transform hygiene habits.

“We thought if it had the smartphone sterilisation function, maybe people who never wash their hands will start doing so,” he said.


Reporting by Chris Gallagher and Hideto Sakai; Editing by Michael Perry

Landslide at Vale mine near 2019 disaster site kills one in Brazil


RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) - A landslide at a mine owned by Brazil’s Vale SA near the site of the 2019 Brumadinho dam disaster buried and killed a worker on Friday, the company told Reuters in a statement.

According to the company, the worker, who was employed by a Vale contractor, was in a bulldozer when the side of a pit collapsed at the Corrego do Feijao mine.

The mine shares the name of the Corrego do Feijao hamlet, which is part of the town of Brumadinho and was partially destroyed in January 2019 when a Vale-owned tailings dam collapsed, killing 270 people.

Vale said it “deeply lamented” the accident and would support the family of the worker.

“The companies are supporting the authorities who are attending to the case and investigating the causes of the accident,” Vale said.

“Maintenance activities in the area will be suspended for new studies and evaluations of the security conditions.”

Reporting by Gram Slattery; Editing by Daniel Wallis

Two smuggled Sumatran orangutans flown home from Thailand

By Juarawee Kittisilpa

BANGKOK (Reuters) - Two critically endangered orangutans smuggled into Thailand three years ago were returned to Indonesia on Thursday, where they will undergo rehabilitation before being released into the wild.

Ung Aing and Natalee, both four-year-old Sumatran orangutans, were taken from a wildlife rescue centre in Ratchaburi province to Bangkok’s airport, before being put on a flight to Indonesia where they will initially stay at a rehabilitation centre in Jambi Province on Sumatra island.

Before being put on the flight, the pair were fed with bananas and green apples, and cleared of having COVID-19 after taking a test, said Suraphong Chaweepak, a director at the Thai division to protect wild fauna and flora.

“This is the fifth repatriation of orangutans back to Indonesia since 2006,” Prakit Vongsrivattanakul, an official at Thailand’s Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation said at the airport. A total of 71 orangutans have now been repatriated to Indonesia from Thailand.

The two great apes were seized on the Thai-Malaysian border in 2017 and after the smugglers were prosecuted, Thailand agreed to send them back to Indonesia, according to a joint statement from Thailand’s wildlife and conservation ministry and Indonesia’s embassy in Bangkok.

Orangutans are poached illegally from forests for food, to obtain infants for the domestic and international pet trade, or for traditional medicine.

There are only estimated to be around 100,000 Bornean orangutans left in the wild, according to the World Wildlife Fund, while only about 7,500 Sumatran orangutans are thought to remain.

In addition to illegal poaching, populations have crashed because of habitat destruction due to large-scale logging and replacement of forests with cash crops such as palm oil.


Writing by Ed Davies; Editing by Karishma Singh

Armenians march to mourn war victims as PM faces calls to resign


YEREVAN (Reuters) - Thousands of Armenians marched through the capital Yerevan on Saturday to commemorate the soldiers killed in a six-week conflict over the Nagorno-Karabakh region in which Azerbaijan made significant territorial gains.

The conflict and the fatalities on the Armenian side have increased pressure on Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, whom the opposition accuses of mishandling the conflict by accepting a Russian-brokered ceasefire last month, to resign.

Pashinyan led the march, held on the first of three days of mourning, driving up to the Yerablur military cemetery to light incense on the graves of fallen soldiers along with other senior officials.

Although his supporters filled the cemetery to its brink, footage published on Armenian television showed Pashinyan’s critics shouting “Nikol is a traitor!” as his convoy passed by, escorted by heavy security.

Armenia’s opposition has called on its supporters to join a national strike on Dec. 22, at the end of the three-day mourning period, to pressure Pashinyan to resign over the losses incurred in the conflict over Nagorno-Karabkh.

Pashinyan, who swept to power in a peaceful revolution in May 2018, has rejected calls to resign.

Ethnic Armenian authorities in Nagorno-Karabakh accused Azeri forces on Wednesday of capturing several dozen of their troops, putting further strain on a ceasefire deal that brought an end to the fighting last month.

The two sides have nonetheless begun exchanging groups of prisoners of war as part of an “all for all” swap mediated by Russia.

Moscow has deployed peacekeepers to police the ceasefire, but skirmishes have nonetheless been reported.


Writing by Gabrielle Tétrault-Farber

AL JAZEERA REPORT AND BACKGROUNDERS WITH VIDEOS

Thousands protest in Sudan in call for faster reform


KHARTOUM (Reuters) - Thousands of Sudanese protesters took to the streets of the capital Khartoum and its twin city Omdurman on Saturday, demanding an acceleration of reforms on the second anniversary of the start of an uprising that ousted Omar al-Bashir.

The veteran leader was deposed by the military in April 2019 after months of mass protests against poor economic conditions and Bashir’s autocratic, three-decade rule.

Many Sudanese are unhappy with what they see as the slow or even negligible pace of change under the transitional government that has struggled to fix an economy in crisis.

The government was formed under a three-year power sharing agreement between the military and civilian groups which is meant to lead to fair presidential and parliamentary elections.

Sudan’s state TV aired footage of thousands of protesters gathering outside the presidential residence in Khartoum which now hosts the sovereign council, a joint military-civilian ruling body.

The country also has a civilian cabinet of technocrats led by Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok.

“We have come out today, not to celebrate the anniversary or to congratulate the transitional government. This government, unfortunately, over the past two years has not made any progress in the retribution file for our martyrs,” protester Waleed El Tom told state TV in Khartoum.

Hundreds of Sudanese civilians were killed in protests before and after the former president’s ouster.

On Saturday, thousands more protesters gathered outside the abandoned parliament building in Omdurman, across the river Nile from the capital. Small protests took place in other cities across the country, state media said.

At the top of the protesters’ demands is the formation of a long-awaited transitional parliament, part of the power sharing deal, to pass the necessary legislation for building a democratic state.

Others called for the dissolution of the sovereign council, the cabinet and the ruling coalition.

Sudan’s economy has worsened since Bashir’s removal, as the weak transitional government has failed to kick-start reforms and halt a fall in the Sudanese pound on the black market.

“The Sudanese people had hopes that their revolution would be great, that it would achieve things, but today the Sudanese people are standing in bread lines,” a protester told state TV.

Hamdok on Saturday vowed to answer the demands of protesters.

“We pledge to spur the pace to fulfil all the demands of the revolution, and improving the living conditions and the economy are among the priorities in which we will do everything we can to overcome the challenges,” he said on Twitter.

Lieutenant General Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan, head of the ruling council, said on Twitter the army would remain “the guarantor and protector of the revolution and its gains”.

Security was tightened in Khartoum and Omdurman but no major incidents of violence or casualties were reported.

Social media users shared pictures and videos of protesters burning tyres and security forces firing tear gas. Reuters was not immediately able to verify the images.

Sudan’s government has signed peace deals with most of the rebel groups that caused unrest during Bashir’s rule, and it hopes that the United States’ recent decision to remove the country from its list of state sponsors of terrorism will help the ailing economy.


Reporting by Nadeen Ebrahim, Nafisa Eltahir, Hesham Abdul Khalek and Ali Mirghani; Writing by Mahmoud Mourad; Editing by Ros Russell and David Evans


Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

#NAMASTE

From bows to handshakes, how Macron let social distancing slip

PARIS (Reuters) - Once an early adopter of the coronavirus-proof ‘namaste’ greeting, French President Emmanuel Macron was showing signs of letting his guard down almost a year into the pandemic.

On Monday, three days before his office said he had tested positive for COVID-19, Macron greeted OECD chief Angel Gurria with a warm hand clasp in the Elysee palace courtyard, pulling the 70-year-old into a loose embrace, a Reuters picture shows.

They were wearing masks, but Macron broke his government’s no.1 pandemic rule: stick to what the French call “barrier gestures” and avoid handshakes, hugs and kisses.

“You know them, they save lives: barrier gestures are not an option!” Macron said in a tweet on July 12.

His office recognised Macron had made an “unfortunate” mistake in shaking Gurria’s hand. “It’s a mistake, he had this gesture, there is no denying it,” an official told Reuters, adding that the president was nonetheless constantly washing his hands and asking guests to do the same.

Macron was always very tactile before the pandemic, sharing hugs with leaders like U.S. President Donald Trump and kissing and patting members of the public on the back.

In the past couple of weeks, the French leader fist-bumped EU counterparts at a summit in Brussels and greeted EU chief Charles Michel and Spanish leader Pedro Sanchez at the Elysee with pats on the back and elbows, TV footage shows.

Now Sanchez, Michel and Gurria are self-isolating.

Macron also hosted a lunch at the Elysee on Tuesday with about 20 parliamentary leaders and dined with a dozen lawmakers on Wednesday, parliamentary sources said, despite his government recommending no more than six guests at the table during end-of-year holidays.



That contrasted with his careful following of social-distancing guidelines earlier in the pandemic.

In March, days before he put the nation on lockdown, he replaced the traditional handshake with the Indian-style namaste when he greeted Spain’s king and queen in Paris, pressing his palms together and bowing slightly.

He repeated the namaste greeting with Britain’s Prince Charles on June 18 and maintained social distance outside 10 Downing Street with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

But on Oct. 28, when he announced a second lockdown, he included himself among those who had let social distancing slip.

“We should all have respected barrier gestures more, especially with family and friends,” he said on TV. “Is now the time for regrets?”

Reporting by Michel Rose; additional reporting by Elizabeth Pineau; Editing by Giles Elgood and Alexandra Hudson

UN rights office calls on Thailand to amend  

ELIMINATE royal insult law


GENEVA (Reuters) -The United Nations human rights office called on Thailand on Friday to amend its lese majeste law which it said had been used against at least 35 activists, one as young as 16, in recent weeks.

It said Thailand should stop using the law, which bans insulting the monarchy, and other serious criminal charges against protesters, noting that criminalising such acts violates freedom of expression.

Prosecutions, which had stopped in 2018, restarted after protesters broke longstanding taboos by calling for reforms to curb the powers of King Maha Vajiralongkorn during months of street demonstrations. Those found guilty under the royal insult law face three to 15 years in prison.

The spokesperson for the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights noted that charges had also been filed against protesters for sedition and computer crimes offences.

“We call on the Government of Thailand to stop the repeated use of such serious criminal charges against individuals for exercising their rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly,” spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani told a news briefing in Geneva.

The office of U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet urged Thailand to change the lese majeste law to bring it in line with the right to freedom of opinion and expression.

In response, a Thai foreign ministry spokesman said the law was not aimed at curbing freedom of expression and was similar to libel laws.

“In the past couple of months, protestors have not been arrested solely for the exercise of the right to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly,” Tanee Sangrat said in a statement.

“Those arrested had violated other Thai laws and admittedly the majority have been released.”

Youth-led protests began in July to call for the removal of Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha, a former junta leader, and for the drafting of a new constitution.

They later called for reforms to the monarchy: seeking the king to be more clearly accountable under the constitution and the reversal of changes that gave him control of royal finances and some army units among other demands.

Reporting by Stephanie Nebehay in Geneva; Additional reporting by Patpicha Tanakasempipat in Bangkok; Editing by Matthew Tostevin, William Maclean and Richard Chang

Sweden to allow underwater investigation 

of Estonia wreck site

STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - Sweden said on Friday it would allow an underwater examination of the ferry Estonia, which sank in the Baltic 26 years ago with the loss of 852 lives, after a documentary film showed previously unknown holes in the wreck’s hull.

The official investigation concluded in 1997 that the roll-on, roll-off ferry’s bow shield had failed, damaging the bow ramp and flooding the car deck.

However, a Discovery Network documentary shown earlier in the autumn about the disaster included new underwater video images from the wreck site showing two previously unknown holes on the starboard side of the ship’s hull.

“If there is new information, we need to look into it and clear up any questions,” Home Affairs Minister Mikael Damberg told a news conference.

Damberg said the government hoped to amend the law designating the site of the disaster as a maritime memorial in the first half of next year.

On the night of Sept. 28, 1994, the Estonia was sailing from Tallinn to Stockholm in bad weather. Winds were around 20 meters per second and the waves around 4 meters high, according to the official investigation.

After the bow shield failed, the ferry rapidly filled with water and most of those who died were trapped inside.

The ship sank about 22 nautical miles from Uto island in less than 85 metres of water.

Over the years, a number of theories have emerged about the sinking that reject the official explanation, including a collision with a submarine and an explosion inside the ship.

The head of Sweden’s Accident Investigation Authority, John Ahlberk, however, said a preliminary examination of footage from the documentary and previous material had not so far led to the conclusion that the 1997 official report had been wrong.

“What the investigation we are doing now is about is to find out, as far as possible, what made these holes and how they occurred, he said.


Reporting by Simon Johnson;

INDIA Supreme Court declines calls to ban farmers' protest



By Suchitra Mohanty, Mayank Bhardwaj


NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India’s Supreme Court on Friday declined calls to ban a weeks-long farmers’ protest and asked the government and unions to help form a committee of experts to mediate between them.

“We make it clear that we recognise the fundamental right to protest against a law. There is no question of balancing or curtailing it. But it should not damage anyone’s life or property,” Chief Justice S. A. Bobde said.

Thousands of farmers angered by three agricultural laws that they say threaten their livelihoods have intensified their protests by blocking highways and camping out on the outskirts of the capital New Delhi.

Petitioners had approached the Supreme Court to complain that the protests had hampered drivers and making it difficult for people to access emergency medical services

“We are of the view at this stage that the farmers’ protest should be allowed to continue without impediment and without any breach of peace either by the protesters or the police,” Bobde said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s administration in September introduced the farm bills that the government says will unshackle farmers from having to sell their produce only at regulated wholesale markets and make contract farming easier.

Farmers insist that the new laws will leave them at the mercy of big corporations.

Six rounds of talks between government ministers and farmers’ union leaders have failed to resolve the situation.

The government has said while the laws can be amended, it is against repealing the bills. Farmers last week rejected a government’s proposal to amend the legislation.

India’s vast agriculture sector, which makes up nearly 15% of the country’s $2.9 trillion economy, employs about half of its 1.3 billion people.


Reporting by Mayank Bhardwaj; Editing by Angus MacSwan

Sikh diaspora drums up global support for farmers' protest in India


By Mayank Bhardwaj, Manoj Kumar


NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Thousands of Indian farmers protesting against deregulation of agriculture markets are drawing strength from Sikhs around the world who are urging foreign governments to intercede with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.


FILE PHOTO: Farmers take part in a protest against farm bills passed by India's parliament on the outskirts of Delhi, India, December 17, 2020. REUTERS/Anushree Fadnavis

Farmers, mostly from the Sikh-dominated state of Punjab, have been camped on the borders of New Delhi since last month, demanding Modi roll back the reforms intended to bring investment in the antiquated farm sector but which the farmers say will leave them at the mercy of big corporations.

Sikhs living overseas, most of whom have families at home tied to the farms, have picked up the thread in the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia, demonstrating outside Indian embassies to draw attention.

On Thursday, 250 to 300 Sikhs and other overseas Indians took part in a rally in a Melbourne district to express their support for India’s farmers, said Rajbir Singh, who runs a small transport business in Melbourne.

On Saturday, people of Indian origin plan to carry out similar protests near the state parliament of Victoria in Melbourne, said Siftnoor Singh, a data scientist.

“The new laws will bring economic devastation to our motherland, and we can’t simply close our eyes and pretend that everything is alright back home,” he told Reuters by phone.

The farmers’ fear is that by allowing companies such as Walmart and India’s Reliance Industries Ltd’s retail arm to buy directly from farmers, the government intends to weaken the traditional markets where their rice and wheat are guaranteed a minimum price.

Sikhs and other Indian Punjabis overseas are estimated at 12 million. They form a tightly knit group and are vociferous in articulating the concerns of the community back home.

Since the farmers’ protest started more than two weeks ago in India, members of the diaspora have participated in protest marches - mostly consisting of 400 to 600 people - in nearly 50 different cities of the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia, protesters and their families said.

The government has declined comment on the protests overseas. But underlining India’s sensitivity about what it sees as foreign interference in its internal affairs, New Delhi summoned Canada’s ambassador this month to convey displeasure after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said the farmers had a right to protest.

‘HAND THAT FEEDS YOU’

“I’ve been approached by many concerned people of Indian origin who are based in Victoria to speak about the issue,” Samantha Ratnam, parliamentary leader of Australia’s Victorian Greens party, recently told the state legislative council.

Relatives and supporters of the farmers gathered this month even in the small town of Canton, Michigan, in the United States, carrying placards saying “Don’t bite the hand that feeds you” and “I stand with farmers”. Other protesters staged a demonstration outside the Indian embassy in Washington.

In Canada, home to a Sikh community that is politically influential, residents of Indian origin have vowed to step up their support for India’s protesting farmers.

“We are taking part in regular protests to bring it to the notice of local authorities who can help us amplify our voices,” said Amanpreet Singh Grewal, a resident of Brampton, Ontario, Canada. “We are committed to support our farmers in India.”

Many Non-Resident Indians (NRIs) own farmlands in Punjab and fear the sweeping changes that the government plans will hurt them economically.

“Punjabi NRIs are worried that if these laws are implemented, and result in fall in crop procurement prices, it would lead to substantial fall in the value of their farm lands and yearly income from land contracts,” said Avtar Singh Gill, 64, who is now settled in Punjab after four decades in the UK.

Mewa Singh, the chief of the NRI council in the Ropar district of Punjab, said organisations such as his that represent overseas Indians were helping farmers mobilise people in villages, arranging transport for them, and collecting milk and rations for supplying to the protesters sleeping out in the open near Delhi.

Singh said his son, the manager of a basketball team in Houston, Texas, was leading protests there.





“We can’t allow Prime Minister Modi to take away what we have gained over the years through hard work and political struggle,” Mewa Singh said.

In Britain, Sikh groups wield influence and have been making the case for British leaders to raise the issue with their Indian counterparts even if the Modi government baulks at such involvement.

Jas Singh, an adviser at the Sikh Foundation, said the community had written to Prime Minister Boris Johnson, Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab and opposition Labour Party leader Keir Starmer to lobby their case.

“Worried by the use of disproportionate force against many elderly protesters, we’ve also reached out to the United Nations to ask India to protect farmers’ right to peaceful protests,” Jas Singh said.


Reporting by Mayank Bhardwaj and Manoj Kumar; editing by Sanjeev Miglani and Raju Gopalakrishnan