Climate change hit poorest countries hardest in 2019

Heavy rain and storms exacerbated by climate change particularly affected East Africa, Asia and South America in 2019, according to the latest Climate Risk Index.

Rains have flooded cities that were still being rebuilt a year after Cyclone Idai devastated Mozambique


Violent storms caused more damage than any other type of extreme weather in 2019, with poorest nations bearing the brunt, according to a study published Monday by environmental organization Germanwatch.

Made stronger by climate change, they wreaked havoc across the world.

"On the one hand, there was Cyclone Idai on the southeast coast of Africa, which caused damage in Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Malawi; and, on the other hand, a hurricane in the Caribbean that hit the Bahamas," said David Eckstein, a policy advisor at Germanwatch and co-author of the report, which has been published each year since 2006.

More than 1,000 people lost their lives Idai in Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Malawi in March 2019, causing "catastrophic damage and a humanitarian crisis," the authors wrote.

The global index is based on data from the German reinsurance company Munich Re. It compares the number of deaths and property damage caused by extreme weather to the number of inhabitants and the gross domestic product of the country in which it strikes.

Cyclone Idai was more devastating than similar-strength storms that year because of a lack of early-warning systems

Hurricane Dorian devastated the Bahamas in 2019 and unleashed flooding that reached up to 8 meters in some areas

Major damage from storms and heavy rainfall

Japan was also hit hard by Typhoon Hagibis, which killed 290 people. Prolonged rainfall caused more than 2,200 deaths in India. Several hundred people also died in Afghanistan, South Sudan and Niger as heavy rains triggered landslides and destroyed homes.

In Bolivia, heavy rains led to flooding; 34 people died and 23,000 families were left homeless. Fires also destroyed 2 million hectares of forest, grassland and protected areas.

While storms have always claimed lives and damaged homes, they are "increasing in intensity, and that can be attributed to climate change," said Eckstein. "We did interviews with people from Mozambique who said that there have always been cyclones on the southeast coast of Africa, but never with the ferocity as in 2019 with Idai."

Bolivia's Pantanal was ravaged by wildfires in 2019 and again in 2020

More severe cyclones with every tenth of a degree

In 2019, all 10 of the countries most severely affected by extreme weather suffered from heavy floods, according to the report. Last year, large amounts of rain hit eight of the 10 most-affected countries, while two others, Germany and Canada, were exposed to extreme heat.

"The rain actually causes the most damage in a cyclone due to the extreme amounts of water," said Eckstein. "Climate change plays a special role in this on several levels."

One reason for the increase in rain is that the sea and the air are getting warmer as the planet heats. Warm air holds more moisture, which means more rain.

Climate scientists say storms are not becoming more common, but, rather, stronger. The report projects that the number of tropical cyclones that are classed as severe will increase with every tenth of a degree rise in average global temperature.

WORLD HERITAGE UNDER THREAT FROM GLOBAL WARMING

Dresden

In 2002, a so-called 100-year flood put large parts of Dresden under water — and threatened numerous cultural treasures. The baroque Zwinger palace was also flooded. The city founded a task force to be prepared for future extreme weather events. Today there are global efforts underway to use climate modelling to better plan for the protection of cultural monuments in the future. PHOTOS 12345678

Poor hit hardest

Since 2000, more than 475,000 people have died in more than 11,000 extreme weather events, according to the report. Eight of the 10 countries hardest-hit between 2000 and 2019 are poorer nations. "They are the hardest-hit because they are more vulnerable to the damaging effects of a hazard and have a lower coping capacity," said report co-author Vera Kuenzel.

These countries have less money to build back than industrial countries. "Countries like Haiti, the Philippines and Pakistan are repeatedly affected by extreme weather events and do not have time to fully recover before the next event occurs," says Kuenzel. "Strengthening their resilience must therefore not only address adaptation, but also provide the necessary support to deal with loss and damage."

Historic polluter Germany built another power plant last year to burn coal

INSTEAD OF KEEPING NUKES ON LINE

Polluters do not yet pay for damage

Most developing countries have contributed little to the rise of CO2 in the atmosphere and bear less responsibility for the damages of global warming than historic emitters like the US and Germany. "Now, however, they urgently need financial and technical support to adapt to the consequences as far as possible," said Eckstein.

The rise in CO2 in the atmosphere has mostly been caused by industrialized countries burning coal, oil and gas.

But so far, the energy companies that profited from this have not paid anything for the damage that has followed. Leaders of industrialized countries have promised poorer countries $100 billion (€82.3 billion) in climate finance each year from 2020 to cope with the crises.

But "recent studies show that the $100 billion per year pledged by industrialized nations is not being met and only a small part of it has been allocated to climate adaptation," said Eckstein.

Watch video 05:22 Extreme weather in Vietnam

Hoping for more responsibility

That might soon change.

Former US President Donald Trump, who stopped all US payments to the International Climate Fund, took the country out of the Paris Agreement on climate change.

But within hours of taking office last week, President Biden signed an executive order for the US to rejoin. "We hope that there will be a positive change in position and that the US will significantly revise the climate protection goals formulated under Obama upward," said Eckstein. "We also hope that a dynamic is sparked between the US, China and the EU."

The pandemic shows how important financial aid is for many countries, said Laura Schaefer of Germanwatch. Risks in different areas, such as health and the economy, are closely linked. In the future, "it will be important to improve the crisis resilience of these countries — especially climate resilience."

This article was adapted from German.

Russian police officer apologizes to protester

Russian police used brutal force in their crackdown on Saturday's pro-Navalny rallies. Now, one officer has apologized for a particularly egregious incident in St Petersburg.



Hundreds were detained by police in St Petersburg on Saturday

On Sunday, Russian broadcaster Ren-TV shared highly unusual footage, shot on a smartphone: the video shows a St Petersburg police officer apologizing to 54-year-old Margarita J., whom he kicked in the stomach the previous day at a rally in support of jailed opposition leader Alexei Navalny.

The uniform-clad, mask-wearing man is seen handing flowers to the hospitalized woman. He says he was attacked with tear gas and was struggling with a foggy visor before he set upon the woman.

Nevertheless, the officer is heard saying the incident is "a personal tragedy" for him. In a weak voice, Margarita J. is heard replying: "Don't worry, everyone is alive." The commanding police captain also visited the woman to apologize for the incident, according to Russian media reports.

What exactly happened?

Margarita J. hails from a provincial town within the St Petersburg municipality. That fateful Saturday, Margarita was on the city's Nevsky Prospect boulevard, when thousands of Russians had gathered to demand the release of jailed opposition leader Navalny, in defiance of a protest ban. The woman witnessed a man's arrest and confronted the officers to find out what he had done. Without forewarning, one of the officers then kicked her in the abdomen

More than a thousand were arrested by police at a demonstration in the Russian capital

Footage of the attack appears to show the man acting unprovoked and in cold blood as if kicking aside an object. The officer's kick threw Margarita to the ground, where she injured her head. She was subsequently hospitalized.

There have been contradictory reports concerning the woman's health. Initial reports claimed she had lost consciousness. Now, however, she has apparently been transferred to a hospital in her hometown.

Online video sparks outrage

Footage of the attack, filmed by a passer-by, quickly spread on social media, sparking outrage. Russian opposition musician Wassya Oblomov even wrote a satirical song, mocking the police officer's apology. After all, the man claimed his visor was fogged up — when footage from the scene clearly shows his visor was raised.

Some are now calling for the officer in question to be held accountable. Boris Vishnevsky, a lawmaker in St Petersburg's Legislative Assembly and member of the opposition socially liberal Jabloko party, has urged Russian authorities to launch an investigation. "This was a brutal abuse of authority," Vishnevsky told DW. "I hope this case will be brought before court."

Letting off steam?

The odds of this happening, meanwhile, are slim. Police violence against opposition protesters is the norm in Russia. Truncheon-wielding police officers cracked down on pro-Navalny rallies all over the country last weekend. Thousands were arrested. It is not yet clear how many people were injured.

Russian police break up nationwide pro-Navalny protests

Last Saturday, Elena Shachova, who heads St Petersburg's Grazhdanskiy Kontro human rights organization, together with her colleagues visited numerous police stations to document the treatment of arrested opposition protesters. One man reportedly told her he had experienced disproportionate police force leading to his hospitalization.

Shachova says the case of Margarita J. is nothing short of "astonishing" and "impossible to justify." She wants to see the officer in question and his commander fired. "Hospital visits with flowers change nothing."

Boris Vishnevsky says a court case would be "very important." He says until this day, police brutality in Russia has existed because officers do not face legal consequences for their actions. The opposition figure argues that this behavior would end if the state ceased condoning it.

Vishnevsky is somewhat surprised the police officer in question visited the injured woman in his hometown St Petersburg. He says this may result from a tangible "change in the societal atmosphere: citizens are angry and less loyal towards the leadership."

He says "the government understands that the pressure is mounting and is finding ways for society to blow off steam." The fact that Russian federal lawmaker Alexander Khinshtein of the governing United Russia party is calling for an investigation into the case, says Vishnevsky, is certainly telling.

VIDEO Russian police officer apologizes to protester | Europe| News and current affairs from around the continent | DW | 26.01.2021

India farmer protests: Police fire tear gas in Republic Day clashes

Tens of thousands of Indian farmers protesting agricultural reforms have driven a convoy of tractors into New Delhi as the capital celebrates Republic Day with a military parade.

India's farmers stage mass protest on national holiday

Police in New Delhi fired tear gas at protesting farmers after they broke through barricades on Tuesday.

The on-going protests upped the ante during the country's national Republic Day military parade in the capital.

The scaled-down parade, which celebrates the adoption of the Indian constitution in 1950, was overshadowed by the vast tractor rally.

DW Indian Correspondent Nimisha Jaiswal shared a video on Twitter of jubilant farmers after they broke through police lines, saying: "After tear gas and baton charges, farmers are exuberant as tractors, horses and crowds overrun the roads, and security forces leave the scene."

The protesters used cranes and ropes to pull down road blocks far from their approved marching route, forcing riot police to fall back, witnesses told Reuters.

A statement from the group of farmers unions explained that only one of the several protest parades had deviated from its pre-arranged route.

"Except for one group...our news is that all parades are happening on the pre-decided routes along with police," they said.

Why are farmers in India protesting?

Farmers have been protesting a new law which they say benefits large, private land grabbers over small local producers. Tens of thousands of angry protesters entered the outskirts of the city in a convoy of tractors earlier in the day.

"We want to show Modi our strength,'' Satpal Singh, a farmer who marched into the capital on a tractor along with his family of five, told AP.

"We will not surrender," he said.

Around half of India's 1.3 billion population works in agriculture and the on-going protests being carried out by some 150 landowning farmers represent one the biggest challenges to President Narendra Modi's government to date.

Onwards to New Delhi - A farmer's protest

"Modi will hear us now, he will have to hear us now," said Sukhdev Singh, a farmer from the agriculturally important northern state of Punjab, as he marched past the barricades.
Indian farmers in dire straits

More than half of India's farmers are in debt and more than 20,000 committed suicide in 2018 and 2019, according to official statistics.

Despite their weakening economic position — agriculture now makes up only 15% of the national economy — they represent a large voting bloc.

A series of talks have fallen flat as the farmers have consistently rejected any offer other than a complete repeal of the new law.

Devinder Sharma, an agriculture expert who campaigns for income equality for Indian farmers, said the protests were not just aimed at reforming the new law, but at "challenging the entire economic design of the country.''

"The anger that you see is compounded anger,'' Sharma said. "Inequality is growing in India and farmers are becoming poorer. Policy planners have failed to realize this and have sucked the income from the bottom to the top. The farmers are only demanding what is their right."

Delhi clashes as farmers tractor protest overshadows military parade

Issued on: 26/01/2021 

Farmers have been camped on key roads into the capital for two months, protesting against new laws which deregulate produce markets Money SHARMA AFP

New Delhi (AFP)

Thousands of farmers in tractor convoys burst through police barricades Tuesday to take their protest against agriculture reform to the heart of India's capital, just as the nation marked Republic Day with a giant military parade.

Police had earlier sealed most entrances to the city with containers and trucks, but had to use tear gas and batons as the farmers broke through.

Some protesters reached a major intersection three kilometres (1.8 miles) from where Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other government leaders watched tanks and troops parade past and fighter jets fly overhead.

Modi waved to crowds and was driven back to his residence before any personal confrontation with the farmers, the biggest challenge his Hindu nationalist government has faced in its six years in power.

Tens of thousands of farmers have camped on the outskirts of the capital since November, protesting against new laws which deregulate produce markets.

Union leaders say the laws will allow private Indian conglomerates to take over the agriculture industry -- the rockbed of the economy -- and replace a system of purchases by the government at guaranteed prices.

- Popular support -

Authorities had agreed to let the farmers stage a tractor rally as long as they waited for the official Republic Day parade to finish.

But flag-waving protesters on at least four major arteries climbed over or just pushed aside the barricades and concrete blocks and pressed on into the city.

"We are going to show the government that we mean business," said protester Nareesh Singh as he revved up his tractor and drove into a cloud of tear gas.

Satnam Singh Pannu, head of one of the main farmer committees, said the protesters have enough supplies to keep their Delhi camps going for a year if necessary, and that there was "massive popular support" for the campaign.

On one road, people on rooftops and threw petals on the tractor convoys.

Elsewhere people cheered and applauded as the farmers went past waving Indian flags and blowing horns.

The Republic Day ceremonies went ahead despite security concerns.

Police manned barricades at intersections around the centre of the city while soldiers with machine guns patrolled on many metro trains.

The parade -- which featured Rafale jets newly bought from France -- was cut back this year because of the coronavirus pandemic, with the number of spectators on the Rajpath boulevard reduced from 125,000 to 25,000.

Modi sent out Twitter greetings for the national holiday without mentioning the farmers.

- Mass rally -

The government says the reforms will boost rural incomes and say the farmers have been manipulated by opposition parties.

Ten rounds of talks between farm unions and ministers have failed to break the deadlock.

The farmers have demanded the government repeal the laws, but the administration has only offered to delay implementation for 18 months.

Smaller farmer demonstrations were held in Mumbai and Bangalore.

The occasion marks the day the constitution of India came into effect in 1950.

© 2021 AFP

Venus figurines offered a model for surviving climate change, new theory says


A new theory suggests the earliest Venus figurines were meant to be instructive to women for survival of harsh winters, rather than just artistic odes to female beauty. Photo by Aiwok/Wikimedia

Dec. 1 (UPI) -- According to a new theory, Venus figurines, one of the world's earliest examples of art, weren't symbols of beauty or fertility, as has been previously suggested.

Instead, researchers claim the large-bodied figurines, carved some 30,000 years ago, were models for surviving Europe's increasingly frigid winters.

Researchers detailed their new theory in a new paper, published Tuesday in the journal Obesity.

"Some of the earliest art in the world are these mysterious figurines of overweight women from the time of hunter gatherers in Ice Age Europe where you would not expect to see obesity at all," lead study author Richard Johnson said in a news release.

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"We show that these figurines correlate to times of extreme nutritional stress," said Johnson, a professor at the University of Colorado School of Medicine.

Previous studies suggest the first groups of modern humans entered Europe around 48,000 years ago, during a period of warming.

These early hunter-gatherers, known as Aurignacians, subsisted on berries, fish, nuts and plants during the summers. The Aurignacians also used bone-tipped spears to hunt reindeer, horses and mammoths.

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When the dawn of a new ice age brought harsher winters and advancing glaciers, these early hunter-gatherers moved south, sought refuge in forests or died out. As the glaciers advanced, fossil evidence suggests megafauna were over-hunted.

The latest research showed the Venus figurines appeared around the time winters in Northern Europe became unforgiving.

When Johnson and his colleagues plotted the location and size of the Venus figures so far unearthed by archaeologists, they found those with the greatest waist-to-hip and waist-to-shoulder ratios -- the most obese figures, in other words -- were located closest to the region's advancing glaciers.

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"We propose they conveyed ideals of body size for young women, and especially those who lived in proximity to glaciers," said Johnson, who holds an undergraduate degree in anthropology. "We found that body size proportions were highest when the glaciers were advancing, whereas obesity decreased when the climate warmed and glaciers retreated."

The Venus figures show signs of heavy wear, suggesting they were passed down for generations, perhaps from mothers to daughters.

Researchers suggest the figurines may have served as a model for would-be-mothers. In times of scarcity, women with a surplus of stored fat would have been better able to carry a pregnancy to term and nurse newborns.

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"The figurines emerged as an ideological tool to help improve fertility and survival of the mother and newborns," Johnson said. "The aesthetics of art thus had a significant function in emphasizing health and survival to accommodate increasingly austere climatic conditions."

Skeletal trauma reveals inequalities of Cambridge's medieval residents


The remains of a man buried in the graveyard of an Augustinian friary located in Cambridge, England, are among several that researchers say reveals the possibly rough life the city's residents had. Photo by Nick Saffell

Jan. 25 (UPI) -- The inequities of medieval society are preserved in the bones of Cambridge's early residents, according to a new survey of skeletal trauma.

For the study, researchers at the University of Cambridge analyzed the remains of 314 people dating to between the 10th and 14th centuries, cataloging the levels of "skeletal trauma" exhibited in their bones.

Scientists used skeletal trauma as a proxy for socioeconomic status -- the more wear and tear present on a person's bones, the more likely he or she experienced a life of hardship and poverty.

To ensure their survey captured the full spectrum of medieval society, researchers sourced remains from several burial sites. These included a parish graveyard used by working class residents and a burial site next to a charitable hospital for inmates and the infirm, as well as a graveyard where clergy and aristocrats were buried side by side.

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Researchers found 44 percent of the remains from the working class graveyard featured fractures, while just 32 percent of those from the friary were marred by bone breaks.

The survey -- published Monday in the American Journal of Physical Anthropology -- also turned up evidence of various forms of violence, including a friar that appeared to have been the victim of an ancient hit-and-run accident.

"By comparing the skeletal trauma of remains buried in various locations within a town like Cambridge, we can gauge the hazards of daily life experienced by different spheres of medieval society," lead study author Jenna Dittmar said in a news release.

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"We can see that ordinary working folk had a higher risk of injury compared to the friars and their benefactors or the more sheltered hospital inmates," said Dittmar, an archaeologist at Cambridge.

The origins of the University of Cambridge can be traced to the year 1205, but the academic institution remained in its infancy during the Middle Ages.

Cambridge was mostly a town of artisans, merchants and farmhands, and while working class residents were more likely to experience skeletal trauma, the results of the latest survey suggest life was hard for almost everyone.

RELATED Venus figurines offered a model for surviving climate change, new theory says

In fact, the most traumatic injury uncovered by the researchers was suffered by a friar -- the man's position revealed by his burial place and belt buckle.

"The friar had complete fractures halfway up both his femurs," said Dittmar. "Whatever caused both bones to break in this way must have been traumatic, and was possibly the cause of death."

The femur, or thigh bone, is the largest in the body. Dittmar said today's emergency room doctors would be familiar with the kind of fracture suffered by the friar. Pedestrians hit by cars often suffer a double femur break.

"Our best guess is a cart accident," Dittmar said. "Perhaps a horse got spooked and he was struck by the wagon."

Researchers also found evidence of domestic abuse. The bones of elderly woman buried beside the parish showed signs of a lifetime of injuries.

"She had a lot of fractures, all of them healed well before her death. Several of her ribs had been broken as well as multiple vertebrae, her jaw and her foot," said Dittmar. "It would be very uncommon for all these injuries to occur as the result of a fall, for example. Today, the vast majority of broken jaws seen in women are caused by intimate partner violence."

Work in the field was the more common source of injury for those buried in the parish of All Saints by the Castle.

Though the remains of the church itself has never been found, the graveyard was discovered and first excavated in the 1970s. The parish graveyard housed the remains of Cambridge's poorest citizens.

Men would have earned a meager living hauling heavy stones and lumber or guiding heavy ploughs across the fields of the hinterland, the uncharted land beyond the town center.

"Many of the women in All Saints probably undertook hard physical labors such as tending livestock and helping with harvest alongside their domestic duties," Dittmar said. "We can see this inequality recorded on the bones of medieval Cambridge residents. However, severe trauma was prevalent across the social spectrum. Life was toughest at the bottom -- but life was tough all over."

U.S. military uses 3D printing to make N95 respirators

Air Force Maj. Daniel Williams demonstrates the fit of an N95 elastomeric half-mask respirator, which is among the designs that the U.S. Army Medical Materiel Development Activity has been testing after 3D printing them. Photo by Jeffrey Soares/U.S. Army

Jan. 25 (UPI) -- The U.S. Army is using 3D printing technology to produce N95 respirators, the chief of the Defense Department's medical technology office said on Monday.

Air Force Maj. Gen. Daniel Williams, of the U.S. Army Medical Materiel Development Activity's Warfighter Expeditionary Medicine and Treatment Project Management Office, said his primary task involves assisting Defense Department commercial partners in producing respirators that comply with military needs.

While the companies have experience in 3D modeling of products, many have "never manufactured medical devices," Williams said in a press release.

The N95 masks fit more closely to the face, and are more effective, than standard surgical masks, or face masks known as filtering facepiece respirators, in wide use to prevent COVID-19 infection.

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"Our group has been working on what is called an elastomeric half-mask respirator, which is a reusable frame produced by a 3D printer, with a disposable media or cartridge that filters at the 95% level," Williams said of efforts to quickly produce N95 respirators,

Eighteen variants of the N95 have been developed and tested by the team, he said.

"The primary purpose of the N95 working group is to develop N95 respirators to supplement existing supplies of respirators, as well as to develop new manufacturing capabilities within the DOD's organic industrial base, which consists of military arsenals, maintenance depots and ammunition factories," Williams added.

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"Ensuring the DOD has the capability to independently manufacture protective respiratory devices will help to protect frontline workers during the COVID-19 pandemic, and it will also help to maintain our military readiness in the face of future pandemics or biothreats," he said.

N95 respirators are among the most effective facemasks, filtering out at least 95% of small particles, and are largely used by doctors, nurses and other medical professionals.

Williams cited large-scale manufacturers, as well as the U.S. Navy Underwater Warfare Center-Keyport, U.S. Forces Korea, Defense Logistics Agency and the U.S. Coast Guard Academy as organizations with expertise to design and produce the N95 respirator.

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In part because of involvement of the Defense Department's COVID-19 Joint Acquisition Task Force, director Stacy Cummings told the House Armed Services Committee in June 2020 that N95 production would be ramped up to production levels of 800 million masks per year by January 2021.

"Starting in 2021, we anticipate our total domestic production to be in excess of a billion per year," Cummings said.

One DoD partner, manufacturer 3M, predicted in November it would manufacture 95 million respirators by the end of 2020, citing an increase in production capacity prompted by a 20-fold increase in demand.

Supreme Court issues order against Texas abortion ban


The U.S. Supreme Court issued an order Monday vacating a lower court ruling that upheld Texas Gov. Greg Abbott's abortion ban amid the COVID-19 pandemic. 

File Photo by Bill Greenblatt/UPI | License Photo

Jan. 25 (UPI) -- The U.S. Supreme Court issued an order Monday vacating a lower court order upholding a Texas abortion ban.

At issue was Texas Gov. Greg Abbott's order in March to place a ban on abortions in the state to preserve hospital resources amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans upheld the ban, overturning the decision of a lower court that found the order was too broad and lifted the ban. Planned Parenthood petitioned the Supreme Court to review the case.

"The judgment is vacated, and the case is remanded to the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit with instructions to dismiss the case as moot," the Supreme Court said in its order Monday.

The Texas abortion ban was "a transparent attempt to chip away at access to reproductive healthcare by exploiting a public health crisis," and it was "important we took this procedural step to make sure bad case law was wiped from the books," Planned Parenthood, the Center for Reproductive Rights and the Lawyering Project said in a statement to NBC News.

The Supreme Court order follows Abbott tweeting a day earlier that Texas would fully end taxpayer funding of Planned Parenthood by Feb. 3.

"Innocent lives will be saved," Abbott added in the tweet with a link to Corridor News article citing the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals decision siding with his order to ban abortions amid the pandemic.

SUSAN PAGE BIO OF BARBARA BUSH 

Seoul court says life-size sex dolls don't corrupt morals, allows imports

Yonhap News Agency



Sex dolls also made headlines in Seoul in May when they were used to fill seats for a soccer match during the COVID-19 pandemic. That incident was described as a "misunderstanding." File Photo by Yonhap/EPA-EFE


SEOUL, Jan. 25 (UPI) -- A Seoul court has allowed the import of life-size dolls, saying such sex toys for personal use do not corrupt public morals.

According to the Seoul Administrative Court on Monday, it has recently overturned a decision by Gimpo International Airport's customs office to block the import of a mannequin.

In January 2020, a local company tried to import one sex doll from China through the airport in Gimpo, western Seoul. But the gateway's customs authorities put the entry on hold, saying that the material would harm public morals.

It took legal action against the decision as its petition to the Korea Customs Service has been shelved.

"We don't see this item as explicitly depicting body parts or sexual conduct that it gravely damages or distorts human dignity," the administrative court said in its ruling. "It is not an example of materials that corrupt public morals."

It said sex toys are used in a personal area and the state should not interfere with one's private life to protect dignity and freedom.

The customs office said it will file an appeal against the court decision, saying that it is still keeping the stance of not permitting their customs clearance.

But the agency added it is in talks with the justice and gender equality ministries over the permissible standard of importing sex dolls as the Supreme Court ruled in favor of a sex doll importer in a separate clearance deferral case in June 2019.

The ruling had sparked a heated debate on whether sex dolls should be treated as a type of ordinary sex toy. Between July and August of that year, over 200,000 people agreed with the petition on the presidential office Cheong Wa Dae's website, asking for an import ban on sex dolls.

GOT TRUMP SPECIAL COCKTAIL 

Gorilla treated with antibodies recovering from Covid, says US zoo

HUMAN TO PRIMATE TRANSMISSION

Issued on: 25/01/2021 

Winston, 48, was one of several gorillas among the San Diego Zoo Safari Park's troop who were confirmed positive for the virus Ken Bohn San Diego Zoo Global/AFP

Washington (AFP)

An elderly gorilla was recovering from a serious case of Covid-19 after he was treated with cutting-edge synthetic antibodies, the San Diego Zoo said Monday.

Veterinarians are now identifying which animals to inject with the zoo's limited supply of vaccines.

Winston, 48, was one of several gorillas among the San Diego Zoo Safari Park's troop who were confirmed positive for the virus on January 11, based on fecal samples.

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It was the first known case of natural transmission of the virus to great apes, and was suspected to have occurred because of contact with an asymptomatic staff member, despite the use of personal protective gear.

"The troop was infected with a new, highly contagious strain of the coronavirus, recently identified in California," San Diego Zoo Global, the nonprofit that operates the zoo and safari park said in a statement.

Two research groups in California have identified a homegrown strain that they believe was driving the Golden State's year-end surge in infections.

The troop remained under close observation following the diagnosis, with some of the gorillas showing symptoms including mild coughing, congestion, runny noses and bouts of lethargy.

Because of his advanced age, his symptoms and concern about underlying conditions, Winston was examined under anesthesia.

Veterinarians confirmed the silverback had pneumonia and heart disease, and initiated a treatment that included heart medication, antibiotics, and monoclonal antibody therapy.

Monoclonal antibodies are a lab-made version of the body's natural infection-fighting proteins, and they are delivered by intravenous infusion.

Covid-19 monoclonal antibodies have been approved for emergency use in the US, and were notably used to treat former president Donald Trump.

But Winston's treatment came from a supply not permitted for human use, the statement said.

"The veterinary team who treated Winston believe the antibodies may have contributed to his ability to overcome the virus," it added.

Winston, a critically endangered western lowland gorilla, arrived at the San Diego Safari Park in 1984 and will celebrate his 49th birthday on February 20, according to the website.

He is considered to be one of the oldest breeding male gorillas in a managed care setting, and is the leader of his troop.

San Diego Zoo Global has also been provided with some Covid-19 vaccines and is in the process of identifying suitable animal candidates at the zoo and safari park.

The statement didn't identify which vaccine it was, but said it was based on synthetic versions of a surface protein of the virus, and was intended for animal use.

Veterinarians routinely vaccinate wildlife against a range of diseases, both in captivity and in their natural environment.

© 2021 AFP