Cuba tipped off Colombia about looming left-wing ELN rebel attack

Issued on: 09/02/2021 - 

Colombian soldiers and police patrol during a nationwide three-day armed strike called by ELN left-wing guerrillas in Medellin, Colombia on February 15, 2020 

JOAQUIN SARMIENTO AFP/File

Bogota (AFP)

Cuba has tipped Colombia off about a plan by the left-wing ELN guerrilla group to attack Bogota in the "next few days," Colombia's defense minister said Monday.

"The Colombian government received from the Cuban ambassador... Jose Luis Ponce a communication with an alleged terrorist attack that was being planned for Colombia by the ELN group," Diego Molano said in a statement.

Since May 2018, Havana has hosted a delegation from the National Liberation Army, or ELN, the last active guerrilla organization operating in Colombia after the 2016 peace agreement by the main rebel group, the FARC, which was negotiated on the island.

The ELN rebels had been angling for a similar truce with then-president Juan Manuel Santos that would completely end the civil conflict that had stretched on for more than half a century.

But Santos' successor, President Ivan Duque, broke off talks after the ELN detonated a car bomb at a police academy in Bogota that killed 22 people, in addition to the attacker, in January 2019.

Cuba said in the memo, signed by its ambassador, that it had shared the intelligence with the guerrilla delegation on the island, but that the ELN representatives "expressed total ignorance" of the plot.

The ELN delegation also "reiterated that it has no involvement in the military decisions or operations of the organization," according to the memo, released by Colombian officials.

After the breakdown of the peace process, Duque demanded that Cuba extradite the rebels in its territory, which President Miguel Diaz-Canel's government opposed.

Havana argued that there are protocols signed by Colombia and guarantor countries that provide for the ex-negotiators to be safely returned to their camps on Colombian soil.

The government of former US president Donald Trump used Cuba's refusal as an argument to include the island nation again on its list of countries that sponsor terrorism.

The ELN has some 2,300 combatants and an extensive support network in urban centers. Bogota also condemned the fact that a significant number of the rebels are in Venezuela under the protection of "the dictatorship of Nicolas Maduro."

India's rural rebellions -- it's all in the family

Issued on: 09/02/2021 -

Rakesh Tikait (C) has revived a campaign by Indian farmers against agricultural reforms that they say will allow corporate giants to overtake the industry 

Sajjad HUSSAIN AFP/File


New Delhi (AFP)

The Tikait family has a history of being a thorn in the side of Indian governments that take on the country's farmers, and their emotional appeal has again energised a showdown with authorities.

Three decades after his father led a massive protest into the capital, Rakesh Tikait has revived a campaign against agricultural reforms that had quieted after a rally last month turned into an ugly rampage.

Sat in a cold protest camp on the outskirts of Delhi with police building barricades, the internet cut and some farmers drifting away, the 51-year-old lit a fuse with his ultimatum.

"If the laws are not repealed, Rakesh Tikait will commit suicide," he said in a tearful video.

His message spread like wildfire on social media around Punjab and Haryana states and beyond.

Tikait also refused an order to vacate the Ghazipur protest camp and the next day a new wave of tractors carrying thousands more protestors arrived.

"Everyone cried that day, it wasn't just Tikait," said Giriraj Saini a farmer from Uttar Pradesh state who spent hours manoeuvring through barricades and diversions to reach the camp at the crack of dawn after seeing the video.

"It's like a rebirth of the protest," said Kuldeep Tyagi, a protestor from Haryana.

Since November, tens of thousands of farmers opposing new free market reforms have posed the biggest challenge to Prime Minister Narendra Modi since he came to power in 2014.

The Hindu nationalist government says the changes will bring new investment to a sector that employs about two thirds of Indians and will boost rural incomes.

Farmers say corporate giants will overtake the industry and the loss of longstanding guaranteed minimum prices will ruin them.

The tussle took an international turn earlier this month when pop superstar Rihanna and climate activist Greta Thunberg tweeted their support for the farmers, sparking furious reactions from Modi fans in Bollywood and India's sporting world.

- Father's shadow -

Rakesh Tikait has suddenly become the face of the protests like his father, Mahendra Tikait, was in 1988.

Tikait senior marshalled around 500,000 farmers onto the lawns in front of the government complex in the capital to force an increase in sugar cane prices.

Rakesh now pours scorn on the government on a stage at the Ghazipur protest site covered with posters of his father.

He says he is aware of the family comparisons, particularly in his native Uttar Pradesh.

"I will rise to their expectations. I will finish what I have come for," he told AFP.

In the past week, tens of thousands of people have flocked to rallies to hear him condemn Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which he had allied with for the 2009 elections.

Tikait was also named -- along with BJP politicians -- in an official investigation into communal riots in Uttar Pradesh in 2013. And Defence Minister Rajnath Singh appeared with Tikait at a 2015 commemoration for his late father.

But now, his sharp words for his former allies are hitting home.

People line up each day to take selfies with Tikait and hand over donations from their villages. The government knows it has a fight on its hands.

Journalist and commentator Ajoy Bose said Tikait's mobilisation of the farmers has become a big "headache" for the government which thought it was finished with the protests after a January 26 rally turned violent and left hundreds injured.

"It's difficult to vilify him. He's mainstream so you can't call him anti-national, and he's not Sikh so one can't even bring in the Sikh extremism angle," Bose said. Many of the protesting farmers are Sikhs from Punjab.

Tikait says the protests could go on for months, no matter if water supplies are cut and barbed wire fences surround the camp.

Harinder Rana, a 69-year-old farmer from Haryana, said Modi had "messed with the wrong person".

"He (Tikait) will not let you go this time," he said.

© 2021 AFP

Climate-driven temperature swings slow economic growth

Issued on: 08/02/2021 - 

Climate change caused by the burning of fossil fuels is causing

 planet-wide temperature rises that have intensified deadly droughts,

 heatwaves, floods and superstorms 

AHMAD AL-RUBAYE AFP/File

Paris (AFP)

Increasingly erratic weather caused by global warming threatens global economic growth, scientists warned Monday with a report showing that even short-lived climate volatility can have a significant impact.

Climate change caused by the burning of fossil fuels is causing planet-wide temperature rises that have intensified deadly droughts, heatwaves, floods and superstorms.

But researchers from Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK), Columbia University and the Mercator Research Institute on Global Commons and Climate Change said impact studies often look at annual averages, rather than the effects of day-to-day temperature fluctuations.

"The real problem caused by a changing climate are the unexpected impacts, because they are more difficult to adapt to," said co-author Anders Levermann from PIK and Columbia, adding that these rapid changes work differently to long term ones.

"Farmers and other businesses around the world have started to adapt to climate change. But what if weather becomes simply more erratic and unpredictable?"

The study, published in Nature Climate Change, compared day-to-day temperature fluctuations between 1979 and 2018 with the corresponding regional economic data from more than 1,500 regions worldwide.

They found that an extra degree Celsius of variability -- up or down -- results in an average five percentage-point reduction in regional growth rates.

- Poor regions hit hardest -

Parts of the economy hit by these daily temperature swings include crop yields, human health and sales, the authors said.

"Policy makers and industry need to take this into account when discussing the real cost of climate change," Levermann said in a statement.

Economies like Canada or Russia, where average monthly temperature varies by more than 40 degrees Celsius within a year, seemed better able to cope with daily volatility than parts of Latin America or Southeast Asia, where temperatures can fluctuate as little as 3C, said Leonie Wenz of PIK.

"Furthermore, income protects against losses," Wenz said.

"Even if at similar latitude, economies in poor regions are more strongly affected when daily temperature fluctuates than their counterparts in rich regions."

In 2015, the world's nations vowed to cap global warming "well below" 2C, and 1.5C if possible.

A subsequent report from the UN's climate science advisory panel, the IPCC, left no doubt that 1.5C was the safer threshold. There has been just over 1C of warming so far.

The six years since 2015 are the six warmest ever registered, as are 20 of the last 21, evidence of a persistent and deepening trend, the European Union's Copernicus Climate Change Service has said.

© 2021 AFP

SOLIDARITY NOT CHARITY

Romanian opera star Gheorghiu to perform in aid of New York's Met musicians


Issued on: 08/02/2021 - 

Romanian soprano Angela Gheorghiu performing in Vienna in February 2012. DIETER NAGL AFP/Archives

Text by: NEWS WIRES

Romanian soprano Angela Gheorghiu has announced she will lend her voice to help the musicians of New York's Metropolitan Opera (Met), deprived of their pay because of virus-related cancellations of their shows.

"On February 21, through the wonders of technology, I will perform for you Dvorak's 'Song to the Moon' and Anton Pann's 'Tatal Nostru' (Our Father) in a special arrangement by (composer) Andrei Tudor," she wrote on Facebook late Sunday.

I am very happy to have a special appearance on the next MET Orchestra Spotlight Series on Sunday, February 21st, at 3PM...Posted by Angela Gheorghiu on Friday, 5 February 2021

Considered one of the world's greatest opera singers, Gheorghiu, 55, will perform in Bucharest alongside pianist Alexandru Petrovici, to the accompaniment of the Met Orchestra from New York.

Tickets for the performance, which can be watched online, have gone on sale for $15 (12.5 euros).

Gheorghiu said the proceeds would "benefit over 150 Met musicians in need".


In an interview with the Romanian channel Digi24, Gheorghiu said that the musicians "had not received their salaries for a year and were in a very difficult situation".

The soprano rejected the term "charity concert", stressing that she felt a "human and professional need" to support the cause.

"An artist is important only alongside one's artistic family," she said. "Without an orchestra or choir we cannot do anything."

Gheorghiu will perform for the recital in Bucharest's elegant Athenaeum concert hall, built by the French architect Albert Galleron and inaugurated in 1888.


"This is my cathedral," Gheorghiu said of the venue, recalling that she gave her first recital there at the age of 17.

The Met's general manager Peter Gelb told AFP in September that his institution was going through "the most difficult period" in 137 years of existence.

The last eight weeks of the 2019-20 season and the whole of the following one have been cancelled, which is expected to result in a shortfall of $154 million.

(AFP)

Anti-vaccine stronghold emerges in Mexican highlands

CHIAPAS IS ZAPATISTA COUNTRY

Issued on: 08/02/2021 -
O

Only two of the more than 24,000 residents of the Mexican town of San Juan Cancuc are said to want the coronavirus vaccine Isaac GUZMAN AFP

San Juan Cancuc (México) (AFP)

An indigenous town in the highlands of southern Mexico is home to traditional weavers, farmers, ruins, a market -- and possibly the country's most ardent community of coronavirus vaccine skeptics.

While many in the pandemic-plagued nation are waiting impatiently to be immunized, officials in San Juan Cancuc in the state of Chiapas say only two of the more than 24,000 residents want the shot.

According to community leaders, it is a reflection of the low number of cases in the area, as well as worries about vaccine safety and the residents' confidence in their good health.

"Thank God -- until now, there's no pandemic here. No one has died," said local civil protection chief Marcelino Garcia.

In stark contrast to the situation in much of the country, the hospital where Garcia works appears to be empty.

At the market and local sports center, no one wears a face mask.

When the town recently held a consultation about the coronavirus vaccine, almost none of the residents said they were willing to have it, according to Mayor Jose Lopez.

"Only two people voluntarily want to get the vaccine," he said in a report last week to Mexican health authorities.

The overwhelming rejection came after the benefits and possible adverse effects of the shot were explained at a town assembly, according to Lopez.

While it is not yet clear how widespread anti-vaccine sentiment is in other indigenous communities, it could complicate the government's efforts to tame the pandemic gripping Mexico.

- 'Don't blame anyone' -

So far, only three cases of Covid-19 have been reported in San Juan Cancuc, none of which required hospitalization.

The residents, who belong to the Tzeltal ethnic group, grow their own vegetables and believe that "their bodies are totally healthy," Garcia said.

Rumors have also made people worried that "vaccines bring diseases," he added.

The two people who do want to get inoculated were warned they would do so at their own risk, and "if something happens, don't blame anyone," he said.

Jaime, an auto rickshaw driver in his mid-20s, is among San Juan Cancuc's vaccine skeptics.

"I don't believe" in Covid-19, he said.

With around 166,000 known coronavirus deaths, Mexico is one of the countries worst hit by the pandemic.

More than 1.9 million cases have been recorded in the country of 126 million people, around 7.3 million of whom speak an indigenous language, according to a census last year.

In Chiapas, which has registered 1,375 Covid-19 deaths, rumors that disinfection work was spreading the virus sparked riots in some areas last year.

While the government has assured Mexicans that coronavirus vaccines are safe, President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has promised they will be voluntary, saying: "The most important thing is freedom."

Lopez Obrador said Monday that he had recovered from his own bout with the novel coronavirus.

© 2021 AFP

Mourners demand justice as shot street artist buried in Chile

Issued on: 08/02/2021 - 

Mourners at the funeral of juggler Francisco Martinez, who was shot by police, call for justice 

MARTIN BERNETTI AFP

Santiago (AFP)

Around 100 mourners demanded justice on Monday at the funeral of a street artist killed by Chilean police during a search.

Juggler Francisco Martinez, who was 27, was fatally shot by an officer after refusing to cooperate with a police identity check in the south of the country.

He was buried in the capital Santiago at a ceremony attended by family members, friends and other street artists who played music and chanted "justice for Francisco" as well as slogans against the police and the government of President Sebastian Pinera.

The funeral turned violent as mourners attacked press teams covering the event, forcing them to flee under a hail of blows and rocks, pictures published by local media showed.

Martinez died in Panguipulli on Friday, some 530 miles (850 kilometers) south of Santiago.

Martinez refused to co-operate with officers checking identity cards while he was juggling with swords on a busy street.

The check resulted in a dispute that ended with one of the agents firing at the street artist, according to a video widely circulated by local channels and on social media.

The fatal shooting sparked indignation across the country and violent protests in Panguipulli, where demonstrators torched a public building.

Chile's security forces were already under fire for the violent reaction to months of protests against social injustice that exploded in October 2019 and resulted in accusations of human rights abuses.

© 2021 AFP

Sudan announces new cabinet with

 ex-rebels as ministers

Issued on: 08/02/2021 

Sudanese Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok speaks during a press conference in Khartoum on Monday, when he announced a new cabinet bringing in ex-rebel chiefs as ministers ASHRAF SHAZLY AFP

Khartoum (AFP)

Sudan's Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok announced Monday a new cabinet bringing in seven ex-rebel chiefs as ministers, following a peace deal in October aimed to end decades of war.

Veteran rebel leader and economist Gibril Ibrahim, of the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) -- which played a major role in the Darfur conflict -- was appointed as Sudan's new finance minister.

"We have reached consensus on over 25 ministries," Hamdok said, during a press conference in Khartoum.

"This lineup aims to preserve this country from collapse... we know there will be challenges but we are certain that we will move forward."

Hamdok dissolved the previous cabinet on Sunday to make way for a more inclusive lineup in government.

Two ministers were selected from the military, with the remaining coming from the Forces for Freedom and Change group, which plays a key role in Sudanese politics.

The group was the driving force behind the anti-government protests that led to the April 2019 ouster of strongman Omar al-Bashir.

Hamdok named as foreign minister Mariam al-Sadiq al-Mahdi, daughter of Sudan's last democratically elected prime minister, Sadiq al-Mahdi, who died aged 84 in November from a coronavirus infection.

He was toppled by Bashir in a 1989 Islamist-backed military coup.

- Economic challenges -

Last week, Sudan appointed three ex-rebels to the ruling sovereign council, the civilian-majority ruling body led by General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, which was installed months after Bashir's ouster.

It follows the peace deal last year between the transitional government and the Sudan Revolutionary Front (SRF), a coalition of five rebel groups and four political movements, including the troubled western region of Darfur.

Hamdok said he is still pushing for talks with two remaining holdout groups who did not sign the deal.

Fighting in Darfur since 2003 left at least 300,000 people dead and 2.5 million displaced, according to the UN.

Hamdok said his government will continue with completing other pillars of the peace agreement, including establishing a transitional parliament by February 25.

Despite the October peace deal, violence continues in Darfur, a vast and impoverished region awash with weapons where bitter rivalries over land and water remain.

Hamdok said the new government will focus on fixing the ailing economy.

Sudan's economy was decimated under Bashir by decades of US sanctions, mismanagement and civil war, as well as the independence of oil-rich South Sudan in 2011.

Galloping inflation, chronic hard currency shortages, and a flourishing black market remain pressing challenges, with protests in recent weeks at the worsening economy.

Ibrahim, the new finance minister, taught as an economist at universities in Khartoum and Saudi Arabia, before he took over leadership of the JEM rebels when his brother Khalil was killed in an 2011 airstrike.

The government will also have to tackle stormy relations with neighbouring Addis Ababa, amid both border tensions and long-running negotiations -- along with Egypt -- over the controversial Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam on the Blue Nile.

Facebook ramps up effort to curb vaccine hoaxes

Issued on: 08/02/2021

Facebook announced fresh moves to curb the spread of coronavirus misinformation in coordination with global health authorities Olivier DOULIERY AFP/File

San Francisco (AFP)

Facebook on Monday said it is ramping up efforts to stem the spread of misinformation about Covid-19 vaccines, spread facts, and figure out who might be wary of getting the jab.

The move includes banning groups which repeatedly spread misinformation and debunked claims about the virus and vaccines.

The leading social network has been highlighting health advice from reliable agencies and removing Covid-19 misinformation for months and on Monday expanded that initiative.

A list of debunked claims about the virus of vaccines not welcomed at Facebook was updated with the help of the Worth Health Organization.

Groups or accounts that share such misinformation may be removed completely from the social network, Facebook warned. Debunked information about vaccines or the pandemic is already banned in ads at the social network.

People in charge of groups at the social network were told to require posts of members prone to spreading bogus information to be approved before being shared.

At Facebook-owned Instagram, accounts of people discouraging Covid-19 vaccinations will be harder to find using automated search tools, according to the social network.

Facebook said that it has gotten more than 50 million responses to a Covid-19 survey it launched last year in a collaboration with two US universities.

It was designed to gather insights from people about Covid-19 symptoms, mask wearing, and access to care.

"The survey program is one of the largest ever conducted and has helped health researchers better monitor and forecast the spread of Covid-19," Facebook said.

"The survey data will provide a better understanding of trends in vaccine intent across sociodemographics, race, geography and more."

Survey findings about vaccine attitudes will be shared globally, according to the social network.

US Sanctions hurt Venezuela economy, 

US government study says

Issued on: 08/02/2021 -

A man uses a mobile phone in front of a sign displaying prices in US dollars in December 2020 outside a clothing store in Venezuela's capital Caracas, which has been ravaged by hyperinflation and other economic problems Federico PARRA AFP/File

Washington (AFP)

US sanctions have likely contributed to Venezuela's economic deterioration and have caused obstacles for humanitarian workers, a study by a US government watchdog said Monday.

The assessment by the Government Accountability Office, requested by Democratic lawmakers, comes as President Joe Biden looks set to fine-tune Venezuela policy but largely preserve his predecessor's unsuccessful goal of toppling leftist leader Nicolas Maduro.

"The US sanctions likely contributed to the decline of the Venezuelan economy, mainly by further limiting its revenue from crude oil exports," the report said.

It pointed to the sanctions Donald imposed by Donald Trump's administration on state oil firm PDVSA, saying that buyers of Venezuela's key export shied away or were able to negotiate lower prices.

But the report did not quantify a figure and noted that there were plenty of other factors behind Venezuela's economic collapse, including mismanagement by the government.

It did not directly say if sanctions hurt ordinary Venezuelans rather than the government and noted that the United States has emphasized that it is not restricting humanitarian goods.

"However, despite US agency efforts to mitigate the negative humanitarian consequences of sanctions, humanitarian organizations assisting Venezuelans are still experiencing some challenges delivering assistance, including delays in processing financial transactions and transfers," it said.

The report recommended that the Treasury Department do more to track complaints from humanitarian workers to address recurrent problems.

Representative Andy Levin, one of the lawmakers who requested the report, said it "makes clear that sanctions imposed by the United States made a dire situation worse."

"With this new administration, we have an opportunity to pursue foreign policy guided by our values," he said.

"Let us take the lessons of this report to heart and use them to craft a more thoughtful, humane and effective approach moving forward."

The Biden administration plans one key shift by shielding Venezuelans in the United States from deportation -- a step refused by the anti-immigration Trump despite his tough talk against Maduro.

But State Department spokesman Ned Price made clear that the new administration does not plan dialogue anytime soon with Maduro, who has voiced hope of improving ties with Biden.

The United States and most Western and Latin American nations declared Maduro to be illegitimate two years ago after an election that drew wide reports of irregularities.

More than five million Venezuelans have fled the crumbling economy but Maduro remains in power with support from the military, Russia, China and Cuba.

© 2021 AFP

Lawrence of Arabia's legendary Brough motorcycles reborn in French revival

Issued on: 08/02/2021 - 

Vintage items are displayed, on January 28, 2021 at the Brough

 Superior Motorcycles factory in Saint-Jean, southwestern France. 

AFP - LIONEL BONAVENTURE

Text by: WEB NEWS

Brough motorcycles, favourites of the writer, spy and gentleman adventurer T.E. Lawrence, are making a comeback — not in their former home in England, but deep in the southwest of France.

Production of Brough bikes, of which the historic figure known as "Lawrence of Arabia" owned seven, ended in 1940 when the factory in Nottingham was requisitioned for Britain's war effort.

Manufacture didn't resume after the war, but the bike's memory was kept alive over the decades by diehard — and flush — fans, with prices for the bikes sometimes reaching $600,000 at auction.

In the meantime the motorcycle world embarked on a nostalgic love affair with famed old British brands, with Royal Enfield, now Indian-owned, and Triumph leading the neo-vintage way.

'The most beautiful'

Brough fans had to wait much longer for a revival, which began to take shape only in 2013 when Frenchman Thierry Henriette, a former Toulouse motorbike salesman, met with Briton Mark Upham, who had bought the Brough Superior trademark five years earlier.

Within three months Henriette came up with a prototype for a new Brough that won cheers when he presented it at the Milan bike show.

Henriette started production, first under licence, before taking over the brand in 2018.

"I always thought Brough was the most beautiful motorbike brand," Henriette told AFP.

Production is based near Toulouse in southwest France, but Henriette wanted continuity with the brand's English tradition.

It was an important moment when members of the Brough Superior Club made the trip to France on their 1930s bikes to give the venture their blessing.

'The English will forgive you'

"What we're doing is heritage theft," acknowledged Albert Castaigne, Brough Superior's CEO. "But if you do it well, the English will forgive you."

The memory of T.E. Lawrence, bike lover, supporter of an Arab rebellion during World War I and author of the "Seven Pillars of Wisdom", is a big factor for the longevity of the Brough legend.

Lawrence kept a regular correspondence with Brough's founder George Brough, got a say in the bikes' design, and acquired seven, four of which were S.S. 100s, the model that still gets the hearts of aficionados racing.

He died in the Dorset countryside when he crashed his sixth Brough before he could take delivery of the seventh, a scene memorably captured in David Lean's 1962 epic film starring Peter O'Toole as Lawrence.

The ultra-modern factory in Saint-Jean will deliver around 100 Brough bikes this year, at a price tag of 60,000 to 100,000 euros ($72,000-$120,000), with customisation costing extra.

Brough offers three neo-retro models: a contemporary version of Lawrence's S.S. 100, a scrambler and an art-deco effort to mark the brand's centenary.

"We have customers in a dozen countries in Europe, in Russia, Australia, Mexico and soon in the United States," Henriette said. 

A new version of an old dream Lionel BONAVENTURE AFP

'Worth the money'

One of them is Patrick Blandinet, a businessman in his 60s based in the French Caribbean department of Guadeloupe, who came over to see the factory, customise his bike and "indulge myself", he said.

"I asked for a gold-leafed logo on the tank," said Blandinet, calling his brand-new bike "a gem" and "worth the money".

The availability of qualified sub-contractors in the Toulouse region, thanks to the Airbus production there, is "indispensable" for Brough, which requires high-value materials including titanium, carbon fibre and speciality steel, Castaigne said.

"You should be able to place every component of the bike on a table and consider them to be both technically accomplished and beautiful," Henriette said.

Brough has also started a collaboration with Aston Martin of James Bond fame, whose first motorcycle, called the AMB01, will be made by Brough.

Ten units of the futuristic-looking Aston Martin bikes are already at the assembly stage.

(AFP)