In conservative Kuwait, women launch their own #MeToo movement



Issued on: 09/02/2021 -

Dozens of testimonies about women being stalked, 

harassed or assaulted have emerged online, focused 

on the Instagram account 'Lan Asket',

Arabic for 'I will not be silent' 

YASSER AL-ZAYYAT AFP/File

Kuwait City (AFP)

Women in Kuwait are defying conservative norms and a culture of "shame" to speak out against harassment for the first time, in a social media campaign sparked by a popular fashion blogger.

Dozens of testimonies about being stalked, harassed or assaulted have emerged online, focused on the Instagram account "Lan Asket", Arabic for "I will not be silent".

Kuwaiti fashion blogger Ascia Al Faraj, who has more than 2.5 million social media followers, said in an explosive video uploaded last week that there is a "problem" in the country.

"Every time I go out, there is someone who harasses me or harasses another woman in the street," she said in the emotionally charged video uploaded after a vehicle sped up to "scare" her while she was walking to her car.

"Do you have no shame? We have a problem of harassment in this country, and I have had enough."

Faraj's video sparked a nationwide movement in a country where the #MeToo campaign that took off in the United States in 2017 did not make much of an impact.

Radio and TV shows have hosted activists, lawyers and academics to discuss the issue of harassment, and the US embassy in Kuwait also threw its weight behind the women.

"A campaign worth supporting. We can all do more to prevent harassment against women, whether in the US or in Kuwait. #Lan_asket," it said in a tweet last week.

The embassy also tweeted a striking graphic that illustrates the campaign -- images of three women, one unveiled, one with a headscarf, and another with her face covered -- and bearing the slogan "Don't harass her".

Activists have also emphasised that foreign women who make up a large portion of the Kuwaiti population, many in menial roles, are among the most vulnerable to assault and abuse.

- 'Silence not an option' -

Shayma Shamo, a 27-year-old doctor who studied abroad and moved back to Kuwait last year, launched the "Lan Asket" platform after seeing Faraj's video.

"As soon as I opened the account, the messages started to pour in... from women and girls that have experienced verbal, physical and sexual harassment," she told AFP.

Faraj said in another video uploaded later that week that she had also received "intense stories" by Indian, Pakistani and Filipina women working in Kuwait.

"The expat community here is incredibly vulnerable and are sometimes harassed at a level that Kuwaiti women will never understand," she said.

While there has been tremendous support online, the movement has also faced a backlash from conservative voices who say women should simply dress conservatively to avoid harassment.

"Silence is no longer an option. We must speak up, unite and defend each other because what is happening is unacceptable," Shamo told AFP.

Rothna Begum, a senior researcher at Human Rights Watch, said women were taking the fore in a society where, like many in the Middle East, police often do not take such abuses seriously, and the fear of bringing shame to families silences many.

"These accounts being published are incredibly important to give Kuwaitis a sense of what harassment actually looks like and the terrible harm it causes," she told AFP.

- 'Shame' culture -

The Arabic word "ayb", or shame in English, is a term that most girls growing up in the region learn at a very early age.

"Going to the police station is 'ayb' and talking about harassment is 'ayb'," said Shamo.

"As soon as a woman starts to speak about being harassed, the questions from family members start: What were you wearing? Who were you with? What time was it?"

But Kuwaiti women are pushing the boundaries of their society, considered one of the most open in the Gulf region, and where a law against harassment exists on the books, but where discussions about gender-based violence remain taboo.

Lulu Al-Aslawi, a Kuwait media personality whose Instagram feed features her in glossy fashion shoots, said she has been bullied online for the way she dresses.

"Girls don't speak up over fears of being stigmatised, but we will not stop until we overcome this cancer in society," she told AFP.

© 2021 AFP

Hackers try to poison Florida town's water supply through computer breach

Screen shot of Reuters video of sign in City of Oldsmar, Florida. 

© Reuters
Text by:NEWS WIRES


Hackers broke into the computer system of a facility that treats water for about 15,000 people near Tampa, Florida and sought to add a dangerous level of additive to the water supply, the Pinellas County Sheriff said on Monday.

The attempt on Friday was thwarted. The hackers remotely gained access to a software program, named TeamViewer, on the computer of an employee at the facility for the town of Oldsmar to gain control of other systems, Sheriff Bob Gualtieri said in an interview.

"The guy was sitting there monitoring the computer as he's supposed to and all of a sudden he sees a window pop up that the computer has been accessed," Gualtieri said. "The next thing you know someone is dragging the mouse and clicking around and opening programs and manipulating the system."

The hackers then increased the amount of sodium hydroxide, also known as lye, being distributed into the water supply. The chemical is typically used in small amounts to control the acidity of water, but at higher levels is dangerous to consume.

The plant employee alerted his employer, who called the sheriff. The water treatment facility was able to quickly reverse the command, leading to minimal impact.

Oldsmar Mayor Eric Seidel said in a press conference on Monday that the affected water treatment facility also had other controls in place that would have prevented a dangerous amount of lye from entering the water supply unnoticed.

"The amount of sodium hydroxide that got in was minimal and was reversed quickly," Gualtieri said. The affected water treatment facility is a public utility owned by the town, he explained, which has its own internal IT team. Oldsmar is about 17 miles northwest of Tampa and has about 15,000 residents.

TeamViewer, which says on its website that its software has been installed on 2.5 billion devices worldwide, enables remote technical support among other applications.

The FBI and Secret Service have been called in to assist in an investigation. Gualtieri said he does not know who is responsible for the cyberattack.

"The important thing is to put everyone on notice,” he said. "This should be a wake-up call."

(REUTERS)

US forces not protecting Syrian oil fields: Pentagon

Issued on: 09/02/2021 -

A US Bradley Fighting Vehicle patrols near oil production facilities in Syria's northeastern Hasakah province in early February

Delil SOULEIMAN AFP


Washington (AFP)

US forces in Syria are focused on fighting the remnants of the Islamic State group and are not guarding oil fields as previously ordered by ex-president Donald Trump, a US defense official said Monday.

Since a US firm contracted last year with the Kurds in northern Syria to help exploit northeastern Syria oil reserves, US troops are not involved, said Pentagon spokesman John Kirby.

The 900 US military personnel and contractors in the region "are not authorized to provide assistance to any other private company, including its employees or agents, seeking to develop oil resources in Syria," said Kirby.


The only exception is when US troops in Syria are operating under existing authorizations to protect civilians, he said, which could explain the continuing presence of US forces around the area of the oil fields.

"It's important to remember that our mission there remains to enable the enduring defeat of ISIS," he said, referring to the Islamic State.

The shift is more a change in tone by the new US President Joe Biden from Trump's policy for the decade-old Syrian civil war.

The main oil fields are in territory in the country's northeast, a region where the US-allied Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces hold sway and depend on the oil for income.

In 2019, after the Syria-Iraq Islamic State "caliphate" was crushed by US and allied forces, Trump declared that US troops would mostly withdraw from the country, leaving behind a residual force to "protect" the oil.

US officials said at the time that they were there to prevent the oil fields from falling into the hands of extremists.

The next year a previously unknown US oil company, Delta Crescent Energy, signed a deal with the Kurds to exploit the oil deposits.

© 2021 AFP

#Haiti opposition names interim leader as political crisis deepens

Issued on: 09/02/2021 - 

A man holds a photograph of Supreme Court Judge Joseph Mecene Jean-Louis during protests against Haiti's President Jovenel Moise, in Port-au-Prince, Haiti February 8, 2021. 

© REUTERS/Jeanty Junior Augustin

Text by: NEWS WIRES

The Haitian opposition on Monday escalated a constitutional crisis by naming a magistrate as an interim leader for the troubled Caribbean country amid a dispute over when the term of President Jove Moisten ends

Political tension was exacerbated on Sunday when Moisten alleged there had been an attempt to overthrow the government and 23 people were arrested, including a Supreme Court judge and a senior police official.

The opposition dismissed the suggestion of a coup attempt, and said Moise should have stepped down on Feb. 7 when it says his five-year term ended.

The president has vowed to stay in power until February 2022, pointing out that an interim administration had governed for a year after he was elected in a disputed poll that was canceled by the electoral council.

Moise took power in 2017 after fresh elections.

Magistrate Joseph Mecene Jean Louis, 72, said in a video message that he had been chosen by the opposition to replace Moise, who the opposition accuses of being authoritarian and presiding over a crippling economic crisis.

"I declare to accept the choice of the opposition and the civil society to be able to serve my country as the provisional president," Jean Louis said.

Moise, who has ruled by decree since January last year, has stated he would hand over power to the winner of the September presidential election but would not step down until his term expires in 2022.

The United States, which is the biggest donor to Haiti, appears to have backed Moise's timeline, saying the new president should take office in February next year.

On Monday, Moise held a cabinet meeting and said on Twitter the government is "taking all measures to ensure the safety of the population".

Haiti's executive branch, consisting of the president, prime minister and ministers, published a decree announcing three Supreme Court judges who were approached by the opposition to replace Moise as president are to be retired.

Haiti's military on Monday said it was concerned about political events but appeared to back Moise, saying it would defend the rule of law and "legitimate authorities democratically elected by the population".

Earlier in the day, two journalists covering a small protest were shot in the capital and one of them is in a serious condition, according to news outlets and videos uploaded on social media.

Andre Michel, an opposition figure, told Reuters that the opposition would keep up its protests against the government this week.

"The mobilization must continue to force Jovenel Moise to leave office," Michel said. "We hope that the international community will support our approach."

(REUTERS)

#Haiti opposition names interim leader as presidency fight rages

Issued on: 08/02/2021

Haiti's political crisis intensified on Sunday, as the opposition claimed 

President Jovenel Moise's term had expired Valerie Baeriswyl AFP


Port-au-Prince (AFP)

The struggle over Haiti's presidency intensified Monday as opposition politicians named their own leader of the country in an effort to drive out President Jovenel Moise, whose term they say has expired.

The smouldering political crisis flared up Sunday, when officials claimed they had foiled an attempt to murder the president and overthrow the government.

Moise has been governing without any checks on his power for the past year and says he is president until February 7, 2022 -- an interpretation of the constitution rejected by the opposition, which led to protests asserting his term ended on Sunday.

Some small demonstrations took place over the weekend, which included clashes with police, but residents of the capital Port-au-Prince largely stayed at home in a nation gripped by political uncertainty and a resurgence of kidnappings for ransom.

In a video statement sent to AFP, judge Joseph Mecene Jean-Louis, 72, said he "accepted the choice of the opposition and civil society, to serve (his) country as interim president for the transition."

But the United States has accepted Moise's claim to power and he appears to have retained leadership of the Caribbean island nation, which has a long history of instability and deep poverty worsened by natural disasters.

- Disputed elections -

Former senator Youri Latortue said that the transition period was expected to last around 24 months.

"There's a two-year roadmap laid out, with the establishing of a national conference, the setting out of a new constitution and the holding of elections," he said.

The opposition has also attacked the claim Moise was targeted by a coup attempt, saying he was no longer legally the president.

"We are waiting for Jovenel Moise to leave the National Palace (the president's official office) so that we can get on with installing Mr Mecene Jean-Louis," opposition figure Andre Michel told AFP.

The dispute over when the president's term ends stems from Moise's original election: he was voted into office in a poll subsequently canceled after allegations of fraud, and then elected again a year later, in 2016.

After that poll was also disputed, demonstrations demanding his resignation intensified in the summer of 2018.

Voting to elect deputies, senators, mayors and local officials should have been held in 2018, but the elections have been delayed, triggering the vacuum in which Moise says he is entitled to stay for another year.

At present Haiti lacks institutions that could break the stalemate over the presidency. The Constitutional Council, which should have decided on the length of the presidential term, only exists on paper.

Nor can the Senate establish itself as a high court as the law allows, because only a third of senators remain in office due to the lack of elections under the Moise administration.

In the last presidential elections, barely more than 20 percent of voters took part in the ballot that brough Moise to power.

© 2021 AFP

Haiti 'on the verge of exploding' after allegation of failed coup

IN THE PRESS – February 8, 2021: We look at press coverage of the largest protests to hit Myanmar in over a decade. We also take a look at the increasingly fragile situation in Haiti following a failed coup attempt against President Jovenel Moise. Finally, we take a look at what critics have described as an assault on one of the most sacred traditions here in France: eating at the table.

Haitian opposition names judge as transitional president

Haitian opposition parties named a top judge as interim leader overnight Sunday, the latest attempt to oust President Jovenel Moise, whose term they say has expired. In a video statement, Judge Joseph Mecene Jean-Louis, 72, said he "accepted the choice of the opposition and civil society, to serve (his) country as interim president for the transition."

Protestors march in Myanmar's Yangon despite warnings from military


Issued on: 09/02/2021 - 

A man with a tattoo of Aung San Suu Kyi takes part in a protest against the military coup and to demand the release of the elected leader in Yangon, Myanmar, February 8, 2021.

 © REUTERS

Text by: FRANCE 24

Video by: Alexander AUCOTT


Protesters started gathering across Myanmar's largest city of Yangon on Tuesday, defying warnings from the military threatening "action" against large gatherings.

In San Chaung township -- where gatherings are currently banned -- scores of teachers marched on the main road, waving a defiant three-finger salute.

Opponents of Myanmar's military coup have vowed to continue non-violent action in the face of bans on big gatherings, night curfews and road closures after the biggest demonstrations in more than a decade.

The Feb. 1 coup and detention of elected civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi brought three days of protests across the Southeast Asian country of 53 million and a growing civil disobedience movement affecting hospitals, schools and government offices.

Promises on Monday from junta leader Min Aung Hlaing to eventually hold a new election in his first address since seizing power drew scorn. He repeated unproven accusations of fraud in last November's election, won by Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) in a landslide.

"We will continue to fight," said a statement from youth activist Maung Saungkha, calling for the release of political prisoners and the "complete collapse of dictatorship" as well as the abolition of a constitution that gave the army a veto in parliament and for federalism in ethnically-divided Myanmar.

An older generation of activists formed during bloodily supressed protests in 1988 called for the continuation of the strike action by government workers for another three weeks.

"We also request the protesters in the whole nation to be united and systematically help each other," said the statement from Min Ko Naing on behalf of the 88 Generation group.

After tens of thousands of people took to the streets across Myanmar, local orders banning gatherings of more than four people were imposed. The U.S. Embassy said it had received reports of an 8 p.m. to 4 a.m. local time curfew in the two biggest cities, Yangon and Mandalay.

Bridges connecting central Yangon to populous districts outside were shut on Tuesday, residents said.

There was no further comment from authorities on the measures to stop protesters.

Some coup opponents suggested on social media that people should meet in groups of four to protest to get around the ban on large gatherings.

Election promise

In his first televised address as junta leader on Monday, Min Aung Hlaing said the junta would form a "true and disciplined democracy," different to previous eras of military rule which left Myanmar in isolation and poverty.

"We will have a multiparty election and we will hand the power to the one who wins in that election, according to the rules of democracy," he said. The electoral commission had dismissed his accusations of fraud in last year's ballot.

Min Aung Hlaing gave no time frame but the junta has said a state of emergency will last one year.

The comments brought angry responses on social media, with some people posting pictures of themselves putting one finger up at the television as he spoke.

Western governments have widely condemned the coup, although there has been little concrete action so far to put pressure on the generals.

The U.N. Security Council has called for the release of Suu Kyi and other detainees. The U.N. Human Rights Council will hold a special session on Friday to discuss the crisis at the behest of Britain and the European Union.

The administration of U.S. President Joe Biden has said it is considering targeted sanctions. It said on Monday it was "moving quickly" to form its response.

In a letter on Monday, a senior member of Suu Kyi's NLD asked U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to "use all available means...to ensure a swift reversal of the coup".

Suu Kyi won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991 for campaigning for democracy and spent nearly 15 years under house arrest as she struggled to end almost half a century of army rule.

The 75-year-old has been kept incommunicado since her arrest. She faces charges of illegally importing six walkie-talkies and is being held in police detention until Feb. 15.

Her lawyer said he has not been allowed to see her. The U.S. State Department said it had made both formal and informal efforts to reach her, but was denied.

Suu Kyi remains hugely popular at home despite damage to her international reputation over the plight of the Muslim Rohingya minority.

(FRANCE 24 with REUTERS and AFP)

New rallies in Myanmar's Yangon despite military warnings

Issued on: 09/02/2021 - 

Since the junta staged a coup on February 1 and ousted Myanmar's 
leader Aung San Suu Kyi from power, waves of dissent have swept 
the country -- with hundreds of thousands amassing in major cities 
STR AFP/File

Yangon (AFP)

Protesters started rallying across Myanmar's largest city of Yangon on Tuesday, defying warnings from the military threatening "action" against large gatherings.

Since the junta staged a coup on February 1 and ousted Myanmar's leader Aung San Suu Kyi from power, waves of dissent have swept the country -- with hundreds of thousands amassing in major cities.

By Monday, the military issued a stern warning on state TV, vowing to take "action... against offences that disturb, prevent and destroy the state's stability".

Curfews and a ban on gatherings were also announced for hotspot areas across the country, including Yangon's San Chaung and Kamayut townships -- the main spots where protesters converged in recent days.

But in San Chaung township, about 200 teachers defied the orders Tuesday, carrying banners saying "We are teachers, We want justice" and waving a three-fingered salute -- a gesture borrowed from pro-democracy movements across Asia.

"Free Daw Aung San Suu Kyi!" they yelled as they marched down the main road, where cars passing by honked their horns in support.

"Down with the military dictatorship!"

Across town, another group gathered in front of the headquarters of Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy party.

Wearing red -- the NLD's colours -- the protesters carried Suu Kyi's portraits and chanted for the military to free her.

Despite a tarnished reputation in the West for her handling of the Rohingya crisis, Suu Kyi remains an immensely popular figure in the country, with her party sweeping more than 80 percent of the votes in November's election.

But the army said the polls were marred by widespread voter fraud -- the reason they have used to justify the military coup.

© 2021 AFP

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