'No other option': Deadly India floods bare conflicts from hydropower boom

By Alasdair Pal

RAINI, India (Reuters) - Growing up in a remote tribal village high in the Indian Himalayas, Kundan Singh loved to play on a field by the sparkling Rishiganga river

FILE PHOTO: Kundan Singh, 48, poses for a picture near his home after a flash flood swept down a mountain valley destroying dams and bridges, in Raini village in the northern state of Uttarakhand, India, February 11, 2021. Picture taken February 11, 2021. REUTERS/Anushree Fadnavis

The 48-year-old recalls afternoons there competing in sports tournaments, surrounded by forests of pine.

Fifteen years ago, bulldozers descended on Raini village to build a dam, part of a push by India to increase hydroelectric power. The field was lost, and villagers have been in conflict with the Rishiganga Hydropower Project ever since.

The dam was swept away two weeks ago in a flash flood that also smashed bridges and another hydroelectric power station in the Dhauliganga river valley of Uttarakhand state, leaving over 200 feared dead.

Whatever the role of climate change, which is rapidly heating the world’s highest mountains, experts say rampant construction is adding to the burden weighing on rural communities across the Himalayas.

This building boom is creating conflict across the region, as shown by interviews with nearly two dozen Raini villagers, legal and technical documents, satellite imagery and photographs, and correspondence with local officials, some of it not previously reported.

“We wrote letters, we protested, we went to court, we did everything,” Singh said. “But no one heard us.”

JOBS DIDN’T COME

The 150 villagers are members of the Bhutia tribe of historically nomadic shepherds from Tibet, some of whom settled in India after a 1962 war with China closed the border.

Granted protected status with government quotas for jobs and education, many nonetheless live in poverty in the mountainous state, labouring on roads and construction sites, weaving woollen rugs and growing potatoes and pulses on small plots around a bend in the river.

Villagers were initially enthusiastic at the prospect of a power plant that promised jobs, according to court documents, the project’s impact assessment and minutes of a 2006 meeting between village leaders and representatives of the dam.

But the jobs did not come, Singh and other locals said. Those who managed to find work on the dam clashed with the owners over unpaid wages and alleged construction violations, according to court documents.

A paint company from Punjab controlled the dam during initial construction. It has not filed accounts since 2015, and its current directors could not be reached for comment. The project entered bankruptcy before being bought by the Kundan Group in 2018, and finally started operations last year. Executives at the conglomerate did not respond to calls and emails seeking comment.

As India seeks to nearly double its hydropower capacity by 2030, construction of dams in the region is increasingly leading to disagreements between plant owners and locals, said Himanshu Thakkar, coordinator of the South Asia Network on Dams, Rivers and People, which has studied the conflicts.

“It happens with many projects,” he said. “People want to resist and oppose, but project developers… will always make promises of employment and development.”

In the Alaknanda basin, a cluster of streams that feeds the Ganges river – worshipped as a god by many Hindus – six hydroelectric dams have been constructed, according to Thakkar’s nonprofit. Eight more, including the Tapovan dam that was severely damaged in the Feb. 7 floods, are under construction, while a further 24 have been proposed.

A spokeswoman for India’s power ministry said the country has strict measures in place regarding the planning of hydropower projects and the rights of local people are always considered.

MUDDY BANKNOTES, RUBBLE

During the dam’s construction, blasts from explosives were frequent, according to interviews with about 20 residents and court documents.

The use of explosives in construction in the region was criticised after devastating floods in Uttarakhand in 2013, dubbed a “Himalayan tsunami” that claimed some 6,000 lives.

In 2019, Singh and his brother took a two-day bus journey to meet with lawyer Abhijay Negi, who recalled them arriving with a bundle of muddy banknotes collected from other residents as payment.

“Please help us save our village,” Singh told him.

Negi helped the men file a case against the Kundan Group unit operating the dam, alleging construction had left behind loose rubble and rocks, according to photographs and diagrams submitted as evidence.

Uttarakhand’s top court ruled there was evidence of “substantial damage” to the area that suggested explosives were being used for illegal mining, though it did not rule on when the damage occurred. The court ordered a local investigation, but it is not clear if this has happened and officials involved could not be reached.

High up on the mountain, almost all the Raini residents survived the floods. But Singh said the disaster has left many dreaming of escape.

“Many want to leave, but I will stay because I have no other option,” he said. “I will stay because of poverty.”

Blackwater founder Erik Prince accused of helping evade U.N. Libya sanctions


By Michelle Nichols

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Erik Prince, the private security executive and supporter of former U.S. President Donald Trump, “at the very least” helped evade an arms embargo on Libya, according to excerpts from a United Nations report seen by Reuters.



FILE PHOTO: Erik Prince arrives for the New York Young Republican Club Gala at The Yale Club of New York City in Manhattan in New York City, New York, U.S., November 7, 2019. REUTERS/Jeenah Moon/File Photo

Independent U.N. sanctions monitors accused Prince of proposing a private military operation - known as ‘Project Opus’ - to Libya’s eastern-based commander Khalifa Haftar in April 2019 and helping procure three aircraft for it.

Matthew Schwartz, a lawyer for Prince, denied the accusations in the annual U.N. report, which was submitted on Thursday to the Security Council Libya sanctions committee and is due to be made public next month.

“Mr. Prince had no involvement in any alleged military operation in Libya in 2019, or at any other time,” Schwartz said in a statement. “He did not provide weapons, personnel, or military equipment to anyone in Libya.”

The U.N. monitors wrote in the report that they had “identified that Erik Prince made a proposal for the operation to Khalifa Haftar in Cairo, Egypt on, or about, 14 April 2019.” Haftar was in Cairo at the time to meet Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.

“Mr. Prince was not in Egypt at any point in 2019 – as travel records confirm – and has never met or spoken to Mr. Haftar. This alleged meeting is fiction and never took place,” Schwartz said.

The report described Prince’s proposal as “a well-funded private military company operation” designed to provide Haftar with armed assault helicopters, intelligence surveillance aircraft, maritime interdiction, drones, and cyber, intelligence and targeting capabilities.

“The Project Opus plan also included a component to kidnap or terminate individuals regarded as high value targets in Libya,” the monitors wrote.

Libya initially descended into chaos after the NATO-backed overthrow of leader Muammar Gaddafi in 2011 when the U.N. Security Council imposed an arms embargo. The country has been divided since 2014 between the internationally recognized government in its west and Haftar’s eastern-based forces.

PROJECT FAILURES

The U.N. monitors reported that the air and maritime component of ‘Project Opus’ had to be aborted in June 2019 after Haftar was unimpressed with the aircraft procured for the operations and “made threats against the team management.”

A South African team leader evacuated 20 private military operatives to Malta on inflatable boats, the monitors said.

“Project Opus private military operatives were deployed to Libya for a second time in April and May 2020 in order to locate and destroy high value targets,” said the U.N. monitors, but the operation again had to be aborted due to security concerns.

The rival Libyan administrations agreed a ceasefire in October, but have not pulled back their forces. Haftar is supported by the United Arab Emirates and Russia, while the government is backed by Turkey. Egypt had backed Haftar, but Sisi last week offered his country’s support to Libya’s interim government.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has demanded an end to foreign interference in Libya.

Prince - the brother of Trump’s education secretary, Betsy DeVos - founded the private security firm Blackwater and was a pioneer in private military contracting after U.S.-led forces invaded Iraq in 2003.

Blackwater sparked international outrage in 2007 when its employees shot and killed more than a dozen Iraqi civilians in Baghdad. One of the employees was convicted of murder in December 2018 and three others were convicted of manslaughter. Trump pardoned the four men in December last year.


Reporting by Michelle Nichols; Editing by Daniel Wallis and Sonya Hepinstall

Violence against civilians surges in Afghanistan after peace talks: UN report


By Abdul Qadir Sediqi, Charlotte Greenfield

KABUL (Reuters) - Civilian casualties in Afghanistan escalated sharply after peace talks began last year, the United Nations said in a report released on Tuesday, calling for a ceasefire as negotiators met for the first time after weeks of inaction.

U.S.-brokered peace talks began in September but progress has since slowed and violence has risen with uncertainty over whether international forces will pull out troops by May as originally planned.

Civilian casualties were 8,820 in 2020, according to the United Nations’ mission to Afghanistan’s (UNAMA) annual report. That was 15% lower than the previous year, but the report’s authors noted with alarm a sharp uptick and historically high civilian casualties in the final three months of 2020, when peace talks began.

Last year “could have been the year of peace in Afghanistan. Instead, thousands of Afghan civilians perished,” said Deborah Lyons, head of UNAMA, reiterating calls for a ceasefire which has been repeatedly rejected by the Taliban. “Parties refusing to consider a ceasefire must recognise the devastating consequences.”

The Taliban on Tuesday issued a response critical of the report, saying “the concerns, precise information and accurate details that were shared by us have not been taken into account.”

The report said that for the first time since records began, deaths and injuries had escalated in the final three months of the year from the previous three months. Casualties for the fourth quarter were up 45% compared with the same period in 2019.

The majority of were ascribed to non-government actors, predominately the insurgent Taliban, and more than one-fifth were attributed to government forces.

A government spokesman did not immediately respond to request for comment.

Both sides said on Twitter their chief negotiators met in Doha, the venue for talks, on Monday evening, adding that teams would continue work on an agenda.

After a monthlong break over the new year period, negotiators returned to Doha briefly before many senior members of the Taliban left to hold meetings in Russia and Iran. Mujahid said they would hold further meetings soon.

Zabihullah said that the lull was only a break and the Taliban were committed to talks, with further meetings expected in coming days.

India's endangered lion prides conquer disease to roam free

ABHAYA SRIVASTAVA (AFP) 

Three years after a deadly virus struck India's endangered Asiatic lions in their last remaining natural habitat, conservationists are hunting for new homes to help booming prides roam free.

The majestic big cats, slightly smaller than their African cousins and with a fold of skin along their bellies, were once found widely across southwest Asia.

Hunting and human encroachment saw the population plunge to just 20 by 1913, and the lions are now found only in a wildlife sanctuary in India's western Gujarat state.

Hunting and human encroachment saw the Asiatic lion population plunge to just 20 by 1913
SAM PANTHAKY, AFP

Following years of concerted government efforts, the lion population in Gir National Park has swelled to nearly 700, according to an official census last year.

But just three years ago, the conservation success looked to be in danger when several lions started to die in one part of the 1,400 square kilometre (545 square mile) forest.

The canine distemper virus -- a highly infectious disease -- was detected among dozens of the royal beasts, killing at least 11 of them.

"We picked all the lions from the area and isolated them," Dushyant Vasavada, the park's chief conservator of forests, told AFP.

Authorities imported special vaccines from overseas and each animal was given three doses each, followed by a booster shot.

Cattle and dogs living near the park were also inoculated as suspected carriers of the virus.

"We vaccinated the lions in captivity and successfully controlled the disease and no new outbreak has been observed," Vasavada said, adding that park rangers were still closely monitoring their health.

- 'Very thrilling experience' -

SAM PANTHAKY, AFP

Lions are a source of pride for India, particularly in Gujarat's Saurashtra region, where man and beast coexist.

A cattle-rearing tribe lives among the animals in the sanctuary, and it is not uncommon to see a pride of lions crossing a highway in the region as motorists wait and watch.

The king of the jungle is also a major tourist attraction, along with leopards, panthers and other big cats found in the sanctuary.

Around 550,000 people visit Gir National Park each year
SAM PANTHAKY, AFP

Around 550,000 people visit the park each year, riding in open-top jeeps as they try to spot the predators prowling among pale yellow deciduous trees.

"It is a very thrilling experience to see the lions from close in the wild," said forest guide Dinesh Sadiya.

But the 2018 virus outbreak was a reminder that the steady growth in the animal's population cannot be taken for granted.

- New habitats -

The lions have low genetic diversity due to their small population size
SAM PANTHAKY, AFP

The lions have low genetic diversity due to their small population size, making them more vulnerable to epidemics.

A 1993 outbreak of canine distemper virus in Tanzania's Serengeti National Park killed a third of its 3,000 lions.

Wildlife biologist Ravi Chellam said that outbreak underscored the need to move a few prides to other sites nearby.

"Translocation is a risk mitigation strategy akin to us getting health or life insurance," he told AFP.

The sanctuary is now too small for its steadily growing lion population
SAM PANTHAKY, AFP

"If something happens to the population in Gir, there is always going to be an additional free-ranging population of wild lions available."

Chellam said the sanctuary was also now too small for its steadily growing lion population.


"There are far more lions than what Gir can hold... these animals are not static, they are constantly moving outside and interacting with domestic animals and people," he added.

Efforts to move some lions to other states have been mired in legal wrangles with the state government, which wants to keep the animals in Gujarat.

Authorities have instead proposed finding new homes for some lions in other parts of the state.

In the meantime, rangers keep a close watch on the wandering lions -- which sometimes stray into villages and kill livestock -- with the help of dozens of imported radio collars.

"If a lion has not moved for 48 hours we can alert our staff," said Mohan Ram, the park's deputy conservator of forests.

The tracking collars are fitted around a lion's neck, helping rangers monitor their health and movements, reduce road and rail accidents, and lessen human-wildlife conflict.



Read more: http://www.digitaljournal.com/news/world/india-s-endangered-lion-prides-conquer-disease-to-roam-free/article/585919#ixzz6nHWi9R5w

Plastic waste on course to reach 1.34 billion tons by 2030

BY TIM SANDLE FEB 21, 2021 IN ENVIRONMENT
Plastic is the much-maligned detritus of modern living. It is the broken toy, the used carrier bag and the surgical face mask polluting our streets, streams and oceans. Yet plastic can become a force for good as a valuable re-usable commodity.

With climate change back on the U.S. government’s agenda, President Joe Biden is in the best position possible to deliver a killer punch in the fight against global warming; by shifting focus away from carbon emissions and other green gestures to plastics, says Haggai Alon is the founder and chief executive of brand protection and authentication company Security Matters. Alon has recently produced a White Paper titled New Plastic Economic Order: Regulate the entire value chain, not just the product, which calls for a transition to a new regulatory approach over plastics.

Digital Journal caught up with Alon to understand why plastic and plastic waste leaves a huge carbon footprint on the world.

Digital Journal: What is the cost and impact of plastic waste?

Haggai Alon: A 2019 report from the Center for International Environmental Law warned that if plastic production stayed on its current trajectory, greenhouse gas emissions from plastic could reach 1.34 billion tons per year by 2030, equivalent to the emissions produced by 300 new 500MW coal-fired power plants. And in data compiled by the International Energy Agency, plastic and other petrochemicals were shown to account for 14 percent of global oil use today. If the trend continues, they will drive half of the world’s oil demand growth by 2050.

These are staggering figures and the band-aid approach of carbon offsetting is simply not enough to heal the wound we are creating. We need a radical new approach and Biden must lead the way, becoming a beacon for real change.

DJ: How is this issue addressed?

Alon: This is a multi-task challenge because the soaring demand for plastic is not balanced in any way by the collection and use of old plastics. Thankfully, America has two great advantages at her disposal; the financial markets and IT power.

Carbon credit was invented in order to motivate companies to decarbonize, but it doesn’t work anymore; it has become a financial game between big players and, in many ways, carbon credit and carbon credit offsetting are more of an obstacle to change because people are simply buying guilt pleasure mileage rather than solving the problems we face. This is why the carbon credit system has to change, and the first critical step in doing this is to transform carbon credit to plastic credit in order to motivate those who collect, sort and recycle plastic. As the world’s biggest economy, America has to take the lead. She has to set the example.

Once this decision is taken, and to avoid duplicating the mistake of the carbon credit offsetting niche market, plastic credit needs to be taken to the financial markets. Why? Because financial markets, once they begin trading plastic credit, based on recycled plastic content and plastic recycling activities, will create a tangible commercial value that will fall under the auspices of SEC regulation, further pumping financial motivation into recycling.

DJ: Will incentives help?

Alon: Right now, there is no motivation to recycle. There is no motivation to use plastic recycled content. And regulation won’t help. When there is no connection between recycled plastic and the financial markets, it doesn’t matter how much you regulate or how many quotas you specify or what incentives you offer; it will not catch up with demand. The challenge here is not plastic waste, it’s not even smart sorting. The big challenge is finding a way to meet the soaring demand for plastic that doesn’t increase environmental damage.
In December, the Center for Biological Diversity and more than 550 other environmental advocacy groups released a draft plastics strategy called the Presidential Plastics Action Plan, and called on Biden to adopt it. The plan includes suspending and denying permits for all new or expanded plastic production facilities.

DJ: Is this achievable?

Alon: For me, this is an unrealistic goal. Plastic is here to stay. It’s no longer a question of controlling demand, but of creating an equilibrium within this soaring demand whereby we generate a larger percentage of that demand for recycled plastic content. Whoever thinks we are going to live in a world without plastic is dreaming. When you have rates of poverty, of any equation, alternatives to plastic are simply not feasible because they are often more expensive.

The anomaly of the plastic problem is that unwanted plastic is collected, usually with a great amount of effort, it is then sorted and never used again. There is no demand for recycled plastic, and there is no demand because there is no data on the plastic. This is the second step of the plastic revolution; establishing the data that will serve circularity and sustainable economic models.

In my company, we call this IT data the ‘new gold’. It is the ability to mark, track and authenticate plastic using molecular sequence – a kind of chemical barcode that enables all of the data to be collected from the point of production as a raw material through to a recycled product. Plastic degrades after the first use, along with every other material, except gold. That’s why the data is important because manufacturers will need to balance recycled plastic with virgin material and other additives. It’s doable but you need the data in order to rebalance the substrate.

DJ: What can the U.S. do to lead the way?

Alon: Right now, America has three major plus points when it comes to managing the challenge of plastic waste: its financial markets; its IT and AI power; and a new president committed to tackling climate change. To this end, Biden has appointed two climate czars; White House National Climate Adviser Gina McCarthy and Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry, who will be working to rebuild goodwill with other countries following the actions of the previous administration. It’s a task that would be made a whole lot easier for Kerry should Biden be the first to stand-up and adopt a truly innovative solution to the world’s plastic problem.

Op-Ed: Texas' politicians responsible for power grid going down

BY KAREN GRAHAM     FEB 20, 2021 IN POLITICS

L-R) Texas congresswoman Penny Morales Shaw, US congresswomen Sheila Jackson Lee, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Sylvia Garcia help distribute food at the Houston Food Bank on February 20, 2021

Elizabeth Conley, POOL/AFP

Texas Governor Greg Abbott was quick to blame ERCOT for the disastrous mess left after a snowstorm's below-freezing temperatures knocked out the state's power grid, but the blame should be put on the politicians who ignored an August 2011 FERC report.

After suffering for days with freezing temperatures, power outages, busted water pipes, no heat or water, and food shortages, the state's 29 million people still don't know when their lives will get back to a semblance of normal.

“Every source of power the state of Texas has access to has been compromised,” Gov. Greg Abbott said, blaming the unaptly named Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) for the disaster and demanding an investigation, which is the least that should be done, reports NBC News.

Many Texans are blaming Abbott and his Republican government for failing to warn them that power would be out for days amid a historic freeze not seen in 70 years. And people and their homes were just not prepared for the cold snap. Homes are not insulated, roads are not salted, and snowplows are nearly non-existent.

“It was clarifying,” a former Ohio resident told the Texas Tribune, “because now we know when things hit the fan, we’re in it alone.”

By Tuesday, the situation in Texas had come down to utility operators and politicians squabbling over responsibility for "load shedding" and "rolling blackouts" while parents slept in cars with their children, just to keep them warm, and families with fireplaces burned pieces of furniture, trying to stay warm.

Put the blame on the politicians

But what is the reality here? How is it possible that the number one energy producer in the country couldn't keep their own people warm? I dislike saying this, but one contributing factor may be the "Go-it-Alone" attitude of many politicians and corporations in Texas.

However, the decision for the main electric grid to be separate from other grids — unlike that of other states — was born of Texas’ famous go-it-alone attitude. The Texas grid was created during World War II when several Texas utilities banded together to form one large operation called the Texas Interconnected System. This was a political move to stay out of the reach of federal regulators.

As a result, this basically means that the interconnection is exempt from most regulation by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

Secondly, it's not like Texas wasn't aware of the coming deep-freeze, either. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) issued a warning on January 5, 2021, announcing that rising temperatures in the North Pole are causing parts of the polar vortex to split off and move southward, leading to the possibility of a particularly harsh winter in the U.S., Europe, and Asia.

People help fill jugs at a drive-through water distribution center at a high school in Kyle, Texas on February 20, 2021

JOE RAEDLE, GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/AFP

And it seems that Texas politicians have forgotten the cold spell of 2011 that froze natural gas wells and affected coal plants and wind turbines, leading to power outages across the state.

Texas politicians and regulators were warned after the February 1-5, 2011 storm that more “winterizing” of power infrastructure was necessary, according to an August 2011 report by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and the North American Electric Reliability Corporation.

ERCOT said that some generators since then implemented new winter "best practices," but these were on a voluntary basis and mandatory regulation had not been established. Ed Hirs, an energy fellow and economics professor at the University of Houston, says. “They limped along on underinvestment and neglect until it finally broke under predictable circumstances.”

Yet this week, Abbott and his Republican cronies blamed the proposed solar power policies of the Green New Deal and the 40 wind farms that dot the Texas landscape for the collapse of the power grid, ignoring the fact that natural gas wellheads froze up and uninsulated water lines burst.

Read more: http://www.digitaljournal.com/news/politics/op-ed-texas-politicians-responsible-for-power-grid-going-down/article/585814#ixzz6nHMsb23p

Malaysian court halts Myanmar deportation after outcry

© Mohd RASFAN Activists are making a last-ditch attempt to stop the deportation of 1,200 Myanmar detainees on navy ships

BY M. JEGATHESAN (AFP) 

A Malaysian court ordered a temporary halt to a controversial plan to deport 1,200 Myanmar detainees to their homeland Tuesday weeks after a coup, following a last-ditch legal challenge.

The migrants, including members of vulnerable minorities, had already been taken in buses and trucks to a military base on Malaysia's west coast to be loaded onto waiting Myanmar navy ships.

The United States and the United Nations had criticised the plan, while rights groups said there were asylum seekers among those due to be repatriated.

Rights groups Amnesty International and Asylum Access had lodged a court challenge, arguing Malaysia would be in breach of its international duties by sending vulnerable people back to a country where they could be in danger.

The Kuala Lumpur High Court ordered a halt to the repatriation to allow a hearing to take place on Wednesday into the groups' bid to stop the deportations, their lawyer New Sin Yew told AFP.

Amnesty International Malaysia's executive director, Katrina Jorene Maliamauv, said that "the government must respect the court order and ensure that not one of the 1,200 individuals is deported today".

She called on authorities to grant the UN refugee agency access to the migrants set to be deported, so they can assess whether any should be granted refugee status.

"It's important to note that the stay of execution granted by the court does not mean the 1,200 are safe from being deported. They are facing life-threatening risks," she added.

"We urge the government to reconsider its plans to send this group of vulnerable people back to Myanmar."

- 'Could be tortured' -

Earlier, dozens of buses and trucks carrying the migrants and escorted by police cars arrived at the naval base in Lumut, according to AFP journalists at the scene.

The Myanmar military seized power at the start of February and detained civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi, triggering a series of massive protests.

Malaysia initially expressed "serious concern" at the coup -- but just days later, news emerged it had accepted an offer from the Myanmar junta to send warships to repatriate the detainees.

Officials insist those being sent back have committed offences such as overstaying their visas and no members of the persecuted Rohingya minority -- not recognised as citizens in Myanmar -- are among them.

But the detainees include members of the Christian Chin minority and people from conflict-riven Kachin and Shan states, according to Lilianne Fan, international director of the Geutanyoe Foundation, which works with refugees.

Malaysian authorities have blocked the UN refugee agency from immigration detention centres since late 2019, meaning they have not been able to determine who should be granted refugee status.

James Bawi Thang Bik, chairman of the Malaysia-based Alliance of Chin Refugees, said he was "shocked" to learn Chin were among those to be deported.

"They are refugees who came from a conflict area," he told AFP.

Malaysia is home to millions of migrants from poorer parts of Asia who work in low-pay jobs such as construction. As well as Myanmar, they come from countries including Bangladesh and Indonesia.



Read more: http://www.digitaljournal.com/news/world/malaysian-court-halts-myanmar-deportation-after-outcry/article/585931#ixzz6nHKbDAQY

French dance music superstars Daft Punk split
BY ERIC RANDOLPH (AFP) 

One of the era's defining dancefloor acts hung up their helmets on Monday, as electronic music stars Daft Punk announced their retirement in typically enigmatic fashion with a video showing one of them exploding in a desert.

The French duo released an eight-minute clip titled "Epilogue", using footage from their cult 2006 film "Electroma" in which one of the robots sets other to self-destruct mode.

After the explosion, a cutaway reads "1993-2021" with two robot hands making a circle around a sunset.

Their publicist, Kathryn Frazier, confirmed the news to AFP by email, without giving a reason for the split.

From "Da Funk" in 1995 to "Get Lucky" in 2013, Daft Punk became the torch-bearers for French house music across the globe, winning six Grammy awards and pioneering the monumental sound-and-light shows that came to characterise the electronic dance movement (EDM) of recent years.

They did so while almost never revealing their faces -- the ubiquitous helmets became another much-copied trope of EDM stars, but also afforded Thomas Bangalter, 46, and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo, 47, freedom from the fame that quickly encircled them.

"We have daily lives that are a lot more normal... than the lives of artists who have the same level of fame as us, but who might be attached to being physically recognised," Bangalter said in a 2015 BBC documentary.

- 'A flawless legacy' -

Monday's announcement set off a wave of tributes to Daft Punk's hit-making influence.

"They always cultivated a taste for the paradoxical," electro pioneer Jean-Michel Jarre told AFP, praising the duo's "extremely elegant manner of saying goodbye to their fans".


"Eternally grateful," tweeted Christine and the Queens singer Chris.

Star music producer Marc Ronson also hailed the "gorgeous French robots", writing on Twitter: "Daft Punk left the game with a flawless legacy."

Daft Punk in five songs
Cléa PÉCULIER, AFP

Despite endless rumours of an imminent new tour or album, Daft Punk had been quiet for several years.

Their last album, 2013's "Random Access Memories", was a phenomenal success, winning them four Grammies the following year including record of the year for "Get Lucky", the millions-selling lead single featuring Pharrell Williams and Nile Rodgers.

But the much hoped-for return to touring never took place.

They showed up one more time for the Grammies in 2017.

Despite the Twittersphere erupting in excitement last month amid rumours they would appear alongside The Weeknd for the Super Bowl half-time show, that did not materialise.

- 'Daft punky thrash' -

Bangalter and Homem-Christo met at school in Paris before an inauspicious start in music with the rock band Darlin', which also featured a future member of the French indie band Phoenix.

One review in the British music press dismissed the band as "daft punky thrash" -- which struck a chord with them.

Reemerging as an electronic outfit, they met with instant success.

Early singles "Da Funk" and "Around the World" became club fixtures, and led to massive sales for their debut album "Homework" in 1997.

It was in the video for "Around the World" that they first donned the helmets that would become their signature look.

Daft Punk were known for their spectacular life shows
Karl Walter, GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/AFP/File

It mirrored the tight control they exercised over every part of their career, which included ownership of their master recordings.

They followed up with the even more successful "Discovery" in 2001, which spawned the hits "One More Time" and "Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger".

There were some distinctively left-field choices in the years that followed, including producing the 2003 film "Interstella 5555" by Japanese anime master Leiji Matsumoto, which featured music from "Discovery".

If their next album in 2005, a more sombre "Human After All", received mixed reviews, these were quickly forgotten amid the euphoria of their live shows over the next two years.

This included a headline appearance at US festival Coachella in 2006, performed inside a giant LED pyramid. EDM fans still speak about it with an almost religious reverence.

In 2010, they released a soundtrack to the Disney reboot of Tron, which picked up a Grammy nomination.

But no one predicted the massive success of "Random Access Memories", for which they gave up their usual makeshift home rig for a full commercial studio -- and used entirely live instruments.

The resulting work dominated album-of-the-year lists and helped lift their total worldwide sales to 12 million.

In December, Strokes frontman Julian Casablancas told music website The Needle Drop that he'd been "trying to do something" with Daft Punk after collaborating with them on their 2013 single "Instant Crush".

But he was told they were "not doing music right now", with one of the duo "focused on video stuff" and the other "obsessing with ancient aliens or something".


Read more: http://www.digitaljournal.com/news/world/french-dance-music-superstars-daft-punk-split/article/585926#ixzz6nHHZw0Md

NON BINDING FEEL GOOD MOTION Canadian MPs say China's treatment of Uighurs is 'genocide' BY AFP     Canadian MPs voted Monday to label Beijing's treatment of Uighurs in Xinjiang as genocide, a move angrily slammed by China as a "malicious provocation." Rights groups believe at least one million Uighurs and other mostly Muslim minorities have been incarcerated in camps in the northwestern region, where China is also accused of forcibly sterilizing women and imposing forced labor. The motion "Uighurs in China have been and are being subject to genocide" passed unanimously in the Canadian House of Commons, and ministers called on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to officially label it as such. The motion also called for the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics to be moved if the "genocide" continues. The United States has already used the label, with the administration of former president Donald Trump slamming China in January for a "systematic attempt to destroy Uighurs." Trudeau had said Friday that there were significant reports of abuses coming out of Xinjiang. And following a G7 meeting, he said Canada was consulting with its international allies on the use of the term "genocide" for the treatment of Uighurs. Beijing hit back Tuesday, calling the motion a "shameful act" and "malicious provocation against the 1.4 billion people of China." "Canada's attempt to contain China's development through passing the Xinjiang-related motion will not succeed," the Chinese embassy in Ottawa said in a statement. The embassy accused "hypocritical and shameless" Canadian lawmakers of "using the excuse of human rights to engage in political manipulation on Xinjiang." - Deteriorating ties - The growing calls for action in Canada echo complaints about China's human rights record in other Western nations, including the United States where President Joe Biden is seeking to rebuild alliances to maintain pressure on Beijing. The new president has already criticized Beijing on its human rights situation, especially the abuses in Xinjiang, including in a marathon two-hour call with Chinese leader Xi Jinping. After initially denying the existence of the camps in Xinjiang, China later defended them as vocational training centers aimed at reducing the appeal of Islamic extremism. Beijing had said Monday that its treatment of ethnic minorities in Xinjiang and Tibet has "stood out as shining examples of China's human rights progress." And Foreign Minister Wang Yi later told the UN Human Rights Council via videolink that "there has never been so-called genocide, forced labor or religious oppression in Xinjiang." Relations between China and Canada have deteriorated in recent years. Ties soured in late 2018 over the arrest of Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou on a US warrant, and China's detention of two Canadians -- former diplomat Michael Kovrig and businessman Michael Spavor -- in what Ottawa has called retaliation. The two men have had virtually no contact with the outside world since being detained on spying charges .

Read more: http://www.digitaljournal.com/news/world/canadian-mps-call-china-s-uighur-treatment-genocide/article/585912#ixzz6nHFKh6Ke

Western countries step up pressure on Myanmar junta as protesters defy warnings


(Reuters) - The European Union said it is considering sanctions on Myanmar while the United States penalised two more generals for links to the military coup, as Western countries sought to press the junta to avoid a violent crackdown after weeks of protests.

Junta leader General Min Aung Hlaing called for energy to be put into reviving the ailing economy, state media reported, a day after a general strike shut businesses and huge crowds gathered despite a warning from authorities that confrontation could get people killed.

U.N. Special Rapporteur Tom Andrews said millions had marched on Monday in a “breathtaking” turnout, despite the junta’s threat.

“The generals are losing their power to intimidate and with it, their power. It is past time for them to stand down, as the people of Myanmar stand up,” Andrews said on Twitter.

Crowds gathered again on Tuesday though in much smaller numbers. There were no reports of confrontations with security forces.

Overnight, EU governments showed support for those seeking to reverse the Feb. 1 coup and the release of elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi

“We are not prepared to stand by and watch,” German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said in Brussels, adding that sanctions could follow if diplomacy failed.

The European Union is considering sanctions that would target businesses owned by the army, but the bloc ruled out any curtailing of its trade preferences to avoid hurting poor workers.

The security forces have shown more restraint since the coup than in earlier confrontations with those pushing for democracy in almost half a century of direct military rule.

Even so, three protesters have been killed - two shot dead in the second city of Mandalay on Saturday, and a woman who died on Friday after being shot more than a week earlier in the capital, Naypyitaw.

The army has said one policeman died of injuries sustained during the protests. It has accused protesters of provoking violence.