UK

Sarah Everard mourners arrested by London police while attending Clapham Common vigil

3/14/2021

London police clash with mourners at a vigil for Sarah Everard.

VIDEO Sarah Everard mourners arrested by London police while attending Clapham Common vigil - ABC News

London police have stormed in to disperse crowds at a memorial for murder victim Sarah Everard after warnings that vigils and protests about violence against women would breach COVID-19 restrictions.

Key points:
Thousands — including the Duchess of Cambridge — went to Clapham Common during the day to leave flowers

Police moved in as crowds grew in the evening, where officers forced some women onto the ground

Leaders, including the Labour leader and London's Mayor, condemned what they saw as an overstep by police

Police told organisers of events planned in London and around the country to honour Ms Everard that public gatherings would be in breach of COVID-19 lockdown rules and could lead to fines up to $17,900.

Organisers at Reclaim These Streets said they had cancelled a vigil on Clapham Common in south London near where Ms Everard, 33, was last seen 10 days ago.

Other events around the country were also cancelled.

But thousands — including the Duchess of Cambridge — went to Clapham Common during the day to leave flowers and drawings at a memorial to Ms Everard, whose killing has sparked widespread anger about women's safety.

As more people arrived during the evening, some chanting "sisters united will never be defeated", police moved in and tried to disperse the crowds gathered around a bandstand.

Video footage showed scuffles and some women forced to the floor.

"It's pretty bad really, a bunch of mostly male officers looking at a crowd of women from the centre of the bandstand," said Laura, 24, who did not want to give her full name for fear of reprisals.

"We're not threatening anyone, we just want to pay our respects to Sarah."

The local police force, Lambeth Police, said the gathering was unsafe during the coronavirus pandemic and risked public health, urging people to go home.

But Britain's opposition Labour leader Keir Starmer said the scenes of crowds being dispersed at Clapham Common were "deeply disturbing".

"Women came together to mourn Sarah Everard. They should have been able to do so peacefully," he said in a statement.

"I share their anger and upset at how this has been handled. This was not the way to police this protest."

Sarah Everard never made it home from a friend's place

 in south London on March 3.(Metropolitan Police Via AFP)

A LONDON COPPER KILLED HER

London Mayor Sadiq Khan said the police response was not appropriate.

"The scenes from Clapham Common are unacceptable," Mr Khan tweeted.

"The police have a responsibility to enforce COVID laws but from images I've seen it's clear the response was at times neither appropriate nor proportionate. I'm [in] contact with the Commissioner & urgently seeking an explanation."

MP Caroline Nokes said she was shocked by what she saw.

"Truly shocked at the scenes from Clapham Common — in this country we police by consent — not by trampling the tributes to a woman who was murdered and dragging other women to the ground. Badly misjudged by #metpolice," she tweeted.

Calls to stop violence against women

Sarah Everard's killing has led many women to share their fears of walking alone and experiences of being harassed or attacked by men in public.

(AP: Victoria Jones)

Mr Everard, a marketing executive, disappeared while walking home from a friend's house at about 9:30pm on March 3.

Her body was later found in woods about 80 kilometres away in south-east England.

Serving London police officer Wayne Couzens, 48, appeared in court on Saturday charged with her kidnap and murder.

Her killing has led many women to share their fears of walking alone and experiences of being harassed or attacked by men in public, with calls for more action to be taken to address violence against women and abuse.

As more people arrived during the evening, some chanted

 "sisters united will never be defeated".

(AP: Victoria Jones)

With vigils banned, some women and campaign groups arranged online events and doorstep tributes with candles and lights while others left notes at the memorial on Clapham Common.

"Rest in peace Sarah. You could have been any of us. I hope you get justice," read one sign placed atop flowers.

"It feels like we finally have people's attention, so it was important for me to be here in spite of the ban [on the vigil] and honour Sarah's memory," said Hannah, 29, who asked not to use her full name.


"Groping, insults, being followed … literally every woman I know has experienced this," she said.

Some women called for defiance and urged people to still head to Clapham Common on Saturday evening despite the ban, using the hashtag #vigilforSarah on social media.

Currently England is in a national lockdown to stem the coronavirus pandemic and people cannot leave or be outside of their homes except with a "reasonable excuse" and can only be outside with one other person.

London police arrest a mourner at a vigil for Sarah Everard.

(Reuters: Hannah McKay)

The head of London's Metropolitan Police, Cressida Dick, said in a video on Twitter that Sarah Everard's death was a "terrible tragedy" that had caused shock and anger and she understood the desire for a major gathering but it was unsafe.

"I do appeal to people to express their sadness and their solidarity and their really strong feelings about women's safety in other ways," she said.

ABC/Reuters

UK 

Opinion: Sarah Everard's case reminds women of what they already knew: 

They're never safe

Opinion by Holly Thomas CNN

3/13/2021

Earlier this month, 33-year-old Sarah Everard went missing in south London. She was last seen leaving her friend's house at 9 p.m. on March 3. 

On Tuesday, a serving male London Metropolitan Police officer was arrested on suspicion of murder in connection with her disappearance. A woman was also arrested on suspicion of assisting an offender. 

Police said that both remain in custody, as a search for Everard on Wednesday uncovered unidentified human remains in a wooded area near Ashford, Kent. On Friday, assistant commissioner of the Metropolitan Police Nick Ephgrave said, "I can now confirm that it is the body of Sarah Everard."

© Handout/Metropolitan Police Sarah Everard

While London mayor Sadiq Khan insisted in a statement Wednesday that "all women and girls should be able to feel safe on the street of London at all times," Metropolitan Police making door-to-door inquiries during the investigation of Everard's disappearance, according to the Sun, warned women not to go out alone. The response from many women was one of exhausted outrage. Why should our freedoms be restricted when men are overwhelmingly more likely to attack people -- both at home and outside? Why is the onus always on women to avoid being attacked?

The contrast in online and social media conversations about this case has been especially illuminating on this point, as women across the United Kingdom are speaking up to share their experiences of feeling unsafe. Some women -- including me -- suggested a curfew for men following Everard's disappearance. Some men, understandably, hated the idea and found it unfair. But in my case, the suggestion was mainly to illustrate the absurdity of asking women to confine themselves as a solution to a safety problem that overwhelmingly starts with men.

The notion that a woman is doing something irresponsibly dangerous by walking home alone falls apart as soon as a man considers it perfectly OK for him to do the same thing. The danger isn't inherent in the behavior of the victim. It's in the choice and actions of the perpetrator. But women are nevertheless constantly shouldering the responsibility of reducing opportunities for violence on the behalf of would-be attackers.

Most women I know had been aware of Everard's disappearance for at least several days before the arrests. They'd begun to talk about it -- their anxiety about leaving the house rising, their willingness to run early in the morning or in the evening (the times they were most likely to be free from work) dissipating. Many declared their intention to stay indoors rather than go out alone, restricting their own already limited freedoms under Covid-19-related lockdown almost automatically.

The men I know, by contrast, appeared largely oblivious to the story until Wednesday, when women online started to comment on their relative silence. Some men asked what they should be doing to help, and whether crossing the street if they're walking behind women in the dark might be useful. London mayoral candidate Shaun Bailey offered his condolences as a concerned "father and husband," saying he felt heartbroken that his wife and daughter had to live in fear in their own city, even has he vowed to "deliver for the safety of women and girls" if elected.

It was a pretty unsatisfactory statement for women who don't happen to be attached to men in either capacity but still worry about their own safety. And while doubtless well-meaning men would naturally point out that their immediate thought was also for the welfare of their female loved ones, the persistent framing of women's value as relative to the role they play in men's lives -- especially by public figures -- is wearing thin.

#MeToo similarly saw constant references to male concern "as a father of daughters." They begged the question of whether it would have occurred to these men to care about sexual assault if they were childless -- or, whether as well as fearing for the safety of their daughters, they might think to teach their sons to respect and care for women, whether or not they have anything in common with them. One blind woman amid the online furor of the last few days described the horror of being regularly assaulted by people pretending to help her. Her reality is alien to the vast proportion of the population, but empathy for her -- or anyone's -- circumstances shouldn't necessitate any personal connection or experience.

Some men suggested that it was women's "responsibility" to avoid danger -- with one suggesting to me on Twitter that women shouldn't make "bad decisions" and do "dangerous things." Others were offended even by the implication that women should be wary of them. Some pointed out that men are even more likely to be victims of violent crime than women.

But while it's true that men are more likely to be killed violently, men are also far, far more likely to kill both men and women. And women typically live with far more fear of violence than men, largely because for them, harm -- when it does happen -- most often occurs at the hand of someone they know. And whether their attacker is known to them or not, it is significantly more difficult for the average woman to defend herself against the average man.

A large proportion of male homicides occur because men are more likely to get into a gang-related fight with other men, or engage in violent crime. Women are much more likely to be attacked and killed by their partner, and make up the vast majority of domestic violence victims -- a point apparently overlooked when they are told to stay inside for their own safety. In 2013, women aged 15 to 44 worldwide were more likely to be killed or maimed because of male violence than because of war, cancer, malaria and traffic accidents combined. Women are far more likely to be raped as well.

The more personal, more targeted nature of violence against women is reflected in their daily experiences. A majority of women in the UK have been sexually harassed, according to a new YouGov survey for UN Women UK. Among those who said the event was not serious enough to report were women who had been groped, followed and coerced into sexual activity. Even if these instances don't end in physical violence -- though many do -- reminders of our vulnerability, and a lack of faith in authority to deal with them, are constant, as are our behavior modifications in response.

Women are coming forward across the UK and beyond to describe how unsafe they feel in their daily lives. From childhood, many women living in urban areas are taught to get a taxi home if it's late, to clutch their keys between their knuckles while they're walking if they can't afford one, not to wear headphones at night and to keep a constant eye out for an unknown figure in the dark.

Men may justifiably quote statistics on their vulnerability to murder. But as the reaction to this horrific story shows, while men may be more likely to come to danger, women are more likely to do everything in their power to avoid it.

The blame for what happened to Sarah Everard should belong to the perpetrator or perpetrators of her fate, and no one else. And for any men curious about, or affronted by the conversation in the last week, it might be worth taking a pause to consider the lived experience of women, and how that might be different to their own. The empathetic among them will no doubt soon understand why Sarah's story has struck such a chord.

A police officer charged with Sarah Everard's killing has Britain waking up to the fact it doesn't take violence against women seriously


Ashley Collman,Mia Jankowicz
Fri, March 12, 2021

THE INSIDER

An image of Sarah Everard, 33, shared by London's

 Metropolitan Police. Met Police


A serving police officer has been charged with the kidnap and murder of Sarah Everard.


Since Everard's disappearance on March 3, women have been sharing their own stories of harassment.


Many spoke of the fear of what could happen to them while they are alone in public.


The killing of a young London woman is empowering women to speak up about the fears they face on a daily basis.

Sarah Everard, 33, was last seen on a doorbell camera walking down a busy road around 9:30 p.m. on March 3, toward her apartment in Brixton after visiting a friend in neighboring Clapham, South London.

Earlier this week, officer Wayne Couzens of the London Metropolitan Police was arrested in connection to Everard's disappearance. On Friday, investigators identified human remains found in a woodland as Everard's, and the officer was charged with her kidnap and murder.

'Men simply do not know'

Everard's disappearance has hit home for many British women, who took to social media to describe how they have been harassed by men, and the lengths they go to protect themselves while alone at night.

"I've been followed home too many times to count," the singer Nadine Shah tweeted Thursday. "Once I had to hide in a bush for over an hour until two men gave up looking for me. I could hear them plotting explicitly what they were going to do to me and laughing."

A UN Women UK/YouGov poll conducted after Everard's disappearance, published by The Guardian, found that 80% of women in the UK have been sexually harassed in public spaces.

"For all those women who text their mates to let them know they got home safe, who wear flat shoes at night so they can run if they need, who have keys in their hands ready to use, it's not your fault. It never is," Anna Yearly, joint executive director of the NGO Reprieve tweeted Wednesday.

The TV presenter Shelagh Fogarty shared a list of sexual-harassment incidents she'd experienced throughout her life, with the earliest being followed home from school when she was ten.

Many women said they felt their gender is unduly burdened by the fear of harassment, saying men don't experience the same near-daily fears of being assaulted, kidnapped, raped, or murdered if they are out alone at night.

An anonymous woman wrote in The Standard that she was harassed the same night Everard went missing, in the same area, and that what upset her the most about the incident was how surprised the men in her life were about it.

"Men simply do not know" the relief she and other women "feel when we close our front doors behind us," the woman wrote.

A missing-person poster for Everard is seen on Clapham Common, near the site of her disappearance, on March 9, 2021. Leon Neal/Getty

The journalist Caitlin Moran explained how the fears of being a woman amount to her essentially having a curfew.

"Being a woman: my 'outside' day finishes at sundown. If I haven't taken the dog for a walk/jogged by then, I can't. In the winter, it often means the choice between exercise and work. Today, I had to stop work at 4 to exercise. My husband worked until 6, and is now off for a run," Moran tweeted Wednesday.
Disappearances are rare - but women know it could be anyone

For Faye White, Everard's story has brought back unwelcome memories.

The 28-year-old producer told Insider she was assaulted last April on a well-lit London street while cycling home from work.

At one point, she had to get off her bike to navigate roadworks, she said. Britain was under its first COVID-19 lockdown at the time, so the streets were quiet.

At that moment, a man - who appeared to be drunk or high, she said - came around the corner. "There wasn't going to be space for both us to pass through this obstruction, so I stood still with my bike and hoped that he didn't notice me," she said.

White said there was an altercation between them and, just when she thought he had gone, he approached her from behind and sexually assaulted her. She declined to go into further detail on the nature of the assault.

She said a male delivery cyclist was across the street and, she thinks, likely saw the whole thing - but he did nothing.

White, who is a campaigner for women's rights and was already a rape survivor before that day, was keen to report the assault to prevent the attacker from targeting any other women that night.

But when she did, she was told that unless she had the man's name and address, she would unlikely see a result - and that it would be up to her to source the surveillance footage of the assault, she said.

She said it felt as though much of the responsibility for finding the man would fall to her.

This kind of experience - or the fear of it - has become part of everyday life for women and non-binary people, she said.

"Catcalling and verbal violence happens on our streets, as well as physical advances," she said.

"I think the overarching problem is that this has been so woven into the fabric of our society, that women and non-binary people are just expected to brush it off and just kind of accept that it's part of our everyday."
Politicians react

Politicians like Home Secretary Priti Patel and Labour MP Jess Phillips have also weighed in.

"Many women have shared their stories and concerns online since Sarah's disappearance last week," Patel said in a statement Thursday. "These are so powerful because each and every woman can relate."

In parliament on Thursday, Phillips spent more than four minutes reading out the names of every woman killed in the UK in the past year, as a result of violence where a man was convicted or charged as the main perpetrator.

Phillips also tweeted that there had been a 23% drop in rape convictions last year and a 24% drop in domestic-abuse prosecution by the end of 2019.

"We are not tough on crimes against women and children perpetrated by men," she wrote.




Could more have been done?

Questions have been raised as to whether the Met overlooked a troubling sign about its own officer, who the force said faces a separate charge of indecent exposure.

The Sun reported that he had exposed himself three days before Everard's disappearance, at a South London McDonald's, but that he wasn't arrested and continued working as an officer. The Met now faces a watchdog investigation which will partly examine how it dealt with the exposure incident, the BBC reported.

Reflecting on Everard and the exposure investigation, White said: "I do hope that this case has sent shockwaves through the country and through the Met. However, it's not new."

"Yes, abductions are very rare, but everyday street violence happens," she said. "And every woman you know has a story, if not multiple."

The Met has also received criticism for telling women in Clapham and Brixton not to go out alone at night after Everard's disappearance, The Sun reported Monday.

"Why are we still feeding into the dangerous narrative that the onus is on women to protect themselves from violent men, instead of holding men accountable for harassing, intimidating, and harming women?" asked Ali Pantony in Glamour UK on Thursday. "In 2021, why are we still playing the 'but how short was her skirt' card?"

A makeshift memorial seen on March 12 near the Kent woodland 

where Everard's remains were found. Glyn Kirk/AFP via Getty Images

Meanwhile, activists are fighting the Met's decision to ban a vigil for Everard on Saturday, citing coronavirus concerns.

The organizers have hired lawyers at the prestigious Bindmans, Doughty Street, and Blackstone barristers chambers to fight the Met's decision, Law.com reported. The group has strong support: a crowdfunding campaign for legal fees met its goal of £30,000 ($36,600) within an hour on Thursday, per The Guardian.

Mary Morgan, one of the organizers, told The Guardian that the decision to ban the vigil amounted to silencing women.

"Women are being silenced in every single way. They are not being allowed to express their desire to be safe," Morgan said. "I think that it's really important to give women and allies space to come together in solidarity to stand up against an oppressive system. These are the arms of the patriarchy at work here."

Read the original article on Insider

China eventually wants astronauts to stay on moon for long periods of time

Sun, March 14, 2021

BEIJING (Reuters) - Once China establishes a lunar research station, its astronauts will stay on the moon for long periods of time as they conduct scientific studies, state media reported on Sunday, citing the architect of China's lunar programme.

China has mapped out a series of uncrewed missions this decade, including the setting up of a robotic base to explore the moon's south polar region, ahead of manned landings.

"If the lunar research station project is successfully implemented, China will not be far away from achieving manned landings," said Wu Weiren, the chief designer of China's lunar exploration programme.

Last week, China and Russia signed an initial pact to set up an international lunar research station, but did not disclose a timeline.

"Compared to American astronauts who could only stay for tens of hours after landing on the moon, Chinese astronauts will stay on the moon for a longer period of time," Wu said.

"This will be a long-term stay on the moon, not a short-term stop."

China has successfully launched a series of lunar missions in recent years, including an uncrewed retrieval of lunar rocks last year, the first by any nation since 1976.

But China still lags behind the United States in experience, expertise and technology.

NASA plans to return astronauts to the moon's surface by 2024. The last NASA crewed landing was in 1972.

Chinese rockets currently do not have sufficient thrust to send astronauts to the moon, Wu said, but China aims to make breakthroughs in rocket design in 2021-2025.

In China's next mission to the moon, lunar samples of the south pole will be retrieved, he said.

Subsequent missions will involve a detailed survey of resources in the south pole, and the testing of key technologies in preparation for the construction of the research station, Wu said.

(Reporting by Ryan Woo; Editing by Ana Nicolaci da Costa)

Show must return! Protesters occupy French theatres to decry COVID closures


Cultural sector workers occupy the Theatre de l'Odeon in Paris

Fri, March 12, 2021, 

By Yiming Woo

PARIS (Reuters) - Dozens of show business workers are occupying theatres in at least nine cities in France to demand President Emmanuel Macron's government reopen cultural venues and end a months-long halt to performances because of the coronavirus pandemic.

At the Odeon Theatre on the Left Bank in Paris, the sit-in entered its eighth day on Friday as protesters rejected an additional financial support for cultural venues and artists pledged by the government a day earlier.


Sleeping bags, inflatable mattresses and donated food are laid out in the 19th-century theatre's ornate hall and velvet-lined balconies, while the 54 protesters share a single shower.

"We've got everything we need to sit tight for several days," said comedian Jennifer Catelain.

"We started with polite petitions, then peaceful protests, we occupied venues for a day here and there, but we were not listened to. So we decided to step it up, stay a little longer in a place that is emblematic."

Theatres, cinemas, art galleries and other cultural spaces have been shut since October when France was put into its second full lockdown. Much of the economy reopened in mid-December but cultural venues, like bars and restaurants, remained closed.

The protesters, among them actors, theatre workers and students, say there is no reason to keep cultural venues closed when social distancing measures can be imposed.

They have been demanding an opening date as well as an extension to special unemployment benefits for actors, musicians and other show business workers who work on short-term contracts, known collectively as "intermittents du spectacle".

The government on Thursday promised an extra 30 million euros in financial aid and made sick leave and maternity leave more widely available for intermittents during the crisis.

However the protesters said the response did not go far enough - and for now the public appears on their side.

"They have no choice when it seems they have no other solution, said Paris resident Beatrice Philippe.

(Reporting by Yiming Woo; Editing by Richard Lough and Mark Heinrich)

César Awards: Presenter Strips Naked In Support Of France’s Intermittent Arts Workers During Live Televised Ceremony

Fri, March 12, 2021, 4:22 PM·2 min read



French actress Corinne Masiero sent shockwaves through Paris’ Olympia concert hall during France’s César Awards ceremony this evening when she stripped off her clothes to appear entirely naked on stage. Across her breasts and torso was written, “No culture, no future.” The move was in support of artists and technicians across the country who have been impacted by work stoppages caused by the Covid crisis and the government’s response. Scrawled across her back was a message evidently destined for Prime Minister Jean Castex: “Give us back art, Jean.” (See video below, which, warning, contains full nudity.)

Masiero, who is a former César nominee for Louise Wimmer, and is also known for such films as Rust And Bone and TV series like long-running mockumentary Fait Pas Ci Fait Pas Ca and the current Capitaine Marleau, first appeared on stage in a donkey costume evoking 1970 Catherine Denueve-starrer Peau D’Ane and splashed with fake blood. Masiero then added, “I have another costume,” that was more “cinephile” and revealed a red dress à la Carrie.

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Finally, before fully removing her dress and revealing she was entirely naked underneath, she said, “I have a last costume and after that’s there’s nothing more. This one is ‘Who Wants The Skin Of Roger L’Intermittant,'” a reference to the French title of Who Framed Roger Rabbit and using the local term for France’s recurring workers in the arts. She added the statement she was making was, “Because now we are like this, completely naked.”

As ceremony host Marina Fois scrambled to gather Masiero’s clothes off the stage floor, Masiero said, “I don’t think I’ll be invited next year, we’ll see.” Broadcaster Canal Plus then cut to a montage of the Costume nominees and when Masiero reappeared, she was back in the red dress.

Here’s video of the scene:



'No culture, no future': Actress in naked lockdown protest at French Oscars

Verity Bowman
Sat, March 13, 2021

THE TELEGRAPH


French actress Corinne Masiero stands naked on stage next to French actress and Master of Ceremony Marina Fois - BERTRAND GUAY /AFP

A French actress stripped down naked on stage at the César Awards during a politically charged in protest at the months-long shutdown of cultural venues.

Corinne Masiero wore a bloodstained donkey costume before removing her clothes to reveal the words "No culture, no future" written across her front as she presented the costume award on Friday.

While most businesses have opened in France, theatres and cinemas have been closed for more than three months.

Demonstrators have demanded that the government do more to end the halt of performances and support the industry battered by the pandemic.

Several theatres were occupied on Friday in at least nine cities, while sit-ins at the Odeon Theatre on the Left Bank in Paris entered their eighth day.

Corinne Masiero speaks on stage next to Marina Fois during the 46th Cesar Film Awards Ceremony At L'Olympia In Paris on March 12, 2021 in Paris - Corbis Entertainment

Frustrations dominated Friday’s awards. In a direct appeal to French Prime Minister Jean Castex, a message on Masiero’s back read "Give us back art, Jean”.

Others joined the 57-year-old in using their time in the spotlight to appeal to the French Government.

"My children can go to Zara but not the cinema... it's incomprehensible," said Stephane Demoustier as he picked up the César for best screenplay for "The Girl With a Bracelet".

Mistress of ceremonies Marina Fois appeal directly to Culture Minister Roselyne Bachelot in her opening monologue.

"The minister hasn't done nothing... Madame Bachelot, you released a book with your recipe for pasta and gorgonzola," the actress joked.

"What we miss is what unites us, the emotions that we experience together,” she concluded.

Corinne Masiero (L) delivers a speech wearing a "Peau d'Ane" costume next to French actress and Master of Ceremony Marina Fois - Bertrand Guay /AFP

The best film award was given to comedy drama ‘Adieu Les Cons’ (Goodbye Morons). It depicts a seriously ill woman searching for her long-lost child and took home several Césars, including best director for Albert Dupontel.

Hanging heavy over the ceremony was the memory of last year's disastrous event.

Stars walked out and protestors were teargassed outside after the decision to award Polish director Roman Polanski, who is accused of multiple sexual assaults and the statutory rape of a 13-year-old girl.

The entire Cesar academy board resigned in the build-up to the 2020 ceremony due to the uproar over Polanski's nominations for his film "An Officer and a Spy".

Many saw the nominations as proof of the French industry's failure to respond to the #MeToo movement.

India activist breaks silence on sedition arrest, says she felt 'violated'




FILE PHOTO: Disha Ravi, a 22-year-old climate activist, leaves after an investigation at National Cyber Forensic Lab, in New DeAlasdair Pal

Sun, March 14, 2021, 
Greta Thunberg
Disha Ravi


By Alasdair Pal

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - An Indian climate activist linked to Greta Thunberg said on Saturday she felt "violated" by her arrest last month on sedition charges and her treatment by the media, her first comments on a case that sparked international criticism.

Disha Ravi, a 22-year-old vegan and member of Thunberg's Fridays for Future movement, was charged in February over an online document about months-long protests by Indian farmers.

Ten days after her arrest and following widespread criticism, a court in India's capital New Delhi granted her bail, citing “scanty and sketchy evidence” that she was involved in fomenting violence.

"I had coerced myself into believing that the only way I would be able to live through this was by tricking myself into thinking that this wasn't happening to me," Ravi said in a statement.

"My actions were pronounced guilty - not in the court of law, but on flat screens."

Police say the document Ravi created stoked violence on Jan. 26, India’s Republic Day, when some protesting farmers broke free of a planned march and clashed with police.

Angry at new agricultural laws they say benefit large private buyers at the expense of growers, tens of thousands of farmers have been camped on the outskirts of New Delhi since late last year.

Swedish climate activist Thunberg, popstar Rihanna, and U.S. activist Meena Harris, the niece of Vice President Kamala Harris, all tweeted in support of the protests last month, drawing a rebuke from India's foreign ministry.

(Reporting by Alasdair Pal; Editing by William Mallard)

Savannah River yields three cannons and a big mystery 

Dredging the Savannah River is like a box of chocolates, say those who head up the task.

© U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Three recovered cannons, one of which is seen here, are believed to be from the 18th century.

By Phil Gast, CNN 3/14/2021

You never know what you're gonna find.

How about three cannons that may date to the American Revolution, an anchor and a likely piece of ship's timber?

The Army Corps of Engineers halted work in the vicinity after the late February discovery east of the Georgia city's famous River Street. Then it sent out feelers to maritime experts, historians and those who have worked on wreck sites in the river, asking for their insight into the finds.

Perhaps the cannons were tossed overboard or they served as ballast. Maybe the old artillery pieces are related to a Civil War ironclad, which was scuttled by its Confederate crew. The Corps doubts that theory.

Archaeologists and Britain's Royal Navy are offering an even more intriguing and exciting possibility.

They told CNN last week that -- based on measurements and appearance -- the cannons may be from the HMS Rose, a famed British warship that mixed it up with colonists during the revolution or, as the UK calls it, the War of Independence. Nearly 250 years ago, the British scuttled the ship in the Savannah River to block the channel and prevent French ships from coming to the aid of colonists trying to retake the city.

Research, diving and sonar scans of the site will be conducted before anyone knows for sure -- if certainty is even possible -- the origin and context of the artifacts. For now, there's a mixture of caution about jumping to conclusions and tantalizing possibilities.

"It could (tell) a part of the story of Savannah that has not been looked at in a very long time," Corps district archaeologist Andrea Farmer said of the discovery.


So why were British troops in Savannah?

A short refresher course might be in order to answer that question.

The 13 colonies, determined to gain their independence, fought the forces of King George III on land and sea. The British, hoping they would gain support from royalists in the South, took Savannah in 1778, only to find themselves defending it less than a year later.

The HMS Rose, with its 20 cannons and 160 sailors, was brought in to help fellow Redcoats.

The warship was already famous, having been a "scourge" on the colonists, as the Royal Navy puts it. It quelled smuggling in Rhode Island, prompting the formation of the forerunner of the US Navy.

The Rose fought in and patrolled New York waterways and parts of the Eastern Seaboard before it sojourned south.

In Savannah, the vessel was sacrificed September 19, 1779, to keep French allies from joining the siege at that point in the river. The British eventually won the battle and controlled the city until almost war's end.

The cannons appear to date to possibly the mid-1700s -- predating the Civil War by about a century -- which aligns closely with the HMS Rose's history. They are about 5 feet long. Further study and the removal of sediment on the cannons may provide information on when and where they were manufactured.

"We are looking at whether they came from a single context, or if the anchor came from a later ship," Farmer told CNN.

Archaeologists and historians believe the HMS Rose may have been partially salvaged at some point after its sinking.

That poses another of myriad mysteries surrounding the recovery of the artifacts: Are the remnants of the HMS Rose on the river bed, in some shape or form? Officials said that will be part of their work in the months ahead.

"I think it's fantastic and interesting when artifacts from maritime history come to light," said Cmdr. Jim Morley, the UK's assistant naval attache in Washington. "It just gives us an opportunity to look back at our common maritime history and history in general."


A busy and 'dynamic' river

During the multiagency harbor expansion project, the Army Corps of Engineers has long contended with challenges presented by the Savannah River, which is swift, has shifting currents and features practically no visibility.

"This stretch of the river can be a dynamic river," Farmer, the archaeologist, said of the heavily traveled channel. "We never quite know. Materials can shift and move."

There's a good bit of material that lies beneath the surface, from Native American pottery that was pushed downstream, to a small amount of debris from the CSS Georgia ironclad that sank in 1864 and other vessels lost over time.

So-called clamshell dredgers designed to pull up muck encountered the artifacts during the week of February 22, the Corps said. The project is in the final stages of deepening the Savannah harbor from 42 feet to 47 feet to make sure supertankers have room to navigate, said Corps spokesperson Billy Birdwell.

"Studies demonstrate the deepening will produce substantial economic benefits for the nation by enabling larger and more heavily loaded vessels to call on the harbor with fewer tidal delays," the Corps office says.


'You have to do the detective work'

Officials with the Naval History and Heritage Command said there's not enough early evidence to suggest which vessel carried the discoveries.

The Corps, using US Navy divers and contractors, removed most of CSS Georgia's remains a few years ago as part of the harbor deepening. Several cannons were pulled up and conserved.

The newly found artillery pieces were recovered outside the area where the Corps would have anticipated more CSS Georgia artifacts, though they were in the general vicinity, it said. Robert Neyland, head of the underwater archaeology branch at the NHHC, said it's possible the Rebel ironclad had these older guns onboard.

"I think it is a significant find," said Neyland, whose office has been in touch with the Corps. "Future investigation will tell us just how significant it is."

Farmer said the district is in the process of bringing on experts who will look at historic and cartographic material. It will use divers, side-scan sonars and magnetometry in the area where the artifacts were found. The Corps also will turn to artillery experts to go over the evidence.

She and others say it is important to look at all options regarding their origin.

"You have to do the detective work to solve the mystery," said Neyland. "We are not going to find a name on it. You have to build a body of evidence."


Discovery will bring research from across the sea

The Army Corps of Engineers has not detailed the precise area where the artifacts were found, wishing to discourage treasure hunters. And, it says, diving in the area is extremely hazardous.

As for the artifacts themselves, the Corps will require the assistance of outside experts, as it did with the CSS Georgia, for conservation.

Statements distributed by the British Embassy and a Royal Navy news article say the artifacts likely date to the siege of Savannah. A postscript on the HMS Rose: A replica built in 1970 was modified to become the HMS Surprise, which is featured in the Russell Crowe film "Master and Commander." The replica is now at the the Maritime Museum of San Diego.

While the American colonies and the crown were bitter enemies 250 years ago, the United States and the United Kingdom have long been strong allies.

Morley, the British Embassy assistant naval attache, said the find in Savannah provides an opportunity "to work together and further our knowledge."

CLICK ON TO ENLARGE

Animals self-isolate and socially distance to protect from infectious disease, scientists find

Jacob Dubé 

PSOTMEDIA

3/12/2021

For the past year, Canadians have been asked to follow unprecedented safety measures to slow the spread of the COVID-19 virus. Health experts asked people with symptoms to self-isolate in their own homes, and the rest of the public began to socially distance themselves from friends, family and strangers on the street.

© Provided by National Post Some species of ants actually practice social-distancing measures when an infection breaks out.

These actions might seem jarring to some accustomed to unrestricted social contact, but according to a new review published in Science , other animals have been self-isolating and social-distancing for years to fight against infectious diseases.

Species such as bats, ants, lobsters, fish, mice and primates have been observed to react to infectious diseases in their communities — some entire populations distance themselves even when they’re not sick to prevent a spread.

“Nonhuman animal systems, particularly those with social structures similar to those of humans, present unique opportunities to inform relevant public health questions such as the effectiveness, variability, and required duration of social distancing measures,” the authors said in the review.

Lead author Sebastian Stockmaier, a PhD candidate at the University of Texas’ Integrative Biology Department, told the National Post that he had been planning on writing a review on this subject for five years, but it was shelved when he began his field research on how vampire bats react to pathogens.

© AP Photo/Gerald Herbert A Vampire Bat drinks bovine blood in New Orleans.

When the coronavirus began to spread around the world in early 2020, Stockmaier revived the review. He brought on a collection of researchers with different specialities — including ants, birds, fish, and humans — and finished a first draft by last May.

“I think that collaboration was really fruitful because we had so many different perspectives about this topic,” Stockmaier said.

Stockmaier and his team identified five common methods that certain wildlife often use to protect themselves against infectious diseases. The first, he says, is avoidance. Simply put, if an individual is identified as being sick, others actively go out of their way to avoid them, a phenomenon that has been identified in birds, mice and lobsters.

“If you were going to the grocery store right now, and someone sneezes right next to you, you’ll probably take a step back,” he said.

The next two methods are both passive and active self-isolation. Passive self-isolation, Stockmaier says, is when an animal develops symptoms for an infection and the symptoms cause them to stray away from the pack, similarly to when we stay home when we’re sick. Some animals become more lethargic or less interested in social interactions, which incidentally separates them from the group. Sick vampire bats will avoid grooming others in their group, and infected bees share less food. Notably, this form of self-isolation is more accidental, but still works to prevent future infections.

Active self-isolation, when an animal identifies that it is sick, and willingly separates itself from its group to prevent an outbreak, happens most often in animals with strong social bonds. Certain ants will willingly leave their colonies and die if they become infected, in a form of “altruistic suicide”.

© Courtesy Stockmaier et al Stockmaier and his team identified five methods that animals use to prevent the spread of infectious diseases.

The fourth method, proactive social distancing, is what Stockmaier says we’re mainly doing right now. Health experts have advised that, infected or not, we all maintain a social distance from others to prevent a potential spread of the coronavirus. This was typically not seen in animals other than humans, but co-author Nathalie Stroeymeyt discovered that some species of ants begin to keep their distance from one another when a few in a colony become infected with a fungal pathogen. The review noted that social distancing was extremely effective in preventing the spread of these pathogens.

One mystery, Stockmaier said, is how the ants were able to collectively identify an infection and decide to do something about it.

“How do other individuals sense that there’s an exposed individual around?” he said. “We have the media and so on, but how do these ants know that there’s a threat going on?”

The final method to prevent infectious diseases that the review noted is exclusion, which would mean that the infected individual is forcibly prevented or exiled from the rest of the group. It’s been shown in insects, Stockmaier said, and has anecdotally been seen in some primates, who have been caught acting more aggressively to sick group members.

According to Stockmaier, more research is needed to look at how an animal’s behaviours evolve to react to certain infections — and how the pathogens also evolve to adapt to the animals.

“It’s not surprising to see animals doing these things,” he said. “Animals are encountering pathogens every day too, so we’re not the only ones being affected by infectious diseases. It’s just fascinating to see that there are certain behaviours that have evolved in certain animals that serve that purpose.”

But while it’s easier to pinpoint why an animal might take some of these behaviours to fight against infectious diseases, Stockmaier said it’s tougher to figure out why humans act the way they do. Caretaking, for example, goes against most of our natural instincts when it comes to preventing viruses, because it actively increases your chances of being infected.

“For some people it’s hard to pinpoint the benefits, like why do they do it, why does it evolutionarily make sense to do this,” he said. “There might be delayed benefits, and there’s all these things that you can’t get a grasp on that play a role in there that you might not have going on in animal societies.”

We won’t know until more studies are done into our behaviour, but at least in the meantime we have our animal relatives to look to for help.

MAGICK POWER OF TABOO

'Sarong Revolution' grows in Myanmar as women hang skirts to keep superstitious soldiers at bay

Shari Kulha 

3/12/2021

As women take a frontline role in anti-coup protests in Myanmar, some have found an inventive way of defying military rule — hanging traditional sarongs, underwear and even sanitary pads in the streets to spook superstitious policemen and soldiers.

© Provided by National Post Protesters seem able to hold back forces by hanging sarongs over clotheslines across the streets.

The movement, dubbed the Sarong Revolution by feminists, plays on a belief that deems it bad luck for men to walk beneath women’s clothing, and highlights women’s fears that the Feb. 1 coup could roll back hard-won gains on gender equality.

“The htamein (sarong) has become our tool at the protests,” said Naw Esther Chit, 28, an ethnic Karen activist who has been tear-gassed at several protests against the ouster of Aung San Suu Kyi’s elected government.

“Women’s items are used because of the belief that men would be seen weaker if they walk beneath the htamein … police have to take them down and it gives us time to run for safety,” she told the Thomson Reuters Foundation by phone.

The unusual movement’s nickname echoes the Saffron Revolution — pro-democracy protests led by Buddhist monks in 2007 that helped pave the way toward democratic reforms.

During weeks of unrest since the coup, police have fired tear gas, rubber bullets and stun grenades to disperse protesters, and women have not been spared.

One of the most striking images from the protests was a young woman wearing a T-shirt that read “Everything will be OK” before she was shot dead, one of about 70 people who have been reported killed since the demonstrations began.

Myanmar protesters defy military coup leaders

The junta has said it is acting with utmost restraint in handling what it describes as demonstrations by “riotous protesters” whom it accuses of attacking police and harming national security and stability.

© STR / AFP via Getty Images Protesters make a barricade across a road with longyi, a traditional clothing widely worn in Myanmar.

It is not the first time women have played a prominent role in pro-democracy protests in Myanmar, which started a decade of democratic reforms in 2011 after nearly half a century of rule by successive military juntas.

“Women have been a backbone in Myanmar’s fight for democracy, not just in 1988 but they have been fighting since the British colonial rule,” said Tanyalak Thongyoojaroen, an associate with Fortify Rights, a Bangkok-based regional human rights group.

Women including university students turned out in force in a 1988 uprising against the military — the protests that brought Nobel laureate Suu Kyi to prominence.

Suu Kyi’s party won a 2015 election and established the country’s first civilian government in five decades. She was re-elected in November before the military seized power last month, saying the poll was marred by fraud — an assertion rejected by the electoral commission.

‘River of blood’: Nun pleads with police to spare protesters before deadly gunfire erupts in Myanmar

‘The army broke our wings’: Myanmar military seizes power in coup, detains leader Aung San Su Kyi

In the latest turmoil, women including nurses and teachers have taken to the streets and social media to protest, with some worried that women’s rights could be rolled back by the male-dominated junta, based on its previous record.

“What’s different this time is that women are not only fighting for democracy and condemning the coup but at the same time they’re also calling for an end to the patriarchal military and fighting for gender equality,” Thongyoojaroen said.

Despite their visible presence in anti-coup demonstrations, women in Myanmar — except for Suu Kyi — are largely absent from leadership roles in the country, where gender inequalities are widespread and domestic violence is not outlawed.

It is ranked 114 out of 153 countries on the World Economic Forum’s 2020 Global Gender Gap Index, after scoring poorly on women’s political empowerment and economic participation.