Variant accelerating India's Covid explosion: WHO top scientist

Issued on: 08/05/2021 -

World Health Organization's chief scientist Soumya Swaminathan lamented that India appeared to have let down its guard down, with "huge social mixing and large gatherings" Fabrice COFFRINI AFP

Geneva (AFP)

A Covid-19 variant spreading in India is more contagious and may be dodging vaccine protections, contributing to the country's explosive outbreak, the World Health Organization's chief scientist said Saturday.

In an interview with AFP, Soumya Swaminathan warned that "the epidemiological features that we see in India today do indicate that it's an extremely rapidly spreading variant".

India on Saturday for the first time registered more than 4,000 Covid-19 deaths in just 24 hours, and more than 400,000 new infections.

New Delhi has struggled to contain the outbreak, which has overwhelmed its healthcare system, and many experts suspect the official death and case numbers are a gross underestimate.

Swaminathan, an Indian paediatrician and clinical scientist, said the B.1.617 variant of Covid-19, which was first detected in India last October, was clearly a contributing factor to the catastrophe unfolding in her homeland.

"There have been many accelerators that are fed into this," the 62-year-old said, stressing that "a more rapidly spreading virus is one of them".

The WHO recently listed B.1.617 -- which counts several sub-lineages with slightly different mutations and characteristics -- as a "variant of interest".

- Resistant to antibodies? -

But so far it has stopped short of adding it to its short list of "variant of concern" -- a label indicating it is more dangerous than the original version of the virus by being more transmissible, deadly or able to get past vaccine protections.

Several national health authorities, including in the United States and Britain, have meanwhile said they consider B.1.617 a variant of concern, and Swaminathan said she expected the WHO to soon follow suit.

"B 1.617 is likely to be a variant of concern because it has some mutations which increase transmission, and which also potentially could make (it) resistant to antibodies that are generated by vaccination or by natural infection," she said.

But she insisted that the variant alone could not be blamed for the dramatic surge in cases and deaths seen in India, lamenting that the country appeared to have let down its guard down, with "huge social mixing and large gatherings".

Mass election rallies held by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other politicians have for instance partly been blamed for the staggering rise in infections.

But even as many in India felt the crisis was over, dropping mask-wearing and other protection measures, the virus was quietly spreading.

- 'Taking off vertically' -

"In a large country like India, you could have transmission at low levels, which is what happened for many months," Swaminathan said.

"It was endemic (and) probably gradually increasing," she said, decrying that "those early signs were missed until it reached the point at which it was taking off vertically."

"At that point it's very hard to suppress, because it's then involving tens of thousands of people and it's multiplying at a rate at which it's very difficult to stop."

While India is now trying to scale up vaccination to rein in the outbreak, Swaminathan warned that the jabs alone would not be enough to gain control of the situation.

She pointed out that India, the world's largest vaccine-making nation, had only fully vaccinated around two percent of the 1.3 billion-plus population.

"It's going to take many months if not years to get to the point of 70 to 80 percent coverage," she said.

With that prospect, Swaminathan stressed that "for the foreseeable future, we need to depend on our tried and tested public health and social measures" to bring down transmission.

The surge in India is frightening not only due to the horrifying number of people who are sick and dying there, but also because the exploding infection numbers dramatically increase the chances of new and more dangerous variants emerging.

"The more the virus is replicating and spreading and transmitting, the more chances are that... mutations will develop and adapt," Swaminathan said.

"Variants which accumulate a lot of mutations may ultimately become resistant to the current vaccines that we have," she warned.

"That's going to be a problem for the whole world."

© 2021 AFP

CRIMINAL CAPITALI$M HACKTAVISM

Colonial Pipeline hackers stole data on Thursday - Bloomberg News

(Reuters) - The hackers who caused Colonial Pipeline to shut down on Friday began their cyberattack against the top U.S. fuel pipeline operator a day earlier and stole a large amount of data, Bloomberg News reported citing people familiar with the matter.


© Reuters/Kacper Pempel FILE PHOTO: Hooded an holds laptop computer as cyber code is projected on him in this illustration picture

The attackers are part of a cybercrime group called DarkSide and took nearly 100 gigabytes of data out of Colonial's network in just two hours on Thursday, Bloomberg reported late Saturday, citing two people involved in the company's investigation.

By Jordan Robertson and William Turton

May 8, 2021, 8

Attackers stole nearly 100GB of data in two hours on Thursday
Theft followed by locking of computers and ransom demand


Cyber-Attack Shuts Colonial Pipeline


The hackers who caused Colonial Pipeline to shut down the biggest U.S. gasoline pipeline on Friday began their blitz against the company a day earlier, stealing a large amount of data before locking computers with ransomware and demanding payment, according to people familiar with the matter.

The intruders, who are part of a cybercrime gang called DarkSide, took nearly 100 gigabytes of data out of the Alpharetta, Georgia-based company’s network in just two hours on Thursday, two people involved in Colonial’s investigation said.

The move was part of a double-extortion scheme that is one of the group’s hallmarks. Colonial was threatened that the stolen data would be leaked to the internet while the information that was encrypted by the hackers on computers inside the network would remain locked unless it paid a ransom, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the information isn’t public.

The company didn’t immediately respond to requests to comment on the investigation. It said earlier that it “proactively took certain systems offline to contain the threat, which has temporarily halted all pipeline operations, and affected some of our IT systems.”



The Colonial Pipeline route along the U.S. eastern seaboard.
Source: Colonial Pipeline

Colonial’s decision late Friday to shut down a pipeline that is the main source of gasoline, diesel and jet fuel for the East Coast, without saying when it would reopen, represents a dangerous new escalation in the fight against ransomware, which President Joe Biden’s administration has identified as a priority.

It’s not clear how much money the attackers demanded or whether Colonial has paid. Ransomware demands can range from several hundred dollars to millions of dollars in cryptocurrency. Many companies pay, often facilitated by their insurers.

AXA SA, one of Europe’s top insurance companies, said this week that it would break with that trend and stop offering policies in France that reimburse customers for payments made to ransomware hackers, which could be the first in the industry, the Associated Press reported.

Cyber-attacks have disrupted the operations of other energy assets in the U.S. in recent years. Last year, the Department of Homeland Security revealed that an attack brought down an unnamed natural gas compressor facility for two days. In April 2018, several natural gas pipeline operators had service interruptions because of the hack of a third-party provider whose technology enables electronic communications between the entities.

The theft of Colonial’s data, coupled with the detonation of ransomware on the company’s computers, highlights the leverage that hackers often have over their victims in these kinds of cases. The company said FireEye Inc.’s Mandiant digital forensics division is assisting with the investigation.

The White House said that Biden was briefed on the incident Saturday morning.

A series of major cyber-attacks in recent weeks also underscored the brazenness of the attackers and the challenges of tackling the problem of ransomware.

In a matter of days, attacks were revealed against the police department in Washington, D.C. , where the hackers threatened to release information about police informants to criminal gangs; the Illinois Attorney General’s office, which had been warned about weak cybersecurity practices in a recent state audit; and San Diego-based Scripps Health, where medical procedures were canceled and emergency patients diverted to other hospitals.

Ransomware Attackers Up Ante as White House Vows Crack Down

CORRUPTION IS CRIMINAL CAPITALI$M 

Syria’s Rifaat al-Assad: From ‘butcher of Hama’ to real estate tycoon

Issued on: 05/05/2021 

Rifaat al-Assad photographed on May 27, 2005, during an interview 

with Associated Press in his office in Marbella, Spain. © Paul White, AP (archives)

Text by: Marc DAOU


The appeals process for the trial of Rifaat al-Assad goes ahead in Paris on Thursday. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s uncle was initially convicted of money laundering as part of an organised gang, embezzlement of public funds and aggravated tax evasion. FRANCE 24 looks back at the long career of this Assad dynasty scion who amassed a colossal European property empire.

The French justice system is looking again at the case of Rifaat al-Assad, who was sentenced to four years in prison in June 2020 for a range of financial impropriety charges.

The Syrian president’s uncle stands accused of fraudulently building a French property empire estimated at €90 million – including two mansions in upscale parts of Paris, some forty apartments, a chateau and a stud farm.

Taking into account his British and Spanish property assets, Rifaat’s European empire amount to several hundred million euros, according to anti-corruption NGOs including the French association Sherpa, which brought the complaint against him to the courts in 2013.

A princely lifestyle

Rifaat al-Assad was born in Syria in 1937, and was brought up as part of the Alawite community. He has always insisted that he did nothing improper in the acquisition of his assets. This younger brother of Hafez al-Assad – Syrian President Bshar al-Assad’s father and president from 1971 to 2000 – said that it was mainly thanks to the Saudi royal family’s generosity in the 1980s that he was able to build his lucrative empire.

His allies say that the value of these holdings is far below the sums relayed in the media. Rifaat has long contended that his legal troubles and the criminal complaints levelled against him in France, Spain and Switzerland are a plot fomented by the Syrian opposition. He says he is being targeted because of his popularity in Syria.

But it is clear that Rifaat was by no means predestined to become such a tycoon. “During his first trial there was a long discussion of Assad’s rise to this vast fortune from a family of small landowners in Qardaha, northwest Syria,” said Fabrice Balanche, a Syria specialist at Lyon University 2, who testified as an expert at the first trial in December 2019.

“The size of his assets is out of proportion with the hundred acres of poor land his family possessed, 400 metres above sea level, on which sharecroppers cultivated tobacco and durum wheat,” Balanche continued.

Rifaat has lived in Europe since he was forced into exile in 1984 after a failed coup against his own brother Hafez.

“Before his exile, Rifaat was his brother’s right-hand man – and you could say this hand was highly armed; Rifaat was head of the Defence Brigades, an army corps composed of Alawites, the community the Assads come from,” Balanche said.

The Defence Brigades numbered some 50,000 men paid three times the average for soldiers in the Syrian army. It did the Assad regime’s dirty work – and its fearsome reputation burnished Rifaat’s ambitions.

“Syria saw a Muslim Brotherhood uprising from 1979 to 1983, which ended in the infamous Hama massacre orchestrated by Rifaat’s Defence Brigades,” Balanche said. This came after they massacred hundreds of prisoners in the Palmyra jail in 1980 to avenge an attack on the government.

‘You don’t kill your own brother’

After this Rifaat was nicknamed the “butcher of Hama”. At present, he is the subject of a criminal investigation in Switzerland by NGO Trial International for his alleged involvement in the massacre – which for many Syrians remains a pre-eminent symbol of the Assad regime’s cruelty.

“The Defence Brigades were also involved in stealing property and trafficking antiques; they have a powerful grip on smuggling, notably in Lebanon which the Syrian army occupied in 1976,” Balanche said. “Many of their barracks functioned as warehouses full of goods from Lebanon, such as TVs, VCRs, cigarettes and foreign beers.”

Far from being an ideologue, Balanche continued, Rifaat was someone who used his brother’s power for self-aggrandisement: “He was the little brother who imposed himself by force; his goal was to accumulate wealth – much more than Hafez had, seeing as the latter was primarily interested in power not money.”

Rifaat gained influence over the years – with the burgeoning of his clientelist networks and Hafez making him vice-president. This threatened his brother’s grip on power when Rifaat took advantage of Hafez’s hospitalisation to attempt a coup in 1984.

“Hafez spared him after this betrayal because you don’t kill your own brother; it would have upset their mother a great deal,” Balanche said. “It’s also worth noting that Hafez didn’t want to risk a civil war within the Alawite community, because at the time his younger brother had a lot of supporters – especially within the army thanks to the Defence Brigades. So Hafez expelled Rifaat from Syria with a significant sum of money so that he could bounce back abroad.”

Lavish exile and Legion of Honour

In disgrace and deprived of his Defence Brigade power base, Rifaat settled in France with various wives, many descendants and a squad of bodyguards.

“France’s intelligence agencies were very happy that he was there,” Balanche said. “Lebanon was mired in its [1975 to 1990] civil war and was occupied by Syrian forces – and in this context Rifaat constituted a precious source of information against Hafez, as well as a kind of tool to be used against him if need be,” Balanche said. “Some French intelligence figures even saw him as a useful intermediary in the arms trade – and as a potential pro-Western successor to Hafez.”

Then French President François Mitterrand made Rifaat a Grand Officer of the Legion of Honour in 1986. It remains a controversial move – in February, Sherpa and another NGO Trial International urged President Emmanuel Macron to withdraw France’s highest honour from Rifaat in light of the grave accusations against him.

An interregnum to Rifaat’s French exile came in 1992 when Hafez allowed him to return to Syria with a pardon, prompted by their mother’s funeral. He got back the right to do business there.

But the tide turned again in 1998. “Rifaat was declared persona non grata and stripped of his title of vice president because Hafez saw him as a danger to his succession plan in which his son Bashar would take his place,” Balanche noted.

Bashar’s elder brother Bassel had been widely regarded as Hafez’s most likely successor until his death in a car accident in 1994.

Upon Hafez’s funeral in June 2000 Rifaat accused Syrian authorities of violating the country’s constitution by appointing Bashar as head of state.

“Now Rifaat carries no political weight in Syria,” Balanche said. “He might have created a party and launched a satellite TV channel [ANN] based in London – and he might have backed the opposition because he knew his only chance of regaining a foothold in Syria was through regime change – but his old adversaries weren’t fooled for a second.”

“After a lavish exile and dreams of ruling Syria in place of his brother and then his nephew, Rifaat’s last struggles are playing out in European courts – a far cry from both his Parisian palaces and his dreams of national leadership,” Balanche concluded.

Chad police fire tear gas to disperse 

anti-junta gathering in N’Djamena

Chadian demonstrators carry banners with anti-France slogans as they demonstrate in N’Djamena on May 8, 2021. © Djimet Wiche, AFP

Text by:  NEWS WIRE

Chadian police on Saturday shot a protester and arrested about 20 others defying a ban to demonstrate against the junta that took power after veteran ruler Idriss Deby Itno died fighting rebels.

Only a few dozens of people took to the streets in sporadic groups after military authorities late Friday banned the protest called by the Wakit Tama grouping of opposition political parties and civil society bodies.

"Some 20 people have been detained by the security forces and a single person was injured by a live bullet," N'Djamena prosecutor Youssouf Tom told AFP.

"The policeman who fired the shot had taken drugs and was finally arrested and will answer for his action," he added.

Police used tear gas to break up a gathering in a southern district of the capital N'Djamena, an AFP reporter said, adding that security forces had deployed in numbers across the city.

A small group of people burnt a French flag in a northern area. France, Chad's former colonial ruler, was a traditional backer of Deby and is seen by some as supporting the junta that seized power after Deby's death.

Wakit Tama coordinator Max Loalngar said a dozen people had been hurt, three seriously, and about 15 arrested.

He accused the authorities of "showing bad faith and their war posture when we are asking for an inclusive dialogue to allow all Chadians without exclusion to seek the means for an honourable end to the crisis".

The Transitional Military Council (CMT) took charge on April 20, the day that Deby's shock death was announced. It is headed by Deby's son Mahamat, a four-star general.

Protests broke out almost immediately and have been brutally quashed, resulting in six deaths according to officials, and nine according to NGOs.

Over 600 people have been arrested.

Mahamat Idriss Deby has pledged to hold "free and democratic" elections in 18 months. He has named a transitional government that is overwhelmingly dominated by ruling party figures and stalwarts of the old regime.

Chad claims that the Front for Change and Concord in Chad (FACT), a large armed group with a rear base in Libya which mounted an offensive on April 11, is retreating after a government offensive.

>> Challenges ahead for France in navigating Chad's post-Deby transition

(AFP)

Algeria marks first national day of remembrance over mass killings under French rule

Issued on: 08/05/2021 -

This file photo taken on January 21, 2021, shows a view of the Maqam Echahid, a concrete monument commemorating the Algerian war for independence, in Algiers. Algeria on May 8 honours thousands killed by French forces in 1945, as the North African country waits for Paris to apologise for its colonial-era crimes. © Ryad Kramdi, AFP

Text by: NEWS WIRES

Algeria on Saturday honours thousands killed by French forces in 1945, as the North African country waits for Paris to apologise for its colonial-era crimes.

Pro-independence rioting following a demonstration in the final months of World War II prompted the massacre of thousands of mostly unarmed Muslim civilians, a turning point in Algeria's long independence struggle.

On May 8, 1945, thousands had rallied in Setif as allied powers, including colonial ruler France, marked a hard-won victory in Europe over Nazi Germany.

"Long live the allied victory," demonstrators shouted.

But the festive gathering soon turned into a demonstration for an end to colonial rule, with cries of "Long live independent Algeria!"

That was a provocation for French police, incensed by the appearance, for the first time, of Algerian flags.

As they ordered the removal of the green and white standards, scuffles broke out.

Demonstrator Bouzid Saal, 22, refused to drop his flag -- so a French policeman shot him dead.

Outrage tore through the massive crowd.

The ensuing riots and revenge attacks on Europeans sparked a wave of repression by French authorities that left as many as 45,000 dead, according to Algerian official figures.

French historians put the toll at up to 20,000, including 86 European civilians and 16 soldiers.

The killings would have a transformative impact on the nascent anti-colonial movement. A full-blown independence war broke out nine years later, finally leading to the country's independence in 1962.

The Battle of Algiers (1966) (EN, NL subtitles) : Gillo Pontecorvo : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive

Algerian War and the French Army, 1954-62 - Experiences, Images, Testimonies | Martin S. Alexander | Palgrave Macmillan

President Abdelmadjid Tebboune, who will lead the first national day of remembrance for the killings on Saturday, has described them as "crimes against humanity".

Authorities will hold a series of events in Setif, 300 kilometres (190 miles) east of Algiers, including a march to the spot where Saal was killed.

Fortnight of retribution

The French launched a 15-day campaign of violence, targeting Setif and the surrounding rural region, bombing villages and hamlets indiscriminately.

General Raymond Duval led French authorities' ruthless clampdown, imposing martial law and a curfew on a patch of territory stretching from Setif to the sea, 50 kilometres (30 miles) north.

Nationalist leaders were detained on pure suspicion, and villages suspected of harbouring separatists were strafed by the air force and set ablaze.

Women, children and the elderly were massacred and some 44 villages were destroyed in 15 days of retribution.

Executions continued until November 1945, and some 4,000 people were arrested.

"I have secured you peace for 10 years," General Duval warned the colonial government in a letter.

"If France does nothing, it will all happen again, only next time it will be worse and may well be irreparable."

Still sensitive, decades on

Setif remains a highly sensitive episode for Algerians, as well as for some in France.

Paris only officially recognised it in 2005 when the ambassador in Algiers called the massacres "an inexcusable tragedy".

Five years later the bloodshed received some rare attention on the big screen, with the controversial Oscar-nominated film "Outside the Law".

Rachid Bouchareb's movie ignited much soul-searching in France -- but was also bitterly condemned by the far right.

Riot police had to hold back angry protesters when it was screened at the Cannes Film Festival.

The crowd, which included military veterans, was furious that French public funding had gone to a movie they claimed falsified history.

But France has since made moves to recognise crimes committed during its 132-year occupation of Algeria.

In March, President Emmanuel Macron admitted "in the name of France" that lawyer and independence figure Ali Boumendjel had been detained, tortured and killed by French forces who then covered his death up as a suicide.

Last year, Macron tasked French historian Benjamin Stora to assess how France has dealt with its colonial legacy, and urged officials to accelerate the opening of French archives on the Algerian war.

Released in January, the Stora report made several recommendations, including the creation of a "memory and truth commission" to hear testimony from those who suffered during the war.

It did not, however, suggest a formal state apology. Macron has offered neither "repentance nor apologies" but rather "symbolic acts" of reconciliation.

Algeria has dismissed the report as "not objective", and has not moved to reciprocate Macron's steps.

It did however welcome his admission of French responsibility for Boumendjel's death.

(AFP)

Myanmar junta designates shadow government as 'terrorist' group

The junta has accused a group of ousted lawmakers of carrying out killings. Meanwhile, over 8,000 teachers have been suspended for refusing to work under the military government.


Since the junta seized power in a February 1 coup, detaining leader Aung San Suu Kyi, a nationwide uprising has refused to back down until democracy is restored

Myanmar's junta has designated the rival National Unity Government (NUG) a terrorist group, blaming it for killings, bombings and arson, state media said on Saturday.

After Myanmar's February 1 coup, a group of ousted lawmakers — many of them previously part of Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy party — formed a shadow government.

State-controlled television slammed the NUG as a terror group, as well as the affiliated Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (CRPH) group.

"There were bombs, fires, murder and threats to destroy the administrative mechanism of the government," MRTV announced without evidence in an evening broadcast.

"Their acts caused so much terrorism in many places … We ask the people not to... support terrorist actions, give aid to terrorist actions that threaten the people's security from the CRPH, NUG, and PDF," it said, adding that the groups would now be covered by the anti-terrorism law.

The anti-terrorism law bans membership of the groups as well as any contact with them.

The announcement comes a few days after the NUG announced the creation of a so-called "people's defence force" to protect civilians from the military, which itself described as a terrorist force.

Watch video 26:10 To the point - Myanmar Coup: Death Knell for Democracy?

Thousands of teachers suspended

Thousands of protesters took to the streets on Saturday despite the junta's violent crackdown.

At least 774 civilians have been killed by Myanmar security forces while 3,778 are detained, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners activist group.

Also on Saturday, the Myanmar Teachers' Federation said more than 8,000 teachers throughout the country have been suspended for refusing to work under the military government.

About 8,250 employees from 33 colleges and universities, including professors and lecturers, have been affected, according to the federation.

Many teachers have joined the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM) in defiance of the coup. Around 70% of teaching staff have said they would not return to school this year.

Watch video 01:28 Myanmar's protesters keep on marching for freedom

mvb/aw (AFP, Reuters, dpa)

Pakistan: Blasphemy law and the economic pitfalls

Pakistan's business community has expressed concern over a possible revocation of the EU's preferential trade status. The country's economy is under pressure from the COVID crisis and the government's mismanagement.

The Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan party's anti-French protests paralyzed Pakistan for several days in April

Prime Minister Imran Khan finds himself in a difficult situation after the EU Parliament passed a unanimous resolution last week to review its preferential trade agreement with Pakistan over the country's controversial blasphemy law.

One the one hand, the EU's GSP+ status is economically beneficial for the country, on the other, blasphemy is an extremely sensitive issue — both religiously and politically.

The EU resolution expressed alarm over a spike in blasphemy cases and human rights abuses in Pakistan. It also showed concern over rising anti-French sentiment in the Muslim-majority South Asian nation over President Emmanuel Macron's actions against Islamic extremism in his country.

"The immediate initiative was connected to the case of a Christian couple. They have been languishing in a Pakistani jail because they have been accused of blasphemy," Reinhard Bütikofer, a German member of European Parliament, told DW. "But obviously, this is just one case among many. It may not need to be a Christian couple; [people of] other religions also suffer under the strict control of, what we consider, a medieval blasphemy law."

"It is a clear political signal that the GSP+ status is not a one-way street. It is premised on the understanding that the partnering country would stick to some human rights, transparency, accountability and other criteria," Bütikofer said, adding that the GSP+ is a major economic support for Pakistan because it allows an EU partner country to send 66% of its exports to the European Union free of any tariff. "I think it fair to insist that the conditionality that applies should be taken seriously."

An 'untouchable' law

Pakistan's right-wing groups have strongly criticized the EU Parliament's resolution and vowed to safeguard the country's blasphemy laws. They said the West would not be allowed to insult Islam or its prophet, Muhammad.

Watch video03:55 EU-Pakistan row: 'GSP+ status is not a one-way street'

Earlier this week, PM Khan presided over a Cabinet meeting to discuss the implications of the the EU resolution. Instead of showing pragmatism over the issue, Khan reportedly decided to not compromise on the blasphemy law. His ministers also asserted that the blasphemy laws would remain untouched.

However, the government said it would introduce legislation to address the other human rights concerns in the resolution.

Blasphemy is a sensitive topic in the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, where around 97% of the 180 million inhabitants are Muslim. Hundreds of victims of blasphemy charges have been languishing in Pakistani jails for years. People have been lynched by angry mobs, or assassinated, on allegations of insulting Islam or its Prophet Muhammad.

In 1947, Pakistan inherited the blasphemy laws from its British colonial rulers who had made it a criminal offense to commit "deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religious belief."

In the later decades, the Islamic military dictator General Zia-ul-Haq introduced extensions of the laws between 1977 and 1988, including life imprisonment for those defiling or desecrating the Holy Quran. Later, the death penalty was declared mandatory for anyone blaspheming against the Prophet Muhammad.
Business community urges pragmatism

While the government is reluctant to address the EU's concerns, Pakistan's business community is wary of the possibility of the GSP+ withdrawal.

Watch video Christians living in fear in Pakistan

Ahmed Chinoy, the director of the Pakistan Stock Exchange and former chairman the Pakistan Cloth Merchants Association, says that not addressing the EU's reservations could damage the country's economy.

"Pakistani manufacturers will be left with no option but to export textile and garments goods at a much cheaper rate, which means they will have to lay off their workers and reduce their wages substantially. The government needs to sort out this issue instead of resorting to emotional rhetoric," Chinoy told DW.

Qaiser Ahmed Shaikh, former president of the Karachi Chamber Commerce and Industries, says the GSP+ status has greatly benefited Pakistan. "Before Pakistan was granted this status, we had around $6 billion (€4.94 billion) exports to the EU. It increased to $8 billion dollar as a result of the EU's preferential trade agreement," Sheikh told DW, adding that $2 billion are now at stake.

"More than 18 million Pakistanis have lost their jobs because of the COVID pandemic" and more could be unemployed as a result of the GSP+ withdrawal, he said.

Nasir Mansoor, a labor rights activist, told DW the GSP+ status added 1.6 million more jobs to Pakistan's economy, and if it is withdrawn, around a million people will lose their jobs

The country's business community says PM Khan needs to deal with the issue pragmatically.

Aisha Ghaus Pasha, an economist and a former lawmaker, says that if the EU revokes Pakistan's GSP+ status, it will put the country in a very challenging position.

Activists say it is high time the state stopped appeasing Islamists and focused on economic development.

"The government can easily address the EU concerns if it wants," said 

RED SCARE 2.0
Opinion: China's New Silk Road is full of potholes

As the harsh realities of China's growing power sink in, the country's appeal is diminishing in the West. To keep it in check, more coordinated efforts are needed and come September the tone from Germany may be decisive.



High-speed railways that are part of China's New Silk Road project


There are cracks appearing in the New Silk Road, otherwise known as the Belt and Road Initiative. Launched in 2015 as Chinese President Xi Jinping's signature foreign policy project, it received a warm welcome from countries keen to benefit from Chinese globalization.

Since then, the attitude to China has hardened, especially in many democratic countries. Revelations about 1 million Uyghurs held in reeducation camps and reports of forced labor in Xinjiang, serious questions about China's handling of the coronavirus and its origins, and Beijing's dismantling of democracy in Hong Kong have cooled international enthusiasm for Xi's pet project.

Western countries have been emboldened by a reset of relations under US President Joe Biden, following the chaos and division of the Donald Trump era. The Biden administration is pointing to growing Chinese aggression and looking to forge an alliance with Europe and its other traditional allies.

DW's Clifford Coonan

Leading the way on pushback is Australia, whose prime minister, Scott Morrison, said he did not think the New Silk Road was "consistent with Australia's national interest."

Relations between Canberra and its largest trading partner have nosedived since Morrison's calls for Beijing to allow independent investigators into Wuhan to probe the origins of the coronavirus. Despite a free trade agreement and a slew of other free trade deals, China piled trade sanctions on Australian goods like coal, wine and barley.

For their part, Australia is reviewing whether to force Chinese firm Landbridge to sell a lease to the strategically important Port of Darwin, which is used by American marines, a move that could further stoke tensions with Beijing.

A similar tone is coming from neighboring New Zealand, where Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern spoke of how systemic issues with China were getting "harder to reconcile."
Keeping China appeased

World leaders and CEOs alike are used to verbal dexterity — or simply being silent — when dealing with the authoritarian Communist Party leadership in Beijing.

Balancing the need to keep China appeased because of its economic might, while also staying true to values and democratic principles, has become a key geopolitical challenge. But rather than constantly bowing to Chinese demands, the European Union needs to realize the enormous strength it possesses in competitiveness and innovation.

Watch video 42:35 China's Gateway to Europe - The New Silk Road, Part 1

China is the EU's biggest trading partner, with a total volume of $686 billion (€570 billion) in 2020. In December, German Chancellor Angela Merkel led the EU to sign the EU-China Comprehensive Agreement on Investment. For Merkel the CAI seems as important as the Silk Road project is to Xi Jinping.

It was probably the high point of EU-China relations. In the meantime, fresh revelations about Xinjiang and an intensified crackdown in Hong Kong have seen relations deteriorate.

The EU has since imposed coordinated sanctions against four Chinese officials over internment camps for Uyghurs. Beijing responded quickly, targeting 10 individuals including German researcher Adrian Zenz, who played a key role in bringing attention to the Xinjiang camps.
Europe taking steps against takeovers

On top of all that, the COVID-19 pandemic has devastated economies and depressed the equity valuations of European companies, leaving firms vulnerable to takeover bids from China.

EU giants like France, Italy and indeed Germany were finally spurred into action. They beefed up their powers to block acquisitions of prized European assets from outside the bloc.

In 2019, Italy caused consternation when it became the first G7 country to enthusiastically back the Belt and Road Initiative. Since then, Mario Draghi's government has changed tack, blocking planned Chinese acquisitions of Italian firms, most recently the sale of Turin-based Iveco's truck and bus unit to China's FAW.

Despite this pushback, many experts think that efforts need to be better coordinated. The EU especially needs to be more strategic about Chinese projects in its own backyard.

Angela Merkel's approach has been to repeat familiar calls for dialogue on human rights. The accepted wisdom has long been that German industry is operating in a values-free zone, focused exclusively on the bottom line and repeating the mantra: change through trade.

But German firms are aware of the changing political and economic realities in China. Hopes that China would become more liberal and a better global partner have failed to materialize.
What will the Greens do?

The biggest shift could be yet to come, once Merkel steps down. Polls in Germany show the Greens are on course for a significant role in government after September's election. Their chancellor candidate, Annalena Baerbock, has taken a hard line and accused Merkel of taking a passive approach to China.

Human rights have a role to play in the European relationship with China. Bowing to pressure from the Communist Party will have disastrous long-term effects on European companies. Yet how can European companies compete with Chinese ones if they are using forced labor in their cotton factories and building cars with enormous state subsidies, using technology transferred from Western brand leaders?

European companies need to remember how to play by their rules, which are also global norms. Sluggish reforms and a lack of level playing fields pose a serious threat to the ability to do business in China. The country needs to reform and become a better global actor if it truly wants to compete, no matter how vast and alluring the market may be.

Germany: Opinion poll suggests Green party could head next government

The latest Deutschlandtrend survey suggests that voter support has shifted considerably following the nomination of the Green party chancellor candidate. And voters have doubts about Germany's coronavirus policy.

Watch video 01:31 Germany's Greens take lead in new polls

Germany's governing "Grand Coalition" between the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), the Christian Social Union (CSU), and the Social Democrats (SPD) currently does not have the support from a majority of voters according to the latest Deutschlandtrend poll.

Like other surveys over the past two weeks, Deutschlandtrend now sees the Green party in the first position at 26%, as the CDU/CSU continues to lose support and has fallen to a mere 23% and the SPD have come in at only 14%.

Greens and their chancellor candidate riding high

The new situation in the polls can be linked to individual politicians: If German voters could decide directly who should succeed Angela Merkel as chancellor in September, 28% would vote for the Greens' chancellor candidate Annalena Baerbock. 

One third of the people polled do not support any of the three candidates

Conservative CDU/CSU candidateArmin Laschet lags behind on 21%. Even among conservative CDU/CSU voters, only half said they'd vote for Laschet.

SPD candidate, Finance Minister and current Vice-Chancellor Olaf Scholz, scooped up 21% of support from all people surveyed.

Of the three chancellor candidates, Baerbock is seen as the most likable and credible. SPD's Scholz, however, is deemed to be the strongest leader of the three.

In the evaluation of her political work, Baerbock has jumped a massive 41 percentage points in the last month to catch up with Scholz.

Conservative frontman Laschet, on the other hand, cannot seem to gain popularity since being appointed as the CDU/CSU candidate. At 24%, the CDU party leader still has a similar rating to a month ago — which is far less than the 32.9% support they got in the last general election in 2017.

Still, Angela Merkel, who will not be running for a fifth term in office in September's election, remains by far the most popular politician in Germany.

COVID management criticized

Fighting the pandemic is the main topic on voters' minds for now. Germany still finds itself fighting the third wave — even if there have been positive signs of it weakening in recent days.

In 2020, the initial government response to the outbreak saw a jump in voter confidence, but that quickly changed a year on due to growing doubts about crisis management and an initially sluggish vaccine rollout.

The latest Deutschlandtrend survey shows that a good six out of 10 respondents are dissatisfied, while only around a third say they're happy with the government's response. Supporters of the business-friendly Free Democrats (74%) and the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD, 91%) are particularly critical.

When asked about whether the measures to curb the pandemic are justified, 40% say the rules are appropriate, while 26% think they don't go far enough. For 30% of people surveyed, the measures already go too far.

Support for vaccination drive

In the coming week, Germany plans to ease coronavirus restrictions for people who have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19 or have recovered from the disease in the last six months. This would mean that the night-time curfew and contact restrictions would no longer be applicable to them. Mandatory testing before going to a non-essential shop or to the hairdresser would also be dropped.

According to the Deutschlandtrend poll, however, opinion among people in Germany is divided. Every second person thinks that the restrictions should only be eased once more people have had the chance to be vaccinated. At the moment, around 30% of Germany's population has had their first shot, and approximately 9% have had their second.

In general, 55% of those surveyed think that the targeted easing of restrictions for vaccinated and recovered people is a step in the right direction.

As far as the important question of vaccination is concerned, willingness has grown considerably. In February, 60% of people in Germany said they were ready to be vaccinated. That's now at 75%. The poll also suggests that willingness to be vaccinated increases with age.

The Deutschlandtrend survey was carried out by Infratest-Dimap from May 3-5, 2021, among 1,351 people in Germany.

This article has been translated from German.

Could Rosalia Arteaga become the first woman to lead the UN?

There is little doubt incumbent UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres will be reelected for a second term in office. But, the civil society initiative "Forward" is fielding another candidate.

Former Ecuadorian President Rosalia Arteaga

Those who enter the UN headquarters in New York cannot miss the huge, majestic portraits of former secretary-generals on display in the entrance hall. Nine oil paintings show, amongst others, Boutros Boutros-Ghali, Kofi Annan, and Ban Ki-moon. The United Nations has been under male leadership since its inception in 1945.

If the civil society initiative Forward has its way, the portrait of a woman would be the next to be hung on the grand walls of the entrance area — namely the portrait of former Ecuadorian president Rosalia Arteaga.

Portraits of former secretary-generals in the lobby of the UN headquarters

Does she have a realistic chance of succeeding?

Probably not, since it is almost certain Antonio Guterres, Portugal's former prime minister, will be confirmed for the top job later this year. Given that Guterres is supposed to represent the interests of 7 billion people and 193 member states, not much is being said with respect to his reelection — which is, however, something of an unwritten law. To date, there has only been one exception to the rule that every Secretary General who ran for a second term was reelected. There is something in the way the UN chief is elected.

A long road to the Secretary General post

"The selection process is obscure, undemocratic and you don't have a say," said Colombe Cahen-Salvador who, together with Andrea Venzon, initiated the campaign to have a woman elected one month ago. Both are experienced when it comes to this kind of mobilization — co-founding the pan-European political movement "Volt."

'Forward' founders Andrea Venzon (left) and Colombe Cahen-Salvador

Since beginning their campaign, the women have managed to mobilize 8,000 supporters in London and found two candidates to run as part of the team — Arteaga and Argentinian diplomat Paula Bertol. Forward followers from 71 countries have pledged their support.

Their primary aim is to direct attention to the fact that elections for the key post are still partially held behind closed doors. "The truth is we are in 2021, and our politics is stuck 50 years [in the past]," Venzon told DW. "We really need to step it up."

The UN charter stipulates that the UN Secretary General is nominated by the Security Council, then elected by the UN General Assembly. Since the five permanent members of the Security Council have veto power, a candidate must have their support if they wish to succeed. Several members, including China and Britain, have already expressed their support for Guterres.

In addition to this, there are a number of unwritten rules.

Imcumbent Secretary General Antonio Guterres will most-likely be reelected

A candidate must, for example, be endorsed by a member state. This has always been the case, although it is not explicitly stated anywhere. And there should be geographical rotation — that is, for example, a Secretary General from Africa is succeeded by a candidate from Asia. When and exactly how a candidate is nominated by the Security Council remains unclear. This year, nominations will take place sometime between May and October.

The degree of transparency during the election of Antonio Guterres as Secretary General five years ago was unprecedented. The General Assembly adopted a resolution which laid down the details of the selection process. For the first time ever, all candidates had to present a vision of their work: there were public hearings and Q & A sessions with members of civil society.

Arteaga elected by civil society

On paper, Rosalia Arteaga meets many of the requirements a UN Secretary General has to fulfill — both officially and unofficially. For a short period, she was president of Ecuador, the country's vice president, has had experience as a cabinet minister and as secretary general of a major organization. In addition, she hails from Latin America, the region which, according to Cohen-Salvador, is "next in line." Along with Argentine diplomat Paula Bertol as her deputy, Forward has put Arteaga in the running.

Rosalia Arteaga has a lot of political experience

During the Forward press conference, Rosalia Arteaga comes across as slightly tense and nervous. She emphasizes how happy she is with all the support, the many messages she has received from across the globe, adding that even the government in her native country had called and pledged their support, but that she was not going to accept assistance from Quito.

Does an outside candidate stand a chance?

Of course — nowhere does it say that outside candidates do not have a chance. Arora Akanksha, a 34-year-old United Nations Development Program (UNDP) employee, for example, launched an unprecedented campaign and nominated herself for the post. Thus far, however, only Antonio Guterres' profile can be found on the UN website.

In order to become an official candidate, Security Council and General Assembly presidents must declare the candidate in a letter. To date, this has only happened when a member state submitted a proposal. Otherwise, the candidacy remains symbolic.

The UN Security Council wields a great deal of power during the selection process

"Those symbolic acts are absolutely necessary and required in order to arouse interest," said Andreas Bummel, who has a lot of experience when it comes to UN reforms. From the age of 16, the now 45-year-old told DW, he has been looking into the United Nations and how it can become more democratically legitimate, more transparent and open to civil society.

Together with 100 other organizations, his group "Democracy without Borders" has recently published three proposals for reforming the UN, including the establishment of a parliamentary assembly.

"The United Nations is, of course, the most important organization for multilateralism available to us now," Bummel said. "It's in the interest of all member states to have a more efficient and more legitimate UN."

The Forward initiative, meanwhile, wants to continue its campaign — by staging protests and devising ways to get the UN apparatus moving from the outside. Colombe Cohen-Salvador sums things up nicely: "We firmly believe that if we make noise now, we can help change the process in the future."

This article was adapted from German by Werner Schmitz.