Do India's calls for LGBTQ rights reform go far enough?

A court in India has ordered state and federal officials to plan sweeping reforms to eliminate discrimination against LGBTQ communities. But activists say a lot more needs to be done to achieve equality.


In 2018, India overturned a colonial-era law that criminalizes consensual gay sex, but members of the LGBTQ community say discrimination is still widespread

Manoj (name changed), from the southern Indian state of Karnataka, was forced to undergo the "gay conversion therapy" as a teenager. Now an adult, he lives and works in Delhi, and hasn’t spoken to his family in years.

"I was made to believe there was something wrong with me. I was given shock treatment among other methods. I escaped home as soon as I was financially able to, and have never looked back. It took me a lot of unlearning, but I have finally accepted my homosexuality," Manoj told DW.

Manoj said a ruling by the Madras High Court earlier in June had given him hope that things might get better for him and many other LGBTQ people in India.

The court issued an expansive set of new guidelines that called for the elimination of what it described as illegal discrimination against LGBTQ communities.
What does the ruling mean for LGBTQ people?

The court's recommendations include prohibiting conversion therapy, promoting acceptance of diversity, and creating awareness programs for stakeholders such as the police, judiciary, educational institutions and health care workers.

Judge Anand Venkatesh of the Madras court ordered state and federal government departments to report back with steps that they intend to take to comply.

VIDEO India: Lesbian woman recounts forced 'conversion therapy' ordeal

Medical practitioners who claim to be able to "cure" homosexuality should have their licenses revoked, the judge said. He also said schools and colleges should make gender neutral restrooms available, and gender-nonconforming or trans prisoners should be housed separately if needed to protect them from sexual assault.

Teachers should reach out to parents, to help "sensitize parents on issues of LGBTQIA+ community and gender nonconforming students, to ensure supportive families," his order read.

The court also asked the Social Justice and Empowerment Ministry to publish a list of NGOs that have experience in dealing with issues faced by LGBTQ communities.
How did the court order come about?

The order took place following a case brought by a lesbian couple who reported that they had been harassed by police.

The couple had fled their homes in the city of Madurai to Chennai in the state of Tamil Nadu after their relationship was met with opposition.

Their parents had filed a missing persons complaint when they fled, prompting a police search.

Venkatesh ruled in favor of the couple, who had complained that police had subjected them to harassing questioning after their parents filed the missing persons report.

The couple and their parents were ordered to attend counseling, and further orders will be passed on July 31.

The judge had also used the opportunity to issue the broader ruling to prevent discrimination against LGBTQ communities.

"Ignorance is no justification for normalizing any form of discrimination," Venkatesh wrote in his order.

"The actual problem is not the fact that the law does not recognize a relationship but that the sanction that is accorded by the society is not available. ... I strongly feel that the change must take place at a societal level and when it is complemented by a law there will be a remarkable change in the outlook of the society by recognizing same-sex relationships," the judge said in a statement.

Watch video Lesbian marriage raises eyebrows in Indian town

'A long road ahead'

Psychologist Ganga Nair lauded the court's decision. Education is "one of the powerful tools to reduce prejudice," she told DW.

"The Madras HC judgment, with its slew of interventional and protective measures, has not only foregrounded individual choice, agency, rights and autonomy, but also epitomized 'education' as a powerful tool for social reform," Nair said.

"When we think of psychological resources for individuals identifying as queer, it cannot be limited to therapeutic interventions such as psychotherapy and/or counseling at the individual and family level," she added.

Nair stressed that interventions must be "broad in scope" and "include psycho-education and sensitization of the aforementioned social and legal structures, as well as policymakers."

Chandani, a 22-year-old student from Mumbai, identifies as bisexual and is an activist for LGBTQ rights. She told DW that, even though India overturned a colonial-era law that criminalizes consensual gay sex in 2017, many people are still grappling with LGBTQ rights, especially same-sex marriage.

"We have a long road ahead of us. We are far from social acceptance, but the new generation is more aware. I came out of the closet and was accepted by my immediate family, but life is still difficult in India," Chandani said.

Thousands turn out for Paris Pride march



Issued on: 26/06/2021 

People taking part in the Pride march waved rainbow flags and placards THOMAS COEX AFP

Pantin (France) (AFP)

Around 30,000 people turned out for the annual Pride march in Paris Saturday, police said, starting for the first time in one of the capital's working class suburbs.

Carrying rainbow flags and a range of placards, the march headed from Pantin, on the edge of the city, into to Place de la Republique in the centre, a meeting point for many political gatherings.

The march was deliberately started outside the fashionable centre of the capital to make it more inclusive, said Matthieu Gatipon-Bachette, spokesman for the Inter-LGBT.

The Paris gay community knows these suburbs very little, said 34-year-old Romain, a Pride regular.

"To bring Pride here, it's to show that it belongs to everybody," he added, walking hand in hand with his partner.

This weekend's Pride marches in cities around the world come in the wake of a row in Europe over different countries approach to the LGBTQ rights.

The leaders of more than half of the EU's member states on Thursday declared their support for defending the rights of LGBTQ people after a controversial law passed in Hungary.

While they did not directly mention Hungary, this was a cloaked reference to the law, which bans LGBTQ educational content for children and is due to come into effect in Hungary soon.

© 2021 AFP

© Sarah Meyssonnier, REUTERS

‘Less talk, more rights’: Paris Pride clamours for change as Macron term nears end


Issued on: 26/06/2021 -

Text by: Lara BULLENS

The last pride march before France’s 2022 presidential election took place in Paris on Saturday. Organisations and marchers took to the streets to both celebrate diversity and decry anger over French President Emmanuel Macron’s “inaction” for their rights.

Aside from its habitual celebratory spirit, this year’s Paris Pride was tinged with a sense of political urgency. Marchers, volunteers, performers and a handful of LGBTQI+ associations gathered on June 26 under the slogan: “Less talk, more rights! Too many promises, we’re going backwards!” They were referring to the political promises made to improve LGBTQI+ rights during President Emmanuel Macron’s five-year term, which will soon come to an end.

The march is the last of its kind to take place before the country heads to the polls to vote in the April 2022 presidential election. Rainbow flags and glitter swarmed Pantin, a suburb of Paris, while marchers headed towards the city centre under grey skies.


The organisers of the event, Inter-LGBT, published a call to action outlining their specific political demands regarding LGBTQI+ rights. Often citing the “inaction” of the French government, the text focused on issues such as medically assisted procreation (MAP) and transphobia in schools.


MAP: a long road ahead?

As it stands, MAP is still illegal for single women and lesbian couples under French law. Those who wish to conceive are forced to go abroad or wait for years to start the process, and all transgender men are excluded. Making MAP available to single women and lesbian couples was one of Macron’s campaign promises in 2017.

>> IVF for single women: Not yet legal in France

Legislation was initially approved by the lower house of parliament but rejected by the Senate, where the right-wing opposition has a majority. It has made its way to the Senate yet again, however, and will be returned to the Assembly on June 29 where it could finally be adopted.

Virginie, 40, is a board member of Inter-LGBT and has been a MAP activist since 2010. Working at the Paris Pride, she spoke to FRANCE 24 about her experiences as a single woman. “I went to the meeting with ex-President François Hollande when we asked why he never passed the law at the end of his mandate,” she said. “At the time, I didn’t believe it would happen and to be honest I still feel the same. As long as the law hasn’t been adopted, I won’t believe it will.”

Virginie, 40, has been a MAP activist since 2010. © Lara Bullens, FRANCE 24

After being in a relationship with a man but not having children, Virginie decided she would put some money aside in case she would one day want to have a child. She went through several intrauterine insemination (IUI) procedures over the years, importing sperm from foreign sperm banks and working with gynaecologists who risk their jobs to help women like her. “Unfortunately I ended up spending all of my savings and it never worked out,” she said.

Hopeful that the law may pass in the Assembly next week, Virginie has been in touch with a fertility centre that has agreed to put in a MAP request without a paternal figure. Just in case.

Blue, pink and white inclusivity

Blue, pink and white transgender flags were waved all throughout the march, condemning transphobia as one of the core issues to be resolved. Inter-LGBT’s call to action referred to a document by the French Ministry of Education that was supposed to be published on May 17, aimed at improving the lives of trans students. “We are still waiting for the full text to come out of the Ministry of Education,” they wrote, “and for concrete measures to be put in place.”

>> The ongoing fight for transgender rights in France

Shortly after a transgender pupil took her own life in northern France in December 2020, associations and researchers went through many hearings to ensure that this document would be published. The goal was to provide schools with educational resources on transgender identity in the hopes of curtailing transphobia.

“Many trans youth are trying to assert themselves in their educational settings, and this document could teach staff how to create safe spaces in which they can do so,” said Alix, a 21-year-old member of MAG Jeunes LGBT, an organisation aimed at helping LGBTQI+ youth present at the pride march.

Alix is a member of MAG Jeunes LGBT, an organisation aimed at helping LGBTQI+ youth. © Lara Bullens, FRANCE 24

“I only realised I was trans coming out of high school, thanks to YouTube videos,” he said. “I realised that I was quite lucky because I had never been faced with harsh transphobia then, despite being in a Catholic high school.”

Alix had, however, been harassed during his Bachelor’s degree in sports event management, a “pretty masculine” domain.

He believes that, if the document passes and school staff are sensitised to the issue, a lot could change. “It really has to do with knowledge and education, in the end,” he said. “That’s why MAG intervenes in schools, because educating people is the first step in combatting transphobia.”

New horizons

For the first time since its creation in 1977, Paris Pride moved east of the city to Pantin, a working-class and more diverse commune. The aim was for “the march to reflect its volunteers and organisers, who don’t all live in duplexes in the Marais but in the suburbs,” said Matthieu Gatipon, a spokesperson of Inter-LGBT, in a tweet.

Due to Covid-19 restrictions, no floats were present and organisers were unable to place a podium near the march’s finish line at Place de la République in Paris. But this didn’t stop the crowds from marching in large numbers from the rainy periphery to inner-city Paris, in high spirits.

“Discriminations still exist in France and that’s why pride still exists! There are so many important issues to address,” said Alix, waving his hand at the marchers surrounding MAG’s stand.

Protesters in Ramallah call for Palestinian leader Abbas to resign following activist’s death

Issued on: 27/06/2021 - 

Palestinians gather to protest the violent arrest and death of activist Nizar Banat in the West Bank city of Ramallah in the Palestinian Territories on June 26, 2021. © Abbas Momani, AFP

Palestinian protesters clashed with Palestinian security forces in the West Bank city of Ramallah on Saturday, AFP reporters said, the third day of demonstrations sparked by an activist's death in custody.

Nizar Banat, a 43-year-old from Hebron known for social media videos denouncing alleged corruption within the Palestinian Authority (PA), died on Thursday shortly after security forces stormed his house and violently arrested him, his family said.

On Saturday, hundreds took to the streets of Ramallah, the seat of the PA in the occupied West Bank, calling for Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas to quit.

Protester Ismat Mansour said the death of Banat was just "the tip of the iceberg" while accusing the PA of "a mountain of corruption" and demanding that elections be held.

Others held up placards directed at Abbas' PA that simply said "leave".

Security officers in riot gear blocked off streets.

An AFP photographer said protesters hurled rocks at security forces, who responded by launching a barrage of tear gas canisters to break up the crowds.

It was not immediately possible to confirm if there were any injuries following the protests on Saturday.

Banat had registered as a candidate in Palestinian parliamentary elections, which had been set for May until Abbas postponed them indefinitely.

Banat's family said the forces used pepper spray on him, beat him badly and dragged him away in a vehicle.

Samir Abu Zarzour, the doctor who carried out the autopsy, said injuries on Banat's body indicated he had been beaten on the head, chest, neck, legs and hands, with less than an hour elapsing between his arrest and his death.

Gatherings in Ramallah and Hebron

On Thursday, after news spread of his death, some 300 people gathered in Ramallah, as well as in Banat's hometown of Hebron.

On Friday, thousands of mourners attended his funeral in Hebron, with crowds there chanting angry slogans against the PA, as well as at the Al-Aqsa mosque compound, in Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem.

Banat's death also sparked condemnation from the United States, United Nations and European Union.

Palestinian prime minister Mohammad Shtayyeh said an investigation had been launched.

The PA exercises limited powers over some 40 percent of the West Bank, occupied by Israel since the Six-Day War of 1967.

Israel, which controls all access to the territory and coordinates with the PA, directly administers the remaining 60 percent.

(AFP)

Protesters bemoan 'police violence' at Dusseldorf rally

As many as 8,000 people gathered on Saturday against plans to tighten rules on protesting in the western German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. According to organizers, the police response was "disproportionate."



Organizers said police repression hurt 100 demonstrators

Police in western Germany "violently dispersed" a large protest against plans to tighten rules on demonstrations, organizers complained on Sunday.

The AFP news agency reported that some 8,000 people gathered a day earlier in Dusseldorf, the capital of the western state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW), which has proposed the new assembly law.

What have the organizers alleged?

"Stop the Assembly Law NRW - Preserve Basic Rights," an alliance of mainly left-wing organizations, said in a statement that officers surrounded the protesters in downtown Dusseldorf. They were left for several hours without access to refreshments or toilets.

Organizers claimed the protesters were held under the pretext of using banners that were higher than was allowed during demonstrations.


They labeled the police response an abuse of power and said 100 participants had been hurt as a result of "disproportionate police violence" during a "calm, colorful demonstration."

Local media reported that some protesters attacked officers, who resorted to using batons and pepper spray to quell the violence.
Journalist attacked

The German news agency DPA said one of its photojournalists was attacked by police.

The journalist said he had been beaten several times with a baton by an officer. At least one other colleague was hurt.

DPA's Editor-in-Chief Sven Gösmann said it was an "unacceptable attack on the freedom of press," and demanded a full investigation.

The chairman of the center-left Social Democratic Party in NRW, Thomas Kutschaty, called for a "complete clarification."

How have the police responded?

Police took several hours to respond to reports about the attack on the journalist, local media reported.

Officials said later that the reporter had gotten "between the emergency services and an aggressive group of troublemakers."

A police spokeswoman said a complaint of suspected bodily harm had been filed against the officer who allegedly harmed the journalist.

Giving a further update on Sunday, police said that fireworks and smoke bombs were used by demonstrators.

A police statement said a subgroup of 300 protesters was surrounded as they were "permanently uncooperative and repeatedly committed crimes."

Measures were then taken to establish their identities and several people have been charged.
What about the proposed law?

Although Germany has a federal assembly law, states are allowed to enact their own laws if they wish.

The proposed assembly law in NRW aims to regulate demonstrations, for example banning uniform or uniform-like clothing, to prevent violent behavior.

Critics, however, see it as encroaching on the basic right to assembly.

rm/mm (dpa, AFP)

Lebanon protesters clash with security forces as currency plunges


Issued on: 26/06/2021 - 

Demonstrators burn tyres in central Beirut on June 26, 2021, as they protest against dire living conditions ANWAR AMRO AFP

Beirut (AFP)

Lebanese protesters tried to storm central bank offices in two major cities on Saturday, state media reported, after the national currency plunged to a new record low on the black market.

The pound has been pegged to the dollar at 1,507 since 1997, but the country's worst economic crisis in decades has seen its unofficial value plummet.

On Saturday, money changers told AFP it was trading at 17,300-17,500 to the greenback on the black market, while some social media users said it had fallen as low as 18,000.

Dozens of angry Lebanese took to the streets of the northern city of Tripoli to denounce the depreciation and "difficult living conditions", the National News Agency reported.

Some protesters managed to break through the gates of a branch of the central bank and enter the courtyard, the NNA said, but the army prevented them from reaching the building.

Demonstrators also set fire to the entrance of a government office, an AFP correspondent said.

Others were seen trying to force their way into the homes of two lawmakers but were stopped by security forces.

The NNA said gunshots were heard outside the house of lawmaker Mohammed Kabbara and the army intervened to disperse protesters.

In the southern city of Sidon, protesters tried to storm another branch of the central bank only to be pushed back by security forces, the NNA reported.

Scattered protests also took place in the capital Beirut, where a small number of protesters took to the streets and burned tyres, an AFP correspondent said.

Lebanon has been roiled since autumn 2019 by an economic crisis the World Bank says is likely to rank among the world's worst financial crises since the mid-19th century.

The collapse has sparked outrage at Lebanon's political class, seen as woefully corrupt and unable to tackle the country's many difficulties.

The pound's dizzying depreciation comes as the eastern Mediterranean country grapples with shortages of medicine and fuel which are imported from abroad using foreign currency.

The country has been without a fully functioning government since a massive blast in Beirut last summer that killed more than 200 people and ravaged swathes of the capital.

The government stepped down after the disaster, but a deeply divided political class has since failed to agree on a new cabinet to replace it.

© 2021 AFP

Johnson & Johnson to stop selling opioids in US: NY attorney general

Issued on: 26/06/2021 - 

The opioids crisis is believed to have claimed more than 500,000 lives since 1999

Patrick T. FALLON AFP/File

Washington (AFP)

Johnson & Johnson, one of the pharmaceutical giants accused of fueling the deadly opioid crisis in the United States, will stop making or selling the drugs in the US under a $230 million settlement with New York state.

The agreement allows Johnson & Johnson to resolve litigation over its role in the epidemic, which has killed more than half a million people since 1999, according to a statement from New York attorney general Letitia James.

For its part, J&J announced in a separate statement that the settlement allowed it to avoid a trial that was scheduled to begin Monday.


The settlement "is not an admission of liability or wrongdoing by the company," it said, noting that other nationwide legal proceedings are underway, including a trial in California.

The prosecutor's statement said the company would spread the payments over nine years.

J&J could also pay an additional $30 million in the first year if the state enacts new legislation creating an opioid settlement fund.

"The opioid epidemic has wreaked havoc on countless communities across New York state and the rest of the nation, leaving millions still addicted to dangerous and deadly opioids," James said in the statement.

"Johnson & Johnson helped fuel this fire, but today they're committing to leaving the opioid business -- not only in New York, but across the entire country," she added.

That includes both manufacturing and selling opioids, the statement said.

The $230 million will be aimed at prevention, treatment and education efforts on the dangers of the substances in New York state.

Johnson & Johnson, Purdue Pharma and other pharmaceutical companies and distributors are accused of encouraging doctors to overprescribe opioids -- initially reserved for patients with particularly serious cancers -- even though they knew they were highly addictive.

Since 1999, this dependence has pushed many users of the drugs to higher and higher doses and to illicit substances such as heroin or fentanyl, an extremely powerful synthetic opiate with a high risk of fatal overdose.

About 500,000 people have died of drug overdoses in the United States since then.

- Cost of billions -

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the country's main public health agency, estimates that about 90,000 people died from drug overdoses in 2020, the majority of which involved opioids.

The US Department of Health estimates that the crisis was responsible for four years of declining life expectancy in 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2017.

Then-president Donald Trump declared it a national public health emergency in October 2017.

The CDC estimated in 2019 that the economic burden of the crisis, including health care costs, lost productivity and costs to the criminal justice system, was about $78.5 billion per year.

A study published by the American Society of Actuaries estimated the cost for the four years 2015-2018 at $631 billion.

The crisis seemed to be easing before the pandemic, thanks in particular to tighter controls on prescriptions, but the CDC recently reported an acceleration of deaths from drug overdoses, including from opioids.

While legal proceedings have increased in the country, many companies are trying to reach settlements.

In February, the prestigious consulting firm McKinsey announced that it had agreed to pay $573 million to settle lawsuits filed by some 40 US states accusing it of contributing to the opioid crisis through its advice to pharmaceutical companies, including Purdue Pharma, the manufacturer of Oxycontin.

© 2021 AFP

Peru vote review can resume as new judge sworn in

Issued on: 26/06/2021 - 

Peru's leftist presidential candidate Pedro Castillo, pictured June 25, 2021, took a majority of votes according to the unconfirmed count Jose Carlos ANGULO AFP/File


Lima (AFP)

Challenges to balloting in Peru's disputed June 6 presidential election can resume as a new judge was sworn in Saturday to the panel overseeing vote disputes.

Leftist Pedro Castillo took a majority of votes, according to the unconfirmed count, in an election his right-wing rival Keiko Fujimori -- charged with corruption in an unrelated scandal -- claims was riddled with fraud.

The election has not been called due to the fraud claims from the Fujimori camp, which asked the National Jury of Elections (JNE), the final vote arbiter, to review thousands of votes

If she loses, Fujimori risks an imminent graft trial that would otherwise be delayed until after her presidential term.

One of four JNE judges, Luis Arce, announced Wednesday that he "declined" to continue his duties, from which he cannot resign under law until the job at hand is done.

On Saturday Victor Raul Rodriguez was sworn in as Arce's replacement.

"Electoral justice cannot remain paralyzed or blocked," said Jorge Luis Salas, the top JNE official.

Salas has endured fierce criticism from Fujimori supporters and even demonstrations outside his home.

The JNE has had to weather a highly polarized political environment that has seen large demos in favor of Fujimori and Castillo, including two in Lima on Saturday.

The situation was further rocked this week by the airing of audio from Vladimiro Montesions, the nefarious intelligence chief under Fujimori's father Alberto Fujimori (who was president from 1990-2000). Montesions is currently serving time for human rights abuses.

In the audio the imprisoned Montesinos gives instructions to buy three of the four JNE magistrates and throw the election for Fujimori.

According to the full vote count, Castillo received 50.12 percent of the votes in the election, or some 44,000 more than Fujimori.

The United States has declared the vote "free, fair, accessible and peaceful" and the Organization of American States has said it was without any "serious irregularities."

The JNE has already rejected the majority of Fujimori's objections.

Peru's new president is due to be sworn in on July 28, the country's independence day. 

Protesters clash with Palestinian security forces
AFP 5 hrs ago

Palestinian protesters clashed with Palestinian security forces in the West Bank city of Ramallah on Saturday, AFP reporters said, the third day of demonstrations sparked by an activist's death in custody.

© ABBAS MOMANI Protesters lift Palestinian flags and placards depicting human rights activist Nizar Banat who died while in the custody of Palestinian Authority (PA) security forces, during a demonstration protesting his death in Ramallah

© ABBAS MOMANI A man stands alone during clashes between Palestinian protesters and Palestinian security forces in the city of Ramallah in the occupied West Bank, on June 26, 2021

Nizar Banat, a 43-year-old from Hebron known for social media videos denouncing alleged corruption within the Palestinian Authority (PA), died on Thursday shortly after security forces stormed his house and violently arrested him, his family said.

 Ahmad GHARABLI A Palestinian plain-clothes security officer hurls a projectile amid clashes with demonstrators protesting the death of human rights activist Nizar Banat in Ramallah

On Saturday, hundreds took to the streets of Ramallah, the seat of the PA in the occupied West Bank, calling for Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas to quit.

Protester Ismat Mansour said the death of Banat was just "the tip of the iceberg" while accusing the PA of "a mountain of corruption" and demanding that elections be held.

Others held up placards directed at Abbas' PA that simply said "leave".

Security officers in riot gear blocked off streets.

An AFP photographer said protesters hurled rocks at security forces, who responded by launching a barrage of tear gas canisters to break up the crowds.

It was not immediately possible to confirm if there were any injuries following the protests on Saturday.

Banat had registered as a candidate in Palestinian parliamentary elections, which had been set for May until Abbas postponed them indefinitely.

Banat's family said the forces used pepper spray on him, beat him badly and dragged him away in a vehicle.

Samir Abu Zarzour, the doctor who carried out the autopsy, said injuries on Banat's body indicated he had been beaten on the head, chest, neck, legs and hands, with less than hour elapsing between his arrest and his death.

On Thursday, after news spread of his death, some 300 people gathered in Ramallah, as well as in Banat's hometown of Hebron.

On Friday, thousands of mourners attended his funeral in Hebron, with crowds there chanting angry slogans against the PA, as well as at the Al-Aqsa mosque compound, in Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem.

Banat's death also sparked condemnation from the United States, United Nations and European Union.

Palestinian prime minister Mohammad Shtayyeh said an investigation had been launched.

The PA exercises limited powers over some 40 percent of the West Bank, occupied by Israel since the Six-Day War of 1967.

Israel, which controls all access to the territory and coordinates with the PA, directly administers the remaining 60 percent.

bur-pjm/dv

PURIFICATION BY FIRE

CAWSTON, B.C. — Mounties are investigating after they say two more Catholic churches in British Columbia's southern Interior were destroyed in early-morning fires.

© Provided by The Canadian Press

RCMP say the Princeton detachment got a report at 3:52 a.m. that St. Ann's Catholic Church on Upper Similkameen Indian Band land, near Hedley, B.C., was on fire.

Another report came in to the Keremeos detachment at 4:45 a.m. that a Catholic church on Lower Similkameen land at Chopaka, near the U.S. border, was ablaze.

The Mounties say they're treating both fires as suspicious and looking for possible connection to fires that destroyed two other Catholic churches in the region.

Sgt. Jason Bayda with the Penticton South Okanagan RCMP says in a statement that police investigations into the fires early last week on First Nations lands around Osoyoos and Oliver are ongoing, with no arrests or charges so far.

The fires come less than a month after the discovery of what's believed to be the remains of 215 children in unmarked graves at a former residential school site in Kamloops.

Video: Police investigate 2 suspicious church fires on Indigenous lands in B.C. (cbc.ca)

Lower Similkameen Chief Keith Crow says Catholic community members were devastated by the fires and by the discovery of the graves.


"If you're hurting at this time, please reach out to somebody and make the call. There is a lot of upset people and it's ... heartbreaking," he said in a phone interview.

The small church in Chopaka was built more than 100 years ago and hosted a service a couple of weeks ago, Crow added.

The fire at that church had spread to nearby brush before being extinguished by crews with the B.C. Wildfire Services, the RCMP statement said.

Cowessess First Nation in Saskatchewan announced Thursday that ground-penetrating radar indicated 751 unmarked graves at the site of the former Marieval Indian Residential School. The Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc Nation said last month the discovery in Kamloops was made using the same technology.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 26, 2021.

The Canadian Press

Study suggests correlation between high levels of pollution and Covid-19 deaths

From 16 cities across 36 states, Pune and Mumbai were the two cities picked from Maharashtra (falling under zone 6) for the study

Smoke is seen coming out of a crematorium's chimney where Covid-19 dead bodies are cremated at Yerwada in Pune. (Pratham Gokhale/HT Photo)

PUNE NEWS
By Steffy Thevar
PUBLISHED ON JUN 26, 2021
HINDUSTAN TIMES

A study involving various experts from across the country found a correlation between high levels of pollution and Covid-19 deaths. The study shows that Maharashtra has recorded the second-highest annual particulate matter 2.5 emission loads in India and has also recorded the highest number of Covid-19 related deaths which indicates a link between air pollution and Covid-19, both of which directly impact the respiratory system.

The study titled ‘Establishing a link between fine particulate matter (PM2.5) zones and Covid -19 over India based on anthropogenic emission sources and air quality data’ also provided the first evidence about how people living in highly polluted areas are vulnerable to Covid-19 infection.

It is authored by Dr Saroj Kumar Sahu, PG environment sciences and Poonam Mangaraj, PG environment sciences from Utkal University, Bhubaneswar; Dr Gufran Beig, senior scientist; Suvarna Tikle, a scientist from IITM-Pune; Bhishma Tyagi, National Institute of Technology, Rourkela and V Vinoj, IIT-Bhubaneswar.

In the study, Covid-19 cases were observed between March 2020 to November 2020, while national PM 2.5 emissions load were estimated from the base year 2019.

For the study authors divided specific areas into different hotspot zones across India. From 16 cities across 36 states, Pune and Mumbai were the two cities picked from Maharashtra (falling under zone 6) for the study. Also, Pune and Mumbai are among the Covid-19 hotspots in the country, where high air pollution from the transport and industrial sectors are having a visible relationship with a higher number of Covid-19 cases and casualties.