It’s possible that I shall make an ass of myself. But in that case one can always get out of it with a little dialectic. I have, of course, so worded my proposition as to be right either way (K.Marx, Letter to F.Engels on the Indian Mutiny)
Monday, July 05, 2021
Net zero goals need revival of ‘forgotten giant’ hydropower, IEA
June 30, 2021 EnergyNow Media
The Mooserboden water reservoir of Austrian hydropower producer Verbund is seen near Kaprun, Austria, August 31, 2016. REUTERS/Leonhard Foeger
June 30 (Reuters) – Low-carbon hydropower capacity is vital for a faster integration of wind and solar power, but its growth is set to slow by 23% this decade without a sweeping policy and investment push, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said on Wednesday.
“Hydropower is the forgotten giant of clean electricity, and it needs to be put squarely back on the energy and climate agenda if countries are serious about meeting their net zero goals,” said IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol in a statement.
In addition to producing massive quantities of low-carbon electricity, many hydropower plants can ramp generation up and down very rapidly, allowing for the integration of more intermittent wind and solar power output, the Paris-based agency said when presenting its Hydropower Special Market Report.
But new projects often face long lead times, lengthy permitting processes, high costs and risks from environmental assessments, as well as opposition from local communities, it said.
In 2020, hydropower supplied one sixth of global electricity generation and more than all other renewables combined, meeting the majority of electricity demand in 28 emerging and developing economies with a total population of 800 million, the IEA added.
Global hydropower capacity is expected to increase by 17% or 230 gigawatt (GW) between 2021 and 2030, led by China, India, Turkey and Ethiopia, but this was nearly 25% slower than expansion in the previous decade, according to the report.
Around half of hydropower’s economically viable potential worldwide remains untapped, especially in emerging and developing economies, the IEA said.
Policymakers needed to address the hurdles and set robust sustainability standards to ensure projects were economically viable and garnered investor interest. Doing so could unblock existing project pipelines and potentially lift capacity additions by 40% through 2030, the agency said.
Still, hydropower would need to grow twice as fast through 2030 to meet renewables targets outlined by the IEA’s recent report on reaching net zero emissions by 2050.
The plight of civilians in Ethiopia's Tigray region
By:Maria GERTH-NICULESCU|Marika JULIEN 7 min For the past eight months in Ethiopia's northern Tigray region, the country's federal army, backed by Eritrean soldiers and neighbouring regional Amhara forces, has been battling the Tigray People's Liberation Front. The fighting has left thousands of people dead and more than two million displaced. Humanitarian organisations are confronted with multiple obstacles to access the region's remote areas. As a result, thousands of civilians face famine. Our correspondents report.
On June 28, the Ethiopian government declared a unilateral ceasefire after several military defeats. The move could represent some hope for civilian populations. But reconstruction work will take time, as many farmers have not been able to plough their fields before the rainy season.
Our correspondents Maria Gerth-Niculescu and Marika Julien report from the centre of Tigray, one of the areas most affected by the war.
Programme prepared by Olivia Bizot.
Myanmar security forces kill 25 people in clash with junta opponents
Myanmar security forces killed at least 25 people on Friday in a confrontation with opponents of the military junta at a town in the centre of the Southeast Asian nation, two residents and Myanmar media said on Sunday.
A spokesman for the military did not respond to calls requesting comment on the violence at Depayin in the Sagaing region, about 300 km (200 miles) north of the capital, Naypyidaw.
The state-run Global New Light of Myanmar said “armed terrorists” had ambushed security forces patrolling there, killing one of them and wounding six. It said the attackers retreated after retaliation by the security forces.
Myanmar has been plunged into chaos by the Feb. 1 coup against elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi, with violence flaring in many parts of the country of more than 53 million people.
One resident of Depayin, who did not want to be identified for fear of reprisals, said four military trucks dropped soldiers at the village early on Friday.
Youths from a local People’s Defence Force, formed to oppose the junta, took up positions to confront them. However, they only had makeshift weapons and were forced back by the security forces’ heavier firepower, the resident said.
“There were people dying at farms and by the railroad. They (soldiers) shot everything that moved,” said another resident, who said his uncle was among the dead.
A total of 25 bodies had been collected after the fighting, both residents said.
The BBC Burmese service website and Than Lwin Khet News service carried similar accounts. The Myanmar Now news service put the death toll at not fewer than 31 and said about 10,000 people had fled the area.
Reuters was not able to verify the details independently.
The Depayin People’s Defence Force said on its Facebook page that 18 of its members had been killed and 11 wounded.
People’s Defence Forces have been founded by opponents of the junta in many parts of Myanmar, some of them in association with a National Unity Government set up underground as a rival to the military administration.
230,000 displaced
About two dozen ethnic armed groups have fought for decades in Myanmar’s borderlands, but Depayin is in the heartland of the ethnic Bamar majority, which also dominates the armed forces.
Violence since the coup has driven more than 230,000 people from their homes, the United Nations says. It also says more than 880 people have been killed by security forces since the coup and more than 5,200 are in detention.
The military authorities have said these figures are not true, but have not given their own estimates.
The army says its assumption of power was in line with the constitution. It alleged fraud in November elections swept by Suu Kyi’s party, although the accusations were dismissed by the former electoral body.
In another challenge for the authorities, Myanmar reported a daily record of 2,318 COVID-19 cases on Sunday. The state health system has foundered after it was deserted by doctors and other health workers in protest at the military takeover.
(REUTERS)
Hungary's new anti-LGBTQ law looms over drag queen competition near Budapest
Issued on: 05/07/2021 -
In a backroom of a dilapidated former factory outside Budapest, contestants wearing huge fake eyelashes and glittering dresses are preparing for Hungary's annual drag queen competition, all the while hoping it will not be the last.
"Let's party hard while we still can," drag queen Bonnie Andrews called out to a cheering audience as she took to the stage in a black evening gown and tiara.
Hungary's parliament passed legislation on June 15 that strengthens rules against paedophilia and bans the dissemination of content in schools deemed to promote homosexuality and gender reassignment.
The law comes into effect next week, and performers, guests and organisers at the contest said they feared its impact on Hungary's LGBTQ+ community.
Contestant Katheryne Taylor said she was worried the law could embolden those intolerant of the LGBTQ+ community.
"We are afraid to get on the tram. When we do so, we put our hands in our pockets to hide our painted nails. We have always done this, though," she said.
Hardline nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who faces an election next year, has grown increasingly radical on social policy, railing against LGBTQ+ people and immigrants.
Orban came under fire at last week's summit of EU leaders over the law, which Germany's European affairs minister has said clearly violates European Union values. A Swedish minister called the legislation "grotesque."
"I do not think we should be conflated with, and I don't think something like this should happen in the 21st century," said Myra Pixel as she prepared for her performance.
Contest organiser Tamas Doka said he had tried to make sure no protesters showed up on the night, and that the venue - a converted factory in a crumbling industrial estate on the outskirts of Budapest - was partly chosen for security reasons.
"They are scared. Scared of ...extremists starting to throw things at them, of being hurt verbally," he said. "The location allows us to let guests in, lock the door and then anyone else needs to ring the bell. We are isolated here."
Under the new law drag shows will not be banned, but will have to start after 10 p.m. with no minors allowed in the audience.
All of the performers Reuters talked to said that they were worried by the new legislation, but that they had not had any negative experiences so far.
Last year's winner Valerie Divine said most Hungarians accepted the LGBTQ+ community. "I feel very lucky in that respect."
(REUTERS)
Georgia LGBTQ activists cancel Pride march after clashes Issued on: 05/07/2021 -
A protester dances at an anti-LGBTQ rally in Tbilisi on Monday Vano SHLAMOV AFP
Tbilisi (AFP)
LGBTQ activists in Georgia said Monday they had been forced to cancel a planned Pride march after opponents clashed with activists and police and the prime minister spoke out against the event.
Pride events are still controversial in Georgia, a conservative country where the powerful Orthodox Church has previously clashed with Western-leaning governments over progressive social issues.
Hundreds of protesters took to the streets of Georgia's capital Tbilisi against a Pride march that was scheduled for Monday evening.
They clashed with police and assaulted journalists at several locations, including outside parliament and the United Nations representative office to Georgia, footage from the Mtavari television network showed.
"We cannot risk human lives and take to the streets, which are full of violent attackers," organisers said in a statement on Facebook, announcing that "the march will not be held today".
Their statement added that the offices of the Tbilisi Pride organisation were also raided by "homophobic attackers".
Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili had earlier on Monday spoken out against the march, describing it as "unacceptable for a large segment of Georgian society".
The "holding of the so-called Pride march is not reasonable as it creates the threat of civil confrontation", Garibashvili told a cabinet meeting.
He also accused opposition parties and exiled ex-president Mikheil Saakashvili of attempting to provoke civil unrest.
"The opposition headed by Saakashvili is behind the Pride march, which is aimed at provoking civil confrontation and turmoil." - 'Growing solidarity' -
Critics have accused the ruling Georgian Dream party government of tacitly supporting homophobic and nationalist groups.
Those organisations are seen as supporters of the ruling party and have staged protests against pro-Western opposition parties.
Pride organisers denounced Garibashvili's "shameful" statement, saying it encouraged homophobic sentiments and accused his government of failing to "protect fundamental human rights".
The Orthodox Church had called on supporters to gather Monday afternoon for a public prayer against the Pride march.
The US and EU diplomatic missions in Georgia, as well as the embassies of 16 more countries, issued a joint statement last week urging the Georgian government "to secure the right to peaceful assembly for all people in Georgia without exception".
Twenty-eight members of the European Parliament called on Georgian authorities in a letter last week to ensure Pride marchers the "right to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly".
Georgian society is slowly becoming increasingly accepting of liberal social views in recent years and has hosted several Pride events.
"We feel growing solidarity from Georgian society and from politicians, but there are still violent homophobic groups," the Pride organiser, Giorgi Tabagari, told AFP.
In 2019, hundreds of far-right activists burned rainbow flags in Tbilisi, protesting against the screening of an Oscar-nominated gay-themed film.
In 2013, thousands of ultra-conservative supporters of the Orthodox church disrupted a Tbilisi rally to mark International Day Against Homophobia.
Activists had to board buses provided by police to escape the mob, which charged after them across the capital's main square, hurling stones, breaking windows and threatening to kill them.
The next day, thousands of Georgians signed an online petition demanding those behind the violent attack be prosecuted.
Georgia decriminalised homosexuality in 2000, and anti-discrimination laws were adopted in 2006 and 2014.
LGBTQ activists in Georgia said Monday they had been forced to cancel a planned Pride march after opponents clashed with activists and police, and the prime minister spoke out against the event.
Pride events are still controversial in Georgia, a conservative country where the powerful Orthodox Church has previously clashed with Western-leaning governments over progressive social issues.
Hundreds of protesters took to the streets of Georgia's capital Tbilisi against a Pride march that was scheduled for Monday evening.
They clashed with police and assaulted journalists at several locations, including outside parliament and the United Nations representative office to Georgia, footage from the Mtavari television network showed.
"We cannot risk human lives and take to the streets, which are full of violent attackers," organisers said in a statement on Facebook, announcing that "the march will not be held today".
Their statement added that the offices of the Tbilisi Pride organisation were also raided by "homophobic attackers".
Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili had earlier on Monday spoken out against the march, describing it as "unacceptable for a large segment of Georgian society".
The "holding of the so-called Pride march is not reasonable as it creates the threat of civil confrontation", Garibashvili told a cabinet meeting.
He also accused opposition parties and exiled ex-president Mikheil Saakashvili of attempting to provoke civil unrest.
"The opposition headed by Saakashvili is behind the Pride march, which is aimed at provoking civil confrontation and turmoil." 'Growing solidarity'
Critics have accused the ruling Georgian Dream party government of tacitly supporting homophobic and nationalist groups.
Those organisations are seen as supporters of the ruling party and have staged protests against pro-Western opposition parties.
Pride organisers denounced Garibashvili's "shameful" statement, saying it encouraged homophobic sentiments and accused his government of failing to "protect fundamental human rights".
The Orthodox Church had called on supporters to gather Monday afternoon for a public prayer against the Pride march.
The US and EU diplomatic missions in Georgia, as well as the embassies of 16 more countries, issued a joint statement last week urging the Georgian government "to secure the right to peaceful assembly for all people in Georgia without exception".
"We feel growing solidarity from Georgian society and from politicians, but there are still violent homophobic groups," the Pride organiser, Giorgi Tabagari, told AFP.
In 2019, hundreds of far-right activists burned rainbow flags in Tbilisi, protesting against the screening of an Oscar-nominated gay-themed film.
In 2013, thousands of ultra-conservative supporters of the Orthodox church disrupted a Tbilisi rally to mark International Day Against Homophobia.
Activists had to board buses provided by police to escape the mob, which charged after them across the capital's main square, hurling stones, breaking windows and threatening to kill them.
The next day, thousands of Georgians signed an online petition demanding those behind the violent attack be prosecuted.
Georgia decriminalised homosexuality in 2000, and anti-discrimination laws were adopted in 2006 and 2014.
(AFP)
Russian supermarket chain pulls LGBTQ ad
Issued on: 05/07/2021 -
Although Russia decriminalised homosexuality in 1993, general intolerance towards the LBGTQ community persists Kirill KUDRYAVTSEV AFP
Moscow (AFP)
Russian supermarket chain VkusVill has pulled an advertisement featuring a same-sex couple following a social media uproar by conservative groups in a country where homophobia is prevalent.
Last Wednesday -- the final day of Pride month -- VkusVill rolled out a new ad campaign highlighting health-conscious families. One version featured a woman, her two daughters and the female fiancee of one of the daughters.
By Sunday the company had deleted the ad and replaced it with a statement explaining that it had "hurt the feelings of a big part of our customers, employees, partners and suppliers".
"The goal of our company is to enable our customers to receive fresh and tasty products on a daily basis, and not to publish articles that reflect any political or social views," it said.
"In no way did we want to become a source of strife and hatred," it added, explaining that the ad was a "mistake" that was a result of "the unprofessionalism of individual employees".
Signed by company's founder Andrei Krivenko along with 11 top managers, the statement concluded: "We sincerely apologise."
VkusVill's content manager, Roman Polyakov, on Friday told the opposition news site MBKh Media that the company had chosen to highlight the family because they were "in line with our values of diversity".
"There are such families too, they also go to our store," he said.
He added that the management of the company, which has expanded rapidly in Russia in recent years by promoting healthy lifestyles, had reacted "positively" to the ad.
But the promotion was subject to a wave of criticism online from traditionalists, including ruling party lawmaker Vitaly Milonov, one of the chief proponents of a controversial 2013 law that bans "gay propaganda" for minors.
The ad had been marked with an 18+ tag in keeping with that legislation.
On Sunday Milonov welcomed VkusVill's apology, calling the ad "filthy" in a post on the Vkontakte social network. Although Russia decriminalised homosexuality in 1993, general intolerance towards the LBGTQ community persists, buttressed by government policies.
Last year the country added a phrase to its constitution saying that marriage is the union of a man and a woman.
One dead, 33 injured from Bangkok factory explosion
Issued on: 05/07/2021
More than 17 hours after the explosion, the fire was still raging
Lillian SUWANRUMPHA AFP
Bangkok (AFP)
An explosion near Bangkok's international airport Monday left a plastics factory in flames, killing at least one firefighter and wounding 33 people as rescue workers struggled to extinguish the blaze hours later.
Heavy plumes of black smoke could be seen rising to the sky from the city's downtown 35 kilometres (21 miles) away, and by early evening the dark clouds had shrouded the Thai capital.
The blast occurred around 3 am at Taiwan-owned Ming Dih Chemical Co., located on the outskirts of Bangkok near Suvarnabhumi Airport in Samut Prakan province.
The cause of the explosion is still unknown.
By nightfall, more than 1,800 people had been evacuated, according to officials. At makeshift shelters, including a nearby school about nine kilometres away, elderly people in wheelchairs and families carrying masked babies waited to return home.
But by 8 pm, more than 17 hours after the explosion, the fire was still raging, with rolling balls of flames unquelled by the continuous spray of water cannon from fire trucks.#photo1
Helicopters had also dumped flame suppression foam onto the factory site, to no avail.
"We are now able to limit the fire area," said Wanchai Kongkasem, the governor of Samut Prakan province. "Though it is getting dark, we will continue to work as we want to finish putting it out as soon as possible."
"We are confident we can make it," he said.
Rescue workers drove around surrounding neighbourhoods in emergency vans, telling people via loudspeakers to leave for their safety.
Some, fearful of another explosion, had already packed their belongings in backpacks and waited outside their homes to be picked up by organised vans.
The public has been ordered to stay at least 500 metres away from the blast site, said Lieutenant General Ampon Buarubporn.
Though he added that "we do not know if there is anything left to explode".
In a statement posted on his Facebook, Premier Prayut Chan-O-Cha praised the rescue workers, volunteers and officials toiling to put out the fire.#photo2
"I would like to send my condolences to the family of the dead and honour the volunteers and officials who take all risks in preventing danger to others in this accident," he said.
- Air quality -
According to officials, Ming Dih Chemical Co. produces expanded polystyrene -- colloquially known as styrofoam -- and has been in operation since 1985 in Bang Pli district.
Besides being the site of Suvarnabhumi Airport, the five-kilometre radius around the factory is also home to about 300 factories and residential neighbourhoods housing 240 communities.
Throughout the day, the changing direction of the wind shifted jet-black fumes across Bangkok, sending dark plumes of smoke twisting between its skyscrapers.
"We have sent air quality vehicles to check the air around the area and will work together with the pollution control department," said Industrial Minister Suriya Juangroongruangkit.
Multiple fire trucks, water trucks and two helicopters were deployed to quell the blaze, which left a wreckage of debris and gnarled metal beams.
"Two flights carried 6,000 tons of firefighting foam to put out the fire," said deputy interior minister Niphon Boonyamanee.#photo4
"We are supporting the operation with our full capacity so the situation will be in control as soon as possible."
Traffic around the area was thrown into chaos as authorities closed a main road running parallel to the airport, while strong fumes of burning plastic permeated the area.
Thitipong Choke-umnuay, whose workplace is about 10 kilometres away from the factory and escaped the impact, said his family members living closer were not so lucky.
His aunt had evacuated to his office after the impact of the explosion caused severe damage to her home.
"Today she will move to my house in Lat Phrao (in central Bangkok) because she can't live at her house," the customs clearance agent told AFP.
"It's a chemical explosion so there are strong smells."
Blast at Thai factory kills one, mass evacuation under way
Thousands evacuated as firefighters battle blazes for hours after an explosion at a plastics manufacturing factory.
A Buddha statue is seen as smoke billows from an explosion and fire at a plastics factory in Bangkok on July 5, 2021 [Lillian Suwanrumpha/ AFP] 5 Jul 2021
A huge explosion and a fire at a factory on the outskirts of the Thai capital has killed at least one person and wounded 29 others, according to officials.
The blast occurred at about 3am on Monday (20:00 GMT Sunday) at a foam and plastic pallet manufacturing factory just outside Bangkok near the city’s main Suvarnabhumi international airport.
It could be heard for kilometers and surveillance footage from a nearby house captured the bright flash and boom, followed by the damage to the home and the one next door from the shockwaves.
“At first it felt like lightning. After that, I heard something drop loudly, and for a while the house started shaking like there was an earthquake,” said Baitong Nisarat, a resident.
Local disaster authorities said 70 houses were damaged and the blazes were still being fought 10 hours after the explosion.
Firefighters could be seen in photos from Thai media climbing through twisted steel wreckage of the Ming Dih complex’s warehouses to get their hoses close enough to the flames as they fought to control the blaze.
The charred body of the only fatality identified so far – a male volunteer rescue worker – lay face down among the wreckage.
Other photos showed nearby homes with their windows blown out and wreckage in the streets, with black smoke billowing over the area.
The cause of the blast had yet to be determined.
Volunteer rescue worker Anyawut Phoampai told Thailand public TV station TPBS that early attempts to find people possibly still in the factory were hampered by the huge flames.
“The flames are quite high so it takes quite an effort,” he said as the rescue effort was under way.
“Rescuers also are spreading out because we receive calls for people who have injuries from the explosion from the extended area, one or two streets away from here. There are reports of falling debris, injuries from debris impacts on peoples heads,” he added.
Residents in Samut Prakan province who live within a five-kilometre (3.1-mile) radius of the factory, owned by a Taiwanese company, were being evacuated amid concerns over poisonous fumes from burning chemicals and the possibility of additional detonations.
Chailit Suwannakitpong, a local disaster prevention official, told the Associated Press news agency that a huge tank containing the chemical styrene monomer was continuing to burn.
The substance is a hazardous liquid chemical used in the production of disposable foam plates, cups and other products, and can produce poisonous fumes when ignited. The chemical itself also emits styrene gas, a neurotoxin, which can immobilize people within minutes of inhalation and can be fatal at high concentrations.
The Ming Dih factory is located about 4.8 km (2.98 miles) from Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport.
The airport said flights and its operations were not affected by the blast.
SOURCE: NEWS AGENCIES
'I've worked hard for this', says history-making Jabeur
Issued on: 05/07/2021 -
Tunisia's Ons Jabeur reached the Wimbledon women's quarter-finals with an impressive three set win over Poland's 2020 French Open champion Iga Swiatek
Adrian DENNIS AFP
London (AFP)
Ons Jabeur's historic Wimbledon campaign saw her reach the women's quarter-finals on Monday, beating Poland's 2020 French Open champion Iga Swiatek 5-7, 6-1, 6-1 in their fourth round match.
The 26-year-old is the first Tunisian woman to reach the last eight at Wimbledon and will face Belarus second seed Aryna Sabalenka who defeated Elena Rybakina 6-3, 4-6, 6-3.
Sabalenka will be playing in her first Grand Slam quarter-final.
Jabeur celebrated victory with a fist pump and a yell of delight but for once she was not a lone Tunisian voice as some spectators burst out into song.
"Tunisians are everywhere, I got to say," she said.
"Yeah, they were singing actually a football song. I felt the need to sing with them also.
"I felt so happy that I wanted, like, to hear more. I was doing like this to hear them (cupping a hand to one ear)"
Jabeur's exploits in the past few weeks have give huge momentum to her mission to encourage more Arab women, especially North African, to take up the sport.
She admitted, though, that to get to where she is now has taken a lot of resilience to overcome setbacks.
"Maybe one of them was 2018, I started really bad the season, winning no matches," she said.
"I was doubting myself a lot. I think early in my career, after the juniors, when I didn't see the results that I wanted, when I was seeing the juniors that I played with breaking the top 50, top 40,it was very difficult for me.
"I've worked hard to earn my place here." - 'Carry this message' -
However, with her maiden WTA title under her belt -- the first Arab woman to achieve that -- and now her run to the quarter-finals at Wimbledon she could not have done more to raise the profile of herself and her broader goal.
"It is very important to me," she said.
"I have seen it, heard it, a lot of times coming here on tour from where I come, I need to gain my respect either with the players or anyone around here.
"I just want to give the example for many generations coming from North Africa, from my country, from the African continent, that it's not impossible, that we can do it.
"I'm trying to carry this message for a very long time. Hopefully it is working."
Jabeur showed great poise to stay in the match after she let slip a 5-4 lead and serving for the first set only for the Pole to reel off three games on the bounce.
Swiatek, after a flat opening, had taken note of a young Polish fan holding up a board inscribed 'Jazda Iga' ('Come on Iga').#photo1
"It was a great match and I had to stay calm rather than get angry when I failed to close out the first set as getting angry would not have helped my cause," said Jabeur.
"Today I decided to change my game a bit as everyone knows I am doing drop shots and being aggressive was key today."
Jabeur never looked back once she had got over the loss of the first set.
Breaking her 20-year-old opponent in the first game of the second set set the tone for the rest of the encounter.
Indeed such was her dominance that Swiatek at one point having been out-witted by a Jabeur drop shot smashed the top of the net angrily with her racquet.
Tunisia’s Jabeur first Arab woman to reach Wimbledon’s last-16
The 26-year-old Tunisian beat former champion Muguruza on Friday and will take on 2020 French Open champion Swiatek next.
In the second round, Jabeur also beat former world number one Venus Williams [Peter Nicholls/Reuters]
3 Jul 2021
Trailblazing Tunisian Ons Jabeur has become the first Arab woman to reach the last-16 at Wimbledon.
The 26-year-old tennis player showed her fighting qualities and a great range of shots on Friday, coming back from a set down to beat 2017 champion Garbine Muguruza 5-7, 6-3, 6-2 in two hours and 26 minutes.
Jabeur will take on 2020 French Open champion Iga Swiatek next.
In the second round, Jabeur also beat former world number one Venus Williams.
“Honestly, she’s just breaking down barriers. The first woman from her country to do anything that she’s doing,” Williams said about Jabeur. “She’s inspiring so many people, including me.”
Jabeur was so nervous when she moved to two match points she knelt down and was physically sick in the corner of Centre Court at the end where the Duchess of Cambridge was sitting in the Royal Box.
“I’m actually having a problem with my stomach,” she said at her press conference after her win over Muguruza.
“I have an inflammation. It has been going on for a while … It bothers me probably with the stress, fatigue, everything. Sometimes when I drink water, the water doesn’t go through any more. That’s why I get sick.”
Muguruza saved that match point but Jabeur made no mistake when she secured a second one and fell on her back in celebration, getting back up to a standing ovation.
Since reaching the quarter-finals of the 2020 Australian Open, she has gone from strength to strength, reaching two French Open last 16s and now Wimbledon.
It was another landmark performance by Jabeur who last month became the first Arab woman to win a WTA Tour title, winning on grass at Birmingham.
She said it was the “best day of her career,” and the significance of it for the Arab world was immense.
“It means a lot,” she said. “Especially so many Arab people watching me and supporting me. I’ve received a lot of messages from different people … It’s amazing. But I don’t want the journey to stop here. I want it to continue.
“I mean, hopefully whoever is watching, I hope that so many of the young generation is watching, and I can inspire them. Hopefully one day I could be playing with a lot of players next to me.”
Israel govt seeks renewal of controversial citizenship law
Issued on: 05/07/2021 -
Israeli Arabs protest outside parliament against the controversial Citizenship and Entry law ahead of a vote by the Knesset to renew the legislation Menahem KAHANA AFP
Jerusalem (AFP) Israel's government faced internal divisions Monday as it sought to renew a controversial ban on its Arab citizens extending citizenship to their Palestinian spouses in the occupied West Bank and Gaza.
The measure first enacted in 2003 during the second Palestinian intifada, or uprising, is justified by supporters on security grounds but critics deride it as discriminatory measure targeting Israel's 20 percent Arab minority. The ban, which expires on Tuesday, has been repeatedly renewed with little attention for nearly two decades but its extension is now in doubt after an ideologically disparate coalition was sworn in last month.
The coalition which counts eight parties from across the political spectrum controls 61 seats in Israel's 120 member Knesset, or parliament, and cannot afford defections as it seeks to pass legislation.
Two coalition parties, dovish Meretz and conservative Islamic Raam party, have indicated they will vote against the measure supported by hardline religious nationalist Prime Minister Naftali Bennett.
The premier has called for backing from the right-wing parties in opposition, led Benjamin Netanyahu, his former mentor who Bennett dramatically ousted from power last month.
"There are points where, despite everything, the opposition too must show national responsibility," Bennett said Monday ahead of a vote on the extension.
"I call on my friends at the opposition. There are things you don't play with: The state's security is a red line, and the state needs control on who enters it and who gets citizenship in it.
"The entry of thousands of Palestinians and giving them (Israeli) citizenship... is simply not the right thing to do," he said.
Netanyahu, who has made clear he will seek a return to the premier's office if the coalition falls, has refused to help pass the bill.
"You are the government, the responsibility is yours," he said.
"You cannot form a government that is based on anti-Zionist forces (a reference to Raam) and them come to us and tell us to save you from this fracture and failure," Netanyahu added. The controversial measure has caused endless complications for Palestinians that span across Israel and territories it has occupied since 1967.
In a series of protests against the measure outside the Knesset on Monday, some recounted the hardships of seeking permits to join their spouses, or the risks of entering Israeli territory without permission.
Ali Meteb told AFP that his wife not having Israeli residency rights had confined his family to a "continuous prison". "I am asking for rights that the state owes us... for my wife to have Israeli ID, residency rights and freedom of movement," he said.
Ancient bone carving could change the way we think about Neanderthals
Issued on: 05/07/2021 -
Archaeologists determined the artifact to be at least 51,000 years old -- before the arrival of Homo Sapiens in central Europe Handout NLD/AFP
Paris (AFP) The design may be simple, but a chevron pattern etched onto a deer bone more than 50,000 years ago suggests that Neanderthals had their own artistic tradition before modern humans arrived on the scene, researchers said Monday.
The engraving, discovered at a German cave where Neanderthals lived tens of thousands of years ago, has no obvious utility according to researchers who say the artifact sheds new light on the ill-fated species' capacity for creativity.
The vast majority of Stone-Age artworks discovered in Europe are attributed to Homo sapiens and experts have long suggested that Neanderthals, among our closest relatives, only began creating symbolic objects after mixing with them.
But using radiocarbon dating, archaeologists determined the recently-unearthed artifact to be at least 51,000 years old -- pre-dating the arrival of Homo sapiens in central Europe by some 10,000 years, according to the research published in the journal Nature Ecology and Evolution.
"The cultural influence of H. sapiens as the single explanatory factor for abstract cultural expressions in Neanderthals can no longer be sustained," the study says.
Dirk Leder, one of the authors and a researcher at the Lower Saxony Office for Heritage Department of Archaeology, told AFP that the bone clearly represents a means of expression.
"We are very convinced that communicates an idea, a story, something meaningful to a group," he said.
- 'No practical use' -
The carved fossil was found at a well-known archaeological site called Einhornhoehle -- or "Unicorn Cave".
Located in the mountains of central Germany, treasure hunters searched there as early as the Middle Ages for what they believed to be unicorn fossils.
It was in the 1980s that scientists first found evidence of an Ice Age Neanderthal settlement at Einhornhoehle and the new bone is from a dig under a collapsed entrance to the cave where artifacts were discovered in 2017.
The bone, from the foot of a rare extinct giant deer, is about half the size of a deck of playing cards (about 5.5 centimetres long, 4 centimetres wide) and three centimetres thick.#photo1
Six diagonal intersecting lines intentionally carved into it form a kind of chevron design that covers much of one surface.
"The item is of no practical use," notes the study.
"Instead, the geometric pattern itself constitutes the central element."
The study reports that a series of experiments attempting to re-create the object using cow bones shows that it was probably boiled once or twice before it was sculpted with flint.
"The complex production process leading to the creation of the incisions, their systematic arrangement and the scarcity of giant deer north of the Alps, support the notion of an intentional act and of symbolic meaning," the study says.
- Meaningful -
The researchers said that a few discoveries from the same period attributed to Neanderthals include flint pieces, bedrock and teeth intentionally marked with cross-hatch or zig-zag marks.
The deer bone, however, stands out as "one of the most complex cultural expressions in Neanderthals known so far", it says.
Leder said that unlike the art of Homo sapiens the various marked objects attributed to Neanderthals are not really comparable to each other, perhaps because their populations lived in smaller, more spread-out clusters.
"It seems to support the idea that within the population communicating with these things, the meaning of the symbols was not transmitted to the next generation or just died out," he said.#photo2
But the fact that the new find predates Homo sapiens means Neanderthals might have left a more enduring legacy.
"The idea was always that the great Homo sapiens was giving intelligent ideas to other species," said Leder.
"In the past few years a handful of papers are pushing the idea that it could have been other way around," he said.
In June, scientists made another discovery that could fundamentally alter our understanding of human evolution: the skull of a large-brained male that was preserved almost perfectly for more than 140,000 years.
The find in northeastern China dubbed "Dragon Man" represents a new species of ancient people more closely related to us even than Neanderthals.
The Mooserboden water reservoir of Austrian hydropower producer Verbund is seen near Kaprun, Austria, August 31, 2016. REUTERS/Leonhard Foeger
Archaeologists determined the artifact to be at least 51,000 years old -- before the arrival of Homo Sapiens in central Europe Handout NLD/AFP