EXPLAINER: As wildfire smoke spreads, who’s at risk?
By MATTHEW BROWN

1 of 5
The Staten Island Ferry departs from the Manhattan terminal through a haze of smoke with the Statue of Liberty barely visible, Tuesday, July 20, 2021, in New York. Wildfires in the American West, including one burning in Oregon that's currently the largest in the U.S., are creating hazy skies as far away as New York as the massive infernos spew smoke and ash into the air in columns up to six miles high. (AP Photo/Julie Jacobson)

BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — Smoke from wildfires in the western U.S. and Canada is blanketing much of the continent, including thousands of miles away on the East Coast. And experts say the phenomenon is becoming more common as human-caused global warming stokes bigger and more intense blazes.

Pollution from smoke reached unhealthy levels this week in communities from Washington state to Washington D.C.

Get used to it, researchers say.

“These fires are going to be burning all summer,” said University of Washington wildfire smoke expert Dan Jaffe. “In terms of bad air quality, everywhere in the country is to going to be worse than average this year.”

Growing scientific research points to potential long-term health damage from breathing in microscopic particles of smoke. Authorities have scrambled to better protect people from the harmful effects but face challenges in communicating risk to vulnerable communities and people who live very far away from burning forests.

WHY SO MUCH SMOKE AND HOW DANGEROUS IS IT?

Decades of aggressive fire fighting allowed dead trees and other fuels to build up in forests. Now climate change is drying the landscape, making it easier for fires to ignite and spread even as more people move into fire-prone areas.

The number of unhealthy air quality days recorded in 2021 by pollution monitors nationwide is more than double the number to date in each of the last two years, according to figures provided to the Associated Press by the Environmental Protection Agency. Wildfires likely are driving much of the increase, officials said.

The amount of smoke wildfires spew stems directly from how much land burns — more than 4,100 square miles (10,600 square kilometers) in the U.S. and 4,800 square miles (12,500 square kilometers) in Canada so far in 2021. That’s behind the 10-year average for this time of year for both nations, but forecasters warn conditions could worsen as a severe drought afflicting 85% of the West intensifies.

Wildfire smoke contains hundreds of chemical compounds, and many can be harmful in large doses. Health officials use the concentration of smoke particles in the air to gauge the severity of danger to the public.

In bad fire years over the past decade, infernos across the West emitted more than a million tons of the particles annually, according to U.S. Forest Service research.

Scientists link smoke exposure with long-term health problems including decreased lung function, weakened immune systems and higher rates of flu. In the short term, vulnerable people can be hospitalized and sometimes die from excessive smoke, according to physicians and public health officials.

When communities burn, the smoke can be especially hazardous. The 2018 fire in Paradise, California that killed 85 people and torched 14,000 houses also generated a thick plume blanketing portions of Northern California for weeks. Smoke from burning houses and buildings contains more toxic plastics and other manufactured materials as well as chemicals stored in garages.

WHERE ARE THE FIRES?

More than 60 large wildfires are now burning out of control across the U.S., including 17 in Montana. The largest — eastern Oregon’s Bootleg fire — has grown to 624 square miles (1,616 square kilometers). That’s half the size of Rhode Island, yet fewer than 200 houses and other structures have been confirmed as lost because the fire is burning in a sparsely populated area.

More than 200 fires are burning in Manitoba and Ontario, according to Canadian officials.

Weather patterns and fire intensity determine who gets hit by smoke. Huge fires generate so much heat that they can produce their own clouds that funnel smoke high into the atmosphere.

“It just carries across the country and slowly spreads out, forming sort of this haze layer in the sky,” said meteorologist Miles Bliss with the National Weather Service in Medford, Oregon.

The combined plume from Canada and the U.S. largely passed over parts of the Midwest this week before settling to ground level across an area that stretches from Ohio northeast to New England and south to the Carolinas, air pollution data shows.

Health effects can occur thousands of miles from the flames. The smoke loses its tell-tale odor but remains a potential hazard even when it drifts that far, said Jeff Pierce, an atmospheric scientist at Colorado State University.

“It’s certainly unhealthy,” Pierce said of the air along the East Coast in recent days. “If you have asthma or any sort of respiratory condition, you want to be thinking about changing your plans if you’re going to be outside.”

People who live close to fires are more likely to be prepared and take precautions, while those who live farther away unwittingly remain exposed, according to a recent study by Colorado State University epidemiologist Sheryl Magzamen and Pierce.

HOW DO I PROTECT MYSELF?

Listen for warnings about smoke and, if advised, avoid outdoor activities to reduce exposure. Keep doors and windows closed, and run an air filter to clean inside air. Face masks can protect against breathing in smoke. As with COVID-19, most effective are N95 masks because they are designed to block the smallest particles.

An online, interactive smoke map launched by the EPA and the U.S. Forest Service last year on a pilot basis has drawn millions of viewers. To reach people more quickly, officials are considering using mobile phone push notifications that would alert users when heavy smoke could inundate their communities, according to agency spokeswoman Enesta Jones.

__

Associated Press reporter Julie Walker contributed from New York.

___

Follow Matthew Brown on Twitter: @MatthewBrownAP

Haiti leader’s slaying exposes role of 

ex-Colombian soldiers

By REGINA GARCIA CANO and ASTRID SUAREZ

today

1 of 7
FILE - In this July 8, 2021 file photo, suspects in the assassination of Haiti's President Jovenel Moise are shown to the media at police headquarters in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Haitian authorities have implicated at least 20 retired Colombian soldiers in the president's assassination on July 7. (AP Photo/Jean Marc Hervé Abélard, File)

BUCARAMANGA, Colombia (AP) — As the coronavirus pandemic squeezed Colombia, the Romero family was in need of money to pay the mortgage. Mauricio Romero Medina’s $790 a month pension as a retired soldier wasn’t going far.

Then came a call offering a solution.

When Romero answered the phone on June 2, another veteran, Duberney Capador, offered what he said was a legal, long-term job requiring only a passport. But Romero had to make a decision fast.

“Talk about it with your family and if you are interested, see you tomorrow in Bogota, because the flight is the day after tomorrow,” Romero’s wife, Giovanna, told The Associated Press, recalling the conversation.

A month later, Romero and Capador were dead and 18 Colombians were reportedly in custody, accused of taking part in the assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moïse. It’s a case that dramatizes Colombia’s role as a recruiting ground for the global security industry — and its murkier, mercenary corners.

Colombia’s Defense Ministry says about 10,600 soldiers retire each year, many highly trained warriors forged in a decades-long battle against leftist rebels and drug trafficking cartels. Many — including a number of those involved in Haiti — have been trained by the U.S. military.

Those soldiers make up a pool of recruits for companies seeking a wide range of services — as consultants or bodyguards, in teams guarding Middle Eastern oil pipelines or as part of military-like private security in places like the United Arab Emirates and Afghanistan. The UAE paid Colombian veterans to join in the battle against Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen.

“Colombian former (soldiers) are very well trained and ... may be cheaper or more accessible than other sorts of trained, specialized manpower,” said Silvana Amaya, a senior analyst focused on the Andean region for the global security firm Control Risks. “It’s a good opportunity for former (soldiers) in Colombia to have a job that they’re obviously prepared to do. ... So for both sides, supply and demand, we believe that it works well.”

Sean McFate, a former U.S. Army paratrooper and private military contractor who has written about mercenaries, said Colombians are generally on par with U.S. and British soldiers, and are “good value” because they have combat experience, obey chain of command, work in teams and are tough.

“It’s an illicit industry that operates around command language,” McFate said. “The three main mercenary pillars are Spanish, English and Russian. And in the Spanish one, the Colombians are the biggest.”

The wife of Francisco Uribe, who was among those arrested in the Haiti assassination, told Colombia’s W Radio that the company that contracted the veterans, Florida-based CTU Security, offered the men about $2,700 a month.




That can go a long way when exchanged to Colombian pesos. It’s also far below the rates of retired Green Berets or other American, British, Israeli or South African veterans.

“We are normally paid almost 50%, and sometimes up to 70% less, for being Latin American,” said retired Col. John Marulanda, president of the Colombian Association of Officers of Military Forces in Retirement and an international security consultant.

He insisted their work is only “a business” and “has nothing to do with mercenarism.”

Colombian President Iván Duque last week said that only a small group of the former soldiers arrested in Haiti knew it was a criminal operation. He said the others were duped and thought they were traveling for a legitimate mission to provide protection.

Relatives note the men didn’t think they needed to hide. Several posted social media photos of themselves during a stop in the neighboring Dominican Republic en route to Haiti.

Jenny Guardado, an assistant professor of Latin American studies at Georgetown University, said Colombian soldiers tend to come from rural, low-income neighborhoods, where drug cartels and rebel groups also recruit, and they usually see their military service as a way to climb the social ladder.

But some struggle after they leave the military, especially those who haven’t put in the 20 years of service needed for a full pension. And, she said, some have complained about not getting their full benefits.

Colombia’s armed forces commander, Gen. Luis Fernando Navarro, told reporters this month that the army does not have the capacity to monitor all retired military personnel, only to guarantee social assistance, including the pension.

Key details of what happened on July 7 are unclear.

Authorities said the attackers raided the president’s home before dawn yelling “DEA operation!” and wielding high-caliber weapons. A small group entered and the rest stayed outside.

A judge told the AP the attackers tied up a maid and houseboy and ransacked Moïse’s office and bedroom. The president’s daughter hid in her brother’s bedroom and survived.

When it was over, Moïse lay sprawled on his bedroom floor. He had been shot in the forehead, chest, hip and stomach, and his left eye was gouged. His wife was wounded by gunfire.

None of the president’s security detail was injured — raising questions about their role.

The attackers don’t appear to have made any plan to escape. Some hid in a nearby business. Others invaded the Taiwanese Embassy. Some were found hiding in bushes by passersby and handed over to police.

At least three of the Colombians were killed, including Romero and Capador.

Romero retired from the army in December 2019 after receiving multiple decorations, specializing as a military paratrooper and combat medic and attending the Lancero School, which provides army special operations training and is similar to the U.S. Army Ranger School.

“When the soldiers retire, they are invited to join armies in other countries,” Giovanna Romero told the AP. “Mauricio was no exception to the fact that if one of those opportunities arose, it could be taken, because he had the knowledge for the job.”

She said her husband never told her where he was going, and she learned of his death from the news media. Now, the Colombian government has informed the family that his pension will be suspended for the duration of an administrative process.

The Moïse assassination presents a challenge for the Colombian security forces, which already were dealing with complaints about a heavy handed response to protests this year and over past allegations that soldiers sometimes killed innocent civilians and counted them as rebels slain in combat in order to boost body counts.

Colombian Vice President Marta Lucía Ramírez has said the country is ready to offer consular assistance to the detained suspects and repatriate the bodies of the deceased. A former defense minister, she defended the nation’s armed forces.

“I know perfectly well that the Colombian military are never, under any circumstances, mercenaries who are going to go on duty to commit any crime anywhere,” Ramírez said.

___

Garcia Cano reported from Mexico City.

IT TOOK A CENTURY TO FIGURE THAT OUT
California's largest utility aims to bury 10K miles of power lines to prevent fires



The sun glows through smokey skies behind high-tension electrical towers in Butte County, Calif., on November 17, 2018. The Camp Fire was sparked by faulty PG&E equipment. File Photo by Terry Schmitt/UPI | License Photo


July 22 (UPI) -- The largest utility in California is planning to bury 10,000 miles of power lines in an effort to prevent fires in the drought-stricken state.

Pacific Gas & Electric said the move is intended to "further harden its system" to prevent accidental outbreaks of wildfires. Several fires in California have been attributed to PG&E equipment over the years.

"We want what all of our customers want: a safe and resilient energy system," utility CEO Patti Poppe said in a statement Wednesday.

"We have taken a stand that catastrophic wildfires shall stop."

RELATED PG&E says its equipment may a have sparked 30,000-acre Dixie Fire in California

The announcement came days after PG&E announced that damaged equipment may have led to the Dixie Fire, which has grown to 80,000 acres and is one of the state's largest. There, a PG&E employee found two blown fuses where a tree leaned into a conductor.

The Dixie Fire is burning in Butte County, where a PG&E equipment failure sparked the deadly Camp Fire in 2018.

Jamie Court, president of Consumer Watchdog, told The San Francisco Chronicle that the move to bury lines should have been done a decade ago.

"This is basically another shuck-and-jive move to divert attention from the fact that they may have sparked the Dixie Fire," Court said.

In a call with reporters, Poppe described the plan as a "moonshot."

PG&E currently has 27,000 miles of buried power lines, but few are underground in high-risk fire areas. In those affected areas, the utility intends to bury 1,000 miles per year.

The cost of burying each mile of line is about $4 million. PG&E unsuccessfully applied for state aid for the project last year, which was then estimated to be $40 billion. Poppe expressed optimism that cost could be cut in half.

NOT TOO LATE TO #CANCELTOKYOOLYMPICS

Tokyo reports nearly 2,000 new COVID-19 cases before Olympics



The celebration cauldron is seen lit during the Tokyo 2020 Olympic torch relay at Shiba Park in Tokyo on Thursday, Government officials documented nearly 2,000 new coronavirus cases the day before the Opening Ceremony. Photo by Keizo Mori/UPI | License Photo


July 22 (UPI) -- Tokyo's government on Thursday reported nearly 2,000 new cases of COVID-19, 91 connected with the Olympics, the day before the Opening Ceremony.

A government website said 1,979 cases have been confirmed out of 8,206 tests administered, amounting to 24.1% positive results from the tests given.

Of those connected to the Olympics, nine were residents at the Olympic Village, four were athletes and four others were personnel, according to CNN.

The news comes as officials report that the hospital occupancy rate in Tokyo has reached its most severe level. Officials issued a Stage 4 alert for beds after occupancy reached 52%.

The city was also placed on Stage 4 alert because of its daily new COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations, infected people with nonserious symptoms recuperating at hotels and homes, and the rate of positive tests for the virus.

Local health officials said if trends continue, the numbers indicate the current coronavirus wave will easily rival the ones that swept through the city in late 2020 and early 2021.

Officials said the Delta variant of the coronavirus accounts for 30.5% of the new cases in Tokyo over the week through July 11, according to metropolitan government data.

REPEAT AFTER ME; FAILED STATE
International pressure, sanctions threats bring no change in Lebanon

By Dalal Saoud


A Lebanese man drives as protesters block the roads with garbage bins and burning tires during protests after Lebanese Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri stepped down, abandoning his effort to form a new government, on July 15 in Beirut, Lebanon. Photo by Nabil Mounzer/EPA-EFE

BEIRUT, Lebanon, July 22 (UPI) -- International pressure and threats to impose sanctions on Lebanese political leaders to force agreement on the formation of a new government to deliver reforms and save the country from crisis are leading nowhere.

After nine months of trying to form a new Cabinet, Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri simply gave up. Hariri announced July 15 that he decided to step down shortly after President Michel Aoun rejected his new Cabinet line-up of 24 nonpartisan specialists. It was their first meeting in four months but their 20th since Hariri was named prime minister by a parliamentary majority last October.

The two leaders have been unable to agree, trading accusations and blaming each other for the continued obstruction in a fierce battle over prerogatives and who is to name the ministers. While Aoun is a close ally of Hezbollah and controls the largest Christian bloc in parliament, Hariri remains the top Sunni leader.

In line with the 1989 Taef accord that ended the 1975-90 civil war, the prime minister holds parliamentary consultations to form the Cabinet and co-sign with the president its formation decree.

Hariri argued in a post-resignation interview with New TV, a local TV network, that Aoun still wanted a blocking third, a veto power that would allow him and his son-in-law Gebran Bassil, who heads the Christian Free Patriotic Movement to control the Cabinet. Moreover, he said, the FPM would not give Cabinet confidence.

"Hariri's resignation will complicate the crisis more and more. We are on a precipice and heading down to total chaos," Amin Kammourieh, a journalist and an independent political analyst, told UPI.

Although Aoun decided to hold binding parliamentary consultations to appoint a new prime minister next Monday, it would be hard to find an acceptable Sunni personality to replace Hariri. Under Lebanon's political system, the president should be a Christian Maronite, the prime minister a Muslim Sunni and the House speaker a Muslim Shiite.

"An agreement over a new prime minister is expected to take a long time, and most probably the political leaders won't be able to name anyone," Kammourieh said. "Hariri stepped down. I wish all the others do the same...There is no salvation or solution unless they all leave."

Even if they are able to pick a new prime minister, forming a new Cabinet is not guaranteed, taking into consideration Aoun's demands and the fact that Hezbollah is in no hurry, awaiting the outcome of the U.S.-Iran nuclear talks.

Hariri's resignation came as a disappointment to many international players who have been urging the Lebanese leaders to swiftly form a new Cabinet and start implementing reforms as a prerequisite to unblock financial assistance and prevent the country's total collapse. All such calls, mainly by the European Union led by France, the United States, the United Nations, the World Bank and some Arab countries, have been unheeded.

According to the latest World Bank Lebanon Economic Monitor released last month, Lebanon's economic crisis is likely to rank in the top 10, possibly top 3, most severe crises globally since the mid-19th century.

It cited "colossal challenges, continuous policy inaction and the absence of a fully functioning executive authority" that are further threatening dire socio-economic conditions and a fragile social peace "with no clear turning point in the horizon."

The Lebanese people, who are battling hunger and deep poverty after their national currency lost more than 90 percent of its value, do not have the luxury of time.

The international community has been showing solidarity with Lebanon, providing life-saving aid delivered directly to the population and maintaining pressure on the ruling political class.

But their efforts, including two visits by French President Emmanuel Macron over the past year, have failed to change the top leaders' positions.

"There are many pressures being exerted on Lebanon, but there is no joint effort," Joseph Bahout, director of the Issam Fares Institute for Public Policy and International Affairs at the American University of Beirut, told UPI. "The French are pressuring to have a government, the Americans are pushing, but they don't want Hezbollah in the Cabinet, while the leaders in the Gulf don't care if Hariri succeeds or not in forming a new Cabinet. Not all are focusing on the same thing."

Moreover, Bahout said that despite the dramatic situation in the country, the U.N. Security Council fell short of "recognizing that Lebanon is in a crisis that necessitates joint effort or a resolution."

"We are on hold, on an artificial respirator, waiting for many things, internally and regionally, to come together so we can have a kind of a solution, not a solution," he said. "It is scary and sad."

It is unclear whether the new French-U.S. rapprochement over Lebanon, that started with a visit of U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken to Paris last month and the subsequent talks held by the French and U.S. ambassadors to Lebanon with the Saudi officials in Riyadh will result in a more coordinated and unified strategy.

"They are trying everything they can to avoid collapse because such a collapse will harm their own interests," a former Lebanese diplomat told UPI on condition of anonymity. "They will keep on trying but seems there is no solution."

In an interview with Al Hurra TV this week, U.S. acting Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Joey Hood said the United States was working on unifying international efforts in "what could be called an alliance" not only to offer incentives but also to continue exerting pressure on the Lebanese officials.

The EU is close to targeting Lebanese officials accused of corruption with sanctions, travel bans and asset freezes.

Foreign ministers from the EU's 27 member states, who met in Brussels on July 12, agreed to set up a sanctions regime for Lebanon, hoping that its legal framework will be completed by the end of July. It wasn't clear when the measure could be implemented.

"We have been hearing of the European sanctions for four months and still nothing," Bahout said. He questions what "tools" the international players will use to force the general elections scheduled for next spring, which are expected to bring new faces from the civil society, who revolted against the corrupt political class in October 2019, to the parliament.

Last year, Bassil and two former ministers, Youssef Fenianos and Ali Hassan Khalil, were hit by U.S. sanctions for engaging in corruption and making political and economic favors to Hezbollah.

However, the EU sanctions could be more "painful" to the corrupt politicians than the U.S. ones, according to the Lebanese diplomat.

"The Lebanese politicians travel more to Europe, where they have their money, properties and luxurious yachts," he said.

Until then, Lebanese political leaders are likely to continue business as usual, waiting for a U.S.-Iran settlement, Iran-Saudi new understanding, a solution to the crisis in neighboring Syria and eventually a new regional order.

Fadia Kiwan, director general of the Arab Women Organization and a political science professor, said there should be "a kind of truce and an understanding over a transition phase" with a government that could prepare for the upcoming parliamentary elections, contain the economic crisis, stop the dramatic deterioration in living conditions and curb the uncontrollable U.S. dollar's rise.

Last weekend, the U.S. dollar was traded at 23,000 Lebanese pounds compared to 1,500 LL in October 2019.

"It is not the time for big solutions but for short-term solutions to minimize the damage," Kiwan, who was named foreign minister in Hariri's last Cabinet line-up rejected by Aoun, told UPI.

FUTURE FASHION

CDC: Number of flu, other virus cases reach 'historic' lows in 2020-21


A woman walks through Times Square wearing protective goggles, latex gloves and a face mask in New York City in April 2020. File Photo by John Angelillo/UPI | License Photo


July 22 (UPI) -- The 2020-21 flu season was the lightest on record since at least 1997, the first year in which cases of the virus were tracked, according to data released Thursday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Well under 1% of more than 1.1 million specimens collected from people experiencing flu-like symptoms tested positive for the seasonal virus, the agency said.

In a "typical" flu season, in which an estimated 35 million people are infected with the virus, as many as 25% of specimens tested come back positive, based on historical CDC data.

The reduction in flu cases seen between October 2020 and May 2021 is likely due to measures taken to limit the spread of COVID-19, such as the wearing of masks that cover the nose and mouth and social distancing, the CDC said.

RELATED CDC, Texas health officials confirm case of monkeypox in Dallas

Like COVID-19, the flu is spread through virus droplets emitted from the mouth and nose.

"The same prevention measures we use to prevent COVID-19 disease work for the flu, including physical distancing, masking, avoiding crowds and staying home when sick," public health specialist Brandon Brown told UPI in an email.


"[This is] another reason for everyone to get the flu vaccine ASAP with return to work and return to school, which means a return to exposure," said Brown, an associate professor of social medicine population and public health at the University of California-Riverside.

RELATED U.S. beat smallpox, polio, but COVID-19 still rages

Similarly, samples testing positive for respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV, which causes the common cold, dropped from 15% in the months leading up to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 to between 1% and 2% throughout the rest of the year and into May, the agency reported.

Over the previous four years, rates of positive tests for this virus never fell below 3% and ranged as high as 17%, according to the CDC.

Between April 17 and May 22, the percentage of specimens testing positive for RSV increased from 1.1% to 2.8%.

During this period, many regions across the country relaxed restrictions regarding masking and large gatherings, said Brown, who was not part of the CDC analysis.

Similarly, the percentage of specimens testing positive for respiratory adenoviruses, which can also cause the common cold, as well as pneumonia, ranged from 1.2% to 2.6% between January 2020 and April of this year, before increasing to 3% in May, the CDC said.

In a typical month before the COVID-19 pandemic, this number would be as high as 15%.

It is unclear whether the "historic lows" for these and other respiratory viruses reported by the agency, will continue through the fall and winter, given that COVID-19 restrictions have been relaxed in many parts of the country, according to Brown.

However, the reduced spread of these diseases, which can cause severe illness, particularly in older adults and those with chronic health issues, shows the value of face coverings and other control measures, including vaccination, he said.

"Many countries in the world utilize face-covering as part of their daily lives, and some more specifically if they are going to be in public when they are sick," Brown said.

"Wearing a mask in public when you think you might be getting sick is a show of respect to the health of others, and it is also simple and something that we can all utilize when inside in public spaces or outside with large crowds, to prevent a number of respiratory viruses," he said.

'Cli-fi': Climate change in literature

The climate fiction genre has at times eerily presaged the future. Yet it also reflects our present reality. Here are some titles to check out.



'Something New Under the Sun' by Alexandra Kleeman (2021)

When a novelist heads to Hollywood to oversee the film adaptation of one of his books, he experiences drought and wildfire. He also stumbles upon a mysterious brand of synthetic water that everyone is sipping in LA and a tiny pale blue flower that curiously survives the wildfires. Capitalism, corruption, climate change and conspiracy theories are the ingredients for this new release.

1234567891011

Egypt: 'Facebook Girl' may be free, but oppression remains rife

Despite the release of prominent imprisoned activists, the situation of dissidents in Egypt remains dire. The latest arrests suggest that Egypt is continuing its clampdown on critics.

Egypt's 'Facebook Girl,' Esraa Abdel Fattah, after her release


This week's Muslim holiday, Eid al-Adha, brought great news to around 40 detainees in Cairo's prisons: that they were free to go. Among them were three popular journalists and three human rights activists.

However, these releases don't yet mean they have been acquitted: All 40 still have to appear in court at trials slated for at some time later this year.

One of those freed was the country's well-known "Facebook Girl", Esraa Abdel-Fattah. This 43-year-old blogger and Nobel Peace Prize nominee spent almost two years in pretrial detention for "disseminating false news and anti-state charges."

Also released was the regime-critical Egyptian journalist Gamal el-Gamal, who lived in Turkey for four years, hosting a TV show and being active on Facebook. He was taken into custody upon his arrival at Cairo's International Airport earlier this year.

"I welcome with a very warm heart the recent releases. Two of them are people that I've known personally for over a decade. I can't tell you how ecstatic I am, but I'm also confident that this is not a permanent solution. I'm glad that we got these people out, but there are plenty more inside," Ramy Yaacoub, executive director of the Tahrir Institute for Middle East Policy in Washington, DC, told DW on the phone.

Clampdown overshadows releases

The recent release of activists and journalists is in stark contrast to the ongoing clampdown on dissidents in Egypt. This week, the former editor-in-chief of the Egyptian daily Al-Ahram, Abdel Naser Salama, was detained on terrorism and false news charges. Last week, a trial at Egypt's highest criminal court, the Court of Cassation, continued against six other activists and journalists, including former lawmaker Zyad el-Elaimy.



Egypt also shows no mercy to members of the Muslim Brotherhood organization, which was designated as a terrorist group in 2013. This June, the death verdict for 12 Egyptian members was upheld. Their families have now started a social media campaign under the hashtag #StopEgyExecutions to protest against the verdict and raise attention.

Egypt's deceased ex-President Mohamed Morsi was one of the most prominent Muslim Brotherhood members

One of these convicted men is Mohamed El-Beltagy, a prominent figure of the 2011 Egyptian revolution. His wife, Sana Abd Al-Gawad, has written a letter, of which DW received a copy. In it, she accuses the Egyptian regime of denying basic human rights to the detained.

"Recently, the military regime sentenced my husband to death in a final decision, while my husband — and dozens of leaders of activists — for years are being subjected to slow and systematic killing, where they are denied their most basic rights to life and the means of survival," the letter says.

Human Rights Watch estimates that about 60,000 people are currently jailed in Egypt on political grounds. The country also topped Amnesty International's list of nations with the most death sentences and executions in 2020: Egypt's numbers more than tripled from 32 in 2019 to 107 executions the following year.
Clearly concern from Washington

The recent detentions and convictions have drawn attention — above all, from Egypt's powerful ally, the US. Last week, Ned Price, the Department of State's spokesperson, voiced concern over Egypt's politically motivated indictment against Hossam Bahgat, a prominent investigative journalist and the director-general of the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR).

US State Department spokesman Ned Price addressed the human rights situation in Egypt with remarkably sharp words

"We believe all people should be allowed to express their political views freely, to assemble and associate peacefully. As a strategic partner, we have raised these concerns with the Egyptian government, and we will continue to do so going forward," Price said in a press briefing. Price made it clear that the US will not "overlook human rights in the name of security, stability, any other interests that we might have. Our values and our interests are both of tremendous importance to us, and this administration is not prepared to sacrifice one for the other."

Asked at the press conference if the issue could affect a planned arms package for Egypt, Price said: "Human rights across the board is something we look at very closely in making those decisions."

This is in line with the vows made as a candidate by current US President Joe Biden that "there would be no more "blank checks" for the Egyptian president, who had become a close ally of Biden's predecessor, Donald Trump.

ICONS OF EGYPT'S 2011 REVOLUTION: WHERE ARE THEY NOW?

Wael Ghonim: From inspiration to despair

Wael Ghonim was in Dubai when he created a Facebook page called "We are all Khaled Said." Ghonim knew Said, a 28-year-old blogger who was beaten to death by police. The page played an organizing role in the January protests. Since 2014, Ghonim has lived in the US. Now 40, his online commentary suggests he's depressed and disillusioned about the situation in Egypt. 123456789

Egypt's trump cards

"International pressure could certainly get President el-Sissi and the Egyptian government to change their behavior. But the truth is, we haven't seen anyone attempt that seriously," Mohamed El Dahshan, associate fellow with the Chatham House Middle East and North Africa Programme, told DW on the phone.

"The last time someone made a half-hearted attempt at using their clout to influence the Egyptian government on the human rights dossier, they did not follow through. And essentially, the Egyptian government called their bluff," he said.

Egypt also holds a few trump cards with which it can arm itself against pressure from Washington: The country is considered a reliable partner in the fight against terrorism, US warships and military vessels enjoy preferential treatment when passing through the Suez Canal and military aircraft can pass through Egyptian airspace unhindered. In addition, Egypt is an important mediator in the Middle East conflict and was recently praised by the US secretary of state, Anthony Blinken, for brokering a peace deal between the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas and Israel.
Egypt's potential new allies

Furthermore, Egypt also has other powerful partners, as Ramy Yaacoub of the Tahrir Institute points out: "The United States' relationship with Egypt is a bilateral relationship and a multifaceted one, and the United States' interest is for Egypt to not go seeking out buying more weapons from Russia or France or China."

Yaacoub sees other ways as being more likely to convince Egypt to heed the United States. "Egypt is in much dire need of help — for example, in the GERD, the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam issue with Ethiopia, or via educational grants and programs that could be awarded and perhaps used in that kind of soft power approach that could be encouraged," Yaacoub said. "So there are other soft-power ways that could be helpful. I'm not saying that they are as effective, but it needs to be a package of tools that are used rather than just one thing or one threat,"

At any rate, it remains to be seen whether Cairo will turn human rights into a new trademark — or whether the recent releases will have to be seen merely as exceptions brought about by the annual holiday.

Opinion: The deadly floods are Germany's moment of truth

The flood disaster in Germany is also a wake-up call for climate policy. But the most promising chancellor candidate seems strangely unambitious, writes Anja Brockmann.



The flood disaster has put climate protection at the top of the agenda — but will German politicians take the necessary action?


Disasters like the floods in Germany are a particular challenge for politicians. In crises, people look for leadership and expect empathy and resolve from politicians. Especially from those who are preparing to succeed Chancellor Angela Merkel and lead Germany's next government.

The candidate currently in pole position is Armin Laschet, leader of the Christian Democratic Union and state premier of North Rhine-Westphalia, which has been severely affected by the floods.

Laschet initially lived up to expectations: He was on site, listened to those affected, and into the many cameras he announced to the electorate a faster pace in addressing climate protection measures. Unfortunately, the cameras also caught him laughing and even smirking, while German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier was just a few meters away, offering comfort to the flood victims. For a man who wants to become chancellor, this type of behavior is surprisingly insensitive and unprofessional. In this hour of need, Laschet should have shown statesmanlike compassion.
Unambitious climate protection measures

DW editor Anja Brockmann

Even more serious than this misstep is Laschet's indecisiveness in the policy area that has finally made it to the top of the agenda as a result of the disaster: climate protection. When he grasped the extent of the catastrophe in his state, he initially announced that he wanted to accelerate climate protection, only to emphasize later that same day that he would not change his policy because of a single day's events.

Ironically, no one really knows what that policy is. For example, he is in favor of renewable energies, but his government in North Rhine-Westphalia has massively raised the hurdles for wind turbines. Laschet also rejects a requirement for solar panels to be installed on new buildings.

When he addresses climate policy issues, he usually points out the negative impact: Climate protection should not make home ownership or vacation flights more expensive, should not endanger jobs and should not take away the fun of driving a fast car. At the same time, he seems to suggest that there is a climate policy — namely, his — that can be pursued without drastic and painful changes to the status quo.

Laschet clearly sees himself in the tradition of Merkel, who in her almost 16 years in office has not demanded substantial sacrifices from citizens or industry in the name of climate protection. This lack of ambition was also highlighted by the German Constitutional Court in April, when the judges called on politicians to make significantly more efforts to protect future generations from climate catastrophes.
Honest crisis management


Climate protection is not a laughing matter

The flood disaster has rammed home a point that many Germans have long since recognized: that carrying on as before will lead to climate chaos and that global warming is fueling extreme weather and becoming a deadly danger — not only in faraway countries, but also on their own doorstep. Their fear of losing everything is greater even than the fear of a speed limit on German highways.

If Laschet wants to become chancellor, he must take these concerns seriously and finally come clean about how he intends to reduce CO2 emissions in concrete terms. He must stop painting climate protection as an overblown specter and talk honestly about opportunities and cuts. That means telling people the truth about how effective climate protection will change their lives: what they might have to do without in the future, which jobs are on the line and how he intends to cushion the social impact.

Climate protection does not stop at our own borders. It needs international action. But if you shy away from being straight up with business and citizens at home, few voters will trust you to stand up to Vladimir Putin, Xi Jinping and Jair Bolsonaro on climate protection and get them on board.

Whether Laschet wants to or not, he has to show he's serious about climate protection, which is crucial to the election campaign. Otherwise, his dream of becoming chancellor will soon dissipate.

This piece was translated from German.

Extreme weather: Why people risk their lives to save their homes

Despite evacuation orders, some people choose to stay and defend their home during extreme weather events. Why do they do it?



A range of factors influences a person's decision to evacuate or stay with their home

In December 2019, Jack Egan watched his home in the Australian beachside settlement of Rosedale go up in flames.

Despite orders from authorities to evacuate, he and his partner, Kath, decided to stay and defend their home from the fires. Egan had some experience with wildfires and thought the property was savable.

"It's definitely at your own risk if you stay — and do not expect anybody to come and help you," Egan told DW.

The decision to stay and defend the home using a firefighting pump and hose was part of Egan's fire plan. But when his house was caught in the blaze and the heat became too much, he was forced to stop defending his home and shelter in his neighbour's more fireproof house.

"I don't really like the term firefighting because it's as though you can fight it," says Egan. "You can't really, you can only manage your survival and maybe direct the path of the fire if you've got bulldozers."

In extreme weather events such as floods, hurricanes, and wildfires, some people will stay to defend their homes despite evacuation warnings. It is a choice more and more people will be forced to make as the planet heats up.

"Home is really almost indistinguishable from who we are," says Frank McAndrew, a social psychologist and professor of psychology at Knox College in the US. "It is the one place in the world that we supposedly have control over. No one else can even come in there without our permission."

For many people home is more than a shelter. It's their safe space, a place they have made their own, filled with items that connect them to their past, and where memories were made.

"It's the repository of all of the things that make you who you are," McAndrew says.


Jack Egan's home after the fire in December 2019

Jack Egan's home before the blaze

Why people stay

There are many reasons why someone might not evacuate despite serious risk to their life. Depending on the type of hazard, the advice might even be to stay inside the home.

Some people's entire livelihoods are tied up in their homes. Insurance for damage caused by extreme weather events may be too costly for some, while others who live in risk areas can find it difficult, and sometimes even impossible, to find a company that will insure their property.

One of the lessons learned from Hurricane Katrina — a category 5 hurricane that hit the US in 2005 and killed more than 1,800 people — was that some people were not willing to leave their pets behind. This has led to the creation of evacuation areas specifically for animals.

In some cases, such as with the July floods in northern Europe, warnings that come too late or not at all take the decision out of people's hands. In these situations, it might even be safer for people to stay in their home, said Sarah McCaffrey, a social scientist for the Rocky Mountain Research Station at the US Department of Agriculture's Forest Service.

Some people stay because they have a business they want to save, or they believe they can protect their home.

Similar concerns were seen in research that looked at people living in three cyclone-prone coastal sites in Bangladesh.

When cyclones hit the island of Mazer Char, as Cyclone Sidr did in 2007, some people could afford to leave their house and belongings behind because the cyclone didn't impact their food security, said Sonja Ayeb-Karlsson, a senior researcher in (im)mobility, climate change and well-being at the United Nations University Institute for Environment and Human security. But others felt that this loss of assets would put their survival at risk because they wouldn't be able to provide food for their families.

"A fisherman who had put his life savings into his fishing nets or boat may not feel that he is able to leave these behind," Ayeb-Karlsson told DW.

MASS DESTRUCTION AS FLOODS SWEEP ACROSS WESTERN GERMANY

Houses collapsed, people trapped on roofs

Heavy rainfalls and storms pounded Germany’s western states and caused rivers to burst their banks, inundating towns and villages. Torrential overflow swept away vehicles, destroyed roads and bridges and reduced some houses to rubble. Some survivors were trapped on their rooftops for hours before they were airlifted by helicopters.

1234567

Facing uncertainty

In the year and a half since the pandemic began, many people will have faced some kind of uncertainty: the risk of catching COVID, standing by as loved ones battled illness in hospital or wondering when you'll be allowed to return to your home country.

The first thing everybody does to try to deal with uncertainty is reduce that uncertainty by seeking more information, said social scientist McCaffrey

While it might seem like people don't listen to authorities' warnings, McCaffrey said people do pay attention to official cues. It's just that some people will also use their own judgement.

People's decisions in extreme weather events are driven by their risk perception: the subjective judgment they make about how likely it is to happen and how bad it will be.

McCaffrey is the lead author of a 2017 study published in the journal Risk Analysis that looked at what influences a person's decision to respond to officials' evacuation orders for wildfires.

The study found that while most people relied on official cues like evacuation orders to take action, a large number of people relied on a combination of official and physical cues, like seeing wildfire flames, before making a decision.

"They're sort of doing that tradeoff between the cost of evacuating versus the cost of staying," McCaffrey says.

BLACK SATURDAY

Record temperatures, record fires

The Black Saturday bushfires in Victoria were the deadliest in Australia's history. They came on the heels of a record heat wave — with scorching temperatures reaching the mid-40s Celcius for several days before the blazes started. In the dry heat, all it took was a spark to ignite an apocalyptic firestorm.   123456789

What makes a life?

In 2020, a big fast moving fire came through Colorado, where McCaffrey is based. A couple in their 80s had built a house on their dream property and decided to stay with their home. They both died in the blaze.

"It was interesting to look at their kids, who were kind of saying: 'We are so sad to lose our parents, but they died where they loved and with each other and that's what was most important to them,'" McCaffrey said.

For Egan, the fire pushed him to change careers. Three months after the blaze, he decided to retire from his job as a carer in a residential home and become a climate activist.

"I just had the thought that the future has crashed right through into the present, the extreme weather events are already here now," Egan said. "It galvanized me into early retirement and I'm a full time campaigner for climate action."

He stressed that, for people who live in an area that is at risk of an extreme weather event, it is essential to have a plan.

"When it's upon you, when it's really happening, you can't think very clearly," Egan said.

RETURNING HOME AFTER GERMANY'S DEADLY FLOODS

The devastation left by flooding

The water is slowly receding, but the disaster is far from over. In devastated riverside towns in Germany, people are only slowly working their way through dealing with what the flood has left behind: bulks of mud and piles of rubbish.  12345