IRAQI KURDISTAN

In Iraqi Kurdish city, women gain power without parity

Kwestan Faraj, head of Halabja municipality since 2016, says the drive for gender equality in her city was largely led by the PUK party SAFIN HAMED AFP

Issued on: 21/10/2021 

Halabja (Iraq) (AFP)

Though equality may be a distant reality for many women in Iraq, in Halabja women have reached top levels of local government.

Mayor, university dean, director of the veterinary department, and health spokesperson are some of the senior posts held by women in the city of around 115,000 inhabitants.

It marks something of a departure for Iraqi Kurdistan, where public affairs have long been dominated by a handful of men.

Tradition and conservative values have meant that women face routine discrimination and are largely confined to the private sphere.

"When you are a woman, climbing the ranks comes with a lot of sacrifices," Faraj, 55, told AFP.

Faraj says there is gender balance in Halabja's administrative posts SAFIN HAMED AFP

A former deputy head of the municipality for 15 years, Faraj launched her political career many years earlier, when as a student she handed out leaflets against Saddam Hussein's regime, which carried out an infamous chemical attack on the city shortly before the end of the Iran-Iraq war in 1988.

She recalled one day when an armed man arrived demanding that she sign dubious paperwork. She refused.

"I thought he would pull out his gun and shoot," she said.

"He got up and told me: 'If you weren't a woman, I know what I would have done'."

She said that in her city the drive for gender equality was largely led by the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), one of two historical parties in Iraqi Kurdistan. 

THE THIRD PARTY IS THE KURDISH WORKERS PARTY OF OCCLAN THE PKK AND /YJP/YPG IN ROJAVA SYRIA

Yet some residents complain that the advances are largely cosmetic and aimed at masking the shortcomings of public services.

Mahabad Kamil Abdullah, pictured in her office at the University of Halabja, is Kurdistan's first female university dean 

SAFIN HAMED AFP

'Barriers'

A junior partner in the Kurdistan regional government in Arbil, the PUK holds the post of speaker in the regional parliament, which it also awarded to a woman, Rewaz Faiq.

The party "believes in equality between men and women in all domains," Faraj said.

"This has allowed us to achieve gender balance in administrative posts in Halabja," said the head of the municipality, who has held the post since 2016.

Iraqi Kurdish women walk in Halabja, part of the Kurdistan region which has cultivated an image of relative stability and tolerance SAFIN HAMED AFP

Halabja prides itself on having had a woman mayor, Adela Khanum, in the first decades of the 20th century. Now it has another, Nuxsha Nasih.

It also has Kurdistan's first female university dean, Mahabad Kamil Abdullah. "The Islamist parties were among the first to congratulate me when I became the president of Halabja University," she said.

But it is by no means representative of the situation of women in Kurdistan as a whole. A 2018 UN report found that women in the workforce represent barely 15 percent of the women of working age. About three quarters of those work in the public sector.
Cosmetic change

In Iraq's October 10 parliamentary election, more than 90 women were elected according to preliminary results, exceeding the minimum 83-seat quota established for women in the 329-seat chamber.

Many residents are more preoccupied with the failings of public services than with seeking gender equality 

SAFIN HAMED AFP

Though the Kurdistan region has cultivated an image of relative stability and tolerance, women's rights activists say key issues like forced marriage and female genital mutilation have gone unaddressed.

"It is not enough to have women in high posts. There need to be more women in the lower ranks," said Gulistan Ahmed, who heads the governmental commission for human rights in Halabja.

Many residents are more preoccupied with the failings of public services than with seeking gender equality.

"There have been no notable changes in the city under their mandate, whether at the level of public services or with the launch of new projects," complained Wshyar Abdulkarim, a 45-year-old spice merchant.

Female market trader Mujda Ahmed said having women in top jobs had yet to lead to an improvement in services for women.

Gulistan Ahmed, head of the human rights commission in Halabja, says it's not enough to have women in high posts SAFIN HAMED AFP

"I have worked in the market for six years and not a single person has built public toilets for women," she said.

"I have the impression that they are being used by their parties, which simply want to improve their image on the issue of equality, nothing more."

© 2021 AFP

Ecuador's Lasso calls protesters 'putschists', declares state of emergency

The Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities (CONAIE) and trade unions are planning protests

A Police officer stands guard during Ecuadorean unions members' march against labor reforms proposed by president Guillermo Lasso in Quito, Ecuador October 20, 2021.

 © Santiago Arcos, Reuters

Text by: NEWS WIRES|

Video by  :Fraser JACKSON


Ecuador President Guillermo Lasso on Wednesday branded indigenous groups and trade unions as "putschists" and "conspirators" over plans to protest against a hike in fuel prices.

It comes just two days after Lasso declared a state of emergency amidst a rise in drug-related violence, although the government vowed to protect the right to assembly and protest.

The Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities (CONAIE) and trade unions are planning protests, while a doctors' union has said it will demonstrate on Thursday against a lack of both supplies and employment stability.

"The hand of democratic dialogue will be extended, but if we have to impose the constitution by force to confront putschists, we will do so with decisiveness, with spirit and without fear," Lasso told a crowd of thousands of supporters in the capital Quito.

"The conspirators must let us work to realise the dreams of all Ecuadorans."

In less than three years a gallon of the most popular fuel has risen 69 percent from $1.48 to $2.50.

The government has steadily removed subsidies that kept fuel prices low, although it claims it will provide other benefits to the poor.

Lasso also called on his supporters to "protect" the capital Quito, seemingly a reference to violence and vandalism that marked indigenous-led protests in October 2019 that left 11 dead and considerable damage to the city.

"We need to be alert to protect our capital, so that no-one damages Quito with rocks, smashes windows, burns buildings, kidnaps police, kidnaps soldiers, kidnaps journalists," said Lasso.

The CONAIE took part in social revolts that overthrew three governments between 1997 and 2005, and led the 2019 protests against the proposed removal of fuel subsidies, forcing then-president Lenin Moreno to back down.

(AFP)

Ecuador's president Lasso refuses to testify over Pandora Papers leak

Ecuador's President Guillermo Lasso gestures to supporters outside Carondelet presidential palace in Quito, on October 20, 2021. 

© Rodrigo Buendia, AFP

Issued on: 21/10/2021 
Text by:NEWS WIRES


Ecuador's President Guillermo Lasso on Wednesday refused to testify to a parliamentary committee that is investigating revelations about the 65-year-old in the Pandora Papers leaks.

The committee was convened by the opposition-dominated congress to investigate ex-banker Lasso's activities in tax havens.

Earlier this month, the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) leaked a trove of documents exposing the secret offshore accounts of a host of world leaders, including Lasso.

The leaks claimed Lasso, who assumed office in May, controlled 14 offshore companies, mostly in Panama, and closed them after former leftist president Rafael Correa (2007-17) barred presidential hopefuls from owning firms in tax havens.

Out of 137 lawmakers, 105 had voted in favor of an investigation to "clarify" whether or not Lasso had broken Ecuadoran law or committed an "ethical" offense.

Lasso issued a statement saying he would not go to parliament but was available to speak to lawmakers at the seat of government "once all the programed testimonies have been given."

The president claimed he had "every right" to know what other evidence has been given before testifying himself.

His wife and one of his sons also declined to appear before the committee.

"Neither when submitting my candidacy, nor since then until now, have I violated the aforementioned prohibition," said Lasso.

He claimed he had made "legitimate investments in other countries" that he got rid of to allow him to stand in the election.

In response to Lasso's refusal to appear, committee president Jose Cabascango closed the parliamentary session by summoning the president "for a second time and in a mandatory manner" to appear Friday before the National Assembly.

In Latin America, the presidents of Chile, Sebastian Pinera, and the Dominican Republic, Luis Abinader, also appeared in the Pandora Papers.

Pinera is the subject of a criminal investigation over the sale of a mine and faces the threat of an impeachment procedure launched by the opposition.

(AFP)

TSAR PUTIN

The quiet war being waged against 'foreign agents' in Russia

Russia is in the midst of the largest crackdown on the free press and political dissent since the Soviet era.


The quiet war being waged against 'foreign agents' in Russia


Matthew Bodner
Sun, October 17, 2021

MOSCOW — Russia is in the midst of the largest crackdown on the free press and political dissent since the Soviet era.

The trends driving it are numerous, and they have been in place for years. But in the last 18 months, the state has increased its pressure on journalism extraordinarily.

Instead of overt brutality, the campaign is being waged quietly with a vague legal tool: a law regulating the activities of so-called foreign agents.

It was first used against a media outlet in 2017, when several U.S.-government funded outlets, such as the Voice of America, were declared foreign agents. But, last year, the state began to deploy it against independent Russian journalists.

“It is not about receiving money from abroad,” said Sonya Groisman, 27, a reporter who was added to the foreign agent list after her outlet, Proekt, was disbanded after having been labeled “undesirable.”

“It is a law to silence all independent voices,” she said.

The first targets in the assault on independent, critical journalism in Russia were legal entities — i.e., entire newsrooms. But recently, the state has taken to applying the label to individual journalists, too. Groisman was one of them. And the list is public, often serving as the initial notification affected parties get from authorities informing them of their new reality.

The Norwegian Nobel Committee recognized the challenges Russian journalists face on Oct. 8, when Dmitry Muratov — an editor at the independent news outlet Novaya Gazeta — was jointly awarded this year’s peace prize for his “efforts to safeguard freedom of expression” in Russia.

Muratov dedicated the award to his “deceased colleagues,” a direct reference to the price independent journalists in Russia have paid over the years. Novaya Gazeta, in particular, has taken a heavy hit. Muratov was award the Nobel Prize one day after the 15th anniversary of the murder of its most famous reporter, Anna Politkovskaya.

The Kremlin press office said that those who are labeled foreign agents are not legally limited from working as journalists by law and that they have the right to appeal the designation in court.

A Glimpse Into Life In Russia Today (Spencer Platt / Getty Images)

The foreign agent law was signed in 2012. Before its first use against the media in 2017, it was used against nongovernmental organizations and civil society groups — often those that focus on human rights — that had received foreign grant money.

“I don’t think there has ever been a worse time for Russian civic society and media in general,” said Alexey Kovalev, an editor at the independent news site Meduza. “And I think we have not even hit rock bottom yet, because this machine doesn’t really have a reverse gear. It is actually getting worse.”

The way it works is simple: Every Friday, the Justice Ministry updates a public list of “foreign agents” published on its website. About 90 organizations and people are on the list, which has nearly doubled over the past month, now featuring almost every major independent outlet.

“The authorities have become smart and sophisticated,” said Gulnoza Said, the director for Europe and Central Asia for the Committee to Protect Journalists. “They don’t use the targeted killings of journalists as 20 years ago. They use legislation to legitimize the crackdown.”

By labeling journalists or media outlets as foreign agents, the state is thrusting two significant legal burdens upon them: The first is a disclaimer, prescribed by law, that must accompany everything they post online; the second is a quarterly report about all of their financial activities. Any misstep in either could lead to criminal prosecution, fines or both.

Kovalev said: “It is not the Russian state that drives you out of business. You have to kill your own business yourself. You have to hire a lawyer to deal with the paperwork, an accountant to deal with the financial filings. And now, when you have individual people declared foreign agents, you see how devastating this actually is.”

President Vladimir Putin addressed the law at a forum in Moscow on Wednesday, defending the foreign agent list as a routine act of bureaucracy, akin to the Foreign Agent Registration Act in the U.S. The U.S. law requires think tanks, lobbyists and foreign state-funded media outlets to report financial ties to foreign governments, but it is less aggressive than the Russian law.

“This law was adopted in the United States in the 1930s, and it is still in use today, applied to Russian media outlets, among other things,” Putin said. “Both there and in our country this is done with one purpose: to protect internal political processes from outside influence. Foreign agents are not prohibited from political or any professional activities. They just have to register.”

A Glimpse Into Life In Russia Today (Spencer Platt / Getty Images)

Said of the Committee to Protect Journalists said the organization warned against the U.S.'s using its foreign agent registration law against the Russian state-funded outlets Russia Today and Sputnik in 2017, arguing that the Russian government would engage in a tit-for-tat response. That is what happened to the Voice of America in Russia, he said.

The Committee to Protect Journalists also warned that Russia would take it one step further and use its version of the registration act against independent media outlets. That, too, has happened, he said.

Russian journalists hit with the label point out that there is no trial and no burden on the state to provide evidence that an organization or a person who is added to the registry ever received money from abroad.

For those who find themselves on the list, it feels permanent.

“The only cases in which someone was able to get off the list are organizations that destroyed themselves, but I cannot destroy myself,” Groisman said. “So there are only two options: The first option is that some officials ask the Ministry of Justice to remove you from the list.

“The second option is my death,” she said. “Maybe that is more realistic.”

Egypt dissidents revive rich prison writing tradition

Egyptian activist and blogger Alaa Abdel Fattah, seen here with family in 2019, has spent the better part of a decade behind bars

 Khaled DESOUKI AFP/File


Issued on: 21/10/2021 

Cairo (AFP)

Egypt has a long history of political prisoners turning to writing to capture their experiences in confinement.

An icon of the 2011 revolt that toppled longtime president Hosni Mubarak, Abdel Fattah wrote prolifically over the years, becoming one of the best-known voices of the protest movement.

His writings have now been anthologised into a book published this week, titled: "You Have Not Yet Been Defeated".

With a foreword by Canadian author Naomi Klein, the title of the nearly 450-page book released by a British publisher is a nod to Abdel Fattah's continued public engagement, even while in solitary confinement.

"He has different voices with his writing, from the technical to the passionate and poetic," his mother, veteran activist Laila Soueif, told AFP.

"The form of expression may differ but at its fundamental core, his writing is attached to justice," she added.

On Monday, Abdel Fattah was brought before a security court yet again on charges of "broadcasting false news" for a tweet.

He was last arrested in September 2019, having been released just months earlier on probation, in the wake of rare protests calling for the removal of President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.

Soueif said her son, 39, had been excited about the publication of his work, despite knowing that he cannot celebrate his latest literary achievement.

Laila Soueif says her son has been excited about the publication of his work in English translation

 MOHAMED EL-SHAHED AFP/File

"For me his letters from jail were just letters mimicking our conversations. We've always talked about everything together, from science fiction to capitalism," the award-winning mathematics professor said.
'Understanding Egypt through its prisons'

"You can't understand Egypt without understanding what's happening in its prisons," said Elliott Colla, an Arabic literature professor at Georgetown University.

He noted that jail conditions have worsened compared to decades ago under the reign of Gamal Abdel Nasser, based on his reading of prominent writers such as Sonallah Ibrahim and Gamal al-Ghitani.

"As scary as Nasser's prisons were, people felt like they could organise solidarity openly with prisoners in terms of book, food and clothing campaigns... That's a big difference between Sisi and Nasser," he said.

Colla has also translated the poems of another prominent activist, Ahmed Douma, 36, who has been in jail since 2013. He has spent six of those years in solitary confinement.

He published a book of poetry, "Curly", that was displayed at this year's Cairo International Book Fair in July but was quickly pulled for "security reasons".

Douma's brother Mohamed sent him a physical copy but does not know if prison authorities allowed him to receive it.

"We were happy because he was happy and was focused on it as a project. But he was quickly saddened because it got pulled from the Cairo book fair," he told AFP.

"From the start of his jail sentence, Ahmed would give his lawyers a poem here or there each time he'd see them in court for trial."

The poetry of Egyptian activist Ahmed Douma, seen here during a trial hearing in January 2019, was briefly exhibited at this year's Cairo book fair before being pulled - AFP/File

Douma asked the lawyers to collate the poems to be published in a book, his brother added.
'Smiling behind glass'

Mohamed Douma said his brother was eligible for conditional release earlier this month after serving half of his sentence.

The family was informed that they would have to pay a fine of six million Egyptian pounds ($380,000) for the prison authority to consider his release.

But for the jailed activist, who has contracted Covid-19 twice since the start of the pandemic, his joyful spirit has not been dampened.

"During court sessions, we're the only ones smiling and laughing to each other from behind the thick glass and everyone else is crying. We're very similar in personality," his brother recounted.

In one of his poems composed in solitary confinement, Ahmed Douma writes: "There's no time for depression, no opportunity for sadness, the flood is raging."

Colla situates Abdel Fattah's and Douma's words within the tradition of Egyptian writers coming of age in jail.

"Prison literature is not a minor genre in modern Arabic literature. In fact, you can say in some places (in the Arab world) it's the dominant genre of the best literary production," he said.

Soueif says she hopes her son's book "will give a complete picture of Alaa".

© 2021 AFP

First wave of pandemic novels hits Frankfurt Book fair

Margaret Atwood: 'We members of the human race have been through a very difficult time here on planet Earth, and it's not over yet'

Frankfurt (AFP)

Some of the best-known authors have pandemic tales on the way, with Jodi Picoult finding inspiration in a tourist stranded abroad, while Margaret Atwood is teaming up with the likes of Dave Eggers and John Grisham on a "collaborative novel" about Manhattan residents thrown together by lockdown.

"We members of the human race have been through a very difficult time here on planet Earth, and it's not over yet," Atwood told the Frankfurt fair via video link on Tuesday.

"Already the writers have begun to bear witness," said the Canadian author, who is editing the novel "Fourteen Days: An Unauthorised Gathering", scheduled for release in 2022.

The newest title by Picoult, whose international bestsellers include "The Pact" and "My Sister's Keeper", comes out next month, and will be one of the first pandemic books by a major novelist to hit stores.

Picoult said she wrote "Wish You Were Here" as a way "to make sense of 2020".

"Artists are meant to find meaning in the things that we don't understand and a worldwide pandemic qualifies," the US writer told AFP by email.

Although fewer international publishers and authors are attending the fair this year because of the pandemic, German author John von Dueffel will be in Frankfurt on Friday to tell audiences about his Covid-inspired novel.

Visitors peruse the booths at the Frankfurt Book Fair DANIEL ROLAND AFP

In "The Angry and The Guilty", a woman has to go into quarantine just as the family patriarch is dying.
'Sceptical'

Not everyone is convinced readers will embrace these early pandemic-themed novels.

Renowned German literary critic Denis Scheck warned against "rushing out" these stories, saying it takes very skilled authors to meaningfully capture historic events in real time.

In the past, some of the best writing on major tragedies only emerged years or even decades after the fact, he said, as has been the case for example with 9/11 fiction.

Scheck noted that many readers have instead been turning to classics like Albert Camus' "The Plague", which has taken on new relevance in the Covid era.

"Literature can teach us how to die," Scheck said.

He praised German author Juli Zeh's recent novel "Ueber Menschen" (About People) as an example of a coronavirus novel done well.

Books about the pandemic are starting to appear on the shelves DANIEL ROLAND AFP

It chronicles the tale of a woman who escapes the city for rural life, leaving behind a partner who becomes ever more controlling in step with the tightening coronavirus restrictions.

"She's an author who responds very quickly to current events and does it well," Scheck said.

But overall, "I'm sceptical," he added. "I think we'll have to wait another 10 or 20 years."
Processing grief

For American author Hilma Wolitzer, mother of acclaimed novelist Meg Wolitzer, waiting was not an option.

The 91-year-old lost her husband to Covid-19 last year, and was hospitalised with the virus herself.

Putting pen to paper "was a way of dealing with grief, when all the usual rituals of mourning, such as a funeral and the company of family and friends, were denied to me," she told AFP by email.

The resulting story is the closing chapter in her newest book "Today a Woman Went Mad in the Supermarket", a collection of stories featuring recurring characters, some of which were first published in the 1960s.

American Author Jodi Picoult: 'We need to process what we learned about ourselves in the past 18 months' Jamie McCarthy 

"My story is really about a long marriage -- its many joys and struggles -- that ends with the pandemic, so I hope people will read it for both pleasure and consolation, as they would any work of fiction," she said.

Picoult said readers "will need to decide for themselves when they are ready to read about Covid in fiction."

"We need to process what we learned about ourselves in the past 18 months," she said.

"If my book can do that for even one person, I'll consider it a success."

© 2021 AFP

KIWI NEWS

New Zealand's first indigenous governor-general takes office

For the first time, New Zealand will have a Maori woman as its governor-general. She pledged to strengthen communities to meet modern-day challenges.


Dame Cindy Kiro previously served as New Zealand's children's commissioner and has held leadership roles at several universities

Dame Cindy Kiro was sworn in as New Zealand's governor-general in parliament in Wellington on Thursday, becoming the first indigenous Maori woman to serve in the largely ceremonial role.

The governor-general carries out a number of constitutional duties in the former British colony, including officially signing bills into law and presiding over many public ceremonies.

They act as a representative of the British monarch — who remains New Zealand's official head of state.

After taking her oath of office in English and Te Reo Maori, Kiro spoke of her mixed Maori and British heritage and vowed to reach out to migrants and marginalized citizens.

"Communities develop resilience when people feel connected, have a sense of belonging, and have a place to stand," she said in a speech at the swearing-in ceremony.

"I will connect to new migrants and former refugees, and celebrate the many diverse cultures and religions gifted to our nation by those who have chosen to make New Zealand their home," Kiro said.
A champion of the indigenous language

In her speech, she also vowed to be a champion of the Te Reo Maori language.

"In my lifetime, I've also seen a remarkable shift in attitudes towards Te Reo Maori," she said.

"It's a joy to see so many New Zealanders eager to learn the language, as it is by far the best portal to an understanding of Te Ao Maori — and I will continue to try and champion it," Kiro said.

Te Reo Maori became an official language of New Zealand in 1987, alongside English.

The Maoris are the country's largest ethnic minority, representing 16.5% of the population. They remain both economically and socially disadvantaged.


What did the PM say?

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern welcomed the new governor-general in her speech.

"I know as the first Maori woman to hold this role you are mindful that your opportunity here also provides inspiration that reaches far and wide for many from all walks of life," she said.

"Hopefully when others follow your footsteps they won't be quite as surprised as you were when I offered you the role," Ardern said, news website Stuff reported.
What more do we know about Cindy Kiro?

Kiro previously served as chief executive of the Royal Society, a nonprofit group that advocates for research.

She has also been the New Zealand's Children's Commissioner and has held leadership roles at several universities.

She holds a Ph.D. in social policy and an MBA from the University of Auckland and Massey University and was the first in her family to achieve a university qualification.

Kiro succeeds Patsy Reddy, who had also been given the honorific "Dame" for her services to the community.

adi/sri (Reuters, AP)

Britain, New Zealand agree trade deal, including haka clause

The haka is best known as the spectacular pre-match challenge issued by the All Blacks, but it's also a revered cultural tradition among New Zealand's Maori 

CHARLY TRIBALLEAU AFP/File

London (AFP)

The in-principle deal was sealed in a video call between British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his New Zealand counterpart Jacinda Ardern, following  16  months of talks.

Johnson said it was a "big moment" that strengthened Britain's friendship with New Zealand and cemented London's ties in the Indo-Pacific.

He likened negotiations for Britain's latest post-Brexit trade deal to a rugby match.

"I'm absolutely thrilled that we seem to have driven for the line, we've scrummed down, we've packed tight and together we've got the ball over the line," he said.

Ardern continued the sporting analogy, saying Thursday that "unlike a rugby match, I think we can literally both come off the field feeling like winners".

Tariffs on New Zealand goods such as wine, kiwifruit and meat, will be axed under the dea

l NEIL SANDS AFP/File

London said the deal ends tariffs on British exports such as clothing, footwear, ships and bulldozers. It estimated that trade between the two countries last year was worth £2.3 billion ($3.2 billion, 2.7 billion euros).

Tariffs on goods coming the other way, such as wine, kiwifruit and meat, will also be axed.

"It's one of our best deals ever and secured at a crucial time in our Covid recovery," Ardern said.

The New Zealand leader praised provisions in the agreement aimed at promoting Maori participation in trade and addressing indigenous concerns.

They include a commitment by both countries to "identify appropriate ways to advance recognition and protection of the haka Ka Mate".

The haka is best known as the spectacular pre-match challenge issued by the All Blacks, but it is also a revered cultural tradition among New Zealand's Maori.

Indigenous communities -- particularly the Ngati Toa iwi (tribe) where Ka mate originated -- have long resented the foot-stomping, eye-rolling challenge being mocked or exploited for profit.

Over the years, haka parodies have been used in Britain to sell everything from menswear to alcopops -- all without permission and without a cent being paid to the ritual's traditional owners.

The deal will encourage more cultural sensitivity, with London agreeing to formally recognise Ngati Toa's guardianship of the Ka Mate haka.

New Zealand Rugby and Ngati Toa have been approached for comment.

© 2021 AFP

New Zealand to make banks report climate impact

New Zealand's farm-reliant economy means agricultural emissions account for around half of its greenhouse gases

 NEIL SANDS AFP/File

Issued on: 21/10/2021 

Wellington (AFP)

Climate Change Minister James Shaw said the law meant banks, insurance companies and investment firms would make mandatory disclosures about their portfolios' global warming record from next year.

Shaw, who will head to Glasgow later this month for crunch climate talks hosted by the United Nations, said the disclosures would outline the real-world consequences of investment choices.

"It will encourage entities to become more sustainable by factoring the short, medium, and long-term effects of climate change into their business decisions," he said in a statement.

"New Zealand is a world leader in this area and the first country in the world to introduce mandatory climate-related reporting for the financial sector," he added.

© 2021 AFP

EDUSA

Fixing the Broken High School-to-College Pipeline

Chauncy Lennon and Anne Stanton
Mon, October 18, 2021


As the nation struggles with the COVID-19 pandemic, a double-edged educational crisis has emerged: a surge in high school dropout rates and a precipitous decline in community college enrollment.

The details are all too plain — the nation’s public schools lost more than 1.1 million students last year, or 2 percent, versus an anticipated decline of less than 0.4 percent before the pandemic. Community colleges enrolled 476,000 fewer students last year than the year before, an 11.4 percent drop

As learning moved online, adolescents lost the support and stimulation of their peers, the discipline of extracurricular activities and, often, adult supervision to keep them on track. Many also had to work or care for younger siblings or ailing relatives. Prospective community college students declined to enroll because of pandemic-induced financial limitations, new family responsibilities and concerns about online courses, among other factors.

The pandemic pushed these problems to the forefront, but for decades, high schools have ill-served students with an academic model that is inflexible and often irrelevant, while community colleges have not sufficiently addressed the needs of the first-generation students from low-income families who often make up the bulk of their enrollment.

A fundamental problem — the structural flaw that brings these crises together — is the unnatural divide between secondary and postsecondary education. Americans think of K-12 and the years afterward as two distinct and separate parts, when they should be viewed as a continuum. Reimagining this system means that colleges must reach down, and high schools must reach up. Together, they need to ensure that students are learning skills and earning credentials that will prepare them for careers and success in today’s economy.

What does such a connection look like? Some promising examples come from Linked Learning, an education approach that works to transform the high school experience through rigorous technical training, work-based learning and robust student supports. It does so by disrupting tracking, a traditional practice that has deepened disparities by forcing students to choose between pursuing academic, pre-college studies and training for a trade.

In one large California district served by Linked Learning, Long Beach College Promise links high schools with public colleges. The partnership provides clear learning pathways for students, starting in their freshman year, with high-quality college and career preparation. All students at Long Beach Community College get free tuition their first year, and all Promise students meeting college prep requirements are guaranteed admission to California State University Long Beach. The schools reach out to students and families starting in sixth grade and continue the support through the transition to high school and college.

In Texas, the Dallas Independent School District has been working to expand alignment between high school curriculum and the expectations of employers and colleges. Starting in ninth grade, students can attend one of eight traditional early college high school programs or follow one of 18 technical pathways to earn an associate degree, tuition free, as well as gain valuable job experience through internships in fields such as health sciences, information technology and criminal justice. Other Dallas high school students may qualify for OnRamps, a program in which high school teachers join instructors at the University of Texas at Austin to teach college-level courses at the high school. The credits students earn automatically transfer to any public college in the state.

To help ensure a seamless handoff between senior year of high school and the first year of a degree or certificate program, high school and college educators in Monterey County, California, worked together to design a 12th grade math course that equipped all students to transition to postsecondary math. This is particularly important because poor preparation in high school math is a big barrier to success in college. When first-year community college students are required to take remedial, or developmental, math before progressing to credit-bearing courses, they often drop out. The Monterey K-12 and postsecondary educators joined forces to create a course that makes math more relevant and engaging, accommodates different student learning styles, and promotes tenacity and critical thinking — skills that support college and career success.

To encourage more students to take advantage of dual enrollment — an arrangement under which high school students take for-credit college classes for free — Indian River College in Florida regularly invites middle and high school students to its campus, where they get hands-on experience in classrooms and labs and can meet with an adviser to develop a college plan. Central Carolina Community College embeds college counselors – full-time employees of the college, funded by a grant program — in nine area high schools. And at Lorain Community College in Ohio, advisers work with high schools and partner with four-year colleges to map high school and community college curricula that lead to several popular majors and specific careers.

To ease the transition by giving teens a genuine college experience, Clemson University’s Emerging Scholars program brings high schoolers, starting in their sophomore year, to campus every year for a summer bridge program that helps them establish a college-going mindset through academic enrichment, tutoring and lessons in leadership. During the school year, they participate in various activities that promote college readiness. The aim is not necessarily to get students into Clemson, but to any college, two- or four-year, that’s right for them.

Many more exemplary colleges are adopting reforms aimed at better connecting with high school students and ensuring college completion. They are offering more holistic advising and accelerated and flexible schedules, embedding remedial coursework with credit-bearing courses and better attending to students’ social, emotional and financial needs.

Clarity, guidance, relevance: These are what students seek at both the high school and college levels. Our education system owes them all three. And it needs to deliver them acting as a united force.

Chauncy Lennon is vice president for learning and work at Lumina Foundation, an independent, private foundation based in Indianapolis. Anne Stanton is president of Linked Learning Alliance, a coalition of education, industry and community leaders and organizations dedicated to improving California’s high schools and preparing students for success in college, career and life.

Georgia High Schoolers Say Administrators Did Not Punish Students Waving Confederate Flag, But Chose to Suspend the Black Students Who Planned to Protest

Atahabih Germain
Mon, October 18, 2021

A group of students at a North Georgia high school say just as they were planning to protest this month against peers caught carrying around a Confederate flag during a school event, their Black organizers were suspended.

Meanwhile, students carrying the controversial emblem were let off the hook.

“I feel the Confederate flag should not be flown at all. It is a racist symbol and it makes me feel disrespected,” student organizer Jaylynn Murray at Coosa High School in Rome, Georgia, told Atlanta news station WGCL-TV. Murray said four students were flying the flag on a spirit day called “farm day.”

Meanwhile, fellow student organizer Deziya Fain said she “felt really disrespected how the school didn’t do anything about it and when we are not allowed wear BLM (Black Lives Matter) stuff and they are allowed to carry a racist flag around.”

White and hispanic students allege they were not suspended while Black students were for planning to protest other students who paraded a Confederate paraphernalia at their North Georgia high school. (Photo: CBS46 Atlanta/YouTube screenshot)

The group, composed of Black, white and Hispanic classmates, decided to organize a protest after administration failed to discipline the four individuals spotted in the video.

Students noted that the school has a policy against students wearing Black Lives Matter apparel and believes there is an ongoing issue with racism at the school, as the four students carrying the flag were also accused of using racial slurs against Black students.

When administration became aware of the coming protest, they ordered students not to carry out their plans and informed them that they would be disciplined if they decided to follow through. By Thursday, Oct. 7, a school administrator issued a similar warning to the remaining student body over the intercom, the station revealed.

“The administration is aware of tomorrow’s planned protest,” they said in a recording of the announcement provided to the outlet. “Police will be present here at school, and if students insist on encouraging this kind of activity they will be disciplined for encouraging unrest.”

Students told WGCL that when the organizers of the protest complied with school administrators’ request that Thursday to report to the office to discuss the planned protest and hand over any flyers promoting the demonstration the meeting became contentious as the teens complained about the school’s hands-off attitude toward students who use racial slurs.

Administrators reacted by suspending only the Black students in that diverse group that day, the teen protesters claim.

The following day many of the students held a protest just outside of the school property as police kept the school ringed off from any possible disruption.

The teens told WGCL that they had been punished for defying administration — but not all were. Black protesters say only they were targeted while their white and Hispanic peers weren’t.

“All the African-Americans they suspended them, and they didn’t suspend them. They didn’t suspend me and I was yelling and loud. It’s because I’m white,” Lilyan Huckaby, a white student, said. “We’re not allowed to wear Black Lives Matter shirts or the LGBTQ flag, but kids can have Confederate flags and they have said nothing.”

Lekysha Morgan told a reporter her three children were suspended for planning to participate in the protest and that complaints made to school about racial discrimination fall on deaf ears.

The students’ suspension lasts through Oct. 22.

To read more stories like this, visit AtlantaBlackStar.com

Lieberman book details help he received from GOP in 2006

OF COURSE HE DID 

HE WAS THE CHICKEN HAWK DEMOCRAT

FILE - Former Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman gives a 'thumbs-up' as he leaves the West Wing of the White House in Washington, Wednesday, May 17, 2017. Lieberman details in a new book how aid from top Republicans helped him win reelection against a more left-leaning Democrat and a Republican. The Hartford Courant reported Monday, Oct. 18, 2021 that Lieberman provides new details in the book about help from Karl Rove, a top advisor to then-President George Bush.

 (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)


Mon, October 18, 2021

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — Former U.S. Sen. Joe Lieberman of Connecticut details in a new book how aid from top Republicans — including strategist Karl Rove — helped him win reelection against a more left-leaning Democrat and a Republican.

Lieberman ran as an independent in 2006 after losing the Democratic primary to now-Gov. Ned Lamont, who unlike Lieberman opposed the Iraq War. Lieberman writes in his book “The Centrist Solution,” scheduled to be released on Tuesday, that Rove called him on the day of the primary and offered his help in the tight race, the Hartford Courant reported.

The former senator quotes Rove, then-President George W. Bush’s top strategist, as saying “the ‘Boss’ asked me to call you ... he knows that the political problems you are having are because you have stayed strong on the war in Iraq. So, he wanted me to tell you that if you lose today and run in November, we will help you in any way we can.”

Lieberman, 79, also writes about help from former U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Dole, another prominent Republican and a family friend.

Dole, as chair of the Senate Republican Campaign Committee, “proudly” told Lieberman that the group steered support away from the GOP candidate in the race. And after the surprise call from Rove, Lieberman said he began receiving campaign contributions from big Republican donors.

Lamont, a wealthy businessman, was ultimately defeated alongside Republican Alan Schlesinger in the three-way general election contest.

Asked about the book, Lamont said Monday that his Senate campaign “knew there were a lot of conversations going on between the White House and Senator Lieberman’s campaign" in 2006.

“I think both sides saw that Senate race, going back 15 years ago, as a referendum on the war in Iraq,” Lamont said. “And it’s now 15 years later, people are making up their mind whether invading Iraq and those trillions of dollars and thousands and thousands of dead was an investment worth making, was it a war worth fighting.”

Lieberman told the Courant in an interview that the call from Rove ultimately helped him on Election Day.

“I got a stunning vote among Republicans in Connecticut in the exit poll. I got a solid majority of independents and about a third of Democrats. I’m grateful," said Lieberman, who did not seek reelection in 2012.

FBI searches homes linked to Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska


FBI agents searched homes in Washington, D.C., and New York City linked to Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska, who was sanctioned by the Treasury Department in 2018. 

File Photo by Anatoli Zhdanov/UPI | License Photo

Oct. 19 (UPI) -- FBI agents on Tuesday reportedly searched two homes connected to Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska.

Agents searched homes in Washington, D.C., and New York City as part of unspecified "law enforcement activity" related to Deripaska, a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin who was indicted by the U.S. Treasury Department in 2018, NBC News and The Washington Post reported.

A spokeswoman for Deripaska told NBC News both properties belong to his relatives.

"The searches are being carried out on the basis of two court orders, connected to U.S. sanctions," the spokeswoman said.

Deripaska, a billionaire oil tycoon, was one of dozens of Russian oligarchs sanctioned in 2018 for what the Treasury Department described as brazen behavior and attacks on Western democracy.

"Deripaska has been investigated for money laundering and has been accused of threatening the lives of business rivals, illegally wiretapping a government official and taking part in extortion and racketeering," the Treasury Department said at the time.

He was also an associate of former President Donald Trump's one-time campaign manager Paul Manafort who tried to offer "private briefings" to Deripaska about the 2016 presidential race, according to emails included in the Mueller report.

Russian businessman funded ex-Giuliani associates' account, court records show

FILE PHOTO: Combo file picture shows Ukrainian-American businessman Lev Parnas and Russian born businessman Igor Fruman exiting the United States Courthouse in New York

Luc Cohen
Mon, October 18, 2021,

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A Russian businessman funded an account used by two ex-associates of Rudy Giuliani to donate to U.S. political campaigns, according to documents shown in court on Monday.

Prosecutors presented the financial records to a Manhattan federal court jury in the second week of the trial of one of the former associates, Lev Parnas, on charges of violating campaign finance laws.

Prosecutors say the Ukraine-born Parnas and another Giuliani associate, Belarus-born Igor Fruman, illegally funneled money from Moscow-based businessman Andrey Muraviev to candidates in U.S. states where the group was seeking licenses to operate cannabis businesses. Parnas pleaded not guilty.

Two Muraviev-owned firms wired $1 million to an account held by Fruman's FD Import & Export Corp between June and December 2018, bank statements showed.

That account then paid off more than 99% of the balance on a credit card account Parnas, Fruman and a company they founded used to make more than $150,000 in donations to candidates and committees ahead of the Nov. 6, 2018 election, the records showed.

Fruman pleaded guilty to violating campaign finance laws in September.

Parnas' attorney, Joseph Bondy, said in opening arguments last week that Muraviev's money was used for business ventures, not Parnas' campaign contributions.

The case has drawn attention because of the role Parnas and Fruman played in helping Giuliani - Donald Trump's former personal attorney and a former New York City mayor - investigate Joe Biden ahead of the 2020 election. Biden, a Democrat, defeated Republican Trump's re-election bid.

Giuliani's attorney has said the Parnas case is separate from a federal inquiry into whether Giuliani violated lobbying laws while working as Trump's lawyer. Giuliani has not been charged with any crimes and denies wrongdoing

(Reporting by Luc Cohen in New York; editing by Richard Pullin)

Former aide to Rep. Pete Sessions testifies at trial of Giuliani associate




Josh Gerstein

POLITICO
Mon, October 18, 2021

A former chief of staff to Rep. Pete Sessions (R-Texas) testified on Monday as a prosecution witness at the criminal campaign-finance trial of an associate of former President Donald Trump’s lawyer Rudy Giuliani.

Caroline Boothe, who is now finance director for Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.), detailed interactions with the defendant, Florida businessperson Lev Parnas, in 2018 as Sessions was facing a tough campaign for reelection.

Boothe described Parnas’ visits to Sessions, a VIP tour she gave to Parnas and confirmed that he had — at least for a time — Sessions’ jersey from the congressional baseball team. But the bulk of her testimony to a federal jury in New York was about the mechanics of fulfilling a pledge Parnas made to donate or raise $20,000 for Sessions’ campaign. Boothe said Parnas and two other men who’ve already pleaded guilty in the case, Igor Fruman and David Correia, visited Capitol Hill in June 2018 in the company of longtime Sessions friend Roy Bailey.

The initial indictment in the case suggested that Parnas’ offers to donate and raise money for Sessions were linked to an effort to oust the U.S. ambassador to Ukraine at the time, Marie Yovanovitch. Parnas and Fruman worked closely with Giuliani in that drive, which ultimately led to Trump’s first impeachment. However, Giuliani has not been charged in the case and the Justice Department quietly removed that allegation from an updated version of the indictment last year.

Boothe wasn’t asked about that aspect of Parnas’ dealing with Sessions, but said that when the men offered to help the congressman’s campaign financially, she suggested they discuss it outside the building.

“I said, ‘I’d love to talk about this further. Let’s take it across the street,’” Boothe said, taking the group to the Capitol Hill Club. “You can’t conduct any campaign or unofficial business on government property,” she explained to the jury.

Boothe said the men were enthusiastic about aiding Sessions. “They were really excited to help out. Lev said he’d max out, but also help bundle contributions,” she recalled. “He mentioned bundling around $20,000.”

However, a request from Parnas’ assistant days later to put a $20,000 donation on a single credit card raised some questions, Boothe said. She consulted Sessions’ longtime chief of staff who had just stepped down, Matt Garcia, who told her that it was permissible but that it would “look better” for the money to be charged on separate cards. Boothe testified that she ultimately referred the issue to Sessions’ fundraiser.

In the end, only $5,400 came in and fundraisers were told to attribute half to Parnas and half to Fruman. Sessions donated the money to charity after the men were arrested in 2019.

Boothe also added some colorful testimony to the trial, acknowledging that Parnas looked a bit out of place at the Capitol and in fundraising photos because of his fondness for gold chains. While reviewing photos introduced as evidence at the trial, she confirmed that Parnas sat in Sessions’ chair’s chair during a tour of the House Appropriations Committee room and that in photos taken at the Trump International Hotel, Parnas was wearing Sessions’ congressional baseball jersey.

“Congressman Sessions is a very friendly man and he likes to do friendly things,” she told Parnas’ defense attorney Joseph Bondy. “I don’t know exactly why.”

Lawyers for Parnas and a business associate on trial with him, Andrey Kukushkin, have argued to jurors that campaign finance law is complex and nuanced. The defense attorneys are seeking to raise doubts about whether the government has proven that the pair knew they were breaking the law by donating money that was loaned by a Russian businessperson.

Under questioning by the prosecution, Boothe said flatly that any money coming from a foreign national or donated in the name of another person would have been rejected, if she had known. “That’s illegal,” she said during about 90 minutes on the witness stand broken up by a one-hour lunch break.

But when cross-examined by Bondy, Boothe acknowledged some of the campaign-finance rules have exceptions, like one that allows foreigners with green cards to give money. She said that she “had no reason to” think Garcia wanted to break the law, but that she wanted to be extra careful.

“At the end of the day, I saw what is black and white and we’re going to go that way. I don’t want any gray,” Boothe said. “I was chief for 72 hours at that point, so I wanted to make sure I was crossing all my t’s and dotting all my i’s.”

“Great minds can differ,” Bondy added later.

Boothe may also have inadvertently underscored the defense’s point about the complexity of the law by claiming at the outset of her testimony that individuals under 18 can’t donate. Such a ban was in the McCain-Feingold law passed in 2002, but the Supreme Court struck down that provision the following year.

Sessions wound up losing the 2018 race to Democrat Colin Allred, but regained another House seat in 2020 after moving his residence from Dallas to Waco.

Prosecutors appear set to rest their case on Tuesday after announcing they had dropped plans to call Joseph Ahearn, finance director of the pro-Trump super PAC America First Action. Bondy said he might seek to call Ahearn as a witness, perhaps later Tuesday. U.S. District Court Judge Paul Oetken said he’d approve a defense subpoena for Ahearn when the court received it.

Still unclear is whether Parnas will take the stand in his own defense. Prosecutors and the defense are expected to wrangle on Tuesday morning about the scope of potential cross-examination of Parnas, should he choose to testify.