UPDATE
Russia: Death toll in Siberian coal mine blast raised to 52

By DARIA LITVINOVA and VLADIMIR ISACHENKOV

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In this Russian Emergency Situations Ministry Thursday, Nov. 25, 2021 photo, rescuers prepare to work at a fire scene at a coal mine near the Siberian city of Kemerovo, about 3,000 kilometres (1,900 miles) east of Moscow, Russia,. Russian authorities say a fire at a coal mine in Siberia has killed nine people and injured 44 others. Dozens of others are still trapped. A Russian news agency says the blaze took place in the Kemerovo region in southwestern Siberia. (Russian Ministry for Emergency Situations photo via AP)


In this photo provided by the Governor of Kemerovo Region Press Office, rescuers and officials attend a meeting, after the accident at the Listvyazhnaya coal mine about 100 km (62 mies) of the Siberian city of Kemerovo, about 3,000 kilometres (1,900 miles) east of Moscow, Russia, Thursday, Nov. 25, 2021. At least 14 people have died in a fire at a coal mine in Russia's Siberia that also has left 35 others trapped and feared dead. (Governor of Kemerovo region press office photo via AP)

MOSCOW (AP) — A devastating explosion in a Siberian coal mine Thursday left 52 miners and rescuers dead about 250 meters (820 feet) underground, Russian officials said.

Hours after a methane gas explosion and fire filled the mine with toxic fumes, rescuers found 14 bodies but then were forced to halt the search for 38 others because of a buildup of methane and carbon monoxide gas from the fire. Another 239 people were rescued.

The state Tass and RIA-Novosti news agencies cited emergency officials as saying that there was no chance of finding any more survivors in the Listvyazhnaya mine, in the Kemerovo region of southwestern Siberia.

The Interfax news agency cited a representative of the regional administration who also put the death toll from Thursday’s accident at 52, saying they died of carbon monoxide poisoning.

It was the deadliest mine accident in Russia since 2010, when two methane explosions and a fire killed 91 people at the Raspadskaya mine in the same Kemerovo region.

A total of 285 people were in the Listvyazhnaya mine early Thursday when the blast sent smoke that quickly filled the mine through the ventilation system. Rescuers led to the surface 239 miners, 49 of whom were injured, and found 11 bodies.

Later in the day, six rescuers also died while searching for others trapped in a remote section of the mine, the news reports said.

Regional officials declared three days of mourning.

Russia’s Deputy Prosecutor General Dmitry Demeshin told reporters that the fire most likely resulted from a methane explosion caused by a spark.

The miners who survived described their shock after reaching the surface.

“Impact. Air. Dust. And then, we smelled gas and just started walking out, as many as we could,” one of the rescued miners, Sergey Golubin, said in televised remarks. “We didn’t even realize what happened at first and took some gas in.”

Another miner, Rustam Chebelkov, recalled the dramatic moment when he was rescued along with his comrades as chaos engulfed the mine.

“I was crawling and then I felt them grabbing me,” he said. “I reached my arms out to them, they couldn’t see me, the visibility was bad. They grabbed me and pulled me out, if not for them, we’d be dead.”

Explosions of methane released from coal beds during mining are rare but they cause the most fatalities in the coal mining industry.

The Interfax news agency reported that miners have oxygen supplies normally lasting for six hours that could only be stretched for a few more hours.

Russia’s Investigative Committee has launched a criminal probe into the fire over violations of safety regulations that led to deaths. It said the mine director and two senior managers were detained.

President Vladimir Putin extended his condolences to the families of the dead and ordered the government to offer all necessary assistance to those injured.

Thursday’s fire wasn’t the first deadly accident at the Listvyazhnaya mine. In 2004, a methane explosion left 13 miners dead.

In 2007, a methane explosion at the Ulyanovskaya mine in the Kemerovo region killed 110 miners in the deadliest mine accident since Soviet times.

In 2016, 36 miners were killed in a series of methane explosions in a coal mine in Russia’s far north. In the wake of the incident, authorities analyzed the safety of the country’s 58 coal mines and declared 20 of them, or 34%, potentially unsafe.

The Listvyazhnaya mine wasn’t among them at the time, according to media reports.

Russia’s state technology and ecology watchdog, Rostekhnadzor, inspected the mine in April and registered 139 violations, including breaching fire safety regulations.

Lifting obstacles: France helps women report abuse to police

By MASHA MACPHERSON and SYLVIE CORBET

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Women demonstrate against violence against women, Nov. 20, 2021 in Paris. French Junior Interior Minister Marlene Schiappa said France must further help women victims of violence to report abuses to the police, including via a new process to file a complaint at a friend’s home or in a place where they feel safe. (AP Photo/Adrienne Surprenant, File)


PARIS (AP) — France is launching a new process for women to formally report domestic violence and sexual and other abuse, circumventing police stations where many victims feel uncomfortable filing such complaints.

The measure comes after tens of thousands of women in France shared testimonies online about police victim-blaming them or mishandling complaints as they reported sexual abuse. The government has also come under pressure in recent years to better protect women from deadly domestic violence.

Junior Interior Minister Marlene Schiappa said alternative locations for filing police complaints can include a friend’s home or some other place where abused women feel safe.

“There are women who tell us that they don’t dare to come to a police station because they are afraid of not being welcomed, because it’s hard to talk about things that are taboo (with) an unknown person in uniform in a foreign environment,” she said in an interview with The Associated Press. “That’s why we are lifting one after the other, the obstacles they are facing.”

An annual survey led by national statistics institute INSEE found that only 10% of victims of sexual abuse in France file a formal complaint.

And police this week reported a 10% increase in reports of domestic violence last year. It is estimated that more than 200,000 women each year are physically or sexually abused by their partner or ex-partner, according to INSEE.

The latest government initiative will try sending police officers where women have found shelter so that they can file formal complaints. This will allow victims to stay “in an environment where you feel safe, at a friend’s house, at your lawyer’s house, at the hospital, at your doctor’s house,” Schiappa said.

This comes in addition to other efforts made in recent years, including training more police officers, creating a list of questions asked to assess danger, and the possibility to alert police by text message or an internet platform, she added.

The junior minister is in charge of supervising relations between police and female victims of violence. On Tuesday, she visited a renovated police station in Paris’ 13th arrondissement, now including an office providing privacy for those filing complaints, and a room dedicated to children, with toys and books.

The visit was part of other events this week aimed at marking Thursday’s International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women.

European lawmakers called Thursday for binding rules across the 27-nation EU to better protect women, noting that one in three women in the bloc experiences sexual or other physical violence in her lifetime, and that half of women murdered in the EU are killed by someone close to them.

In France, the new process of filing complaints is being rolled out in select regions around the country for now with the aim to make it nationwide.

The measure comes after a viral campaign on French social media denounced the shocking response of some police officers as they reported sexual abuse. The hashtag #DoublePeine (#DoubleSentencing) rapidly counted at least 30,000 accounts of alleged mistreatment by police, according to activists.

“I want to value and support the action of the police forces ... and to remind everyone once again that in the vast majority of cases, complaints are handled with a lot of empathy, a lot of support,” Schiappa said. “But for the minority of cases in which it goes badly, it is obviously inadmissible.”

The Interior Ministry in recent months sent instructions to police about the legal obligation to accept all complaints, following accounts by women saying they had been discouraged by officers from reporting abuse — sometimes with the argument of insufficient evidence.

“Refusing to receive a complaint is illegal,” Schiappa said. “We want the complaints to be forwarded to the public prosecutor’s office so that the justice system can take it over.”

Axelle Garnier de Saint Sauveur, a psychologist working with Paris police to help take care of victims and train officers, said there are a series of obstacles to women reporting abuse.

When their partner has a hold on them, it “blocks everything. It prevents (them) from going towards protection, file a complaint,” she said. “You also have the fact that traumatic situations completely hinder the victim’s ability to think.”

Another reason is that “there is surely a part of fear, of ignorance about what to do when you are abused. How are you going to be treated” when filing a complaint.

“That is scary (for the victim) to think: ‘I’m not going to be heard, I’m not going to be welcome’. And then there is the obstacle to overcome: enter a police station.”

On Saturday, tens of thousands of people marched through Paris and other cities to demand more government action on the issue. “We recalled that violence is everywhere. That it is not unavoidable,” women’s right group NousToutes tweeted.

Activists want the government to dedicate 1 billion euros ($1.1 billion) each year to fight violence against women, instead of the 360 million ($406 million) spent now — in part to create more shelters.

Who’s a hero? Some states, cities still debating hazard pay

By SUSAN HAIGH

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FILE - Clarissa Johnson of Hartford marches with long-term care members of the New England Health Care Employees Union, during a rally to demand new laws to protect long-term caregivers and consumers, July 23, 2020, at the State Capitol in Hartford, Conn. Connecticut essential state employees, who worked long hours during the COVID-19 pandemic, are still waiting for "hero pay" from $22.5 million in federal pandemic funds set aside in the state budget. (AP Photo/Jessica Hill, File)


HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — When the U.S. government allowed so-called hero pay for frontline workers as a possible use of pandemic relief money, it suggested occupations that could be eligible from farm workers and childcare staff to janitors and truck drivers.

State and local governments have struggled to determine who among the many workers who braved the raging coronavirus pandemic before vaccines became available should qualify: Only government workers, or private employees, too? Should it go to a small pool of essential workers like nurses or be spread around to others, including grocery store workers?

“It’s a bad position for us to be in because you have your local government trying to pick winners and losers, if you would, or recipients and nonrecipients. And hence by default, you’re saying importance versus not important,” said Jason Levesque, the Republican mayor of Auburn, Maine, where officials have not yet decided who will receive hazard pay from the city’s American Rescue Plan funds.

A year and a half into the pandemic, such decisions have taken on political implications for some leaders as unions lobby for expanded eligibility, with workers who end up being left out feeling embittered.

“It sounds like it’s about the money, but this is a token of appreciation,” said Ginny Ligi, a correctional officer who contracted COVID-19 last year in Connecticut, where the bonus checks have yet to cut amid negotiations with unions. “It’s so hard to put into words the actual feeling of what it was like to walk into that place every day, day in, day out. It scarred us. It really did.”

Interim federal rules published six months ago allow state and local COVID-19 recovery funds to be spent on premium pay for essential workers of up to $13 per hour, in addition to their regular wages. The amount cannot exceed $25,000 per employee.

The rules also allow grants to be provided to third-party employers with eligible workers, who are defined as someone who has had “regular in-person interactions or regular physical handling of items that were also handled by others” or a heightened risk of exposure to COVID-19.

The rules encourage state and local governments to “prioritize providing retrospective premium pay where possible, recognizing that many essential workers have not yet received additional compensation for work conducted over the course of many months,” while also prioritizing lower income eligible workers.

As of July, about a third of U.S. states had used federal COVID-19 relief aid to reward workers considered essential with bonuses, although who qualified and how much they received varied widely, according to an Associated Press review.

A list of hazard and premium pay state allocations as of Nov. 18, provided by the National Conference of State Legislatures, shows funds have typically been set aside for government workers, such as state troopers and correctional officers.

In Minnesota, lawmakers still have $250 million in aid set aside for hero pay, but they’ve been been struggling with how to distribute it. A special committee was unable to come up with a compromise plan, instead sending two competing recommendations to the full legislature for consideration.

“I think every time we take another week, we’re just delaying the whole process and I think the fastest way is to get them over to the Legislature,” said Republican state Sen. Mary Kiffmeyer, a member of the committee, during a meeting last month.

Minnesota Senate Republicans want to offer a tax-free bonus of $1,200 to about 200,000 workers who they say took on the greatest risk, such as nurses, long-term care workers, prison staff and first responders.

But House Democrats want to spread the money more widely, providing roughly $375 to about 670,000 essential workers, including low-wage food service and grocery store employees, security guards, janitors and others.

Earlier this week, after it appeared that a political impasse was easing over another issue, Democratic House Speaker Melissa Hortman told Minnesota Public Radio that she believed an agreement can be reached on front-line worker pay, noting there’s a “pretty natural middle ground” between the dueling proposals.

Connecticut has yet to pay out any of the $20 million in federal pandemic money set aside by state lawmakers in June for essential state employees and members of the Connecticut National Guard.

As negotiations continue with union leaders, the Connecticut AFL-CIO labor organization has stepped up pressure on Democratic Gov. Ned Lamont, who is up for reelection in 2022, to provide $1 an hour in hazard pay to all public and private sector essential workers who worked during the pandemic before vaccinations became available.

“The governor needs to reevaluate his priorities and show that these workers who put themselves and their lives at risk are a top priority. I think it’s really the least he can do for these workers,” said Ed Hawthorne, president of the Connecticut AFL-CIO. “These workers showed up for Connecticut. It’s time to governor to show up for them.”

Max Reiss, Lamont’s spokesperson, said the figures cited by organized labor are “just not feasible.”

In the meantime, he said, the administration is in negotiations with state employee unions, classifying the work state employees did during the pandemic and determining whether they may have shifted to other responsibilities that were more or less risky, which could also affect whether they receive more or less money.

“We want to recognize the workers who kept going into work every day because they had to and there was not a choice. And those range from people working in state-run health care facilities to people who needed to plow our roads during severe weather and work in-person jobs,” he said. “The next piece is that you have to come up with the determination as to who all those people were. And there’s a verification process to that.”

In some states like California, cities are in the process of determining how to fairly distribute some of their federal funds to to help essential private sector workers who may not have received extra pay from their employers.

Rachel Torres, deputy of the political and civil rights department at United Food and Commercial Workers Union, Local 770, said her union is urging cities to follow the lead of Oxnard and Calabasas, which voted this year to provide grocery and drug store workers with payments of as much as $1,000.

“It really should not be a competition among essential workforces. There should be moneys available for many workers,” Torres said.

David Dobbs and his fellow firefighters in Bridgeport, Connecticut, are upset their city has yet to provide them with a share of the $110 million it received in federal pandemic funds. Mayor Joe Gamin, a Democrat, said in a statement that he supports the concept of premium pay but that the matter is still being reviewed to make sure any payments comply with federal rules.

“We’ve demonstrated a commitment to this partnership. And I think we feel a little betrayed by the city right now, when when they’re not dealing with us, when they came into this windfall,” said Dobbs, president of the Bridgeport Firefighters Association, which gave up pay raises in the past when the city’s budget was tight. “Imagine loaning your friends a decent amount of money and then hitting the Powerball and not making things right.”

___

Associated Press writer Steve Karnowski in Minneapolis contributed to this report.

Beijing asks ride-hailing giant Didi to delist from US: report


Ride-hailing giant Didi has been asked to draw up a plan to delist from the United States over data concerns (AFP/Jade GAO)


Thu, November 25, 2021

Regulators in China have asked ride-hailing giant Didi to draw up a plan to delist from the United States over data concerns, a report said Friday, as Beijing continues its tight scrutiny of domestic tech giants.

Over the past year, several of the country's biggest companies -- including Alibaba, Tencent and Meituan -- have been swept up in a regulatory crackdown that has clipped the wings of major internet firms wielding massive influence on consumers' daily lives.

A mammoth New York debut in June for Didi Chuxing was quickly overshadowed by an investigation by the Chinese cyber watchdog on the grounds of cybersecurity, launched just days after the listing.

Bloomberg reported Friday that Chinese regulators now want Didi's executives to take the company off the New York Stock Exchange over worries about sensitive data leakage, citing people familiar with the matter.

The report added that privatisation or a share float in Hong Kong are among options.

The Cyberspace Administration of China, which oversees data security, has directed the company to work out the details subject to government approval, the sources said.

The move is a further blow to Didi, which raised $4.4 billion in its New York IPO -- making it the largest US IPO by a Chinese firm since Alibaba in 2014.

The ride-hailing firm has been hit especially hard by the state's clampdown on tech companies, with its service ordered off app stores in July and government agencies launching on-site inspections at its offices over "national security" fears.

Founded in 2012 by Cheng Wei -- a former executive at Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba -- Didi has dominated the local ride-hailing market since it won a costly turf war against US titan Uber in 2016.

The app claims to have more than 15 million drivers and nearly 500 million users, and is often the fastest and easiest way to call a ride in crowded Chinese cities.

Bloomberg added Friday that it was possible the delisting would form part of a raft of punishments for Didi, after it infuriated Chinese officials by ploughing ahead with its US IPO despite pushback from Beijing.

Study shows possible bias, 'nepotistic behavior' in some science journals


An analysis of published scientific research suggests possibly editorial bias "nepotistic behavior" among subsets of biomedical journals, researchers said Tuesday. 

File Photo by Anawat Sudchanham/Shutterstock

Nov. 23 (UPI) -- Researchers said in a study published Tuesday published by PLOS Biology that they found possible editorial bias and "nepotistic behavior" in a subset of biomedical journals.

The analysis, which included nearly 5 million articles published in nearly 5,500 publications between 2015 and 2019, found that most journals publish work by a large number of authors.

But a small number of journals featured "hyper-prolific" individuals that were published disproportionately more often -- and that their papers were more likely to be accepted for publication within three weeks of submission.

"Our results underscore possible problematic relationships between authors who sit on editorial boards and decision-making editors," the researchers wrote, though they cautioned that publishers typically promote independence between researchers and journals.

RELATED Bias more likely in medical journals that accept reprint fees
"We should beware of assuming that a hyper-prolific author is necessarily engaged in questionable publishing practices," the researchers wrote.

They note that "some people are highly productive, and the speed with which good research can be completed is highly variable across research fields," adding that some authors may also be noted often because of multiple projects they may be involved with or are overseeing.

Some of these authors, the researchers said, are also on the editorial boards of the journals.

"There may be defensible reasons for members of the editorial board to hyperpublish in a journal," including in areas of research with a small number of experts, they wrote.

The researchers examined the issue through two indexes, including the percentage of papers by the most prolific author, and by the Gini index related to the level of inequality in the distribution of authorship among authors.

They found a subset of journals "where a few authors, often members of the editorial board, were responsible for a disproportionate number of publications," the researchers wrote.

RELATED Research reveals role of sugar industry in heart disease studies

While the researchers didn't find overwhelming evidence of bias -- though they note a detailed qualitative analysis of papers was not performed, and that more research is needed -- the issue has drawn more attention in recent years.

In 2016, for example, a study showed the sugar industry meddled in medical research by Harvard researchers to downplay sugar's role in increased risk of heart disease.

And last year, a study showed bias was more likely in medical journals that accept reprint fees.

"To enhance trust in their practices, journals need to be transparent about their editorial and peer review practices," the researchers wrote.

Interpol elects UAE official as president despite rights groups' concerns

Global police agency Interpol elected Emirati Inspector General Ahmed Nasser Al-Raisi as its president on Thursday, despite accusations from rights groups that he failed to act on allegations of torture of detainees in the United Arab Emirates.

 

An Emirati general accused of torture was elected president of Interpol Thursday, despite the concerns of human rights organisations who fear the agency will be at risk of exploitation by repressive regimes. FRANCE 24's Jasper Mortimer tells us more.

 

Interpol success throws spotlight on high-flying Emirati general


Interpol's new president has lived a life rich in awards and achievements, but none has attracted such controversy as his latest success which was accompanied by allegations of torture.

© Ozan KOSE Interpol's new president, Emirati General Ahmed Nasser Al-Raisi, speaks on the phone during the organisation's general assembly in Istanbul

Emirati General Ahmed Nasser Al-Raisi always looked favourite to win Thursday's vote over veteran Czech police officer Sarka Havrankova, and he duly delivered 68.9 percent of the votes cast by member countries.

It is far from the only success for a man who became head of the United Arab Emirates' security forces in 2015 and has held several high-level police positions, including general director of central operations in the Abu Dhabi force.

Raisi's website portrays a man with a wide smile, often in highly decorated uniform or Arab dress, receiving medals and trophies from Gambia, Saudi Arabia, Colombia and Italy.

Raisi became an Emirati police cadet in 1980 and is a member of Interpol's executive committee. He has a PhD from Britain's London Metropolitan University and was involved in technological advances such as the introduction of facial recognition in UAE.

But while Raisi is undoubtedly well known in international police circles, it is his ascension to symbolic head of the world body that has thrust him into the global spotlight.

In October 2020, 19 NGOs, including Human Rights Watch, expressed concern about the possible choice of Raisi, who they described as "part of a security apparatus that continues to systematically target peaceful critics".

Complaints of "torture" were filed against the general in recent months in France and Turkey, which is hosting the general assembly in Istanbul this week.

One of the complainants, British national Matthew Hedges, said he was detained and tortured between May and November 2018 in the United Arab Emirates, after he was arrested on false charges of espionage during a study trip.

In another complaint, lawyers for the Gulf Centre for Human Rights accuse the Emirati general of "acts of torture and barbarism" committed against government critic Ahmed Mansoor.

- 'Police abuse is abhorrent' -

The complaints have not resulted in any formal proceedings against Raisi, who offered a swift riposte to his critics after his victory.

"I will... continue to reaffirm a core tenet of our profession -- that police abuse or mistreatment of any kind is abhorrent and intolerable," he said in a statement.

The general added that he would work "to prevent inappropriate influence that would undermine or compromise Interpol's essential mission".

The Lyon, France-based body has been facing accusations that Interpol's system of so-called "red notices" for wanted suspects has been abused to persecute political dissidents.

According to Edward Lemon, an assistant professor specialising in transnational repression at Texas A&M University, the resource-rich UAE donated $54 million (48 million euros) to Interpol in 2017, and about 10 million euros in 2019.

Raisi's election was quickly supported by UAE heavyweight Anwar Gargash, a former UAE minister of state for foreign affairs who alleged a "smear" campaign against the new Interpol president.

"The organised and intense smear and defamation campaign has been crushed on the rock of truth, for reality is not obscured by lies," tweeted Gargash, who advises the country's president.

Raisi said he was "fully dedicated to making people and communities safer".

"Over the past 40 years from a police cadet to now, as president of Interpol, this simple principle has driven and guided me."

UAE general elected head of Interpol comes under fire by human rights groups
By Jake Thomas
NOV. 25, 2021 

Maj. Gen. Dr. Ahmed Naser Al-Raisi was elected head of Interpol Thursday despite criticisms of his human rights record. Photo courtesy Wikimedia Commons

Nov. 25 (UPI) -- The newly elected head of a global police agency has come under criticism for turning a blind eye to reports of torture while serving as a general for the United Arab Emirates.

Maj. Gen. Dr. Ahmed Naser Al-Raisi was elected president of Interpol on Thursday with 68.9% of votes cast after three rounds of voting by member countries during a meeting in Istanbul, Turkey. The position is part-time and unpaid.

After his election, Raisi said on Twitter that he would "build a more transparent, diverse, and decisive organization that works to ensure safety for all."

During the spring, Human Rights Watch and the Gulf Centre for Human Rights spoke out against Raisi's candidacy for the position. The groups argued that as inspector general at the UAE Interior Ministry he failed to investigate credible complaints of tortute of and other human rights abuses committed by security forces against peaceful critics of the government.

"A sad day for human rights and the rule of law worldwide, when a representative of arguably the most authoritarian government in the Gulf, one that equates peaceful dissent with terrorism, is elected to head the only police organization that spans the entire globe," Hiba Zayadin, Human Rights Watch gulf reseacher, said on Twitter following his election.

The UAE pushed back on the criticism. In a statement to the BBC the country's foreign ministry said Raisi "strongly believes that the abuse or mistreatment by police is abhorrent and intolerable." In another statement, he called the UAE "one of the world's safest places" that continues to be the "most important force for positive change in the world's most difficult region."

Lawyers for the Gulf Centre for Human Rights have recently brought legal actions against Raisi in Turkey and France, accusing him of being involved in the unlawful arrest and torture of Ahmed Mansoor, a the UAE's most prominent human rights activist, the BBC reports.

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1. The International Anti-Anarchist Conference of 1898 and ...
   https://www.jstor.org/stable/260577 · PDF file

   The International Anti-Anarchist Conference of 1898 and the Origins of Interpol The International Anti-Anarchist Conference which met in Rome in 1898 is one of those events that has slipped into virtual historical limbo. Apparently baffled by the secrecy that enshrouded the ses-sions and final resolutions of the Rome meeting, one historian has

Rare Roman mosaic depicting The Iliad found in British farm field

Nov. 25 (UPI) -- A rare Roman mosaic depicting Homer's The Iliad has been discovered in a British farm field, marking one of the most remarkable finds of its kind, researchers announced Thursday.

The mosaic found beneath a farmer's field in Rutland is only one of a handful from across Europe, according to the University of Leicester archeologists who unearthed the find.

On Thursday, Historic England recommended the site be temporarily protected by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media, and Sport.

Jim Irvine, son of landowner Brian Naylor, discovered the site during the lockdown. He used satellite imagery to spot a "clear crop mark." Since then, it's been investigated by the university along with Historic England and Rutland county council.

The villa complex consists of a host of other structures and buildings likely to have been owned by a wealthy person between the third and fourth centuries.

The mosaic itself measures 36 feet by 23 feet on the floor of what's thought to be a dining or entertaining area. Mosaics like that were used in private and public buildings across the Roman empire. The pictures often depict history and mythology.

Human remains were also found in the discovered villa.

"A ramble through the fields with the family turned into an incredible discovery," Irvine told The Guardian. "Finding some unusual pottery among the wheat piqued my interest and prompted some further investigative work."

A North Korean man who smuggled 'Squid Game' into the country is to be executed by firing squad and a high-school student who bought a USB drive with the show will be jailed for life, report says

Huileng Tan
Wed, November 24, 2021, 9:00 PM·3 min read

North Korea appears to have come down hard on people who distribute or watch "Squid Game."


Citing unnamed sources, Radio Free Asia said a man there was sentenced to death for smuggling it.


Seven high-school students received harsh sentences for watching the show, RFA reported.

North Korea appears to have come down hard on people who distribute or watch Netflix's hit show "Squid Game."

A report by Radio Free Asia cited unnamed sources inside North Korea as saying a man who smuggled and sold the dystopian drama had been sentenced to death by firing squad and a high schooler who bought a USB drive containing the show was sentenced to life in prison.

Another six high schoolers who watched the show were said to be sentenced to five years of hard labor, RFA reported. Their supervisors were also said to be punished, with teachers and school administrators fired, possibly to be banished to work in remote mines, RFA said.

RFA is a US government-funded nonprofit news service that serves audiences in Asia. It says its aim is to "provide accurate and timely news and information to Asian countries whose governments prohibit access to a free press."

The South Korean television series "Squid Game" tells the story of 456 debt-laden people competing for 45.6 billion won, or $38.3 million, of prize money in brutal survival games.

A law-enforcement source in North Korea's North Hamgyong province told RFA's Korean service: "This all started last week when a high-school student secretly bought a USB flash drive containing the South Korean drama 'Squid Game' and watched it with one of his best friends in class. The friend told several other students, who became interested, and they shared the flash drive with them." The students were caught by government censors after a tip-off, the source told RFA.

It's the first time the North Korean government has punished minors under a law that penalizes the distribution, watching, or keeping of media from capitalist countries like South Korea and the US, RFA said.

"The government is taking this incident very seriously, saying that the students' education was being neglected," RFA's source said.

A source told the outlet that one of the students got off the hook because they had rich parents who paid a $3,000 bribe.

Last month, a state-run North Korean propaganda website said the Netflix drama highlighted how South Korea was a place where "corruption and immoral scoundrels are commonplace." One of the show's characters was a North Korean defector whose story highlighted her arduous escape from the country.

Despite the threat of retribution, smuggled, illegal copies of "Squid Game" have been making their way into North Korea.

A previous article from Radio Free Asia noted that North Koreans found the financial struggles of the show's characters "relatable."

Netflix has said the massive hit had the highest first-month viewership of any of its originals.

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Delhi's choked roads worsen India's toxic smog crisis




New Delhi, the sprawling megacity of 20 million people is regularly ranked the world's most polluted capitals 

(AFP/Jewel SAMAD)

Jalees ANDRABI
Thu, November 25, 2021

After decades commuting on New Delhi's parlous roads, office worker Ashok Kumar spends more time than ever stuck in the gridlock that packs the Indian capital's thoroughfares and pollutes the city.

The sprawling megacity of 20 million people is regularly ranked the world's most polluted capital, with traffic exhaust a main driver of the toxic smog that permeates the skies, especially in winter.

Delhi's patchwork public transport network struggles to cater for a booming population, with long queues snaking outside the city's underground metro stations each evening and overloaded buses inching their way down clogged arterials.

"When I came to Delhi, the air was clean because there were hardly any cars or bikes on the roads," Kumar told AFP while waiting for a ride home outside the city's main bus terminal.

"But now everyone owns a vehicle."

Kumar spends nearly four hours each day in a "gruelling journey" to and from his home on Delhi's far southern outskirts, alternating between commuter buses, private shared taxis and rickshaws.

Even at the age of 61, Kumar is hoping to save enough money to buy his own scooter and spare himself the pain of the daily commute.

"Not many people can afford to waste their time on public transport," he said.

Private vehicle registrations have tripled in the last 15 years -- there are now more than 13 million on the capital's roads, government figures show.

The consequences are felt year-round, with Delhi road users spending 1.5 hours more in traffic than other major Asian cities, according to the Boston Consulting Group.

But come winter the daily inconvenience escalates into a full-blown public health crisis, as prevailing winds slow and the thick blanket of haze settles over the city sees a surge in hospital admissions from residents struggling to breathe.

Vehicle emissions accounted for more than half of the city air's concentration of PM2.5 -- the smallest airborne particles most hazardous to human health -- at the start of November, Delhi's Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) said.

The move to private vehicles has seen Delhi's bus network atrophy, with more than a hundred bus routes culled since 2009 (AFP/Prakash SINGH)

- 'It made more sense' -

A study from the centre last year showed the capital was experiencing a steady decline in public transit ridership.

Infrastructure has improved since the turn of the century, when Delhi inaugurated the first links in an underground rail network that now spans more than 250 stations and stretches into neighbouring satellite cities.

But the CSE said long distances between metro stops and residential areas was pushing commuters to switch to private vehicles.

"The Metro is convenient but I still had to take an auto-rickshaw or shared taxi from the station to my home," Sudeep Mishra, 31, told AFP.

Mishra's daily commute was a 50-kilometre (30-mile) return journey, including the two kilometres he had to navigate between the nearest station and his home -- now all done on a second-hand motorbike.

"It was a hassle and expensive as well," said Mishra, also a white-collar worker. "It made more sense to buy my vehicle to save time and money."

Experts say this poor last mile connectivity is a particular issue for women, who often have to choose between private transport or risking a walk on dark and unsafe streets.

The move to private vehicles has seen Delhi's bus network atrophy, with more than a hundred bus routes culled since 2009.

The state-run Delhi Transport Corporation's fleet has shrunk by nearly half since a decade ago and last ordered new buses in 2008 -- with a planned expansion marred by corruption claims.

- Cosmetic solutions -

There is a direct link between this underinvestment in public transport and the capital's worsening air pollution, said Sunil Dahiya, a New Delhi-based analyst with the Center for Research on Energy and Clean Air.

Official campaigns have attempted to lighten the haze in recent years, with the city at one point banning vehicles from the roads using an alternating odd-even system based on licence plate numbers.

Groups of youngsters are paid to stand at busy traffic intersections, waving placards urging drivers to turn off their ignitions while waiting at red lights.

And incentives have been offered for electric vehicle owners, but with only 145 charging stations across the city, take-up has been slow.

Dahiya told AFP that only a huge investment to make public transport more appealing and convenient would start to solve the intractable problem.

"We need aggressive growth in public transport to start seeing an absolute reduction in air pollution levels," he said.

ja/gle/ser

Edmonton park named for Jan Reimer, city's first female  NDP mayor
CBC/Radio-Canada 

© CBC The City of Edmonton has named a park after former mayor Jan Reimer, whose community service included working to preserve the North Saskatchewan River valley.

A river-valley park in west Edmonton is being named in honour of Jan Reimer, the first woman elected mayor of Alberta's capital city.

The park will be part of existing river valley parkland close to the Oleskiw neighbourhood, located near the Terwillegar Park footbridge, the city said in a news release Thursday.

The name had been proposed to recognize Reimer's achievements in her service to the community, particularly her work to preserve the river valley.

"A lifelong Edmontonian, during her public-service career she dedicated herself to advancing important civic initiatives," said Erin McDonald, chair of the city's naming committee.

"Through the lens of history, it is clear that Jan Reimer had a significant impact on Edmonton."

Reimer is currently executive director of the Alberta Council of Women's Shelters.

Born in Edmonton in 1952, she was elected to city council as an alderman in 1980. She was re-elected in 1983 and in 1986.

In 1989, she was elected mayor. Reimer won a second term in 1992. In 1995, she ran again but lost narrowly to Bill Smith.

During her time on council, Reimer advocated for changing the title of alderman to councillor. She worked for improvements to the city's waste management system, such as eco stations and the collection of recyclable materials.

She worked on initiatives to improve the water quality of the North Saskatchewan River, to preserve the river valley and extend the trail system.

She helped establish the Edmonton Arts Council and the Aboriginal Advisory Committee.

Reimer was recognized as an Edmontonian of the Century in 2004 and has received the YWCA Women of Distinction Award and the Governor General's Award.