Ex-president Yahya Jammeh's victims still waiting for justice ahead of Gambia polls

Gambians go to the polls to pick a president on Saturday, in the first election in the poor West African country since ex-dictator Yahya Jammeh fled into exile. 

Issued on: 02/12/2021 - 
Text by: FRANCE 24Follow|
Video by :Sarah SAKHO

Ahead of Gambia’s December 3 presidential elections, the country's Truth, Reconciliation, and Reparations Commission (TRRC) wrapped up a sweeping three-year public inquiry on Thursday, recommending prosecutions for abuses committed during former President Yahya Jammeh's 22-year rule. FRANCE 24’s Sarah Sakho and Elimane Ndao report.

Gambians go to the polls to pick a president on Saturday, in the first election in the poor West African country since ex-dictator Yahya Jammeh fled into exile.

But the shadow of Jammeh, who seized power in Gambia in 1994 and ruled with an iron fist for 22 years, still hangs over the tiny nation – the smallest in mainland Africa, surrounded by Senegal. Voters in the Gambia are concerned about improving living conditions.

Jammeh was forced into exile in Equatorial Guinea in 2017, after President Adama Barrow, who was then a relative unknown, defeated him at the polls.

But the former dictator retains significant political support in Gambia, where his advocates have pushed for his return.

Consequently, his possible return from exile, and how to respond to the litany of alleged crimes under his rule – including rape, torture, the use of death squads and state-sanctioned witch hunts – have been central themes in the election campaign.

One Gambian who had testified to the TRRC about her husband’s assassination 27 years ago said it was impossible for her to mourn because none of the Jammeh regime’s officials have been charged: “It’s only justice that can make us forget them,” she said.

"The TRRC’s report is now in Barrow’s hands; he has 6 months to take action. It must lead to a trial", said Gambian human rights activist Mariama Jobarteh: “Of course, Yahya Jammeh was the head of everything; he must face justice. So, whoever is coming in, we want to see a government that dries the people’s tears.”

Barrow has been under fire since making an alliance with members of Jammeh’s party. But the government is keen to assure that the case is moving forward.

“The victims don't need to be worried. President Barrow established the TRRC out of his own volition, in order to fight for the truth,” said government spokesman Ibrima Sankareh.

Click on the video player  to watch FRANCE 24's report.

Antarctica breakthrough as experts set to uncover 1.5 million-year-old discovery

RESEARCHERS are about to travel more than one million years back in time by drilling into East Antarctica to collect the world's oldest ice core.

By SEBASTIAN KETTLE
Wed, Dec 1, 2021

Six teams of scientists have set up camp on Antarctica and will soon begin their quest to drill into a 1.8 mile-thick (3km) layer of ice. Until now, deep cores collected from the continent have allowed scientists to study the Earth's prehistoric climate from trapped air bubbles dating up to 800,000 years ago. But the Beyond EPICA mission is on track to go nearly twice as far back in time by collecting ice cores dating some 1.5 million years back.

Project coordinator Carlo Barbante of the Ca' Foscari University of Venice said: "During our previous EPICA project, which ended in 2008, we managed to extract and analyse an 800,000-year-old ice core.

"Now we are trying to travel back further in time: because if we are to gain a correct perspective on what the world is currently experiencing with climate change, and adopt suitable mitigating strategies, we must look back even further — which is what we are trying to do in Antarctica with Beyond EPICA."

The mission's goal is to investigate the prehistoric Antarctic climate and greenhouse gasses during the so-called Middle Pleistocene Transition (MPT), which occurred between 900,000 and 1.2 million years ago.

The MPT saw a period of "climatic periodicity" that transition from 41,000 to 100,000 between ice ages.


Scientists will soon begin to drill for the world's oldest ice core (Image: Barbante©PNRA/IPEV/L. AUGUSTIN/LABORATOIRE DE GLACIOLOGIE ET GEOPHYSIQUE DE L’ENVIRONMENT (LGGE))


The drill site is about 25 miles from the Concordia research station (Image: Barbante©PNRA/IPEV)

Professor Barbante and his colleagues want to understand why this change happened.

The ambitious £8.5million (€11million) project is being funded by the European Commission and is a follow-up to the European Project for Ice Coring in Antarctica (EPICA), which originally drilled into an area known as Little Dome C.

Beyond EPICA will drill at a site near where the first cores were collected, about 25 miles (40km) from the French-Italian Concordia research station.

And it's not going to be an easy task for the researchers.

Situated more than 10,000ft (3,233ft) above sea level, Little Dome C sees temperatures drop as low as -35C in the summer and -80C in the winter.

Beyond EPICA said: "It may seem absurd whilst sitting on three kilometres of water, but Dome C is as dry as the Sahara Desert, so snow accumulates slowly, gradually trapping in the ice the precious air bubbles we hope to analyse to find the atmospheric composition of the deep past of our planet.

"Careful analysis of the isotopic ratios of this ancient ice will be our deep time thermometer."

The drill site was prepared ahead of time between 2019 and 2020, and was selected after more than 2,400 miles (4,000km) of aerial and ground-based surveys.

This was carried out using a wide variety of techniques, including basal temperature assessments and age modelling frameworks.

Olaf Eisen of the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research (AWI) said: "It is the first time that a site for deep drilling has been selected with such a high precision and effort.

Antarctica's various territorial claims mapped out (Image: EXPRESS)


Ice cores drilled from Antarctica can shed light on Earth's prehistoric climates (Image: GETTY)

"The new radar measurement showed more clearly than before, that the ice there is well stratified and most probably very old."

The original EPICA endeavour only drilled to a depth of about 9,100ft (2,774m), which stopped short of the bedrock just 9,186ft (2,800m) down.

This was enough to recover records of the climate dating back 800,000 years.

The researchers believe the remaining feet of ice and snow will reveal an additional 700,000 years of trapped air.

Robert Mulvaney from the British Antarctic Survey told BBC News: "We already have the 800,000 years of ice, so much of the first few years of drilling will simply be a repeat of ice we already have.

"In practice, with many new PhD students coming online, and new groups getting involved, and new analytical techniques always being developed, we will make good use of the ice younger than 800,000 years.

"We will also use the younger ice to ensure our techniques are working well by the time we get to the deep ice, where we only get one chance to get all the analyses right."

Despite this being an EU-funded initiative, UK scientists will have access to the project because the funding was secured before the UK left the bloc.

US out of step with much of the world on abortion
AFP - Yesterday 

While many countries around the world have eased restrictions on abortion, the United States is going in the other direction.

The conservative-dominated Supreme Court appears all but certain to uphold a 2018 Mississippi law that would ban most abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy.

- China and North Korea -

In the absence of any federal laws, it is the US Supreme Court that has, since 1973, guaranteed a woman's right to an abortion until "viability," when the fetus can survive outside the womb, typically between 22 and 24 weeks of pregnancy.

But the nation's highest court appears poised, following oral arguments on Wednesday, to roll back abortion rights and uphold Mississippi's 15-week ban.

Chief Justice John Roberts, a conservative, expressed concern that the United States shared its viability standard with the People's Republic of China and North Korea while the rest of the world is more restrictive.

Former vice president Mike Pence, speaking a day earlier, made the same comparison and said he hoped the court "can move America away from the radical fringe squarely back into the mainstream of Western thought."

The United States does, in fact, permit abortions later than many other countries but it is not alone with China and North Korea.

According to the Center for Reproductive Rights, 67 countries allow abortion on request, with most of them setting the limit at 12 weeks.

The United States is among a dozen nations that allow abortions to be carried out later along with China but also Britain (24 weeks), Canada (until term) and parts of Australia.

And the 12-weeks standard can be misleading because a number of countries permit legal access to abortion later for "social reasons, health reasons (and) socio-economic reasons," said attorney Julie Rikelman, arguing in favor of maintaining the status quo in front of the Supreme Court on Wednesday.

- Barriers -

Few countries present such a patchwork of differing access to abortion within their borders, and most do not have the "same barriers in place" as does the United States, Rikelman told the Supreme Court.

Conservative US states, mostly in the South, have erected a number of obstacles in recent years restricting access to abortion, forcing many clinics to close.

Six US states have only a single abortion clinic each, including Mississippi.

A Texas law banning abortions after six weeks, before many women even know they are pregnant, took effect on September 1 and the Supreme Court is yet to act on an emergency petition to stop it.

On the other hand, access to abortion is freely available in progressive states such as California and New York.

Nancy Northup, CEO of the Center for Reproductive Rights, said the United States is an outlier "in terms of progression on abortion rights."

"The trend in the last 25 years has been liberalization of abortion laws," Northup said, citing recent developments in Mexico, Argentina and Benin.

Although the Supreme Court's decision in the Mississippi case will not be known until June, Northup said the United States is already in an "incredible regressive phase" with more than 100 abortion restrictions passed this year alone.

- Bitter debate -

The United States also sets itself apart from the rest of the world with the ferocity of the domestic debate over abortion.

Just 42 percent of Americans believe abortion should be permitted on demand compared with 75 percent in Sweden, 65 percent in Britain, 64 percent in France and 61 percent in Italy and Spain, according to a 2021 Ipsos poll.

In those other countries, the abortion debate has cooled since legalization.

Not so in the United States, where the Republican Party has used the emotional issue to mobilize voters, particularly those on the religious right.

Donald Trump, for example, was pro-choice in 1999 but ran for president in 2016 on a promise to nominate justices to the Supreme Court who were opposed to abortion.

He kept his pledge and the three justices nominated during his presidential term are expected to vote to roll back abortion rights.

chp/cl/bgs

PETA's 'human' leather campaign is horrifying. But is it effective?
Jenna Ryu, USA TODAY - 8h ago

© PETAAccording to Urban Outraged, the "Avery Jacket" is "crafted from the most luxurious skin" and features human mouths and eyes.

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) is making headlines once again with its latest jaw-dropping, gruesome campaign.

The nonprofit organization, known for its controversial avenues to raise animal rights awareness, launched a fake, satirical clothing store called Urban Outraged — an apparent jab at Urban Outfitters. The faux shop features a collection of clothes made from "human" leather, including bloodied jackets with human faces and boots with human teeth. Each item is also named after the "slaughtered" human whose skin was used.

“People are rightfully horrified by the idea of wearing human skin and the thought of it should make everyone’s stomach turn just as much as wearing the skin of a cow, goat, sheep, or any other animal," PETA said in a statement to USA TODAY.

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PETA intentionally causes controversy with its campaigns. In 2013, its anti-poaching ad featured images of mutilated animals, and other ads have compared naked female bodies to animal meat. The shock-factor aims to bring attention to its animal-friendly mission.

But do these scare tactics actually help the animal rights movement?

More: PETA responds to Tiffany Haddish's vow to wear fur till 'police stop killing black people'
'Fear sells': Why organizations like PETA use scare tactics for social causes

Shock campaigns have been used for an array of social agendas. For instance, drug prevention campaigns have shown frightening images of mock car crashes or people before and after addiction to elicit fear.

James Jasper, a retired professor of sociology and author of "The Art of Moral Protest," says these tactics successfully raise awareness because they relies on moral shock, or appealing to the public's guilt and empathy.

"Moral shocks bring attention to an issue. Look at all the publicity this PETA campaign is getting," Jasper says. "In the end, some people will be turned off, but others will notice the issue perhaps for the first time. And still, some will have their commitment to the cause strengthened."

The controversial approach has proven successful for PETA over the years: The group has garnered over 6.5 million members worldwide and had major successes, like convincing more than 200 cosmetics companies to permanently abandon animal tests.


© PETAThe outsoles of Urban Outaged's "Meg Boots" are made from "human teeth."

PETA controversy: PETA ridiculed, criticized for comparing 'speciesism' with racism, homophobia and ableism

But Barry Glassner, a sociologist and author of “The Culture of Fear," cautions while fear-mongering is effective, it's dangerous.

"These organizations work off of our inborn fight or flight responses when we're confronted with something scary. And of course they want us to fight this horrible situation and join the organization," he warns.

"It's an unfortunate reality, but fear sells. It's the quickest way to grab someone's attention and have them listen… and any organization whose mission is to heal the world shouldn't sully it with fear campaigns."

'Embrace the 'arm barn'': PETA calls for MLB to change term 'bullpen' to the 'arm barn' to be sensitive to cows
Graphic imagery can harm the animal rights agenda

Vegan social media influencer Nzinga Young was especially turned off by gory images of slaughtered animals, which she called "traumatizing." She aims to share upbeat content with her 100,000 followers.

Corey Wrenn, a lecturer in sociology at the University of Kent, said that may be a better strategy. Although graphic images and videos grab attention, these tactics may not actually encourage people to take action, she explains.

"There are some indications that audiences will be repelled if the campaigns are too disturbing," Wrenn says. "Without a philosophical or ethical context framing these campaigns, some folks will simply find them ridiculous or offensive and ignore them."

Glassner agrees fear alone may not lead to long term behavioral changes, like changing shopping habits or becoming vegan, and some may dismiss such extreme campaigns as "silly."


© Richard Vogel, APIn this Sept. 18, 2018, protesters with the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) hold signs to ban fur in Los Angeles.

Want to go vegan?: If you're ready to trade in your burger for a vegan tofu sandwich, start slow

Instead, effective protest movements should rely on negative and positive emotions, like "anger over current practices as well as hope for the future," Jasper suggests.

Young, for her part, tries "to focus on people who want to change, as opposed to trying to change people."

"I educate them by being personable and sharing my truth and my story in hopes that people will humanize me and say, 'Oh, she can do it. Maybe I can do it too' … It's important to have diversity in how we communicate the benefits of veganism."

Vegan birth control: What is it and does it work?

'We respect each other': Alicia Silverstone credits son's vegan diet for anger-free, 'harmonious' relationship


1 of 9 Photos in Gallery©Photo by Mike Kline (notkalvin), Getty Images
What are the most vegan-friendly cities (https://headlines.peta.org/vegan-friendly-cities-2019-top-ten/) in the U.S.? PETA has the answer for you. The nonprofit organization determined the list by gathering feedback from supporters and staffers. They analzed the availability of vegan options in every state as well as vegan culture's influence on each city. Scroll through the gallery to see which cities made the cut.


This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: PETA's 'human' leather campaign is horrifying. But is it effective?

1. "The Dreams in the Witch House" by H. P. Lovecraft
   https://www.hplovecraft.com/writings/texts/fiction/dwh.aspx

   The Dreams in the Witch House By H. P. Lovecraft: Whether the dreams brought on the fever or the fever brought on the dreams Walter Gilman did not know. Behind everything crouched the brooding, festering horror of the ancient town, and of the mouldy, unhallowed garret gable where he wrote and studied and wrestled with figures and formulae when .....

Man Reckons He Found a 'Mummy' Inside a Tree in L.A.'s Oldest Graveyard

Rebecca Flood 


A man reckons he found a "mummy" at L.A.'s oldest graveyard, after finding a mysterious box wrapped up inside a tree.

The man, known as Tarpit, was walking in the Evergreen Memorial Park and Cemetery, which was established in 1877.

The artist shared a clip to his TikTok page as he came across a tree, which had been cut down.

He said: "Look what I found, okay so they felled this tree in the graveyard. I'm here picking up sticks and woodchips to burn in my kiln. This is the oldest graveyard in L.A."

He zooms in on the ground and films what appears to be a wooden box, tied with what could be string, with one side loose after years of decay.

"What is this?" he continues, as he films with one hand and uses the other to unwrap the box.

Tarpit continues: "No part two we're opening this right now. I can see something in there but it looks kind of gross. It's all wrapped up, is that a mummy?"

Inside the box is a small, figurine-type object, which appears to have been tightly bound with string or thread.

He says: "Okay I have seen what I needed to see. It's something tiny all wrapped up in string. And we're going to put it back to rest, don't you think?"

Tarpit put everything back where he found it and covered it up with some wood.

The clip, shared last week, amassed more than 200,000 views, and can be seen here.

Underlining what he thought he found, he added the on-screen caption "mummy," while also adding the hashtags #mummy #graveyard #scary and #cursed.

The clip drew numerous comments, as some people claimed what he found may have been a fetus.

Christina Breen said: "People used to do that with babies that were miscarried. They would bind them and stick them in trees. Pretty sure that is what you found."

Lil Walt agreed, saying: "Maybe a fetus."

Shelby Lynn Gruhn commented: "When you go to walk the dog and bring home a fetus spirit."

Adreena thought: "I think it's baby."

"Small pet or miscarried fetus, most likely the latter," Dayan Marquina said.

In response, Tarpit added in the comments: "It never crossed my mind it could be human remains. Letting it get mulched with the stump seemed fitting and fine.

"It seems more proportioned for a doll or a bird imo [in my opinion]. But I can totally go back and we can rebury somewhere it won't get disturbed."

Others had similar opinions, or thought he'd unleashed some bad energy, with Mark W. Caponigro reckoning: "Someone's pet buried by the tree decades ago?"

Jonathan Bessey wrote: "General rule of thumb. If you find a weird box or a bottle filled with odd stuff that was buried; no touchy."

Joshaperans joked: "Great... can't wait to see what curse you unleashed for 2022."

MatImmortal asked: "Why would you open anything in a graveyard."

WhilemSarah Bartell added: "My friend. Do you want a haunted house? Cuz this is how you get a haunted house."

According to travel website and book, Atlas Obscura, the cemetery has graves dating back to the 1830s, as families relocated their loved ones there after it opened.

It said: "Tucked away in the Boyle Heights neighborhood of East L.A., this 67-acre park is the final resting place for many of Los Angeles' past mayors, prominent citizens, and pioneers."

The graveyard, which has more than 300,000 people buried there, has areas dedicated to Armenians, Serbs, Chinese-Americans, and hundreds of carnival workers.

A monument in the center pays tribute to soldiers of Japanese descent who fought in the 442nd Infantry Regimental Combat Unit in WWII.

Newsweek reached out to Tarpit for comment.

Brian Cox debunks Big Bang theory after 'strongly suspecting' universe 'existed before'

BRIAN COX said he "strongly suspected" that the universe "existed before" the Big Bang, throwing the theory of our origins on its head.

By JOEL DAY

07:09, Fri, Dec 3, 2021 

Universe: Brian Cox discusses the time before the Big Bang













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The physicist presented the last instalment of his groundbreaking new BBC series last night, 'Universe: Where everything begins and ends'. He explored the vital question behind our existence, attempting to find out how the universe came to be. Looking at the various cutting-edge space missions that have brought us closer to the answer, he touched on how discoveries of far away galaxies have helped us to understand how we came to be, and also the technology used along the way.

Opening the documentary, he said: “Our universe is an enigma, an endless inexhaustible paradox.

"There are trillions of planets and one of them nurtured beings capable of contemplating this cosmic drama, miraculously improbable, brief candles flickering against the eternal night."

The question of where it all began has preoccupied humans for thousands of years.

For most of history, the answer has been found in religion.

But, with advances in science and the growth of a secular world, things like physics have stepped in to fill the void.

Brian Cox: The physicist said there was a time before the Big Bang in which the universe existed (Image: BBC/GETTY)

Science: Cox presented the final instalment of his 'Universe' series (Image: GETTY)

Ironically, the prevailing cosmological model explaining the existence of the observable universe from the earliest known periods through to today was first suggested by a Belgian priest named Georges Lemaître in the 1920s.

He theorised that the universe began from a single primordial atom.

This has been built on by scientists through the years, and is widely accepted to be the event behind our origins.

But, according to Prof Cox, there was a time before this; a time before the Big Bang in which the universe did exist.

He made the case for this line of argument during 'Universe', and explained: "We know that 13.8 billion years ago, this space that I'm standing in now, and the space you're standing in now, and all the space out to the edge of the observable universe, containing two trillion galaxies, was very hot and veer dense and has been expanding ever since.

"Now, that implies that way back, everything was closer together.

"Everything was contained in a very small speck.

JUST IN: Brian Cox doomsday scenario: 'Civilisation approaching destruction'

Big Bang: It is the prevailing explanation as to our origins (Image: GETTY)

"But, how small was that speck? And how did it come to be?

"We used to think that the universe emerged in that state, very hot and very dense, at the beginning of time.

"And we used to call that the Big Bang.

"But now, we strongly suspect that the universe existed before that.

"And in that sense, it's possible to speak of a time before the Big Bang."

Before the Big Bang, there was no matter, and all that existed was space-time and an ocean of energy — almost still, but gently rippling.

Prof Cox says we should "picture it as a near-still ocean of energy, filling the void".

While this place contained no structures, the energy did have an effect on space, causing it to stretch.

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Universe: Cox talked about a time that preceded the Big Bang (Image: BBC)

A time before time: The space before the Big Bang was relatively still but gently rippling (Image: BBC)

This would not have been the gentle expansion we see today, "but an unimaginably violent expansion".

That expansion is known as inflation.

Last year, Sir Roger Penrose made a similar case as he received the Nobel Prize for Physics.

Having won the award for his seminal work proving that black holes exist, he said he had found six "warm" points in the sky, which he called "Hawking Points" after the late physicist Stephen Hawking, who theorised that black holes ‘leak’ radiation and eventually evaporate away entirely.

These points were around eight times the diameter of the Moon.

The timescale for the complete evaporation of a black hole is huge — possibly longer than the age of our current universe, making them impossible to detect.

Hubble telescope: The camera has allowed us to look deep into the past (Image: Express Newspapers)

But, Sir Roger believes that "dead" black holes from earlier universes or "aeons" are observable now.

If true, it would prove Prof Hawking's theories right.

Sir Roger said: "I claim that there is observation of Hawking radiation.

“The Big Bang was not the beginning.

"There was something before the Big Bang and that something is what we will have in our future.

“We have a universe that expands and expands, and all mass decays away, and in this crazy theory of mine, that remote future becomes the Big Bang of another aeon.

Cosmic Microwave Background: The oldest photograph of the universe (Image: BBC)