Poland spyware cases 'tip of the iceberg': watchdog


Smartphones infected with Pegasus are essentially turned into pocket spying devices (AFP/JOEL SAGET)

Wed, December 29, 2021, 2:24 PM·2 min read

Recent allegations that Pegasus spyware was used against three Polish government opponents are likely the "tip of the iceberg," said a cyber expert Wednesday who helped identify the phone taps.

Evidence of the hacking, which has become a major scandal in Poland, was reported by the Canada-based cyber-security watchdog Citizen Lab.

"We think this is just the tip of the iceberg and there'll be more discoveries to come," John Scott-Railton, a senior researcher with the group, told AFP.

"It's shocking and it looks very bad," he said. "Pegasus is a tool of dictators. Its use in these cases point to an authoritarian slide" in Poland.

Smartphones infected with Pegasus are essentially turned into pocket spying devices, allowing the user to read the target's messages, look through their photos, track their location, and even turn on their camera without their knowledge.

One of the victims, lawyer Roman Giertych, who is involved in several cases against the ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party, told Polish daily Gazeta Wyborcza that the government was using the spyware "to fight the democratic opposition."

Ewa Wrzosek, a prosecutor and opposition figure, also said the spyware had been used against her, adding that she was first alerted by Apple.

Scott-Railton confirmed Wednesday that Citizen Lab had also advised Senator Krzysztof Brejza of the opposition party Civic Platform, that his smartphone was repeatedly infected over a six-month period during the 2019 election.

"Their lives were under close monitoring -- this was very invasive," Scott-Railton said.

The hacking allegations have been dubbed by Polish media as a "Polish Watergate" -- referring to the scandal that emerged after former US president Richard Nixon's reelection campaign, which ultimately led to his resignation in 1974.

Poland has rejected accusations that it had used Pegasus spyware for political ends.

But Stanislaw Zaryn, spokesman for the ministry in charge of the country's secret services, did not confirm or deny if Poland used Pegasus.

The NSO Group, the Israeli owner of Pegasus, told AFP it is sold "only to legitimate law enforcement agencies who use these systems under warrants to fight criminals, terrorists and corruption."

In July, controversy erupted around Pegasus, after a collaborative investigation by several media outlets reported that governments used Pegasus to spy on activists, journalists, lawyers and politicians.

US authorities last month blacklisted NSO by restricting exports to it from American groups over allegations the Israeli firm "enabled foreign governments to conduct transnational repression."

Polish opposition leader Donald Tusk on Tuesday said recent reports that the government spied on its opponents represented the country's biggest "crisis for democracy" since the end of communism.

Tusk, a former EU Council president, also called for a parliamentary inquiry into the allegations.

amc/des/bfm

Polish prosecutors decline to investigate phone hacking allegation

The logo of Israeli cyber firm NSO Group is seen at one of 

its branches in the Arava Desert, southern Israel

Wed, December 29, 2021, 9:54 AM·2 min read

WARSAW (Reuters) - Polish prosecutors said on Wednesday they would not investigate an allegation that the phone of a high-profile government critic was hacked, amid accusations that opposition figures have been subject to illegal surveillance.

Reports that sophisticated spyware developed by the Israel-based NSO Group had been used against government opponents including prosecutor Ewa Wrzosek have led to accusations that special services are undermining democratic norms.

Wrzosek, a member of the group Lex Super Omnia which campaigns against what it says is the politicisation of the public prosecution service under the Law and Justice (PiS) party, received a notification in November from Apple that her phone could have been hacked using NSO Group's Pegasus software.

This month, the Associated Press reported that the Citizen Lab project at the University of Toronto found Wrzosek was one of three Polish government critics whose phones had been hacked.

"The only indication that a cyberattack could have occurred ... was a message from the telephone's manufacturer," Aleksandra Skrzyniarz, spokeswoman for the District Prosecutor's Office in Warsaw, said in a statement explaining the refusal to investigate the case.

"However, the message did not categorically state that a cyberattack had occurred, but contained a disclaimer that the alert might be false," Skrzyniarz said, adding that Wrzosek had refused to hand over the phone for examination.

Wrzosek told private broadcaster TVN24 that she would appeal against the decision.

"I do not see the slightest legal prerequisite or justification for the decision to refuse to initiate this procedure," she said.

Polish security services do not comment on the methods they use or whether they have investigated particular people. However, spokesman Stanislaw Zaryn has denied any suggestion that Polish services were engaged in domestic political battles.

Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki has dismissed suggestions that spyware was used by Polish services against opposition figures as "fake news".

NSO says it makes technology for use by governments and law enforcement agencies to combat crime and terrorism, and has safeguards to prevent misuse.

Digital rights researchers say Pegasus has been used to spy on civil society in several countries.

(Reporting by Alan Charlish and Anna Koper; Editing by Giles Elgood)

Tusk says hacking marks crisis of democracy in Poland


Donald Tusk, the leader of Poland's largest opposition party, Civic Platform, speaks to people joining a demonstration after the Polish parliament approved a bill that is widely viewed as an attack on media freedom, in Warsaw, Poland, Sunday Dec. 19, 2021. Poles flocked to city centers across the country to defend a U.S.-owned television network that is being targeted by the right-wing government. The protests Sunday evening are seeking to protect media freedom in a European Union nation where democratic norms are eroding. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)More

Tue, December 28, 2021


WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Donald Tusk, the leader of Poland's main opposition party, called Tuesday for the creation of a parliamentary commission to investigate surveillance after reports that powerful spyware was used against three people associated with the political opposition.

“This is an unprecedented thing in our history. This is the biggest and deepest crisis of democracy after 1989,” said Tusk, who served as Poland's prime minister from 2007-2014 and president of the European Council from 2014-2019.

He said that his party would apply for the establishment of a commission of inquiry in the Sejm, the lower house of parliament, to examine surveillance with Pegasus, spyware which is made by the NSO Group of Israel and sold only to government agencies.

The ruling Law and Justice party has a majority in the parliament and it wasn't immediately clear if Tusk would succeed in his bid.

He argued that it was in the interest of all political forces in Poland to clarify the situation, saying he believed that nobody wants to be eavesdropped on with impunity.

The hacking of three people with Pegasus was reported recently after a joint investigation by The Associated Press and Citizen Lab, a cyber watchdog at the University of Toronto.

The hacking targeted Krzysztof Brejza, an opposition senator, at a time that he was the party's election campaign chief of staff in 2019; Roman Giertych, a lawyer who has defended Tusk and several other opposition figures in sensitive cases; and Ewa Wrzosek, a prosecutor who is fighting for the independence of prosecutors as the ruling right-wing party seeks to impose political control over all branches of the judiciary.

Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki on Tuesday reiterated his accusation that the reports were “fake news.”

He said he had no knowledge of any surveillance but also suggested that if there had been any, it wouldn't necessarily have been the work of Polish intelligence services. He said there were other security services in the world, some of who are “not entirely friendly toward Poland” and “act very ruthless.”

Destitute 'heir' of India's emperors demands royal residence



Sultana Begum lives in a cramped two-room hut nestled within 

a slum on the outskirts of Kolkata 

(AFP/DIBYANGSHU SARKAR

Sailendra SIL
Wed, December 29, 2021, 

A destitute Indian woman who claims she is heir to the dynasty that built the Taj Mahal has demanded ownership of an imposing palace once home to the Mughal emperors.

Sultana Begum lives in a cramped two-room hut nestled within a slum on the outskirts of Kolkata, surviving on a meagre pension.

Among her modest possessions are records of her marriage to Mirza Mohammad Bedar Bakht, purported to be the great-grandson of India's last Mughal ruler.

His death in 1980 left her struggling to survive, and she has spent the past decade petitioning authorities to recognise her royal status and compensate her accordingly.

"Can you imagine that the descendant of the emperors who built Taj Mahal now lives in desperate poverty?" the 68-year-old asked AFP.

Begum has lodged a court case seeking recognition that she is rightful owner of the imposing 17th-century Red Fort, a sprawling and pockmarked castle in New Delhi that was once the seat of Mughal power.

"I hope the government will definitely give me justice," she said. "When something belongs to someone, it should be returned."

Her case, supported by sympathetic campaigners, rests on her claim that her late husband's lineage can be traced to Bahadur Shah Zafar, the last emperor to reign.

By the time of Zafar's coronation in 1837, the Mughal empire had shrunk to the capital's boundaries, after the conquest of India by the commercial venture of British merchants known as the East India Company.

A massive rebellion two decades later -- now hailed as India's first war of independence -- saw mutinous soldiers declare the now frail 82-year-old as the leader of their insurrection.

The emperor, who preferred penning poetry to waging war, knew the chaotic uprising was doomed and was a reluctant leader.

British forces surrounded Delhi within a month and ruthlessly crushed the revolt, executing all 10 of Zafar's surviving sons despite the royal family's surrender.

Zafar himself was exiled to neighbouring Myanmar, travelling under guard in a bullock cart, and died penniless in captivity five years later.

- Independence symbol -

Many of the Red Fort's buildings were demolished in the years after the uprising and the complex fell into disrepair before colonial authorities ordered its renovation at the turn of the 20th century.

It has since become a potent symbol of freedom from British rule.

India's first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru hoisted the national flag from the fort's main gate to mark the first day of independence in August 1947, a solemn ritual now repeated annually by his successors.

Begum's court case hinges on the argument that India's government are the illegal occupants of the property, which she says should have been passed down to her.

The Delhi High Court rejected her petition last week as a "gross waste of time" -- but did not rule on whether her claim to imperial ancestry was legitimate.

Instead the court said her legal team had failed to justify why a similar case had not been brought by Zafar's descendants in the 150 years since his exile.

Her lawyer Vivek More said the case would continue.

"She has decided to file a plea before a higher bench of the court challenging the order," he told AFP by phone.

- 'Justice will happen' -

Begum has endured a precarious life, even before she was widowed and forced to move into the slum she now calls home.

Her husband -- who she married in 1965 when she was just 14 -- was 32 years her senior and earned some money as a soothsayer, but was unable to provide for their family.

"Poverty, fear and lack of resources pushed him to the brink," she added.

Begum lives with one of her grandchildren in a small shack, sharing a kitchen with neighbours and washing at a communal tap down the street.

For some years she ran a small tea shop near her home but it was demolished to allow the widening of a road, and she now survives on a pension of 6,000 rupees ($80) per month.

But she has not given up hope that authorities will recognise her as the rightful beneficiary of India's imperial legacy, and of the Red Fort.

"I hope that today, tomorrow or in 10 years, I will get what I'm entitled to," she said.

"God willing, I will get it back... I'm certain justice will happen."

str/gle/ssy/ser

China's small Beijing-3 satellite can take high-resolution images of US cities within seconds, a speed its American counterparts can't match, scientists say



Matthew Loh
Tue, December 28, 2021, 11:13 PM·3 min read

The Beijing-3 captured high-resolution images that could identify individual vehicles over the San Francisco Bay within seconds, Chinese scientists said.Darwin Fan/Getty Images

The Beijing-3 snapped hi-res images of a 1,470 square-mile area of the US in 42 seconds.

The satellite can rotate rapidly in orbit without compromising image quality, researchers said.

This unprecedented feat means China can scan large areas in a single sweep, all in high definition.

A small, one-ton Chinese satellite can quickly snap high-resolution images of US cities that are so detailed they can identify individual military vehicles and the weapons they carry, Chinese scientists involved in the Beijing-3 satellite project said on Tuesday.

The commercial Beijing-3 satellite, launched by China in June, conducted an in-depth scan of a 1,470 square-mile area in the San Francisco Bay. The satellite captured the area within 42 seconds, The South China Morning Post first reported, citing results published this month in the Chinese peer-reviewed journal Spacecraft Engineering.

Beijing-3 has a unique advantage up its sleeve: It can pitch and yaw at up to 10 degrees per second while not compromising image quality as it orbits the Earth, said lead scientist Yang Fang, who headed the project run by DFH Satellite Company under the Chinese Academy of Space and Technology.

Normally, satellite cameras have to be kept still when they take high-definition images, and thus can only observe straight strips of land as they orbit above the area. So they sometimes have to fly over a region multiple times to scan the whole area or work in tandem with other satellites.

The Beijing-3's maneuverability means it only needs a single sweep to observe entire regions, such as the 3,915 mile Yangtze River, the longest river in Asia, which winds from China's east coast to the western Tibetan plateau, the researchers said in a CCTV-13 broadcast segment.



If the Beijing-3 is equipped with artificial intelligence, it can potentially observe up to 500 areas around the world with up to 100 revisits a day, they added, The Post reported.

Still, the quality of the Beijing-3's imagery isn't sharp enough to rival American-developed satellites, such as the Worldview-4, which was built by Lockheed Martin and could capture images at a resolution of 12 inches per pixel.

Beijing-3 can snap images with a resolution of 20 inches per pixel at best. But its researchers said the Chinese satellite's response time is around two to three times faster than that of Worldview-4 — which was retired in 2019, less than three years after its 2016 launch, because of a failure in its stabilizing system.

The report on Beijing-3 comes amid rising concerns in the US that China's space technology is growing at a breakneck pace. Gen. David Thompson, the vice chief of space operations in the US Space Force, said earlier this month that China could overtake the US in space capabilities by 2030.

"The fact, that in essence, on average, they are building and fielding and updating their space capabilities at twice the rate we are means that very soon, if we don't start accelerating our development and delivery capabilities, they will exceed us," Thompson said, CNN reported.

RED SCARE 2.0
Asian American groups call on Biden to end controversial China Initiative


Claire Wang
Wed, December 29, 2021

Over the past 28 months, Feng “Franklin” Tao and his family have been driven to the cusp of bankruptcy as they try to prove he isn’t a tech spy for the Chinese government.

In August 2019, FBI agents arrested Tao, a chemical engineering professor at the University of Kansas, on fraud charges, accusing him of failing to disclose his affiliation with a Chinese university. He has lost his job and, with a trial date scheduled for March, faces a possible prison sentence of 20 years.

Through his attorneys, Tao pleaded not guilty to all charges and contended that the FBI knowingly used false information from an informant to obtain search warrants.

“We live under constant fear that our family would be separated as a result of this injustice,” said Tao’s wife, Hong Peng.

She said the ordeal has taken a toll on the mental health of her teenage children, both of whom were born in the U.S. The legal defense fees, meanwhile, have almost reached $1 million. Peng, now the primary provider for her family, juggles three jobs and sometimes has to work 24-hour shifts as an ultrasound technician to make ends meet. Even though they have raised nearly $350,000 from GoFundMe, the Taos are still more than two months behind on payments.

Tao was the first of more than 20 academics of Chinese descent to be prosecuted under the China Initiative, a Trump-era national security program to address Chinese economic espionage — the theft of trade secrets to benefit a foreign government — in universities and research institutions. Over the past year, Asian American advocacy groups have increased pressure on the Biden administration to end the initiative, which they say unfairly targets ethnic Chinese scientists and brings emotional and financial harm to their families.

Image: Franklin Tao (Travis Wessel)

“The China Initiative impacts Americans, permanent residents, immigrants, international students and visiting scholars,” said Gisela Kusakawa, a staff attorney for the civil rights group Asian Americans Advancing Justice, or AAAJ. “It’s based on the premise that all scientists of Chinese descent or [who] have connections to China should be treated with suspicion.”

Nearly 90 percent of the 148 people charged under the China Initiative are ethnically Chinese, according to an investigation by MIT Technology Review. They include U.S. citizens, Chinese citizens and citizens of Hong Kong and Southeast Asia.

The Justice Department didn’t respond to a request for comment. At a congressional hearing last month, Attorney General Merrick Garland said China represents “a serious threat with respect to espionage” and that Justice Department officials “never investigate or prosecute based on ethnic identity.”

The racial profiling of scientists of Chinese origin, advocates say, stretches back more than a quarter-century, to the Economic Espionage Act of 1996, which sought to address economic espionage by foreign governments. Since 2009, a majority of defendants charged under the law have been people of Chinese heritage, according to a recent report from the advocacy group Committee of 100.

The China Initiative, despite its stated mission, hasn’t found much success catching spies or countering technology theft. Only about a quarter of 77 cases include economic espionage charges, and fewer than one-third have resulted in convictions, according to the MIT Technology Review analysis. Since 2018, when the initiative launched, the FBI has brought 12 prosecutions at academic or grant-making institutions, none of which involved espionage charges.

On the other hand, the study found, there has been an increase of “grant fraud” cases centered on academics who fail to disclose financial ties to Chinese entities on grant application and conflict-of-interest forms — which is a federal requirement. Because the U.S. has historically encouraged academic collaboration with China, experts say, reporting policies aren’t always clearly communicated to university scientists.

Anming Hu, a professor and nanotechnology expert at the University of Tennessee, was put under house arrest for 18 months for failing to disclose income he had received from a Chinese university. Hu, however, claimed that the University of Tennessee asked him to disclose income in excess of $10,000; he made only $3,000 from lectures in China. In September, a federal judge acquitted him on all counts, concluding that there was no evidence of fraud.

A year ago, AAAJ launched the Anti-Racial Profiling Project to persuade lawmakers to end the China Initiative and assist people targeted by the Justice Department. The group has provided legal and advocacy support to more than 70 academics, many of whom lost their jobs.

Kusakawa, who leads the project, said many targeted scientists have lived in the U.S. for decades and have made it their home. Being under prosecution renders them unemployable and jeopardizes their immigration status. Some weren’t able to find work again even after their charges were dropped.

Thu Nguyen, the executive director of OCA-Asian Pacific American Advocates, a nonprofit advocacy group, said the program has created a climate of fear that could trigger a brain drain in academia. The growing threat of racial profiling in the U.S., she said, has already pushed some talented scientists to look for jobs back in China.

According to an Arizona State University survey of nearly 2,000 scientists at 83 research institutions, 51 percent of ethnically Chinese scientists, including U.S. citizens, feel considerable fear or anxiety about being under surveillance by the US government. Just 12 percent of non-Chinese scientists share the sentiment.

“All this uproar about prosecuting ‘spies’ and anyone with ties to China causes fear in the community,” Nguyen said. “Folks from Asia who may have wanted to come here aren’t coming anymore because of all these government processes and background checks.”

The China Initiative, she said, affects not only professors and working scientists but also students, many of whom may hesitate to apply for scholarships or pursue careers in science and technology out of fear of prosecution.

In recent months, OCA has been lobbying lawmakers to end the program. In November, the group visited senators and mobilized chapter members to speak out about the issues at legislative sessions.

Students and faculty members at some academic institutions have also stepped up support of their Asian and Asian American colleagues.

In January, after MIT professor Gang Chen was charged with grant fraud over allegations that he concealed ties to the Chinese government, 170 of his colleagues signed an open letter condemning the investigation as “deeply flawed and misleading.” (MIT’s president said the school handled grant funding and collaboration with China. Chen is fighting the charges.) Last month, New York University’s graduate student union launched a petition in support of two tenured Asian professors in the medical school who are targeted by the initiative.

Meanwhile, Tao’s family, who have lived in the U.S. for nearly two decades, are committed to clearing his name and fighting the case, which they consider an “injustice.”

“We came here to chase the American dream,” Peng said. “We don’t want this to happen to any other family.”

Remove your tattoos, Beijing tells Chinese football players

Body ink is traditionally frowned upon in China but it is increasingly popular among young adults (AFP/MARCO BERTORELLO)

Wed, December 29, 2021

Footballers playing in China's national team should remove any existing tattoos and are "strictly prohibited" from getting any new ones, the country's sports administration body has said.

The sport has found itself in the crosshairs of the Communist Party's purity drive in recent years, and players on the national football team routinely cover their arms with long sleeves or bandages to hide their tattoos.

But the China Sports Administration statement, dated Tuesday, said that players in the national team "are strictly prohibited from having new tattoos".

"Those who have tattoos are advised to have them removed," the statement continued. "In special circumstances, the tattoos must be covered during training and competition, with the consent of the rest of the team."

It went on to say that the under-20 national teams and those even younger were "strictly prohibited" from recruiting anyone with tattoos.

But not all fans appeared to be behind the new rules.

"Are we choosing a good football player or a saint?" asked one angry fan on the social media platform Weibo.

"Shall we just say outright that only the Party members could play football?" asked another.

Body ink is traditionally frowned upon in China but it is increasingly popular among young adults, even as authorities make plain their disdain for it.

The Chinese Football Association has ordered players in the national team to cover tattoos in recent years and packed young footballers off to military camps for drills and Marxist-style "thought education".

That has prompted complaints from fans that it is thinking more about politics than sport.

Last year, a women's university football match was eventually called off after players were told they were not allowed to have dyed hair.

President Xi Jinping wants China to host and even win the World Cup one day.

But they are fifth of six teams in their qualifying group for next year's World Cup, with only the top two guaranteed to qualify.

This year, Beijing has also pushed through a series of restrictions on youth culture, including sweeping measures to ban "abnormal aesthetics" and crack down on the perceived excesses of modern entertainment.

It has made an example out of movie stars that allegedly stepped out of line, banned reality talent shows and ordered broadcasters to stop featuring "sissy" men and "vulgar influencers".

As tensions have mounted with the West, China has also pushed a nationalist and militaristic narrative at home, including a vision of tough masculinity.

bur-rox/jah

VOODOO HOODOO 

As pandemic crisis bites, young Cubans find solace in sect with African origins





As pandemic crisis bites, young Cubans find solace in sect with African originsA group of initiates of the Cuban religion Abakua take part in the oath ceremony at the Efi Barondi Cama temple, known as a 'power' (AFP/Yamil LAGE)

Yamil Lage
Wed, December 29, 2021, 11:04 PM·2 min read


Five blindfolded young men kneel before a priest who is uttering blessings in the West African language Yoruba, while they vow to be brave, respectful and good to their community.

But this scene is not taking place in West Africa: this is Cuba, and the five young men here are converting to Abakua, a uniquely Cuban spiritual practice.

Faced with economic hardships and the Covid-19 pandemic, many young Cubans have sought refuge in religion, including Abakua, a belief system that originated as a brotherhood of protection for enslaved Africans in Havana nearly 200 years ago.

"With this problem of the pandemic, it has grown a lot, we've had a lot of" new devotees, Juan Ruiz Ona, a religious leader, told AFP.

The religion shares attributes with Santeria and Palomonte, other popular Latin American sects with African origins and influences from various belief systems.

But while the other two are practiced across the region, Abakua is exclusive to Cuba.

At the Efi Barondi Cama temple in Matanzas, 100 kilometers (60 miles) east of Havana, Ona is the Yamba -- the second-highest ranking official.

The private initiation ceremony for the young men taking place here is open only to the Abakuas and their guests.

The person taking on the role of the Ireme -- or little devil -- rubs a chicken over the new disciples' bodies as part of a purifying ritual, before allowing them into the sacred space where the secret ritual takes place.

Dancing to a rhythmic drumbeat, the Ireme represents the presence of the ancestors.

- 'Support our brothers' -

Becoming an Abakua has traditionally been difficult, and the secret rules imposed on devotees were notoriously harsh.

There are about 130 Abakua fraternities in Cuba, made up entirely of heterosexual men.

The fraternities are known as "powers," "games" or "plants."

Over time, the groups have lost their cloak of secrecy, but not their rigid principles, such as the support for brothers in faith.

"During this pandemic... we've tried to support our brothers, even though some have died, others were ill, and others we visited and helped," said Ruiz.

Like many Cubans, some of the faithful have emigrated and send money home to help their fraternity.

"We're a constructive institution, we contribute with our revolution and our young," added Ruiz, a firm supporter of the island nation's communist regime.

Following the 1959 socialist revolution, the government declared itself atheist, but after the fall of the Soviet Union -- the regime's major backer -- Cuba in 1990 became an officially secular state, albeit with a Catholic majority.

Sociologists estimate that 85 percent of the population of 11.2 million consider themselves believers --though not necessarily practicing ones -- of a religion, often in sects that combine Catholicism with animist African beliefs.

Yl/Cb/lp/dga/bc/caw

Bathhouses in Syrian city boom as crisis turns showers cold

Men bathe at Hammam al-Qawas, a traditional Turkish bathhouse, in Syria's northern city of Aleppo on Dec 16, 2021. 

PHOTO: AFP

ALEPPO, SYRIA (AFP) - The ancient bathhouses of Syria's second city Aleppo are filling up again, not because of a revived fad, but due to power cuts that have made hot showers a luxury.

"We mainly rely on electricity to heat water at home, but the electricity is cut off most of the time," said Mr Mohammed Hariri from a crowded bathhouse where he had waited half an hour for his turn.

"Here, we take all the time we need showering," the 31-year-old told AFP.

With their marble steam rooms, hexagonal fountains and distinctive domes, Aleppo's bathhouses have for centuries served as a social hub where men come together to wash, listen to music and even eat.

But shortages of water, fuel and electricity across war-torn Syria have also turned them into a refuge for those looking for a long, warm bath during the cold winter.

In Hammam al-Qawwas, one of more than 50 traditional bathhouses in Aleppo's Old City, diesel fuel and firewood are used to power furnaces providing hot water and steam.

Under its arched dome, men swaddled in towels sit in one of many side rooms, some singing traditional Arabic tunes as they scoop up hot water from stone basins.

In an adjoining area, masseurs use soap and loofahs to scrub clean clients lying flat on the marble floor, as restrictions against the coronavirus pandemic seem a world away.

Mr Hariri said he used to visit Aleppo's bathhouses with his father and uncles as a child.

Now, he comes with his son - not to continue a tradition, but because the water at home is not enough for his family of five.

"At home, you have to shower in five minutes, but at the bathhouse, you can stay for five hours," he said.

Many of the structures were severely damaged during several rounds of battles between regime forces and rebels.

Only around 10 have reopened since Aleppo returned to full government control in 2016, according to AFP correspondents.

Sitting at the reception room inside Hammam al-Qawwas, Mr Ammar Radwan fielded calls from clients looking to book an appointment.

The 33-year-old who inherited the 14th-century bathhouse from his grandfather said he never thought business would bounce back.

"We reopened the hammam in 2017, after the battles in Aleppo ended, but we never expected to see such a turnout," he told AFP while updating a client register.

'This is not a life': The displaced Syrians selling trash to survive

Issued on: 29/12/2021 - 

Displaced Syrians working at a landfill on the outskirts of the northern city of Raqqa. 

© AFP

Video by: Sam BALL

At a vast landfill on the outskirts of the Syrian city of Raqqa, once the Islamic State group's capital, men, women and young children scour the rubbish for scrap metal or anything else they can sell on. They are just some of the millions of Syrians displaced by a decade of conflict that has left around nine in 10 of the population living in poverty.

Tributes paid to British trans pioneer April Ashley


From an early age, Ashley felt that her birth gender of male was wrong (AFP/SEAN DEMPSEY)

Wed, December 29, 2021

April Ashley, a British model and actress who was a pioneering figure in the fight for trans rights, has died at 86, local media reported Wednesday.

Ashley was one of the first British people known to have undergone gender reassignment surgery, although she only gained full legal recognition as a woman in the UK in 2005.

She was honoured by Queen Elizabeth II who awarded her an MBE (Member of the British Empire) in 2012 for services to the transgender community and activist Peter Tatchell wrote that she was "the great trans trailblazer for decades".

Ashley was born George Jamieson in 1935 in the port city of Liverpool in northwestern England.

From an early age, she felt that her birth gender of male was wrong and she was severely bullied and beaten by her mother.

She briefly served in the Merchant Navy and had treatment at a psychiatric hospital.

She found greater acceptance when she moved to London and then Paris, where she began performing at the Caroussel de Paris, the city's first transgender revue.

She underwent sex-change surgery in Morocco in 1960 aged 25, taking the name April Ashley, reflecting the month of her birth.

The UK accepted her new identity and gave her papers allowing her to gain a passport and driving licence.

She became a successful model, photographed for Vogue and appeared in a film with US star Bob Hope called "Road to Hong Kong".

But her sex change later caused a public scandal after it was revealed in a tabloid.

She wed a British aristocrat, Arthur Corbett, in 1963 in Gibraltar, but their marriage swiftly broke up.

To avoid paying maintenance payments, Corbett applied to annul their marriage.

A court in 1970 famously ruled that the marriage was void because Ashley was male, even though Corbett knew her history.

This led to Ashley facing public attacks.

She spent a period running a London restaurant and moved to the US.

She returned to the UK in 2005, after the passing of the Gender Recognition Act that allowed her to be fully recognised as a woman.

Her life was celebrated with a 2013 exhibition in her home city of Liverpool titled "April Ashley: Portrait of a Lady".

Her friends included the former Labour Party deputy leader John Prescott.

Tributes came from friends including French transgender performer Marie-Pierre Pruvot, who wrote on Facebook of her death on Monday: "A little bit of me is going away."

"She had airs of a Queen and crazy humour, tremendous liveliness", Pruvot added.

British pop star Boy George posted on Twitter a photograph he had taken of Ashley, calling her "such an inspiration to my generation and beyond!"

am/har

 

Pension charity criticizing CPPIB’s new environmental investing strategy

By: Gideon Scanlon
December 21, 2021



A Canadian charitable initiative is criticizing the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board’s new environmental investing strategy.

“It’s encouraging to see that the CPPIB wants to invest in critical decarbonization pathways for hard-to-abate sectors,” wrote Patrick DeRochie (pictured), senior manager at Shift Action for Pension Wealth and Planet Health, in an email to the Canadian Investment Review. “But the CPP doesn’t seem to grasp that there is no credible or profitable pathway to zero emissions for companies whose core business is exploring for, extracting, refining and transporting fossil fuels.”


Read: CPPIB targeting high carbon emitters for long-term investments

The CPPIB’s strategy, announced last week, aims to identify companies committed to creating value by lowering their emissions in a manner that’s consistent with the CPPIB’s own time frame. The strategy would encourage investments to be made in companies in the petroleum and construction sectors.

Shift Action supports some aspects of the strategy, including its aim to provide a robust, targeted engagement strategy that sets clear expectations for companies to improve environmental behaviour and reduce emissions in line with a safe climate. “For most high-carbon sectors, such as cement, steel, mining and transportation, there is a clear financial and technological pathway to decarbonization,” noted DeRochie.

However, the charity doesn’t believe the approach will work for reducing the carbon footprint of businesses in the oil and gas sector. According to DeRochie, businesses in the sector have “no credible or profitable decarbonization pathway.

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“The products these companies extract, refine and sell must be left in the ground. The climate and net-zero plans of both the international oil and gas super majors and Canadian oil and gas companies have been shown to be grossly insufficient. Just like you can’t engage a tobacco company out of making its cancer-causing product less harmful, you can’t engage a fossil fuel company out of making its climate-disrupting products less harmful.”

Instead of the CPPIB’s approach, Shift Action advises pension plans sponsors to put oil and gas sector investees on notice that they expect to see credible climate strategies produced within the next two-to-three years or face divestment. This would also include demands for investees to stop exploring for more oil and gas and stop approving new extraction projects and begin reducing production.

“An engagement strategy without the possibility of divestment is like raising a toddler without consequences. There needs to be consequences for companies that are greenwashing or not getting serious about the accelerating clean energy transition.”

The CPPIB declined the Canadian Investment Review‘s request for comment on this story.

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