Wednesday, January 12, 2022

'Ohioans are ready for diverse leadership:' State elects first openly transgender public official

Anna Staver, The Columbus Dispatch
Tue, January 11, 2022,

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Dressed in blue and yellow, the colors of the Gahanna-Jefferson Public Schools' board of education to which he was elected, Dion Manley raised his right hand and became Ohio's first openly transgender public official.

"I really think Gahanna deserves a lot of credit," Manley said. "They've been inclusive and open as a district. I've seen that in the years I've lived here, and the voters choosing to be a voice for diversity and moving forward is really special."

Manley, who works in optometry, said his daughter Lila's experience in the district inspired him to run for office. She's a senior at Gahanna Lincoln High School and her teachers really impressed him.

"They've done so much for my daughter that I will do anything to show my appreciation and give back in what small way I can," Manley said.

Not a 'two-sides issue': Transgender people exist. Why is there a debate over whether they should have rights?

Dion Manley is the first openly transgender person to win elected office in Ohio. He is going to be in the Gahanna school board starting in January. Dion poses for a photo outside his work in Westerville on December 12, 2021.

He did consider what running as an openly transgender candidate might mean, but Manley said the whole experience was a pleasant surprise. People were open and welcoming to his candidacy just like they were when he moved to the Columbus suburb from San Francisco 15 years ago.

"I can’t even tell you how that felt in being out and visible in such a widespread manner," he said. "Not just because I'm trans but because I'm a regular Joe. A working-class single parent."

Manley, 65, is also the fifth openly transgender man to win an election in the country, according to an LGBTQ political action group called Victory Fund.

Members of Ohio's LGBTQ community described Manley's swearing-in as a joyous moment after a year marked by opposition in the Ohio Legislature.

Republicans introduced bills to ban transgender girls from playing on female sports teams and limit the medical care transgender kids receive. They also inserted language into the state budget giving doctors permission to decline treatments for religious reasons.

"To have a parent who happens to be trans in the room, I think that’s really helpful in the conversation about trans students in schools," TransOhio Board Chair James Knapp said. "I think that’s really paramount now."

And Maria Bruno, who directs public policy for Equality Ohio, said Manley's "groundbreaking electoral victory is proof that Ohioans are ready for diverse leadership," and she thinks he will be "invaluable in continuing to build an inclusive environment for all students in Gahanna schools."

Equality Act: Stalled legislation leaves LGBTQ community continuing to build its own safe places

Manley said he's honored to be that voice for his community, but at the end of the day, he's just a parent who happens to be transgender.

"He’s very humble, so I think the spotlight and attention are surprising to him," said Kara Coates, who also ran and won a seat on the Gahanna school board this November.

And she didn't worry too much about whether the community would support him.

"Dion has a very authentic personality," she said. "He means what he says and has a passion for public education and his community. I knew if people got to meet Dion, they would see how he would add value to the school board."

Representation: 'Jeopardy' contestant Amy Schneider wants to 'send a positive message to the nerdy trans girl'

He's a guy who loves kayaking, dining out with friends and band concerts.

"I love going to school plays," Manley said. "We have a great theater program at the high school."

He also wants to increase the trade school and apprenticeship opportunities for Gahanna students. College isn't for everyone, Manley said. The kids who want a career after graduation deserve to be prepared too. And that's what he told people when he knocked on their doors and asked for their votes.

"By far my experience has that been people love my daughter and support me as a dad," Manley said. "They see I'm a good dad, and that’s what matters."

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: First openly transgender Ohio public official sworn in on school board

Canada has committed to halt financing to the oil and gas industry. To understand what that really means, watch for the fine print

A global movement to permanently separate the oil and gas industry from the public purse appears to be gaining momentum, with an overarching objective of repurposing funds to promote renewable energy

MATTHEW MCCLEARN

PUBLISHEDJANUARY 10, 2022

Mexican state oil firm Pemex's Cadereyta refinery on the outskirts of Monterrey, Mexico on April 20, 2020. Export Development Canada has provided 19 loans to Mexico’s state-owned oil company over 15 years, totalling somewhere between $3-billion and $5.7-billion.DANIEL BECERRIL/REUTERS

Of all the recipients of Canadian government support in recent years, Petroleos Mexicanos (Pemex) ranks among the strangest. Export Development Canada, a Crown corporation, provided 19 loans to Mexico’s state-owned oil company over 15 years, totalling somewhere between $3-billion and $5.7-billion (EDC only discloses ranges, not precise amounts). The Indian Oil Company received somewhere between $190-million and $425-million. Petrobras, Brazil’s state-owned oil company, got at least $1-billion.

State-owned enterprises control most of the world’s oil reserves and are heavily supported by their own governments, so their need for Canada’s money wasn’t obvious. EDC’s objective was to entice these oil giants to make purchases from Canadian suppliers.

Providing that kind of support just got a whole lot more complicated. At last year’s UN COP26 climate conference in Glasgow, Scotland, Canada joined 23 other countries in committing to end certain types of support for foreign oil and gas activity by the end of 2022. During a news conference, Minister of Natural Resources Jonathan Wilkinson said Canada would also end public financing of “domestic” fossil fuel projects, reiterating an election campaign pledge made by the Liberal Party.

Ottawa pledges to end financing for foreign fossil-fuel projects in 2022

A global movement to permanently separate the oil and gas industry from the public purse appears to be gathering steam, with an overarching objective of repurposing funds to promote renewable energy. A phalanx of supportive prominent organizations include the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the International Energy Agency (IEA) and the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

Bloomberg reported in December that the Biden administration had sent a cable to U.S. embassies ordering “an immediate halt to new federal support for coal plants and other carbon-intensive projects overseas.” And 13 member countries of the World Trade Organization (including the European Union, Norway and Britain, but not Canada) issued a joint statement seeking “the rationalization and phase-out of inefficient fossil fuel subsidies.”

Canada is the world’s fourth-largest oil producer and exporter. Ottawa’s generosity is difficult to measure precisely, but large loans and investments for pipelines and liquefied natural gas terminals are recent examples. Oil Change International, an NGO that tracks fossil fuel subsidies, reported that from 2018 to 2020, Canada’s support for fossil fuels averaged US$11-billion annually, the highest among G20 countries.

“Per capita, we’re often the worst,” said Julia Levin, senior program manager for climate and energy with Environmental Defence, a Toronto-based organization. “But to be the absolute worst, with a much smaller economy and much smaller population, is even more shameful.”

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s mandate letter to new Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault, dated Dec. 16, ordered him to “develop a plan to phase out public financing to the fossil fuel sector, including by federal Crown corporations.” But if federal officials and industry lobbyists are perturbed, they’re not showing it. And EDC said it can meet the 2022 deadline.

In part, that’s probably because EDC’s support has already been in transition for several years. More importantly, the fine print hasn’t been written yet. While the manner in which Ottawa assists the industry seems likely to change, it’s unclear whether that will result in a net reduction in overall support.
Canada: a world leader in fossil fuel finance

Preferential tax treatment is a popular support channel. In December, the Parliamentary Budget Officer issued a report that showed that federal income tax deductions for costs relating to finding, acquiring and developing resource properties were the most significant deductions for the fossil fuel sector. They amounted to between $1.3-billion and $2.4-billion in foregone tax revenues annually from 2015 to 2019.

The IEA dubs these “consumption subsidies.” According to its data, the leading providers include Iran, China, India, Saudi Arabia and Russia. Canada’s numbers seem tiny by comparison. The office of Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland said in a statement that the federal government has “phased out or rationalized” eight tax measures supporting the fossil fuel sector since 2007.

Where Canada stands out is in so-called “direct transfers,” typically through EDC. Its main activity is providing or guaranteeing loans that benefit Canadian exporters. Bronwen Tucker, Oil Change International’s public finance campaign manager, said this support is worth more than raw numbers would suggest: EDC provides better borrowing rates than private banks do, and its involvement reduces risk for private financiers, especially on large infrastructure projects.

“Having a government or multiple government institutions involved really helps projects go forward,” she said, especially “those projects [that] have much less social licence and are having trouble getting to the finish line.”

In 2008, EDC’s mandate was broadened to support domestic business. It also administers the Canada Account, separate from its own books, which is used to provide financing the Minister of International Trade deems to be in the national interest. Used in combination, these powers made EDC an important conduit for emergency relief to the oil and gas sector during tough times – and to megaprojects Ottawa wants to advance.

The Globe and Mail assembled a database of nearly 20,000 EDC and Canada Account transactions between 2001 and the end of 2020. The Globe’s analysis shows that oil and gas customers consistently ranked among the clients that EDC has funded most generously: Trans Mountain Pipeline, Enbridge, TransCanada Pipelines (now TC Energy) and Husky Energy are among those that received a minimum of $1-billion each.

Enbridge, for example, was listed as the beneficiary in more than 30 EDC transactions this century, collectively worth at least $3.5-billion. In addition, EDC has provided a minimum of around $4.1-billion to recipients identified only as “Various Canadian Exporters-Oil & Gas.”

In a statement, Enbridge said EDC has primarily supplied “backup credit facilities that in the majority of cases were not used. EDC is one of our smallest lenders currently and we have relationships with nearly 50 banks globally.”

EDC has gradually reduced assistance to oil and gas in recent years. In a statement, it said that by the middle of 2021, its support amounted to “less than half of 2020 levels,” continuing a downward trend over several years. Certain activities seem to have ceased altogether: Pemex and Indian Oil Co. received their last EDC dollars in 2017.

EDC's support for the oil and gas sector has declined

EDC also said it had “divested many existing international loan assets and ceased new support to existing international business relationships,” which halved its international fossil fuel assets in just a few years.

Other institutions are moving faster, however. According to Oil Change International, the World Bank and the European Investment Bank drastically decreased their financing directed to oil and gas, and will reach near zero by the end of this year.
Watch the fine print

History has shown that sweeping commitments about fossil fuel subsidies mean little until key terms are defined.

In September, 2009, G20 leaders met at a summit in Pittsburgh in the aftermath of the financial crisis. They agreed to “phase out and rationalize over the medium term inefficient fossil fuel subsidies.” That, they claimed, would reduce global greenhouse gas emissions by one-10th

Any celebration was premature. First, there was that “medium term” language. It wasn’t until late 2015 that Canada’s environment minister, then Catherine McKenna, was tasked with fulfilling the commitment. Her department set a 2025 deadline.

The term “inefficient” proved even more crucial. The department’s review, as described in a 2019 discussion paper, identified 36 measures that might be considered “subsidies.” But upon close inspection, it found that just four actually met that definition. Of those, none were deemed to be inefficient. (That contrasts starkly with the U.K. Climate Change Committee’s position, which recently declared it “does not consider that any fossil fuel subsidies should be classed as ‘efficient’ in the U.K.”)

Echoing EDC’s thinking, the department also concluded the Crown corporation’s financings and services didn’t qualify as subsidies because they were provided “on commercial terms” and were not specifically directed at the fossil fuel sector. Using these definitions, Ottawa’s obligations seemingly amounted to very little. At COP26 in Glasgow last year, Mr. Wilkinson moved the deadline closer by two years.

With that history in mind, it’s worth parsing Ottawa’s latest commitments carefully.

In Glasgow, Canada declared it would “end new direct public support for the international unabated fossil fuel sector by the end of 2022.” The term “international” is key. In a statement, EDC said it provided about $800-million in direct financing to international companies and projects in 2020. That’s a fraction of its overall oil and gas support.

The word “unabated” could also prove significant. “That’s a sneaky loophole,” Ms. Levin said. “That word ‘unabated’ leaves a window open for governments to say, ‘Hey, we’re going to support this oil and gas refinery because there’s a promise of one day attaching carbon capture technology.’” Carbon capture is largely untested and controversial: While proponents applaud the prospect of locking away carbon emissions underground, critics regard the technology as a dangerous facilitator of the status quo.

As for Mr. Wilkinson’s commitment to end “domestic” support, even fewer details are available. Ian Cameron, a spokesperson for his office, said details will be forthcoming.

What’s clear is that EDC shows no intention of abandoning the oil and gas sector, which it has long regarded as “a critical element of Canada’s economy.” According to Natural Resources Canada, the sector directly employs 176,500 people, and accounts for 5.3 per cent of GDP. From EDC’s perspective, the more important fact is that it represents nearly a quarter of Canada’s exports.

It seems more likely that EDC will pivot to supporting industry efforts to reduce emissions, such as carbon capture. “We are turning our focus to working with our Canadian customers,” EDC said in a statement, “to help them innovate to lower their emissions, while increasing our support for businesses aligned with a low-carbon transition.”

International pressure remains a wild card. Vanessa Corkal, an Ottawa-based policy adviser on energy transitions for the International Institute for Sustainable Development, predicted the federal government’s latest promises will have more impact than the 2009 commitment, mainly because pressure from Canadian voters and governments of other countries has increased.

“The global conversation has shifted,” she said. “Canada, in order to catch up and be considered a climate leader, has to move faster and more boldly.”

RALPH KLEIN DEJA VU
Alberta willing to go to court to oppose handgun ban as feds weigh options for gun control
Elise von Scheel 6 hrs ago

Alberta won't sign on to any handgun ban options Ottawa may offer, and says it's willing to take the fight to court if provincial firearms jurisdiction is disregarded.

The federal Liberal government planned to give municipalities the ability to implement a ban but has adjusted since the last election to focus on working with provinces.

Alberta's United Conservative government has long opposed many of the firearm measures proposed by the federal government, saying banning handguns would disproportionately punish law abiding gun owners and fail to adequately tackle the illegal use of firearms.

The Liberal government proposed legislation last year to give municipalities the power to ban handguns as part of a bill that would have introduced a range of further gun control measures in Canada.

That bill died when the election was called in the fall, but November's speech from the throne indicated a slightly different approach: Leaving the decision on a handgun ban with the provinces.

"The government will now put forward measures like a mandatory buyback of banned assault-style weapons, and move forward with any province or territory that wants to ban handguns," the speech read

As the feds tweak their approach, Alberta's position remains unchanged.

© Peter Evans/CBC Justice Minister Kaycee Madu says Alberta will go through the courts, if necessary, to prevent the federal government from intruding on provincial jurisdiction.

"The federal Liberal government should focus on keeping illegal firearms out of our Canada, and out of the hands of criminals — instead of targeting law-abiding Albertans," Justice Minister Kaycee Madu's office said in a statement.

"Alberta will challenge any invasion of provincial jurisdiction in this area, through the courts, if needed."

Federal Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino spoke to those concerns at a committee in December.

"I want to assure hunters, farmers and target shooters that nothing we are doing is intended to diminish their lawful recreational activities. At the same time, we have a responsibility to work together to reduce gun violence. We cannot risk another shooting at a school, a place of worship, or at a police officer, or on women, or on any innocent life. Public safety is our top priority. Protecting human life must come above all else."

Provinces have some authority over certain firearms measures, but most of it is controlled at the federal level.

The provincial legislature passed a private member's bill in the spring of 2021 that prohibits municipalities from unilaterally passing firearms bylaws. Saskatchewan has passed similar legislation

© Mike Symington/CBC 'I'm not sure this was the issue that Calgarians were asking of their municipal government,' says Calgary Mayor Jyoti Gondek, who spent most of 2021 campaigning for the city's top job.

Calgary's mayor says banning handguns is not a pressing issue for city council to approach the province about.

"This is about the federal Liberals deciding to deal with the provincial governments regarding an issue that is primarily federal and provincial," Mayor Jyoti Gondek's office wrote in a statement to CBC News.

"Having just campaigned for 10 months, I'm not sure this was the issue that Calgarians were asking of their municipal government."

Gun violence in Canada has risen in the last few years and Alberta has been no exception to the uptick in firearm homicides.

The Edmonton and Calgary metropolitan areas recorded the largest increase in homicides among all census areas in Canada, according to Statistics Canada — a large number of them committed with firearms.

Edmonton saw a 97 per cent increase in the rate of firearm-related homicides, while Calgary saw a 48 per cent increase (47 and 39 total homicides, respectively, in 2020).

Handguns remain the most widely used firearm in homicides across the country, a trend observed since the early 1990s, Statistics Canada said.

© CBC Mount Royal University justice studies professor Doug King says the focus should be on preventing illegal firearms from coming into Canada.

"Most of those firearms are not registered, have come into Canada illegally or are being held illegally by the person who has them. So a ban on any kind of firearm is not going to impact those people," said Doug King, a professor of justice studies at Mount Royal University.

"I think you've got to put more emphasis on trying to prevent the illegal firearms from coming into the country."

The federal government has also reportedly been preparing a $1-billion dollar program to help provinces ban handguns.

King says if half that money was given to Canadian border services, it would likely do more to reduce illegal gun activity.

"I do worry that we're going to erode the national standard," he said. "You regulate firearms on a national basis, not on a city basis or provincial basis."

Some criminal law experts had said the federal plans introduced last year wouldn't properly tackle smuggling, illegal use of guns or gang activity, while people connected to the women killed in the 1989 École Polytechnique massacre accused Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of betraying victims of firearms violence by not going far enough on measures like firearms buybacks.

European archaeologists back in Iraq after years of war

European archaeologists back in Iraq after years of warMartin Sebastian Gussone from the German Archaeological Institute reviews his notes at Iraq's ancient site of Al-Hirah (AFP/Qassem al-KAABI)

Guillaume Decamme
Tue, January 11, 2022,

After war and insurgency kept them away from Iraq for decades, European archaeologists are making an enthusiastic return in search of millennia-old cultural treasures.

"Come and see!" shouted an overjoyed French researcher recently at a desert dig in Larsa, southern Iraq, where the team had unearthed a 4,000-year-old cuneiform inscription.

"When you find inscriptions like that, in situ, it's moving," said Dominique Charpin, professor of Mesopotamian civilisation at the College de France in Paris.

The inscription in Sumerian was engraved on a brick fired in the 19th century BC.

"To the god Shamash, his king Sin-iddinam, king of Larsa, king of Sumer and Akkad," Charpin translated with ease.

Behind him, a dozen other European and Iraqi archaeologists kept at work in a cordoned-off area where they were digging.

They brushed off bricks and removed earth to clear what appeared to be the pier of a bridge spanning an urban canal of Larsa, which was the capital of Mesopotamia just before Babylon, at the start of the second millennium BC.

"Larsa is one of the largest sites in Iraq, it covers more than 200 hectares (500 acres)," said Regis Vallet, researcher at France's National Centre for Scientific Research, heading the Franco-Iraqi mission.

The team of 20 people have made "major discoveries", he said, including the residence of a ruler identified by about 60 cuneiform tablets that have been transferred to the national museum in Baghdad.

- Archaeological 'paradise' -

Vallet said Larsa is like an archaeological playground and a "paradise" for exploring ancient Mesopotamia, which hosted through the ages the empire of Akkad, the Babylonians, Alexander the Great, the Christians, the Persians and Islamic rulers.

However, the modern history of Iraq -- with its succession of conflicts, especially since the 2003 US-led invasion and its bloody aftermath -- has kept foreign researchers at bay.

Only since Baghdad declared victory in territorial battles against the Islamic State group in 2017 has Iraq "largely stabilised and it has become possible again" to visit, said Vallet.

"The French came back in 2019 and the British a little earlier," he said. "The Italians came back as early as 2011."

In late 2021, said Vallet, 10 foreign missions were at work in the Dhi Qar province, where Larsa is located.

Iraq's Council of Antiquities and Heritage director Laith Majid Hussein said he is delighted to play host, and is happy that his country is back on the map for foreign expeditions.

"This benefits us scientifically," he told AFP in Baghdad, adding that he welcomes the "opportunity to train our staff after such a long interruption".

- 'Cradle of civilisations' -

Near Najaf in central Iraq, Ibrahim Salman of the German Institute of Archaeology is focused on the site of the city of Al-Hira.

Germany had previously carried out excavations here that ground to a halt with the 2003 US-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein.

Equipped with a geomagnetic measuring device, Salman's team has been at work in the one-time Christian city that had its heyday under the Lakhmids, a pre-Islamic tribal dynasty of the 5th and 6th centuries.

"Some clues lead us to believe that a church may have been located here," he explained.

He pointed to traces on the ground left by moisture which is retained by buried structures and rises to the surface.

"The moistened earth on a strip several metres (yards) long leads us to conclude that under the feet of the archaeologist are probably the walls of an ancient church," he said.

Al-Hira is far less ancient than other sites, but it is part of the diverse history of the country that serves as a reminder, according to Salman, that "Iraq, or Mesopotamia, is the cradle of civilisations. It is as simple as that!"

gde/hc/hkb/fz/pjm

Bulgarian Pomaks keep traditional wedding rite alive

Jan 11, 2022

AFP News Agency

The marriage of Nefie Eminkova, 21, and her fiancé Schaban Kiselov, 24, is an extravaganza of bright colours, flowers, feasting and dancing. But the bride, who comes from Bulgaria's Pomak minority, can see none of it. Her eyes must remain tightly closed until a Muslim priest blesses the couple. The newly-weds are following an age-old traditional winter wedding rite that their tiny community, nestled in the southern Rhodope mountains, was forced to abandon during communist era but has been revived since the fall of the regime in 1989. The ritual spans across two whole days, starting with a lavish display of the bride's dowry. It comprises "everything you can think of" that a new family might need, Nefie explains.

CLICK HERE TO WATCH ON YOUTUBE

Photos: Bulgarian Pomaks keep traditional wedding rite alive

Ritual spans two whole days, starting with a lavish display of the bride's dowry

Published: January 11, 2022 13:32AFP

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BULGARIA-RELIGION-MARRIAGE — Ribnovo: The marriage of Nefie Eminkova, 21, and her fiance Schaban Kiselov, 24, is an extravaganza of bright colours, flowers, feasting and dancing. But the bride, who comes from Bulgaria's Pomak minority, can see none of it. Her eyes must remain tightly closed until a Muslim priest blesses the couple.Image Credit: AFP

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Bulgaria's surveillance laws violate European human rights code, court rules

The ruling comes amid growing backlash over secret surveillance in Bulgaria. A lack of regulations in Bulgarian law has led to a situation where data "could be used for nefarious purposes," the court said.

A parliamentary inquiry last year found that Bulgarian authorities had eavesdropped on over 900 Bulgarian citizens — including journalists and activists

A top court ruled on Tuesday that Bulgaria's surveillance laws are in breach of the European Convention of Human Rights.

The ruling comes amid growing backlash over secret surveillance in Bulgaria, with a parliamentary committee last year revealing one of the biggest wire-tapping schemes in the country's history.

What did the court rule?

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) was asked to evaluate Bulgaria's 1997 surveillance law, as well as several articles in the country's criminal code.

The court ruled that Bulgaria's legislation violated the human rights convention — particularly with regard to "respect for private life and correspondence," as well as with regard to "retention and accessing of communication data."

In the ruling, the court found that "there was a lack of proper judicial oversight over decisions to issue warrants" for surveillance.

The court also found that "the lack of clear regulation had led to a situation where surveillance data could be used for nefarious purposes."

The laws were "incapable" of ensuring that surveillance and the secret collection of communication data could be limited to "only that which was necessary."

The case was brought by two Bulgarian lawyers, as well as by two NGOs. They argued that their line of work put them at risk of both secret surveillance by the state as well as having their communications accessed by law enforcement.
What are Bulgaria's current laws?

Under the laws in Bulgaria, secret surveillance is legal when national security is threatened or when a "serious intentional offense" is expected.

Authorities are allowed to wiretap phones and intercept electronic communications, as well as conduct visual surveillance and "eavesdropping."

The laws are intended to cover cases in which there is suspicion of terrorism, murder, embezzlement and other high-level offenses. Most commonly it is used for drugs offenses and racketeering — although a parliamentary inquiry last year revealed the surveillance has been used in an array of other cases as well.
Secret surveillance under scrutiny

In August, a parliamentary commission found that secret services had eavesdropped on more than 900 Bulgarian citizens. Among those targeted were politicians, journalists and activists.

This period of secret surveillance against potential government critics took place from the start of anti-corruption protests in 2020 until May 2021. At the time, the country's center-right government was in power, but was voted from office last year.

The head of the parliamentary commission, Nikolai Hadzhigenov, said at the time that evidence pointed to one of the largest wiretapping scandals to be uncovered in the country in recent history.
What happens now?

As Bulgaria has been found to be in violation of the human rights code, the ECHR said the country must change its domestic laws.

New legislation must be compatible with the human rights convention.

Although Bulgaria has already taken steps to amend its laws after an earlier European court ruling, the measures would now need to be adapted to ensure the reigning in of surveillance measures.

This report was written in part with material from Reuters news agency.

Edited by: Wesley Rahn

Taliban release prominent Afghan academic Faizullah Jalal

Family members of the well-known professor Faizullah Jalal announced news of his release on social media. He had been arrested by the Taliban for "trying to instigate people."

The family of prominent academic Faizullah Jalal have confirmed his release

A well-known Afghan professor who had been arrested by the Taliban over the weekend has been freed.

Professor Faizullah Jalal was detained by the Islamist group on Saturday for allegedly making inflammatory statements on Twitter.

News of his release was made known by his daughter Hasina Jalal, who took to Twitter to confirm he had indeed been freed.

"After more than four days of detention on baseless charges," she wrote. "I confirm that Professor Jalal is now finally released!"

Why was Jalal arrested?

On Saturday, the academic's wife, Massouda Jalal, posted on Facebook that the militant group had taken the professor from his home and that he was "transferred to an unknown place."

The Taliban's spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid, said on Saturday that Jalal had made statements on Twitter that "were provoking people against the government and playing with people's dignity.''

Jalal's family said that the account cited by the Taliban was not the professor and was a fake account.

Hasina Jalal said she had reported the matter to Twitter on January 5, adding that her father had never been active on the platform.

An outspoken critic

Shortly after news of Jalal's arrest circulated, there was an outpouring of support from various quarters. There was also condemnation with calls for the professor's immediate release.

Jalal has been an open critic of Afghanistan's leadership for years and has expressed his feelings on former Presidents Hamid Karzai and Ashraf Ghani.

In November, Jalal clashed with Taliban spokesman Mohammad Naeem during a television debate.

In addition to being heavily critical of the Taliban's policies, he referred to Naeem as a "calf."

The professor was widely praised by Taliban critics for his courage in expressing his views. At the time, many social media users changed their profile pictures to that of Jalal.

Germany: Police carry out raids in connection with deadly floods

The raids focused on a landslide at a mine during last July's deadly floods. Although no one died at the site, the image of the gaping muddy crater was etched in the memory of those who survived — and sparked a probe.

The mine in the town of Erfstadt caused a landslide during last summer's floods after the ground gave way when the gravel pit flooded with water

German authorities carried out raids on Tuesday in connection with a mine that collapsed during last summer's floods.

The raids come six months after the devastating floods ripped through western and southern Germany — killing more than 180 people and causing billions in damage.
Why did the raids take place?

The raids on Tuesday centered on an open-cast mine in the western town of Erfstadt that gave way during torrential downpours on July 16, 2021.

More than 140 police officers took part in the operation, searching over 20 offices and residential addresses to gather evidence, German prosecutors said.

Authorities are investigating the mine's operator and five staff at the operations company, as well as four suspects in the Arnsberg district government.

An investigation into the collapse of the mine was launched on suspicion of negligence, as well as potential violation's of Germany's Mining Act.

"There is a suspicion that the accused could and should have recognized the conditions at the flood protection embankment and the pit embankments due to their professional involvement with the gravel pit and should have taken remedial action," said Ulrich Bremer, Cologne's senior public prosecutor.

Although no one was killed when the mine collapsed, prosecutors say the operators may have violated the law

What happened at the mine?

Throughout the day and overnight on July 16, western and southern Germany were hit with immense downpours.

Some areas saw over 200 liters per square meter (5 gallons per square foot) of rainfall within a short period of time, according to the German weather service.

During this time, many small creeks turned into raging streams, and rivers swelled far past their banks.

That was also the case near the mine under investigation. The mine is located near the Erft River.

AFTER THE FLOOD IN ERFTSTADT-BLESSEM
Rebuilding on the edge
After years of living in Erftstadt-Blessem, Maria Dunkel and her son, Thomas, are now a few dozen meters away from where a huge crater opened up following flooding three months ago. In this photo, Thomas points to where a landslide opened the earth near their home.
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During the heavy rainfall, the mine's gravel pit filled with water and the ground later gave way — creating a landslide.

Several buildings at the site were swept away.

No one died at the site, but photographs of the giant, muddy crater at the mine has stayed in the memories of locals and others across Germany following the news.

Initial investigations appear to indicate that the flood protection embankment at the mining pit might not have been properly constructed. Furthermore, the embankments at the site may have been too steep.

Prosecutors said the raids sought to seize documents about the practices at the mine, and to determine if there was negligent behavior.

rs/wmr (dpa, AP)

How colonial powers presented people in 'human zoos'

Up into the 20th century, ethnological shows presented people as exotic objects. Two exhibitions shed light on the cruel colonial history

From the age of colonial exhibitions

The 267 women and men from the Belgian colony of Congo were housed somewhere in the back of the extensive park in the Brussels suburb of Tervuren, penned up as if they were in a petting zoo.

Brought to Belgium at the behest of King Leopold II, they were set up under the thatched-roof huts of a fake "Congo village" to be marveled at by the European public. Up to 40,000 visitors a day came to gawk at them at the 1897 World's Fair.

Seven Congolese had died by the time the fair ended. In their honor, the AfricaMuseum Tervuren — designed as a colonial museum in the late 19th century, and renovated and renamed several times since then — is now holding a special exhibition, which runs until March 5: "Human Zoos: The Age of Colonial Exhibitions."

Claim of superiority

At the Berlin Africa Conference of 1884-1885, 14 European nations divided up the continent among themselves.

Belgian King Leopold II was granted an area 80 times the size of his country as a private colony: the Congo.

Belgium claimed that it was "bringing civilization to Congo"

His "Africa Palace" museum in Tervuren, complete with living exhibits, left no doubt as to the European's claim to superiority: a brass plaque beneath a portrait of Leopold with two Black children read, "Belgium brings civilization to the Congo." In reality, the country's resources were ruthlessly exploited, the people abused as laborers, or brought to Europe and gawped at.

Popular pastime

The human zoo drew enormous crowds, said Maarten Couttenier, a historian and anthropologist and one of the three curators of the Brussels show. They literally presented people from the Congo as cavemen, dancing in raffia skirts, full of primitive desires, he told DW, adding they were never shown as intellectuals or artists or just normal people.

Belgian King Leopold II

It was not a regional phenomenon, either, Couttenier said. People of all races were exhibited, and shown everywhere, in Europe, America, Japan, and even in Africa, he says. But the mechanism was always the same, he added — visitors would see what was totally strange to them and "feel superior."

Pseudo science of racial types

In the heyday of European colonialism, "human zoos" — or exhibitions of groups such as Africans, Indigenous peoples of the Americas and the Sami from Scandinavia — traveled the countryside for popular amusement. They were set up along the lines of a crude "scientific" anthropology.

A 1903 diagram of "racial types" shows that racist fantasies of superiority considered non-European people to be nonhuman primates; the colonial powers were convinced of their own "civilized superiority."

Racial classification, presented as 'science'

In Germany, the Hamburg-based animal trader and zoo founder Carl Hagenbeck turned human zoos into a business model. The fairground showman Friedrich Wilhelm Siebold displayed people at the Munich Oktoberfest until 1931.

Berlin exhibition also looks back at its human zoos

The first colonial exhibition in Germany was held in 1896. As part of a trade show in Berlin, organizers had set up a village in a park in the city's Treptow district, dubbing it with a derogatory term for Black people.

Lured by false promises, more than 106 Africans from the German colonies were brought to Berlin, where they were forced to present themselves to the astonished public for seven months as villagers in exotic costumes. They were repeatedly subjected to publicly humiliating medical or "racial" examinations.

"Looking Back" is the first permanent exhibition on colonialism, racism and

Black resistance in a public museum in Berlin

"Zurückgeschaut" (Looking Back), an updated permanent exhibition at the Museum Treptow that reopened in October 2021, sheds light on this dark chapter and traces the biographies of the people who were reduced to objects.

It also shows how the colonial masters suddenly encountered resistance when the living exhibits stepped out of the role assigned to them.

For example, Kwelle Ndumbe, from Cameroon, bought an opera glass and used it to stare at the audience.

The same mechanisms today

The concept of the racist gaze underlying the human zoos still exists today, Couttenier said. He has colleagues with darker skin color who face it every day, for instance when looking for an apartment or a job. It's always the same process, he says: defining an otherness in order to be able to say, "I'm better than you."

Children are not born racists, he said: "We raise our children to see people as different and inferior."

White House task force aims to promote scientific integrity

Eric Lander, director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy, said violations of scientific integrity may be small, but they can significantly "undermine federal decision-making and public trust in science." File Photo by Erin Scott/UPI | License Photo

Jan. 11 (UPI) -- A report released Tuesday from the White House Science Integrity Task Force says its wants to restore trust in government through scientific integrity and evidence-based policymaking.

The 67-page report said the task force seeks to "ensure that science is conducted, managed, communicated and used in ways that preserve its accuracy and objectivity and protect it from suppression, manipulation and inappropriate influence -- including political interference."

The task force, part of the White House Office of Science & Technology Policy, makes no mention of COVID-19 but maintaining the public's trust in scientific-based information about coronavirus, for example, has been a challenge since President Joe Biden's administration took office a year ago.

Former President Donald Trump and his supporters frequently attacked scientists and health officials during the pandemic. At an October 2020 rally in Arizona, for example, Trump mocked Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, and downplayed the effects of COVID-19.

Environmentalists and climate scientists expressed concern about the Trump administration's policies, accusing officials of spreading false information about climate change. In one example, Trump used a Sharpie on Sept. 4, 2019, to expand the projected path of Hurricane Dorian.

Biden's science adviser, Eric Lander, director of the Office of Science and Technology, said, "The health, safety, and prosperity of the American people depend on reliable, technically sound policies and communications from the federal government. This report is a comprehensive federal assessment of what's needed to protect science -- and scientists and technologists -- within the U.S. government, and a clear government-wide policy statement calling for decision-making at all levels to be informed by science without interference."

While violations of scientific integrity are small, Lander said they can significantly "undermine federal decision-making and public trust in science."

The report called for the need to deter "inappropriate influence in the conduct, management, communication and use of science." It also urges all federal agencies to develop, implement and periodically update scientific integrity policies.

Among many recommendations, the report called for protecting the integrity of the research process that includes shielding data collection and analysis from interference; encouraging legitimate scientific debates while minimizing disputes that serve a desired outcome or interest; encouraging continued professional development of federal scientists; and applying conflict-of-interest rules to all those involved in the conduct, management, communication and use of science, including those on scientific advisory committees.

The report also said scientific integrity policies should be modernized to address important, emergent issues of our time.

Those policies, the task force said, "must advance diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility; address new concerns arising from the use of emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence and machine learning; and apply to emerging modes of science, such as citizen science and community-engaged research with Federal involvement."

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