Pak envoy to US hails Pakistan-born scientist on world's first pig-to-human heart transplant

• After first pig-to-human heart transplant, Ambassador of Pakistan to US Dr Asad Majeed Khan holds virtual meeting with Pakistan-born scientist Dr Mohiuddin. 
• Envoy congratulates scientist for making all Pakistanis proud with landmark medical achievement. 
• Dr Mohiuddin works at centre of xenotransplantation research and is involved in grafting animal organs into dying patients.

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Ambassador of Pakistan to US Dr Asad Majeed Khan congratulated Dr Mohammad Mohiuddin for achieving "a ground-breaking milestone" in medical history after the world's first pig-to-human heart transplant was done in the US recently.

"In a virtual meeting earlier today I congratulated Dr.Mohammad Mohiuddin on his path breaking transplant surgery in the field of Xenotransplantation," said the Pakistani ambassador in a tweet.

"I told him how proud all Pakistani Americans were on this remarkable achievement by a fellow community member," he wrote.

Dr Muhammad Mansoor Mohiuddin is a Pakistani-born doctor, who is the director of the Cardiac Xenotransplantation Programme at the University of Maryland School of Medicine. 

His work at the centre of xenotransplantation research involves grafting animal organs into dying patients. The scientist has spent the last 30 years trying to figure out how to increase the chances of survival for terminal patients in need of a heart transplant.

On January 11, Ambassador Asad Majeed Khan had tweeted about the landmark achievement by the Pakistan-born scientist. "A moment of pride for Pakistani American community: Surgeons at Maryland University have successfully transplanted genetically modified pig’s heart into a human being," said the ambassador in a tweet on January 11.

"A ground breaking milestone by a Pakistani American doctor Dr Muhammad Mansoor Mohiuddin."

Talking to TRT World in November last year, Dr Mohiuddin had said, “Just in the United States, 150,000 people are waiting for different organ transplants. Unfortunately, many of them will die waiting because there’s no alternative available.”

“Our idea is to somehow find that alternative,” he pointed out.

Dr Mohiuddin is a practising Muslim and believes it’s okay to use pig organs if it can help save human life.

Regarding pig hearts, Dr Mohiuddin said, “We don’t want to change that pig into a human. We want to do minimal changes that would be enough for the heart not to go through rejection."

“So the first goal is to keep this pig heart (viable) long enough that a human heart becomes available for transplant," he asserted. "But if a pig heart works fine then there’s no reason to take it out.”

Mohiuddin moved to the US in the early 1990s after graduating from the Dow University of Health Sciences in Karachi. 

US Discourages India From Acquiring Russian S-400 Missile Defence Systems

In October 2018, India signed a USD 5 billion deal with Russia to buy five units of the S-400 air defence missile systems, despite a warning from the then Trump administration that going ahead with the contract may invite US sanctions.

All India

Press Trust of India

Updated: January 13, 2022

The S-400 is known as Russia's most advanced long-range surface-to-air missile defence system.

Washington:

The US has made clear to India that it is "discouraging" it from proceeding with its acquisition of S-400 missile defence systems from Russia but Washington will have to weigh "important geostrategic considerations" while taking a decision on growing calls for a presidential CAATSA waiver to New Delhi, President Joe Biden's nominee for Coordinator for Sanctions Policy has told lawmakers.

In October 2018, India signed a USD 5 billion deal with Russia to buy five units of the S-400 air defence missile systems, despite a warning from the then Trump administration that going ahead with the contract may invite US sanctions.

The Biden administration has not yet clarified whether it will impose sanctions on India under the provisions of the Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA) for procuring the S-400 missile systems.

CAATSA is a tough US law that was brought in 2017 and authorises the US administration to impose sanctions on countries that purchase major defence hardware from Russia.

James O'Brien, President Biden's nominee for the US State Department's coordinator for sanctions policy was asked at his confirmation hearing on Wednesday if the US experience with Turkey provided any warning or lessons on how to proceed with India.

The US has already imposed sanctions on Turkey under the CAATSA for the purchase of a batch of S-400 missile defence systems from Russia.

Following the US sanctions on Turkey over the procurement of S-400 missile systems, there were apprehensions that Washington may impose similar punitive measures on India. Russia has been one of India's key major suppliers of arms and ammunition.

"I believe they are very different circumstances, and, of course, different security partnerships -- but how do you believe we should think about the possibility of sanctioning our friends and not just threats?" Senator Todd Young asked O'Brien, a former career employee of the State Department.

In response, O'Brien said it was difficult to compare the two situations, with a NATO ally that is breaking with legacy defence procurement systems, and then with India, a partner of growing importance, but that has legacy relationships with Russia.

"The administration has made clear that it is discouraging India from proceeding with the acquisitions of Russian equipment, and there are important geostrategic considerations, particularly with (unintelligible) relationship to China. So, I think we have to look at what the balance is,” he said.

“And, of course, India's got some decisions in front of it, so it would be premature to say more. But this is something I look forward to working with you and other interested members," O'Brien said.

India pursues an independent foreign policy and its defence acquisitions are guided by its national security interests, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said in November last year, amid apprehensions over the possibility of US sanctions on New Delhi over the procurement of S-400 missile systems from Russia.

The S-400 is known as Russia's most advanced long-range surface-to-air missile defence system.

Senator Young said India was currently taking delivery of the Russian S-400 system and was also in the process of acquiring new frigate ships from Russia.

"Both are important systems for the Indians," he said.

"India is a vital ally in our competition against China, and thus, I believe we should resist taking any actions that might drive them away from us and the Quad. I am therefore strongly supportive of waiving CAATSA sanctions against India, given our shared foreign policy interests," he said.

"As most here know, the Indians have a lot of legacy systems from previous decades, and they are interoperable with the Russians' systems. And the Indians seek to defend their land border from Chinese incursions and defend the Indian Ocean from an increasingly adventurous and lawless blue ocean navy in the People's Liberation Army," he said.

Quad - comprising Japan, India, Australia and the United States - is a grouping of four countries. In November 2017, the four countries gave shape to the long-pending proposal of setting up the "Quad" to develop a new strategy to keep the critical sea routes in the Indo-Pacific free of any influence.

In the midst of growing global concern over China's expansionist behaviour, the foreign ministers of the Quad member nations met in Tokyo on October 6 and reaffirmed their collective vision for a free, open and inclusive Indo-Pacific.

There are growing calls in the US urging the Biden administration to grant the CAATSA waiver to India.

In October last year, two powerful US Senators - Mark Warner of the Democratic Party and John Cornyn of the Republican Party - had urged President Biden not to impose provisions of CAATSA against India for buying the S-400 missile system, arguing that it was in America's national security interest.

“We strongly encourage you to grant a CAATSA waiver to India for its planned purchase of the S-400 Triumf surface-to-air missile system. In cases where granting a waiver would advance the national security interests of the US, this waiver authority, as written into the law by Congress, allows the President additional discretion in applying sanctions,” they wrote in a letter to Biden.

Both Warner, Chairman of the Senate Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, and Cornyn, Senate Minority Whip for the Grand Old Party (GOP), are co-chairs of the powerful Senate India caucus, the only country-specific caucus in the US Senate.

Talking about his visit to India, Senator Tommy Tuberville said, “I was heartened that Prime Minister Modi not only committed the continuing support of our Freedom of Navigation Operations but that India will increase them”.

Tuberville is a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee. “Visited the Philippines, Guam, Taiwan, and India. Purpose: listen to our allies and see firsthand the threat China poses to its neighbours, free trade, and democracy. We also discussed the region's response to COVID,” he had said.

SEE LA REVUE GAUCHE - Left Comment: Search results for PERMANENT ARMS ECONOMY 

Fighting to Never Forget

Students and professors rally for the future of Youngstown State’s Jewish studies center amid budget cuts, saying its lessons are as important as ever.

By Colleen Flaherty
January 13, 2022

TWITTER/@YSUFACULTY
Supporters of Youngstown State University’s Center for Judaic and Holocaust Studies attend a student-led rally on campus Wednesday.

Students at Youngstown State University held a rally Wednesday in support of the campus Center for Judaic and Holocaust Studies. The center’s faculty director, Jacob Ari Labendz, will be laid off in May as part of a larger plan to cut YSU’s academic budget.

The university hasn’t said it will close the Holocaust studies center, which is endowed. But students, alumni and faculty and community members say it can’t function without a dedicated expert at the helm. Currently there are no plans to replace Labendz, the Clayman Assistant Professor of Judaic and Holocaust Studies in the history department.

“White nationalism and anti-Semitism remain a threat to minorities and to take away a resource like the CJHS, as well as Dr. Labendz’s expertise in the subject matter, is a direct threat to the safety of vulnerable populations in Youngstown,” says a petition delivered to YSU administrators during the rally, along with individual student letters of support for the center and Labendz.

The petition notes that a self-declared white nationalist threatened the Youngstown Jewish Community Center with gun violence in 2019 and was later convicted of the crime. It also says the campus center faced a separate, emailed bomb threat last year.
‘Holocaust Studies Matter’

“In a world still reeling from its legacy—and in a climate that weaponizes the memory of Nazism to make facile political and personal gains—Holocaust studies matter,” the petition says. “In a world where individuals try to deny or debate the Shoah as an actual historical event, Holocaust studies matter. In a time when religious and cultural minorities face growing threats from white nationalists, Holocaust studies matter. History begs careful and sensitive inquiry and, through its analysis, teaches lessons in the present day that matter.”

In addition to campus groups, organizations such as the American Historical Association, the Islamic Society of Greater Youngstown and the Youngstown Area Jewish Federation have asked the university to restore Labendz’s position.

The historians’ letter to YSU, for instance, says that the university “has so far made no announcement regarding how (or even if) it intends to continue the center or use its endowment. Given this center’s various roles within and beyond the university, diminishing its activities runs counter to YSU’s stated commitment to greater community engagement and to improving diversity, equity and inclusion.”

The letter also questions that the decision to shrink core liberal arts departments such as history, calling it an “especially odd move at a time when civic leaders from all corners of the political landscape have lamented the level of historical knowledge of American citizens. In addition, overwhelming evidence shows that employers seek the kind of skills a history degree can provide.”

Wednesday’s protest is one of several that students, alumni and faculty members have planned since YSU announced plans in November to lay off at least nine full-time professors, some of them tenured, and shutter 26 academic programs. YSU engaged with Gray Associates, a program evaluation and data analytics firm, prior to making these cuts, and has said that 10 affected programs “have no students and three others have just one. In all, about 90 students—less than 1 percent of all YSU students—are enrolled in the programs that will be eliminated.”

During the academic review, programs were grouped into five viability categories, from “Grow+” to “Sunset.” Labendz’s center wasn’t part of the review process, but history, his home department, was designated a “growth” category. It remains unclear to him and his supporters why he was targeted for nonrenewal.
‘A Detriment to the Students and the Community’

Mustansir Mir, a tenured professor of Islamic studies at YSU, also received a notice of retrenchment last fall. Mir did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but he is referenced in a joint open letter to YSU from two local Islamic and Jewish groups, which also expresses support for Labendz. The letter says Mir is the only full-time faculty expert in religion remaining in the department of humanities and social sciences after previous faculty departures and that his loss “will mean the end of the study of religious traditions around the world at YSU, something that clearly will be a detriment to the students and the community at large.”

Studying the historical lessons of the Holocaust is “equally as crucial,” the joint letter continues. “During these perilous, polarized times, where we are seeing a substantial uptick in anti-Semitism, Islamophobia, and political misappropriation of Holocaust history, it is more vital now than ever that a pedagogically qualified historian be present on campus to teach about and direct programming on this material.”

Labendz, who attended the student-led rally in support of the center, said, “I do understand that the people running the university believe, in good faith, in the very big decisions they’re making for the university. But I’m hoping they make different ones. And I’m hoping that they involve faculty in a more meaningful way, moving forward.” Most of all, he said, “I just hope that the center can keep doing its work. [The center has] been around for decades and I’d like it to be around for decades more, particularly given what we’re seeing in the political arena today, which includes but is not limited to what are apparently increased manifestations of anti-Semitism and Islamophobia.”

He added, “We’ve had incidents in Youngstown, and I think we need to be prepared to not only talk about hatred, but to talk about the communities that are being targeted and spread awareness of what they’re like, what they value and what their histories are.”

Labendz will have the opportunity to appeal his layoff, but he said he’s not yet sure how to fight for his position when he’s only ever received positive reviews and kudos. His contract ends May 15, but he said the university has already agreed to let him stay on until the end of that month to hold a center symposium he’s planning.

YSU says that cutting Labendz, Mir and other professors and programs is necessary due to decreased enrollment—some 11 percent over all in three years—and a projected $10 million structural deficit next year. The university balanced the budget this year due to an influx of COVID-19–related funding, but it says it can’t count on that kind of help in the long run.

“While these are difficult decisions, they are necessary to further position us for success in the post-pandemic era,” President Jim Tressel said in a statement.

The university hasn’t declared financial exigency, however, which is academe’s widely followed standard—based on American Association of University Professors guidelines—for eliminating tenured professors. At the same time it is making cuts to academics, the university is increasing funding for athletics by some $885,000 to add three new Division I sports, buying land around campus and considering building a new student center, according to the National Education Association–affiliated faculty union. The group has asked for an audit of university finances, thus far unsuccessfully.

Mark Vopat, professor of philosophy at YSU and faculty union spokesperson, said, “We’re not saying that some of these programs didn’t need to be pared down. Some of them were done.” Yet “there are all these other places in the university where we’re not clear where the money is going, or what kind of cuts are being made.”

More than surplus academics, Vopat said that YSU suffers from “a lack of vision … A budget isn’t a vision.”

“Some of this seems to be happening without a vision for what the university is supposed to look like or going to look like,” Vopat continued. “Something like Judaic and Holocaust studies, and Islamic studies, for that matter—these are important issues right now, right?”

Citing news about public figures comparing wearing face masks or getting vaccinated against COVID-19 to elements of the Holocaust, Vopat said students need to learn precisely why such analogies are misguided.

“These are things students should have access to.”

US College Spends More on Marketing Than Financial Aid


By Suzanne Smalley
January 13, 2022

The largest private college in Michigan is a nonprofit that spends more on marketing than on financial aid and graduates fewer than a quarter of its students, according to a joint investigation from the Detroit Free Press and ProPublica that was published Wednesday.

Federal data shows that Baker College’s graduation rate is well below the national average for private four-year schools and is the third lowest among 26 private four-year schools in Michigan. Ten years after enrolling at Baker, fewer than half of former students made more than $28,000 a year.

Baker has an unusual oversight structure in which the university president also serves on the Board of Trustees, the Free Press and ProPublica reported. A retired Baker president served as the board chair until recently, earning more than $1 million a year for part-time work, the investigation showed. Boards are typically used to counterbalance university administrations and check their power, making the Baker arrangement highly unusual.

Baker officials told the Free Press and ProPublica that its open enrollment policy, under which it accepts most applicants with a high school degree or GED, is to blame for its low graduation rate. Baker has stressed its commitment to improving student outcomes and reducing debt but has not said how it does so, the Free Press and ProPublica reported.

Baker spent $9.7 million on marketing in the 2019–20 school year, which its president, Bart Daig, has previously said was justified because many of the programs Baker offers are not well-known.

Tony Blair: Iraqis 'disgusted' at knighthood being offered to war architect

A petition calling for the former prime minister to have his knighthood withdrawn has collected almost three quarters of a million signatures

Former Prime Minister Tony Blair speaks during a news conference in London on 6 July 2016, following the release of the Iraq Inquiry report (AFP)

By Alex MacDonald

Published date: 5 January 2022 

Iraqi campaigners and politicians have expressed their "disgust" at the decision by the British government to award a knighthood to former Prime Minister Tony Blair, citing his involvement in the 2003 invasion and subsequent occupation.

The anger comes as a petition launched in the UK calling for the former Labour leader to have the honour withdrawn reached over 700,000 signatures.

Blair has been accused of war crimes over his role in the invasion of Iraq, which toppled longtime ruler Saddam Hussein and led to hundreds of thousands of deaths, widespread internecine violence and ongoing instability in Iraq and beyond.

There was further anger on Wednesday after it was claimed by Blair's former defence secretary Geoff Hoon that he had been told to "burn" a memo from the British attorney general which cast doubt on the legality of the Iraq war.

Anti-war protesters march down Whitehall in London on 22 March 2003 to demonstrate against the invasion of Iraq by the United Kingdom and United States (AFP)

Rami al-Sakini, an Iraqi MP and member of the Foreign Relations Committee, told Middle East Eye that the knighthood should be withdrawn.

"Of course this is neither appropriate nor correct," said Sakini, who is an MP for the southern city of Basra, which fell under British administration following the invasion.

"Especially for Tony Blair, who participated in the occupation of Iraq and was a major reason for wasting the resources of this country."

Sakini, whose Sairoun party won the largest number of seats in Iraq's parliamentary elections last October, said giving Blair the title was effectively "honouring the violation" that was the Iraq war.

The actions of British forces in Basra have repeatedly come in for criticism with claims of willful killings, detainee abuse, and what the International Criminal Court has deemed "credible allegations of torture and rape".

Apart from the initial violence, many have argued that the subsequent chaos provoked by the invasion led to the rise of the Islamic State group, who capture vast swaths of Iraq and Syria in 2014 and have launched terror attacks around the world that have led to thousands of deaths.

Ali al-Baroodi, a teacher and campaigner in the former IS stronghold of Mosul - which was obliterated in 2017 in a foreign-backed campaign to defeat the militant group - told MEE that honouring Blair was "disgusting" referring to him as "B-Liar" as many anti-war campaigners have done.

"It's horrendous news to be honest," he said.

'A crime against humanity'

On Tuesday, Blair's successor as Labour Party leader, Keir Starmer, said that the former prime minister "deserves" to be knighted and cited a number of domestic reforms he introduced during his time in office, 1997-2007.

Speaking to ITV, Starmer said he understood many held "strong views" about the Iraq war, but said that this did "not detract from the fact that Tony Blair was a very successful prime minister of this country and made a huge difference to the lives of millions of people in this country.”

But for Iraqis, and many others across the globe, the 2003 invasion has come to be seen as an outrage.

Kamal Jabir, a politician with the Civil Democratic Alliance, and a former freedom fighter against Saddam Hussein in the 80s and 90s, said: "With millions of caring world citizens l stood firm in objecting the 2003 war against Iraq - I was hoping that Tony Blair as one of the young leaders of the Labour Party would have the courage and the wisdom not to follow [US President] George Bush’s wrong decision to invade Iraq using false and fabricated intelligence to justify an ugly and unfair war that paved the way to the rise of the present corrupt and Islamic extremist parties and gangs in Iraq."

'The 2003 war against Iraq was a crime against humanity - therefore Blair should be tried instead of getting rewarded'

- Kamal Jabir, Civil Democratic Alliance

Although Blair was leader of the Labour Party through three UK election victories, his reputation since leaving office has slumped heavily and continued scrutiny has been poured on the justification for the war.

The new revelations by Hoon, which come from his recently published memoirs, suggest that a "very long and very detailed legal opinion” from Attorney General Peter Goldsmith indicated that the invasion was on shaky legal ground.

“It was not exactly the ringing endorsement that the chief of the defence staff [Mike Boyce] was looking for, and in any event, I was not strictly allowed to show it to him or even discuss it with him,” wrote Hoon.

“Moreover, when my principal private secretary, Peter Watkins, called [Blair's chief of staff] Jonathan Powell in Downing St and asked what he should now do with the document, he was told in no uncertain terms that he should ‘burn it’.”

He said the legal document was not burned, but eventually locked away in a Ministry of Defence safe and is "probably still there."

A poll released by the British polling agency YouGov on Tuesday suggested the UK public was overwhelmingly opposed to the former premier being knighted.

According to the poll, 62 percent of the public either "tend to" or "strongly" disapprove of Blair receiving the honour, with only 14 percent in favour.

Meanwhile, 56 percent of Labour Party voters also disapproved.

Jabir told MEE that virtually the entire political establishment in the UK and US now accepted that the war had been wrong and that the damage caused in "wasted" lives had been incalculable.

"The 2003 war against Iraq was a crime against humanity - therefore Blair should be tried instead of getting rewarded," he said.

"Looks like the moral compass among the leaders in the UK is fading away like every other country in the world."

Shark Attacks More Likely During Full Moon, Study Finds

BY ROBYN WHITE ON 1/13/22 

Sharks are more likely to attack humans during a full moon, a study has found.

While the exact cause for this remains unclear, the research shows a clear connection between a shark's behavior and the lunar phase.

The scientists, from the University of Florida and Louisiana State University, used shark attack data between 1970-2016 from across the globe to test for a relationship between shark attacks and the full moon. Their findings are published in the Frontiers in Marine Science.

A series of tests were run across shark attacks that occurred in North America (1,095 attacks), Australia (307 attacks), Africa (280 attacks), and the Pacific Ocean Islands (260 attacks). These four groups were selected based on having more than 100 reported shark attacks in their coastal waters.

Findings confirmed that more shark attacks "than were expected" occurred when lunar illumination was more than 50 percent, while all instances of fewer shark attacks than expected happened at less than 50 percent.

A full moon occurs at 100 percent illumination.

"Anytime an observed number of shark attacks was significantly lower than the expected number, it was during very low lunar illumination, whereas anytime an observed number of shark attacks was significantly higher than the expected number, it was during high lunar illumination phases," the study said.

Great white sharks in particular, were found to have attacked less when the lunar illumination was between 0 percent and 10 percent.

Researchers have found a link between the lunar phases and shark attack risk.

"If lunar light indeed has a direct effect on shark behavior, the significant moon phase effect detected for white sharks may be explained by this species' habit of feeding mostly at or near the water surface, targeting meso- and epipelagic prey items," the study said.

Shark attacks are incredibly rare, however according to the research it is "well-documented" that more occur when the moon is in a fuller phase.

In 2020, the International Shark Attack File, run by Florida Museum, recorded 129 shark-human interactions. This included 57 unprovoked attacks, 10 of which were fatal. Three of these were in the U.S., six in Australia and one in Saint Martin.

"Our findings contribute to a fuller understanding of shark behavior, which may help risk management in the future," the study said. "Ultimately, moon phase and lunar illumination will not likely be a strong predictor that alone can forecast risk of shark attack. Local environmental variables are expected to continue to be more practical information for assessing risk.

"However, the results here strongly support the idea that moon phase does play a role in overall risk of shark attack, and if future studies are able to consider local and regional environmental conditions along with lunar illumination, both understating shark attacks and forecasting risk may improve."

The research concludes that while preventing all shark attacks worldwide remains an "unlikely goal," a continued understanding of shark biology, ecology, and environmental interactions should help to develop better estimates of attack risk.

US to return looted Veiled Head of a Female antiquity to Libya

$1.2m piece had been stolen from a tomb in north African country and bought by billionaire Michael Steinhardt

'Veiled Head of a Female', a marble antiquity dating back to 350 BCE

 valued at about $1.2 million. Handout

Ahmed Maher

Jan 13, 2022

American prosecutors and law enforcement officers have announced they are to return an ancient antiquity to Libya after investigators concluded that smugglers had stolen the marble artefact from its country of origin.

“It is with great pleasure that we are returning the Veiled Head of a Female back to the nation of Libya, from where it was looted during civil unrest,” said Erik Rosenblatt, deputy special agent in charge at Homeland Security Investigations in New York.

“Though this antiquity has a monetary value of more than $1.2 million, it is the historical and sentimental value of the antiquities that renders it priceless to the people of Libya.”

READ MORE

Chastised US tycoon returns $70m of looted antiquities from Iraq, Lebanon and beyond

A long investigation last month concluded that New York billionaire Michael H Steinhardt bought the antiquity in 2000. It came from a tomb in the ancient city of Cyrene, modern day Shahhat, in north-eastern Libya.

Prosecutors have worked over the past five years with investigators from several countries including Iraq, Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Israel, Turkey and Lebanon.

They said Mr Steinhardt – whose net worth is estimated by Forbes to be $1.2 billion – has owned and traded more than 1,000 antiquities since 1987 and his art collection has been valued at about $200m.

American billionaire Michael Steinhardt has agreed to turn over $70 million worth of stolen antiquities and will be subject to an unprecedented lifetime ban on acquiring such items. AP

His lawyers said he agreed to surrender 180 stolen antiquities valued at $70m. Mr Steinhardt, 81, from Brooklyn, has been banned for life from acquiring antiquities.

“I’m committed to ensuring transactions in the art industry are legal and those peddling in stolen or looted antiquities are shut down," Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said. "While the million-dollar price-tag on this relic is impressive, you can’t put a price on a country’s cultural heritage.

The Veiled Head of a Female is the first object of the looted collection from 11 countries to be repatriated.

A Neolithic mask (C) loaned by Michael Steinhardt is displayed at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem. AP

The antiquities had been trafficked for years by 12 illicit networks and appeared on the international art market without legal paperwork.

New York state laws allow prosecutors to return stolen property such as antiquities to its rightful owners irrespective of when the theft took place.

The US is one of the first countries to sign and ratify the 1970 Unesco Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property.

Unesco estimates the illegal trading in antiquities and cultural valuables rakes is worth about $10bn a year.

Updated: January 13th 2022, 2:18 AM

PRACTICE RUN

Ransomware attack locks down US prison

There was no information about who was behind the cyberattack, or what their demands were.

By AFP News January 13, 2022

A ransomware attack locked down a US jail, knocking out security cameras and leaving inmates confined to their cells, court documents show.

Cyber attackers hacked into the computer system that controls servers and internet access at the prison in Bernalillo County, New Mexico last week.

For a short time, the jail's automatic door system was knocked out, meaning staff at the Metropolitan Detention Center (MDC) had to manually unlock each cell when detainees needed to get out for exercise or recreation.

"The lack of camera coverage... creates a significant security concern for the safety of staff and inmates during out of cell time," a court filing from January 6 says.

"This means inmates, even inmates in general population, are temporarily limited to their cells.

"Inmates will still be removed from their cells for medical care, but they will not receive unstructured 'time-out.'"

The jail was just one facility affected by the cyberattack, which also felled services across Bernalillo, New Mexico's most populous county.


Ransomware attacks are thought to cost US companies billions of dollars a year Photo: AFP / OLIVIER DOULIERY

A news release dated January 10 said the county continued to be affected by "cyber issues," including the issuing of marriage licenses, voter registration and real estate transactions.

"The public is being asked to understand the gravity of this ransomware issue and that, at this time, county services are still limited," the release said.

AFP was unsuccessful in attempts to contact the prison.

There was no information about who was behind the cyberattack, or what their demands were.

Ransomware attacks, where a hacker takes data from the victim or takes control of a computer system until a ransom is paid, are becoming increasingly common as more official and commercial business is conducted online.

The United States last year offered a $10 million reward for help finding the leaders of the "Darkside" gang, a Russia-based outfit Washington blames for an assault that shut down one of the country's largest oil pipelines.

More than half a billion dollars in ransomware-related payments were reported to US authorities in the first half of 2021 alone, though the true cost is thought to be considerably higher.

Companies and institutions face intense pressure to pay up in order to get their data unlocked, but also to keep the attack from potentially angry clients and authorities who issue stern warnings not to give cash to criminals.

 Document showing KLA’s efforts to join forces with US during WWII uncovered

Posted on : Jan.13,2022 17:41 KST Modified on : Jan.13,2022 

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The document, authored in 1942, illustrates the Korean Provisional Government’s concerted efforts to reach out to the US

Korean Liberation Army Chief of Staff Lee Beom-seok (second row, center) and other members of the KLA's 2nd Company. (provided by the Ministry of Patriots and Veterans Affairs)

South Korea’s Ministry of Patriots and Veterans Affairs announced Tuesday that it had uncovered the first official proposal for a military coalition between Korea and the US that was drafted during World War II by the Korean Liberation Army (KLA), the army of the Korean Provisional Government.

The document takes the form of a 10-page report composed on June 3, 1942, by KLA Chief of Staff Lee Beom-seok with the intent of sending it to the US federal government. It vividly illustrates how the KLA aggressively sought to reach out to the US and join forces with it after fighting began in the Pacific theater.

The document in question describes in detail the necessity of Korean independence, the KLA’s mission, the role the KLA could play in the Pacific theater of the war, and what matters would need to be negotiated with the US.

“This document is of great significance since it’s an official document produced by the Korean Liberation Army that shows the army’s initial attempt to make diplomatic contact with the US and offer to take part in the war,” the Ministry of Patriots and Veterans Affairs explained.

The document states that the KLA, as the military arm of the Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea, would “form the basis of the national army of Korea following the future establishment of an independent state.”

“The KLA’s mission is to achieve not only Korean independence but also peace for humanity alongside the Allies,” it reads.

One revelation in the document is the concrete proposal it makes for a military coalition with the US. “The KLA will deploy its forces in the Pacific War and with American aid will form Korean guerilla units in China that can roil the Japanese army at its rear.”

The document mentions specific aspects of carrying out the war that the KLA needed to negotiate with the US including “the size of the deployment, the place of operations, transportation and logistics, chain of command, and the issue of supply,” showing how seriously the KLA had explored forging a military coalition with the US in World War II.

In the document, shown in part here, Lee Beom-seok listed the items that Korea needed to negotiate with the US including “the size of the deployment, the place of operations, transportation and logistics, chain of command, and the issue of supply.” (provided by the Ministry of Patriots and Veterans Affairs)

“This document shows specifically that figures in the Korean Provisional Government, the Korean Liberation Army and the Korean Commission in the US tried to set up a military coalition with the US during the war in the Pacific,” said Jung Byung-joon, a professor of contemporary Korean history at Ewha Womans University.

“This is a rare document, the first of its kind to be discovered in Korea or elsewhere. It is therefore of great historical significance,” said Kim Gwang-jae, a researcher with the National Institute of Korean History who researches the KLA.

“We plan to analyze the papers of George McAfee McCune, which contain a detailed record of the activities of the US Office of Strategic Services, to identify more Koreans who contributed to the cause of independence. Moving forward, we will release more documents related to the independence movement that remain unknown in Korea,” the Ministry of Patriots and Veterans Affairs said.

This document was one of many donated by George McAfee McCune to the Center for Korean Studies at the University of Hawai’i. It was uncovered by the ministry last December as part of a project to collect records about the independence movement outside of Korea.

George McAfee McCune was the son of George Shannon McCune, an American missionary and freedom fighter who was awarded the Order of Merit for National Foundation, Independent Medal, in 1963. The younger McCune came to possess documents related to the Korean independence movement while serving as a Korean expert at the US Office of Strategic Services and the State Department during World War II.

By Kwon Hyuk-chul, staff reporter

Please direct questions or comments to [english@hani.co.kr]

NO HONOUR IN IT
On the prowl: Mali child cat hunters honour age-old tradition

Author: AFP|Update: 14.01.2022 

Their weapon of choice is a crate-like wooden trap, which contains a piece of mutton as bait and can be pulled closed with a piece of string / © AFP

Fifteen-year-old Kadi Ben Wahab puffs out his chest and poses for a photo with several friends, before setting off to hunt cats in northern Mali's Timbuktu.

As part of an age-old tradition in the city, in the desert north of the troubled Sahel state, Kadi and his band of hunters hit the streets after dark in order to trap, skin and cook cats.

They dance and sing after a successful hunt, throwing the skins of their prey over the electric cables that hang over the alleyways.

"I killed this one a few days ago," says Kadi, pointing to a cat skin hanging nearby -- not an uncommon sight in Timbuktu.

The boy says he is the best cat hunter in his neighbourhood and, as such, is the leader of his gang.

Timbuktu children also use torches to hunt, and kill their feline prey with clubs / © AFP

The children standing beside him are between six and 12 years old.

Despite their nighttime escapades, they lead otherwise ordinary lives: going to school during the day and eating dinner with their families in the evening.

But after dinner they often sneak out to hunt cats -- always targeting neighbourhoods other than their own.

Their weapon of choice is a crate-like wooden trap, which contains a piece of mutton as bait and can be pulled closed with a piece of string.

But Timbuktu children also use torches so they can hunt and kill their feline prey with clubs. Others use dogs.

© AFP

Bemused adults allow the children to use cooking utensils so that they can cook their kill.

The unusual pastime offers children an escape in an otherwise tough environment: landlocked and conflict-torn Mali is one of the poorest nations in the world.

Compounding the shortage of distractions from the daily grind, Timbuktu is in Mali's volatile north, where a jihadist insurgency has raged since 2012.

- 'The best hunter' -

None of the Timbuktu residents interviewed by AFP were able to date the origin of the city's cat-hunting tradition, although several cast it as a rite of passage for boys.

The unusual pastime offers children an outlet in an otherwise tough environment / © AFP

The practice nonetheless appears to be older than living memory.

Timbuktu poet Sane Chirfi said that after one of his octogenarian relatives had died, an old cat trap was found in his possession.

"It goes back a very, very long time," he said.

"It's impossible to find anyone in town who didn't hunt cats as a child."

Another Timbuktu writer, Salem Ould El Hadj, told AFP that he ate cats as a child "like any other Timbuktu citizen".

However, poet Chirfi said that aspects of the tradition are being lost.

Once, only runaways or strays were hunted. Nowadays, hunters target domestic pets too.

Bemused adults allow the children to use cooking utensils so that they can cook their kill / © AFP

Abdoulaye Sow, a man in his twenties who is from the same neighbourhood as Kadi, said that he had lost his own pet cat Pipo to the hunters two months ago.

"It didn't stand a chance", he said, adding that his pet was likely hard to kill.

Despite the violent loss of his feline companion, there appeared to be no hard feelings.

"It's just the way it is," said Sow, shrugging his shoulders, before pointing out that kids from his own neighbourhood killed cats belonging to others.

One need only look up, he said, to see the dozen or so cats that Kadi's gang had hung on the nearby cables in recent weeks.

"He's the best hunter".