THEOCRACTIC STATE
Guatemala Congress ramps up prison sentence for abortion, bans gay marriage

Henry MORALES ARANA
Wed, 9 March 2022, 


People protest to demand greater rights for women in Guatemala on International Women's Day 

(AFP/Johan ORDONEZ)

Guatemala's conservative-led Congress approved on Tuesday a law ramping up the prison sentence for women who choose to have an abortion, while banning both gay marriage and teaching on sexual diversity.

The so-called Life and Family Protection Law punishes women who "have induced their own abortion or given their consent to another person to carry it out" with 10 years behind bars -- more than three times the current sentence of three years.

The bill, set to come into law once President Alejandro Giammattei signs it, was passed by Congress on International Women's Day.

It also punishes anyone who induces an abortion without a woman's consent with up to 50 years in prison.

Abortion is only authorized in Guatemala when there is a threat to the mother's life.

"While other countries continue to approve pro-abortion laws as well as laws that lead to the deterioration of the original concept of the family, this initiative has now become an important law for Guatemalan society," said right-wing Congressman Armando Castillo, a key defender of the law.

But others were more critical.

"Losing a pregnancy is devastating, and this law automatically turns a woman into a suspect even as she mourns her loss. They are criminalizing and penalizing miscarriages and that is dangerous," center-left congresswoman Lucrecia Hernandez said.

- Same-sex marriage banned -

The bill introduces a reform to the Civil Code, which will now "expressly prohibit same-sex marriages" in Guatemala.

It would also ban public and private teaching initiatives on sexual diversity, which it describes as "promoting in children and teenagers policies or programs that tend to lead to diversion from their sexual identities at birth."

Those who promoted the law have said that there are "minority groups of the Guatemalan society" that propose "models of conduct... different from the natural order of marriage and family, which represent a threat to the moral balance of our society."

Left-wing Congressman Walter Felix denounced the law as "absolutely discriminatory", and said it "incites hate."

"The human rights of significant parts of the population are being violated," Felix said.

Congresswoman Hernandez also described the law as "unconstitutional," adding that it will stigmatize people and spark "intolerance" in society.

"This law should really be called a law to imprison and kill women. It is one of the most brazen things they are doing in this Legislature, and on top of it all, they are doing it on Women's Day," said center-left Congressman Samuel Perez.

-'Silly ideas' -

After the bill passed, Human Rights Ombudsman Jordan Rodas said that the law "violates" international conventions signed by Guatemala, and announced a battle to have it declared illegal by the Constitutional Court, the highest in the country.

"We are going to file an action of unconstitutionality so that this (law) has no effect", said Rodas.

Tens of thousands of people took to the streets worldwide on International Women's Day to demand more rights, among them the possibility of deciding whether to have an abortion.

In Guatemala, hundreds hit the streets of the capital calling for an end to violence and corruption, and demanding justice as they marked five years since 41 girls died in a fire at a state-run shelter.

As a small group of women staged a protest outside Congress, right-wing Congresswoman Patricia Sandoval defended the law.

"Don't let them give us silly ideas. This law is constitutional, it is viable, and it is the blessing of God," she said.

hma/mva/mas/ser/dva/ssy

Ernest Shackleton’s ship Endurance found off coast of Antarctica

Expedition team locates wreckage of explorer’s ship which sank in Weddell Sea in 1915


Endurance: Shackleton's ship found 107 years after sinking in Antarctic – video

PA Media Wed 9 Mar 2022

The wreck of Sir Ernest Shackleton’s ship has been found off the coast of Antarctica, according to the Falklands Maritime Heritage Trust.

Endurance had not been seen since it was crushed by ice and sank in the Weddell Sea in 1915, and last month the Endurance22 Expedition set off from Cape Town, South Africa, a month after the 100th anniversary of Shackleton’s death on a mission to locate it.

Endurance was found at a depth of 3,008 metres and approximately four miles south of the position originally recorded by the ship’s captain, Frank Worsley, the trust said.

Dr John Shears, the expedition leader, said: “The Endurance22 expedition has reached its goal. We have made polar history with the discovery of Endurance, and successfully completed the world’s most challenging shipwreck search.

“In addition, we have undertaken important scientific research in a part of the world that directly affects the global climate and environment.

The deck of the wrecked Endurance. Photograph: Falklands Maritime Heritage Trust/National Georgraphic/PA

“We have also conducted an unprecedented educational outreach programme, with live broadcasting from on board, allowing new generations from around the world to engage with Endurance22 and become inspired by the amazing stories of polar exploration, and what human beings can achieve and the obstacles they can overcome when they work together.”

The expedition’s director of exploration said footage of Endurance showed it to be intact and “by far the finest wooden shipwreck” he has seen.

Mensun Bound said: “We are overwhelmed by our good fortune in having located and captured images of Endurance.

“This is by far the finest wooden shipwreck I have ever seen. It is upright, well proud of the seabed, intact, and in a brilliant state of preservation. You can even see ‘Endurance’ arced across the stern, directly below the taffrail. This is a milestone in polar history.

“However, it is not all about the past; we are bringing the story of Shackleton and Endurance to new audiences, and to the next generation, who will be entrusted with the essential safeguarding of our polar regions and our planet.

“We hope our discovery will engage young people and inspire them with the pioneering spirit, courage and fortitude of those who sailed Endurance to Antarctica. We pay tribute to the navigational skills of Captain Frank Worsley, the captain of the Endurance, whose detailed records were invaluable in our quest to locate the wreck.”

Historian and broadcaster Dan Snow said the wreck was in an “astonishing state of preservation”.

He tweeted: “The wreck is coherent, in an astonishing state of preservation. The Antarctic seabed does not have any wood eating micro organisms, the water has the clarity of distilled water. We were able to film the wreck in super high definition. The results are magical Endurance22.”

He added that nothing had been retrieved from the wreck: “Nothing was touched on the wreck. Nothing retrieved. It was surveyed using the latest tools and its position confirmed. It is protected by the Antarctic Treaty. Nor did we wish to tamper with it.”

 

The ship's helm has remained intact after more than a century underwater Esther HORVATH Falklands Maritime Heritage Trust/AFP

 

The expedition left Cape Town on February 5 with a South African icebreaker Esther HORVATH Falklands Maritime Heritage Trust/AFP

Mosul's Old City rises from rubble in war-scarred Iraq

Beneath what remains of the 12th-century Al-Hadba minaret, builders work on a project to revive Mosul's Old City, reduced to rubble during Iraq's battle to retake the city from jihadists.© Zaid AL-OBEIDI An Iraqi architect exits a traditional house during renovations in the Old Town of Mosul, which was reduced to rubble during fighting to expel jihadists

© Zaid AL-OBEIDI In the maze of houses that make up the historic district, visitors gasp in awe at elegant alabaster walls with Ottoman-inspired motifs overlooking courtyards, such as this one under renovation

Mosques, churches and century-old houses are being brought back to life in the northern metropolis, which the Islamic State group seized as its stronghold before being pushed out in mid-2017

.

© Zaid AL-OBEIDI The Al-Nuri mosque, and what remains of the leaning minaret, are among the renovation projects in UNESCO's "Revive the Spirit of Mosul" initiative

"Al-Hadba is the icon of Mosul, the symbol of the city," said Omar Taqa, a supervising engineer with UNESCO, the United Nations heritage body which has launched several projects to restore the city's landmarks.

The minaret was featured on Iraqi 10,000-dinar banknotes before the jihadists flew their black flag from the top of its 45-metre (49 yards) spire.

IS chief Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi made his only confirmed public appearance in July 2014 at the Al-Nuri mosque, where he declared the establishment of a "caliphate".

Three years later Iraq's army and a US-led international coalition had forced the jihadists out of Iraq's second city. The Al-Nuri mosque, and the adjacent leaning minaret -- nicknamed Al-Hadba or the "hunchback" -- were destroyed in June 2017 during the battle to take back the city

.

© Zaid AL-OBEIDI Al-Tahira church is also being restored

Iraqi authorities had accused IS of planting explosives there before their withdrawal.

"We found 11 mines there, ready to be activated," said Taqa. "Some were hidden inside walls."

Only the central area of the mosque remains, its dome propped up on arches supported by wooden wedges. Atop the columns of grey marble, traces of blue enhance the adjoining capitals.

© Zaid AL-OBEIDI Iraqi architects sit inside a renovated traditional house -- more than 40 are almost finished

As for Al-Hadba, only its base remains standing, protected by a sheet of tarpaulin. Having removed about 5,600 tonnes of rubble, the reconstruction of the minaret begins in mid-March -- retaining its tilt -- while work on the mosque is due to begin in the summer.

By the end of 2023, the site should be ready.

- 'Revive the Spirit' -

While awaiting reconstruction, the more fragile parts of the structures are kept in a warehouse.

These include fragments of the Mihrab, a niche indicating the direction of Mecca for worshippers, as well as pieces of the Minbar, from where the sermon is delivered and Baghdadi made his declaration in 2014.

Around 45,000 terracotta bricks from the original minaret -- about a third of those that made up the structure -- are lined up on shelves to be reused, Taqa explained.

Discoveries are still being made at the site, where in January a 12th-century prayer room was found under the mosque.

The UN agency raised $110 million for its "Revive the Spirit of Mosul" initiative, largely financed by the United Arab Emirates and the European Union.

Al-Tahira and Our Lady of the Hour churches also set to be revived, as well as about 120 houses and the local school in the Old City.

Local contractors are handling the construction which has created 3,100 jobs. About half of those are for young people who have been trained in heritage and building restoration, UNESCO said.

Azhar, 48, once sold fruit on a cart in the Old City, before joining the workforce to rebuild Al-Nuri.

"The houses, the streets, were destroyed. The people were displaced to camps," the father of five said, declining to give his family name.

"Everyone has suffered. There are those who lost relatives, those who lost their homes, their shops, their cars."

Some wounds remain close to the surface. Azhar's wife died during the battle for Mosul, but he cannot bring himself to speak of her.

- Elegant alabaster -

In the city, normality has begun to return. There are signs of a fledgling cultural revival, with libraries and museums reopening.

Even as buildings in the Old City lie half-collapsed, coffee shops, workshops and bakers have reopened their doors. At the bend in an alley, women buy their vegetables steps away from workers mixing concrete.

Rows of houses edge closer to complete restoration, some of them between 100 and 150 years old. In the maze of houses that make up the historic district, visitors gasp in awe at elegant alabaster walls with Ottoman-inspired motifs overlooking courtyards.

"There are 44 houses that are practically finished. They will be turned over at the end of March," engineer Mostafa Nadhim told AFP. Another 75 are to be completed this year.

The project will also see the rehabilitation of infrastructure including "electric cables, street lights, water pipes and pavements", Nadhim added.

Ikhlas Salim, who moved back into her home just a few months ago, heats up a lunchtime meal for her two sons. They work on nearby reconstruction sites.

When she first returned to her home, it was in ruins, but she said its restoration has had a "therapeutic" effect.

"It's my grandparents' house," the 55-year-old said. "At first, we had lost hope of coming back."

tgg/jsa/it/jfx

Protesters rally as Australian PM tours flood disaster

Author: AFP| Update: 09.03.2022


A woman kayaks with her dog around her flooded neighbourhood in the Windsor suburb of Sydney / © AFP

Scores of protesters in a flood-wrecked city in eastern Australia vented their fury Wednesday as Prime Minister Scott Morrison visited the heart of the disaster zone.

Demonstrators demanded more help and stronger climate action as Morrison toured Lismore, which endured some of the worst flooding in a near two-week deluge along the east coast that has killed at least 21 people.

"We need help!" protesters chanted as Morrison visited the city.

Many held placards with messages blaming the climate crisis including: "Coal and gas did this" and "This is what climate change looks like."

After the second major floods in a year, chunks of rubble and discarded, water-damaged furniture were piled high along the city's streets.

Many people had to clamber onto their corrugated metal roofs to escape the fast-rising water last week as floods peaked in the city in northern New South Wales.

A used car showroom is seen inundated by floodwaters from the Hawkesbury River in the Windsor suburb of Sydney / © AFP

Some waited for hours to be rescued by locally improvised boat patrols, emergency services vessels or army helicopters as the waters surged around them.

Floodwaters across much of the east coast retreated as rainfall eased Wednesday, but major flood warnings were still in force in some areas including at the Hawkesbury River west of Sydney.

- 'Hard to live in' -

Evacuation orders affecting about 40,000 people in New South Wales were in force in the morning. More than 90,000 people had been allowed to return to their homes.

The death toll from the east coast deluge rose to 21 as police discovered the body of a 50-year-old delivery truck driver in floodwaters in Sydney's west.

Facing pointed questions at a news conference in the city, Morrison defended his government's climate record by stressing its commitment to achieving net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.

"We are dealing with a different climate to the one we were dealing with before. I think that's just an obvious fact," Morrison said. "And Australia is getting hard to live in because of these disasters."

Morrison, who faces an election by the end of May, has underscored his support for coal-fired power stations to provide cheap electricity throughout their lifespans.

Residents steer boats around flooded houses next to the old Windsor Bridge along the overflowing Hawkesbury River near Sydney / © AFP

Even as the floodwaters retreat, the scars on the landscape are widespread.

In Narrabeen, on Sydney's northern beaches, the rains caused landslides that cleaved chunks out of the hillside along residential streets.

Cleaning crews tried to clear away the mud and fallen trees on Wednesday.

- 'Like a bomb' -

"We've never seen it like this before and we have been here 25 years," resident Stephanie Brown said, walking along a muddy road with the family dog.

Her husband, Craig Brown, said a waterfall behind their house had been transformed into a torrent on Tuesday.

A lamp post is seen submerged in the floodwaters / © AFP

"The water that was coming down the side of the house was so strong that I had to hold on to a tree... it was bad," he told AFP.

Mid-morning, the cliff behind his neighbours' house gave way, crashing into the backyard.

"We just heard this massive noise, it was like a bomb going off," Brown said, estimating that 20-30 tonnes of soil, trees and rock had collapsed.

In Vineyard, in Sydney's west, floodwaters swirled near the roof of Paul Dimech's house after a nearby creek transformed into a lake.

"Usually all the neighbours have horses in the paddocks, and now it is just an ocean," he told AFP.

In response to the crisis, the prime minister said people in the hardest-hit areas of northern New South Wales would receive triple the normal disaster payments.

The government is already providing Aus$1,000 ($US730) for adults and Aus$400 for each child affected by the floods.

This was in addition to other measures including Aus$1 billion for grants being provided jointly by the federal government and the states of New South Wales and Queensland, he said.

Morrison, who has just emerged from a week's isolation after contracting Covid-19, said he planned to ask Australia's governor-general to declare a national emergency on Friday, a measure designed to cut red tape in response to crises.

Australia has been at the sharp end of climate change, with droughts, deadly bushfires, bleaching events on the Great Barrier Reef and floods becoming more common and intense as global weather patterns change.

Australia to declare fatal floods a national emergency

Australia is set to declare a state of national emergency after floods on the country's east coast claimed 22 lives. The new status means flood victims can receive aid quicker.

People had to use boats and flotillas in the town of Lismore last week

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said he would recommend a national emergency be declared after recent floods across large parts of the east coast took 22 lives. Morrison announced the news during a visit to Lismore, New South Wales, where flooding killed four people last week.

“I intend to recommend to the Governor-General to make a National Emergency Declaration covering this severe weather and flooding event across New South Wales and Queensland to ensure all our emergency powers are available and that we cut through any red tape we might face in delivering services and support on the ground," Morrison said in a statement.

What does the state of emergency change?

The declaration was made possible by a new law passed in late 2020 following the devastating Australian bushfires in the previous Southern Hemisphere summer. Some of the flooded communities in the current emergency were battling wildfires two years ago.

The new status means flood victims can bypass providing identification documents to receive support payments. Under some circumstances, the federal government will also be allowed to act independently in areas where state governments hadn’t asked for assistance.

Natural disasters making life harder in Australia

While touring the worst-hit areas of New South Wales, Morrison said on Wednesday, "Australia is becoming a harder country to live in because of these natural disasters."

Floodwaters reached their peak in Queensland’s capital, Brisbane, Australia's third-most populous city, on February 28 after it was inundated by 80% of its usual annual rainfall in the previous three days.

More than 20,000 homes and businesses had been flooded in southeast Queensland alone and 13 people died.

Flood victim Lauraine Ormondpictured outside her house in the suburbs of Goodna, Queensland

Parts of New South Wales' capital, Sydney, Australia’s most populous city, were flooded after receiving almost 75% of its average annual rainfall since January 1, enduring the wettest start to a year ever recorded. Some communities witnessed the highest floods ever recorded in their locations.

Morrison called the flooding "a major catastrophe ... of national proportions."

In the past week, the government has paid out around AU$385 million (€253 million, $281 million) to flood victims nationally with plans to increase aid in Lismore, one of the hardest-hit towns, to provide food and shelter and other support services.

Frustrated residents

But many flood victims are angry that rescue by authorities didn't come earlier and relief efforts were not enough. If it hadn’t been for community members, "we would have been seeing a death toll in the hundreds of people,'' emergency management spokesperson Murray Watt told Australian Broadcasting Corp.

"While people are grateful for the assistance they've had from the army, there's just nowhere near enough of it," Watt added.

Although rainfall has now calmed, 40,000 people around New South Wales had been ordered to evacuate their homes, including dozens in Sydney.

On Wednesday, New South Wales' death toll climbed to nine as police found the body of a 50-year-old truck driver in floodwater in Sydney's outskirts.

In Cabarita, New South Wales, the floods blocked roads

The local Northern Beaches Mayor Michael Regan said some areas of Sydney had been hit with sudden flash floods and multiple landslips on Tuesday, with debris still blocking many roads on Wednesday.

"Yesterday was bizarre. It was intense. It was biblical,'' Regan told Nine Network television.

'The water is rising, no more compromising'

Morrison, who is lagging in polls ahead of an election before May, kept media away from his meetings with flood victims, which he said was to protect their privacy.

Meanwhile, television footage showed some people gathered in front of an emergency operations center Morrison visited, yelling, "The water is rising, no more compromising" and "fossil fuel floods."

Late last year, the prime minister's conservative government adopted a net-zero carbon emissions target by 2050, but climate activists are demanding more aggressive action.

fh/sms AFP, Reuters

Tens of thousands flee Sydney as Australia’s deadly floods continue

Flood warnings stretched across Australia's east coast on Tuesday and tens of thousands of Sydney residents fled their homes overnight as torrential rains again pummelled the country's largest city, causing flash floods.

© via REUTERS - Stringer

A man and a woman were found dead on Tuesday near an abandoned car in a stormwater canal in western Sydney, authorities said, while Queensland police confirmed the death of a man missing in floods since Feb. 27, taking the death tally to 20 since the deluge began. Most people were found dead either in flooded homes or in cars attempting to cross flooded roads.

Bureau of Meteorology forecaster Dean Narramore said minor to major flooding was occurring from the Queensland to Victoria border, a distance of more than 1,555 kilometres (966 miles).

"A tough 24 hours or even 48 hours ahead," Narramore said during a media briefing on Tuesday as he forecast up to 120 mm (5 inches) of rains across Sydney over the next 24 hours, with the storm expected to clear by late Wednesday.

Heavy rains lashed Sydney overnight with some suburbs receiving up to 200 mm since Monday morning, exceeding March's mean rainfall of around 140 mm, triggering flash flooding and snap evacuation orders in the southwest of the city.



Television footage showed flooded roads and homes and stranded cars, as well as the collapse of a city supermarket roof.

Emergency services estimate around 70,000-80,000 people in Greater Sydney face evacuation orders, and urged people to follow them.

"People make decisions based on past history and I think this event has shown that there is no past history similar to this event," New South Wales Emergency Service Commissioner Carlene York told reporters.

Frustration was growing among many flood-hit residents as they struggled to clear debris and sludge, with power and internet still down in several towns. Authorities fear even more rain will hamper relief efforts as emergency crews look to clear roads to deliver essential supplies.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison, who is trailing in polls ahead of a federal election due by May, said on Monday more defence force personnel were being sent to flood-affected areas.

(REUTERS)

Where has been hit by Australia’s ‘once-in-a-century’ floods?

Zoe Tidman
Thu., March 3, 2022,
Tens of thousands have been forced to flee their homes in Australia as a deadly storm swept through the country.

The country has been hit by days of torrential rain and flooding, with at least thirteen people being killed to date.

It has been described as a “once-in-a-century event” and the worst disaster to hit since 2011.

Here is what we know about the extreme weather gripping Australia so far:
Where has been hit?

The storm has been focused on eastern Australia, making its way down from Queensland down into New South Wales.

Lismore, a city just south of Brisbane, has been particularly badly-hit, with at least four people dying from the extreme weather. Three bodies were found in submerged homes, while another was found floating in the flooded town centre.

Areas of Brisbane, the third-most populous city in Australia, were submerged earlier this week, with thousands of properties flooded.

An abandoned car is seen in floodwaters in the suburb of Newmarket in Brisbane 

(AFP /AFP via Getty Images)

Late Wednesday, the Bureau of Meterology Australia said a “dangerous and life threatening situation” was unfolding in central New South Wales coast as it issued flood warnings.

This included Sydney, which braced for flooding and heavy rainfall on Wednesday night and Thursday morning.

Grant McPherson removes debris from his flood-affected car mechanic business in Lismore (Getty Images)

What has the impact been?

Town centres have been submerged, homes washed away and power disrupted during the storm.

At least thirteen people have been killed as of Wednesday.

The death toll of four in Lismore in New South Wales is expected to increase as police carry out checks on houses. Queensland has also seen deaths - including a 60-year-old whose car was submerged on the Sunshine Coast.

Tens of thousands have been forced to evacuate their homes, while families spent hours on the roofs of their properties in flooded Lismore.

Thousands of properties have been destroyed across eastern Austrlia.

Trasport networks have also been disrupted. At one point, residents and horses were left stranded on a bridge after water submerged both ends.

Discarded furniture outside a flood affected property in Lismore (Getty Images)
How much rain has there been?

A government meteorologist, Jonathan Howe, described the recent rainfall in northern New South Wales and southern Queensland as “astronomical.”

In downtown Brisbane, 792.8 mm of rain was recorded in six days. The city’s lord mayor said this was significantly higher than the previous record of 655.8mm set in devastating flooding in 1974.

A man checks the condition of his aircraft inside a flooded hanger at an air strip in Grafton (AFP via Getty Images)

Rick Threlfall, a British meteorologist now living in Brisbane, said: “Back in the UK, we do weather warnings for 20 mm of rain. My weather gauge here has recorded 950 mm in three days.”

He added: “Brisbane’s average is about 1,200 mm for the year, so we’ve pretty much had 80 per cent of annual rainfall in three days.”

Also in Queensland, more than 300 mm of rain fell within six hours near the city of Gympie last week.

Sydney has been told to prepare for a month’s worth of rainfall in just a few hours.
How long has the extreme weather been going on for?

The storm first hit in Queensland in the middle of last week and has been moving down the country since.

It was expected to continue on Thursday morning, with Sydney forecast to be hit by heavy rainfall.

How does it compare to previous events?



Queensland has experienced its worst flooding in more than a decade.

Brisbane’s lord mayor, Adrian Schrinner, said the floods were “very different” to the last major fooding event in 2011 because the rain pummeled the region for five days.

Annastacia Palaszczuk, the premier of Queensland, said the town of Gympie experienced its second-worst flooding ever.

Now a refugee, Eurovision's Jamala lifts Ukraine spirits from abroad


Jamala became a national heroine when she performed her song partly in the Tatar language, two years after Russia annexed the Crimean Peninsula from Ukraine (AFP/JONATHAN NACKSTRAND)

Fulya OZERKAN
Tue, March 8, 2022

When her husband woke her up at 5:00 am saying Russia had invaded, Ukraine's Eurovision winner Jamala didn't know what to do first: pack, find their passports or take care of her two toddlers.

The 38-year-old ethnic Tatar never thought that she would become a refugee like her grandmother.

She was driven from her native Crimea by Soviet forces in 1944 -- the title of the ballad about Soviet persecution that clinched her the Eurovision crown in 2016.

"I never thought it would be a reality (today) because it was (in) the past," she told AFP.

But there she was, cowering in a building's second-floor parking lot in Kyiv.


"I was really shocked," she said.

The family then decided to drive to Ternopil -- 400 kilometres (250 miles) to the west, in search of safety.

But after spending a night there, the sounds of explosions were too distressing and they moved again, this time to the Romanian border.

Jamala crossed the border alone with her sons aged one and three -- Ukrainian adult men are not allowed to leave the country and her husband returned to Kyiv to help with the war effort.

Her sister, who lives in Istanbul, picked her up.

Now she constantly checks her phone, waiting for news from Kyiv.

"It is really hard when you know that your husband is there. I can't sleep. Every minute I am thinking about how he is, how is everything."

- 'Dangerous' -

Jamala, whose real name is Susana Jamaladinova, became a national heroine when she performed her winning song partly in the Tatar language in 2016, two years after Russia seized and annexed Crimea from Ukraine.

Jamala's lyrics drew Russia's ire and boycott calls at the time.

Crimean Tatars, a predominantly Muslim Turkish-speaking minority, were deported from their homes by then-Soviet leader Joseph Stalin, including Jamala's grandmother who fled to Uzbekistan in Central Asia.

"(The song) was about my granny, my family, all Crimean Tatars who were deported by the Soviet army," Jamala said.

She draws parallels between her grandmother's experience and what Ukraine faces today at the hands of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

"At this time, we see the same situation," she said.

Members of her band remain in Kyiv, hiding in shelters.

"My sound engineer wrote to me yesterday that he didn't have any water... he cannot go out, it's dangerous," she said.

- Trying to boost morale -

For many observers, Jamala is a symbol of Ukraine's resistance against Russian aggression.

She was invited to perform her winning song "1944" at the German Eurovision preliminary on Friday -- an event marked by the war in Ukraine.

"If I can do something, I will do it," she said.

Even from Istanbul, she tries to boost Ukrainians' morale.

With the yellow and blue Ukrainian flag wrapped around her neck, Jamala sang her country's national anthem in a video on social media after her interview with AFP.

"We are a new generation, (we think) about peace, about how to collaborate, about how to unite but we see these terrible things. This war is happening before the eyes of the world," she said.

"We should understand that it's really terrorism, it's a really cruel war in central Europe."

The invasion was "ruining the European values which we built over so many years" following World War II, Jamala said.

"Ukraine is a real huge country with its own language, with its own culture, with its own history. It has nothing in common with Russians."

Jamala doesn't know what the future holds for her, but she remains defiant.

"I just know that we have to win."

fo/ach/raz/yad/gw/jfx

IAEA head offers to go to Ukraine after another nuclear facility damaged

"We must take action to help avert a nuclear accident in Ukraine," Rafael Mariano Grossi, the director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, said. 

 File Photo by Christian Bruna/EPA-EFE

March 8 (UPI) -- The head of the United Nations' nuclear watchdog has offered to visit Ukraine for talks to secure its nuclear facilities after another building containing radioactive material was damaged by Russian shelling over the weekend.

Rafael Mariano Grossi, the director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, said in a statement Monday that he's willing to travel to the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant to secure a commitment to the safety and security of all of Ukraine's facilities.

"We must take action to help avert a nuclear accident in Ukraine that could have severe consequences for public health and the environment," he said. "We can't afford to wait."

Grossi's offer follows Ukraine informing the IAEA that shelling in the city of Kharkiv on Sunday damaged a new nuclear research facility that produces radioisotopes for medical and industrial uses.

While radiological consequences of the facility being damaged are not expected due to nuclear material in the facility being subcritical and its inventory of radioactive material being very low, the fact it was damaged at all highlights the dangers such facilities in the country face, Grossi said.

"We must avert a nuclear accident in Ukraine," he said Monday during an IAEA board of governors meeting.

"This time, if there is a nuclear accident, the cause will not be a tsunami brought on by mother nature," he said, referring to the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster caused by an earthquake-induced tsunami. "Instead, it will be the result of human failure to act when we could, and we knew we should."

Since the start of the Russian invasion late last month, several nuclear facilities have been impacted by the ensuing war.

The IAEA states an electrical transformer at a Kharkiv nuclear disposal facility was damaged during fighting on Feb. 26. The next day, a similar facility in the capital Kyiv was hit by missiles.

Then on Friday, a fire broke out at the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant after facing Russian artillery fire and came under Russian command on Sunday, making it the second plant to be under the Kremlin's forces control after the Chernobyl facility was taken at the start of the invasion.

The occupation of the two sites has impacted their security with the IAEA saying it has not been able to deliver spare parts or medicine to the Zaporizhzhia facility and that the 210 technical staff and guards working at the Chernobyl plant have not been able to rotate, meaning they have worked straight through.

The IAE said that "having operating staff subject to the authority of the Russian military commander contravenes an indispensable pillar of nuclear safety."

The regulator also said the safety and security of facilities that use dangerous category 1-3 radiation sources in the eastern port city of Mariupol are unknown as it has not been able to communicate with them.

Of Ukraine's 15 nuclear power plants, eight of them were operating, including two at the Zaporizhzhya site.

IAEA says loses contact with Chernobyl nuclear data systems

Tue, 8 March 2022,

On February 24, Russia invaded Ukraine and seized the defunct Chernobyl plant

 (AFP/Sergei SUPINSKY) (Sergei SUPINSKY)

The Chernobyl nuclear power plant is no longer transmitting data to the UN's atomic watchdog, the agency said Tuesday, as it voiced concern for staff working under Russian guard at the Ukrainian facility.

On February 24, Russia invaded Ukraine and seized the defunct plant, site of a 1986 disaster that killed hundreds and spread radioactive contamination west across Europe.

International Atomic Energy Agency chief Rafael Grossi "indicated that remote data transmission from safeguards monitoring systems installed at the Chornobyl NPP had been lost", the agency said in a statement.

"The Agency is looking into the status of safeguards monitoring systems in other locations in Ukraine and will provide further information soon," it said.

The IAEA uses the term "safeguards" to describe technical measures it applies to nuclear material and activities, with the objective of deterring the spread of nuclear weapons through early detection of the misuse of such material.

More than 200 technical staff and guards remain trapped at the site, working 13 days straight since the Russian takeover.

The situation for the staff "was worsening" at the site, the IAEA said, citing the Ukrainian nuclear regulator.

The defunct plant sits inside an exclusion zone that houses decommissioned reactors as well as radioactive waste facilities.

More than 2,000 staff still work at the plant as it requires constant management to prevent another nuclear disaster.

The UN agency called on Russia to allow workers to rotate because rest and regular shifts were crucial to the site's safety.

"I'm deeply concerned about the difficult and stressful situation facing staff at the Chornobyl nuclear power plant and the potential risks this entails for nuclear safety," said Grossi.

"I call on the forces in effective control of the site to urgently facilitate the safe rotation of personnel there."

With remote data transmission cut off and the Ukrainian regulator only able to contact the plant by email, Grossi reiterated his offer to travel to the site or elsewhere to secure "the commitment to the safety and security" of Ukraine's power plants from all parties.

Russia also attacked and seized Europe's largest atomic power plant, Zaporizhzhia, last week, drawing accusations of "nuclear terror" from Kyiv.

Zaporizhzhia alone has six reactors of a more modern, safer design than the one that melted down at Chernobyl.

The IAEA said two of those were still operating, the plant's personnel were working in shifts and radiation levels remained stable.

On Wednesday, Russian news agency RIA Novosti published a video of a Russian national guard official in front of the Zaporizhzhia atomic plant saying Moscow's forces were in full control of the site.

"Currently, the plant is operating as normal. The management of the site is fulfilling its functions. The situation is fully controlled by the Russian national guard," the official said.

The official accused Ukraine of storing weapons at the facility.

"A large number of armaments and ammunition, including heavy weapons, were discovered in the reactors of the plants," after it was taken by Russian forces, the official said.

bur-jfx/leg

LA REVUE GAUCHE - Left Comment: Search results for CHERNOBYL 

Putin nuclear threats 'extremely dangerous', 'blackmail': ICAN



ICAN won the 2017 Nobel Peace Prize for its campaigning work worldwide

 (AFP/Tobias Schwarz)



Nina LARSON
Tue, March 8, 2022

Russian President Vladimir Putin is using nuclear "blackmail" to keep the international community from interfering in his Ukraine invasion, the head of the Nobel prize-winning group ICAN said.

"This is one of the scariest moments really when it comes to nuclear weapons," Beatrice Fihn, who leads the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, told AFP in an interview Tuesday.

The 40-year-old Swede, who has spearheaded the group's global efforts to ban the weapons of mass destruction since 2013, said she had never in her lifetime seen the nuclear threat level so high.

"It is incredibly worrying and overwhelming."

Just days after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of its pro-Western neighbour on February 24, Putin ordered his country's nuclear forces to be put on high alert, sparking global alarm.

Addressing the US Congress on Tuesday, Avril Haines, US Director of National Intelligence, described Putin's move as "extremely unusual".

"We have not seen a public announcement from the Russians regarding a heightened nuclear alert status since the 1960s," she pointed out.

Fihn described the move as "extremely dangerous".

"Not only is this meant to instil fear in the whole world; it's also meant to scare anyone from helping in Ukraine."

- 'Everyone is terrified' -

Countries during the Cold War argued that large nuclear arsenals served as deterrents, helping avoid conflict. Now Moscow was using its arsenal to enable conflict, she said.

"Russia is using it to blackmail almost, to be able to invade Ukraine, and nobody can interfere."

The nuclear threat "is now being used in an extremely malicious and evil way, to... enable an illegal invasion of a country that doesn't have nuclear weapons."

Would Putin actually use nuclear weapons? Fihn stressed she still did not think it was likely.

But "it is not ruled out", she said. "We are starting to worry that it might happen."

But even if there is no plan to actually use such weapons, with tensions soaring "misunderstandings can escalate quickly and we could stumble into nuclear use by accident", she warned.

Fihn said she had received numerous messages from people asking how to speak to their children about the threat.

"Everyone is terrified right now," she said, acknowledging that the situation was getting to her too.

"I spent the last decade talking about what happens when a nuclear weapon is used, what happens to bodies, what happens to cities," she said.

"I am finding it very difficult to talk about it now."

- 'Wake-up call' -

But Fihn hopes the current crisis will serve as a wake-up call that will push countries towards nuclear disarmament.

"If we survive this, we're not going to be so lucky all the time," she said.

"We cannot let countries do this to other countries anymore, (just) because they have nuclear weapons."

ICAN won the 2017 Nobel Peace Price for its key role in drafting the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, which took effect a year ago.

Fifty-nine countries have ratified the treaty, and more have signed it.

Fihn pointed out that the treaty bans the kinds of nuclear threats being made by Russia, which is not a party to it. Nor are any of the states known to possess nuclear weapons.

But the current crisis has sparked growing interest in the treaty, she said.

"I feel like there's an opening now that we can really start working towards nuclear disarmament."

Once the conflict ends, she said, Russia should not be permitted to maintain its current nuclear arsenal.

"They're going to have to do something... in order to be able to be let back into the international community again, and nuclear disarmament should be that."

nl/rjm/jj/jfx

LEAD & MERCURY POISIONING
Mounds of old batteries threaten Gaza health

A Palestinian man picks discarded batteries to resell for recycling in the Gaza Strip; batteries are an essential power source in Gaza, where public electricity supply is sparse - SAID KHATIB

by Sakher Abou El Oun


March 9, 2022 — Gaza City (Palestinian Territories) (AFP)

At a landfill in southern Gaza, mounds of discarded batteries pile up, rusting cells that pose a growing health risk to Palestinians in the enclave.

Batteries are an essential power source in Gaza, where public electricity supply is sparse and infrastructure has decayed since an Israeli blockade of the enclave began in 2007, the year Hamas Islamists seized control.

"The batteries have been piling up for 15 years," said Ibrahim Baraka, who works at the 2,000 square metre (half an acre) landfill in Khan Yunis, where residents of surrounding houses can peer in to see piles of lead and mercury waste accumulating daily.

Gaza, home to 2.3 million Palestinians, has only one power plant that runs on diesel. Fuel deliveries are unreliable, largely due to the blockade. The plant was also bombed by Israeli fighter jets during a 2006 conflict with Hamas.

Mohamed Masleh, director of resources at Gaza's Environment Ministry, estimated that there are 25,000 tonnes of used batteries in Gaza that need to be recycled.

Most are at sites not suited for storing dangerous materials.

- A dangerous 'farce' -



A Palestinian man collects discarded batteries for recycling in Gaza; battery collection is also a source of income for the impoverished territory, where unemployment rates hover around 50 percent

Battery collection is also a source of income for the impoverished territory, where unemployment rates hover around 50 percent.

On a crisp morning, Zakaria Abu Sultan meandered his horse-drawn cart through the streets of Gaza City, shouting his mission through a loudspeaker.

"Anyone with damaged batteries to sell?" he called out.

"I've been wandering since dawn to buy damaged batteries. I buy them at best for 50 shekels ($15), and sell them to the scrap dealer for 70 shekels," he told AFP.

Typically, damaged cells are taken to landfills, like the one in Khan Yunis where Baraka works, which dismantle them for materials like plastic that are then sold to factories.

Ahmed Hillis, director of Gaza's National Institute for Environment and Development, said that while he understood there was profit in discarded batteries, the trade was extremely dangerous.

"Tonnes of batteries are accumulating in dumps, some of which are more than 40 and 50 metres high," he said.

"Batteries are found among people and on animal carts, children are carrying them around," he told AFP.

"Sometimes we find a father and son trying to open them up with a screwdriver. It is a farce and chaos," he added.

A Palestinian girl stands next to a stack of discarded batteries; Israel used to play a role in managing toxic materials from Gaza, but that stopped with the Hamas takeover in 2007

Israel used to play a role in managing toxic materials from Gaza, but that stopped with the Hamas takeover in 2007.

Hamas is considered a terrorist organisation by much of the West, and it has no direct contact with Israel.

Last month, the Israeli defence ministry body responsible for civil affairs in the Palestinian territories (COGAT) said that a second iron shredding machine had become operational at the Kerem Shalom crossing between Israel and Gaza.

The enhanced shredding capacity "will provide a significant increase in the export of iron scrap from the Gaza Strip", COGAT said.

Baraka said that had raised hope for a solution to battery waste, with most agreeing the current situation is not sustainable.

Hillis meanwhile urged Hamas to establish clear rules on handling toxic substances.

He said battery waste was now being managed by people "who do not comply with any rules and have no experience in collecting hazardous materials".

Read more: https://www.al-monitor.com/originals/2022/03/mounds-old-batteries-threaten-gaza-health#ixzz7N1uzd89R

Fukushima region forges renewable future after nuclear disaster


A gleaming field of solar panels now lines a coastal stretch north of the stricken Fukushima plant

 (AFP/Philip FONG)

Etienne BALMER and Harumi OZAWA
Tue, 8 March 2022, 

Solar farms along tsunami-ravaged coastlines, green energy "micro-grids" and the experimental production of non-polluting hydrogen: 11 years after its nuclear nightmare, Japan's Fukushima region is investing in a renewable future.

On March 11, 2011, an earthquake unleashed a deadly tsunami on northeastern Japan, triggering a meltdown at the Fukushima nuclear plant and forcing mass evacuations over radiation fears.

One year later, Fukushima's regional government set a goal of meeting all its energy needs with renewable power by 2040, a policy intended to help residents "reclaim" the place they call home, officials say.

Substantial progress has been made, in part thanks to hefty financial support from the national government.

Renewables accounted for 43 percent of Fukushima's energy consumption in fiscal 2020, up from just 24 percent in 2011.

But obstacles remain, from the higher cost for consumers to lingering concern over contamination.

"A strong desire to never see a repeat of such an accident was the most important starting point" for the green energy drive, Noriaki Saito, energy director at the prefecture's planning department, told AFP.

A gleaming field of solar panels now lines a coastal stretch north of the stricken Fukushima plant, in a location once earmarked for the region's third nuclear power station, a project abandoned after the tsunami.

Power from the site, which was completed in 2020 and is as big as 25 football pitches, is used to make hydrogen -- a clean fuel when generated with renewable electricity, and one that Japan hopes will help it reach its goal of carbon neutrality by 2050.

Fuel produced at the "Fukushima Hydrogen Energy Research Field" in Namie has so far been used for small-scale purposes including at the Tokyo Olympics last year, and to refill locally run fuel-cell cars.

"In the near future, much more renewable energy will come to the grid" in Japan, said Eiji Ohira of NEDO, the public research body managing the facility.

The site aims eventually to draw renewable energy from the national grid on days when there is surplus production nationally, helping reduce wastage while generating new green hydrogen, he told AFP.

Fukushima region forges renewable future after nuclear disaster
John SAEKI

- 'Double-edged sword' -

The Fukushima region already had hydroelectric dams, but wind farms are appearing in its mountains, biomass power plants are being constructed and solar fields have sprung up on land abandoned after the tsunami.

Not everyone in the region has been won over, however.

Price is still a sticking point, according to Apollo Group, a small energy provider in Fukushima that has bolstered its renewable offerings in recent years.

The price of solar-generated electricity is "a little higher" than conventional power, said CEO Motoaki Sagara.

"When we explain this to our customers, they often say they prefer cheaper electricity. I feel like the understanding is still not there," he told AFP.

Public subsidies gave Apollo impetus to switch, but Sagara calls them a "double-edged sword", because businesses like his may come to rely on the cash and struggle without it.

- Micro-grids -

Another renewables project hoping to win over residents involves "micro-grids", where electricity is produced and consumed in the same place.

Katsurao, a small village near the Fukushima plant, was evacuated because of radioactive contamination between 2011 and 2016 and now has only 450 residents, less than a third of its former population.

A former rice field, used to store radioactive materials when workers conducted dangerous early decommissioning work, now hosts a solar farm whose electricity is routed directly to the village.

The project has been operational since 2020 and Seiichi Suzuki, vice-president of Katsurao Electric Power, calls the village Japan's "first autonomous community with a micro-grid".

"The villagers... expressed a strong desire to live with natural sources of energy" when they returned to their homes following lengthy evacuations, he said.

For now, the solar farm only covers 40 percent of the village's average yearly electricity needs, and the spectre of the nuclear disaster hangs over other projects.

Some residents oppose a planned biomass, or plant waste, power station, fearing it could produce radioactive emissions if material from still-contaminated parts of the region is used.

But the solar farm has helped Hideaki Ishii, a worker in a family-owned restaurant and grocery store in Katsurao, feel more secure in his home, he told AFP.

"When you use electricity created in the community, it's easier to see how it's generated," he said.

"I feel safer that way," he said, and "it's good for the environment".

etb-oh/kaf/sah/mtp/leg

The price of solar-generated electricity is "a little higher" than conventional power, 

said CEO Motoaki Sagara 

Seiichi Suzuki, vice-president of Katsurao Electric Power, calls the village 

Japan's "first autonomous community with a micro-grid" 

Fuel produced at the "Fukushima Hydrogen Energy Research Field" 

in Namie has so far been used for small-scale purposes including at the Tokyo Olympics last year

Hideaki Ishii, a worker in a family-owned restaurant and grocery store in Katsurao 

PHOTOS BY  AFP/Philip FONG

Sudanese protesters face tear gas at Women's Day rally



Demonstration against the military coup, on International Women's Day in Khartoum

THE PROTESTER ON THE LEFT IS USING THE HUNGER GAMES THREE FINGERED SALUTE THAT HAS SPREAD FROM THAILAND PROTESTS  ,GLOBALLY.


Tue, March 8, 2022,

KHARTOUM (Reuters) - Sudanese protesters marching against military rule on International Women's Day were met with tear gas as they approached the presidential palace on Tuesday, a Reuters reporter said.

Women's rights groups had called the protest along with neighbourhood resistance committees that have been organising street demonstrations since the military took power in October.

The coup put an end to a power-sharing arrangement between civilians and the military that was struck after former President Omar al-Bashir who ruled for 30 years was toppled in a 2019 uprising in which women played a prominent role.

"Women's demands are the revolution's demands," said one protest banner. After the rally reached the presidential palace in the capital Khartoum, security forces chased protesters back into nearby streets.

The protest comes as Sudan faces economic free-fall. On Tuesday, the Sudanese pound was devalued by about 19% after its price had slid on the black market.

The coup has also resulted in the reversal of decisions made since Bashir's fall, and a crackdown in which political figures have been arrested and dozens of protesters killed.

On Tuesday, politician Babiker Faisal became the latest prominent former member of a committee tasked with dismantling Bashir's regime to be detained, his party said in a statement.

In recent weeks, courts have reversed the committee's firings of dozens of bureaucrats in the central bank, foreign ministry, and other entities.

Sudan's ruling council said on Monday that holds placed on some accounts by the committee would be lifted, while other decisions affecting more than 1,500 individuals and companies would be upheld while under review.

In a further sign of rolling back work done under the power-sharing government, the head of a committee investigating the lethal dispersal of a sit-in in June 2019 said he had suspended its work after security forces took over its offices.

(Reporting by Khalid Abdelaziz, writing by Nafisa Eltahir; editing by Aidan Lewis and Aurora Ellis)

Sudan arrests senior opposition leader amid protest crackdown



Tue, March 8, 2022,

WOMEN AND YOUTH LEAD THE SUDANESE PROTESTS FOR DEMOCRACY

Sudanese security forces arrested a senior opposition leader Tuesday, as officers fired tear gas to stop thousands of protesters rallying against last year's military coup, an AFP correspondent said.

The demonstrations were the latest since an October 25 military takeover led by army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, which was followed by a broadening crackdown on civilian and pro-democracy figures in the north-east African nation.

At least 85 people have been killed and hundreds wounded by security forces during over four months of protests demanding civilian rule and justice for those killed in demonstrations, according to medics.

On Tuesday, security forces fired a barrage of acrid tear gas at crowds heading towards the presidential palace in the centre of the capital Khartoum, with several people injured, an AFP correspondent said.

Tuesday's protests coincided with International Women's Day.

Crowds chanted slogans in support of Sudanese women -- who have played a key role in the recent protest movement, as well as in the rallies that paved the way to the 2019 ouster of longtime autocrat Omar al-Bashir.

"Long live the 'Kandakas'," the crowd shouted, using the name for ancient Nubian queens.

In North Khartoum, many waved national flags or carried posters of fellow demonstrators who have been killed, witnesses said.

- 'Excessive force' -

Also on Tuesday, prominent politician Babiker Faisal was arrested while he was attending a funeral in North Khartoum, according to Sudan's Unionist Alliance.

Faisal was a member of the committee tasked with recovering properties seized during Bashir's three-decade long rule, before he was toppled and jailed.

Last month, several senior committee members were arrested, including Mohamed al-Fekki, who was also a member of Sudan's Sovereign Council before he was ousted in the October coup.

Since the military takeover, authorities have accused the committee of misappropriating funds that it confiscated, accusations its members deny.

The military power-grab derailed a transition to full civilian rule negotiated between military and civilian leaders following Bashir's ouster.

On Monday, the UN Human Rights Council said it estimated around 1,000 people have been arrested since the coup, including women and children.

"The Sudanese authorities must cease to use excessive force and live ammunition against protesters," said UN human rights chief Michelle Bachelet said, calling for the release of detainees.

Also on Monday, the ambassadors of the European Union, Canada and the United States slammed "attempts to unduly limit freedom of expression" in Sudan.

"We therefore call on the de facto Sudanese authorities to return to commitments made to defend media freedom ... and respect the right to peaceful assembly," the diplomats said.

On Tuesday, deputy chairman of Sudan's Sovereign Council, Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, met with African Union envoy Mohamed Lebatt to discuss the crisis in the country. The AU has suspended Sudan's membership since the coup.

bur/pjm