Cannes' first female president: Iris Knobloch

German manager Iris Knobloch, a longtime Warner Bros. executive, could make the prestigious Cannes Film Festival more corporate and more American.

When German manager Iris Knobloch begins her mandate as the new president of the board of the Cannes Film Festival, she will also become the first woman to hold the top job at the world's most famous and important film festival.

She is taking over from Pierre Lescure, a French former TV journalist and executive, who has been Cannes president since 2015. The 76-year old will be stepping down after this year's edition, the 75th, which runs through May 28.

Festival's first non-French president

Knobloch is a pioneer in more ways than one. She'll not only be Cannes' first female president but the first "foreigner" to run France's most prized cinema event. That's significant.

The Berlin Film Festival has two non-Germans at the helm — artistic director Carlo Chatrian is Italian, executive director Mariette Rissenbeek is Dutch — but to have a non-Gallic boss in Cannes is something of a revolution.  

Not that Knobloch doesn't know the French film industry.

The daughter of Holocaust survivor and former president of the Central Council of Jews in Germany Charlotte Knobloch, Iris Knobloch studied law in Munich and New York before spending 25 years at various executive positions within the European operations of US film studio Warner Bros., including 15 years as chair of the Warner Bros. France group. She eventually ended up running Warners' operations across France, Germany, Benelux, Austria and Switzerland.

Knobloch seen in 2014 with a former Warner Bros. co-executive Olivier Snanoudj

Promoter of a film that became a critical and commercial hit

In France, Knobloch played a key role in lobbying Cannes to accept Michel Hazanavicius' "The Artist" for competition in 2011.

Many, particularly in the French industry, thought the crowd-pleasing black-and-white silent film was too mainstream to get a Cannes berth. But Knobloch prevailed.

"The Artist" was Cannes' hottest ticket that year.

The film's French star, Jean Dujardin, won the best actor award at Cannes, and critical raves sent the movie on an historic awards run, ending at the 2011 Oscars where the movie won five awards including for best picture, best actor and best director.

Jean Dujardin in 'The Artist'

It also became that rarest of beasts: a French global box office hit, earning more than $130 million (€124 million) worldwide.

Coincidentally, Hazanavicius is back in Cannes this year. His zombie comedy, "Final Cut," will open Cannes' 75th anniversary edition on May 17.

Combining red carpet glam and art house cinema

Knobloch's mainstream instincts, and her Hollywood connections — she only stepped down from WarnerMedia last summer — could be a major asset for Cannes, which has long struggled in trying to balance its imprimatur as the world's leading showcase of art house and avant-garde cinema with the necessity of bringing in big American movies and stars to pack its famed red carpet, attract paparazzi and generate buzz in the form of blogs and social media posts.

The Venice Film Festival, which last year featured the world premiere of Warner Bros. sci-fi epic "Dune," and included crowds of Italian fans screaming themselves raw over the sight of stars Timothee Chalamet and Zendaya, has arguably done a much better job of bringing in the Hollywood glam.

Getting two big studio films to France this year — Tom Cruise's long-awaited "Top Gun 2: Maverick" and Baz Luhrmann's "Elvis," a biopic of Elvis Presley featuring Tom Hanks as Presley's mercurial manager Colonel Tom Parker — was a major coup for the festival.

With Knobloch's Hollywood Rolodex, Cannes will be hoping to make it a regular occurrence.

Baz Luhrmann's anticipated rock'n'roll biopic 'Elvis' will debut at Cannes

Artistic director remains Thierry Fremaux

When she takes over as president, Knobloch won't be directly picking Cannes' future lineup. That will still be the purview of artistic director and general delegate Thierry Fremaux.

But as Cannes president, she'll act as a go-between, balancing Fremaux's artistic demands with Cannes' deep-pocketed sponsors, who want as much glamour and bulb-flashing paparazzi moments as they can get.

There, too, Knobloch has an in. When she resigned from Warner last year, ahead of the company's merger with television giant Discovery, she launched a €250 million ($260 million) media investment company, I2PO, together with Artemis, the investment firm backed by French businessman Francois-Henri Pinault.

Pinault, in addition to being the husband of Hollywood star Salma Hayek, is also the owner of luxury goods giant Kering, one of the Cannes festival's official sponsors. Many believe the Kering-Pinault link was key in convincing the Cannes board to vote for Knobloch.

Knobloch's corporate connections have raised hackles in the French film industry, with some suggesting it would be a conflict of interest to have a Cannes president who is also an investor in film companies. Knobloch has pledged that I2PO will not invest in any film company with a connection to Cannes.

Those concerns aside, critics and fans agree that Iris Knobloch brings to her new job a deep knowledge of the entire movie business, from the corporate suite to the red carpet.

As Cannes' first female president, she's more than qualified to prepare the world's most important film festival for an uncertain future.

Edited by: Elizabeth Grenier

Macron appoints Elisabeth Borne as France's new prime minister

She is the first woman to hold the position in over 30 years. French President Emmanuel Macron and Borne were expected to appoint the full government within days.

Borne was named France's new prime minister following the resignation of Jean Castex

French President Emmanuel Macron appointed Elisabeth Borne as France's new prime minister on Monday.

She is only the second woman to hold the position, and the first to head the French government since 1992.

Borne succeeds Jean Castex, whose resignation paved the way for a cabinet overhaul after Macron's re-election last month.

She will seek to make a greater impact than France's first female prime minister, Edith Cresson, who lasted less than a year under President Francois Mitterrand and quit amid a corruption scandal.

At the transition of power ceremony, Castex called Borne "Madame la Premiere Ministre" with a broad smile, before warning:

"The role [of prime minister] is not exempted from public exposure and criticism, dear Elisabeth, people even say that's what it had been created for," Castex said of what the French often refer to as the "job from hell," working to implement plans on behalf of an ever-present president.

Macron's high expectations

Macron most likely hopes Borne's profile could help him appeal to radical-left voters who backed Jean-Luc Melenchon in the first round of the presidential election in April, while avoiding alienating supporters right-wing supporters of Marine Le Pen.

Her first task would be to steer Macron's centrist grouping in the upcoming parliamentary election.

Despite being historically close to the Socialist Party, Borne proved her loyalty to the president during his first term when she served as transport, environment and finally, labor minister from 2020.

On her watch, unemployment fell to its lowest level in 15 years and youth unemployment to its lowest level in 40 years.

Melenchon attacks her record as labor minister

However, as labor minister, she also oversaw negotiations with unions that resulted in a cut to unemployment benefits for some job seekers and reduced monthly payments for some unemployed people.

Those negotiating skills could come in handy when she'll be charged with pushing through Macron's unpopular plans to raise the pension age from 62 to 65. Macron had hoped to do this in his first term, but had to delay his plans amid widespread strikes and public protests, and then later as the COVID pandemic turned the last years of his first term into more of a damage limitation exercise.

Melenchon was quick to dismiss Borne's appointment, referring to her as "my predecessor," indicating a belief the he would be able to usurp the position as prime minister following parliamentary elections in the summer.

"Borne: reduction in the allowances for 1 million unemployed people, abolition of regulated gas prices, postponement of the end of nuclear power by 10 years, opening up to competition of [publicly-owned rail companies] SNCF and RATP. Very in favor of retirement at 65. Forward for a new season of social abuse," Melenchon wrote, listing what he perceived to be some of her main achievements in politics to date.

Macron also promised that the new prime minister would be directly in charge of "green planning,'' seeking to accelerate France's implementation of climate-related policies.

lo/msh (AP, AFP, Reuters)

UK PM Johnson visits Northern Ireland amid Brexit-based deadlock

Boris Johnson has again threatened to break post-Brexit agreements with the EU as victorious Sinn Fein accuses him of pandering to the DUP, which is blocking the formation of a government after recent elections.

Johnson has reiterated threats to renege on parts of the Brexit deal to placate DUP hard-liners

Boris Johnson traveled to Belfast on Monday, trying to convince local politicians to form a government in the wake of recent elections. Not for the first time in the past seven years or so, Johnson's push for Brexit — and the terms he ultimately agreed with the EU for Northern Ireland's status — have unsettled the always fragile politics in Northern Ireland.

He met with all the five largest parties, but the talks with the leaders of the Catholic nationalist Sinn Fein party and the Protestant pro-UK Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) to urge them to form a government were the most anticipated. These are the two parties required in order to set up any government in Northern Ireland, with only one of them currently saying it is willing to do so.

Sinn Fein was the clear winner of Northern Ireland's May 5 parliamentary elections, but the DUP has blocked the formation of a power-sharing government as stipulated in the Good Friday Agreement, a 1998 peace deal, citing issues with the so-called Northern Ireland Protocol of the Brexit agreement signed by the UK and the EU when the UK left the bloc in 2020.

Post-Brexit tensions in Northern Ireland

"There is no disguising the fact that the delicate balance created [by the peace agreement] in 1998 has been upset," Johnson wrote in an article published in the Belfast Telegraph newspaper ahead of the meetings. "One part of the political community in Northern Ireland feels like its aspirations and identity are threatened by the working of the Protocol.''
DUP and Johnson dislike EU accord, Sinn Fein approves of it

However, while the DUP does object to the Northern Ireland Protocol, saying it has created friction in trade between Northern Ireland and Great Britain, Sinn Fein largely approves of the accord, which also ensured Ireland's internal border could remain open.

Johnson's proposed solution at present, unilaterally scrapping parts of the Northern Ireland Protocol without consulting Brussels, is unacceptable to Sinn Fein.

"We have said directly to him that the proposed unilateral act of legislating at Westminster is wrong. It seems to us absolutely extraordinary that the British government would propose to legislate to break the law," said Sinn Fein leader Mary Lou McDonald, leader of the opposition in the Republic of Ireland, following her meeting with Johnson.

"We've had no straight answers really from the British prime minister," McDonald said.

Prior to the meeting, Sinn Fein Northern Ireland leader and First Minister-elect Michelle O'Neill said the UK government was, "playing a game of chicken with the [European] Commission right now, and we're caught in the middle."

O'Neill said the DUP was holding Northern Ireland "ransom" and that Johnson needed to stop pandering to them.

EU also warns against unilateral action

Brussels has already said the treaty can't be renegotiated, but it is willing to act flexibly to ease the burden of checks on goods entering Northern Ireland from the UK.

"Any unilateral action by Great Britain on Protocol — which would undermine its international legal obligations — clearly [is] not welcome, all the more so in these difficult geopolitical times," European Council President Charles Michel said Monday.

"Northern Ireland is about compromise and trying to find middle-ground positions that everybody can live with, to maintain political stability," Simon Coveney, the Republic of Ireland's Foreign Affairs Minister, said in Brussels.

"That's the approach we need to take at the moment, not a unilateral action or threats of unilateral action, which I think is deeply unhelpful. To act unilaterally to break international law, to not respect the democratic decisions in Northern Ireland would make matters significantly worse, not better, in terms of trying to solve the problems of the protocol," Coveney said.

Johnson says would prefer 'consensual' change, but needs 'insurance'

Speaking to reporters in Belfast on Monday, Johnson said his government would prefer not to tear up the accord unilaterally, but said that the threat of doing so was necessary.

"We would love for this to be done in a consensual way with our friends and partners, ironing out some of these problems," he said. "But to get that done, we need to proceed with a legislative solution at the same time."

The Protocol, and the checks on some goods going between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK that come along with it, was the trade-off for ensuring that Northern Ireland could effectively remain with its open border to the EU's single market and customs unions.

Ireland's open border, and the rights of people on either side of it to seek whichever citizenship they prefer and to move freely between the two sides, were core components of the Good Friday peace accord.

"We will set out a more detailed assessment and next steps to parliament in the coming days, once I return from discussions with the local parties," Johnson promised Monday, saying Foreign Secretary Liz Truss would lay out the case to Parliament on Tuesday.

js/msh (AFP, AP, Reuters)

Iran: Rights groups decry planned execution of Iranian-Swedish citizen

Diplomats and agencies have called the espionage charges against Ahmad Reza Jalali unfounded. Some experts speculate that his sentencing is in retribution for the trial in Sweden of former Iranian official Hamid Nouri.



Jalali's wife has called on Swedish authorities to help him out of Iran

Human rights organizations and relatives have denounced the recent announcement of the date for the execution of Iranian-Swedish citizen Ahmad Reza Jalali. Vida Mehrannia, Jalali's wife, is calling for his return to Sweden. Some experts have pointed to possible retribution for the trial in Sweden of former Iranian official Hamid Nouri.

"Ahmad Reza has not been allowed any direct telephone contact with us in Sweden since November 2020," Mehrannia told DW.

Mehrannia, like the representatives of several human rights agencies, believes her husband is innocent and that his trial was completely unfair.

Quoting "informed sources," Iranian Students' News Agency reported on May 4 that Jalali's death sentence would be carried out by May 21. Iran's government had sentenced the disaster medicine doctor to death on allegations of espionage for Israel.

Speculation over connection to Hamid Nouri trial

Some experts believe the sentence was issued in retaliation for the trial taking place in Sweden of Hamid Nouri, a former Iranian official who has been implicated in the mass execution of dissidents. The death sentence was announced on the last day of Jalali's trial.

Swedish prosecutors have demanded life in prison for Nouri on charges of involvement in the 1988 executions of Iranian political prisoners, as well as for "committing war crimes and premeditated murder."

Maja Aberg, of Amnesty International Sweden, said she believed that the announcement of Jalali's execution was directly related to Nouri's case. "It indicates that [Iran] sees him as a kind of piece in the jigsaw puzzle, which is very worrying," she told Sweden's TT news agency.

Meanwhile, Iran has claimed that its actions against Jalali have nothing to do with Nouri's case.

"His lawyer went to the Evin Prison's Prosecutor's Office to see if the news was true — and it was," Mehrannia said.

She said Jalali's mental and physical condition had worsened after hearing the news of the execution and he had lost 30 kilograms (66 pounds) from his original weight of 81 kilograms.

Mehrannia said their family was also struggling to process the news, and that the couple's 10-year-old son was unaware of his father's death sentence and had only recently learned that his father is imprisoned in Iran.

"My children should not have experienced such days. My 19-year-old daughter has been informed of her father's death sentence and is worried and upset by this unjust sentence," she said.

Earlier this month, Swedish Foreign Minister Ann Linde tweeted that the reports that Iran may carry out the death sentence were "very worrying."

"Sweden and the EU condemn the death penalty and demand that Jalali be released. We are in contact with Iran," she said.

Mehrannia said the Swedish government had not done enough for her husband.

Although she has met with Belgium's foreign minister and members of the Italian Parliament, she said she had not been able to meet with Swedish officials face-to-face over the past six years.

"How could the Swedish government not do anything for its citizens?" she asked. "My expectation from the Swedish government is to support its citizens and bring Ahmad Reza back to us."

In May, Mahmud Amiri Moghadam, of the Norway-based Iran Human Rights Organization, told Radio Farda that Jalali's sentencing shows that "the Islamic republic is using Jalali as a hostage" to pressure Sweden over the Nouri trial.

"We demand the international community and specifically European countries to clarify the ramifications of such an execution," he said, referring to the "hostage-taking" of Jalali as a punishable international crime.

Jalali was arrested when he was visiting Iran in April 2016, following an invitation from the University of Tehran and Shiraz University.

Two weeks later, he faced charges of espionage, treason and collaboration with Israel. Jalali, a researcher and Karolinska Institute alumnus, is accused of "assassinating two nuclear scientists" by providing "information about the Islamic Republic's nuclear program to Mossad."


On October 21, 2017, the Revolutionary Court in Tehran sentenced Jalali to death. According to reports, his lawyer was not allowed to be present in the court and he was denied access to the case files. Appeals for judicial review of the sentence have been rejected.
Prisoners protest with hunger strike

His death sentence has been widely protested by human rights organizations both inside and outside Iran. "Jalali's situation is truly horrific," UN human rights experts said in a statement in March. "He has been held in prolonged solitary confinement for over 100 days with the constant risk of his imminent execution laying over his head."

Additionally, Iranian political prisoners Houshang Rezaei and Farhad Meysami, have gone on a hunger strike in Evin and Rajaei-Shahr prisons to protest Jalali's verdict, saying they will continue to strike until the death sentence is overturned.

"We denounce the actions of the Iranian authorities in the strongest terms, as well as their complete inaction despite our constant calls for him to be immediately released," the UN statement said. "The allegations against him are completely baseless and he should be allowed to return to his family in Sweden as soon as possible."

Edited by: Leah Carter

Anniversary of Okinawa's return to Japan rekindles calls for independence

Fifty years after the US ceded rule back to Tokyo, many Okinawans are calling for a renewed independence movement and to reduce the presence of US military bases.

Okinawans have been protesting the construction of US military bases for several years

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida vowed to take steps to reduce the US military presence in Okinawa, the nation's most southerly prefecture, on Sunday. He made the comments at a ceremony to mark the 50th anniversary of the reversion of Okinawa from US control.

Residents of the poorest prefecture in Japan, however, were skeptical. Many say they have heard similar promises from a succession of political leaders, but have seen no changes.

Okinawans who oppose the presence of the US military bases, which were built following World War II, say they create a major source of pollution and noise. Many also blame US military personnel for violent crimes that have had an impact on residents, and say the culture, history and language of the indigenous Ryukyuan people are disappearing. The US justifies its presence in Okinawa as the island offers a strategic stronghold in the Pacific.

Many Okinawans are now calling for independence for the semitropical archipelago, which was a kingdom in its own right until it was incorporated into Japan in 1872.


Promises for a 'strong Okinawan economy'

In his address at the Okinawa Convention Center, in the city of Ginowan, Kishida referred to Okinawa as the "gateway to Asia" and said the Ryukyu islands had the potential to become a regional hub for international exchanges. He added that his government would also work hard to create a "strong Okinawan economy."

He conceded, however, that the bases, which were first set up when the US military invaded Okinawa in the closing stages of World War II in 1945, weigh heavily on the local community. He pledged to "steadily make visible progress on the alleviation of the burden while maintaining the deterrence offered by the Japan-US [security] alliance."

Okinawa was returned to Japan's control on May 15, 1972, 27 years after the US invasion. However, the military presence remains overwhelming. Though Okinawa accounts for just 0.6% of the total land area of Japan, it is home to more than 70% of the US military facilities in the country. And locals' resentment does not sit far below the surface.

'No need for any military here'

Asked about the anniversary of the return of Okinawa to Japanese control, Byron Fija told DW: "How can I be happy? Today I am sad and I am angry because this is my country, but, for 270 years, when the first invaders came from the Satsuma Domain, the people here have been exploited for our treasures."

Fija, 52, never knew his American father and was adopted by his mother's older brother. Today he is an academic at Okinawa University and said the ongoing construction of a new US military base on reclaimed land in a pristine bay near the village of Henoko was just the latest slight against the people of Okinawa.

"Henoko is a small village, and there has been a lot of opposition to the base plan there, but the government does not listen to what the people say," he said.

"We could trade with anyone — the US, China, Japan — and there would be no need for any military here at all," he said. But he is not sure whether enough Okinawans are sufficiently unhappy with the situation to form a coherent movement that would fight for independence.

Shinako Oyakawa — a member of the Association of Comprehensive Studies for Independence of the Lew Chewans, or Ryukyuans, which aims to win the islands' independence — is more optimistic.

"Fifty years ago, most Okinawan people believed the return of the islands to Japanese control was a solution to their dreams because it would mean the bases would go, and our human rights would be returned and respected," she told DW. "But that didn't happen, and it's the same even today. ... The people of this prefecture are treated as second-class citizens of Japan."

Despite pleas by successive governments in Okinawa, for some of the US bases to be moved to mainland Japan in order for the burden to be shared more equally with the rest of the nation, nothing has happened, Oyakawa said. It is the perfect example of communities and politicians in the rest of the country saying "not in my backyard,” she added.

The Treaty of Mutual Cooperation and Security between the United States and Japan, signed in 1951, permits the presence of US military bases on Japanese land. Critics say the government in mainland Japan has designated the majority of US military bases to Okinawa.

Majority opposes US troop presence

In the run-up to Sunday's anniversary events, opinion polls conducted in Okinawa by the Ryukyu Shimpo newspaper and in mainland Japan by the Mainichi Shimbun revealed that 69% of Okinawans believe that the concentration of US troops in the prefecture is "unfair." Among mainland Japanese, the figure was just 33%.

Despair at the failure to have the US military removed has encouraged a movement for independence, Oyakawa said, and the association is in talks with similar campaigns in Catalonia, Scotland, Guam and Hawaii.

"For a long time, the people of Okinawa were disappointed by the government in Tokyo, but they were defeatists who did not think they could change anything," she said. "That made a campaign for independence difficult. But that is changing and I think it is natural for people to want to be free when they have been colonized for such a long time."

Edited by: Leah Carter

Mexico's number of 'disappeared' people rises above 100,000

There are now over 100,000 people in Mexico's national register of the "disappeared." The UN says organized crime is among the leading causes of missing people in the country.


Human rights organizations and relatives of the missing have called on the government to step up investigations and conduct searches more effectively

Mexico's official figure of missing people on Monday surpassed 100,000 for the first time as families pushed authorities to do more to find victims of violence linked to organized crime.

The interior ministry compiles a national register of the "desaparecidos" — Spanish for missing people — which is periodically updated.

In the last two years the numbers have spiked from about 73,000 people to more than 100,000 — mostly men.

Calls for government to do more

Mexico has seen spiraling violence since the war on drugs began in 2006, with over 350,000 people having died since then.

Last year, the country of more than 129 million people saw 94 murders a day on average.

"It's incredible that disappearances are still on the rise," Virginia Garay, whose son went missing in 2018 in the state of Nayarit, told news agency Reuters.

Human rights organizations and relatives of the missing have called on the government to step up investigations and conduct searches more effectively.

"The government is not doing enough to find them," said Garay, who works in a group called Warriors Searching for Our Treasures that seeks to locate missing loved ones.

Fears that the actual number of missing is far higher

Civil society groups that help try and locate missing people stress that many families do not report disappearances because of distrust in the authorities.

The actual figure of missing people is therefore believed to be much higher than the official data.

"Organized crime has become a central perpetrator of disappearance in Mexico, with varying degrees of participation, acquiescence or omission by public servants," a report by the UN Committee on Enforced Disappearances, released last month, said.

"State parties are directly responsible for enforced disappearances committed by public officials, but may also be accountable for disappearances committed by criminal organizations," the report added.

The missing people include human rights defenders, some of whom went missing because of their own involvement in the fight against disappearances.

According to the UN committee, over 30 journalists have also disappeared in Mexico between 2003 and 2021.

dvv/kb (dpa, Reuters)

Child labor on the rise in Africa

After years of child labor decline, the COVID pandemic has pushed many African children back to work. As a result, experts and children's rights activists are calling for stricter measures to protect them.

South Sudan is notoriously known for conscripting child soldiers

Cameroon's capital, Yaounde, is teeming with young vendors. Most of them are children between the ages of 7 and 14, and they occupy major intersections and markets — often working until late at night.

Kevin and Lea are among the hawkers selling their wares in Yaounde's populous neighborhoods during the school vacations. 

"I sell water to help my parents pay for my exercise books for the new school year," 8-year-old Kevin told DW.

"And I sell peanuts to pay for my school supplies," added 10-year-old Lea.

Chantal Zanga, a school principal, is concerned.

"I'm against the street trading that children do," said Zanga. "The child has a right to protection. If we send them to the streets, who will protect them?"

Many children lose valuable school time and spend much of their childhood working

Children lack protection

According to UNICEF, population growth, recurring crises, extreme poverty and inadequate social protection measures have led to an additional 17 million girls and boys engaging in child labor in sub-Saharan Africa over the past four years.

African countries are home to most of the world's 160 million working children.

The International Labor Organization estimates that more than 72 million children in sub-Saharan Africa — nearly one in five — are affected by child labor.

Experts estimate that millions more are at risk due to the coronavirus pandemic.

According to UNICEF, this marks the first time in 20 years that progress toward ending child labor has stalled.

It is against this backdrop that experts and child welfare activists are meeting for the 5th World Conference on the Elimination of Child Labor in Durban, South Africa, from May 15-20, to discuss stricter measures for the protection of children. 

Danger on the streets

Distressed child street vendors face daily dangers from traffic, weather and sexual violence. Juliette Lemana, 12, sells safous, a fruit also known as a plum, and roasted plantains in Yaounde.

"Mama sent me to sell," she said, adding that recently a motorcycle ran over her classmate.

"Sometimes we come home at night and we can't find our way," the young girl told DW.

Cameroon's law prohibits child labor, according to Pauline Biyong, president of the League for the Education of Women and Children. 

"Cameroon has ratified many articles to protect children. This phenomenon should be marginal, but unfortunately we observe in our cities that children are used as labor by their parents. This is not normal," she said.

Poverty the leading cause of child exploitation

Economic hardship has forced many children to toil in the gold mines of Tanzania and neighboring Congo.

Others in countries such as South Sudan endanger their lives as child soldiers.

The International Labor Organization estimates that 2.1 million children work in cocoa production in Ivory Coast and Ghana. Around two-thirds of the cocoa produced worldwide comes from Africa.

Nestle is trying to polish its image in cocoa farming by building classrooms for children in cocoa-growing areas. In addition, the Swiss conglomerate has partnered with UNESCO to support women's literacy in the markets.

Despite all these efforts, children still work on some cocoa plantations. "The problem of child labor is real," Toussaint Luc N'Guessan, Nestle's program manager, told DW.

More and more children are working in West Africa's cocoa plantations

Parents abusing children

On the streets of Maiduguri in Nigeria's Borno State, many children work at the request of their parents.

"My father brought me here to learn tailoring," a young boy told DW. "Sometimes, I earn 150 nairas ($0.36/€0.35)."

Adamu Umar — who has 15 children — admitted to DW that he also makes his children work as street vendors to supplement the family income.

But their commitment to their families is costing them dearly, as aid organizations complain that children are denied schooling and education and thus a better life. 

According to the International Labor Organization, 43% of Nigerian children aged between 5 and 11 are child laborers, although international conventions prohibit this.

Poverty is often the cause of child labor in Africa

Severe penalties for parents

As part of the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals, all 193 member states have pledged to take effective action to eliminate forced labor, modern slavery, human trafficking and the worst forms of child labor — including child soldiers — by 2025. 

But controls to stop the employment of minors are rare, according to children's rights organization Plan International.

"It is our responsibility as parents to take care of our children, not our children taking care of us," said Lucy Yunana, a children's rights activist in Nigeria.

Yunana called on the government to crack down on the menace with strict penalties.

She said any child caught peddling or begging should be arrested, including parents allowing their daughters to work as domestic help. Parents would then have to pay the fines.

Back in Cameroon, an extensive program called "useful vacations" was launched at the Center for the Advancement of Women and Families in Nkoldongo to keep children occupied.

But with little encouragement, some parents prefer to boost the family income by having their children work.

"The children have to learn to look for income; that's not bad," Gisele, a mother who sells safous at the Ekounou market, told DW. 

"They have nothing to do during the vacations, and it's normal that they help us prepare for the start of school, at least by buying notebooks. [Life in] Cameroon is hard."

Nepal's economy hammered by power outages

Nepal relies heavily on electricity imported from India, where generation is running low amid one of the worst power crises in years.

The power outages come at a time when Nepal is already grappling with the problem

 of depleting foreign exchange reserves

Nepal's industrial sector has been hit hard by power cuts in recent weeks, with many small, medium as well as large firms forced to shut down operations due to a lack of electricity.

The Himalayan nation relies heavily on energy imported from India, especially during the summer months.

But power generation in India has been running low as it faces one of the worst power crises in years, resulting in little electricity left for export to Nepal.

The Asian giant, which shares a long land border with Nepal, has itself faced power blackouts amid high demand, due to the hottest pre-summer months in decades, industrial activity and supply bottlenecks due to shortages of coal, which produces as much as 70% of its electricity.

Heavy dependence on Indian electricity

Pre-summer inventories at Indian thermal power plants have fallen to one of the lowest levels in recent years, forcing the Indian government to reverse its course on overseas coal purchases and arrange supplies by accelerating imports.

But imports have become pricier since the start of the year as coal spot prices shot up after Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine at the end of February. 

"We import 30-40% of our electricity needs from India during the dry season," Suresh Bahadur Bhattarai, spokesperson for the Nepal Electricity Authority, told DW.

"Now, due to severe shortages of coal supplies and higher domestic demand, India itself is facing a power crisis. So we could import only a quarter of our demand."

Many Nepali firms have been forced to cut back or stop production due to the power cuts

Bhattarai stressed that power cuts will likely remain in place for a few more weeks, before the onset of the monsoon season, which officials hope will bring enough rain to up the water level in Nepal's rivers and boost hydropower generation.

Electricity generation in Nepal is largely based on its run-of-the river type hydro projects, which are intermittent energy producers that generate more power when seasonal river flows are high and less during the dry summer months. 

Gokarna Awasthi, director general of the Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industries (FNCCI), an umbrella organization of more than 900 private sector companies, said that the industrial sector is suffering because of the problems.

"Industries are not able to operate at their full capacity in the absence of electricity," he said. "They are using diesel generators to try to fill the supply gaps."

Nepal bans many imports to save foreign reserves

The power outages come at a time when Nepal is already grappling with the problem of depleting foreign exchange reserves.

Nepal recently banned imports of cars, alcohol, tobacco and other luxury items and shortened its work week to help conserve its foreign currency reserves.

The ban, in effect until the end of the fiscal year in mid-July, also forbids imports of toys, playing cards and diamonds.

The main sources of foreign currency for Nepal — which has few exports and imports almost everything from abroad — are tourism, remittances from overseas workers and foreign aid.

The number of visitors plunged after the onset of the COVID pandemic, while remittances — which account for around 60% of the nation's foreign exchange reserves — also dropped as Nepali workers abroad had to return home during the global health crisis.

This hit Nepal's $36 billion (€34.69 billion) economy hard, leaving many of the country's 29 million citizens facing hardship.

Although there was a recovery in foreign arrivals in the first quarter of 2022, Russia's war against Ukraine has put an end to the flow of tourists from those two countries, while contributing to a rise in prices of everything from edible oils and food to air fares.  

Shortened work week to save fuel

The price rises and the soaring import bill have adversely affected the trade deficit and the value of the nation's currency, prompting fears that it could lead to a balance of payments crisis, which occurs when a nation is unable to pay for its imports or service its foreign debt payments.

The trade deficit expanded 34.5% year-on-year to 1.16 trillion Nepali rupees ($9.5 billion, €8.8 billion) in the first eight months of the fiscal year as import costs surged.

The tourism sector, an important contributor to Nepal's forex reservers, was battered by the pandemic

Nepal's gross foreign exchange reserves fell to $9.75 billion as of mid-February, down 17% from mid-July last year when its financial year started, Reuters reported. The current reserves are estimated to be enough to support imports for about six months.

To ease pressure on foreign reserves, the government has also reduced the work week from five-and-a-half days to five dazs as part of its efforts to reduce fuel consumption, as rising crude oil prices add to pressure on Nepal's foreign reserves.

Nandini Lahe-Thapa, director of the Nepal Tourism Board, told DW that the decision is a "fantastically promising step" for the promotion of domestic tourism.

"We were pushing to have a two-day weekend not only for the promotion of tourism, but also for the mental health and leisure of workers," she said, adding that domestic tourism proved to be vital for the survival of the entire tourism and hospitality sector during the pandemic.

Edited by: Srinivas Mazumdaru

California church shooting motivated by anti-Taiwanese hate, authorities say

Authorities say the suspect was a Chinese immigrant who harbored grievances against Taiwan. He is facing one count of murder and five counts of attempted murder.

The shooter attacked the Geneva Presbyterian Church in Laguna Woods, California

The gunman who carried out a shooting at a California church was motivated by his hate of Taiwanese people, authorities said.

The shooter killed Dr. John Cheng and wounded five others during a lunch held by the Irvine Taiwanese Presbyterian Church. The group worships at Geneva Presbyterian Church in Laguna Woods, located in California's southern Orange County.

The suspect has been charged with one count of murder and five counts of attempted murder. He is suspected to appear in court on Tuesday, and a federal hate crimes investigation is also ongoing.

The suspect is expected to appear in court on Tuesday

What did authorities say?

Orange County sheriff Don Barnes said the shooter, who he identified as a Chinese immigrant, harbored grievances against Taiwanese people.

The suspect's family had been forcibly moved from China to Taiwan some time after 1948, Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer said. Spitzer said that the suspect had an "absolute bias" against Taiwan.

According to authorities, the suspect's hand-written Mandarin notes show that he did not feel like he was treated well while living in Taiwan.

China claims Taiwan as part of its national territory. Taiwan has no seat in the UN and is only officially recognized by a handful of countries, but many states around the world maintain unofficial diplomatic relations with it.

Tensions have recently risen between China and Taiwan over Beijing's military drills in the East China Sea.

How did Taiwan react?

Taiwan's president on Tuesday denounced the shooting at the California church. 

President Tsai Ing-wen's office issued a statement saying she condemned “any form of violence.''

The President also extended her condolences to those killed and injured.

She has asked the self-governing island’s chief representative in the US to fly to California and provide assistance.

What do we know about the shooting?

Sheriff Barnes said that the gunman drove from Las Vegas to Orange County and secured the doors of the church with chains, super glue and nails before he started shooting. He also placed four Molotov cocktail-like devices inside the church.

Cheng, a sports medicine doctor, charged at the gunman in an attempt to disarm him, which allowed others to intervene. A pastor hit the gunman on the head with a chair and parishioners restrained him with electrical cords.

Barnes said Cheng "probably" saved the lives of "upwards of dozens of people."

sdi/jsi (AP, Reuters)

COP15: Ivory Coast hosts desertification talks

The COP15 conference is meeting to address issues of land degradation, advancing deserts and deforestation. Experts and activists hope that this will not be just another high-level conference with no concrete results.



Hopes are high — and skepticism is deep — as the COP15 meets through May 20

The 15th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP15) of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) is taking place under the motto "Land. Life. Legacy: From Scarcity to Prosperity."

A dozen of heads of state and almost 6,000 delegates are meeting through May 20 in Ivory Coast's capital, Abidjan, to find ways to avert wide-scale disaster.

Halfway through the conference, which has produced much reflection but, so far, little additional funding, experts and activists voiced concerns that COP15 might not lead to the bold steps needed.

The Chadian environmentalist and Indigenous rights advocate Hindou Oumarou Ibrahim told DW that she has seen progress in the promise of involving local communities in all projects implemented. "This is a positive aspect," she said. But she added a cautious note: "We will see in two years, before the next COP, what will happen and if the promises will have concrete implementation."

East Africa is suffering a serious drought

Not enough money

Funding the fight against desertification remains a problem. The UNCCD-led Great Green Wall project — which aims to restore a green belt across the Sahel to stop the southward spread of the Sahara — was launched 15 years ago. The agency said it needed $30 billion (€28.8 billion) to reforest 100 million hectares (247 million acres). So far, donors have come up with $19 billion.

Ibrahim said much more than $30 billion would be needed to avert disaster. She added that a lack of action now will end up being much costlier later.

The president of the COP15 organizing committee, Abou Bamba, told DW that the economies of many African countries, including the Ivory Coast's, are dependent on agriculture. "The question today isn't to produce or not to produce," he said. "We have to live; we have to feed our families." There is also the need to generate revenue through cash crops to finance development. "However, we are going to produce more, and we are going to produce better, while preserving the ecosystem," Bamba said.

 

AFRICA'S FIGHT AGAINST CLIMATE CHANGE

Africa's fight against climate change

It's mainly industrial nations that are responsible for producing greenhouse gases such as CO2 that contribute to climate change. But the main victims of climate change are in the countries of the global South. As Africa is hit by drought, storms, erosion and desertification, people there are starting initiatives to combat climate change.

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Africa especially vulnerable

According to a report by the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) Africa is particularly vulnerable to land degradation. It is the most severely affected region worldwide, with desertification encroaching on about 45% of Africa's land area, while the remaining land is at high risk of further degradation.

These developments play a major part in the current drought on the Horn of Africa. In Somalia, 6 million people — nearly 40% of the population — face extreme levels of food insecurity. The UN recently warned that more than 3.5 million Somalis are at risk of famine.

Other countries on the continent have long felt the dire consequences of climate change too. A case in point is the conference's host, whose economy depends on agriculture. According to the World Bank, Ivory Coast is the world's top exporter of cocoa beans, raw cashew nuts and a net exporter of oil.

The UN warns that 3.5 million Somalis could be facing famine

An ambitious plan or just talk?

Ivory Coast has launched the "Abidjan Initiative" to protect its forests. The program aims to restore 20% of the country's forests by the end of the decade and prevent further deforestation. Abidjan was able to secure $1.5 billion for the plan in the early days of the conference. Prime Minister Patrick Achi invited other countries to join the initiative.

"The Abidjan Initiative is a comprehensive and integrated response which aims first to create the conditions for a sustainable environment, and then to give the agricultural sector a powerful role in creating jobs and income," he said.

The ambitious plan hopes to incorporate advanced technology solutions like tree-planting drones. It also envisions investments in sustainable agriculture and social projects to promote gender equality.

Rachel Lydie, an Ivorian activist for sustainable and responsible production, was skeptical. "Today, in Ivory Coast, we talk more than we act. We do not carry out concrete actions," she told DW.

Several projects in Africa are trying to stop desertification

Controversial president

Civil society was also not happy about the election of former Ivorian Water and Forests Minister Alain Richard Donwahi to the COP15 presidency. The ministry, which he headed from 2017 until April 2022, is being audited after reports of timber trafficking.

The audit, confirmed by the government, came after the dismantling of a vast trafficking network in precious wood that, according to the magazine Jeune Afrique, involved members of Donwahi's administration. The former minister denied any link to wood smuggling networks.

Cautious hope

The question of the president not being officially an issue at the conference, African delegates are concentrating into turning this meeting into an African COP. Niger's Athanase Bouda told DW that hosting the conference in Africa has led to more intensive and fruitful exchange with partners: "They want to continue to support our projects and have made further promises. I think hope is allowed."

Adapted from French by Cristina Krippahl