WNBA players step up calls for Griner's release

Sat, May 28, 2022

In this file photo taken on October 12, 2021 Brittney Griner of the Phoenix Mercury celebrates with fans following Game Two of the 2021 WNBA Finals in Phoenix, Arizona

 (AFP/Christian Petersen) (Christian Petersen)

WNBA players and their union leaders stepped up their calls for Brittney Griner's release from prison in Russia on Saturday, the 100th day of the US basketball star's detention.

"Right now, on day 100 of BG's wrongful detainment, we are calling on everyone to use their platforms, no matter the size, to bring attention to her wrongful detainment, to get (Griner's wife) Cherelle that meeting with President Biden and to get our sister home," the Women’s National Basketball Players Association (WNBPA) said in a statement.

Griner was detained in February amid soaring tensions over Ukraine.

The two-time Olympic gold medallist and WNBA champion was arrested at Moscow's airport on February 17 on charges of carrying in her luggage vape cartridges with cannabis oil, which is illegal in Russia.

However, on May 3 the US State Department said it had determined that Russia had "wrongfully detained US citizen Brittney Griner."

On May 13, Russian state media said Griner's pre-trial detention had been extended until June 18.

In the immediate aftermath of Griner's detention, the WNBA had commented little on the case hoping not to inflame the situation.

Since the State Department's declaration that she was wrongfully detained, however, there have been more vocal calls for her release.

"To athletes, of any age, ability level, team, sport or country: this is OUR teammate," the WNBPA wrote. "A member of OUR global sports community, we need to stand up and stand together to call for her release."

Several WNBA and NBA players tweeted about Griner on Saturday.

"Brittney Griner has been illegally detained in Russia since February 17th, 2022," wrote Brooklyn Nets star Kyrie Irving. "I'm urging the (White House) to prioritize Brittney’s safe return home immediately! #WeAreBG"

Griner, 32, was travelling to play club basketball in Russia when she was detained.

Since then, the United States and Russia have exchanged prisoners with Russia, freeing former US Marine Trevor Reed who had been accused of drunkenly fighting with police.

The United States also says Russia has unjustly detained Paul Whelan, a former security official at a vehicle parts company who was sentenced to 16 years in prison on espionage charges.

bb/des

Wife of detained WNBA star Brittney Griner urges Biden to 'go get her'


Detained WNBA star Brittney Griner's wife urged President Joe Biden to "go get her" after the two-time Olympian was detained by Russian authorities in February. 

File Photo by Richard Ellis/UPI | License Photo

May 25 (UPI) -- Cherelle Griner, the wife of WNBA star Brittney Griner, is urging President Joe Biden to help bring home the Phoenix Mercury center after she was detained in Russia.

"There is one person that can go get her, and that's our president," Cherelle Griner said Wednesday in an interview on ESPN. "He has that power. You know, I'm just like 'Why are we not using it? Like, urgently, use it.' We're expecting him to use his power to get it done."

Brittney Griner, 31, was detained at a Moscow airport in February for allegedly carrying cannabis-oil vape cartridges, which carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison. The two-time Olympic gold medalist had flown from New York to Moscow to play basketball overseas during the off-season.

Griner was scheduled to appear in a Russian court on May 19, but the court extended her pretrial detention another 30 days into June.

Earlier this month, the U.S. State Department changed Griner's designation and said she was being "wrongfully detained" by Russia's government. The change in designation means the U.S. government will no longer wait for the Russian justice system to resolve the issue and will take more proactive steps to win her release.

Cherelle Griner said she has spoken with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and has been in communication with Brittney through letters.

"I'm in a position of complete vulnerability right now. I have to trust people that I didn't even know until Feb. 17. So I'm trusting her lawyers. 'How does she look? How is her spirit? How is her energy?' I'm just asking all those questions, trying to just get some type of indication or vibe," Cherelle Griner said

"Some days they say, 'She's really strong. ... She seemed in good spirits when we talked.' And sometimes they'll say, 'Her energy was really low.'"

Cost-of-living crisis forces more Brits to foodbanks





Greater Bradford's population is the fifth most income-deprived and sixth most employment-deprived nationwide, according to the government's last poverty index published in 2019

 (AFP/OLI SCARFF)

Joe JACKSON
Sat, May 28, 2022,

On an overcast morning in Bradford, northern England, a steady stream of locals arrive at a foodbank to collect produce parcels described as "a lifesaver" during the worst cost-of-living crisis in a generation.

Bradford Central Foodbank is helping twice as many people compared to pre-pandemic, as spiralling prices for energy, food and other basics leave a growing number of Britons struggling.

"The numbers since I've been a volunteer have only multiplied and I can only see it getting worse," said Karl Carroll, 33, who has relied on the parcels since 2019 and is now volunteering at the foodbank.

"I've barely got £40 ($50, 47 euros) by the time I've paid everything out, so I imagine families are struggling in more ways," he told AFP.


Simon Jackson, 43, an unemployed former supermarket worker who is accessing long-term government sickness benefits, has been a foodbank user since February.

"It is a tougher time at the minute... the cost of living's skyrocketed to a point of we're having to use foodbanks a bit more," he said.

Jackson currently gets around £900 a month in various government support payments but, like Carroll, once his bills are paid, there is little left over for food.

Rising prices are exacerbating the situation.

"Places like (this) here in Bradford are a lifesaver. They can really help balance your decisions -- sometimes between the heating and eating," he said.

- Survival -

One of the clearest signs of the crisis is the surge in foodbank use.

The Trussell Trust charity says its more than 1,400 affiliated sites handed out 2.1 million parcels in the past year -- 830,000 of them to children -- in a 14 percent increase on pre-pandemic levels.

Its central Bradford operation is hosted three days a week by a local church organisation, and can supply people with only three parcels within six months to manage demand.

They contain basics such as cereal, tinned soup, meat and fish, pasta, sauces, vegetables, biscuits, sugar, tea and coffee.

Started in 2011, it is one of around 30 free food providers now in the city of just over half a million residents, and currently helps around 1,000 people a month, said manager Josie Barlow.

Greater Bradford's population -- the sixth biggest metropolitan area in England -- is the fifth most income-deprived and sixth most employment-deprived nationwide, according to the government's last poverty index published in 2019.

That leaves it particularly vulnerable in the current climate.

"It's people that are on the lowest incomes that'll suffer the most... they have to buy the essentials but they're the things that are really going up by a lot," Barlow explained.

She greets arrivals with a warm smile and upbeat energy, directing them to collection tables as well as welfare, housing and other advisors.

"We want to give a food parcel, but we also really want to help people with the root causes of their food crisis," Barlow noted.

She said they receive "a whole spread of society", which includes working as well as unemployed people.

"You do a budget with people and you're like: 'yeah, you just can't live on that, can you?' And there's no real way out of that," she added.

"You can't expect people to live like that, in crisis, just trying to survive in the long-term."



- Winter fears -

The government announced Thursday a new £15 billion support package aimed at the most vulnerable, ahead of an expected 42 percent jump in energy bills in October -- which follows a 54 percent hike last month.

Three-quarters of the money is directed at government benefits recipients, with a £650 "cost-of-living payment" to most alongside £300 for pensioners and an extra £150 for those on disability support.

But in Bradford, as elsewhere, it cannot allay fears that worse to come.

The current nine percent inflation rate is predicted to surge even higher, which would swamp any additional support.

"I'm quite scared by this winter coming up," admitted Barlow, noting summer allows people to get by without heating.

"Come this winter, when you really do need it on... I just don't know how people are going to survive."

Jackson predicted the biggest squeeze could come at Christmas, as families in particular grapple with giving presents as well as putting food on the table.

"It might not be so much for me, because I'm on my own -- I'll just put an extra blanket on or something," he said.

"But for those with small kids that have Christmas presents and other needs... it's really going to be tough."

Simone Hillhands, 34, is one. She has three children aged 10, 13 and 15. One of them has a disability, which prevents her from working full time.

Her children's school directed her to the foodbank.

"I need to care for them," she explained.

Reluctant to reveal too much of her personal circumstances, Hillhands confided that her sister had recently been made homeless and the wider family's situation was "really, really hard" with prices rising.

"They've gone through the roof... it's crazy!" she said, adding that despite the pandemic, "last year was a lot easier".

jj/phz/rl

Germany: 1 in 10 people are 'addicted' to work, study finds

From juggling multiple tasks at once, to working long hours and feeling guilty during their leisure time — excessive and "compulsive" work behavior is found throughout Germany's workforce, a new study has found.

Many within the German workforce are pulling long hours and find it hard to relax when off the clock

A third of the German labor force is working "excessively" and another 10% exhibit addictive working behavior, according to a new study presented on Wednesday.

The representative study, commissioned by the Hans Böckler Foundation, is the first to examine workaholic behavior across all sectors in Germany — and it has found that "compulsive" work is present in all branches.

What did the study reveal?

The study was carried out by the Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training (BIBB) and the Technical University of Braunschweig.

Researchers examined interviews from 8,000 people employed in Germany. The data was recorded in 2017 and 2018 — before the coronavirus pandemic further blurred the work-life balance line.

The study found 9.8% of people exhibited addictive and "compulsive" behavior in their work. Another 33% were found to work "excessively" but not addictively.

The majority, 54.9% of workers, approached their job tasks with a more "relaxed" approach," the study found.

Women were slightly more likely to be workaholics than men — with 10.8% of women falling into the addicted category, compared to 9% of men.

At the same time, young people aged between 15 and 24 were far more likely than older workers aged between 55 and 64 to exhibit addictive working behavior — with 12.6% of younger workers showing compulsive behavior compared to 7.9% of older workers.

Young people in Germany showed higher rates of work addiction than their older counterparts

Which jobs were particularly at risk?

Managers and people who are self-employed are much more at risk of developing addictive approaches to work, the study showed.

Over 12% of managers compared to 8.7% of non-managers showed signs of work addiction.

"Among those in management positions, work addiction becomes more prevalent the higher the position," the study's authors said.

Researchers also found workaholic behavior across all sectors — with the highest rates of work addiction (19%) among those in the fields of agriculture, forest management, animal husbandry and horticulture.

The fields that were less at risk were those working in technology, geography and natural sciences.

Socioeconomic factors, such as level of education or relationship status, played little "or a very weak" role in whether someone was more likely to be addicted to their work, the study found.

Those who work in larger companies, however, were less likely to report work addiction than those who work in smaller companies, the study noted.

What is workaholic behavior?

The authors of the German study used two dimensions to define and identify "addictive" and "compulsive" working behavior.

The first dimension concerns how much people work, including: working long hours with high workloads and grappling with multiple projects at once.

The second factor concerns how their work impacts their personal lives.

Those with work addiction were defined in the study as those who had difficulty relaxing in their free time outside of work, those who would compulsively check work emails after clocking out, and those who said they felt guilty taking a vacation or while on holiday.

The term "workaholic" was coined in 1971 by the US psychologist Wayne Oates, to describe people whose approach to their work was similar to those who battle addictions with alcohol.

The study's authors called for further research into the causes of work addiction, as well as the significant impacts that it can have on the physical and psychological health of employees.

rs/dj (epd, AFP)

UK companies to trial four-day workweek

Shivani KHANDEKAR
Sat, May 28, 2022,



The trial will involve some reorganisation of rotas to keep the brewery functioning 

(AFP/Justin TALLIS)


Louis Bloomsfield inspects the kegs of beer at his brewery in north London, eagerly awaiting June, when he will get an extra day off every week.

The 36-year-old brewer plans to use the time to get involved in charity work, start a long-overdue course in particle physics, and spend more time with family.

He and colleagues at the Pressure Drop brewery are taking part in a six-month trial of a four-day working week, with 3,000 others from 60 UK companies.

The pilot -- touted as the world's biggest so far -- aims to help companies shorten their working hours without cutting salaries or sacrificing revenues.


Similar trials have also taken place in Spain, Iceland, the United States and Canada. Australia and New Zealand are scheduled to start theirs in August.

Alex Soojung-Kim Pang, a programme manager at 4 Day Week Global, the campaign group behind the trial, said it will give firms "more time" to work through challenges, experiment with new practices and gather data.

Smaller organisations should find it easier to adapt, as they can make big changes more readily, he told AFP.

Pressure Drop, based in Tottenham Hale, is hoping the experiment will not only improve their employees' productivity but also their well-being.

At the same time, it will reduce their carbon footprint.

The Royal Society of Biology, another participant in the trial, says it wants to give employees "more autonomy over their time and working patterns".

Both hope a shorter working week could help them retain employees, at a time when UK businesses are confronted with severe staff shortages, and job vacancies hitting a record 1.3 million.

- Not all rosy -

Pressure Drop brewery's co-founder Sam Smith said the new way of working would be a learning process.

"It will be difficult for a company like us which needs to be kept running all the time, but that's what we will experiment with in this trial," he said.

Smith is mulling giving different days off in the week to his employees and deploying them into two teams to keep the brewery functioning throughout.

When Unilever trialled a shorter working week for its 81 employees in New Zealand, it was able to do so only because no manufacturing takes place in its Auckland office and all staff work in sales or marketing.

The service industry plays a huge role in the UK economy, contributing 80 percent to the country's GDP.

A shorter working week is therefore easier to adopt, said Jonathan Boys, a labour economist at the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development.

But for sectors such as retail, food and beverage, healthcare and education, it's more problematic.

Boys said the biggest challenge will be how to measure productivity, especially in an economy where a lot of work is qualitative, as opposed to that in a factory.

Indeed, since salaries will stay the same in this trial, for a company to not lose out, employees will have to be as productive in four days as they are five.

Yet Aidan Harper, author of "The Case for a Four Day Week", said countries working fewer hours tend to have higher productivity.

"Denmark, Sweden, the Netherlands work fewer hours than the UK, yet have higher levels of productivity," he told AFP.

"Within Europe, Greece works more hours than anyone, and yet have the lowest levels of productivity."

- 'Hiring superpower' -

Employees in the UK work roughly 36.5 hours every week, against counterparts in Greece who clock in upwards of 40 hours, according to database company Statista.

Phil McParlane, founder of Glasgow-based recruitment company 4dayweek.io, says offering a shorter workweek is a win-win, and even calls it "a hiring superpower".

His company only advertises four-day week and flexible jobs.

They have seen the number of companies looking to hire through the platform rise from 30 to 120 in the past two years, as many workers reconsidered their priorities and work-life balance in the pandemic.

str/ved/ph

Decline in North Sea puffins causes concern



nIn both places, a census is taking place to determine the extent of the decline, which has been blamed on rising sea temperatures and other environmental factors (AFP/Andy Buchanan)

Stuart GRAHAM
Sat, May 28, 2022


The Isle of May, off Scotland's east coast, is home to one of the UK's biggest colonies of seabirds. Some 200,000 birds, from kittiwakes to guillemots can flock to the rocky outcrop at the height of the breeding season.

But conservationists are concerned about dwindling numbers of one of the island's most distinctive visitors -- the Atlantic puffin.

"The population was really booming in the 80s and 90s and then suddenly, a crash," David Steel, a manager at the nature reserve, told AFP.

"We lost nearly 30 percent of all puffins in the mid-2000s and since then the population has slowly increased but nothing compared to what it used to be."


Just over 50 miles (80 kilometres) down the coast on the Farne Islands, off Northumberland in northeast England, there are similar concerns.

In both places, global warming, high winds, rains, coastal erosion, pollution and overfishing of its favoured food -- sand eels -- is being blamed for dwindling numbers.

"Climate change is having a big effect with prey items in the sea," affecting sand eels which feed on plankton in the North Sea, said Steel.

"The plankton is moving north as the sea temperature increases. So if there are less sand eels the puffins are going to struggle."

- Census -

On a meadow on one of the Farne Islands, rangers slowly slide their arms into narrow sandy burrows, searching for signs of nesting pairs of puffins, which are known locally as "tommy noddies".

"Quite often you will get a bit of a nip, which is a good sign because it means then that the burrow is occupied," said one of the rangers, Rosie Parsons.

In 2015, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature gave puffins "vulnerable" status, after large declines over much of their European range.

Rising sea temperatures have caused sand eels to move north to cooler waters, forcing the birds to follow but where more extreme weather can be fatal for them.

The traditional enemies of puffins, which grow to just under 30 centimetres (one foot) tall and weigh around 450 grams (around a pound), are seagulls and seals.

Puffins mate for life and lay a single egg in April or May.

Due to their low reproductive rate, populations can take decades to recover from a sudden knock.

A full puffin census is being carried out on the Farne Islands and the Isle of May this year.

Concerns were raised last year when a limited count recorded 36,211 breeding pairs across four of the Farne Islands compared to 42,474 pairs in 2018.

Puffin numbers on the islands peaked at 55,674 pairs in 2003 before a sudden crash to 36,835 in 2008 a due to an extremely low number of sand eels.

Zoologist Richard Bevan, from Newcastle University, hopes the resumed annual count will provide a more accurate estimate of puffins on the islands.

"Up until 2018 surveys were done on the Farnes every five years, which means you don't know what's happening in the four years in between," he told AFP.

Before 2018, teams of researchers would check every burrow they came across on an island and form an estimate from that.

The university then found a way to subsample to form an accurate estimate of the population. This has sped up the count and made the task far less arduous.

- Concern -

Measuring puffin numbers is difficult, said Bevan.

Sometimes it will be easy to spot one of the birds, returning to nests with a sand eel clamped in its beak, but puffins are often underground.

"Often the only way to do it is to stick your arm into a burrow and check," he said.

The 2022 census will give scientists a picture of how the puffin population is being affected by factors such as climate change and local changes in sand eel availability, Bevan says.

"Looking at the data, it is worrying to see that over the last four years we have seen a downward trend," he says.

"However, these are data for a short time period and compared to the population counts in the early 1990s they are still reasonable numbers."

Although there is not an immediate danger of the puffins becoming extinct, the fact that their numbers are falling "triggers concern".

"With a declining population you have to keep your eye on it to make sure that doesn't continue," he said.

"If it does continue we have to be aware of the factors that contribute to it and how we can ameliorate those."

srg/phz/cjo/ach

Peru: Researchers discover two new species of lizard

One of the newly-discovered lizards, which was named after Optimus Prime from the "Transformers" franchise, was found living in the sanctuary around Machu Picchu.    

The shiny, black-scaled lizards were found in Peru's Machu Picchu and a preserve in Cuzco

Officials announced the discovery — and the special names — of two, new lizard species, Peru's Conservation Authority in a statement posted over the weekend.

Tucked away in the high altitudes of the Peruvian Andes, the new species are shedding light on the plight of local wildlife threatened by rapid changes due to global warming.

Why do they have such unique names?

One of the new species was discovered in the wildlife sanctuary of Machu Picchu — where the historic ruins of an ancient Incan city are located.

Scientists dubbed the new species Proctoporus optimus, named after the leading alien robot character Optimus Prime from the "Transformers" film franchise.

The name is a nod to the "Transformer" movies, which were party filmed in Machu Picchu, the conservation authority said.

Another new species was also uncovered in the Cuzco region of Peru, where it was found in the protected Machiguenga Communal Reserve.

Researchers gave this new species the name of Proctoporus katerynae, in honor of biologist Kateryn Pino Bolanos who has done extensive research in the Peruvian Andes.

The new species were confirmed with the help of genetic sequencing. Researchers at Peru's Museum of Biodiversity, the University of Texas, and the Museum of Natural History at the National University of Saint Anthony the Abbot in Cuzco.

What we know about the lizards?

The two lizards have shiny, dark scales — one of which has a red-tinted underbelly.

They belong to a type of medium-sized lizard that ranges in length between 2.7 centimeters to 7.8 centimeters (1.1 inches to 3.1 inches) depending on the species.

Both species, discovered living at high-elevations, are considered endangered — and under a growing threat due to climate change.

According to Peru's Conservation Authority, the rising temperature in the lowlands of the mountains is forcing the species to migrate higher up into the mountains in search of the optimal temperature.

This causes the lizard's distribution area to grow—an effect referred to as the "escalator to extinction," because as they are forced to move higher and higher up the mountain to find cooler temperatures, they will eventually have no where else to go.

Edited by: Jenipher Camino Gonzalez

Jordan's plastic trash turned into art with a message



Frustration and anger drove Nissan to create her exhibits, in the hope of 'changing minds and habits' 

(AFP/Khalil MAZRAAWI)

Kamal Taha
Sat, May 28, 2022

Jordan-based artist Maria Nissan is on a mission: to rid the world of single-use plastics and to raise public awareness about the environmental scourge through eye-catching art.

One of her best-known murals graces the side of a building in the capital Amman, a giant work made from more than 2,000 plastic bottles, almost 1,000 shopping bags and over 150 hookah pipe hoses.

A US citizen of Iraqi origin, Nissan said she became enchanted with Amman when she first visited three years ago, but also felt "frustration and anger" at the piles of garbage on the streets and in areas of natural beauty.

"Despite the beauty of the city, walking its streets can be a journey filled with all kinds of trash," the 35-year-old said.

"My eyes cannot turn away from the abundant shiny plastic bags, glass bottles, soda cans, candy bar wrappers," said Nissan, who occasionally sports a dress made from a sturdy blue Ikea bag.

Trained in painting and drawing in the United States and Italy, Nissan decided to collect and repurpose the trash to create art -- often collages themed on women's faces, flowers and Oriental motifs.

Her home, where she has a rooftop workspace under a large canopy, is filled with every imaginable kind of discarded plastic object, from razors and toothbrushes to lighters, pens and plastic spoons.

"Art made of plastic is a concrete and powerful way to raise concerns on environmental issues that affect Jordanians, their children, their communities and natural environments in the kingdom," she said.

- 'Everybody's problem' -

"A bottle littered in a valley will take up to 450 years to decompose," said Nissan, pointing out that the effect is "micro-plastics polluting the soils, water and the wildlife.

"Because plastics are littered indiscriminately in fields and water, livestock and fish feed themselves indirectly with plastic pieces that we will ultimately find on our plates."

Nissan's work has been exhibited in 12 shows in Jordan as well as in Italy and Greece, and features on her Instagram channel @marianissanart, all with the purpose of changing minds and habits.

Jordanians use three billion plastic bags every year, part of the country's annual solid waste load of 2.2 million tonnes, of which only seven percent is recycled, according to the UN Development Programme.

Nissan urges people to avoid buying plastic products and to go shopping with reusable bags, and also advocates a tax on single-use plastics.

"The consequences of single-use plastic pollution are often delayed, and therefore it is difficult to have people feel accountable and responsible for their own acts," she said.

"Plastic comes back to us in one way or another ... It's nobody's responsibility until it becomes everybody's problem."

kt/msh/fz/dwo

ECOCIDE

Toxic smoke and suspicious plastic plant fires in Turkey

There was a fire every three days in Turkey's plastic reprocessing plants on average last year. 

KARTEPE, Turkey (AFP) - The number of fires breaking out in plastic recycling plants has soared in Turkey.

Experts and activists suspect it's not a coincidence, believing that some entrepreneurs want to get rid of unwanted rubbish sometimes imported from Europe.

In Kartepe, an industrial town in the country's north-west, one of these sites was closed by the authorities in December after the outbreak of three fires in less than a month.


One burned for more than 50 hours, spewing toxic black smoke over the area wedged between the mountains and the Sea of Marmara.

"We don't want our lakes and springs to be polluted," said Beyhan Korkmaz, an environmental activist in the city.

She is concerned about the polluting dioxin emissions from a dozen similar fires within a 5km radius in less than two years.

"Should we wear masks?" she said.

There was a fire every three days in Turkey's plastic reprocessing plants on average last year. The number rose from 33 in 2019 to 121 in 2021, according to Sedat Gundogdu, a professor specialising in plastic pollution at Cukurova University in the southern city of Adana.

'Plastic lobby'

Over the same period, Turkey became the leading importer of European plastic waste - ahead of Malaysia - after China banned imports at the start of 2018.

Nearly 520,000 tonnes arrived in Turkey in 2021, adding to the four to six million tonnes the country generates each year, according to data compiled by the Turkish branch of the NGO Greenpeace.


Much of this waste ends up in the south of the country, especially in Adana province, where companies operating illegally have been closed down in recent years.

Other waste containers arrive at the ports of Izmir in the west and Izmit, not far from Kartepe.

"The problem is not importing plastic from Europe, the problem is importing non-recyclable or residual plastics," said Baris Calli, professor of environmental engineering at Marmara University in Istanbul.

MORE ON THIS TOPIC
Slow recycler Turkey seeks better uses for its trash

"My feeling is that most of these fires are not just a coincidence," he said.

He explained only 20 to 30 per cent of imported plastic waste is recyclable.

"The remaining residues should be sent to incineration plants but the incineration plants charge some money... that's why when some companies have significant amounts of residues on their hands they try to find some easy way to get rid of them," he said.

Gundogdu finds it curious that "most of these fires are happening at night" and in outlying storage sections of reprocessing centres, away from the machines.

In a report published in August 2020, international police organisation Interpol expressed concern about an "an increase in illegal waste fire and landfills in Europe and Asia", citing Turkey in particular.

Following an October 2021 regulation, companies in the sector found guilty of arson can have their permits withdrawn.

The environment ministry and the vice-president of the waste and recycling branch of the Union of Chambers of Commerce of Turkey did not respond when asked by AFP how many companies have been sanctioned.

"The ministry cannot investigate really carefully, or maybe they don't want to find" out, Calli said.

He said the plastic industry lobby has grown stronger in Turkey in recent years.

According to Turkish recyclers' association GEKADER, the plastic waste sector generates US$1 billion (S$1.4 billion) a year and employs some 350,000 people in 1,300 companies.

'A ray of sunlight is enough'

In her office overlooking a shabby warehouse in Kartepe, where plastics are sorted before being recycled or legally incinerated, Aylin Citakli rejected accusations of arson.

"I don't believe it," the sorting centre's environmental manager said.

"These are easily flammable materials, anything can start a fire, a ray of sunlight is enough," she said.

Turkey announced a ban on the import of plastic waste in May 2021 following outcry after the publication of images of waste from Europe dumped in ditches and rivers.

The ban was lifted a week after it came into force.

Back in Kartepe, environmental activist Korkmaz is worried about the future of her region, where she has lived for 41 years.

She cited the example of Dilovasi, a town 40km away that houses many chemical and metal factories. Scientists have found abnormally high cancer rates there.

"We don't want to end up like them," she said.

Francia Marquez, the Afro-Colombian rights activist campaigning for vice president of Colombia

For the first time in Colombia's history, the left, led by former Bogota mayor Gustavo Petro, could win the presidential election set to begin Sunday. If it prevails, Afro-Colombian environmental and human rights activist Francia Marquez would become vice president. A victory would mark a turning point for a country that has been plagued by social inequalities and historically governed by conservatives.

© Juan Barreto, AFP

Cyrielle CABOT 

In recent weeks, Marquez has consistently appeared in public wearing brightly coloured traditional Afro-Colombian outfits. As a vice-presidential candidate in the presidential election, she always chants the same message: "It's time to move from resistance to power!"

Within the space of just a few months, Marquez has managed to shake up Colombian politics, historically dominated by conservatives, by bringing racism and social inequality to the forefront, issues that were previously absent from the campaign debate. She has thus become a symbol of change for a new generation of voters.

The changed debate could well bring a political shift. Colombians go to the polls Sunday to cast their votes in the first round of the presidential election and the left-wing Petro, a former guerilla and mayor of Bogota who chose Marquez as his running mate, is the favourite to win. He is expected to garner 41 percent of the vote according to the latest polls.

Petro and Marquez are running against the right-wing candidate Federico Gutierrez, a former mayor of Medellin, who is expected to gain around 27 percent support. They also face the independent and outsider candidate Rodolfo Hernandez, who won endorsement from the French-Colombian former candidate and ex-FARC hostage Ingrid Betancourt on May 20.
An activist for Afro-Colombian rights

There is nothing in Marquez’s past to suggest that she would embark on a political career. Born in 1981 in a small village in the southwestern Cauca region of Colombia, she grew up alone with her mother. Pregnant at 16 with her first child, she was first forced to work in a gold mine a few kilometres from home to support her family and then hired as a maid.

However, activism is just in some people’s genes, and Marquez is one of them. In 1996, when she was just 15, she learned that a multinational company wanted to launch a project to extend a dam on the region's main river, the Ovejas, which would have a major impact on her community.

Living on the banks of the river since the 17th century, the Afro-Colombian community has been practicing agriculture and artisanal mining, its main sources of income, for generations.

A 500-kilometre walk for the environment

Learning about the project marked the beginning of Marquez's long struggle to defend the rights of Afro-Colombian communities and preserve their land. For the past 20 years, she has been fighting relentlessly against the multinational companies that exploit the area around the Ovejas river and sometimes force people to leave it.

Marquez didn’t become widely known until 2014. At that time, she was targeting the illegal miners who had set up along the river, digging for gold and, above all, abundantly using mercury – an element that separates gold from water but also contaminates water and destroys biodiversity. In protest, Marquez organised the "turban march", which saw 80 women gather together to walk from Cauca to Bogota, a 10-day, 500-kilometre journey. The group demonstrated in front of the interior ministry for almost 20 days. In the end, the activist and future electoral candidate won, as the government pledged to destroy all the illegal farms around the Ovejas.

Since then, Marquez, who now has a law degree, has held numerous forums, lectured in universities and delivered speeches before political figures and NGOs. She was awarded the Goldman Prize, the equivalent of the Nobel Prize for the environment, in 2018 for her efforts. The following year, she appeared on the BBC’s list of the 100 most influential women in the world.

"I am someone who raises my voice to stop the destruction of rivers, forests and moors. I am someone who dreams that one day human beings will change the economic model of death, to make way for building a model that guarantees life," she writes on her website.
"Our governments have turned their backs on the people"

Marquez finally decided to enter politics in 2020 and made no effort to hide her ambition: "I want to be a candidate for this country. I want the population to be free and dignified. I want our territories to be places of life," she tweeted. That same year, she launched her movement "Soy porque somos" ("I am because we are"). In March 2022, she ran in the presidential primaries of the left-wing "Historic Pact" coalition. Marquez surprised everyone by coming in third, prompting Petro to choose her as his running mate.

She has made the fight to preserve Afro-Colombian lands a central part of her political campaign, constantly harkening back to her roots. "I am an Afro-Colombian woman, a single mother of two who gave birth to her first child at the age of 16 and worked in households to pay the bills. But I am also an award-winning environmental activist. And above all, a lawyer who could become Colombia's first Black vice president," she says at numerous meetings.

"Our governments have turned their backs on the people, on justice and on peace," she says. "If they had done their job properly, I wouldn't be here."

"Within the population, there has been a lot of popular anger in recent months directed towards the political class, particularly linked to the Covid-19 pandemic," explains Olga Lucia Gonzalez, an associate researcher and specialist on Colombia at the University of Paris-Diderot. "Francia Marquez comes from civil society and not from the traditional political elite. This is an argument that she plays on, and that goes greatly in her favour."

"But above all, she is a woman, Black, Afro-Colombian, and she brings with her issues that until now have been totally forgotten, like the relationship to colonialism, sexism, racism," she continues.

Marquez is not the only Afro-Colombian candidate in this presidential election – there are also Caterine Ibarguen and Zenaida Martinez. Together, they want to fight against the double discrimination faced by women who are Black. This discrimination is reflected in Colombia's political life: There is only one Black woman in the government and only two are members of parliament.

This in a country that has the second-largest population of African descent in Latin America. Official census data indicate that Afro-Colombians represent over 6.2 percent of Colombia's population, a figure demographers say is grossly underestimated. Afro-Colombian and indigenous communities continue to face disproportionate levels of poverty, violence and land expropriation. According to government findings, about 31 percent of the Afro-Colombian population lives in poverty, compared to 20 percent of the national population.

It remains to be seen whether a victory by Petro would bring about the change so hoped for by a part of the population. "At this moment, victory is far from assured. [Marquez] and Gustavo Petro will certainly get through the first round, but there is no guarantee that they will win the second," says Gonzalez. "After that, political life will always be led by the same elite. It can provide good momentum. I doubt it will be enough."

This article is a translation of the original in French by Mariamne Everett.

Gambia ready to prosecute ex-dictator Jammeh for crimes against humanity

Gambia's Truth, Reconciliation and Reparations commission recommends prosecuting officials for rights violations and abuses committed during Yahya Jammeh's 22-year reign. Victims also want the ex-leader to face justice.

Former Gambia President Yahya Jammeh is currently exiled in Equatorial Guinea

Gambian authorities on Wednesday released the long-awaited white paper by the Truth, Reconciliation and Reparations Commission (TRRC) set up to probe crimes committed during the reign of former President Yahya Jammeh. 

The TRRC's findings were delivered after over two years of hearings, during which witnesses gave chilling evidence about torture, death squads, rape and witch hunts — often at the hands of Jammeh's hit unit, known as the Junglers.

Among the recommendations on the panel's white paper is the prosecution of Jammeh and members of the Junglers and to provide support to victims of the former dictator's brutal reign, which was notorious for crushing dissent through murder, disappearances, torture, rape and castration.

Meaningful step forward

The release of the white paper ends six months of waiting since the TRRC first released its findings into human rights abuses under Jammeh. 

"Impunity is a kind of incentive that we are not prepared to serve perpetrators," said Gambia's justice minister, Dawda Jallow.

"Let us be clear about this," he said, "that those who contemplate committing gross human rights violations must also be aware that society one day will hold them accountable."

Reed Brody, a lawyer with the International Commission of Jurists who works with Jammeh's victims, called the ministry's response to the TRRC "an important and meaningful step forward."

"Now the government will have to demonstrate with concrete actions to an increasingly skeptical public that it actually has the determination to bring the perpetrators to book," he said. 

"Laws still have to be enacted, a court has to be established, cases have to be prepared," he said, "and Yahya Jammeh has to be brought into custody."

Journalists not spared

Sherrif Kijera, chairman of the Gambia Center for Victims of Human Rights Violations, said: "The statement by the justice minister is a clear indication of the government's commitment and the political will to implement recommendations of the white paper." 

The TRRC found that 240 to 250 people died at the hands of the state during Jammeh's rule — including journalists. 

Among the notable victims is AFP journalist Deyda Hydara, who was killed by the Junglers. 

A death squad member identified by the media as B. Lowe is currently on trial in Germany for killing Hydara.

Victims want Jammeh and suspected accomplices to be tried for the crimes committed

Victims want justice

The victims advocate Isatou Jammeh told DW correspondent Omar Wally in Banjul that his father, Haruna, a cousin of the former president's,  was killed by the Junglers in 2005.

Haruna Jammeh's body was never found. Isatou wants her father's killers to be prosecuted and his body found and given a decent burial.

"My expectations of the white paper is to see that prosecution of those who bear highest responsibilities take place," Isatou Jammeh said.

"I would like the Gambian government to ensure that the bodies of the missing persons are found and returned to their families for proper burials," he added.

"The government should ensure that what happened under Yahya Jammeh's rule never happens again," he said.

No justice, no peace

The justice activist Fatoumata Sandeng told DW that her father, Solo Sandeng, was arrested in April 2016 for leading a protest without a permit.

Solo Sandeng was a senior member of the opposition United Democratic Party. He and scores of other opposition supporters were protesting, demanding electoral reforms. For Fatoumata, the prosecution of Yahya Jammeh and his accomplices is very important for the nation's healing.

"I always say there is no reconciliation without justice and no one can force victims to reconcile," Fatoumata Sandeng said.

"Recommendations of the white paper should be fully implemented to have a stable Gambia," she added. "We want just for Yahya Jammeh's victims for the healing process to begin."

President Barrow won reelection after forming an alliance with Yahya Jammeh's party

'Prosecute Jammeh and reform security services'

According to the white paper, civil society organizations in Gambia have pressed the authorities to prosecute Jammeh for abuses during his 22-year rule.

Victims have expressed optimism that Gambia's current president, Adama Barrow, will also overhaul the security sector; reform prison, media and public order laws; and forensically probe forced disappearances to avoid a repeat of abuses.

"Jammeh and others named by the TRRC should, without fail, be held accountable for their crimes," civil society organizations said in the white paper, referring to the 69 other alleged perpetrators mentioned in the report.

"Decisions on granting of amnesty should not be taken without prior consultation with victims and/or their families," according to the paper. 

Living in exile

Jammeh was forced from power after losing the 2016 election to Barrow. He subsequently fled to Equatorial Guinea where lives in exile. 

For Jammeh to face trial, Equatorial Guinea would have to agree to extradite him. However, there is currently no extradition agreement between the two nations. Two-thirds of Gambia's parliament would also have to approve a prosecution.

The commission recommended using a hybrid tribunal or trying Jammeh in a neighboring country.

Jammeh denies the accusations against him.

Edited by Keith Walker