Legal options running out for WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange

The tug of war over the extradition of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange to the US is entering its final stages, with London's High Court set to make a final decision in September. His family is worried about his health.

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has been fighting extradition to the US for years

Julian Assange has been detained at London's high-security Belmarsh Prison, one of the UK's toughest detention centers, since 2019. The WikiLeaks founder has long since completed his original 50-week sentence for skipping bail in 2012. But he has remained in custody ever since, in extremely harsh conditions, in what is essentially detention pending deportation.

British Home Secretary Priti Patel signed the judicial extradition order in June. Assange has one last chance to be  allowed to appeal the judicial order, to the High Court in London. A ruling is expected next month. If his request is rejected Assange will be extradited to the United States within four weeks.

Concerns for Assange's health

If the judges deny her husband the chance to launch another round of appeals, Assange's wife and lawyer, Stella, fears the worst. "Julian's life depends on him winning this," she said, in an interview with DW. "Julian is clinically depressed. If he is extradited, and placed in the type of isolation that the US government says it reserves the right to place him in, then he will commit suicide."

Play Video 2:37 min  Stella Assange: Europe's press freedom at risk

Assange's Australian family are also very worried. Speaking to Sky Australia last week, his father, John Shipton, described Assange's health as "very worrying and becoming dire now."

"His health is in decline," Assange's brother Gabriel confirmed in the same interview. "He's in a very, very precarious situation… It really is heartbreaking to see Julian, this gentle genius, in a maximum-security prison alongside the most violent criminals in the United Kingdom."

The family has appealed to the new Australian prime minister, Anthony Albanese, asking him to intercede on behalf of his compatriot. During his election campaign, Albanese had declared, "Enough is enough," indicating that the persecution of the WikiLeaks founder must come to an end.

However, Assange's father and brother have said no progress has been made since the new prime minister took office, and that so far they have been unable to make an appointment with the prime minister to discuss the issue. In a recent public statement, Albanese pointed out that negotiations like these must be conducted quietly and diplomatically, behind the scenes.

Disputed extradition

According to Stella Assange, the High Court must allow further appeals against an earlier decision made by the same court. The principal bone of contention, however, is the formal interpretation of the extradition treaty between the UK and the US.

In the first instance, a district court judge also took the prisoner's state of health into account, and ruled against extradition. The more senior judges, however, did not accept this argument as decisive.

There are other aspects of Assange's case that have been ignored to date, despite the best efforts of his lawyers. For example: the question of whether Assange's right to freedom of expression and the protection of journalistic work ought not, in fact, to prevent extradition. Or whether the US made the request for political reasons.

"Ultimately, once the domestic remedies have been exhausted, he can then appeal to the European Court of Human Rights," said Stella Assange. However, it remains unclear whether the British judges would be prepared to wait for an ECHR ruling.

Assange's two sons, now 3 and 5 years old, have only ever known

 their father as a prisoner

That's because the British government is set on a collision course with the European Convention on Human Rights. A draft bill submitted to the British Parliament at the end of June proposes to reduce protection for refugees. Instead of going through the asylum process in Britain, migrants would be sent to Rwanda to apply for asylum there. If the Tory hard-liner Liz Truss moves into Downing Street in September, Assange has little hope of a successful political intervention.

Prison visits with children

Once a week, Stella Assange is allowed to visit her husband in Belmarsh with their children for an hour. The two boys, now 3 and 5 years old, have only ever known their father as a prisoner.

Every family visit resembles an obstacle course — even the children are thoroughly searched. "They check inside their mouth, behind their ears, in their hair, under their feet; they have to go through the dogs that sniff them from head to toe, and they understand this is a place where their father is not allowed to leave," said Stella Assange.

Ultimately, though, she said this fight is not just for her husband's life, but for press freedom in Europe. "Is it permissible for a foreign power to reach into the European space and limit what the press can publish?" she asked. "Think about if China were to do the same thing and prosecute a journalist in Germany on the same principle, because that journalist exposed Chinese crimes."

But an extradition treaty like the one between the UK and the US exists only between friendly nations, where there is in fact trust in each other's democratic justice system. And where, it appears, geopolitical factors weigh heavier than the fate of a single man.

DW RECOMMENDS

Opinion: A blow for Julian Assange and for press freedom

Journalism is not a crime. But now a court in London has ruled that Julian Assange's extradition to the United States is legal. It's a devastating day for press freedom, writes Matthias von Hein.  

AUDIOS AND VIDEOS ON THE TOPIC

'Every generation has an epic fight'   

UK approves Assange extradition to US   

Space invaders: How video gamers are resisting a crypto onslaught

Joseph BOYLE
Tue, August 9, 2022 


When video game designer Mark Venturelli was asked to speak at Brazil's biggest gaming festival, he submitted a generic-sounding title for his presentation -- "The Future of Game Design" -- but that was not the talk he gave.

Instead, he launched into a 30-minute diatribe against the blockchain technology that underpins cryptocurrencies and the games it has spawned, mostly very basic smartphone apps that lure players with the promise of earning money.

"Everything that is done in this space right now is just bad -- actually it's terrible," he told AFP.

He is genuinely worried for the industry he loves, particularly because big gaming studios are also sniffing around the technology.

To crypto enthusiasts, blockchain will allow players to grab back some of the money they spend on games and make for higher-stakes enjoyment.

Critics say the opposite is true -- game makers will capture more profits while sidestepping laws on gambling and trading, and the profit motive will kill all enjoyment.

The battle lines are drawn for what could be a long confrontation over an industry worth some $300 billion a year, according to Accenture.

- 'Ecologically mortifying' -

Gamers like Venturelli might feel that they have triumphed in the early sorties.

Cryptocurrencies have crashed recently and dragged down the in-game tokens that had initially attracted players.


"Nobody is playing blockchain games right now," Mihai Vicol of Newzoo told AFP, saying between 90 and 95 percent of games had been affected by the crash.

Ubisoft, one of the world's biggest gaming firms, last year tried to introduce a marketplace to one of its hit games for trading NFTs, the digital tokens that act as receipts for anything from art to video game avatars.

But gamers' forums, many already scattered with anti-crypto sentiment, lit up in opposition.

Even French trade union IT Solidarity got involved, labelling blockchain "useless, costly, ecologically mortifying tech" -- a reference to the long-held criticism that blockchain networks are hugely power hungry.

Ubisoft quickly ditched the NFT marketplace in Tom Clancy Ghost Recon Breakpoint.

Last month, Minecraft, a world-building game hugely popular with children and teenagers, announced it would not allow blockchain technology.

The firm criticised the "speculative pricing and investment mentality" around NFTs and said introducing them would be "inconsistent with the long-term joy and success of our players".


The wider sector also has a serious image problem after a spectacular theft earlier this year of almost $600 million from Axie Infinity, a blockchain game popular in the Philippines.

Analyst firm NonFungible last week revealed that the NFT gaming sector crashed in the second quarter of this year with the number of sales plunging 22 percent.

All of this points to a bleak time for crypto enthusiasts, but blockchain entrepreneurs are not giving up.

- 'Revolutionise' gaming -

Sekip Can Gokalp, whose firms Infinite Arcade and Coda help developers introduce blockchain to their games, argues it is still "very early days".

He told AFP some of the attention-grabbing play-to-earn games had been "misguided" and he was convinced the technology still had the potential to "revolutionise" gaming.

Reports of a culture clash between gamers and crypto fans, he said, were overplayed and his research suggested there was substantial overlap between the two communities.

Gokalp can take heart from recent announcements by gaming giants such as Sega and Roblox, a popular platform mostly used by children, indicating they are still exploring blockchain.

And Ubisoft, despite abandoning its most high-profile blockchain effort, still has several crypto-related projects on the go.

Among the many benefits trumpeted by crypto enthusiasts are that the blockchain allows players to take items from one game to another, gives them ownership of those items and stores their progress across platforms.

Vicol, though, reckons blockchain gaming needs to find other selling points to succeed.

"It could be the future," he said, "but it's going to be different to how people envisage it today".

Brazilian Venturelli, whose games include the award-winning Relic Hunters, used his talk at the BIG Festival in Sao Paulo to dismiss all the benefits trumpeted by crypto fans as either unworkable, undesirable or already available.

And he told AFP that play-to-earn games risked real-world damage in Latin America -- a particular target for the industry -- by enticing young people away from occupations that bring benefits to society.

He said many people he knows, including venture capitalists and the heads of billion-dollar corporations, shared his point of view.

"They came to congratulate me on my talk," he said.

But with new blockchain games emerging every day, he accepts that the battle is far from over.

jxb/lth

China's Landmark #MeToo Case Returns To Court After Setback


By Beiyi SEOW
08/10/22

Zhou Xiaoxuan, seen here in 2021, has accused a former state TV host of sexually harassing her AFP / GREG BAKER

A landmark sexual harassment case in China was set to return to court Wednesday after an earlier ruling dealt a blow to the country's fledgling #MeToo movement.

Zhou Xiaoxuan stepped forward in 2018 to accuse state TV host Zhu Jun of forcibly kissing and groping her during her 2014 internship at the broadcaster.

While the case of Zhou, now 29, inspired many others to share their experiences of sexual assault publicly and sparked a social media storm, a court ruled last year there was insufficient evidence to back her allegation.

Zhou appealed, and is scheduled to appear in court for another hearing at 2 pm (0600 GMT) Wednesday in Beijing.

"I still feel a little scared and dejected now," she told AFP ahead of the hearing.

"The process of the first trial was a deep secondary injury."

She told AFP her legal team will focus on getting access to more evidence such as the police transcripts of interviews with her parents after she reported the incident -- which were not included in the earlier trial.

They are also requesting access to surveillance video footage.

Zhou said that Zhu was absent from earlier proceedings, and that while he had sued her for defamation, she was not aware of further developments in that case.

Zhou, also known by the pseudonym Xianzi, originally sued for a public apology from Zhu and 50,000 yuan ($7,400) in damages.

Her first hearing in December 2020 drew a large crowd and a significant police presence in Beijing.

Reporters from foreign media outlets including AFP were dragged away by police while filming the scene.

"The process for my case has truly been too difficult," Zhou said.

"I worry that other victims fear standing up for their rights after seeing what I've experienced."

Her case against Zhu was originally filed under the "personality rights" law -- covering rights relating to an individual's health and body.

But her lawyers later asked for it to be considered under a new sexual harassment law that was passed in 2020.

Despite that law, many women in China are still reluctant to come forward with harassment charges, and it is rare for cases to make it to court in a legal system that places a heavy burden on the claimant.

The country's #MeToo movement has stumbled since 2018, when a wave of women published allegations of sexual harassment against university professors.

Threatened at the time by the prospect of an uncontrolled mass movement, internet censors quickly began blocking social media hashtags and keywords, with members of the public often turning to homonyms.

In Norway, old oil platforms get a second life

By AFP
Published August 10, 2022

Three gigantic disused platforms are being taken apart bit by bit 

- Copyright AFP/File Frederic J. BROWN

Pierre-Henry DESHAYES

At an industrial yard in southwestern Norway, decommissioned oil platforms are slowly being dismantled for a second life in the circular economy.

Three gigantic disused platforms stand on the docks on the island municipality of Stord where they are being taken apart bit by bit — as much as 98 percent of their total 40,000 tonnes is suitable for recycling.

“If you come here in a year-and-a-half, you will see nothing left”, says Sturla Magnus, a senior official at Aker Solutions, a group specialised in both building and dismantling oil platforms.

Behind him, workmen in hardhats and fluorescent jackets are busy on the three structures: the platform from the Gyda field that was closed in 2020, and two others that have paid their dues at the Valhall field still in operation.

Once the security inspections are complete and the electrical equipment and dangerous materials like asbestos have been removed, the remainder — the giant, empty shells — are left to powerful cutting machines.

The most attractive waste are the tens of thousands of tonnes of high-quality steel, which can be reused on new oil platforms, other industrial structures or offshore wind turbines.

“This is steel that has to stand up to the harsh weather conditions in the North Sea. In other words, this is the best there is”, says Thomas Nygard, project director for decommissioning at Aker Solutions.

While the company is a player in the highly polluting oil industry and still makes more oil installations than it demolishes, it is in favour of recycling.

According to various estimates, one kilo (2.2 pounds) of recycled steel generates 58-70 percent less greenhouse gas emissions than a kilo of new steel.

– 10,000 installations to dismantle –

The North Sea is one of the oldest offshore oil and gas basins in the world and is gradually being depleted. Many of the oil platforms there are coming to the end of their life spans.

In a 2021 report, the industry association Oil and Gas UK (OGUK) — which has since changed name to Offshore Energies UK (OEUK) — forecast that more than one million tonnes of North Sea platforms would need to be dismantled by the end of the decade.

That is a large market, and one that is growing. Several years ago, OGUK’s forecast was for 200,000 tonnes.

“If you look globally, it’s probably close to 10,000 installations which are going to at some point in time come back to shore”, Magnus says.

Aker Solutions’ current workload is scheduled through 2028.

Meanwhile, some platforms are being maintained despite their advanced age.

One of Norway’s oldest platforms, Statfjord A, has been in use since 1979. It was due to be taken out of service in 2022, but oil giant Equinor decided in 2020 to extend its life span until 2027.

The same is true for two other platforms in the same field, Statfjord B and C, which are only a few years younger, but have been extended until 2035.

The reprieve is due to the remaining oil reserves which are believed to be “considerable”, a decision sure to have been sugar-coated by soaring oil prices.

– Environmental stakes –

Nevertheless, even some environmental activists are reluctant to see the platforms disappear entirely.

The earliest installations were made with legs of concrete — metal was preferred for later models — and according to the Norwegian branch of Friends of the Earth, the cement made for “fantastic” artificial corals because of its rough, pock-marked surface.

“All those who have worked on a platform will tell you: there are a lot of big fish that live nearby because there’s no industrial fishing and the fish can grow to be up to 10 years old”, says the group’s marine biologist, Per-Erik Schulze.

The organisation has therefore called for the cement pillars to be left at sea, difficult as they are to uproot. The rest can be dismantled and marine reserves created around the sites.

After siphoning the depths of the oceans for decades, Norway’s oil sector could thereby end up helping to protect them — even if just a little.

 

On the menu at a UK restaurant: carbon footprint

by Valentine GRAVELEAU

Switching to a plant-based diet is one of the most effective ways for an individual to reduce

 their carbon footprint, experts from the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change 

say.

The menu at The Canteen in southwest England doesn't just let diners know how much a dish costs. They can also check its carbon footprint.

The carrot and beetroot pakora with yoghurt sauce is responsible for just 16 grams of CO2 emissions. The aubergines with a miso and harissa sauce with tabbouleh and Zaatar toast caused 675 grams of carbon dioxide.

As customers weigh their options, the menu at the vegetarian restaurant in Bristol includes a comparison with a dish that it does not serve: the emissions from a UK-produced hamburger.

"Three kilos for a burger, wow! I can't believe it," exclaimed Enyioma Anomelechi, a 37-year-old diner sipping a beer outside in the sunshine.

The menu notes that a real beef burger's emissions is "10 times the amount of its vegan alternative".

The carbon footprints of businesses and consumers have come under growing scrutiny as countries scramble to limit global temperature increases to 1.5 degrees Celsius and to achieve net-zero emission by 2050.

The Canteen became in July the first restaurant to agree to put its carbon footprint on the menu under a campaign spearheaded by UK vegan campaigning charity Viva!

The restaurant's manager, Liam Stock, called the move a way to "see what we are doing; to understand and improve ourselves".

The average British person has an annual carbon footprint of more than 10 tonnes, according to UK government figures.

Britain has set the ambitious goal of reducing harmful emissions by 78 percent by 2035, compared with 1990 figures, in order to meet its international climate change commitments.

'Climate emergency'

Switching to a plant-based diet is one of the most effective ways for an individual to reduce their carbon footprint, experts from the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change said in April.

The livestock industry replaces CO2-absorbing forests with land for grazing and soy crops for cattle feed. The animals also belch huge amounts of methane, a potent greenhouse gas.

Whether diners will let carbon footprints influence their order choices remains to be seen, but Stock said the menu innovation has stoked interest and support.

"In England if you're a big chain restaurant, it's the law that you have to have calories on (the menu)," he said.

The Canteen became in July the first restaurant to agree to put its carbon footprint on the

 menu under a campaign spearheaded by UK vegan campaigning charity Viva!

"But a lot of people are saying... they're more interested in carbon."

While Anomelechi noted the "huge" difference in emissions between a hamburger and other dishes, he said he did not necessarily want to be burdened with knowing his order's calorie count or carbon footprint.

"When I go out to eat I just want to enjoy," he added, noting he would be more inclined to change his ways when grocery shopping.

Laura Hellwig, campaigns manager at Viva!, said the carbon footprint figure should become compulsory.

"We are in a climate emergency and consumers have to be able to make informed choices," said the activist.

In her view, "most people would actually choose for the planet" if confronted with a comparison between the carbon footprint of a meat-based meal and a vegan dish.

'Cradle to store'

Stock said he knew his restaurant's dishes would score low carbon footprints, as most of his ingredients are sourced regionally.

"We didn't have to change anything," he said, while admitting some surprises, such as learning that imported spices drive up emissions.

To calculate the dishes' footprints, The Canteen sent its recipes and the source of the ingredients to a specialised company called MyEmissions.

It is able to calculate the carbon impact from "cradle to store", taking into account farming, processing, transport and packaging.

"If I was choosing between two dishes, maybe depending on how hungry I was, I might choose the one with a lower footprint," said Nathan Johnson, a 43-year-old diner at the restaurant.

That day, he opted for the chef's salad, which racks up 162 grams of carbon.

Another diner, 29-year-old Emma Harvey, also backed the idea of increased awareness of carbon footprints "and the ethical effects of the food that we're eating".

"We have to incorporate things (like) that into everyday life," she said.Restaurant menu design could impact carbon footprint of dining

© 2022 AFP

Stranded beluga whale lifted from France's Seine river, en route to Normandy


Issued on: 10/08/2022 - 

00:40Rescuers pull up a net as they rescue a beluga whale stranded in the River Seine on August 9, 2022. © Jean-Francois Monier, AFP

Text by:FRANCE 24


The beluga whale stranded in the river Seine in northern France was removed from the water early Wednesday and is now being transported to a coastal town in Normandy in a bid to save its life, officials and activists involved in the rescue mission said.


After nearly six hours of work, the 800-kilogram (1,800 pounds) cetacean was lifted from the river by a net and crane at around 4:00 am (0200 GMT) and placed on a barge under the immediate care of a dozen veterinarians.

The all-white beluga, a protected species usually found in cold Arctic waters, was then confined in a large lock system and is now being transported in a refrigerated lorry to the coastal town of Ouistreham, in Normandy, where it will be put in a salt water lock.

The four-metre (13-foot) whale was spotted more than a week ago heading towards Paris and was stranded some 130 kilometres (80 miles) inland from the Channel at Saint-Pierre-La-Garenne in Normandy.

Since Friday, the animal’s movement inland had been blocked by a lock at Saint-Pierre-La-Garenne, 70 kilometres northwest of Paris, and its health had deteriorated after it refused to eat.

A seawater basin at a lock in the Channel port of Ouistreham has been readied for the animal, which will spend three days there under observation in preparation for its release.

The “exceptional” operation to return it to the sea is not without risk for the whale, which is already weakened and stressed.

Despite the success of the first stage of the rescue operation, there are still doubts about the chances of survival for the whale, which should normally weigh 1,200 kg.

“The veterinarians are not necessarily optimistic concerning the beluga’s health,” Isabelle Dorliat-Pouzet, secretary general of the Eure prefecture, told BFM TV.

“It’s horribly thin for a beluga and that does not bode well for its life expectancy for the medium term,” she said.

The 24 divers involved in the operation and the rescuers handling the ropes had to try several times between 10:00pm and 4:00am to lure the animal into the nets to be lifted out of the water.

A handful of curious people remained on the bank all night to observe the operation.

(FRANCE 24 with AFP, REUTERS)

Tourists return but Easter Islanders draw lessons from Covid isolation

Easter Island's giant human moai statues were carved by the indigneous Rapa Nui

people some time between 1200 and 1500 AD -Copyright AFP/File MANDEL NGAN

By AFP
Published August 9, 2022

Miguel SANCHEZ

During more than two years of the coronavirus pandemic, Easter Island was closed to tourism — forcing inhabitants to turn to a more sustainable way of life and relearn forgotten skills.

Now that the island’s borders are open once again, local people, including the Rapa Nui indigenous population, want to resist the temptation to return to their pre-pandemic lifestyle.

“The time has come that the ancients predicted,” Julio Hotus, a member of the Easter Island council of elders, told AFP.

Hotus said the Rapa Nui people’s ancestors had warned about the importance of maintaining food independence because of the risk the island faced of one day becoming isolated, but that recent generations had ignored the warnings.

Before the pandemic, the island’s food supply was almost exclusively provided by Chile.

Easter Island lies 3,500 kilometers (2,100 miles) off the west coast of Chile and is world renown for its monumental statues of human figures with giant heads, called moai.

With a population of just 8,000, it used to attract 160,000 tourists a year — “an avalanche” according to Hotus — but in March 2020 Easter Island closed its borders over Covid.



– No tourists, no income –



Olga Ickapakarati used to sell small stone moai figurines to tourists but once she was left without an income, she turned to agriculture and fishing to survive, just as her ancestors had lived before contact with European explorers.

“We were all left with nothing, we were left in the wind …. but we began planting,” Ickapakarati told AFP.

She took advantage of a program that delivered seeds before the island was shut off from the outside world.

Ickapakarati planted spinach, beets, cilantro, chard, celery, basil, pineapple, oregano and tomatoes.

What she didn’t eat, she shared with neighbors, just as many families did in creating an island-wide support network.

“All the islanders are like this. They have good hearts. If I see that I have a surplus of something, I give it to another family,” said Ickapakarati, who lives with her children and grandchildren.

This new focus on sustainable living does not mean an end to tourism on Easter Island.

Last week, the first airplane of tourists for 28 months landed on the island, to much excitement from the locals desperate to see new faces.

But there will be no immediate return to the two flights a day of yesteryear. There will be just two a week for now, although the number will gradually increase.

Large hotel chains have decided to stay closed.

“We will continue with tourists, but I hope that the pandemic has taught a lesson that we can apply for the future,” said Hotus.



– ‘Archeological heritage at risk’ –



Another thing the pandemic did was to create awareness of the necessity to look after natural resources affected by climate change, such as water and energy. And also the emblematic moais.

Carved from volcanic rock by the Polynesian Rapa Nui people between 1200 and 1500, there are more than 900 on the island, which measures 24 kilometers by 12 kilometers.

The statues can measure up to 20 meters in height and weigh more than 80 tons.

Most remain at the quarry where they were originally carved but many others were carted to coastal areas to look inland, presumably for ceremonial purposes.

The moais have been damaged by heavy rainfall, strong winds and the ocean waves crashing against the statues and their bases, leading to fears for their future.

“Climate change, with its extreme events, is putting our archeological heritage at risk,” said Vairoa Ika, the local environment director.

“The stone is degrading” and needs to be protected.

“The problem with the moais is that they are very fragile,” added Pedro Edmunds Paoa, the island’s mayor, who says the statues’ worth is “incalculable.”

He said that authorities need to “forget about the tourist” vision and take protective measures, even if that means covering the statues “with glass domes”, which would ruin not just the authentic view but also tourists’ photographs.

He also wants inhabitants to make maximum use of natural resources and to prioritize locals in employment, while resurrecting the ancestral practise of fostering community solidarity.

“From now on the tourist must become a friend of the place, whereas before they were visiting foreigners,” said Edmunds Paoa.

Read more: https://www.digitaljournal.com/world/tourists-return-but-easter-islanders-draw-lessons-from-covid-isolation/article#ixzz7bXxcBLLO

DECRIMINALIZE DRUGS

Forever 16: America's teens succumbing to deadly fentanyl

Maria DANILOVA
Tue, August 9, 2022 


Makayla Cox, a high school student in the US state of Virginia, thought she was taking medication that her friend had procured to treat pain and anxiety.

Instead, the pill she took two weeks after her sixteenth birthday was fentanyl, a synthetic opioid 50 times more potent than heroin. It killed her almost instantly.

After watching a movie -- a prequel to "Harry Potter" -- with her mother Shannon one evening in January, Makayla appeared fine as she headed to her bedroom with her husky dog that often slept on her bed.

But when Shannon entered Makayla's room the next morning, she found her partially sitting up, perched against the headboard, orange fluid coming out of her nose and mouth.

"She was stiff. I shook her, I screamed her name, I called 911," Shannon told AFP. "My neighbors came over and did CPR, but it was too late. After that, I just don’t remember much."

America's opioid crisis has reached catastrophic proportions, with over 80,000 people dying of opioid overdoses last year, most of them due to illicit synthetics such as fentanyl -- more than seven times the number a decade ago.

"This is the most dangerous epidemic that we’ve seen," said Ray Donovan, chief of operations at the US Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA). "Fentanyl is not like any other illicit narcotic, it’s that deadly instantaneously."

And deaths are rising especially quickly among young people, who obtain counterfeit prescription drugs through social media. Unknown to them, the pills come either laced with or made of fentanyl.

In 2019, 493 American adolescents died of drug overdose, in 2021 that figure was 1,146.
- Dealers seek teens via apps -

Drug dealers reach adolescents on apps such as Snapchat, TikTok, Instagram and others, often using emojis as code.

Oxycodone, an opioid, may be advertised as a half-peeled banana, Xanax, a benzodiazepine used to treat anxiety, as a chocolate bar, and Adderall, an amphetamine that acts as a stimulant, as a train.

Wilson Compton, deputy director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, said the number of Americans doing drugs has largely stayed the same in recent years, but what changed is how deadly they've become.

One cup of heroin is equivalent to one teaspoon of fentanyl, and less than one gram can mean the difference between life and death.

"It takes very small quantities to be a poison that can stop somebody breathing," Compton told AFP in an interview.

Most of the illicit fentanyl in the United States is manufactured by Mexican drug cartels in clandestine labs from chemicals shipped over from China.

Because fentanyl is much more potent, it takes much less of it to fill a pill, resulting in more supply and more profit to the cartels.

One kilogram of pure fentanyl can be purchased for up to $12,000, pressed into half a million of pills that will sell for up to $30 each, raking in millions of dollars, Donovan said. And it’s also much easier to smuggle in pill form.

Last year, the DEA seized 15,000 pounds (nearly seven tons) of fentanyl -- enough to kill every American. Four out of 10 seized pills contain lethal quantities of fentanyl.

- 'One pill can kill' -

At the agency’s headquarters, a collection of photographs titled "Faces of Fentanyl" hangs in the hallway. It features dozens of portraits of people who recently lost their lives to fentanyl. One of them reads "Makayla. Forever 16."

An honor-roll student and a cheerleader, Makayla liked to paint, cuddle with her two huskies, Maize and Malenkai, and planned to go to university to study law, said her mother Shannon Doyle, 41, who works as a paralegal in a loan service firm.

Makayla had battled anxiety after her parents’ divorce, but things got worse during the pandemic.

Last summer she started a job at a water park, where she met a friend who introduced her to counterfeit prescription drugs.

The blue pills found in Makayla’s bed turned out to be 100 percent fentanyl. Police are investigating, but so far no arrests have been made.

"It used to be that when you were addicted to drugs you had five, 10, 15 years to try and get over your addiction and get the help and change your life," Shannon said at her house in Virginia Beach, a town on the Atlantic coast some 240 miles (400 kilometers) south of the US capital.

"You don't have that chance anymore."

Last year the DEA launched a campaign called "One pill can kill" to raise awareness of the dangers of fentanyl, and there are efforts across America to make naloxone, a medication that can reverse an opioid overdose, more easily available, including in schools.

Makayla’s ashes are in her bedroom and Shannon still peeks into the room every morning and evening, like she did when her daughter was alive.

She started a foundation in Makayla's name to help prevent similar tragedies -- a way, she says, helps her cope with her grief.

Makayla's best friend Kaydence Blanchard, 16, is spending the summer without her, trying to make good on the dreams the girls had: to get a driver's license and drive to the beach.

But for Makayla "the future will never happen," Blanchard said. "She will never complete any of the plans that we had together."

md/bgs

Jury finds ex-Twitter worker spied for Saudi royals

Tue, August 9, 2022 


A former Twitter worker was found guilty on Tuesday of spying for Saudi officials keen to unmask critics on the platform.

Ahmad Abouammo was pronounced guilty on criminal counts including money laundering, fraud, and being an illegal agent of a foreign government, according to a copy of the verdict.

Prosecutors in federal court in San Francisco told jurors that Abouammo sold Twitter user information for cash and an expensive watch some seven years ago.

His defense team contended that he did nothing more than accept gifts from free-spending Saudis for simply doing his client management job.

"The evidence shows that, for a price and thinking no one was watching, the defendant sold his position to an insider of the crown prince," US prosecutor Colin Sampson said in final remarks to the jury.

Defense attorney Angela Chuang countered that while there certainly appeared to be a conspiracy to get revealing information about Saudi critics from Twitter, prosecutors failed to prove Abouammo was part of it.

Abouammo quit Twitter in 2015 and took a job at e-commerce titan Amazon in Seattle, where he lives, according to court documents.

Jurors deliberated for three days before finding Abouammo guilty on 6 of the 11 charges against him.

Chuang conceded to the jury that Abouammo did violate Twitter employee rules by not telling the San Francisco-based company that he had received $100,000 in cash and a watch valued at more than $40,000 from someone close to the Saudi crown prince.

However, she downplayed the significance of the gift, saying it amounted to "pocket change" in Saudi culture known for generosity and lavish presents.
- Trust traded for cash? -

Abouammo was arrested in Seattle in November of 2019.

Prosecutors accused Abouammo and fellow Twitter employee Ali Alzabarah of being enlisted by Saudi officials between late 2014 and early the following year to get private information on accounts firing off posts critical of the regime.

The then-Twitter workers could use their credentials to glean email addresses, phone numbers, birth dates and other private data to identify people behind anonymous accounts, prosecutors said.

Abouammo remained free on Tuesday pending sentencing, despite concerns expressed by prosecutors that he might try to flee the country.

Alzabarah, a Saudi national, is being sought on a charge of failing to register in the United States as an agent of a foreign government as required by United States law, according to an FBI statement.

Chuang contended in court that prosecutors were trying to punish Abouammo for Alzabarah's actions.

"As much as the government wishes that was Mr Alzabarah sitting at the table right now, it is not," Chuang told jurors.

"And that is on them, they let Mr Alzabarah flee the country while he was under FBI surveillance."

gc/wd

Guinea dissolves leading opposition group amid political unrest

NEWS WIRES - Yesterday 

Guinea’s junta-appointed government has dissolved the country’s leading opposition movement, the National Front for the Defence of the Constitution (FNDC), under a decree authenticated by AFP on Tuesday.


© Cellou Binani, AFP

An alliance of political parties, trade unions and civil groups, the FNDC spearheaded protests against former president Alpha Conde before his ouster in a coup last year.


Friction has been growing for months between the FNDC and the junta, culminating in an announcement by the coalition on Monday that it would stage demonstrations on August 17.

A decree, dated Saturday, declared the FNDC’s dissolution, signed by Territorial Administration Minister Mory Conde. It was authenticated by AFP on Tuesday.

“The de-facto group called the National Front for the Defence of the Constitution, is dissolved... with effect from the date of signature,” the ruling said.

Rumours of the decree had spread on social media late Monday.

It said the FNDC’s “operational mode is based on violent attacks (perpetrated) during banned demonstrations, attacks against individuals who do not share their ideology, and targeted attacks against the security forces”.

The organisation has “the behaviour of combat groups and private militias... threatening national unity, public peace and cohabitation”, it said.
Unstable

Rich in minerals but deeply poor, the West African state has had little stability since it gained independence from France in 1958.

In 2010, Conde, today aged 84, became the country’s first democratically elected president.

But his popularity dived in his second term as critics accused him of authoritarianism, and opposition protests were violently repressed.

Dozens died, the overwhelming majority of them civilians, in protests launched by the FNDC.

On September 5, as anger mounted over Conde’s successful bid for a third term—a move he defended on the grounds of a change to the constitution—mutinous troops rebelled.

Junta strongman Mamady Doumbouya has pledged to return power to elected civilians within three years.

The timeline has put the junta into conflict with the region’s bloc, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).

ECOWAS’ chair, Guinea-Bissau President Umaro Sissoco Embalo, said late last month that he had convinced the junta to shorten the transition to two years. But that figure has not been confirmed by Guinea.

Cellou Dalein Diallo, a leading opposition figure under Conde, condemned the decision to dissolve the FNDC, calling it “a blow to freedom, justice, democracy and peace” in a social media post.

Protests

Demonstrations broke out in Guinea on July 28 and 29 over concerns the junta was dragging its feet on restoring civilian rule, leaving five dead.

The FNDC on Monday called for nationwide protests on August 17 to condemn the lack of “credible dialogue” and use of lethal weapons against demonstrators. The organisation is also calling for the release of jailed supporters.

The coalition’s communications officer, Abdoulaye Oumou Sow, refused to comment Tuesday on the dissolution order.

But the Guinean Organisation for the Defence of Human Rights (OGDH) separately warned that “confiscating civil liberties or silencing all dissenting voices will only make the situation more complicated.”

It said it was “very concerned... by the turn of events”.

Two FNDC leaders, Oumar Sylla and Ibrahima Diallo, were jailed after the July demonstrations.

They have been charged with taking part in an illegal gathering, destruction of property and bodily harm.

The organisation suspended its activities for a week, including a demonstration planned for August 4, in response to an appeal for calm issued by ECOWAS on August 1.

(AFP)