FASCISM U$A HERE & NOW
Bills restricting classroom topics have nearly tripled in 2022


In Florida, Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a bill dubbed the "Don't Say Gay" law, which limits discussion of sexual orientation and gender identity in the classroom. 

Joe Marino/UPI | License Photo

Aug. 17 (UPI) -- State legislatures are increasingly proposing bills to restrict how topics including race, gender identity and sexual orientation are taught in school, according to a report published Wednesday by a group advocating for freedom of expression.

The number of such bills, called educational gag orders, has increased 250% in 2022 and mostly proposed by Republican legislators, according to the report by PEN America. Thirty-six states have introduced 137 such bills since January, compared to 54 bills in 22 states last year.

Florida's Parental Rights in Education Act, dubbed the "Don't Say Gay" law, for example, limits classroom discussion of sexual orientation and gender identity. Several other states have filed similar bills. Proponents, including Gov. Ron DeSantis, say the legislation is aimed at protecting parental rights over their children's education.

PEN America said in a press release that the trend threatens students' First Amendment rights.

RELATED   Texas school officials remove 41 books from library shelves, including the Bible   

 

EROTICISM & SEXUALITY IN BIBLE SEE SONG OF SONGS

  

"The sheer volume and unrelenting pace of censorious proposals have cast a powerful chill over the teaching of U.S. history, race, LGBTQ+ identities and other essential topics," the organization said.

Most of the gag orders are focused on limiting the teaching of race, but increasingly topics involving LGBTQ+ are a focus. Some 39% of the bills introduced this year have targeted colleges and universities.


PEN America said many of the bills will result in teachers altering their lesson plans to avoid running into legal trouble and also narrow the scope of what students hear.

RELATED Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp signs measure restricting discussion of race in classrooms

"Our report documents in alarming detail the threats to how young people learn and are taught in American schools," the group's CEO Suzanne Nossel said. "Lawmakers are undermining the role of our public schools as a unifying force above politics and turning them instead into a culture war battleground. By seeking to silence critical perspectives and stifle debate, they are depriving students of the tools they need to navigate a diverse and complex world."

Smith & Wesson CEO draws backlash for blaming politicians, news media for gun violence

A gun shop owner in Bridgeton, Mo., shows a Smith & Wesson AR-15 assault rifle at his store. Smith & Wesson rifles have been used in several deadly mass shooting attacks.

 Bill Greenblatt/UPI | License Photo

Aug. 18 (UPI) -- The chief executive of Smith & Wesson, one of America's most famous manufacturers of firearms, is facing backlash after defiantly arguing this week that lawmakers and news media are the ones responsible for rising gun violence in the United States.

CEO Mark Smith made the accusation in a statement early this week, which seeks to blame media outlets and politicians for mass-murder attacks in which Smith & Wesson firearms have often been the chief instrument used to carry out those bloody assaults.

"They are the ones to blame for the surge in violence and lawlessness," he said in the statement. "And they seek to avoid any responsibility for the crisis of violence they have created by attempting to shift the blame to Smith & Wesson, other firearm manufacturers and law-abiding gun owners."

Smith's statement was centered around what he said has been an "unprecedented and unjustified attack on the firearm industry."

In June, a bipartisan bill passed Congress and was signed by President Joe Biden that strengthened firearm requirements in the wake of several high-profile mass shooting attacks -- including the assault on Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas. It was Congress' first significant action on gun safety in decades.

Several days later, police said Robert Crimo used a Smith & Wesson AR-15 assault rifle to shoot at families near Chicago during a Fourth of July parade. Seven people were killed.

"We will never back down in our defense of the 2nd Amendment," Smith concluded, adding a post-script that said, "Smith & Wesson -- EMPOWERING AMERICANS."

A variety of abandoned items are seen on a street corner in Highland Park, Ill., on July 4 following a mass shooting attack that killed seven people. Police said the shooter used a Smith & Wesson AR-15 assault rifle. 

File Photo by Tannen Maury/EPA-EFE

Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., head of the Democrat-majority House oversight committee, ripped Smith's accusations.

"Highland Park, Parkland, San Bernardino, Aurora -- these mass murders were all committed with Smith & Wesson assault weapons," Maloney told CNBC Wednesday.

"As the world watches the families of Parkland victims relive their trauma through the shooter's trial, it is unconscionable that Smith & Wesson is still refusing to take responsibility for selling the assault weapons used to massacre Americans."

Maloney and other critics have denounced the firearms used in mass shootings as "weapons of war" and assailed manufacturers for the way they market them to the American public. The marketing strategies have been denounced as being unfair, deceptive and overly geared toward younger male buyers.

The oversight committee has been investigating the firearms industry and held a hearing last month to question some of the executives in charge. Smith was invited to appear and give testimony -- but he didn't.

"The CEO of Smith & Wesson refused to testify before my committee and face the families who have lost a loved one because of his company's weapons of war," Maloney said.

"The committee will not permit Smith & Wesson to dodge accountability or obscure the gun industry's role in fueling our nation's gun violence epidemic."

The House panel has pointed out that Smith & Wesson generated $253 million in revenues in 2021, up from $108 million in 2020.

Smith now faces a congressional subpoena to provide information about the production and sale of his company's assault-style rifles.

"[The] subpoena was made necessary by your unwillingness to voluntarily comply with the committee's investigation, including your refusal to testify about your company's troubling business practices," Maloney said according to CNBC. "And your refusal to voluntarily produce key information about your company's sale of assault weapons to civilians.

March Fourth rally to ban assault weapons

A young girl participating in the March Fourth rally to ban assault weapons holds a "Uvalde Strong" sign outside the Senate office buildings at the Capitol in Washington, D.C., on July 13, 2022. 

Photo by Bonnie Cash/UPI | License Photo

Israeli soldiers raid, shut down offices of Palestinian civil society groups

Aug. 18 (UPI) -- In early Thursday morning raids, Israeli soldiers shut down the offices of several Palestinian civil society advocacy groups that the Israeli government has labeled as terrorists -- an allegation the groups deny. Israeli troops raided and shut down the West Bank offices offices overnight, according to one of the groups raided.

According to a statement from Al-Haq, one of the raided groups, "Israeli occupation forces raided Al-Haq's office in Ramallah, confiscated items and shut down the main entrance with an iron plate leaving behind a military order declaring the organization unlawful."

Al-Haq is a prominent NGO that monitors compliance with human rights in the Israeli occupied territories.

The Al-Haq statement said six Palestinian civil society organizations were raided by Israel. Israel declared the groups "terrorist organizations" on Oct. 19.

RELATEDIsraeli forces kill Palestinian militant in West Bank raid

The raided groups were Al-Haq, Addameer, the Bisan Center for Research & Development, Defense for Children International-Palestine, Union of Agricultural Workers Committees (UAWC), and the Union of Palestinian Women's Committees (UPWC).

Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch issued a joint statement in 2021, calling the Israeli declaration "an attack by the Israeli government on the international human rights movement."

Al-Haq posted a detailed description of the Thursday morning raid on their office.

RELATEDCease-fire between Israel, Islamic Jihad holds as Gaza crossings partly reopened

"At 3:23 am, Israeli Occupying Forces (IOF) forcibly blasted through the locked security door of Al-Haq's offices, bursting the door from its hinges and raiding the premises, setting off the alarms," Al Haq said in a statement posted to its website. "Below the premises of Al-Haq, the IOF bludgeoned and broke the front door of the Episcopal Church, leaving long shards of exposed broken glass, sponge-grenades, and several teargas canisters, rubber coated and live bullets around the property."

Al Haq said the groups Israel raided are civil society organizations "who advocate for human rights and international rule of law."

According to Israeli National News, Defense Minister Benny Gantz on Wednesday ratified the "designation made in October 2021 of six Palestinian Authority Organizations as terrorist organizations."

Israel alleges that all of the organizations in question operate under cover and in agency with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. Israel maintains the groups operate under the guise of performing humanitarian activities.

Al-Haq is calling on the international community to "immediately intervene to protect the six designated organizations, whose finances and assets risk being confiscated, and their staff members, directly targeted, arbitrarily arrested and imprisoned."

Camp Lejeune's toxic water victims get chance to fight back

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Predecessors of these U.S. Marines from 1953 to 1987 were exposed to tap water containing harmful cancer-causing chemicals, including trichloroethylene, tetrachloroethylene, benzene and vinyl chloride at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says.

File Photo by Alexis C. Glenn/UPI | License Photo

WASHINGTON, Aug. 18 (UPI) -- Sweeping legislation to help people exposed to toxic chemicals during military service, signed into law last week by President Joe Biden, extends well beyond burn pits in Iraq and Afghanistan to the U.S. Marines' Camp Lejeune in North Carolina.

The new law gives long-awaited legal recourse to potentially hundreds of thousands of ex-Marines, their families and civilian workers who drank contaminated water while at Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune between 1953 and 1987

Many ended up with cancers and other devastating illnesses, had miscarriages or died because of their exposure to contaminants, with volatile organic compounds in the base's water system identified by the military as far back as 1980.

They are people like ex-Marine Gerard McNamara, 74, a retired plant manager for the Scranton, Pa., post office. He's the father of Gerry McNamara, a former basketball guard who now is an assistant coach at Syracuse University.

The elder McNamara told UPI in a phone interview that he spent a few months at Camp Lejeune in 1967 for advanced infantry training before being deployed to Vietnam, where he was wounded twice.

He said he was basically healthy until 2004, when cancer forced a kidney removal. Over the past five years, he has been diagnosed with brain cancer, esophageal cancer and bone cancer.

Then, there is Mike Partain, who was conceived and born at Camp Lejeune and lived on base in family housing for the first five months of his life.

RELATED Study: Marines at Camp Lejeune had high cancer death rate

Male breast cancers appear

He was stricken with male breast cancer at age 39 in 2007-- a condition he was told he had only a .005% chance of developing because he was young, had no genetic markers and led a healthy lifestyle.

Partain, now 54 and an insurance adjuster in Homosassa, Fla., said he knows of about 125 more men with male breast cancer who have one thing in common: Camp Lejeune.

RELATED House OKs Camp Lejeune health bill

Now, the legal landscape has improved for them and perhaps thousands of others.

That's because the bipartisan Camp Lejeune Justice Act was enacted into law as part of the Honoring Our Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxics (PACT) Act of 2022.

The newly minted law gives military personnel and veterans, their family members and civilian workers up to two years from enactment to take legal action against the federal government.

They can file civil suits for fair compensation under the Federal Tort Claims Act for injuries and deaths resulting from the military's botched handling of Camp Lejeune's toxic water problem.

Previously, they had faced seemingly insurmountable legal hurdles.

In 2019, the U.S. Navy denied all 4,400 civil claims filed under the federal tort law for personal injuries or deaths related to the base's contamination, contending it had no legal authority to make payouts.

Similar lawsuits filed between 2012 and 2016 also were dismissed because of the Feres doctrine that barred service members from suing the government under the federal tort law for injuries sustained during military service.

Barriers to lawsuits

A North Carolina statute also had precluded people from suing more than 10 years after exposure to contaminants, although some illnesses arose decades after people drank the water.

Moreover, while veterans have been able to file for VA health benefits if they meet certain criteria, their spouses and dependents had been effectively barred from going to court under a 2014 U.S. Supreme Court decision.

"The law restores our rights to pursue the government for our damages," said Partain, whose attorney, Ed Bell, has filed a $25 million lawsuit on his behalf.

Most lawyers representing people who were impacted will get fees contingent on the size of jury awards, which the new law doesn't cap. Punitive damages aren't allowed.

Hours after the bill was signed, Bell told UPI in a phone interview he had met with almost 200 members of Congress over the past several years, "and no one, not a single one, had ever heard the real story about Camp Lejeune."

During the period identified by the federal government as problematic, the CDC says people at Camp Lejeune were exposed to tap water teeming with harmful chemicals, including trichloroethylene, tetrachloroethylene, benzene and vinyl chloride.

The government cited waste disposal practices at an off-base dry cleaning firm as the source. These highly carcinogenic substances were found at levels high above the current U.S. maximum contaminant level allowed in drinking water.

Superfund site

In 1989, the Environmental Protection Agency placed Camp Lejeune on the Superfund program's National Priorities List for contaminated soil, sediment, surface water and groundwater.

That same year, the CDC's Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry began to investigate the base and later created a panel to assist the Camp Lejeune community.

The bottom line, Partain, McNamara and others said, is that Camp Lejeune's water contamination was discovered decades ago. But little was done to mitigate risks, and people were not informed of the danger.

Or, as Rep. Matt Cartwright, D-Pa., put it: "It was in the water, and they drank it in the mess halls. And their families bathed in it ... and they filled their canteens with it."

Cartwright, a lawyer, reintroduced the Camp Lejeune Justice Act in January as part of an effort he began in 2018.

"You know you put yourself in harm's way when you join the Marine Corps," Cartwright told UPI in a phone interview. "But being poisoned by the well water isn't part of the deal, and that's why these people ought to have their day in court."

To file suit, people must have lived on the base for at least 30 days between Aug. 1, 1953, through the end of 1987. They must sue in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina, and prove their ill health is somehow tied to Camp Lejeune's contaminated water or that exposure to the water increased the likelihood of it.

Ability to seek compensation

Legal experts said the new law will allow people to seek compensation "for their injuries, medical costs, emotional harm and any other applicable damages," including wrongful death.

However, Cartwright said any net settlement must be offset by VA disability benefits and Medicare and Medicaid claims.

Partain said he and his friend, Jerry Ensminger, an ex-Marine whose 9-year-old daughter died of leukemia in 1985 while the family lived at Camp Lejeune, "have fought tooth and nail" on the issue for 15 and 25-plus years, respectively.

Under the Janey Ensminger Act of 2012, the VA provides limited medical care as a payor of last resort -- but no disability or death benefits -- for certain medical conditions arising from Camp LeJeune toxins. Also covered are family members who meet specific criteria.

In 2017, the Department of Veterans Affairs declared eight "presumptive conditions" linked by scientific evidence to contaminants at Camp Lejeune: adult leukemia; aplastic anemia and other myelodysplastic syndromes; bladder cancer; kidney cancer; liver cancer; multiple myeloma; non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, and Parkinson's disease.

Learned about contamination

McNamara heard about Camp Lejeune's water contaminants by chance when he followed his doctor who relocated to Wilkes-Barre VA Medical Center. A paperwork clerk mentioned the toxins and suggested he contact his local VA representative.

McNamara did, and he's now on 100% disability benefits. He said he received the benefits as a kidney cancer survivor after the VA's rule took effect in 2017.

"But I'd had surgery 13 years before [in 2004]," McNamara noted, "and didn't get compensation. It wasn't retroactive."

Partain said the 2012 law was "a victory at the time" but didn't resolve the problem.

It "only pays for medical care as a last resort [after other insurers], and because my cancer was before the law was passed, I didn't get reimbursed for anything," he said.

Partain said his first marriage broke up, his four children were traumatized and the family faced economic strain because of his illness -- to the point at which they expected to lose their house.

"There's nothing that can replace what I lost," he said. "The end of the story shouldn't be about money, because that's not what it's about. It's about holding [the military] accountable."

CRIMINAL CAPITALI$M
Trump Org. CFO Allen Weisselberg pleads guilty to charges of tax evasion, larceny, conspiracy

Allen Weisselberg, chief financial officer for the Trump Organization, exits Manhattan State Supreme Court on Thursday after pleading guilty to 15 felony charges. 

Photo by Peter Foley/UPI | License Photo

Aug. 18 (UPI) -- A top executive at the Trump Organization pleaded guilty Thursday to 15 charges, including tax evasion, in a deal that will make him a witness against the company at trial this fall.

Company Chief Financial Officer Allen Weisselberg entered the plea in a Manhattan court to the charges stemming from a 15-year scheme to evade city, state and federal taxes on $1.76 million in unreported income.

The charges against Weisselberg included grand larceny, criminal tax fraud, conspiracy, falsifying business records and offering a false instrument for filing.

Weisselberg is the latest person connected to former President Donald Trump to be convicted of a felony. The others include Trump's former personal attorney Michael Cohen and former campaign manager Paul Manafort.

With his guilty pleas, Weisselberg admitted to engaging in the scheme to defraud together with the Trump Corp. and the Trump Payroll Corp., specifically implicating the Trump Organization in the criminal charges.

"During the scheme up until 2017, former President Donald J. Trump was president and owner of the Trump Organization," the Manhattan District Attorney's Office said in a statement.

"The court promised Weisselberg a sentence of five months in jail to be served on Rikers Island and five years' probation, contingent on Weisselberg testifying truthfully in the upcoming criminal trial of the Trump Organization by providing truthful testimony as to the facts underlying his allocution and plea."

The Trump Organization will be put on trial in October on tax fraud charges. File Photo by Bonnie Cash/UPI

Weisselberg also must pay nearly $2 million to New York City and the state.

The district attorney's office said the trial against the company, which is based on similar charges, is set to start Oct. 24.

"Today, Allen Weisselberg admitted in court that he used his position at the Trump Organization to bilk taxpayers and enrich himself," Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said in a statement.

"Instead of paying his fair share like everyone else, Weisselberg had the Trump Organization provide him with a rent-free apartment, expensive cars, private school tuition for his grandchildren and new furniture -- all without paying required taxes.

"This plea agreement directly implicates the Trump Organization in a wide range of criminal activity and requires Weisselberg to provide invaluable testimony in the upcoming trial against the corporation," Bragg added.

Weisselberg's attorney said his client pleaded guilty to end the legal troubles that have followed him for years.

U$A

On This Day: 19th Amendment ratified giving women the vote

On Aug. 18, 1920, the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, guaranteeing women the right to vote, was ratified by Tennessee, giving it the two-thirds majority of state ratification necessary to make it the law of the land. The law took effect eight days later.

By UPI Staff

   

A member of the League of Women Voters participates in a demonstration to protest the lack of voting rights for the citizens of Washington, D.C., on the 90th Anniversary of the 19th Amendment, guaranteeing women the right to vote, in front of the White House in Washington on August 26, 2010. On August 19, 1920, the 19th Amendment was ratified by Tennessee, giving it the two-thirds majority of state ratification necessary to make it the law of the land. The law took effect eight days later. 

File Photo by Kevin Dietsch/UPI 

Google union calls on company to give abortion-related health benefits to contractors


The Google logo is seen on one of the ceremonial shovels that are on stands before the Stonewall National Monument Visitor Center on June 24. Union workers with the company asked for it this week to give abortion-related benefits to all employees. 

File Photo by John Angelillo/UPI | License Photo


Aug. 18 (UPI) -- A petition calling on Google to give abortion-related health benefits to its contractors and to protect user privacy has been signed by more than 650 employees, its union said.

After the U.S. Supreme Court struck down abortion protections provided by the 1973 Roe vs. Wade decision, Google's Fiona Cicconi informed employees that their healthcare insurance would cover out-of-state medical procedures.

The benefits, however, did not cover temporary workers, vendors or contract employees, which make up about half of Google's workforce.

The Alphabet Workers Union petition calls for Google to extend abortion-related health benefits to all employees regardless of classification, and for it to end funding politicians that played a role in supporting Supreme Court justices who overturned abortion protections and protecting Google users seeking abortions.

The petition said that protection should include preventing law enforcement from accessing abortion information and preventing misleading ads that direct users to anti-abortion "pregnancy crisis centers" when searching for abortions.

"Google has the money and resources to ensure all their employees, contracted or not, have access to abortion," AlejandraBeatty, the southwest chapter lead of AWU, said in a statement.

"They emailed us right after the ruling to affirm their support for their full-time employees getting abortions, but did not address how contracted workers, who tend to have more marginalized identities, would be supported in trying to exercise their right to choose. Google can and should do better."

The petition comes to light after Facebook allowed law enforcement to access private messages between a mother and daughter over an abortion that led to felony charges in Nebraska.

"Every day, across the country, police get access to private messages between people on Facebook, Instagram, any social media or messaging service you can think of," said Andrew Crocker, a senior staff attorney with the Electronic Frontier Foundation, according to National Public Radio.

"A lot of people are waking up to it because of the far-ranging nature of how we expect abortion investigations are going to go. And it's going to touch many more people's lives in a way that maybe that they hadn't thought about in the past."

How serious is Bhutan's economic crisis?

A growing trade deficit and rising import costs have cast a shadow over Bhutan's economic health. The tiny Himalayan nation is putting in place a mechanism to control prices of essential commodities.

Bhutan remains focused on its hydropower and tourism sectors, which generate revenue from outside the country

Bhutan — the South Asian nation that is perhaps best-known for its philosophy of promoting gross national happiness over gross domestic product (GDP) — is facing economic headwinds.

With a population of fewer than 800,000 people, a global economic slowdown and nationwide COVID lockdowns. supply chains in the landlocked country wedged between China and India have been severly impacted.

Bhutan's small- and medium-sized businesses have been struggling to keep afloat.

Price hikes and food security concerns

"The situation in the country cannot be compared to that of Sri Lanka for now," Sangeeta Thapliyal, professor of South Asian studies at Jawaharlal Nehru University, told DW.

Sri Lanka's debt-laden economy collapsed after it ran out of money to pay for food, fuel and medicine, sparking months of protests.

However, Thapliyal said Bhutan was facing a similar set of economic problems to those currently besetting most national economies.

"The war between Russia and Ukraine has further worsened the situation especially with rising petroleum prices," she said. "Like other countries, Bhutan's economy has also witnessed inflation, economic setbacks and loss of jobs."

A strengthening dollar and falling Indian rupee — to which Bhutan's Ngultrum currency is pegged — is also leading to higher import costs, according to experts. That's far from ideal for a country that is heavily reliant on products from abroad. 

"The restrictions imposed by India on wheat exports have increased worries of a further rise in local prices," a senior official of the Bhutan Chambers of Commerce and Industry told DW. "There is concern about food supplies."

Bhutan remains focused on its hydropower and tourism sectors, which generate revenue from outside the country.

Meanwhile, the share of Bhutan's manufacturing sector in terms of GDP has remained stagnant for over a decade, while the industrial sector was driven mainly by construction, mining and electricity.

Finance Minister Namgay Tshering has pointed out that Bhutan is headed toward an 'uncharted destination'

Such a framework has been making the economic structure vulnerable to sectorial and external shocks, since GDP, exports and government revenue are mostly generated from just two sectors.

At a recent meeting, Bhutan's finance minister, Lyonpo Namgay Tshering, said the government was not in favor of banning imports but would do its best to help protect foreign reserves.

"I can't say there is no threat of an economic crisis. I cannot say we are not in a crisis. At the same time, I cannot say we are comfortable," said Tshering, emphasizing that the Himalayan kingdom was headed towards an "uncharted destination."

The annual budget Tshering recently presented showed Bhutan's highest-ever fiscal deficit of  22.882 billion Nu (€283 million) — 11.25% of the country's GDP.

Foreign reserves drying up?

Data released in July by the Royal Monetary Authority of Bhutan showed foreign exchange reserves shrunk to $970 million (€955 million) at the end of December from $1.46 billion in April 2021 — while total external debt rose to $3.2 billion from $2.7 billion before the coronavirus pandemic.

The country has sufficient foreign reserves to meet the import of essential goods for 14 months. Bhutan's constitution mandates the country to maintain enough foreign currency reserves to meet 12 months of imports.

"We are an import-dependent country. We have to begin to look at other sectors and reformulate polices that can bring revenues to revive the economy. Investing in new technology for agriculture can be a start," Ugyen Penjor, the CEO of Kuensel, the national newspaper of Bhutan, told DW from the capital, Thimpu.

"We have not hit the panic button yet but the trade deficit is increasing," he added.

For now, efforts are focused on addressing the issue of trade deficit to prevent Bhutan from dipping into its foreign currency reserves.

Water from the Himalayas has proved a boon to Bhutan's hydropower sector

Reviving Bhutan's tourism industry

Pema Tenzin, president of the Association of Bhutanese Industries, was upbeat about the impending financial crisis.

"The tourism sector has been affected, and the void brought about a standstill in infrastructural projects because the pandemic has affected some livelihoods. But we will bounce back," Tenzin told DW.

Tourism — which employs over 50,000 people and is one of the highest contributors to Bhutan's revenues — was hit the hardest of any sector.

Revenue from tourism plunged by 41% in 2019–2020 compared with the previous year.

Only 28,000 visitors came to Bhutan in 2020, generating a revenue of $19 million (€18.67 million). That was down significantly from 2019's figure of 315,599 tourists, which generated $225 million, according to government figures.

The mountainous nation will reopen to international tourists from September for the first time since the pandemic began more than two years ago.

However, rates have been upped, and a sustainable development fee of $200 (€196) will be charged per tourist per night — a hike from the $65 fee that was charged for three decades.

Hydropower boom

Bhutan's economic development is linked to the growth of its hydropower sector. The country exports about 70% of energy generated to India.

India is also Bhutan's largest export market, the most important trade partner, accounting for 50% of Bhutan's trade, and one of the top foreign investors in the country, while Bhutan has been crucial to India's Neighborhood First and Act East policies, which aim to boost trade and energy links in the region.

There are fears that a prolonged economic crisis could sour relations between India and Bhutan, a situation which China may be positioned to take advantage of.

Bhutan has so far maintained a unique alliance with India, while having neutral dealings with China.

"In this situation. it is essential for India to help Bhutan, with whom it has a special relationship," said Thapliyal.

"An economically strong India capable of helping Bhutan in meeting its economic challenges would hold the bilateral relations strong and stable in the long run," she said.

Edited by: Keith Walker

Syria denies holding US journalist Austin Tice, who went missing in 2012

Last week, the Joe Biden administration said it was "certain" the Syrian government had detained Tice, who disappeared a decade ago. The journalist was last seen at a checkpoint in a contested area west of Damascus.


Tice's family have seen 43 seconds of footage, distributed by his captors, since he disappeared a decade ago

The Syrian Foreign Ministry on Wednesday refuted claims by President Joe Biden that it was holding captive Austin Tice following the US journalist's disappearance in 2012.

To mark the tenth anniversary of his abduction whilst covering the lengthy, multi-sided conflict in the Middle Eastern country, the White House last week said it was "certain" that Tice was being "held by the Government of Syria."

However, Damascus responded in a statement saying it "denies" it had "kidnapped or is holding any American citizen on its territories."

"The US issued last week misleading and illogical statements by the American president and secretary of state that included baseless accusations against Syria that it had kidnapped or detained American citizens including former US Marine Austin Tice,'' the statement added.
US wants to 'bring Austin home'

Washington said it was pressuring Damascus to return US prisoners.

"We have repeatedly asked the government of Syria to work with us so that we can bring Austin home," Biden said in a statement last week.

State Department Spokesman Ned Price also commented on Tice on Tuesday, noting that the US government has "engaged extensively — and that includes directly — with Syrian officials and through third parties."

"Syria has never acknowledged holding him," Price said of Tice, adding that "we are not going to be deterred in our efforts. We are going to pursue every avenue for securing Austin's safe return."

Tice family have seen 43 seconds of footage in 10 years

Tice was last seen at a checkpoint in a contested area west of Damascus on August 14, 2012, just days after his 31st birthday.

If Tice has been detained by Syrian government forces, their allies, or other parties to the conflict, it would likely amount to an "enforced disappearance" which would constitute a crime under international law, NGO Human Rights Watch (HRW) said on its website on Monday.

"According to his family, the only information released by his captors has been a 43-second video showing him being held by unidentified armed men," HRW said.
RSF highlights dangers for journalists covering conflict

Last year, to mark the 10th anniversary of the war that began in the wake of the Arab Spring, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) warned that at least 300 "professional and non-professional journalists have been killed... covering a war in which 400,000 people have died" at the hands of "both an authoritarian regime and radical armed groups."

RSF also said the figure regarding the number of journalists who had perished "could in reality be even higher" with many others arrested or kidnapped.

WHO'S FIGHTING IN THE SYRIA CONFLICT?
War with no end
Syria has been engulfed in a devastating civil war since 2011 after Syrian President Bashar Assad lost control over large parts of the country to multiple revolutionary groups. The conflict has since drawn in foreign powers and brought misery and death to Syrians.
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jsi/dj (AP, dpa, Reuters

40 years of CDs : From listening pleasure to useless trash?

The once revolutionary technology of the compact disc is considered 'old school' today. DW's Silke Wünsch has experienced the rise and fall of the CD firsthand.

It's 1985. We — budding sound engineers — are sitting in the classroom, listening spellbound to the sounds of "Friday Night in San Francisco" — the legendary guitar album by Al di Meola, Paco de Lucia and John McLaughlin, among the best guitarists in the world at the time.

The sound is crystal clear, the tones bubble out of the speakers. Although the music is playing at "room volume," we have the feeling we can hear every note, every finger stroking the strings. We even think we can hear the breathing of the musicians.

What we don't hear: The hiss from a tape or cassette, or the scratch and crackle of a vinyl record.

It was the first acoustic encounter with a CD for most of us and a revelation for our young sound-engineer ears.

Sony's introduction of the CD transformed the way people listened to music

From Beethoven to ABBA

The compact disc had been around for some time; there was just a long argument about how much music should be pressed onto it. Finally, it was agreed that the playing time of a CD should be long enough to fit one of the world's most famous classical works — Beethoven's 9th Symphony in Wilhelm Furtwängler's 74-minute version.

In 1981, the CD was presented at the Berlin Radio Exhibition. The first industrially produced discs rolled off the production line on August 17, 1982, and legend has it that the ABBA album "The Visitors" was burned on them. Perhaps it was also a recording of Richard Strauss' "An Alpine Symphony," conducted by Herbert von Karajan, who had outed himself as a big fan of the CD from the very beginning, describing it as "a miracle." Another legend says it was waltzes by Chopin that were pressed onto the first CDs.

Champagne for all!

A short time later, Sony and Philipps launched the first freely available CD players on the market for around €1,200 — unaffordable for many people at the time. Both companies had worked together on the development and were soon able to sit back and relax, because the CD business was going through the roof.

In 1984, 3 million CDs were sold in Germany alone; in 1989, the figure was 54 million. And the price wasn't cheap: A CD cost 30-40 German marks (about €15-20), more than twice as much as a long-playing record. And this success came despite the fact that nobody knew how long the data on the discs would last.

The author traded in her crackly White Album vinyl for a CD version

They multiplied like weeds

Over the years, CD players and CDs became more affordable, record stores had to rearrange as music fans started to trade in their vinyl collections for CDs — just like me. My favorite records had become so crackly that I was eager to enjoy this music without noise for a change. And without turning them over!

I spent horrendous sums on new Pink Floyd and Prince CDs, and on The Beatles' White Album — the most important record of my life to this day. I bought jazz and classical music, and more and more pop, rock, soul and funk. Next to my record shelf, a CD shelf sprang up and quickly grew, spreading like weeds through the living room. Records and turntables collected dust and ended up in the basement.

It took on almost absurd proportions when I changed careers and became a music editor. The record companies, many of which were based in Cologne at the time, were very generous with promotional CDs. Once a month I went on a "foray" in Cologne, and when I came home with my bulging backpack full of new releases, there were still two to four packages in front of the door. My collection exploded — it needed its own room.

A CD shelf not too unlike the author's

What do you do with 40,000 CDs?

My CD collection grew to over 40,000. And it had to move with me three times. The curses of my movers echo to this day. But there's a certain style about walking along a five-by-two meter shelf looking for the CDs for a party, a music show or just a music evening with friends. It has less style when you find forgotten boxes with hundreds of old promo singles in basements and garages — where to put them?

And what about throwing them all away? That's a job in and of itself, what with separating them all properly for recycling: plastic covers in one bin, paper booklets in another, the CDs themselves in yet another.

Some of the author's favorite CDs, bought in the 1990s

So, it's better to give them away or put them out on the sidewalk for passersby to take them — or make art out of them. Probably the most creative solution was to cover the ceiling of our office in the Deutsche Welle broadcasting center with CDs. My colleague and I used every free minute to stick the silver discs to the ceiling with adhesive tape. We also forced our trainees and interns to do this — after all, they had to learn that the job of a music editor also entails disposing of old promotional CDs.

My job changed again and I decided to part with my collection  — as painlessly as possible. This was not easy. Because even used CD albums with pop and rock classics are virtually worthless.

Finally, before my last move, someone who can be safely described as a total music nerd took my collection. My remaining CDs are probably limited to about 1,000.

Old school is fun

Even today, I still play music at parties from time to time. People look at me in disbelief when they see the luggage I arrive with. Two DJ CD players, a mixer, two thick folders with burned CDs and a wooden box with original CDs. Completely old school. Other DJs use laptops, have their music on a big hard drive and play it with software. Sounds tempting — just like listening to music via Spotify & Co, which has been killing off the CD for years.

Even more tempting than Spotify playlists, however, is the vinyl record, to which I have once again become addicted after parting with my CD collection — as have numerous music fans around the world. In 2021, for example, more vinyl records were sold in the US than CDs for the first time since 1991. And at these prices: €30-40 for a 180 gram vinyl record is standard. A record today costs more than twice as much as a CD — this sounds familiar…

So I'm right on trend: After I bought my beloved "White Album" by The Beatles as a new CD in 1991 because the old record had scratches and cracks, I now have it on my record shelf in a new vinyl special edition. 

This article has been translated from German.

THE TAPE RECORDER TURNS 80
The first tape recorder
When electrical equipment manufacturer AEG introduced the Magnetophon K1 in Berlin in 1935, more than five decades had passed since Thomas Edison's groundbreaking phonograph. Many had explored the idea of recording sound electromagnetically, however it was the development of a unique tape head, in concert with a plastic tape coated in iron powder, that proved the breakthrough.
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Date 17.08.2022