Belarus Corruption Watch: President Alexander Lukashenko’s former lover received illegal state funding for her private school
Document showing contract with Abielskaya’s educational company Gorizonty Znanij. / https://investigatebel.org/

By bne IntelliNews September 1, 2022

Last year, the Belarusian hacktivists the “Cyber Partisans” managed to hack a terabyte of data from the servers of Belarus’ Interior Ministry (MVD). Since then, they’ve disclosed multiple crimes committed by the Minsk regime. The crimes stretch across several different categories such as physical abuse against opposition activists, crimes against the Geneva Convention as well as several corruption cases.

In a joint investigation, the Belarusian Investigative Centre (BIC) and the Cyber Partisans have recently uncovered how the Minsk regime’s political elite have illegally been secretly financing their children’s education with tax-payer money.

Lukashenko’s former lover

Iryna Abielskaya was Belarusian Strongman Alexander Lukashenko’s personal medic in the 1990s but disappeared from public eye following the birth of Lukashenko’s son Nikolay Lukashenko, and Alexander himself refused to give any comments on Nikolay’s mother.

However, with the help of hacked government data, the Cyber Partisans have now been able to establish that Abielskaya is indeed Nikolay’s mother.

Abielskaya made a reappearance in 2015 during Lukashenko’s presidential inauguration. According to travel data obtained by the Cyber Partisans from the MVD’s travel logs, she one year later flew back from Rome with Lukashenko and their son Nikolay to Minsk after Lukashenko’s official meeting with Italy’s former President Sergio Mattarella and Pope Francis.

A few years later, she became the chief physician of Belarus’ Republican Clinical Centre and also flew with Lukashenko to Vienna when he met with the Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz. However, Lukashenko is more often seen with his private medic, and Abielskaya’s part in Lukashenko’s official activities was never disclosed publicly.

Abielskaya’s venture into the educational sector

According to documents obtained by the Cyber Partistans, Abielskaya, in 2019, founded an educational company called “Gorizonty Znanij” (Knowledge horizons).

Also started in 2019 was the construction project of “Minsk International Grammar School” in the Minsk suburb Drazdy, which is dedicated to top government officials. The sanctioned Russian billionare Mikhail Gutseriev, who is also Lukashenko’s friend, pledged to invest over $12mn into the construction of the school over the course of two years.

The school has a 30,000-square metre property and consists of two four-story blocks and an underground facilitity. The blocks include a broadcasting centre, a photo and video lab, a weapons training room and is surrounded by basketball, futsal, handball and gymnastics courts, a stadium and a car park.

The school was dedicated to host the children of the Minsk regime’s elite, and uncovered documents show that a highly advanced surveillance system was installed by Belarus’ security services to keep the entire area under total control.

While the main building contractor was a company named SertusAvia, the Cyber Partisans have traced the ownership of this company to a Cyprus offshore firm called Blatberg Holdings Limited that’s associated with Mikhail Gutseriev.

Moreover, documents show that the operation of the school was handed over to Abielskaya’s educational company Gorizonty Znanij. However, only a month after the school’s inauguration in 2020, Abielskaya transferred her ownership to Blatberg Holdings Limited.

According to BIC’s sources, Abielskaya placed young Nikolay Lukashenko in the school, discarding the previous more liberal choice of “Lyceum of Belarusian State University”, since it could be unsafe for him due to his political views following the protests against his father’s continued reign in August 2020. Furthermore, BIC’s sources say that Abielskaya had been appointing Nikolay’s teachers and even managing their transportation to the school personally.

Interestingly enough, the school’s current principal, Elena Hrynkievich, used to be a lecturer at the Belarusian State Medical University. While Hrynkievich herself categorically denies that she got her position thanks to Abielskaya, BIC’s sources say that she was indeed behind Hrynkievich’s appointment.

Illegal state funding

The Minsk International Grammar School’s teachers are only paid $470 a month, have to bring their own lunch and fund their own transportation but do receive a 50% discount for enrolling their own children into the school.

BIC’s estimates show that the annual school fee is approximately $3,000 per child, which would amount to an annual tuition revenue of $1mn.

Despite having this large main income, the tender documents obtained by the Cyber Partisans reveal that the school has regularly been receiving government subsidies.

Between 2020 and 2022, the school received over $100,000 for equipment such as laptops, sound systems and photocopy machines. In 2022, the school also received $40,000 for “facilities and grounds cleaning services,” and for four months in 2021 received subsidies for student lunches.

However, according to Belarusian legislation, such funding may only be granted from September 1 this year.

Upon asking Abielskaya how her school was able to receive this funding for two years before the law came into force, she replied that the question was not for her to answer, but the school’s accountants and administrators didn’t wish to answer the question either.

According to BIC’s sources, the school had indeed no legal basis to receive these government subsidies, and that the school’s founders “twisted the government’s arm” for cash support over the two years. Today when the school is legally entitled to receive such funding, it is still the only one of its kind to do so.

A widespread problem

The Minsk International Grammar school is not the only school dedicated to the children of the Minsk elite. Previously, the common “School 16” became the elite “Grammar School 16” after updates to accommodate Lukashenko’s first granddaughter, and his grandson Viktor graduated from there in 2022.

Anonymous online reviews of Grammar School 16 claim that the school forces the children’s highly politically influential parents to give donations for the maintenance of overcrowded classrooms. Lukashenko’s daughter-in-law and her friend are both in the school’s Steering Committee.

While the regime doesn’t hesitate to send the MVD’s “Main Directorate for Combating Organised Crime and Corruption” against opposition activists, independent newspapers and private companies claiming that they’ve for instance forgotten to pay an electricity bill in the right manner, the country’s political elite reigns freely when it comes to corruption.

Through the Cyber Partisans’ documents, and the investigative journalism of BIC, many more corruption cases are bound to be revealed.

China slams U.N. ‘farce’ on Xinjiang as Uyghur exiles praise report

By Lily Kuo and Emily Rauhala
Updated September 1, 2022 

China lashed out Thursday at the U.N. human rights office over its release of an incriminating report that found Beijing’s crackdown on ethnic minorities in the Xinjiang region involved “serious human rights violations,” including possible crimes against humanity.

Hours after the release of the long-awaited report, Liu Yuyin, spokesperson for the Chinese mission to Geneva, characterized the “so-called ‘assessment’ on Xinjiang” as a “farce” and a politically motivated attempt to smear China.

“It is completely a politicized document that disregards facts, and reveals explicitly the attempt of some Western countries and anti-China forces to use human rights as a political tool,” Liu said in a statement released by the mission.

U.N. report: China may have committed crimes against humanity in Xinjiang

But the report was welcomed by Uyghur exiles, human rights experts and foreign officials who say its findings support years of advocacy, reporting and research that has documented state-sponsored abuses against Uyghurs and other minority groups in Xinjiang, including mass detentions, forced labor, repressed birthrates, and controls on their expressions of culture and religion.

The U.N.’s assessment was published minutes before the end of U.N. Human Rights Commissioner Michelle Bachelet’s four-year term and after months of unexplained delays. It comes at a sensitive time for Chinese President Xi Jinping, less than two months before a pivotal congress during which he is poised to break with tradition by taking on a third term. While Xi’s hold on power does not appear to be in question, the report will add to mounting criticism of policies that have put Beijing at greater odds with the international community.

China’s ambassador to the United Nations, Zhang Jun, reiterated his government’s opposition to the report, according to a video released Thursday by the mission. “Its purpose definitely is to undermine China’s stability and obstruct China’s development,” he said, telling Bachelet to “avoid interfering” in China’s internal affairs.

In a joint statement signed by 63 Uyghur advocacy groups, activists welcomed the report, describing it as the “most definitive assessment of the issues faced by Uyghurs and other Turkic peoples” in China

“This is a game changer for the international response to the Uyghur crisis,” said Uyghur Human Rights Project Director Omer Kanat. “Despite the Chinese government’s strenuous denials, the U.N. has now officially recognized that horrific crimes are occurring.”

Foreign governments also welcomed the report. British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said it “provides new evidence of the appalling extent of China’s efforts to silence and repress Uyghurs and other minorities in Xinjiang,”

It lays out “harrowing evidence, including first-hand accounts from victims, that shames China in the eyes of the international community, including actions that may amount to crimes against humanity,” Truss said in a statement.

The German Foreign Ministry called the U.N. report “carefully researched” and noted that it “confirms that there is cause for grave concern,” according to a statement. “We call on the Chinese government to immediately grant all people of Xinjiang their full human rights,” it said.

The European Union’s top diplomat, Josep Borrell, said in a statement that the findings “underscore the serious human rights violations occurring in Xinjiang.”

In a tweet, he praised Bachelet, who has faced fierce criticism for her handling of the report, thanking her for “tireless efforts in defending the rights of all.”

“The role of the High Commissioner for Human Rights is central in the UN multilateral system,” he wrote.

The report, which was years in the making, was based on in-depth interviews with 40 firsthand witnesses, including 26 who had been detained in facilities in Xinjiang since 2016. The U.N. human rights office said more than a third of the interviewees had not previously spoken to researchers or the media.

Based on those interviews, the U.N. human rights office said it was “reasonable to conclude that a pattern of large-scale arbitrary detention” occurred in facilities that Chinese officials describe as free vocational training centers. These detentions occurred at least between the years of 2017 and 2019, “affecting a significant portion” of the Uyghur and other Muslim ethnic minorities in Xinjiang, the report concluded.

The report also pointed out that descriptions by interviewees of these centers provided evidence of “patterns of torture or other forms of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.” Allegations of sexual and gender-based violence, including of rape, “also appear credible,” the report added.

U.N. human rights chief disappoints Uyghur advocates on visit to China

Members of the Uyghur activist diaspora said the report helped renew their faith in the U.N. human rights body. Many had criticized the organization for not doing more to pressure China over human rights violations and questioned the point of Bachelet’s trip to Xinjiang in May, during which she was taken on a highly choreographed tour of the region.

Tahir Imin, an activist and founder of the Washington-based Uyghur Times who left Xinjiang in 2017, said he and other colleagues working on the issues celebrated the report’s release with a meal at a Uyghur restaurant in the capital. A translation of the report published on the Uyghur Times’s website prompted dozens of comments from readers expressing relief or gratitude and commending Bachelet, according to Imin.

“This report saved the reputation of the United Nations,” he said. “It was better than what I expected. I even thought it would say, ‘Okay, there are some human rights abuses, but China is doing its best to make progress.’ But the report publicly and directly says, [allegations] of torture and rape are credible.”

The U.N. human rights office called on Beijing to release all those who are arbitrarily detained and provide explanations to family members who have, for years, called for information on their relatives who disappeared in the Chinese region. The report also called on governments to “refrain from returning” Uyghurs and other members of Turkic groups to China and to provide humanitarian assistance to them.

Some researchers and activists who argue that Beijing’s actions in Xinjiang amount to genocide were disappointed that the U.N. report did not use that word. The joint letter by Uyghur organizations called on the U.N. Office on Genocide Prevention to conduct an assessment and for the U.N. Human Rights Council to establish a commission of inquiry to independently examine the issue.

Still, others said the report was a boost for an advocacy campaign that has struggled to maintain momentum in the face of intensified controls on information out of Xinjiang and an ambitious propaganda campaign by Chinese officials to counter claims of human rights abuses.

Imin, who said 28 members of his extended family in Xinjiang have been sentenced to long prison terms, said exiles have struggled to maintain hope after years of campaigning failed to deliver change.

“This would boost the morale of the Uyghur movement after a long period of faintness and tiredness,” he said.

Beatriz Ríos in Brussels, Kate Brady in Berlin and Pei-Lin Wu in Taipei contributed to this report.


By Lily KuoLily Kuo is The Washington Post's China bureau chief. She previously served as the Beijing bureau chief for the Guardian. Before that she reported for Quartz in Kenya, Hong Kong and New York, and for Reuters in New York and Washington. Twitter


By Emily RauhalaEmily Rauhala is the Brussels bureau chief for The Washington Post, covering the European Union and NATO. Twitter

Families of migrant boat victims find no closure in crisis-ridden Lebanon

By Timour Azhari - Wednesday

A Lebanese navy ship takes the family members of missing migrants

 on a tour in Tripoli

© Reuters/MOHAMED AZAKIR

TRIPOLI, Lebanon (Reuters) - On the still blue bottom of the Mediterranean Sea off the coast of north Lebanon, the crew of the specialised exploration submarine Pisces VI found their first corpse.


Technical personnel stand near a submarine in Tripoli

 Reuters/MOHAMED AZAKIR

Captain Scott Waters, leading the small yellow submarine's quest to unravel the fate of migrants missing since their boat sank on April 23, said the crew decided to bring the badly decomposed remains to the surface half a kilometre above.

But as it was hoisted to the surface, the body disintegrated piece by piece, scattering like sand in the water, leaving only clothes in the grip of the submarine's robotic arm.

The research submarine arrived last week on a mission by Australia-based NGO AusRelief to bring answers to the families of dozens of people still missing and presumed dead - answers the dysfunctional, cash-strapped Lebanese state has yet to provide.



Jihad Medlej attends an interview with Reuters in Tripoli

Reuters/MOHAMED AZAKIR

The Pisces VI located the boat, which Waters said showed no clear signs of damage from a navy boat that intercepted it, as well as 10 bodies. But the mission has since ended after the Lebanese military informed AusRelief of possible security risks, mission chief Tom Zreika told Reuters.


Lawyer Mohammad Sablouh attends an interview with Reuters in the northern city of Tripoli

© Reuters/MOHAMED AZAKIR

Zreika, a former refugee who was himself taken by his mother on a similar journey to Cyprus at the outset of Lebanon's civil war in 1975, said AusRelief regrettably concluded that salvaging all the bodies and the boat would entail much greater resources.

"There was a woman down there stuck halfway out a window holding her baby...That's the one that broke everybody's (heart)," he said, referring to the mission team. "It reminded me how my mother would have been holding me."

The dinghy was designed to carry up to a dozen people. About 80 Lebanese, Syrian and Palestinian migrants were on board, of which some 40 were rescued, seven were confirmed dead and around 30 remain missing.

Distraught families of the missing hoped the submarine would reveal the fate of their loved ones and how the boat came to sink. They now fear the bodies will remain submerged for good, along with potential evidence.

Although an investigation by Lebanese authorities into the incident is still ongoing, few families expect it to come to a just conclusion, underlining deep popular mistrust in Lebanon's judiciary and state institutions.

Locals say worsening economic desperation and hopelessness in the impoverished area of north Lebanon from which the migrant boat departed will spur ever more people to embark on perilous journeys by sea in search of new lives in Europe.



A view shows an abandoned resort at the sea-side town of Qalamoun

© Reuters/MOHAMED AZAKIR

'I'M READY TO GO'

The number of people who left or tried to leave Lebanon by sea nearly doubled in 2021 from 2020, and has risen again by more than 70% in 2022 compared with the same period last year, the United Nations refugee agency told Reuters in an email.

Recommended video: Migrants rescued by Open Arms charity reach dry land in Italy

Duration 0:44

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The main reasons cited include an "inability to survive in Lebanon due to the deteriorating economic situation" and the "lack of access to basic services and limited job opportunities", it said.

Lebanon has been grappling with a severe financial crisis since 2019 that has left eight in 10 people poor.

The migrant boat capsized and sank after a collision with a Lebanese navy ship trying to halt its voyage towards Europe.

Authorities believe it left from the sleepy seaside town of Qalamoun just south of the major port of Tripoli, from the quay of an abandoned resort where locals go to spend leisure time.

"All we want to do is leave this country. There is nothing here anymore," said Bilal Hamam, a 42-year-old day labourer at a local cement factory who was not called to work on Monday.

"My friends have gone (on previous migrant boats). I was scared to go because I have kids...but now I'm ready to go with my family," he said.

"I'm no better than those who died and nor are my children."

'A MOCKERY'

Some families of the victims have filed criminal charges against the navy officer commanding the ship that intercepted the migrant boat and the dozen other crew aboard, after some surviving migrants said they had been rammed.

The army has said its ship and the boat collided as the people smuggler in charge manoeuvred to evade capture.

The investigation has been led by Lebanon's Military Court, staffed by army personnel.

"It's a mockery in every sense of the word...that any self-respecting institution would be the perpetrator accused of killing people and also oversee the probe," said Jihad Medlej, the father of 22-year-old Hashem Medlej who was on the boat and remains missing.

"We will not be silent about this...We want to live in a state with institutions and laws," Mohammad Sablouh, a lawyer representing some families, told Reuters.

A spokesman for the army told Reuters that it could not comment on the complaints and accusations by relatives of the dead due to the ongoing investigation.

In a meeting in May with grieving families of the victims, General Joseph Aoun, Lebanon's armed forces commander in chief, promised a transparent and impartial inquiry.

But Medlej, rejecting the army narrative, said he has not been able to mourn his son because he has received contradictory reports about his fate, with no body recovered, and believes he may still be alive.

An army source, asking for anonymity due to the ongoing investigation, said it had no information on Hashem Medlej.

An attempt by a lawyer for the families to subpoena Waters to provide more information in court on the submarine mission's findings, including high-definition footage, failed because Lebanon's judiciary was on strike.

The captain has since left Lebanon, and the army has so far only published low-quality images of the wreck.

Zreika said he would soon make all the footage public.

He lamented the growing bad blood between ordinary people and institutions in Lebanon.

Before departing, the mission team held a small service at sea for those who perished, but the army advised them against bringing relatives of victims along, Zreika said.

"They said: 'We can't guarantee your safety.'"

(Reporting by Timour Azhari; Editing by Samia Nakhoul and Mark Heinrich)

Angola's MPLA Has Been in Power for Nearly 50 Years. The Big Challenges They Must Fix


ANGOP/Pedro Parente, Borralho Ndomba / Deutsche Welle
Angolan President Joao Lourenco, left, and opposition leader Adalberto Costa Junior on election day in August 2022.

31 AUGUST 2022
The Conversation Africa (Johannesburg)

ANALYSIS

By Cristina Udelsmann Rodrigues

Angolan president João Lourenço, who has been returned to power with a greatly reduced majority, faces the challenging task of turning around the economy and improving the living conditions of the majority, particularly young people.

The Angolan economy has been in bad shape since 2014 when oil prices declined. Oil looms large over the economy, accounting for more than 90% of exports, 56% of government revenues and almost 35% of overall economic output.

Even some of its non-oil sectors such as construction and agriculture move in tandem with the oil sector, according to the International Monetary Fund. This makes the country's efforts to diversify the economy that much more challenging.

The poor economic outcomes are visible in increasing levels of unemployment, especially among young people and in the urban areas. This has pushed most Angolans - particularly women - into low productive informal jobs. More than 80% of the Angolan population relies fully or partially on the informal economy.

Angola's economic performance loomed large over the election, explaining why young people have become the symbol of the destitute citizens. Angola has a youthful population with a median age of 16.7 years.

Angolan youth have borne the brunt of the 30 years' civil war which ended in 2002. Most of the half a million who died were young fighters. The civil war left those who survived it with no education, no social or economic structures. The oil-based economy has created only residual employment opportunities to the low-skilled young people. Forced migration to urban areas during the war meant breaking social ties.

Young voters, who now represent about 60% of the voting population under 24, would have played an important role in shifting the electoral balance away from the People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA), which has run the country since independence in 1975. The call for change in these elections mobilised the younger urban voters more than any other, with visible interventions on the streets and in social media.

The MPLA won 51.17% of the vote and its historical rival, National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (Unita), got 43.9%. In the 2017 elections the distribution was 61.1% for the MPLA and 26.7% for Unita.

Significantly, the latest poll saw the MPLA lose the nearly two-thirds majority it had enjoyed in the three previous elections since the end of the civil war in 2002. Explanations are mainly concentrated on discontentment with the economy and living conditions.

It's the economy

The prolonged economic recession triggered in 2015-16 by falling oil prices and aggravated by the COVID pandemic and declining oil production, deeply affected the everyday lives of Angolans. With the majority of the population depending on low-profit, unprotected informal activities, the crisis affected a high number of families, who had to cut down on expenses such as education and health.

Now that the MPLA has been returned to power, it will have to deal with this particularly challenging situation. It will have to work hard and seriously commit to reversing the negative trends. What was difficult to improve in the last mandate will certainly be even more difficult in the next five years.

On the positive side, despite the difficulties, oil prices are on the rise again, and investors may be coming back to the country. COVID, which practically suspended the economy, in particular the urban informal traders, is slowly disappearing from people's minds and daily lives. This will mean working harder but in a better economic context.

Youth factor

It is a challenge, in the coming five years, to satisfy the large, youthful part of the voting population, who are more active and can move around and mobilise using new, less controlled means of communication.

Their most urgent need is employment and a perspective of life beyond the precarity of the informal economy. Unemployment among the youth (15-24 years) was at nearly 60% in 2021. Women are particularly left behind in this economic context, with a very low rate of participation in industry, and mostly relegated to agriculture (62.5%) and services (36.2%) .

Generally with low education and skills, young men and women have little chance of getting their ideal job - normally, employment in the public sector, as civil servants. Finding these ideal jobs in Luanda, the capital city, is an even harder quest.

The frustrations resulting from this combination of serious challenges will not be resolved within the five years' mandate of the party that has won the election.

The future of the Angolan youth was mortgaged a long time ago. In my view, it will take at least another two or three rounds of elections, with all efforts pointed at the youth and the improvement of their social, economic and educational conditions, for matters to improve. It is a long-term horizon, which may not be well accepted by the youth and lead more to leave the country.

If all goes well, if the winners of the next two or three elections can assure an intensive non-stop effort to educate and qualify the youth, they can conquer these key supporters. Until then, they will have to make sure that investments in social, economic and education areas are reaching them primarily.

Cristina Udelsmann Rodrigues, Senior Researcher, The Nordic Africa Institute

This article is republished from The Conversation Africa under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Zimbabwe - CHRISTIAN Anti-Vaxxers Hamper Measles Fight


Columbus Mavhunga / VOA
Zimbabwe health officials conduct measles immunization in Mutasa

 district about 300 kilometres east of Harare in May 2022.

31 AUGUST 2022
Deutsche Welle (Bonn)

By Privilege Musvanhiri

A measles outbreak in Zimbabwe has killed over 150 children. The government has launched a mass vaccination campaign to contain the spread but faces stiff resistance from unvaccinated families due to religious beliefs.

Zimbabwe has reported at least 2,056 cases of measles. Virtually all of the 157 deaths recorded were children who had not been vaccinated, Information Minister Monica Mutsvangwa said last week.

The outbreak started in the Manicaland Eastern Province at the beginning of August, spreading rapidly across the country. Health authorities are scrambling to contain the spread.

The government announced a mass vaccination campaign targeting children aged between 6 months and 15 years. Authorities are trying to engage traditional and faith leaders to support the drive.

Zimbabwe continued vaccinating children against measles during the coronavirus pandemic. But the drive has been hampered by religious groups that preach against vaccines.

Rejection of modern medicine

The Christian sects in question are against modern medicine and tell their members to rely on self-proclaimed prophets for healing.

DW caught up with one of the religious groups that had gathered for its annual pilgrimage in Zimbabwe's Eastern Province, Manicaland.

Thousands of members of the Johanne Marange apostolic sect converged to listen to an oracle. They prayed and believed what they were told, including that they should reject medical science.

The church doctrine does not allow its members to be vaccinated or seek medical treatment when they fall sick.

A preventable fatal disease

Measles is among the most infectious diseases in the world. The childhood infection is caused by a virus that can be fatal for small children. It primarily spreads in the air by coughing, sneezing, or close contact. Symptoms include coughing, fever, and a skin rash. However, a vaccine can easily prevent the disease.

But 56-year-old sect member Kuziva Kudzanai told DW it was a sin to seek medical treatment. "If anyone gets sick, they will go to the church elders for prayers," he insisted.

Church gatherings that have resumed following the easing of COVID-19 restrictions have themselves "led to the spread of measles to previously unaffected areas," the health ministry said in a statement last week.

Added pregnancy risks

The prohibition on medical care also applies to pregnant women, sect member Janet Hanyanisi told DW. "We are not allowed to be vaccinated or even to go to a hospital for treatment. Instead, we go to our church midwives for delivery," she said.

Health authorities have struggled to break down some religious communities' resistance to vaccinating their children, who they believe are speeding up the spread of the disease.

"So far what we have seen that almost all the dead are unvaccinated children," said Cephas Hote, a medical officer in Mutasa District, one of the worst affected regions. He added that there were a few infections among vaccinated children, but with only mild symptoms.

The scramble to contain measles

The government reacted by launching a national measles vaccination blitz. July Moyo, a minister in the local government, says several government departments and the police are enforcing the vaccination to "tackle the emergency."

Moyo hopes that the involvement of the whole government will ensure that "people, especially children, get vaccinated."

Before the current outbreak, Zimbabwe had had no cases of measles for more than ten years. Public health authorities are hoping that the current outbreak can be contained before it becomes a pandemic.

Scientists estimate that more than 90% of the population needs to be immunized to prevent measles outbreaks.

In April, the World Health Organization (WHO) warned of an increase in measles in vulnerable countries as a result of a disruption of services due to COVID-19.

Later, UNICEF said about 25 million children worldwide have missed out on routine immunizations against common childhood diseases, calling it a "red alert" for child health.

Edited by: Chrispin Mwakideu

Prehistoric mammals got ahead as they grew up twice as fast after the dinosaurs were wiped from earth

An artist's impression of a Pantolambda bathmodon, 

which grew to about the size of a sheep. 

Photo: H Sharpe / PA


Lucinda Cameron
September 01 2022 

Some prehistoric mammals were born almost independent and grew up twice as fast as today’s mammals, giving them an edge after dinosaurs became extinct, a new study has suggested.

Scientists used dental analysis to uncover the life history of Pantolambda bathmodon – a member of the earliest known group of herbivore in the post-dinosaur era.

It grew to about the size of a sheep.

The findings, published in the weekly science journal Nature, suggest that Pantolambda bathmodon mothers were pregnant for just under seven months and gave birth to single, well-developed babies which had a full mouthful of teeth.

Their babies, probably mobile from day one, suckled for only one to two months before they became fully independent.

An international team led by the University of Edinburgh in collaboration with the University of St Andrews, Carnegie Museum of Natural History and New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science was involved in the research.

“When the asteroid knocked off the dinosaurs 66 million years ago, some mammals survived and they ballooned in size really quickly to fill the ecological niches vacated by T-rex and Triceratops, and other giant dinosaurs,” Professor Steve Brusatte, from the school of geosciences at the University of Edinburgh, said.

“Being able to produce large babies – which matured for several months in the womb before being born – helped mammals transform from the humble mouse-sized ancestors that lived with dinosaurs to the vast array of species, from humans to elephants to whales, that are around today.”

The scientists found chemical changes in the teeth showed major transitions in the early life of the creatures, including high levels of zinc deposited at birth, and enrichment with barium during the suckling period.

Although the gestation time inferred from the research matches that of today’s similarly-sized mammals, this early mammal is found to have lived and died more rapidly by comparison.

The data shows that Pantolambda bathmodon were independent and ready to mate before their first birthday.

The creatures also lived only three to four years on average, whereas most mammals of similar size today live 20 years or more.

“Our research opens the most detailed window to date into the daily lives of extinct mammals,” said lead author Dr Gregory Funston, who is Royal Society Newton International Fellow at the University of Edinburgh and is currently based at the Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto.

“This unprecedented level of detail shows the kinds of lifestyles that make placental mammals special, evolved early in their evolutionary history.

“We think that their babies’ longer gestation period could have nurtured large body sizes faster than other mammals, which may be why they became the dominant mammals of today.”

'Hideous' giant blow-up doll erected in trendy Shanghai district horrifies locals

AUGUST 31, 2022

ByMANDY ZUO

’I don’t understand fashion’, said one person after the giant blow-up doll started trending on mainland social media.
South China Morning Post

A giant inflatable blow-up doll placed in front of a pop-up fashion store by Italian label Diesel in China has generated controversy due to its unsettling appearance.

The seven-metre long doll has been described as “the ugly object”, “hideous” and “scary” by Shanghai residents after it appeared outside the store on the city’s trendy Huaihai Road over the weekend.More from AsiaOneRead the condensed version of this story, and other top stories with NewsLite.

The doll has a bizarre face that looks partially melted, no eyebrows and eyes that appear to be rolling into the back of its misshapen head. It is wearing a pair of what appears to be the Italian brand’s jeans and a denim top.

The inflated doll when viewed seen from behind on the street in Shanghai.
PHOTO: Toutiao.com

The inflatable doll is to promote the brand’s 2022 autumn and winter collection and has been erected on public space outside the store. This has also caused controversy, with some questioning the appropriateness of placing a giant commercial fashion show set in a public space.

The doll was among several gigantic blow-up models that appeared at Diesel’s autumn and winter show in Tokyo in June.

On Weibo, the hashtag to promote the event “Incoming Giant Phantom Tour” has received 100 million views in the past week.

On Xiaohongshu, China’s version of Instagram, the huge doll has been most commonly referred to as “the ugly object” and triggered heated discussion about its long, melted-looking face, eyes that are looking up strangely and the absence of any eyebrows.

While many were horrified by the doll’s appearance, others were more concerned at a commercial company using public space to erect promotional material to sell clothes.
PHOTO: Toutiao.com

“It was really scary. I don’t understand fashion,” one person commented.

However, some said they were attracted by the strange doll, posing in front of it for photos and sharing them online.

“I was totally charmed by this huge doll… It is very impactful visually,” said another.

The sculpture and the pop-up store will move to another area of the city in the first week of September, the company’s official Weibo account revealed.

There has been growing aesthetic debate about public artworks in recent years in Chinese society amid rising preference for traditional beauty characteristics in keeping with Chinese cultural identity.

The blow-up doll was one of several used by the company earlier this year as part of a runway show in Tokyo.
PHOTO: Toutiao.com

Earlier this month, 27 people were punished for publishing a maths textbook for primary school students that went viral because of its “tragically ugly” illustrations of children after a months-long investigation from the authorities.

The book, published almost 10 years ago and in use ever since, was heatedly discussed in May after a teacher shared on social media photos of the illustrations, including distorted faces, “strange” facial expressions, a boy who seemed half-bald and another grabbing a girl’s skirt.

This article was first published in South China Morning Post.

How important is Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant for Ukraine?

Zaporizhzhia produces almost half of the electricity generated by Ukraine's nuclear power plants. Can the Ukrainian energy system function without it?

Zaporizhzhia, the biggest nuclear power plant in Europe

Ukraine has four nuclear power plants with a total of 15 units. They produce 50 to 60% of the electricity in the Ukrainian grid, according to the state energy company Ukrenergo.

The plant in Zaporizhzhia is the largest not only in Ukraine, but also in the whole of Europe. It has six power units with a total capacity of 6,000 MW. And it generated almost half of the electricity produced by Ukraine's nuclear power plants before the Russian attack, according to Petro Kotin, head of Ukraine's state-owned nuclear power plant operator Energoatom.

Meanwhile, the plant has been under Russian occupation for almost six months, he said.

Connected to the Russian grid?

Russian troops have been using it as a depot for weapons and military equipment, according to Energoatom's website. "The Russian military is shelling the nuclear power plant to destroy its infrastructure and disconnect it from Ukraine's energy system." The company stresses the threat to the safety of the plant and surrounding towns. All the while Moscow blames Ukraine for the shelling, claiming Russian troops are "protecting" the nuclear plant.

A Russian soldier guards the compound in Zaporizhzhia

As a result of fighting near the power plant, an overhead power line was broken twice, disconnecting two units from the grid on August 25 and triggering emergency protection, says the Ukrainian Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The plant's workers quickly managed to restore connection to the Ukrainian grid and power generation for Ukraine.

"The nuclear power plant has not been running at full capacity since the occupation. Two, sometimes three units are in operation, with the third not running at full capacity. How much electricity the nuclear power plant generates for the Ukrainian grid is kept secret due to martial law," Mariia Tsaturian, who is responsible for communications and international cooperation at Ukrenergo, told DW.

She can't imagine the Russian occupiers will succeed in disconnecting the Zaporizhzhia plant from the Ukrainian grid and integrating it into the Russian grid via Crimea — it is technically difficult, she said, and it would take both sides. Ukraine disconnected its power grid from the Russian grid on February 24, at the start of Russia's war against Ukraine, and fully synchronized it with the continental European grid ENTSO-E in mid-March.

"To safely disconnect the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant from the Ukrainian grid and safely connect it to the power grid of occupied Crimea, it would take a technically complex desynchronization and subsequent synchronization, disconnecting one line at a time," Tsaturian said, adding that the frequency in the grid of 50 Hertz would have to be maintained at all times to avoid problems or outages.

Power exports endangered

Although there are no data on the electricity currently produced at the plant, experts interviewed by DW consider its role in Ukraine's energy system significant, especially because Ukraine currently exports electricity to the EU.

"Ukraine urgently needs the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant or it will not be able to fulfill its electricity export obligations. The electricity produced is intended exclusively for securing the heating season," said Volodymyr Omelchenko, energy expert at the Kyiv Razumkov Research Center. The country needs the plant, says Olena Pavlenko, head of the DiXi Group analysis center, which monitors Ukraine's energy market, adding that electricity exports "support the energy sector and compensate companies for decreased electricity prices for the population."

Ukraine has been exporting electricity to Europe via Romania and Slovakia since June 2022, earning the company the equivalent of €67 million ($67 million) so far, according to Ukrenergo. The funds are needed to prepare for colder temperatures and the heating period — the purchase of coal, the repair of power plant units and power lines.

Difficult winter withoutZaporizhzhia?

If revenues from electricity exports are lost, preparing for winter might be difficult. One scenario includes the nuclear power plant, and several more pessimistic scenarios don't include any of the plants, said Tsaturian. "That would be a difficult heating period, but possible to handle."

In 2017, Ukraine started preparations to synchronize with ENTSO-E, European association for the cooperation of transmission system operators (TSOs) for electricity

The DiXi Group's Olena Pavlenko thinks Ukraine would definitely feel the lack electricity from the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, but some factors could alleviate the situation. "Many people have left the country and large companies have shut down, so electricity consumption in Ukraine has dropped by 35%," Pavlenko said. Unless everyone suddenly returns in the winter, the country can manage the season without the nuclear power plant, she added.

Observers stress that the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant is indispensable for the supply of power to the regions of Mykolaiv, Dnipropetrovsk, Zaporizhzhia, Kherson, and parts of the Donetsk and Kharkiv regions. If the Russian occupiers continue their dangerous attempts to connect the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant to the Russian power grid, these regions could lose power, an emergency operation would kick in connecting them with spare capacities from the Ukrainian power grid.

This article was originally written in Ukrainian.

Alaska Special Election Upset Expands Democrats’ House Majority



Zach C. Cohen
Wed, August 31, 2022 

(Bloomberg) -- Democrat Mary Peltola flipped Alaska’s lone House seat in this month’s special election, growing Democrats’ majority in the narrowly divided chamber and setting up a rematch against former Republican Gov. Sarah Palin for the seat in November.

Peltola won the special election to replace the late Rep. Don Young (R-Alaska) at least for the rest of the year, beating Palin — the party’s nominee for vice president in 2008 — and Nick Begich (R), the grandson of Young’s Democratic predecessor in the House. A fourth candidate who won a berth in the contest, Al Gross (I), dropped out days after the all-party primary.

Peltola won the support of 40% of voters’ first-choice ballots. After more than a quarter of Begich supporters’ listed Peltola as their second choice, the Democrat’s lead grew to 51% to Palin’s 49%.

Peltola’s election is the latest instance of Democrats in recent elections capitalizing on the Supreme Court’s recent decision to strike down a federal right to an abortion. Rep.-elect Pat Ryan (D-N.Y.) also won a special election for a vacant seat in the Hudson Valley by campaigning on abortion rights, protecting a vulnerable seat in Democrats’ narrow majority.

The high court’s ruling was a “recurring theme” on the campaign trail in Alaska, where voters are “covetous” of their privacy and freedom and “very concerned” about “this new radical conservative Supreme Court,” Peltola, who turned 49 on Wednesday, said in an interview last week.

“Overturning Roe. Wade was a real infringement on both privacy and freedom,” Peltola said. “A lot of people recognize the importance for establishing a good balance of power and having a Congress, both in the House and Senate, that is more receptive to the will of the people.”

Once Peltola and Ryan are sworn in, the House Democrats’ caucus will grow to 221. House Republicans will increase to 212 when Rep-elect Joe Sempolinski (R-N.Y.) takes office. The two remaining vacancies, left by Rep. Jackie Walorski’s (R-Ind.) death and Rep. Charlie Crist’s (D-Fla.) resignation Wednesday, won’t be filled until after the November election.

Palin in a statement acknowledged Peltola’s victory but pledged to keep running for a full two-year term in November.

“Ranked-choice voting was sold as the way to make elections better reflect the will of the people,” Palin said. “As Alaska – and America – now sees, the exact opposite is true.”

Begich also said he will run for a full term in November.

First Alaska Native in Congress

When she’s sworn in, Peltola will be the first woman to represent Alaska in the House. Alaska hasn’t sent a Democrat to Congress since the election of Begich’s uncle, former Sen. Mark Begich, in 2008. Young had held the House seat for his party since 1973.

“Alaskan voters vote for the person and not the party,” Peltola said. “And I think there’s such an appetite for someone who is focused on the challenges ahead of us and finding solutions to those challenges.”

Peltola, a Yup’ik Eskimo, will also be the first Alaska Native in Congress.

“Alaska Native people, we don’t compartmentalize in the same way that I think other people would imagine,” Peltola said. “We’re very holistic. And so of course, when we’re talking about our community, we mean everyone.”

Peltola will only have a few weeks between her swearing-in and her race for re-election, and the House is scheduled to be in session for only three of them. But Peltola says she can use the time to gain a foothold in Washington.

“My first priority is to make as many relationships, positive working relationships, as I can with both parties,” she said.

Chairing the Bush Caucus

Peltola represented the rural Bethel region in the Alaska House of Representatives for a decade. Democrats at the time held what she called a “mini minority,” so small that that they feared losing committee assignments.

In the legislature she chaired the Bush Caucus, a bipartian group of lawmakers from the state’s remote areas, with a focus on boosting education and harnessing renewable energy.

“We were always five Democrats, five Republicans,” Peltola said. “And not only were we working to advance the needs of our own house districts and rural districts, we really were fighting for the full state.”

She said she’s hoping to get seats on the Transportation & Infrastructure and Natural Resources Committees, both panels Young chaired. Those posts would be relevant for a state that depends respectively on its airports and fossil-fuel production.

“Having a voice on the resources committee for Alaska is critical,” she said.

Peltola said any of the state’s near-term growth would likely come from gas, oil, and mining. She said recent “hangups” in permitting oil and gas projects are attributable to litigation that began during the Trump administration.

“I would not put this 100% at the feet of Joe Biden and Deb Haaland,” Peltola said, referring to the president and the secretary of the Interior Department. “There are a lot more factors to it than just two Democrats.”

Peltola said she plans to carry on Young’s “legacy” of working with “everyone and anyone who is reasonable,” which allowed him to be an “effective” advocate for the state.

Peltola, a mother of four, said she’s known Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) since they were both elected to the Alaska House in 1998. They bonded over their shared status as legislators with young children, and Peltola said they agree on the need to work across party lines.

Peltola has also crossed paths with Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska) and his family through her time in the legislature and as manager of community development and sustainability for the Donlin gold mine project.

“I feel like I have very good relationships with both Lisa and Dan,” Peltola said.

Peltola also served as executive director of the Kuskokwim River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission, where she advocated for the protection of the state’s western salmon runs. She also sat on the Orutsararmiut Native Council Tribal Court and the Bethel City Council.

‘Only Game in Town’

Peltola will seek a full two-year term in November as Alaskans, who favored former President Donald Trump by 10 points in 2020, weigh races not just for the House but for the Senate and governorship.

Peltola reported $125,000 on hand as of Aug. 4, according to her latest disclosure with the Federal Election Commission. She spent just $249,000 on her campaign and was far outspent by her Palin and Begich, who respectively spent $963,000 and $672,000.

Begich also vastly outspent Palin and Peltola in TV advertising, according to media tracking firm AdImpact, mostly on ads faulting Palin for resigning the governorship in 2009.

Palin and Begich also benefited from outside advertising. Sen. Rand Paul‘s (R-Ky.) super PAC spent $250,000 boosting Palin, while Begich got support from the Koch family-linked Americans for Prosperity.

“The only game in town really is the two-year seat,” Peltola said.

Bloomberg Businessweek

Palin defeat in Alaska and Kansas abortion vote show 2022 midterms will be Roe election

Turns out Joe Biden was right when he said ‘Roe is on the ballot’, writes Eric Garcia


US House candidate Mary Peltola reacts at her campaign party at 49th State Brewing in Anchorage, Alaska, U.S. August 16, 2022
(REUTERS/Kerry Tasker)

Democratic candidate Mary Peltola’s victory against former governor Sarah Palin in the special election to fill Alaska’s sole congressional seat would be a political earthquake on its own given the fact a Democrat has not won that seat since 1972.

But the fact that this was Democrats’ second special election victory in as many weeks shows a massive momentum shift after many political prognosticators had thought Republicans would blow them out as they seek to take back the majority.

Last week, Democrats held a seat in New York’s 19th district after Governor Kathy Hochul selected Antonio Delgado to be her lieutenant governor. In response, Pat Ryan won a special election largely campaigning on defending abortion rights against a more moderate and well-known Republican in Marc Molinaro.

These two victories come off the back of Kansas voting against a constitutional amendment that would have allowed for restrictions on abortion. But even in races that Democrats have lost – such as the special election in Nebraska’s 1st district and in Minnesota’s 1st district – they overperformed and made inroads in rural parts of the country.

Saying that all of these races are driven by the same dynamics would be absurd – Kansas is different from New York which is different from Alaska – and many of the candidates ran on wholly unique messages. But it is hard to deny that the Supreme Court’s Dobbs v Jackson ruling overturning Roe v Wade earlier this summer didn’t have some kind of effect.

When the Supreme Court handed down its decision, President Joe Biden said “Roe is on the ballot.” At the time, it was hard to see given that his approval ratings continued to hit historic lows, inflation remained high and when Politico leaked a draft of the Supreme Court’s opinion in May, the Senate failed to pass legislation to codify Roe.

But it’s fairly clear that public opinion has also shifted. A new Quinnipiac University poll released today showed that 34 per cent of respondents think abortion should be legal in all cases, the highest that it has ever been since Quinnipiac started asking the question in 2004.

This isn’t to say voters don’t care about other issues. The same survey showed that 27 per cent of voters think inflation is the most urgent issue facing the country today, with abortion, climate change and gun violence all tied for second at 9 per cent each.


But that is a decided change from even a few months ago. In addition, Democrats’ recent polling shows them enjoy a slight lead in the generic congressional ballot – which determines whether voters would prefer to vote for a generic Republican or a generic Democrat for Congress.

Furthermore, it’s fairly clear that even staunch conservatives have to modulate their stance on abortion. Arizona Senate Republican candidate Blake Masters has scrubbed his campaign website when it comes to abortion rhetoric, removing language about a “federal personhood law,” which earned the chagrin of anti-abortion conservatives, only for his campaign adviser to clarify that he hasn’t moderated.

Democrats still face major structural advantages given that the president’s party typically loses seats in a midterm, but the outlook is quite different and now Democrats are able to campaign on something to run against, as well as their own record.

Sarah Palin reacts to losing Alaska house race

New poll shows Biden approval rising as Democrats lead Republicans on generic ballot

Polls push five House races toward Democrats as Palin defeated in Alaska

POLITICAL ECONOMY OF GAMING

Microsoft's Activision Blizzard deal gets global scrutiny

Microsoft’s plan to buy video game giant Activision Blizzard for $68.7 billion could have major effects on the gaming industry, transforming the Xbox maker into something like a Netflix for video games by giving it control of many more popular titles

By MATT O'BRIEN and KELVIN CHAN 

AP Technology Writers
September 1, 2022,

Microsoft’s plan to buy video game giant Activision Blizzard for $68.7 billion could have major effects on the gaming industry, transforming the Xbox maker into something like a Netflix for video games by giving it control of many more popular titles.

But to get to the next level, Microsoft must first survive a barrage of government inquiries from New Zealand to Brazil, and from U.S. regulators emboldened by President Joe Biden to strengthen their enforcement of antitrust laws.

In the United Kingdom, regulators on Thursday threatened to escalate their investigation unless both companies come up with proposals within five days to ease competition concerns. More than seven months after Microsoft announced the deal, only Saudi Arabia has approved it.

“A growing number of countries are subjecting major global transactions to deeper scrutiny,” said William Kovacic, a former chairman of the five-member U.S. Federal Trade Commission. “Many of the jurisdictions that are exercising that scrutiny are significant economies and can’t be brushed off.”

Microsoft has faced antitrust scrutiny before, mostly notably more than two decades ago when a federal judge ordered its breakup following the company’s anticompetitive actions related to its dominant Windows software. That verdict was overturned on appeal, although the court imposed other, less drastic, penalties on the company.

In recent years, however, Microsoft has largely escaped the more intense regulatory backlash its Big Tech rivals such as Amazon, Google and Facebook’s parent company Meta have endured. But the sheer size of the Activision Blizzard merger has drawn global attention.

The all-cash deal is set to be the largest in the history of the tech industry. It would give Microsoft, maker of the Xbox console and gaming system, control of popular game franchises such as Call of Duty, World of Warcraft and Candy Crush. There's also a growing sense that past review of Big Tech mergers was too lax — such as when Facebook bought Instagram in 2012 and WhatsApp in 2014.

“Collectively, that means that the kinds of concessions you’re going to have to make become more difficult,” Kovacic said.

The possibility of Microsoft gaining control of Call of Duty has been particularly worrisome to Sony, maker of the PlayStation console that competes with Microsoft's Xbox. In a letter to Brazilian regulators, Sony emphasized Call of Duty as an “essential” game — a blockbuster so popular and ingrained that it would be impossible for a competitor to develop a rival product even if they had the budget to do so.

The U.K. watchdog's preliminary inquiry raised similar worries. It said Microsoft’s control of popular Activision Blizzard games raised concerns that the deal would hurt rivals in multi-game subscription services and the cloud gaming market.

One solution could be a settlement in which Microsoft agrees to ensure that console-making rivals such as Sony or Nintendo won’t be cut off from popular Activision Blizzard games. Microsoft has already publicly signaled its openness to that concept.

Microsoft’s president, Brad Smith, has said the company committed to Sony to make Activision games like Call of Duty “available on PlayStation beyond the existing agreement and into the future” -- although many are skeptical about how long those promises would last if not set into regulatory consent decrees.

On the other hand, Microsoft also has a much better reputation in Washington than it did in 2000. It is "seen as more reasonable and sensible” on issues such as data privacy, Kovacic said.

Microsoft has also been working to win over skeptics in the U.S., starting with a labor union that's been trying to organize Activision Blizzard employees. Democratic lawmakers have also expressed concern about allegations of Activision's toxic workplace culture for women, which led to employee walkouts last year as well as discrimination lawsuits brought by California and federal civil rights enforcers.

In March, the Communications Workers of America had issued a call seeking tougher oversight of the deal from the U.S. Department of Justice, the FTC and state attorneys general. But a June 30 letter from the union to the FTC said it had switched to supporting the deal after Microsoft agreed “to ensure the workers of Activision Blizzard have a clear path to collective bargaining.”

Gaming represents a growing portion of Microsoft’s business, despite the company’s efforts to portray itself and Activision Blizzard as “small players in a highly fragmented publishing space,” per a document filed with New Zealand's Commerce Commission.

In 2021, Microsoft spent $7.5 billion to acquire ZeniMax Media, the parent company of video game publisher Bethesda Softworks, which is behind popular video games The Elder Scrolls, Doom and Fallout. Microsoft’s properties also include the hit game Minecraft after it bought Swedish game studio Mojang for $2.5 billion in 2014.

The Redmond, Washington, tech giant has said the gaming acquisitions will help beef up its Xbox Game Pass game subscription service and its mobile offerings, particularly from Activision Blizzard's King division, which makes Candy Crush.

Dutch game developer Rami Ismail said Microsoft’s subscription-based service has thus far been a positive for smaller game studios trying to get their content to users. But he’s unsure about the long-term impact of the merger.

“Xbox Game Pass as a product has been really good in getting interesting, creative games funded that might not have the normal market reach to be successful,” Ismail said. “On the flip side, as power consolidates, there is less of an incentive to do anything like that.”

Microsoft rivals are also consolidating. Sony in July closed on a $3.6 billion deal to buy Bungie Inc., maker of the popular game franchise Destiny and the original developer of Xbox-owned Halo. Take-Two Interactive, maker of Grand Theft Auto and Red Dead Redemption, in May completed a $12.7 billion deal to acquire mobile gaming company Zynga, maker of FarmVille and Words With Friends.