Twin crises: experts say nature and climate can’t be siloed

By AFP
November 24, 2022

The crucial COP15 meeting comes as scientists warn the world is potentially facing its sixth mass extinction event - Copyright AFP Khaled DESOUKI
Kelly MACNAMARA and Jenny VAUGHAN

Experts and activists were hoping UN climate talks would end last week with a prominent mention of biodiversity in the final text. They walked away disappointed.

Some say delegates at the COP27 summit missed a key opportunity to acknowledge the connection between the twin climate and nature crises, which many believe have been treated separately for too long.

Failing to address both could mean not only further decimating Earth’s life support systems, but also missing the key climate target of limiting warming to under 1.5 degrees Celsius, they warn.

“We’re doomed if we don’t solve climate, and we’re doomed if we don’t solve biodiversity,” Basile van Havre, co-chair of the UN biodiversity negotiations, told AFP.

At the COP15 UN biodiversity talks next month, dozens of countries will meet to hammer out a new framework to protect animals and plants from destruction by humans.

The meeting comes as scientists warn that climate change and biodiversity damage could cause the world’s sixth mass extinction event.

Such destruction of nature also risks worsening climate change.

The oceans have absorbed most of the excess heat created by humanity’s greenhouse gas emissions and, along with forests, are important carbon sinks.

“(Nature) is up to a third of the climate solution. And it is a proven technology,” Brian O’Donnell, director of Campaign for Nature, told AFP.

He said oceans in particular are unsung “superheroes”, which have absorbed carbon and heat, at the cost of acidification and coral-killing heatwaves.

As the world warms, species and ecosystems can also play a crucial role in building resilience. Mangroves, for example, can protect against coastal erosion caused by rising seas linked to a warming planet.

– ‘Missed opportunity’ –

Perhaps the most attention on the natural world at COP27 came during a visit by Brazil’s president-elect Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who will take office in January.

He has vowed to halt the rampant deforestation of the Amazon seen under incumbent Jair Bolsonaro and announced during the climate talks plans to create a ministry for indigenous people, custodians of the rainforest.

The crucial “30 by 30” biodiversity target also got a boost when a bloc of West African nations vowed to adhere to the goal of protecting 30 percent of the natural world by 2030.

Biodiversity received a nod in the final COP27 text, including in a paragraph calling for “the urgent need to address, in a comprehensive and synergetic manner, the interlinked global crises of climate change and biodiversity loss”.

But the upcoming COP15 meeting in Montreal — tasked with setting out an ambitious plan for humanity’s relationship with nature for the coming decades — did not get the encouragement many were hoping for.

“It is a missed opportunity that COP15, taking place just in two weeks’ time, did not get a highlight by COP27,” Li Shuo, senior global policy adviser at Greenpeace East Asia, told AFP.

But he cautioned it “should not be a deal-breaker, this should not be the end of the world”.

For Zoe Quiroz Cullen, head of climate and nature linkages at Fauna & Flora International, it was “deeply concerning” that the text “fails to recognise the crucial linkage to COP27’s sister convention on nature,” the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD).

“The twin climate and biodiversity crises are at risk from being considered and treated in silos,” she told AFP.

– ‘Subcategory’ –

While energy policy has dominated the climate talks, and plastic and pesticide pollution are more the preserve of the biodiversity talks, other issues — food production, indigenous land rights, protections of oceans and forests — are entwined with both.

The United Nations has traditionally treated the climate and biodiversity crises distinctly, each getting their own COP meetings (Conference of the Parties), and each managed by its own institution: climate by the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change and biodiversity by the CBD.

Most experts say the two crises are serious enough to warrant this separate treatment. But some complain that biodiversity has been seen as “just a subcategory of climate”, as O’Donnell put it.

“Decades of approaching these things in isolation still continues, unfortunately, too much to this day.”

In the long term, neglecting nature could mean the unabated destruction of ecosystems and species — and missing the Paris Agreement climate goals.

“We cannot meet the 1.5 degree target for climate without bold action on nature,” O’Donnell said.

“We need to solve them both if we want to have a liveable planet for future generations.”

Five key decisions at global wildlife summit

By AFP
Published November 25, 2022

Marine turtles and their uncertain fate are on the agenda of a global wildlife summit taking place in Panama City. — © AFP

A global wildlife summit that ends Friday passed resolutions to protect hundreds of threatened species, including sharks, reptiles, turtles as well as trees.

Here are some highlights of the two-week meeting of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) in Panama.

1) Sharks steal the show

No longer just the villains of the deep, these ancient predators were the stars of the summit.

Delegates from more than 180 countries agreed to regulate the trade in 54 species of the requiem shark and hammerhead shark families.

These species are the most hunted for their shark fins — seen as a delicacy in some Asian countries — and their numbers have been decimated, putting the entire marine ecosystem at risk.

Only Japan grumbled over the resolution, arguing restrictions on the trade of the blue shark would be a blow to the livelihoods of its fishermen.

CITES also voted to restrict the trade of guitarfish rays and several other freshwater ray species.

2) See-through glass frogs

The skin of these nocturnal amphibians can be lime green or so translucent their organs are visible through their skin.

This has made them sought-after pets, and intense trafficking has placed the species in critical danger.

CITES also placed more than 160 species of glass frog, found in several rainforests in Central and South America, on its Appendix II, which places trade restrictions on threatened species.

The European Union and Canada withdrew early reservations about the resolution, which was adopted unanimously.

3) Weird and wonderful turtles

CITES approved varying levels of protection for around 20 turtle species from America and Asia.

These include the striking matamata turtles, with their prehistoric, beetle-like appearance, which have also become sought-after pets and are hunted for their meat and eggs.

They live in the Amazon and Orinoco basins, but scientists do not know how many there are.

Freshwater turtles are among the most-trafficked species in the world.

The unusual-looking North American Alligator Snapping Turtle was also granted trade protection.

4) Crocodile bans lifted

Brazil and the Philippines now will be able to export farm-raised crocodiles, after a total trade ban was lifted.

Sharks were the star of the CITES summit Panama, which approved the protection of more than 50 species – Copyright AFP/File Chris DELMAS

Delegates also allowed the export of skin and meat of the broad-snouted caiman — found in the wild in the Brazilian Amazon and Pantanal as well as wetlands, rivers, and lakes of neighboring countries.

“The population of these animals is very big. There has been a great reproductive success,” said researcher Miryam Venegas-Anaya, a crocodile expert with the University of Panama.

In the Philippines, a trade restriction was lifted on the saltwater crocodile that lives mainly on the islands of Mindanao and Palawan.

However, Thailand’s efforts to lift a ban on its Siamese crocodile was rejected.

5) Ivory ban stays, no luck for hippos

Zimbabwe and its southern African neighbors have seen their elephant populations soar in recent years, and pushed a drive to re-open the ivory trade which has been banned since 1989.

One-off sales were allowed in 1999 and 2008 despite fierce opposition.

However, in the rest of the continent poaching for ivory is still decimating elephant populations and the request was rejected.

Delegates also rejected a request by Botswana, Namibia and Eswatini (formerly Swaziland), to allow the sale of southern white rhino horn.

Meanwhile, after a fierce debate, a request by ten west African nations to ban the trade in hippopotamus, was rejected by delegates.

Illegal trade in the surly semi-aquatic mammal — for its meat, ivory tusks, teeth, and skull — rose after elephant ivory was banned.

Thousands of Argentines pay tribute to late Mothers of Plaza de Mayo co-founder

By AFP
November 25, 2022

A woman touches a picture of the late Hebe de Bonafini during a ceremony at the Plaza de Mayo in Buenos Aires on November 24, 2022 

- Copyright AFP Luis ROBAYO

Thousands of Argentines on Thursday paid tribute to Hebe de Bonafini, who helped found human rights group the Mothers of Plaza de Mayo, as her ashes were scattered in Buenos Aires in the public square where she led demonstrations for decades.

Bonafini, who died Sunday at age 93, helped found the women-led movement in 1977 in defiance of the country’s former military dictatorship, demanding the truth about their missing children.

Some 30,000 people were abducted and presumed killed by the regime or right-wing death squads in the 1970s and 1980s for being suspected leftists.

Alongside the disappearances were the widespread kidnappings of babies born to suspected dissidents held under the right-wing dictatorship.

Bonafini last protested in the plaza on November 10 despite frail health, stating that her doctors had authorized the activity because “they know it’s good for my health — that I need the plaza in order to take care of myself.”

For 45 years, through multiple governments, the women marched around the Plaza de Mayo in their trademark white headscarves, in an often futile search for justice.

On Thursday, five of her colleagues who are among the last in the aging army, scattered her ashes in the greenery at the foot of an obelisk in the plaza, while the crowd applauded and sang: “Mothers of the plaza, the people embrace you.”

Elected officials and a substantial number of women were in the crowd, including many who lived in fear during the brutal 1976-1983 military regime.

“For me, Hebe is a heroine, because looking for the missing is something that few people dared to do,” Virginia Garcia, 42, told AFP.

The Plaza de Mayo was adorned with photos of Bonafini and messages such as “We love you Hebe, mother of the people” and “Resisting is fighting, until forever Hebe.”

Bonafini, who attended rallies in recent years in her wheelchair, was born in 1928 in Ensenada, a town 60 kilometers (37 miles) from Buenos Aires.

She was a housewife when the military seized power in 1976, ousting Isabel Peron, the wife of late president Juan Peron.

In 1977, her sons and daughter-in-law were kidnapped and disappeared.

A few months later, she and a small group of women began protesting in front of the Casa Rosada, the pink presidential palace.

The mothers risked the same fate as their political activist children — torture, death or simply disappearing without a trace. Instead, the generals tried to laugh them off, mocking them as “madwomen.”

French-Lebanese architect seeks pro-climate construction transformation


By AFP
November 25, 2022

Lina Ghotmeh wants to reduce the use of concrete in building 

- Copyright AFP/File Peter PARKS

Isabel MALSANG

Lina Ghotmeh has pegged her career on sustainable construction.

The French-Lebanese architect wants to see her industry transformed by drastically reducing the use of concrete — a major CO2 contributor — using more local materials and reusing existing buildings and materials.

“We need to change our value system,” the 42-year-old told AFP last month.

The aim is to reduce the carbon footprint of the construction industry and create buildings that can better resist the impacts of climate change.

But it’s not an easy battle.

The industry accounts for almost 40 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions, according to the United Nations.

Ghotmeh, who designed the Estonian National Museum and taught at Yale University, doesn’t advocate for fewer buildings — she knows that’s an unrealistic goal in a world with a growing population.

“That would be like saying ‘stop eating,'” she said.

– ‘Don’t demolish’ –

Instead, we should “keep what already exists, don’t demolish,” but refurbish and retrofit old buildings in a sustainable way where possible.

Building a new detached house consumes 40 times more resources than renovating an existing property, and for a new apartment complex that rises to 80 times more, according to the French Agency for Ecological Transition (Ademe).

And where new constructions are needed, local materials and design should be used in a way that incorporates natural surroundings and saves energy.

Ghotmeh used more than 500,000 bricks made from local dirt for a new Hermes building in France, expected to open early next year.

The bricks also regulate the building’s temperature and reduce energy needs.

The building will produce as much energy as it consumes, by being made energy efficient and using geothermal power.

– ‘Circular thinking’ –

Architects must, early in the project process, “think in a circular way,” Ghotmeh said, choosing reusable organic or natural materials like wood, hemp, linen or stone.

This shouldn’t stymie the design process either, she insists.

“In Canada, we build wooden towers, in Japan too. It’s a material that is quite capable of being used for tall buildings,” added Ghotmeh, who will build a wooden tower in Paris in 2023.

Another key approach is to build lighter, using less material and fewer toxins.

And then there’s concrete, the main material in so many modern buildings and perhaps the most challenging to move away from.

“We must drastically reduce the use of concrete”, she said, insisting it should only be used for essential purposes, such as foundations and building in earthquake-prone areas.

Some 14 billion cubic metres of concrete are used every year, according to the Global Cement and Concrete Association.

It emits more CO2 than the aviation industry, largely because of the intense heat required to make it.

Alternatives to concrete already exist, such as stone, or making cement — a component of concrete — from calcium carbonate. There are also pushes for low-carbon cement made from iron and steel industry waste.

– Beirut inspiration –

Building more sustainably often comes with a higher price tag — it costs more to double or triple glaze windows and properly insulate a house — but the long-term payoff is lower energy costs.

For Ghotmeh, it’s an imperative investment in our future.

It was her birthplace of Beirut that inspired her to become an architect, spurring a desire to rebuild the so-called “collapsed city” ravaged by war.

In 2020, she completed the “Stone Garden” apartment tower in the city, built with concrete covered with a combed coating, a technique often used by local craftsmen. She used concrete in the construction because of earthquake risks.

The building was strong enough to survive the port explosion in 2020 that destroyed a large part of the city.

And the city continues to inspire her today, even when it comes to climate sustainability.

“Since there is practically only an hour of electricity per day, all the buildings have solar panels now. There is a kind of energy independence which is beginning to take place, by force,” she said.

“Does it take a catastrophe like the one in Lebanon to make this transition?”

Protest scrutiny intensifies on Iran despite win

By AFP
November 25, 2022

Iran's players sing their national anthem prior to the game against Wales

 - Copyright AFP/File Chris DELMAS

Jed Court with Stuart Williams in Paris

Iran’s football stars scored a famous victory with a last gasp World Cup win but scrutiny on the conduct of the team ahead of the decisive clash with the US will only intensify as its leaders press a crackdown on protests at home.

In a striking U-turn, the Iranian players sung their national anthem ahead of Friday’s match against Wales. Their silence when the song was played ahead of Monday’s match with England had been seen as a sign of solidarity with the protests.

Meanwhile there is no sign of a slackening of the protests or the crackdown, as Iran prepares for the already politically loaded match on Tuesday against the United States, which Iran’s clerical leadership likes to label “the great Satan”.

A prominent former international star from the last decade Voria Ghafouri was arrested in Iran on Thursday after he backed the protests and condemned the crackdown.

The protest movement that erupted 10 weeks ago after the death of Mahsa Amini who had been arrested by the morality police has created the most delicate of situations for the players who are household names in the football-mad country.

Many supporters of the movement have not forgiven the team for meeting ultra-conservative President Ebrahim Raisi before heading to Doha, with the anthem gesture ahead of the England match doing little to redeem them.

“Mullahs’ children” and “A return to factory settings” were some of the terms of abuse being used on social media against the players after they opted to sing the anthem this time.

“Dishonourable mercenaries,” tweeted Kasra Aarabi, lead Iran analyst at Tony Blair Institute in London.

There had also been speculation that the Iranian players would not celebrate the goals. But the team erupted into wild celebrations as two late goals were struck against Wales in the final minutes.

Former England player and prominent TV pundit Gary Lineker tweeted: “Given the duress Iran’s players are probably going through, that’s a spectacularly emotional victory.”

– ‘Incredibly painful’ –

Maziar Bahari, the founder of the Iran Wire news site, said the players had clearly been pressured into singing the anthem.

“The most half-hearted version of the Islamic Republic’s anthem. The players have been threatened that they had to sing the anthem or else,” he said.

It is not clear if the timing ahead of the game of the arrest of Ghafouri — who was picked up after training with his club Thursday — was intentional on the part of the authorities.

But the player, who is of Kurdish origin, has been one of the most outspoken prominent voices in Iran against the crackdown and particularly in the Kurdish-populated regions of western Iran where activists say dozens have been killed in the past week alone.

In another arrest, authorities also detained Pejman Rahbar, the editor of the widely followed varzesh3.com sports website, reports said.

The state’s response to the protests has led to questions over whether the team represents Iran or the regime that has ruled since the Islamic Revolution of 1979 that overthrew the shah.

The team is known in Persian as the “Tim Melli”, “The National Team”.

“Incredibly painful to watch this humiliation of #TeamMelli,” wrote the historian Roham Alvandi, associate professor at the London School of Economics and Political Science.

“This is how the Islamic republic denies us even the simple joy of supporting our national team on the world stage.”

– ‘Not our enemies’ –

Reports also suggested the Qatari authorities were not allowing some fans to carry alternative Iranian flags into the stadium.

An AFP photographer at the stadium on Friday witnessed security staff confiscating a flag from a fan with the protest slogan “Woman, life, freedom”.

The turbulence inside Iran has also proved testing for the team’s Portuguese coach Carlos Queiroz who has sought to argue his team should not step into politics and defend his players.

The vilification of some team members on social media even saw some suggesting the broken nose suffered by goalkeeper Alireza Beiranvand was karma for bowing to Raisi in the pre-Doha meeting.

“The players are not our enemies,” Queiroz wrote on Instagram this week.

Iran forward Mehdi Taremi denied on Thursday that his team had come under pressure from their government to sing the anthem, saying “I don’t like to talk about political issues, but we are not under any pressure.”

A video later went viral on social media showing Queiroz gently berating the BBC reporter who had asked Taremi for his views, saying “Why don’t you ask (England manager Gareth) Southgate about England and the United States that left Afghanistan?”

Iranian rapper arrested over supporting protests risks death penalty

Story by NEWS WIRES • 

The family of an Iranian rapper detained for supporting protests over Mahsa Amini's death said his life was at risk after he went on trial behind closed doors on Saturday.


Iranian rapper arrested over supporting protests risks death penalty© Yasin Akgul, AFP

Iran has intensified a crackdown on the protests sparked by the September 16 death of Amini after her arrest in Tehran for allegedly breaching the country's strict dress code for women.

Toomaj Salehi, well known on Iran's rap scene, was arrested late last month after denouncing the regime and showing support for the protests, human rights groups said.

"Dissident rapper Toomaj Salehi had the first day of his so-called 'trial' today in Tehran without a lawyer of his choice," the New York-based Center for Human Rights in Iran said on Twitter.

Related video: Activists, artists to honor protester killed in Iran
Duration 0:26
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Iranian fans protest for human rights after game against Wales

His family tweeted that his "life is at serious risk right now" as he faced charges of "enmity against God" and "corruption on earth" -- sharia-related charges that are capital crimes in the Islamic republic.

Salehi had disappeared at the end of October before appearing in a video published on November 2 by Iran's state-run media. The video claimed to show the first images of Salehi after his arrest. It depicted a tattooed man in a sleeveless black T-shirt sitting on the ground, wearing a blindfold and looking bloodied and bruised.

The man says: "I am Toomaj Salehi. I said I made a mistake. I said... that you should run. I didn't mean you."

Activists condemned the recording as a forced confession extracted under duress. Salehi is one of a number of prominent figures to be arrested in a mass crackdown that has seen dozens of journalists, lawyers, civil society and cultural figures arrested.

His detention came shortly after he gave an interview highly critical of the regime to the Canadian Broadcasting Cooperation. "You are dealing with a mafia that is ready to kill the entire nation... in order to keep its power, money and weapons," Salehi said in the interview.

Iranian state media claim Salehi was arrested while trying to cross one of the country's western borders, but his family have denied this saying he was in the southwestern province of Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari at the time.

(AFP)

Carrefour still sells beef tied to Brazil deforestation: NGO


By AFP
November 25, 2022


So far this year almost 9,500 square kilometres (2.3 million acres) of Amazon rainforest have been destroyed, compared to 9,200 square kilometres im 2021

 - Copyright AFP INDRANIL MUKHERJEE

French retail giant Carrefour is still selling Brazilian beef products linked to destruction of the Amazon rainforest despite committing to end such sales, the US activist group Mighty Earth said Friday.

Carrefour suspended beef supplies from two slaughterhouses owned by the JBS company that were linked to deforestation in the Amazon after the NGO called on the supermarket chain to clean up its supply chains in September.

It said JBS would no longer supply its stores in Brazil.

Mighty Earth sought to verify this by analysing 310 products sold in the chain’s 10 stores in seven Brazilian cities in October.

“The results are implacable, Carrefour has not applied this suspension in all of its stores. Mighty Earth identified 12 products sold that came from the two slaughterhouses in four of the group’s shops”, including the Atacadao brand, the group said in a statement.

Carrefour acknowledged there had been a “failure in the suspension instructions”, in particular those relating to two stores that were transferred from the Maxxi brand belonging to Brazilian retailer Grupo BIG to Atacadao. Carrefour acquired Grupo Big earlier this year.

“We regret this and we are checking whether other stores, which source their supplies directly at the local level, are affected,” a Carrefour spokeswoman said.

She added that the retail giant was “making an enormous effort to resolve the issues on a case-by-case basis”.

Carrefour renewed its vow earlier this month to make sure the beef it sells is “deforestation-free” by 2026.

Mighty Earth said that after leftist Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva won the presidential election last month, Carrefour must commit to “zero deforestation and ensure the robustness of its implementation”, especially in its supply chains.

According to Brazil’s INPE space research institute, which measures the level of Amazon deforestation, 2022 is already a record year.

So far this year almost 9,500 square kilometres (2.3 million acres) have been destroyed, compared to 9,200 square kilometres in 2021.

Major cause of Type 2 diabetes uncovered


By Dr. Tim Sandle
November 26, 2022

Medical Laboratory Scientist at bench with micropipettes. — Courtesy U.S. National Institutes of Health (Public Domain)

Oxford Research has reveals how high blood glucose reprograms the metabolism of pancreatic beta-cells in diabetes, acting as a major causal factor of Type 2 diabetes. This is significant because glucose metabolites (chemicals produced when glucose is broken down by cells), rather than glucose itself, have been discovered to be key to the progression of Type 2 diabetes.

With diabetes, the pancreatic beta-cells do not release enough of the hormone insulin, which lowers blood glucose levels. This is because a glucose metabolite damages pancreatic beta-cell function. High blood glucose levels cause an increased rate of glucose metabolism in the beta-cell which leads to a metabolic bottleneck and the pooling of upstream metabolites.

Around 90 percent of global cases of diabetes are Type 2 diabetes (T2D). T2D normally presents in later adult life, and by the time of diagnosis, as much as 50 percent of beta cell function has been lost. In T2D, the beta-cells have a reduced insulin content and the coupling between glucose and insulin release is impaired.

Scientists have previously established that chronically elevated blood sugar (hyperglycaemia) leads to a progressive decline in beta-cell function. Hyperglycaemia sets off a vicious spiral in which an increase in blood glucose leads to beta-cell damage and less insulin secretion – which causes an even greater increase in blood glucose and a further decline in beta-cell function. However, as to what exactly causes beta-cell failure in T2D has remained unclear.

The new study reveals how chronic hyperglycaemia causes beta-cell failure. This was demonstrated using both an animal model of diabetes and beta-cells cultured at high glucose. Both experiments showed that glucose metabolism, rather than glucose itself, is the factor that drives the failure of beta-cells to release insulin in T2D.

The significance of the research in terms of medical understanding is that by reducing the rate at which glucose is metabolised, and the rate at which these glucose metabolites build up, can prevent the effects of hyperglycaemia. This suggests a potential way in which the decline in beta-cell function in T2D might be slowed or prevented.

The researchers found that blocking an enzyme called glucokinase, which regulates the first step in glucose metabolism, holds the potential to prevent the gene changes taking place and maintain glucose-stimulated insulin secretion even in the presence of chronic hyperglycaemia. This is potentially a useful way to try to prevent beta-cell decline in diabetes.

The research appears in the journal Nature Communications, titled “Altered glycolysis triggers impaired mitochondrial metabolism and mTORC1 activation in diabetic β-cells”.

Union ‘sceptical’ of reforms to scandal-hit London fire service


By AFP
Published November 26, 2022

The London Fire Brigade has promised a 'zero tolerance approach to discrimination' after a damning review - Copyright AFP/File Eduardo Leal

The union representing UK firefighters said Saturday it was “sceptical” London Fire Brigade (LFB) leaders would implement reforms after an independent review concluded the service was institutionally misogynistic and racist.

The LFB has promised a “zero tolerance approach to discrimination, harassment and bullying” and accepted around two dozen recommendations from the damning review led by former senior prosecutor Nazir Afzal.

He discovered dozens of examples of racism, bullying and misogyny, including a female firefighter’s helmet being filled with urine and a black employee finding a noose above his locker.

In its response the Fire Brigades Union, the trade union for firefighters and other staff, noted it had “raised concerns about many of the issues contained within this report historically”.

Gareth Cook, its regional organiser for London, said the union was “committed to working to address these serious concerns” but that “we remain sceptical about the changes senior leaders will implement with regards to their own behaviours”.

“We aim to improve the working conditions of our members and protect them from discrimination and unfair or illegal treatment by representing them in the workplace,” he said.

London Fire Commissioner Andy Roe apologised late Friday “for the harm that has been caused” after the report’s contents were leaked by The Sunday Times.

The service’s response includes launching an external complaints system, and piloting the use of bodycams for when staff meet the public on home fire safety visits.

London Mayor Sadiq Khan called the review “a watershed moment” and the findings “abhorrent”.

He demanded “significant and necessary changes to root out all those found to be responsible for sexism, racism, misogyny, homophobia, bullying or harassment — and to support members of staff to speak out”.

The report has echoes of the 1999 Macpherson inquiry into London’s Metropolitan Police, following the racist murder of teenager Stephen Lawrence.

That report condemned the force for “institutional racism”.

A quarter century on, the Met is still grappling with problems of racial and gender biases, amid a recent slew of allegations of sexual misconduct and discrimination.

Op-Ed: ‘Loab’ – AI-scripted ugliness and threats of ‘reality collapse’


ByPaul Wallis
Published November 26, 2022

Attendees take pictures and interact with the Engineered Arts Ameca humanoid robot with artificial intelligence as it is demonstrated during the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) on January 5, 2022 in Las Vegas, Nevada. — © AFP

This is getting way too familiar. Loab is an AI “entity” with ugly biometric images and a dystopian side built in. So is the spiel that goes with Loab. Artificial intelligence could steal humanity’s mediocrity from it. All that banality wasted in a sea of self-generated realities.

I’m not going to regurgitate this tiresome scenario. Loab is another AI bogeyman thing dressed up as though it’s something new. Just be aware the bombardment of hideous imagery might interfere with your usual daily diet of hideous imagery.

Seems nothing’s too revolting to be posted online somewhere. Humanity doesn’t have enough disgusting things to look at, obviously. So artificially-generated garbage is required.

As pseudo-psychology goes, this is infantile. If you look at the biometric areas of the images generated and compare it to ancient face masks, you’ll see a lot of similarities with things thousands of years old.

This AI-generated horror was persistent. The face of Loab kept coming back, and it took a while to “dilute” the images of Loab. The name Loab was created by garbled text in an image.

Facial recognition is of course an auto-reflex for humans, so it’s no-brainer psych at best. The color backgrounds are also standard urban drab, so the scenes would look semi-familiar to anyone who’s ever been in a car park. Overall the look is quite similar to Heavy Metal Magazine art in the 1980s. It was brilliant then; now it looks like a yard sale of old comics.

The voice generator is supposedly advanced. It’s not. I heard a lot of similar stuff 20 years ago, and if the mix is anything to go by, Loab’s “voice” is inferior in quality.

“Loab can speak!”

“Oh, praise the press release!”

Loab is scripted heavily. I’m strongly reminded of the “sentient” AI issue Google had recently, another dribbling exercise in getting selective answers to prove your own point.

“Reality collapse”

This is an interesting idea or would be if it wasn’t qualified so much. The basic idea is that people will avoid a shared reality for a single, selfish reality. Oh, really?

Humans are not good at sharing realities with other people. They’re spectacularly bad at it. The more common result is conflict. In practice, you manipulate reality anyway, from your choice of society to your choice of décor. You create your own space and you are your own space, in fact.

Reality collapse in relation to fake images and environments, etc. is long since a thing of the past. The Metaverse is one of those subsequent evolutions. Nice to know someone’s paying attention, or in this case, not paying attention

.

The software draws on an artificial intelligence dialogue system dubbed ‘Buddhabot’

 – Copyright AFP Behrouz MEHRI

It’s a matter of opinion whether human beings are on speaking terms with reality. I don’t see why reality would bother.

Setting the bar for AI way too low

At about the point where the AI is asked whether humans shouldn’t be worried that “AI tools exceed our understanding”, all bets are off. Even the pronouns are in the wrong places. The AI refers to humans in context as “we” multiple times, for example. A super-intellect with syntax problems? Can’t tell “I” from “you”? Some threat.

Sure it exceeds our understanding, like toast, power bills and hamburgers. For example – A common factor in imagery has to be generated by common code and common parameters. Similarly, if you turn on a light switch, the light might go on. It’s almost that incomprehensible.

Almost exceeding our understanding much like asking an AI so many loaded questions, for another example.

Let’s be a little brutal:This entire exercise drags AI down to human experience level.
AI is unqualified to identify with human experience on any level.
Therefore AI is a threat to humanity.

Now – Where were you, damn spectators, for the last decade or so? The world and the tech have long since gone past this prehistoric stuff. What is the point of this exercise? Why are we wasting the time of useful tech on useless innuendo?

Liquid non-imagination

The expression “liquid imagination” is rather pointlessly grafted onto the Loab story. Somehow, the “low levels of public trust in information” (generated deliberately by sources of information) may become even less, as a result of the understanding of AI tech to reject all information as “unverifiable”.

A bit late there, mate. The public, quite rightly, doesn’t trust information even if it is verifiable, because the information sources are so sleazy. A lot of people also know how to verify information. It’s not that hard.

It’s a very inelegant argument if you can call it that. After citing a lot of high-stress imagery which is piled onto human consciousness every day deliberately, it’s AI that’s the future problem? Seems superfluous, to put it mildly.

The sheer amount of unnecessary stress inflicted by global media is barely describable. These disgusting images are everywhere. So is the disgusting news, and the not-very-coincidental news that nobody does a damn thing about anything.

…And AI is the issue? A word of advice to these useless purveyors of truly ancient science fiction ideas and pseudo-psychologists:

AI can replace you guys, too. All it needs is a script, you know.

RUGBY
Kenya Sevens appeal for donors to cover unpaid salaries

Sun, November 27, 2022 


Kenya's Rugby Sevens launched a public appeal for donations on Sunday, claiming the team has not been paid in months and players badly needed money ahead of several international matches.

A number of Shujaa stars shared the fundraiser on social media and described a "desperate situation" in which players were eating into their savings to cover daily costs.

"As some of you may have heard we are now going on our third month without pay," the Shujaa's centre Willy Ambaka posted on Twitter.

"Our lives and those of our loved ones have been greatly strained, even in our persistent effort to give you the desired outcomes on the pitch."

The appeal comes as Kenya prepares for the Dubai Sevens series on December 2-3 and the Cape Town fixture on December 9-11.

"We are struggling but we have to represent you people at the Dubai and Capetown Legs," Billy Odhiambo posted on Twitter.

Kenya head coach Damian McGrath spoke of his team's financial woes in October ahead of their departure for the Hong Kong Sevens where they lost every match.

The team were "fighting to find a field we can train in" and lacked a proper gym let alone the support and amenities enjoyed by their global competitors.

"I knew life wasn't going to be straightforward here in Kenya but I had no idea that these last couple of months would be so difficult," said the Englishman who signed a two-year contract with Kenya in May.

"They're so proud to represent the country, they push themselves hard, and yet they can't always get to train because they don't have the money to get here."

Nairobi senator Edwin Sifuna pledged 100,000 Kenyan shillings ($820) to the Shujaa and assured help was on the way with the issue being raised in parliament last week.

"We are proud of the work you are doing despite the difficulties," he said on Twitter on Sunday.

Kenya Sevens have struggled to attract sponsorship and it is not the first time the side have been strapped for cash.

The team publicly protested against unpaid salaries in 2018 during the World Rugby Sevens Series in Paris, prompting the government to withdraw its sponsorship deal for the team.

np/ea/pi

U.S. avian flu outbreak this year was the worst in history


ByKaren Graham
PublishedNovember 26, 2022


A scientist harvests H7N9 virus growing in bird eggs. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention received samples of the virus from China.

 — James Gathany/CDC/Douglas E. Jordan / (CC0 1.0)

Avian flu wiped out 50.54 million birds in the United States this year, making it the country’s deadliest outbreak in history, U.S. Department of Agriculture data showed on Thursday.

The deaths of chickens, turkeys, and other birds represent the worst U.S. animal-health disaster to date, topping the previous record of 50.5 million birds that died in an avian-flu outbreak in 2015.

The U.S. outbreak began in February and impacted poultry and non-poultry birds across 46 states. As of November 15, the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) has confirmed avian flu in 264 commercial flocks and 356 backyard flocks.

Turkey farms accounted for more than 70 percent of the commercial poultry farms infected in the outbreak, the USDA said.

Birds often die after becoming infected. Entire flocks, which can top a million birds at egg-laying chicken farms, are also culled to control the spread of the disease after a bird tests positive.

Losses of poultry flocks sent prices for eggs and turkey meat to record highs, worsening economic pain for consumers facing red-hot inflation and making Thursday’s Thanksgiving celebrations more expensive in the United States, reports NBC News.

Europe and Britain are also suffering their worst avian-flu crises, and some British supermarkets rationed customers’ egg purchases after the outbreak disrupted supplies.

“Wild birds continue to spread highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) throughout the country as they migrate, so preventing contact between domestic flocks and wild birds is critical to protecting U.S. poultry,” said Rosemary Sifford, the USDA’s chief veterinary officer.

Farmers struggled to keep the disease and wild birds out of their barns after increasing security and cleaning measures following the 2015 outbreak. In 2015, about 30 percent of the cases were traced directly to wild bird origins, compared to 85 percent this year, the USDA told Reuters.