Jordan's lorry and public transport drivers end week-long strike over fuel prices

Agreement reach on increased subsidies in return for not increasing fares, regulator says


Lorries wait at the Nassib-Jaber border post in Jordan. AFP

Ismaeel Naar
Dec 12, 2022

Lorry and blic transport drivers in Jordan have reached an agreement to end a week-long strike over low wages and an increase in fuel prices.

The Bus Owners' Association and Transport Services and Taxi Owners' Union agreed to end the strike as of Monday morning after an increase cash subsidies for the passenger transport sector was agreed in return for not raising fares, the Land Transport Regulatory Commission said.

The increase in cash support will last for three months and will be reviewed and renewed periodically.

READ MORE

Rising fuel prices drive up demand for electric cars in Jordan

The lorry driver strike in Jordan expanded over the past few days to include various means of transport.

The LTRC says Jordan has 21,000 lorries, including those transporting cargo and containers.

Spokeswoman Abla Washah told the Anadolu Agency last week that demands from the striking lorry drivers “included a reduction in fuel prices”.

“We are trying to reach understandings to preserve and perpetuate this sector,” Ms Washah said.

The nationwide strike last week resulted in an almost complete suspension of inland operations at Aqaba port, local reports said, while all export operations were suspended.

Lorry drivers initially went on strike and were joined by around 200 rideshare app and yellow cab drivers, who blocked the Abdoun Corridor in Amman on Wednesday.
Updated: December 12, 2022, 5:46 a.m.

Experts warn of World Cup 'camel flu' - which kills up to a THIRD of everyone it strikes

Story by Stewart Carr For Mailonline • Yesterday

Football fans returning from Qatar are being advised to watch out for the signs of camel flu - a potentially lethal respiratory illness - symptoms of which include a fever, coughing and vomiting.

Middle Eastern respiratory syndrome (Mers) can be contracted through close contact with camels, according to the UK Health Security Agency.

The body has warned UK clinicians to 'be alert' to the prospect of returning World Cup fans showing signs of illness, The Times reports.

A briefing note states: 'The risk of infections to UK residents is very low but may be higher in those with exposure to specific risk factors within the region - such as to camels.


Camels are thought to be the natural host of the virus, which is from the same family as the virus behind the Covid pandemic© Provided by Daily Mail


MERS SYMPTOMS: Its symptoms include a fever, cough, breathing difficulties, diarrhoea and vomiting© Provided by Daily Mail

'Mers can be acquired from close contact with camels or from consuming camels products eg, unpasteurised camel milk.'

Other risks include close contact with an infected person. Many excited fans are reported to have enjoyed camel rides in Qatar while following England's journey in the World Cup.


Five instances of Mers have been reported in the UK to date, with the last known occurrence in August 2018.


Routine guidance was issued by the UK Health Security Agency last month, with no new cases yet reported.

The disease was first recognised in 2012 and since then, there have been 2,600 cases worldwide - mostly in the Arab peninsula, The World Health Organisation reports.

Over a third of infected patients are reported to have died. Two cases have been recorded in Qatar.

Symptoms if the disease include fever, coughing and vomiting.

Anyone coming back to Britain with tell-tale MERS symptoms, which are like that of a cold or flu, are told to seek medical advice and share their travel history, so infection control and testing can be done.

Similar measures sparked an Ebola scare in the UK last month, after a person in the UK who had been in Uganda — where the virus is roaming — developed cold-like symptoms.

There is no specific treatment for the illness, so doctors work to ease a patient's symptoms. Around 35 per cent of those who get MERS die as a result.

What is 'camel flu'?


Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS), also known as camel flu, is a rare but severe respiratory illness.

People can catch MERS from infected animals — though doctors say camels in the Middle East are the main source of the virus. The virus was first detected region in 2012.

It can also be transmitted through an infected person's cough droplets — but this is rare.

There have been five cases of MERS in the UK since 2012, with the most recent occurring in August 2018.

Its symptoms include a fever, cough, breathing difficulties, diarrhoea and vomiting.

There is no specific treatment for the illness, so doctors work to ease a patient's symptoms.

Around 35 per cent of those who get MERS die as a result.

 UK doctors warned over deadly 'camel flu' as FIFA fans return: Report

World News

Published on Dec 12, 2022

Camel Flu In England: The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) 

prompted doctors to  look out for people suffering 

from breathing difficulties and a fever.

Camel Flu In England: Camel owners wait for customers on the dunes at the Sealine Beach Resort in Doha.(AFP)

ByMallika Soni

Medical staff across England have been put on alert for signs of the deadly camel flu as FIFA World Cup fans returned from Qatar, a report said. Cases of the camel flu could now rise due to the huge numbers of fans who flocked to Qatar for the tournament and who may have been exposed to camels, The Mirror reported.

The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) prompted doctors to look out for people suffering from breathing difficulties and a fever. The illness is deadlier than Covid-19, with over a third of its sufferers dying, compared to less than 4 per cent of Covid sufferers, the report said.

The Sun reported a briefing note sent out by UK's health agency stating, "Clinicians and public health teams should specifically be alert to the possibility of MERS in returning travellers from the World Cup. The risk of infection to UK residents is very low but may be higher in those with exposure to specific risk factors within the region - such as to camels. MERS can be acquired from close contact with camels or from consuming camel products e.g., unpasteurised camel milk.”

The briefing also warned of "person-to-person transmission", the report said.

In Qatar this year, there have already been two cases reported, both of which had been exposed to camels, it said.

Between April 2012 and October 2022, there have been 2,600 cases in 12 countries. Of those cases, 935 people died - 36 per cent, Mirror reported.

Before the World Cup tournament started, fans had been warned to stay away from the animals for fear of catching the disease, the report added.

THERE WAS THE ANNUAL CAMEL BEAUTY PAGENT IN QATAR THIS YEAR HELD DURING THE WORLD CUP.

 

https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2022/11/not-just-fifa-world-cup-qatar-is-also.html

MERS OUTBREAK A COINCIDENCE, I THINK NOT

MEET THE NEW BOSS, SAME AS THE OLD BOSS

Biden Cements Trump-Era Steel, Aluminum Tariffs in WTO Snub



Joe Deaux
Sat, December 10, 2022 

(Bloomberg) -- If there were any hope President Joe Biden would undo his predecessor’s divisive trade tariffs that caused upheaval in the global steel and aluminum markets, it all but evaporated Friday.

The US Trade Representative issued a strong rebuke of the World Trade Organization’s decision that former President Donald Trump’s 25% tariffs on steel imports and 10% duty on aluminum violates international rules. It’s the strongest statement yet from the White House that Biden has no intention to remove the duties, which would potentially alienate one of his most important bases of support: steelworkers.

“The Biden Administration is committed to preserving U.S. national security by ensuring the long-term viability of our steel and aluminum industries, and we do not intend to remove the Section 232 duties as a result of these disputes”, Adam Hodge, a spokesman for the US Trade Representative, said in a statement.

There was much discussion in the leadup to the 2020 election and the early days of Biden’s presidency whether he would roll back the tariffs, which manufacturers from Caterpillar Inc. to Whirlpool Corp. to Harley Davidson Inc. had long complained were hurting US companies. The president instead chose to make some soft concessions to key allies, such as the European Union, while keeping the Section 232 tariffs, which the US sees as vital for national security, in place for most others.

Two industry insiders familiar with the matter said the USTR’s stance on the ruling gives them certainty the president won’t roll back the Section 232 tariffs. The metals industry already was taking a victory lap with US Steel Corp. commending Biden for defending the industry and the United Steelworkers calling the WTO’s decision “just plain wrong.”

The US rebuke still leaves the door open for the president to tinker with the duties but not in a way that will fundamentally change the landscape. The administration’s defense of the tariffs comes as it studies ways to use similar, untested measures to isolate China and boost its climate credibility.

“Legally, they’re correct. The WTO cannot declare that a US law is invalid. All they can do is impose sanctions for not changing it,” said Lewis Leibowitz, a trade lawyer who has long represented companies that opposed the tariffs. “But I think they were a mistake and they’re creating disincentives for manufacturing and eventually it’s going to hurt the sector.”   

With U.S. shale oil boom over, can world production climb?

By Kurt Cobb, originally published by Resource Insights

December 11, 2022


Prior to the pandemic-induced downturn in world oil production, U.S. oil production growth was responsible for 98 percent of the increase in world production in 2018 (as reported in 2019). Almost all of that growth resulted from rapid increases in shale oil production which accounted for 64 percent of U.S. production (as of 2021).

Fast forward to today when OilPrice.com has declared that “The U.S. Shale Boom Is Officially Over.” The reasons cited mostly have to do with management “discipline” regarding capital expenditure in favor of shareholder payouts and complaints about “anti-oil rhetoric” and “regulatory uncertainty.”

But there might just be another reason for the slowdown in shale oil production in the United States: There isn’t as much accessible and economical shale oil underground as advertised. Earth scientist David Hughes laid out his case for this view in his “Shale Reality Check 2021.” (For a summary of Hughes’ report, see my piece from December 2021 entitled, “U.S. shale oil and gas forecast: Too good to be true?”)

There may be other sources of oil worldwide that will somehow make up for the significantly lower growth in U.S. shale oil production. But no other source seems set to provide the kind of growth U.S. shale oil provided, that is, 73.2 percent of the global increase in oil production from 2008 through 2018.

The world has actually been getting along with less oil for some time now. World oil production proper (crude oil including lease condensate) peaked on a monthly basis in November 2018 at 84.58 million barrels per day (mbpd). In August 2022 production was 81.44 mbpd. That’s after a pandemic-induced shock that saw production fall to 70.28 mbpd in June 2020.

Neither the U.S. shale oil companies nor OPEC seem ready to increase production significantly (assuming that they can). Russia, among the world’s top three producers, is under heavy sanction and may not be able to produce more oil for export anytime soon. (Again, it is not certain that Russia can significantly increase production. Except for the pandemic-induced drop Russia has long been on a production plateau of between 10 and 11 mbpd.)

No doubt some new oil savior will be announced soon whether credible or not. In the meantime, the world economy will be faced with limited oil supplies that do not simply grow to meet our fantasies of what we want. The result will be high prices, that is, higher than has been historically the case. A recession won’t change this dynamic and, in fact, may reinforce it as oil companies are likely to reduce drilling activity when demand for oil slumps. That will make it doubly difficult for those companies to supply growing demand coming out of the next recession.

This is the way things might very well be for a long time if not indefinitely. Many of us who foresaw this day said that we would only see peak world oil production in the rearview mirror. It may take a few more years to determine if November 2018 marked the all-time peak.

Photo: Oil shale mine in Estonia (2019). “Geological fieldworks, underground in the Estonian oilshale mine to study the variable mineralogical and chemical compostion and microsturcture in the different layers of the oil shale profile” by Peeter paaver. via Wikimedia Commons

 https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Oilshale_mine_01.jpg

Teenage leukemia patient in remission after world-first treatment in the UK
CGTN

Great Ormond Street Hospital said 13-year-old Alyssa was the first patient known to have been given base-edited T cells. /Great Ormond Street Hospital

Doctors in the UK have hailed a pioneering treatment for an aggressive form of leukemia, after a teenager became the first patient to be given a new therapy and went into remission.

The 13-year-old girl, Alyssa, was diagnosed with T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia in 2021.

But her blood cancer did not respond to conventional treatment, including chemotherapy and a bone marrow transplant.

She was enrolled on a clinical trial of a new treatment at London's Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children (GOSH) using genetically engineered immune cells from a healthy volunteer.

In 28 days, her cancer was in remission, allowing her to receive a second bone marrow transplant to restore her immune system.

Six months on, she is "doing well" back home in Leicester, central England, and receiving follow-up care.

'Quite remarkable' turnaround

"Without this experimental treatment, Alyssa's only option was palliative care," the hospital said in a statement.

Robert Chiesa, a GOSH consultant, said her turnaround had been "quite remarkable", although the results still needed to be monitored and confirmed in the next few months.

Acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) is the most common kind of cancer in children and affects cells in the immune system, known as B cells and T cells, which fight and protect against viruses.

GOSH said Alyssa was the first patient known to have been given base-edited T cells, which involves chemically converting single nucleotide bases - letters of the DNA code - which carry instructions for a specific protein.

Researchers at GOSH and University College London helped develop the use of genome-edited T cells to treat B-cell leukemia in 2015.

But to treat some other types of leukemia the team had to overcome the challenge that the T cells, designed to recognize and attack cancerous cells, had ended up killing each other during the manufacturing process.

'Most sophisticated cell engineering'

Multiple additional DNA changes were needed to the base-edited cells to allow them to target cancerous cells without damaging each other.

"This is a great demonstration of how, with expert teams and infrastructure, we can link cutting edge technologies in the lab with real results in the hospital for patients," said GOSH's consultant in Paediatric Immunology Waseem Qasim.

"It's our most sophisticated cell engineering so far and paves the way for other new treatments and ultimately better futures for sick children."

Alyssa said in the statement she was spurred to take part in the trial not just for herself but for other children.

"Hopefully this can prove the research works and they can offer it to more children," the teenager's mother added.

The researchers were presenting their findings this weekend at the annual meeting of the American Society of Hematology.

Source(s): AFP

Girl leukaemia-free after world-first use of cell engineering therapy

Teenager from Leicester is first to benefit from new treatment at London's Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children

Alyssa during her treatment at Great Ormond Street Hospital. PA.

Neil Murphy

Dec 11, 2022

Beta V.1.0 - Powered by automated translation

A 13-year-old girl is free of leukaemia after the world's first use of what scientists have described as the most sophisticated cell engineering to date.

The teenager, called Alyssa, said she felt that volunteering for the experimental new treatment for the disease would help others. “Of course I’m going to do it,” she said.

Scientists said that without the treatment, which came after chemotherapy and an initial bone marrow transplant failed to clear her cancer, her only alternative would have been palliative care.

READ MORE

British doctor sets up national colon cancer screening programme in Mauritius

Speaking about the therapy, Alyssa said: “Once I do it, people will know what they need to do, one way or another, so doing this will help people.”

The teenager, from Leicester, received base-edited T-cells in the first ever use of a base-edited cell therapy at Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children.

Pre-manufactured cells from a healthy volunteer donor were edited to enable them to hunt down and kill cancerous T-cells without attacking each other.

T-cells are white blood cells that move around the body, finding and destroying defective cells.

Alyssa, who was diagnosed with T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukaemia, or T-All, in 2021, was given all the conventional treatments including chemotherapy and a bone-marrow transplant, but the disease returned.

She then became the first patient enrolled on to a new clinical trial, funded by the Medical Research Council, during which she was given universal Chimeric Antigen Receptor T-cells that had been pre-manufactured from a healthy volunteer donor in May this year.

The researchers described base-editing as chemically converting letters of the DNA code that carry instructions for a specific protein.

The edited Car T-cells can be given to a patient so that they quickly find and destroy T-cells in the body, including cancerous ones, after which the person can have a bone-marrow transplant to restore their depleted immune system.

Twenty-eight days after being given the treatment, Alyssa was in remission, researchers said, and was able to have a second bone marrow transplant.

Alyssa, 13, is free of leukaemia after the pioneering treatment. PA

She is said to be “doing well at home” as she recovers and continues with follow-up monitoring at the hospital.

It is hoped the research, due to be presented for the first time at the American Society of Haematology annual meeting in New Orleans in the US, could lead to new treatments and “ultimately better futures for sick children”.

Scientists aim to recruit up to 10 patients who have T-cell leukaemia and have exhausted all conventional options for the clinical trial into the new treatment.

Medics at Great Ormond Street hope that if it is successful it can be offered to children earlier in their treatment when they are less sick and that it can be used for other types of leukaemia in future.

Potential patients for trials will be referred by NHS specialists.

Prof Waseem Qasim, consultant immunologist at Great Ormond Street, said: “This is a great demonstration of how, with expert teams and infrastructure, we can link cutting-edge technologies in the lab with real results in the hospital for patients. It’s our most sophisticated cell engineering so far and paves the way for other new treatments and ultimately better futures for sick children.

“We have a unique and special environment here that allows us to rapidly scale up new technologies and we’re looking forward to continuing our research and bringing it to the patients who need it most.”

Alyssa’s mother Kiona said the family were “on a strange cloud nine” and that it was “amazing to be home”.

She said: “Hopefully this can prove the research works and they can offer it to more children — all of this needs to have been for something.”

Dr Robert Chiesa, consultant in bone marrow transplant and Car T-cell therapy at the hospital, said: “Since Alyssa got sick with her leukaemia in May last year, she never achieved a complete remission — not with chemotherapy and not after her first bone marrow transplant. Only after she received her CD7 Car-T cell therapy and a second bone marrow transplant has she become leukaemia-free.”

He described the outcome as “quite remarkable” but cautioned that it must be monitored and confirmed over the next few months.

When ‘Spreading the Word’ About Chinese Protests Is Dangerous | NO FACES, PLEASE


VICE News
An entire generation of Chinese people have gone into the streets for the first time; but the world looks very different from how it did during 1989 at Tiananmen Square. Surveillance has made protesting risky - but it’s not just China that is dealing with this problem. …

HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSES

In UK, migrants receive criminal-like treatment with constant surveillance using hi-tech ankle tags

Rights groups call the move dehumanising and an invasion of people’s privacy.

Lin Taylor, Thomson Reuters Foundation
Yesterday ·

Ben Stansall/AFP

After two years being held in a British immigration detention centre, Mimi was so desperate to be released that she agreed to wear an electronic ankle tag. But her sense of freedom was short-lived.

Two months later, she said she attempted suicide because of the stress of being monitored while wearing the tag.

“I couldn’t do anything because I didn’t want to have this tag showing. It was horrific,” said Mimi, asked to be identified by a pseudonym as she awaits a decision on her asylum claim almost a decade later.

“I was already beyond stressed; this was just throwing me over the edge. One day, it all became way too much for me.”

Mimi, who is in her 40s, said she believes her parents came to Britain from the Caribbean after World War Two but she has been unable to prove her nationality and is officially stateless.

“I know nothing about my background. I was abandoned in sexual exploitation and modern slavery from a very young age,” she told Context in a video interview.

Britain has ramped up its use of electronic tags on people detained over their immigration status as it seeks to fulfil a long-standing pledge to cut immigration, one of the drivers behind the country’s 2016 vote to leave the European Union.

Migration hit a record high of 5,04,000 this year, with a surge in international students and arrivals from Ukraine, Afghanistan and Hong Kong. This figure does not include those arriving irregularly on small boats across the English Channel.

“People find it incredibly degrading and stigmatising,” said Rudy Schulkind, research and policy manager at Bail for Immigration Detainees, which provides free legal representation to people held in detention across Britain.

“Having to walk down the street and have people notice that they’re wearing a tag, seeing them as a dangerous or violent person, (it’s an) incredibly painful thing to go through.”
Dehumanising

As the numbers of people fleeing war, poverty, climate disasters and other events reach record levels worldwide, states are turning to digital technologies including ankle tags and biometric data to toughen borders and monitor migrants.

Amid an increase in anti-immigration rhetoric in Britain, it became mandatory in 2016 to tag all foreign nationals facing deportation – a move that rights groups say is dehumanising and infringes on people’s privacy.

Electronic tags have traditionally been fitted on individuals involved in the criminal justice system so that the police and courts can monitor their location and compliance with orders and to deter them from absconding.

Under the Nationality and Borders Act 2022, people who knowingly arrive in Britain without permission can face up to four years in jail – unfairly criminalising migrants seeking asylum as refugees, rights campaigners say.

“Our government has for the last couple of years just repeated that refugees are illegal immigrants, that they arrive illegally, that they will be treated as criminals,” said Clare Moseley, founder of migrant charity Care4Calais.

“Many of these people are innocent victims of wars and persecution.”
Monitored with tags

In August 2021, the prison service extended the use of global positioning system monitoring to people on immigration bail, which means they have been freed from detention while their application to remain in Britain is assessed.

As a result, the number of migrants being tagged on immigration bail almost doubled between January and September to over 2,100 people – or 16% of all individuals being monitored with tags, the latest government data shows.

“We’re seeing an increased watching of migrant communities,” said Zehrah Hasan, advocacy director at the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants, which campaigns for reform of the immigration system.

“We’re seeing this expansive system that limits people’s freedoms and their right to dignity and respect by either incarcerating them and monitoring them within the detention estate, or monitoring them in their communities.”

Hasan previously worked as an immigration and asylum barrister and said some of her clients felt they had no choice but to be tagged.

“It’s an oppressive kind of system where people are subject to that as a price for their freedom – but it’s not full freedom, really, if they’re still being monitored,” she said.

“People are almost compelled to accept these very stringent and intrusive conditions because of the horrors of immigration detention,” she said, referring to the prison-like centres that nearly 25,000 people pass through each year.

Last year, the Home Office switched from using radio frequency tags, that log when a person is at home, to global positioning system devices which track the wearer’s location constantly.

Adding to their repertoire of tracking systems, the Home Office in May awarded a six-million-pound ($7 million) contract to Buddi, a British tech company selling wearable devices that can record biometric data such as fingerprints.

In emailed comments, the Home Office said only foreign national offenders awaiting deportation would be monitored this way to ensure they do not abscond.

Buddi did not respond to requests for comment.

Lucie Audibert, a legal officer at digital rights group Privacy International, said these tracking devices generate “troves of data” and are a huge intrusion of privacy.

“There’s this massive expansion of surveillance that is creating troves of data. The necessity and proportionality of such an intrusive tracking measure is really the problem here.”
Small boats

With the promise that Brexit would enable Britain to take back control of its borders, the government is under pressure to deal with a surge in migrants making dangerous journeys across the English Channel from France, with dozens drowning en route.

Over 40,000 irregular migrants crossed the English Channel on small boats so far this year, government data shows.

Former Prime Minister Boris Johnson had hoped to deport those arriving illegally to Rwanda. But the first planned deportation flight in June was blocked by an injunction from the European Court of Human Rights and is now under judicial review.

In June, the Home Office launched a 12-month pilot scheme to expand electronic tagging to 600 asylum seekers who have arrived via “unnecessary and dangerous routes”, in particular “aimed at deterring arrivals by small boats”.

The Home Office said the scheme will test whether monitoring helps to improve regular contact with migrants to progress their asylum claims.

It will also track the rate of absconding and examine whether tagging helps restore contact or locate asylum seekers for deportation or detention, it said.

A freedom of information request by Brian Dikoff of the campaign group Migrants Organise found that only 3% of people who were released from detention absconded in 2019, and 1% in 2020.

“We think it’s vastly disproportionate,” said Schulkind of Bail for Immigration Detainees.

“They’ve never committed any offences, they’ve never absconded, so it doesn’t seem necessary to tag people. They’re still going to stay in touch and they’re not going to run away because that would jeopardise their asylum claim.”

This article first appeared on Context, powered by the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

Journalist Wilder Alfredo Córdoba shot and killed in southern Colombia

Colombia|Attacks

Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ)

11 December 2022



Rescuers secure a bus from falling down a ravine after an accident on the Pan-American Highway, near the city of Pasto, department of Nariño, Colombia, 15, October 2022; Córdoba had recently criticized unfinished public works projects and the poor state of local roads. LEONARDO CASTRO/AFP via Getty Images

Authorities must thoroughly investigate the killing of journalist Wilder Alfredo Córdoba. Local journalists covering corruption in Colombia’s small cities and towns too often face deadly retaliation for their reporting.

This statement was originally published on cpj.org on 30 November 2022.

Colombian authorities must thoroughly investigate the killing of journalist Wilder Alfredo Córdoba, determine if he was targeted for his work, and bring those responsible to justice, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Wednesday.

On Monday, November 28, two unidentified men on a motorcycle shot and killed Córdoba while he was on a reporting trip in the village of El Salado, in the southern Colombian department of Nariño, according to news reports.

Córdoba, director of the independent online news outlet Unión Televisión in the town of La Unión, was shot three times, according to those reports, which said that police had ruled out robbery as a motive for the attack because none of the journalist’s belongings had been taken.

“Colombian authorities must immediately open a thorough and transparent investigation into the killing of journalist Wilder Alfredo Córdoba, determine if he was targeted for his reporting, and bring those responsible to justice,” said CPJ Latin America and the Caribbean Program Coordinator Natalie Southwick, in New York. “Local journalists covering corruption in Colombia’s small cities and towns too often face deadly retaliation for their reporting, and officials must act to ensure they can continue informing their communities safely.”

Córdoba often posted news and commentary about local political corruption and crime on Unión Televisión’s Facebook page and on his personal account, and had recently criticized unfinished public works projects and the poor state of local roads, according to the Bogotá-based Foundation for Press Freedom (FLIP).

FLIP Director Jonathan Bock told CPJ via messaging app that the journalist had received several threats on social media warning that he would “get into trouble” if he continued publishing his stories. Bock said a FLIP team planned to travel to La Unión to gather more information.

On Tuesday, Unión Television posted a video showing Córdoba’s grieving colleagues gathered around his casket that had been placed inside the TV studio.

The Colombian attorney general’s office said on Twitter that a special team of prosecutors was investigating the attack. CPJ called and messaged the La Unión mayor’s office, the local police department, and Unión Televisión for comment, but did not receive any replies.

Why we should boycott the FIFA World cup

On this podcast episode of Europe Talks Back, host Alexander Damiano Ricci talks to Eliot Dickinson, Chief of staff at Bulle Media and huge football fan who is boycotting the 2022 FIFA World Cup, as well as to Chiara Jaumann, copywriter at Heimat Berlin, the creative agency who, together with Boycott Qatar 2022 and Laut Gegen Nazis, ideated the Football Blackout for Human Rights campaign.

Published on 11 December 2022 

Alexander Damiano Ricci - Europod (Brussels)
 

Hamzeh Hajjaj | Cartoon Movement


The 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar has been making the headlines for weeks now. Just, not really or only for the rolling ball and iconic football stars on the pitch. From allegations of corruption in the process leading up to the awarding of the competition, to accusations of breaches of human rights in the build up of the stadiums hosting the competition: little has been left uncovered by the press.

For these and many other reasons, a relevant share of staunch football fans across Europe are boycotting the competition. But what does it take to organise a boycott? And how are football fans living this peculiar moment in the history of sports?
More : World cup, Olympics, Asian games. The absurdity of climate-killing global sporting events

On this podcast episode of Europe Talks Back, host Alexander Damiano Ricci talks to Eliot Dickinson, Chief of staff at Bulle Media and huge football fan who is boycotting the 2022 FIFA World Cup, as well as to Chiara Jaumann, copywriter at Heimat Berlin, the creative agency who, together with Boycott Qatar 2022 and Laut Gegen Nazis, ideated the Football Blackout for Human Rights campaign.

Gaza authorities discover over 60 Roman era graves


1 of 5

A Palestinian excavation team works in a newly discovered Roman era cemetery in the Gaza Strip, Sunday, Dec. 11, 2022. Hamas authorities in Gaza announced the discovery of over 60 tombs in the ancient burial site. Work crews have been excavating the site since it was discovered last January during preparations for an Egyptian-funded housing project. (AP Photo/Fatima Shbair)


GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) — Hamas authorities in Gaza on Sunday announced the discovery of over 60 tombs in an ancient burial site dating back to the Roman era.

Work crews have been excavating the site since it was discovered last January during preparations for an Egyptian-funded housing project.

Hiyam al-Bitar, a researcher from the Hamas-run Ministry of Antiquities and Tourism, said a total of 63 graves have been identified and that a set of bones and artifacts from one tomb was dated back to the second century.

She said the ministry is working with a team of French experts to learn more about the site. On Sunday, workers sifted through the soil and removed piles of dirt in wheelbarrows.

Although the ancient cemetery is now blocked off from the public, construction on the housing project has continued and the site is surrounded by apartment buildings. Local media reported looting when the site was first discovered, with people using donkey-drawn carts to haul away items like a covered casket and inscribed bricks.

Gaza, a coastal enclave home to more than 2 million people, is known for its rich history stemming from its location on ancient trade routes between Egypt and the Levant. But Israeli occupation, a blockade, conflicts and rapid urban growth in the crowded, narrow territory are among the reasons most of Gaza’s archeological treasures have not been protected.