India tax officials raid BBC offices after film on Modi

Police have sealed off the British broadcaster's offices in India. The searches came weeks after India banned BBC's documentary critical documentary about Prime Minister Narendra Modi and called it "hostile propaganda."

https://p.dw.com/p/4NRwZ

Indian tax authorities on Tuesday raided the BBC's New Delhi offices, staff members of the broadcaster told news agencies.

The raid comes just weeks after the BBC released a documentary critical of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

A BBC employee based in the Delhi office told the AFP news agency that officials had occupied two floors in the building housing the broadcaster's offices.

Authorities were raiding the BBC's Delhi and Mumbai offices, reported the Press Trust of India news agency, quoting officials who were not identified.

Indian government angered by BBC documentary

In January, BBC released a two-part documentary called "India: The Modi Question" alleging that Modi had ordered the police to turn a blind eye to the 2002 communal riots in Gujarat, where he was premier at the time.

The violence left at least 1,000 people dead, most of them minority Muslims.

The raid comes just weeks after the BBC released a documentary critical of Modi.

Sajjad Hussain/AFP/Getty Images

The Indian government blocked videos and tweets sharing links to the documentary using emergency powers under its information technology laws.

Authorities scrambled to halt screenings of the program and restricted its clips on social media.

India's Foreign Ministry said the film "lacked objectivity" and called it a "propaganda piece designed to push a particularly discredited narrative."

The BBC responded with a statement, saying the documentary was "rigorously researched.''

"We offered the Indian Government a right to reply to the matters raised in the series, it declined to respond,'' the statement said.

ns/fb (AFP, AP, Reuters)

Greece approves disputed museum law seen as antiquity 'export' plan

Issued on: 13/02/2023

Athens (AFP) – Greece's parliament on Monday approved a new law enabling the exhibition of rare antiquities outside the country, with archaeologists warning it could lead to the long-term "export" of rare items.

The move comes as the Greek government is engaged in talks with the British Museum on the possible return of the Parthenon Marbles after decades of wrangling between Athens and London.

The Financial Times last week reported that the famed prehistoric frescoes of Santorini "have been mentioned in Athens" as potential candidates for a loan swap.

The new law concerns five of the country's top state museums -- the National Archaeological Museum and the Byzantine and Christian Museum in Athens, the Archaeological Museum and Museum of Byzantine Culture in Thessaloniki, and the Archaeological Museum of Heraklion, Crete.

It enables the five museums -- which hold some of the country's most coveted ancient artifacts -- to create satellite branches outside Greece.

Culture Minister Lina Mendoni has said the changes give the museums more freedom to plan exhibits and raise sponsorship.

The association of Greek archaeologists has said it will block the law in court.

"Important antiquities could be sent abroad for 50, a hundred years or more," the association warned in a statement.

Greece's culture ministry has been trying for years to broker deals for the repatriation of antiquities without resorting to legal action.

Its chief goal remains the return of the Parthenon Marbles, held by the British Museum since the 19th century.

Mendoni on Monday said Athens is proposing "intertemporal exhibitions" of Greek artifacts in Britain for the "return and reunification" of the Parthenon Marbles.

Last year, the culture ministry brokered a deal to acquire 161 Bronze Age antiquities formerly in the collection of US billionaire and philanthropist Leonard Stern.

The agreement involves the artifacts gradually returning to Greece over the next 25 years after display at New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art.

The deal has sparked controversy among experts over the provenance of the antiquities.

The association of Greek archaeologists said Stern was a "proven recipient of smuggled archaeological discoveries" and that the agreement set a poor precedent to let wealthy collectors off the hook.

The archaeologists said Stern had previously owned a Bronze Age marble idol from Sardinia that was later seized in 2018 from billionaire collector Michael Steinhardt as illegally trafficked.

© 2023 AFP

Along underwater highway, workers fix Channel tunnel at night

Jean LIOU
Mon, February 13, 2023 

Deep under the Channel, men in orange jackets and white hard hats drive up and down one of the world's longest underground highways, beavering away to keep passenger trains running.

They ply the 50-kilometre (30-mile) service road linking France and Britain, maintaining the railway tracks in two adjacent tunnels that at their deepest point reach some 100 metres below sea level.

It's a unique universe between two countries following different driving conventions and time zones, says Eurotunnel maintenance supervisor Remi Dezoomer.

"We drive on the left like in England, but stay on French time," he said on Saturday night, switching on his hazard lights and honking his horn as he approached a parked car.

The service tunnel is kept at a higher air pressure than the surface atmosphere for safety reasons, so workers first have to transit through a chamber at intermediate pressure before they can drive down into it.

None of their vehicles have number plates, nor right-side mirrors to avoid hitting each other when they cross paths.

"We used to have Clios," said Dezoomer, referring to a small French-made hatchback similar in size to a VW Beetle.

"But now the vehicles are getting bigger and it's becoming tricker."

U-turns are near impossible between the tunnel's hemmed-in walls, and everybody dreads having to deal with a flat tyre so far away from base.

- Brisk work -

Caution is key, Dezoomer said.

The speeding limit is set at 50 kilometres an hour (30 miles per hour) when the tunnel lights are off, but just 30 kph when they are on, which usually indicates someone is in the area.

Two nights a week, during the weekend, Eurotunnel at least partially closes one of the two train tunnels to perform maintenance, while carriages continue ferrying passengers or goods on the other track.

Workers drive up and down in buses, or vehicles pulling trailers, and firemen make the rounds.

Every 375 metres along the service tunnel, corridors lead up to highly secured, heavy yellow doors that open onto the adjacent railway tracks.

On Saturday night alone, 160 workers were busy working on 66 different spots up and down the railway, Jeffrey Guy, one of the project managers, told AFP.

"It's a normal night," he said.

Most -- some 70 people -- were busy replacing rail sections as part of a three-year plan to renovate the entire length of the track.

Jean-Louis Merlin, who is in charge of that project, said his team had to carry out brisk work.

"Tonight, we have five hours and ten minutes to replace more than a kilometre of tracks," he said.

- Underwater border -

Over the years since the tunnel opened in 1994, freight trains as well as carriages carrying lorries and cars have worn down the tracks.

"It's the fourth time we're replacing them since the start" of operations, Merlin said.

Miner lights ablaze on their white helmets, staff have to be quick to finish before trains start up again at dawn.

Some weld, while others attach the new tracks to railroad ties.

In another part of the tunnel, workers in orange safety jackets pump resin into the sides of the tunnel to avoid any water filtering through.

"Water and the 25,000 volts of the overhead catenary don't really mix," maintenance supervisor Dezoomer said.

Elsewhere, workers blast a high-pressure hose against the wall to clean it, creating thick clouds of droplets in the dim golden light.

And halfway between both countries they have their own touristic landmark.

At the border under the sea, near a small sign reading "midpoint", some visitors have graffitied their names on the wall to leave a mark.

liu/ah/sjw/js

Colombia, ELN rebels resume peace talks in Mexico after ceasefire confusion

Representatives of the Colombian government and the National Liberation Army pose for a picture ahead of peace talks in Mexico City © ALFREDO ESTRELLA / AFP

February 13, 2023 —
Written by Sarah Kinosian for Reuters ->

MEXICO CITY, Feb 13 (Reuters) - Colombia's government and the National Liberation Army (ELN) rebel group resumed peace talks in Mexico City on Monday after a temporary halt caused by a misunderstanding over a mooted ceasefire.

Mexico is one of the guarantor nations for the talks, along with Norway, Venezuela, Cuba, Brazil and Chile. The first round of discussions to end the guerrillas' part in nearly six decades of war took place in Caracas last November.

On New Year's Eve, President Gustavo Petro had announced that a ceasefire had been agreed with the ELN and other rebel groups.

But a few days later the ELN said it was merely a proposal that had not been agreed to. The government blamed the confusion on a misunderstanding of the ELN's position.

The ELN is Colombia's oldest remaining rebel group, founded by radical Catholic priests in 1964, and the talks are the cornerstone of efforts by leftist Petro - himself a former member of another insurgent group - to bring "total peace" to Colombia.

Petro, who took office just over six months ago, has vowed to negotiate peace or surrender deals with remaining rebels and crime gangs as well as to fully implement a previous accord with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) signed in 2016.

Negotiations with the ELN under previous administrations faltered on the group's diffuse chain of command and dissent within its ranks, though Pablo Beltran, the head of the ELN delegation, and top commander Antonio Garcia have said fighters are on board with these talks.

On Monday, leaders of the negotiations on both sides said the talks would focus on a bilateral ceasefire and agreements to get humanitarian aid to areas of Colombia most affected by the conflict.

"Agreements are to be fulfilled... we have to produce results," said Otty Patiño, head of the Colombian government delegation.

Beltran gave an overview of the group's core grievances, including the long-standing war on drugs, war on terrorism, and social inequality.

"The economy and the state must be placed at the service of society," he said. "This is the main change for which we fight so that there is peace with justice."

(Reporting by Sarah Kinosian; additional reporting by Julia Cobb in Bogota, editing by Stephen Eisenhammer and Rosalba O'Brien)

THERE'S AN APP FOR THAT
App allows Mexicans to reach out after death

Mon, Feb 13, 2023


Providing a welcome voice from beyond the grave, a Mexican app has been launched to store messages and last wishes for users to share with loved ones after their death.

"Mexicans laugh at death, but it's hard for them to talk about it," said Miguel Farrell, the creator of Past Post.

The app "allows you to leave your things in order for this moment that will arrive when you least expect it," he told AFP.

While Mexicans happily accept a gift of a sugar skull with their name on it for the annual Day of the Dead festival, they are often less comfortable discussing the issue, in particular inheritance.

The app allows a father in good health for example to record congratulatory messages for his children to hear several years later when they graduate, in case he dies in the meantime.

It enables users to leave instructions such as preferences for their funeral or administration of bank accounts and social media accounts.

Past Post keeps this content in the form of a non-fungible token (NFT) -- a digital certificate of ownership that uses the blockchain technology behind cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin.

Its creator emphasizes that the app, which costs $19 a year, cannot replace a will, which the vast majority of Mexicans do not have, according to the Mexico City notaries association.

The content "has no legal value but it has a very important symbolic value," Farrell said.

jla/st/dr/sw

US teen girls engulfed by 'sadness, violence, trauma': report

Mon, 13 February 2023 


US health authorities sounded the alarm Monday about a mental health crisis among American high school students, particularly teenage girls suffering from sadness, violence and trauma.

The Youth Risk Behavior Survey published by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) looked at health behaviors and experiences among high school students from 2011 to 2021.

"These data show a distressing picture," CDC chief medical officer Debra Houry told reporters. "America's teen girls are engulfed in a growing wave of sadness, violence and trauma.

"Over the past decade teens, especially girls, have experienced dramatic increases in experiences of violence and poor mental health and suicide risk," Houry said.

The CDC said several areas of adolescent health and well-being are improving, including risky sexual behavior, alcohol and substance use, and the level of bullying at school.

But mental health among high school students -- who are generally between 15 and 18 years old in the United States -- continued to worsen overall.

Nearly three in five teenage American girls -- 57 percent -- felt persistently sad or hopeless in 2021 -- double that of boys, the report said.

The was a nearly 60 percent increase since 2011 and the highest level reported over the past decade.

Nearly one in three teen girls -- 30 percent -- seriously considered attempting suicide, up nearly 60 percent from a decade ago, and more than twice the number of boys.

Nearly one in five teen girls -- 18 percent -- experienced sexual violence in the past year, up 20 percent since 2017, when CDC started monitoring this measure.

And 14 percent of teen girls had been forced to have sex -- up 27 percent since 2019.

- 'Young people are in crisis' -

"These data are clear -- our young people are in crisis," said Kathleen Ethier, director of the CDC division of adolescent and school health.

"Young people are experiencing a level of distress that calls on us to act with urgency and compassion," Ethier said.

"With the right programs and services in place, schools have the unique ability to help our youth flourish."

The CDC officials said many of the measures of youth mental health had been "moving in the wrong direction" even before the Covid-19 pandemic which began in early 2020.

"The social isolation from the pandemic certainly made things worse," Ethier said. "Young people were separated from their peers and from their community and school supports."

Asked what role social media may play on the worsening mental health of US adolescents, Ethier said "social media certainly contributes.

"Although, in our data, young people are not reporting more electronic bullying," she said.

According to the report, teens who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, or questioning (LGBQ+) face extremely high levels of violence and mental health challenges.

Fifty-two percent of LGBQ+ students had recently experienced poor mental health and more than one in five -- 22 percent -- attempted suicide in the past year, the report said.

cl/mlm

CDC data shows U.S. teen girls ‘in crisis’ with unprecedented rise in suicidal behavior

By —Lindsey Tanner, Associated Press

Health Feb 13, 2023 

The pandemic took a harsh toll on U.S. teen girls’ mental health, with almost 60 percent reporting feelings of persistent sadness or hopelessness, according to a government survey released Monday that bolsters earlier data.

Sexual violence, suicidal thoughts, suicidal behavior and other mental health woes affected many teens regardless of race or ethnicity, but girls and LGBTQ youth fared the worst on most measures, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report. More than 17,000 U.S. high school students were surveyed in class in the fall of 2021.

In 30 years of collecting similar data, “we’ve never seen this kind of devastating, consistent findings,” said Kathleen Ethier, director of CDC’s adolescent and school health division. “There’s no question young people are telling us they are in crisis. The data really call on us to act.”

The research found:Among girls, 30 percent said they seriously considered attempting suicide, double the rate among boys and up almost 60 percent from a decade ago.
Almost 20 percent of girls reported experiencing rape or other sexual violence in the previous year, also an increase over previous years.
Almost half of LGBTQ students said they had seriously considered a suicide attempt.
More than a quarter of American Indians and Alaska natives said they had seriously considered a suicide attempt — higher than other races and ethnicities.
Feelings of persistent sadness and hopelessness affected more than one-third of kids of all races and ethnicities and increased over previous years.
Recent poor mental health was reported by half of LGBTQ kids and almost one-third of American Indian and Alaska Native youth.

The results echo previous surveys and reports and many of the trends began before the pandemic. But isolation, online schooling and increased reliance on social media during the pandemic made things worse for many kids, mental health experts say.

The results “reflect so many decades of neglect towards mental health, for kids in particular,” said Mitch Prinstein, the American Psychological Association’s chief science officer. “Suicide has been the second- or third-leading cause of death for young people between 10 and 24 years for decades now,” and attempts are typically more common in girls, he said.

WATCH: Ken Burns film explores youth mental health

Prinstein noted that anxiety and depression tend to be more common in teen girls than boys, and pandemic isolation may have exacerbated that.

Comprehensive reform in how society manages mental health is needed, Prinstein said. In schools, kids should be taught ways to manage stress and strife, just as they are taught about exercise for physical disease prevention, he said.

In low-income areas, where adverse childhood experiences were high before the pandemic, the crisis has been compounded by a shortage of school staff and mental health professionals, experts say.

School districts around the country have used federal pandemic money to hire more mental health specialists, if they can find them, but say they are stretched thin and that students who need expert care outside of school often can’t get it because therapists are overburdened and have long waitlists.

AP writer Jocelyn Gecker contributed in San Francisco contributed to this report.

UEFA deemed 'responsible' for Paris Champions League football final chaos

NEWS WIRES
Mon, 13 February 2023

© Thomas Coex, AFP

UEFA itself bears "primary responsibility" for failures which "almost led to disaster" at the 2022 Champions League final in Paris between Liverpool and Real Madrid, a report commissioned by the European football body said Monday.

The report also claimed the policing model was influenced by a view of Liverpool based on the deadly 1989 Hillsborough disaster on incorrect assumptions that the city's supporters were a threat to public order.

The report said that the panel "has concluded that UEFA, as event owner, bears primary responsibility for failures which almost led to disaster."

The panel also said it was astonished that the policing model was influenced by a view of Liverpool hooliganism based on Hillsborough.

"The safety, security and service model laid out in the Saint-Denis Convention was ignored in favour of a securitised approach," the report said.

Real Madrid's 1-0 win at the Stade de France on May 28 was overshadowed by events surrounding European football's showpiece event.

Kick-off was delayed by 37 minutes as fans struggled to access the stadium after being funnelled into overcrowded bottlenecks on approach.

Police then fired tear gas towards thousands of supporters locked behind metal fences on the perimeter to the stadium.

UEFA then tried to pin the blame on Liverpool fans arriving late despite thousands having been held for hours outside the stadium before kick-off.

The French authorities then claimed an "industrial scale fraud" of fake tickets was the problem.

(AFP)

Italy's right-wing coalition wins landslide victory in regional elections

NEWS WIRES
Mon, 13 February 2023 

© Yara Nardi, Reuters

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and her coalition allies secured emphatic election wins in the two wealthiest regions of the country on Monday, strengthening the right's grip on power amid growing voter apathy.

Less than five months after sweeping to power at the national level, the conservative bloc took more than 55% of the vote in Lombardy, home to the financial capital Milan, and around 50% in Lazio, which is centred on Rome.

"This result consolidates the centre-right and strengthens the work of the government," Meloni wrote on Twitter.

It was the first electoral test for Meloni since she won power last September and confirmed that she is still enjoying a strong honeymoon with voters, helped by a weak opposition that failed to present a unified front in either region.

However, the resounding victory was partially overshadowed by the fact that only 40% of people cast a ballot -- the lowest turnout ever recorded for Lazio and Lombardy, which together account for just over a quarter of the Italian population.

"It is unfortunate that the turnout was very, very low. We must try to rebuild the relationship between citizens and institutions," Fabio Rampelli, a senior member of Meloni's Brothers of Italy party, told RAI television.

While the right already controlled Lombardy, they grabbed Lazio from the centre-left, meaning conservatives now run 15 of Italy's 20 regions as well as central government, giving it a unique opportunity to shape domestic politics.

Italian FM warns embassies at risk of attacks by international anarchists

Issued on: 01/02/2023 - 

The gutted remains of cars are parked following an attack claimed by an anarchist network in Rome Monday, Jan. 30, 2023 © Cecilia Fabiano, AP

Italian embassies all over the world are at risk of anarchist attacks linked to the case of the hunger-striking Alfredo Cospito, Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said on Tuesday.

Cospito, 55, is an Italian anarchist who has been on a hunger strike for more than 100 days to protest against being jailed under the strict "41 bis" isolation regime.

"We are raising security in all of our embassies and consulates because at the moment international anarchists are mobilised against the Italian state," Tajani told a news conference in Rome.

In December, a Greek anarchist group claimed responsibility for an arson attack outside an Italian diplomat's home, calling it an act of solidarity with Cospito.

Tajani called it the most serious incident to date, but reported that numerous other attacks, acts of vandalism and demonstrations have taken place since November.

Italian embassies, consulates or culture institutes have been targeted in Bolivia, Chile, Argentina, Brazil, Spain, Germany and Switzerland, he said.

On Monday, Cospito was moved from a prison in Sardinia to one in Milan with better healthcare facilities, as had been asked by the national ombudsman for prisoners.

The prisoner, who has lost more than 40 kg (88 lb) and is reportedly so weak that he struggles to walk and keep warm, is surviving on water, sugar and honey.

Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's right-wing government has ruled out easing his detention regime, saying it cannot give in to threats or acts of terrorism.

The "41 bis", normally reserved for top Mafia bosses, is designed to prevent inmates from communicating with affiliates outside.

Cospito was placed under the regime in May, after he wrote articles from prison calling on fellow anarchists to continue their armed struggle.

He is serving time for a non-fatal shooting of a nuclear energy manager in 2012 and a double bomb attack on a police academy in 2016, which caused no injuries.

Cospito has been sentenced to 30 years' imprisonment, but prosecutors have appealed for it to be made a life term, with no parole possibilities.

(REUTERS)

Experts back more robust US estimates of social cost of carbon

Mon, Feb 13, 2023


Some 400 scientists and climate experts expressed support on Monday for a US government proposal to revise a key metric that estimates the damage from carbon dioxide emissions.

The number in question is the social cost of carbon and it represents the dollar value of the climate change harm attributable to a metric ton of carbon dioxide.

It is a way to evaluate the negative economic, labor and health consequences of CO2 emissions, calculated as the difference between the cost of reducing those emissions and the damages prevented by the reductions.

In the United States, the figure has for years formed part of cost-benefit analyses for everything from power plant regulations to efficiency standards for cars and household appliances.

It considers future illness and deaths from heat waves, small particle pollution, climate-enhanced natural disasters, property damage, reductions in agricultural production, disruption to energy systems, predicted violent conflicts and mass migration.

US President Joe Biden, shortly after taking office in January 2021, restored the social cost of carbon figure to Obama-era levels, after the Trump administration had slashed it to a nominal amount.

The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposed in a draft report in November to raise the estimate of the damage caused by a ton of CO2 from the current $51 to $190 and a public comment period on the proposed rule change closed on Monday.

Weighing in on the last day was the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) with a letter signed by around 400 experts including a number of noted climate scientists.

"The devastating and costly impacts of the climate crisis are evident all around us," they said. "The science is clear that these impacts will only worsen as global heat-trapping emissions rise.

"Our nation's policies must reflect these climate realities."

- 'Underestimate' -

The experts noted that the new EPA estimates are considerably higher than previous federal government figures, but "likely still underestimate the true costs of climate change."

The estimates do not include, for example, some costs that are harder to quantify such as a "range of ecosystem impacts and the loss of cultural heritage," they said.

They also do not take into account potential climate events such as the "loss of major ice sheets that could trigger multi-century catastrophic sea level rise."

Rachel Cleetus, policy director of the UCS Climate and Energy Program, said the new estimates may help "ensure government agencies are appropriately accounting for the damages caused by US global warming emissions, and the significant benefits from cutting them."

Now that the public comment period is closed, the EPA will launch an external peer review of the estimates before finalizing them.

cl/md