FREEDOM OF SPEECH INDIA



India: 'Internet shutdown capital of the world'

Murali Krishnan in New Delhi
DW

For five successive years, India has topped the global list of states that cut off the internet to their citizens. Critics say shutdowns paralyze daily life and the economy.

Last year, around the world, governments in 35 countries shut down the internet at least 187 times.

According to a recent report by the US digital rights advocacy group Access Now for the #KeepItOn coalition, India accounted for approximately 58% of all documented shutdowns globally. There were 84 shutdowns in the South Asian nation — more than in any other country.

Entitled "Weapons of control, shields of impunity: Internet shutdowns in 2022," the report cited various reasons for Indian authorities' decisions to close down the internet, including protests, elections, conflict and school exams.

"For a country chairing the G20, and on the eve of its pivotal 2024 general elections, these disruptions are jeopardizing the future of India's tech economy and digital livelihood ambitions — truly a global shame," said Raman Jit Singh Chima, Asia-Pacific policy director at Access Now.

Internet shutdowns paralyze daily life because people can no longer access necessary medical, educational and financial services.

 

Internet shutdowns are a way of restricting freedom of speech

Image: DW

Most shutdowns in Jammu and Kashmir

In the northern state of Rajasthan, shutdowns were imposed a dozen times. West Bengal, in eastern India, ordered shutdowns on seven occasions.

But it was the troubled region of Jammu and Kashmir that experienced the most shutdowns, at 49, including 16 back-to-back orders for three-day closures in January and February.

"This is the new normal," Anuradha Bhasin, the editor of the daily Kashmir Times, told DW. "We saw what happened when the government scrapped Kashmir's special status in 2019: The region saw the longest internet blackout imposed, with it lasting several months. It no longer makes news and people have been forced to get used to this situation."

Article 370 of the Indian constitution granted limited autonomy to Kashmir, which has been the source of a bitter territorial dispute between India and Pakistan since they gained independence from British rule in 1947. Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Hindu nationalist government in New Delhi revoked the special constitutional status in August 2019.

Bhasin appealed to the Supreme Court of India in 2019, arguing that internet shutdowns limited the ability of journalists to travel and publish. Accordingly, he said, it was a violation of Article 19 of the constitution, which guarantees the right to freedom of expression.

The court ruled that the indefinite suspension of internet services would be illegal under Indian law and that orders for internet shutdown must satisfy the conditions of necessity and proportionality.

"The principle of proportionality must be brought into the picture to guard against arbitrary state action," media critic Pamela Philipose told DW. "The Indian state, by notching up no less than 84 shutdowns in 2022, is clearly going against the letter and spirit of that judgment."

The internet is often switched off in Kashmir to prevent demonstrators coordinating

Faisal Khan/AA/picture alliance

'Arbitrary and excessive application of shutdowns'

According to the Internet Freedom Foundation (IFF), which advocates digital rights and liberties in India, multiple overlapping factors account for the continued and frequent use of such shutdowns.

"These restrictions are often enacted by local administrations on the grounds of 'public emergency' and 'public safety,' in the absence of clearly defined grounds for any such suspension or criteria to determine their effectiveness, leading to arbitrary and excessive application," Prateek Waghre, IFF's policy director, told DW.

Restrictions are often imposed during protests, to prevent demonstrators from coordinating, for example, but there are also temporary shutdowns to prevent cheating in exams.

Waghre said that factors combined "to make internet restrictions an early-stage intervention in the state's response toolkit rather than a measure of last resort."

"Shutdowns or disruptions are at times necessary to stop the flow of misinformation during a state of crisis and strife which could only exacerbate the situation," a senior official told DW on condition of anonymity.

Whopping cost to the economy

Detailed guidelines issued over three years ago by the Supreme Court on how internet shutdowns should be ordered in India are implemented too infrequently, say critics.

Litigation counsel Tanmay Singh from the IFF said decisions were rarely reviewed by judicial or independent bodies. Instead, they were approved by a committee of government members.

"There is also a low degree of transparency, as suspension orders and review committee orders are often not published or made public, despite the Supreme Court's directions to publish internet suspension orders widely," Singh told DW.

"Until these underlying issues are addressed, it is unlikely that we will see India changing its status as the internet shutdown capital of the world," he added.

According to the IFF, internet restrictions cost the Indian economy $582.8 million (€547 million) in 2021. The previous year, the Indian economy lost an estimated $2.8 billion — more than any other country by far — after shutting down the internet for a combined 8,927 hours.

Edited by: Anne Thomas

UN nuclear watchdog says 2.5 tonnes of uranium missing from Libyan site

Issued on: 16/03/2023 -

Text by: NEWS WIRES

UN nuclear watchdog inspectors have found that roughly 2.5 tons of natural uranium have gone missing from a Libyan site that is not under government control, the watchdog told member states in a statement on Wednesday seen by Reuters.

The finding is the result of an inspection originally planned for last year that "had to be postponed because of the security situation in the region" and was finally carried out on Tuesday, according to the confidential statement by International Atomic Energy Agency chief Rafael Grossi.

IAEA inspectors "found that 10 drums containing approximately 2.5 tons of natural uranium in the form of UOC (uranium ore concentrate) previously declared by (Libya) ... as being stored at that location were not present at the location," the one-page statement said.

The agency would carry out "further activities" to determine the circumstances of the uranium's removal from the site, which it did not name, and where it is now, the statement added.

"The loss of knowledge about the present location of nuclear material may present a radiological risk, as well as nuclear security concerns," it said, adding that reaching the site required "complex logistics".

In 2003 Libya under then-leader Muammar Gaddafi renounced its nuclear weapons programme, which had obtained centrifuges that can enrich uranium as well as design information for a nuclear bomb, though it made little progress towards a bomb.

Libya has had little peace since a 2011 NATO-backed uprising ousted Gaddafi. Since 2014, political control has been split between rival eastern and western factions, with the last major bout of conflict ending in 2020.

Libya's interim government, put in place in early 2021 through a UN-backed peace plan, was only supposed to last until an election scheduled for December of that year that has still not been held, and its legitimacy is now also disputed.

(REUTERS)

US arrests Chinese tycoon who backed Trump advisor Bannon

Wed, March 15, 2023 


A Chinese tycoon wanted in China and closely tied to president Donald Trump's former political advisor Steve Bannon was arrested in New York Wednesday and charged with bilking some $1 billion from supporters of his anti-Beijing activities.

The US Justice Department accused Guo Wengui and still-at-large British co-conspirator Je Kin Ming of stealing funds from participants in an investment scheme so they could buy luxuries, including a yacht, a 50,000 square foot (4,645 square meter) mansion and a $3.5 million Ferrari.

A court official said late Wednesday that Guo pleaded not guilty but consented to detention in an initial arrest hearing.

Hours after his 6:00 am arrest at his Manhattan penthouse apartment overlooking Central Park, a fire broke out in his building, raising suspicions the two could be linked.

Guo's arrest came nine years after the one-time property billionaire fled China in 2014, having faced charges of fraud and corruption even as he became an outspoken critic of graft inside the Chinese government.

Using his Cantonese name, Ho Wan Kwok, the Justice Department said Guo leveraged his prominence as a critic of Chinese leader Xi Jinping's government while exiled in New York to build a large following of supporters online.

Those supporters were encouraged to donate to, or invest in, Guo-controlled non-profits and businesses, including GTV Media group, of which Bannon was a director.

That activity spread into other avenues to raise hundreds of millions of dollars, including a luxury club, the Himalaya Exchange cryptocurrency issuer, and the Himalaya Farm Alliance, which promised investors discounted shares of GTV.

But the Justice Department said Guo and Je diverted funds for their own use, including for Guo's New Jersey estate and yacht, a custom-built Bugatti sports car, and two mattresses that cost $36,000 each.

In 2021, US financial authorities called GTV's investment solicitation an illegal public offering and forced Guo to repay investors nearly $500 million and pay nearly $40 million in fines.

Since then, in successive actions, authorities have seized around $634 million in funds raised by Guo and Je, and on Wednesday charged the two with multiple counts of securities fraud, wire fraud, money laundering and obstruction.

"Fraudulent investment scams make victims out of innocent people, ultimately harming the public's confidence in the integrity of financial systems," said FBI Assistant Director Michael Driscoll.

- Fled crackdown on billionaires -

Guo arrived in the United States in 2015 after fleeing a crackdown on China's racy billionaires and corrupt officials by Xi's administration.

He was accused of paying hefty bribes to a powerful state intelligence and security chief.

But he claimed he was the victim of a business dispute with a former top Communist Party official.

Later he claimed to have details of business dealings by Wang Qishan, Beijing's all-powerful anti-corruption czar and later China's vice president.

He made a splashy arrival in the United States, buying a $67.5 million Manhattan penthouse and promoting himself as persecuted by the Chinese government, applying for political asylum.

In 2017 at Beijing's request Interpol issued a red notice -- a non-binding warrant -- seeking Guo's arrest and extradition.

It sent security services officials to New York to pressure him to return. And it recruited sympathetic US businessmen with ties to Trump to persuade him to deport Guo.

- Alliance with Bannon -

But Trump's Washington didn't take action, and in late 2017 Bannon, having left his White House job, began working with the Chinese tycoon.

Together they built heavily political media operations including Guo's broadcasts to China and Bannon's "War Room" podcast, which remains strongly pro-Trump and anti-China.

Bannon was meanwhile reportedly paid a million dollars as a consultant by Guo, whom he promoted on his podcast.

In early 2020 they formed a lobby group opposed to the Chinese Community Party, called the New Federal State of China.

When Trump lost his 2020 reelection bid, the two combined to support the unfounded claim that massive voter fraud caused his defeat.

By then both were under federal investigation.

In 2020 Bannon was arrested for defrauding donors while he was aboard Guo's $35 million, 150-foot yacht anchored off Connecticut.

One year later Guo's use of his network of non-profits and investment schemes to raise hundreds of millions ran into trouble when they were forced to settle allegations of fraud from the US Securities and Exchange Commission for $539 million.

In 2022 Guo violated a court order and moved his yacht out of the United States to avoid it being seized.

When a judge ordered him to pay a $134 million fine for doing so, he filed for bankruptcy to protect his assets.

pmh/mlm

Once dying, then a novelty, vinyl is back and thriving


Issued on: 16/03/2023 -

Celine Court browses through records at Village Revival Records in New York City on March 14, 2023 © Ed JONES / AFP

New York (AFP) – Like many people in his generation, Vijay Damerla finds most of his new music online -- but the 20-year-old is slowly becoming a vinyl junkie, amassing records in his room.

The student says he doesn't even own a turntable, saying for him "it's the equivalent of like getting an artist poster, or like even an album poster on your wall."

"Except, like, there's actually kind of a little bit of a relic from the past."

For Celine Court, 29, collecting vinyl -- she says she owns some 250 records -- is about the nostalgic, warm sound that many listeners say digital copies chill.

"If you listen to music on vinyl, it's so different," she told AFP as she perused the stacks at New York's Village Revival Records. "It has like this authentic kind of feeling to it."

Vinyl's popularity has grown steadily in recent years, a reversal after CDs and digital downloads reigned over the 1990s and early 2000s.

The latest report from the Recording Industry Association of America said that in 2022 more record units were sold than compact discs for the first time in three decades, with consumers snagging 41 million pieces of new vinyl last year compared to 33 million CDs.

Revenue from vinyl had already started surpassing CDs as of the 2020 report.

Big-box retailers including Walmart have embraced the retro format, and megastars including Taylor Swift, Harry Styles and Billie Eilish have sent pressing plants into overdrive.

Just this week Metallica purchased a plant to keep up with demand for their own reissues.

Smaller shops are also feeding interest: Jamal Alnasr, who owns Village Revival, stocks some 200,000 records at any given time, not to mention used CDs, cassettes and memorabilia.

Jamal Alnasr has operated his music shop for some three decades © Ed JONES / AFP

"Who would imagine vinyls will come back to life?" said the 50-year-old shop owner, who moved to New York from the West Bank in his late teens.

At one point he had even donated much of his own personal collection, which he estimates could be worth some $200,000 these days, to an archiving institution: "In the nineties, if you talk about vinyl, I don't think you're cool."

But decades later he says "every day I see (this) young generation buying new items."

"I've been doing this for like 30 years... a new generation, kids, they come in look for all the music from the 1930s and 40s and 50s."

"They actually know more than us, we who grew up in the 1990s and 80s," he laughed.

"It's a beautiful thing."

Physical experience

Alnasr deals in both new and used vinyl -- the RIAA report refers to reported sales of new pressings, which the shop owner does stock; he estimates the store contains about half new, half used items.

Vinyl's popularity has grown steadily in recent years, a reversal after CDs and digital downloads reigned over the 1990s and early 2000s © Ed JONES / AFP

He said that because vinyl is relatively expensive to manufacture and distribute, the markup these days on new items can be as little as five percent, and he relies on original collectibles to make up the difference.

Alnasr said his business is driven by a combination of music nerds and more casual listeners, and with a $15,000 monthly rent -- once a bohemian haunt, today's Greenwich Village is among the city's priciest neighborhoods -- he's mostly operating on the margins.

"Every time I'm about to sink I just take everything I've got personally and put it back into the business," he laughed. "I guess... I love my business more than I love myself."

Echoing student Damerla's experience, Alnasr said many people buy records for the art -- and discover the music later.

He's fine with that, but does insist that most of his sales be conducted in person.

For a known customer -- Alnasr is a favorite record dealer among celebrities, having befriended the likes of Lana Del Rey, Bella Hadid and Rosalia -- he's willing to procure and ship an item.

But for the most part, he prefers people "physically experience" the vinyl.

"You can say I'm the only stubborn New Yorker -- I do not want to sell this format online," he laughed. "I want people to come here... dig through vinyls and get educated.

"They will see way much more than the front one, there is a lot of hidden gems in here."

No matter the vinyl revival, sales of physical music media remain niche, with streaming remaining the dominant listening format.

Big-box retailers including Walmart have embraced the format, and megastars

 including Taylor Swift, Harry Styles and Billie Eilish have sent pressing plants into overdrive © Ed JONES / AFP

Services including paid subscriptions and ad-supported platforms grew seven percent to reach a record high $13.3 billion in revenue in 2022, according to the RIAA, accounting for 84 percent of total US profits.

But Court, who is from the Netherlands, called streaming "too fast, too easy."

"It's just a better energy to collect your vinyl and then listen to it and be proud of it."

© 2023 AFP

Push for carbon-free hydrogen accelerates in US

Issued on: 16/03/2023 -

Houston (AFP) – A source of renewable and storable energy, hydrogen is experiencing a breakthrough in the United States after years of sluggish growth as Biden administration climate policies spark major investments.

"America came from nowhere and now they're in the lead," Mark Hutchinson, CEO of Fortescue Future Industries, said of America's ascent in renewable energy in general and hydrogen more specifically, at last week's CERAWeek energy conference in Houston, Texas.

US hydrogen production already amounts to around ten million tons per year, about 10 percent of world volumes. But that output mostly consists of so-called "grey" hydrogen, which is produced from natural gas without capturing carbon dioxide emissions.

Thanks especially to the 2021 infrastructure bill and the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), signed into law last year, US President Joe Biden has pledged to increase production capacity for low- and zero-carbon emission sources, which are known as "blue" and "green" hydrogen.

Blue hydrogen is produced from natural gas in which the carbon dioxide from the manufacturing process is captured. Green hydrogen is produced through renewable sources.

The new US funding pots are massive, including $8 billion dedicated to building a network of "clean" hydrogen hubs around the country.

The IRA also provides tax credits of up to three dollars per kilogram of green hydrogen, a big share for a fuel that normally costs between $4 and $5 to produce.

"The IRA has fundamentally changed the economics of hydrogen from renewable power," said Catherine Robinson, Executive Director, Gas, Power and Energy Futures at S&P Global Commodity Insights. It "allows it to compete with other forms of hydrogen."

Blue and green types should first go to "hard to decarbonize sectors", which are currently using most of the US grey hydrogen production, said Sunita Satyapal, Director for the US Department of Energy's Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technologies Office.

This includes petroleum refining, steel milling and the production of ammonia, which is used in fertilizers.
"Swiss Army knife"

Beyond heavy industry, others are looking to this source of energy for its ability to be stored and transported. But just how much this will happen is a matter of debate.

Energy experts are bullish about the use of hydrogen in long-haul commercial transportation, where a hydrogen tank could be filled in seconds. By contrast, a vehicle like the Tesla Semi truck needs a half hour to recharge its much heavier engine.

"Ten to 15 years from now, hydrogen will basically be a new fossil fuel (as far as its use cases). It will replace natural gas for many applications and potentially replace diesel fuel for many transportation applications," said Paul Matter, co-founder of Power to Hydrogen, a US company focused on hydrogen generation and storage.

Developments are also underway for rail freight, aircrafts and cargo ships.

But skeptics see limits to hydrogen's diversification, noting that electrification is a more efficient option for cars because of the advantages of smaller batteries and the ease of establishing charging infrastructure.

The scientific journal Nature has warned about "overhyping hydrogen."

"Hydrogen should be used judiciously, to address emissions that can't be eliminated in other ways", Nature said in a November 2022 editorial, which also criticized talk of using hydrogen to heat homes.

"It's not the solution to everything," said Andy Marsh, CEO of Plug Power, based in Latham, New York, which bills itself as the world’s largest supplier and user of liquid hydrogen, a concentrated form of the gas.

Nevertheless, he sees hydrogen as "the Swiss Army knife of this transition," offering "many, many mobility applications, where hydrogen is really the only solution."

Several new projects around US hydrogen have already been announced, but many more are anticipated once detailed IRA rules are finalized, expected during the second half of 2023.

Some large manufacturing plants have already been announced since 2021 in New York state and California.

"Scaling up can happen within a five to ten year timeline. It's been done before," said Alan Hayes, Head of Energy Transition Pricing at S&P Global Commodity Insights.

US Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm promised at CERAWeek to address problems with permit delays for new hydrogen facilities.

In Texas, two mega projects are on track, one south called Hydrogen City, the other far north with a price tag estimated at $4 billion. Long a stronghold of oil and natural gas, Texas is now vying to take the lead in US renewable energy.

"If you talk to anybody from Texas," says Hayes, "they love to tell you that,c7 'We get things built.'"

© 2023 AFP

Brazil's first lady turns heads, champions causes with fashion

Issued on: 16/03/2023 - 

Brazil's First Lady Rosangela "Janja" da Silva has brought her own style to the presidential palace since her husband, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, took office 

Sao Paulo (AFP) – Whether sporting a red Workers' Party star on her wedding dress, breaking taboos by wearing pants to her husband's inauguration, or rocking eco-friendly clothing, Brazil's new first lady is turning heads and making statements with her fashion choices.

Rosangela "Janja" da Silva, a 56-year-old sociologist, has noticeably changed her style since being thrust into the spotlight when her husband, veteran leftist Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, took office on January 1.

The long-time Workers' Party activist, who married the twice-widowed Lula, 77, last year, has glammed up her previously low-key look.

She has replaced her go-to jeans and sneakers with a wardrobe carefully chosen to champion her favorite causes, including women's rights, Indigenous peoples and the environment -- not to mention Brazilian designers.

"She's made Brazilian fashion one of the elements she uses to construct her public persona as a feminist and progressive who cares about social issues," says Benjamin Rosenthal, a personal marketing specialist at Brazil's Getulio Vargas Foundation.

Da Silva has had the nation hanging on her fashion choices since at least her wedding day last May, when she and Lula paused a grueling presidential campaign to make their five-year relationship official in a glamorous private ceremony in Sao Paulo.

She walked down the aisle in a flowing white dress featuring a tiny red jewel in a star embroidered on the low-cut shoulder -- a wink to the symbol of the Workers' Party which brought them together.

Brazilian shoe designer Juliana Macedo shows a detail of the shoes the first lady wore to Lula's inauguration © Miguel SCHINCARIOL / AFP

She also wore a subtle red star for Lula's inauguration in January -- this time, on the soles of her strappy high heels.

First lady in pants

The first lady -- who dislikes that title, calling it "patriarchal" -- made an even bolder inauguration day statement by wearing pants, the first time a Brazilian president's wife had not worn a dress to the ceremony.

Da Silva opted for a shimmering pearl pantsuit by Brazilian designers Helo Rocha and Camila Pedrosa, the same team that created her wedding dress.

Macedo poses for a photo at her studio in Sao Paulo © Miguel SCHINCARIOL / AFP

"Pants are a symbol of women's emancipation," says Rocha.

"In Brasilia, until about 20 years ago, women couldn't even wear them into Congress," where Lula took the oath of office.

The silk pantsuit was dyed with rhubarb and a classically Brazilian plant, the cashew fruit, and elegantly embroidered with traditional Indigenous designs.

Da Silva has also drawn attention with a blouse stamped with the image of early-20th-century feminist icon Maria Bonita; a blazer embroidered by a women's cooperative; an eco-friendly skirt made of fabric scraps; and outfits made from recycled clothing by Brazilian brand Reptilia.

"She infuses the role of first lady with the practicality of a woman who's not afraid to get her hands dirty," says Reptilia's 36-year-old founder, Heloisa Strobel.

Janja, far left, in the pantsuit she wore to Lula's inauguration © Sergio Lima / AFP

"You'd never expect to see her in a tight dress she can barely walk in."

That is a fairly accurate description of a typical outfit worn by Da Silva's predecessor, Michelle Bolsonaro, the devoutly Evangelical Christian wife of far-right ex-president Jair Bolsonaro (2019-2022).

Another contrast: Da Silva has also brought a splash of bright color to the presidential palace, switching up the pastel tones favored by her predecessor.

For example, interest in Reptilia grew in January after "Janja" wore one of their pieces -- a skirt in overlapping bright red hues -- during her and Lula's first official foreign trip, to Argentina.

"I want to take Brazilian designers wherever I go," Da Silva told Vogue magazine in an interview that month.

Not just flip-flops

Entrepreneurs in Brazil's $29.7 billion textile and fashion industry are thrilled to have the support.

Da Silva "wants to show the best design being produced in Brazil, beyond the stereotypical palm tree print," says Strobel.

Airon Martin, founder and designer of Misci, poses for a picture at his store in Sao Paulo 

© Miguel SCHINCARIOL / AFP

Airon Martin, creative director of another of Da Silva's favorite local brands, Misci, agrees.

"The world knows Brazil as the land of flip-flops and carnival. But we also have a powerful luxury goods industry, with incredible silks and cottons," says the 31-year-old, who has big plans to take his designs abroad.

"Fashion crystallizes a sociopolitical moment," he adds.

© 2023 AFP

Meet Airon Martin, The Creator of Misci, the Brand Worn by Janja, Brazil's First Lady


The designer says he wants to encourage consumers to buy fashion, not just clothes


João Perassolo
SÃO PAULO

Feb.28.2023

When he was a child, Airon Martin heard his grandmother say that he would only be a real man if he had the term "dr." placed before his name when people addressed him. For her, her grandson should follow a traditional profession. "I tried to be a doctor, I tried to be a lawyer, everything that had a 'dr.' in it, but fashion was stronger", says the creator of Misci, perhaps the most talked about brand in Brazilian fashion today.

SÃO PAULO, SP, BRASIL, 20-01-2023: Airon Martin, the creator/designer that dresses the first lady (Foto: Bruno Santos/ Folhapress) - Folhapress

It took two career changes before the 31-year-old designer saw his creations being worn by the first lady, Rosângela da Silva, Janja, and by the Minister of the Environment, Marina Silva, in television interviews and at official government events, putting his label, until then better known by those into fashion, in the spotlight for the general public.

Martin was raised by his mother and grandmother in a house at the back of a roadside cabaret in Sinop, a city of 150,000 inhabitants in the countryside of Mato Grosso, where he had daily contact with prostitutes. His life story already caused him a lot of shame, he says, but today his unusual past, transferred to Misci's creations, is a great asset of the brand in the market, which Martin says he considers better than any marketing "storytelling".

Another decisive factor in Misci's success, says the stylist, is the quality of the pieces, the well-kept execution, and the finishes, all made using export-level Brazilian raw material. The silk thread used in Janja and Marina Silva's shirts is the same used by Dior and Hermès. The arapaima leather used in some bags comes from the same tannery that supplies Rick Owens. Misci —from "miscegenation"— was his final project for the industrial design course at the Istituto Europeo di Design, in São Paulo. His initial idea was to develop a line of furniture, but then the student ended up switching courses and opted to create the clothing brand, which would be "a study of Brazilian identity".

"Fashion is one thing and clothes are something else. We don't just make clothes — clothes are one of the reflections of the fashion that we present. It's kind of philosophical, but we have to show the consumer that there is a difference. Many people can make clothes, fast fashion does it. Few people make fashion in Brazil. It's about realizing who is making fashion and appreciating that."


Translated by Cassy Dias

Banned from school, Afghan girls turn to madrassas

The number of Islamic schools in Afghanistan has grown since the Taliban returned to power in 2021, with teenage girls increasingly attending classes after they were banned from secondary schools © - / AFP

Issued on: 16/03/2023 - 

Kabul (AFP) – In a madrassa in the Afghan capital, rows of teenage girls rock back and forth reciting verses of the Koran under the watchful eye of a religious scholar.

The number of Islamic schools has grown across Afghanistan since the Taliban returned to power in August 2021, with teenage girls increasingly attending classes after they were banned from secondary schools.

"We were depressed because we were denied an education," said 16-year-old Farah, a veil covering her face and hair.

"It's then that my family decided I should at least come here. The only open place for us now is a madrassa."

Instead of maths and literature, the girls focus on rote-learning the Koran in Arabic -- a language most of them don't understand.

Those who want to learn the meaning of the verses study separately, where a teacher translates and explains the text in their local language.

AFP visited three madrassas in Kabul and in the southern city of Kandahar, where scholars said the numbers of girl students have doubled since last year.

Afghan girls learn the holy Koran at a madrassa on the outskirts of Kabul © - / AFP

For Farah, her ambition of becoming a lawyer was dashed when Taliban authorities blocked girls from secondary school -- and months later banned women from attending university.

"Everyone's dreams are lost," she said.

Still, Farah -- whose real name has been changed to protect her identity like other students AFP interviewed for this story -- counts herself lucky in that her parents allowed her to attend classes at all.

Education deadlock

The Taliban government adheres to an austere interpretation of Islam.

Rulings are passed down by the reclusive supreme leader Hibatullah Akhundzada and his inner circle of religious advisers, who are against education for girls and women, some officials say.

Akhundzada has ordered hundreds of new madrassas to be built as he establishes his Islamic Emirate based on sharia.

Authorities in Kabul have given several excuses for the closure of girls' schools -- including the need for segregated classrooms and Islamic uniforms, which were largely already in place.

The government insists schools will eventually reopen.

Education is the main sticking point behind a deadlock with the international community, which has condemned the stripping away of freedoms for women and girls.

Supreme leader Hibatullah Akhundzada has ordered hundreds of new madrassas to be built as he establishes his Islamic Emirate based on sharia © - / AFP

No country has recognised the Taliban government, which is battling to keep afloat an economy where more than half the population face starvation, according to aid agencies.

Hosna, a former university student studying medicine, now teaches at a madrassa in Kandahar, reading verses of the Koran to a class of more than 30 girls who repeat the words back to her.

"Studying in universities helps to build a future, makes us aware of our rights," she said.

"But there is no future in madrassas. They are studying here because they are helpless."

The madrassa, located in an old building, has small classrooms with no electricity.

Despite the financial constraints faced by the management of the school, dozens of students attend classes for free.

Friendship and distraction

The educational value of madrassas is subject to fierce debate, with experts saying they do not provide the necessary skills for gainful employment as adults.

"Given the present conditions, the need for modern education is a priority," said Abdul Bari Madani, a scholar who frequently appears on local TV to discuss religious affairs.

"Efforts need to be taken so that the Islamic world is not left behind... letting go of modern education is like betraying the nation."

Authorities in Kabul have given several excuses for the closure of girls' schools © - / AFP

Around the world, some madrassas have been associated with militancy.

Many of the Taliban's leaders were educated at the Darul Uloom Haqqania madrassa in Pakistan, which earned the nickname "University of Jihad".

Niamatullah Ulfat, head of Islamic Studies at Kandahar province's education department, said the government is "thinking day and night on how to increase madrassas".

"The idea is that we can bring the new generation of this country into the world with good training, good teachings and good ethics," he told AFP.

Yalda, whose father is an engineer and mother was a teacher under the ousted US-backed regime, was top of her class at her old school, but still shines at the madrassa and has memorised the Koran within 15 months.

"A madrassa cannot help me in becoming a doctor... But it's still good. It's good for expanding our religious knowledge," the 16-year-old said.

The madrassa, on the outskirts of Kabul, is divided into two blocks -- one for girls and the other for boys.

The educational value of madrassas is subject to fierce debate, with experts saying they do not provide the necessary skills for gainful employment as adults © - / AFP

Still, classes are held at different times to ensure there is no interaction at all between the two sexes.

Several girls told AFP that attending a madrassa does provide some stimulation -- and the chance to be with friends.

"I tell myself that some day the schools might open and my education will resume," said Sara.

If not, she is determined to learn one way or the other.

"Now that there are smartphones and the internet... schools are not the only way to get an education," she added.

© 2023 AFP

Dengue treatment advances in animal trial

Dengue is endemic in dozens of countries, but no treatment exists


Issued on: 16/03/2023 - 

Tokyo (AFP) – A new dengue treatment that could become the first to prevent and treat the virus has proven effective in initial trials in monkeys, according to new research.

Dengue is transmitted by mosquitoes and affects tens of millions each year, producing brutal symptoms that have earned it the moniker "breakbone fever".

It is endemic in dozens of countries, but no treatment exists, and two vaccines that have been developed are not yet universally approved.

Two years ago, researchers published work showing a compound could effectively prevent the virus from replicating in cell cultures and mice by preventing the interaction between two proteins.

Now the team has refined the compound and tested it in both mice and monkeys, with "very encouraging" results, said Marnix Van Loock, lead for emerging pathogens at the Janssen Companies of Johnson & Johnson, a drug company.

In rhesus macaques, a high dose of the compound known as JNJ-1802 "completely blocked viral replication", he told AFP, while in control animals viral RNA was detected between day three and seven after infection.

In monkeys, the compound was tested against the two most prevalent of the four strains of dengue, and only for its preventative properties, rather than for treatment.

But it was tested for both treatment and prevention in mice, against all four types of dengue, with successful outcomes, Van Loock said.

Dengue can cause intense flu-like symptoms, and sometimes develops into a severe form which can be fatal.

Because there are four different strains, getting infected by one does not protect against another, and catching dengue a second time is often more serious.

Researchers have warned that a warmer, wetter climate which is more hospitable to mosquitoes is likely to increase the prevalence of viruses passed on by the insect.

With no treatment available, efforts currently focus on reducing transmission -- including by infecting mosquitoes with a bacteria.

A vaccine called Dengvaxia is approved for use only in some countries and is effective against a single strain.

A second vaccine, Qdenga, was approved last December for use by the European Union, and it has also been greenlighted by Britain and Indonesia.

There are still questions to answer about the treatment however, including whether it could increase vulnerability to reinfection.

When people contract dengue, the presence of the virus in their blood generally stimulates a potent immune response that protects them from future infection.

But in some people, the immune response is weaker and that leaves them vulnerable to reinfection, which can produce more serious symptoms.

It is not yet clear whether preventing or reducing viral replication could produce that same vulnerability to reinfection.

The researchers will need to submit safety data from their current phase of testing before moving ahead with further trials involving humans, including field studies in areas affected by dengue.

Van Loock was reluctant to speculate on when a treatment might realistically be deployable.

"We are guided by the science and the data that we generate to really answer that question," he said.

© 2023 AFP

Poland: John Paul II abuse cover-up claims divide a nation

Jacek Lepiarz in Warsaw

Pope John Paul II is still seen by many in Poland as a national hero and moral authority. A recent documentary has caused outrage by alleging that he covered up clerical sex abuse cases while archbishop of Krakow.

The private Polish television channel TVN24 has been reporting for years about child abuse in the Catholic Church in Poland and about attempts to sweep the scandals under the carpet. And the latest program in the series, broadcast just a week ago, has really stirred up a hornets' nest.

The journalists behind the documentary provided what they say is evidence that Pope John Paul II knew of cases of abuse but did not take sufficient action against the abusers.

John Paul II is a hugely admired figure in his native Poland

Beata Zawrzel/NurPhoto/picture alliance

Born Karol Wojtyla in 1920, he is often referred to as the "Polish pope." John Paul II is viewed as a national hero in his native Poland, not just because he became head of the Catholic Church and the first non-Italian pope since the 16th century but also because of his strong opposition to communism. He died in 2005 and was canonized in 2014.

Indeed, so great is his influence in Poland that the people who consider John Paul II to be their lodestar and point of reference and have been shaping politics and culture in Poland since the collapse of the Iron Curtain are even referred to as the "JP2 generation."
Three cases of abuse

The period under scrutiny in the TVN24 documentary was the 1960s and 1970s, when Karol Wojtyla was archbishop of Krakow — in other words, before he was elected pope in 1978.

The documentary focused on the cases of three priests who sexually abused minors and then — in some cases after serving prison sentences — were allowed to continue working as priests. In one case, the priest in question, who also worked as an informant for the communist secret service, was transferred to Austria.

TVN24, part of the US company Warner Bros. Discovery Inc., has long been a thorn in the side of the Polish right wing

Str/NurPhoto/picture alliance

Several of the victims spoke in the documentary, most of them anonymously. One of the victims claimed that he told Wojtyla about sexual abuse by one priest as far back as 1973. He says that the archbishop asked him not to say any more about it.
A gift for the government?

Some in Poland have said that the allegations should lead to a reassessment of John Paul II's legacy. Members of the opposition alliance The Left have even called for his name to be removed from public spaces, including schools and kindergartens named after him.

But Poland's ruling conservative political alliance, the United Right, has seized the opportunity presented by the documentary to divert attention away from its own problems. The Law and Justice party (PiS) — the largest party in the alliance — is under considerable pressure because of rising prices and several corruption scandals.

Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki: the accusations are 'an attempt to trigger a culture war in Poland'

Piotr Nowak/PAP/picture alliance

Coming just six months before parliamentary elections in Poland, the criticism of the popular pontiff is like manna from heaven for the government.

'An attempt to trigger a culture war'

The government's response was swift and strongly worded: Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki called the accusations "an attempt to trigger a culture war in Poland." Culture Minister Piotr Glinski went so far as to say that "an attack on the pope is an attack on Poland."

The current archbishop of Krakow, Marek Jedraszewski, sang a very similar tune, speaking of a "second assassination attempt on John Paul II." This was a reference to the fact that John Paul II was seriously injured by a gunman in the Vatican in May 1981.
Right wing rushes to the pope's defense

The PiS reacted swiftly by drafting a resolution for the parliament to "defend the good name of Saint John Paul II." The resolution read: "The Sejm [lower house of the Polish Parliament] … strongly condemns the shameful media campaign, based largely on the materials of the communist apparatus of violence, whose object is the Great Pope — Saint John Paul II, the greatest Pole in history."

The Polish Parliament passed a resolution to 'defend the good name of Saint John Paul II'

Slawomir Kaminski/Agencja Wyborcza.pl/REUTERS

The PiS parliamentary party dismissed the documents shown in the TVN24 report as having been "fabricated by the communists" and held up images of the deceased pope in the chamber during the debate. The resolution was passed by a large majority, with some members of the opposition voting with the PiS.

The speaker of the Parliament, Elzbieta Witek (PiS), also waded into the debate. "John Paul II is our identity, our foundation and our bond. The communists knew this perfectly well and that's why they sought to destroy him while he was alive. Today, their heirs are doing it after his death," she said in a televised address last Thursday. Witek went on to say that Pope John Paul II was "a beacon of freedom" for Poles.

Mobilizing voters with talk of a 'religious war'

In reality, the documents from the communist secret service, which are archived in the Institute of National Remembrance, IPN, are only part of the papers presented as evidence in the documentary. Court and church records, as well as victim statements, also featured prominently in the program.

Speaker of the Polish Parliament, Elzbieta Witek: Pope John Paul II was 'a beacon of freedom'

Damian Burzykowski/newspix/IMAGO

"The PiS is cynically using John Paul II as a means of holding onto power. The party assumes that it will mobilize its voters with this religious war, thereby securing a third term in power," said Justyna Dobrosz-Oracz of the Polish daily newspaper Gazeta Wyborcza.

 
Liberal icon defends the pope

Yet the dispute about the accusations against John Paul II transcends the usual left-right political divide. An icon of Poland's liberal opposition, Adam Michnik, the editor-in-chief of Gazeta Wyborcza, has called on people not to reduce the pope to the clerical sex abuse scandal.

 

Former civil rights activist Adam Michnik called on Poles not to reduce the deceased pope to the scandal

Michal Fludra/NurPhoto/picture alliance

The former civil rights activist, who declared himself in favor of an alliance between the church and the left-wing laity in the 1970s, recalled the late pope's contribution to the defeat of the communist dictatorship and his commitment to Poland joining the European Union. "Wojtyla was a child of his era. What is a matter of course for us today was not a matter of course 40 years ago," said Michnik, even before the TVN24 documentary was aired.

Church to set up inquiry

Even Pope Francis, the current head of the Catholic Church, has called for understanding. "You have to put things in the context of the era. [...] At that time everything was covered up. […] It was only when the Boston scandal broke that the church began to look at the problem," said the pope in a recent interview with the Argentine newspaper La Nacion.

In a first response to the documentary, the Polish Bishops' Conference declared that "further archival research" would be needed to arrive at a just evaluation of the decisions and actions of Karol Wojtyla.

It then announced yesterday that it had unanimously decided to put together "a team of independent specialists to search state and church archives to shed light on cases of the sexual abuse of minors by some clerics." It stressed that the report would focus on all dioceses and religious orders in Poland.

Adapted from the German by Aingeal Flanagan

Abortion pills at heart of reproductive rights challenges in Poland, US

Issued on: 15/03/2023 - 

Demonstrators wearing masks with the red lightning bolt, symbolising the Polish women's strike movement, attend a protest against Poland's strict abortion laws in Warsaw, on March 8, 2021. © AFP (Archive)

Text by: Bahar MAKOOI

An activist in Poland was convicted on Tuesday for helping a pregnant woman access abortion pills, as a legal case in the US attempts to ban access to medical abortion altogether. In countries where reproductive rights are already under threat, abortion pills can provide discreet access to safe terminations, but legal battles are blocking access to medicine.

Activist Justyna Wydrzynska was sentenced to eight months of community service on Tuesday, after Polish courts found her guilty of helping another woman to have an abortion.

Poland has some of Europe’s most restrictive abortion laws, with termination only allowed in cases of rape, incest or threat to the mother’s life or health.

Wydrzynska, who plans to appeal the ruling, was arrested in April 2022 for providing abortion pills to a woman named Anna who was around 12-weeks pregnant and a suspected victim of domestic violence.

“It happened in 2020 during the Covid crisis,” says Mara Clarke, co-founder of Supporting Abortions for Everyone (SAFE), a group that defends access to abortions in Europe. “The postal service wasn’t working as normal and we didn’t know if the medicine would arrive in time to help this woman if it was delivered from overseas.”

The World Health Organization (WHO) advises that medical abortions – carried out using tablets sometimes called abortion pills – can be safely self-managed at home in the first 12 weeks of pregnancy.

“Anna’s husband initially prevented her from going to get an abortion in Germany, and then confiscated her abortion pills after reading her messages,” says Clarke. He reported Wydrzynska to the police, who then conducted a search of her home.

The maximum penalty in Poland for providing help to carry out an abortion is three years in prison – this makes Wydrzynska’s case “the first time in Europe that an activist has risked being sent to prison for helping a woman who wanted to have an abortion”, says Clarke.

“The fact that Justyna Wydrzynska risked three years in prison for responding to a plea for help from a woman and from a mother who was trying to escape an abusive relationship is a crime in itself against human rights and the right to bodily autonomy.”
‘No other way’

“I'm not feeling guilty at all,” Wydrzynska said in a press conference on Wednesday. “I know I did right. When your reproductive rights are restricted in a country like Poland… there was no other way to help than to share the pills.”

The WHO recommends the use of two abortion pills, Mifepristone and Misoprostol, as an accessible and affordable means of terminating a pregnancy which can be taken anywhere, for example at home instead of in a hospital. (Misoprostol can also be used as a stand-alone drug.)

In addition, the pills can also be taken without direct supervision from a medical supervisor. As such, global usage surged during the Covid pandemic when access to normal health procedures was disrupted.

In France, the US, medical abortions now account for more than 50 percent of total terminations. In the UK and India almost all terminations are now carried out using abortion pills.

The safety and relative ease of taking the medicine also makes abortion pills a useful asset to women seeking abortions in countries where the law limits access.

In Poland, where there are severe restrictions on procedural abortions conducted by medical practitioners, abortion pills offer a discreet lifeline to safe terminations. Typically, activist groups purchase the tablets to be sent by post from external countries via third-party organisations in order to avoid legal consequences.

In the US (which, along with Poland, is one of only four countries to make abortion legislation more restrictive in the past three decades) the national postal service has emerged as a key channel to providing abortion pills in states where legislation has blocked access to terminations.
‘Fear and intimidation’

Yet, this channel is now under new threat. On Wednesday, a US judge in Amarillo, Texas heard arguments to ban sales of Mifepristone across the country – even in states where abortion is legal. This would mean that activists could no longer purchase the drug in states with more permissive laws to send to women facing restrictions.

Anti-abortion activists who brought the case to federal court hope that banning the prescription drug would move the country closer to a total ban on the practice, especially as the presiding judge, Matthew Kacsmaryk, is a deeply conservative Christian with a personal history of opposition to abortion and a court record of favoring right-wing causes.

The United States Food and Drug Administration has urged the judge to reject the request on the grounds that it would force women to have unnecessary surgical abortions and greatly increasing wait times at already overburdened clinics.

"The public interest would be dramatically harmed by effectively withdrawing from the marketplace a safe and effective drug that has lawfully been on the market for 22 years," it said. Current US laws allow use of Mifepristone up to 10 weeks of pregnancy.

At the same time in Texas, another case has been brought by a man suing three women who he says helped his wife obtain abortion pills.

He alleges the three women texted his former partner information about Aid Access, a group that provides abortion medication by mail, and that one of the women dropped off the pills to his ex-wife.

It is the first such lawsuit to be brought in the US since the Supreme Court overturned laws enshrining abortion as a fundamental right.

As in Poland, the case is a “terrifying example of how anti-abortion extremists use the judicial system as an instrument of fear and intimidation”, says Irene Donadio spokesperson for the International Planned Parenthood Federation European Network.
‘I would have done the same’

In Poland, Anna, the pregnant woman Wydrzynska gave abortion pills to, was never able to take the medicine. Days after her husband confiscated the pills, she miscarried. Yet, in an open letter published on March 2 she wrote to Wydrzynska to express her thanks.

“It was an expression of humanity. Because in a situation where people who had a moral obligation, and in some cases a legal obligation, to help me stood up and washed their hands, only you gave me a hand.”

For Donadio, it is no surprise that abortion pills are at the heart of legal challenges against abortion on both sides of the Atlantic. The fact that they can be taken without medical supervision, and even be bought in pharmacies in many countries, makes them an unprecedented channel for female empowerment.

“Medical abortion is clearly the result of medical progress that can be used to emancipate women and to protect their health,” says Donadio. “It is revolutionary. That's why it's so disturbing for certain forces because it allows women control over their body, over reproduction, and over their life.”

As well as opposition, there is also support for access to the medicine. In the US, if the federal judge does rule for a temporary ban on Mifepristone, the FDA would likely immediately appeal it, on the basis of the drug's history and its own authority to regulate pharmaceuticals.

In Poland, politicians seem to be hearing the message. On March 6, Wydrzynska spoke in front of MPs from Poland’s centre-left party, Nowa Lewica, to defend her actions. The next day a law aiming to criminalise communicating information about abortion failed to pass after being rejected by a large majority in parliament.

Activists are also unlikely to drop the cause. When Wydrzynska has appeared in court in Warsaw dozens of women have gathered holding banners bearing the message: “I would have done the same as Justyna”.

This article was adapted from the original in French.

Abortion pill under threat in Texas court case

Issued on: 15/03/2023 

Abortion rights adovcates gather in front of the courthouse in Amarillo, Texas on March 15, 2023

 © Moisés ÁVILA / AFP

Amarillo (United States) (AFP) – US abortion opponents are hoping for a national ban on a widely used abortion pill as their lawsuit against government drug regulators was argued Wednesday before a Texas judge believed to be sympathetic to their cause.

Galvanized after the US Supreme Court ended the nationwide right to abortion last June, anti-abortion forces are now targeting the prescription drug mifepristone in their campaign to win a total ban on the practice.

The suit against the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) takes aim at a pill involved in 53 percent of all abortions in the United States, or more than half a million every year.

While the FDA has never been challenged like this before on its approval of a drug that has proven safe and effective, the plaintiffs, a coalition of anti-abortion groups, believe they can win a national freeze on distribution of mifepristone.

Presiding over the case in federal court in Amarillo, Texas will be Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk, a conservative Christian with a personal history of opposition to abortion and a court record of favoring right-wing causes.

The case landed in his court via what critics call "judge-shopping," in which plaintiffs take legal action in a district where the judge has a history of rulings that support their case.

It is not clear when Kacsmaryk will make his decisions, but if he rules in favor of the plaintiffs, the US government is widely expected to appeal.

A small group of protesters gathered outside the courthouse Wednesday, carrying signs bearing slogans such as, "Not your uterus, not your decision" and "Defend medication abortion."

Lindsay London, a 41-year-old nurse, said the case was "100 percent ideologically based."

"If they were concerned about people's health there would be many other actions they would be taking. It's ideological, not based in science."

Record of safety

One component of a two-drug regimen used for medication abortion, mifepristone can be used in the United States through the first 10 weeks of pregnancy.

It has a long safety record, and the FDA estimates 5.6 million Americans have used it to terminate pregnancies since it was approved.

But the Alliance Defending Freedom, a conservative Christian advocacy group, sued the FDA, saying the approval of mifepristone "disavow(ed)" science, "ignored" potential health impacts and "disregarded" the complications that can arise with its use.
People wait in line to enter the courthouse in Amarillo, Texas where a conservative judge with a personal history of opposition to abortion is hearing a case on medication abortion © Moisés ÁVILA / AFP

"The FDA failed America's women and girls when it chose politics over science and approved chemical abortion drugs for use in the United States," they said.

The FDA has urged the judge to reject the request.

"The public interest would be dramatically harmed by effectively withdrawing from the marketplace a safe and effective drug that has lawfully been on the market for 22 years," it said.
Already banned in some states

Currently, some 15 states have laws restricting access to mifepristone by requiring a physician provide it, according to the Guttmacher Institute, a reproductive health policy and research group.

Abortion care has halted in another 13 states after the Supreme Court overturned the long-established constitutional right last June.

The Texas suit seeks to block mifepristone nationally by overturning the FDA's approval of the drug, and asks Kacsmaryk to first suspend the approval via injunction -- an effective ban -- while the lawsuit proceeds through his court.

Abortion rights groups say a ruling blocking mifepristone would be as earth-shaking as the Supreme Court's ruling last year.

"Access to medication abortion would end across the country -- even in those states where abortion rights are protected," the Center for Reproductive Rights said.

If Kacsmaryk does rule for a temporary ban on mifepristone, the FDA would likely immediately appeal it, on the basis of the drug's history and its own authority to regulate pharmaceuticals.

But abortion rights advocates were preparing for the worst.

"It seems unbelievable that a lone judge in Texas could make a ruling that would impact a product that has been FDA approved and safely marketed for more than two decades," said Elisa Wells, co-founder of Plan C, which helps people access medical abortions.

© 2023 AFP