ZIONIST MURDER

Palestinian prisoner dies in Israel after long hunger strike

JERUSALEM (AP) — A high-profile Palestinian prisoner died in Israeli custody on Tuesday after a nearly three-month hunger strike, Israel’s prison service announced, at a time of already soaring tensions between Israel and the Palestinians.

Khader Adnan, a leader in the Palestinian Islamic Jihad militant group, is the first Palestinian prisoner to die since Palestinian inmates began staging protracted hunger strikes about a decade ago. His death raises the potential for renewed violence between Israel and Palestinian militant groups as violence surges in the West Bank.

Shortly after his death was announced, Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip fired a volley of rockets into southern Israel. Palestinians called for a general strike in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, and protests were expected later in the day.

Palestinian prisoners have for years gone on lengthy hunger strikes to protest their detentions and to seek concessions from Israel. The tactic has become a last recourse for resistance against what Palestinians see as unjust incarcerations. The prisoners often become dangerously ill by refusing food but deaths are rare.

Dawood Shahab, an Islamic Jihad spokesman, called Adnan's death “a full-fledged crime, for which the Israeli occupation bears full and direct responsibility.”

Palestinian prisoners are seen as national heroes and any perceived threat to them while in Israeli detention can touch off tensions or violence. Israel has often conceded to demands to release prisoners or shorten their sentences after they staged life-threatening hunger strikes. Israel sees Adnan and other Palestinian prisoners as security threats accused of involvement in deadly attacks or plots.

Adnan, 45, began his strike shortly after being arrested on Feb. 5.

Over the years, he has been repeatedly arrested by Israel and became a symbol for steadfastness in the face of Israel's occupation when he began staging lengthy hunger strikes just over a decade ago.

Among his six hunger strikes was a 66-day protest in 2012, and two other strikes in 2015 and 2018 that lasted 56 and 58 days respectively. Israel released Adnan after the 2015 strike.

According to the Palestinian Prisoners Club, which represents former and current prisoners, Adnan was arrested 12 times and spent about eight years in Israeli prisons, most of that time under so-called administrative detention, in which suspects are held indefinitely without charge or trial.

Related video: Hopes for a Palestinian state further recede under Israel's new government (cbc.ca) View on Watch

His death comes as Israel is led by its most right-wing government ever, and as prisons and Palestinian prisoners are overseen by National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, an ultranationalist who has tightened restrictions on Palestinian prisoners, including shortening their shower time and closing prison bakeries.

Israel is currently holding over 1,000 Palestinian detainees without charge or trial, the highest number since 2003, according to the Israeli human rights group HaMoked.

That figure has grown in the past year as Israel has carried out almost nightly arrest raids in the occupied West Bank in the wake of a string of deadly Palestinian attacks in Israel in early 2022.

Israel says the controversial tactic helps authorities thwart attacks and hold dangerous militants without divulging incriminating material for security reasons. Palestinians and rights groups say the system is widely abused and denies due process, with the secret nature of the evidence making it impossible for administrative detainees or their lawyers to mount a defense.

Several Palestinians have gone on prolonged hunger strike in recent years to protest being held in administrative detention. In most cases, Israel has eventually released them after their health significantly deteriorated. Many have suffered irreparable neurological damage. Four prisoners on hunger strike died in the 1970s and 1980s as they were being force fed by Israeli authorities. Force-feeding was outlawed until 2015 when an Israeli law allowed a judge to sanction the practice in some circumstances. It’s unclear if the law has ever been invoked.

Adnan's lawyer and an Israeli rights group said Adnan's condition had been deteriorating and they had asked Israeli authorities to hospitalize him, where his medical condition could best be monitored. Physicians for Human Rights Israel, the rights group said that a doctor who had visited him several days ago had written a medical opinion outlining the immediate risk to his life, but that those entreaties were ignored.

“Khader Adnan chose a hunger strike as a last resort, a non-violent means of protest against the oppression of himself and his people,” the group said in a statement.

Israel’s prison service said Adnan had been charged this time with “involvement in terrorist activities." It said that Adnan was in a prison medical facility, but had refused medical treatment “until the last moment” while legal proceedings moved forward. It said he was found unconscious in his cell early Tuesday and transferred to a hospital where he was pronounced dead.

Palestinian groups called for a general strike in the Gaza Strip, Jerusalem and in cities across the West Bank on Tuesday, with schools and business closing for what organizers called a day of “general mourning."

The Israeli military said the missiles fired from the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip fell in open territory, causing no damage. The Islamic Jihad militant group said in a statement that “our fight continues and will not stop.”

Israel fought an 11-day war with Palestinian militants in Gaza, including Islamic Jihad, in May 2021.

Meanwhile in the West Bank, where Israeli-Palestinian violence has surged over the past year, Israeli officials said a suspected Palestinian shooting attack lightly wounded an Israeli man.

Israel and Palestinians in the West Bank have been locked in a bout of fighting for the past year. About 250 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire and 49 people have been killed in Palestinian attacks on Israelis.

Ilan Ben Zion, The Associated Press

Palestinian Detainee Khader Adnan Remains on Hunger Strike For 84th Day

Af.M | DOP - 30 April, 2023

The Palestinian detainee Khader Adnan entered Sunday, 30 April 2023, his 84th day of open hunger strike in Israeli jails in protest against his illegal administrative detention.

The health of Palestinian hunger striker Adnan, 44, deteriorated seriously as he continues his protest for the 84th day in a row against his administrative detention in an Israeli prison, the Palestinian Prisoners’ Club stated.

Adnan hailed from the Palestinian village of Arraba near Jenin. He launched his hunger strike immediately after he was arrested by the Israeli occupation forces on 5 February.

The father of nine — his youngest is just 18 months old — has been detained by the Israeli occupation authorities twelve times and has spent eight years in Israeli jails, mostly in administrative detention.

The Israeli occupation has escalated its administrative detention policy against Palestinians as the number of administrative detainees currently exceeded 760, including minors, women, and the elderly, according to the Palestinian Prisoners Commission. 

The Commission added that 80 percent of the administrative detainees are former prisoners who spent years in the prisons most were administrative detentions.

Israel’s illegal policy of administrative detention is a pre-emptive measure that allows the detention of Palestinians without charge or trial for lengthy periods of time based on disclosed allegations that even a detainee’s lawyer is barred from viewing.

Palestinian detainees have constantly resorted to hunger strikes as a method to oppose their administrative detention, demanding an end to this illegal policy that violates international law and Human rights accords. 

Palestinian Detainees Commission Holds Israeli Occupation Responsible for Detainee’s Life

M.S | DOP - 1 May, 2023

The Palestinian Commission of Detainees and Ex-Detainees held Monday, May 1, 2023, the Israeli occupation fully responsible for the life of the Palestinian detainee Qasim Musallam who suffers from Israeli policy of medical negligence as other sick prisoners.

The commission said, “The detainee Musallam, who is in the Israeli Gilboa prison, suffers from nervous spasms in his feet, and the prison administration still refuses to provide him medical treatment.”

“He suffers from high blood pressure, high diabetes, and permanent pains in the spine. He got all these diseases while he was in – Israeli – prison cells,” It added.

It called for the international community to act and end the Israeli occupation and its escalating crimes against the Palestinian detainees and the Palestinian people which are against all international norms and agreements.

It’s reported that the detainee Qasim Musallam, from Nablus, has been detained by Israeli troops on November 15, 2023, and he is sentenced to 30 years in prison.

 

Amnesty International Accuses Israeli Occupation of Entrenching Apartheid Through Facial Recognition Technology

M.Y | DOP - 2 May, 2023

On Tuesday, Amnesty International released a report demonstrating the Israeli attempts to set up state-of-the-art facial recognition technology at checkpoints in Hebron, a West Bank city, to acquire biometric info from Palestinians.

The report on the Israeli surveillance in the West Bank reveals that a system referred to as Red Wolf is surreptitiously scanning the faces of Palestinians and compiling their biometric information to construct a database for the whole population.

Amnesty International, in their report named Automated Apartheid, has urged the international community to set up laws that would forbid companies from providing the Israeli occupation with surveillance technology.

Their report affirms that “Israeli authorities are using facial recognition technology to maintain apartheid”. The organization also demands a universal embargo on the sale of weaponry and military provisions to the Israeli occupation.

It has been previously reported by the media that the Israeli occupation has employed facial recognition technologies in the West Bank and Hebron; however, the current report offers fresh details about the sophisticated system set up at checkpoints within the city.

The report says that when Palestinians pass through a checkpoint with Red Wolf in place, their faces are scanned and checked against biometric records in databases that only store information about Palestinians, without their knowledge or permission. If there is no existing record for someone, their face is scanned and stored in the system automatically.

The report indicates that a Palestinian may be denied passage through a checkpoint if there is no record of them being allowed entry. Additionally, the system could refuse entry based on other data linked to Palestinian profiles, such as if an individual is wanted for questioning or arrest.

A former Israel Defense Forces soldier, who was testified by the Breaking the Silence organization about the Red Wolf system, was quoted in the report. Apparently, at each checkpoint, there are approximately 10 to 15 cameras. As soon as the Palestinians get there and go through the checkpoint, their picture is taken and they are identified.

The report states that there is considerable proof suggesting a connection between Red Wolf, Wolf Pack, and Blue Wolf. Wolf Pack is a database that aggregates data on Palestinians living in the West Bank, while Blue Wolf is an app usable on smartphones that has access to the Wolf Pack database, and can recognize Palestinians by facial recognition or using their ID number.

This report also reveals the extensive security system of thousands of CCTV cameras in East Jerusalem that the Israeli occupation maintains. It is said that the amount of cameras placed in the Sheikh Jarrah and Silwan areas rose markedly after the launch of the aggression on Gaza in May 2021.

Agnès Callamard, the Secretary General of Amnesty International, commented on the report, saying that the Israeli authorities are leveraging advanced surveillance technology to deepen segregation and intensify the apartheid imposed on Palestinians. Particularly in the H2 region of Hebron, the organization found evidence of the Red Wolf facial recognition system being employed to limit Palestinians’ freedom of movement by monitoring their movements in the city using unlawfully obtained biometric data.

In response to Amnesty’s report, Breaking the Silence commented that the occupation extends beyond roadblocks, arrests, and home invasions, but has evolved into a more sophisticated and discreet form of control and repression as it has gone on.

 

IOF Kidnap Several Palestinians in West Bank

B.M | DOP - 30 April, 2023

Israeli occupation forces IOF kidnapped several Palestinians during military raids in the occupied West Bank on Sunday morning, April 30, 2023.

Palestinian local sources reported that IOF invaded Bethlehem, south of the occupied West Bank, and kidnapped three Palestinians, including an ex-detainee.

The sources pointed out that Israeli forces abducted the Palestinians Khader Ajajia, 22, Mohammed Shusha, 17, and the ex-detainee Azzam Hamamra.

In addition, the sources explained that IOF searched and wreaked havoc on the detainees’ homes in the early hours of Sunday.

On a daily basis, Israeli occupation forces carry out morning raids on Palestinian homes in the occupied West Bank, terrorizing Palestinian families.

During the Israeli military raids, Palestinian families in the occupied West Bank are subjected to either terror, arrest, or even murder.

Dauntless developer Phoenix Labs lays off 9% of studio

Story by Nicole Carpenter • Yesterday 

Image: Phoenix Labs

Dauntless developer Phoenix Labs has laid off 9% of the studio, the company confirmed to Polygon Monday. The layoffs were announced internally last week; several employees tweeted about the layoffs. It comes months after the company was spun out of Singapore-based Garena, which acquired the studio in January 2020.

Management, backed by investors, bought Phoenix Labs from Garena in February 2023 to take the company private, according to Venture Beat. Phoenix Labs said at that time it had 30 titles in different stages of development, and announced that Dauntless reached 30 million players. Phoenix Labs declined to share exactly how many people are impacted by the layoff, nor would it confirm how many people it employs. LinkedIn lists Phoenix Labs’ employee base at 308 people, suggesting roughly 30 people were impacted by the layoff.

Phoenix Labs has employees in both the United States and Canada.

“As part of the reorganization, we worked diligently to find new assignments for as many employees as possible,” a Phoenix Labs representative said. “While we succeeded in reassigning many people, there were cases where we had to part ways with some talented folks. In total, 9% of our total employees have been affected, including some out of Montreal and some working remotely in the United States. In addition to severance and benefits coverage extensions, we’ve offered assistance for job placement in an effort to ease transition for all affected employees.”

Phoenix Labs has not announced its new projects, but noted they have a “wide range” in style and genre. Fae Farm, a co-op farming game, is expected out in 2023. The company is also still supporting free-to-play role-playing game Dauntless, which was originally released in 2019.

The Supreme Court's Citizens United decision was a pain in the neck for Democrats. Now, it could be used to their advantage in the Disney v. DeSantis feud.

Story by ktangalakislippert@insider.com (Katherine Tangalakis-Lippert) • Yesterday 

Left: Gov. Ron DeSantis speaks to Iowa voters on March 10. 

Right: Mickey Mouse in a parade at Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World. 

Disney lawyers argue Gov. Ron DeSantis is retaliating against the company for protected speech.
A legal expert told Insider precedent was set in the Citizens United v. FEC Supreme Court case.
Democrats have criticized the ruling since 2010 but may now benefit from its power against the GOP governor.

When the Supreme Court in 2010 handed down its ruling on Citizens United v. FEC, Democrats were scandalized. Then-President Barack Obama warned it would "open the floodgates" to corporations influencing politics by diminishing restrictions on corporate speech.

But now, as Disney v. DeSantis has become an actual legal battle — with the Walt Disney Corporation suing the Florida governor for retaliating against it after CEO Bob Iger criticized DeSantis' policies — the political roles have reversed. Liberals remain scandalized (albeit for different reasons) but now seek the protections the Citizens United ruling offers.

Citizens United explained

The 2010 ruling held, in a 5-4 decision, that corporations can spend as much as they like to convince people to vote for or against political candidates as long as the spending is independent of the candidates themselves, siding with the conservative nonprofit group that argued the FEC should not have been able to restrict it from airing a film critical of presidential candidate Hillary Clinton close to the 2008 election.

The court had previously upheld certain corporate restrictions, such as a time limit before elections after which companies could not fund political advertisements, arguing that the limits played a role in preventing corruption. Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote in the majority opinion that the expenditures had a small chance to influence political outcomes and limiting "independent political spending" from businesses and other groups, such as unions, violates their free speech rights.

"The First Amendment does not allow political speech restrictions based on a speaker's corporate identity," Justice Kennedy wrote.

"Imagine the power this will give special interests over politicians," Obama argued at the time, speaking in the Rose Garden after scolding the Supreme Court justices during his 2010 State of the Union address for the decision.

Democrats quickly made repealing the ruling a rallying cry. At the same time, during the lead-up to the 2012 election, pro-business Republicans like presidential candidate Mitt Romney argued "corporations are people," and corporate spending is their speech, drawing further ire from liberal voters.

Despite Democratic protests and attempts to overturn it, the ruling has remained in place for over a decade — but now, with Disney execs objecting to DeSantis' controversial "Don't Say Gay" bill and other policies, liberals are suddenly keen to protect at least one company's speech.

Representatives for the Walt Disney Corporation and the offices of Senator Romney, President Biden, and former President Obama did not immediately respond to Insider's requests for comment.

Related video: Florida Democrat: DeSantis becoming known for attacking Disney and democracy (MSNBC   Duration 2:18   View on Watch

Reuters Experts say Disney has strong case against Desantis

1:24

News18 Why Is Disney Suing Ron DeSantis, The Governor Of The US State Of Florida? | English News | News18

3:16

MSNBC Republicans voice concern over DeSantis' ongoing fight with Disney

5:47

A political reversal

As recently as 2020, a decade after the Citizens United decision, President Joe Biden lambasted the ruling: "It's not enough to just end Citizens United — we have to eliminate all private dollars from our federal elections."

Though he didn't mention the decision by name, Biden struck a different tone on Saturday, joking during the White House Correspondents' Association Dinner while discussing the Disney feud, saying: "I believe in the First Amendment, and not just because my good friend Jimmy Madison wrote it," before adding: "I had a lot of Ron DeSantis jokes ready, but Mickey Mouse beat the hell out of me and got there first."

"I think all politicians are opportunistic to some extent. All humans are," Michael C. Dorf, a constitutional law professor at Cornell University, told Insider.

Dorf suggested, for example, that anybody could support liberal tax reform while still maximizing the deductions they are eligible for or support minimal federal intervention nationwide, except on issues they're passionate about, which they think should be subject to federal law: "I think there's a lot of that opportunism, you could call it hypocrisy, in politics — it just seems sort of especially blatant in this case, but I think it's a difference of degree rather than kind."

He added: "The people who, for the most part, don't like Citizens United are liberal-leaning, but, in this case, they're sort of on the side of the big corporation and against the government, so in that sense, there's a bit of a reversal. But there's also a bit of a reversal from the other direction."

Dorf highlighted that DeSantis' platform had taken the traditionally pro-business Republican ideology and turned it on its head, with the GOP Governor aiming at one of the largest employers in the state by trying to strip the theme park of its self-governing district status and drawing condemnation from his own party for the anti-corporate tactics.

In response to a request for comment by Insider, Governor DeSantis' office did not respond to questions about retaliation or the right to political speech, but referenced comments made during an event in Jerusalem last week, where DeSantis said: "the idea that somehow being pro-business means giving companies their own governments, that is not what a free market is all about, last I checked. In fact, they've been treated much different than Universal, SeaWorld, and all these other places, and so they're upset because they're actually having to live by the same rules as everybody else. "

The Reedy Creek Improvement District was created by the Florida state legislature in 1967, giving the district its own taxing and governance structure, similar to a county government. Landowners — primarily Walt Disney World — pay for municipal services like water, infrastructure development, and security.

"It's very odd that DeSantis is sort of trying to build a national political brand on being anti-woke and what he seems to mean by being woke is that people who are woke are censorious, right? They're telling you what words to use, and they're trying to control it," Dorf told Insider. "And yet here he is, using the power of government to retaliate against the company for exercising its right to political speech."

Disney's likelihood of success

Dorf said he expects that Disney will prevail against DeSantis on the grounds of the precedent set in Citizens United — as well as other cases, as he outlined in a blog post — though Disney's success in court is not dependent on the Supreme Court's rulings being ideologically agreeable, just legally sound.

"The complaint draws some of its most powerful evidence from DeSantis' own unintentionally ironically titled and blandly platitudinous memoir 'The Courage to be Free.' Technically, allegations in a complaint aren't 'evidence,' but if the case goes to trial, there would be little difficulty getting the underlying statements into evidence," Dorf wrote in his analysis of the case.

He added: "Lawyers for the defendants (DeSantis plus seven other Florida officials) will likely argue that the legislature had mixed or unknowable motives, but no fair-minded person can read the recent events as anything other than retaliation."

However, because Disney is not seeking damages — only a reversal of the revocation of its district status — it's unclear what a settlement between the state and the company might look like.

"Nor do I think, if DeSantis is about to launch a presidential campaign, will he likely want to settle," Dorf told Insider.

"He might be content to let this drag out in the courts. And even if he loses, he can then have it as a badge of honor like: 'I went to bat against this woke corporation' — or whatever he wants to call it."

Coons: Harris has struggled to get positive press coverage, credit for work

Story by Stephen Neukam • Yesterday 

 Provided by The Hill

Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.) defended Vice President Kamala Harris on Sunday as she faces questions amid President Biden’s 2024 reelection campaign, arguing she has not received the credit she deserves for her accomplishments in the administration.

“The vice president, like many vice presidents, has struggled to get positive press coverage and to get the credit she deserves for the hard work that she’s been doing,” Coons said on ABC’s “This Week.”

Harris has faced criticism from the beginning of the Biden administration, with her approval rating usually lagging below the president’s. Her current average approval rating is 42.1 percent, according to an aggregation by FiveThirtyEight, and it has dipped as low as 29 percent over the last two years. And with a chief executive who is in his 80s, the quality of the vice president is under an unusually strong microscope.

Related video: Capehart: GOP attacking Kamala Harris shows ‘her strength’ ahead of 2024 election (MSNBC)  Duration 6:47 View on Watch

But despite the lagging poll numbers, Coons on Sunday praised Harris’s performance in the office.

“The vice president’s ready to run and ready to be president, should that ever happen,” Coons said. “I know our president has great confidence in her and so do I.”

The praise for Harris comes after former Biden Chief of Staff Ron Klain also went to bat for Harris, saying on a podcast last week that Biden is Harris’s biggest supporter in the administration.

“I think she was not as well known in national politics before she became vice president,” Klain said in an interview on the podcast “On with Kara Swisher” released last Thursday. “She hasn’t gotten the credit for all that she’s done; she’s done a lot of very hard work.”

These adorable sand cats could be under threat

Story by Nell Lewis • CNN

It was only seven years ago that sand kittens were photographed in the wild for the first time. Unsurprisingly, images of the tiny, furry cats went viral on the internet. Few people had seen these desert-dwelling fluffballs before and scientists knew very little about the species.

But thanks to new research, this is beginning to change. In March, a four-year-long study on sand cats was published in the Journal of Arid Environments. It provides the largest dataset on the home range of sand cats ever recorded and reveals how these elusive wild cats survive in harsh, dry environments across North Africa, the Middle East and southwest and central Asia.

In looks, sand cats are similar to their domestic relatives but they are slightly smaller and have larger ears to hear their prey. Although equally adorable, these cats are not for petting. They are lethal killers, with the report finding evidence of them preying on rodents and reptiles, including venomous snakes.


The sand cat has been observed hunting the venomous Saharan horned viper, pictured here buried in the sand. - Grégory Breton

“They eat several (prey) per night to get their energy intake and they don’t drink at all,” says Dr. Grégory Breton, managing director of Panthera France, the global wild cat conservation organization, and co-author of the study. “They rely on the blood from their prey to get fluid and water.”

The cats are also extraordinarily stealthy. Their sandy color camouflages them in the desert environment, they bury their feces and they don’t leave remains of their prey, while sand quickly sweeps away their paw prints.

This elusive nature is no doubt one of the reasons sand cats have been so under-reported, says Breton. Although the species was first scientifically recorded in 1858 – after being spotted in the northern Sahara by a French soldier – there have only been a handful of research articles published on it since, many with scant data.

Yet the mystery around the sand cat is what sparked Breton’s curiosity, leading him to start researching the species in 2013. “They are very fascinating because nothing has really been done on them,” he says, adding that deeper understanding of the species could help to inform conservation efforts.

Small cats travel huge distances

The study, which was carried out in partnership between Panthera, Cologne Zoo and Rabat Zoo, focused on an area of scorching desert in southern Morocco, where temperatures can reach up to 50 degrees Celsius (122 degrees Fahrenheit). A team of five, including scientists and a veterinarian, captured and fitted 22 sand cats with VHF radio collars and intermittently followed and observed them between 2015 and 2019.

The results were astonishing, says Breton. “We are rejecting many of the assumptions that were made before.”


Sand cats travel further during the night than any other cat their size. - Grégory Breton

The first of these is a new estimate for the sand cat’s home range. Previous studies suggested that sand cats move across an area of up to 50 square kilometers (19 square miles), but Breton’s team showed their range to be far bigger – with one sand cat covering an area of up to 1,758 square kilometers (679 square miles) in just over six months. The report notes that sand cats appear to travel greater distances than any other cat of their size, including black-footed cats and African wildcats. In fact, their ranges even rival that of much larger cats such as lions, tigers and leopards, says Breton.

The study also suggests that sand cats may lead a nomadic lifestyle, shifting from one home to another depending on rainfall or environmental conditions. While more research needs to be done to confirm this theory, Breton believes it would be “a real breakthrough” because no other wild cat species is known to be nomadic. “The desert environment is the driving force behind their habits and behavior,” he adds.

Sand cats in danger

The report’s findings could have serious implications for the sand cat’s conservation status. The species is currently listed as “least concern” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), but the new information on home range sizes could mean that the population is smaller than previous estimates, and the authors are urging the IUCN to reconsider the sand cat’s listing.

Breton thinks the sand cats may be more endangered than was previously thought, “given their home range, the limited resources and the fragile ecosystem.”


Sand cats are likely to become more threatened as climate change affects their habitat. - Gregory Breton

He notes that their desert habitat is extremely fragile and vulnerable to climate change. There are also local threats from shepherd dogs that sometimes kill sand cats; domestic cats carrying diseases that are dangerous for the wild species; and there have also been cases of sand cats being captured for the illegal pet trade, he adds.

Urs Breitenmoser, co-chair of the IUCN SSC Cat Specialist Group, welcomes the new research on the “understudied cat species.” He believes it will be useful in the ongoing reassessment of the sand cat’s listing. But he cautions that the study is from one area on the far western edge of the sand cat’s wide range.

“The question will be how representative the new information is for the entire species and distribution range,” he says.

Breton believes that further research will be key to protecting the sand cats and he encourages other scientists to carry out similar studies across the species’ range. “We need to better understand their behavior, how they move and use the landscape, and to clearly identify the threats,” he says.

‘Return to Dust’: Love and poverty in rural China - review

Story by By HANNAH BROWN • Apr 24,2023

‘RETURN TO DUST’© (photo credit: Qizi Films Limited)

The phrase “eking out a living” evokes fathomless poverty and hardship. Ruijun Li’s Return to Dust, which opens in theaters all over Israel on April 27, tries to show what that expression actually means, as it combines a moving love story with a look at the tragedy of rural poverty in China.

It’s a slow-paced movie, which demands patience from viewers, and will be too austere for the vast majority of moviegoers.

In its opening scene, relatives from two families plan a match for relatives they consider a burden, who passively accept their proposal and marry. Ma (Renlin Wu) lives alone in a shack with his donkey, barely speaking to anyone. Cao (Hai-Qing) suffers from a debilitating and embarrassing medical condition and walks with a limp, and her family barely tolerates her. Each is so lonely that finding another soul to share their life with is a gift that neither takes for granted. Renlin Wu and Hai-Qing excel in minimalist acting in which each shows their pleasure in the other’s company with the tiniest facial movements and shifts in body language.

They live in a remote village that seems to have been all but forgotten by the government. This is not the China of huge cities and factories, but a place where people live much as they have for thousands of years.

Ma and Cao don’t have the energy or temperament to head for a city and only know a life of agriculture. At first, it seems improbable that, even combining their efforts, they could manage to live off the small patch of land that is theirs to farm, but they work constantly and are able to grow crops and raise animals, aided by Ma’s trusty donkey. The movie lovingly shows the details of how they work their fields, care for their animals and build a hut out of blocks of mud. The cinematography is lovely, and when they sit in their cabin, lit only by a fire, their faces look like Rembrandt portraits.


A donkey that guards sheep at the University of Florida 

(credit: SAMANTHA BROOKS)

In the movie’s most poignant scene, Cao tells Ma that when she saw him for the first time, he shared his food with his donkey and treated the animal affectionately.

“I saw that the donkey had a better life than I did,” she tells him, and except for one scene when he grows frustrated because she is too weak to load their wagon with wheat, he treats her with great love and respect, unlike her biological family.

An uglier story of inescapable poverty

While the movie celebrates their love, it also tells an uglier story, but in a less coherent way. They cannot afford doctors, but medical science is advanced enough in their region for an ailing, wealthy landlord to know that he and Ma share the same rare blood type. He pays Ma for donating blood to him, but Ma clearly has no choice but to comply, an illustration of how he is literally being bled dry by the system. This system, which ensures that no matter how hard they work, they can barely get by, is presented as if it were a kind of natural phenomenon. No one criticizes the government and there is no anger at the authorities, who do nothing to help people like Ma and Cao.

At one point, they are shown an apartment in a new building, and Ma’s brother urges them to move in, as a camera crew documents the scene. When Ma asks where their donkey, pigs and chickens will live in this apartment, his very serious question is treated like a joke, and no one answers it, but the truth is that they cannot live without their animals.

As far as those animals go, the one shown most often is their gentle, cute donkey, and it seems this animal is having a cinematic moment, with such recent movies as The Banshees of Inisherin and EO featuring donkeys front and center.

The movie was initially a huge success in China, but was later removed from theaters and streaming platforms, in a move seen as censorship, even though the film makes no explicit criticism of the government. In the version shown in China, dialogue was added at the end to give the movie a more upbeat conclusion.

While the acting and cinematography are outstanding, at times I felt frustrated with how gleamingly wonderful the two main characters were. The truth is, no one would want to see a movie where characters fighting to stay alive in the face of great poverty bicker or drink to excess; so in order to get audiences to sit through this, theirs must be a great love story.

Even if you enjoy the story of their relationship, it’s a tough movie to sit through, and you will need the patience of a farmer to truly get into it.

Santiago Pena wins Paraguay vote, keeps rightwing party in power

Story by AFP • Yesterday 

Paraguay's new president Santiago Pena, 44, is an economist and former finance minister© NORBERTO DUARTE

Paraguayans on Sunday elected a president from the rightwing party in power for nearly eight decades, rejecting a center-left challenger who had railed against endemic institutional corruption.


Colorado Party candidate Santiago Pena has said he would move Paraguay's embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem© Luis ROBAYO

Economist and former finance minister Santiago Pena, 44, took the election with more than 42 percent of the vote to continue the hegemony of the conservative Colorado Party, results showed.


Paraguay: polling stations open in Lambare for general and presidential elections© Elena BOFFETTA

Sixty-year-old challenger Efrain Alegre of the Concertacion center-left coalition garnered nearly 27.5 percent despite having gone into the vote with a narrow lead in opinion polls.

The outcome bucked a recent anti-incumbency trend in Latin American elections with voters repeatedly punishing establishment parties, often in favor of leftist rivals.

The Colorado Party has governed almost continually since 1947 -- through a long and brutal dictatorship and since the return of democracy in 1989, but has been tainted by corruption claims.

Pena's political mentor, ex-president and Colorado Party leader Horacio Cartes, was recently sanctioned by the United States over graft.



Center-left candidate Efrain Alegre lost despite having had a narrow lead in pre-vote opinion polls© Luis ROBAYO

Pena thanked Cartes in his first public address as president-elect for his "stubborn dedication to the party," to loud cheers from supporters at party headquarters.

Conceding defeat, Alegre stated: "The effort was not enough."

Around 4.8 million of Paraguay's 7.5 million inhabitants were eligible to vote Sunday for a replacement for President Mario Abdo Benitez, who is leaving office after a constitutionally limited single five-year term.

Paraguay: polling stations open in Lambare for general and presidential elections

Duration 1:29 View on Watch

They also voted for new lawmakers, with the Colorado Party winning the highest share of the upper house Senate votes at 43 percent.

Voting is mandatory in Paraguay, though only 63 percent turned out.

Key issues for voters were endemic corruption, a spiraling crime problem and poverty.

- Ties to Taiwan -

On the international stage, Pena's win defuses fears that Paraguay would end diplomatic relations with Taiwan in favor of China.

Unlike his challenger, Pena had vowed to continue recognizing the self-ruled democracy, which counts a dwindling number of allies as Beijing pushes to isolate it.

Alegre had mooted a shift to China for the economic and trade benefits.

On Monday, Taiwan's President Tsai Ing-wen congratulated Pena on his win.

"I look forward to furthering our countries' longstanding relationship and to seeing the government and people of Paraguay prosper under your leadership," she said on Twitter.

Pena has also promised to move Paraguay's embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

Paraguay had previously moved its embassy in 2018, under Cartes, but reversed its decision within months, raising the ire of Israel.

"Yes, I would go back to Jerusalem," Pena told AFP before the vote.

"The State of Israel recognizes Jerusalem as its capital. The seat of the Congress is in Jerusalem, the president is in Jerusalem. So who are we to question where they establish their own capital?"

Moving an embassy to Jerusalem is highly contentious. Israel claims all of Jerusalem as its capital while Palestinians view east Jerusalem as the capital of their future state.

- Hoping for 'least worse' -

Like challenger Alegre, Pena is socially conservative, with strong stances against abortion and same-sex marriage in an overwhelmingly Catholic nation.

Alegre had repeatedly pointed to corruption in the Colorado Party.

Paraguay is ranked 137 out of 180 countries on Transparency International's Corruption Perceptions Index.

Paraguay's GDP is expected to grow 4.8 percent in 2023, according to the central bank, and 4.5 percent, according to the International Monetary Fund -- one of the highest rates in Latin America.

But poverty plagues a quarter of the population.

Paraguay's Indigenous groups and inhabitants of squalid shantytowns feel especially neglected, and many had said they would not vote.

Pena had pledged to create half-a-million jobs, without saying how.

"From tomorrow (Monday) we will begin to design the Paraguay that we all want, without gross inequalities or unjust social asymmetries. We have a lot to do," he said in his victory speech.

Crime is also a concern, with an anti-mafia prosecutor, a crime-fighting mayor and a journalist murdered in 2022 as cartels settle scores.

Experts say landlocked Paraguay -- nestled between Brazil, Bolivia and Argentina -- has become an important launchpad for drugs headed for Europe.

"We hope the least worse wins. All have their weaknesses," Marta Fernandez, 29, told AFP after casting her ballot in Asuncion.

Also in the capital, 60-year-old voter Ana Barros said: "You have to have at least hope, that there will be less crime. It is what I hope as a mother, that the children can study and have work."

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How much does the British royal family cost? It’s complicated

Al Jazeera




The coronation of King Charles III on Saturday is again shining the global spotlight on every aspect of the British royal family, including their cost to the public.

The issue of cost is especially germane as the United Kingdom grapples with one of Europe’s worst cost-of-living crises amid double-digit inflation.

While much of the funding of the British monarchy is publicly accounted for, the true picture of the royal family’s cost is complicated – not least because of disagreement about the extent of the institution’s financial and other benefits.

Much of the royal family’s expenses are covered by an annual taxpayer-funded payment known as the Sovereign Grant, which in the 2021-2022 financial year was set at 86.3 million pounds ($108m) – roughly 1.29 pounds ($1.61) for every person in the UK.

The payment stems from an agreement King George III made with the British government in 1760 to give up income from the monarchy’s properties in exchange for a fixed annual payment.

While the Crown Estate is owned by the monarch for the duration of his or her reign, it is not their private property – meaning it cannot be bought or sold – and is independently managed by a board that is approved by the monarch on the advice of the prime minister.

Most of the money the Crown Estate generates goes to the public purse to fund services like police and hospitals.


The royal family received 86.3 million pounds ($108m) through the Sovereign Grant in the 2021-2022 fiscal year

 [File: Kin Cheung/AP]© Provided by Al Jazeera

The Sovereign Grant, formerly known as the Civil List, is a set percentage of the profits that is given to the royal family each year

Since 2017-2018, the payment has been set at 25 percent of the profits, up from 15 percent initially.

Most of the payment goes towards property maintenance, followed by payroll costs, travel and other expenses, such as events and functions.

Apart from the tax-funded payments, the royal family enjoys considerable personal wealth in the form of private art and jewellery collections and income generated by two massive property portfolios known as the duchies of Lancaster and Cornwall.

Outside the UK, the costs for Commonwealth realms such as Canada and Australia are confined to relatively minimal spending on the governor-general, the monarch’s official representative, and occasional royal visits.

While the Sovereign Grant is a fixed amount, actual spending varies each year.

The ongoing refurbishment of Buckingham Palace drove up spending to 102.4 million pounds ($128m) in 2021-2022 with the resulting shortfall covered by unused funding from previous years.

“Some years are higher, such as when the monarch or royal surrogates are asked by the British Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office to make diplomatic visits,” Alex Penler, a doctoral candidate in history at the London School of Economics and Political Science, told Al Jazeera.

“It also is higher for big events like the queen’s funeral or the coronation, which cost the British taxpayer more in security fees,” she said.

The Sovereign Grant does not include the cost of security for the royal family and some critics argue that official figures vastly underestimate the true burden on the taxpayer.

Republic, an organisation that lobbies for an elected head of state, has estimated the total annual cost of the monarchy to be 345 million pounds ($431m).

Critics also point to indirect costs, such as the royal family’s exemption from inheritance taxes, although King Charles, like Queen Elizabeth II before him, does voluntarily pay tax on the income from his private estate.


Former Liberal Democrat MP Norman Baker is a critic of the British monarchy

 [File: Suzanne Plunkett/Reuters]© Provided by Al Jazeera

Norman Baker, a former Liberal Democrat member of parliament and the author of And What Do You Do?: What The Royal Family Don’t Want You To Know, said the British monarchy is bad value both on its own terms and in comparison to other constitutional monarchies.

“It costs, even according to the palace’s own figures, twice as much as any other monarchy in Europe,” Baker told Al Jazeera.

“And actually that is a grotesque underestimate because there are a number of benefits to the royal family which aren’t available to other monarchies in Europe, for example, the exemption from death duties,” Baker said, estimating that Queen Elizabeth’s private wealth alone would be subject to taxes of up to 400 million pounds ($440m) if she had not been a royal.

Baker said members of Britain’s royal family have failed to learn from the modernising example of constitutional monarchies in Scandinavia, which is “illustrated by the fact that when the king of Norway, for example, took the throne, he had to undertake an oath to uphold democracy and serve the people”.

“In the British version, we have to serve him,” he said.



The royal family’s supporters say they bring large tourism revenues to the UK

 [Kin Cheung/AP]© Provided by Al Jazeera

Many of the royal family’s supporters argue that the money they receive is a drop in the bucket compared with the financial and other benefits they bring in.

While the royal family’s effect on the economy is difficult to quantify, it is widely thought to be considerable.

Brand Finance, which bills itself as the world’s leading brand valuation consultancy, estimated that the royals contributed 1.77 billion pounds ($1.95bn) to the UK economy in 2017 through a combination of the Crown Estate’s revenues and indirect benefits for tourism, trade, media and the arts.

John Balmer, a professor of corporate marketing at Brunel Business School, said the British royal family is unmatched as a global brand with the exception of the pope.

“The monarchy is also a heritage attraction in terms of tourism and in terms of promoting British brands,” Balmer told Al Jazeera.

“As a corporate brand, it also endorses other brands. Many institutions have a royal title, and this gives them prestige, such as The Royal Opera House, the Royal College of Art, Royal Ascot Races,” Balmer said.

“Royal Warrants, where an organisation is designated as being ‘by appointment to his Majesty the King’ and where the royal coats of arms are displayed by the company concerned, can be worth an additional 5 percent in sales. The coronation, according to the UK hospitality sector, will be a considerable boom for the economy.”

Richard Fitzwilliams, a media commentator on the royals, said the royal family should be seen as a “bargain” for the British taxpayer.

“Whatever reason, the facts are you’ve got enormous interest. You have got fascination and that all helps a country’s profile,” Fitzwilliams told Al Jazeera.

“Post-Brexit and with the cost-of-living crisis and other problems, there’s no doubt at all that the way Britain gets goodwill, the best use of its soft power, would seem to be its monarchy,” he said.

Fitzwilliams said he viewed criticism of the royal family’s tax arrangements and financial affairs as an effort to “salami slice” the institution itself.

“It seems to me that it is, at the moment, handled very well,” he said.


The monarchy is one of the most recognisable symbols of Britishness worldwide

 [File: Niharika Kulkarni/Reuters]© Provided by Al Jazeera

The argument for spending taxpayers’ money on such an ostentatious and elitist institution as the monarchy, especially during straitened times, may prove more difficult to sustain under King Charles.

King Charles is much less popular among the British public than Queen Elizabeth, although more than half of Britons still have a favourable view of the new monarch, according to a recent YouGov poll.

Penler said the royal family could take steps to appear less removed from the public to secure the legitimacy of the institution for the future, such as by moving out of Buckingham Palace or paying more taxes. Charles himself has reportedly discussed plans for a “slimmed-down” monarchy, which could see a reduction in the number of working royals who depend on the public purse.

“The royals need to constantly prove they’re useful to the British people, and if Charles can do this, the benefits will continue to outweigh the costs,” Penler said.

“The hard part is that economically, we know they’re great for Britain, but it’s important that the everyday person see this in their lives. This is what happened with Brexit because people didn’t feel the impact of the EU, they didn’t see a problem leaving it.”

“This is why the royals are constantly making public visits, working for their charities, etc.,” she added. “If they are seen as constantly working, then their value will be seen as outweighing the costs. In this, it’s all about perception.”