Germany returns remains of 95 Indigenous people, including mummified tattooed skulls, to New Zealand

Members of The Tainui Waka Alliance tribe welcome the 20 Maori mummified tattooed heads returned from France in 2012.   -  Copyright  AFP/Marty Melville

By Giulia Carbonaro  •  Updated: 14/06/2023 - 16:59

The initiative is part of Germany's plan to return Indigenous artefacts looted or improperly acquired during colonial times to their homelands.

The remains of 95 Maori and Moriori people, including six mummified tattooed heads, will no longer be exhibited in seven museums and universities in Germany, thousands of kilometres away from their homeland, after they’ve finally made their way back to New Zealand today.

The move is part of Germany’s plan to return stolen or improperly acquired indigenous articles to their countries of origin. Back in May 2018 and 2019, Germany already returned to New Zealand a Maori skull which had been bought by a Cologne professor from a London dealer in 1908 and several artefacts which had been looted or traded in the 19th century.

The latest batch of ancestral remains arrived in New Zealand on Wednesday, according to the country's Ambassador to Germany Craig Hawke. A private ceremony attended by Hawke was organised in Germany to bid farewell to the remains as they embarked on the repatriation journey to “Aotearoa”  -- the contemporary Maori language name for New Zealand.

Hawke remarked that the remains of the Indigenous people had spent “more than a century away from their homeland” and that their return showed the “mature and close relationship” between the two countries.

“Our relationship goes deeper than a traditional diplomatic relationship, to one of culture, science and knowledge exchange. These repatriations are a poignant example of our collaborative partnership,” Hawke said.

Once in New Zealand, the remains will be taken over by Te Papa, the country’s national museum, together with other artefacts and cultural treasures which were in Germany’s possession. They were previously owned by Germany’s Grassi Museum, Leipzig, the Reiss Engelhorn Museum, Mannheim, Linden Museum, the Stuttgart State Museum of Natural History, the Georg August University in Gottingen, the Roemer und Pelizaeus Museum, Hildesheim, and Museum Wiesbaden.

Te Papa announced that the remains were welcomed back home with a special repatriation ceremony.

“As we celebrate 70 years of diplomatic relations between Aotearoa New Zealand and Germany, these repatriations demonstrate the mature and close relationship we share,” said the Te Papa museum’s head of repatriation, Te Herekiekie Haerehuka Herewini.

The museum has received more than 600 returned ancestral remains since its foundation in 2003, the latest of which -- before the German one -- was from France. The Quai Branly Museum in Paris reluctantly returned to New Zealand 20 mummified tattooed heads of Indigenous individuals -- known as Toi moko -- in 2012, after a four-year political struggle.

French Ambassador to New Zealand Francis Etienne carries one of 20 Maori Toi Moko from the Marae after a Maori welcome ceremony at Te Papa Museum in 2012.AFP/Marty Melvill

Last December, Germany returned 20 Benin bronzes to Nigeria, in what foreign minister Annalena Baerbock called an effort to address the country’s dark colonial times. While Germany had not directly stolen the bronze sculptures from the Kingdom of Benin -- British troops had done that -- the country had ended up with custody of some of the bronzes.

 

Which European countries trust the media most?

Finland's Prime Minister takes part in a debate held by Finnish broadcaster YLE. The report found high trust in media in the country.   -  Copyright  Antti Aimo-Koivisto / Lehtikuva / AFP

By Scott Reid  •  Updated: 14/06/2023 - 17:15

Report shows wide variations in different countries between how much trust people have in jouarnalism.

A major international study has revealed huge variations between European countries in how much people trust news outlets. 

The 2023 Reuters Institute Digital News Report surveyed more than 93,000 people in 46 markets covering half of the world's population.

Trust in news internationally fell two percentage points, with four in ten people saying they trust most news most of the time. 

However, behind the international figure is a massive difference between different countries. 

Finland has the highest levels of trust based on this measurement, at 69%. Other European countries with very high levels of trust include Portugal, Denmark, Norway and Sweden.

The report suggests there are lower levels of trust in countries with "higher degrees of political polarisation", such as Hungary and Greece. The report pointed to Greece having gone through a year "characterised by heated arguments about press freedom and the independence of the media"

Beyond this single measurement, however, there are differences between news outlets. For example, in the UK, where only 33% said they trusted most news most of the time, the BBC was trusted by 61% and other major broadcasters and some newspapers were not far behind. 

The study also found a large fall in some countries in the number of people interested in the news, again partially due to political polarisation. 

Digging further into the figures, the report found people in many countries specifically avoided the news, with Greece (57%), Bulgaria (57%), Argentina (46%), Poland (44%) and the UK (41%) in the lead when people were asked "do you find yourself actively trying to avoid news these days?" 

The proportion of people who said they were very or extremely interested in news in France and Spain have also nosedived. France fell from 59% to 36% from 2015 to 2023, with Spain falling from 85% to 51% over the same period. 

The report cited two anonymous people interviewed, with one stating they had to sometimes turn away from the news "for the sake of my mental health". 

Another said they specifically avoided news about the UK economy "as it is just depressing".

How traditional Indigenous education helped four lost children survive 40 days in the Amazon jungle

                                    EPA-EFE/MILITARY FORCES OF COLOMBIA

THE CONVERSATION 

Published: June 14, 2023 

The discovery and rescue of four young Indigenous children, 40 days after the aircraft they were travelling in crashed in the remote Colombian rainforest, was hailed in the international press as a “miracle in the jungle”. But as an anthropologist who has spent more than a year living among the Andoque people in the region, conducting ethnographic fieldwork, I cannot simply label this as a miraculous event.

At least, not a miracle in the conventional sense of the word. Rather, the survival and discovery of these children can be attributed to the profound knowledge of the intricate forest and the adaptive skills passed down through generations by Indigenous people.

During the search for the children, I was in contact with Raquel Andoque, an elder maloquera (owner of a ceremonial longhouse), the sister of the children’s great-grandmother. She repeatedly expressed her unwavering belief the children would be found alive, citing the autonomy, astuteness and physical resilience of children in the region.

Even before starting elementary school, children in this area accompany their parents and elder relatives in various activities such as gardening, fishing, navigating rivers, hunting and gathering honey and wild fruits. In this way the children acquire practical skills and knowledge, such as those demonstrated by Lesly, Soleiny, Tien and Cristin during their 40-day ordeal.

Indigenous children typically learn from an early age how to open paths through dense vegetation, how to tell edible from non-edible fruits. They know how to find potable water, build rain shelters and set animal traps. They can identify animal footprints and scents – and avoid predators such as jaguars and snakes lurking in the woods.

Amazonian children typically lack access to the sort of commercialised toys and games that children in the cities grow up with. So they become adept tree climbers and engage in play that teaches them about adult tools made from natural materials, such as oars or axes. This nurtures their understanding of physical activities and helps them learn which plants serve specific purposes.

A local Indigenous girl on an excursion to gather edible larvae. 

Image courtesy of Eliran Arazi, Author provided

Activities that most western children would be shielded from – handling, skinning and butchering game animals, for example – provide invaluable zoology lessons and arguably foster emotional resilience.
Survival skills

When they accompany their parents and relatives on excursions in the jungle, Indigenous children learn how to navigate a forest’s dense vegetation by following the location of the sun in the sky

Map showing where in Colombia the four lost children are from. Oryx, Author provided

Since the large rivers in most parts of the Amazon flow in a direction opposite to that of the sun, people can orient themselves towards those main rivers.

The trail of footprints and objects left by the four children revealed their general progression towards the Apaporis River, where they may have hoped to be spotted.

The children would also have learned from their parents and elders about edible plans and flowers – where they can be found. And also the interrelationship between plants, so that where a certain tree is, you can find mushrooms, or small animals that can be trapped and eaten.

Stories, songs and myths

Knowledge embedded in mythic stories passed down by parents and grandparents is another invaluable resource for navigating the forest. These stories depict animals as fully sentient beings, engaging in seduction, mischief, providing sustenance, or even saving each other’s lives.

While these episodes may seem incomprehensible to non-Indigenous audiences, they actually encapsulate the intricate interrelations among the forest’s countless non-human inhabitants. Indigenous knowledge focuses on the interrelationships between humans, plants and animals and how they can come together to preserve the environment and prevent irreversible ecological harm.

This sophisticated knowledge has been developed over millennia during which Indigenous people not only adapted to their forest territories but actively shaped them. It is deeply ingrained knowledge that local indigenous people are taught from early childhood so that it becomes second nature to them.

It has become part of the culture of cultivating and harvesting crops, something infants and children are introduced, as well as knowledge of all sort of different food sources and types of bush meat.

Looking after each other

One of the aspects of this “miraculous” story that people in the west have marvelled over is how, after the death of the children’s mother, the 13-year-old Lesly managed to take care of her younger siblings, including Cristin, who was only 11 months old at the time the aircraft went down.

Iris Andoque and her brother Nestor Andoque and brother-in-law Faustino Fiagama, after the two men returned from the search team. Iris Andoque Macuna., Author provided

But in Indigenous families, elder sisters are expected to act as surrogate mothers to their younger relatives from an early age. Iris Andoke Macuna, a distant relative of the family, told me:

To some whites [non-Indigenous people], it seems like a bad thing that we take our children to work in the garden, and that we let girls carry their brothers and take care of them. But for us, it’s a good thing, our children are independent, this is why Lesly could take care of her brothers during all this time. It toughened her, and she learned what her brothers need.

The spiritual side

For 40 days and nights, while the four children were lost, elders and shamans performed rituals based on traditional beliefs that involve human relationships with entities known as dueños (owners) in Spanish and by various names in native languages (such as i'bo ño̰e, meaning “persons of there” in Andoque).

These owners are believed to be the protective spirits of the plants and animals what live in the forests. Children are introduced to these powerful owners in name-giving ceremonies, which ensure that these spirits recognise and acknowledge relationship to the territory and their entitlement to prosper on it.

Raquel Andoke, a relative of the missing children and friend of the author.

 Image courtesy of Eliran Arazi, Author provided

During the search for the missing children, elders conducted dialogues and negotiations with these entities in their ceremonial houses (malocas) throughout the Middle Caquetá and in other Indigenous communities that consider the crash site part of their ancestral territory. Raquel explained to me:

The shamans communicate with the sacred sites. They offer coca and tobacco to the spirits and say: “Take this and give me my grandchildren back. They are mine, not yours.”

These beliefs and practices hold significant meaning for my friends in the Middle Caquetá, who firmly attribute the children’s survival to these spiritual processes rather than the technological means employed by the Colombian army rescue teams.

It may be challenging for non-Indigenous people to embrace these traditional ideas. But these beliefs would have instilled in the children the faith and emotional fortitude crucial for persevering in the struggle for survival. And it would have encouraged the Indigenous people searching for them not to give up hope.

The children knew that their fate did not lie in dying in the forest, and that their grandparents and shamans would move heaven and earth to bring them back home alive.

Regrettably, this traditional knowledge that has enabled Indigenous people to not only survive but thrive in the Amazon for millennia is under threat. Increasing land encroachment for agribusiness, mining, and illicit activities as well as state neglect and interventions without Indigenous consent have left these peoples vulnerable.

It is jeopardising the very foundations of life where this knowledge is embedded, the territories that serve as its bedrock, and the people themselves who preserve, develop, and transmit this knowledge.

Preserving this invaluable knowledge and the skills that bring miracles to life is imperative. We must not allow them to wither away.

Author

Eliran Arazi
PhD researcher in Anthropology, Hebrew University of Jerusalem

In blow to Russian LGBTQ+ community, lawmakers weigh a bill banning gender transitioning procedures

Russian lawmakers have given initial approval to a bill that would severely restrict gender-affirming medical care and prevent making any changes in reference to gender on official documents

ByDASHA LITVINOVA

 Associated Press
June 14, 2023,

FILE - Gay rights activists hold a banner reading "Homophobia - the religion of bullies" during their action in protest at homophobia, on Red Square in Moscow, Russia, on July 14, 2013. 
The Associated Press

TALLINN, Estonia -- Russian lawmakers gave initial approval Wednesday to a bill that would outlaw gender transitioning procedures in yet another blow to the country's beleaguered LGBTQ+ community.

Senior lawmaker Pyotr Tolstoy, who is among the bill’s sponsors, has said it is intended to “protect Russia with its cultural and family values and traditions and to stop the infiltration of the Western anti-family ideology.”

Russia's LGBTQ+ community has been under growing pressure for a decade as President Vladimir Putin and the Russian Orthodox Church embarked on a campaign to preserve what they deem the country’s “traditional values.”

The bill bans any “medical interventions aimed at changing the sex of a person,” as well as changing one’s gender in official documents and public records.

Russian transgender people and LGBTQ+ rights advocates contacted by The Associated Press described the measure as a grim development.

“We knew that they didn’t like us here, but to go absolutely against human rights, against the existing laws even," said Maxim, a 29-year-old transgender activist who spoke on condition of anonymity because of safety concerns.

The only option for those seeking to transition through medical care or changing their gender in documents would be to leave the country, according to human rights lawyer Max Olenichev, who works with the Russian LGBTQ+ community. “Neither medical, nor legal transitioning will be possible without changing the country of residence.”

The bill must receive three readings by Russia’s lower house of parliament, the State Duma, but there is little doubt it will pass because about 400 members of the 450-seat house signed it, including the house speaker and the leaders of all political factions.

The independent Russian news outlet Meduza reported that such a massive show of unity has happened only three times before under Putin, most recently when 385 Duma members signed on to a bill last year to ban “propaganda of nontraditional sexual relations” among adults.

That initiative was quickly rubber-stamped, and by December 2022, any positive or even neutral representation of LGBTQ+ people in movies, literature, or media was outlawed. The bill severely restricting trans rights came just a few months after that.

The crackdown on the LGBTQ+ community started well before last year, however. Maria Sjödin, executive director of the Outright international LGBTQ+ rights group, told AP in an interview that the situation in Russia has been deteriorating “over quite a long period of time, coming up on at least 10 years.”

In 2013, the Kremlin adopted the first legislation restricting LGBTQ+ rights, known as the “gay propaganda” law that banned any public endorsement of “nontraditional sexual relations” among minors. In 2020, Putin pushed through a constitutional reform that outlawed same-sex marriage.

But the Kremlin has ramped up its rhetoric about protecting “traditional values” from what it called the West's “degrading” influence after sending its troops into Ukraine last year, in what rights advocates saw as an attempt to legitimize the war.

“Do we really want to have here, in our country, in Russia, ‘Parent No. 1, No. 2, No. 3’ instead of 'mom' and ‘dad?’" Putin said in September at a ceremony during which four Ukrainian regions were formally annexed by Moscow. "Do we really want perversions that lead to degradation and extinction to be imposed in our schools from the primary grades?”



Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.

Facial recognition emerges as AI rulebook’s make-or-break issue

EU Parliament’s harder stance on the issue runs counter to the Commission’s broader proposal.

The European Parliament wants to crack down on the use of facial recognition in public places

 | Thomas Coex/AFP via Getty Images

BY GIAN VOLPICELLI
JUNE 14, 2023 

Forget ChatGPT: The battle brewing over artificial intelligence in Brussels is about facial recognition.

On Tuesday, the European Parliament's plenary passed its version of the Artificial Intelligence Act after two years of wrangling. The text — backed by a coalition of Socialists and Democrats, center-right Christian Democrats of the EPP, liberals from Renew, and Greens — passed by a large margin, with 499 lawmakers giving it their final approval, 28 voting against and 93 abstaining. Yet until the very end, one issue threatened to scupper the deal: The Parliament's text, as presented, would ban facial recognition.

The Parliament wants to crack down on the use of facial recognition in public places, an area considered one of artificial intelligence's riskiest uses.

AIs powering facial-recognition cameras (and tools designed to identify individuals relying on other biometric indicators) are dogged by biases, sometimes struggling to tell non-white people apart, for instance. Politicians also support the ban as a way to differentiate between Europe's approach to AI and that of authoritarian countries.

"We know facial recognition for mass surveillance from China; this technology has no place in a liberal democracy," Svenja Hahn, a German member of Parliament for Renew, told POLITICO ahead of the vote.

The European Commission's AI Act proposal, floated in 2021, outlawed facial recognition in public spaces, but included exceptions to the ban in order to search for missing children, dangerous criminals and terrorists.

The key lawmakers working on the file removed those exceptions and expanded the ban's scope. Their text would forbid devices from using facial recognition tech in real-time and impose limits for using the technology on pre-recorded footage.

Some center-right lawmakers worried that would hamper law enforcement. Last week, over objections from Christian Democrat lawmakers in charge of the file, the EPP group filed amendments to reintroduce exceptions to the ban. The amendments were rejected by the plenary — but a real showdown on the issue has been only postponed.

The AI Act's final version needs to be negotiated among lawmakers, Commission officials, and attachés from EU member countries in three-way discussions known as trilogues, which kick off tonight. Attachés from four major European countries told POLITICO that accepting a full-on ban on facial recognition is out of the question; the Commission is likely to remain wedded to its broader proposal.

Lawmakers are ready to fight, though. "We have won in Parliament to maintain a clear safeguard — to avoid any risk of mass surveillance," Brando Benifei, one of the two lawmakers leading work on the AI Act in Parliament, said at a press conference after the vote. "We need to negotiate with the governments, but today's result gives us a stronger position.

"I'm sure we'll bring the EPP with a more responsible attitude back to the table. We need them," he added.

European lawmakers sign off on world's first set of rules for artificial intelligence

European Union's main goal is to guard against AI threats to health, safety

Associated Press

Lawmakers in Europe signed off Wednesday on the world’s first set of comprehensive rules for artificial intelligence, clearing a key hurdle as authorities across the globe race to rein in AI.

The European Parliament vote is one of the last steps before the rules become law, which could act as a model for other places working on similar regulations.

A yearslong effort by Brussels to draw up guardrails for AI has taken on more urgency as rapid advances in chatbots like ChatGPT show the benefits the emerging technology can bring — and the new perils it poses.


Here's a look at the EU's Artificial Intelligence Act:

How Do the Rules Work?

The measure, first proposed in 2021, will govern any product or service that uses an artificial intelligence system. The act will classify AI systems according to four levels of risk, from minimal to unacceptable.

Riskier applications, such as for hiring or tech targeted to children, will face tougher requirements, including being more transparent and using accurate data.

It will be up to the EU’s 27 member states to enforce the rules. Regulators could force companies to withdraw their apps from the market.

In extreme cases, violations could draw fines of up to $43 million or 7% of a company’s annual global revenue, which in the case of tech companies like Google and Microsoft could amount to billions.

EUROPEAN LAWMAKERS LOOK TO REIN IN HARMFUL EFFECTS OF AI

What Are the Risks?

One of the EU's main goals is to guard against any AI threats to health and safety and protect fundamental rights and values.

That means some AI uses are an absolute no-no, such as "social scoring" systems that judge people based on their behavior.

Also forbidden is AI that exploits vulnerable people, including children, or uses subliminal manipulation that can result in harm, for example, an interactive talking toy that encourages dangerous behavior.

Predictive policing tools, which crunch data to forecast who will commit crimes, is also out.

Lawmakers beefed up the original proposal from the European Commission, the EU’s executive branch, by widening the ban on real-time remote facial recognition and biometric identification in public. The technology scans passers-by and uses AI to match their faces or other physical traits to a database.

A contentious amendment to allow law enforcement exceptions such as finding missing children or preventing terrorist threats did not pass.

AI systems used in categories like employment and education, which would affect the course of a person's life, face tough requirements such as being transparent with users and taking steps to assess and reduce risks of bias from algorithms.

The ChatGPT app is seen on an iPhone in New York, on May 18, 2023. European Parliament lawmakers are due to vote on June 14, 2023, on rules for artifical intelligence. 

(AP Photo/Richard Drew, file)

Most AI systems, such as video games or spam filters, fall into the low- or no-risk category, the commission says.

What About ChatGPT?

The original measure barely mentioned chatbots, mainly by requiring them to be labeled so users know they’re interacting with a machine. Negotiators later added provisions to cover general purpose AI like ChatGPT after it exploded in popularity, subjecting that technology to some of the same requirements as high-risk systems.

One key addition is a requirement to thoroughly document any copyright material used to teach AI systems how to generate text, images, video and music that resemble human work.

That would let content creators know if their blog posts, digital books, scientific articles or songs have been used to train algorithms that power systems like ChatGPT. Then they could decide whether their work has been copied and seek redress.

Why Are the EU Rules So Important?

The European Union isn't a big player in cutting-edge AI development. That role is taken by the U.S. and China. But Brussels often plays a trend-setting role with regulations that tend to become de facto global standards and has become a pioneer in efforts to target the power of large tech companies.

The sheer size of the EU's single market, with 450 million consumers, makes it easier for companies to comply than develop different products for different regions, experts say.

But it's not just a crackdown. By laying down common rules for AI, Brussels is also trying to develop the market by instilling confidence among users.

"The fact this is regulation that can be enforced and companies will be held liable is significant" because other places like the United States, Singapore and Britain have merely offered "guidance and recommendations," said Kris Shrishak, a technologist and senior fellow at the Irish Council for Civil Liberties.

"Other countries might want to adapt and copy" the EU rules, he said.

Businesses and industry groups warn that Europe needs to strike the right balance.

"The EU is set to become a leader in regulating artificial intelligence, but whether it will lead on AI innovation still remains to be seen," said Boniface de Champris, a policy manager for the Computer and Communications Industry Association, a lobbying group for tech companies.

"Europe’s new AI rules need to effectively address clearly defined risks, while leaving enough flexibility for developers to deliver useful AI applications to the benefit of all Europeans," he said.

Sam Altman, CEO of ChatGPT maker OpenAI, has voiced support for some guardrails on AI and signed on with other tech executives to a warning about the risks it poses to humankind. But he also has said it’s "a mistake to go put heavy regulation on the field right now."

Others are playing catch up on AI rules. Britain, which left the EU in 2020, is jockeying for a position in AI leadership. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak plans to host a world summit on AI safety this fall.

"I want to make the U.K. not just the intellectual home but the geographical home of global AI safety regulation," Sunak said at a tech conference this week.

What’s Next?

It could be years before the rules fully take effect. The next step is three-way negotiations involving member countries, the Parliament and the European Commission, possibly facing more changes as they try to agree on the wording.

Final approval is expected by the end of this year, followed by a grace period for companies and organizations to adapt, often around two years.

Brando Benifei, an Italian member of the European Parliament who is co-leading its work on the AI Act, said they would push for quicker adoption of the rules for fast-evolving technologies like generative AI.

To fill the gap before the legislation takes effect, Europe and the U.S. are drawing up a voluntary code of conduct that officials promised at the end of May would be drafted within weeks and could be expanded to other "like-minded countries."

Palestinian woman gives birth to quadruplets using sperm smuggled from her imprisoned husband

The family sent pictures of the four newborns to Ahmed so that he could see his children, who have been named Najah, Abdel Rahim, Rakan and Raya

June 13, 2023 




A Palestinian woman from the Gaza Strip today revealed that she has given birth to quadruplets she conceived through sperm smuggled from her husband, who has been held in Israeli prisons for 15 years.

Thirty-three-year-old Rasmiyya, wife of Ahmed Shamali, said she gave birth on 3 May at Al-Makassed Hospital in occupied East Jerusalem.

Shamali said: "The birth was dangerous and early, at the end of the seventh month of pregnancy, the hospital was forced to place them in incubators for more than 37 days."

She returned to the Gaza Strip on Sunday through the Beit Hanoun-Erez crossing, she added.

Ahmed 's mother, Najah, said: "This is the third time we have tried implanting embryos fertilised through smuggled sperm since Ahmed's arrest in 2008, thanks be to God this time it was a success."

"The success of the process was a moment of great joy, the impact of this on us and on Ahmed cannot be described."

The family sent pictures of the four newborns to Ahmed so that he could see his children, who have been named Najah, Abdel Rahim, Rakan and Rayan.

Ahmed is due to be released in three years, his mum explained, adding that he had two children before being arrested in 2008 near the eastern borders of Gaza City.

He is serving 18 years on charges of belonging to the Fatah movement, according to the family.

The Palestinian Prisoners Club said seven children were born through smuggled sperm in 2022.

Xi puts forward three-point proposal for settlement of Palestinian question

CGTN JUNE 14, 2023

Chinese President Xi Jinping put forward a three-point proposal for the settlement of the Palestinian question during his talks with visiting Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Beijing on Wednesday.

Xi stressed that the Palestinian question has remained unresolved for over half a century, causing great sufferings to the Palestinian people; justice must be done to Palestine as soon as possible.

First, the fundamental solution lies in the establishment of an independent state of Palestine that enjoys full sovereignty on the basis of the 1967 borders and with East Jerusalem as its capital, he said.

Second, Palestine's economic and livelihood needs should be met, and the international community needs to step up development assistance and humanitarian aid to Palestine, he said.

Third, it is important to keep to the right direction of peace talks. The historical status quo of the holy sites in Jerusalem should be respected, and excessive and provocative words and actions should be avoided.

A large-scale, more authoritative and more influential international peace conference should be convened so as to create conditions for the resumption of peace talks and contribute tangible efforts to help Palestine and Israel live in peace, he said.

"China stands ready to play a positive role to assist Palestine in achieving internal reconciliation and promote peace talks," Xi said.

Source(s): Xinhua News Agency

China backs indpendent Palestine based on 1967 borders

(Cover: Chinese President Xi Jinping holds a welcoming ceremony for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China, June 14, 2023. /Xinhua)

TEHRAN, Jun. 14 (MNA) – Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas met with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing where they agreed to establish a strategic partnership between the two countries.

During the Wednesday meeting, Xi said this partnership will mark a new stage in their relations that will build on their past achievements and open up new prospects for the future.

China will work with Palestine to enhance their friendship and cooperation in all fields, he said, emphasizing that the two states are good friends and good partners who trust and support each other.

He said China has always firmly supported the Palestinian people's just cause of restoring their legitimate national rights.

"Facing unprecedented changes in the world and the new developments in the Middle East, China stands ready to strengthen coordination and cooperation with Palestine, and work for a comprehensive, just, and durable solution of the Palestinian question at an early date," Xi said.

Xi also told Abbas that China is willing to play a positive role to help the Palestinians achieve internal reconciliation and resume talks with the Israeli regime, according to Chinese media reports.

According to Xi, the fundamental solution to the Palestinian issue lies in the establishment of an independent Palestinian state based on the 1967 borders with al-Quds as its capital," Chinese state media reported, referring to the so-called two-state solution for the Palestine conflict.

Xi also reiterated Chinese support for the Palestinian Authority becoming a full member of the United Nations, and said Beijing would continue to stand up for the Palestinian side in multilateral forums.

He added that the international community should provide more development assistance and humanitarian aid to the Palestinians.

The two presidents also signed several bilateral documents, including an economic and technological cooperation agreement.

Abbas arrived in Beijing on Monday for a three-day visit to meet with top Chinese leaders including President Xi and Premier Li Qiang.

Beijing has recently positioned itself as a mediator in the Middle East, brokering the restoration of ties in March between Iran and Saudi Arabia.

In April, Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang told Palestinian and Israeli officials that his country was ready to help negotiations based on the two-state solution.

Abbas and Xi also met on December 8, 2022, in Riyadh, where the two held talks on the sidelines of the first China-Arab States Summit. The Chinese president said at the time Beijing would continue supporting the Palestinian cause.

“No matter how the international and regional situation may change, China firmly supports the just cause of the Palestinian people and will always stand with them,” Xi said then.

SKH/Press TV

Democrats call Biden methane proposal ‘insufficient’

BY RACHEL FRAZIN - THE HILL - 06/15/23 

A group of Democratic senators is calling on the Biden administration to go further to address methane emissions from oil and gas production, saying the current proposed rule is “insufficient.”

Specifically, the lawmakers say it does not adequately address flaring — a process by which excess gas is burned off, releasing planet-warming methane into the atmosphere.

“With respect to flaring … we believe that the approach proposed in the supplemental notice is insufficient to meet the requirements of section 111,” the senators wrote in a Thursday letter, referring to a section of the Clean Air Act.

“It would also allow continued massive volumes of methane and carbon dioxide emissions from wasteful flaring of saleable gas resources,” they added.

Methane is a planet-warming gas that is more than 25 times as powerful as carbon dioxide. It can come from various sources, including oil and gas production, agriculture and landfills, and is responsible for about 20 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions.

The letter was addressed to Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Michael Regan. It was signed by 14 Democrats and one independent senator who caucuses with them.

The EPA says its proposed regulations would address 87 percent of methane emissions from the sector, but the senators still expressed concern about whether it will be effective.

Specifically, they raised concerns about the proposal’s language that allows gas flaring when it is not feasible to use as fuel, saying this effectively puts companies in charge of regulating themselves.

“State oil and gas regulations typically already prohibit ‘waste’ of gas without reason, but have, in most states, manifestly failed to prevent widespread routine flaring,” they argued in the letter. “Thus, EPA’s proposal would merely enshrine the status quo in federal regulation, allowing the massive greenhouse gas emissions from flaring to continue unabated.”

The group called on the EPA to instead prohibit flaring with some narrow exemptions. The lawmakers also asked the agency to propose new regulations “as soon as possible” that deal with an Inflation Reduction Act program that provides companies with financial assistance to reduce their methane emissions and also fines those that emit large quantities of the gas.

Reached for comment, an agency spokesperson provided The Hill with an emailed statement that only addressed the timeline for regulations related to the program, known as the Methane Emissions Reduction Program.

“EPA appreciates the need for timely implementation of the Methane Emissions Reduction Program, which incentivizes early adoption of innovative technologies and best practices, allowing the United States to quickly achieve greenhouse gas emissions reductions and energy savings,” a statement from spokesperson Shayla Powell said.

“EPA is expeditiously working to implement this important Inflation Reduction Act program and looks forward to our continued partnership with Congress,” Powell added.

The lawmakers that signed onto Thursday’s letter are Sens. Tom Carper (D-Del.), Ed Markey (D-Mass.), Ben Cardin (D-Md.), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Tina Smith (D-Minn.), Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), Angus King (I-Maine), Peter Welch (D-Vt.), Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.), Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), Michael Bennet (D-Colo.) and Cory Booker (D-N.J.).

Archives ignites investigation of DHS inspector general following deleted texts

BY REBECCA BEITSCH - THE HILL - 06/15/23 


The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) on Thursday kicked off an investigation into Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Inspector General Joseph Cuffari, bypassing the DHS watchdog by asking another agency official to examine his recordkeeping practices.

The move comes after Cuffari told lawmakers during a hearing he routinely deletes text messages from his government-issued phone because he did not consider them to be official records — a possible violation of recordkeeping laws.

“NARA requests that DHS provide NARA with the required report documenting IG Cuffari’s practices with respect to the management of electronic messages, and in particular all messages that meet the definition of a federal record,” the agency wrote in a letter to DHS Chief Information Officer Eric Hysen.

Requests to review potential violations of public records laws are often referred to inspectors general, but the NARA inquiry to another official within DHS comes after Democrats on the House Oversight Committee asked the Archives to intervene in the matter.

Cuffari has also faced calls to resign by two Democrats who argued is it “troubling, to say the least, that you have been routinely destroying or deleting official government records in violation of a law that your office is supposed to enforce.”

Cuffari answered “yes” earlier this month when Rep. Glenn Ivey (D-Md.) asked him during an appearance before the House Oversight and Accountability Committee whether he deletes text messages from his phone.

“It’s my normal practice to delete text messages,” Cuffari said, answering, “Correct,” when Ivey asked whether he does this on an ongoing basis.

The two then sparred over whether those phone records should be retained.

“I don’t use my government cellphone to conduct official business,” Cuffari said, though he pushed back when Ivey asked if the messages he deleted were related to personal business.

“I did not consider those to be federal records, and therefore, I deleted them,” Cuffari said. “It’s a clearly defined statute that places requirements on what a federal record actually is.”

Oversight Democrats’ request to NARA likewise asked for any necessary coordination with the Department of Justice.

The letter to Hysen asked for specific details about what DHS can determine about the messages.

“If the Department determines that federal records were deleted without proper disposition authority, your final report must include a complete description of the records affected [and] a statement of the exact circumstances surrounding the deletion of messages,” Archives wrote.

Cuffari is now under investigation by the Council of Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency, but congressional scrutiny of his performance began long before, reaching a peak last summer when lawmakers became aware he failed to notify them of missing Secret Service text messages relating to the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol.

The texts were apparently lost in a software transition, but lawmakers pointed to a law requiring either agency of congressional notification within seven days if an inspector general believes records have been destroyed.

A bipartisan group of Senate lawmakers has also pushed Cuffari about allegations he suppressed a report about sexual harassment at DHS.

Cuffari’s office did not respond to a request for comment.

Khashoggi widow suing Israeli firm, says spyware caused her to ‘constantly be looking over her shoulder’

BY NICK ROBERTSON -THE HILL -  06/16/23 

The widow of murdered Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi is suing an Israeli tech firm, claiming foreign governments used the company’s spyware to track her movements and forced her into a “state of constant hyper-vigilance.”

Hanan Elatr is accusing the NSO Group of violating federal and Virginia hacking laws and negligence in selling its Pegasus spyware to hostile foreign actors.

Pegasus has drawn international attention due to reports of its use by the Israeli government on protesters, by authoritarian regimes on personal targets and even by the FBI.

The technology has been effectively banned in the United States since 2021.

A 2021 report found that UAE officials downloaded Pegasus onto Elatr’s phone while she was in custody in 2018.

Khashoggi, a fervent critic of the Saudi government, was murdered at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in October 2018. A U.S. intelligence report found that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman approved the killing.

Following Khashoggi’s killing, Elatr was put under house arrest in Dubai before going into hiding in the U.S.

Elatr’s suit says the spyware “caused her immense harm, both through the tragic loss of her husband and through her own loss of safety, privacy, and autonomy, as well as the loss of her financial stability and career.”

“She lives in a state of constant hyper-vigilance, unable to safely participate in social activities, constantly looking over her shoulder,” the suit states.

Cybersecurity experts discovered traces of NSO Group spyware on Elatr’s cellphone in December 2021, they told The Washington Post. Time stamps of activity lined up with periods when she was detained by UAE authorities.Nursing home residents reluctant to voice concerns, report abuse or neglect for fear of retaliation: surveyWide-ranging report warns of shark extinction risk

“We found the smoking gun on her phone,” cybersecurity expert Bill Marczak told The Post.

NSO Group has also been sued by Facebook owner Meta and Apple over the Pegasus software’s use on their products online.