Hundreds of Pride activists march in Serbia despite hate messages sent by far-right officials


People hold a large Rainbow flag as they take part in a Pride march in Belgrade, Serbia, Saturday, Sept. 9, 2023. Hundreds of Pride activists gathered in the Serbian capital Saturday amid heavy police presence and anti-gay messages sent by the country’s conservative leadership and far right groups. 

Anti-gay protesters hold crosses and religious banners amid heavy police presence and during a Pride march in Belgrade, Serbia, Saturday, Sept. 9, 2023. Hundreds of Pride activists gathered in the Serbian capital Saturday amid heavy police presence and anti-gay messages sent by the country’s conservative leadership and far rights groups. 

People hold a large Rainbow flag as they take part in a Pride march in Belgrade, Serbia, Saturday, Sept. 9, 2023. Hundreds of Pride activists gathered in the Serbian capital Saturday amid heavy police presence and anti-gay messages sent by the country’s conservative leadership and far rights groups. 

People take part in a Pride march in Belgrade, Serbia, Saturday, Sept. 9, 2023. Hundreds of Pride activists gathered in the Serbian capital Saturday amid heavy police presence and anti-gay messages sent by the country’s conservative leadership and far rights groups. 

4/12

(AP Photos / Marko Drobnjakovic)

BY MARKO DROBNJAKOVIC
September 9, 2023


BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — Hundreds of Pride activists gathered in the Serbian capital Saturday amid a heavy police presence and anti-gay messages sent by the country’s conservative leadership and far-right groups.

Last year, the LGBTQ+ event was marred by skirmishes between the police and anti-Pride groups who believe the event goes against traditional Serbian Christian Orthodox values and should be banned.

The participants of the march on Saturday held banners reading “We Are Not Even Close” — referring to the current status of the gay population is Serbia — as well as “Marriage” and “Queer Liberation not Rainbow Capitalism.”

A heavy police presence of officers in riot gear blocked off central Belgrade. In a rally against the march, about 50 anti-gay protesters and Orthodox priests held religious icons in front of a downtown church as the Pride event participants passed by.

A group of anti-gay activists held a banner on the main downtown street that said, “I don’t want a gay parade in Belgrade.”

Before the 11th consecutive Pride event held in Serbia, the country’s populist president, Aleksandar Vucic, said that as long he is in power, he wouldn’t approve a law allowing same-sex marriages or partnerships. He also said that he didn’t allow rainbow colored flags to be placed on flags at his downtown office during the march.

Prime Minister Ana Brnabic, a close Vucic ally, is the Balkan country’s first openly gay politician. She has, however, rarely spoken in favor of LGBTQ+ rights in Serbia.

Before the Pride event, the embassies and representative offices of 25 countries and the European Union delegation in Serbia issued a joint statement of support for the values of Pride and urging protection of the rights of LGBTQ+ persons.

“On the occasion of Belgrade Pride 2023, we want to reaffirm our commitment to respecting, promoting and protecting human rights for all,” the joint statement said. “We proudly stand with the LGBTQ+ community in Serbia and strongly support the values that Pride represents — acceptance, inclusion and diversity.”

Serbia formally wants to join the EU, but under Vucic’s more than decade rule it has gradually slid toward Russia and its anti-Western policies, including disrespect for the rights of gay people.

DOLLY'S DADDY RIP 

Ian Wilmut, a British scientist who led the team that cloned Dolly the Sheep, dies at age 79


 Scottish scientist Ian Wilmut is seen in the Pauls Church in Frankfurt, central Germany, Monday, March 14, 2005. Ian Wilmut, the cloning pioneer whose research was critical to the creation of Dolly the Sheep, has died, the Roslin Institute at the University of Edinburgh said Monday. He was 79. 

(AP Photo/Michael Probst, File)

Dolly, the first cloned sheep produced through nuclear transfer from differentiated adult sheep cells, is seen in its pen at the Roslin Institute in Edinburgh, Scotland, in early December, 1997. The British scientist who led the team that cloned Dolly the Sheep in 1996, Ian Wilmut, has died at age 79. Wilmut set off a global discussion about the ethics of cloning when he announced that his team at Roslin had cloned Dolly using the nucleus of a cell from an adult sheep.

 (AP Photo/John Chadwick, File)

September 11, 2023


LONDON (AP) — Ian Wilmut, the cloning pioneer whose work was critical to the creation of Dolly the Sheep in 1996, has died at age 79.

The University of Edinburgh in Scotland said Wilmut died Sunday after a long illness with Parkinson’s disease.

Wilmut set off a global discussion about the ethics of cloning when he announced that his team at the university’s Roslin Institute for animal biosciences had cloned a lamb using the nucleus of a cell from an adult sheep.

Initially referred to as “6LL3” in the academic paper describing the work, the lamb was later named Dolly, after the singer Dolly Parton. The lamb’s cloning was the first time scientists were able to coax a mature adult cell into behaving like a cell from a newly fertilized embryo in order to create a genetically identical animal.

While Dolly’s creation was heralded as a revolution by some scientists, it unnerved many, with critics calling such experiments unethical.

The year after Dolly’s creation, U.S. President Bill Clinton imposed a ban on the use of federal funds for human cloning but stopped short of banning all cloning research.

Dolly’s creation prompted other scientists to clone animals including dogs, cats, horses and bulls. Dolly also spurred questions about the potential cloning of humans and extinct species. In recent years, scientists have proposed bringing back the woolly mammoth by using a mix of gene editing and cloning.

Dolly’s creation was part of a broader project by scientists to create genetically modified sheep that could produce therapeutic proteins in their milk. About six years after Dolly’s birth, it was euthanized by scientists after she developed an incurable lung tumor.

Wilmut, a trained embryologist, later focused on using cloning techniques to make stem cells that could be used in regenerative medicine. His work was critical to research that aims to treat genetic and degenerative diseases by helping the body repair damaged tissue.

The Roslin Institute said Wilmut was knighted in 2008 and retired from the university in 2012. He later researched Parkinson’s disease after he was diagnosed with the condition, it said.

“We are deeply saddened to hear of the passing of Sir Ian Wilmut,” Bruce Whitelaw, the institute’s director, said in a statement Monday. Whitelaw described Wilmut as a “titan” of science and said his work in Dolly’s creation transformed scientific thinking at the time.

He said the legacy of Wilmut’s work in cloning Dolly continues to be seen.

“This breakthrough continues to fuel many of the advances that have been made in the field of regenerative medicine that we see today,” he said.

Wilmut is survived by his wife, three children and five grandchildren, the University of Edinburgh said. Funeral arrangements have not yet been announced.

RIP REST IN POWER
Holocaust survivor Eva Fahidi-Pusztai, who warned of far-right populism in Europe, dies at age 97


 Auschwitz survivor Eva Pusztai-Fahidi from Budapest leaves the court hall during the noon breaks of the trial against former SS guard Oskar Groening in Lueneburg, northern Germany, Tuesday, April 21, 2015. Holocaust survivor Eva Fahidi-Pusztai, who spent the late years of her life warning of the re-emergence of far-right populism and discrimination against minorities across Europe, has died. She was 97.

Auschwitz survivor Eva Pusztai-Fahidi delivers her speech during an event of the International Auschwitz Committee to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz Nazi death camp in Berlin, Monday, Jan. 26, 2015. Holocaust survivor Eva Fahidi-Pusztai, who spent the late years of her life warning of the re-emergence of far-right populism and discrimination against minorities across Europe, has died. She was 97.

 (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber, File)

BY KIRSTEN GRIESHABER
September 12, 2023

BERLIN (AP) — Eva Fahidi-Pusztai, a Holocaust survivor who spent the late years of her life warning of the re-emergence of far-right populism and discrimination against minorities across Europe, has died. She was 97.

The International Auschwitz Committee said Fahidi-Pusztai died in Budapest on Monday. A cause of death was not given.

“Auschwitz survivors all over the world bid farewell to their fellow sufferer, friend and companion with deep sadness, gratitude and respect,” the group said in a statement on its website

Fahidi-Pusztai was born in 1925 in Debrecen, Hungary, into an upper middle-class Jewish family. Her family converted to Catholicism in 1936, but that did not shield them from persecution.

After the occupation of Hungary by the German Wehrmacht in early 1944, the family was forced to move to a ghetto.

In June 1944, the Jewish population was rounded up in a brick factory and deported to the Nazis’ Auschwitz death camp in several transports.

Fahidi-Pusztai was 18 years old when she and her family were deported in the last transport to Auschwitz, on June 27, 1944. Her mother and little sister Gilike were murdered immediately after their arrival. Her father succumbed to the inhumane camp conditions a few months later, the Auschwitz Committee said on its homepage.

Six million European Jews were murdered by the Nazi Germany and its henchmen across Europe during the Holocaust — including 49 members of Fahidi-Pusztai’s family, Germany’s news agency dpa reported. She was the only one who survived.

Fahidi-Pusztai was deported from Auschwitz to a subcamp of the Buchenwald concentration camp in the town of Allendorf, in Hesse province. For 12 hours a day, she had to work as a slave laborer in an explosives factory at the Muenchmuehle concentration camp there.

In March 1945, only weeks before the end of World War II, she managed to escape on a so-called death march taking concentration camp inmates to the west as Soviet soldiers approached from the east. It was then that she was freed by American soldiers.

“It was only many years after her liberation, that Eva Fahidi began to speak about her memories of the murder of her family and her existence as a slave laborer,” Christoph Heubner, Executive Vice President of the International Auschwitz Committee, said in Berlin.

“Her life remained marked by the loss of her family, but nevertheless, with an infinitely big heart, she persisted in her joy of life and trusted in the power of memory,” Heubner added.

After the war, Fahidi-Pusztai moved back to Hungary. She later wrote two books about her experiences and visited schools in Germany to share her traumatic experiences from the Holocaust with students and warn of the re-emergence of far-right populism in Europe.

Fahidi-Pusztai also worked closely together with the Buchenwald Memorial at the former camp site near the city of Weimar in eastern Germany, to ensure that especially the fate of Jewish women is not forgotten, the memorial wrote on its website.

“Eva Fahidi’s books, which show her to be a great stylist and clear-sighted storyteller, will remain as will her fears and warnings in the face of populist tirades and right-wing extremist violence against Jewish people and Sinti and Roma not only in her native Hungary but in many European countries,” the International Auschwitz Committee wrote in its farewell message.

Sinti and Roma minorities were also persecuted during the Nazi era.

UN food agency warns of ‘doom loop’ for world’s hungriest as governments cut aid and needs increase

 The agency said the more than 60% funding shortfall this year was the highest in WFP’s 60-year history and marks the first time the Rome-based agency has seen contributions decline while needs rise.  

An Afghan school girl, right, walks past sacks of milled wheat on the main road in the city of Kandahar province, south of Kabul, Afghanistan on Sunday, June 29, 2008. The World Food Program warned Tuesday, Sept. 12, 2023, that humanitarian funding cuts by governments are forcing the U.N. agency to drastically cut food rations to the world’s hungriest people, with each 1% cut in aid risking to push 400,000 people toward starvation. The agency said the more than 60% funding shortfall this year was the highest in WFP’s 60-year history and marks the first time the Rome-based agency has seen contributions decline while needs rise.
 Laborers unload a consignment of food aid from the World Food Programme (WFP) in Mogadishu, Somalia, on Monday, Aug. 8, 2011. The World Food Program warned Tuesday, Sept. 12, 2023, that humanitarian funding cuts by governments are forcing the U.N. agency to drastically cut food rations to the world’s hungriest people, with each 1% cut in aid risking to push 400,000 people toward starvation. The agency said the more than 60% funding shortfall this year was the highest in WFP’s 60-year history and marks the first time the Rome-based agency has seen contributions decline while needs rise. 

A view of the exterior of the headquarters of the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP), in Rome, Friday, Oct. 9, 2020. The World Food Program warned Tuesday, Sept. 12, 2023, that humanitarian funding cuts by governments are forcing the U.N. agency to drastically cut food rations to the world’s hungriest people, with each 1% cut in aid risking to push 400,000 people toward starvation. The agency said the more than 60% funding shortfall this year was the highest in WFP’s 60-year history and marks the first time the Rome-based agency has seen contributions decline while needs rise. 

AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia, File)

 September 12, 2023

ROME (AP) — The World Food Program warned Tuesday that humanitarian funding cuts by governments are forcing the U.N. agency to drastically cut food rations to the world’s hungriest people, with each 1% cut in aid risking to push 400,000 people toward starvation.

The agency said the more than 60% funding shortfall this year was the highest in WFP’s 60-year history and marks the first time the Rome-based agency has seen contributions decline while needs rise.

As a result, the WFP has been forced to cut rations in almost half its operations, including in hard-hit places like Afghanistan, Syria, Somalia and Haiti. In a statement, WFP warned that 24 million more people could slip into emergency hunger over the next year as a result.

WFP’s executive director, Cindy McCain, said with starvation at record levels, governments should be increasing assistance, not decreasing it.

“If we don’t receive the support we need to avert further catastrophe, the world will undoubtedly see more conflict, more unrest, and more hunger,” she said. “Either we fan the flames of global instability, or we work quickly to put out the fire.”

The WFP warned that if the trend continues, a “doom loop” will be triggered “where WFP is being forced to save only the starving, at the cost of the hungry,” the statement said.

Nobel winner Maria Ressa acquitted of tax evasion though she faces 2 more legal cases

Filipino journalist Maria Ressa, 2021 Nobel Peace Prize winner and Rappler CEO, gestures as she talks to reporters after being acquitted by the Pasig Regional Trial Court over a tax evasion case in Pasig city, Philippines on Tuesday, Sept. 12, 2023.

Filipino journalist Maria Ressa, 2021 Nobel Peace Prize winner and Rappler CEO, gestures as she talks to reporters after being acquitted by the Pasig Regional Trial Court over a tax evasion case in Pasig city, Philippines on Tuesday, Sept. 12, 2023. 

Filipino journalist Maria Ressa, 2021 Nobel Peace Prize winner and Rappler CEO, gestures as she faces reporters after being acquitted by the Pasig Regional Trial Court over a tax evasion case in Pasig city, Philippines on Tuesday, Sept. 12, 2023. 

Filipino journalist Maria Ressa, 2021 Nobel Peace Prize winner and Rappler CEO, waves from her car after being acquitted by the Pasig Regional Trial Court over a tax evasion case in Pasig city, Philippines on Tuesday, Sept. 12, 2023. 

Filipino journalist Maria Ressa, 2021 Nobel Peace Prize winner and Rappler CEO, gestures as she talks to reporters after being acquitted by the Pasig Regional Trial Court over a tax evasion case in Pasig city, Philippines on Tuesday, Sept. 12, 2023.

 (AP Photos Aaron Favila)

 September 12, 2023

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Nobel Peace Prize winner Maria Ressa was acquitted of a final tax evasion charge Tuesday though she still faces two remaining legal cases she believes the former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte used to muzzle her critical reporting.

Ressa and her online news organization Rappler had faced five tax evasion charges but a court acquitted her of four of the charges in January. A different court heard the fifth charge and acquitted her Tuesday.

“Facts wins, truth wins, justice wins,” she told reporters outside the courthouse.

Ressa and Russian journalist Dmitry Muratov were awarded the 2021 Nobel for their efforts to safeguard freedom of expression by fighting for the survival of their news organizations and defying government efforts to shut them.

She had said the charges against her were politically motivated as Rappler was critical of Duterte’s brutal crackdown on illegal drugs that left thousands of mostly petty drug suspects dead. The International Criminal Court is investigating the crackdown as a possible crime against humanity.

Rappler also criticized Duterte’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic including prolonged lockdowns that deepened poverty, caused one of the country’s worst recessions and sparked allegations of corruption in government medical purchases.

Ressa also said there appeared to be a “lifting of fear” under the Philippines’ new leader — Ferdinand Marcos Jr., who is the namesake son of the dictator overthrown in the army-backed “people power” uprising in 1986.

Ressa is still appealing to the Supreme Court against an online libel conviction, while Rappler is challenging a closure order issued by the Securities and Exchange Commission.

“You’ve got to have faith,” Ressa said. “The acquittal now strengthens our resolve to continue with the justice system, to submit ourselves to the court despite the political harassment, despite the attacks on press freedom. It shows that the court system works and we hope to see the remaining charges dismissed.”

In Iran, snap checkpoints and university purges mark the first anniversary of Mahsa Amini protests


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An Iranian woman without wearing her mandatory Islamic headscarf walks her dog at a park with graffiti against the government which is painted over in black, Monday, March 6, 2023. Iranians are marking the first anniversary of nationwide protests over the country’s mandatory headscarf law that erupted after the death of a young woman detained by morality police. 

An Iranian woman without wearing her mandatory Islamic headscarf walks in downtown Tehran, Iran, Saturday, Sept. 9, 2023. Iranians are marking the first anniversary of nationwide protests over the country’s mandatory headscarf law that erupted after the death of a young woman detained by morality police. 

A woman without wearing her mandatory Islamic headscarf walks in downtown Tehran, Iran, Saturday, Sept. 9, 2023. Iranians are marking the first anniversary of nationwide protests over the country’s mandatory headscarf law that erupted after the death of a young woman detained by morality police

Iranian women, some without wearing their mandatory Islamic headscarves, walk in downtown Tehran, Iran, Saturday, Sept. 9, 2023. Iranians are marking the first anniversary of nationwide protests over the country’s mandatory headscarf law that erupted after the death of a young woman detained by morality police.

 (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

BY NASSER KARIMI AND JON GAMBRELL
T, September 11, 2023

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Snap checkpoints. Internet disruptions. University purges.

Iran’s theocracy is trying hard to both ignore the upcoming anniversary of nationwide protests over the country’s mandatory headscarf law and tamp down on any possibility of more unrest.

Yet the Sept. 16 death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini still reverberates across Iran. Some women are choosing to go without the headscarf, or hijab, despite an increasing crackdown by authorities.

Graffiti, likely against Iran’s government, is rapidly painted over in black by Tehran’s municipal workers. University professors have been fired over their apparent support for demonstrators.

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International pressure remains high on Iran, even as the administration tries to deescalate tensions with other nations in the region and the West after years of confrontation.

“The weaponization of ‘public morals’ to deny women and girls their freedom of expression is deeply disempowering and will entrench and expand gender discrimination and marginalization,” independent United Nations experts warned earlier this month.

The demonstrations over Amini’s death that erupted after her arrest a year ago by the country’s morality police, allegedly over the hijab, represented one of the largest challenges to Iran’s theocracy since the 1979 Islamic Revolution. A security force crackdown that followed saw over 500 people killed and more than 22,000 people detained.

Iran’s government, including Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, have blamed the West for fomenting the unrest, without offering evidence to support the allegation. However, the protests found fuel in the widespread economic pain that Iran’s 80 million people have faced since the collapse of Iran’s nuclear deal with world powers after then-President Donald Trump in 2018 unilaterally pulled America from the accord.

As Western sanctions came back, Iran currency — the rial — cratered, decimating people’s lifesavings. Prices of food and other essentials skyrocketed as inflation gripped the nation, in part due to worldwide pressures following the coronavirus pandemic and the launch of Russia’s war on Ukraine. Unemployment officially stands at 8% overall, though one out of every five young Iranians is out of work.

Videos of the demonstrations last year showed many young people taking part in the protests, leading authorities to apparently focus more closely on Iran’s universities in recent weeks. There’s historic precedence for the concerns: In 1999, student-led protests swept Tehran and at least three people were killed while 1,200 were detained as demonstrations rapidly spread to other cities.

Though university campuses have largely remained one of the few safe places for students to demonstrate, even campuses have felt the latest crackdown. Over the past year, the Union Council of Iranian Students has said that hundreds of students faced disciplinary panels at their universities over the protests.

During the same period, at least 110 university professors and lecturers have been fired or temporarily suspended, according to a report by the reformist newspaper Etemad. The firings have been primarily focused at schools in Tehran, including Tehran Azad University, Tehran University and Tehran Medical University.

Etemad said those who were dismissed fell into two groups: teachers concerned by the election of hard-line President Ebrahim Raisi and those who supported the protests that followed Amini’s death.

But there were firings at other schools as well.

At Tehran’s Sharif University of Technology, outspoken artificial intelligence and bioinformatics professor Ali Sharifi Zarchi, who backed his students taking part in the protests and later faced interrogation by Iranian security forces, was among those laid off.

A petition urging the university to overturn his firing was signed by 15,000 people.

“Putting pressure on professors and students is a black stain on the proud history of #Tehran_University and it must be stopped,” Zarchi wrote online before his dismissal.

University teachers who were dismissed also included Hossein Alaei, a former commander in the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard and vice defense minister, and Reza Salehi Amiri, a former culture minister. Alaei had once, a decade ago, compared Khamenei to Iran’s former shah, while Amiri was a former official in the administration of the relatively moderate President Hassan Rouhani.

Rouhani, whose government reached the nuclear deal with world powers in 2015, has criticized the university firings.

“Destroying the prestige of the universities and their professors ... is a loss for the students, science and the country,” Rouhani said, according to a report by the online news site Jamaran.

The head of Tehran University, Mohammad Moghimi, had tried to defend the dismissals, describing professors as facing “ethics problems.” Some hard-liners also have tried to insist the firings weren’t political, though the hard-line newspaper Kayhan directly linked the dismissals to the demonstrations.

“It is not logical to allow someone to propagate against the system under the direction of foreigners,” the newspaper wrote.

Those on the streets of Tehran say the governments’ move will likely make the situation worse.

“They want to insert their own people in the university in hope of stopping the protest, but we students will show our objections in a way that they cannot imagine,” said Shima, a 21-year-old university student. “They failed to prevent last year’s protests since nobody can predict earthquakes.”

Authorities “are fighting against windmills using wooden swords,” added Farnaz, a 27-year-old university student. Both women gave just their first name for fear of reprisals.

The government has been trying to stay publicly quiet about the anniversary. Raisi never said Amini’s name during a recent news conference with journalists — who also only tangentially referred to the demonstrations. State-run and semiofficial media in Iran as well have avoided mentioning the anniversary, which typically signals pressure from the government.

But privately, activists report a rise in the number of people being questioned and detained by security forces, including an uncle of Amini.

Saleh Nikbakht, a lawyer for Amini’s family, faces a court case accusing him of spreading “propaganda” over his interviews with foreign media.

More police officers have been noticed on Tehran’s streets in recent days, including snap checkpoints for those riding on motorcycles in the country’s capital. Internet access has been noticeably disrupted over recent days, according to the advocacy group NetBlocks.

And abroad, Iranian state media reported that someone set tires ablaze in front of the Iranian Embassy in Paris over the weekend. Demonstrations marking the anniversary on Saturday are planned in multiple cities abroad.
___

Gambrell reported from Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Associated Press writer Amir Vahdat in Tehran, Iran, contributed to this report.

CHAUVINISM & SEXISM IN SOCCER

UEFA hosts women soccer stars for expert advice. Then it thanks ousted Luis Rubiales for his service


Spain’s Veronica Boquete celebrates after scoring a goal against the South Korea during the first half of a FIFA Women’s World Cup soccer match, Wednesday, June 17, 2015 in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. European soccer body UEFA has hosted a storied group of women players and coaches for a conference Monday, Sept. 11, 2023 to help shape a brighter future for their game. It was held one day after disgraced Spanish official Luis Rubiales resigned from his leadership jobs including as a UEFA vice president.

 (Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press via AP, File)

 Spain’s Jennifer Hermoso holds the trophy as they celebrate their Women’s World Cup victory on stage in Madrid, Spain, Monday, Aug. 21, 2023. Spanish state prosecutors say soccer player Jenni Hermoso has accused Luis Rubiales of sexual assault for kissing her on the lips without her consent after the Women’s World Cup final. 

(AP Photo/Manu Fernandez, File)

 President of Spain’s soccer federation, Luis Rubiales, left, stands stands next to Spain Head Coach Jorge Vilda after being received by Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez at La Moncloa Palace in Madrid, Spain, Tuesday, Aug. 22, 2023. Rubiales has resigned, Sunday, Sept. 10, 2023, from his post after a kiss scandal which tarnished Spain’s victory at the Women’s World Cup. 

(AP Photo/Manu Fernandez, file)

UEFA President Aleksander Ceferin, left, applauds as Spain’s Aitana Bonmati, right, holds the UEFA Women’s Player of the Year award and Norwegian’s Erling Haaland holds the UEFA Men’s Player of the Year award after the 2023/24 UEFA Champions League group stage draw at the Grimaldi Forum in Monaco, Thursday, Aug. 31, 2013. 

(AP Photo/Daniel Cole)

Pachuca’s Jenni Hermoso smiles during a tribute before a Mexican Women’s soccer league match between Pachuca and Pumas at the Miguel Hidalgo stadium in Pachuca, Mexico, Sunday, Sept. 10, 2023.

 (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo)

BY GRAHAM DUNBAR
 September 11, 2023

NYON, Switzerland (AP) — One day after Spanish official Luis Rubiales finally resigned from his leadership jobs, European soccer body UEFA hosted a storied group of women players and coaches for a conference Monday to help shape a brighter future for their game.

And when it was over, UEFA thanked its now-former vice president “for his many years of service” in its first major statement since Rubiales’ conduct at the Women’s World Cup final three weeks ago that is now under criminal investigation in Spain.

Three Ballon d’Or winners joined the UEFA meeting in person or online. They included Alexia Putellas, one of Spain’s World Cup-winning team whose triumph has been tarnished by the furor since Rubiales kissed her teammate Jenni Hermoso on the lips during the trophy ceremony. Hermoso said it was without her consent.

At UEFA’s headquarters was Veró Boquete, who as Spain captain eight years ago joined a player revolt that removed the long-time and unpopular male coach of the national team.

“Today, this subject obviously came up,” Boquete told The Associated Press when asked if the Rubiales controversy was on the agenda. “A little bit (of) specifics but also in general, what we can do to protect players or to give them a safe space.”

UEFA launched its Football Board for women’s soccer this year to create “an institutional yet independent voice of experience and expertise” on subjects including player welfare.

Its first meeting Monday afternoon in Switzerland opened less than 24 hours after Rubiales resigned. He accepted the inevitable end of his soccer presidency in Spain after three weeks of defiance and hostility toward his critics and at times Hermoso.

Rubiales, who said the kiss was consensual, is suspended by world soccer body FIFA during its disciplinary case against him and also accused of sexual assault by Spanish prosecutors. He has denied any wrongdoing.

His resignation late Sunday — which appeared coordinated with an interview on a British cable news channel — offered no apology to Hermoso. He did stress not wanting to distract from Spain’s bid to host the men’s 2030 World Cup in a UEFA-backed project with Portugal, Morocco and possibly Ukraine.

UEFA was silent on Rubiales, one of its six vice presidents each paid 250,000 euros ($270,000) annually, for 10 days after the final in Australia. UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin then told French sports daily L’Equipe the conduct was “inappropriate.”

In the statement Monday noting Rubiales’ resignation, after Ceferin had lunched with the women delegates, there was praise but not words of solidarity toward the Spanish players or women’s soccer in general.

“UEFA acknowledges the public discourse surrounding Mr. Rubiales and his recent actions but would also like to thank him for his many years of service to European football,” it said. “In view of the ongoing legal proceedings, UEFA has no further comments to make on this matter.”

Speaking before UEFA’s comments were published, Boquete described the situation as “a mess” though was optimistic

“What happened in the last three weeks is a mess, but at the same time it can be the right push,” the 36-year-old player told the AP. “How you use a bad situation, bad actions, to change something for good?”

“We have the opportunity here,” said Boquete, whose 38 goals for Spain is second on its all-time women’s list behind Hermoso.

One positive is that Spain’s players should end their refusal to represent their country now Rubiales has gone and the coach he supported during a player rebellion last year, Jorge Vilda, was fired last week.

“In theory, all the players should be back with those demands they (made),” said Boquete, whose national-team career was ended six years ago by Vilda not selecting her. “It’s a good start, we hope that now also the players can be heard more.”

After playing soccer for clubs in the United States, Russia, China and across Europe, the former Women’s Champions League winner was a natural choice for the UEFA advisory panel. She also has been educated with UEFA’s help on its Masters course to help players build careers in the industry.

“If you want to have a place that everyone can hear you or listen to you, you need to know what you’re going to say,” Boquete said.

UEFA did not make any senior manager available for interview at its event Monday.

NEOCOLONIALIST RACISM

Dominican president suspends visas for Haitians and threatens to close border with its neighbor


 People bathe in the Massacre River, named for a bloody battle between Spanish and French colonizers in the 1700s, on the border with Haiti in Ouanaminthe, Dominican Republic, Nov. 19, 2021. The Dominican Republic’s President Luis Abinader announced on Sept. 11, 2023 he has suspended issuing visas to Haitians. 

(AP Photo/Matias Delacroix, File)

BY MARTÍN ADAMES ALCÁNTARA
 September 11, 2023

SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic (AP) — The president of the Dominican Republic announced Monday that he has suspended issuing visas to Haitians, and he threatened to shut down land, air and sea traffic between the two neighbors over their latest dispute.

President Luis Abinader’s move follows the recent excavation of a supposed canal in Haiti that Dominican officials argue will divert water from the Massacre River and harm its farmers and the environment. The river, which runs in both countries, is named for a bloody battle between Spanish and French colonizers in the 1700s.

It is not clear who, if anyone, authorized the digging of the canal in Haiti.

“If the conflict is not resolved before Thursday, (officials will) completely close the border to air, sea and land commerce,” the Dominican government said in a statement.

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Dominican officials inspect damage inflicted by Tropical Storm Franklin after heavy flooding kills 2

That would be an economic blow to Haiti, which gets much of its imports from the Dominican Republic and where inflation has skyrocketed and poverty deepened amid a surge in gang violence.

It would also hurt Dominican businesses.

A study by the Dominican Republic’s Central Bank said $430 million in informal border trade was conducted in 2017 between the two countries, which share the island of Hispaniola. Of that amount, more than $330 million represented exports to Haiti.

Haiti is also the Dominican Republic’s third biggest partner in formal trade, with $1 billion in exports to Haiti last year and $11 million in imports, according to the Export and Investment Center of the Dominican Republic.

Last week, the Dominican government sent a crew to monitor the construction of the canal from across the border, with officials telling local media that it wasn’t an intimidation tactic but rather an offer to help detain, if necessary, civilians that might be working on the project without permission.

The excavation prompted Abinader last week to shut the border near the northern town of Dajabon, a crucial crossing for Haitians who sell and buy a range of goods there several times a week.

Former interim Haitian Prime Minister Claude Joseph recently defended the construction of the canal and accused critics in the Dominican Republic of being nationalists and racists.

Last year, Abinader banned Joseph from entering the Dominican Republic in an unrelated dispute that heightened the simmering tensions between the two countries.

Abinader has sought to limit the migration of Haitians into the Dominican Republic in recent years and has expelled tens of thousands of Haitians and those of Haitian descen t. His administration also has begun work on a 118-mile (190-kilometer) wall along the Haitian border that Abinader announced early last year.

The last time the Dominican Republic fully closed the border its border with Haiti was in July 2021, after Haitian President Jovenel Moïse was assassinated. Since then, it has occasionally closed parts of the border for security reasons.

Australians start applying for mail-in ballots ahead of Indigenous Voice referendum


A skater boarder passes a vote Yes poster for the Voice referendum in Sydney, Australia, Monday, Sept. 11, 2023. Voters can apply from Monday for postal ballots in the Oct. 14 referendum that would create a so-called Indigenous Voice to Parliament, a proposal for constitutional change that opinion polls suggest is becoming increasingly likely to be rejected.

A pedestrian walks past a vote Yes poster for the Voice referendum in Sydney, Australia, Monday, Sept. 11, 2023. Voters can apply from Monday for postal ballots in the Oct. 14 referendum that would create a so-called Indigenous Voice to Parliament, a proposal for constitutional change that opinion polls suggest is becoming increasingly likely to be rejected. 

(AP Photo/Mark Baker)

BY ROD MCGUIRK
 September 11, 2023

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Voters began applying Monday for mail-in ballots ahead of the Oct. 14 referendum that would create an Indigenous Voice to Parliament, a proposal for constitutional change that opinion polls suggest is becoming increasingly likely to be rejected.

Australians will vote at the first referendum in a generation whether to enshrine in the constitution a collection of appointed Indigenous advocates aimed at giving the nation’s most disadvantaged ethnic minority more say on government policy.

People who are unable to attend a polling booth on Oct. 14 for reasons including distance, disability and prison sentences can apply from 6 p.m. Monday for authorities to provide them with postal ballots, which will be cast in Australia’s first referendum since 1999.

A majority of voters across the nation and in a majority of Australia’s six states need to support the referendum for it to pass. Only eight out of 44 referendums have achieved that double majority.

But a Resolve Political Monitor opinion poll published in newspapers on Monday suggested the smallest state, Tasmania, was the only one with majority support for the Voice.

National support for the Voice was at 65% when polls on the question were first held in August 2022, but support has been declining for months.

Proponents hope support will rally when voters become more engaged with the question closer to the voting day.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese took the final step in ensuring the referendum goes ahead by directing the governor-general late Monday to issue electoral authorities with a required legal order to conduct the vote.

Opposition leader Peter Dutton had earlier urged Albanese in Parliament to call the referendum off because of the declining support in polls.

“Will the prime minister withdraw his Voice referendum so that we can avoid an outcome which sets back reconciliation and divides the nation?” Dutton asked Albanese.

Albanese criticized Dutton over his opposition to the Voice, saying the conservative party leader had “chosen politics over substance.”

The Voice referendum would be the first in Australia’s history to pass without bipartisan support.

Melbourne University election analyst Adrian Beaumont said referendums proposed by Albanese’s center-left Labor Party have always been opposed by their conservative opponents since 1946.

“It’s very clear that Voice support is slumping in all polls,” Beaumont said. “Conservative oppositions always oppose Labor referendums, and they are able to scare the electorate into opposing changes.”

Proponents say embedding the Voice in the constitution would recognize the special place that Indigenous people have in Australian history while giving them input in government policies.

Opponents argue it would be the biggest change to Australia’s democracy in the nation’s history and divide Australians along racial lines without reducing Indigenous disadvantage.

Indigenous Australians account for 3.8% of the population and they die around eight years younger than Australia’s wider population on average.

As US East Coast ramps up offshore wind power projects, much remains unknown





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The five turbines of America’s first offshore wind farm, owned by the Danish company, Orsted, stand off the coast of Block Island, R.I., on Oct. 17, 2022. As the U.S. races to build offshore wind power projects that will transform coastlines from Maine to South Carolina, much remains unknown about how the facilities could affect the environment. And that has some people concerned, particularly those who depend on the sea for their livelihoods. (AP Photo/David Goldman)

Crew members of a fishing boat unload their catch in Point Pleasant Beach, N.J., on June 20, 2023. The commercial and recreational fishing industry has numerous concerns over offshore wind projects. The wind industry says it has tried to address those concerns, and will pay compensation for those that can’t be avoided. (AP Photo/Wayne Parry)

 Guests tour the five turbines of America’s first offshore wind farm, owned by the Danish company, Orsted, off the coast of Block Island, R.I., as part of a wind power conference, Monday, Oct. 17, 2022. As the U.S. races to build offshore wind power projects that will transform coastlines from Maine to South Carolina, much remains unknown about how the facilities could affect the environment. And that has some people concerned, particularly those who depend on the sea for their livelihoods. (AP Photo/David Goldman, File)

Workers at the J.T. White Clam Depuration Plant in Highlands, N.J., prepare to move wagons of clams on Aug. 1, 2023. The commercial and recreational fishing industry has numerous concerns over offshore wind projects. The wind industry says it has tried to address those concerns, and will pay compensation for those that can’t be avoided. 

(AP Photo/Wayne Parry)

BY WAYNE PARRY
 September 11, 2023

POINT PLEASANT BEACH, N.J. (AP) — As the U.S. races to build offshore wind power projects, transforming coastlines from Maine to South Carolina, much remains unknown about how the facilities could affect the environment.

And that worries some people, particularly those who depend on the sea for their livelihoods.

“We don’t have the science to know what the impact will be,” said Jim Hutchinson, managing editor of The Fisherman magazine in New Jersey. “The attitude has been, ‘Build it and we’ll figure it out.’”

The wind power industry disputes such claims, citing years of studies.

So far, four offshore wind projects have been approved by the federal government for the U.S. East Coast, according to the American Clean Power Association. Vineyard Wind will place 62 turbines about 15 miles (24 kilometers) off Martha’s Vineyard, generating enough electricity to power 400,000 homes.

South Fork Wind will place 12 turbines in the waters off Long Island, New York, about 35 miles (56 kilometers) east of Montauk Point, to power 70,000 homes. And Ocean Wind I, the first of two Orsted projects in New Jersey, will place 98 turbines about 15 miles off Atlantic City and Ocean City, generating power for 500,000 homes. The company is a Danish wind power business that will build two of the three offshore projects approved for New Jersey.

Those projects are in addition to the planned Revolution Wind development, about 15 miles southeast of Point Judith, Rhode Island, with 65 turbines powering nearly 250,000 homes. Numerous others have been proposed, and the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management plans to review at least 16 offshore wind projects by 2025.

“All this is happening so fast,” said Greg Cudnik, a recreational fisherman, bait and tackle shop owner and party boat captain from Ship Bottom, New Jersey. “Science takes time.”

A joint study in March by two federal scientific agencies and the commercial fishing industry documents numerous impacts that offshore wind power projects could have on fish and marine mammals, including noise, vibration, electromagnetic fields and heat transfer that could alter the environment.

Like numerous existing studies, the report pointed out the complexities of how the structures and cables might interact with marine life. For instance, turbines can attract some fish and repel others.

The March study said large underwater platforms are rapidly colonized by smaller, bottom-dwelling marine life, including shellfish and crabs, which in turn attract larger predators like black sea bass. At the same time, cloudy water from turbine operations, noise, vibrations and electromagnetic fields could also make species leave an area.

In most instances, report authors agreed that more studies are needed. Andy Lipsky, who oversees the wind energy team at NOAA’s Northeast Fisheries Science Center, is a co-author. He said the work helps agencies define monitoring required for long-term studies and that more work is required to determine how offshore wind energy changes marine habitats.

Research in other countries also is also nuanced. Some European studies have shown that crabs and lobster are attracted to harder sea bottoms that support wind turbines. Others, including flatfish and whiting, were shown to leave those areas.

And in May, the Biden Administration offered an $850,000 grant to collect more information on the hearing abilities of critically endangered North American right whales, citing “knowledge gaps” in how the animals behave. The request was made “in support of the rapid development of offshore wind,” according to a notice on the Grants.gov website.

Substantial research already exists. The U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management has posted a half-dozen or more studies on its web site every year since 2016; in several instances the studies called for further investigation and analysis.

Phil Sgro, a spokesman for the American Clean Power Association, said the industry believes sufficient scientific studies exist to establish that offshore wind development can be done “in a manner that is both economical and environmentally responsible.”

Opponents blame ocean floor preparation for causing or contributing to the deaths of 70 whales on the U.S. East Coast since December. But three federal agencies say there is no evidence the two are related.

The U.S. fishing industry — both commercial and recreational — has numerous concerns about offshore wind impacting operations in places long available for fishing with minimal interference.

Interviews with commercial and recreational fishermen and women show they share common anxieties about the offshore wind turbines chasing away species they have long relied on.

They fear electromagnetic fields emitted from underwater power cables could deter or harm some marine life. They worry about being able to safely navigate around the turbines, and about being prohibited from productive fishing grounds on which they have relied for generations.

They also worry that unforeseen consequences could reduce catches and trigger government limits on how much can be caught if fish stocks diminish.

And while some companies have voluntarily agreed to compensate fishermen for any economic damage, there is no mandate requiring it.

“Offshore wind is the single greatest existential threat to commercial fishing in the United States of America right now,” Meghan Lapp, fisheries liaison for Seafreeze, a seafood company based in North Kingstown, Rhode Island, told New Jersey lawmakers at a recent hearing.

Cudnik, the New Jersey boat captain, worries about prime species being driven away by changes to the ocean floor.

“Clams, scallops, flounder, and sand eels are associated with soft sand bottoms,” he said. “Striped bass, sea bass, mahis — everything eats these eels. When they are in abundance, it’s awesome fishing. All these offshore wind areas are in that prime habitat.”

And Keith Craffey, president of the Baymen’s Protective Association on New Jersey’s Raritan Bay, worries that power cables from a New York project coming ashore in New Jersey will be placed across productive clam beds his members use, potentially rendering the areas off-limits.

“If we have to lay off 50 guys because of it, are the offshore wind companies going to pick those 50 guys up?” he asked.

On Monday, the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management released an environmental impact statement for the proposed Empire Wind project in New York, designed to power 700,000 homes. It determined that the project could have “moderate to major” impacts on commercial fisheries, and “minor to moderate” impacts for recreational fishing, although minor beneficial effects could also occur from the creation of an artificial reef that will attract some fish.

New Jersey’s commercial fishing industry had nearly $690 million in sales in 2020, not including imports, according to the U.S. Commerce Department. The recreational sector generated $724 million in sales that year.

Sgro said the wind power industry has worked closely with the government and the fishing industry to address concerns, including agreeing to avoid placing turbines in the areas most heavily used by anglers. He said a study in the waters off southern New England determined that heat and electromagnetic fields from buried cables will not negatively affect important fish species in the area.

Orsted, the developer behind two of New Jersey’s approved projects, said it has worked hard to “avoid, minimize and mitigate” negative impacts on fishing.

The company said a 7-year study of its wind farm in Block Island, Rhode Island, found the catch of most species was unaffected and that there was a greater abundance of black sea bass and cod after construction.

The study was paid for by Orsted, designed in cooperation with local commercial fishermen and carried out by INSPIRE Environmental, which does ocean floor studies for companies and governments.

Orsted says it will compensate boat crews for damage to or loss of gear; pay direct compensation to recreational and commercial vessels adversely impacted, and create a navigational safety fund. It also plans to coordinate with state and federal authorities on seasonal operating restrictions to protect flounder and herring.

The federal government has endorsed — but not required — compensation to the fishing industry for negative effects from offshore wind. Eleven states are considering setting up a regional fund to administer such payments.

U.S. Rep. Frank Pallone Jr., a New Jersey Democrat, supports the compensation “if the industry experiences economic losses as a result of the transition to offshore wind power.”
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Follow Wayne Parry on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, at twitter.com/WayneParryAC