🔴 Live: 'Dozens' of casualties after second Israeli strike on Gaza refugee camp in two days

Issued on: 01/11/2023 - 16:36

01:55

Gaza's Hamas-run health ministry said a second Israeli bombing raid in two days had killed and wounded "dozens" Wednesday at the Jabalia refugee camp, the enclave's largest. The announcement came after scores of foreign passport-holders started leaving the Gaza Strip after Egypt opened the Rafah border crossing for the first time since the Israel-Hamas war began on October 7. Follow our live blog for the latest updates. All times are Paris time (GMT+1).

SETTLERS AND IDF ATTACK PALESTINIANS
Four people killed in Israeli raids in West Bank

Issued on: 01/11/2023

01:38© FRANCE 24

Video by: Catherine NORRIS TRENT

Tensions and violence are on the rise in the West Bank as Israeli settlers clash with Palestinian residents. Claiming to root out terrorist groups, the Israeli military carried out several raids on a refugee camp in Jenin on Tuesday, killing several Palestinians in the operation.

Actors on strike dressed up for Halloween

Issued on: 01/11/2023 
01:20
Video by: Wassim CORNET

Actors on strike are dressed up for Halloween as they continue to picket in front of movie studios across Los Angeles. The strikers are however choosing their costumes with care this year as they avoid dressing up as characters from the studios’ major TV shows or movies. SAG-AFTRA members walked off film and TV sets in July, over terms including pay and the use of artificial intelligence.

EU bans Meta's use of personal data for behavioural advertising

Brussels (AFP) – The European Data Protection Board said Wednesday it had adopted a binding decision that will ban Facebook and Instagram owner Meta from using the personal data of users for targeted advertisements.


Issued on: 01/11/2023 - 

The EU is tightening the ability of social platforms to use personal data to target advertising 

© SEBASTIEN BOZON / AFP

The order will "impose a ban on the processing of personal data for behavioural advertising on the legal bases of contract and legitimate interest across the entire European Economic Area," the EDPB said.

The order comes after Meta said on Monday that Facebook and Instagram users in Europe will be able to buy subscriptions to use the social networks without any advertising from this month.

"Meta has already announced that we will give people in the EU and EEA the opportunity to consent and, in November, will offer a subscriptions model to comply with regulatory requirements," a Meta representative said.

The company said EDPB members have been aware of its consent plan for weeks and that it had been fully engaged with them to arrive at a satisfactory outcome.

"This development unjustifiably ignores that careful and robust regulatory process," the company representative added.

The EDPB said it took the decision following a request from Norway's data regulator, which earlier this year imposed a ban on sending Facebook and Instagram users targeted advertisements based on their personal data which the social media platform collects without their explicit consent.

The EDPB decision forces Ireland's data regulator, which has authority over Meta's operations in Europe, to take final measures on the issue within two weeks, with a ban to enter force a week later.

The EDPB said Meta was informed Tuesday of the decision and that it had indicated it plans to ask for consent to use personal data to target ads that users see when they use the apps.

"The EDPB takes note of Meta's proposal to rely on a consent based approach as legal basis" and said this was being evaluated.

Facebook had some 300 million daily users in Europe at the end of 2022, out of about two billion users worldwide, with Europeans generating about a fifth of Meta's advertising sales.

Losing the ability to target ads may deal a financial blow to Meta if advertisers reduce their spending more than Europeans shell out 9.99 euros ($10.50) a month on the web, or 12.99 euros on mobile phones, for an ad-free experience.

EDPB chairwoman Anu Talus said the decision to impose a ban was taken after Meta was found not to have complied with orders issued at the end of last year.

"It is high time for Meta to bring its processing into compliance and to stop unlawful processing," she said.

© 2023 AFP

 

DGIST develops an artificial intelligence model for effectively removing biases in a dataset

Peer-Reviewed Publication

DGIST (DAEGU GYEONGBUK INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY)

 

IMAGE: 

MODEL STRUCTURE DEVISED BY DGIST PROFESSOR PARK SANG-HYUN'S RESEARCH TEAM

view more 

CREDIT: MODEL STRUCTURE DEVISED BY DGIST PROFESSOR PARK SANG-HYUN'S RESEARCH TEAM

□ Daegu Gyeongbuk Institute of Science and Technology (DGIST), led by President Yang Kuk, announced on September 6, 2023 (Wednesday) that the research team of Professor Sang-hyun Park at the Department of Robotics and Mechatronics Engineering had developed a new image translation model that could effectively reduce biases in data. In the process of developing an artificial intelligence (AI) model using images collected from different sources, contrary to the user’s intention, data biases may occur because of various factors. The developed model can remove data biases despite the absence of information on such factors, thereby providing a high image-analysis performance. This solution is expected to facilitate innovations in the fields of self-driving, content creation, and medicine.

 

□ The datasets used to train deep learning models tend to exhibit biases. For example, when creating a dataset to distinguish bacterial pneumonia from coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), image collection conditions may vary because of the risk of COVID-19 infection. Consequently, these variations result in subtle differences in the images, causing existing deep learning models to discern diseases based on features stemming from differences in image protocols rather than the critical characteristics for practical disease identification. In this case, these models exhibit high performance based on data used for their training process. However, they show limited performance on data obtained from different places owing to their inability to effectively generalize, which can lead to overfitting issues. Particularly, existing deep learning techniques tend to use differences in textures as crucial data, which may lead to inaccurate predictions.

 

□ To address these challenges, Prof. Park’s research team developed an image translation model that could generate a dataset applying texture debiasing and perform the learning process based on the generated dataset. Existing image translation models are often limited by the issue of texture changes leading to unintended content alterations, as textures and contents are intertwined. To address this issue, Prof. Park’s research team developed a new model that simultaneously uses error functions for both textures and contents.

 

□ The new image translation model proposed by this research team operates by extracting information on the contents of an input image and on textures from a different domain and combining them. To simultaneously maintain information on not only the contents of input images but also the texture of the new domain, the developed model is trained using both error functions for spatial self-similarity and texture co-occurrence. Through these processes, the model can generate an image that has the texture of a different domain while maintaining information on the contents of the input image.

 

□ As the developed deep learning model generates a dataset applying texture debiasing and uses the generated dataset for training, it exhibits a better performance than the existing models. It achieved a superior performance compared to existing debiasing and image translation techniques when tested on datasets with texture biases, such as a classification dataset for distinguishing numbers, classification dataset for distinguishing dogs and cats with different hair colors, and classification dataset applying different image protocols for distinguishing COVID-19 from bacterial pneumonia. Moreover, it outperformed existing methods when applied to datasets with various biases, such as a classification dataset for distinguishing multi-label numbers and that for distinguishing photos, images, animations, and sketches.

 

□ Furthermore, the image translation technology proposed by Prof. Park’s research team can be implemented in image manipulation. The research team found that the developed method altered only the textures of an image while preserving its original contents. This analytic result confirmed the superior performance of the developed method compared to existing image manipulation methods. Additionally, this solution can be effectively used in other environments. The research team compared the performance of the developed method with that of existing image translation methods based on various domains, such as medical and self-driving images. Based on the analytical results, the developed method demonstrated a more excellent performance than existing methods.

 

□ Prof. Park stated, “The technology developed in this research offers a significant performance boost in situations where biased datasets are inevitably used to train deep learning models in industrial and medical fields.” He also added, “It is expected that this solution will make a substantial contribution to enhance the robustness of AI models commercially used or distributed in diverse environments for commercial purposes.”

 

□ The results of this research were recognized for their excellence and published in Neural Networks, a prestigious journal in image analysis, in August 2023.

 

corresponding author E-mail Address : shpark13135@dgist.ac.kr

---

JOURNAL

Neural Networks

DOI

10.1016/j.neunet.2023.07.049 

ARTICLE TITLE

Content preserving image translation with texture co-occurrence and spatial self-similarity for texture debiasing and domain adaptation

'AI' named Collins Word of the Year

London (AFP) – The abbreviation of artificial intelligence (AI) has been named the Collins Word of the Year for 2023, the dictionary publisher said on Tuesday.


Issued on: 01/11/2023 

Lexicographers at Collins Dictionary said use of the term AI had "accelerated" and that it had become the dominant conversation of 2023

 © Josep LAGO / AFP/File

Lexicographers at Collins Dictionary said use of the term had "accelerated" and that it had become the dominant conversation of 2023.

"We know that AI has been a big focus this year in the way that it has developed and has quickly become as ubiquitous and embedded in our lives as email, streaming or any other once futuristic, now everyday technology," Collins managing director Alex Beecroft said.

Collins said its wordsmiths analysed the Collins Corpus, a database that contains more than 20 billion words with written material from websites, newspapers, magazines and books published around the world.

It also draws on spoken material from radio, TV and everyday conversations, while new data is fed into the Corpus every month, to help the Collins dictionary editors identify new words and meanings from the moment they are first used.

"Use of the word as monitored through our Collins Corpus is always interesting and there was no question that this has also been the talking point of 2023," Beecroft said.

Other words on Collins list include "nepo baby", which has become a popular phrase to describe the children of celebrities who have succeeded in industries similar to those of their parents.

"Greedflation", meaning companies making profits during the cost of living crisis, and "Ulez", the ultra-low emission zone that penalises drivers of the most-polluting cars in London, were also mentioned.

Social media terms such as "deinfluencing" or "de-influencing", meaning to "warn followers to avoid certain commercial products", were also on the Collins list.

This summer's Ashes series between England and Australia had many people talking about a style of cricket dubbed "Bazball", according to Collins.

The term refers to New Zealand cricketer and coach Brendon McCullum, known as Baz, who advocates a philosophy of relaxed minds, aggressive tactics and positive energy.

The word "permacrisis", defined as "an extended period of instability and insecurity" was the Collins word of the year in 2022.

In 2020, it was "lockdown". In 2016, it was "Brexit".

© 2023 AFP

AI anxiety as computers get super smart

San Francisco (AFP) – From Hollywood's death-dealing Terminator to warnings from genius Stephen Hawking or Silicon Valley stars, fears have been fueled that artificial intelligence (AI) could one day destroy humanity.


Issued on: 01/11/2023 - 

Before his death, Professor Stephen Hawking called on the world to avoid the risks of artificial intelligence, warning it could be the worst event in the history of civilization 

© Jemal Countess / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/AFP
A
Tech titans are racing toward creating AI far smarter than people, pushing US President Joe Biden to impose emergency regulation and the European Union seeking major legislation to be agreed by the end of this year.

A two-day summit starting Wednesday in London will explore regulatory safeguards against AI risks such as those below.

Job stealer?

The success of ChatGPT from OpenAI has ignited debate about whether "generative AI" capable of quickly producing text, images and audio from simple commands in everyday language is a tremendous threat to jobs held by people.

Automated machinery is already used to do labor in factories, warehouses, and fields.

Generative AI, however, can take aim at white-collar jobs such as lawyers, doctors, teachers, journalists, and even computer programmers.

A report from the McKinsey consulting firm estimates that by the end of this decade, as much as 30 percent of the hours worked in the United States could be automated in a trend accelerated by generative AI.

Boosters of such technology have invoked the notion of a universal basic income in which machines generate wealth that is shared with people freed of the burdens of work.

But it is also possible companies would reap profits of improved efficiencies, leaving those out of work to fend for themselves.

Copycat?

Artists were quick to protest software such as Dall-E, Midjourney and Stable Diffusion that are capable of creating images in nearly any style on demand.

Computer coders and writers followed suit, critiquing AI creators for "training" software on their work, enabling it to replicate their styles or skills without permission or compensation.

AI models have been taught using massive amounts of information and imagery found online.

"That's what it trains on, a fraction of the huge output of humanity," OpenAI co-founder Sam Altman said at a conference in September.

"I think this will be a tool that amplifies human beings, not replace them."

Disinformation tools?

Fake news and deepfakes have been around for years but being able to easily crank it out using generative AI raises fears of rampant online deception.

Elections run the risk of being won by those most adept at spreading disinformation, contends cognitive scientist and AI expert Gary Marcus.

"Democracy depends on access to the information needed to make the right decisions," Marcus said.

"If no one knows what's true and what's not, it's all over".

Fraud?

Generative AI makes it easier for scammers to create convincing phishing emails, perhaps even learning enough about targets to personalize approaches.

Technology lets them copy a face or a voice, and thus trick people into falling for deceptions such as claims a loved one is in danger, for example.

US President Biden called the ability of AI to imitate people's voices "mind blowing" while signing his recent executive order aimed at the technology.

There are even language models trained specifically to produce such malicious content.

Human role models

As with other technologies with the potential for good or evil, the main danger is posed by humans who wield it.

Since AI is trained on data put on the web by humans, it can mirror society's prejudices, biases, and injustices.

AI also has the potential to make it easier to create bioweapons; hack banks or power grids; run oppressive government surveillance, and more.

AI overlord?

Some industry players fear AI could become so smart that it could seize control from humans.

"It is not difficult to imagine that at some point in the future, our intelligent computers will become as smart or smarter than people," OpenAI co-founder and chief scientist Ilya Sutskever said at a recent TED AI conference.

"The impact of such artificial intelligence is going to be truly vast."

OpenAI and rivals maintain the goal is for AI to benefit humanity, solving long-intractable problems such as climate change.

At the same time, AI industry leaders are calling for thoughtful regulation to prevent risks such as human extinction.

© 2023 AFP

Global leaders gather at UK summit focused on AI safety, regulations

Issued on: 01/11/2023 - 

01:40

FRANCE 24
Video by: Charlotte HUGHES

Digital officials, tech company bosses and researchers are converging Wednesday at a former codebreaking spy base near London to discuss and better understand the extreme risks posed by cutting-edge artificial intelligence. Pushing for a global AI advisory board based on the UN’s panel on climate change, PM Rishi Sunak is hoping to position the UK as a leader in the rapidly developing field.

World leaders gather at UK summit aiming to tackle 'frontier AI' risks

Digital officials, tech company bosses and researchers are converging Wednesday at a former codebreaking spy base near London to discuss and better understand the extreme risks posed by cutting-edge artificial intelligence.


Issued on: 01/11/2023 - 

Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla and X, attends the AI Safety Summit in Bletchley Park near Milton Keynes in the UK on November 1, 2023 

© Toby Melville, Reuters

By: NEWS WIRES|

The two-day summit focusing on so-called frontier AI notched up an early achievement with officials from 28 nations and the European Union signing an agreement on safe and responsible development of the technology.

Frontier AI is shorthand for the latest and most powerful general purpose systems that take the technology right up to its limits, but could come with as-yet-unknown dangers. They're underpinned by foundation models, which power chatbots like OpenAI's ChatGPT and Google's Bard and are trained on vast pools of information scraped from the internet.

The AI Safety Summit is a labor of love for British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, a tech-loving former banker who wants the U.K. to be a hub for computing innovation and has framed the summit as the start of a global conversation about the safe development of AI. But U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris may divert attention Wednesday with a separate speech in London setting out the Biden administration’s more hands-on approach.

She's due to attend the summit on Thursday alongside government officials from more than two dozen countries including Canada, France, Germany, India, Japan, Saudi Arabia – and China, invited over the protests of some members of Sunak's governing Conservative Party.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk is also scheduled to discuss AI with Sunak in a livestreamed conversation on Thursday night. The tech billionaire was among those who signed a statement earlier this year raising the alarm about the perils that AI poses to humanity.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and executives from U.S. artificial intelligence companies such as Anthropic, Google's DeepMind and OpenAI and influential computer scientists like Yoshua Bengio, one of the “godfathers” of AI, are also attending.

Watch moreIn China, artificial intelligence extends its hold on daily life

In all, more than 100 delegates were expected at the meeting held at Bletchley Park, a former top secret base for World War II codebreakers that’s seen as a birthplace of modern computing.

As the meeting began, U.K. Technology Secretary Michelle Donelan announced that the 28 countries and the European Union had signed the Bletchley Declaration on AI Safety. It outlines the “urgent need to understand and collectively manage potential risks through a new joint global effort.”

South Korea has agreed to host another AI safety summit in six months, followed by France in a year's time, Donelan said.

Sunak has said the technology brings new opportunities but warned about frontier AI's threat to humanity, because it could be used to create biological weapons or be exploited by terrorists to sow fear and destruction.

Only governments, not companies, can keep people safe from AI’s dangers, Sunak said last week. However, in the same speech, he also urged against rushing to regulate AI technology, saying it needs to be fully understood first.

In contrast, Harris will stress the need to address the here and now, including “societal harms that are already happening such as bias, discrimination and the proliferation of misinformation.”

Harris plans to stress that the Biden administration is “committed to hold companies accountable, on behalf of the people, in a way that does not stifle innovation,” including through legislation.

“As history has shown in the absence of regulation and strong government oversight, some technology companies choose to prioritize profit over: the wellbeing of their customers; the security of our communities; and the stability of our democracies,” she plans to say.

She’ll point to President Biden’s executive order this week, setting out AI safeguards, as evidence the U.S. is leading by example in developing rules for artificial intelligence that work in the public interest. Among measures she will announce is an AI Safety Institute, run through the Department of Commerce, to help set the rules for “safe and trusted AI.”

Harris also will encourage other countries to sign up to a U.S.-backed pledge to stick to “responsible and ethical” use of AI for military aims.

A White House official gave details of Harris’s speech, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss her remarks in advance.

(AP)

UK, US, China sign AI safety pledge at UK summit

Bletchley Park (United Kingdom) (AFP) – Countries including the UK, United States and China on Wednesday agreed the "need for international action" as political and tech leaders gathered for the world's first summit on artificial intelligence (AI) safety.

Issued on: 01/11/2023 

Britain's Prime Minister Rishi Sunak convened the first ever global summit on AI safety © Kirsty Wigglesworth / POOL/AFP

The UK government kicked off the two-day event at Bletchley Park, north of London, by publishing the "Bletchley Declaration" signed by 28 countries and the European Union.

In it, they agreed on "the urgent need to understand and collectively manage potential risks through a new joint global effort to ensure AI is developed and deployed in a safe, responsible way for the benefit of the global community".

Sunak called the declaration a "landmark achievement" while King Charles III, in a video message to the summit, urged international collaboration to combat the "significant risks" of unchecked development.

"There is a clear imperative to ensure that this rapidly evolving technology remains safe and secure," he said.

UK technology minister Michelle Donelan told AFP that the declaration "really outlines for the first time the world coming together to identify this problem".

The announcement came shortly after the UK and United States both said they were setting up their own institutes to assess and mitigate the risks of the fast-emerging technology.

Who is building AI? © Nicholas SHEARMAN / AFP

The release of the latest models have offered a glimpse into the potential of so-called frontier AI, but have also prompted concerns around issues ranging from job losses to cyber attacks and the control that humans actually have over the systems.
'Timely'

The conference at Bletchley Park, where top British codebreakers cracked Nazi Germany's "Enigma" code, focuses on frontier AI.

Donelan told AFP the event was a "historic moment in mankind's history" after earlier announcing two further summits, in South Korea in six months' time, and in France next year.

US Vice President Kamala Harris urged collaboration as AI develops 

© Daniel LEAL / AFP

But London has reportedly had to scale back its ambitions around ideas such as launching a new regulatory body amid a perceived lack of enthusiasm.

Donelan accepted that the summit "isn't designed to produce a blueprint for global legislation", but was instead "designed to forge a path ahead,... so that we can get a better handle and understanding on the risk of frontier AI".

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni was one of the only world leaders attending the conference, although tech giant Elon Musk was already present on the first day, and will talk with Sunak on Thursday.

The SpaceX and Tesla CEO told the domestic Press Association news agency that the event was "timely".

SpaceX and Tesla CEO Elon Musk called the event 'timely' 

© Leon Neal / POOL/AFP

"It's one of the existential risks that we face and it is potentially the most pressing one if you look at the timescale and rate of advancement -- the summit is timely, and I applaud the prime minister for holding it," he said.
'Talking shop'

While the potential of AI raises many hopes, particularly for medicine, its development is seen as largely unchecked.

US Vice President Kamala Harris urged in a speech in London on Wednesday that "we seize this moment" and "work together to build a future where AI creates opportunity and advances equity" while protecting rights.

Who should regulate AI?

 © Nicholas SHEARMAN / AFP

She will attend the summit on Thursday, but lawyer and investigator Cori Crider, a campaigner for "fair" technology, warned that the event could be "a bit of a talking shop.

"If he were serious about safety, Rishi Sunak needed to roll deep and bring all of the UK majors and regulators in tow and he hasn't," she told a San Francisco news conference.

Ahead of the meeting, the G7 powers agreed on Monday on a non-binding "code of conduct" for companies developing the most advanced AI systems.

In Rome, ministers from Italy, Germany and France called for an "innovation-friendly approach" to regulating AI in Europe, as they urged more investment to challenge the United States and China.

China was also due to be present, but it was unclear at what level.

The invitation has raised eyebrows amid heightened tensions between China and Western nations and accusations of technological espionage.

© 2023 AFP

Electric vehicles gain traction in Jordan as petrol prices rise

Amman (AFP) – Electric vehicle sales are surging in Jordan, a trend drivers and showrooms attribute to high petrol prices more than any concerns about air pollution and climate change.


Issued on: 01/11/2023 - 

Electric vehicle sales have soared as the price of petrol has jumped in Jordan 

© Khalil MAZRAAWI / AFP

Boosted by low import taxes, especially affordable Chinese-made models have become a common sight on the streets of Amman and the kingdom's desert highways.

Tesla owner Shadi Zatari, 43, says he no longer worries about pump prices since he plugs in his car overnight at home, allowing him to drive 400 kilometres (250 miles) on a single charge.

"The main goal of buying an electric car is definitely saving money," said the Amman-based merchant and father of three. "I saved almost two thirds of what I used to spend on gasoline."

With Octane 90 unleaded petrol selling at about $1.40 per litre, Zatari said he used to spend about 120 dinars ($170) on fuel per month.

He has slashed this to 40 dinars -- the average rise in his monthly electricity bill -- and is able to drive longer distances at no additional cost.

Zatari's car is one of 60,000 EVs now registered in Jordan -- still just a fraction of the total 2.2 million registered vehicles, but the fastest-growing segment.

The number of EVs on Jordan's roads rose 103 percent by the end of July from the same period last year.

The rise was 167 percent for all of 2022 -- a year that also saw imports of petrol and diesel powered cars drop 27 percent and hybrid vehicle imports fall almost 25 percent.

- Driven by savings -

EVs have become a common sight, especially China's Changan Eado EV and E-Star, and models sold by BYD, Dongfeng and MG.

Also popular are the South Korean-made Hyundai Ioniq 5 and Kona and Kia's Niro, as well as Japan's Nissan Leaf and Sylphy, Germany's Volkswagen ID4 and Italy's Fiat 500.

"There is currently a great demand for electric cars," said Hashim Al-Zayyat, director of Al-Zayyat Car Trading.

"The main reason is the high price of gasoline in Jordan, it is a burden with the high cost of living."

Jordan is facing tough economic times, with an unemployment rate of 22.6 percent last year, according to the International Monetary Fund, and youth unemployment around 50 percent.

The number of electric vehicles on Jordan's roads jumped 167 percent in 2022 

© Khalil MAZRAAWI / AFP

Public debt exceeded 100 percent of GDP in the small and resource-poor country, which was hit hard by the Covid pandemic and the costs of hosting a large number of Syrian refugees.

The kingdom is now watching with high concern as Israel's war with Hamas militants flares in Gaza, the deadliest ever conflict in the Palestinian territory.

Amid the ongoing crises, budget-conscious Jordanians are mainly "interested in having the car travel the greatest distance with one charge", said Zayyat.

Battery-powered cars have none of the toxic tailpipe emissions that pollute cities, and are considered clean overall if they are charged using solar or wind power.

For most Jordanians, Zayyat said, "the issue is a matter of savings, not an environmental issue at all".

"The environment is the last thing one would think about," he added.

- Government incentives -

Jordan's government has encouraged the trend by slashing import duties on EVs to 10-15 per cent, far lower than for petrol cars, where duties can top 80 percent.

It has also licensed dozens of charging points at petrol stations and private businesses, and the number of battery-powered cars in the government fleet increased by a fifth in 2022.

Chinese-made EVs are especially popular in Jordan, said Haytham Abu Hasan, a sales consultant at the Changan Auto dealership in the capital.

"We used to sell 60 to 70 electric cars per month," he said. "Now we sell more than 100."

Many motorists driving petrol or diesel cars spend 150 to 200 dinars ($211-280) on fuel per month, Abu Hasan said, compared with the extra cost of 30 to 40 dinars for battery-powered cars.

Many motorists value the range, with the Changan E-Star able to go more than 300 kilometres on a single charge, the Eado EV achieving more than 400 kilometres and the SL03 more than 500 kilometres, he said.

"The demand for electric cars far exceeds the demand for gasoline cars, and every year it's greater than the year before."

© 2023 AFP

Peace prize winner Narges Mohammadi smuggles message out of cell

Oslo (AFP) – "Victory is not easy, but it is certain," imprisoned Nobel Peace Prize winner and women's rights activist Narges Mohammadi, said in a message smuggled out of her Tehran cell published late Tuesday.

Issued on: 01/11/2023 - 

Mohammadi condemned 'a regime that has institutionalized deprivation and poverty in society for 45 years' 

© - / NARGES MOHAMMADI FOUNDATION/AFP/File

In the message, read out in French by her daughter, Kiana Rahmani, and posted on the official Nobel website, the 51-year-old activist and journalist expressed "sincere gratitude" to the Norwegian Nobel committee.

Mohammadi -- who was given the nod in early October "for her fight against the oppression of women in Iran" -- once again criticised the requirement for women in Iran to wear a headscarf, and denounced Iranian authorities.

"The compulsory hijab is a means of control and repression imposed on the society and on which the continuation and survival of this authoritarian religious regime depends," she declared through her 17-year-old daughter, who has taken refuge in France along with her family.

She condemned "a regime that has institutionalized deprivation and poverty in society for forty-five years", adding that it was "built on lies, deception, cunning, and intimidation".

Arrested 13 times, sentenced five times to a total of 31 years in prison and 154 lashes, and imprisoned again since 2021, Narges Mohammadi is one of the women spearheading of the "Woman, Life, Freedom" uprising in Iran.
An 'unstoppable process'

The movement, which has seen women take off their headdresses, cut their hair and demonstrate in the streets, was sparked by the death of a young 22-year-old Iranian Kurdish woman, Mahsa Amini, last year after she was arrested in Tehran for failing to comply with the strict Islamic dress code.

On Saturday, Armita Garawand, a 17-year-old ethnic Kurd, died a week after she was declared "brain dead," after she had been hospitalised since October 1 after she fell unconscious on the metro.

Rights groups have said the teen was critically wounded during an alleged assault by female members of Iran's morality police. The authorities dispute this account, saying she suddenly fell ill.

"We, the people of Iran, demand democracy, freedom, human rights, and equality, and the Islamic Republic is the main obstacle in the way of realizing these national demands," Mohammadi said in her message.

"We... are struggling to transition away from this religious authoritarian regime through solidarity and drawing on the power of a non-violent and unstoppable process in order to revive the honor and pride of Iran and human dignity and prestige for its people," she continued in the message from the Evin prison.

"Victory is not easy, but it is certain," she concluded.

It was not disclosed how the message was smuggled out.

© 2023 AFP

Albania tries to halt flight of young doctors

Issued on: 01/11/2023 - 

Tirana (AFP) – Seeking to stem the flight of its young doctors, Albania has brought in a law to make recent medical graduates work in their home country for up to five years, or until they pay back their tuition fees.

In the past decade over 3,000 doctors have left the country 

© Adnan Beci / AFP

As one of Europe's poorest countries, the Balkan nation cannot compete with salaries and working conditions in Germany or Italy, where many young Albanian doctors move for work.

Since the law entered force on October 1, medical students have been calling for it to be scrapped. They have held protests outside the education ministry and Tirana University's Faculty of Medicine.

They label the legislation "unconstitutional" and argue it violates basic human rights principles on freedom of movement. They also say it deprives them of the opportunity to develop their training abroad.

The students have taken their case to the Constitutional Court and its ruling is expected in the coming weeks.

"The new law violates students' right to freely choose where they want to work," fifth-year student Reant Kullaj told AFP.

"Students are motivated to stay (in Albania), but they cannot be forced," said Kullaj, surrounded by his peers outside the Tirana Faculty of Medicine.

While Germany has 4.5 doctors for every 1,000 people, Albania has just 1.9, one of the lowest ratios in Europe, official figures show.

In the past decade over 3,000 doctors have left the country of 2.8 million people, according to the federation of Albanian doctors in Europe. At least 1,000 of them work in Germany.

"It's a really big problem", warned ophthalmologist Pajtim Lutaj, who returned to Albania after a training course in Paris.

He believes the training system should be improved, with final years students integrated into the public health sector.

Other medical professions are facing similar challenges -- at least 16,000 nurses and care workers have left Albania in the last four years, according to the national nurses' association.

This year the number of young people enrolling to nursing studies has increased again, said Gevio Tabaku, who runs UAlbania, a portal with university enrolment data. It shows these students want to use the diploma as a passport, he said.

'Torn between two loves'

Not everyone shares the medical students' views.

Najada Como, a professor at the Tirana Faculty of Medicine, said "the law aimed at curbing the departure of young doctors is not restrictive."

"Working for a few years in a town, in a village, to serve your country, your people, is the most beautiful thing for a doctor," Como said.

'Working for a few years in a town, in a village, to serve your country, your people, is the most beautiful thing for a doctor,' Najada Como said 

© Adnan Beci / AFP

In September, Prime Minister Edi Rama said Albania "cannot supply Germany with doctors".

"We pay for them, we prepare them -- and Germany takes them," he said.

Sixth year medical student Kristi Tata said he felt "torn between two loves -- to specialise abroad and then return to Albania or to work in the country" after his studies.

Tata is awaiting the Constitutional Court's decision before making his choice.
Better conditions

Specialised agencies advertise better opportunities abroad, deepening the dilemma.

"Assured work and contract in Germany's largest hospitals, possibility to choose the city and place of work in 2,000 towns throughout Germany. Wage from 2,800 to 3,900 euros ($3,000 to $4,150) monthly", one promises.

"Career opportunities by all European standards", says another.

In a country where the average salary of a young graduate in the public sector is 1,000 euros a month, such offers are enticing.

Students say that more than salary, better working conditions are key for them to stay in Albania 

© Adnan Beci / AFP

But students say that more than salary, better working conditions are key for them to stay in Albania.

"Leaving is far from a solution," said Leada Tase, an ophthalmology intern at the Tirana University hospital.

"Albania needs doctors and the most important thing is to insist on improving the conditions necessary for us to practice our profession in the best possible way."

From November 1, Germany is introducing a new, streamlined immigration system for workers from countries outside the European Union like Albania.

The so-called "Chancenkarte", for people with a potential rather than permanent employment contract, could make the decision to work abroad even more tempting.

© 2023 AFP

Voices from Ethiopia's war-scarred Tigray

Addis Ababa (AFP) – One year after Ethiopia signed a peace deal with the Tigray People's Liberation Front, ending a brutal conflict that killed hundreds of thousands by some estimates, life in the northern region is slowly limping back to normal.

Issued on: 01/11/2023 

Wegahta Gebreyohannes Abera is among thousands of Tigrayans grieving family members killed in the conflict 

© Michele Spatari / AFP

But the legacy of the two-year war is everywhere in Tigray, even though fighting has ceased and access to key services including banking, electricity and internet has resumed in some areas.

Many Tigrayans told AFP they were struggling to find their feet after the November 2022 peace agreement, some losing their homes and livelihoods to the war, others grieving family members killed in the conflict.

The fighting, which also drew in Eritrean forces, left Tigray's infrastructure in ruins, with hospitals still lacking medical equipment and some schools yet to reopen.

A million people remain displaced across the region, according to the International Organization for Migration, with around 234,000 in Tigray's capital Mekele.

Many have been forced to beg to make ends meet, their conditions worsening after the discovery of diverted aid shipments led the World Food Programme and the US government's humanitarian agency USAID to suspend food assistance to Tigray in May.

Meanwhile, Ethiopia's skyrocketing inflation and job losses in Tigray mean some households are struggling to buy basic supplies, including food.

Those who have a stable source of income are trying to savour whatever pleasure they can in everyday activities, from spending time with loved ones over a meal in a restaurant to taking their children to school.

Yared Berhe Gebrelibanos, who heads ASCOT, told AFP he had 'mixed feelings about the peace deal' 

© Michele Spatari / AFP

Yet they are holding their breath, afraid that peace will not prevail as long as Eritrean troops continue to operate in border areas and the thorny question of western Tigray -- disputed territory captured by regional forces from neighbouring Amhara -- remains unsettled.

AFP spoke to Tigrayans from varied walks of life to get a glimpse into their experience:
The activist and humanitarian worker

Yared Berhe Gebrelibanos, who heads ASCOT (Alliance Of Civil Society Organizations of Tigray), said he had "mixed feelings about the peace deal".

"The guns have been largely silenced, we have seen improvements in access to services like banking and electricity, some schools have also reopened.

"But 90 percent of Tigray is dependent on aid. And the humanitarian situation is getting worse.

"I can access my savings and get a regular salary but I am privileged. Many people are not being paid anything.

"It is heartbreaking to witness so much suffering."

The hospital worker

Hiluf, a 36-year-old who only gave his first name, said he was mired in debt because he had not received wages for a period "of almost two years" during the war.

"Life in Mekele is very difficult.

"Many doctors have left their jobs because their salaries have not been paid and they cannot feed their families.

"I have been relying on natural resilience to live."

The border resident

Desta, a woman living in Irob, near the Eritrean border, told AFP in a phone interview that foreign troops were still operating in the region, despite the peace deal calling for their withdrawal.

"Eritrean troops are engaged in illegal trade in the bordering areas of Tigray, without paying taxes to Ethiopia's government.

"Sometimes they block the roads and kidnap young men."
The makeup artist turned humanitarian worker

Wegahta Gebreyohannes Abera said she was grateful not to hear the sound of "drones and gunshots" anymore.

"When the war started, my sisters and I didn't leave the house for six months, we were very scared of sexual violence and I got very depressed.

"Then I started doing relief work and eventually set up Hdrina, the organisation I run.

"I am thankful that we can go out now.

"During the war, I was only concerned with surviving. Every day, I thought I was going to die.

"Even now sometimes it is hard to think straight. We keep hearing rumours of a new war erupting between Ethiopia and Eritrea and we don't want that to happen.

"So many families are still learning about their missing relatives. We just heard that some of my cousins and uncles in rural Tigray died in combat.

"The whole region is grieving."

The woman forced to flee

Genet, a 26-year-old who was forced to leave her home in western Tigray as troops from Amhara moved into the region, said she was finding it "difficult to express" her emotions about her situation.

"Food aid distribution has stopped for six months because of theft allegations. Because of this, life as an IDP (internally displaced person) is like waiting for death.

"I cannot feed my family. The markets are expensive and inaccessible.

"We have no hope of returning to our home."

burs-amu/bp

© 2023 AFP

One year on, peace holds in Tigray but Ethiopia still fractured

Addis Ababa (AFP) – An accord signed a year ago between the rivals in Ethiopia's Tigray war has brought peace to the shattered region, but ignited yet another conflict in the increasingly fractured nation.


Issued on: 01/11/2023 - 

In November 2022, Ethiopia's federal government and the rebellious authorities of Tigray agreed to a ceasefire after two years of bloodshed and atrocities that left hundreds of thousands dead 

© Yasuyoshi CHIBA / AFP/File

In November 2022, Ethiopia's federal government and the rebellious authorities of Tigray agreed in South Africa to a ceasefire after two years of bloodshed and atrocities that left hundreds of thousands dead.

The guns at last silent, the northern region of six million has begun the huge task of rebuilding.

"I am surprised how fast the situation changed in one year... We are still far from pre-war, but it improved quite a bit," said one member of a non-governmental organisation active in Tigray who requested anonymity to freely discuss the situation.

The war which also drew in Eritrean forces inflicted terrible damage on the region: Ethiopian Finance Minister Ahmed Shide recently estimated the cost of reconstruction in the battle-scarred north at $20 billion.

Outside Tigray's capital Mekele, the restoration of electricity, telecommunication and banking services has been "very slow and gradual", said a teacher at a university in the region who asked not to be identified.

Close to 90 percent of Tigray's health facilities were totally or partially destroyed in the conflict, according to a World Health Organization (WHO) report.

One million people inside Tigray were forced to flee because of the war 

© Yasuyoshi CHIBA / AFP/File

"Health facilities were looted, for some you only still have a shell, a concrete shell," the NGO worker said.

The university academic said Tigray's agriculture, manufacturing, service and business sectors had been largely destroyed, leaving almost 200,000 people out of work.

Salaries for civil servants resumed in December 2022, but 18 months of wages frozen during the war remain unpaid.

- 'Rupture' -

The suspension of food aid to Tigray by the US government and the UN's World Food Programme (WFP) in May following allegations of misappropriation slowed efforts to address chronic hunger in the region.

According to a recent study by foreign aid organisations and local health authorities, nearly 16 percent of children under the age of five in Tigray suffer from acute malnutrition, above the critical threshold defined by WHO and UNICEF.

More than half of the population reported going hungry in the previous month, the study found.

Tensions between Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed's government and Amhara militias spilt over into armed violence earlier this year 

© Amanuel Sileshi / AFP/File

"In the rural areas, there's nothing left after two years of war," the NGO worker said.

Among the worst affected are the one million people inside Tigray forced to flee fighting.

Many were driven out of territory still under control of security forces from neighbouring Amhara, Tigray's rival region, which sided with the national army during the conflict.

In defiance of the Pretoria peace accord, these forces have refused to leave western Tigray and part of the region's south that the Amhara have long considered ancestral homeland, raising tensions with their former allies in Addis Ababa.

"As a result of the agreement, the normalisation of relations between Tigray and the Government of Ethiopia saw a simultaneous rupture between the Amhara and the federal government," said the Institute for Security Studies (ISS), a think tank based in South Africa.

For the Amhara, the Pretoria agreement represented a "reversal of alliances", said one diplomat in Addis Ababa.

Tensions spilt over into armed violence in April when the army sought to disarm regional militias including those in Amhara, the second-most populous region in Ethiopia, with 25 million people.

The conflict was "set to last... and could destabilise the country", said the diplomat.

'Prisoner of alliance'

Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed also remains a "prisoner of his alliance with Eritrea", said Patrick Ferras, president of Strategies Africaines, a think tank.

"He doesn't know how to get rid of the Eritrean soldiers still present in border areas," he said.

The end of fighting in Tigray has only served to spotlight the many other hotspots raging in Ethiopia, often along ethnic lines, troubling a vast and diverse country of 120 million people.

Multiple, simultaneous but unrelated conflicts were "ongoing in the country at any given time", said the NGO monitor Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project (ACLED) in September.

Across swathes of Ethiopia's largest and most populous region, Oromia, armed groups with ill-defined contours have been waging an escalating campaign of violence since 2018, including ethnic massacres.

"No Ethiopian region is truly stable today," said Ferras, who warned of hardening lines around ethnic identity.

"All these security conflicts, particularly in Oromia and Amhara, are only accelerating the fracturing of Ethiopia, which will probably not fracture completely, but which will remain a difficult country to govern."

© 2023 AFP

Massacre on Mali's Niger River

Issued on: 01/11/2023 - 

Timbuktu (Mali) (AFP) – Regular passengers of the "Tombouctou", a ferry whose route runs along the Niger River in northern Mali, are accustomed to hearing gunfire from the riverbank during their journeys.

The ferry provided a regular link between Malian towns on the banks of the river 

But on September 7, they quickly realised that something unusual was happening.

The blasts that forced passengers to hit the deck that day heralded a deluge of gunfire.

It would destroy dozens of lives and leave the ferry -- which provided a regular link between Malian towns on the banks of the river across hundreds of kilometres of semi-desert -- a burnt-out wreck.

Even in a country accustomed to massacres attributed variously to jihadists, self-defence militias, the army or, more recently, the Russian paramilitary group Wagner, the carnage committed some 20 kilometres (12 miles) upstream from the town of Bamba stands out -- and not just for its scale.

Nobody really knows who unleashed the 15-minute inferno of rockets, bullets and flames on hundreds of passengers, and there is no guarantee that the truth will ever be established.

Twelve witnesses agreed to recount the events to AFP. They described the terror, but also the sacrifice of the soldiers and the solidarity between the victims.

Since 2012, the Sahel has been the scene of countless atrocities that often go unreported and without photographic evidence.

These accounts add an element of humanity to what would otherwise be just another faceless massacre.

One of these witnesses, Alhadj M'bara, described himself as a veteran of the "Tombouctou" -- the white and blue three-decker boat with a slightly old-fashioned but dashing flag bearing the logo of the Societe Malienne de Navigation (Comanav).

M'bara, who is in his sixties, sat on a mat in his old walled house in the city of Timbuktu as he recounted his story.

He said that, like others, he used to sell small household items on the boat during its multi-day journey.

He had his regular spot on deck, which is where he was at dawn on September 7.

Between 500 and 1,000 people were crammed on board, although the ferry was only designed to carry 300.

It was almost breakfast time, and the passengers were worried.

"Since we left Timbuktu, we had heard rumours that the boat would be attacked," the old man said.

Escalating tension

For weeks, the situation had been escalating between armed actors in the north, including jihadists, separatists and soldiers.

The Al-Qaeda-linked Support Group for Islam and Muslims (GSIM) had imposed a blockade on Timbuktu, and anything travelling to or from the city became a potential target.

Before the attack, the river had offered a generally safer alternative to the road.

On September 1, however, a teenager was killed by a rocket attack on a Comanav building.

Five days later, the occupants of a boat passing the Timbuktu ferry from the direction of Gao warned passengers of a threat lurking.

As a precaution, a stopover was arranged for the night at Bamba, between the cities of Gao and Timbuktu.

At around 9:00 am (0900 GMT) the next day, some 15 kilometres after Bamba, the ferry entered a bend lined with reeds.

Aicha Traore, a student, was taking photos on the bridge when one or more pick-up trucks, according to witnesses, appeared over the dunes on the horizon.

"Some people whispered that maybe it's the village chief's car," she said.

There were soldiers on board the boat, and she and others went down to inform them.

The question has been raised whether the soldiers' presence made the ferry a target -- and, if so, for whom.

"That's when the shooting started," said M'bara, the salesman.

Soldiers ordered people to lie down on the deck.

"Some of them lay on top of us to protect us," recalled Abdoul Razak Maiga, a 19-year-old student.

Counting the dead

The Timbuktu ferry has come under fire before, according to M'bara.

But "this time it was different", he said.

"We were ashore (when) suddenly a rocket came out of one of the pinasses," the small flat-bottomed boats that abound on the river, some of which were following the ferry from Bamba.

"From then on, it was every man for himself, God for all," M'bara said.

The soldiers tried to retaliate, but were caught in the crossfire of small arms and rockets.

Three rockets hit the engine, the ferry operator said.

They started a fire that spread.

"I gave my little brother to someone while I threw myself into the water," said Fatoumata Coulibaly, a shopkeeper.

"Then I signalled to him to throw me my little brother -- I was able to swim to shore with him (but) all our luggage remained, even our clothes and shoes."

In the panic, Aessata Issa Cisse, another passenger, was separated from her daughter.

"I've had no news of her -- I've searched in vain, I don't know if she's alive or dead," she told AFP.

The captain managed to reach the shore.

Local villagers were the first to come to the aid of the survivors.

A few hours later, soldiers and around 15 armed white men, possibly mercenaries from the Wagner Group, arrived.

The attackers had vanished, but the road was too dangerous to evacuate the survivors, who spent the night under military guard in front of the burning wreckage.

The dead were buried on the spot.

The number of casualties is unknown. Access to such data is hampered by a multitude of factors: the remoteness and perilous nature of the terrain, the shortcomings of telecommunications, the paucity of information relays, and also a fear of speaking out.

Massacres in the region have often been documented for NGOs and the UN based on oral testimonies.

Access has become even more limited in recent years, in a tense security and political context.

Yet news of the ferry massacre spread in a matter of hours, with images of the boat in flames circulating on social networks.

Mali's ruling junta, often slow or reluctant to speak out in such circumstances, addressed the incident publicly that same evening.

It confirmed the deaths of 49 civilians and 15 soldiers in the ferry attack and another on the same day against army positions in Bamba.
Resilience

The junta said that GSIM had claimed responsibility for both operations. AFP only found traces of the group claiming responsibility for the attack on army positions, but not for the ferry.

Subsequently, authorities lumped the assault together with other acts by "terrorist" groups, a term they now apply to the separatist fighters who have just taken up arms against the state in the north.

Pro-junta groups active on social networks openly blame the predominantly Tuareg rebellion for the ferry tragedy, compounding it with GSIM.

"Renewed tension in the north -- the coalition of terrorists and independence fighters at work," ran the headline in the government daily newspaper l'Essor on September 11.

An official from the Coordination of Azawad Movements (CMA) -- the main alliance of separatist groups -- has denied any involvement, speaking on condition of anonymity so as not to appear to grant credibility to the claims.

As is often the case, eyewitness accounts also invalidate the official death toll.

Several survivors say that 111 dead were buried in three separate graves for men, women and children.

This does not include those who were burnt or drowned, they said.

No information is available on the identification of the victims, or whether any have been identified at all.

The ruling junta decreed three days of national mourning.

It cancelled festivities scheduled to mark Mali's independence on September 22 and ordered the celebration money be donated to the victims.

Witnesses confirmed that they had received compensation of 250,000 CFA francs (about $400).

The courts announced an investigation and the head of the junta, Assimi Goita, assured that this attack and others "will not go unpunished".

Despite suspicions, the perpetrators have not yet been identified. None of the witnesses have commented on who they might be.

The day after the tragedy, in the late afternoon, small boats took the survivors -- about 400 people -- to the town of Gourma-Rharous, a few dozen kilometres upstream.

There they waited in classrooms for several days before being taken home.

Traore, the student, remembered the screams of the traumatised survivors at night.

She said she is the only survivor from her cabin.

"What has happened to us is God's will," she said with a sombre look in her eyes but a firm voice, sitting in her mud house in the city of Timbuktu.

M'bara, who saved his son by grabbing his hand and pulling him into the water, hoped that the river traffic would resume.

"Staying idle is not the solution," he said.

© 2023 AFP