YEAH, YEAH, YEAH

The Beatles make UK chart history with number one after 54-year gap

Ian Jones, PA
Fri, 10 November 2023 

The Beatles have made history by topping the UK singles chart a record 54 years since their previous number one.

Now And Then, a song based on a private recording made by John Lennon in the late 1970s and completed earlier this year by the surviving members of the group, has hit the top spot after just eight days on release.

It comes more than five decades since The Beatles last reached number one with The Ballad of John and Yoko in 1969.

No other act in UK music history has had such a long gap between two chart-toppers.

Liverpool’s cabinet member for culture, Cllr Harry Doyle (left) with Jon Keats, director of The Cavern, at Liverpool’s Pop Music Wall of Fame for the announcement that the new Beatles single, Now And Then, is to be immortalised on the wall (Peter Byrne/PA)

The previous record was set by Kate Bush, who waited 44 years between her first number one in 1978, Wuthering Heights, and her second in 2022, Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God).

Sir Paul McCartney, one of the two surviving Beatles, described the news as “mind-boggling”, telling the Official Charts Company: “It’s blown my socks off. It’s also a very emotional moment for me. I love it!”

Now And Then is The Beatles’ 18th number one hit, extending their lead as the group with the most chart-toppers in the UK, ahead of Westlife (14) and Take That (12).

They have also drawn level with Elvis Presley to share the record for the act with the greatest number of different songs to reach number one in the UK.

Presley has topped the UK singles chart 21 times, but on three of these occasions the songs were re-releases of former number ones.

The history of Now And Then spans nearly five decades, beginning with the home recording made by John Lennon on a cassette in the late 1970s, a few years before he was shot dead in 1980.

Lennon’s widow Yoko Ono passed this tape to Sir Paul in the early 1990s, who then worked on the recording with fellow Beatles George Harrison and Sir Ringo Starr.

Surviving members of The Beatles Ringo Starr and Paul McCartney pictured in 2016 (Yui Mok/PA)

The trio quickly decided the poor sound quality of the tape, in particular the prominence of Lennon’s piano accompaniment, meant it was not worth developing any further.

It was not until 2022 that the right software was available to isolate Lennon’s voice from the original recording, which was then used as the basis for the current version of the song.

Along with Lennon’s 1970s vocal, some of the 1990s guitar work by George Harrison – who died in 2001 – has been kept on the track, along with new contributions from Sir Paul and Sir Ringo.

Paul McCartney and John Lennon performing in 1963, the year of The Beatles’ first number one single From Me To You (PA)

The song has been masterminded by Sir Paul together with Giles Martin, son of the Beatles’ original producer George Martin, while film directer Peter Jackson led the technological process to extract and clean up Lennon’s vocal.

The Beatles’ original run of number ones lasted just over six years, starting with From Me To You in April 1963 and ending with The Ballad of John and Yoko in June 1969.

Their 1960s chart-toppers included some of the world’s most well-known songs, such as She Loves You, Help!, Yellow Submarine, All You Need Is Love and Hey Jude.

Beatles superfan John Lennon, who changed his name by deed poll from Alan Williams in 2022, holds the first copy of the newly released last Beatles song, Now And Then, at a special midnight launch event at HMV Liverpool (Peter Byrne/PA)

The group missed out on a chance to score two further number ones in the 1990s, when Free As A Bird and Real Love stalled at numbers two and four respectively.

Both of these songs, like Now And Then, were based on private recordings made by Lennon in the 1970s, except these were fully developed and completed in the mid-1990s by McCartney, Harrison and Starr.

Other artists with long spells between UK number one singles include Tom Jones (42 years from Green, Green Grass of Home in 1967 to Islands In The Stream – with Rob Brydon, Robin Gibb and Ruth Jones – in 2009); Wham! (35 years between The Edge Of Heaven in 1986 and Last Christmas in 2021); and Cher (26 years between I Got You Babe – with Sonny Bono – in 1965 and The Shoop Shoop Song in 1991).

(PA Graphics)

Last Christmas is back in the UK singles chart this week, re-appearing at number 37, while Mariah Carey’s equally persistent seasonal hit, All I Want For Christmas Is You, re-enters the chart at number 40.

It is the earliest appearance ever in the UK singles chart for a Christmas song.

Elsewhere, last week’s number one, Is It Over Now? (Taylor’s Version) by Taylor Swift, drops to number three, while Prada by Casso, Raye & D-Block Europe climbs one place to number two.

Taylor Swift remains at the top of the album chart with 1989 (Taylor’s Version), while a reissued version of Oasis’s 1998 compilation album The Masterplan is at number two.

BTS star Jung Kook is a new entry at number three with his debut solo album Golden, ahead of Hackney Diamonds by The Rolling Stones at four and a new entry for Sir Cliff Richard at five, Cliff With Strings – My Kinda Life.

The UK singles and album charts are compiled by the Official Charts Company.

California man who's spent 25 years in prison for murder he didn't commit has conviction overturned

CHRISTOPHER WEBER
Updated Thu, November 9, 2023 

In this image from a remote hearing provided by the Northern California Innocence Project is Miguel Solorio on Thursday, Nov. 9, 2023. Solorio who has spent 25 years in prison for a murder he didn't commit was exonerated and ordered released by a judge on Thursday, Nov. 9, 2023, after prosecutors agreed he had been wrongly convicted. (Northern California Innocence Project via AP) (ASSOCIATED PRESS)More


LOS ANGELES (AP) — A California man who has spent 25 years in prison for a murder he didn't commit was exonerated and ordered released by a judge on Thursday after prosecutors agreed he had been wrongly convicted.

Miguel Solorio, 44, was arrested in 1998 for a fatal drive-by shooting in Whittier, southeast of Los Angeles, and eventually sentenced to life without the possibility of parole.

Superior Court Judge William Ryan overturned Solorio's conviction during a Los Angeles court hearing that Solorio attended remotely.


When the hearing concluded, Solorio thanked his attorneys with the Northern California Innocence Project, calling them his “dream team.”

“It’s like a dream I don’t want to wake up from,” he said. “This day finally came.”

The attorneys who petitioned for Solorio's release argued that his conviction was based on faulty eyewitness identification practices.

In a letter last month, the Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office said it had “confidently and definitively” concluded that Solorio is entitled to be released.

His attorneys said the case against Solorio relied heavily on a now-debunked method of identifying a suspect that results in contaminating the witnesses’ memory by repeatedly showing photos of the same person over and over.

In Solorio’s case, before it was in the news four eyewitnesses shown his photo did not identify him as the suspect, and some even pointed to a different person. But rather than pursue other leads, law enforcement continued to present the witnesses with photos of Solorio until some of them eventually identified him, his lawyers said.

“This case is a tragic example of what happens when law enforcement officials develop tunnel vision in their pursuit of a suspect,” said Sarah Pace, an attorney with the Northern California Innocence Project at Santa Clara University School of Law. “Once a witness mentioned Solorio’s name, law enforcement officers zeroed in on only him, disregarding other evidence and possible suspects, and putting their own judgment about guilt or innocence above the facts."

The district attorney's letter noted that “new documentable scientific consensus emerged in 2020 that a witness’s memory for a suspect should be tested only once, as even the test itself contaminates the witness’s memory.”

The state Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation has up to five days to process Solorio's release from Mule Creek State Prison southeast of Sacramento.

Man cleared of sexually assaulting child after 35 years in prison

Sky News
Updated Fri, 10 November 2023 



A man who spent 35 years behind bars in the US after being wrongly convicted of sexually assaulting an 11-year-old girl has been freed from prison thanks to a DNA breakthrough.

Louis Wright, now aged 65, had lived near the child's home in Albion, Michigan, at the time of the attack in 1988 and an off-duty officer reported seeing him about five hours before the incident.

That year, Mr Wright was sentenced to 25-50 years for various sexual assault charges, and 6-15 years for breaking and entering.


Earlier this year, however, the Michigan Department of the Attorney General's Conviction Integrity Unit was told that items from the case were found by the Albion Department of Public Safety.

The items were sent for testing and came back with "foreign male DNA".

As a result of this, Mr Wright was excluded as the perpetrator, resulting in his charges being set aside, officials said.

On 18 January 1988, a perpetrator broke into the girl's home while she was asleep and forced her into the living room where he assaulted her.

Later that day, Mr Wright voluntarily went to the local police department.

Officers said he confessed, though the interview was not recorded and he did not sign a confession, according to the Cooley Law School Innocence Project which represents Mr Wright.

But the girl was never asked to take part in any identification process, or identify anyone in court.

Mr Wright pleaded no contest to the charges - which is treated as a guilty plea for sentencing purposes.

He then tried to withdraw his plea and claimed he was innocent.

Over decades in prison, Mr Wright has consistently maintained his innocence and it is unclear why he pleaded no contest in the first place.

Prosecutor David Gilbert said the case is being reopened.

"There is no justice without truth. It applies to everyone," he said.

Mr Wright could be eligible for a $1.75m (£1.43m) payout under a state law that grants $50,000 (£40,900) for each year spent in prison for a conviction overturned based on new evidence.

UK

Turkish, Egyptian and Iraqi Kurdish migrants could be sent straight back to home countries

REFUGEES NOT MIGRANTS

Charles Hymas
Sat, November 11, 2023 

A group of people thought to be migrants are brought in to Dover, Kent, from a Border Force vessel last month - Gareth Fuller/PA

Turkish, Egyptian and Iraqi Kurdish migrants who enter the UK illegally could be instantly deported to their home countries under plans being considered by the Government to expand the official list of “safe” nations.

It means all three nationalities, among the top 10 countries for migrants crossing the Channel to reach the UK this year, will bypass Rwanda if that scheme goes ahead.

Illegal migrants from the three nations account for nearly 4,000 arrivals, or a fifth of the total by the end of August, according to official data analysed by the Refugee Council.

Adding the nations to the “safe” country list alongside EU countries Switzerland and Albania would make it easier to reject asylum claims and return them to their homelands.

The move comes ahead of next week’s Supreme Court judgment on the legality of the government’s Rwanda deportation scheme, which has been stalled since it was blocked by the European Court of Human Rights last summer. If it is given the go-ahead, the first flights are expected in the New Year.

If it is ruled unlawful, senior ministers and Tory MPs are expected to press for the UK to quit the European Convention on Human Rights.

An expanded “safe” list would be likely to form part of any Plan B in the event of a defeat because it would make it easier to deport migrants back to their home countries. If successful, it would probably reduce the number that would have to be sent to Rwanda, easing pressure on the central African state.

Last week Suella Braverman, the Home Secretary, announced that India and Georgia had been added to the UK’s list of “safe” countries to which illegal migrants can be returned after a surge in Channel crossings.

Turkey accounted for 2,121 Channel migrants in the eight months to the end of August, while Egyptians numbered 679. It is believed both countries are being “actively considered” for inclusion on the “safe” list.

The UK has also been in talks with Turkey over establishing an Albanian-style fast-track returns agreement following a deal struck earlier this year to boost coordination between the two countries over tackling people-smuggling gangs.

Iraq accounted for 1,774 migrant Channel crossings up to the end of August, but it would be more complex to place the country on the “safe” list because of continuing sectarian violence.

It is understood that Home Office officials have been asked to examine the feasibility in recognition of the fact that 80 per cent of Iraqi failed asylum seekers are Kurdish.

Robert Jenrick, the immigration minister, is thought to have discussed the issue in a meeting with the foreign secretary of the Kurdish regional government last week.

However, Enver Solomon, the chief executive of the Refugee Council warned that nearly half of people from Egypt and Iraq were granted asylum at first decision and more than 80 per cent from Turkey.

He said: “This Government should be focusing on operating an orderly, humane, and fair asylum system, treating people with humanity and dignity, as well as expanding safe routes to the UK.”

RAPE IS ABOUT POWER

Former Canadian fashion mogul Peter Nygard convicted of sexual assault

Peter Nygard, the founder of one of Canada's largest clothing brands, was found guilty Sunday on four counts of sexual assault, a court announced in Toronto.

Issued on: 13/11/2023 

Cormer fashion executive Peter Nygard, seen through a police vehicle window, arrives at a courthouse in Toronto, Ontario, Tuesday, October 3, 2023. © Cole Burston, AP

By:NEWS WIRES


The jury, which deliberated for five days, also acquitted the Finnish-Canadian Nygard on one count of sexually assaulting one of the women who testified at the seven-week trial, and one count of forcible confinement, according to Ontario's Superior Court of Justice.

The charges against the onetime fashion mogul, now age 82, involved four women and a 16-year-old girl, and date from incidents that occurred between 1988 and 2005.

The trial addressed the first in a series of charges he faces for sex crimes against multiple women over several decades in Canada and the United States.

"I know it's been a long and arduous case for you," Justice Robert Goldstein told the jury

On leaving the courthouse, Nygard's lawyer Brian Greenspan did not rule out the possibility of appealing the verdict.

During closing arguments Greenspan had said the case was built on "contradictions and innuendo" and he panned the prosecution's portrayal of his client.

"To describe Peter Nygard as an evil predator, a Jekyll and Hyde personality who, through wealth and power, lured women to his den of iniquity and forced women to comply with his sexual demands... is neither fair nor accurate," he said.

Greenspan said the complainants' testimony was at times "painfully absurd," and he suggested that four of the women were motivated by financial gain or "gold-digging," as they had admitted to being involved in a US class-action lawsuit against him.

Prosecutor Ana Serban, on the other hand, said Nygard on the stand was evasive and inconsistent, and that his memory was unreliable and selective.

Serban pointed to "remarkably similar accounts" of his five accusers, independent of each other, about how they met Nygard, were invited to his office building and "how he sexually assaulted them in his private bedroom suite."

"The similarities defy coincidence," she said. "It's a pattern of behavior."

Testifying in his own defense, Nygard did not recall meeting or knowing four of his accusers, and insisted he never raped any of the five.

"The type of allegations that were said and were described is the type of conduct that I know that I have never done, I never would do," he told the court, even while admitting that his memory had become "very fuzzy" with age.

He will return to court on November 21 for sentencing.

Nygard, who in 1967 founded the firm that was to become Nygard International, has been held in detention since his arrest in 2020.

He must now face similar charges in Quebec and Manitoba, as well as extradition to the United States, where he has been accused of sexually assaulting dozens of women and girls, racketeering and trafficking.

(AFP)

Peter Nygard, Former Fashion Mogul, Convicted of Sexual Assault

The verdict in Toronto concludes the first of Mr. Nygard’s criminal trials in Canada. The 82-year-old also faces charges in the United States.

Peter Nygard leaving a Toronto courthouse in a police vehicle in September. Mr. Nygard faces several more pending trials.

Credit...Cole Burston/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

By Vjosa Isai

NYT
Reporting from a downtown Toronto courthouse
Nov. 12, 2023

A Toronto jury on Sunday found Peter Nygard, the high-profile executive behind a fallen fashion empire, guilty of four counts of sexual assault after just over three days of deliberation at the end of a six-week trial.

He was found not guilty of one count of sexual assault and one count of forcible confinement. His sentencing date will be set later this month.

The verdict represents the first criminal conviction against Mr. Nygard, 82, who has been in jail for the last two years. He is also expected to stand trial on charges of sex crimes next June in Montreal, and in Winnipeg, where a trial date has not been set.

At the conclusion of the Canadian proceedings, Mr. Nygard will be extradited to New York to face sex trafficking, racketeering conspiracy and other charges in a nine-count indictment. Mr. Nygard appealed the New York extradition ruling in Winnipeg — his hometown and the former base of Nygard International, his clothing company — citing poor health, but the court has not yet issued its decision.

Five women, whose testimony makes up the bulk of the prosecution’s evidence in the Toronto trial, testified that they were lured by Mr. Nygard to a personal bedroom suite in his Toronto headquarters under false pretenses, such as receiving a building tour, and sexually assaulted. The complainants were between the ages of 16 and 28 during the attacks, which they accused Mr. Nygard of committing between the 1980s and 2005. Their names are protected by a court-ordered publication ban.

“It’s something that has tainted my life,” said one complainant, now in her 60s, who first accused Mr. Nygard in 1998 of raping her nearly a decade earlier. She dropped her complaint to Toronto police soon after, fearing reprisal from the fashion mogul after she learned that his chief security officer flew to Toronto to canvass for information about her identity, she said.

Another woman, a former employee, broke into tears while testifying that Mr. Nygard had sexually assaulted her during a party at the Toronto office, where he had hired her to work as a hostess.

“I don’t know why somebody would hire me and just do that to me,” she said, adding that she did not tell anyone what had happened. “He’s so wealthy and so powerful, who would believe me?”

A picture of Mr. Nygard displayed in one of his stores in New York in 2019.

Credit...Elizabeth D. Herman for The New York Times

Lawyers for the prosecution and the defense spent much of their time mining the memories of the people on the stand, including Mr. Nygard, who testified in his own defense for about a week.

He persistently denied the accusations and said that he did not remember ever meeting four of the complainants, but said that he recognized his former employee. Mr. Nygard’s testimony was marked by frequent bouts of what he called “short-term memory loss,” though prosecutors questioned his ability to remember, in great detail, other facts.

Where his memory failed him, Mr. Nygard told jurors that the sexual assaults and rapes described by the women were not in his character.

“My position is that I would not have conducted myself in that kind of manner,” Mr. Nygard said, responding to the prosecutors’ assertions that he had sought out contact information from some complainants and offered to help their careers.

“I would not have been taking numbers from some female who was trying to be approaching me,” Mr. Nygard said. “This is a suicidal kind of thing in front of the media, and that’s a total no-no.”

Ana Serban, a prosecutor, characterized Mr. Nygard’s testimony as evasive, inconsistent and wrong.

“His memory was unreliable as well as selective,” Ms. Serban said in her closing argument to the jury. “You should have no difficulty rejecting his blanket denials.”

Records that would have assisted Mr. Nygard’s rebuttals, he said, had burned in “a mysterious fire” at a former warehouse in Winnipeg about 10 days before his arrest in October 2021. The building was put in receivership by a court after his company filed for bankruptcy in 2020.

“The only thing that was lost was the paper records that the receiver had put into this shed under their control,” Mr. Nygard said, adding that a hacking incident that year had compromised his electronic records as well. But he insisted that he tried to help the police investigation by participating in an 11-hour interview with a Toronto detective.

Brian Greenspan, Mr. Nygard’s lawyer, center, in Toronto, Canada, in September.

Credit...Cole Burston/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

The guilty verdict comes after Brian Greenspan, a lawyer for the defense, urged the jury during closing arguments on Tuesday to reject the “revisionist histories of events” told by the five women and the prosecution’s narrative of Mr. Nygard’s “Jekyll and Hyde personality.”

Four of the women are involved in a class action against Mr. Nygard in the United States, a point raised by the defense during cross-examination to suggest that the women were fabricating their stories for a shot at financial gain. “Gold digging runs deep,” Mr. Greenspan said of one complainant’s testimony.

The civil action is yet another legal battlefront for Mr. Nygard. In May, he was ordered by a New York State judge to pay $203 million in defamation suit damages to Louis Bacon, a hedge fund billionaire whose feud with Mr. Nygard began over a property dispute in the Bahamas and spiraled into two decades of legal sparring.

Mr. Nygard attributed the stamina he kept throughout his high-octane way of life — glamorous parties, trips around the world in his private plane, being in the company of dignitaries — to his obsession with health. He told jurors that he avoided sugary and starchy food, didn’t take drugs or smoke, and maintained an active lifestyle that left him flush with energy despite often working 18-hour days.

Mr. Nygard wore a black suit and orange-tinted glasses, and his signature long hair was in a low bun for the duration of the trial. He was visibly relaxed for most of his testimony, sometimes laughing at his own remarks, and spoke with confidence about his effort to learn one new word per day.

But he said he didn’t know the word “Cognac,” the type of brandy that the youngest victim testified Mr. Nygard served to her before he raped her when she was 16.

“I certainly would not want to learn a liquor word,” Mr. Nygard said during his cross-examination.

In her closing argument, Ms. Serban, the prosecutor, cited the exchange as an example of why the jury should not rely on Mr. Nygard’s testimony.

“Here’s a man who enjoys the finer things in life,” she said. “Someone with a taste for luxury. He wants to give his guests the best experience, and he will have you believe that he doesn’t know the word ‘Cognac’?”

Nations to negotiate terms of plastics treaty in Nairobi

Nairobi (AFP) – The latest negotiations towards a global treaty to combat plastic pollution open in Nairobi on Monday, with tensions expected as nations tussle over what should be included in the pact.


Issued on: 13/11/2023 - 

Plastic production has doubled in 20 years 

© Tony KARUMBA / AFP/File

Some 175 countries agreed last year to conclude by 2024 a UN treaty to combat the plastic blighting oceans, floating in the atmosphere, and infiltrating the bodies of animals and humans.

While there is broad consensus a treaty is needed, there are very different opinions about what should be in it.

Negotiators have met twice already but the November 13-19 talks are the first to consider a draft text of the treaty published in September and the policy options it contains.

Around 60 so-called "high ambition" nations have called for binding rules to reduce the use and production of plastic, which is made from fossil fuels, a measure supported by many environment groups.

It is not a position shared by many plastic-producing economies, including the United States, which have long preferred to focus on recycling, innovation and better waste management.

The draft presenting the various ways forward will form the basis for the high-stakes deliberations at the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) headquarters in Nairobi.

With more than 2,000 delegates registered, and advocates from environment and plastic groups also in the room, the negotiations are expected to get heated as the details are hammered out.

Hundreds of climate campaigners, waving placards reading "Plastic crisis = climate crisis", on Saturday marched in Nairobi calling for the talks to focus on cutting the amount of plastic produced.
Call for urgency

The meeting to debate the future of plastic comes just before crucial climate talks in the oil-rich United Arab Emirates later this month, where discussions over fossil fuels and their planet-heating emissions are due to dominate the agenda.

As in the UN negotiations on climate and biodiversity, financing is a key point of tension in the plastic talks.

Rich economies have historically polluted more -- and for years exported trash for recycling to poorer nations, where it often winds up in the environment.

Some developing nations are concerned about rules that might place too great a burden on their economies.

Some developing nations are concerned about rules that might place too great a burden on their economies 

© CHAIDEER MAHYUDDIN / AFP

Environment groups say the strength of the treaty depends on whether governments commit to capping and phasing down plastic production.

Plastic production has doubled in 20 years and in 2019, a total of 460 million tonnes of the stuff was made, according to the OECD.

Despite growing awareness of the problem surrounding plastic, on current trends, production could triple again by 2060 without action.

Around two-thirds of plastic waste is discarded after being used only once or a few times, and less than 10 percent is recycled, with millions of tonnes dumped in the environment or improperly burned.

The Nairobi meeting is the third of five sessions in a fast-tracked process aiming to conclude negotiations next year so the treaty can be adopted by mid-2025.

Campaigners say delegates in Nairobi must make considerable headway to remain on course and warned against time-consuming debates over procedural matters that caused friction at the last talks in Paris in June.

© 2023 AFP

Australian ports reopen after cyberattack

Sydney (AFP) – Major ports handling 40 percent of Australia's freight trade have reopened, operator DP World said Monday, three days after they were crippled by a cyberattack.


Issued on: 13/11/2023 -

DP World cranes at Port Botany in Sydney on November 13 © DAVID GRAY / AFP

DP World cut its systems from the internet when the attack was detected Friday, preventing trucks from unloading or picking up cargo at ports in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Fremantle.

"DP World Australia is pleased to announce that operations resumed at the company’s ports across Australia," the operator said in a statement.

The firm said it had successfully tested key systems overnight before reopening.

It said it expected to move 5,000 containers out of the four terminals during the day -- not far from industry estimates of their usual daily traffic.

Investigations and efforts to protect systems may still cause "some necessary, temporary disruptions" to port services in the coming days, the company said.

DP World said its investigation and remediation work were likely to take "some time".

Shipping bodies said operations at the ports had restarted slowly early in the morning, with priority given to getting imported containers out of the terminals.

'Someone malicious'

DP World's advisor on its response to the cyberattack, Alastair MacGibbon, earlier said there had been "unauthorised activity in the system".

Data had been taken by "someone malicious or unauthorised", he told Nine Network television, without giving details of the nature of the stolen information.

DP World Australia said it was still working with the Australian government and cyber authorities.

Australia's national cybersecurity coordinator, Darren Goldie, said DP World did the right thing by cutting off its internet access to prevent the attack from spreading.

Goldie said he did not know who was behind the cyberattack, and he did not expect the government to be attributing blame "anytime soon".

The Australian government called emergency meetings with the company and industry representatives over the weekend to manage its response.

The environment and water minister, Tanya Plibersek, said the government wanted to toughen Australian businesses' defences against cyberattacks.

International criminal syndicates were using ransomware to extort money from Australian businesses but the government did not know the full extent because some victims paid the ransom without reporting it, the minister said.

Cybersecurity experts have said inadequate safeguards and the stockpiling of sensitive customer information have made Australia a lucrative target for hackers.

Hackers

Medibank, Australia's largest private health insurer, said in November 2022 that hackers had accessed the data of 9.7 million current and former customers, including medical records related to drug abuse and pregnancy terminations.

Just two months earlier, telecom company Optus fell prey to a data breach of a similar scale in which the personal details of up to 9.8 million people were accessed.

Those two incidents were among the largest data breaches in Australian history.

© 2023 AFP

South Asia worst in world for water scarcity: UN

New Delhi (AFP) – More children in South Asia are struggling due to severe water scarcity made worse by the impacts of climate change than anywhere else worldwide, the United Nations said Monday.


Issued on: 13/11/2023

Last year, 45 million children lacked access to basic drinking water services in South Asia, more than any other region, but UNICEF said services were expanding rapidly, with that number slated to be halved by 2030 

© Uma Shankar MISHRA / AFP/File

"A staggering 347 million children under 18 are exposed to high or extremely high water scarcity in South Asia, the highest number among all regions in the world," the UN children's agency said in a report.

The eight-nation region, comprising Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, Maldives, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, is home to more than one-quarter of the world's children.

"Climate change is disrupting weather patterns and rainfall, leading to unpredictable water availability," the UN said in its report.

The report cites poor water quality, lack of water and mismanagement such as over-pumping of aquifers, while climate change decreases the amount of water replenishing them.

"When village wells go dry, homes, health centres and schools are all affected," UNICEF added.

"With an increasingly unpredictable climate, water scarcity is expected to become worse for children in South Asia."

At the UN COP28 climate conference in December in Dubai, UNICEF said it will call for leaders "to secure a livable planet".

"Safe water is a basic human right," said Sanjay Wijesekera, UNICEF chief for South Asia.

"Yet millions of children in South Asia don't have enough to drink in a region plagued by floods, droughts and other extreme weather events, triggered increasingly by climate change".

Last year, 45 million children lacked access to basic drinking water services in South Asia, more than any other region, but UNICEF said services were expanding rapidly, with that number slated to be halved by 2030.

Behind South Asia was Eastern and Southern Africa, where 130 million children are at risk from severe water scarcity, the report added.

© 2023 AFP

MINNESOTA
March to Capitol to call for cease-fire in Gaza

Feven Gerezgiher
St. Paul
November 12, 2023 

Protesters make their way down John Ireland Boulevard during the "All Out for Gaza" march and rally in St. Paul on Saturday.

Thousands of people marched to the Minnesota State Capitol on Saturday, marking the fifth week of Twin Cities protests condemning Israel’s response to the Oct. 7 Hamas attack.

Israeli forces began air strikes on Gaza after members of Hamas launched attacks on towns in southern Israel, killing about 1,200 people and taking more than 200 hostages.

As result, more than 11,000 Palestinians have been killed, according to the Hamas-led Ministry of Health in Gaza, with near half of Gaza housing reportedly destroyed or damaged and over half of Gaza hospitals shut down.
A protester chants during the "All Out for Gaza" march and rally in St. Paul.

An organizer with American Muslims for Palestine read emotional messages from hospital staff in Gaza.

"We as medical staff want to leave but we cannot. We might not survive until the morning. We don't want to be killed here, just only because we remain committed to our patients and our medical profession. I'm calling for … help urgently,” she relayed.

The World Health Organization on Saturday called for “an immediate humanitarian cease-fire in Gaza” after losing contact with Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza, amid reports of the hospital being attacked by Israeli forces.
A sign reads “Ceasefire on Children” during the " All Out for Gaza" march and rally in St. Paul on Saturday.

Israel government officials say it is targeting Hamas, not the Palestinian people, but protestors described the situation as an “ethnic cleansing of Palestine.”

“This is genocide, clear and simple,” said Melanie Yazzie, a citizen of Navajo Nation, and an organizer with Native American advocacy group, The Red Nation.

Yazzie drew parallels between U.S. and Israeli government tactics. “Palestinians resist the same colonial system that Native people have been resisting for five centuries,” she said.

Saturday’s rally was organized by a diverse coalition of over a dozen groups who say they will continue to hold peaceful actions until a cease-fire is called and military occupation by Israel of Palestine has ended.

The crowd packed down John Ireland Boulevard in St. Paul on the brisk, fall day waving dozens of Palestinian flags. Signs read “Let Gaza Live” and “End Apartheid.”

They also called for the end of U.S. aid to Israel, amid congressional debate over whether to fund $14.3 billion in military assistance to Israel.

The event was centered by a display of hundreds of small flags bearing the names of Palestinian civilians killed by Israeli forces.

Thousands of people rally at Cathedral Hill Park in St. Paul before the "All Out for Gaza" march to the Minnesota State Capitol.

An organizer chants as he holds a sign reading “Stop the Genocide” during the "All Out for Gaza" march and rally in St. Paul.

Thousands of flags bearing the names of Palestinians killed in Gaza since Oct. 7 are stuck into the ground to form a giant Palestinian flag during the "All Out for Gaza" march.

Photo Tim Evans for MPR News

Egyptians Defy Protest Bans: We Are One with Palestine

By Mahmoud Hashem, Rania Khalek , Eugene Puryear 

November 12, 2023
Source: BreakThrough News

Mahmoud Hashem, an Egyptian journalist and the Media Official of the Popular Alliance Socialist Party, explains how the people of Egypt have defied repression and persecution to stand with the Palestinian people.

Are We Being Duped To Focus Only On Gaza Suffering?

By Mazin Qumsiyeh

November 12, 2023
Source: Popular Resistance Blog


Israel’s genocide of Gaza is intentional, planned and ongoing with no sign of slowing down. The contrary, with no water, food and medicine it is accelerating. Israel leaders boast openly that they do not care about what the UN says or what world leaders say. Israeli fascist leaders say they do not care what statements are issued by governments of Muslim and Arab countries. Nor do they care if public pressure causes some western leaders to moderate their language from unconditional support for Israel to show concern for the “humanitarian catastrophe” unfolding in Gaza (without naming the perpetrator). Israel actually can use the humanitarian catastrophe (as if it is an act of God not their agency) as bargaining chips. Israel can offer pauses in the slaughter in exchange for further weapons from Western governments and for release of Israeli prisoners. Maybe even a temporary ceasefire and fuel to any remaining hospitals in exchange for additional support to continue the genocidal occupation and for immunity from facing tribunals for war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Israeli leaders are crystal clear about their crimes and they get their way by genocide and total state terrorism against populations. If you have any doubt, listen to them (see below). They even say openly that if Hezbollah continues its resistance in South Lebanon, then all of Lebanon will pay a devastating price and Beirut will be like Gaza (i.e. totally devastated). Israeli military spokesman gave the same threats to cities in the West Bank like Jenin and Tulkarem and even Ramallah. These are not idle threats. If the world is not willing to to stop Israel from devastating cities in Gaza strip and is even giving it more weapons to commit its genocide there, why would it not also devastate Lebanon or the West Bank. If you get away with one genocide you get away with others. Afterall International law cannot be enforced in this case. According to Israeli leaders, global public opinion and “diplomatic” pressure will not end its carnage. Many human rights advocates are at a loss as to how to end the carnage.



Extreme nationalism leads to genocide: Nazis and Zionists

Israel is the only country on earth that did not set any border for itself. It is also the first colonial power whose base is not a geographic area away from the area it colonized (e.g. France was the base for colonizing Algeria). The Zionist base is wherever Zionists occur in positions of power in Western Countries(originally France and England but now the US and other countries). The original Zionist plan is setting up an Eretz Yisrael is in the area between the Nile of Egypt to the Euphrates. But this is changing where Israel dominion as Netanyahu showed in a map at the UN includes the Arabian Peninsula and the gulf states. But the Zionist plans are far more than about geography. Geography is negotiable if there are guarantees of economic and colonial hegemony. Gaza is needed because of the gas fields there worth hundreds of billions but that is a small part of a wider plan for which 2.3 million people are dispensable.

The United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia are already colonized economically and are run by easily controlled leaders who will do the US/Israel bidding. Zionist grip on the US system is visible everywhere from Hollywood to mainstream media to congress that allocates more money to Israel than South America and Africa combined. In many western countries, the Zionist lobby succeeded in even silencing free speech so asking for freedom in Palestine is persecuted. There is a war on truth.

So what is to be done? First please note that while many media like Al-Jazeera show Palestinian suffering, they do not provide coverage of Israeli/Zionist statements or intent. The genocidal statements are rarely seen in either Western but also in Eastern media. This is important because humanitarian suffering elicits sympathy from those with people who care about fellow human beings. But most people and certainly most leaders are willing to ACT only if they see direct impact on them. Unfortunately, the statements of Zionist leaders and their direct actions including suppression of free speech in supposed “democratic countries” if exposed would be more likely to get results than pleading to save Palestinian children (as important as that is). Thus, we must spend at least as much time in publicizing the Zionist plans and words . Documenting slaughter must be accompanied by documenting the intent and plans for slaughter. We must expose why this is not merely about Palestine but about an evil tribal ideology called Zionism that is not content with Palestine but subverts and hurts people around the world. For example, it is critical to show how Israel is hurting US public interest and destroying the US and even got away with killing US citizens like the sailors of the USS Liberty. Millions of people are mobilizing. You do make a difference. All individual efforts count. Below are materials you can use and publicize. Telling the truth is a revolutionary act. The pen can be mightier than the sword sometimes.

Anyway, please do take the time to look over this material and use them extensively:

https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20160213-the-wild-beast-of-israeli-racism/

https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/israel-defense-minister-human-animals-gaza-palestine_n_6524220ae4b09f4b8d412e0a

Israeli President says there are no innocent civilians in Gaza and that they are responsible

“The only solution is the complete destruction of Gaza” Moshe Feiglin

Zionist thought about churches and mosques

Zionist thought about civilians

“When 2.5 million people live in a closed-off Gaza, it’s going to be a human catastrophe. Those people will become even bigger animals than they are today, with the aid of an insane fundamentalist Islam. The pressure at the border will be awful. It’s going to be a terrible war. So, if we want to remain alive, we will have to kill and kill and kill. All day, every day.” Amnon Sofer, Israeli demographer in 2004

“There will be no food, no electricity, no food, no fuel. Everything is closed. We are fighting animal people, and we are acting accordingly” Yoav Galant, Israeli Defense Minister on 9 October 2023

“We will turn Gaza into an island of ruins” Benjamin Netanyahu 8 October 2023

”We are dropping hundreds of tons of bombs on Gaza. The focus is on destruction, not accuracy” Daniel Hagari, Israeli army spokesperson 10 October in Haaretz

Animal Humans will be treated accordingly, you wanted he’ll and you’ll get hell” Ghassan Major General of the Israeli army October 9 Social media post

“There is an entire nation who are responsible. This rhetoric about civilians supposedly not being involved is absolutely untrue (…) We will fight until we break their backs” Yitzhak Herzon, Israeli President Press conference

“Jericho missile! Doomsday weapon! That is my opinion. Powerful rockets to be fired without limits/borders. Gaza to be smashed and razed to the ground. Without mercy” Tally Gotliv Likud Partly, 9 October on X/Twitter

“Wipe out their families, their mothers and their children. These animals must not be allowed to live any longer” Ezra Yachin, Israeli Veteran who participated in the ethnic cleansing of 1948 (Nakba)

“Now there is only one goal: Nakba. A Nakba in Gaza that will dwarf the Nakba of 1948” Ariel Kellet, Likud Party Politician 7 October on X/Twitter

“The only thing that needs to enter Gaza are hundreds of tons of explosives, not one ounce of humanitarian relief” Itamar Ben Gvir (Israeli minister in charge of police and arming settlers)

“They should go, as well as the physical homes in which they raised the snakes in. Otherwise more little snakes will be raised there” Ayelet Shakid

“We can forgive the Arabs for killing our children, We cannot forgive them for forcing us to kill their children ” Golda Meir (old, but shows the racist ideology)

“I am here today not only as the US Secretary of State but also as a Jew … as long as the US exists, you will never have to do this [alone] because we will always be with you” US Secretary of State Blinken 12 October (already hundreds of special US Delta force boots are on the ground).

“There are no innocents in Gaza. Mow them down … Kill the Gazans without thought or mercy.” Michael Ben-Ari, ex-member of the Knesset

“Gaza should be bombed so hard the population has to flee into Egypt.” Israel Katz, Minister of Transportation

“Gaza should be wiped clean with bombs.” Avi Dichter, Current Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Former Shin Bet director and Minister of Internal Security

Israeli military Rabbi and Israeli soldiers:

https://twitter.com/muhammadshehad2/status/1721239223091536228?s=20

And here on this like you can find more damning statements from Zionist leaders:

https://palestineremembered.com/Acre/Famous-Zionist-Quotes/Story637.html

India Once Was a Strong Ally of Palestine. What Changed?

India this time around has taken a much stronger pro-Israel stand than is typical during Israeli-Palestinian conflicts.

By Jannatul Naym Pieal
November 06, 2023

People hold placards and a banner in solidarity with Israel in Ahmedabad, India, Oct. 16, 2023.

Credit: AP Photo/Ajit Solanki


In 1947, India voted against the partition of Palestine at the United Nations General Assembly. India was the first non‐Arab state to recognize the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) as sole and legitimate representative of the Palestinian people in 1974. India was also one of the first countries to recognize the State of Palestine in 1988.

All these historical records attest to India’s long-standing diplomatic ties with Palestine being on great terms. On the other hand, while India recognized the creation of Israel in 1950, they did not establish diplomatic relations until 1992, and previous Indian governments mostly kept dealings with Israel quiet.

Fast forward to October 27, 2023. This same India was among the countries that did not back a U.N. resolution calling for a “humanitarian truce” in Gaza, instead choosing to abstain.

Just like that, India is clearly taking a side in the ongoing Gaza war. That’s the side of Israel, from whom India now buys about $2 billion worth of arms every year, making up over 30 percent of Israel’s total exports of armaments.

Only a few hours after Hamas launched its assault on Israel on October 7, India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi was one of the first world leaders to respond. He vehemently denounced the “terrorist attacks” and declared that India “stands in solidarity with Israel at this difficult hour” in a statement posted on X, formerly known as Twitter.

Even though Modi has always publicly supported Israel since taking office in 2014, this was the first occasion that such a pro-Israel response had been made without being followed right away by a balancing statement.

Thus, India this time around has taken a much stronger pro-Israel stand than is typical during Israeli-Palestinian conflicts, pointed out Michael Kugelman, director of the South Asia Institute at the Wilson Center think tank in Washington, D.C.

He also observed that India’s abstention on the U.N. resolution calling for a ceasefire is rooted more in foreign policy considerations than domestic politics.

“India views the current conflict through the lens of counterterrorism, and it views the Israeli assault on Gaza as a counterterrorism operation. And counterterrorism operations don’t pause for humanitarian truces,” Kugelman told The Diplomat.

Furthermore, ever since the beginning of the current war, pro-Israel rallies have been a regular occurrence in India while Palestine solidarity has constantly been met with a crackdown, with pro-Palestine protesters also being targeted by the government.

Right-wing accounts from India are among the main distributors of fake news that is hostile to Palestinians on social media sites like Instagram, Facebook, and X.

This begs the question: What has changed within the Indian government, as well as the majority of its people, that they are now supporting Israel’s onslaught in Palestine in spite of once experiencing the cruelty of colonialism? Is India’s response all about “counterterrorism” or is there more to the story?

The reasons are many and multifaceted, ranging from the emergence of Hindu nationalism in India and the election agenda of the current government, to its efforts to maintain good relations with the United States at all costs and the ultimate goal of Hindu nationalists, which is to establish an enduring Hindu supremacy over Muslims.

According to Azad Essa, author of “Hostile Homelands: The New Alliance Between India and Israel,” India was always seen as a friend of Palestine. But what people seem to forget is that India is a state like any other, which makes its own calculations as to what suits its interests.

In the 1950s and 1960s, it suited India to be seen as anti-colonial and pro-Palestinian, as it ensured India would get access to Arab oil and Pakistan would not get the support of the Arab world on the question of Kashmir.

Later, when it wanted to join the global economy and be close to the United States, New Delhi started moving closer to Israel. Under Narendra Modi, the relationship has accelerated to the point of a strategic relationship.

“People are being told that supporting Israel would help India ‘return’ to both a Hindu State and turn India into a world power,” explained Essa, who is also a senior reporter for Middle East Eye based in New York City.

“In other words, Indians who support Israel see Muslims and Palestinians as one and the same: backward, problematic and uncivilized. This is feeding into Islamophobia and also creating new ways to vilify Muslims.”

However, Essa doesn’t believe that all the people in India are pro-Israel. There are many people who support justice and self determination for the Palestinians, but in the current climate in India, it is difficult to publicly showcase this support.

Ashok Swain, a professor and head of the Department of Peace and Conflict Research at Uppsala University in Sweden, also spoke along the same lines.

He identifies a change in government policy as the cause of the rise of Hindu nationalism in India. Since the Indian media is largely influenced by the Hindu nationalist government, it also tends to adopt a more hostile discourse toward Palestine.

“However, I believe that the majority of Indians still support the Palestinian struggle for independence,” said Swain, who also serves as the UNESCO Chair on International Water Cooperation.

Like in the West, it is also a big debate in India whether one can support the Palestinian cause without condemning Hamas first. But Swain has a very clear perspective in this regard.

“No one can justify the killing of innocent civilians or keeping them as hostages. However, that doesn’t mean that one must take a stand against Hamas to be able to criticize the war crimes Israel is committing,” he said.

Israel is a member state of the United Nations, which entails certain rights and responsibilities in international forums. “So, criticism of Israel doesn’t have to be contingent on criticism of an organization like Hamas,” Swain argued.

Philipose advocates for a more holistic view of the conflict: “Instead of seeing Israeli behavior as a reaction to Hamas, it is important to see Hamas as a reaction to Israeli militarism and racism which has been in evidence for decades.”

However, to Kugelman, it would be perfectly reasonable to condemn both Hamas and Israel. “I don’t think it’s a matter of what comes first or second. But, of course, Israel would not be assaulting Gaza in the way it is now had Hamas not attacked Israel,” he said.

There is also an election agenda behind the Indian government’s indifference in calling for a ceasefire at the moment. India has evolved into an electoral autocracy, with the Modi regime’s primary focus being on winning elections at any cost.

“The Modi government believes that as long as the war in Gaza persists, media attention will be directed towards Hamas, which they perceive as an opportunity to further fuel Islamophobia within Indian society,” Swain argued.

Pamela Philipose, a senior journalist and researcher based in Delhi, came to a similar conclusion. “The government thinks it can benefit from framing Hamas as representative of Islamic terror and its support of Israel as part of its anti-Islamic political thrust,” she said.

Philipose maintained that India “considers its relationship with Israel and the U.S. as its fundamental priority,” which is the reason for its government’s current pro-Israel stance.

Many people also question whether India’s present position in the Israel-Hamas conflict will have an impact on its foreign policy in the Middle East as a whole.

The Modi regime has cultivated a working relationship with Gulf countries and Egypt. If the Gaza conflict persists, Gulf countries and Egypt may be compelled to support the Palestinian cause, given the significant shift in public opinion in the region against Israel.

“If this occurs, India could face challenges in maintaining its relationships with strategically and economically important Middle Eastern nations,” Swain opined.

Nonetheless, in Swain’s opinion, it should be mentioned that India does not have particularly strong ties with Iran or its Middle Eastern allies in the first place. And even if it diminishes India’s standing among BRICS countries, India’s stance on the Israel-Hamas conflict is aimed at difference purposes, he argued.

For one, it may help alleviate Western concerns about India’s close ties with Russia regarding the Ukraine War. Additionally, due to deteriorating relations with Canada, Modi also seeks Biden’s support to avoid public reprimands from the West concerning the murder of a Sikh separatist on Canadian soil.

Kugelman too agrees that India may face some new challenges with its Arab partners, who have been unhappy with India’s position during the conflict. Hence, New Delhi will seek to address that concern by assuring them that it remains committed to the Palestinian cause.

According to Kugelman, this is important for India not just because of the importance of these relationships, but also because of China, India’s rival. New Delhi knows that Beijing is ramping up its influence in the Middle East in a big way – from its strategic partnership with Iran to its recent mediation of an Iran-Saudi Arabia rapprochement deal.

“India can’t afford to see its relations with the Arab states suffer, as that could help China pull ahead in its competition with India for influence in the Middle East,” Kugelman said.

“I also suspect it is quietly engaging very robustly with its top Arab partners – Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the UAE – to ensure them that its pro-Israel position is rooted in its rejection of Hamas terrorism, and it does not represent an abandonment of the Palestinian cause,” he added.

In the meantime, it doesn’t come as a big surprise to Swain that India’s younger generation remains silent on the Gaza conflict and the immense humanitarian crisis Palestinians are enduring.

“They have predominantly been influenced by Hindu supremacist ideology. Despite significant challenges such as unemployment and rampant corruption affecting their present and future, the youth has not yet mobilized for protests,” he reasoned.

Meanwhile, Swain sees a significant commonality between Zionism and Hindu nationalism. According to him, both seek the establishment of a state based on religion. They both prioritize military security for their respective countries, and they also favor strongman leadership over democratic leadership.

The same sentiment is echoed by Essa, who believes Hindutva and Zionism share many similarities, including being expansionist and exclusionary. Both movements describe India and Israel as having been originally Hindu and Jewish civilizations, respectively, that were “contaminated” by outsiders, namely Muslims, and their ambition now is to take them back to their former glory as Hindu and Jewish states.

“Both have extra-territorial visions for their states,” Essa pointed out. “Israel calls it Eretz Israel (Greater Israel) and Hindu nationalists call it Akhand Bharat (Undivided India). This means that as Israel expands its territory through settlements, Hindu nationalists have similar ambitions for Kashmir, with hardliners looking beyond.”

And this Akhand Bharat concept, in spite of being a pipe dream, is serving to assert Hindu supremacy over Muslims in India.

“In this context, the support for Israel falls within the broader umbrella of Islamophobia,” Swain said.

“They know they cannot establish Akhand Bharat, geographically. Its purpose is at the symbolic level, to win over those veering towards Hindu exclusivist ideas at home, as well as among the Indian diaspora,” Philipose added.