UN experts sound alarm over planned first US execution by nitrogen gas

Posted Wed 3 Jan 2024 

Kenneth Smith survived an execution attempt by lethal injection at an Alabama prison in 2022. (AP Photo: Brynn Anderson, file)

United Nations experts are urging authorities in the United States to halt the planned execution of a prisoner by asphyxiation using pure nitrogen, saying the untested method may subject him to "cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or even torture".

Key points:Kenneth Smith is scheduled to be executed in Alabama on January 25
Officials plan to deprive him of oxygen by using a face mask connected to a cylinder of nitrogen
It would be the world's first judicial execution using asphyxiation with an inert gas


Kenneth Smith, convicted for a murder-for-hire committed in 1988, is scheduled to be executed in Alabama on January 25 using the method, which is intended to deprive him of oxygen by using a face mask connected to a cylinder of nitrogen.

It would be the first time a judicial execution has been carried out anywhere in the world using asphyxiation with an inert gas, according to capital punishment experts.

Smith, 58, is one of only two people alive in the US to have survived an execution attempt after Alabama botched his previously scheduled execution by lethal injection in November 2022, when multiple attempts to insert an intravenous line failed.

Four UN human rights special rapporteurs said the new execution method could cause "grave suffering" and "a painful and humiliating death" that would likely violate an international treaty, to which the US is a party, which bans torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading punishment

.
Kenneth Eugene Smith was convicted in a 1988 murder-for-hire slaying of a preacher's wife. (AP Photo: Alabama Department of Corrections)

Smith's lawyers have said the untested gassing protocol likely violates the US constitution's ban on "cruel and unusual punishments", and have argued a second attempt to execute him by any method is unconstitutional.

US prison inmate alleges 'physical and mental torture' in failed execution attempt


Alan Eugene Miller says he was poked with needles for over an hour as prison staff tried to find a vein.

A federal judge in Alabama is weighing whether to agree to Smith's request to issue a temporary injunction halting the execution to allow his lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the new protocol to proceed.

Smith's lawyers and the Alabama Department of Corrections declined to comment on Wednesday US time.

Spokespeople for Alabama Governor Kay Ivey and the US State Department did not respond to questions about the UN experts' statement.

Most US executions are carried out using lethal doses of a barbiturate, but some states have struggled to obtain the drugs because of a European Union law banning pharmaceutical companies from selling drugs that can be used in executions to prisons.

Reuters

Türkiye opens first trial into earthquake deaths allegedly linked to poor building construction

Turkish prosecutors have begun gathering samples of buildings for evidence on materials used in constructions.

(AP Photo: Hussein Malla)

Türkiye has opened the first major trial investigating the construction of buildings that crumbled in two massive February 2023 earthquakes that claimed more than 50,000 lives.

Key points:

The hotel's collapse killed 24 children who had flown to Türkiye to attend a students' volleyball tournament

Turkish Police have arrested around 200 people over allegedly poor building construction after the first earthquake struck

Prosecutors say it was a tragedy that could have been averted if proper safety standards were met

The hearing on Wednesday in the south-eastern city of Adiyaman involves 11 defendants accused of "conscious negligence" while overseeing the construction of the Isias Hotel.

Five of the 11 defendants, including the hotel's owner, were arrested and charged with crimes that could see them jailed for more than 20 years each.

The hotel's collapse killed 24 children from Northern Cyprus who had flown to Türkiye to attend a students' volleyball tournament.

As well as the children, a group of parents and chaperones also died in the hotel.

Survivors in Türkiye's quake-hit Adiyaman left 'frustrated' and homeless

Turkish prosecutors said it was a tragedy that could have been averted if proper safety standards had been met.

The building collapse claimed the lives of 72 people, with 39 of them from Northern Cyprus.

Turkish police arrested about 200 people over allegedly poor building construction immediately after the first magnitude-7.8 earthquake struck.

A second earthquake struck in late February on the Türkiye-Syria border. It was a magnitude-6.4.

Türkiye issues quake related arrest warrants

As despair turns to rage at the agonisingly slow rescue efforts, the focus turned to who was to blame for not better preparing people in the earthquake-prone region.

Today's indictment said the building was illegally converted from a residence into a hotel in 2001.

It added that the hotel had illegally erected an additional floor to the nine permitted by the original plan.

The plaintiffs include Northern Cyprus Prime Minister Unal Ustel.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has emerged politically unscathed from the disaster, winning the re-election months after the earthquakes struck.

He blamed the large death toll on corrupt property developers who paid off local inspectors in order to use cheap building materials and illegally put up additional floors.

Recep Tayyip Erdoğan won his re-election in May 2023.(AP: Ali Unal)

Mr Erdogan's critics counter that most of Türkiye's main construction and real estate companies have formed a close relationship with the ruling AKP party during his 21-year rule.

AFP/ABC

Iran blames Israel, US for deadly twin blasts near grave of Guards general Soleimani

Iran blamed Israel and the United States on Wednesday for twin bomb blasts that killed at least 95 people in the country's south, ripping through a crowd commemorating Revolutionary Guards general Qasem Soleimani four years after his death in a US strike.

Issued on: 04/01/2024 - 

An image grab from a video released by state-run Iran Press news agency on January 3, 2024 shows ambulances leaving the site where two explosions in quick succession struck a crowd. 

AFP
By NEWS WIRES

The two explosions -- labelled a "terrorist attack" by state media and regional authorities -- came amid high Middle East tensions over the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza and the killing of a Hamas senior leader in Lebanon on Tuesday.

The unclaimed attacks, which sparked fears of a widening conflict in the region, rattled global markets, where oil prices jumped more than three percent and sparked global condemnation.

"Washington says USA and Israel had no role in terrorist attack in Kerman, Iran. Really? A fox smells its own lair first," the Iranian president's political deputy, Mohammad Jamshidi wrote on X, formerly Twitter.

"Make no mistake. The responsibility for this crime lies with the US and Zionist regimes (Israel) and terrorism is just a tool," he added.

The United States had earlier rejected any suggestions that it or ally Israel were involved while Israel declined to comment.

"The United States was not involved in any way... We have no reason to believe that Israel was involved in this explosion," State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said.

Asked about the blasts, Israeli army spokesman Daniel Hagari said: "We are focused on the combat with Hamas."

Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei blamed "evil and criminal enemies" of the country for the attack and vowed a "harsh response".

President Ebrahim Raisi, who scrapped a visit to Turkey on Thursday, condemned the "heinous" crime as the Islamic Republic of Iran declared Thursday a national day of mourning.

The blasts, about 15 minutes apart, struck near the Martyrs Cemetery at the Saheb al-Zaman Mosque in Kerman, Soleimani's southern hometown, as supporters gathered to mark his killing in a 2020 US drone strike in Baghdad.

Iran's official IRNA news agency initially reported 103 people were killed while state television said 211 were wounded, some in critical condition.

Health minister Bahram Eynollahi later revised the toll, saying: "The exact number of the people killed in the terrorist incident is 95".

He said the reason for the earlier figure of 103 was that some names "were wrongly registered twice".

Three paramedics who rushed to the scene after the first explosion were among those killed, said Iran's Red Crescent.

IRNA said the first explosion took place around 700 metres (yards) from Soleimani's grave while the other was around one kilometre away.

Tasnim news agency, quoting what it called informed sources, said that "two bags carrying bombs went off" and "the perpetrators... apparently detonated the bombs by remote control".

Online footage showed panicked crowds scrambling to flee as security personnel cordoned off the area.

'Shocking cruelty'

State television showed bloodied victims lying on the ground and ambulances and rescue personnel racing to help them.

"We were walking towards the cemetery when a car suddenly stopped behind us and a waste bin containing a bomb exploded," an eyewitness was quoted as saying by the ISNA news agency.

"We only heard the explosion and saw people falling."

By nightfall, crowds returned to the Martyrs Cemetery in Kerman chanting: "Death to Israel" and "Death to America".

In Tehran, thousands gathered at the Grand Mosalla Mosque to pay tribute to Soleimani.

"We condemn today's bitter terrorist incident... I hope the perpetrators of the crime will be identified and punished for their actions," Soleimani's daughter, Zeinab, said.

Soleimani headed the Quds Force, the foreign operations arm of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, overseeing military operations across the Middle East.

The United Nations, European Union, and several countries including Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Germany and Iraq denounced the blasts.

UN chief Antonio Guterres "strongly condemns" the blasts, his office said, and the EU said: "This act of terror has exacted a shocking toll of civilian deaths and injuries."

The EU's top diplomat, Josep Borrell, said that he spoke to Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian to "convey condolences" and "condemned this terrorist attack in the strongest terms and expressed solidarity with the Iranian people".

Russian President Vladimir Putin wrote to Raisi and Khamenei that "the killing of peaceful people visiting the cemetery is shocking in its cruelty and cynicism."

Iran ally Hamas denounced the "criminal attack" while the Saudi foreign ministry in Riyadh voiced "solidarity with Iran in this painful event".

The blasts came a day after Hamas number two Saleh al-Aruri -- an Iran ally -- was killed in a strike, which Lebanese officials blamed on Israel, on a southern Beirut suburb that is a stronghold of Iran-backed armed group Hezbollah.

Wednesday's bomb blasts were Iran's deadliest since a 1978 arson Cinema Rex attack in the southwestern city of Abadan, which killed at least 377 people, according to AFP archives.

Previous plots

Iran has long fought a shadow war of killings and sabotage with arch-enemy Israel while also battling various jihadist and other militant groups.

In September, the Fars news agency reported that a key "operative" affiliated with the Islamic State group, in charge of carrying out "terrorist operations" in Iran, had been arrested in Kerman.

In July, Iran's intelligence ministry said it had disbanded a network "linked to Israel's spy organisation" that had been plotting "terrorist operations" across Iran, IRNA reported.

The alleged plots included "planning an explosion at the grave" of Soleimani, it said.

Soleimani, whom Khamenei years ago declared a "living martyr", was widely regarded as a hero in Iran for his role in defeating IS in both Iraq and Syria.

Long seen as a deadly adversary by the United States and its allies, Soleimani was one of the most important powerbrokers across the region, setting Iran's political and military agenda in Syria, Iraq and Yemen.

(AFP)

Islamic State group claims responsibility for deadly Iran bombings

Issued on: 05/01/2024

People gather near a body lying on the ground at the scene of explosions during a ceremony held to mark the death of late Iranian General Qassem Soleimani in Kerman, Iran, January 3, 2024. © WANA news agency via Reuters

Video by: Emerald MAXWELL

1:55

The Islamic State (IS) group claimed responsibility on Thursday for two explosions that killed nearly 100 people and wounded scores at a memorial for top commander Qassem Soleimani who was killed in Iraq in 2020 in a US drone strike.

UK anti-monarchy group makes new report to police about Prince Andrew

London (AFP) – A UK anti-monarchy group on Thursday said it had made a complaint to police in London about Prince Andrew, after the release of US court documents detailing people linked to Jeffrey Epstein.


Issued on: 04/01/2024 

Prince Andrew attended a Christmas Day church service with other members of the royal family last month

 © Adrian DENNIS / AFP
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"We've just reported Andrew to the police," Republic, which wants an elected British head of state, said in a statement.

A New York judge on Wednesday began to unseal the identities of those linked in the documents to the disgraced US financier Epstein, who killed himself in 2019 while waiting trial for sex crimes.

In them, Andrew, who is formally known as the Duke of York, is accused of groping a woman, which he denies.

Andrew withdrew from frontline royal duties in late 2019 after public outrage at a BBC television interview in which he defended his friendship with Epstein.

The former Royal Navy helicopter pilot, 63, in February 2022 settled a US civil case brought by Virginia Giuffre, who claimed he sexually assaulted her when she was 17.

Andrew's mother, the late Queen Elizabeth II, stripped him of his honorary military titles and patronages soon afterwards, effectively shutting him out of royal life.

He has consistently denied sexual assault and even meeting Giuffre.

The Metropolitan Police announced in October 2021 that it had closed its review into Giuffre's claims in the US civil action, stating that it would take "no further action".

The London force said it had also looked into a report by Channel 4 News that British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell trafficked, groomed and abused women and girls in the UK.

Giuffre alleged that Andrew abused her at the London home of Maxwell, Epstein's former mistress who was sentenced in 2022 to 20 years in prison.

Republic chief executive Graham Smith said he wants the case reopened, MPs to debate the matter in parliament, and Andrew's elder brother King Charles III to respond publicly to the claims.

AFP contacted the Met but there was no immediate response.

Despite his low profile, Andrew was seen in public on Christmas Day attending a church service with his ex-wife, Sarah, Duchess of York, and members of the royal family in Sandringham, eastern England.

© 2024 AFP

US puts Azerbaijan on religious freedom watchlist

Washington (AFP) – The United States on Thursday added Azerbaijan to a watchlist on religious freedom, following fears for Christian heritage after the country seized back an ethnic Armenian enclave.


Issued on: 04/01/2024 - 

Armenians pray during a service for refugees from Nagorno-Karabakh, seized back from Azerbaijan, at the Saint-Sargis cathedral in Yerevan on October 1, 2023 

© ALAIN JOCARD / AFP/File
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Secretary of State Antony Blinken, releasing an annual index of designations, maintained all 12 countries that had been on the previous year's blacklist, including China, Iran, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia.

In the sole change, Blinken added Azerbaijan to a watchlist, meaning it will join the blacklist, which carries potential sanctions, without improvements.

Energy-rich Azerbaijan, a frequent US partner, sent troops on September 19 into Nagorno-Karabakh and quickly achieved the surrender of Armenian separatist fores who had controlled the region for three decades.

In a recent recommendation to the State Department, the US Commission on International Religious Freedom pointed to concerns for the preservation of Christian religious sites in Nagorno-Karabakh, where virtually the entire population of 100,000 ethnic Armenians has fled to Armenia.

The commission also voiced alarm over regulations on all religious practice in the Shiite Muslim-majority but largely secular country under strongman President Ilham Aliyev, including a requirement that all religious groups be registered and their literature approved by an official body.

The commission, which is appointed by lawmakers but does not set US policy, was ignored by Blinken on another recommendation -- blacklisting India.

The commission alleged incitement and a climate of impunity by Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Hindu nationalist government on rising attacks against religious minorities, particularly Muslims and Christians.

India has scoffed at the accusations and few had expected any action by the US government, which for years has sought warmer relations with New Delhi, seeing the fellow democracy as a bulwark against China.

Blinken in a statement noted that "significant violations of religious freedom also occur in countries that are not designated."

"Governments must end abuses such as attacks on members of religious minority communities and their places of worship," he said.

The "countries of particular concern" on the blacklist are China, Cuba, Eritrea, Iran, Myanmar, Nicaragua, North Korea, Pakistan, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan.

Besides Azerbaijan, countries on the watchlist are Algeria, the Central African Republic, Comoros and Vietnam.

© 2024 AFP

A year on, Brazil high court judge blames Bolsonaro for Jan 8 riots

Brasília (AFP) – A year after Jair Bolsonaro supporters stormed the seat of power in Brazil, the senior justice on the country's Supreme Court says the far-right ex-president bears "unequivocal" responsibility for the unrest.


Issued on: 05/01/2024 - 

Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Gilmar Mendes says the high court must decide whether far-right former president Jair Bolsonaro is guilty of a crime for his alleged links to the January 8, 2023 riot in Brasilia by thousands of his supporters 

© EVARISTO SA / AFP
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But Justice Gilmar Mendes says the court must now decide whether Bolsonaro is guilty of a crime for his alleged links to the January 8, 2023 riots, which stunned the world with striking echoes of the US Capitol invasion two years earlier.

"His political responsibility for January 8 is unequivocal," Mendes told AFP in an interview at his office in Brasilia ahead of the anniversary.

"His legal responsibility is still being examined in court."

Bolsonaro's arch-rival and successor, veteran leftist Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, had been in office just one week when tens of thousands of protesters overwhelmed security forces to storm the presidential palace, Congress and Supreme Court.

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Alleging foul play in Bolsonaro's narrow loss in Brazil's bitterly divisive October 2022 elections, they smashed through doors and windows, vandalized priceless artworks and trashed the premises, urging the military to intervene to oust Lula.

Bolsonaro, who was in the United States at the time, denies responsibility.

But the Supreme Court is investigating allegations the polarizing ex-army captain instigated the riots, including with his repeated attacks on the credibility of the election system -- which already earned him an eight-year ban from running for public office, in a separate case.

Mendes says he thinks that before Bolsonaro left office, his government "had encouraged some sort of anarchy, especially among the police forces."

"I believe the military even refrained from removing the invaders because of (Bolsonaro's) encouragement," says the 67-year-old judge, who took his seat on the 11-member court in 2002.
'Looking for a pretext'

Mendes was in Lisbon, Portugal having lunch with a friend, fellow judge Nuno Picarra of the European Court of Justice, when he got the news of the mounting unrest in Brasilia.

He rushed to contact three people: fellow Supreme Court justices Alexandre de Moraes and Rosa Weber, and Lula's justice minister, Flavio Dino.

The January 8, 2023 riot in Brasilia by supporters of far-right former president Jair Bolsonaro stunned Brazil, and led to a series trials and the convictions of at least 30 defendants, some for crimes including an attempted coup 

© Sergio Lima / AFP/File

Mendes soon decided to cut short his trip and fly back to Brazil.

"Nobody knew just how big it was," he recalls.

"The intelligence services were still occupied by people from the previous government," he says. "Information wasn't being shared adequately. The assessment of the threat was clearly flawed."

Mendes calls the riots the result of months of verbal attacks from Bolsonaro's camp on the credibility of the electoral system and courts.

"Every day (former) defense minister Paulo Sergio was writing letters suggesting some kind of measure" to change the electronic voting system Brazil has used since 1996, according to Mendes.

"They knew the system was fraud-proof, but we still faced all that coercion. What that suggests, going by the populist playbook, is that they were looking for a pretext to annul the elections."

Tables turned

The Supreme Court was a frequent target of attacks from Bolsonaro, who was furious over its investigations against him, including over using state resources to spread disinformation.

The high court remains a widely hated institution on the far right in Brazil, where judges are particularly visible and even outspoken figures.

The court's headquarters were the most badly damaged of the three buildings invaded on January 8.

"A lot more hate and anger were dumped on the Supreme Court than Congress or the presidential palace," notes Mendes, one of the few justices who maintained communication with Bolsonaro during his 2019-2022 presidency.

Brazil's former president Jair Bolsonaro denies involvement in the violent uprising in Brasilia by his supporters on January 8, 2023 after the far-right leader narrowly lost re-election to veteran leftist Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva 

© Sergio Lima / AFP/File

"The propaganda worked."

Now, the tables have turned, with the Supreme Court holding the first trials of those charged over the riots.

Of the 2,170 people arrested, 30 have been convicted of crimes including an attempted coup, with sentences of up to 17 years.

"The political system is more alert now" to potential unrest, Mendes says.

But "we need reforms to prevent a repeat of the military becoming politicized and holding civilian posts in government" as they did under Bolsonaro, he adds.

© 2024 AFP

India, China eye strategic areas bordering 'last barrier' Bhutan

New Delhi (AFP) – Squeezed between giant arch-rivals India and China, the landlocked mountain kingdom of Bhutan was long isolated by icy Himalayan peaks.

Issued on: 05/01/2024 

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi (C), Bhutan's King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck (2L), the Fourth Druk Gyalpo (2R), Queen Jetsun Pema (R) and then prime minister Lotay Tshering (L) watch a cultural performance at the Tashichho Dzong during Modi's visit to Bhutan in 2019 

© Upasana DAHAL / AFP/File

But as Bhutan readies to elect a new parliament in Thimphu on January 9, China and India are watching the contest with keen interest as they eye strategic contested border zones, analysts warn.

A "cooperation agreement" inked between Bhutan and China in October after talks over their disputed northern frontier sparked concern in India, which has long regarded Bhutan as a buffer state firmly under its orbit.

Bhutan is "one of the last barriers" in China's bid to exert influence in South Asia, said Harsh V. Pant, an international relations professor at King's College London told AFP.

India is determined not to let China extend its influence further across what New Delhi sees as its natural sphere of influence, wary after a swathe of muscular trade deals and loans by Beijing, including with Bangladesh, Nepal, the Maldives and Sri Lanka.

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Thimphu and Beijing do not have formal diplomatic relations.

India, however, effectively oversaw Bhutan's foreign policy until 2007.

Bhutan in the Himalayan region © John SAEKI / AFP

The relationship was "in exchange for free-trade and security arrangements", Britain's Chatham House think tank wrote in a December report.

The report included satellite photographs it said showed an "unsanctioned programme of settlement construction" by China in Bhutan's northern frontier region, which could "become permanent Chinese territory" pending the outcome of a border deal.

China's foreign ministry told AFP in a statement of its "determination to strive for an early resolution of the boundary issue and the establishment of diplomatic relations".
'Far-reaching implications'

"Beijing will anticipate that a deal consolidating its gains in northern Bhutan may lead to formal diplomatic relations and the opportunity to draw Thimphu into its orbit", Chatham House said.

"Any such deal would have far-reaching implications for India."

If China succeeds in that, Beijing "can push a view that India is now marginal in its immediate neighbourhood", Pant added.

New Delhi has been wary of Beijing's growing military assertiveness and their 3,500-kilometre (2,175-mile) shared frontier has been a perennial source of tension.

In 2017, there was a 72-day military standoff after Chinese forces moved into the disputed Doklam plateau, on the China-India-Bhutan border.
Bhutan's King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck (L) walks with India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi during a meeting in New Delhi in 2023 © - / PIB/AFP / Indian Press Information Bureau (PIB)/File

The plateau pushes south towards India's critical Siliguri Corridor, dubbed the "Chicken's Neck".

The perilously narrow strip of land lies between Nepal and Bangladesh, and connects India's northeastern states with the rest of the country.

China and India fought a month-long war in the region in 1962.

"New Delhi would be concerned that, in the event of a deal demarcating Bhutan's northern border, attention may turn to territory in Bhutan's west which China disputes, including the Doklam plateau," Chatham House added.

For Bhutan, dwarfed by China, striking a deal makes sense, said Pant.

"If they don't resolve their border now, tomorrow they will be in an even more unfavourable position," he said.
'Quiet concern'

Suhasini Haidar, diplomatic editor of The Hindu newspaper, said India was worried that a Bhutan-China border deal "seems imminent".

She said that Bhutan's "fast-tracking" of boundary talks with China after the 2017 Doklam standoff was a decision that "India has viewed with quiet concern".

Analysts say foreign policy plays little role in the domestic concerns of voters in Bhutan -- about the size of Switzerland with around 800,000 people -- who are more worried about high unemployment and young people migrating abroad seeking jobs.

However, India is the biggest source of investment and infrastructure in Bhutan -- Thimphu's ngultrum currency is pegged to New Delhi's rupee -- and boosting bilateral relations is key.

Graphic comparing Bhutan's rating as a democratic society on the Economist Intelligence Unit's annual survey 

© John SAEKI / AFP

"Any government coming to power will seek to shore up ties," Haidar said.

Bhutan has strong economic and strategic relations with India, "particularly as its major trading partner, source of foreign aid and as a financier and buyer of surplus hydropower", according to the World Bank. About 70 percent of Bhutan's imports come from India.

In December, Bhutan's King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck announced a special economic zone along its border with India.

Both hopefuls to become Bhutan's new prime minister speak enthusiastically about boosting links with New Delhi to lift Bhutan's $3 billion economy.

India has already announced a slew of connectivity projects including a railway line to Bhutan, but much would depend on Indian investors.

"Bhutan will be seeking investments from other countries," said Haidar, adding it will be "significant" if Thimphu welcomes funds from China.

© 2024 AFP

 16-Year-Old UK Girl Virtually Gang-Raped: Metaverse's Dark Side Demands Real Solutions 

By Manoj Kumar Gupta 

Updated: Thursday, January 4, 2024

https://www.oneindia.com/

Metaverse is a virtual world where people live their fantasy lives by masking their real age, gender, and other identities. Metaverse was created by the company Meta, a brand that also owns social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram. Owned by Mark Zuckerberg, the company says that Metaverse will allow users to explore virtual 3D spaces where they can socialise, learn, collaborate, and play. 

But this digital playground can also turn into a nightmare. In the UK a 16-year-old girl's virtual avatar was allegedly gang-raped in a metaverse game, shaking the digital landscape and igniting complex legal questions. 

VR REALITY: RETHINKING SAFETY IN THE DIGITAL AGE 

Metaverse is a fantasy world where reality morphs in the virtual landscape, but the disturbing turn of events shows how our avatars are increasingly vulnerable. While the girl's body remained unharmed, the psychological trauma mirrors that of real-world assault, raising uncomfortable questions about the emotional boundaries of our increasingly digital lives. British Police are currently investigating the case. According to reports, the victim entered the virtual world through an Oculus virtual-reality headset, to play a game called 'Horizon Worlds' where she saw her digital self overpowered and violated by multiple avatars. 

COMBATING CRIMES IN THE DIGITAL WORLDS 

The UK police have promised a thorough probe, of the virtual platform which is slowly turning into a dark underbelly for digital predators. The police also acknowledged the "complexities" of the case. Government agencies echoed this sentiment, with UK Home Secretary James Cleverly expressing concern about online safety and promising to "close the gap" between the physical and digital worlds. 

But again there are stark realities, rapes in the real world are increasing dramatically in England and Wales. In 2012/13, 16,038 rape offences were reported which jumped to 68,949 in 2022/23. 

THE METAVERSE'S MORAL COMPASS 

Meta, the parent company of the Metaverse platform released a statement expressing "zero tolerance" for harmful behaviour and pledging to cooperate with investigators. But the assurances of user safety ring hollow in the face of this incident and similar reports of virtual harassment in the past. 

In February 2022, London-based Nina Jane Patel spoke about how a gang of three to four avatars sexually harassed her within 60 seconds of joining the same game, i.e. Horizon Venues. "They virtually gang-raped my avatar and took photos as I tried to get away,"

 Patel is the co-founder and vice-president of metaverse research Kabuni Ventures, In May 2022, a researcher working with nonprofit advocacy group SumOfUs entered Horizon Venues to study users' behaviour. But within an hour after she donned her virtual-reality headset, she says, her avatar was raped in the virtual space. 

REDEFINING CRIME IN THE VIRTUAL WORLD 

Metaverse is fast gaining popularity and criminals would hide behind their digital cloaks to hunt for their next victim. But there is also a complex question of jurisdiction. Existing laws often struggle to define and prosecute offences committed in online environments. Experts argue that it is high time that laws are adapted to the evolving threats from the metaverse.

Britain’s got some of Europe’s toughest surveillance laws. Now it wants more


Despite the protestations of industry and campaigners, ministers are whisking a new bill through parliament.

The new legislation is triggering fresh alarm among both industry execs and privacy campaigners 

| Scott Barbour/Getty Images

BY LAURIE CLARKE
JANUARY 3, 2024 

LONDON — The U.K. already has some of the most far-reaching surveillance laws in the democratic world. Now it’s rushing to beef them up even further — and tech firms are spooked.

Britain's government wants to build on its landmark Investigatory Powers Act, a controversial piece of legislation dubbed the "snooper's charter" by critics when introduced back in 2016.

That law — introduced in the wake of whistleblower Edward Snowden’s revelations of mass state surveillance — attempted to introduce more accountability into the U.K. intelligence agencies’ sprawling snooping regime by formalizing wide-ranging powers to intercept emails, texts, web history and more.

Now new legislation is triggering a fresh outcry among both industry execs and privacy campaigners — who say it could hobble efforts to protect user privacy.

Industry body TechUK has written to Home Secretary James Cleverly airing its complaints. The group's letter warns that the Investigatory Powers (Amendment) Bill threatens technological innovation; undermines the sovereignty of other nations; and could unleash dire consequences if it sets off a domino effect overseas.

Tech companies are most concerned by a change that would allow the Home Office to issue notices preventing them from making technical updates that might impede information-sharing with U.K. intelligence agencies.

TechUK argues that, combined with pre-existing powers, the changes would “grant a de facto power to indefinitely veto companies from making changes to their products and services offered in the U.K.”

“Using this power, the government could prevent the implementation of new end-to-end encryption, or stop developers from patching vulnerabilities in code that the government or their partners would like to exploit,” Meredith Whittaker, president of secure messaging app Signal, told POLITICO when the bill was first unveiled.

The Home Office, Britain’s interior ministry, remains adamant it’s a technical and procedural set of tweaks. Home Office Minister Andrew Sharpe said at the bill’s committee stage in the House of Lords that the law was “not going to … ban end-to-end encryption or introduce a veto power for the secretary of state … contrary to what some are incorrectly speculating.”


“We have always been clear that we support technological innovation and private and secure communications technologies, including end-to-end encryption,” a government spokesperson said. “But this cannot come at a cost to public safety, and it is critical that decisions are taken by those with democratic accountability.”
Encryption threat

Despite the protestations of industry and campaigners, the British government is whisking the bill through parliament at breakneck speed — risking the ire of lawmakers.

Ministers have so far blocked efforts to refine the bill in the House of Lords, the U.K.'s upper chamber. But there are more opportunities to contest the legislation coming and industry is already making appeals to MPs in the hopes of paring it back in the House of Commons

.

Some companies including Apple have threatened to pull their services from the UK if asked to undermine encryption under Britain's laws 

| Feline Lim/Getty Images

“We stress the critical need for adequate time to thoroughly discuss these changes, highlighting that rigorous scrutiny is essential given the international precedent they will set and their very serious impacts,” the TechUK letter states.

The backdrop to the row is the fraught debate on encryption that unfolded during the passage of the earlier Online Safety Act, which companies and campaigners argued could compel companies to break encryption in the name of online safety.

The bill ultimately said that the government can call for the implementation of this technology when it’s “technically feasible” and simultaneously preserves privacy.

Apple, WhatsApp and Signal have threatened to pull their services from the U.K. if asked to undermine encryption under U.K. laws.

Since the Online Safety Act passed in November, Meta announced that it had begun its rollout of end-to-end encryption on its Messenger service.

In response, Cleverly issued a statement saying he was “disappointed” that the company had gone ahead with the move despite repeated government warnings that it would make identifying child abusers on the platform more difficult.

Critics see a pincer movement. “Taken together, it appears that the Online Safety Bill's Clause 122 is intended to undermine existing encryption, while the updates to the IPA are intended to block further rollouts of encryption,” said Whittaker.
Beyond encryption

In addition to the notice regime, rights campaigners are worried that the bill allows for the more permissive use of bulk data where there are “low or no” expectations of privacy, for wide-ranging purposes including training AI models.

Lib Dem peer Christopher Fox argued in the House of Lords that this “creates an essentially new and essentially undefined category of information” which marks “a departure from existing privacy law," notably the Data Protection Act.


Director of campaign group Big Brother Watch, Silkie Carlo, also has issues with the newly invented category. With CCTV footage or social media posts for example, people may not have an expectation of privacy, “[but] that's not the point, the point is that that data taken together and processed in a certain way, can be incredibly intrusive.”

Big Brother Watch is also concerned about how the bill deals with internet connection records — i.e. web logs for individuals for the last 12 months. These can currently be obtained by agencies when specific criteria is known, like the person of interest's identity. Changes to the bill would broaden this for the purpose of “target discovery,” which Big Brother Watch characterizes as “generalized surveillance.”

Members of the House of Lords are also worried about the bill’s proposal to expand the number of people who can sanction spying on parliamentarians themselves. Right now, this requires the PM’s sign-off, but under the bill, the PM would be able to designate deputies for when he is not “available.” The change was inspired by the period in which former PM Boris Johnson was incapacitated with COVID-19.

The bill will return to the House of Lords on January 23, before heading to the House of Commons to be debated by MPs 

| Tolga Akmen/AFP via Getty Images

“The purpose of this bill is to give the intelligence agencies a bit of extra agility at the margins, where the existing Rolls Royce regime is proving a bit clunky and bureaucratic,” argues David Anderson, crossbench peer and author of a review that served as a blueprint for the bill. “If you start throwing in too many safeguards, you will negate that purpose, and you will not solve the problem that bill is addressing.”

Anderson proposed the changes relating to spying on MPs and peers are necessary “if the prime minister has got COVID, or if they're in a foreign country where they have no access to secure communications.”

This could even apply in cases where there’s a conflict of interest because spies want to snoop on the PM’s relatives or the PM himself, he added.

Amendments proposed by peers at the committee stage were uniformly rejected by the government.

The bill will return to the House of Lords for the next stage of the legislative process on January 23, before heading to the House of Commons to be debated by MPs.

“Our overarching concern is that the significance of the proposed changes to the notices regime are presented by the Home Office as minor adjustments and as such are being downplayed,” reads the TechUK letter.

“What we're seeing across these different bills is a continual edging further towards … turning private tech companies into arms of a surveillance state,” says Carlo.

AFP

'Prohibited emoluments'

Foreign govts paid Trump firms millions while president: report

New York (AFP) – Former US president Donald Trump's businesses received at least $7.8 million from foreign governments including China during his time in the White House, a congressional report claimed Thursday.

Issued on: 04/01/2024 - 

A Chinese embassy delegation spent $19,391 at the Trump International Hotel in Washington, DC 

© CHIP SOMODEVILLA / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/AFP

Officials from Saudi Arabia, India, Turkey and Democratic Republic of Congo were among some 20 countries' representatives who paid money to Trump's hotel and real estate businesses during his presidency, Democrats on the House Oversight Committee wrote in their report.

The authors claim that such revenues from overseas governments violated a constitutional ban on "foreign emoluments."

"As President, Donald Trump accepted more than $7.8 million in payments from foreign states and their leaders, including some of the world's most unsavory regimes," said the report titled "White House for Sale."

"We know about only some of the payments that passed into former President Trump's hands during just two years of his presidency from just 20 of the more than 190 nations in the world through just four of his more than 500 businesses."

In the case of China, the report alleged that Beijing as well as businesses including ICBC bank and Hainan Airlines spent $5.5 million at Trump-owned properties.

"Former President Trump violated the Constitution when the businesses he owned accepted these emoluments paid by (Beijing) without the consent of Congress," the report said.

The authors say that the full amount could be higher as the $5.5 million figure is based only on limited disclosures from Trump's accountants Mazars and filings with the American financial regulator, the SEC.

In one expenditure dated August 27, 2017, a Chinese embassy delegation spent $19,391 at the Trump International Hotel in Washington.

The report also claims that "Saudi Arabia paid at least $615,422 in prohibited emoluments to former President Trump's businesses over the course of his term in office from just (the Trump World Tower) and the March 2018 stay at the Trump International Hotel in Washington, DC."

"Former President Trump has also boasted about the continued willingness of the Saudis to do business on terms highly favorable to him," the report stated.

Trump's Washington hotel was sold in 2022 to a private investor group and rebranded under the luxury Waldorf Astoria line.

The frontrunner for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, Trump separately faces a civil fraud trial in New York over claims that his real estate businesses fraudulently inflated the value of their assets.

He is to go on trial in Washington in March for conspiring to overturn the results of the 2020 election, and in Florida in May on charges of mishandling top secret government documents.

The twice-impeached former president also faces racketeering charges in Georgia for allegedly conspiring to upend the election results in the southern state after his 2020 defeat by Democrat Joe Biden.

© 2024 AFP