Emissions from the Hongsa Power Plant negatively impacting the health of Thailand’s Indigenous communities

by Steve Suwannarat

Located in Laos but controlled by Thai companies, the plant burns lignite to generate energy exported to Thailand. Early studies conducted on Lua populations found high levels of mercury in their bodies, confirming prior fears about the plant’s impact on the environment.

Bangkok (AsiaNews) – Thailand’s northern regions are home to a variety of ethnic groups that are only partially integrated in the country; here, several initiatives aimed at environmental sustainability have been undertaken to avoid emigration.

The Thai royal family is also involved in various laudable activities meant to convert opium plantations into profitable productions like growing coffee, flowers, tapioca, and mulberry that are economically profitable but less socially disruptive.

However, at both local and national levels, growing environmental awareness is challenged by large scale monopolistic groups and environmental damage that come outside Thailand.

One example is the use of the upper and middle course of the Mekong River for hydroelectric development, especially by China, with dams and plants in China but also in Laos. Another example is resource development in northern Myanmar, largely led by Chinese groups.

As a result, not only is the flow rate of various rivers considerably reduced or irregular to satisfy the demands of hydroelectric production, but the water itself is being contaminated directly or indirectly, including through air pollution.

A case in point is the Hongsa Mine Mouth Power Project, a coal-fired power plant in Xayaboury province, Laos, whose emissions know no border, local media have reported.

Inaugurated in 2015, it is 80 per cent controlled by Thai interests, burning 15 million tonnes of lignite annually to produce energy exported largely to Thailand.

For five months of the year, the winds carry and deposit mercury particles over a large area of Thailand's Nan province, home to the Lua people.

After warnings were issued for years, the first studies by major research institutes have confirmed the relationship between emissions from the Laotian plant and accumulation of heavy metals on the ground and the increasing soil acidity.

The concentration of mercury is of particular concern given its toxicity, with levels in living organisms up to 12,000 times greater than those normally found in the environment.

In just a few years, this level of contamination has hit humans as well. After complaining for years, residents have been finally vindicated when the authorities issued advisories warning locals to be careful about what they drink.

Respiratory diseases are also on the rise, especially among the young.

Field research found elevated levels of nitrogen dioxide and sulphur dioxide, formed by the burning of coal at the plant. This has resulted in highly acidic soil and crop diseases, affecting especially rice, coffee, and mulberry.

A World Bank 2020 report also showed that CO2 emissions in Laos grew by nearly five times in the four years after the Hongsa plant began operations.

 

Kyrgyzstan Added To Global Watchlist Due To Rapid Decline In Civic Freedoms – OpEd

 March 5, 2024  

By IPHR

The CIVICUS Monitor has added Kyrgyzstan to its watchlist of countries experiencing rapid declines in civic freedoms as the government moves ahead with repressive laws designed to target NGOs and limit freedom of expression.

Two repressive draft laws are currently making their way through parliament. One is a Russian-style “foreign agent” law which, if adopted, would force non-governmental organisations funded from abroad to register as “foreign representatives” if they engage in broadly defined “political activities” and subject them to invasive inspections. The law passed its second reading in Parliament in February. If deputies approve the law in another, final, reading, it will be submitted to the President for signature. 

Another proposed bill threatens to expand the government’s control over the media and extend it to blogs and websites, which would further restrict internet freedom in a country where people are increasingly being prosecuted for critical posts on social networks. This bill is currently under consideration at committee level.

Both bills are directly modeled on the laws of Putin’s regime which have been used to devastating effect against Russian civil society and media. 

“So-called ‘foreign agent laws’, supposedly introduced for the sake of national security,  are a tool we often see authoritarian regimes resort to,” said Tara Petrović, Europe and Central Asia researcher at CIVICUS. “Everywhere we’ve seen these laws implemented, they have led to the mass shutdown of NGOs. When we look at their inevitable consequences, we can see their real goal is the de facto abolition of independent civil society and the suppression of critical voices.”

The latest CIVICUS Monitor Watchlist coincides with the 55th Session of the UN Human Rights Council (26 February to 5 April 2024) and spotlights five countries experiencing a notable decline in civic freedoms. This assessment is made by data compiled by the CIVICUS Monitor in collaboration with research partners worldwide. Alongside Kyrgyzstan, the latest Watchlist also includes Palestine, Pakistan, Senegal, and Venezuela.

The CIVICUS Monitor currently rates Kyrgyzstan’s civic space as “repressed”, the second worst rating a country can receive. Following the country’s downgrade from “obstructed” in December 2023, all the countries in Central Asia are rated either as “repressed” or “closed”.

“Kyrgyzstan still has the opportunity to buck the trend of repression in the region. Instead of increasingly adopting the heavy-handed tactics of its neighbours, it should recognise the invaluable contributions of its vibrant civil society and independent media,” said Petrović. 

In the midst of these legislative deliberations, the authorities have stepped up their efforts to suppress freedom of expression, using flimsy legal justifications as a pretext to obstruct the work of independent media and intimidate journalists.

In January 2024, law enforcement raided the offices of two prominent outlets, 24.KG and Temirov Live. As a result of the raids, 24.KG’s office has been sealed pending an investigation into alleged “war propaganda”, and 11 journalists affiliated with Temirov Live remain behind bars on spurious charges of “calls for mass riots”. In February, a court ordered the liquidation of Kloop Media, with government experts called to testify on the “harms” caused to Kyrgyzstani society by the outlet’s “negative reporting”, which they allege include an increase in mental illness and drug addiction.

The situation in Kyrgyzstan underscores the urgent need for reinforced and concerted international action to help protect the country’s civil society. Failure to address these alarming developments could have far-reaching implications – not only for Kyrgyzstan, but for the entire region.

“All of Kyrgyzstan’s international partners – international institutions, governments and funding agencies – must unequivocally condemn the widening crackdown on civic space in the country and put pressure on the authorities to fulfill their obligations to respect freedom of expression and association,” said Brigitte Dufour, director of the Brussels-based International Partnership for Human Rights (IPHR).

She added: ‘’As the EU seeks to strengthen its ties with Kyrgyzstan and other Central Asian countries, it should make it clear that initiatives like the draft law on ‘foreign representatives’ contradict its fundamental values and partnership priorities with Kyrgyzstan and will negatively affect mutual relations if adopted.” 

International Partnership for Human Rights (IPHR) is an independent, non-governmental organization founded in 2008. Based in Brussels, IPHR works closely together with civil society groups from different countries to raise human rights concerns at the international level and promote respect for the rights of vulnerable communities.

Ghana to lose £3 billion over anti-LGBTQ+ bill, finance ministry warns

Tuesday 5 March 2024

Ghana's is set to lose $3.8 billion (£3 billion) if the country's President signs an anti-LGBTQ+ bill in as law.

That's according to internal government documents seen by ITV News.

On February 28, the African nation's government unanimously passed the law, which criminalises identifying as LGBTQ+ and punishes those seen promoting or funding LGBTQ+ rights and communities.

The new bill could imprison people for more than a decade for activities including public displays of affection and promotion of LGBTQ+ activities.

Gay sex is already outlawed in Ghana, and carries a three-year prison sentence, but the anti-LGBTQ+ bill, formally called the Proper Human Sexual Rights and Ghanaian Family Values bill, is proposing much harsher punishments.

The possibility of the bill being implemented has triggered backlash from Ghana's finance sector, development partners and international financial institutions, according to an internal government memo seen by ITV News.

Many have said that current financial agreements may be suspended if the bill is passed, and the loss to the African country's economy is currently set to add up to $3.8 billion (£3 billion), the finance ministry warned.

The $3.8 billion set to vanish is from World Bank funding and would disappear over the next five to six years, the finance ministry said.

It predicts the losses in 2024 would impact Ghana's foreign exchange reserves and exchange rate stability, leaving a "financing gap" in the country's budget.

The bill has yet to be forwarded to the country's president for assent.

Ghana’s president said on Tuesday his government will wait for a Supreme Court ruling before taking action on a bill.

President Nana Akufo-Addo said he sought to reassure the diplomatic community that Ghana would not be turning its back on its longstanding human rights record.

As a result, the ministry said the government would need to significantly reduce its expenditures or increase domestic revenue.

Ghana's parliament passed a highly controversial anti-LGBTQ+ bill on Wednesday that could send some people to prison for more than a decade.

Ghana is already in dire financial straits, and requested a bailout from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in May last year after the country's debt burden became "unsustainable".

The IMF approved a $3 billion (£2.36 billion) extended credit arrangement for the West African nation to support its economic recovery in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Those in favour of the bill say it would help to protect children and people who are victims of abuse.

There has been international criticism of the "Anti-LBGTQ" bill, with the United States saying the legislation "undermines human rights".

"The bill seeks to criminalize any person who simply identifies as LGBTQI+, as well as any friend, family, or member of the community who does not report them," a US department of state press statement said.

"The United States echoes the call by those Ghanaians who have urged a review of the constitutionality of the bill to protect the rights of all individuals in Ghana."

Religious leaders have also commented on the bill, including the Archbishop of Canterbury.

Reverend Justin Welby said in October 2021 that he was "gravely concerned" by a draft of the bill.

Human rights organisations have also made their stance on the controversial bill clear.

“The anti-LGBT rights bill is inconsistent with Ghana’s longstanding tradition of peace, tolerance, and hospitality and flies in the face of the country’s international human rights obligations,” Human Rights Watch researcher Larissa Kojoué said.

US sanctions spyware company, executives for targeting Americans

Treasury Department says former Israeli military officer Tal Jonathan Dilian, who founded Intellexa in 2019, sanctioned

Diyar Güldoğan |05.03.2024 - 



WASHINGTON

The US Treasury Department said Tuesday that it imposed sanctions against two people and a Greece-based commercial spyware company headed by a former Israeli military officer for targeting American officials.

"Today, the Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) designated two individuals and five entities associated with the Intellexa Consortium for their role in developing, operating, and distributing commercial spyware technology used to target Americans, including U.S. government officials, journalists, and policy experts," the agency said in a statement.

The two individuals include former Israeli military officer Tal Jonathan Dilian, who founded Intellexa in 2019.

Dilian's partner, Sara Aleksandra Fayssal Hamou, a corporate off-shoring specialist who has provided managerial services to Intellexa, was also sanctioned.

Other entities associated with Intellexa, including North Macedonia-based Cytrox AD, Hungary-based Cytrox Holdings Zartkoruen Mukodo Reszvenytarsasag (Cytrox Holdings ZRT), Ireland-based Thalestris Limited, were sanctioned for developing and distributing a package of tools known as “Predator spyware, which can infiltrate a range of electronic devices through zero-click attacks that require no user interaction for the spyware to infect the device."

"Today’s actions represent a tangible step forward in discouraging the misuse of commercial surveillance tools, which increasingly present a security risk to the United States and our citizens," Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Brian Nelson was quoted in the statement.

Separately, State Department's spokesman Matthew Miller said the US is sanctioning two individuals and five entities for developing, operating or distributing commercial spyware technology misused to target Americans, including officials, journalists and policy experts.

"We continue to promote guardrails that protect democratic values," Miller wrote on X.

US government slaps sanctions on notorious European spyware maker

Targeted Predator software was at heart of Greek political hacking scandal.


The move comes as part of international efforts to stop the proliferation of commercial spyware tools | Gabriel Bouys/AFP via Getty Images

MARCH 5, 2024
BY JOHN SAKELLARIADIS


The United States government on Tuesday unveiled sanctions on two individuals and five corporate entities tied to the Intellexa consortium, a network of European firms behind the sale of a widely used mobile surveillance software known as Predator.

Intellexa's Predator spyware allows hackers to gain full access to victim devices, including microphones, cameras, text messages, and apps. The software was at the center of a political hacking scandal that rocked Greek politics in 2022. Intellexa has sold Predator to Austria, Germany and Switzerland as well as to governments with histories of human rights abuses, such as Qatar, Congo, the UAE, Pakistan and Vietnam, Amnesty researchers said previously.

The U.S. Treasury Department action marks the latest move by the Biden administration to crack down on a shadowy ecosystem of commercial spyware vendors based in Europe whose products have been used by foreign governments against dissidents — and against U.S. citizens. In July, the White House added two European firms with ties to the Intellexa consortium to a Commerce Department blacklist.

“This action also recognizes the challenge and threat to Americans of commercial spyware misuse globally, but also particularly in Europe,” said a senior administration official, who provided a briefing to reporters ahead of the announcement on condition of anonymity.

Intellexa has sprung up to fill the vacuum left by Israel’s NSO Group, the once-prolific spyware maker behind the Pegasus software that has been battered by tightening domestic export controls, foreign sanctions and public scrutiny.

The sanctions block any U.S. business dealings by and with two individuals and five organizations. On the list of individuals are Tal Dilian, a former Israeli general and the founder of Intellexa, and Sara Aleksandra Fayssal Hamou, a corporate off-shoring specialist, the Treasury Department said. The organizations include Greece-based Intellexa S.A., Ireland-based Intellexa Limited, North Macedonian-based Cytrox AD, Hungary-based Cytrox Holdings and Ireland-based Thalestris Limited.

Intellexa consortium could not be immediately reached for comment.

The move comes as part of international efforts to stop the proliferation of commercial spyware tools.

Governments are meeting on March 18 for a Summit for Democracy in South Korea, spearheaded by the United States. At last year’s summit, the U.S. and partner countries outlined their commitment to reining in the use of commercial surveillance tools.

80% of world’s hungriest people live in Gaza: Palestine

Israel has destroyed 85% of Gaza Strip, says Palestinian foreign minister

Mohammad Sıo |05.03.2024 -

Palestinian people with empty pots receive food distributed by charity as Gaza faces hunger crisis as situation worsens amid blockade due to the ongoing Israeli offensive on February 29, 2024, in Deir al Balah, central Gaza.

RAMALLAH, Palestine

Some 80% of the world’s most hunger-ravaged people live in the Gaza Strip, said the Palestinian foreign minister on Tuesday.

"Israel has openly destroyed more than 85% of the Gaza Strip, killed and starved children, and deprived the sick and injured of their basic right to treatment,'' Riyad al-Maliki said at an extraordinary ministerial meeting of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in the Saudi city of Jeddah.

“Around 80% of the hungriest people in the world today live in Gaza,” he added.

Tuesday’s OIC meeting was called to discuss Israel’s war on the Gaza Strip, which has killed more than 30,600 people and injured over 72,000 others since Oct. 7 following a Hamas attack.

"Israel has virtually committed every violation of international law against our people, who are facing the most heinous forms of genocide,'' al-Maliki said.

Israel has imposed a crippling blockade on the Gaza Strip, leaving its population, particularly residents of northern Gaza, on the verge of starvation.

The Israeli war has pushed 85% of Gaza’s population into internal displacement amid acute shortages of food, clean water, and medicine.


Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice. An interim ruling in January ordered Tel Aviv to stop genocidal acts and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in Gaza.

*Writing by Mohammad Sio

Plan to whitewash Erdoğan, Lukashenko and Aliyev with Oliver Stone films uncovered

ByTurkish Minute
March 5, 2024

Igor Lopatonok, a US filmmaker with a history of promoting pro-Russian narratives, sought to create flattering documentaries of authoritarian leaders, including Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, according to a special report by the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP).

Lopatonok, in collaboration with acclaimed Hollywood director Oliver Stone, has produced two documentaries about Ukraine, which were widely dismissed as pro-Kremlin propaganda, as well as an eight-part hagiographic miniseries about Kazakh leader Nursultan Nazarbayev.

Leaked plans obtained by OCCRP and Vlast.kz show Lopatonok intended to feature Hollywood director Stone as the films’ interviewer. It’s unclear if Stone knew the full extent of the proposals, but none of the documentaries came to fruition.

Lopatonok aimed to paint Turkey’s Erdoğan as a strong defender of the country’s interests. The proposed film would highlight Erdoğan’s goals and accomplishments.

“Erdogan is a Turk and hardly needs to be basing his actions on the interests of other countries. But what interests does he have? Can he restore the Great Silk Road? And does he really have expansionist plans? What is Erdogan trying to achieve? He should answer these questions himself. And only himself. We should not try to divine [Erdogan’s plans] from coffee grounds, even if it is magnificent Turkish coffee that they know how to make only in Istanbul,” the report cited a synopsis as saying.

While Erdoğan’s level of interest is unknown, the proposal aimed to cast his leadership in a favorable light.

These revelations highlight Lopatonok’s pattern of using Stone’s fame to lend legitimacy to authoritarian regimes. Stone’s past documentaries, including those on Russian President Vladimir Putin, have been criticized for their sympathetic view of strongmen.

In a 2018 interview İbrahim Kalın, the then-spokesman for President Erdoğan, confirmed that they had received a pitch for a documentary about Erdoğan around the same time that Stone was in Turkey.

“We are looking at it, we are evaluating it,” Kalın said. “I know the series he made for Mr. Putin before.”

The report also features plans to make similar films for leaders like Aliyev and Lukashenko.

Palestinian member in Knesset: Netanyahu's political future tied to ongoing Gaza conflict

2024-03-05 

Shafaq News/ The Palestinian member of the Israeli Knesset, Aida Touma-Suleiman, asserted on Tuesday that internal Israeli society continues to endorse the ongoing conflict in the Gaza Strip, even among those advocating for a partial truce solely focused on securing the release of prisoners and kidnapped individuals.

During an interview with Sputnik news agency, Suleiman stated that the "political fate of Netanyahu and the viability of the fragile government coalition are intricately tied to the continuation of the conflict and the perception of any semblance of victory."

"Relying on internal pressures within Israel to halt the war is implausible, and the focus should be on international and external pressures." She pointed out.

The Palestinian representative explained that recent American and European efforts to press Netanyahu to "cease hostilities lack seriousness."

"Washington is complicit in Israel's aggression, with both Europe and the United States providing ongoing military and financial aid to Tel Aviv…the U.S. possesses the capability to halt the conflict and dissuade Netanyahu swiftly by withdrawing political support through a United Nations veto and discontinuing military assistance."

Since October 2023, Israeli have killed more than 30,000 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, mostly women and children.

In addition, more than 1.5 million were displaced.

Last month, the head of UNRWA, Philippe Lazzarini, warned that famine is stalking Gaza as aid agencies struggle to deliver food to the north of the enclave.

Lazzarini said humanitarian aid has not reached northern Gaza people for over a month.

Figures from the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) showed that at least 500,000 people are facing famine while nearly the entire population of Gaza, 2.3 million people, is experiencing acute food shortage.

Mideast Starbucks franchisee firing 2,000 employees due to Gaza war boycott

Alshaya Group says it is reducing staff numbers because of ‘difficult trading conditions’ after pro-Palestinian activists targeted the brand

By AP and TOI STAFF

Today,




The Middle East franchisee of Starbucks said Tuesday it has begun firing around 2,000 workers at its coffee shops across the region after the brand found itself targeted by activists during the ongoing Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip.

The Kuwait-based Alshaya Group, a private family firm holding franchise rights for a variety of Western companies including The Cheesecake Factory, H&M and Shake Shack, issued a statement acknowledging the firings at its Middle Eastern and North African locations.

“As a result of the continually challenging trading conditions over the last six months, we have taken the sad and very difficult decision to reduce the number of colleagues in our Starbucks MENA stores,” the statement read.

Alshaya later confirmed it was firing about 2,000 employees, as first reported by Reuters. Many of its employees in the Gulf Arab states are foreign workers hailing from Asian nations.

Alshaya runs about 1,900 Starbucks branches in Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Morocco, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates. It had employed more than 19,000 staff, according to the Seattle-based company. The layoffs represent just over 10 percent of its staff.

Since the beginning of the war on October 7, which began with Hamas’s unprecedented attack on Israel’s south, in which terrorists murdered some 1,200 people and kidnapped 253, Starbucks has found itself alongside other Western brands targeted by pro-Palestinian activists over the war. The company prominently has been trying to counter what it describes as “ongoing false and misleading information being shared about Starbucks” being spread online.

Starbucks employees and supporters link arms during a union election watch party, December 9, 2021, in Buffalo, New York. (AP Photo/Joshua Bessex, File)

“We have no political agenda,” Starbucks said. “We do not use our profits to fund any government or military operations anywhere — and never have.”

In October, Starbucks sued Workers United, which has organized workers in at least 370 US Starbucks stores, over a pro-Palestinian message posted on a union social media account.

Starbucks said it was trying to get the union to stop using its name and likeness, as the post also drew protests from pro-Israel demonstrators. Boycotters also felt the company wasn’t adequately supporting Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

Starbucks revenue rose 8% to a record $9.43 billion for the October-December period. But that was lower than the $9.6 billion analysts had forecast, likely in part because of activist boycotts.

Starbucks isn’t the only brand targeted by activists in the war. Others have called for a boycott of McDonald’s after a local franchisee in Israel announced in October that it was providing free meals to Israeli soldiers.

UK
Bus drivers and engineers vote on strike action


Jonny Manning,

BBC News, 

North East and Cumbria

PAArriva bus drivers could strike in the coming months

Hundreds of bus workers could strike in the coming months, a union has announced.

More than 300 Arriva bus drivers and engineers in Northumberland are voting on whether to take industrial action following a dispute over pay.

Unite argues that drivers at Arriva Northumberland are among the lowest paid in the region.

The company previously offered staff a 4% pay rise, but the offer was rejected by union members.

Ballots opened on 5 March and will close on 19 March.

Unite said that staff at rival bus operators had received "substantial increases" following campaigns by the union.

'Deplorable behaviour'

Sharon Graham, Unite general secretary, described the ballot as a "fight for a decent pay rise".

She said: "Arriva’s behaviour is deplorable; this is a profitable company which has been caught red handed trying to inflict a real terms pay cut on its workforce

"Arriva is making a grave mistake if it thinks it can undervalue the importance our members bring to the company.

"Without them there is no bus company, their pay and conditions must reflect the work that they do day in and day out."

Unite regional officer Dave Telford said: "This ballot will demonstrate the strength of ill-feeling at Arriva over the poor pay offer they’ve offered our members when energy bills and mortgages have gone through the roof.

"Unite will be backing them 100 per cent."

Arriva declined to comment on the pay negotiations.

 UK

The Lords’ five amendments to the Rwanda Bill – in a graphic. Will MPs vote AGAINST the rule of law?

Sadie Parker05/03/2024

Remember that this government is trying to force through a law that says Rwanda is safe when it is not. Ed