It’s possible that I shall make an ass of myself. But in that case one can always get out of it with a little dialectic. I have, of course, so worded my proposition as to be right either way (K.Marx, Letter to F.Engels on the Indian Mutiny)
Thursday, April 25, 2024
Melting Point: Where is the Antarctic Sea Ice?
April 25, 2024
Dr. Sharon Stammerjohn, Senior Research Associate at the Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research of the University of Colorado Boulder, explains the recent Antarctic sea ice minimum lows, the importance of the Southern Ocean in the global climate system, and the implications of a possible regime shift within the Antarctic sea ice system. Watch now to learn from an expert and further your understanding of emerging Antarctic sea ice
Avian Flu in Antarctica
April 25, 202412:22
This Polar Institute video features esteemed Antarctic experts Dr. Michelle Wille of the University of Melbourne and Dr. Meagan Dewar of the Federation University Australia and SCAR as they explain the severity of the HPAI virus, which has now been confirmed in Antarctica. Join us for an illuminating discussion on the history of avian flu, the discovery of avian flu in wild birds, and the threat the virus poses to the delicate Antarctic ecosystem and the preservation of regional biodiversity.developments.
Plane passenger spots ‘flying cylinder UFO’ out her window
Plane passenger Michelle Reyes shared footage of a possible UFO over LaGuardia Airport in New York (Picture: Michelle Reyes)
A mother sitting with her daughter by an airplane window looked out over New York City and saw what looked to possibly be a flying cylinder UFO.
Michelle Reyes recorded video of the mysterious dark and elongated oval-looking object above LaGuardia Airport and sent it federal authorities.
‘When I realized I had something like this on the video, the first thing I did was email the FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) to let them know what I saw,’ she told News Nation’s Banfield show on Wednesday night.
‘Maybe it was a safety hazard. I reached out to them. Unfortunately I haven’t heard back from them, they didn’t acknowledge my email.’
Reyes also showed the footage with her father, who served the US Navy.
‘He had no idea. He was just as baffled as I was,’ she said. ‘He thought it may be a drone but he didn’t think it should be where it was, that close to the aircraft.’
Ben Hansen, TV host of UFO Witness on discovery+, said his team analyzed Reyes’ video and found ‘no evidence that she faked this or hoaxed it’.
The passenger, Michelle Reyes, said her father’s best guess was that it was a drone (Picture: NewsNation)
‘It’s very clear, which is unusual, so to me I feel as though this is probably something not terribly far in the distance,’ said Hansen.
He added that there are problems with the theory that it was merely an insect because ‘we’re talking about 200 miles per hour at this point, her jet, so it passes in about a seventh of a second and it’s present in five frames of the video’.
NewsNation host Ashleigh Banfield opined that it did not look like an insect but rather more like Tic Tacs that at least one former US Navy pilot has claimed to see.
The passenger said she did not believe it was an insect (Picture: Michelle Reyes)
Reyes said she also shared the clip with the national UFO database and Enigma Labs, which was the only organization that responded. She also said there was another witness.
‘One of the other moms on the flight, she said that she had noticed it when she was in the air, so I wasn’t the only one who saw it,’ Reyes said.
‘So it was kind of a little more like nerve-racking that someone else also saw what I saw.’
Japanese Green Tea Once Fueled the Midwest
It’s a forgotten moment in American beverage history.
ON MAY 11, 1869, AMERICA’S first transcontinental freight train set out from California. On that momentous day, its cargo was a load of Japanese green tea. Today, only 15 percent of the tea drunk annually in the United States is green, and the vast majority of that is produced in countries like China and Vietnam. But in the last decades of the 19th century, America’s tea of choice was green, and Japan was the major supplier.
0:16
/
4:
“It’s just so amazing how something like this can be so quickly forgotten,” says Robert Hellyer, a professor of history at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. “And this is the challenge of a historian: trying to figure out why. There’s no documents that tell us ‘This is why we really [liked] green tea.’”
In his book Green with Milk and Sugar: When Japan Filled America’s Teacups, Hellyer sheds light on this little-known fact. “Green tea was the most popular tea in the U.S. since right after the Revolution, but there’s different theories about why,” he says. One theory is that the green tea that flooded the U.S. in the colonial era—grown in China and imported by the British East India Company—may have been “leftovers” after the best tea went to British consumers. “But Americans started to really like green tea, and see it as more sophisticated,” says Hellyer.
A late 19th century advertisement for tea importer O. & O. (“Occidental and Oriental”) depicts a Japanese woman serving tea to white American children. BOSTON PUBLIC LIBRARY, CC BY 2.0
In the 18th and early 19th centuries, China held a global monopoly on the tea trade, and key information about tea cultivation and production was kept secret from outsiders. It wasn’t until 1843 that Europeans found out that green and black teas come from the same plant. In the 1840s, the British covertly smuggled tea plants out of China and into colonial India, where they would eventually establish a rival tea industry. But even before British-grown tea became a major commodity, Japan entered the global tea market in the 1860s.
Hellyer cites the Meiji Restoration as the most significant factor in Japan establishing a tea trade of their own. This modernizing revolution ended the last feudal regime in Japan and resulted in a major restructuring of power. “In the new regime, there are groups in Japan who see it as important to export tea to the West in a way that they’ve never explored before,” says Hellyer. Some of the individuals involved in this new booming trade were Japanese samurai who became tea farmers after the Meiji Restoration, and Hellyer’s own American ancestors who worked in the tea export business.
Japanese traders took advantage of direct sea routes to Seattle and San Francisco, and the United States became the biggest market for Japanese-grown tea. “By about 1880, [Japan] had about 40 percent of the U.S. market,” says Hellyer. The Midwest was known to consume the most green tea of any region. “In the Midwest, green tea really became popular from the 1870s and ‘80s,” says Hellyer. “That’s a moment where there’s such economic growth in the Midwest; where you have huge cities, notably Chicago, bursting from the prairie. And the people there are becoming wealthy, but as they develop new cultures, they are latching onto the established culture of tea to show their wealth.”
Japanese merchants promoted their product in the United States with elegantly-designed labels and advertisements that presented an image of Japan as refined, artistic, and nonthreatening. Yet by the 1920s, another major shift in America’s tea habits had occurred. Black tea grown in British India started to replace Japanese green as America’s preference. In his book, Hellyer notes that this was due to a combination of socioeconomic factors and increasing anti-Japanese sentiment. Marketing played an important role, as merchants seeking to oust non-British teas from the market used racist imagery in their advertisements, portraying both the Chinese and Japanese and their teas as inferior and unhygienic.
The shift in the American tea market changed Japan’s tea market as well. While Japanese tea drinkers have always preferred green over black, “in the past, it was a lower grade of green tea, called buncha” that was the most popular in Japan, Hellyer explains. Buncha was cheaper and had a more brownish color when brewed. With Americans losing interest in green tea, Japanese merchants with a newfound surplus of expensive tea started marketing it aggressively in their home country. This created an increased demand in Japan for the fine, high-grade green tea that is still popular today.
Ads like this one from 1896 touted black tea from the British colonies as superior to “feeble” Chinese and Japanese green. NESSTER VIA FLICKR, CC BY 2.0
Throughout his book, Hellyer describes a time when green tea was seen “as an everyday, not exotic, product” in the United States. And what’s more American than colorful food and drinks? Merchants often enhanced their tea’s green color with toxic additives like graphite and Prussian blue, a synthetic pigment more commonly used in paint. Ironically, the chemical colorants that made green tea more desirable to consumers in the 19th century would come to be viewed negatively in the 1920s, when advertisers promoted black tea as unadulterated and pure.
Americans of the time “wanted what would look good at the store,” says Hellyer. “Isn’t the taste more important? Apparently not. It needed to look good. And you’re probably adding a lot of milk and sugar to it, so hey, it’s fine.”
While the tea is still hot, mix in the sugar so that it melts completely.
Add the cream.
Gradually add the wine or champagne, stirring carefully to prevent overflowing.
Reheat to boiling and serve hot, or, chill and serve cold.
Notes and Tips
Alcoholic punch made with tea was “a pre-Civil War trend” in the United States, says Hellyer, particularly in the South. One such drink, known as “Fish House Punch” after the fishing club that served it, was a favorite of George Washington, who allegedly skipped three days of diary-writing while recovering from a night of punch-fueled revelry.
Such beverages were the earliest iced tea drinks, although some, like this 1839 recipe from The Kentucky Housewife by Lettice Bryan, could be served either hot or cold. Bryan didn’t specify what type of “strong tea” to use, but we can assume that she meant green. Other ingredients include cream, loaf sugar, and either champagne or claret, a 19th-century English term for red Bordeaux wine.
ByteDance prefers TikTok shutdown in US over sale: Report
TikTok parent would rather have it shutdown in US than have it sold to a US buyer with algorithms, Reuters reported.
The algorithms TikTok relies on for its operations are deemed core to ByteDance overall operations, making a sale of the app with algorithms unlikely [File: Dado Ruvic/Illustration/Reuters]
Published On 25 Apr 2024
TikTok owner ByteDance would prefer shutting down its loss-making app rather than sell it if the Chinese company exhausts all legal options to fight legislation to ban the platform from app stores in the United States, Reuters reported citing four sources.
The algorithms TikTok relies on for its operations are deemed core to ByteDance overall operations, which would make a sale of the app with algorithms highly unlikely, the sources, who are close to the parent, said on Thursday.
TikTok accounts for a small share of ByteDance’s total revenues and daily active users, so the parent would rather have the app shut down in the US in a worst-case scenario than sell it to a potential American buyer, they said.
A shutdown would have limited impact on ByteDance’s business while the company would not have to give up its core algorithm, said the sources, who declined to be named as they were not authorised to speak to the media.
ByteDance declined to comment.
It said late on Thursday in a statement posted on Toutiao, a media platform it owns, that it had no plan to sell TikTok, in response to an article by tech platform The Information saying ByteDance is exploring scenarios for selling TikTok’s US business without the algorithm that recommends videos to TikTok users.
In response to Reuters request for comment, a TikTok spokeswoman referred to ByteDance’s statement posted on Toutiao.
TikTok’s CEO Shou Zi Chew said on Wednesday the social media company expects to win a legal challenge to block legislation signed into law by President Joe Biden that he said would ban its popular short video app used by 170 million Americans.
The bill, passed overwhelmingly but the US Senate on Tuesday, is driven by widespread worries among US lawmakers that China could access Americans’ data or use the app for surveillance.
Biden’s signing sets a January 19 deadline for a sale – one day before his term is poised to expire – but he could extend the deadline by three months if he determines privately owned ByteDance is making progress.
ByteDance does not publicly disclose its financial performance or the financial details of any of its units. The company continues to make most of its money in China, mainly from its other apps such as Douyin, the Chinese equivalent of TikTok, separate sources have said.
The US accounted for about 25 percent of TikTok overall revenues last year, said a separate source with direct knowledge.
ByteDance’s 2023 revenues rose to nearly $120bn in 2023 from $80bn in 2022, said two of the four sources. TikTok’s daily active users in the US is also just about 5 percent of ByteDance’s DAUs worldwide, said one of the sources.
Algorithms not for sale
TikTok shares the same core algorithms with ByteDance domestic apps like short video platform Douyin, three of the sources said. Its algorithms are considered better than ByteDance rivals such as Tencent and Xiaohongshu, said one of them.
It would be impossible to divest TikTok with its algorithms as their intellectual property licence is registered under ByteDance in China and thus difficult to disentangle from the parent company, said the source.
ByteDance also would not agree to sell one of its most valuable assets – its “secret source” – to rivals, said the four sources, referring to the TikTok algorithm.
In 2020, the Trump administration sought to ban TikTok and Chinese-owned WeChat but was blocked by the courts. The short-form video app has since faced partial and attempted bans in the United States and other countries.
China indicated it would be likely to reject a forced divestment of the TikTok app during a US congressional hearing in March last year.
“China will firmly oppose it [the forced sale of Tiktok],” said a spokeswoman for the Ministry of Commerce at a news conference in Beijing in late March in 2023.
“The sale or divestiture of TikTok involves technology export and must go through administrative licensing procedures in accordance with Chinese laws and regulations.”
China in 2020 unveiled the Export Control Law and the final text extended the definition of “controlled items” from prior drafts. According to state media, the amendment ensures that the exports of algorithms, source codes and similar data are subject to an approval process.
Excluding algorithms, TikTok’s main assets include user data and product operations and management, said two of the people.
ByteDance, backed by Sequoia Capital, Susquehanna International Group, KKR & Co and General Atlantic among others, was valued at $268bn in December when it offered to buy back approximately $5bn worth of shares from investors, Reuters reported at the time.
Life after TikTok: Why ban would be buzz kill for viral beekeeper
By Ana Faguy & Rachel Looker,
BBC News, Washington
Aimee Aubin
Erika Thompson says TikTok has given her the opportunity to teach tens of millions of viewers about bees
US President Joe Biden has signed legislation that could lead to a potential TikTok ban in the US, leaving many of the platform's creators panicked about their future. TikTok has said it will challenge the "unconstitutional law" in court, which could delay a ban for several years. The legislation gives ByteDance, the platform's Chinese owner, nine months to sell the app before it could be blocked for its 170 million US users. Several US lawmakers have raised concerns that TikTok shares user data with the Chinese government. The company has denied those claims. Content creators on the platform say they fear a ban would affect their livelihoods and limit people's access to new information. Here's how a potential TikTok ban would affect four TikTok creators. A Texas beekeeper When Erika Thompson posted her first bee removal video on TikTok in 2020, it received 24 million views in 24 hours. Ms Thompson, of Smithville, Texas, said TikTok has given her the opportunity to teach tens of millions of viewers about the insects by taking viewers inside hives. "My life changed with the push of a button," she said.
The 38-year-old is the owner of Texas BeeWorks, a company she launched before she began posting on the social media platform.
But the platform has now become a significant source of revenue for Ms Thompson, who travels around the world teaching people about bees. She is able to offset the cost of her bee removal work through the income she generates on the platform and provide all her bee removals for free. While Ms Thompson views herself as a beekeeper first and a content creator second, she says a ban on the platform would limit who she can educate about bees. "To me that's really sad," she said. "TikTok has given me the opportunity to be the voice of bees - which is arguably the most important species on Earth- for an entire generation of people."
A TikTok scholar Trevor Boffone describes himself as a "dancing teacher" in his social media bios where he has over 300,000 followers. He went viral on TikTok in 2019 for posting videos replicating trendy TikTok dances in the classroom with his high school students. Mr Boffone, of Houston, Texas, resigned from his teaching job last year and now calls himself a TikTok scholar, running TikTok accounts for local businesses and publishing books about the culture of the social media platform. The 38-year-old said he will lose the majority of his livelihood if the app is banned.
Trevor Boffone describes himself as a "dancing teacher" in his social media bios where he has over 300,000 followers
"The people who are making these decisions about banning TikTok - the way they talk about TikTok shows that they think that it is this silly, meaningless place where teenagers are hitting dance challenges," he said.
"But there's so much more education, rulemaking, community building that is taking place on this platform." Mr Boffone said he feels the government's efforts to ban TikTok is an overstep. "Singling out TikTok because it's owned by a Chinese company- it just to me wreaks of a digital Cold War," he said. A taco queen Ilse Valenzuela, 35, was trying to make ends meet after the pandemic left her and her husband without jobs. The pair then began selling tacos at a corner store in Phoenix. Ms Valenzuela's small business went viral when a customer posted a TikTok of the taco shop. Fast forward four years, she has opened three brick and mortar shops with a fourth on the way, has 10,000 followers on her TikTok account and a videographer who helps put content together.
Now that a ban on the platform looms over creators' heads, she's concerned - but also confident the platform won't disappear since it has millions of active users. And while she has loyal customers, her TikTok videos serve as a reminder to come and "get their fix" of tacos. "[TikTok] took our business where it needed to go," Ms Valenzuela said. "I'm on every platform and none of them are giving me the result that TikTok does and I don't pay for it, I'm not paying for my posts to go viral." A disability advocate Disability advocate Tiffany Yu, 35, gives her nearly 130,000 TikTok followers an inside look at what it's like to navigate life with a paralysed arm. Over the past four years, Ms Yu's TikTok following has led to brand deals, an upcoming book and, most crucially to her, a way to educate people about her life experience.
Tiffany Yu
Disability advocate Tiffany Yu, 35, says her TikTok following has led to brand deals and an upcoming book
While Ms Yu, based in Los Angeles, said she's sad about the potential end of the platform in the US, she's also confident that people in the creator community will work around the potential ban. "As disabled people, we are some of the most creative, problem-solving people out there," Ms Yu said. "I know we'll figure it out, because we always have." Already, Ms Yu said creators in the disabled community have mobilized and plan to take action if the impending ban comes to fruition. "We just feel sad and propelled into action," Ms Yu said of the disability creator community. "It makes me really excited to see people … get involved and figure out a way to keep [TikTok]."
Congo questions Apple over knowledge of conflict minerals in its supply chain
Armed rebel groups accused of mass killings operate in eastern Congo
Congo’s government is questioning Apple about the tech company’s knowledge of "blood minerals" from a conflict zone in the African country that could be smuggled into its supply chains and is demanding answers within three weeks.
A group of international lawyers representing Congo said Thursday that they sent letters to Apple’s CEO Tim Cook and its French subsidiary this week, raising concerns about human rights violations involving the minerals extracted from mines in the country’s troubled east that might end up being used in the company’s products.
They included a list of questions challenging Apple to show how it monitors its supply chains in a region where more than 100 armed rebel groups operate, some of whom have been accused of carrying out mass killings of civilians.
A Congolese miner sifts through ground rocks to separate out the cassiterite, the main ore that is processed into tin, in the town of Nyabibwe, eastern Congo, Aug. 16, 2012. Congo’s government is questioning Apple about the tech company’s knowledge of "blood minerals" from a conflict zone in the African country that could be smuggled into supply chains. A group of international lawyers representing Congo said Thursday, April 25, 2024, that it sent letters to Apple’s CEO Tim Cook and its French subsidiary this week raising concerns about human rights violations involving the minerals extracted from mines in the country’s war-torn east. (AP Photo/Marc Hofer)
Writing to Cook, the lawyers said "it has become clear to us that year after year, Apple has sold technology made with minerals sourced from a region whose population is being devastated by grave violations of human rights."
"The iPhones, Mac computers and accessories that Apple sells to its customers around the world rely on supply chains that are too opaque, and that are tainted by the blood of the Congolese people," the lawyers said.
Eastern Congo is one of the most mineral-rich regions in the world but is also the site of a huge humanitarian disaster, with the armed groups fighting for years for control of the mines and the valuable minerals in them, and millions of people displaced and affected by the worsening violence. The situation has deteriorated badly in the last few months.
Apple, which has a market value of around $2.6 trillion, has denied using minerals from mines and regions where human rights violations take place, saying it conducts business ethically and "responsibly" sources minerals in Congo and neighboring countries.
The minerals it buys don't finance war or armed groups, it says. The lawyers for the Congo government said "those claims do not appear to be based on concrete, verifiable evidence."
The Congo government said it has suspicions that some of the tin, tungsten, tantalum and gold — known as the 3TG critical minerals — that Apple sources from suppliers is smuggled out of Congo to neighboring Rwanda and then infiltrated into the global supply chain. The 3TG minerals are key components in electronics.
In response to a request for comment, Apple pointed to a section from a company filing on conflict minerals.
"Based on our due diligence efforts, including analyzing the information provided by third-party audit programs, upstream traceability programs, and our suppliers, we found no reasonable basis for concluding that any of the smelters or refiners of 3TG determined to be in our supply chain as of December 31, 2023 directly or indirectly financed or benefited armed groups in the DRC or an adjoining country," the report said, using the abbreviation for Democratic Republic of the Congo.
"In Congo, people have been dying for 30 years as a result of illegal mining," Congo government spokesperson Patrick Muyaya said. "We want clarification on the sources of supply for major technology companies, in particular Apple, to verify whether they are acquiring minerals produced in completely illegal conditions."
He said Rwanda "is presented" as the supplier for many of the minerals while having few reserves of its own.
Congo has accused Rwanda of financing and directing the notorious armed rebel group M23 in eastern Congo to help extract minerals illegally. The United Nations also says M23 is backed by Rwanda.
Rwanda denies that but tensions between the countries are flaring, while M23 and other groups are accused of regularly carrying out attacks that include the killing and raping of civilians, according to Human Rights Watch.
The lawyers for the Congo government quoted a 2022 report by nonprofit group Global Witness that claimed Apple had previously applied "few meaningful mitigation measures" to avoid using smuggled minerals.
The Congo government was now seeking "effective redress" against "end-users of blood minerals" across the world, the lawyers said.
They asked Apple to respond to questions over its supply chain controls within three weeks and said they had compiled a report on "the laundering" of Congo's minerals by Rwanda and private entities that would be made public this month.
They also would seek instructions from the Congo government as to what legal measures it is considering against Apple, the letter said.
First ship passes through new channel alongside Baltimore bridge wreckage and stranded Dali
After 33 days waiting in the port of Baltimore, Balsa 94 has become the first cargo ship to leave through a temporary channel after the Baltimore bridge collapse
The Balsa 94, a bulk carrier under a Panama flag, sailed on Thursday morning through the new 35ft-deep channel opened by Baltimore officials.
It is a major step taken to get marine traffic flowing after the maritime shipping hub has remained closed to the majority of traffic since the bridge’s collapse.
Heading to St John, Canada, the Balsa 94 is expected to arrive at its intended destination on Monday.
The Balsa 94, a bulk carrier cargo ship, sailing past the Francis Scott Key Bridge wreckage on Thursday (Getty)
The Balsa 94 had been sitting in the port for 33 days and seven hours, according to Vessel Finder, after they arrived on 23 March, mere days before the bridge’s collapse.
The ship was one of five stranded vessels that are expected to make their way through the temporary channel, which will remain open until Monday or Tuesday, then close again until around 10 May, the Port of Baltimore said on X.
The temporary port needs to close again for that period of time to enable crews to remove steel from the Dali and refloat the ship, before it is then guided back to the port, officials said.
The Balsa 94 sails off toward Canada on Thursday after a month stuck at Baltimore’s port (Getty)
Two tug boats, one in front and one behind, guided the Balsa 94 through the channel, passing between buoys that marked the channel’s boundaries.
Pictures captured the moment the vessel was guided carefully past the remains of the bridge, now tangled in a wreck on the Patapsco River and the ship that crashed into the bridge a month ago.
The Balsa 94 passing the wreckage on Thursday (Getty)
The Port of Baltimore said they are hoping to reopen the port’s main channel by the end of next month, which will help to restore marine traffic and alleviate economic pressures.
However, crews are still working tirelessly to move the wreckage from the collapse and clear thousands of tonnes of steel and concrete that are blocking other parts of the main channel.
One piece of metal took three days to remove and secure from the wreck site, weighing as much as a 747 jumbo jet, Unified Command said, according to CBS.
The Dali hit the giant structure in the early hours of the morning after it lost power, with the city claiming that the crew on board the ship knew that the vessel’s power supply was down.
The Balsa 94 travelled through a temporary 35-foot-deep channel (AP)
The lawsuit did not include a specific monetary amount sought after, but the lawsuit states that the officials are seeking damages relating to the cost of replacing the bridge, clearing the Patapsco River, increased road traffic and management, and loss of taxes, among other expenses.
The filing came after the Dali’s owners and management filed a petition in the US District Court District of Maryland Northern Division seeking to limit their legal liability to $43.1m.
They cited a Titanic-era law that allows ship owners to limit their liability for certain claims to the value of the vessel and its cargo at the end of its journey.
While the legal action is ongoing, both the FBI and the National Transportation Safety Board are conducting an investigation into what caused the ship to lose power and collide with the bridge.
Tunisian sex ed flyers mentioning homosexuality removed from book fair
Tunisia's penal code criminalises consensual same-sex sexual relations
AFP
AFP file photo of Tunisian human rights activists holding a rally outside a court in the east-central city of Kairouan on December 19, 2022, during the appeal hearing of six young men who were sentenced to three years in prison for sodomy back in 2015.
Booklets intended for Tunisian parents to answer their children's questions about sexuality, including same-sex relations, have been pulled out from the Tunis International Book Fair, its director said Thursday.
The fair's director, Mohamed Salah Kadri, told AFP that the sex education pamphlets had been withdrawn by representatives of the UN Population Fund (UNFPA), which produced the material in collaboration with the Tunisian Reproductive Health Association.
"We expressed our embarrassment about the content of these pamphlets, and the UNFPA representatives were understanding and removed them from their stand," Kadri said.
The UNFPA as well as the Tunisian association did not respond to AFP's requests for comment
The pamphlets offer answers to questions frequently asked by teenagers and children around sexuality, according to media reports, including same-sex relations.
Article 230 of Tunisia's penal code criminalises consensual same-sex sexual relations and sets a punishment of up to three years in prison.
It also allows the authorities to conduct anal tests on individuals, a practice harshly criticised by the United Nations' Committee Against Torture.
The legislation, which dates back to the French colonial era, has remained in force since Tunisia gained independence in 1956 despite calls from civil society groups to revoke it.
Since Tunisia's 2011 revolution, LGBTQ activists have been able to work more publicly, but their situation remains precarious due to both legal and social norms.
United Methodists endorse change that could give regions more say on LGBTQ and other issues
Peter Smith Published Apr 25, 2024 •
Bishop Tracy Smith Malone surveys the results of a delegate vote in favor of a worldwide regionalization plan as she presides over a legislative session of the 2024 United Methodist General Conference in Charlotte, N.C., on April 25, 2024. The proposal needed a two-third majority vote to pass. PHOTO BY PAUL JEFFREY /THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Article content
United Methodist delegates have overwhelmingly endorsed a constitutional amendment seen by advocates as a way of defusing debates over the role of LGBTQ people in the church by giving rule-making autonomy to each region of the international church.
The plan would create multiple regional conferences — one for the United States and others covering areas ranging from the Philippines to Europe to Africa.
Existing regions outside the United States — known as central conferences — already have the flexibility to adapt church rules to their local contexts, but the jurisdictions in the United States do not. This constitutional change would give the U.S. church that flexibility, while defining autonomy more closely for all of the regions.
The vote total easily passed the two-thirds majority required for an amendment to the United Methodist Church’s constitution. To become official, however, it will require approval by two-thirds of its annual conferences, or local governing bodies.
If ratified, one effect of the change is that it could allow for the American church — where support has been growing for the ordination of LGBTQ people and for same-sex marriage — to authorize such rites, even as international churches with more conservative positions on sexuality would not.
“The big change this petition brings is really for our brothers and sisters here in the United States, where you would finally be given the right to decide things which only concern you among yourselves, the same right that we have enjoyed for a long time,” said Christine Schneider-Oesch of Switzerland, a member of the committee proposing the changes.
The measure comes during the first General Conference since one-quarter of U.S. congregations left the denomination over the past four years — most of them conservative churches reacting to the denomination’s failure to enforce rules against same-sex marriage and LGBTQ ordination.
Advocates hailed the proposal as a way of decolonizing a church some say is too focused on U.S. issues, though one opponent, a Zimbabwean pastor, said the details of the plan are reminiscent of colonial-era divide-and-conquer strategies.
LGBTQ issues weren’t central to the debate on Thursday, but they are expected to arise in the coming days at the General Conference. Some proposals would lift the current bans on ordaining LGBTQ people and on same-sex marriage.
“I believe that the values upon which worldwide regionalization is rooted will give renewed strength, life and vitality to the church,” said the Rev. Jonathan Ulanday of the Philippines. He said it gives autonomy while maintaining connection to the worldwide denomination, which he noted has been helpful in areas ranging from disaster relief to aiding Filipinos working abroad.
But the Rev. Forbes Matonga of Zimbabwe said the plan actually perpetuates colonial structures by creating multiple regional conferences in Africa along national lines, compared with a single one in the United States. He noted that many African national borders were created arbitrarily by European colonial mapmakers.
“It is this divide and rule,” Matonga said. “Create a region for Africans. Creates a platform for Africans so that we speak as a continent and not as small colonies.”
The Rev. Ande Emmanuel of Nigeria said he has been to multiple General Conferences and that many of the discussions are “U.S.-centric,” not relevant to African delegates. Regionalization would let each area of the church manage such issues, he said. “We are not here to control the Americans,” he said. “Neither are our brothers from America here to control us. We are trying to build a platform that is mutual. We’re trying to build an understanding that would move our church together.”
___
Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.
TPC holds secret swearing-in ceremony at Haiti’s National Palace, as Ariel Henry’s government officially departs
After installation, the presidential council must, among other things, choose its president and prime minister, form an electoral council and ensure the deployment of the multinational security mission
In a surprising turn of events, the Transitional Presidential Council (TPC) took oaths at the National Palace in Port-au-Prince rather than the announced venue, the government's Villa d’Accueil in Musseau. Now, the TPC, whose mandate extends until February 2026, is faced with restoring law and order, conducting elections, and addressing the escalating humanitarian crisis in the aftermath of Ariel Henry's exit.
PORT-AU-PRINCE — The nine members of the Transitional Presidential Council (TPC) were unexpectedly sworn in at the National Palace early Thursday morning, despite the ceremony initially being scheduled to take place at the government’s Villa d’Accueil in Musseau, a northeast suburb about 6 miles away from the center of the Haitian capital city. This surprising change was due to gang threats against the presidential palace, in Champs-de-Mars.
The ceremony was held at the National Palace amidst the sound of automatic gunfire in the vicinity. The TPC, now installed, will continue its operations from the Villa d’Accueil. This council is set to lead the country following over 30 months of governance by the outgoing government.
On the same day, a letter dated April 24 surfaced, announcing the official resignation of former Prime Minister Ariel Henry, who was stranded abroad due to gang attacks on the Toussaint Louverture International Airport in Port-au-Prince. In his letter, Henry acknowledged the state of affairs and expressed sympathy for the losses and suffering endured by the Haitian people during his tenure.
“I hereby acknowledge the state of affairs and present the resignation of my government,” wrote Henry. “I sympathize with the losses and sufferings endured by our compatriots during this period.”
As Henry officially left, Michel Patrick Boisvert, the minister of Economy and Finance who has been running the government in the absence of the former PM since the end of February, was appointed as the interim Prime Minister by decree taken in the Council of Ministers issued in the Council of Ministers on April 24. He will hold this position until the formation of a new government, which will be established by the Presidential Council and a new transitional prime minister
This transitional presidential council was formed from an agreement among Haitian political actors after at least five failed discussions mediated by regional Caribbean Community (Caricom) leaders. The opposition, particularly the December 21 agreement and the outgoing government had remained firm in their positions, unwilling to make any concessions until March 11, following the outbreak of gang violence on February 29.
As the TPC begins its tenure, questions remain about its ability to address the numerous challenges ahead, including gang threats, holding elections in gang-controlled areas and dealing with the new political opposition. This opposition has persisted in demanding a judge from the Court of Cassation to lead the transitional period. Haitians are waiting for results
The TPC now faces the daunting task of restoring stability and democratic order in Haiti. Former presidential candidate Clarens Renois urged the council members to overcome the longstanding issues of division and corruption in Haiti and focus on restoring security and rehabilitating the country’s dignity and democratic institutions.
“The members of the TPC must surpass themselves and master the old Haitian demons of division and corruption,” said Renois on Thursday. “The mission of the TPC is to restore security and rehabilitate our dignity and democratic institutions,” he added.
Meanwhile, calls are growing for the council members to deliver tangible results to extricate the Haitian population from the ongoing violence and political crisis that has persisted since the assassination of former Haitian President Jovenel Moïse in July 2021.
The December 4 Collective, which believed that a judge from the Court of Cassation was the appropriate choice, called on the new governance team to ” immediately restore security, economic recovery and the re-institutionalization of the country.”
“The new governance team must immediately restore security, economic recovery and the re-institutionalization of the country.”DECEMBER 4 COLLECTIVE
The organization also urged the new leaders to strengthen and supervise the Haitian National Police (PNH), which is tasked to provide public security, and the Haitian Armed Forces (FAD’H), which are responsible for national security and territorial integrity. Urgent tasks awaiting the TPC
Per a political consensus signed by the engaged stakeholders on April 3, after its installations, the TPC will immediately take on the following task:Picking a president among themselves.Nominating a provisional prime minister who will form a new government.Working with the new government to establish a provisional electoral council (CEP). Supervising and guiding the major transition projects, which include public and national security, economic recovery, infrastructure rehabilitation, food and health security, national conference and constitutional reform, rule of law, justice, human rights, and elections to renew the country’s political personnel.Establishing a control body to oversee the actions of government members as soon as possible. taking steps to facilitate the deployment of the multinational security support mission to be led by Kenya against gang violence in Haiti.
However, many observers remain skeptical of the TPC’s effectiveness in tackling these various challenges and achieving the objectives set for the transition period to establish a climate of peace in Haiti.
Pakistan: Report looks into blasphemy prosecutions and online religious expression
Police officers stand guard outside a cathedral during a Sunday service, in Lahore, Pakistan, 20 August 2023, after a mob attacked several Christian churches over blasphemy allegations. ARIF ALI/AFP via Getty Images
Report highlights that the rise of the internet has led to an increase in blasphemy prosecutions in the country.
This statement was originally published on pakvoices.bk on 19 April 2024.
A new report by Bytes for All, Pakistan, a leading digital rights organization, sheds light on the concerning rise of online blasphemy cases in Pakistan and the ongoing legal challenges. Titled “State of Online Blasphemy Cases and Unfolding Legal Saga”, the report delves into Pakistan’s legal framework surrounding blasphemy and its impact on online religious expression.
The report highlights that the rise of the internet has led to an increase in blasphemy prosecutions in Pakistan. Social media platforms are often used to disseminate allegedly blasphemous content. The misuse of blasphemy laws has a chilling effect on freedom of expression online. Religious minorities are particularly vulnerable to blasphemy accusations.
Pakistan’s constitution guarantees freedom of speech, but restricts speech deemed offensive to religious sentiments. The penal code includes blasphemy laws, criticized for misuse and abuse, enabling prosecution for online content deemed to disrespect Islam. The report emphasizes a concerning surge in online blasphemy prosecutions in Pakistan with the internet’s rise. Social media platforms are identified as a common hotspot for the spread of alleged blasphemous content. The report underscores the misuse of blasphemy laws as a barrier to free religious expression in online spaces. Individuals expressing themselves freely online risk facing blasphemy accusations, fostering a climate of fear and self-censorship.
The report underscores the particular vulnerability of religious minorities, including Hindus, Christians, and Ahmadis to blasphemy accusations. Ahmadiyya, a faith based group, not recognized as Muslim by the statute, are targeted specially, as documented in this report.
The report urges the Pakistani government to undertake a legislative reform to ensure blasphemy laws comply with international human rights standards. The report further emphasizes the need for measures safeguarding religious minorities from baseless blasphemy charges, including establishment of a redress mechanism enabling blasphemy accused to access legal remedies, for example, lawyers.
