ISIS Carries Out Deadly Attacks on Pro-government Forces in East Syria

An aerial picture shows farmers harvesting strawberries in a field in Bidama village in Syria's opposition-held northwestern Idlib province on April 26, 2024. 

(Photo by Aaref WATAD / AFP)

Asharq Al Awsat
3 May 2024 

AD ـ 24 Shawwal 1445 AH


Suspected members of ISIS attacked three posts for Syrian government forces and pro-government gunmen early Friday killing at least 13, an opposition war monitor and pro-government media reported.

The attack wounded others who were taken to hospitals in the central province of Homs, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. It said 15 were killed in the attacks on three posts near the central town of Sukhna and blamed ISIS.
The conflicting casualty counts could not immediately be reconciled.
Pro-government media outlets said 13 soldiers and pro-government gunmen were killed in the attacks and that ISIS gunmen were behind it. They gave no further details.

Local sources later said that the death toll rose to 17.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attacks but the area was once a stronghold of the extremist group that was officially defeated in Syria in March 2019.
However, ISIS sleeper cells have been blamed for deadly attacks against both Syrian government forces and against members of the US-backed and Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces in eastern Syria.

 

Tunisian Decree 54 on ‘false news’ stifles dissent: rights groups

By

 AFP

Tunisian journalists and opposition figures have voiced alarm about a surge of prosecutions since President Kais Saied issued a decree outlawing what authorities deem to be “false news”.

Rights groups and lawyers say the measure stifles dissent in the North African country that was the birthplace of the Arab Spring protests and for years after was considered a regional beacon of free speech.

Decree 54 mandates five-year prison terms to punish the use of communications networks to “produce, spread, disseminate… false news” or to “slander others, tarnish their reputation, financially or morally harm them”.

Signed by President Saied in September 2022, the decree also mandates 10-year prison sentences “if the targeted person is a public official”.

The International Commission of Jurists has charged that the decree “enables the authorities to exert an unwarranted control over what people say, including politicians, journalists and human rights defenders — through the use of surveillance and criminal sanctions”.

Since the decree came into force, more than 60 journalists, lawyers and opposition figures have been prosecuted under it, said Zied Dabbar, head of the National Union of Tunisian Journalists.

Although the government presented it as a measure to combat cyber crime, he said, the “decree-law has never been applied to cyber attacks”.

– ‘Silencing unwanted voices’ –

Popular radio host Haythem Mekki charged that the decree is aimed at “silencing unwanted voices… which explains the many prosecutions against people who merely criticised the authorities”.

Mekki himself is under a Decree 54 investigation over a post on social media platform X decrying poor conditions at a public hospital morgue in the coastal city of Sfax.

The radio presenter recalled that in years past, Tunisians laughed at political satire on television, but today “we hardly dare criticise the president any more or make satire about him”.

Free expression, considered the main gain of Tunisia’s 2011 popular revolution that ousted longtime dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, has come under threat in recent years.

Saied, a former law professor, has ruled by decree since orchestrating a sweeping power grab in July 2021.

The president has insisted that “freedoms are guaranteed” in the country of 12 million.

But the New York-based group Human Rights Watch has also charged that Tunisian authorities have used Decree 54 “to stifle and intimidate a wide range of critics”.

The government is also “using other laws to detain some of Saied’s most serious political adversaries on dubious conspiracy charges”, HRW said.

Tunisia saw a flurry of arrests in February 2023 as around 40 critics of Saied faced charges of “conspiracy against the state”, an offence separate from Decree 54 that is handled by an anti-terrorism court.

– ‘Instrument to muzzle speech’ –

Sadok Jammami, an information sciences professor in Tunis, told AFP that Decree 54 “is not at all a response to disinformation or fake news since it particularly targets public and political figures”.

“The current climate discourages media professionals and creates an atmosphere of fear (and) censorship.”

Hamza Belloumi, a TV reporter who investigates corruption, said ever fewer people were willing to appear on his show.

“People fear speaking out so as not to suffer the wrath of Decree 54,” he said.

Interviewees “don’t speak at all or they demand to remain anonymous”.

He added that, even if the decree may have been well-intentioned, “its use is bad. It has become an instrument to muzzle speech.”

Some still hope that the law will be amended or repealed as Tunisia readies for presidential elections to be held this autumn.

Independent lawmaker Mohamed Ali said that “it is time to revise this decree”, calling for “the greatest level of solidarity” between media, political and other groups as the election nears.

Parliamentarians previously submitted a request to revise the decree, in February 2023, but this was obstructed by the president of the legislature, said the journalists union.

Ayachi Hammami, a lawyer and activist who was also prosecuted under Decree 54 after he criticised the judiciary, said that the measure is employed “to strike hard against opposing voices, dismiss them and scare Tunisians”.

by Kaouther Larbi

 

High Court rules latest UK targets on climate unlawfully ‘vague’

By

 AFP

The High Court ruled Friday that the UK government had acted unlawfully when it approved elements of its plans to meet net-zero targets based on “vague and unquantified” information.

It is the second time in two years that the court has ruled that ministers are not following the UK’s own climate change laws. A judge handed down a similar ruling in 2022.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, in power since October that year, has faced persistent criticism that he is watering down the country’s commitment to net zero targets after a series of climate policy reversals.

Friday’s ruling was prompted by on a legal challenge by campaign groups Friends of the Earth, ClientEarth and the Good Law Project. It means ministers must redraft part of their net-zero plans.

“This is another embarrassing defeat for the government and its reckless and inadequate climate plans,” Friends of the Earth lawyer Katie de Kauwe said.

The groups took joint legal action against the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero over its decision in March 2023 to approve the Carbon Budget Delivery Plan (CBDP).

The plan outlines how the UK will achieve targets in the country’s so-called carbon budget, which runs until 2037, as part of wider efforts to reach net zero by 2050.

They argued that the relevant secretary of state at the time, Grant Shapps, lacked key information on whether individual policies could be delivered but approved them anyway.

That breached the 2008 Climate Change Act, which requires such due diligence on emissions-cutting targets and strategies, said the groups.

High Court judge Clive Sheldon agreed, calling the plan presented to Shapps for sign-off “vague and unquantified” and saying it lacked “sufficient” information.

“It is not possible to ascertain… which of the proposals and policies would not be delivered at all, or in full,” he concluded.

A Department for Energy Security and Net Zero spokesperson insisted “the claims in this case were largely about process and the judgment contains no criticism of the detailed plans we have in place.

“We do not believe a court case about process represents the best way of driving progress towards our shared goal of reaching net zero,” the spokesperson added.

Italian minister indicted for Covid-era fraud

By

 AFP

Prosecutors on Friday charged Italy’s tourism minister with fraud relating to government redundancy funds claimed by her publishing companies during the coronavirus pandemic.

Opposition lawmakers immediately requested the resignation of Daniela Santanche, a leading member of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s far-right Brothers of Italy party.

Santanche, 63, has strongly rejected the allegations, including in a defiant appearance in parliament last year.

“The Milan prosecutor’s office today requested the indictment of the Minister Santanche and other persons as well as the companies Visibilia Editore and Visibilia Concessionaria,” the office said in a brief statement.

They were indicted “for alleged fraud of the INPS (National Institute for Social Security) in relation to alleged irregularities in the use of the Covid 19 redundancy fund, for a total of 13 employees”.

According to media reports, Visibilia is accused of obtaining state funds intended to help companies struggling with the pandemic to temporarily lay off staff — when in fact the 13 employees continued to work.

Santanche sold her stake in Visibilia when she joined the government of Meloni, who took office in October 2022.

The investigation has been going on for months, but with the decision by prosecutors to indict, opposition parties said Santanche should resign.

“We expect the prime minister to have a minimum of respect for the institutions and ask for Daniela Santanche’s resignation,” said Elly Schlein, leader of the centre-left Democratic Party.

 

Canada expanding surveillance, testing milk for H5N1 avian flu amid U.S. dairy cattle outbreak

Changes announced Friday night follow scientists' concerns about unprecedented spread of virus in cows

Lauren Pelley · CBC News · Posted: May 03, 2024 

Workers from the Animal Protection Ministry cull chicks to contain an outbreak of bird flu at a farm in the village of Modeste, Ivory Coast, in 2015. Canadian officials said Friday the country would expand its surveillance for a dangerous form of avian flu H5N1 avian flu amid an outbreak of the disease in U.S. dairy cattle. (Luc Gnago/Reuters)

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Federal officials say Canada is expanding its surveillance for a dangerous form of avian flu amid a growing outbreak of H5N1 in U.S. dairy cattle, with monitoring efforts now set to include testing of milk being sold on store shelves.

The Friday night update comes just days after leading Canadian researchers questioned the country's response to the unprecedented spread of the virus among cows south of the border — including the discovery of viral fragments in processed milk.

"The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA), the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) and Health Canada are monitoring this situation closely and would like to reassure Canadians that commercially sold milk and milk products remain safe to consume," said the CFIA in its statement.

Milk from dairy cows in Canada goes through pasteurization before being sold, a heating process that neutralizes harmful pathogens like bacteria and viruses. 

As noted by the CFIA, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration recently announced its latest research shows  pasteurization is indeed effective in inactivating H5N1, even when fragments of the virus remain.

• Scientists warn Canada 'way behind the virus' as bird flu explodes among U.S. dairy cattle

• CBC EXPLAINS
  Is milk safe to drink? Can you catch bird flu from beef? What to know about H5N1 cattle outbreaks

The CFIA had previously said that the agency was not testing any milk, but announced on Friday that Canada will now be "conducting enhanced testing of milk at the retail level" to look for any viral fragments that could signal cases appearing in dairy cattle here.

This form of avian flu is a reportable disease in Canada, the statement continued, which means anyone suspecting a case in animals, including poultry or livestock, must report it to the CFIA. Confirmed and probable human cases are also reportable to PHAC.

While Canada hasn't had any human cases to date, tens of millions of birds have been infected by the virus, including poultry on various Canadian farms.

In its statement, the CFIA said Canada is also expanding its surveillance to manage the "possible emergence" of avian flu in cows by requiring negative test results for lactating dairy cattle being imported from the United States to Canada and "facilitating the voluntary testing of cows" that aren't presenting with any symptoms.

Speaking to CBC News in recent days, multiple Canadian scientists have also called for random testing of farm workers, wastewater surveillance and other proactive measures to try to catch potential H5N1 infections as quickly as possible.

WATCH | Bird flu surveillance in dairy cows lacking in Canada, scientists warn:

As the U.S. deals with an unprecedented outbreak of bird flu in dairy cattle, scientists say Canada must do more to monitor the spread of H5N1.

Several did commend the CFIA for taking more action through its latest update.

"All the data from the [U.S.] so far suggests that this outbreak has been spreading quietly in cattle for months and has spilled back into birds and other species, including humans. It's critical that we make every effort to determine if we are facing a similar situation in Canada," said Angela Rasmussen, a virologist with the University of Saskatchewan's Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization.

"Active surveillance and safeguarding our food safety is critical to containing this emerging threat and I'm relieved that both CFIA and PHAC agree that is a priority."

• SECOND OPINION
  Why dangerous bird flu is spreading faster and farther than first thought in U.S. cattle

Dr. Isaac Bogoch, an infectious diseases specialist with the University Health Network in Toronto, also called Friday's announcement "a step in the right direction."

"Given the significance of H5N1, I would have thought there would be a more rapid, proactive, and broad approach to case detection," he said.

A dead gannet in Point Lance, N.L., during an outbreak of avian influenza. While Canada hasn't had any human cases of H5N1 to date, tens of millions of birds have been infected by the virus, including poultry on various Canadian farms. (Patrick Butler/Radio-Canada)

So far, avian influenza has been reported in 36 dairy cattle herds across nine U.S. states, plus one human case in Texas linked to the outbreaks, though scientists say there are likely more animal and human infections that haven't yet been identified.

"If the CFIA becomes aware of any potential food safety or animal health risks, immediate actions will be taken to help protect Canada's food supply and livestock," the agency's statement noted.  

"These measures complement the existing comprehensive and integrated approach to human surveillance of influenza in Canada, and will inform and support the range of ongoing preparation actions undertaken by PHAC with its partners to protect human health."

Nestle accused of adding sugar to baby food sold in lower income countries

A new investigation claiming Nestle is adding sugar to baby foods that are sold in lower and middle income countries is sparking infant health concerns around the world. A researcher with the Swiss investigative organization Public Eye made the discovery.

Why North Korea's latest propaganda bop is a huge TikTok hit

Frances Mao,

BBC News, Singapore


When North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un released his latest song two weeks ago, surely he couldn’t have foreseen it becoming a hit on TikTok.

But the propaganda tune has gone viral online with Gen Z users bopping around to the synthy-electro pop.

Most are clearly quite oblivious to the Korean lyrics praising a man who’s vowed to “thoroughly annihilate the US” and launched dozens of ballistic missiles.

“Let’s sing Kim Jong Un, the great leader/ Let’s brag about Kim Jong Un, our friendly father,” the song goes.

It’s just a really great tune, TikTokkers say.

“Taylor Swift was not expecting to get blown out of the water right after dropping her new album,” one fan joked online.

“Wait, this slaps”, “This song needs a Grammy”, “It’s so dystopian in the catchiest way” – they are just some of the enthused comments under TikTok videos.

But the sunny pop hides something more sinister, experts say.

How to craft a propaganda hit

Friendly Father is just the latest in a line of propaganda pop songs churned out by the Communist state in the past 50 years.

It’s peppy, bright-tempoed and dangerously catchy – not that much different from Western pop hits.

But there is a certain Soviet-era tinge to it; Gen Z users describe it as “Abba-coded”, a reference to the Swedish superband.

“In this case, the song has Abba written all over it,“ says Peter Moody, a North Korea analyst at Korea University.

“It's upbeat, it could not be more catchy, and a rich set of orchestral-sounding sequences could not be more prominent,” he says.

But there’s more than just commercial considerations at play when writing a chart-topper in North Korea - authorities want an earworm that penetrates minds.

There’s no space for abstract phrasing or timing that’s overly complicated , says Alexandra Leonzini, a Cambridge University scholar who researches North Korean music.

Melodies have to be simple, accessible, something people can easily pick up.

Tunes also need to be pitched at a vocal range where they can be sung by most people. The masses can’t keep up with vocal gymnastics, so forget about multi-octave riffs.

Korean Central TelevisionA screengrab of the music video for Friendly Father, the latest North Korean propaganda song

Ms Leonzini says the songbook also rarely contains any tracks with real emotion. "The idea is they want to motivate, to strive towards a common goal for the benefit of the nation… they don't tend to produce songs like ballads,” she says.

There is zero tolerance for creative or artistic freedom in North Korea. It is illegal for musicians, painters and writers to produce works simply for the sake of art.

“All artistic output in North Korea must serve the class education of citizens and more specifically educate them as to why they should feel a sense of gratitude, a sense of loyalty to the party,” Ms Leonzini says.

North Korea’s government believes in the "seed theory", she adds, where every single work must contain an ideological seed, a message that is then disseminated en masse through art.

Music is one of its most powerful tools - and Pyongyang keeps its pop tracks for those at home. The state has paraded its opera troupes and symphony orchestras on overseas missions – but its lighter ensembles are kept for a domestic audience only.

North Koreans wake up every morning to propaganda songs blasted over village town squares, say defectors.

The song sheet and lyrics of the latest songs - which only come out sparingly - are printed in newspapers and magazines; usually they also have to learn dances to go with it, says Keith Howard, an emeritus professor of musicology at London’s School of Oriental and African Studies, who first visited North Korea in the 1990s.

“By the time the song has sort of been taken into the body, it’s become part of the person,” he says.

“So they know the lyrics so well, even if they're just doing the actions, even if they're just listening to it. A good ideological song does that - it needs to embed the message.”

Reading between the lines

And for regime watchers, the two-minute track released last month has an alarming new message.

While Western music fans have been dissecting Taylor Swift's new songs or breaking down the Kendrick Lamar v Drake diss tracks, North Korean experts have been scrutinising Friendly Father’s lyrics.

It’s not the first song dedicated to Mr Kim. But there’s a noticeable departure in the language and vocabulary used.

He is being referred to as “father” and “the Great” - terms previously reserved for North Korea’s first leader, his grandfather Kim Il Sung.

Mr Kim was called the "Great Successor” when he took over the mantle in 2012 after his father Kim Jong Il’s passing.

However, more than a decade on, analysts think this may be a sign that he is shoring up his image as North Korea's "Supreme Leader".

In recent times, he’s also replaced the lyrics in another propaganda song, switching out “our father Kim Il Sung” to “our father Kim Jong Un”.

It could be a sign of his direction. As a leader he has become increasingly hostile and aggressive in his rhetoric, pledging to build up his country’s military arsenal.

At the start of this year, he also declared the North would no longer seek reunification with the South, which he said was "public enemy number one". Reports say Pyongyang also demolished a major arch that symbolised hope for reunification with the South - an arch that had also been symbolic of his grandfather’s legacy.

“Songs are used to telegraph the direction the state is going in… to signpost important moments and important developments in politics,” Ms Leonzini says.

“A song is almost like the newspaper in North Korea.”

Getty ImagesThe creative arts are tightly controlled in North Korea, which prefers to show opera (pictured) to external audiences while keeping pop for domestic audiences

Meanwhile on TikTok, users are just enjoying the music. Some say they can’t stop listening to the song: on the way to work, at the gym, while doing homework.

Others are nostalgic, it reminds them of older Spanish and French pop or Eastern European styles, they say.

Existing North Korean music fans recommend the other big hits – there are only four or five state-endorsed North Korean bands, of which the Pochonbo Electronic Ensemble and the all-girl Moranbong Band are most cited.

“North Korea has a song called Potato Pride which is a song on how versatile and useful a potato is, if anyone’s interested,” one TikTokker suggests.

For many American users, the irony’s not been lost on them that a Communist song has gone viral on the Chinese-owned app while US lawmakers are trying to ban it.

It’s an idiosyncrasy that’s caught mass appeal.

British TikTokker Matas Kardokas made several meme videos using North Korean propaganda songs – one says: “Nobody in the trendy coffee shop knows that I am listening to North Korean propaganda music right now". It gained more than 400,000 likes.

“Something in me just clicked and I was like, ‘Hey, I’m sitting in a coffee shop right now listening to this',” he told the BBC.

"Isn’t that just the most bonkers thing you could imagine?”

Additional reporting by Rachel Looker in Washington DC

Watch the North Korean propaganda song that’s a TikTok hit

In Texas, pro-Palestine university protesters clash with state leaders

Texas, one of the most conservative US states, has implemented laws limiting the ability to protest against Israel.

Police surround pro-Palestine protesters at the University of Texas at Austin on April 29 [Jay Janner/American-Statesman via Reuters]

By Tyler Hicks

AL JAZEERA
Published On 4 May 2024

Austin, Texas – “It didn’t feel real.” That’s how Alishba Javaid, a student at the University of Texas at Austin, describes the moment when she saw roughly 30 state troopers walk onto the campus lawn.

Javaid and hundreds of her classmates had gathered on the grass, in the shadow of the campus’s 94-metre limestone tower, as part of a walkout against Israel’s war in Gaza.

They were hoping that their school would divest from manufacturers supplying weapons to Israel. Instead, law enforcement started to appear in increasing numbers.

By Javaid’s count, the state troopers joined at least 50 fellow officers already in place, all dressed in riot gear. The protest had been peaceful, but nerves were at a high. The troopers continued their advance.

“That was the first moment I was genuinely scared,” said Javaid, 22.

Dozens of students were ultimately arrested on April 24, as the officers attempted to disperse the protesters. Footage of the clashes between police and demonstrators quickly spread online, echoing images from other campus protests across the United States.

Yet, Texans face a unique challenge, as they contend with a far-right state government that has sought to limit protests against Israel.

In 2017, Governor Greg Abbott signed a law that prohibits government entities from working with businesses that boycott Israel, and the state has since taken steps to tighten that law further.

Abbott has also cast the current protests as “hate-filled” and “anti-Semitic”, amplifying misconceptions about demonstrators and their goals.

In addition, a state law went into effect earlier this year that forced public universities to shutter their diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) offices.

Multiple students and employees told Al Jazeera that campuses have become less safe for people of colour as a result of the law, which forced the departure of staff DEI advocates.

Barricades sit in front of the tower on the University of Texas campus in Austin on April 30 [Nuri Vallbona/Reuters]

‘Using violence to subvert minorities’

The violence has continued at University of Texas campuses as students press forward with their protests.

On the final day of class, April 29, police used pepper spray and flash-bang devices to clear a crowd at the Austin campus, while dozens more were encircled by troopers and dragged away screaming.

Hiba Faruqi, a 21-year-old student, said her knee “just kept bleeding” after she was knocked over during a pushing-and-shoving match between students and police.

Yet she counts herself lucky for not sustaining worse injuries. It was surreal, she said, to think that her own university called in state troopers — and then had to deploy medical personnel to assist students who were hurt.

“There’s a racist element people don’t want to talk about here,” she said. “There’s a xenophobic element people don’t want to acknowledge. There are more brown protesters, which maybe emboldens the police to do things a certain way.”

As calls for divestment continue, students, lawyers and advocates told Al Jazeera they have been forced to navigate scepticism and outright hostility from the Texas government.

“Texas is known for using violence to subvert minorities,” Faruqi said. “The reason this is shaking people this time is because it’s not working.”

Protesters gather at Texas universities to call for divestment from firms linked to Israeli weapons [Tyler Hicks/Al Jazeera]

Scrutiny over university endowments

Many of the protests have zeroed in on the University of Texas’s endowment, a bank of funds designed to support its nine campuses over the long term.

The University of Texas system has the largest public education endowment in the country, worth more than $40bn.

Some of that money comes from investments in weapons and defence contractors, as well as aerospace, energy and defence technology companies with deep ties to Israel.

ExxonMobil, for example, is one of the biggest beneficiaries of the system’s investments, and the company has supplied Israel with fuel for its fighter jets.

Those ties have fuelled the protests across the state’s public university campuses, including a May 1 demonstration at the University of Texas at Dallas.

Fatima — who only shared her first name with Al Jazeera, out of fear for her safety — was among the demonstrators. She wiped sweat from her brow as a young child led the crowd of about 100 in a series of chants: “Free, free, free Palestine!”

The divestment protests have largely been peaceful, Fatima explained, raising her voice to be heard above the noise.

“Over 30,000 people have been murdered,” she said, referring to the death toll in Gaza, where Israel’s military campaign is entering its eighth month.

“And our university is investing in weapons manufacturing companies that are providing Israel with these weapons. We’re going to stay here until our demands are met.”

Twenty-one students and staff members were arrested that day in Dallas. Members of the group Students for Justice in Palestine, of which Fatima is a member, spent the night outside the county jail, waiting for their friends to be released.

One protester wryly noted outside the jail that they had been arrested for trespassing on their own campus, a seemingly nonsensical offence.

In the background, a thunderstorm was beginning to rear its head, so the protesters huddled closer together under the awning.

Student protesters applaud one another as they are released from the Travis County Jail in Austin, Texas, on April 30 [Nuri Vallbona/Reuters]

Protesters receive community support

Texas officials and university administrators have justified the police crackdowns, in part, by citing the presence of outsiders with no present affiliation with the campuses involved.

But 30-year-old activist Anissa Jaqaman is among those visiting the university protests, in an effort to lend supplies and support.

Everyone has a role to play, Jaqaman explained: Her role is sometimes that of the communicator, but more often that of the healer.

She has brought water to the student demonstrators at the University of Texas at Dallas and hopes to provide a space for people to “come over and talk about how we heal”.

“This is a healing movement,” she said time and again as she spoke to Al Jazeera. “We have to carry each other.”

Jaqaman is Texas through and through: She was raised in the Dallas suburbs and is a strong advocate for her state.

“I’m a proud Texan,” she said. “I actually think that Texans are some of the nicest people in the country.”

But back when she was in college, from 2012 to 2016, Jaqaman started to use her voice to bring awareness to the plight of Palestinians.

Rights groups have long warned that Israel has imposed a system of apartheid against the ethnic group, subjecting its members to discrimination and displacement.

In college, Jaqaman’s friends often laughed at her passion. She often smiles, exuding optimism, but her voice grows serious as she talks about Palestine, as well as other issues like the scourge of single-use plastics.

“They just thought I was a tree-hugger, but for human rights,” she explained, speaking in a soft yet confident voice.

But the current war has amplified her concerns. The United Nations has signalled famine is “imminent” in parts of Gaza, and rights experts have pointed to a “risk of genocide” in the Palestinian enclave.

Jaqaman has sported her keffiyeh scarf ever since the war began on October 7, despite feeling anxious that it could attract violence against her.

“I wear it because I feel like it protects my heart, honestly,” she said. “I feel like I’m doing the Palestinian people injustice by not wearing it.”

But she has struggled to get public officials to engage with her concerns about the war and divestment from industries tied to Israel’s military. For months, she attempted to persuade her local city council that “this is a human issue, an everyone issue”, to little avail.

“Everything that we’re seeing right now is about shutting down the discussion,” she said. “If you say anything about Palestine, you’re labelled anti-Semitic. That’s a conversation-ender.”

A boy leads a crowd in pro-Palestinian chants at a demonstration in Dallas, Texas [Tyler Hicks/Al Jazeera]

Youth protesters look to the future

Students like Javaid, a journalism major in her final semester, told Al Jazeera that they are still trying to figure out what healing looks like — and what their futures might hold. In many ways, she and her friends feel stuck.

They recognise they need to take a break from scouring social media for information about the war, and yet it is all they can think about.

The usual college rites of passage — final exams, graduation and job hunting — just don’t seem as important any more.

“How are we supposed to go back to work now?” Javaid asked after the protests.

While she has treasured her time at the university, she is also highly critical of its actions to stamp out the protests. Part of the blame, she added, lies with the government, though.

“The root issue in Texas is that the state government doesn’t care,” she said.


Born and raised in the Dallas area, Javaid plans to stay in Texas for at least a little while after she graduates this month. She has mixed feelings about staying long term, though.

She would like to work in social justice, particularly in higher education, but she worries such a job would be tenuous in her home state.

Still, she feels a sense of responsibility tying her to the state. The political climate in Texas may be challenging, she said, but she has a duty — to her fellow protesters and to Palestine — to keep playing a role.

“I don’t want to jump ship and just say, ‘Texas is crazy’,” Javaid said. “I want to be a part of the people trying to make it better. Because if not us, who?”

SOURCE: AL JAZEERA

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Canadian Police make arrests in killing of Khalistan separatist Hardeep Nijjar: Report

The ties between India and Canada came under severe strain following Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's allegations in September last year of the "potential" involvement of Indian agents in the killing of Nijjar

PTI Ottawa

03.05.24,

Hardeep Nijjar.

Canadian police have arrested members of an alleged hit squad investigators believe was tasked by the government of India with killing Khalistan separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Surrey, according to a media report on Friday.

The ties between India and Canada came under severe strain following Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's allegations in September last year of the "potential" involvement of Indian agents in the killing of Nijjar.


New Delhi rejected Trudeau's charges as "absurd".

Quoting sources close to the investigation, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation reported that the police are actively investigating possible links to three additional murders in Canada, including the shooting death of an 11-year-old boy in Edmonton.

Members of the hit squad are alleged to have played different roles as shooters, drivers and spotters on the day Nijjar was killed at the Guru Nanak Sikh Gurdwara in Surrey in British Columbia, according to the sources.

The men were arrested Friday during police operations in at least two provinces.

Sources said investigators identified the alleged hit squad members in Canada some months ago and have been keeping them under tight surveillance. Police are expected to announce the arrests and share some details of their investigation later Friday, the report said.

Nijjar, a 45-year-old Canadian citizen, was shot dead on June 18, shortly after evening prayers at his Guru Nanak Sikh Gurdwara in Surrey.




India had on Thursday rejected fresh comments by Prime Minister Trudeau on the killing of Nijjar and said the remarks once again illustrated the political space given in Canada to separatism, extremism, and violence.

Trudeau addressed a Khalsa Day event in Toronto on Sunday that was attended by some pro-Khalistan people.

On the sidelines of the event, he told the media that the killing of Nijjar in British Columbia in June last year created a "problem" and that he cannot ignore it, in an apparent reference to his earlier allegations of involvement of Indian agents in the assassination.

"PM Trudeau has made such remarks earlier as well. His remarks illustrate once again the political space that has been given in Canada to separatism, extremism, and violence," external affairs ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said in New Delhi at his weekly media briefing.

"This not only impacts India-Canada relations but also encourages a climate of violence and criminality in Canada to the detriment of its own citizens," he said when asked about Trudeau's remarks.

In his comments to the media, Trudeau, referring to activities by pro-Khalistani elements, said that "our job is not to crack down on political protest".

India on Monday summoned the Canadian deputy high commissioner and lodged a strong protest with him over the raising of pro-'Khalistan' slogans at the event in the presence of Trudeau and several other leaders. Nijjar was a Khalistani separatist and he was wanted in India on various terror charges.

"It is a problem in our relations with India because we cannot ignore that," Trudeau said on the killing of Nijjar.

Days after Trudeau's allegations, India asked Ottawa to downsize its diplomatic presence in the country to ensure parity. Subsequently, Canada withdrew 41 diplomats and their family members from India.

India has been asserting that its "core issue" with Canada remained that of the space given to separatists, terrorists and anti-India elements in that country.

Following Trudeau's allegations last year, India temporarily suspended issuance of visas to Canadian citizens. The visa services were resumed several weeks later.


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FAKE FACTS

Kristi Noem falsely claims she met Kim Jong Un in new book after puppy killing controversy

By Caitlin Doornbos
Published May 3, 2024

WASHINGTON — Maybe Kristi Noem should just put the pen down.

For the second time in a week, the glamorous South Dakota governor has made shocking claims in her upcoming book, “No Going Back” — this time, that she met with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un while a member of Congress.

The only problem? It never happened, The Post has confirmed.

In a galley excerpt obtained by The Post, the 52-year-old Noem includes Kim in a laundry list of world leaders with whom she claims to have come face to face, either while governor or while serving in the House of Representatives for eight years.

In her forthcoming book, Noem claims she met with the North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un

“I’m sure he underestimated me,” Noem writes of Kim, who has ruled North Korea with an iron fist since 2011, “having no clue about my experience staring down little tyrants (I’d been a children’s pastor, after all.).”

Noem writes that the meeting took place while she was a member of the House Armed Services Committee, on which she served from 2013 to 2015.

However, Kim did not leave the confines of North Korea while in office until 2018, and there is no evidence of any member of Congress publicly or secretly traveling to the Hermit Kingdom during the period specified by Noem.

“I don’t see any conceivable way that a single junior member of Congress without explicit escort from the US State Department and military would be meeting with a leader from North Korea,” George A. Lopez, a North Korea expert and professor at the University of Notre Dame, told the Dakota Scout, which first reported on Noem’s questionable Kim claim.

“There’s no way,” Benjamin Young, another prominent observer of North Korea and an assistant professor at Virginia Commonwealth University, told the outlet. “There’s no way.”

There is no evidence that Kim Jong Un met with any member of Congress, let alone Noem

.KCNA VIA KNS/AFP via Getty Images

Noem also raised eyebrows among veteran North Korea watchers by referring to Kim as “president,” when his formal title is “chairman.”

When contacted by The Post Thursday, Noem spokesman Ian Fury initially said the governor “will not be discussing the details of her meetings with world leaders.”

“If she wanted to share those, she would have outlined them in the book,” he added.

Noem mistakenly referred to Kim Jong Un as “president” when his actual title is “chairman.”AFP via Getty Images

Several hours later, Fury sent an additional response, saying that Noem’s publisher “will be addressing conflated world leaders’ names in the book before it is released.”

In addition to Kim, Noem said she had met with Chinese President Xi Jinping, Jordan’s King Abdullah II, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and then-UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

The latest controversy comes less than a week after Noem all but killed her chances at becoming former President Donald Trump’s 2024 running mate by admitting in the same book that she executed a 14-month-old dog named Cricket whom Noem says she “hated” in part because the animal was “untrainable” as a hunting dog.

While Trump has not spoken publicly about Noem’s claims, she faced fierce backlash from Republicans and Democrats alike when the news broke.

Kristi Noem's book has more problems than just her brutal dog-killing admission

Brent D. Griffiths 

May 3, 2024

BUSINESS INSIDER

South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem has faced multiple concerns over her forthcoming book. Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem is facing more concerns about her book.
The Republican team's admits that Noem's claim she met North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is inaccurate.

Former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley's team is strongly disputing Noem's account.


South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem is facing concerns about her forthcoming book beyond her bizarre anecdote that she killed the family's 14-month-old dog because it was too aggressive.

Politico reported that in the book, "No Going Back: The Truth on What's Wrong with Politics and How We Move America Forward," Noem claims to have met North Korean leader Kim Jong Un when she served in Congress.

Noem's spokesperson admitted to the publication that the governor's claim was wrong.

"We've been made aware that the publisher will be addressing conflated world leaders' names in the book before it is released," Noem spokesperson Ian Fury told the publication. A Noem representative did not immediately respond to Business Insider's request for comment.

The South Dakota governor has seen her political standing crater in recent months just as she needed to showcase her skills if she wanted to become former President Donald Trump's running mate. Noem's book tour offered a perfect opportunity to put a capstone on her veepstakes shadow campaign. Instead, it is nearing disaster territory.

Noem has for days defended her decision decades ago to kill a 14-month-old dog named Cricket. She has defended disclosing the previously unknown story as a way of illustrating how she'll make tough decisions. In response, even fellow Republicans and Trump allies have tried to distance themselves from her.


Related stories


Does Kristi Noem even want to be Trump's vice president?


Who's Kristi Noem trying to impress by bragging about killing her dog?


"I've always been a strong advocate of a woman as VP, because I think you have some strong women — although maybe Kristi Noem is maybe a little too based," former White House strategist Steve Bannon told Donald Trump Jr. on Trump's "Triggered" show.

The Kim mixup isn't even the only new concern about the book. Politico reported that Noem recounts a conversation with former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley. In Noem's view, Haley was subtly threatening her during a 2021 conversation about the governor's political career.

"Hi, Governor, this is Ambassador Nikki Haley, and I just wanted to introduce myself and have a conversation," Noem wrote of the talk. "I just wanted to let you know that I follow you quite a bit. I have heard quite a bit about you, and you are doing a good job there in South Dakota. I was thinking that maybe you might like a mentor, and maybe I could be someone who could do that for you."

Noem adds that Haley then promised to keep her aware of she heard any bad things about the governor.

""Let me be clear,' she added. 'I've heard many good things about you. But when I do hear bad things, I will make sure that you know. I've enjoyed talking to you. We will visit soon. Goodbye.' Click."

After the conversation, Noem claims she called an aide.

"'I think I was just threatened by Nikki Haley?'" Noem wrote of what she said.

Haley's camp strongly disputes Noem's characterization. A spokesperson for Haley, who challenged Trump for the 2024 GOP primary, also claimed that Noem got the year of the conversation wrong. It was a year earlier, in 2020.

"Nikki has long called and written notes supporting other women when they go through challenging times," Haley spokesperson Chaney Denton told Politico. "She called Governor Noem in 2020 to encourage her when she was criticized for keeping her state open during Covid. How she would twist that into a threat is just plain weird."