Deadly Outbreak of Leptospirosis in Flood-Ravaged Southern Brazil

The first two deaths from leptospirosis were reported in southern Brazil following devastating floods that displaced over 600,000 people. Health authorities anticipate more fatalities as the waterborne disease spreads. The flooding has severely impacted health infrastructure, complicating disease control efforts and treatment for chronic illnesses.

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PTI | Saopaulo | Updated: 23-05-2024 02:16 IST | Created: 23-05-2024 02:16 IST

AI generated representative image.

    

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The first two deaths from waterborne bacterial disease were reported in southern Brazil, where floodwaters were slowly receding, and health authorities warned additional fatalities were likely.

Rio Grande do Sul state's health secretariat confirmed the death of a 33-year-old man due to leptospirosis on Wednesday. On Monday, authorities registered that a 67-year-old man had died from the same infectious disease. Since the beginning of May, 29 cases of the waterborne disease have been confirmed in the state. The flooding over about a two-week period killed at least 161 people, with 82 still missing, state authorities said Wednesday. More than 600,000 people were forced from their homes, including tens of thousands who remain in shelters, they said. Health experts had previously forecast a surge in infectious diseases including leptospirosis and hepatitis B within a couple weeks of the floods, as sewage mixed into the floodwaters. "There are those who die during the flood and there is the aftermath of the flood," said Paulo Saldiva, a professor at the University of Sao Paulo medical school who researches the impacts of climate change in health. "The lack of potable water itself will mean that people will start using water from reservoirs that is not of good quality." The unprecedented disaster struck more than 80% of the state's municipalities and damaged critical infrastructure. Over 3,000 health establishments — hospitals, pharmacies, health centers, and private clinics — were affected, according to a report from the federal government's health research institute Fiocruz released Tuesday.  

"he outbreak of leptospirosis cases was somewhat expected due to the number of people exposed to the water, as well as other diseases," said Carlos Machado, a public health and environmental expert who Fiocruz appointed to track the flood's impact. "We have never seen in Brazil a disaster of this size and with such a large exposed population." Machado said that even though infrastructure, basic control services and health services have been disrupted, the local health department is working to offer prophylaxis to infectious diseases and guidance to people returning home on how to reduce the exposure risks.

Interruption of health services can also have a lasting impact on patients treating chronic diseases, as treatment and care for chronic patients are discontinued, Machado said. People also often leave home during climate disasters without their prescriptions or identification. "The health department is working hard to guarantee medication to patients with chronic diseases," he said.

CRIMINAL CAPITALI$M

Wealthy self-exiled Chinese businessman goes on trial in alleged $1 billion fraud scheme

LARRY NEUMEISTER

AP
Wed, 22 May 2024 


A Twitter page of Chinese exiled businessman Guo Wengui is seen on a computer screen in Beijing, Aug. 30, 2017. Guo, who left China a decade ago and became a U.S.-based outspoken critic of his homeland's Communist Party, went on trial in New York on Wednesday for what prosecutors say were multiple frauds that cheated hundreds of thousands of people worldwide of over $1 billion. 

NEW YORK (AP) — A wealthy Chinese businessman who left China a decade ago and became a U.S.-based outspoken critic of his homeland's Communist Party went on trial in New York on Wednesday for what prosecutors say were multiple frauds that cheated hundreds of thousands of people worldwide of over $1 billion.

Guo Wengui, 57, once believed to be among the richest people in China, sat with his lawyers in Manhattan federal court as jury selection began for a trial projected to last seven weeks. He pleaded not guilty after his March 2023 arrest for what prosecutors say was a five-year fraud scheme that began in 2018.

Judge Analisa Torres told dozens of prospective jurors crowded into a courtroom that they were being considered for a jury that will decide the fate of 12 criminal charges alleging that Guo operated four fraudulent investment schemes.

By lunchtime, half of them had been dismissed after they provided reasons why a lengthy trial would create a hardship. Still, it was likely that opening statements would occur Thursday.

Torres told the possible jurors that they will be partially anonymous, meaning they will be referred to in court only by their juror numbers, although defense lawyers, prosecutors and the judge and her staff will know their identities.

When Torres ruled last month that the jury would be partially anonymous, she noted that she had already concluded that Guo had demonstrated a willingness to tamper with judicial proceedings by posting videos and releasing social media encouraging followers to “persevere” with protests at homes and offices of a bankruptcy trustee and his lawyer.

Guo, who has been held without bail, left China in 2014 during a crackdown on corruption that ensnared individuals close to him, including a top intelligence official.

Chinese authorities accused Guo of rape, kidnapping, bribery and other crimes, but Guo said those allegations were false and designed to punish him for publicly revealing corruption as he criticized leading figures in the Communist Party.

While living in New York in recent years, Guo developed a close relationship with former President Donald Trump’s onetime political strategist, Steve Bannon. In 2020, Guo and Bannon announced a joint initiative to overthrow the Chinese government.

Earlier this month, Guo's chief of staff, Yvette Wang, pleaded guilty to conspiring with Guo and others to fraudulently induce investors to send money through entities and organizations including Guo’s media company, GTV Media Group Inc., and his so-called Himalaya Farm Alliance and the Himalaya Exchange, in return for stock or cryptocurrency. She awaits sentencing in September, when she could face up to 10 years in prison.

Prosecutors say hundreds of thousands of investors were convinced to invest more than $1 billion into entities Guo controlled.

When he was first charged in Manhattan, prosecutors identified him as “Ho Wan Kwok,” but they recently changed how they refer to him in court papers, saying “Miles Guo” is how he is commonly known.

CAPPLETALI$M

Congo's international lawyers push Apple over its supply chain 

May 22, 2024 

Democratic Republic of Congo's lawyers said they'd received new evidence from whistleblowers that deepened concerns that US tech giant Apple could be sourcing minerals from conflict areas.

BIG PHARMA SPEAKS

Blinken doubts global pandemic deal can be reached in ‘near term’


ByAFP
May 22, 2024

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is seen on Capitol Hill in Washington on May 22, 2024 - Copyright AFP Drew ANGERER

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Wednesday voiced doubt for the near-term prospects of a global pandemic agreement under negotiation that has drawn a backlash in several Western countries.

Jarred by the Covid-19 pandemic, World Health Organization member countries have spent more than two years thrashing out an accord on future pandemic prevention, preparedness and response.

Talks are set to go to the wire on Friday, after which the annual assembly of WHO member states, which opens on Monday in Geneva, will decide where the process goes next.

“Where it currently stands is that it seems very unlikely that negotiations could conclude successfully in the next few days,” Blinken told a congressional hearing in response to a question critical of the potential deal.

“There’s no consensus,” he said.

Blinken said that the United States was still working with “many countries around the world in making sure that we’re better prepared for next time, they’re better prepared — that they have their own capacity to detect, to deal with, and, as necessary, to produce things like vaccines.”

“All of that is part of the conversation, but I don’t think, based on the latest I’ve seen, that this is going to come to a conclusion in the near term,” Blinken said.

– Consensus conundrum –

In early May, WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus acknowledged that some countries “may not be in a position to join a consensus,” but he urged them “not to block consensus.”

WHO member states’ negotiating teams have since been working round the clock at the UN health agency’s headquarters in Geneva to try and get an agreement finalized in time for the World Health Assembly, which opens on Monday.

“It’s too early to say where we will be on Sunday,” a diplomatic source in Geneva said.

“The negotiations are complicated and difficult. They are moving forward but the result is not yet predetermined.”

Addressing one key concern, Blinken said that the United States would insist that the text reflect “our clear interests” including on intellectual property rights, with lawmakers charging that the deal could cede access to US know-how to adversary China.

Opposition to a pandemic agreement has grown in the United States, Britain and other countries, including among vaccine skeptics and conservatives who allege it would infringe on state sovereignty.

The latest draft of the agreement retains a clause saying nothing in it shall be interpreted as giving the WHO “any authority to direct, order, alter or otherwise prescribe the national and/or domestic laws” of any country, or “impose vaccination mandates or… implement lockdowns.”

– Equity –

Under the US Constitution, treaties require approval by two-thirds of the Senate — a level of support that is virtually insurmountable on any controversial issue.

Blinken stopped short of clearly promising that President Joe Biden’s administration would submit any pandemic agreement, if it is concluded, as a treaty to the Senate.

“If there is a constitutional requirement, we will fulfill it,” Blinken said.

Tedros told a press conference that the accord has “equitable access to personal protective equipment, vaccines, therapeutics and diagnostics at the core.”

“It will save lives and I’m asking country leaders to give it one last big push to get it over the line next week.”

WHO emergencies director Michael Ryan said the talks were making progress and countries were very determined to find agreement.

However, “there are clearly some key areas in which the member states still have some distance between them,” he added, saying they included access to pathogens, financing, prevention, and vaccines.

Tetepare Island's people fled for mysterious reasons 200 years ago. Now their descendants are fighting to protect it

The Pacific /
By Solomon Islands reporter Chrisnrita Aumanu-Leong

Mary Bea came to Tetepare about 200 years after her ancestors abandoned it.

(ABC News: Chrisnrita Aumanu-Leong)

On the black volcanic shores of Tetepare in Solomon Islands, locals say it's best that visitors introduce themselves to the land before going further.

Tetepare was once home to tribes of people, but it was abruptly deserted about 200 years ago.

It remains a mystery as to why, and accounts of the exodus differ.

The 120 square kilometres of pristine wilderness is one of the Pacific's largest uninhabited islands.

Tetepare is located in Solomon Island's Western province, a two-hour boat ride from the nearest airport.(ABC News: Cordelia Brown)

A descendant of Tetepare's former inhabitants, Mary Bea, said it's believed warriors from nearby islands came headhunting — that is, collecting human heads — and drove people out.

Another reason might be that disease — possibly from contact with whalers — devastated its communities and made the island unliveable.

But in Ms Bea's telling, no matter what happened, the spirits that long protected the people of Tetepare left them to their fates.
The island of Tetepare, unlike many other parts of Solomon Islands, remains covered in forest.(ABC News: Chrisnrita Aumanu-Leong)

Today, the island, empty of human voices, greets visitors with a blanket of sound as birds, cicadas and other animals call.

And for descendants like Ms Bea, Tetepare is also alive with the presence of spirits.

"Every land where we live, there's people, there's villages, there's church houses, everything is there and the places change," she said.


"But this island here, nothing changes, and all the powers and customs of before still stand."

Now, people are coming back to Tetepare, if only to visit briefly.

Ms Bea operates an eco lodge there, where guests sometimes tell their hosts of strange, seemingly otherworldly encounters.

"We just smile. We know that what they're telling is true," she said.

Some speak of meeting a spirit Ms Bea knows as one of Tetepare's spirits, Orisogo, with ears like wild taro and who can make people lose their way on the island.

Others tell of meeting someone local people know as Kaluvesu, a spirit who protects people on the island.


"The island is alive," Ms Bea said.

"We love the island, we love our ancestors, we love our spirits and we believe in them, they are still alive and they are watching over us."

She said not every descendant or tourist enjoys it — a reason why local people advise visitors to introduce themselves to the island.

Ms Bea, though, feels comfortable there. She said it may be because of her long-fought efforts to protect it.

"We are working for it, it accepts us."

She's one of many people resisting the forces that have transformed other parts of Solomon Islands — including logging and climate change.
An island outside time

It's said that when Tetepare's people abandoned the island, a few remaining women departed in dugout canoes and paddled to neighbouring shores.

Some were taken in and got married on their new islands. It's their descendants, including Ms Bea, who are protecting Tetepare.

They mobilised about 20 years ago, after loggers came for the island.

Descendants of Tetepare island's inhabitants live in surrounding islands including Rendova. (ABC News: Cordelia Brown)

Ms Bea, who grew up on neighbouring Rendova Island and lives in nearby Munda, took strength from her female ancestors and tracked down other descendants to organise a protest.

"When I heard rumours in the village, I had a very heavy heart. I looked around for people who [opposed] logging," she said.

Ms Bea succeeded in rallying opposition, and the logging application was denied.

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But knowing future attempts to log Tetepare would come, she made it her mission to block them.

She travelled widely in the western part of Solomon Islands to raise awareness, and with other traditional landowners, formed the Tetepare Descendants Association to centralise control over its land.

Now, it has 3,000 members, all opposing logging on Tetepare.

With help from international conservation groups like the World Wildlife Fund, the descendants formed a plan helping landowners create a livelihood by caring for the island.

They set up a field station for scientists to study its animals and plants.

And at the end of a crushed coral path on Tetepare, an eco-lodge of thatched wooden huts hosts small numbers of tourists, providing income for landowners to pay local guides and rangers

.
The water around Tetepare is rich with corals and diverse, colourful marine life. (ABC News: Chrisnrita Aumanu-Leong)

Visitors snorkel and swim in its turquoise waters, hike its forests, and watch the local wildlife.

Under the island's canopy of ancient trees, monitor lizards stalk past, tails swishing. Crocodiles lie on a black sand beach. Crabs scuttle over the forest floor.

Today, partly through the efforts of Tetepare's descendants, the island appears like a place outside time.

But despite its isolation from human settlements, its animal life is showing signs of stress.
Fighting for life

Clement Limae, a tour guide and former ranger who frequently visits Tetepare, presses his hand softly on the sand.

He is checking whether any of the turtle eggs buried beneath have hatched.

The island's beaches are some of the few places in the world where leatherback turtles — an endangered species — lay their eggs.
Clement Limae is part of efforts to protect the leatherback turtle population.(ABC News: Chrisnrita Aumanu-Leong)

Rangers work in challenging conditions to keep them alive, living on low pay and paying high costs of fuel to travel by boat to the island.

They spend a week at a time on a remote beach on Tetepare monitoring the turtle nests, with only a small thatched hut for shelter.

If their food doesn't last the week, or anything else goes wrong, they must hike back through the forest for hours, navigating crocodiles and the venomous Solomon Islands giant centipede.

Mr Limae said on Tetepare, rising sea levels threaten to stop the turtles' journeys before they've even started.

"We [rangers] relocate them from the original nest … because of sea level rise, otherwise the nest is getting wet by the saltwater and it's getting spoilt," he said.
Rangers move turtle eggs to a safe haven on the beach if they're at risk of being flooded by seawater.(ABC News: Chrisnrita Aumanu-Leong)

In a sand bed boxed in by wooden planks at the other end of the beach, where relocated eggs are buried, Mr Limae lifts a net and scoops the sand, lifting out five small leatherback hatchlings.

Normally, they could dig their way to the top after hatching, before making a dash for the ocean.

But the netting protecting them from predators means they need the help of rangers to reach the surface

.
Turtle hatchlings face a dangerous journey to the water after reaching the surface of their nest.(ABC News: Chrisnrita Aumanu-Leong)

Mr Limae said a lack of funds and fuel means the rangers sometimes can't make it to the beach in time.

"We need support [to] keep doing this work," he said.

Rangers help protect them on their perilous journey into the water, as birds and lizards try picking them off.


"A lot of predators contribute to this, [and] kill them. It's challenging … And that's why we are always here to help them survive."

As a large wave washes ashore, one of the leading hatchlings is swept up and away.

Their fight for life mirrors the one rangers and descendants make each day to protect Tetepare, its wildlife, and its traditions.

Sitting at the eco-lodge, Ms Bea said the island's stories are still passed down today.

"They are our stories. We all know the stories," Ms Bea said.

"This is a spirit island. And it is still now in the hearts of every descendant of Tetepare."

Additional reporting by Doug Dingwall                                                

Will Google Eat Everything?

By Josh Marshal
May 22, 2024 
TPM

You may have noticed that we have a series of new controversies or set pieces in the ongoing public conversation about AI. One of them has to do with Google search. Google recently rolled out, or in some regions is in the process of rolling out, a new AI-enabled version of search. You may have seen it already without noticing it was something new. On some searches you’ll now see that the top of your search has text under a small rubric that says “AI Overview.” This is potentially a very big deal for search and the whole ecosystem of the web.

Search, which has been dominated by Google for more than 20 years, has long been ruled by a mutually beneficial exchange between Google and websites. Google makes huge profits by running ads against its search results. It also copies small portions of other sites’ text and photographs under its theory of fair use. The justification for the profit and its use of sites’ content is that Google makes the web navigable, and it can send massive audiences to the sites that make up the web. In the first years of this century, various rights holders contested aspects of Google’s fair use policies. But they tended to lose those challenges and it became largely accepted that search, very much part of the open web, was actually good for the indexed websites.

In principle, at least, this understanding came to undergird the successful fair use arguments. Broadly, fair use says you can reproduce limited portions of a rights holder’s content if you don’t damage their ability to make money from it.

This is a very brief description of the status quo of search and how and why all generally agree (I think rightly) that it’s a mutually beneficial bargain between Google and the rest of the web. We’ll set to the side how Google uses the power of search to leverage advantage in other parts of its business.

Now Google is launching this AI tool which will scour the web, find the answer to your question and provide its own text as the answer. In other words, if I ask, “do polls accurately predict election outcomes?” Google AI might write its own answer and show you it. Under that answer, it shows you links to sites with more information. But as you can see, if Google’s AI-produced content answers my question, why would I ever go to any other site? The way in which this could change how people use the internet has sent shockwaves across the web, especially worrying for sites that rely on search.

As a practical matter, it seems hit and miss what Google is serving this content for at the moment. When I asked the question above about polls, I just gave me links. When I asked more how-to style questions, it tended to give me AI. But not everything followed that pattern. It’s still clearly in an experimental stage. But you can see why the web or web proprietors are freaked. Why would you ever visit other sites if Google scours all the sites and prepares the answer for you?


Here’s an interview with Google CEO Sundar Pichai at The Verge where they discuss this. It’s a very interesting interview. But you’ll note that Pichai keeps coming back to consumer choice and value to consumers. And it certainly seems possible, at least in theory, that Google could make using the web to find answers a better experience for consumers in some cases. If I just want a quick answer to something, I want the answer. I don’t care about what site it’s from or which site I should trust most.

In practice, as I’ve experimented, the Google answers have often been wrong or at least misleading. And even calling it “AI” is a bit of a stretch, as most of us are thinking about it. In many of the cases I’ve seen it’s just lifting sections of text verbatim and stitching different chunks together into a composite. In other words, the product itself is pretty wonky for now. But the basic question about what should be allowable is still worth discussing.

Pichai focuses on what consumers find most useful. But that’s not the only metric. If I steal a bunch of liquor from the liquor store and then sell it to you for half price, you and I are probably pretty stoked. But it’s not a great deal for the liquor store. And it’s probably not great for my new, theft-based business, since the liquor store I’m stealing from is going to go out of business. If Google simply scoops up the information, blends it into informational slurry and churns it back out as Google AI content, the whole ecosystem of the web and the alignment of contribution and gains is upended. And does Google have the right to do that? We have laws against stealing the liquor from the liquor store. Google and other AI companies argue that it’s no different from having a human workforce that researches a topic and writes it up into new content. But everyone at least senses, if they don’t know precisely how to articulate it, that automated and at scale it’s not the same thing.


As I noted above, for now it seems like Google’s AI is basically just lifting whole sections of text. Current law may have something to say about that. And the end product doesn’t seem very reliable. So the issue may be more theoretical than real for a while longer. But we’ll see.

I should also add that at TPM, we get an extremely small amount of our traffic from search. So our self-interest isn’t really implicated here. Our ox isn’t being gored. In practice, the economic and political power of the platforms generally make it the case that they can do whatever they want and everyone else reacts. If nothing else, their vast wealth means they can litigate disputes in court forever. Almost all intellectual property claims become notional when they enter the maw of one of the social media giants. So this one is worth keeping an eye on even if the product doesn’t seem up to snuff in its current experimental stage.



Josh Marshall (@joshtpm) is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of TPM.

Palestinian statehood

What's the impact of the recognition of a Palestinian state?

Drumming for Gaza: there have been regular pro-Palestinian rallies in the Irish capital, Dublin, since the start of Israel's offensive in the Gaza Strip in the wake of the Hamas attacks on Israel on 7 October (image: Artur Widak/NurPhoto/picture alliance)

Whether or not to recognise a Palestinian state is a decades-old debate. Advocates say the move would have legal and symbolic power, but critics argue it would not change the situation on the ground

Recently, calls for the Western world to recognise a Palestinian state in its own right have been getting louder.

Although Germany does not consider current Palestinian territories a unified state, a majority of countries at the United Nations do – 139 out of a total of 193. What's significant this time, though, is that recognition is apparently being reconsidered by the US, a country that has previously vetoed almost every attempt to recognise a Palestinian nation.

The UK also seems to be thinking about it even though, in the past, the country has been just as opposed to the move as the US.

"What we need to do is give the Palestinian people a horizon towards a better future, the future of having a state of their own," British Foreign Secretary David Cameron said in February.

Spain, Norway and Ireland today all committed to recognising a Palestinian state.

"Fighting the Hamas terrorist group is legitimate and necessary after October 7, but Netanyahu is causing so much pain, destruction and resentment in Gaza and the rest of Palestine that the two-state solution is in danger," PM Pedro Sánchez (left) told the Spanish parliament on Wednesday. He is pictured here with Irish PM Simon Harris. Both countries and Norway have announced that they will recognise Palestinian statehood later this month (image: Paul Faith/PA Wire/empics/picture alliance)


"More key players in the Middle East need movement toward a demilitarised Palestinian state today than at any time that I can remember," New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman wrote in February.

However, experts have urged caution about statements from the US and UK, suggesting they're likely being leaked or, in the case of the UK, openly voiced to put pressure on an increasingly defiant Israeli government, unfazed by close allies' growing discomfort with its tactics in Gaza.

When asked for clarification, US spokespeople have said that government policies have not changed for now.

Why is the idea controversial?

For many countries in the West, the idea has always been that the Palestinians' status change would come at the end of negotiations on what is known as the two-state solution, where Israel and a Palestinian nation exist side by side.

This is why the most recent statements and rumours have caused so much debate. Some say that recognition of a Palestinian state would be the first step toward a lasting and peaceful solution to this decades-old conflict.

But others say that unless conditions change on the ground, recognition would be useless and serve only to whitewash the status quo, continuing to leave the Israeli state with all the power.

Noam Chomsky and Ilan Pappe in dialogue · 24.07.2015
A one- or two-state solution?

In their recently published dialogue, "On Palestine", Noam Chomsky and Ilan Pappe make the case for a greater effort to be made to find a political solution to the Middle East conflict. They discuss the issue of a one or two-state solution and prompt a debate that is virtually non-existent in Germany. By Emran Feroz

What are the advantages?

Recognition would give a Palestinian state more political, legal and even symbolic power.

In particular, Israeli occupation or annexation of Palestinian territory would become a more serious legal issue.

"[Such a] change would set the ground for permanent status negotiations between Israel and Palestine, not as a set of concessions between the occupier and the occupied, but between two entities that are equal in the eyes of international law," Josh Paul wrote in the Los Angeles Times earlier this year.

Up until recently, Paul was director of congressional and public affairs for the US State Department's Bureau of Political-Military Affairs but resigned over disagreements on US policy on Gaza.

"Disputes, such as over the status of Jerusalem or control over borders, water rights and airwaves, can be settled through established global arbitration mechanisms," he suggested, noting that internationally accepted rules on law, civil aviation or telecommunications could then be used to help work through ongoing disputes.

Possibly the biggest advantage for Palestinians, however, is symbolic. A Palestinian state might eventually take Israel to an international court of some kind, but that would be a long way down the line, said Philip Leech-Ngo, a Middle East analyst based in Canada and author of the 2016 book The State of Palestine: A Critical Analysis.

According to Middle East analyst Philip Leech-Ngo, recognition of Palestine is the whole raison d'être for the Palestinian Authority, which governs some of the occupied West Bank and is part of the official representation of the Palestinian people. Pictured here: Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh (image: ZAIN JAAFAR/AFP/Getty Images)

For the Palestinian Authority, which governs some of the occupied West Bank and is part of the official representation of the Palestinian people, "the whole raison d'être is recognition," Leech-Ngo told DW. "They can't offer the Palestinian public much of anything else. They can't confront Israel, they're not capable of improving the lives of Palestinians under their jurisdiction, and they're also corrupt and non-democratic. So the only thing that they can offer is the promise of international recognition."

"After all," Leech-Ngo continued, "recognition as a state would be a way of saying that the international community accepts that the Palestinian cause is legitimate and, in the context of prolonged belligerent occupation by Israel, that offers considerable political capital."

What are the disadvantages?

Recent polls show that most Israelis don't want to see a Palestinian state. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been saying as much for years. And for Israelis and their international supporters, there are also fears that if a Palestinian state is recognised now, it might amount to a victory for those advocating violence.

The most recent conflict in Gaza began after 7 October, when the militant Hamas group attacked Israel, killing around 1,200 people. Since then, Israel's ongoing military campaign in the Gaza Strip has caused close to an estimated 36,000 deaths.

If recognition happens now, Hamas "will likely take credit," Jerome Segal, director of the International Peace Consultancy, wrote in Foreign Policy magazine in February. "[Hamas] will maintain that this recognition … demonstrates that only armed struggle produces results."

"For Israelis […], there are also fears that if a Palestinian state is recognised now, it might amount to a victory for those advocating violence," writes Catherin Schaer. Indeed, Israel's Foreign Minister Israel Katz responded to Norway and Ireland's decision to recognise Palestine by saying they were sending "a message today to the Palestinians and the whole world: terrorism pays" (image: Image: Amir Cohen/REUTERS)

The difference between recognition and a two-state solution

Despite coming with legal and symbolic advantages, recognition of a Palestinian state wouldn't immediately change anything on the ground.

"The greatest obstacles to Palestinian statehood in February 2024 are similar to the greatest obstacles that existed before October 7," Dahlia Scheindlin, a Tel Aviv-based fellow at the US think tank Century International, wrote in February.

"First and foremost, the Israeli political leadership is dedicated to preventing Palestinian independence at all costs. Second, the Palestinian leadership is completely divided and has almost no domestic legitimacy. All these obstacles have grown worse since October 7," she wrote.

"If you were to wave a magic wand and suddenly create recognition of a Palestinian state, there would still be enormous problems on the ground," Middle East analyst Leech-Ngo pointed out. "There's the occupation, there are the [illegal] settlements, the devastation in Gaza and the lack of control over borders as well as the question of who controls Jerusalem. There are numerous final status issues that wouldn't suddenly be resolved – even if you could wave a magic wand," he concluded.

Cathrin Schaer

© Deutsche Welle 2024

America Will Send An Indian Astronaut To International Space Station By Year-End: US Envoy

US Envoyto India said the NISAR project, a joint Earth-observing mission between US space agency NASA and the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO), is also likely to be launched by the end of the year.

PTI
Updated on: 22 May 2024 

Spacewalk on the International Space Station File Photo


America will send an Indian astronaut to the International Space Station by the end of the year, US envoy to India Eric Garcetti said on Wednesday.

He said the NISAR project, a joint Earth-observing mission between US space agency NASA and the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO), is also likely to be launched by the end of the year.

“We are going to put an Indian astronaut into the International Space Station this year.

“We promised when PM (Narendra) Modi came (to the US in 2023) that by the end of this year, we will do this and our mission is still on track to be able to go in space this year,” he said.

The US ambassador was speaking on the sidelines of an event to mark the 248th Independence Day of the United States.

He said both India and the US should look at coordinating research and critical emerging technology so that they can increasingly leverage each other’s strengths.

The diplomat said India landed ‘Chandrayaan 3’ on the Moon last year at a fraction of the cost that the US incurred on a similar lunar mission.

“The US has some capacities that India still doesn't have today. When the two are combined, both countries have those capacities,” he said.

On the civilian nuclear energy arena, Garcetti said post elections, the Indian government can address outstanding liability issues and move forward “arm in arm and hand in hand”.

Two sites in India – Mithi Virdhi in Gujarat and Kovadda in Andhra Pradesh – have been earmarked for US companies to build nuclear reactors.

However, the companies have raised concerns over the Civil Liability Nuclear Damage Act 2010, which provides for prompt compensation to the victims for damage caused by a nuclear incident through a no-fault liability regime.

 

Ancient Mycenaean armor tested by Marines and pronounced suitable for extended combat

by Public Library of Science

Artistic photo showing the replica of the Dendra armor used in the study.

 Photo credit: Andreas Flouris and Marija Marković. Permission required for reproduction. 

Credit: Flouris et al., 2024, PLOS ONE, CC-BY 4.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

A famous Mycenaean suit of armor was not just ceremonial, but suitable for extended combat, according to a study published May 22 in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Andreas Flouris of the University of Thessaly, Greece and colleagues.

One of the oldest known suits of European armor is a 3,500-year-old suit found near the village of Dendra, a few kilometers away from ancient Mycenae.

Since its discovery in 1960, it has been unclear if this was a ceremonial suit or if it was suitable for battle. This question has important implications for understanding warfare in Late Bronze Age Europe, but no historical accounts describe the use of this style of armor. In this study, researchers combine historical and experimental evidence to investigate the combat suitability of the Dendra armor.

The authors recruited 13 volunteers from the Marines of the Hellenic Armed Forces, equipped them with replicas of the Dendra armor and Bronze Age weapons, and ran them through an 11-hour simulated Bronze Age combat protocol. This combat simulation was developed based on historical accounts from Homer's Iliad along with additional physiological and environmental evidence to create an approximation of typical diet, activities, and maneuvers of the Mycenaean military.

Top: Geomorphology of the area surrounding Troy in the later phases of the Late Bronze 

Age (labels indicate the locations of the two army encampments and the geographic 

features of the area). The map was created using Azgaar's Fantasy Map Generator, a free

 web application, under a CC BY license, with permission from Max Haniyeu, original 

copyright 2017–2021. Bottom: Volunteer marine soldiers in simulated combat wearing the

 Dendra armour replica during the empirical study (right) and an artistic photo shoot (left). Photo credit: Andreas Flouris and Marija Marković. Permission required for reproduction. Credit: Flouris et al., 2024, PLOS ONE, CC-BY 4.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

The experiment found that the replicated Dendra armor did not limit a warrior's fighting ability or cause severe strain on the wearer.

These results suggest that the Dendra armor was battle-worthy, implying that the Mycenaean's powerful impact in Mediterranean history was due partly to their armor technology.

Man wearing replica armor and hitting a sheild with a spear/staff. Credit: Andreas Flouris

 and Marija Marković.

To supplement these results, the authors developed a freely-available software which enables simulation of combat conditions to test the hypothetical efficacy of the armor in more varied scenarios. Further research into Mycenaean combat technology will continue to illuminate details of the Late Bronze Age and the transition into the Iron Age.

More information: Analysis of Greek prehistoric combat in full body armour based on physiological principles: A series of studies using thematic analysis, human experiments, and numerical simulations, PLoS ONE (2024). DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0301494

Journal information: PLoS ONE 

Provided by Public Library of Science 

2,700-year-old leather armor proves technology transfer happened in antiquity

Ancient people hunted now extinct elephants at Tagua Tagua Lake in Chile 12,000 years ago, study finds

by Public Library of Science

Photographs from TT-3. A. Combustion feature spatially associated with gomphothere cervical vertebrae and skull fragments (excavation unit C5); B. Sacral and caudal vertebrae, vertebral discs, and unfused coxal portions (excavation unit F5). Note the distance between the first sacral vertebra and its vertebral disc; C. End scraper (TT3-U1-N18) in situ (excavation unit 1); D. Core debitage (TT3-G5-N18-12) in situ spatially associated with gomphothere remains (excavation unit G5). Credit: Labarca et al., 2024, PLOS ONE, CC-BY 4.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

Thousands of years ago, early hunter-gatherers returned regularly to Tagua Tagua Lake in Chile to hunt ancient elephants and take advantage of other local resources, according to a study published May 22 in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Rafael Labarca of the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile and colleagues.

Multiple archaeological sites are known from the region of Tagua Tagua Lake in central Chile, representing some of the earliest known human settlements in the Americas. In this study, Labarca and colleagues report the recent discovery of a new site called Taguatagua 3, an ancient hunter-gatherer camp dating to the Late Pleistocene, between 12,440–12,550 years old.

Notably, this site features the fossil remains of a gomphothere, an extinct relative of elephants. Signs of butchery on the bones, along with stone tools and other evidence, indicate that Taguatagua 3 represents a temporary camp established around the task of processing the large carcass.

Other activities were also carried out during the camp's brief period of use, including processing of other foods as indicated by additional charred remains of plants and small animals such as frogs and birds. Fossil cactus seeds and bird eggshell suggest that this camp was occupied specifically during the dry season.

Numerous such sites of similar age are now known from this region, implying that Tagua Tagua Lake was a recurring hunting and scavenging ground for people during the Late Pleistocene due to abundant and predictable local resources.

The authors suggest that this area was a key location along the routes taken by mobile communities of the time and that temporary camps might have hosted regular meetings between these mobile bands. Further investigation of this rich archaeological region will continue to provide insights into the mobility and subsistence strategies of early humans in South America.

The authors add, "Taguatagua 3 helps us to understand better how the early humans adapted to fast changing environments in central Chile during the late Pleistocene times."

More information: Taguatagua 3: A new late Pleistocene settlement in a highly suitable lacustrine habitat in central Chile (34°S), PLoS ONE (2024). DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0302465

Journal information: PLoS ONE 

Provided by Public Library of Science 

Late Pleistocene human mandibles from the Niah Caves may hint at ancient diets