'Pretty cool': US kids discover remains of teen T-Rex

Washington (AFP) – What did you do for summer vacation? Three pre-teen dinosaur aficionados have the answer of a lifetime: they discovered the remains of a rare juvenile Tyrannosaurus rex in the North Dakota dirt.


Issued on: 05/06/2024 - 

Young Liam Fisher lay down next to the fossilized leg bone of a dinosaur he discovered in the Badlands of North Dakota in 2022, and his family sent the photograph to a paleontologist friend, who confirmed it to be of a juvenile Tyrannosaurus rex © Handout / Giant Screen Films/AFP

Scientists and filmmakers announced Tuesday that brothers Liam and Jessin Fisher, age seven and 10 at the time of the find, and their nine-year-old cousin Kaiden Madsen, were walking in the Hell Creek formation of the Badlands in July 2022 when they found a large fossilized leg bone.

"Dad asked 'What is this?' and Jessin said, 'That's a dinosaur!'" exclaimed young Liam on a video call with his brother, cousin, father Sam Fisher, dinosaur experts and reporters.

They snapped a pic and sent it to a family friend, vertebrate paleontologist Tyler Lyson of the Denver Museum of Nature & Science, according to a statement.

When Lyson eventually arrived at the site, he brushed off a tooth and quickly realized the enormity of what the fossil hunters uncovered: an "extremely rare" juvenile T-Rex specimen that lived 67 million years ago -- and could offer critical clues about how the king of dinosaurs grew up.

"It still gives me goosebumps," Lyson recalled on the call.

Kaiden's reaction to learning it was a T-Rex? "This is pretty cool, I can't believe we just found this."

The fossilized bones were excavated, placed in giant plaster jackets and lifted by Black Hawk helicopter onto a truck. They were taken to the Denver Museum of Nature & Science, where the public can soon follow progress on the fossil's preparation in a new discovery lab.

Rather remarkably, the saga is only emerging now, after a documentary crew and renowned scientists coordinated in secret over nearly two years with top natural history museums to present the kids' discovery.

This undated handout picture provided by Giant Screen Films shows the tibia of a juvenile T. rex discovered by three pre-teen boys in Marmarth, North Dakota © Handout / Giant Screen Films/AFP

Paleontologists estimate the "Teen Rex" weighed about 3,500 pounds (1,630 kilograms), measured 25 feet (7.6 meters) from nose to tail, and stood about 10 feet tall -- some two-thirds the size of a full grown adult. It was believed to be 13-15 years old when it died.

"It's remarkable to consider how T. rex might have grown from a kitten-sized hatchling into the 40-foot, 8,000-pound adult predator we are familiar with," Thomas Holtz, a vertebrate paleontologist from the University of Maryland and a renowned T-Rex authority, said in the statement.

A documentary about the discovery debuts June 21 and will roll out to 100 cities in IMAX, 3D and other formats.

"This is the kind of story that documentary filmmakers dream of capturing," co-director David Clark said in the statement.

As for the kids, Liam and cousin Kaiden said they'll remain amateur dinosaur sleuths, combing the Badlands for new discoveries.

But Jessin is looking to become a full-time paleontologist.

"It's been a lifelong dream of mine -- probably because I've seen the Jurassic Park movie, and finding this" T-Rex fossil, he said.

Meanwhile, Jessin offered sage advice for his fellow youths: "Put down their electronics and just go out hiking."

© 2024 AFP

UN expresses deep concern over new US asylum limits

The United Nations said it was "profoundly concerned" by the new asylum restrictions on the US-Mexico border unveiled Tuesday by US President Joe Biden and urged Washington to think again.


Issued on: 05/06/2024 -

Closed lines are pictured at the San Ysidro crossing port on the US-Mexico border, as seen from Tijuana, Baja California state, Mexico, on June 4, 2024. 

© Guillermo Arias, AFP

Biden ordered sweeping new migrant curbs on the southern US border in a bid to neutralise one of his political weak spots in his re-election battle against Donald Trump.

The executive order bans migrants who enter the country illegally from claiming asylum when numbers surge past 2,500 in a day, as well as making it easier to deport them back to Mexico.

"UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, is profoundly concerned about the new asylum measures announced today by the United States which impose harsh restrictions on the right to seek asylum in the country," it said in a statement.

"The new measures will deny access to asylum for many individuals who are in need of international protection, and who may now find themselves without a viable option for seeking safety and even at risk of refoulement," being sent back across the border, it added.

"Any person who claims to have a well-founded fear of being persecuted in their country of origin must have access to safe territory and have this claim assessed before being subject to deportation or removal.

"We call on the United States to uphold its international obligations and urge the government to reconsider restrictions that undermine the fundamental right to seek asylum."

Migrants entering the United States are normally allowed to claim asylum if they face harm or persecution on the grounds of race, religion, nationality, political opinion, or membership in a particular social group.

But many spend years waiting for their claims to be processed, with critics saying that people often cross purely for economic reasons and then game the system to remain in the United States.

The UNHCR said it recognised that the United States was facing challenges in dealing with the significant number of people arriving at its border.

"The United States has a long history of welcoming refugees and continues to do so through various pathways, including resettlement, private sponsorship, and others," it said.

"We remain committed to supporting the United States in much-needed broader reform efforts, including to improve the fairness, quality, and efficiency of its border management and asylum systems."

(AFP)

CAPITALI$M IS UNSUSTAINABLE

Global warming accelerating at 'unprecedented' pace: study

Paris (AFP) – Global warming has accelerated at an "unprecedented" pace as the window to limit rising temperatures within internationally-set targets closes, over 50 leading scientists warned in a study published on Wednesday.


Issued on: 05/06/2024

The average annual emissions for the 2013-2022 period was 53 gigatonnes of carbon dioxide -- primarily from the use of fossil fuels like oil and gas, the report said 

Looking at decade averages, temperatures climbed 0.26 degrees Celsius from 2014 to 2023, said the study published in the journal Earth System Science Data.

In that same period, average global surface temperatures reached 1.19C above the 1850-1900 pre-industrial benchmark for measuring a warming world.

It marks an increase from the 1.14C reported last year for the decade up to 2022.

"Human-induced warming has been increasing at a rate that is unprecedented in the instrumental record," the study said.

The study is part of a series of periodic climate assessments designed to fill the gap between UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reports that have been released on average every six years since 1988.

It came as diplomats from around the world were meeting in Germany this week for midyear climate talks ahead of the UN COP29 summit in November in Baku, Azerbaijan.

The 2015 Paris Agreement that resulted from a previous COP summit saw countries agree to cap global warming at "well below" 2C above preindustrial levels, while striving for the safer limit of 1.5C.

Wednesday's report found that, by the end of 2023, human activity had pushed temperatures 1.31C above the preindustrial level.

Earth warmed a total of 1.43C with other naturally-occuring drivers -- including the El Nino weather phenomenon -- taken into account.

- Carbon budget spent -

Another factor contributing to the heat is the decline in certain polluting particles in the atmosphere that reflect some of the Sun's energy back into space, the study found.

"The main reason is cleaning up of air pollution, first in Europe and the US (acid rain) and more recently in Asia, particularly China," Glen Peters of Norway's CICERO Center for International Climate Research told AFP.

Tightening of global shipping regulations and the decline of coal-fired energy have also contributed to a drop in sulphur dioxide emissions, which also had a cooling effect.

But by far the primary driver of global warming was "greenhouse gas emissions being at an all-time high", the study said.

Average annual emissions for the 2013-2022 period were 53 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide and the equivalent in other gases -- primarily from the use of fossil fuels like oil and gas, the report said.

In 2022, emissions amounted to 55 billion tonnes.

It means that the world's carbon budget -- the estimated amount of greenhouse gases that can to be emitted before driving the planet over the 1.5C threshold -- is "shrinking fast", the study warned.

In 2020, the IPCC calculated the remaining carbon budget in the range of 500 billion tonnes of CO2.

By early 2024, the budget had decreased to around 200 billion tonnes, the study said.

The report's lead author Piers Forster said there is a "bit of optimism" at least in one finding.

The rate at which emissions have grown in the most recent decade appears to have slowed since 2000, which he said signals "we're not necessarily going to get a big, increasing acceleration of climate change".

However, co-author Pierre Friedlingstein, told a press briefing that the slowing is not enough to avoid climate change.

"We don't need emissions to be stable. We need emissions to go down to net zero," Friedlingstein said.

"As long as emissions continue at the same level, the warming will continue at the same level."

Without significant change in emissions, the 1.5C threshold would be breached and become a "long-term average" within the next decade, he added.

© 2024 AFP

ICYMI

'Life goes on' - Panama islanders relocated as sea level rises

Cartí Sugtupu (Panama) (AFP) – Alberto Lopez prepares breakfast with water lapping at his ankles. The day began with rain, and his ramshackle home on the Panamanian island of Carti Sugtupu was flooded, not for the first time.

Issued on: 05/06/2024

Some 1,200 inhabitants of the island Carti Sugtupu are being relocated to mainland Panama 

Lopez is one of 1,200 Indigenous residents of the island being relocated to the mainland, as sea level rise due to global warming threatens to permanently devour their ancestral home.

The community is the first in Panama to be displaced by climate change.

Since Monday, residents have been packing and moving their belongings by boat to the Nuevo Carti (New Carti) settlement built for them by the government in the Guna Yala Indigenous region on Panama's Caribbean coast.

On the island, Lopez lives in a small house with a dirt floor, no toilet, and only intermittent electricity.

Alberto Lopez was born on the Panamanian island of Carti Sugtupu 72 years ago 

In preparation for the move, his family is stacking clothes and other meager belongings on a small table at the front door, along with cleaning supplies and a Bible.

Their destination, Nuevo Carti, boasts houses that each have two bedrooms, a living and dining room, kitchen, bathroom and laundry -- all with potable water and electricity.

Each house is about 41 square meters (441 square feet) on a plot of 300 square meters, and there are common cultural spaces and facilities for disabled people.

The conditions are undoubtedly better, but the community has mixed feelings nevertheless.

"We are sad because if this island disappears, a part of our heart, of our culture, disappears with it," said Lopez, who was born on Carti Sugtupu 72 years ago.

As a child, he fished there, as do most islanders, and worked in the fields on the mainland.

The islands off Panama are between 50 centimeters (19 inches) and one meter (three feet) above sea level 

His mother sent him to study in Panama City, where he lived for more than 30 years before returning home.

"I came back because my heart wanted me here, and this house is the one my family left me," Lopez told AFP.

"My grandmother, my grandfather and my aunt died here... it's not going to be the same, but I have to move on because life goes on," he added.

- 'A brutal change' -

On Carti Sugtupu, the size of five football fields, Lopez and his fellow islanders lived in overcrowded conditions with few basic services.

They use communal toilets with pieces of timber laid down as seats.

Homes built on Carti Sugtupu island flood on a regular basis, and the government expects that by 2050, the island will be completely under water

The community lived off fishing, the harvesting of starchy crops like cassava and plantains, traditional textile production, and some tourism.

Their homes flooded on a regular basis, and the government expects that by 2050, Carti Sugtupu will be completely under water, along with several other islands in the archipelago of 350, only 49 of them inhabited.

All are between 50 centimeters (19 inches) and one meter (about three feet) above sea level.

Scientists say climate change is causing sea levels to rise, mainly due to meltwater from warming glaciers and ice sheets.

President Laurentino Cortizo said recently the government was studying which other communities may have to be moved next.

On Monday, the first day of the mass transfer, police helped the community move their belongings to their new homes.

At a small pier, the officers helped load furniture, buckets of clothes, plastic chairs, some appliances and a stuffed animal for the 15-minute boat trip.

"I am sad to leave this house," said Idelicia Avila, 42, adding: "We are moving because there's no room for us here" on the island.

Nuevo Carti was erected by the government at a cost of $12.2 million, transferring ownership to the community.

Lopez will live in house number 256 with three sisters and a daughter.

He hopes to grow crops such as pumpkins, cassava, pineapples or bananas to sell, and is already planning where the furniture and appliances will go -- and even contemplating a possible extension to his new house.

Scientists say climate change is causing sea levels to rise, mainly due to meltwater from warming glaciers and ice sheets 

"Here we have everything to bathe... there (on the island) we don't have that," he said as he showed AFP around his new bathroom.

"Of course, everyone is happy, but it's a brutal change."

PHOTOS © MARTIN BERNETTI / AFP

© 2024 AFP

It's Christmas in June for Ottawa filmmakers

Ottawa (AFP) – It's Christmas in Ottawa, with filmmakers this spring and summer capturing couples smooching under mistletoe, reindeer running amok and Santa Claus leaving presents under evergreens lavishly decorated with lights and ornaments.


Issued on: 05/06/2024 - 

A set decorator carries a Christmas tree during filming of 'Hocus Pocus Christmas' on April 16 in Almonte, Ontario, just outside Ottawa © Dave Chan / AFP

The Canadian capital has become a hub for holiday films, with more than a dozen each year, or one-third of all Christmas-themed movies screened annually in the month of December in North America, shot here.

But while snow is temporary, hefty tax credits last year round -- leading to creative workarounds to create icicle-laden shots amid 90-degree Fahrenheit (32 C) weather.

Amid a boom in demand for Christmas movies, it's all worth it for the quaint, seemingly made-for-the-screen scenery that dots the region, industry professionals tell AFP.

"There is a wow factor here," said Sandrine Pechels de Saint Sardos, film commissioner at the Ottawa Film Office -- pointing to the fairytale architecture of the Chateau Laurier, the Rideau Canal, old courtyards and cobblestone walkways, waterfalls and parks, and Canadian villages that stand in for American small towns.

"There are so many spots in Ottawa and the surrounding area that look like where most of these Christmas stories take place," said producer Josie Fitzgerald, shooting her fourth and fifth Christmas films this year.

Special effects supervisor Mathieu Bissonnette-Bigras sprays foam to create a winter snow scene -- in April © Dave Chan / AFP
Snow in July

On the set of "Hocus Pocus Christmas," in Almonte, on the outskirts of Ottawa, director Marita Grabiak says it feels "very much like the small town that I grew up in, in Pennsylvania."
Director Marita Grabiak prepares to shoot a scene during the filming of 'Hocus Pocus Christmas' © Dave Chan / AFP

Christmas movies are so often set in small towns, she explains, because of the values they represent: simplicity, hard work and residents' commitment to each other.

"The main storyline is always about him and her falling in love, or becoming great friends," she says. "It's an assembly line product, but I try to bring truth and relatability to it."

Locals Sarah Affleck and her daughter Hannah stopped by the set, hoping to catch a glimpse of a famous actor.

"It's funny and cool also to see snow and Christmas decorations at this time of year," says Hannah.

Passerby Kim Nixon recalls another film shot here last July: "The way they had the street decked out, you would swear it was the middle of January. It was really something to see."

"You kinda felt sorry though for the actors dressed in parkas in 30 degrees Celsius," he says.

The snow is obviously fake, he adds, "but when you watch the movie it looks real."

Special effects supervisor Mathieu Bissonnette-Bigras uses foam, paper and cotton batting to create the appearance of real snow. "We just roll it out as needed for scenes."

It can be touched up in post-production with computer-generated imagery, he says.

But on set it's a challenge. "If it's too warm, the foam melts... If it's too windy, all of it blows away. Also the foam will settle on peoples' hair and eyelashes and will become very quickly and obviously soap bubbles," adds Fitzgerald, the producer.

Paper snow, meanwhile, requires "a heck of a clean-up."

This year, she says, "because of the incredible uptick in movies requiring snow, our biggest challenge is getting our hands on snow-making supplies."

- Covid-era stress relief -

Holiday film production and viewership exploded in recent years amid the stresses of the 2020 pandemic, economic woes and conflicts around the world, according to Pechels de Saint Sardos.

Special effects supervisor Mathieu Bissonnette-Bigras carries a roll of synthetic batting to create a winter snow scene © Dave Chan / AFP

"People wanted something to make them feel good. And Christmas movies were there to deliver. It's escapism. It's comfort content. It's feel-good stories," she told AFP.

"Christmas movies also bring together families to watch sweet moments, and there's no violence," she added.

Hallmark, Lifetime, the Oprah Winfrey Network and other TV networks picked up on the trend, spending collectively more than Can$50 million (US$36 million) annually to shoot films in Ottawa, alongside the occasional theatrical release such as Fatman (2020) starring Mel Gibson.

A generous tax credit covers 45 percent of labor costs -- 10 percent higher than in major film production centers Toronto and Vancouver.

For those trying to film the real thing, Canada's wintertime blizzards can produce "absolutely beautiful scenes," says Grabiak.

But extreme cold also wreaks havoc on equipment -- meaning sweating through a parka in the middle of the summer is often worth it.

© 2024 AFP

HERESIOLOGY

Tunisian Muslim community turns to AI to save heritage

Djerba (Tunisia) (AFP) – In an unassuming house on the Tunisian island of Djerba, Said al-Barouni embarked on a mission to safeguard his Muslim community's little-known heritage, using technology and AI to save age-old religious manuscripts.


Issued on: 05/06/2024 -

Said al-Barouni prepares to scan old manuscripts at his library © FETHI BELAID / AFP

The 74-year-old librarian and member of the Islamic offshoot Ibadism took up the reins of his family's six-generation library in the 1960s and has been in a race against time to preserve whatever Ibadi manuscripts he can find.

"Look at what Djerba's humidity has done to this one," he said, his gloved hand bearing a tarnished piece of paper inside a climate-controlled room.

Today, the library holds over 1,600 ancient Ibadi texts and books on various topics, including astrology and medicine, dating from as early as 1357.

But Barouni is still on a quest to gather more literature, which has been scattered for centuries among families after they resigned themselves to practising their faith in secret.

After disagreeing on the succession following the death of Prophet Muhammad in 632 AD, Ibadis were considered Kharijites, an early divergent branch of Islam whose adherents were labelled heretics.

They fled to remote areas in modern-day Oman -- where most Ibadis today live -- as well as Libya, Tunisia and Algeria.

In North Africa, they established a capital in Tihert, today's Algerian city of Tiaret, but their newfound peace was short-lived when the Shiite Fatimid dynasty swept through the region in the 10th century and chased the Ibadis out of their main urban hubs.

'Invisibility'

"In order to preserve their existence, Ibadis took refuge on the island of Djerba, in the desert in Algeria, or in the difficult (to access) Nafusa mountains in Libya," Zohair Tighlet, an author and expert on Ibadism, told AFP.

They were faced with two options, he added, "to take on a never-ending war and disappear, like other minorities, or accept a state of invisibility and use it to begin a cultural rebirth".

The manuscripts are dusted and scanned for digital copies, which Barouni believes is "today's only solution" to preserve the old texts 

© FETHI BELAID / AFP

Today most of their manuscripts are held in family libraries, said Barouni.

"All families in Djerba have libraries, but a lot of the manuscripts were sold or exchanged among different people."

In the small conservation room, heaps of weathered books stand amid the humming of ozone generators, which help mitigate paper deterioration by preventing harmful organisms such as mould from taking hold.

The manuscripts are dusted and scanned for digital copies, which Barouni believes is "today's only solution" to preserve the old texts.

Because old Arabic cursive is challenging to modern readers, Barouni also started using Zinki, an AI software able to read and simplify the ancient writings.

For Feras Ben Abid, a London-based Tunisian software engineer who founded Zinki, the tool enables access to a myriad of manuscripts the average reader couldn't decipher.

It is also a way to "change misconceptions some have had on certain topics", like Ibadi heritage.

'Against tyrants'

Ibadism has historically incurred the wrath of both Sunni and Shia rulers, such as the Umayyad and Fatimid dynasties respectively, by adhering to the idea that any Muslim, regardless of lineage, can become the next leader after the death of the prophet.

"They call us Kharijites, as if we were against the religion," said Al-Barouni. "But no, we were against tyrants."

Presenting themselves as "democrats of Islam", Ibadis have a tradition of entrusting a council of elders to oversee the community's social and political issues "with the goal of preserving Ibadite society", said Tighlet.

That system was brought to an end under the French protectorate of Tunisia.

Those in present-day Tunisia found safety in Djerba -- a haven for minorities that was added to the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites last year for its unique settlement pattern.

Barouni uses AI software able to read and simplify the ancient writings 

© FETHI BELAID / AFP

The resort island is also home to a Christian Catholic group and one of the region's biggest Jewish communities outside of Israel, with over 1,500 members of the faith.

Nestled on their Mediterranean island, the Ibadis settled for a new and quiet life, contributing to its modern-day cultural kaleidoscope and accounting for two-thirds of its population, said Tighlet.

Ibadis "brought a particular urban theory, which was among the reasons the island was listed in UNESCO's World Heritage Sites," added the expert.

They adopted an unpretentious and frugal way of living, often reflected in their architecture with white-washed, nondescript mosques, small minarets, and no outward-looking windows.

Some of their mosques were built underground, "both for safety and symbolic reasons", whereas other temples rim the island's shore in order to remain on the look-out for enemy ships.

© 2024 AFP

Italian pair probed for selling champion horse's sperm

Rome (AFP) – Two men are under investigation in Italy accused of illegally selling semen from trotting champion Varenne, one of their lawyers told AFP Tuesday.


Issued on: 04/06/2024 - 

 Italian jockey Giampaulo Minucci celebrates his victory as he drives trotter 'Varenne' during the Prix D'Amerique legend race at Vincennes racetrack, outside Paris, on January 27, 2002

 © Jacques DEMARTHON / AFP/File

They are Walter Ferrero, the head of Varenne Forever, the company managin the stallion's breeding, and Roberto Brischetto, head of the stud farm where Varenne is in retirement near Turin.

They are suspected of having sold samples of semen from Varenne -- who won the Prix d'Amerique in 2001 and 2002 -- to breeders without alerting the horse's owner.

Prosecutors in Turin have closed the investigation and a judge must now rule on whether the case goes to trial.

"We are relaxed," Ferrero's lawyer, Enrico Calabrese, told AFP.

According to the La Stampa newspaper, the pair have since 2018 provided the stallion with "thousands of illegitimate sons".

In 2018 alone, they were said to have made 200,000 euros ($217,00).

The two men allegedly presented themselves as the owners of the stallion to sign contracts directly with breeders, at the expense of the real owner, Varenne Futurity.

Varenne, now 29 years old, retired in 2002.

© 2024 AFP

UK
Sunak and Starmer clash in first general election TV debate

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and opposition Labour Party leader Keir Starmer sparred Tuesday over tax, the cost of living and the country’s creaking health system in an inconclusive televised debate ahead of a July 4 election expected to make one of them the country's next leader.


Issued on: 05/06/2024 - 04:33

Britain's Labour Party leader Keir Starmer debates with Conservative Party leader and Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, as ITV hosts the first head-to-head debate of the general election, in Salford, Britain, June 4, 2024. © Jonathan Hordle, ITV via Reuters

By: NEWS WIRES

Sunak tried to boost his center-right party’s dismal outlook by urging voters to back the stability of continued Conservative government. Starmer hoped to cement his status as favorite by arguing that Britain desperately needs change. Both acknowledged the country’s many problems, from fraying public services to a broken immigration system. But neither could say outright, when asked, where the money would come from to fix them.

Sunak stressed his stewardship of the economy, which has seen inflation fall to just over 2% from a peak of more than 11% in late 2022. He said should stick with him because his “clear plan” for the economy was working.

Starmer said the election was a choice between more “chaos and division” with the Conservatives and “turning the page and rebuilding with Labour.”

Polls currently give center-left Labour a double-digit lead. To win, Starmer must persuade voters who previously backed the Tories that Labour can be trusted with the U.K.’s economy, borders and security .

Speaking in front of a live audience on a sleek, futuristic set at the studios of broadcaster ITV in Salford, northwest England, both Starmer and Sunak appeared nervous. Voters may have got the impression their choice is between two cautious and rather dull managers.

Both stuck to familiar themes. Sunak argued Labour would raise taxes because “it’s in their DNA.”

Sunak said he would stop people making dangerous journeys to the U.K. in small boats by sending asylum-seekers on a one-way trip to Rwanda , and suggested he'd be willing to take the U.K. out of the European Convention on Human Rights if its court blocked the deportations.

Starmer dwelled on the Conservatives’ record during 14 years in power, especially the chaotic last few years, which saw Prime Minister Boris Johnson ousted amid money and ethics scandals. Successor Liz Truss, elected by party members, rocked the economy with her uncosted tax-cutting plans and quit after 49 days. Sunak took over, without a national election, in October 2022.

“This government has lost control. Liz Truss crashed the economy,” Starmer said. “We cannot have five more years of this.”

A note of the personal crept in when Starmer took a dig at ex-banker Sunak’s wealth, saying his own father had been a factory worker and claiming Sunak did not understand the financial worries facing working-class people.

All 650 seats in the House of Commons are up for grabs on July 4. The leader of the party that can command a majority – either alone or in coalition – will become prime minister.

Both contenders said they would maintain Britain’s close ties with the United States if Donald Trump wins in November. Starmer said "the special relationship transcends whoever fills the post of prime minister and president."
No knockout blow

Sunak agreed that “having a strong relationship with our closest partner and ally in the United States is critical for keeping everyone in our country safe.”

Televised debates are a relatively recent addition to U.K. elections, first held in 2010. That debate spurred support for then-Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg, triggering a wave of “Cleggmania” that helped propel him into the deputy prime minister post in a coalition government with the Conservatives.

No debate since has had the same impact, but they have become a regular feature of election campaigns. Several more are scheduled before polling day, some featuring multiple party leaders as well as the two front-runners.

Rob Ford, professor of political science at the University of Manchester, said the lack of a knockout blow by either side counted as a good result for Sunak because he is behind in the polls.

“Will it matter in the end? Probably not. But it’s a bit of good news for Cons(ervatives) after a pretty rough few days. Will help with morale, at a minimum,” he wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter.

The debate came a day after populist firebrand Nigel Farage roiled the campaign, and dealt a blow to Sunak’s hopes, by announcing he will run for Parliament at the helm of the right-wing party Reform U.K.

Farage kicked off his campaign Tuesday in the eastern England seaside town of Clacton-on-Sea, where he is making an eighth attempt to win a seat in the House of Commons. His seven previous tries all failed.

The return of Farage, a key player in Britain’s 2016 decision to leave the European Union, is bad news for Sunak’s party. Reform look likely to siphon off votes of socially conservative older voters, a group the Tories have been targeting.

Farage claimed the Conservatives, who have been in office since 2010, had “betrayed” Brexit supporters because immigration had gone up, rather than down, since the U.K. left the EU.

He urged voters to “send me to Parliament to be a bloody nuisance.”

As he left a pub where he had been speaking to the media, Farage was splattered with a beverage, which appeared to be a milkshake, by a bystander. Essex Police said a 25-year-old woman from Clacton was arrested on suspicion of assault.

(AP)

'Unless Farage fluffs his challenge, he will make life difficult for the Tories' analyst says

Issued on: 04/06/2024

Nigel Farage has thrown his hat into the ring, in a move that could further erode the Conservative vote in the upcoming election. Sir John Curtice, Professor of Politics at the University of Strathclyde, tells FRANCE24's Tom Burges Watson that if Farage manages to keep intact his share of 11% as predicted by the latest polls, that is bad news for the Conservatives.

05:44 Video by:  Tom Burges Watson

 

Disruptor-in-Chief: 'Marmite' populist Farage seeks to 'bang another nail into conservatives coffin'

Issued on: 04/06/2024 

Arch-Brexiteer Nigel Farage threw himself into the political fray again on Tuesday, as he launched his election campaign on a chilly overcast day in the English seaside town of Clacton-on-Sea. Farage was in full campaign mode, a day after he dealt a blow to Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and his beleaguered Conservative party by announcing he will stand in the July 4 election. If UKIP's once fringe anti-EU stance influenced mainstream Tory policy over the years, Reform UK's very existence -- with Farage at the helm -- threatens to split the right-wing vote. With Farage throwing his hat in the race, upending the right-wing landscape and electorate, FRANCE 24's Mark Owen is joined by Tim Bale, Author of "The Conservative Party After Brexit" and Professor of Politics at Queen Mary University of London.

11:26 Video by: Mark OWEN

Bringing health-centric mobility to the people: Renault and the ‘U1st Vision’


By Dr. Tim Sandle
DIGITAL JOURNAL
June 4, 2024

Concept U1st Vision by Renault Group, with permission. (C) Renault Group

Renault, as a member of Software République, has helped to spearhead a series of citizen-centric mobile services with a special focus on health. Other innovations include reducing vehicle cybersecurity risks and aiming to unjam urban traffic by improving the smart transport of goods and people.

Software République has unveiled its “U1st Vision” concept. This is described as: “A first in citizen-centric mobile services with a focus on health”. The member companies are: Dassault Systèmes, Eviden (part of Atos Group), JCDecaux, Orange, Renault Group, STMicroelectronics and Thales.

The aim is to promote products to meet the new challenges of the connected vehicle, the smart city and energy. With the recent announcement, the focus is on mobility solutions. Software République’s “U1st Vision” technology seeks to move transportation from ‘mobility services’ to ‘services being mobile’.

The “U1st Vision” modular concept vehicle, and the associated planning and monitoring tools, have been designed to help public actors and private service providers in the delivery of new proximity services.

The “U1st” demonstrator is formed of two parts: a multi-service self-contained module (dubbed “pop-up”), delivered on an electric light commercial vehicle platform (FlexEVan). This brings together innovative technologies from the members of the Software République.

Multiple services such as healthcare, civil self-service support, bike repair and electrical goods recycling services can be offered to citizens via these self-contained modular units (“pop-ups”), as requested by local authorities.

As part of its “U1st Vision”, the Software République also includes a comprehensive planning, monitoring and services management tool for public actors and private service providers.

Software République, together with other contributors, has also announced the first use case of this service delivery platform with its “Health Pop-Up” module deploying decentralized, humanized, secured health services where and when needed.

This solution embeds 21 medical parameters including 12 innovations, including an Artificial Intelligence-powered avatar. The “Health Pop-Up” provides a solution to the challenges of ‘medical deserts’ by delivering an integrated one-stop mobile service to citizens for preventive care, and diagnostics and monitoring of diseases.

The aim is to redefine healthcare provision, taking advantage of the interconnected world and the new capabilities that allow for continuous health metrics measurement through smart devices while ensuring patients’ data privacy.

The health-centric module is operated by a medical assistant and enables teleconsultations with healthcare professionals.

The concept will enable healthcare to be provided anytime and anywhere, without this impacting service quality or data privacy.

Cannes trans actor files complaint over far-right 'sexist insult'

Agence France-Presse
May 29, 2024 

Karla Sofia Gascon was awarded for her role in ' Emilia Perez' (Valery HACHE/AFP)

The first transgender woman to be awarded Best Actress at the Cannes Film Festival on Wednesday filed a legal complaint over a "sexist insult" from a far-right politician after her win.

Karla Sofia Gascon and co-stars jointly received the accolade on Saturday for their performances in French auteur Jacques Audiard's dazzling narco musical " Emilia Perez".

In the film, the 52-year-old Spanish actor -- who lived as a man until she was 46 -- plays a Mexican drug trafficker both before and after gender reassignment surgery.


French far-right politician Marion Marechal after her win posted on X: "So a man has won Best Actress. Progress for the left means the erasure of women and mothers."

Gascon, through her lawyer, told AFP: "We need to stop such comments."

Her lawyer Etienne Deshoulieres said she had filed a legal complaint for "sexist insult on the basis of gender identity".

Gascon, who has a wife and daughter, dedicated her win in Cannes to "all the trans people who are suffering".

Earlier during the festival, she urged others to stop labelling people like her.

"Being trans is unimportant. A trans person is someone going through a transition. Once they have transitioned, that's it. They are what they are," she said.

" Emilia Perez" earned particular praise from critics for not fixating on the gender transition, but moving beyond to explore themes of family, love and the victims of Mexico's gang violence.