The looming U.S. ban or sale of TikTok is putting free speech, livelihoods at risk

 

Congress passed a law to potentially ban a platform that is a source of income for many--Some TikTok users are questioning how to balance the right to free speech and national security concerns.

GOOD RIDDANCE

Canadian serial killer Robert Pickton, who brought victims to pig farm, is dead after prison assault

 1 June 2024 

 

Share on TwitterShare on Facebook

• Share via emailShare on RedditShare on Linked In

This frame grab from an undated Global Television broadcast shows pig farmer Robert William Pickton inside a barn on his pig farm in Port Coquitlam, Canada. Photo: AFP / Global Television

Canadian serial killer Robert Pickton, who took female victims to his pig farm during a crime spree near Vancouver in the late 1990s and early 2000s, has died after being assaulted in prison, authorities said Friday. He was 74.

The Correctional Service of Canada said in a statement that Pickton, an inmate of Port-Cartier Institution in the province of Quebec, died in hospital following injuries in the 19 May assault involving another inmate. He was one of Canada's most notorious serial killers and his case made international headlines.

A 51-year-old inmate was in custody for the assault on Pickton, police spokesman Hugues Beaulieu said earlier this month.

Robert "Willie" Pickton was convicted of six counts of second-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison in 2007, with the maximum parole ineligibility period of 25 years, after being charged with the murders of 26 women.

Police began searching the Pickton farm in the Vancouver suburb of Port Coquitlam more than 22 years ago in what would be a years-long investigation into the disappearances of dozens of women from Vancouver's seediest streets, sex workers and users of drugs abandoned on the margins of society.

The remains or DNA of 33 women were found on the farm. Pickton once bragged to an undercover police officer that he killed a total of 49 women.

During his trial, prosecution witness Andrew Bellwood said Pickton told him how he strangled his victims and fed their remains to his pigs. Health officials once issued a tainted meat advisory to neighbours who might have bought pork from Pickton's farm, concerned the meat might have contained human remains.

Cynthia Cardinal, whose sister Georgina Papin was murdered by Pickton, said Pickton's death means she can finally move on from her sister's murder.

"This is gonna bring healing for, I won't say all families, I'll just say most of the families," she said. "I'm like - wow, finally. I can actually move on and heal and I can put this behind me."

Vancouver police were criticised for not taking the cases seriously because many of the missing were sex workers or users of drugs.

Canada's correctional service said it was conducting an investigation into the attack on Pickton.

"The investigation will examine all of the facts and circumstances surrounding the assault, including whether policies and protocols were followed," the service said in the statement. "We are mindful that this offender's case has had a devastating impact on communities in British Columbia and across the country, including Indigenous peoples, victims and their families. Our thoughts are with them."

Pickton's confirmed victims were six: Sereena Abotsway, Mona Wilson, Andrea Joesbury, Brenda Ann Wolfe, Papin and Marnie Frey.

"Earlier today, I was made aware of the death of an inmate at Port-Cartier Institution," Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc said in a statement. "At this time, my thoughts are with the families of the victims of this individual's heinous crimes."

At the time of Pickton's sentencing, British Columbia Supreme Court Justice James Williams said it was a "rare case that properly warrants the maximum period of parole ineligibility available to the court."

- AP

Killer Heat’s Shadow: India’s Labourers on the Frontlines, Face Boiling Temperatures


Country:
INDIA

Authors:
Shagun Kapil
GRANTEE

Joel Michael
GUEST CONTRIBUTOR

Project
No Escape From Heat for India’s Vulnerable Workers

READ MORE ABOUT THIS PROJECT


From L-R, Construction worker Rohit Kumar Paswan, boiler plant worker Bhim Singh 

and tailor Kajalben all face extreme, intense heat at work.

 Images by Joel Michael/CSE. India, 2024.

In part one of this series, DTE investigates how the new normal of extreme heat is impacting informal workers and workplaces lacking climate control mechanisms

Rohit Kumar Paswan’s daily job involves securing himself to a harness and ascending scaffolding on the 10th floor of a building under construction, with the mercury soaring to around 47 degrees Celsius.

Bhim Singh works inside a boiler plant that operates a textile unit.

Kajalben spends a significant portion of her day within her cramped house, operating a sewing machine to stitch clothes for her customers.

All three work in different occupations, in distinct workspaces — the first is directly exposed to the sun during his working hours, the second works within a factory and the third from the comfort of her own home. However, a common factor binds them in their workplaces: Extreme, intense heat is unavoidable for all three.

Video courtesy of Down To Earth. India, 2024.

Down To Earth’s (DTE) Shagun and Joel Michael travelled to brick kilns, construction sites, factories, small-scale units and homes serving as workplaces for thousands of informal workers in Delhi, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh (UP) and Gujarat to understand how a rapidly warming planet has made work extremely challenging, testing people’s tolerance limits.

Around 82 per cent of India’s workforce is engaged in the informal sector and nearly 90 per cent is informally employed.

This new series by DTE will report on how heat is affecting labourers and workplaces that lack climate control mechanisms like cooling or air conditioning, or where these systems cannot be implemented due to the nature of the work. The reports will also examine the health impacts heat has on the most vulnerable populations, along with possible prevention measures that industries can explore.

In the first part of the series, DTE reports on outdoor workers who build our cities but are directly exposed to the scorching heat.

“MY BODY FEELS like it is trapped in a heat island, soaked in sweat. I would choose any other job over this if given the choice,” 34-year-old Biresh Kumar described his daily job, which entails working directly under the sun’s rays for four hours (from 8 am to 1 pm) and then for another two hours after a break (1-3 pm).

Kumar works at a brick kiln in Bhopani village in the Faridabad district in Haryana, part of the Delhi-National Capital Region (NCR). He prepares clay from soil and crafts raw bricks in the open, under the sun. These bricks must be sundried before firing in the kiln.

Brick kiln worker Biresh Kumar. Image by Joel Michael/CSE. India, 2024.

DTE first met him in mid-April and recorded the area’s surface temperature using a ‘particle counter’ instrument, which measures air temperature, relative humidity and wet bulb (WB) temperature, among other factors. The temperature reading of the area where he works was 38.4°C.

WB is the lowest temperature to which air can be cooled by evaporating water at a constant pressure.

Workers in brick kilns are subjected to both extreme ambient temperatures and intense radiant heat from the kilns where the bricks are fired. “A person cannot walk for more than an hour in the sun and here our work entails continuously working under it. My job requires me to squat for most hours while making the bricks, which leads to knee pain and reduced blood circulation to the lower limbs,” he said.

This is Kumar’s first year working at a brick kiln. A native of Hathras district in the neighbouring UP, he owned a juice shop in Rajasthan’s Sri Ganganagar town until 2020, when he had to close it down during the COVID-19-induced lockdown.

The shop was rented. As Kumar was unable to afford the monthly rent in the pandemic, he and his family of five (wife and three children) had to relocate to their hometown in UP, with no savings and no source of income.

There, he encountered the contractor of the brick kiln, who offered him a non-institutional loan in exchange for his labour. The family accepted the advance and arrived in Faridabad in February 2024 to commence work at the kiln.

Sitting on a cot at some distance is Kumar’s co-worker, Somveer (he only provided his first name). For two days, Somveer was experiencing body aches, weakness and fever, forcing him to miss work and consequently forfeit his wage. He was unsure of the exact cause of his condition but suggested it could be due to heat exhaustion.

Neeraj Kaushik, the medical officer in charge of the Government Hospital (Community Health Centre) in Faridabad's Kheri Kalan, which is accessible to Somveer and Kumar, said he noticed an increase in the number of brick kiln workers presenting to the hospital with complaints of dehydration and fainting episodes.

“We see more such patients in the months of May and June. Sometimes they are severely dehydrated, have dry lips and are extremely weak, so we have to instantly administer rehydration fluids. For those with co-morbid conditions like diabetes, it becomes an emergency situation when their vitals are disoriented and then it takes a lot of time to revive them,” he said, pointing out that the patients were mostly people working in brick kilns, construction sites and agricultural farms.
India in grip of heatwave


On May 24, when DTE revisited two brick kilns (including the one where Kumar and Somveer work), the device recorded a temperature of 43°C at the site, with a relative humidity of 38.5 per cent and a WB temperature, which indicates both temperature and humidity, of 30°C.

India’s northern, northwestern and central regions are in the grip of a relentless heatwave, with temperatures even surpassing 50°C in some areas of Rajasthan, Haryana and Delhi on May 28. India Meteorological Department (IMD) defines a heatwave threshold as when the maximum temperature reaches 40°C in the plains, 30°C in hilly areas and 37°C in coastal areas, with a departure from the normal maximum temperature of at least 4.5°C.

The IMD, in its forecast, stated that there is a “very high likelihood of developing heat illness and heatstroke in all age groups.” According to media reports, there have been 11 deaths due to suspected heatstroke in the state of Rajasthan and two in Gujarat.
How hot is too hot to work?


The recommendations by National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health in the United States permit continuous work at heavy intensities in hot environments up to 34°C and 30 per cent relative humidity.

The year 2024 has witnessed every month breaking global heat records since the pre-industrial era. It commenced with Earth experiencing its warmest January since records began in 1850, followed by the hottest March and now May 2024 is poised to become the 12th month to continue the streak of record-breaking temperatures.

Climate change and the El Nino phenomenon have significantly contributed to this record-shattering heat surge across Asia, including India, as analysed by an international team of 13 leading climate scientists from the World Weather Attribution group in a global study on May 15, 2024.

While intense heat driven by climate change remains relentless worldwide, individuals engaged in heavy physical labour are particularly at risk as their work exposes them to greater heat stress.

In addition to brick kiln workers, outdoor labourers also include agricultural workers performing heavy physical labour in heat, construction workers, gig workers, autorickshaw drivers, street vendors, among others, who are more exposed due to the nature of their work and challenging economic conditions.

“My first visit to a brick kiln was as a child, 20 years ago, with my father (who worked at one of them). I used to play around then. Even then, work lasted from morning to evening, but there was less heat. There is a big difference between then and now,” said Kumar.

Similarly, Somveer has been working in various brick kilns for six years, but in the last two to three years, he claimed, the heat has tested his body’s tolerance level. “This work used to feel normal just two years ago,” he said.

Both make around 2,500 bricks a day on average and receive Rs 520 ($6.26) per 1,000 bricks. However, the number of bricks they produce decreases as temperatures peak.

India is projected to lose 5.8 per cent of working hours in 2030, a productivity loss equivalent to 34 million full-time jobs, due to global warming, the International Labour Organization (ILO) estimated in its 2019 report. As a result, this will lead to a loss of income and livelihood for informal workers, who are most vulnerable to extreme and intense heat.

A brick kiln in Bhopani village, Haryana. Image by Joel Michael. India, 2024.

According to World Bank estimates, nearly 75 per cent of India’s workforce, or 380 million people, depend on heat-exposed labour.

A study conducted in brick kilns in Chennai in 2013 and 2014, published in 2019, found that occupational heat exposure in the kilns during the summer months sometimes exceeded international standard limits for safe work.

Kumar and Somveer are just two of the nearly 440 million people employed in India’s unorganised sector, as per the Economic Survey 2021-22. But they both exemplify how work has not only been disrupted by excessive heat but now feels almost like an intolerable punishment.

Brick manufacturing is a highly labour-intensive industry. Large numbers of workers are employed at each stage, including moulding bricks, transporting sundried and baked bricks to the kiln, adding fuel to the kiln and removing bricks once they have cooled to transport them further.

In May, the work of moulding and transporting bricks at the brick kiln sites was moved to night-time. However, night-time temperatures have also increased substantially, along with humidity. Additionally, mosquito bites increase at night. The IMD, in its May 24, 2024 forecast, cautioned that warm night conditions could also intensify in different parts of northern India.

The workers in charge of firing the kiln and ensuring that the bricks are adequately burned, on the other hand, are not permitted to change their schedules because this is a 24-hour job. Kilns in Delhi-NCR start up on March 1 and only shut down when the monsoon arrives in mid-June.

Those working in the third stage (fuelling the kilns) are constantly exposed to sunlight and additional heat from the furnaces inside the kiln. The chambers that feed the fuel (husk in this case) and burn the bricks at temperatures ranging from 1,100°C to 1,200°C produce scorching heat. Temperatures in the area where bricks are baked rise significantly when compared to other areas on the site.

Video courtesy of Down To Earth. India, 2024.

At one of the two kilns visited by DTE on May 24, a group of seven dedicated ‘firemen’ continuously fed fuel into each chamber. DTE recorded a temperature of 48°C and a WB temperature of 30.3°C at 3.30 pm. There was a temperature difference of 2°C just 200 metres away, where it was around 46°C.

How hot does it feel to the workers? “Crossing 50°C,” said Rajendra Kumar, who works with six others in two shifts from 1 pm-7 pm and 1 am-7 am, for Rs 600 ($7.22) per day. Out of these 12 hours, a total of six hours are spent near the chamber. Of these six hours, three are during the daytime. This means that for at least three hours of their day shift, the group is exposed to extreme temperatures continuously.

Most men stay away from their families. “Yahan aayenge gharwale? Marna hai kya? (Why will they come here? Do they want to die?),” said Rajendra rhetorically.

India is the second-largest brick producer in the world, with the sector producing 233 billion bricks each year and employing about 23 million people, who are at risk of extreme heat exposure. The brick industry is growing, with the demand for bricks increasing due to rapid urbanisation and the growing number of construction projects in the country.
Infrastructure boom and heat conundrum


Madhu Mandal wonders if he will ever find a workplace where he can escape the heat. It is around 1 pm on a blazing hot day in the national capital, Delhi. Mandal and his wife work as masons at a construction site along one of the stretches of the Dwarka Expressway.

Construction work is progressing rapidly on the eight-lane expressway, which is being developed as a residential and commercial hub and has seen a massive transformation over the last 10 years, with high-rises, gated communities and retail hubs dotting the 29-kilometre highway. The Mandals, natives of Katihar district in Bihar, are working on one such high-rise.

The brick kiln sector supports the rapidly expanding construction industry, which is projected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of six per cent from 2024 to 2033, fuelled by the government’s infrastructure push and rapid urbanisation.

Construction workers like Mandal are the backbone of this economic activity in India. The sector is the second largest employer in India, next only to agriculture, employing nearly 74 million workers, according to the National Sample Survey Office 2016-17.

Construction work in Ahmedabad. Image by Joel Michael/CSE. India, 2024.

Scientists have said that heatwaves are not only here to stay but will intensify in the coming years. In a country where approximately 50 per cent of gross domestic product or GDP is contributed by workers who work in heat-exposed conditions, are there enough safety measures?

Mostly, no. For example, Paswan, a construction worker in Ahmedabad city in the state of Gujarat, has been requesting his manager to install a green net on the top floor of an under-construction shopping mall where he works, but to no avail.

He has to work in a scaffolding operation, which involves standing for long hours at a height. When he takes a break, he looks for a place with some shade. “But for that, we have to go downstairs, which is a challenge. We have been telling the managers to arrange for a green net somewhere on the top floor where we work,” he said.

Temperature readings at different sites at an outdoor workplace showed that in a shaded area, the temperature gets reduced by a good 3-4°C, compared to the open area. Thus a simple solution like putting up a green net, making a shaded area that will block direct sunlight, or having more green spaces just near where the workers spend their time working, will allow them to cool down their bodies and have a proper rest during their breaks.
Illustration by Yogendra Anand. Interactive design by Ritika Bohra.


A recent study by the Delhi-based think tank Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) showed that enhancing green spaces can cool down temperatures by as much as 5°C and up to a distance of more than 250 metres. When DTEmet Paswan in mid-May, the temperature was 46.7°C, with a WB temperature of 31.2°C.

“I start work at 8 am and just after 10 am, I start feeling the heat. After 10 am, I feel like taking a break every 20-30 minutes,” said 22-year-old Paswan.

However, his job involves clipping himself to a harness and treading the scaffold, so he cannot take breaks often. “There are moments in the day when the body just wants to stop and rest,” he said.

According to a study by National Institute of Occupational Health-Indian Council of Medical Research in Ahmedabad with 29 young male construction workers, heat exposure at the construction workplace during the summer months was very high, with WB globe temperatures reaching 33°C. This exceeds the international standard limit values for moderate level work activities in a hot environment, which are set at 30°C.

Among all the hazards exacerbated by climate change, heat is undoubtedly a major disaster that will become more intense. Disaster risk must be considered during a country’s development, said Abhiyant Tiwari, lead, health and climate resilience at Natural Resources Defense Council India.

“At the rate we are urbanising, almost 70 per cent of infrastructure is yet to be built for the future and it has to factor in the rate of warming we are facing across the world, particularly in the Global South. If we do not consider that, we will fail drastically,” said Tiwari, who was part of the development and implementation of the first heat action plan of South Asia in 2013.

This calls for India to seriously include the ‘heat factor’ in its work policies. Are the workers that build and run our cities at the centre of climate change? Are governments, companies and civil society considering heat in their workplaces and seeking real-life adaptation solutions? The second part of the series will explore these questions.

As a nonprofit journalism organization, we depend on your support to fund more than 170 reporting projects every year on critical global and local issues. Donate any amount today to become a Pulitzer Center Champion and receive exclusive benefits!

UN official highlights how better preparation has shrunk disaster deaths despite worsening climate



1 of 7 |
 A polling official enjoys a cooling spray of water under intense heat at a distribution venue for Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) and other election material on the eve of the fifth phase of polling in the six-week-long national election in Lucknow, India, Sunday, May 19, 2024. A top United Nations official says even though climate change makes disasters such as cyclones, floods and droughts more intense, more frequent and striking more places, fewer people are dying from those catastrophes globally. Thats because of better warning, planning and resilience.

 (AP Photo/Rajesh Kumar Singh, File)

BY SETH BORENSTEIN
 June 1, 2024Share

As climate change makes disasters such as cyclones, floods and droughts more intense, more frequent and striking more places, fewer people are dying from those catastrophes globally because of better warning, planning and resilience, a top United Nations official said.

The world hasn’t really noticed how the type of storms that once killed tens or hundreds of thousands of people now only claim handfuls of lives, new United Nations Assistant Secretary-General Kamal Kishore, who heads the UN’s office for disaster risk reduction told The Associated Press. But he said much more needs to be done to keep these disasters from pushing people into abject poverty.

“Fewer people are dying of disasters and if you look at that as a proportion of total population, it’s even fewer,” Kishore said in his first interview since taking office in mid-May. “We often take for granted the progress that we’ve made.”
ADVERTISEMENT


“Twenty years ago there was no tsunami early warning system except for one small part of the world. Now the whole world is covered by a tsunami warning system” after the 2004 tsunami that killed about 230,000 people in Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India and Thailand, Kishore said.

AP interview: Divisions among the world’s powerful nations are undermining UN efforts to end crises

People are getting better warnings about tropical cyclones — also called hurricanes and typhoons — so now the chances of dying in a tropical cyclone in a place like the Philippines are about one-third of what they were 20 years ago, Kishore said.

As the former disaster chief for India, Kishore points to how his country has cut deaths thanks to better warnings and community preparedness such as hospitals being ready for a surge in births during a cyclone. In 1999, a supercyclone hit eastern India, killing almost 10,000 people. Then a nearly similar sized storm hit in 2013, but killed only a few dozen people. Last year, on Kishore’s watch, Cyclone Biparjoy killed fewer than 10 people

The same goes for flood deaths, Kishore said.

The data backs up Kishore, said disaster epidemiologist Debarati Guha-Sapir of the Catholic University of Louvain in Brussels, who created a global disaster database. Her database — which she acknowledges has missing pieces — shows that global deaths per storm event has dropped from about a ten-year average of 24 in 2008 to ten-year average of about 8 in 2021. Flood deaths per event have gone from ten-year averages of nearly 72 to about 31, her data indicates.

While there are fewer deaths globally from disasters, there are still pockets in the poorest of countries, especially in Africa, where deaths are worsening or at least staying the same, Guha-Sapir said. It’s much like public health’s efforts to eradicate measles, success in most places, but areas that can least cope are not improving, she said.

India and Bangladesh are poster nations for better dealing with disasters and preventing deaths, especially in cyclones, Guha-Sapir said. In 1970, a cyclone killed more than 300,000 people in Bangladesh in one of the 20th century’s greatest natural disasters and now “Bangladesh has done fantastic work in disaster risk reduction for years and years and years,” she said.

Pointing out wins is important, Guha-Sapir said: “Gloom and doom will never get us anywhere.”

While countries such as India and Bangladesh have created warning systems, strengthened buildings such as hospitals and know what to do to prepare for and then react to disasters, a lot of it is also just because these countries are getting richer and better educated and so they can handle disasters better and protect themselves, Guha-Sapir said. Poorer countries and people can’t.

“Fewer people are dying, but that’s not because climate change is not happening,’' Kishore said ”That is despite the climate change. And that is because we have invested in resilience, invested in early warning systems.’'

Kishore said climate change is making his job tougher, yet he said doesn’t feel like Sisyphus, the mythical man pushing a giant boulder up a hill.

“You are getting more intense hazards, more frequently and (in) new geographies,” Kishore said, saying places, like Brazil that used to not worry too much about floods now are getting devastated. The same goes for extreme heat, which he said used to be an issue for only certain countries, but now has gone global, pointing to nearly 60,000 heat wave deaths in Europe in 2022.

India, where temperatures have been flirting with 122 degrees (50 degrees Celsius), has reduced heat deaths with specific regional plans, Kishore said.

“However with the new extreme temperatures we are seeing, every country needs to double its efforts to save lives,” he said. And that means looking at the built environment of cities, he added.

Cutting deaths is only part of the battle to reduce risk, Kishore said.

“We are doing a better job of saving lives but not of livelihoods,” Kishore said.

While fewer people are dying “you look at people who are losing their houses, people who are losing their businesses, a small farmer that is running a poultry farm,” Kishore said. When they get flooded or hit by a storm, they may survive but they’ve got nothing, no seeds, no fishing boats.

“On that we’re not doing as well as we should,” Kishore said. “We cannot accept that losses will occur. Of course they will occur, but they could be minimized by an order of magnitude.”
___

Read more of AP’s climate coverage at http://www.apnews.com/climate-and-environment
___

Follow Seth Borenstein on X at @borenbears
______

The Associated Press’ climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.

SETH BORENSTEIN
Borenstein is an Associated Press science writer, covering climate change, disasters, physics and other science topics. He is based in Washington, D.C.

2 of 7 |

FILE - Residents rest in a gymnasium converted into a makeshift shelter for people whose homes were flooded by heavy rains, in Canoas, Rio Grande do Sul state, Brazil, Wednesday, May 8, 2024. A top United Nations official says even though climate change makes disasters such as cyclones, floods and droughts more intense, more frequent and striking more places, fewer people are dying from those catastrophes globally. Thats because of better warning, planning and resilience. (AP Photo/Carlos Macedo, File)


3 of 7 |

FILE - Workers fix a pole to restore electricity following heavy winds and incessant rains after landfall of cyclone Biparjoy at Mandvi in Kutch district of Western Indian state of Gujarat, Friday, June 16, 2023. A top United Nations official says even though climate change makes disasters such as cyclones, floods and droughts more intense, more frequent and striking more places, fewer people are dying from those catastrophes globally. Thats because of better warning, planning and resilience. (AP Photo/Ajit Solanki, File)


4 of 7 |

FILE - Residents ride past the Gremio Arena surrounded by flood waters from heavy rains, in Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul state, Brazil, Thursday, May 9, 2024. A top United Nations official says even though climate change makes disasters such as cyclones, floods and droughts more intense, more frequent and striking more places, fewer people are dying from those catastrophes globally. Thats because of better warning, planning and resilience. (AP Photo/Andre Penner, File)


5 of 7 |

FILE - People evacuated from a village near Jakhau board a bus to travel to a shelter in Kutch district, India, Wednesday, June 14, 2023. A top United Nations official says even though climate change makes disasters such as cyclones, floods and droughts more intense, more frequent and striking more places, fewer people are dying from those catastrophes globally. Thats because of better warning, planning and resilience. (AP Photo/Ajit Solanki, File)


6 of 7 |

FILE - An abandoned canoe sits on the cracked ground amid a drought at the Sau reservoir, north of Barcelona, Spain, Monday, Jan. 22, 2024. A top United Nations official says even though climate change makes disasters such as cyclones, floods and droughts more intense, more frequent and striking more places, fewer people are dying from those catastrophes globally. Thats because of better warning, planning and resilience. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti, File)


7 of 7 |

FILE - A Brazilian soldier carries a dog after rescuing it from a flooded area after heavy rain in Canoas, Rio Grande do Sul state, Brazil, Thursday, May 9, 2024. A top United Nations official says even though climate change makes disasters such as cyclones, floods and droughts more intense, more frequent and striking more places, fewer people are dying from those catastrophes globally. Thats because of better warning, planning and resilience. (AP Photo/Carlos Macedo, File)

 

Ticketmaster confirms hack which could affect 560 million users

A BAD WEEK WITH DOJ INVESTIGATION TOO

The ShinyHunters group claimed responsibility for stealing data from Tickmaster users across the globe

Live Nation Entertainment and Ticketmaster logos (Photo: Dado Ruvic/Reuters)

By Kyriakos Petrakos

June 1, 2024 

Ticketmaster owner Live Nation confirmed that “unauthorised activity” took place on its database after a group of hackers claimed they had stolen the personal details of 560 million customers.

Previously, the ShinyHunters group claimed responsibility for stealing data from Ticketmaster users across the globe, including their names, addresses, phone numbers and partial credit card details such as cardholder names, the last four digits of the cards and expiration dates.

Reports on Thursday suggested that the group had demanded a $500,000 (£400,000) ransom payment to prevent the data from being sold to third parties.

Live Nation has now appeared to confirm this in a filing to the US Securities and Exchange Commission, in which it said that on 27 May “a criminal threat actor offered what it alleged to be Company user data for sale via the dark web,” adding that it was investigating the data breach.

In its filing, Live Nation said it was working to “mitigate risk” to customers and that it was taking steps to notify users about the unauthorised access to their personal data.

Live Nation has not confirmed the number of customers affected.

The Australian government said it is working with Ticketmaster to address the situation while the FBI has also offered to assist, according to a spokesperson for the US Embassy in Canberra who spoke to Agence France-Presse.

A spokesperson for the FBI told the BBC that it “has no comment on this matter.”

In its filing, Live Nation said: “As of the date of this filing, the incident has not had, and we do not believe it is reasonably likely to have, a material impact on our overall business operations or on our financial condition or results of operations.

“We continue to evaluate the risks and our remediation efforts are ongoing.”

A spokesperson for the Australia Home Affairs Department said in a statement to CBS News: “The Australian Government is aware of a cyber incident impacting Ticketmaster.

“The National Office of Cyber Security is engaging with Ticketmaster to understand the incident.”

Ticketmaster, which is one of the largest online ticket sales platform in the world, has not yet confirmed whether it fell victim to a data breach.

If the breach is confirmed, it could be the largest ever in terms of numbers and the extent of the data stolen.

While cyber security experts are warning that the claims may be false, authorities in Australia, which is where the breach was first reported, have confirmed they are investigating the potential hack.

An advert posted on the newly relaunched hacking forum BreachForums includes some sample data allegedly obtained in the breach.

ShinyHunters has been linked to a series of high-profile data breaches which resulted in millions of dollars in losses to the companies that were targeted.

The group sold a genuine database of information stolen from 70 million customers of the US telecoms firm AT&T in 2021.

In September 2023, the group also breached the data of 200,000 Pizza Hut customers in Australia.

The latest alleged breach coincides with the relaunch of BreachForums, a site on the dark web where hackers buy and sell stolen material along with information that enables breaches to be carried out.

The FBI clamped down on the forum in March 2023 and arrested its administrator Conor Brian Fitzpatrick.

While the FBI operation led to the forum’s closure, tech media reports suggest that the dark web site has now reappeared.

Large stolen databases are often first shared on the forums, but posts can also include false claims about alleged breaches.

Security researcher Kevin Beaumont told the BBC: “If Ticketmaster has had a breach of this scale it is important they inform customers but it is important to also consider that sometimes criminal hackers make false or inflated claims about data breaches – so people should not be overly concerned until a breach is confirmed.”

This is not the first time Ticketmaster has been drawn into cyber security issues.

In 2020, the company admitted it hacked into one of its competitors and agreed to pay a $10m fine.

In November, Ticketmaster was allegedly targeted by a cyber attack which led to problems selling tickets for Taylor Swift’s Eras tour.

i has sent a further request for comment to Live Nation and Ticketmaster.

Why is Kenya investigating alleged abuse by UK soldiers?

Multiple offences, including a murder, have hounded British soldiers in Kenya for years.

Britain's Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, left, awards a Long Service and Good Conduct medal to an officer at the British Army Training Unit Kenya [BATUK] in Nanyuki, Kenya, on March 17, 2017 [Thomas Mukoya/AP Photo]

By Shola Lawal

AL JAZEERA
Published On 1 Jun 2024

Kenya this week kick-started public hearings into widespread allegations that United Kingdom soldiers stationed in the East African country have committed multiple human rights violations.

For over a decade, locals on different occasions accused British soldiers training in towns in central Kenya of misconduct, environmental degradation, murder, and a host of other serious offences

The hearings mark the culmination of long-winded legal proceedings to try British soldiers under Kenyan law following years of lobbying by civil society groups and after initial pushback from the British government.

Here’s what we know about the abuse allegations and what’s expected to happen after the hearings:

What is BATUK and what are members accused of?

The British Army Training Unit Kenya (BATUK) is a permanent training support force based in Nanyuki, central Kenya – and it has existed since Kenyan independence from the UK in 1963.

BATUK has about 100 permanent staff and some 280 rotating short-term regiments from the UK. The unit trains British troops and provides antiterrorism training for Kenyan troops facing the al-Shabab armed group.

Although the unit has become essential for the economy in Nanyuki and surrounding counties close to training sites, with hundreds of locals employed and with many shops catering to the soldiers, residents have long listed grievances against the troops. Unexploded bombs left from training have claimed people’s limbs in multiple incidents.

Lethal chemicals, such as white phosphorus used in the training exercises, have also raised concerns. The chemical is believed to have contributed to a massive blaze that ripped through the privately owned Lolldaiga Conservancy in March 2021, burning swaths of forest. Locals said the smoke pressed in on them for days and caused eye and inhalation problems. Others said it pushed wildlife onto their farms, leading to crop loss. Some 5,000 people have sued BATUK over that incident.
Advertisement


Who is Agnes Wanjiru?

Sexual abuse claims are also key among the allegations, with several accusations of assault by troops against local women. One soldier in 2021 was dismissed and fined for lifting the skirts of a local woman in public.

In the highest profile case to date, UK soldiers are accused of the March 2012 murder of 21-year-old Agnes Wanjiru in a hotel in Nanyuki. The woman’s body was found in a septic tank two months later close to the room the soldiers used.

The allegations came to light in 2021 after a Sunday Times investigation revealed that a “Soldier X” who Wanjiru was last seen with, is believed to have stabbed her in the chest and abdomen. Although he revealed his actions to colleagues immediately, at least one of whom reported to senior commanders at BATUK, no action was taken.

The investigation also revealed Soldier X and several others poked fun at the murdered woman in Facebook posts.

How have victims tried to seek justice?

Attempts to get justice have in some cases yielded results. One teenager who lost two arms in 2015 after picking up an explosive that appeared to have been left behind by UK soldiers received $100,000 in compensation from the British government – although the UK disputes if the bomb that caused the injuries was for its army or the Kenyan army.

Other cases have recorded slower progress. Thousands of locals affected by the Lolldaiga fire are still fighting for compensation, their lawyers said.

Attempts by the murdered Wanjiru’s family to sue BATUK in Kenya also initially met with resistance as the British government claimed Kenyan courts did not have jurisdiction over UK troops as per the existing security agreement between the two countries. However, following the Sunday Times expose, General Nick Carter, UK chief of defence staff at the time, told local media the allegations were “shocking” and the UK would “cooperate very closely with the Kenyan authorities”.

A parliament vote to amend the security agreement between the countries in April 2023 means British troops can now be tried locally – although there are concerns the changes cannot be applied retrospectively. In August 2023, the Kenyan government officially launched an inquiry into Wanjiru’s killing.

“It has been a battle with them because the way they treat our people has been quite unfortunate,” John Macharia, head of the Africa Center for Corrective and Preventive Action (ACCPA) said. The local advocacy group lobbied for investigations into Wanjiru’s case and helped bring the fire incident to court.

“It’s both countries that are to blame because there have been compromises in Kenyan investigations and prosecution teams, some of whom went to the UK. We have asked how the Wanjiru investigation is progressing but they don’t respond to us and this is a concern for us. The impunity has caused a lot of harm to our people and the ecosystem,” he added.

An open letter from Wanjiru’s family to meet with King Charles – commander of the British armed forces – on his October 2023 trip to Kenya was not acknowledged.

What happened at this week’s hearings?

Victims of alleged abuse and crimes by British soldiers stepped forward with emotional testimonies in hearings held this week.

The mother of a young woman in a wheelchair testified how her daughter was the victim of a hit-and-run incident involving a BATUK truck. BATUK paid for her daughter’s hospital bills for two years, but never gave the family any compensation.

Another mother, holding her five-year-old daughter, narrated how she had been abandoned by a British soldier with whom she had been in a consensual relationship after he discovered she was pregnant. The soldier is believed to have since left Kenya. The woman said she wanted child support.

Survivors of the Lolldaiga fire also spoke at the hearings.

Kenyan authorities had invited Kenyans to submit written and oral testimonies. The hearings, they said, are meant to “investigate the allegations of human rights violations, including mistreatment, torture, unlawful detention, [and] killings”.

The hearings will also examine “alleged ethical breaches related to ethical misconduct, including corruption, fraud, discrimination, abuse of power, and other unethical behaviour”.

What’s next?

Lawmakers will collate evidence from the testimonies, evaluate them and then engage with the British government on possible redress mechanisms through diplomatic channels, a member of parliament told local reporters.

Activists say the hearings are likely to trigger multiple lawsuits against BATUK.

“It will shock the world,” Macharia of ACCPA said. “There are many other issues that have never been taken to court. But this will let the lawmakers interact with the community and understand those issues.”

Locals say their aim is not to force BATUK to close down but rather to make sure that troops who are still stationed at the base can act in a way that does not endanger the lives of villagers.

But there are fears that the inquiry might not achieve much or see anyone held accountable – at least in the short term, due to friendly relations between Kenya and its former colonial power.

The UK government has meanwhile reiterated that it intends to cooperate with Kenyan authorities. On Thursday, Neil Wigan, British high commissioner to Kenya, met with Wanjiru’s family.

“The meeting provided an opportunity for the High Commissioner to listen to the family and offer his condolences,” a statement by the British High Commission read.

“The High Commissioner also reiterated the UK’s continued commitment to cooperate fully with the Kenyan investigation into [the] death of Ms Wanjiru,” it added.

KEEP READING

‘Major non-NATO ally’: What does Biden’s new Kenya pledge mean?

Kenya braces for 3 days of anti-gov’t protests: All the details

‘I blame the government’: Poor Kenyans say no support amid record flooding

Indigenous nations approve historic water rights agreement with Arizona. It now goes to Congress

Tyrone Beason
Sat, June 1, 2024 

The Navajo, Hopi and San Juan Southern Paiute nations have settled their water-rights claims with the state of Arizona. Here, a stream winds through the arid Navajo Reservation. (Brian van der Brug/Los Angeles Times)

Irene Yazzie can't think of anyone who lives within 10 miles of her farm in the Navajo Nation who has drinking water flowing into their homes, hers included. In the far reaches of the reservation in Northeastern Arizona, near where the red-rock buttes of Monument Valley rise above the desert floor, indoor plumbing can feel like a luxury.

"I don't know that people understand how hard of a life we have here," said Yazzie, 71.

Help could be on the way if Congress approves a historic agreement reached between the Navajo, Hopi and San Juan Southern Paiute Tribes and the state of Arizona that would settle all of their outstanding water rights claims to the Colorado River Basin.

The deal, which all three tribes have now approved, marks a historic milestone for Indigenous nations that have fought for decades for their fair share of the water coursing through their ancestral lands.

Read more: This epic slice of Arizona feeds their souls but lacks a basic necessity: Water

Water claims with New Mexico and Utah had already been settled. Arizona had been the lone holdout. The 27,400-square-mile Navajo reservation, the nation's largest, stretches across parts of all three states, with huge distances between towns and even individual homes.

While millions of people in the interior Southwest and Southern California draw from the Colorado River to sustain their cities and crops, Yazzie's tribe has lacked pipelines connecting it to this precious — and overtaxed — waterway.

Several days a week, Yazzie or one of her two adult children makes the hour-long drive along bumpy dirt and gravel roads to reach a tribal community center that allows residents to pump water for a fee. Once back home, Yazzie has her son refill a cistern in the family's yard.

"I'm always hauling water," Yazzie said recently by phone.

Navajo Nation member Shanna Yazzie talks with Irene Yazzie about her water needs at a community water depot in Dennehotso, Ariz. (Brian van der Brug/Los Angeles Times)

Yazzie and her neighbors outside the Navajo hamlet of Dennehotso aren't alone in living with water scarcity. An estimated 30% of households on the Navajo reservation don't have indoor plumbing, and many who live in remote areas have to power their homes with generators because they're also not connected to the power grid.

During a signing event in the tribal capital of Window Rock, Ariz., Navajo Nation President Buu Nygren said the water agreement is especially meaningful for residents on the reservation who are forced to haul water simply to access a basic necessity of life. In some cases, residents share water supplies with relatives and friends, while others get relief from nonprofits that offer free water system installations.

While the deal has been a long time in the making, the effort to bring safe drinking water into tribal members' homes has taken on a new urgency in recent years due to droughts caused by climate change, the coronavirus pandemic and the battle among Southwestern states to secure their share of water from the river basin.

Read more: A California tribe was twice robbed of its land. A 77-acre purchase brings hope

The country's volatile politics and the looming presidential election are also top of mind for Indigenous leaders. The tribes will need both congressional approval and a presidential signature before the new agreement can take effect.

Some tribal officials see the Democratic administration of President Biden as more favorable to water rights claims and the protection of ancestral lands than Biden's predecessor and presumptive Republican nominee, Donald Trump, though both as president have acted in support of expanding water access. In 2020, the Trump administration backed a deal between the Navajo Nation and Utah that settled all water rights claims in state and authorized about $220 million in federal funding to help build water infrastructure. Since Biden took office in 2021, his administration has directed hundreds of millions of dollars to Indigenous tribes for water projects.

In 2023, however, the majority-conservative U.S. Supreme Court dealt a blow to Navajo efforts to expand water access when it ruled that the federal government is not legally obligated to aid in the building of pipelines and other infrastructure to bring safe drinking water to reservation residents.

"Last year it was a hit to the belly that the (U.S. Supreme Court) was not going to help us," Nygren said at the signing ceremony. "But now we have our own attorneys, water experts, hydrologists, and we can figure out how much water belongs to us.”

Navajo Nation member Shanna Yazzie distributes water and other supplies at the Navajo reservation in Cameron, Ariz., in March 2020. (Gina Ferazzi/Gina Ferazzi/Los Angeles Times)

Under the finalized agreement, the Navajo will receive "a substantial amount of the Colorado River Upper Basin water, some Lower Basin water, all groundwater underlying the Navajo Nation, all surface water that reaches the Navajo Nation from the Little Colorado River, and all wash water that reaches the Nation south of the Hopi reservation," according to the Navajo Nation Council.

The deal calls for the federal government to allocate $5 billion toward the building of critical infrastructure to link the territory's surface water and groundwater sources to the communities that need them. It also gives the Navajo the flexibility to move Arizona water from the Colorado River's upper basin to the lower basin and to divert water in New Mexico and Utah to Navajo communities in Arizona if that's the closest source to those residents.

"Obviously, living on the Navajo reservation, we don't have boundaries — this is just one piece of our homeland — so building out large infrastructure for water, sewer and electric lines, that's huge," said Joelynn Ashley, who chairs the Navajo Nation Water Rights Commission and represents areas that border the river.

Read more: Chuckwalla National Monument would protect swath of California desert and preserve a sacred land

Ashley said that while many Navajo have long depended on groundwater, contamination from uranium and arsenic, as well high salinity levels, make some of it unsafe to use. And some wells simply don't yield enough water to meet demand.

"We just want to be able to use all of our water because we've got a lot of places where either water quantity or water quality is not there," Ashley said.

Yazzie says the arrival of pipelines and water pouring from a tap in her home could not happen soon enough. She's looking forward to the day when she doesn't have to drive 16 miles each way to fill up on water for her family, as well as her 18 cows, 15 goats and two horses.

"It's a hassle," she said.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
View comments (10)

TURKIYE

Student arrested for receiving money from relatives abroad, charged with ‘terrorist financing’

ByTurkish Minute
June 1, 2024


A Turkish court on Friday arrested Esengül Arslan, a 23-year-old nursing student in İstanbul, for receiving funds sent by her relatives abroad, which authorities have labeled as “terrorist financing,” the Kronos news website reported.

Arslan was one of 90 people detained on Thursday on alleged links to the faith-based Gülen movement.

Arslan’s brother Ömer Arslan announced his sister’s arrest on X.

“They arrested my sister Esengül Arslan. They’re playing with the future of a young woman. For what? Shouldn’t I have sent money? Shouldn’t I have helped her?” Ömer said.

Esengül’s mother, Gülizar Arslan, said her daughter told her, “Mom, I didn’t do anything bad. I have a clear conscience. Don’t worry!”

The Arslan family’s situation worsened after two major earthquakes that struck 11 provinces in Turkey’s south and southeast in February 2023 left more than 53,000 people dead and hundreds of thousands injured or displaced while causing massive devastation.

With Gülizar Arslan’s husband incarcerated and their home in ruins, Esengül Arslan had been a crucial source of support for her mother, working various jobs including teaching and housekeeping.

Esengül Arslan’s father, Aziz Arslan, a former teacher, was dismissed from his job by a government decree and later sentenced to 10 years on alleged links to the Gülen movement, based on his deposits to the now-closed Bank Asya and work at a school linked to the movement.

The Turkish government accepted such daily activities as having an account at or depositing money in a Gülen movement-affiliated bank, working at any institution linked to the movement or subscribing to certain newspapers and magazines as benchmarks for identifying and arresting tens of thousands alleged members of the movement on charges of membership in a terrorist organization.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has been targeting followers of the Gülen movement, inspired by Muslim cleric Fethullah Gülen, since the corruption investigations in 2013, which implicated then-prime minister Erdoğan, his family members and his inner circle.

Dismissing the investigations as a Gülenist coup and conspiracy against his government, Erdoğan designated the movement as a terrorist organization and began to target its members. He intensified the crackdown on the movement following an abortive putsch on July 15, 2016, that he accused Gülen of masterminding. Gülen and the movement strongly deny involvement in the coup attempt or any terrorist activity.

A trailblazing feminist says Mexico’s ‘triumph’ of a first female president is no surprise

NPR

 JUNE 1, 2024
By  Jan Johnson ,Eyder Peralta

Elena Poniatowska poses for a portrait in her home in Mexico City on May 28, 2024.

Israel Fuguemann /NPR

MEXICO CITY — At 92, Elena Poniatowska, one of Mexico's most distinguished writers, has chronicled decades of women’s history in the country.

“I’ve always believed in women,” Poniatowska told NPR, just days before a historic election in which one of two women is likely to become the most powerful political figure in Mexico.

“I think it's not a dream. I think it's a battle that has been won,” Poniatowska said on Morning Edition.

She acknowledges that the enthusiasm falls short of the fervor surrounding Hilary Clinton’s 2016 campaign in the U.S., believing it’s because voters in Mexico take it for granted and find it “completely natural.”

Even to her, she says, “It's not a miracle. It's not a great surprise.”

The two leading candidates in this race are women: Claudia Sheinbaum, the ruling party's candidate, and opposition candidate Xóchitl Gálvez. And come Sunday, Sheinbaum, a candidate Poniatowska supports, may well become the most powerful woman in Mexico.

Known as a trailblazing feminist, Poniatowska has documented the triumphs of writers, painters, and other notable women who have struggled against systemic inequity and misogyny. Decades ago, she even met the woman who currently holds a double-digit polling lead in jail, when Poniatowska was interviewing political prisoners and Sheinbaum was accompanying her mother, who was also visiting inmates. Did Poniatowska find Sheinbaum extraordinary?

“I thought at the time that she was very beautiful, that she was very intelligent, and that I was happy to be next to a woman who was in the university.”

As to a woman rising to Mexico’s National Palace, she credits hard work and feminist intention.

After achieving parity in Mexico’s Congress in 2018, women banded together to press for a constitutional amendment that mandates parity in every aspect of public life — from the president's cabinet, to party candidates, to the legislature, and the courts.

“This is how I imagined (it). I worked for it. And I not only hoped it would happen. Women now have invaded territories that before they didn’t know,” Poniatowska says. “The only woman they used to speak about was the artist Frida Kahlo… And so now there are other women scientists, astronomers, women in hospitals, and women everywhere."

She once wrote of a country in which, in the 1920s, women were despised, discarded, consumed, stigmatized, and “hanged from the tree of patriarchy.” But she insists she never doubted that a woman would “take charge of a whole enormous country.”

Seated in her home against a backdrop of bright orchids and walls of bookshelves and photographs, Poniatowska recalls being inspired by her mother’s bravery in driving an ambulance in France during World War II. And she tells a story in which, under cover of darkness to escape detection by the Nazis, her mother coaxed a stray donkey into her van to transport it to a safer place.

“If you can rescue a donkey," she said, implying it meant a woman could do anything.

She says these elections—this “women’s triumph"— are personally gratifying. “It’s something that makes me happy — that makes me cry sometimes.”


Lilly Quiroz produced the audio version of this story, and Majd Al-Waheidi edited it for digital.

 Hong Kong Christian newspaper runs blank front page ahead of Tiananmen crackdown anniversary

The weekly Christian Times wrote in its latest issue, seen online Saturday ahead of the Tiananmen anniversary on Tuesday, that it “can only respond to the current situation by turning paragraphs into blank squares and white space,” adding that society has become “restrictive.”

A Hong Kong Christian newspaper has left its front page mostly blank ahead of the 35th annversary of China’s 1989 crackdown on protesters in Tiananmen Square, as concerns mount about dwindling freedoms in the city.

Christian Times’ June 2, 2024 issue. Photo: Christian Times, via screenshot.

The weekly Christian Times wrote in its latest issue, seen online Saturday, that it “can only respond to the current situation by turning paragraphs into blank squares and white space”, adding that society has become “restrictive”.

Hong Kong used to be the only place on Chinese soil where people could openly mourn those who died on June 4, 1989, when the government sent troops and tanks to crush democracy demonstrations in Beijing.

But public forms of commemoration such as candlelight vigils have been banned or driven underground as Beijing imposed a national security law on the city in 2020.

Hong Kong this week arrested seven people for sedition, accusing them of making social media posts that “took advantage of an upcoming sensitive date”.

The Christian Times usually publishes Tiananmen-related content ahead of every anniversary, but this year said its front page could not be printed “due to an issue”.

Candles lit near Victoria Park on June 4, 2021. Photo: Jimmy Lam/HKFP.

“In recent years, Hong Kong’s society has changed drastically and become more restrictive,” the paper said in an editorial published along with another mostly redacted article.

“Even a prayer based on historical memories may arouse ‘concern’.”


Hong Kong bishop Stephen Chow called this week for forgiveness and healing in an article that obliquely referenced the June 4 anniversary.

“It is still a sore spot that needs to be properly addressed… Nevertheless, I realise that I cannot wait and must instead move forward,” Chow wrote.

A Catholic mass to commemorate victims of the Tiananmen crackdown — held annually for more than three decades — was axed in 2022 after organisers said they feared violating Hong Kong law.

Hong Kong authorities have said the national security law was needed to stop violence and restore order after massive pro-democracy protests in 2019, while critics have accused the law of curtailing fundamental freedoms.