Africa: Deadly and Growing Impact of Air Pollution Laid Bare in New Unicef-Backed ReportFacebook

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The State of Global Air (SoGA) report published in partnership with the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) warns on Wednesday that air pollution is increasingly impacting human health - and is now the second leading global risk factor for premature death.

The fifth edition of the report, released by the Health Effects Institute (HEI), revealed that air pollution caused 8.1 million deaths worldwide in 2021 and many millions are dealing with debilitating chronic diseases, leaving healthcare systems, economies, and societies.

Further, it found that children under five are particularly vulnerable to air pollution, leaving over 700,000 in this age group dead in 2021.

'Accurate predictor'

The SoGA report found that pollutants like outdoor fine particulate matter (PM2.5) - which comes from burning fossil fuels and biomass in sectors like transportation, residential homes, wildfires, and more - caused more than 90 per cent of global air pollution deaths and were found to be the "most consistent and accurate predictor of poor health outcomes around the world."

Other pollutants like household air pollution, ozone (O3), and nitrogen dioxide (NO2) - which can be found in traffic exhaust - also contribute to the global deterioration of human health.

HEI President Dr. Elena Craft said she hopes the information in the report will inspire change.

"Air pollution has enormous implications for health. We know that improving air quality and global public health is practical and achievable," she said.

In addition to affecting people's health, pollutants like PM2.5 add to greenhouse gases that are warming the planet. As the earth warms, regions with high levels of NO2 will experience great levels of ozone, which can result in greater health effects.

Dr. Pallavi Pant, HEI's Head of Global Health said, "This new report offers a stark reminder of the significant impacts air pollution has on human health, with far too much of the burden borne by young children, older populations, and low- and middle-income countries."

She continued, "This points sharply at an opportunity for cities and countries to consider air quality and air pollution as high-risk factors when developing health policies and other noncommunicable disease prevention and control programmes."

Children 'uniquely vulnerable'

The report reveals that children are "uniquely vulnerable" to air pollution and effects can begin in the womb. It states that young children's exposure to air pollution has resulted in one in five deaths globally, pneumonia and asthma and affects children with inequities more than it does those in high-income countries.

UNICEF Deputy Executive Director Kitty van der Heijden said that nearly 2,000 children under five die every day due to the effects of air pollution.

'The global urgency is undeniable," she said. "It is imperative governments and businesses consider these estimates and locally available data and use it to inform meaningful, child-focused action to reduce air pollution and protect children's health."

Progress made

In addition to sharing details on the negative effects of air pollution on human health, the SoGA report also claims that there has been better awareness about the harms of being exposed to household air pollution and a 53 per cent decrease in the death rate of children under five since 2000 due to increased access to clean energy for cooking.

Also, regions experiencing the highest levels of air pollution have begun to address the issue by installing air pollution monitoring networks, implementing stricter air quality policies and more - particularly in Africa, Latin America and Asia.

Air pollution heightens risk of heart diseases, death in cancer patients: Study

The researchers found that exposure to fine particulate (PM2.5) pollution weakened the body's detoxification and its defences against inflammation, which are risk factors common to both cancer and cardiovascular disease

PTI New Delhi Published 19.06.24

Air pollution could increase the risk of heart diseases and death in cancer patients, adding to health inequities experienced by the group, according to a new research.

The research reviewed eight papers published between 2000 and 2023 that studied the direct impacts of air pollution on cardiovascular disease, such as heart attack and stroke, and cancer. More than 1.1 crore participants were included in the review.

The researchers found that exposure to fine particulate (PM2.5) pollution weakened the body's detoxification and its defences against inflammation, which are risk factors common to both cancer and cardiovascular disease.

"Air pollution plays an undeniable role in the field of cardio-oncology," the authors, including those from Huazhong University of Science and Technology, China, wrote.

Even short-term exposure to unhealthy levels of air pollution can quickly affect the heart health of cancer patients, according to the researchers. The findings are published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology (JACC): CardioOncology.

"This suggests that even temporary deteriorations in air quality can have immediate adverse effects on vulnerable populations such as cardio-oncology patients," said senior author Xiaoquan Rao, a cardiologist at Tongji Hospital, Huazhong University of Science and Technology.

Air pollution also worsens health inequities around the world as disadvantaged populations are exposed to higher levels and cancer patients among them are at a higher risk of heart disease and death compared to the general public, said the researchers.

According to the authors, while air pollution is recognised as a significant risk factor for both heart disease and cancer, this study aims to show its effects in cardio-oncology or the overlap of both conditions - an area in which little research has been done.

Deaths due to air pollution are estimated to be about 100-fold higher in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), compared to high-income ones. LMICs also see more than 65 per cent of all cancer deaths, and 70 per cent of cardiovascular disease deaths, the authors said in the study.

Environmental factors are critical for understanding cardio-oncology risk and patient management and the findings could help identify people more vulnerable to the risk, said Rao.

"This awareness is crucial for developing tailored air pollution exposure control measures and individualised patient management strategies aimed at mitigating cardiovascular disease risks among cancer patients," said Rao.

The authors also outlined potential interventions aimed at reducing the adverse effects of air pollution exposure, including recommendations for society and governments.

Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by The Telegraph Online staff and has been published from a syndicated feed.

Africa: Independent Panel on Pandemic Readiness Comes to Grim Conclusion

© La Presse

18 JUNE 2024
allAfrica.com

By Boakai Fofana

Monrovia — "If there were a new pandemic threat today...the world will likely be overwhelmed again".

That was the grim conclusion of the Independent Panel of Experts on Pandemic response. The group, chaired by Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and the former Norwegian Prime Minister Helen Clark, assessed the level of progress made on the set of recommendations it presented in 2021 during the height of the Covid crisis. The panel was established in 2020 by the World Health Organization to advance measures that world leaders must take to avert future pandemics.

"We just aren't equipped enough to stop outbreaks before they spread further," Helen Clark said at Tuesday's digital conference. She cited the Mpox outbreak, a viral infection that spreads from person to person, which has killed about a thousand people in the Democratic Republic of Congo and several others in South Africa, as an example of the lack of global readiness. Clark said if world leaders don't take serious measures to prepare, they are "gambling with our future". She urged the global community to "step up" to change the situation.

In their report, the panel examines the progress that has been made against recommendations presented to the World Health Assembly in 2021, which included the establishment of a high-level global health threat council led by heads of state, a reorganization of WHO's mandate and roles, the establishment of a new global system of surveillance and the creation of stronger national and regional capacities.

While Clark acknowledged that there has been some progress over the years to adhere to the panel's advice - such as the amendment to the International Health Regulations which will allow for faster information sharing from countries and the WHO, more still needs to be done. "Should the WHO be split into two organizations," the former Co-chair asked rhetorically, an apparent reference to the panel's suggestion for a re-examination of WHO's mandate - which will allow its emergency operations to be separate from the routine global health functions.

Unfortunately, Clark said, there hasn't been much focus on other recommendations such as accountability and the exertion of political leadership to help prevent future pandemics. "We have seen political leadership on pandemic preparedness and response issues just fade away," she said, warning that pandemic threats are "always with us".

While agreeing with the stark finding of the panel, other discussants at the conference highlighted the unequal level of global readiness: "Unless we prioritize and prepare well, the global south will not be ready," the CEO of Afrigen Biologics and Vaccines, Petro Terblanche said. Terblanche said preparedness must be global for the world to be fully protected against future pandemics.

Other discussants called for more engagements with civil society actors, because of their ability to "utilize the global networks".

THE NATION
EDITORIAL / JUNE 19, 2024

A Message From 1930: Zion Cannot Be Built on Bayonets


A hope for a more just future echoes across the decades from the pages of The Nation magazine.

RICHARD KREITNER




In a 2012 article for Commentary, “When the Radical American Left Loved Israel,” Ronald Radosh recalled the days in the 1940s when The Nation’s editor, Freda Kirchwey, made the magazine “a singular voice in behalf of the Zionist cause.”

It’s true that The Nation enthusiastically supported the creation of Israel. In late 1948, Kirchwey traveled to the new state and filed dispatches that were overwhelmingly approving—skeptical of outside criticism and woefully unbothered by the displacement of Palestinians and the occupation of their homes. Sara Alpern writes in her biography of Kirchwey that the editor’s son, Michael, recalled that while Kirchwey was interviewing a former Palestinian mayor of Jerusalem, Husayn al-Khalidi (uncle of the historian Rashid Khalidi), “she listened understandingly to Khalidi’s eloquent arguments; but it was as if she did not hear him. Her mind was already made up.”This article appears in the June 2024 issue, with the headline “Peace Be to Zion.”

A few articles from nearly a century ago complicate the story told by Radosh (and others). Though it was in favor of the idea of a Jewish state in Palestine, The Nation of the 1920s—under the editorship of Oswald Garrison Villard—recognized that Palestinian claims to the land were at risk of being trampled as the number of Jewish settlers increased. In August 1929, conflicts over access to the Western Wall in the Old City of Jerusalem escalated into Arab attacks on Jews throughout Palestine, killing 133, while 116 Palestinians were killed, mostly by British security forces suppressing the riots (although there were some counterattacks by Jews). The Nation condemned the violence but sympathized with Palestinians’ “bitter sense of dispossession” and understandable opposition to “any program of making the 90 per cent Arab land of Palestine the homeland of an alien people.” The editors added, “These are facts, this is a history which one has no right to forget, however intense one’s sympathy with the murdered Jews of Hebron.”

A few months later, another editorial, “Peace Be to Zion,” contended that “Zion cannot be built on bayonets.” It was wrong for Jews to expect “the political domination of Palestine.” Somehow, The Nation argued, “the permanent structure of Zion must be built on a foundation of mutual understanding between Jews and Arabs.” Subscribers had complained, but the magazine held firm:

Because we have tried to understand and explain, as far as we could, what lay in the background of the killings, many of our readers have apparently felt that we were inclined to condone the attacks on the Jews. Nothing could be further from the truth; we have nothing but reprobation for violence and murder, and sympathy for the victims. But we have no word to retract that we have spoken in defense of Arab rights; nor have the Arabs forfeited those rights by the misconduct of some of their number…. We once more assert that the only way for those who have been wronged in Palestine is the way, not of vengeance, but of forgiveness and reconciliation.

#H7N8

Second Australian state reports confirmed case of contagious bird flu

Due to the spread of bird flu, Australia’s major supermarket chain Coles has put a cap on the purchase of eggs since last week. 

JUN 19, 2024

SYDNEY – Testing results confirmed on June 19 that the highly contagious bird flu, also known as avian influenza, was detected at a poultry farm in the Australian state of New South Wales (NSW).

The confirmation came only days after a sixth farm in Victoria recently tested positive for the H7N3 strain. Ms Tara Moriarty, NSW minister for agriculture, said in a statement that the state government has enacted its emergency biosecurity incident plan to address the detection of the high pathogenicity avian influenza (HPAI).

According to the statement, the HPAI detected is the H7N8 type, which is not the same strain as the current Victorian outbreak. It is believed, at the current stage, to be a separate spill-over event potentially from wild birds.

As the high pathogenic diseases can spread quickly and lead to a high mortality rate among poultry birds, the farm is now under an immediate lockdown and the NSW government also commenced its emergency animal disease response.

“NSW consumers should not be concerned about eggs and poultry products from the supermarkets,” said Ms Moriarty.

“This detection does not pose a risk to consumer health and the products are safe to consume if they are handled and cooked as per standard food handling practices,” the minister added.

Due to the spread of bird flu, Australia’s major supermarket chain Coles has put a cap on the purchase of eggs since last week.

Signs were seen on June 19 in one of the Coles stores in Sydney saying that due to a shortage of supply on eggs, the supermarket has introduced a temporary limit of two items per customer or transaction. XINHUA
MORE ON THIS TOPIC

International Day For The Elimination Of Sexual Violence In Conflict 

Statement By Radhouane Nouicer

Thursday, 20 June 2024, 
Press Release: OHCHR

Amidst the harrowing reports of conflict-related sexual violence (CRSV) in Sudan, this year marks the 10th commemoration of the International Day for the Elimination of Sexual Violence in Conflict, on 19 June, with a focus on healthcare. Attacks on healthcare have severely impacted the fundamental right to health for survivors of sexual violence.

I am appalled by instances of CRSV, including rape, gang rape, trafficking for sexual exploitation and forced prostitution, sometimes based on ethnic or tribal affiliation.

The UN Human Rights Office has documented cases of CRSV affecting at least 133 women, girls, men and boys since the current fighting began in April 2023. These cases significantly underrepresent the horror experienced by Sudanese victims, suggesting a much higher scale of sexual violence.

The majority of victims are unable to report due to shame, stigma, and fear of reprisal, to name a few. Striking facts include more than half of the incidents the Office documented are gangrape, a brutal form of sexual violence that kills. In most of the cases, victims were unable to receive immediate or adequate medical services needed in conflict areas.

In both peace and wartime, there must be an environment where medical personnel can provide necessary services to survivors of sexual violence without fear. Their commitment to serving these survivors should be respected and protected. Women and girls exposed to sexual violence, resulting in forced pregnancy, require immediate reproductive healthcare. However, Sudanese laws – particularly one that requires medically authorised evidence during investigations - have obstructed survivors' access to healthcare, resulting in serious health problems for several women and a generation of children born as a result of rape.

While commemorating the International Day for the Elimination of Sexual Violence in Conflict, I condemn all attacks on healthcare facilities, medical staff, and service providers. I also call for full access to medical care and psychosocial support for survivors to preserve their lives and dignity. This support should include economic empowerment and access to justice, with the latter eventually leading towards preventing these heinous crimes.

Let us stand together to honour the victims and survivors of sexual violence in conflict and express solidarity with the medical personnel who support them on the frontlines at great risk.

© Scoop Media

'Handcuffed like dangerous criminals': Amnesty International accuses Egypt of persecuting Sudanese refugees en masse

One day ahead of World Refugee Day, Amnesty International released a detailed report on the alleged atrocities Sudanese refugees have experienced in Egypt.

Amnesty Interantional accused Egypt of committing human rights violations against undocumented Sudanese refugees. [Getty]

Amnesty International accused Egypt on Wednesday of allegedly committing human rights violations en masse against undocumented Sudanese refugees, who fled the war-ravaged neighbouring Sudan to, arguably, face a worse fate.

In a report entitled, "Handcuffed like dangerous criminals: Arbitrary detention and forced returns of Sudanese refugees in Egypt," the international watchdog called on Egypt to immediately cease the alleged "mass arbitrary arrests and unlawful deportations of Sudanese refugees," who sought refuge in Egypt, many were reportedly kept in inhumane conditions before being forcibly deported.

The London-based watchdog claimed in the 35-page report, released a day ahead of "World Refugee Day," due on 20 June, that the Egyptian authorities had forcibly returned 800 Sudanese detainees from January to March this year.

Sudanese refugees bring their delectable cuisine to Egypt

Society

The New Arab

The Sudanese refugees were reportedly deported after they had been denied the right to claim asylum, including by the UN High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR), or to legally challenge deportation decisions.

The group said it based its findings on interviews with detained refugees and other concerned individuals, as well as a review of official statements and documents and audiovisual evidence.

In Cairo and Giza provinces in Greater Cairo, police have been reportedly conducting mass stops and identity checks targeting dark-skinned individuals, spreading fear among the refugee community with many afraid to leave their homes. Other individuals were detained in Aswan, border areas in southern Aswan province, neighbouring Sudan.

Among the atrocities detailed in the report, 14 Sudanese refugees were reportedly detained from public hospitals in Aswan, against medical advice, where they were receiving treatment for serious injuries sustained during road accidents on their journeys from Sudan to Egypt.

"Authorities transferred them…to detention, where they were forced to sleep on the ground after surgery," the report claimed.

"Amnesty International’s Evidence Lab reviewed photos and verified videos from January 2024 of women and children sitting on dirty floors amidst rubbish in a warehouse controlled by Egyptian border guards," the report added.

In recent months, anti-Sudanese sentiments have unfolded in Egypt, especially after the country witnessed a significant influx of refugees, with Egyptians accusing Sudanese nationals of causing the ongoing economic crisis in the country to worsen.

The international human rights group cited former detainees as alleging that "the warehouses were infested by rats and pigeon nests, and those detained endured cold nights with no appropriate clothing or blankets."

"Men's warehouse conditions were overcrowded, with over a hundred men crammed together and limited access to overflowing toilets, forcing them to urinate in plastic bottles at night," the report alleged.



In October 2022, the EU and Egypt signed an €80 million cooperation agreement, which included building up the capacity of Egyptian Border Guard Forces to curb irregular migration and human trafficking across Egypt's border. The agreement purports to apply "rights-based, protection-oriented and gender-sensitive approaches".

A further aid and investment package, under which migration is a key pillar, was agreed in March 2024 as part of the newly announced strategic and comprehensive partnership between the EU and Egypt.


Since the conflict in Sudan began, the Egyptian authorities have failed to provide statistics or acknowledge their policy of deportations. But it is believed that Egypt had already been home to about four million Sudanese citizens prior to the ongoing conflict.

Before war broke out in Sudan in April last year, Egypt had required only Sudanese men between the ages of 16 and 49 to obtain an entry visa.

Women, children, and the elderly were exempted from this rule. But as the number soared, Egypt required all Sudanese nationals, regardless of age or gender, to obtain a visa that took three to four months to be acquired. The Egyptian authorities justified the new measure to help limit "illegal activities," including fraud.

Earlier this month, dozens of Sudanese refugees lost their lives, including elderly citizens, women, and children. They died mainly from sunstroke and dehydration, as they reportedly attempted to cross into Egypt via Aswan inside open trucks facilitated by smugglers during a heat wave.


Meanwhile, the ministries of defence and interior did not reportedly respond to Amnesty's letters sharing its documentation and recommendations, while the state-run Egyptian National Council of Human Rights claimed that "the authorities comply with their international obligations."

When contacted by The New Arab, several Sudanese nationals living in Egypt refused to comment on the claims in the report for safety reasons.

Sudan siege bears hallmarks of brutal Darfur war

Jennifer Holleis

DW

TODAY

DW spoke to Sudanese civilians under siege in El Fasher amid attacks by the Sudanese Rapid Support Forces. Is this a repeat of the "scorched earth" tactics used in the Darfur genocide?

This woman waits to see a doctor with her baby at the Zamzam displacement camp, close to El Fasher in North Darfur, Sudan

Image: Mohamed Zakaria/MSF/REUTERS

The struggle to survive Sudan's civil war has taken its toll on Taj-Alseer Ahamed. After holding out for two months in Darfur's besieged city El Fasher, Ahamed is on the verge of breaking down.

"We don't have money to buy food or water. We don't know where our relatives are. We cannot sleep and have to hide from bullets or missiles day and night," he told DW in El Fasher.

During the first year of war, which broke out in April 2023 between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), El Fasher had turned into a relatively safe place for some 1.5 million people, including 800,000 internally displaced persons.

However, in mid-April 2024, the situation changed. The humanitarian hub, which is under SAF control, became the last major battle zone in Sudan's Darfur region, which is largely under RSF control.

As of last week, fighting in El Fasher has killed at least 226 people, according to the medical charity organization Doctors Without Borders. The United Nations also states that around 130,000 people fled the city since April.

Taj-alseer Ahamed is losing hope after an RSF attack destroyed the neighborhood in El Fasher.Image: DW

Yet, both figures might be much higher as the ongoing fighting makes it difficult to keep track of refugees and casualties.

Since the beginning of the conflict in Sudan more than a year ago, the World Health Organization estimates that around 16,000 people have been killed and 33,000 injured. The war has also displaced more than 9 million people and left some 5 million on the brink of famine.

"This is the largest humanitarian crisis on the face of the planet, and yet somehow it threatens to get worse," Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the US ambassador to the United Nations, recently said.

'Life is unbearable'

"We are just people who don't belong to any side, so why are we being shelled and killed?" asked Mohammad Mousa, an internally displaced Sudanese refugee.

"A few days ago, dozens of innocent civilians were killed by artillery fire in our neighborhood," he told DW.

Due to the shelling and the resulting chaos "we couldn't find our children." He is still in shock, but at last, the family managed to rejoin.

 

DW spoke to Mohammed Moussa in the besieged city El Fasher. He lost his house through attacks by the Rapid Support Forces that are at war with the Sudanese Armed Forces.Image: DW

Mousa's neighbor Hamid Adam showed DW the remains of his house. "It was quarter to nine in the morning when the first missile blew up on Alarbeen Street. Then the second exploded in Isa Arabi's house and the third went off in front of my house.

"This is not just artillery fire, this was a rocket that was strong enough to destroy mountains but should never be used against human beings."

Mohamed Osman, a Sudan researcher in the Africa Division of Human Rights Watch, told DW the region continues to see "relentless shelling and airstrikes, burning of residential areas and attacks that have significantly damaged infrastructure critical to the population, especially healthcare."

"Life has become unbearable for those who remain in the city," Osman said.


In addition to the attacks by the RSF, the Sudanese Armed Forces are extremely restricting and hampering access to aid, he told DW.

"This is a war crime. We need to see concerted and coordinated action to press the warring parties to allow unfettered humanitarian access."

Last Thursday, the UN Security Council passed a resolution demanding an end to the siege. The international body expressed "grave concern" over the spreading of violence in light of credible reports that the RSF is carrying out "ethnically motivated violence" in El Fasher.

However, on the ground, not much seems to be changing. DW correspondents confirmed on Tuesday that fighting was ongoing, and there was a lack of water, food and humanitarian aid.

'Scorched earth'

"What is happening in El Fasher is best described as scorched earth strategy," Hager Ali, a researcher at the German think tank GIGA Institute for Global and Area Studies, told DW.

The term "scorched earth" as a war tactic was used as early as in the violent Darfur War in 2003. Brutal attacks by the Janjaweed Forces, the predecessor of the RSF, had killed hundreds of thousands of non-Arab people.

War has raged for more than a year in Sudan between the regular military and the paramilitary Rapid Support ForcesImage: AFP

Ali points out that it seems that history is about to repeat itself in light of the siege and the shelling of El Fasher's population.

The destruction of important agricultural goods, razing villages, the systematic killing of non-Arab minorities, widespread sexual violence against women, "all of this is to make sure that even when you retreat, your enemy has absolutely nothing to gain," Ali said.

And yet, Ali doubts that El Fasher will remain under the control of the Sudanese Armed Forces.

In her view, the SAF most likely already considers Darfur as a lost case, including El Fasher.

"It would take substantial resources from the Sudanese Armed Forces to reestablish any control in Darfur but it would not translate into the same decisive victory if they were to reconquer the cities of Omdurman or Khartoum," Ali said.

However, as of now, there are neither signs that SAF troops are planning to retreat, nor that RSF troops are advancing.

For the Sudanese refugee Hamid Adam in El Fasher, this means bearing the brunt of the bleak war reality for longer.

"At night, armed groups came into our house and told us to get out," he told DW adding that "we call on the government to come and rescue us." So far, to no avail.

Sudan civil war displaces million  01:30


Mariel Müller, DW's Bureau Chief East Africa, contributed to this article.

Edited by: Maren Sass

Jennifer Holleis Editor and commentator focusing on the Middle East and North Africa

BAD APPLE

Apple workers demand halt to scheme matching staff donations to organisations linked to Israeli military and settlements

In an open letter, Apple workers and former employees called on the tech giant to stop matching donations to organisations with ties to the Israeli military.

The New Arab Staff
12 June, 2024


Apple employees have called on the tech giant to stop matching donations to Israeli army linked organisations [Getty]

Employees and shareholders at Apple have published an open letter urging the tech giant to stop an alleged scheme matching employee donations to organisations that have ties to the Israeli army and illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank.

The letter comes following a previous statement from Apple employees calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and for the company to investigate links to organisations linked to the Israeli army.

Over 140 people have signed the letter, including former employees and staff in customer relations, product design, software engineering, Apple solutions, finance, programme management, among other roles.

Like other large corporations, Apple employees can make donations to a number of non-profit organisations which their employer matches via the platform Benevity.

The letter states the staff stand in solidarity with those at Apples4ceasefire who have requested the company remove two organisations they are matching donations to, believed to be funding illegal settlements.


"We are amplifying that message and asking that Apple must promptly investigate and cease matching donations to all organisations that further illegal settlements in occupied territories and support the IDF," the letter states.

"Such support directly contravenes international law and our organisation’s purported commitment to human rights as well as matching cause eligibility."

Why do Israel's weapons systems have Biblical names?

Unfiltered

Ravale Mohydin

Some of the organisations listed include Friends of Israel Defence Forces, HaYovel Inc, One Israel Fund, and Israel Gives.

The charities are involved in collecting donations on behalf of Israeli soldiers, contributing to expanding illegal settlements within occupied Palestinian territory, and protecting Israeli settlers.

The signatories of the letter states that any delayed or lack of response from Apple will risk undermining trust in their commitment to safety, community, justice and human rights.

The New Arab reached out to Apple but did not receive a response by the time of publication.

The open letter comes at the same time as the Apple World Wide Developers Conference (WWDC24), where the tech giant announced its entryway into artificial intelligence, dubbed Apple Intelligence, as well as users having the chance to tap into ChatGPT through Siri.

Apple has been the subject of criticism in recent months from activists and human rights campaigners due to Israel’s ongoing war on Gaza.

In April, nearly 300 present and former staff members signed an open letter to Apple CEO Tim Cook with concerns that the tech giant had neglected to acknowledge the suffering of Palestinians in Gaza.

The workers wrote to express their "disappointment and shock at the lack of care and understanding this company has given the Palestinian community".


Israel’s war on Gaza has killed at least 37,000 Palestinians since October and wounded 84,000 others in the same time frame. The bombardment has levelled entire neighbourhoods and plunged the enclave into a deep humanitarian crisis.

Lebanon's electricity crisis: Generator cartels vs. solar energy

The crisis-ridden ownership of energy in Lebanon has created an energy divide of haves and have-nots and a system reliant on imports, writes Charles Lawrie.


Charles Lawrie
19 Jun, 2024

The future only looks bright for owners of private diesel generators, writes Charles Lawrie [Getty].


Inequity in Lebanon is rarely as stark as in the baking heat of summer, when the rich keep cool in the comfort of air conditioning (AC) and the poor are left to sweat it out.

The distinction lies in whether one relies on the beleaguered public power company, Electricité du Liban (EDL), which provides a maximum of four hours of electricity per day, depending on where one lives.

Lebanon’s rolling blackouts, the bane of daily life for most households, only worsened following the 2019 economic collapse, and are made worse still during the hotter months due to rampant AC usage.
RELATED

With €1bn bribe, the EU is rewarding Lebanon's bad behaviour
Perspectives
Benjamin Fève

Lebanon’s ever-dependable private generators have been stepping into the gap for years and are now offering 24/7 electricity access – to those who can afford it.

For an extraordinary $320 per month, or just under $4,000 annually, households in central Beirut can access a premium service, sufficient to run two standard AC units simultaneously day and night.

Lebanon set for another summer of blackouts

The country’s electricity crisis has its roots in the post-civil war period when EDL opted to continue relying on expensive fuel-powered thermal plants to produce power.

The company also set tariffs in the 1990s and didn’t raise them again until 2023, allowing inflation to eat away at their value. Lax bill collection, systematic customer non-payment, and electricity theft created further long-term revenue leakages.

Consequently, EDL hasn’t been remotely close to recovering costs for some three decades, precipitating a cycle of underinvestment and poor coverage.

Propping up the flagging electricity provider cost the Lebanese treasury a mind-boggling $43 billion to EDL, or roughly 46 percent of Lebanon’s public debt, between 1993 and 2020. Meanwhile, political-sectarian squabbling has long paralysed electricity sector reforms and blocked the implementation of an independent regulatory body.

Time to end France’s protection of Lebanon’s ruling elite

Unfiltered

Leonora Monson

Today, Lebanon’s electricity comes mostly from power plants built in the 1990s: Deir Ammar, outside Tripoli, and Zahrani, south of Saida.

These electricity stations burn diesel oil imported through a complicated swap deal with Iraq involving oil traders implicated in the 2020 contaminated fuel scandal.

A recent report revealed that EDL plans to rely on this import deal until at least 2028, even though the Iraqis have yet to be paid for diesel imported since 2021

By 2028, Lebanon is expected to owe Iraq $5.5 billion in unpaid fuel bills, without the Lebanese having come close to 24-hour power from their public utility provider.

Thus, the future looks bright for the owners of private diesel generators, stacked like shipping containers in neighbourhood parking lots countrywide.

If EDL’s tariffs had been absurdly low, generator subscriptions now fluctuate wildly: in Beirut, households typically pay over $100 per month for a 5-ampere connection, which barely sustains a standard AC unit, while in the northern Akkar region households pay around $40.

In crisis-hit Lebanon, everyday life is a series of hurdles

Perspectives

Kristina Tayar

Generator bills were estimated to account for an average of 44 percent of monthly household income in 2023, 88 percent for the poorest households, while others went without a subscription at all.

A 2020 World Bank study found that private operators typically run generators with a 500-kilo volt-ampere (KVA) output, able to supply roughly 300 households each. The same study found that economies of scale allow owners’ profits to increase exponentially with each new generator they add.

Residents reflexively denounce the owners of these generators as a mafia with murky ties to unidentified figures in the political class. While there is little evidence to suggest a nationwide generator ‘mafia’, turf wars for customers have taken place between rival generator owners, including gun battles last year in Tripoli and Beirut.

"Lebanon’s ever-dependable private generators have been stepping into the gap for years and are now offering 24/7 electricity access – to those who can afford it"

Beyond causing economic hardship, a forthcoming study links increased pollution from private generators to rising cancer rates in Beirut. Tens of thousands of AC units pumping hot air outside also contribute to the ‘urban heat island effect’, further warming the city.

A more positive response to Lebanon’s electricity woes, however, has been the accelerating adoption of solar photovoltaic (PV) panels since 2019.

The removal of fuel subsidies in 2021 caused a massive uptick in solar imports, with 100 megawatts (MW) installed in 2021 and 500 MW installed in 2022.

In areas such as Baalbek-Hermel, residential solar PV adoption rates now likely exceed 70 percent, putting these regions among the most solarised in the world. Factories in the fertile Bekaa Valley, too, have installed vast solar arrays.
Mending the energy divide

Yet solarisation has its limits. According to internal EDL documents, renewable energy sources will likely account for only 12 percent of total generation capacity by the decade's end, driven by large-scale, privately financed solar farms.

In built-up areas, residents are less likely to install solar panels, given limited roof space, neighbourly arguments over roof access, and the high cost of solar panels and batteries. In 2023, a 5-kilowatt (kW) solar PV and battery system cost around $5,000.

How Lebanon's crisis sparked a solar power revolution

In-depth

Rodayna Raydan

While there is no simple fix for the energy sector, steps toward a better future in Lebanon are apparent.

First, the state should increase generator inspections and flex its regulatory muscle to ensure generator owners use metered pricing at government-set tariff levels and install pollution-reducing filter systems.

Second, building codes should be revised to require passive cooling, improved insulation, and more natural building materials such as clay bricks and wood.

Third, the Iraqi fuel deal should be amended to swap Iraqi fuel for compressed natural gas from Egypt, a far cheaper and cleaner alternative for running Deir Ammar and Zahrani power plants.

Finally, the Lebanese government could raise its renewable energy aspirations by accepting Qatar’s offer to install a 100 MW solar array, which appears to have been mysteriously nixed by unspecified political factions.

Earlier this year the World Bank laid out a scenario in which, through shifting electricity production to natural gas and solar, Lebanon could reduce energy costs by 41 percent, reduce CO2 emissions by 43 percent, and significantly reduce air pollution. In the meantime, most Lebanese households will have to reach for the hand fan as they face another long, hot, and smog-filled summer.

Charles Lawrie is Triangle and Badil’s Energy Specialist. He is currently pursuing a doctorate in International Relations at the University of Sussex and is an Affiliate Scholar at the American University of Beirut's Issam Fares Institute.

Follow him on X: @charlie__lawrie

THE LAST COLONY VIVA INDEPENDENCE
New Caledonia police detain independence leader and 10 others in wake of revolt against French rule


Police wait for the arrival of French President Emmanuel Macron at the central police station in Noumea, New Caledonia, Thursday, May 23, 2024. Police in the restive French Pacific territory of New Caledonia on Wednesday June 19, 2024 rounded up eight people, including an independence leader, suspected of having had a guiding role in deadly violence that wracked the archipelago where Indigenous Kanak people have long sought to break free from France. 

(Ludovic Marin/Pool Photo via AP)

 June 19, 2024

PARIS (AP) — Police in the restive French Pacific territory of New Caledonia rounded up 11 people Wednesday, including an independence leader, who are suspected of having a role in the deadly violence that wracked the archipelago where Indigenous Kanak people have long sought to break free from France.

The detentions were part of an ongoing police investigation launched May 17, just days after unrest first erupted, into a wave of armed clashes, looting, blazes and other violence that turned parts of the capital, Nouméa, and its suburbs into no-go zones.

New Caledonia’s prosecutor, Yves Dupas, said in a statement that the police round-up started in the early morning, with others detained later in the day, including some who reported to police stations of their own accord.

He said those taken in custody include Christian Tein, a leader of a pro-independence group that French officials alleged played a leading role in weeks of violence that erupted in May over contested voting reforms for New Caledonia. Dupas did not identify the 10 other people detained.

The revolt prompted France to declare a state of emergency on the archipelago and rush in reinforcements for police forces that were rapidly overwhelmed. The violence led to nine deaths, including two gendarmes, and widespread destruction of shops, businesses and homes.




New Caledonia reopening its international airport and shortening curfew as unrest continues to ebb

Macron suspends voting reform in New Caledonia that had sparked violence


A man shot by police in New Caledonia has died. The French Pacific territory remains restive

The prosecutor said Wednesday’s detentions were part of a police investigation into a broad array of suspected crimes, including complicity in homicide and attempted homicide, armed robbery, arson, and membership of a group created to prepare violent acts. The possible charges allow investigators to hold detainees for questioning for up to 96 hours, he said. After that, an investigating magistrate would have to decide whether police have gathered sufficient evidence to warrant formal charges.

With France now plunged into frenzied campaigning for snap parliamentary elections, French President Emmanuel Macron has suspended the reforms that would have altered voting rights in New Caledonia.

With unrest now ebbing, the French Pacific territory this week shortened its overnight curfew by two hours, pushing back its start from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. It also reopened the international airport that was closed to commercial flights for more than a month.