WOMAN, LIFE, FREEDOM

Kurdish activist sentenced to death in Iran

2024-07-04 

Shafaq News/ An Iranian Kurdish activist, Sharifa Mohammadi, has been sentenced to death by an Iranian court on Thursday, according to human rights groups.

Mohammadi, who was arrested in December 2023 in Rasht, Iran, was convicted of rebellion, a crime punishable by death, and sentenced to the maximum penalty, said Norway-based Hengaw Organization and the US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency.

Mohammadi was accused of belonging to the Komala Kurdish party, which is banned in Iran. Hengaw reported that she was subjected to "physical and mental torture" by intelligence officers while in detention.

The two organizations said that a revolutionary court in Rasht, the capital of Gilan province on the Caspian Sea, convicted her and sentenced her to death after a hearing.

A source close to her family said that Mohammadi was a member of a local labor organization "and had no connection to Komala."

The US-based Abdorrahman Boroumand Center for Human Rights, which focuses on Iran, said the death sentence was linked to "her involvement with an independent labor union."

"This extreme verdict highlights the harsh crackdown on dissent inside Iran, particularly against labor activists amid economic unrest," it added.

A campaign set up to support her cause wrote on its social media accounts that the verdict was "ridiculous and baseless" and aimed at spreading "fear and intimidation" among activists in Gilan province.

Gilan was a major center for protests that erupted in 2022 after the death of Kurdish young woman Mahsa Amini while in custody by Iranian authorities for allegedly violating the Islamic Republic's dress code.

Human rights activists have accused Iranian authorities of using the death penalty as a tool to intimidate the population in response to protests.

The Human Rights Organization in Iran said that at least 249 people, including ten women, were executed in Iran in the first six months of 2024.

It warned of a "sharp increase" in executions after the runoff round of Iran's presidential election scheduled for Friday, which pits hardliner Saeed Jalili against reformist Masoud Pezeshkian.

Head of Iraqi Kurdistan Region wishes success for Pezeshkian

Tehran, IRNA - In a phone call with the president-elect of the Islamic Republic, the head of the Kurdistan region of Iraq said that the relations between the two sides are based on deep and long-standing cultural, historical and religious ties.

Nichervan Barzani, in a phone call with the president-elect of the Islamic Republic on Thursday evening while congratulating Masoud Pezeshkian on the occasion of his victory wished him success in the important mission of the presidency.

"The relations between us and you are based on deep bonds and it is an ancient historical and religious culture that is not influenced by any external factor," he added.

In this telephone conversation, Pezeshkian while appreciating the congratulatory message and the call of the head of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, described the relations between the two sides as growing and emphasized on using all available capacities to expand cooperation.

Gaza paramedic alleges mistreatment in Israeli detention | REUTERS

 Jul 11, 2024  #News #israelhamaswar #gaza

Shot below the knee, detained without charge for 35 days, 

blindfolded, cuffed and beaten: Palestinian paramedic 

Tamer Ossama Salem al-Hafy shares his story of alleged

 mistreatment while he was detained by Israeli forces in Gaza.

F FOR FAILURE

US to permanently close off Gaza aid pier calling for additional flow of supplies to come via land

UNABLE TO BUILD A BRIDGE OVER TROUBLED WATERS

A satellite image shows the remaining section of the temporary Gaza pier on May 29, after it broke in rough seas. (Maxar Technologies via AP)

In short:

The United States has announced it will wind down operations of a pier it built in May to deliver much-needed humanitarian aid to Gazans stranded in the war.

Although an initial success, the pier broke down and had to be removed multiple times due to bad weather, with its latest re-anchoring effort this week also failing.

What's next?

US officials say getting supplies into the Palestinian enclave was the "real issue right now" but argue the most effective means is through land transfers.

The US says its humanitarian pier off the coast of Gaza, which has been hampered by bad weather and aid distribution problems, will shut down soon.

President Joe Biden announced in March plans to put the pier in place for aid deliveries as famine loomed in Gaza, an enclave of 2.3 million people, locked by land to its north, south and east, and the sea to the west.

While the pier has brought in 8,100 metric tons of aid to a marshalling area on Gaza's shore since it started operating in May, the 370 metre floating pier has had to be removed multiple times because of bad weather.

Much of the aid has not reached hungry Gazans after the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) paused operations in June because of security concerns.

The US-built aid pier operated for just 20 days, being removed several times due to weather damage before it was decided to be shut.(U.S. Central Command via AP)

Pentagon spokesperson Air Force Major General Patrick Ryder on Thursday, local time, said the military unsuccessfully tried to re-anchor the pier on Wednesday.

He did not clarify a new date for a re-anchoring, but said the effort would soon end.

"The pier has always been intended as a temporary solution to enable the additional flow of aid into Gaza during a period of dire humanitarian need … the pier will soon cease operations," Mr Ryder said.

US officials have told Reuters the pier operations could shift to the Israeli port of Ashdod as soon as next week

.
Palestinians gather in the hope of obtaining aid delivered into Gaza through the pier, 10 days before it broke in May.(Reuters: Ramadan Abed)

White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters the pier had helped bring urgently needed food and humanitarian aid to Gaza, but there were now additional supplies entering the Palestinian enclave via land routes.

"The real issue right now is not about getting aid into Gaza. It's about getting aid around Gaza effectively," he said, citing lawlessness, armed gangs and in some cases, the Hamas militant group trying to disrupt aid distribution.

The UN has long said maritime deliveries were no substitute for land access. It said land routes needed to remain the focus of aid operations in the enclave, where a global hunger monitor last month said there was a high risk of famine.

"We welcomed the pier as an additional resource while it worked. We will keep pushing for what we actually need, which is large-scale road transfer of aid into Gaza," UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric told reporters.

The UN had been overseeing the transportation of aid from the pier to WFP warehouses, but that involvement was suspended for a security review after a June 8 hostage-rescue mission in the area by the Israeli military.

Late last month, WFP said it had arranged for commercial operators to instead start clearing aid that had accumulated at the pier to avoid spoilage.

The US military estimates the pier will cost more than $200 million and involve about 1,000 service members.

Separately on Thursday, the US Senate narrowly voted to block legislation introduced by Republican senator Ted Cruz that would have cut off funding for the pier.

Reuters

US set to wind down Gaza pier operations

National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan says US ‘will wind down pier operations’ in ‘relatively short order’.

A truck carries humanitarian aid across Trident Pier, a temporary pier to deliver aid, off the Gaza Strip [File: Amir Cohen/Reuters]

Published On 11 Jul 2024

The United States has said it will soon end operations from its pier designed to increase the flow of humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip amid Israel’s continuing war.

The $230m pier has repeatedly been detached from the shore because of weather conditions since its initial installation in mid-May, and the project also faced problems with the distribution of assistance due to conditions onshore.

“I do anticipate that in relatively short order, we will wind down pier operations,” National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan told journalists on Thursday.

Pentagon spokesman Major-General Pat Ryder said in a statement that “the pier will soon cease operations, with more details on that process and timing available in the coming days”.

A United Nations report says 96 percent of Gaza’s population is food insecure, and one in five Palestinians, or about 495,000 people, face starvation amid Israel’s nine-month war on the territory.

While the pier has brought in 8,100 metric tonnes of aid to a marshalling area on Gaza’s shore since it started operating in May, the 370m (1,200-foot) floating pier has had to be removed multiple times because of bad weather.

Sullivan said the pier helped bring urgently needed food and other aid to Gaza, but additional supplies are now coming into the Palestinian enclave via land routes.

“The real issue right now is not about getting aid into Gaza. It’s about getting aid around Gaza effectively,” he told reporters

.

A satellite image shows an overview of the Trident Pier in Gaza [File: Maxar Technologies/Handout via Reuters]

Military personnel attempted to re-anchor the temporary Gaza pier to the beach on Wednesday after technical and weather-related issues, but were unable to do so.

The project has also been hampered by security threats that prompted aid agencies to halt distribution of the food and other supplies into Gaza.

The aid groups have said that while any amount of food for Gaza is welcome, many have criticised the project as a costly distraction, saying the US should concentrate on pressuring Israel to allow more aid through land borders, which have long been considered the most productive option.

The UN suspended all World Food Programme (WFP) deliveries from the pier after a June 8 Israeli military raid that secured the release of four Israeli hostages but killed hundreds of Palestinians, citing concerns that troops used an area near there for flying out the rescued hostages by helicopter.

Aid flowing through the pier then began piling up in the secure area on the beach, but the WFP eventually hired contractors to move it into storage areas for further distribution. The US Defense Department said this week that a significant amount of the aid had been cleared out.

600 OF THE 1200 KILLED WERE IDF

Gallant calls for state inquiry into Oct. 7 that will probe him, Netanyahu and IDF

Crowd at officer graduation ceremony cheers defense minister’s call, particularly after he says commission should investigate PM — who has argued probe should wait till after war

By TOI STAFF

Today, JULY 12,2024

Defense Minister Yoav Gallant speaks during a graduation ceremony at the IDF's officers school in southern Israel on July 11, 2024. (YouTube screenshot/used in accordance with Clause 27a of the Copyright Law)


In a challenge to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant called on Thursday for the formation of a state commission of inquiry to investigate the Hamas-led October 7 onslaught and the failures surrounding it.

Despite calls from several opposition lawmakers, Netanyahu has insisted that an investigation determining the culpability of the government cannot take place while the war in Gaza is ongoing. He has also been non-committal on establishing a state commission — the investigatory body with the greatest powers — indicating that other formats may be appropriate.

But Gallant, in an address at a ceremony for graduating IDF officers, with Netanyahu watching in the audience, said the probe should not wait any longer and argued that it should be all-encompassing.

“We need an investigation at the national level that will clarify the facts – a state commission of inquiry,” he declared.

“It must examine all of us: the decision-makers and professionals, the government, the army and security services, this government — and the governments over the last decade that led to the events of October 7,” Gallant said to applause.

“It needs to examine me, the defense minister, it must examine the prime minister, the chief of the staff and the head of the Shin Bet, the army and all the national bodies subordinate to the government,” he continued, receiving the most cheers after mentioning the premier.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and IDF Chief Herzi Halevi speak during a graduation ceremony at the IDF’s officers school in southern Israel on July 11, 2024. (Amos Ben Gershom / GPO)

Gallant added that the commission needed to examine the intelligence and operational failures that took place on October 7; the management of the war since; and how Hamas managed to build up its forces over the past decade and plan the terror onslaught.

The defense minister is not the first to demand a state commission of inquiry into October 7. In May, National Unity leader Benny Gantz, who was then a member of the emergency government and the since-dissolved war cabinet, made the same demand after the IDF revealed that Netanyahu had received multiple communiques from Military Intelligence in the spring and summer of 2023 warning him about how Israel’s enemies viewed that year’s mass political upheaval, sparked by the government’s efforts to radically overhaul the judiciary.



National Unity party head Benny Gantz holds a press conference in Ramat Gan on June 9, 2024. (Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90)

Last month, Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara implored Netanyahu to cease blocking the launch of a state commission of inquiry, explaining that a probe into the war is essential in fending off actions being taken against Jerusalem at international tribunals.

In a letter to Netanyahu, Baharav-Miara argued that a state commission of inquiry that would examine various aspects of the war was the best defense against the genocide accusations Israel is facing at the International Court of Justice, along with the arrest warrants sought by the top prosecutor of the International Criminal Court against the premier and Gallant.

With the mounting pressure, Netanyahu reportedly began looking into Knesset legislation to establish an independent panel headed by a figure of his choosing in June. State commissions of inquiry are typically headed by a retired Supreme Court Justice, and Esther Hayut is the most obvious choice, given that she just recently finished her tenure as president of the top court. But Netanyahu is reportedly vehemently opposed to her appointment, given her outspoken criticism of his government’s judicial overhaul. Accordingly, legislation to circumvent Hayut has reportedly become Netanyahu’s preferred maneuver.

Baharav-Miara warned against this strategy, writing to Netanyahu that “any other existing mechanism [to probe October 7 failures] would not fit the needs and the unique risks that the country is currently facing.”

Gallant’s call was issued on the same day that the IDF released the results of a probe it conducted into the battle of Kibbutz Be’eri on October 7.

The probe found that the army “failed in its mission to protect the residents of Kibbutz Be’eri” largely because it had never prepared or trained for such an event.

The probe found that the army had difficulty building a clear picture of what was happening in Be’eri until the afternoon, despite the local security team providing information on the fighting starting early in the morning. It also found that security authorities did not provide Be’eri with an adequate warning of the attack.

In response to the results of the probe, Be’eri released a statement demanding that those who were responsible for the failures resign and that a state commission of inquiry be formed to deliver more in-depth answers.

Emanuel Fabian and Sam Sokol contributed to this report.

Detailed IDF Probe Reveals Security Lapses in Kibbutz Be’eri on Israel’s Deadliest Day

A sign saying in Hebrew 'your are the prime you are guilty' against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is hung on a house that was damaged during the deadly Oct 7 Hamas attack on the kibbutz on June 24, 2024 in Be'eri, Israel. (Amir Levy/Getty Images)

THE MEDIA LINE STAFF

ISRAEL
07/11/2024


The Israeli military has officially acknowledged significant security failings during the Hamas attack on October 7, which targeted Kibbutz Be’eri, among other locations, resulting in one of the deadliest days in the country’s history. The probe’s findings, released on Thursday, paint a grim picture of unpreparedness and miscoordination that led to the tragic outcomes.

During the attack, more than 100 residents of Be’eri, a small community of about 1,000 people, were killed, and 32 were taken hostage, with 11 still remaining in Gaza. The investigation scrutinized the sequence of events and the conduct of the security forces, revealing that the military was caught off guard by the scale of the infiltration and lacked adequate forces to respond effectively.

“The IDF failed in its mission to defend the residents of Kibbutz Be’eri,” stated Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari in a press conference. He detailed how the residents, vastly outnumbered, fought valiantly against the attackers and how the military’s response was hobbled by a lack of coordination and delayed awareness of the situation.

The report also touched on a controversial incident where tank fire was directed at a house where terrorists held about 15 hostages. The military defended this action, stating that it was a response to immediate threats to the hostages’ lives, although further investigation is needed to determine the exact causes of death for the hostages inside the house.

The release of the military report was a sobering moment for the residents of Be’eri, many of whom are still displaced and grappling with the losses of that day. “I didn’t need all these details,” said Miri Gad Mesika, a member of the kibbutz. “What matters to me is why what happened happened, how we can prevent it from happening again, how we can bring back our hostages, and how we can feel secure again.”

In reaction to these revelations, Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant called for a state inquiry to investigate these security lapses further, advocating for accountability that extends up to the highest levels of leadership, including his own role and that of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. This call comes amidst Netanyahu’s reluctance to initiate such an inquiry, previously stating that assessments should wait until the war’s end.


The urgency for a state inquiry was underscored by Elam Maor, a member of Kibbutz Be’eri’s local security team, who shared a harrowing account of the day’s events with Channel 12. Maor recounted a critical conversation with Netanyahu at 11:00 a.m. on October 7, during which he informed the Prime Minister of the dire situation: hundreds of terrorists inside the kibbutz and the community’s desperate need for assistance. According to Maor, Netanyahu’s response was that the matter would be handled, yet additional military forces did not arrive until 1:30 p.m., leaving the kibbutz to fend for itself for hours.

Inquiry into October 7 attack says Israeli army failed

2024-07-11 

Shafaq News/ An Israeli internal investigation into the attack on the kibbutz of Be’eri on October 7 found that the Israeli military “failed in its mission to protect the residents” and “was not prepared for the extensive infiltration scenario” by Hamas that day, which involved “multiple infiltration points by thousands of terrorists attacking dozens of locations simultaneously.”

Be’eri, located in in the south near Gaza, was one of the hardest hit communities in the October 7 attacks when Hamas militants stormed the kibbutz, killing 101 Israelis, according to the report.

Thirty people were reportedly abducted that day.

The inquiry said the military had trained for isolated and specific infiltrations. “As a result, there were no additional reserve forces in the area that could have been sent to Kibbutz Be’eri,” the inquiry said.

Responding to the inquiry’s report, the Chief of the General Staff, Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi said it “clearly illustrates the magnitude of the failure and the scale of the disaster that befell the residents of the south who defended their families with their bodies for many hours while the IDF was not there to protect them.”

The inquiry found that “the IDF struggled to create a clear and accurate situational assessment of what was happening in the kibbutz until the afternoon of October 7,” even though the local emergency team had provided an updated assessment.

“Combat in the area during the initial hours was characterized by a lack of command and control, a lack of coordination, and a lack of order among the different forces and units. This led to several incidents where security forces grouped at the entrance to the kibbutz without immediately engaging in combat,” the report said.

“The inquiry found that the security officials did not provide sufficient warning to the residents of Kibbutz Be’eri about the infiltration of terrorists during the initial hours of the terrorist attack,” the report continued.

The inquiry concluded that the turning point came only when a senior officer was appointed to coordinate forces in the area, leading to the regaining of operational control of the kibbutz.

“Despite operational errors and mistakes in force deployment, the inquiry team noted that the combat in Be’eri included a series of acts of heroism and supreme courage by the fighting forces, commanders, and security personnel who fought in the kibbutz, saving many residents,” the report said.

Thirty one security personnel were killed in the area after some “340 terrorists infiltrated the kibbutz,” of whom about 100 were killed, it said.

The inquiry team found that that the attack on Be’eri began at around 7 a.m. local time on October 7 and that Hamas controlled the kibbutz for about four hours.

During this period, the “first IDF soldiers arrive, are hit, evacuate the wounded, exit the kibbutz, and, positioning themselves at the entrance of the kibbutz, engage in combat with the terrorists who reached the gate.”

By 4.15 p.m., the 99th Division had established itself at the kibbutz and began organizing command and control.

By 6 p.m., “about 700 IDF soldiers and security forces are operating in the area of the kibbutz,” the inquiry found.

The Chief of the General Staff, Lt. Gen. Halevi, accepted the conclusions of the inquiry, and acknowledged that “the IDF did not fulfil its mission to defend the residents in the most grave manner and failed in its mission.”

Halevi noted that “from the afternoon hours onwards, forces were waiting outside the kibbutz while the massacre continued inside. This situation is extremely grave and cannot occur.”

“The reasons for this were found to include that commanders who arrived with forces entered the kibbutz with a part of the force to better understand the situation; some forces did not initiate contact since they did not understand the severity of the situation and the lack of adequate forces; some of those waiting outside were support forces providing a perimeter for those engaged in combat inside the kibbutz,” he said.

As for prioritizing the evacuation of wounded soldiers, Halevi said that civilian protection was the highest-priority mission. “Soldiers must always give priority to assisting civilians in evacuation, defense and any other need that arises in a combat zone,” he said.

Separately, Halevi told a graduation ceremony Thursday for new officers that the Israeli had worked with all partners “to understand in detail and depth what happened and what we must learn to prevent it from happening again in the future.”

Samsung workers strike: Five things to know

July 12, 2024



SEOUL (AFP) – Thousands of South Korean workers at the world’s largest chipmaker, Samsung Electronics, have gone on an “indefinite” strike their union said will hit production of crucial high-tech semiconductors.

Here’s what we know:

WHAT’S GOING ON?

Workers, including some from Samsung Electronics’ foundry where the world’s most advanced computer chips are produced, walked off the job on Monday after months of negotiations with management stalled.

The National Samsung Electronics Union wants pay raises, a more transparent performance-based bonus system and an extra day off every year to mark the union’s founding in 2019.

It is the first indefinite strike in the history of Samsung – the largest of the chaebols, or family-run firms, that dominate the South Korean economy.

The company was actively anti-union for decades, with founder Lee Byung-chul declaring he would never allow them “until I have dirt over my eyes”. He died in 1987.

“Samsung is the hardest imaginable place to unionise and strike,” professor of Korean studies Vladimir Tikhonov at the University of Oslo told AFP.

“If Samsung workers succeed in this undertaking, it will empower the rest of South Korea’s labour.”

WHAT IS SAMSUNG’S RESPONSE?

Samsung has said the strike will not affect production, but experts said its staunch anti-union history means it is ill-equipped to defuse the standoff.

“Samsung has had no experience in resolving labour issues with its workers,” said activist and former lawmaker Chun Soon-ok, whose brother died by self-immolation in 1970 protesting brutal working conditions in the textile industry. Due to this “lack of understanding”, the company “needs to bring in someone with expertise in labour relations to find a way out of the current gridlock”, she added.

WILL IT HIT PRODUCTION?

With the world’s lowest birthrate and tightly controlled immigration, many South Korean companies including Samsung have long embraced factory automation, in part as a hedge against the looming demographic crisis.

The country has the highest robot density in the world, with one for every 10 employees – nearly 40 per cent more than runner-up Singapore, according to the International Federation of Robotics.

Even so, “Samsung must recognise that it can’t make chips without a labour force”, Chun said, adding that ever-intensifying competition in the sector made skilled workers essential.

WHAT ARE KOREAN FACTORIES LIKE?

South Korea’s factories may be high-tech, but its “industrial accident fatality rate is significantly higher than the OECD average”, said professor Kim Sung-hee at Korea University’s Graduate School of Labor Studies. This is due to a “failure to adequately address worker safety issues” because it is not the top priority for companies or the government, Kim told AFP.

There were more than 8,000 work-related deaths from 2020 to 2023, Labour Ministry data showed. Last month, 23 people were killed in a major fire at a South Korean lithium battery factory.

In Samsung’s semiconductor plants, workers have alleged that inadequate protection resulted in employees contracting cancer – something the company formally apologised for in 2014.

WHAT DO KOREANS THINK?

Labour organisation rates are low in South Korea, with only 13.1 per cent of wage earners belonging to unions, Seoul said.

In the 1970s and 1980s, labour groups were involved in the country’s pro-democracy movement, opposing the military-backed dictatorship. The unionised workers sometimes employed militant tactics, a legacy that still colours South Koreans’ perceptions, experts said.

According to a 2022 study by Hankook Research, 45 per cent of South Koreans still viewed union activities “negatively”.

“In cases like the Samsung strike, the public often perceives these union members as ‘greedy’ people demanding more benefits” despite already being well paid, professor Kim said.

Does Korea have a lot of strikes?

An ongoing strike by junior doctors against government training reforms is currently causing healthcare disruptions, and a huge strike last July briefly hit export-focused auto production.

Some strikes have seen violence: one at Ssangyong Motor in 2009 ended with a major police crackdown.

But the Samsung union’s action shows strike culture is evolving, said professor Lee Sang-min at Hanyang University.

“They are non-political compared to other unions, and are more open to trying new things,” Lee told AFP.

“If you look at general strike culture compared to the past, violent and illegal strikes have been greatly reduced, and legal and peaceful protests have taken place.”

National Samsung Electronics Union members rally outside of Samsung Electronics’ Hwaseong campus in Hwaseong, South Korea. PHOTO: AP

AUSTRALIA

As gas runs out in the Bass Strait the debate over how to dismantle massive offshore rigs is heating up

 By Norman Hermant
abc.net.au/
JULY 12,2024

A number of offshore gas rigs in the Bass Strait are set to be removed as gas supplies are depleted.(Supplied: ExxonMobil)

In short:

Esso plans to dismantle some of its offshore gas platforms in the Bass Strait and wants to leave the legs and pipes in the ocean floor.

There is also a battle looming over where the topsides will be disassembled.
What's next?

Esso's plans to decommission the platforms are currently before the offshore petroleum regulator.


The network of offshore oil and gas platforms launched more than 50 years ago in the Bass Strait turned Victoria into an Australian energy powerhouse.

But now the gas is dwindling and supplies are projected to drop by nearly 50 per cent by 2028, according to the Australian Energy Market Operator.

About half of ExxonMobil subsidiary Esso's platforms and pipelines in the Bass Strait are no longer operational. And as rigs shut down the debate is raging over what happens next.

"The concerns are that not all of the infrastructure is going to be removed," said Ange Moore, a Maritime Union of Australia representative who spent years working on supply ships and semi-submersible rigs as they drilled offshore wells and laid pipes.
Ange Moore says there's "no excuse" to leave parts of the rigs in the ocean.(ABC News: Norman Hermant)

Esso's plan for the first 12 platforms to be decommissioned is now before the National Offshore Petroleum Safety and Environmental Management Authority (NOPSEMA).

Depending on the depth of water, for some rigs Esso wants to remove platforms and supports down to 55 metres beneath the surface.

Below that it wants to leave the legs and steel-piled jackets in the ocean floor, and even pipelines in place.


"There's no excuse to leave it in the ocean, just because we don't know what to do with it," Ms Moore said.

"I think it's very concerning that they would leave anything at all, when it's technically feasible to remove."

Esso says removing subsea infrastructure will actually harm diverse marine ecosystems that have developed since rigs were installed.
In this photo from the ExxonMobil website a lobster is seen underneath one of their platforms in the Bass Strait.(Supplied: ExxonMobil)


"If we were to completely remove the structures we would need to undertake significant dredging of the sea floor. Meaning not only removal of these ecosystems but significant impact on surrounding marine life," Esso told 7.30 in a statement.

Esso's proposal for the Bass Strait follows a pattern established in the Gulf of Mexico, where parts of 600 US rigs have been left in place and converted into artificial reefs

But that's not considered international best practice and that's not what Australia's Offshore Petroleum and Greenhouse Gas Storage Act currently permits, according to decommissioning expert Professor Tina Soliman-Hunter, of Macquarie University.

"The best scenario, and the one that's required by law, is to remove everything that you brought into the license area, unless there's a darn good environmental reason not to," Ms Soliman-Hunter said.

"Cutting it off just to 55m is not the best environmental outcome."
Money over the environment?

Professor Tina Soliman-Hunter says no part of the gas rigs should be left behind.(ABC News)

Australia is just beginning the removal of its offshore oil and gas infrastructure.

"We haven't even decommissioned any of our Bass Strait assets, which have been there since the 70s, let alone anything that's in the north-west shelf that has come from the 80s and 90s," Ms Soliman-Hunter said.

"We've got a long way to go."

Ms Soliman-Hunter believes the motivation for leaving large parts of oil and gas structures in place is simple – cost.


"It is incredibly expensive to remove the installations. I mean, we're talking hundreds of millions of dollars," she said.

The total liability cost for full removal of all offshore assets and plugging all wells is estimated to reach $60 billion by 2070, according to the Centre of Decommissioning Australia (CODA).

It estimates $45 billion of that cost will be accrued by 2040.

Plan to dismantle rigs near wetlands

The Corner Inlet Ramsar Wetlands is next to where Esso wants to dismantle the platforms.(ABC News: Norman Hermant)

It is not only Esso's plans to leave parts of rigs behind that has generated controversy.

The Bass Strait oil and gas operator wants to bring decommissioned platforms, or "topsides", back to where many were originally built: Barry Beach Marine Terminal in Victoria's Gippsland region.

They plan to disassemble the rigs there and recycle nearly all of the steel.

Esso said in a statement that Barry Beach Marine Terminal has an excellent environmental record.

But it's next to the Corner Inlet Ramsar Wetlands, which is considered to be of international importance.

The area has the largest intertidal mudflats in Victoria and the habitat supports several endangered and vulnerable species.

Those opposed to the removal fear that materials in the rigs could harm the protected area.


"These platforms were built in the 60s and 70s, so they contain asbestos, they contain mercury and a host of heavy metals, as well as radioactive materials that have been building up within the works themselves," said Freja Leonard from Friends of the Earth.

"There is no sensible way that you can manage those sorts of pollutants in an area as beautiful and pristine as this."

Freja Leonard wants the platforms to be dismantled in Geelong, away from the Gippsland wetlands.(ABC News: Norman Hermant)

Esso said in a statement that when rig topsides are transported to Barry Beach, "No part of any of the structures will come into contact with the water at Corner Inlet."

It also said the topsides dismantling area will be "bounded with an impervious membrane" to prevent environmental damage.

But Friends of the Earth believe the dismantling should take place in Geelong, nearly 200 kilometres away.

"We believe that there are some parts of the Victorian coastline that have already been industrialised. Geelong is a really great example," Ms Leonard said.


"To meet best practice, we demand that they take the 110 Sydney Harbour Bridges-worth of steel that they have out there in the Gippsland basin and take it to Geelong, where there's already a steel smelting facility."

Esso said in a statement it had looked at Geelong as an option but determined Barry Beach Marine Terminal was the best option for a number of reasons.

The company said it's already a working port in industrial-zoned land and that its proximity to the rigs meant less need for fuel and emissions.

For now, Esso and groups opposed to its plans await a ruling from the federal offshore energy regulator.

In a statement, NOPSEMA told 7.30 it expects to make a decision on the environmental plan by late August.

Watch 7.30, Mondays to Thursdays 7:30pm on ABC iview and ABC TV

South Korea pushes Australia on AUKUS and cyber cooperation as it eyes $10 billion warship prize

Exclusive by defence correspondent Andrew Greene
abc.net.au/news/

HMAS Anzac is being decommissioned to make way for the new and evolved fleet under the Navy's general-purpose frigates program. (Defence: Lea Phillips

In short:

South Korea has its eyes set on landing a contract with the Australian Department of Defence to build its new general-purpose frigates.

It comes as part of its larger push for increased military cooperation with Canberra amid growing dominance of players like China and North Korea in the Indo-Pacific.
What's next?

Final bids are being completed for the lucrative project that will see the new fleet of smaller frigates for the Navy initially built overseas, and then locally, with many companies in the running.


Almost a year after clinching a multi-billion-dollar contract to build Australian Army vehicles, South Korea is again promoting closer defence ties as it seeks to win another lucrative prize; to deliver Navy's new fleet of "general-purpose frigates".

Visiting South Korean Vice-Defence Minister Kim Seon-ho will hold talks with officials in Canberra today to discuss possible future cooperation on AUKUS Pillar 2 projects, while also pushing for more joint military exercises and cyber cooperation.

"I believe we could increase our participation within the land forces exercises, and the second part is I believe we need to increase our exercises within the cyber domain," Mr Kim told the ABC during his only interview in Australia.

"[South] Korea's actually conducting, currently conducting lots of cyber exercises with the United States, NATO and EU countries and if it's possible I think we could conduct bilateral exercises [between] Korea and Australia and also multilateral exercises."

This week South Korea for the first time supported an Australian-led push to accuse Beijing of conducting large-scale cyber espionage targeting government and business networks, and was joined by Japan, Germany and Five Eyes intelligence partners.
South Korean Vice-Minister of Defense Kim Seon-ho speaking in Canberra.(Supplied: Ministry of National Defense)

Asked whether his nation would be interested in conducting joint maritime patrols with Australia in the South China Sea where China's presence is growing, the vice-minister was more circumspect, saying the idea should not be "limited to" just the two militaries.

"We believe there are lots of other threats and these kinds of threats I believe should be approached at a multinational view, therefore we should work together, the nations should [all] work together to react against these kind of threats," he said.

Mr Kim praised Australia's efforts to help enforce United Nations sanctions against North Korea and stressed the importance of continuing the military commitment given China and Russia's growing cooperation with the so-called "hermit kingdom".

ORIGIN OF THE HAVANA SYNDROME PERCHANCE

Australian naval personnel injured by sonar pulses from Chinese warship

Naval divers working to clear fishing nets from the HMAS Toowoomba's propellers were forced to exit the water when a Chinese warship began operating its hull-mounted sonar, in an incident labelled "unsafe and unprofessional".

"Now it is more important to have these sanctions against North Korea. We should work together, [South] Korea and Australia, and collaborate together to work for the sanctions against North Korea," he said.

"North Korea is [conducting] illegal actions in the cyber domain and I believe Australia has many experts in this area, therefore I believe Australia would be able to work in the cyber area against the illegal actions of North Korea."

While attending a Republic of Korea — Australia Defence Conference in Canberra, the visiting minister said his nation was also "looking forward to participating in AUKUS Pillar 2 and cooperating with Australia" on advanced military technologies.

"Since March of this year we have prepared our plans on how we should participate with Pillar 2 and our position regarding this issue, however at the current point we have not reached any practical actions or cooperative channels."

Rival shipbuilders in legal battle to land frigates contract

Kim Seon-ho (right) with a representative of Hanwha Ocean.(ABC News: Andrew Greene)

In February the Navy's surface fleet review recommended the government rapidly acquire between seven and ideally 11 new "general-purpose frigates" to replace Australia's ageing Anzac-class fleet.

The Korean vice-defence minister is in Canberra as final bids are being completed for the lucrative project, which will see the new fleet of smaller frigates for the Royal Australian Navy initially built overseas, and then locally.

Companies from four countries are competing for the hotly contested shipbuilding project, including Japan's Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Spain's Navantia, Germany's TKMS, as well as two rival Korean firms — Hanwha Ocean and Hyundai Heavy Industries.

Heavily armed 'optionally crewed' ships

Six large and "optionally crewed" naval vessels heavily armed with missiles will be added to Australia's surface fleet under a dramatic $11 billion reshaping of the navy that will also see the acquisition of 11 new general-purpose frigates to be partly built overseas.

"In the future the navy of Korea and the navy of Australia, they are key forces which need to work together within the Indo-Pacific region, that need to closely cooperate and conduct missions together," Mr Kim said.

"If Korea is designated for the frigate program, we believe it would have a big effect on the cooperation between Australia and Korea … if these two nations were to operate the same weapons systems it would be very, very efficient in [terms] of interoperability."

He added there were "no new updates" on Hanwha's bid to take over West Australia-based shipbuilder Austal, and insisted it was a commercial matter for industry and "it is limited for the government to present our opinion".

Over recent months the rival Korean shipbuilders Hanwha Ocean and Hyandai Heavy Industries (HII) have been locked in a bitter legal dispute connected to the leaking of military secrets between 2012 and 2015.

In November II employees were found guilty of stealing warship technology related to the Korea Destroyer Next Generation project but are now suing Hanwha Ocean executives and staff for defamation over their recent comments about the case.

Last July the Albanese government confirmed South Korean defence giant Hanwha had beaten a bid by German company Rheinmetall for the $7 billion project to construct new state-of-the-art infantry fighting vehicles (IFVs) for the Australian Army.

How a lost story of American slavery was found in Australia

ABC RN /
By Nick Baker and Ian Coombe for Late Night Live
JULY12,2024

A painting that academic and writer Jonathan Schroeder believes depicts John Swanson Jacobs.(Supplied: The African American Museum in Philadelphia)

Although there were millions of men, women and children who lived and died as slaves in the US, firsthand accounts from these people are extremely rare.

"Slave narratives are such a rare document [because] there were actually laws on the books in most slave states that prohibited enslaved people from becoming literate," literary historian Jonathan Schroeder tells ABC RN's Late Night Live.

But Schroeder, a lecturer at the Rhode Island School of Design in the US city of Providence, managed to unearth one such account almost by accident.

It was written by a fugitive slave named John Swanson Jacobs, who left his homeland and started a new life on the other side of the world.

And his nearly 20,000-word life story — capped off with a searing denouncement of American slavery — was printed in a Sydney newspaper in 1855.


"The oppressor's rod shall be broken … The day must come, it will come," Jacobs wrote to his colonial Australian audience.

Now, for the first time in almost 170 years, his full 20,000-word autobiography, complete with scathing criticism of the US is being republished, thanks to Schroeder.
'No longer yours'

In the early to mid-1800s, the US was bitterly divided between the northern states that opposed slavery and the southern states that supported it.

John Swanson Jacobs was born in the southern state of North Carolina in around 1815, part of the sixth generation of his family to be enslaved.

Jacobs was sold several times, including to attorney and politician Samuel Tredwell Sawyer, who would later become a member of the US House of Representatives.
Jacobs was once sold at a slave auction, like this illustration from South Carolina.(Getty Images: Corbis)

"When you think of slaves escaping, you may think about enslaved people escaping under the cover of night, hiding in the woods, following the Moon and the North Star in order to cross … into the northern states, where slavery was abolished," Schroeder says.

"John Jacobs' escape from slavery could not be more different."

In 1838, Sawyer went on a honeymoon trip north and brought Jacobs along as his personal servant.

While in New York City, Jacobs took his chance.

He packed his bags, stole some pistols for self-defence and asked a friend to write a note, which he left in Sawyer's hotel. The note read:

"Sir — I have left you not to return; when I have got settled I will give you further satisfaction. No longer yours, John S Jacob [sic]."

Experiencing freedom for the first time, he took a boat and ended up in New Bedford, a whaling town in Massachusetts known to be a safe haven for fugitive slaves.
Leaving the US

Jacobs signed up for a job on a whaling ship and while spending years on the high seas, taught himself to read and write.

But the injustices Jacobs experienced over his lifetime could not be easily forgotten. After returning to the US, he became involved with the abolitionist movement, going on speaking tours to tell Americans directly about the horrors of slavery.

Then in 1850, US Congress passed a law called the Fugitive Slave Act. Part of a compromise between the free states in the north and the slave states in the south, it compelled all Americans on both sides of the divide to help recapture escaped slaves.

An 1850s print criticising the Fugitive Slave Act.(Getty Images: Universal History Archive)

In this changing political environment, Jacobs upended his life again. He first went to California, and then sailed for Australia with his nephew in 1852, as far away as possible from the US.

For around three years, he worked in the Australian goldfields, becoming a successful gold miner.

It's unclear exactly where he was based. But the name 'John Jacobs' — which could be this John Swanson Jacobs — appeared on an 1853 petition for miners' rights in Bendigo.


"It would make sense that he would become involved in the agitation for rights amongst the miners in Australia in the 1850s, [which] is now taken to be part of the birthplace of Australian democracy," Schroeder says.
'An unusual request'

One spring day in 1855, Jacobs walked into the office of the progressive Empire newspaper in Sydney, with what Schroeder calls "an unusual request".

He asked if he could borrow a copy of the US Constitution and a recently published history of the US

.
Sydney's George Street in 1855, where the Empire newspaper was located.(Supplied: State Library of NSW)

Jacobs returned to the newspaper office two weeks later, not only to give back the texts, but also to submit his 20,000-word autobiography, titled The United States Governed by Six Hundred Thousand Despots.

"He made an incredibly strong impression [on the newspaper staff] in part because he was a skilled orator," Schroeder says.

The Empire decided to publish the story in two 10,000-word instalments, barely altering anything other than correcting spelling and punctuation.

But for almost 170 years, Jacobs' life and his account of it were largely forgotten.
A discovery in Trove

Schroeder stumbled on Jacobs' groundbreaking story while working on another project.

"I wasn't actually looking for this text … I had no idea that it existed."

While researching another project, Schroeder had read the 1861 autobiography of well-known escaped slave Harriet Jacobs, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl. He'd also read the biography of Harriet Jacobs by historian Jean Fagan Yellin.

"I became fascinated by one footnote in the biography which said that Harriet Jacobs' son, Joseph Jacobs, had gone to Australia with his uncle, John S Jacobs, in 1852," he says.
A formal photograph of Harriet Jacobs — the author of Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl and sister of John S Jacobs — in 1894.(Wikimedia Commons)

So Schroeder turned to Trove — the online library database owned by the National Library of Australia with billions of items, including countless Australian newspapers.

"I started searching for John S Jacobs in different spellings. And then all of a sudden, the top search result was The United States Governed by Six Hundred Thousand Despots," Schroeder says.

"What really makes [the text] so singular is the last quarter. This is not devoted to standard autobiography, but to a critique of the founding documents of the US: The Declaration of Independence, the US Constitution, and also the Fugitive Slave Act," Schroeder says.

In fierce attacks, Jacobs wrote that the US Constitution was a "devil in sheepskin" and "the great chain that binds the north and south together, a union to rob and plunder the sons of Africa, a union cemented with human blood, and blackened with the guilt of 68 years".

"If a man steals my horse, he is a horse thief; but if he steals me from my mother, why is he a respectable slave holder, a member of Congress, or President of the United States?" he asked.

Jacobs named prominent politicians who had been instrumental in making compromises with slavery in the 19th century, along with savaging the slave owners, who make up the "despots" in the title.

"The direct attention to the slave owners is part of a strategy that marks this slave narrative apart from virtually all other ones," Schroeder says.

The article was published April 25, 1855.(Supplied: Trove via Jonathan Schroeder)

As for the slaves themselves? "The slave's life is a lingering death," Jacobs wrote.


"Since I cannot forget that I was a slave, I will not forget those that are slaves."

He was "eviscerating — through analysis and critique — the hypocrisy of slave-owning Americans as well as the northerners who, through inaction, were complicit with slave owners", Schroeder says.

The writing was "rhetorically gifted, unapologetically defiant prose".
'Black message, white envelope'

In 1856, Jacobs left Australia and sailed to London.

He worked various roles on ships, crisscrossing the globe from St Petersburg to Constantinople to Odessa to Bangkok.

Jacobs also published his autobiography again, at a London magazine called the Leisure Hour in 1860. But the editors of that publication cut 10,000 words, including much of his critique.

"It was burglarised. It was cut in half; tamed; sanitised," Schroeder says.

This, Schroeder says, makes the Sydney newspaper version all the more important, avoiding the "black message, white envelope" structure of some slave narratives — where white publishers would edit and repackage slave stories.

The "unfiltered" nature makes it something truly precious.

John S Jacobs' grave in Mount Auburn Cemetery, Massachusetts, marked only with the word 'brother'.(Supplied: Jonathan Schroeder)

The divide over slavery saw the US fall into civil war from 1861 to 1865, with the northern Union forces winning.

In 1872, Jacobs returned to the US, but he died shortly after that.

Brazil’s intelligence agency under Bolsonaro spied on judiciary and lawmakers, police say

Former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro talks with supporters during his arrival to the international airport in Brasilia, Brazil, Friday, July 5, 2024. Brazilian police have indicted Bolsonaro for money laundering and criminal association in connection with undeclared diamonds the far-right leader received from Saudi Arabia during his time in office, according to a source with knowledge of the accusations. (AP Photo/Eraldo Peres)

By Eléonore Hughes, The Associated Press

Posted Jul 11, 2024 04:41:42 PM.

 

Last Updated Jul 11, 2024 06:40:45 PM.

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — An investigation by federal police has led to allegations that Brazil’s intelligence agency spied on members of the judiciary, lawmakers and journalists during the administration of former President Jair Bolsonaro, court records showed Thursday.

Among those targeted were Chamber Speaker Arthur Lira, Supreme Justice Alexandre de Moraes, the former governor of Sao Paulo João Dória and members of the environmental agency Ibama, according to a Supreme Court document signed by Moraes himself.

Also targeted were three senators who led a parliamentary enquiry into Bolsonaro’s actions during the COVID-19 pandemic, in addition to well known journalists Mônica Bergamo of Folha de S.Paulo newspaper and Vera Magalhães of O Globo newspaper.

Police on Thursday carried out five preventive arrest warrants to dismantle a “criminal organization” that allegedly illegally monitored public authorities and produced fake news using systems from Brazil’s intelligence agency, known by its Portuguese acronym ABIN.

The group essentially ran a “parallel structure”, the court document said. “The criminal organization also illegally accessed computers, telephone devices and telecommunications infrastructure to monitor people and public officials,” police said.

Arrest warrants were issued for former member of the Secretariat of Social Communication Mateus de Carvalho Sposito, businessman Richards Dyer Pozzer, influencer Rogério Beraldo de Almeida, federal police officer Marcelo Araújo Bormevet and military officer Giancarlo Gomes Rodrigues.

Bolsonaro’s name appears five times in the Supreme Court’s decision authorizing the arrest warrants carried out Thursday, in which it is mentioned that one of the suspects said he had a “direct line” to Bolsonaro.

An attorney for Bolsonaro did not immediately respond to a request for comment Thursday.

The former president is not formally accused of ordering any espionage. But the police’s investigation found “that ABIN had been instrumentalized, with a clear institutional deviation from clandestine actions, to monitor people related to investigations involving family members” of Bolsonaro, the court document said.

Asked whether Bolsonaro faces legal risk in the case, law professor Rodrigo Sánchez Rios from the Pontifical Catholic University in Parana said yes.

“It is widely accepted that Bolsonaro had knowledge about the illegal espionage scheme at the intelligence agency. The authorities who were monitored had a political future that was politically important to Bolsonaro,” Sánchez Rios said.

“If that connection is proven, he could be held responsible for several crimes, no matter if related to his neglect or his action,” Sánchez Rios added

Police also said their investigations showed that the group allegedly sought to interfere in several police probes, including some that targeted or involved two of Bolsonaro’s sons, Jair Renan and Flávio, a sitting senator.

Those targeted by the arrest warrants are suspected of committing the crimes of criminal organization, attempted abolition of the democratic rule of law, clandestine interception of communications and invasion of another person’s computer device, police said.

Police say that under the watch of former intelligence chief, Alexandre Ramagem, the group used a software called FirstMile, developed by the Israeli company Cognyte.

The 187-page police report included screenshots from exchanges between targets of the police operation on Thursday.

In a conversation on WhatsApp held in August 2021 about investigations under Moraes’ responsibility, one of them says “this bald guy deserves something more”, referring to Moraes. Another replies: “Just a 7.62”, appearing to reference a type of rifle. The interlocutor replies in English “head shot”.

In its opinion on the case, the Attorney General’s Office said the evidence points to the existence of a wider criminal organization.

“The structure infiltrated in the Brazilian Intelligence Agency represented only one cell of a broader criminal organization, focused on attacking opponents, institutions and Republican systems,” the Attorney General’s Office said.

This is just one judicial case among many linking Bolsonaro, who led the country between 2019 and 2022, to wrongdoings.

The far-right leader was indicted last week under suspicion of embezzlement, asset laundering and criminal association in connection with luxury jewelry from Saudi Arabia, deepening his legal woes.

In June last year, Brazil’s top electoral court declared Bolsonaro ineligible to run in any elections until 2030 for casting unfounded doubts on the country’s electronic voting system.

Victims of the alleged illegal spying responded with outrage to Thursday’s reports. Senator Alessandro Vieira, wrote on X that the “criminal espionage and online attacks” were “typical of dictatorial governments.”

For Senator Randolfe Rodrigues, the vice president of the committee that looked into Bolsonaro’s handling of the pandemic during which more than 700,000 people in Brazil died, Thursday’s reports bring “a tragic aspect to the scene”, according to a notice from the Senate’s press office.

“While Brazilians were dying, the previous government, instead of worrying about buying vaccines, was concerned with persecuting and monitoring political opponents,” he said.

___

Associated Press writer Mauricio Savarese contributed from Sao Paulo.

Eléonore Hughes, The Associated Press