Israeli strikes kill more than 50 across the Gaza Strip

Israeli bombardments killed at least 57 people across the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, including almost two dozen people in a strike on a UN-run school housing displaced families, Palestinian health officials have said. Israel's military said in a statement that it had targeted "terrorists" operating inside the school.


Issued on: 16/07/2024 - 

Palestinians inspect a UN school sheltering displaced people following an Israeli strike in Nuseirat in the central Gaza Strip on July 16, 2024.

 © Ramadan Abed, Reuters

01:41
Video by: Delano D'SOUZA

Israeli forces battled Hamas-led fighters in several parts of the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, and Palestinian health officials said at least 57 people were killed in Israeli bombardments of southern and central areas.

The Palestinian Islamist militant group Hamas has accused Israel of stepping up attacks in Gaza to try to derail efforts by Arab mediators and the United States to reach a ceasefire deal. Israel says it is trying to root out Hamas fighters.

In Rafah, a southern border city where Israeli forces have been operating since May, five Palestinians were killed in an airstrike on a house, Gaza health officials said. In nearby Khan Younis, a man, his wife, and two children were killed, they said.

Read moreFogbow, a US firm with military links, eyes maritime plan for Gaza aid

Later on Tuesday, an Israeli airstrike on a car killed at least 17 Palestinians and wounded 26 others in Khan Younis in southern Gaza, the officials said.

The airstrike hit near a tented area housing displaced families in Attar Street in the humanitarian-designated area of Al-Mawasi, the health ministry said.

The Israeli military said the strike targeted a senior militant of the Islamic Jihad group, an ally of Hamas.

"We are looking into the reports stating that several civilians were injured as a result of the strike," the military statement said.

Bodies on donkey carts, rickshaws

Reuters footage showed residents carrying bodies of the dead and wounded on donkey carts and in rickshaws to hospitals.

"The car was targeted, the blood was splashing, and shrapnel hit our tents and martyrs were left on the street. We screamed: ‘We need an ambulance'. We put (the casualties) on carts and rickshaws and the ambulance came after a while,” said eyewitness Tahrir Matir, who lives in a tent nearby.

In the historic Nuseirat camp in central Gaza, at least four Palestinians were killed in separate shelling and aerial strikes in central Gaza, medics said. An Israeli airstrike killed four in Sheikh Zayed in northern Gaza, they said.

Hours later, an Israeli air strike on a UN-run school that housed displaced families in the Nuseirat camp killed 23 people and wounded many others, health officials said.

Among those killed was local journalist Mohammad Meshmesh, taking the number of journalists killed in the conflict to 160, the Hamas-run Gaza government media office said.

The Israeli military said in a statement it attacked a group of "terrorists" who had operated from inside the school, after taking steps to mitigate the risk to civilians.

Read moreAfter 10 months of war, the humanitarian situation in Gaza ‘is absolutely atrocious’

Israel vowed to eradicate Hamas after its militants killed 1,200 people and took over 250 hostage in an attack on southern Israeli communities last Oct. 7, according to Israeli tallies.

At least 38,713 Palestinians have been killed in Israel's retaliatory offensive since then, Gaza health authorities said in their latest update on Tuesday. Israel also says 326 of its soldiers have been killed in Gaza.

Relatives visited Al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir Al-Balah in central Gaza to say farewell to relatives before funerals.

"We’re exhausted, we’re devastated, we are extremely tired, our patience is over," said elderly Palestinian Sahar Abu Emeira. "Whether Hamas or the others (Israel) they need to agree as soon as possible."
Talks paused

Efforts to end the conflict stalled on Saturday after three days of negotiations failed to produce a viable outcome, Egyptian security sources said, and after an Israeli strike targeting Hamas' top military chief, Mohammed Deif.

The attack killed more than 90 people in the Khan Younis area, according to Gaza health authorities.

A Palestinian official close to the negotiations told Reuters Hamas was keen not to be seen as halting the talks despite the stepped-up Israeli attacks.

"Hamas wants the war to end, not at any price. It says it has shown the flexibility needed and is pushing the mediators to get Israel to reciprocate," the official said.

He said Hamas believed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was trying to avoid a deal by adding more conditions that restrict the return of displaced people to northern Gaza and to keep control over the Rafah border crossing with Egypt.

U.S. State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said on Monday that two senior advisers to Netanyahu had said Israel was still committed to reaching a ceasefire.

(Reuters)

Israel bombs Gaza after US criticises high civilian toll

NYAH, NYAH

By AFP
July 16, 2024

A Palestinian youth walks past piles of smouldering waste at Al-Maghazi Palestinian refugee camp, central Gaza, in the absence of municipal services during the Israel-Hamas war - Copyright AFP STR

Israel renewed its bombardment of the Gaza Strip Tuesday, after its key military backer the United States renewed its criticism of its ally over the high civilian casualty toll of the war.

Residents told AFP of Israeli warplanes striking central Gaza and artillery fire hitting the territory’s south, while medics said they pulled multiple bodies from the rubble of the latest bombardment.

Hours earlier, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken told two top Israeli officials that casualties among Palestinian civilians “still remain unacceptably high”.

“We continue to see far too many civilians killed in this conflict,” spokesman Matthew Miller said after Blinken meth Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer and National Security Adviser Tzachi Hanegbi.

Washington has been pushing for a truce between Israel and Hamas.

But Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh said Sunday that the group was pulling out of indirect talks for a deal in protest at recent Israeli “massacres”, including a massive strike on Sunday that the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said killed at least 92 people.

Haniyeh said Hamas stood ready to return to the indirect talks once Israel “demonstrates seriousness in reaching a ceasefire agreement and a prisoner exchange deal”.

After the latest deadly strikes, medics from the Palestinian Red Crescent said they recovered four bodies from a house outside the southern city of Khan Yunis and another from Nuseirat camp in the central Gaza.

The Israeli military said that over the previous 24 hours its air force struck “approximately 40 terror targets” in Gaza. They included “sniping posts, observation posts, Hamas military structures, terror infrastructure, and buildings rigged with explosives”.

It said its troops were also continuing targeted raids in the far-southern city of Rafah and in the central Gaza Strip.

– Prisoner abuse allegations –

The war began with Hamas’s unprecedented October 7 attack on Israel which resulted in the deaths of 1,195 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli figures.

The militants also seized 251 hostages, 116 of whom are still in Gaza including 42 the Israeli military says are dead.

Israel responded with a military offensive that has killed at least 38,664 people, also mostly civilians, according to figures from the Gaza health ministry.

The Israeli military has also rounded up scores of Gazans, who have made allegations of torture, rape and other abuse in custody that Israeli authorities have denied.

Palestinian lawyer Khaled Mahajna said Monday that prisoners had recounted guards using “electric prods” on inmates’ bodies.

In the case of one prisoner, a “fire extinguisher tube was inserted into his buttocks and the fire extinguisher was turned on,” Mahajna said after visiting detained Palestinian journalists.

The lawyer said prisoners were handcuffed when they ate the meagre meals provided, while detainees reported widespread disease and untreated wounds.

Five Israeli human rights groups have gone to court over conditions at the Sde Teiman desert camp where Gazans are being held. Israeli officials insist they act within international law.

– Mass displacement –

Indirect talks on ending the devastating war have been brokered by Qatar and Egypt, with US support, but months of negotiations have failed to bring a breakthrough.

At the end of May, US President Joe Biden outlined a ceasefire roadmap he said had been drawn up by Israel that triggered an intensification of the talks.

But despite meetings in both Cairo and Doha, there has been no sign of progress on how the roadmap might be implemented.

Critics in Israel, including tens of thousands of demonstrators who have marched to demand a deal to bring home the hostages, have accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of prolonging the war.

The war has forced 90 percent of Gaza’s 2.4 million people to flee their homes. Many of have sought refuge in UN-run schools, six of which have been hit by Israeli strikes since July 6.

There have also been near-daily exchanges of fire between Israeli forces and Lebanon’s Iran-backed Hezbollah movement, a Hamas ally.

On Monday, a Hezbollah fighter and his sister were killed in an Israeli strike on the south Lebanon town of Bint Jbeil, Hezbollah and the state-run National News Agency said.

Israel said its strike hit a Hezbollah arms depot.

What we know about the bomb Israel used on Gaza ‘safe zone’


By AFP
July 16, 2024

Israel's strike on the Al-Mawasi 'safe zone' was one of the deadliest attacks in the war on Gaza - Copyright AFP STR

Laignee BARRON

Israel’s deadly strike on Al-Mawasi, one of the bloodiest attacks in more than nine months of war in Gaza, used massive payload bombs provided by the United States, according to weapons experts.

The bombing of the Israeli-declared “safe zone” transformed the tent city on the Mediterranean coast into a charred wasteland, with nearby hospitals overrun with casualties.

According to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory, the barrage killed at least 92 people and wounded more than 300.

The Israeli military said it targeted two “masterminds” of the October 7 attacks by Hamas that triggered the war. It said a top commander, Rafa Salama, was killed in the strike, but uncertainty remains over Hamas military chief Mohammed Deif.

AFP videos of the attack showed a white mushroom cloud billowing over a busy street, leaving behind a huge crater strewn with the wreckage of tents and a building blown to bits.

Here is what we know about the weaponry used in the attack:

– US-made JDAM –

Two weapons experts told AFP that a sliver of munition seen in a video of the blast site circulating online was a tail fin from a US-made Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM). AFP could not independently verify the video.

The GPS-aided kit converts unguided free-fall bombs — so-called “dumb bombs” — into precision-guided “smart” munitions that can be directed towards single or multiple targets.

The United States developed the kit to improve accuracy in adverse weather after Operation Desert Storm in 1991.

The first JDAMs were delivered in 1997 and, according to the US Air Force, have a 95 percent system reliability.

Trevor Ball, a former US Army explosive ordnance disposal technician, concluded from images of the Al-Mawasi strike “it’s 100 percent a JDAM kit” made in the United States.

He said that given the types of bombs compatible with the guidance system and the size of the fin fragment, the JDAM was most likely used with either a 1,000 or 2,000 pound (450 or 900 kilogramme) payload.

He said the fragment could also be compatible with the BLU-109 “bunker buster” warhead, which is designed to penetrate concrete.

Ball said it was not possible to definitively determine where the payload itself was made without “very specific fragments of the bomb body”.

– New delivery –

Repeated use of such large bombs in the densely populated Gaza Strip has sparked humanitarian outcry and heaped pressure on US President Joe Biden to reconsider the munitions supplied to Israel.

On July 12, Israel’s main military backer announced it was ending a pause on supplying 500-pound bombs, though Biden said the 2,000-pound type would be withheld.

The White House has repeatedly voiced frustration over the civilian death toll in Gaza as Israel attempts to eradicate Hamas.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken told two top Israeli officials on Monday that the civilian toll was “unacceptably high”, his spokesman said.

Israeli officials said their “precise strike” in Al-Mawasi hit an open area that housed a Hamas compound and not a civilian camp.

When contacted by AFP regarding the weapons used, the Israeli military declined to comment.

Based on Israel’s stated target, Wes Bryant, a retired US Air Force master sergeant and strike and joint targeting expert, said it would have been feasible to avoid collateral damage in the surrounding area.

“My assessment is that any civilians killed in this strike were in the compound -— not in the surrounding vicinity. So the IDF either failed to assess presence of civilians, or… deemed the risk to civilians proportional to the military advantage of taking out the Hamas leaders.”

– ‘Absolute destruction’ –

The strike left Al-Mawasi a scene of “absolute destruction” with no water, electricity or sewage treatment, the Islamic Relief charity said.

It condemned Israel for its willingness “to kill innocent men, women and children in pursuit of its end goals”.

Hamas said that by arming Israel, the Biden administration is “legally and morally responsible” for spawning a “major humanitarian catastrophe”.

It said US-supplied weapons used by Israel included GPS-guided bombs, dumb bombs, bunker busters and JDAMs.

After repeated high-casualty strikes in recent days, a Hamas official said the group was withdrawing from indirect talks for a truce and hostage release deal with Israel.

The war was sparked by Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel, which resulted in the deaths of 1,195 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli figures.

Israel responded with a military offensive that has killed at least 38,664 people in Gaza, also mostly civilians, according to the Hamas-ruled territory’s health ministry.

Bangladesh shuts schools nationwide after six killed in protests

By AFP
July 16, 2024

Anti-quota protesters and students backing the ruling Awami League party clash in Dhaka - Copyright AFP Patrick T. Fallon

Mohammad MAZED and Eyamin SAJID

Bangladesh ordered schools and universities around the country to close indefinitely on Tuesday after six students were killed in protests that prompted the mobilisation of paramilitaries to keep order.

Every high school, university and Islamic seminary around the country was told to remain shut until further notice following weeks of escalating demonstrations against civil service hiring policies.

Tuesday saw a significant escalation in violence as demonstrators and pro-government student groups attacked each other with hurled bricks and bamboo rods, and police dispersed rallies with tear gas and rubber bullets.

Education ministry spokesman M. A. Khair told AFP the shutdown order was issued for “the security of the students”.

Khair later told AFP the order had been extended to include universities, where most students participating in the protests are enrolled.

At least six people were killed on Tuesday as demonstrators mobilised for another day in cities around the country, defying earlier calls by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and the supreme court to return to class.

Three died in Chittagong and had signs of “bullet injuries”, hospital director Mohammad Taslim Uddin told AFP, adding that another 35 had been injured during clashes in the port city.

Another two died in Dhaka, where rival student groups threw bricks at each other and blocked roads in several key locations that ground traffic to a halt in the megacity of 20 million.

Police inspector Bacchu Mia confirmed the deaths to AFP, saying one had succumbed to head injuries, while at least 60 people were also injured.

In the northern city of Rangpur, police commissioner Mohammad Moniruzzaman told AFP that a student had also been killed in clashes there.

He did not give details as to how the student died, but said police had fired rubber bullets and tear gas to disperse protesters.

Rangpur Medical College hospital director Yunus Ali said the “student was brought dead to the hospital by other students”.

Tauhidul Haque Siam, a student reporter from the city’s Rokeya University, told AFP that ruling party supporters had attacked anti-quota protesters, while police fired rubber pellets from shotguns.

“Police opened fire from their shotguns on the protesters,” Siam said, adding he had been injured.

He said the dead student had been “killed in the firing”, but it was not possible to independently verify his account.

As the day wore on and with some key highways around the country blocked by the protesters, authorities deployed the paramilitary Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) force in five major cities including Dhaka and Chittagong.

– ‘Violence against peaceful protesters’ –

Tuesday’s clashes came a day after confrontations between anti-quota demonstrators and members of the ruling Awami League’s student wing that left more than 400 people injured in Dhaka.

“We are not here to do violence,” one protester in Dhaka, who declined to give their name for fear of reprisal, told AFP.

“We simply want our rights. But the ruling party goons are attacking our peaceful protests.”

Near-daily marches this month have demanded an end to a quota system that reserves more than half of civil service posts for specific groups, including children of veterans from the country’s 1971 liberation war against Pakistan.

Critics say the scheme benefits children of pro-government groups that back Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, 76, who won her fourth consecutive election in January after a vote without genuine opposition.

Amnesty International afterward urged Bangladesh to “immediately guarantee the safety of all peaceful protesters”.

US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller also denounced the “violence against peaceful protesters”, prompting a rebuke from Bangladesh’s foreign ministry.

str-mma-es-sa/gle/md

Bangladesh turns back fleeing Myanmar soldiers at border


By  AFP
July 16, 2024

A Buddhist monastery destroyed in May during fighting between Myanmar's military and the Arakan Army in western Rakhine State, Myanmar - Copyright AFP STR

Bangladesh stopped dozens of Myanmar security personnel from crossing into its territory to flee advancing rebel forces, a local government official based near their river border said Tuesday.

Clashes have rocked Myanmar’s western frontiers since the Arakan Army (AA) attacked security forces in November, ending a ceasefire that had largely held since the country’s 2021 military coup.

Hundreds of Myanmar troops have taken refuge in India and Bangladesh since then, usually staying for days or weeks before being repatriated on junta-organised flights.

But on Sunday at least 66 members of Myanmar’s Border Guard Police (BGP) were sent back immediately while trying to cross the Naf river into Bangladesh.

“The BGP members wanted to enter Teknaf on two boats. The coast guard prevented their entry,” Mujibur Rahman, a councillor of Bangladesh’s southeastern border town of Teknaf,

There was no immediate comment from either Bangladesh’s coast guard or Myanmar junta representatives.

A Teknaf-based journalist who took photographs of the boats said the vessels came close to a pier in the town but were pushed back towards Myanmar later in the night.

“Some of them were not wearing any shirts,” he said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Months of fierce fighting in Myanmar have seen steady advances by the AA in the western state of Rakhine, piling further pressure on the junta as it battles opponents elsewhere in the country.

Medical charity Doctors Without Borders last month announced it was halting all activities near the state’s border with Bangladesh due to an “extreme escalation of conflict” in the area.

Bangladesh has accepted more than 850 fleeing Myanmar soldiers this year, a senior government official told AFP on condition of anonymity as they were not authorised to speak to the media.

“We have already handed over 752 of them to Myanmar,” he said, adding around 100 border police and troops were waiting to be repatriated.

Bangladesh is home to around one million Rohingya refugees, most of whom fled Rakhine in 2017 after a military crackdown now the subject of a genocide investigation at a UN court.

Welsh leader resigns after just four months

Gething became the first black leader of a government in a European country when he was elected

By AFP
July 16, 2024

Vaughan Gething has only been Wales's First Minister for four months 

- Copyright POOL/AFP Chris Jackson

Wales’s First Minister Vaughan Gething announced on Tuesday that he would step down after just four months in the job, dealing a blow to the UK’s new Labour government.

Gething has been dogged by controversies since he was elected in March, and his position became increasingly untenable Tuesday after four ministers quit his devolved administration.

“I have this morning taken the difficult decision to begin the process of stepping down as leader of the Welsh Labour party and, as a result, first minister,” Gething, 50, said in a statement.

“It has been the honour of my life to do this job even for a few short months.”

Gething became the first black leader of a government in a European country when he was elected, but immediately faced criticism after it emerged he had accepted a £200,000 ($255,500) donation during his Welsh Labour leadership campaign from a man convicted of environmental crimes.

He has maintained that he followed rules when accepting donations.

Gething called allegations of wrongdoing on his part “pernicious, politically motivated and patently untrue”.

“This has been the most difficult time, for me, and my family,” Gething said in his statement Tuesday.

“In 11 years as a minister, I have never ever made a decision for personal gain. I have never ever misused or abused my ministerial responsibilities.”

Gething also came under pressure over a leaked phone message which led to him sacking one of his ministers and another possible conflict-of-interest donation.

He lost a non-binding no-confidence vote last month and but vowed to fight on.

Before the vote, Keir Starmer, who led the UK Labour party to a landslide win over the Conservatives in the general election on July 4, offered Gething his support.

Gething’s turbulent time in office also saw the collapse of a coalition between Labour and the Welsh nationalist party Plaid Cymru.

The Welsh Government in Cardiff, established in 1999, is responsible for devolved policy areas such as health, education, economic development, transport and local government.

UK judge asks prosecutors to consider charges in bitcoin inventor case


By AFP
July 16, 2024

Craig Wright has claimed since 2016 to be bitcoin's purported creator "Satoshi Nakamoto" 

 SCOTT OLSON

A UK judge said Tuesday he will ask prosecutors to consider perjury and forgery charges against an Australian computer scientist who falsely claimed to be “Satoshi Nakamoto”, the pseudonym used by the creator of the cryptocurrency bitcoin.

James Mellor ruled at the High Court in London in March that 53-year-old Craig Wright was not the mythical figure credited with first launching the cryptocurrency in 2008, following a five-week trial.

The Crypto Open Patent Alliance (COPA), a non-profit organisation set up to keep cryptocurrency technology free from patents, had sued Wright.

He has claimed since 2016 that he was Satoshi Nakamoto and insisted he was the author of a white paper that unveiled what would grow to be the world’s most popular cryptocurrency.

Now, in a further ruling, Mellor said he will refer “relevant” papers in the civil legal action to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) to consider whether criminal charges should be filed against Wright.

“In advancing his false claim to be Satoshi through multiple legal actions, Dr Wright committed ‘a most serious abuse’ of the process of the courts of the UK, Norway and the USA,” he stated.

The judge had “no doubt” the CPS should consider charges for “perjury and forgery of documents and/or whether a warrant for his arrest should be issued and/or whether his extradition should be sought from wherever he now is”.

“All those matters are to be decided by the CPS,” Mellor noted.

The CPS, a public body that decides on criminal charges in England and Wales, declined to comment.

It is understood the agency had noted the judge’s remarks and could ask police to investigate further if prosecutors believe offences may have occurred.

In Mellor’s March decision, he comprehensively dismissed Wright’s claims to be Satoshi Nakamoto, calling the evidence against him “overwhelming”.

In Tuesday’s ruling, the judge granted two injunctions against Wright preventing him from threatening or commencing legal action of a similar type.

He also said that Wright should publicise the details of the ruling made against him “in order further to dispel residual uncertainty”.

Wright will have to display a notice on the homepage of his website for six months, with the same notice pinned to his profile on X, and his Slack channels for three months.

Serbia greenlights disputed lithium mining project


By AFP
July 16, 2024

The future of the vast mineral deposits has become a political fault line in Serbia - Copyright AFP SIMON MAINA

Ognjen Zoric and Mina Pejakovic

Serbia’s government on Tuesday said operations can restart at a disputed lithium mining project, days after a top court ruling overturned a 2022 cancellation of its permits.

The future of the vast mineral deposits, to be mined by Rio Tinto near western Serbia’s Loznica, has been a perennial political fault line in the Balkan country in recent years.

Billions of euros are at stake, with Rio Tinto saying the mine would provide thousands of jobs and secure Serbia’s position in emerging energy markets.

“The government… takes measures to restore the legal order to the state that existed before the adoption of the regulation that was declared unconstitutional,” the government said.

The decision follows a ruling by the constitutional court last week, saying a 2022 government move to revoke permits awarded to the Anglo-Australian mining giant was “not in line with the constitution and the law”.

The mine has long pitted Serbians’ festering distrust in their government against Europe’s plans for a greener future, with mass protests held over the years calling for a permanent halt to the project.

Rio Tinto said the area holds one of Europe’s largest reserves of lithium, a strategically valuable metal crucial for electric vehicle battery production.

– Protest leader slams government –

The deposits were discovered in 2004, but the Serbian government moved against the mining project in 2022 after weeks of protests sparked by fears over the environment and public health.

President Aleksandar Vucic has hinted that Serbia could begin mining lithium as early as 2028, following new guarantees from Rio Tinto.

“We believe that the mine would not endanger anyone or anything, but first we need to receive guarantees from Europe that the environment and the lives of ordinary citizens will be preserved and improved with new jobs and higher wages than today,” Vucic said on Monday.

Rio Tinto welcomed the court decision last week. Project director Chad Blewitt told AFP the mine could become a “world-class” asset that can be developed safely according to both Serbian and EU standards.

Blewitt added the project could act as a “catalyst for the development of other industries and thousands of jobs” in Serbia now and in future.

According to Rio Tinto data, the mine in Jadar could produce 58,000 tonnes of lithium annually, enough for 1.1 million electric vehicles.

Following Tuesday’s announcement, Savo Manojlovic — a leading organiser of the protests against the mine — slammed the decision.

“The government will be responsible for any unrest and conflict in society, as it has trampled on the country’s constitution, occupied its institutions, and turned into a puppet of foreign interest,” Manojlovic wrote on social media.

Poisoned by arsenic, and with no way out, Peruvians live in fear


By AFP

July 16, 2024


Sayuri Moreno, 37, and her daughter Valeria pose for a picture at their home in Huarmey 

- Copyright AFP ERNESTO BENAVIDES

Carlos MANDUJANO

Sayuri Moreno found out while pregnant that her body was contaminated with arsenic, but could not afford doctors’ advice to avoid breastfeeding and leave her home in a mining area in northern Peru.

The 37-year-old is one of 120 residents of the Huarmey slums in the Ancash department who were found to have high levels of arsenic in their blood when 140 people were tested last year, according to the Ministry of Health.

Some 3,000 live in this community of wooden houses facing the sea, most of them living off fishing. Behind the settlement rise the hills through which underground pipelines descend, transporting copper and zinc concentrate to Port Huarmey.

Arsenic — a highly toxic chemical — can be found naturally alongside copper ore and is released as a byproduct of its processing. Arsenic can also naturally contaminate groundwater.

Peru is the world’s second-largest copper producer, however health authorities say they have yet to determine whether the widespread contamination in Huarmey is linked to mining operations.

Most of those affected are women and children. The poisonous chemical can cause skin lesions and cancer, mainly of the lungs, skin and bladder.

“I was scared because I heard that it caused cancer,” said Moreno, who was diagnosed during a pre-natal checkup.

– ‘Abandoned’ –

Her children, Keity, 11, and Iker, 7, also tested positive for high levels of arsenic. Her 11-month-old, Valeria, “was born normal.”

The doctor recommended “that we get out of here and that I don’t breastfeed my baby,” Moreno told AFP.

But like many residents in the region, she and her fisherman husband, Alan Guerrero, were not in a financial position to follow this advice to the letter.

They left Port Huarmey for three months to “detox,” but had to return after finding no other work. When they have the money they buy bottled water and formula for the baby.

“We are abandoned in the port, we have no help from anyone, we have a mining industry that is so powerful that we can’t do anything,” said Guerrero.

Inorganic arsenic is the biggest “chemical contaminant” of drinking water, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), which classifies it as a carcinogen and one of the 10 most dangerous substances for public health.

Jose Saldivar, director of the Huarmey Hospital, said the number of those affected in the community and the levels of arsenic in their bodies was “worrying.”

“Every time we do more screening, it is likely that 80 percent” of the cases will come out positive for high levels of arsenic, he said.

Peru’s health ministry says the maximum amount of arsenic in the body should be 20 micrograms per liter of urine.

Moreno had 60 micrograms, her eldest daughter, 81 micrograms and her son 70 micrograms.

– ‘There is no cure’ –

The WHO estimates 140 million people across the globe are exposed to drinking water containing high levels of arsenic.

“There is no cure,” said Percy Herrera, a heavy metals expert at the health ministry.

“The best intervention is to identify what the source is and control this source,” he added.

When Mireya Minaya was pregnant she was found to have 142 micrograms of arsenic per liter of urine. Her baby, Danna, was born contaminated.

But her three-year-old son, Fabricio, who suffers from anemia, has an even higher concentration: 540 micrograms.

Given the number of cases in Huarmey, the government last year paid for those affected to be treated in Lima, 290 kilometers (180 miles) away.

Minaya was hospitalized for 10 days. Doctors discovered tumors in her ovaries that they told her were probably malignant.

“I didn’t want to know anything out of fear and I asked for my voluntary discharge and I came back” to the port, said Minaya, who is a restaurant cook.

“We lived normally… and from one moment to the next we had this nightmare. We don’t know if it will ever end.”

Rich Chinese (SELF) exile guilty of fraud in New York


By AFP

July 16, 2024

FRAUDSTER PEAS IN A POD 

Guo presented himself as a fierce critic of the Chinese Communist Party and a fervent defender of democracy, while maintaining links with US right-wing figure Steve Bannon - Copyright AFP Brendan SMIALOWSKI

A wealthy Chinese businessman Guo Wengui, a self-styled opponent of the authorities in Beijing, was found guilty of defrauding customers of more than $1 billion in a New York federal court on Tuesday, prosecutors said.

Guo presented himself as a fierce critic of the Chinese Communist Party and a fervent defender of democracy, while keeping links with US right-wing figure Steve Bannon, recently jailed in a separate case.

The FBI arrested Guo in March 2023 at his luxurious Manhattan apartment, in a building overlooking Central Park, accusing him of using his online fame to convince thousands of investors to fund his companies or projects.

They included GTV Media, and G/Clubs, which promised profitable investments or luxury services.

But instead of enriching his customers, their funds enabled him to live a life of lavish excess.

“Miles Guo, an exiled Chinese businessman and purported billionaire, brazenly operated several interrelated fraud schemes, all designed to fleece his loyal followers out of their hard-earned money so that Guo could spend his days in his 50,000 square foot mansion, driving his $1 million Lamborghini, or lounging on his $37 million yacht,” prosecutors said, referring to Guo by an alias.

A unanimous jury found Guo guilty of racketeering conspiracy and various securities fraud, wire fraud, and money laundering charges. He faces decades in prison.”

Ontario window project demonstrates the value and need for community involvement in construction


By Ontario Association of Architects
Published July 16, 2024

David Peterson is a building consultant at Pella Windows and Doors. - Photo courtesy of the Ontario Association of Architects

The content featured in this article is brand produced.

Many of the challenges architects, owners, and general contractors face today go well beyond masonry, design, or fenestration.

At Pella Windows and Doors, the hard part of installing new windows in one of their commercial projects in Toronto last year wasn’t the glass.

“The challenge was on the communication side,” said David Peterson, building consultant at Pella Windows and Doors.

Speaking at the Ontario Association of Architects (OAA) annual conference at the Niagara Falls Convention Centre, Peterson explained how Pella managed communications with tenants and the ownership of Vilnius Manor, a nine-storey, 116-unit apartment building for Lithuanian seniors.

Most tenants did not speak English and they didn’t want their routines disrupted by window installations.

Pella overcame those challenges.
Working with the Vilnius Manor community

Pella is one of the largest fenestration production companies in North America, and not a community consulting firm. Nonetheless, Peterson says, Pella went beyond its role as suppliers and producers to understand the Vilnius Manor community.

Working alongside George Sederavicius, sole proprietor of SEDARC Architecture and an OAA member, Pella focused on the community needs and showed up to talk with residents about the process.

Sederavicius is Lithuanian, and had what Peterson described as an “intense understanding” of the challenges Pella faced while working on Vilnius Manor.

“He allowed us to really understand that world and be part of that process—something that typically suppliers don’t get involved with,” Peterson says.

Pella’s work crews also made a point of learning some Lithuanian to say hello and goodbye to residents. The company made twice weekly visits to Vilnius Manor, usually coinciding when the community kitchen was open. This was a way to connect with residents, Peterson says, as well as a way to indulge in delicious Lithuanian cuisine.

“We all gained 10 pounds on this project,” Peterson joked.

Scheduling window installations had to be done with care to not disrupt or upset the routines of tenants. Clear, consistent messaging on project timelines—both verbally and in writing—was key. So were biweekly project meetings to keep everyone in Vilnius Manor in the loop.

When it came time for window installations, Pella didn’t move tenants out of their units. Instead, they scheduled their visits, with flexibility to accommodate older tenants, and worked fast.

“We had them out in the morning,” Peterson says, “and back in the afternoon for teatime.”

David Peterson is a building consultant at Pella Windows and Doors. – Photo courtesy of the Ontario Association of Architects

Installing windows and doors

The installation required Pella to replace Vilnius Manor’s existing aluminium picture/slider type window frames, as well as balcony doors. At the time, the building’s windows were single pane, glazed, and didn’t lend themselves to fending off the sun. Nor did they provide acoustical comfort against the rattling of the nearby subway station, or sufficient airtightness and condensation control.

These original windows also made it difficult for tenants to enjoy a breath of fresh air. Peterson estimated it took between 40 and 50 pounds of force to open them. Elderly residents had such a hard time that some of them just didn’t bother using their balconies.

“If you can’t open your windows easily, there’s a challenge,” Peterson says.

As an alternative, Pella decided to go with fibreglass-framed patio doors and awning windows.

“We’re seeing a lot of these products and composites being used in the built environment now,” Peterson says. “These are extremely durable products, especially if you have the temperature range that we have.”

But Pella didn’t take the value of these products for granted.

In the month before work began on Vilnius Manor, Peterson says, the team tested both the windows and patio doors using mockups to ensure everything met their standards.

To tackle sound attenuation, especially on Vilnius Manor’s east facade (where a raised subway track ran right by the building), Pella turned to curtains by the Sound Management Group to deaden the noise. For excess sunlight, Pella used a low solar gain glazing on bedroom windows exposed to south and west elevations.

As for the excessive weight of the original windows, Pella turned to the Easy Slide Operator, a window system that requires about 5 lbs. of force and can be used one handed with a closed fist. Plus, as Peterson says, the mechanism is tough enough to allow someone to open and close a window once a day for 54 years.

Pella’s team managed to complete its installation of Vilnius Manor’s windows between December 2022 and March 2023, a relatively long time for a project of that magnitude. They also had to do so amid winter’s freezing temperatures, around the needs of tenants (and their pets), and to a strict schedule.

Yet Peterson insists the technical challenges faced on this project weren’t the major issue. “In my opinion working on this project,” Peterson says, “it was all about communication.”

Watch the opening plenary of the Conference here, or visit the OAA Conference website here.