Abortions have increased in US since Roe v. Wade repeal, study shows

DEMOCRATS ON ABORTION:  MYOB

MIND YOUR OWN (DAMNED) BUSINESS

Despite 22 states instituting abortion bans of varying severity, a new study by the Society of Family Planning finds that broader access to abortion pills and telehealth-led procedures protected by Democrats' "shield laws" has contributed to a nationwide increase in abortions since the Supreme Court's June 2022 ruling.

Issued on: 08/08/2024 -

A patient checks in for her appointment to receive an abortion at a Planned Parenthood Abortion Clinic in West Palm Beach, Florida, on July 14, 2022. © Chandan Khanna, AFP

The number of abortions in the United States has actually grown since the Supreme Court allowed states to enact strict bans on the procedure, according to a study released Wednesday.

Survey results reported by the Society of Family Planning (SFP), which advocates for abortion access, showed a monthly average of 98,990 for the first quarter of 2024, a increase above 2022 and 2023 figures.

The group attributed a significant part of the rise to broader access to abortion pills through online telehealth services.

It said the proportion of abortions nationwide occurring via telehealth had increased from four to 20 percent nationwide since April 2022.

The conservative-dominated US Supreme Court overturned the nationwide right to abortions in June 2022, with many Republican-led states quickly moving to restrict or outright ban the procedure.

However, some Democratic-led states have enacted so-called "shield laws" that give legal protections to doctors providing telehealth services to patients in states with restrictions.

Even excluding abortions provided under shield laws, "we still observe more abortions per month in January-March 2024 (monthly average of 89,770 abortions) as compared to the same period January-March 2023 (monthly average of 86,967 abortions)," SFP said in its #WeCount report.

Meanwhile under shield laws, the report found a monthly average of 9,200 abortions were provided in January-March 2024, a 16 percent increase from the prior quarter.

The SFP survey nonetheless found significant declines in states that have passed bans since the fall of Roe v Wade, the largest being Texas, Georgia, Tennessee, Louisiana and Alabama.

Twenty-two states now have stricter abortion laws in effect since Roe was struck down, and the issue is set to be a key factor in November's elections.

Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris has pledged to sign nationwide protections into law if elected, while hammering Republican rival Donald Trump over his role in reversing Roe.

Trump appointed three of the six conservative Supreme Court justices who voted to overturn the nearly half-century Roe precedent.

While Trump has not committed to signing a nationwide ban if back in the White House, abortion rights advocates fear he could use a 19th century law to crack down on the procedure.

Conservative groups are also seeking to outlaw abortion pills by challenging federal authorization of the drugs.

The Supreme Court unanimously rejected one such challenge in June, but left the door open to possible future cases.

(AFP)

 

US abortion numbers have risen slightly since Roe was overturned, study finds


BY GEOFF MULVIHILL AND KIMBERLEE KRUESI
August 7, 2024

The number of women getting abortions in the U.S. actually went up in the first three months of 2024 compared with before the Supreme Court overturned Roe v Wade, a report released Wednesday found, reflecting the lengths that Democratic-controlled states went to expand access.

A major reason for the increase is that some Democratic-controlled states enacted laws to protect doctors who use telemedicine to see patients in places that have abortion bans, according to the quarterly #WeCount report for the Society of Family Planning, which supports abortion access.

The data comes ahead of November elections in which abortion-rights supporters hope the issue will drive voters to the polls. In some places, voters will have a chance to enshrine or reject state-level abortion protections.

Fallout from the Supreme Court’s June 2022 ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization has remade the way abortion works across the country. The #WeCount data, which has been collected in a monthly survey since April 2022, shows how those providing and seeking abortion have adapted to changing laws.

The survey found that the number of abortions fell to nearly zero in states that ban abortion in all stages of pregnancy and declined by about half in places that ban it after six weeks of pregnancy, before many women know they are pregnant. Fourteen states are enforcing bans on abortion at all stages of pregnancy, with some exceptions, and four others bar it after about six weeks of pregnancy.

Numbers went up in places where abortion remains legal until further into pregnancy — and especially in states such as Illinois, Kansas and New Mexico, which border states with bans.

The report estimates that if not for the post-Dobbs bans, there would have been about 9,900 more abortions per month — and 208,000 total since — in those states. The numbers were up by more than 2,600 per month in Illinois, about 1,300 in Virginia, 1,200 in Kansas and more than 500 in New Mexico.

Abortion pills and telemedicine play a key role. In March, doctors in states with laws to protect medical providers used telemedicine to prescribe abortion pills to nearly 10,000 patients in states with bans or restrictions on abortion by telehealth — accounting for about 1 in 10 abortions in the U.S.

Laws to protect medical providers who use telemedicine to prescribe abortion pills started taking effect in some Democratic-led states last year.

“It eases the burden on clinics,” said Ushma Upadhyay, a University of California, San Francisco School of Medicine professor who co-leads #WeCount. “So it creates more space for the people who are coming to clinics.”

Abortion opponents say the fight over the abortion drug mifepristone isn’t over after a narrow Supreme Court ruling that preserved access to it for now. But so far there have not been legal challenges to shield laws.

The latest edition of the survey covers the first three months of this year, when it counted an average of just under 99,000 abortions per month, compared with 84,000 in the two months before Dobbs. January was the first time since the survey began that it has counted more than 100,000 abortions across the country in a single month.

The tracking effort collects monthly data from providers across the country, creating a snapshot of abortion trends. In some states, a portion of the data is estimated. The effort makes data public with less than a six-month lag, giving a picture of trends far faster than annual reports from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, where the most recent report covers abortion in 2021.

Before the shield laws began kicking in and #WeCount started tallying them, people were still getting some pills in places with bans.

One of the states where abortions increased was Florida. That changed in April, when a ban after six weeks’ gestation took effect. The data doesn’t yet reflect that change.

The policy could change again through a November ballot measure that would make abortion legal until viability, generally considered to be around 23 or 24 weeks into pregnancy. It needs at least 60% approval to be added to the state constitution

One vote against it will come from Mia Adkins, a 20-year-old senior at Florida International University.

“Instead of pushing for more abortion legal later in pregnancy, we should be pushing for laws that protect these pregnant parents and students and provide them with the support that they need,” said Akins, a senior at Florida International University.

Florida is one of six states where abortion-related measures are already on the ballot. Determinations from elections officials about adding similar questions are pending in four more states. In one, Nebraska, there are dueling amendments: One to allow access until viability and one to keep the current ban on most abortions after 12 weeks of pregnancy.

Abortion-rights supporters have prevailed in all seven abortion ballot questions in the U.S. since 2022. That tracks with public opinion polling that has shown growing support for abortion rights, including a recent Associated Press-NORC poll that found 6 in 10 Americans think their state should allow someone to obtain a legal abortion if they don’t want to be pregnant for any reason.

An amendment to protect access could be on the ballot in Arizona, a political battleground state where court cases have swung abortion policy — and access — since the Dobbs ruling.

The state Supreme Court ruled in April that Arizona should enforce an 1864 ban on abortions at all stages of pregnancy, only for lawmakers to repeal that law. The state’s ban on abortion after 15 weeks of pregnancy remains. The ballot measure would expand it to 24 weeks.

Natalie Harper, a 23-year-old independent who usually doesn’t vote, said the potential of bringing back the Civil War-era ban “absolutely” impacts her decision to vote for the ballot measure this November. “Seeing that as a possibility really made me realize that everyone’s pro-choice voices need to be heard in hopes it never goes in that direction again,” she said.

In Missouri, which has outlawed almost all abortions and where nearly none were reported in the new data, election officials could soon certify whether a proposed constitutional amendment guaranteeing abortion rights received enough petition signatures to qualify for the ballot in the reliably Republican state.

University of Missouri political scientist Peverill Squire said that if the measure is on the ballot, it could draw out enough Democratic voters to help swing a few competitive legislative races.

“They can seize on the personal freedom arguments the Republicans have generally owned over the recent elections,” he said.
___

Associated Press writers Sejal Govindarao in Phoenix and David A. Lieb in Jefferson City, Missouri, contributed to this report.

GEOFF MULVIHILL
Covering state government issues nationally

Paris ‘flying taxi’ test flights scrapped during Olympics


By AFP
August 8, 2024

Plans to test the Volocopter air taxi during the Olympics in Paris have been scrapped because of certification issues - Copyright AFP/File JULIEN DE ROSA

Test flights of so-called flying taxis — futuristic drones capable of transporting people — have been scrapped in Paris during the Olympics as the certification for the engine has not come through, its promoters told AFP Thursday.

German manufacturer Volocopter has been conducting test flights in the Paris region for several years and had lobbied hard for authorisation from European authorities in time for the Olympics.

The company has partnered with French airport operator ADP, the capital’s metro and bus operator RATP, and the Paris regional government.

Certification for VoloCity, the engine conceived and made by Volocopter, had been delayed by a few weeks over its motors, ADP deputy CEO Edward Arkwright said.

“We are a little disappointed, but in any case we had said that we would not make any compromises with security,” he added.

Volocopter CEO Dirk Hoke said the delay was due to “an American supplier who was not capable of providing what he had promised”.

He said the motors would be sent back to France next week but not in time for the test flights to be held in Paris before the Olympics close.

Initially, test flights had been due to take place during the Games, landing on a float on the Seine near the Austerlitz railway station in southeastern Paris.

The promoters had hoped to use the global draw of the Olympics to show that the technology could efficiently link “vertiport” take-off and landing sites.

However test flights without passengers will be held in the aerodrome of the suburban town of Saint Cyr l’Ecole, west of Paris, on Thursday and Sunday, they said.

The town is close to the Chateau de Versailles where Olympic equestrian events are being held.

Backers tout flying taxis as a low-carbon form of aviation and hope future larger versions could be used as ambulances or in other roles.

However, many city officials in Paris have derided the plans as harmful to the environment.

Biden ‘not confident’ of peaceful transfer if Trump loses


By AFP

August 7, 2024

US President Joe Biden, 81, who dropped out of the White House race in July, said Trump's hints on the campaign trail about not accepting a defeat should be taken seriously - 

Copyright POOL/AFP/File TINGSHU WANG

US President Joe Biden warned that he was “not confident at all” of a peaceful handover of power to Kamala Harris if Donald Trump loses November’s election, in an extract of a CBS interview broadcast Wednesday.

Biden, 81, who dropped out of the White House race in July and was replaced by Vice President Harris as the Democratic presidential nominee, said Trump’s hints on the campaign trail about not accepting a defeat should be taken seriously.

“If Trump loses, I’m not confident at all,” Biden told the US network in the interview, which was due to air fully on Sunday, when asked if he believed there would be a calm transfer in January 2025.

“He means what he says. We don’t take him seriously. He means it — all the stuff about ‘if we lose there’ll be a bloodbath,'” added Biden.

While campaigning earlier this year, Biden regularly brought up the fact that Trump’s supporters stormed the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, after Biden beat him in the 2020 election.

Biden also frequently quoted Trump as saying there would be a “bloodbath” if he lost — although the Republican said he was talking in the context of electric car imports from China.

Trump has, however, maintained his false claim that the 2020 election was stolen from him, and in the CBS interview Biden accused the former president of trying to install allies in key electoral positions in US states to manipulate counts if the same thing happened again.

“You can’t love your country only when you win,” said Biden.

The ageing president has long framed Trump as a threat to US democracy.

Harris has sometimes echoed that theme, while focusing more on a positive vision in a campaign that has reenergized Democrats, brought in millions of dollars and helped her nose ahead of Trump in opinion polls.

ORTHODOX FUNDAMENTALISM

Bulgaria parliament bans LGBTQ ‘promotion’ in schools


By AFP
August 7, 2024

Bulgaria's parliament voted to ban LGBTQ "propaganda" in schools, prompting protests in the capital Sofia - Copyright AFP Yuri CORTEZ

Bulgaria’s parliament passed changes to its education law Wednesday, widening its scope to ban LGBTQ “propaganda” in schools in what rights groups slammed as discriminatory.

The amendment to the law — proposed by the country’s pro-Russian Vazrazhdane party — passed by a large majority, with 159 votes in favour, 22 against and 12 abstentions.

The law now bans the “propaganda, promotion or incitement in any way, directly or indirectly, in the education system of ideas and views related to non-traditional sexual orientation and/or gender identity other than the biological one”.

Lawmakers also voted on a separate text that defines “non-traditional sexual orientation” as “different from the generally accepted and established notions in the Bulgarian legal tradition of emotional, romantic, sexual or sensual attraction between persons of opposite sexes”.

Demonstrators took to the streets of the capital Sofia in the late afternoon to protest against the amendment’s adoption, chanting “Shame on you” and “Stop chasing people out of Bulgaria”.

Among them was Sanya Kovacheva, a 35-year-old architect who accused the country’s politicians of “exploiting disinformation and surfing the wave of hatred against the LGBTQ community” ahead of elections in October.

LevFem, the left-wing feminist group which organised the rally, said the amendment would make it impossible “to combat the harassment in school of young lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people”.

– ‘Witch hunt’ –



The rights NGO Bulgarian Helsinki Committee (BHC) had urged lawmakers not to pass the changes, saying they “breach basic human rights”, including those enshrined in the country’s constitution as well as EU laws and international conventions.

The law “bans the dissemination of ideas and concepts including scientific information”, BHC’s vice-chair Radoslav Stoyanov told AFP.

It “implicitly foreshadows a witch hunt and sanctions any educational efforts related to LGBTQ people in school education”, lawyer Denitsa Lyubenova from Deystvie LGBTQ rights group wrote in a statement, calling the bill “discriminatory”.

Homophobic ideas often feature in Bulgaria’s political debate and in the media, as the country faces its seventh parliamentary elections in three and a half years amid serious political instability.

The Balkan country does not recognise same-sex marriage.

EU member Bulgaria also refuses to ratify the Istanbul Convention on preventing and combating violence against women, which many in the country see as a vehicle for recognition of “a third gender”.

According to a recent report by the Institute for Market Economics (IME) in Sofia, “rejection and discrimination are key factors in the emigration of LGBTQ people”.

In 2021, Hungary also passed a similar law, banning LGBTQ “promotion” to minors.

GENOCIDE!

Nearly 40,000 and counting: the struggle to keep track of Gaza deaths

By AFP
August 7, 2024

A young Palestinian who works with his father at the morgue at the Nasser Hospital in southern Gaza stands next to the bodies of people killed in the fighting who have yet to be identified - Copyright AFP Saeed KHAN
Youssef Hassouna with Chloe Rouveyrolles-Bazire in Jerusalem

With much of Gaza reduced to rubble by 10 months of war, counting the dead has become a challenge for the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry, as the death toll nears 40,000.

Israel has repeatedly questioned the credibility of the daily figures put out by the ministry and US President Joe Biden did so too in the early stages of the war.

But several United Nations agencies that operate in Gaza have said the figures are credible and they are frequently cited by international organisations.



– Data collection –



Two AFP correspondents witnessed health facilities enter deaths in the ministry’s database.

Gaza health officials first identify the bodies of the dead, by the visual recognition of a relative or friend, or by the recovery of personal items.

The deceased’s information is then entered in the health ministry’s digital database, usually including name, gender, birth date and ID number.

When bodies cannot be identified because they are unrecognisable or when no one claims them, staff record the death under a number, alongside all the information they were able to gather.

Any distinguishing marks that may help with later identification, whether personal items or a birthmark, are collected and photographed.



– Central registry –



Gaza’s health ministry has issued several statements setting out its procedures for compiling the death toll.

In public hospitals under the direct supervision of the territory’s Hamas government, the “personal information and identity number” of every Palestinian killed during the war are entered in the hospital’s database as soon as they are pronounced dead.

The data is then sent to the health ministry’s central registry on a daily basis.

For those who die in private hospitals and clinics, their information is taken down on a form that must be sent to the ministry within 24 hours to be added to the central registry, a ministry statement said.

The ministry’s “information centre” then verifies the data entries to “ensure they do not contain any duplicates or mistakes”, before saving them in the database, the statement added.

Gaza residents are also encouraged by Palestinian authorities to report any deaths in their families on a designated government website. The data is used for the ministry’s verifications.

The ministry is staffed with civil servants that answer to the West Bank-based Palestinian Authority as well as to the Hamas-led government in Gaza.



– ‘High correlation’ –



An investigation conducted by Airways, an NGO focused on the impact of war on civilians, analysed the data entries for 3,000 of the dead and found “a high correlation” between the ministry’s data and what Palestinian civilians reported online, with 75 percent of publicly reported names also appearing on the ministry’s list.

The study found that the ministry’s figures had become “less accurate” as the war dragged on, a development it attributed to the heavy damage to health infrastructure resulting from the war.

For instance, at southern Gaza’s Nasser Hospital, one of the few still at least partly functioning, only 50 out of 400 computers still work, its director Atef al-Hout told AFP.

Israeli authorities frequently criticise the ministry’s figures for failing to distinguish between combatants and civilians. But neither the army nor Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu deny the scale of the overall toll.

The press office of Gaza’s Hamas government estimates that nearly 70 percent of the roughly 40,000 dead are women (about 11,000) or children (at least 16,300).

Several UN agencies, including the agency in charge of Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), have said the ministry’s figures are credible.

“In the past — the five, six cycles of conflict in the Gaza Strip — these figures were considered as credible and no one ever really challenged these figures,”, the agency’s chief Philippe Lazzarini said in October.

A study by British medical review The Lancet estimated that 186,000 deaths can be attributed to the war in Gaza, directly or indirectly as a result of the humanitarian crisis it has triggered.

The war in Gaza was triggered by the October 7 attack by Hamas, which resulted in the deaths of 1,198 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures.

Myanmar military says it withdrew ‘for safety of people’

A RETREAT BY ANY OTHER NAME

ByAFP
PublishedAugust 6, 2024


Near-deserted streets in Laukkai in Myanmar's northern Shan State in mid-July

 - Copyright AFP/File -

Myanmar’s military withdrew from some positions close to China’s border to prioritise the “safety of people”, the junta chief said, days after an alliance of ethnic armed groups said they had routed state troops in the area.

Shan State in eastern Myanmar has been rocked by fighting since late June when the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA) renewed an offensive against the military along a major trade highway to China.

“With regard to the situation of Shan State, security forces withdrew their positions by considering the security of current areas and safety of people,” Min Aung Hlaing said in a speech on state television on Monday night.

“The government will continually strive to ensure peace and stability — not only in Shan State, but the entire nation,” he added.

His comments came days after the MNDAA said it had captured a regional military command after weeks of clashes, in a major blow to the junta.

Alliance fighters “fully captured the headquarters of the northeast military command” in Lashio, the group said in a statement Saturday.

Junta spokesman Major-General Zaw Min Tun admitted Monday that the military had lost contact with senior officers from the command after intense fighting.

“Got last contact with the senior officers at 6:30 pm on August 3, and we lost contact with them till now,” he said in a statement.

“According to reports that are still being confirmed, it is known that terrorist insurgents arrested some senior officers.”

Dozens of civilians have been killed or wounded in the recent fighting, according to the junta and local rescue groups.

Myanmar’s borderlands are home to myriad ethnic armed groups who have battled the military since independence from Britain in 1948 for autonomy and control of lucrative resources.

Some have given shelter and training to newer “People’s Defence Forces” that have sprung up to battle the military after its ouster of Aung San Suu Kyi’s government in a 2021 coup.

China is a major ally and arms supplier to the junta, but analysts say it also maintains ties with armed ethnic groups in Myanmar that hold territory near its border.

Min Aung Hlaing said Monday the alliance was receiving weapons, including drones and short-range missiles, from “foreign” sources, which he did not identify.

“It is necessary to analyse the sources of monetary and technological power,” the military leader said.

Shadow of war looms over Gaza amputees in Qatar


By AFP
August 6, 2024


Maryam Ahmed, six, is among some 300 child amputees from Gaza who are receiving therapy at the Thumama complex in Qatar, 2022 World Cup accommodation now being used to house Gaza war evacuees and their carers 

- Copyright Futuro Vegetal/AFP Handout

Callum Paton and Ali Choukeir

Wheeling herself around Doha’s Thumama complex for medical evacuees from Gaza, Maryam Ahmed wears a look of determination, breaking into a smile when she sees someone she knows.

The six-year-old was evacuated to Qatar from Gaza in February after her home was hit by an Israeli strike which killed her mother, father and brother, and took her right leg.

Sitting in her new wheelchair, Maryam hitches up the skirt of her colourful, floral patterned dress to reveal what remains of her limb, amputated above the knee.

Her missing lower leg is “in heaven”, like her family, she says.

Maryam’s aunt Fatima Farajallah, 20, travelled with her niece to Qatar, and describes her as “psychologically better now”.

They are among roughly 2,000 residents at the Thumama complex who are now trying to adapt to life away from the battlefields of Gaza.

Both carry the memory of the morning the home they shared was destroyed by two Israeli missiles.

Maryam was mistaken for dead in the chaotic aftermath of the strike and her body placed with those of her dead relatives.

“She did not move or make a sound. Then suddenly I heard a voice,” Farajallah said, recalling the moment her niece cried out.

After her evacuation, Maryam spent two months in hospital in Doha, most of it at the Hamad General, and required three operations to complete the amputation of her leg.



– Culture shock –



Adapting to life in the wealthy Gulf emirate after the horrors of war-devastated Gaza has been confusing. “At night she asks a lot” of questions, Farajallah said.

Even for Farajallah, the change has been disorientating. “Here, everything is available,” she said. “Why is Gaza not like the other countries? Why is it occupied?” she asked.

Maryam is among the lucky ones who were evacuated via Egypt for medical treatment before Israeli troops closed the Rafah border crossing from Gaza in earlier May.

By the end of June, a total of 2,000 Gaza children had had one or both legs amputated following Israeli military action, the equivalent of around 10 a day, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) said at the end of June.

The war was sparked by Hamas’s October 7 attack on southern Israel, which resulted in the deaths of 1,197 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli figures.

Israel’s retaliatory campaign has killed at least 39,623 people, mostly women and children, according to figures from the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry.

The head of Hamad Medical Corporation’s special education department, Mousa Mohammad, runs group therapy clinics at the Thumama complex for 190 children aged between three and six.

He said that the sessions, which include social skills and art therapy, are an “important pillar” for rehabilitation.

Three months ago, Mohammad explained, the children could not sit still, and were prone to violent outbursts, with some “hitting the doors, hitting people, hitting the children beside them”.

Progress in the sessions has been painstaking but over time the children have become more cooperative.

“Their behaviour changed from aggressiveness, refusing the routines we are trying to build… now they want to come every day.”



– Personality change –



The Thumama complex was originally built as accommodation for visiting football fans watching the 2022 World Cup.

Now it accommodates 1,000 medical evacuees from Gaza, accompanied by carers, around 300 of them amputees.

At dusk, when the sun sets over the complex’s identikit sugar-white apartment blocks, the scorching summer heat eases and residents venture outside.

Many are missing limbs.

Karim al-Shayyah, 10, rides his bike around the complex despite losing his left leg.

It was amputated below the knee after he was hit with shrapnel while playing in the family garden in Gaza.

“Things were good. We were having fun outside when they bombed a restaurant near us and shrapnel flew,” he said.

His mother, Sabrine al-Shayyah, said “the injury changed Karim’s personality”. He became nervous and often locked himself in his room.

But after nearly four months of group sessions and counselling, Karim’s outlook is improving. “The interaction with children here is very positive,” his mother said.

Speaking in the apartment they now call home, Karim said that he misses his friends back in Gaza, one of whom was recently killed.

“Here we are comfortable, they take care of us and make us play,” Karim said, adding he still wants to “return to Gaza if the war stops”.

Climate activists target Messi’s mansion in Spain’s Ibiza

By AFP
August 6, 2024

Climate activists spray-painted Messi's mansion on the Spanish holiday island of Ibiza - Copyright Futuro Vegetal/AFP Handout

Climate activists on Tuesday spray-painted a mansion on the Spanish holiday island of Ibiza belonging to Argentina football star Lionel Messi to highlight the “responsibility of the rich for the climate crisis”.

Campaigners from the group Futuro Vegetal released a video showing two members standing in front of the house near the cove of Cala Tarida on Ibiza’s western coast holding a banner that read: “Help the Planet — Eat the Rich — Abolish the Police.”

The activists then sprayed the white facade of the building with red and black paint.

In a statement, the group said they wanted to show “the responsibility of the rich for the climate crisis” by targeting the mansion which they said was an “illegal construction.”

Futuro Vegetal cited a 2023 Oxfam report that found that the richest one percent of the world’s population generated the same amount of carbon emissions in 2019 as the poorest two thirds of humanity, despite the fact that the most vulnerable communities are the ones suffering the “worst consequences” of this crisis.

Messi, who currently plays for Inter Miami in the US, reportedly bought the property on the Mediterranean island — which includes a spa with a sauna and a cinema room — in 2022 from a Swiss businessman for around 11 million euros ($12 million).

But the mansion lacked a certificate of occupancy, a document issued by a local government agency certifying it is in a liveable condition, due the construction of several rooms in the property without a licence, according to Spanish media reports.

Futuro Vegetal, which is linked to similar groups internationally, has staged dozens of similar protests, including one in 2022 where they glued their hands to frames of paintings by Spanish master Francisco de Goya at Madrid’s Prado museum.

Last year activists from the group spray-painted a superyacht moored in Ibiza with red and black paint that reportedly belonged to Nancy Walton Laurie, the billionaire heiress of US retail giant Walmart.

Spanish police in January said they had arrested 22 members of the Futuro Vegetal, including the two who staged the protest at the Prado as well as the group’s top three leaders.

ECOCIDE

‘Miseries of the Balkhash’: Fears for Kazakhstan’s magical lake


By AFP
August 7, 2024


A teenager jumps into the water near the huge Kazakhmys copper plant on the shores of Lake Balkhach in Kazakhstan - 

Copyright AFP Ruslan PRYANIKOV

Bruno KALOUAZ

Seen from the sky, with its turquoise waters stretching out into the desert expanses in the shape of a crescent, you can see why they call Lake Balkhash the “pearl of Kazakhstan”.

But pollution, climate change and its overuse are threatening the existence of one of the most unique stretches of water in the world.

One side of the Balkhash — the biggest lake in Central Asia after the Caspian Sea — has salt water, but on the other it is fresh. In such a strange environment, rare species have abounded. Until now.

“All the miseries of the Balkhash are right under my eyes,” fisherman Alexei Grebennikov told AFP from the deck of his boat on the northern shores, which sometimes has salty water, sometimes fresh.

“There are fewer and fewer fish, it’s catastrophic, the lake is silting up,” warned the 50-year-old.

A dredger to clear the little harbour lay anchored, rusting and unused, off the industrial town of Balkhack, itself seemingly stuck in a Soviet timewarp.

“We used to take tourists underwater fishing. Now the place has become a swamp,” said Grebennikov.

In town, scientist Olga Sharipova was studying the changes.

“The Balkhash is the country’s largest fishery. But the quantity of fish goes down when the water level drops, because the conditions for reproduction are disrupted,” she told AFP.

And its level is now only a metre from the critical threshold where it could tilt towards disaster.

There was an unexpected respite this spring when unprecedented floods allowed the Kazakh authorities to divert 3.3 million cubic metres of water to the Balkhash.

The Caspian also got a six-billion-cubic-metre fill-up


– China ‘overusing’ water –


But the few extra centimetres has not changed the longterm trend.

“The level of the Balkhash has been falling everywhere since 2019, mainly due to a decrease in the flow of the Ili River” from neighbouring China, said Sharipova.

All the great lakes of Central Asia, also known as enclosed seas, share a similar worrying fate.

The Aral Sea has almost disappeared, the situation is alarming for the Caspian Sea and Lake Issyk-Kul in neighbouring Kyrgyzstan.

Located on dry lands isolated from the ocean, they are particularly vulnerable to disturbances “exacerbated by global warming and human activities”, according to leading scientific journal Nature.

Rising temperatures accelerate evaporation, as water resources dwindle due to the melting of surrounding glaciers.

These issues are compounded by the economic importance of the Balkhash, which is on the path of China’s Belt and Road Initiative, a massive infrastructure project also known as the New Silk Road.

A 2021 study by Oxford University scientists published in the journal “Water” concluded the lake’s decline resulted from China’s overuse of the Ili River which feeds it for its agriculture, including cotton.

“If the hydro-climatic regime of the Ili for 2020–2060 remains unchanged compared to the past 50 years and agriculture continues to expand in China, future water supplies will become increasingly strained,” the study said.

Beijing is a key economic partner for Kazakhstan but it is less keen to collaborate on water issues.

“The drafting and signing of an agreement with China on the sharing of water in transborder rivers is a key issue,” the Kazakh Ministry of Water Resources told AFP.

“The main objective is to supply the volumes of water needed to preserve the Balkhash,” it said.

– Heavy pollution –

The water being syphoned away adds to “pollution from heavy metals, pesticides and other harmful substances”, authorities said, without citing culprits.

The town of Balkhash was founded around Kazakhstan’s largest copper producer, Kazakhmys.

Holidaymakers bathing on Balkhash’s municipal beach have a view of the smoking chimneys of its metal plant.

Lung cancer rates here are almost 10 times the regional average, which is already among the highest in the country, health authorities said.

Despite being sanctioned for breaking environmental standards, Kazakhmys denies it is the main polluter of the lake and has vowed to to reduce pollution by renewing its equipment.

“Kazakhmys is carrying out protective work to prevent environmental disasters in the Balkhash,” Sherkhan Rustemov, the company’s ecological engineer, told AFP.

In the meantime, the plant continues to discharge industrial waste into another huge body of water, right next to the lake.

Saudi delivery drivers bake in ‘deadly’ summer heat


By AFP
August 6, 2024


A Pakistani delivery worker poses for a photo during a break in the Saudi capital Riyadh - Copyright AFP Kazuhiro NOGI

Haitham EL-TABEI

Sheltering under a palm tree in Saudi Arabia’s capital, a Pakistani delivery driver stole a quick break during the lunch rush when orders — and scorching temperatures — are at their peak.

Gulping a bottle of cold water as the mercury neared 50 degrees Celsius (122 degrees Fahrenheit), the motorcycle driver said he was well aware the Gulf kingdom’s harsh summer heat could be fatal.

Yet only by pushing through and filling the daily blitz of food orders will he earn enough money to send something back home, his main reason for coming to Saudi Arabia in the first place.

“The heat is intense and the sun is deadly. I always feel tired and exhausted,” the 26-year-old said, asking to be identified only as Mohammed to avoid reprisal from authorities or his employer.

“But it is a good job for me and my family,” added the father of two small children who live in Pakistan.

Sprawling Saudi Arabia, already one of the world’s hottest countries, faces rising threats from high temperatures attributed to climate change.

Its scorching summers could become longer and hotter as the planet warms, experts warn.

The risks were on display in June, when more than 1,300 people died while performing the annual Muslim hajj pilgrimage to Mecca, according to an official tally — most of them unauthorised pilgrims exposed to long periods outdoors.

To protect labourers, Saudi Arabia bans work under direct sunlight and in open-air areas between noon and 3:00 pm from mid-June until mid-September as part of a longstanding “midday break” policy widely adopted across the Gulf.

But Mohammed and other drivers, many of whom use motorcycles rather than cars and so are exposed to the heat, told AFP they felt pressure to work during these busy hours to meet their targets.

“The work is very hard, but I have no other choice,” Mohammed said, sweating profusely under the long-sleeve rash guard that protects him from the sun.

Saudi officials did not respond to a request for comment.


– ‘Life-threatening’ –


For years, Saudi restaurants organised their own food deliveries, mostly using small air-conditioned cars.

The meteoric rise in recent years of food delivery apps, which are especially popular in the Gulf, has boosted demand for motorcycle drivers, many of them South Asian migrants.

Mohammed arrived in Riyadh four months ago and joined a food delivery company, which provides him with a motorcycle, housing and one hot meal a day.

The young man, who speaks poor English and little Arabic, works from 9:00 am to 9:00 pm seven days a week, earning just over $666 a month, including tips.

“My family is in a much better situation now,” he said, adding that he was able to send back $533 after his first month on the job.

Yet while the money is alluring, the toll of extreme heat on the body can be high.

“Working in Saudi Arabia’s scorching midday sun poses severe health risks to delivery workers. Their bodies can overheat dangerously, leading to potentially life-threatening conditions like heat stroke,” said Karim Elgendy, senior non-resident scholar at the Middle East Institute in Washington.

“The pressure to meet delivery deadlines often makes it difficult for workers to take adequate breaks, potentially nullifying protective measures” like drinking water and wearing light clothes, he said.



– ‘No time to rest’ –


Workers in Arab states face some of the highest exposure to heat stress in the world, with 83.6 percent suffering from excessive heat exposure on the job, according to a recent report from the International Labour Organization, a United Nations agency.

In Saudi Arabia, many delivery drivers seek temporary relief during breaks in air-conditioned bus stops or restaurants.

To stay hydrated, Hassan, a 20-year-old Pakistani delivery driver, keeps two bottles of yoghurt and a water flask in the box of his bike.

But “inaccurate locations and waiting in the sun for customers to arrive” make an already difficult job all the more arduous, he said, catching his breath outside a luxury eyewear shop in central Riyadh.

There is “no time to rest”, he told AFP as he strapped on a red helmet and whizzed off to collect a new order.

Shakil, a 22-year-old Bangladeshi delivery driver, also said he could not afford a pause.

“The sun is very strong, but I cannot miss work during the day,” he said after delivering a lunch order at around 2:00 pm to a guest at a hotel in central Riyadh — a job that earned him a tip of $2.

“I will lose a lot.”