Musk, UK govt spar over far-right riots


By AFP
August 6, 2024


The fatal stabbings in Southport have sparked huge protests, exacerbated by disinformation on social media - Copyright AFP JAAFAR ASHTIYEH
Akshata KAPOOR

As far-right riots grip England, provocative tech billionaire Elon Musk is posting sympathy for the anti-immigration demonstrators, angering the UK government, which blames social media companies for fuelling the unrest.

The week-long disturbances that have spread to numerous cities are linked to misinformation online that the suspect behind a mass stabbing that killed three girls was a Muslim asylum seeker.

A war of words between X owner Musk and Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s recently elected Labour administration began on Sunday when Musk tweeted that a British “civil war is inevitable”.

Starmer’s spokesperson said Monday there was “no justification” for the comment, only for Musk to respond with a stream of posts Tuesday questioning the British leader’s response to the riots.

Musk also referenced a dubious claim about policing that has been widely denied by lawmakers from across the political spectrum and police chiefs.

“Use of language such as a ‘civil war’ is in no way acceptable,” justice minister Heidi Alexander said on Tuesday, branding Musk’s comments “deeply irresponsible”.

“We are seeing police officers being seriously injured, buildings set alight, and so I really do think that everyone who has a platform should be exercising their power responsibly,” she told Times Radio.

The riots follow the murder on Monday last week of three girls aged between six and nine at a Taylor Swift-themed dance party in Southport, northwest England.

The suspect is 17-year-old Axel Rudakubana, who was born in Britain, reportedly to immigrants from Rwanda.

He did not come to the UK on an illegal small boat crossing as false rumours on social media have suggested.

Far-right protesters — sometimes masked and brandishing British flags — have clashed with police, torched cars, and attacked mosques and hotels housing asylum seekers, leading the government to provide emergency security to Islamic centres.

In a post on X on Monday, Starmer vowed to apply “criminal law online as well as offline”, adding that “we will not tolerate attacks on mosques or on Muslim communities”.

Musk replied: “Shouldn’t you be concerned about attacks on *all* communities?”

His original “civil war” post came in reply to another X user blaming the riots on “the effects of mass migration and open borders”.

The comment was “not surprising for Elon Musk, who’s been also feeding some of the conspiracy myths and some of the hateful rhetoric” surrounding the riots, said Julia Ebner, Senior Researcher at the Institute for Strategic Dialogue who specialises in far-right extremism.

In a post on Tuesday, Musk retweeted a video claiming to show Muslims attacking a pub, repeating “why aren’t all communities protected in Britain?” and tagging Starmer.

He also added a hashtag “TwoTierKeir”, referring to allegations by those on the right of “two-tier policing” in which far-right agitators are punished more harshly.

Hard-right Reform UK leader Nigel Farage said on Monday that “since the soft policing of the Black Lives Matter protests, the impression of two-tier policing has become widespread”.

The BLM protests were largely peaceful, but pockets of disorder were heavily cracked down on by police. So were previous riots largely involving minority ethnic groups in 2011 when Starmer himself was chief state prosecutor.

– ‘Nowhere to hide’ –

In Musk’s latest series of posts, he claimed the UK was censoring online content, saying “is this Britain or the Soviet Union?”

Influencer Andrew Tate and far-right, anti-Islam figurehead Tommy Robinson are among people who promoted false claims about Rudakubana on X.

EuropeInvasion, an anti-immigrant X account with hundreds of thousands of followers, still has a post up falsely claiming that the attacker was “confirmed to be Muslim”.

One man charged with intending to stir up racial hatred related to alleged posts on Facebook in connection to the riots was due to appear in a court on Tuesday.

“Online comments can have a huge influence on offline behaviour,” Ebner said.

Technology minister Peter Kyle met representatives from TikTok, Meta, Google, and X on Monday and warned that social media users spreading misinformation will have “nowhere to hide”.

Musk –- who has reduced content moderation on Twitter since taking over in 2022 –- regularly voices support for right-wing causes and politicians like ex-US president Donald Trump and Argentina President Javier Milei.

He has reinstated several far-right accounts, including that of former English Defence League leader Robinson who had been banned since 2018.

WOMAN LIFE FREEDOM

Fears for women’s rights as Iraqi bill resurfaces


By AFP
August 8, 2024

Activists in Baghdad's Tahrir Square demonstrate against female child marriage on July 28, 2024

- Copyright AFP/File AHMAD AL-RUBAYE

Rights advocates are alarmed by a bill introduced to Iraq’s parliament that, they fear, would roll back women’s rights and increase underage marriage in the deeply patriarchal society.

The bill would allow citizens to choose either religious authorities or the civil judiciary to decide on family affairs. Critics fear this will lead to a slashing of rights in matters of inheritance, divorce and child custody.

In particular, they are worried it would effectively scrap the minimum age for Muslim girls to marry, which is set in the 1959 Personal Status Law at 18 — charges lawmakers supporting the changes have denied.

According to the United Nations children’s agency, UNICEF, 28 percent of girls in Iraq are already married before the age of 18.

“Passing this law would show a country moving backwards, not forwards,” Human Rights Watch (HRW) researcher Sarah Sanbar said.

Amal Kabashi, from the Iraq Women’s Network advocacy group, said the amendment “provides huge leeway for male dominance over family issues” in an already conservative society.

Activists have demonstrated against the proposed changes and were planning to protest again later Thursday in Baghdad.

The 1959 legislation passed shortly after the fall of the Iraqi monarchy and transferred the right to decide on family affairs from religious authorities to the state and its judiciary.

This looks set to be weakened under the amendment, backed by conservative Shiite Muslim deputies, that would allow the enforcement of religious rules, particularly Shiite and Sunni Muslim.

There is no mention of other religions or sects which belong to Iraq’s diverse population.

In late July, parliament withdrew the proposed changes when many lawmakers objected to them. They resurfaced in an August 4 session after receiving the support of powerful Shiite blocs which dominate the chamber.



– ‘Option to shop’ –



It is still unclear if this bid to change the law will succeed where several earlier attempts have failed.

“We have fought them before and we will continue to do so,” Kabashi said.

Amnesty International’s Iraq researcher Razaw Salihy said the proposed changes should be “stopped in their tracks”.

“No matter how it is dressed up, in passing these amendments, Iraq would be closing a ring of fire around women and children,” she said.

According to the proposed changes, “Muslims of age” who want to marry must choose whether the 1959 Personal Status Law or Sharia Islamic rules apply to them on family matters.

They also allow already-married couples to convert from the civil law to religious regulations.

Constitutional expert Zaid al-Ali said the 1959 law “borrowed the most progressive rules of each different sect, causing a huge source of irritation for Islamic authorities”.

Several attempts to abrogate the law and revert to traditional Islamic rules have been made since the 2003 US-led invasion that toppled dictator Saddam Hussein.

This time, lawmakers are maintaining the 1959 law by giving people a chance to choose it over religious authorities.

“They are giving men the option to shop in their own favour,” Ali said. The bill would hand them “more power over women and more opportunities to maintain wealth, control over children, and so on.”

By giving people a choice, “I think basically they’re trying to increase the chances of the law being adopted,” Ali said.

– ‘Malicious agenda’ –

The new bill gives Shiite and Sunni institutions six months to present to parliament for approval a set of rules based on each sect.

By giving power over marriage to religious authorities, the amendment would “undermine the principle of equality under Iraqi law,” Sanbar of HRW said.

It also “could legalise the marriage of girls as young as nine years old, stealing the futures and well-being of countless girls.”

“Girls belong on the playground and in school, not in a wedding dress,” she said.

HRW warned earlier this year that religious leaders in Iraq conduct thousands of unregistered marriages each year, including child marriages, in violation of the current law.

Many argue that historically Islam has allowed the marriage of pubescent girls from the age of nine, as the Prophet Mohammed is said to have married one of his wives Aisha at that age.

But rights group say child marriages violate human rights, deprive girls of education and employment, and exposes them to violence.

Lawmaker Raed al-Maliki, who brought the amendment forward and earlier this year successfully backed an anti-LGBTQ bill in parliament, denied that the new revisions allow the marriage of minors.

“Objections to the law come from a malicious agenda that seeks to deny a significant portion of the Iraqi population” the right to have “their personal status determined by their beliefs,” he said in a television interview.

But Amnesty’s Salihy said that enshrining religious freedom in law with “vague and undefined language” could “strip women and girls of rights and safety.”

COMPARE AND CONTRAST

Dog meat ban goes into effect in South Korea

A law banning dog meat took effect in South Korea on Wednesday, starting a countdown for businesses to exit the industry by February 2027. Numerous farms and restaurants have closed down in recent years as the practice has fallen deeply out of favor in the country.

 File Photo by Thomas Maresca/UPI | License Photo


SEOUL, Aug. 7 (UPI) -- A landmark law banning the dog meat industry in South Korea took effect Wednesday, starting the final countdown for an age-old practice that has fallen deeply out of favor in the country.

The law, passed at the beginning of the year, allows for a two-and-a-half-year grace period as dog farmers and restaurant owners transition to new businesses before a final deadline of February 2027.

At that point, penalties for violating the law will include up to three years in prison and fines of up to roughly $23,000 for those who butcher dogs. Those who breed and sell dogs for meat will face up to two years in prison and fines of $15,000.

The government will offer compensation packages to dog farmers, butchers and restaurants who submitted a plan to close or transition their businesses, South Korea's Agriculture Ministry said in a press release.

"We will actively support the necessary measures so that all industries that are subject to the closure can be carried out stably and reliably, and the complete end of dog meat consumption can be achieved by February 2027," Park Jung-hoon, an animal welfare and environmental policy officer at the ministry, said.

Some 5,600 businesses, including 1,500 farms and 2,200 restaurants and shops, were identified during a mandatory reporting period and will be eligible for support, the ministry said in May.

Dog breeding farms will receive compensation for residual value as well as closure and demolition costs. If the farms switch to other industries, the government will provide loans and funding for new facilities, specialized education, training and consultation. Restaurant owners will receive small business support packages for acquiring new supplies and altering their menus.

The law's implementation comes during the hottest period of summer in South Korea, known as Bok Nal, when dog meat is most commonly eaten in a stew called bosintang.

However, local media reports indicate that dog meat restaurants have seen a significant decline in business this year, while traditional alternatives such as black goat and eel have been booming.

"This was the first Bok Nal since the dog meat ban was passed, and already we have seen reports of reduced consumer interest in dog meat," Sangkyung Lee, Humane Society International/Korea's dog meat campaign manager, said in an emailed statement to UPI.

"The message is clear for those relative few who still eat dog meat, that the end of South Korea's dog meat era is in sight," he said.

Dog meat has been falling out of favor at a blistering pace over the past several years as pet ownership has skyrocketed.

A survey released in December by Seoul-based animal rights group Aware found that some 82% of respondents supported a ban and more than 93% said they had no intention of eating dog meat in the future.

Efforts to shut down the dog meat industry picked up momentum last year as both major political parties introduced bills and high-profile political figures including first lady Kim Keon Hee spoke out in favor of a ban.

Dog meat farmers continue to protest the new law, however, with a trade group filing a petition against the ban with the Constitutional Court in March.

Next month, the Agriculture Ministry is slated to release a plan with details on how the dog meat industry will be dismantled before the February 2027 deadline, including specific compensation packages for businesses.

Not to be sniffed at: Dolce & Gabbana launches €99 dog perfume

By AFP
August 8, 2024


Dogs have an excellent sense of smell and perfumes can distress them. - Copyright AFP Alberto PIZZOLI

No need to wrestle your dog into the bath anymore. Italian luxury fashion house Dolce & Gabbana has launched a new perfume for canine companions.

The “alcohol-free scented mist for dogs” is on sale for 99 euros and comes with a free collar — but also a warning from animal rights activists, who say it could cause pets distress.

“I am delicate, authentic, charismatic, sensitive,” the video advertising the scent begins as it shows sleek and soft Bichon Frises, Dachshunds and Chihuahuas posing on a stool.

“Cause I’m not just a dog, I’m Fefe,” it ends.

The perfume is named after the dog of the brand’s co-founder Domenico Dolce and blends “fresh and delicate notes” of ylang ylang, musk, and sandalwood.

“It’s a tender and embracing fragrance crafted for a playful beauty routine,” the company said.

But international animal rights charity PETA said “squirting (dogs) with a fragrance designed to please humans, as this is, can upset them greatly.”

Dogs “have hundreds of millions more receptors in their nostrils and can smell 10,000 to 100,000 times better than humans,” PETA founder Ingrid Newkirk said in a statement to AFP.

Perfumes sprayed on their fur “can cause them irritation and distress and interfere with their ability to detect other smells in their environment and communicate with other animals they encounter,” she said.

Harvest starts very early in Sicily’s drought-hit vineyards


ByAFP
August 8, 2024

At Contessa Entellina, the company's main estate in the province of Agrigento, there has been almost no rain since May. - Copyright AFP MARCO BERTORELLO

Gaël BRANCHEREAU

On the hills of the Contessa Entellina vineyard in western Sicily, the harvest is already well underway, the grapes ripening earlier than usual because of drought and high temperatures.

The prestigious Donnafugata vineyards, which span the Italian island from the slopes of Marsala to the mantle of Mount Etna, began their harvest on July 22, an unprecedented two weeks early.

At Contessa Entellina, the company’s main estate in the province of Agrigento, there has been almost no rain since May.

“Between October and the end of July, there has been 35 percent less rain,” said Antonino Santoro, the estate’s technical director and oenologist.

In 2022, the harvest had already begun on July 29.

The Sicily of myth is a fertile orchard blessed with rivers of pure water, but the modern day Mediterranean island suffers more and more from global warming.

Since the end of spring, water has stopped flowing, the soil and the springs parched.

Farmers here are used to the naturally arid territory, but they are being tested.

Even citrus fruits and olive trees are suffering from the drought and scorching temperatures which in 2021 set the European record of 48.8 degrees Centigrade (119.8 Fahrenheit).

– Drop by drop –

With 460 hectares of vines and 3.6 million bottles per year across all its territories, the Donnafugata company has the financial resources to adapt.

“Before, irrigation was useful, today it is essential,” Santoro said.

Around Contessa Entellina the estate has installed several retention basins which meet around 75 percent of its irrigation needs, the rest covered by public reserves.

During June and July, it irrigates the vines using a micro-sprinkler system, which provides water at a rate of four litres per hour per vine.

“The aim is to optimise water use,” said Giuseppe Milano, the estate’s head of cultivation.

Irrigation is not cheap, costing between 4,000 and 6,000 euros per hectare per year. The average size of an Italian vineyard is 11 hectares.

At the end of July, the Italian government recognised Sicily was facing “force majeure conditions and exceptional circumstances” due to the drought, according to Sicilian authorities.

This eases some EU rules on agriculture and allows farmers to defer payments and charges, the region said, in response to a year-long drought it said was “one of the most serious in the last 50 years”.

– Quantity and quality –

Donnafugata takes its name from the fictional town in “The Leopard”, the novel by Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa set in the area during the unification of Italy in the late 19th century.

Back then, the grape harvest did not begin before September.

As well as irrigation, Contessa Entellina adapts by growing its vines taller, up to 1.5 metres, so the upper foliage serves as a canopy to screen the grapes from the sun.

There is no such shade for the grape pickers, who use pruning shears to harvest the grapes under a blazing sun.

They started at dawn, and by 10:00am it is already 29 degrees Celsius.

For the first time, regional authorities have banned working in the fields during the hottest hours of the day, between 12:30 pm. and 4:00 pm.

They are now picking the Merlot grapes for red wine. The white Chardonnay ones were picked in July.

Depending on the varieties and the terroir, the grape harvest in Sicily this year will be spread out over three or four months — “a unique situation in Europe”, according to national agricultural association Coldiretti.

Contessa Entellina’s harvest will be smaller than last year, with smaller grapes.

But Milano insisted that what it lacks in quantity is made up in quality.

Today, Donnafugata is involved in research projects to help prepare the vines for the evolving conditions.

“I am optimistic,” said Santoro. “The vine adapts better than other crops.”

It is not just heat that is affecting the harvest.

Last year, a combination of frost and floods in the north and mildew in the south cost the Italian wine industry a quarter of its production — allowing France to take the title of the world’s leading wine producer.

Iran says Israel seeks to ‘expand war’ amid de-escalation push


By AFP
August 8, 2024

The site of an Israeli strike on south Lebanon 

- Copyright AFP/File CHRISTIAN MONTERROSA

Rania Sanjar

Iran accused Israel on Thursday of wanting to spread war in the Middle East, as diplomatic efforts sought a regional de-escalation following the killings of Tehran-allied militant leaders.

Ali Bagheri, Iran’s acting foreign minister, told AFP that Israel had committed “a strategic mistake” by killing Hamas’s political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran last week — hours after the assassination in Beirut of Hezbollah’s military chief.

Although Israel has not admitted to killing Haniyeh, Iran and its allies have vowed to retaliate, setting the region on edge as the Gaza war raged on into its 11th month.

Israel seeks “to expand tension, war and conflict to other countries”, but has neither “the capacity nor the strength” to fight Iran, Bagheri said.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, speaking at a military base on Wednesday, said Israel was “prepared both defensively and offensively” and “determined” to defend itself.

Haniyeh’s group named a successor on Wednesday — Yahya Sinwar, who Israel says had a key role in planning Hamas’s unprecedented October 7 attack that sparked the Gaza war.

Analysts believe Sinwar — Hamas’s leader in the Gaza Strip since 2017 — has been both more reluctant to agree to a ceasefire and closer to Tehran than Haniyeh, who lived in Qatar.

On the ground in Gaza, fighting continued on Thursday with the Israeli military issuing its latest evacuation order and rescuers and medics reporting at least 13 killed in strikes.

– ‘Cycle of reprisals’ –

The front pages of some of Israel’s leading newspapers on Thursday cited “assessments” that Iran may be rethinking its course of action, reportedly in part due to US pressure.

Officials and leaders in the Middle East and beyond have called for calm, with Britain’s minister for international development, Anneliese Dodds, telling AFP on a visit to Jordan: “We must see a de-escalation”.

The United States, which has sent extra warships and jets to the region, has urged both Iran and Israel to avoid an escalation.

France’s President Emmanuel Macron spoke Wednesday with his Iranian counterpart Masoud Pezeshkian and later with Israel’s Netanyahu, telling both to “avoid a cycle of reprisals”, according to the French presidency.

Israel’s military chief Herzi Halevi told troops “we are not stopping” targeting the leaders of “our most dangerous enemies”, vowing to “find” and “attack” Sinwar too, according to an army statement.

Also on Wednesday, the 57-member Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, meeting in the Saudi city of Jeddah, declared that Israel was “fully responsible” for Haniyeh’s “heinous” killing.

Bagheri said OIC members voiced support for Iranian retaliation.

“Western countries, who claim they have asked Iran to restrict its response… are not in the position to advise the Islamic Republic of Iran.”

– ‘Inevitable’ –

The Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip has already drawn in Tehran-aligned militants in Syria, Lebanon, Iraq and Yemen.

Lebanese Hamas ally Hezbollah, which has traded near-daily cross-border fire with Israeli troops throughout the Gaza war, has vowed retaliation for military chief Fuad Shukr’s killing.

Israel said the Beirut strike that killed him was in response to deadly rocket fire from Lebanon last month on the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights.

And in Yemen, the Iran-backed Huthis said Thursday their retaliation for a deadly Israeli strike last month on the Red Sea port of Hodeida was “inevitable and will come”.

The Huthis, who have carried out maritime attacks since November in a campaign they say is in solidarity with Gaza, claimed a drone attack on Tel Aviv a day before the Hodeida strike.

A Lebanese government official told AFP on Thursday that “there are efforts to calm the situation” across the region including with a continued push to secure a Gaza truce after months of stalled negotiations.

“But we must stay alert, even if tensions have relatively subsided over the past two days,” said the source, requesting anonymity.

Numerous airlines have suspended flights to Lebanon to security fears.

– Israel PM ‘sorry’ –

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

Palestinian militants seized 251 hostages, 111 of whom are still held in Gaza, including 39 the Israeli military says are dead.

Israel’s retaliatory military campaign in Gaza has killed at least 39,699 people, according to the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry, which does not give details of civilian and militant deaths.

Netanyahu, who has resisted making an apology for security failures over Israel’s worst-ever attack, said in an interview published Thursday that he was “sorry, deeply, that something like this happened”.

“You always look back and you say, ‘Could we have done things that would have prevented it?'” Netanyahu told Time magazine.

The Israeli military meanwhile issued a new evacuation order for parts of Khan Yunis, southern Gaza’s main city, telling Palestinians to flee places from where “rockets are launched” at Israel.

The civil defence agency said an Israeli strike targeting a Khan Yunis house killed at least five people.

In the territory’s north, AFP journalists reported air strikes and constant shelling overnight in Gaza City, where medics said eight people were killed in two separate incidents.

On the diplomatic front, an Israeli decision to revoke the diplomatic status of Norway’s envoys to the Palestinian Authority over “anti-Israel behaviour” drew anger from Oslo.

“Today’s decision will have consequences for our relationship with the Netanyahu government,” said Norwegian Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide.

burs-ami/dr

Iran says Hamas leader’s killing a costly ‘strategic mistake’ by Israel

ByAFP
August 8, 2024


A woman walks past a picture of Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian (R) and slain Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran - Copyright AFP CHRISTIAN MONTERROSA

Israel committed a costly “strategic mistake” with its killing of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran last week, Iran’s acting foreign minister told AFP in an interview on Thursday.

“The act that the Zionists carried out in Tehran was a strategic mistake because it will cost them gravely,” Ali Bagheri said one day after attending an extraordinary session of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in the Saudi coastal city of Jeddah.

Although Israel has not commented on Haniyeh’s death, Iran has vowed to retaliate, setting the region on edge.

Bagheri accused Israel of wanting “to expand tension, war and conflict to other countries,” while asserting it was not in a position to fight Iran.

“The Zionists are in no position to start a war against the Islamic Republic of Iran,” he said.

“They neither have the capacity nor the strength.”

The meeting on Wednesday of foreign ministers from the 57-member OIC produced a declaration holding Israel “fully responsible” for the “heinous” killing of Haniyeh, who lived in Qatar and was a major player in talks to end the war in the Gaza Strip.

The war began with Hamas’s October 7 attacks on southern Israel, which resulted in the deaths of 1,198 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures.

Palestinian militants seized 251 hostages, 111 of whom are still held in Gaza, including 39 the Israeli military says are dead.

Israel’s retaliatory military campaign in Gaza has killed at least 39,699 people, according to the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry, which does not give details of civilian and militant deaths.

Hamas’s Lebanese ally Hezbollah has also pledged to retaliate for Haniyeh’s killing and that of its military commander Fuad Shukr in an Israeli strike in Beirut hours earlier.

Who is Hamas' new leader Yahya Sinwar?

Ines Eisele

DW

AUGUST 8, 2024

The new leader of the Islamist Palestinian organization Hamas, Yahya Sinwar, is seen as being more radical than his predecessor, Ismail Haniyeh. What is known about the top Gaza official?

Around a week ago, the political leader of Hamas, Ismail Haniyeh, was assassinated in Tehran. Now the radical Islamic Palestinian group — classified as a terrorist organization by Germany, the European Union, the US and other countries — has appointed 61-year-old Yahya Sinwar as his successor.

The current whereabouts of Yahya Sinwar, seen here in Gaza City in April 2023, are unknown

Image: Yousef Masoud/SOPA Images via ZUMA Press/alliance

Who is Yahya Sinwar?

Sinwar has been Hamas' Gaza leader since 2017. His whereabouts in the territory are currently unknown, though it is assumed that he is hiding in Hamas tunnels under the coastal area. On Tuesday, Hamas declared Sinwar will head the organization's political bureau. His predecessor, Haniyeh, was based in the Qatari capital, Doha, and was considered Hamas' chief diplomat.

Sinwar is considered to be the mastermind behind Hamas' brutal attacks on Israel on October 7, 2023, in which around 1,200 people were killed in the country's south, with over 250 people taken back to Gaza as hostages. In response, Israel took massive military action against targets in Gaza. According to the Hamas-controlled Health Ministry, more than 39,650 people have been killed so far, a figure that cannot be independently verified.

Sinwar's role in the terrorist attack made him one of the organization's most wanted leaders. He is very popular among the Palestinians and is seen as the "spearhead of armed resistance" against Israel, said Israeli security expert Kobi Michael from the Institute for National Security Studies at Tel Aviv University.

Sinwar has not appeared in public since October 7.

Who is Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar?  02:28

'Butcher of Khan Younis'

Sinwar was born in 1962 in southern Gaza's Khan Younis refugee camp. His family comes from the area around the coastal town of Ashkelon, which is now part of Israeli territory.

When Hamas was formed during the first Palestinian uprising, the intifada, at the end of the 1980s in the fight against Israeli occupation, Sinwar contributed to setting up Hamas' military wing, the Qassam Brigades. In the early years of Hamas' existence, he was responsible for the fight against individuals within the organization's own ranks suspected of collaborating with Israel. Sinwar was so brutal that he became known as the "Butcher of Khan Younis."

He was later handed four life sentences for killing two Israeli soldiers. Sinwar spent a total of 23 years in Israeli prison, during which he is said to have learned Hebrew. He was released in 2011 by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as part of a prisoner exchange.

ICC prosecutor requests warrants for Israeli, Hamas leaders  02:24

What can we expect from Sinwar as Hamas leader?

It's known that Sinwar wants to achieve a unified Palestinian leadership across all Palestinian territories, including the occupied West Bank, which is governed by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah party, which rivals Hamas.

Sinwar is the main decision-maker when it comes to exchanging hostages and reaching a cease-fire with Israel. Yet he could be more opposed to a cease-fire agreement in Gaza than his predecessor Haniyeh, experts believe.

Security expert Michael said Hamas' announcement to put Sinwar in charge sent a "strong message" to Israel that Hamas is "continuing on its path of resistance."

The appointment of Sinwar, who is considered more extreme than his predecessor Haniyeh, can be interpreted as a demonstration of power, said Michael. On the other hand, Sinwar's rise to power could also offer new opportunities, he added.

"Sinwar cannot lead Hamas from the Gaza tunnel where he is hiding. As a political leader, he must operate from outside Gaza. And he can't get out without a hostage agreement or a cease-fire in place."

This article was originally written in German.

Ukraine to unleash robot dogs on its front lines


By AFP
August 8, 2024

A robot dog leaps into the air, controlled by its operator in Ukraine

 - Copyright AFP GENYA SAVILOV

Ukraine could soon unleash robot dogs on its front lines, replacing soldiers for perilous missions like spying on Russian trenches or detecting mines.

At a demonstration in an undisclosed part of Ukraine, the metallic dog known as model “BAD One” stood up, crouched, ran and jumped according to commands transmitted by its operator.

Stealthy and agile, they could soon become an invaluable ally on the front line for an Ukrainian army that is short on manpower to repel the Russian invasion, its makers said.

Low on the ground and therefore difficult to detect, the robot dogs can use thermal imaging to inspect enemy trenches or the inside of buildings in combat zones.

“We have surveillance soldiers who get sent on reconnaissance missions (who) are most of the time very highly trained people, very experienced people (and) always exposed to risks,” said the operator who called himself “Yuri”, as he showed it off to AFP journalists.

“This dog limits the risk for soldiers and increases operational capabilities. This is the core function of the dog,” said the operator, who works for a British company providing military equipment.

A more advanced model, known as “BAD Two” could not be shown for security reasons.

The device used in the demonstration has a battery that powers it for around two hours.

Useful for detecting mines or improvised explosive devices, the robot dog can also be used to carry up to seven kilos (15 pounds) of ammunition or medicines to hot spots on the battlefield.

“I can’t say how many we deployed” in Ukraine, Yuri said, adding: “But it will have a significant impact on the operations and increase the safety of soldiers.”

And if the robot dogs were ever to fall into Russian hands, he said, an emergency switch allows the operator to erase all its data.

Anti-whaling activist Watson says Greenland arrest ‘political’


By AFP
August 8, 2024


Watson's arrest has sparked a series of protests calling for his release

 - Copyright AFP Thibaud MORITZ

US-Canadian environmental activist Paul Watson considers his detention in Greenland and Japan’s extradition request to be political, his campaigning group Sea Shepherd said Thursday.

Lamya Essemlali, president of the organisation, who visits him “almost every day” in jail in Nuuk, capital of the autonomous Danish territory, told AFP he was “very clear about the situation”.

“He is aware that Japan is putting all its political weight behind him, that he is a political symbol,” Essemlali said.

Watson, who featured in the reality TV series “Whale Wars”, founded Sea Shepherd and the Captain Paul Watson Foundation (CPWF), and is known for radical tactics including confrontations with whaling ships at sea.

The 73-year-old campaigner was arrested on July 21 when the ship John Paul DeJoria docked in Nuuk to refuel.

The vessel was on its way to “intercept” a new Japanese whaling factory vessel in the North Pacific, according to the CPWF.

Watson was arrested on the basis of a 2012 Interpol “Red Notice” after Japan accused him of causing damage to one of its whaling ships in the Antarctic two years earlier and causing injury.

Japan asked Danish authorities to extradite him at the end of July.

The Nuuk court is due to rule on his detention on August 15. A decision on the extradition is up to the Danish government.

Watson’s supporters are due to demonstrate this weekend across France, before another protest in the Danish capital Copenhagen on Monday, August 12.

– ‘No regrets’ –

“Even if he were guilty, it is clear that there has never been an extradition on the basis of such minor offences,” Essemlali said.

“He has no regrets, he knows that what he did was right,” Essemlali said, adding she had “never imagined” that Denmark would arrest Watson and consider an extradition.

Watson would be “particularly poorly treated” in a Japanese prison, she said.

In Japan, Watson faces a charge of causing injury, which can carry up to 15 years in prison or a fine of up to 500,000 yen ($3,300).

He also faces a charge of forcible obstruction of business, which carries a penalty of up to three years in prison or a fine of up to 500,000 yen.

Only Japan, Iceland and Norway allow commercial whaling.

His arrest has sparked a series of protests calling for his release.

French film legend turned animal rights activist Brigitte Bardot has campaigned for Watson in the past, and on Thursday she called for his release in a telephone interview with French television channel LCI.

“He’s an extraordinary character, a hero who has spent his life defending whales against the Japanese, against the Japanese harpoons,” she said.

“If he is extradited to Japan, he’s dead.”

French President Emmanuel Macron’s office has asked Denmark not to extradite Watson, who has lived in France for the past year.

SPACE

Boeing Starliner astronauts might not return to Earth until next year, NASA says

JUST ANOTHER BOEING FUCK UP


Boeing Starliner astronauts Suni Williams (L) and Butch Wilmore (R), who have spent 63 days at the International Space Station on what had been scheduled to be weeklong test flight, may return to Earth on SpaceX in 2025, according to NASA. 

File Photo by Joe Marino/UPI | 

Aug. 7 (UPI) -- Boeing Starliner astronauts, stranded at the International Space Station after a weeklong test flight turned into a two-month stay due to thruster problems, may be forced to fly home on SpaceX in 2025, NASA has admitted.

NASA updated reporters Wednesday at a news conference, which Boeing did not attend, on the timeline for crew members Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams. The astronauts have been in space for 63 days with no return date in sight.

Wilmore and Williams arrived at the ISS on June 6 on what was the first crewed test flight of Boeing's Starliner capsule. The mission was supposed to be the final step before NASA certified Boeing to fly crews to and from the space station, before faulty thrusters stranded the pair in June.

"We're in kind of a new situation here, in that we've got multiple options," Ken Bowersox, associate administrator for NASA's space operations mission directorate and a former agency astronaut, told reporters Wednesday.

"I would say that our chances of an uncrewed Starliner return have increased a little bit on where things have gone over the last week or two," Bowersox said. "But again, new data coming in, new analysis, different discussion -- we could find ourselves shift in another way."

"We don't just have to bring a crew back on Starliner, for example. We could bring them back on another vehicle," Bowersox added. The space agency is expected to make a final decision as early as next week.

"Our prime option is to return Butch and Suni on Starliner," Steve Stich, manager of NASA's Commercial Crew Program said. "However, we have done the requisite planning to make sure we have other options open, and so we have been working with SpaceX to ensure that they're ready to respond."

NASA said it is now considering sending only two astronauts, instead of four, on September's SpaceX Crew-9 mission to leave space for Wilmore and Williams to return to Earth on SpaceX Dragon in February 2025. SpaceX has been transporting astronauts to and from the ISS since 2020.

"We're not ready to share specific crew names for the contingency plan," ISS program manager Dana Weigel told Space.com. "We'll go look at future manifests and just see what makes sense for the overall crew compliments going forward."

On Tuesday, NASA announced SpaceX would delay the Aug. 18 launch of its Crew-9 mission, more than a month, to Sept. 24. The delay will give NASA and Boeing more time to repair Starliner's five of 28 reaction control thrusters which misfired during docking at ISS on June 6.

While NASA said Starliner can safely undock from ISS, there is still uncertainty over how its thrusters would operate during the ride back to Earth.

"Starliner ground teams are taking their time to analyze the results of recent docked hot-fire testing, finalize flight rationale for the spacecraft's integrated propulsion system and confirm system reliability ahead of Starliner's return to Earth," NASA said in a statement Tuesday.

Stich told reporters Wednesday that tests on the ground revealed that a small Teflon seal swells under high temperatures, which could be to blame for Starliner's thruster problems.

"That gives us a lot of confidence in the thrusters, but we can't totally prove with certainty what we're seeing on orbit is exactly what's been replicated on the ground," Stich added.

Despite not attending Wednesday's briefing, Boeing has maintained its confidence "in Starliner's return with crew."

"We still believe in Starliner's capability and its flight rationale," the company said in a statement Wednesday, as it also admitted the possibility that a different vehicle could bring the astronauts home.

"If NASA decides to change the mission, we will take the actions necessary to configure Starliner for an uncrewed return."

SpaceX delays Crew-9 astronaut launch amid uncertainty over Boeing Starliner


The Crew Dragon spacecraft sits on top of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket as it is prepared to launch NASA's Crew 8 to the International Space Station on March 2. On Tuesday, NASA announced the SpaceX launch of this month's Crew-9 mission has been pushed back to Sept. 24, to accommodate Boeing's Starliner which is currently stranded, along with two U.S. astronauts, at ISS. 

File Photo by Joe Marino/UPI | License Photo

Aug. 6 (UPI) -- SpaceX has delayed this month's Crew-9 astronaut launch to Sept. 24, to accommodate a traffic jam at the International Space Station as Boeing's Starliner remains stalled at the orbiting laboratory.

SpaceX was scheduled to launch its ninth operational flight for NASA with four astronauts to the ISS on Aug. 18, before the space agency announced the delay Monday.

"This adjustment allows more time for mission managers to finalize return planning for the agency's Boeing Crew Flight Test currently docked to the orbiting laboratory," NASA said.

Boeing's new Starliner capsule launched June 5, with NASA astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore to the ISS. Despite plans to return Starliner and its crew to Earth a week later, NASA has repeatedly delayed the mission for two months so Crew Flight Test members can study Starliner's issues that include five failed reaction control system thrusters.

As SpaceX delays this month's launch, NASA will use the time to determine the flightworthiness of Starliner and whether it is safe to bring Williams and Wilmore home.

"Starliner ground teams are taking their time to analyze the results of recent docked hot-fire testing, finalize flight rationale for the spacecraft's integrated propulsion system and confirm system reliability ahead of Starliner's return to Earth," NASA said in a statement Tuesday. "NASA and Boeing continue to evaluate the spacecraft's readiness, and no decisions have been made regarding Starliner's return."

NASA could ultimately decide to tap SpaceX to bring Williams and Wilmore back to Earth, if the space agency determines that would be the safer route.

"There are a lot of good reasons to complete this mission and bring Butch and Suni home on Starliner," Steve Stich, NASA's commercial crew program manager, said last month.

"Of course, I'm very confident we have a good vehicle to bring the crew back with," Mark Nappi, Boeing's commercial crew program manager, added as the company weighed in with an update.

"Boeing remains confident in the Starliner spacecraft and its ability to return safely with crew. We continue to support NASA's requests for additional testing, data, analysis and reviews to affirm the spacecraft's safe undocking and landing capabilities," the company wrote.

"Our confidence is based on this abundance of valuable testing from Boeing and NASA. The testing has confirmed 27 of 28 thrusters are healthy and back to full operational capability," Boeing added.

NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said Tuesday he too is confident that NASA will make the right call, adding "I especially have confidence since I have the final decision."

As the Crew-9 mission waits another month to launch, liftoff will now take place from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida to "deconflict with pad preparations for NASA's Europa Clipper mission beginning this September."

The Crew-9 mission will mark the first-ever crewed launch from SLC-40.

Russian disinformation slams Paris and amplifies Khelif debate to undermine the Olympics

BY DAVID KLEPPER
August 6, 2024

WASHINGTON (AP) — The actor in the viral music video denouncing the 2024 Olympics looks a lot like French President Emmanuel Macron. The images of rats, trash and the sewage, however, were dreamed up by artificial intelligence.

Portraying Paris as a crime-ridden cesspool, the video mocking the Games spread quickly on social media platforms like YouTube and X, helped on its way by 30,000 social media bots linked to a notorious Russian disinformation group that has set its sights on France before. Within days, the video was available in 13 languages, thanks to quick translation by AI.

“Paris, Paris, 1-2-3, go to Seine and make a pee,” taunts an AI-enhanced singer as the faux Macron actor dances in the background, seemingly a reference to water quality concerns in the Seine River where some competitions are taking place.

Moscow is making its presence felt during the Paris Games, with groups linked to Russia’s government using online disinformation and state propaganda to spread incendiary claims and attack the host country — showing how global events like the Olympics are now high-profile targets for online disinformation and propaganda.

Over the weekend, disinformation networks linked to the Kremlin seized on a divide over Algerian boxer Imane Khelif, who has faced unsubstantiated questions about her gender. Baseless claims that she is a man or transgender surfaced after a controversial boxing association with Russian ties said she failed an opaque eligibility test before last year’s world boxing championships.

Russian networks amplified the debate, which quickly became a trending topic online. British news outlets, author J.K. Rowling and right-wing politicians like Donald Trump added to the deluge. At its height late last week, X users were posting about the boxer tens of thousands of times per hour, according to an analysis by PeakMetrics, a cyber firm that tracks online narratives.

The boxing group at the root of the claims — the International Boxing Association — has been permanently barred from the Olympics, has a Russian president who is an ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin and its biggest sponsor is the state energy company Gazprom. Questions also have surfaced about its decision to disqualify Khelif last year after she had beaten a Russian boxer.

Approving only a small number of Russian athletes to compete as neutrals and banning them from team sports following the invasion of Ukraine all but guaranteed the Kremlin’s response, said Gordon Crovitz, co-founder of NewsGuard, a firm that analyzes online misinformation. NewsGuard has tracked dozens of examples of disinformation targeting the Paris Games, including the fake music video.

Russia’s disinformation campaign targeting the Olympics stands out for its technical skill, Crovitz said.

“What’s different now is that they are perhaps the most advanced users of generative AI models for malign purposes: fake videos, fake music, fake websites,” he said.

AI can be used to create lifelike images, audio and video, rapidly translate text and generate culturally specific content that sounds and reads like it was created by a human. The once labor-intensive work of creating fake social media accounts or websites and writing conversational posts can now be done quickly and cheaply.

Another video amplified by accounts based in Russia in recent weeks claimed the CIA and U.S. State Department warned Americans not to use the Paris metro. No such warning was issued.

Russian state media has trumpeted some of the same false and misleading content. Instead of covering the athletic competitions, much of the coverage of the Olympics has focused on crime, immigration, litter and pollution.

One article in the state-run Sputnik news service summed it up: “These Paris ‘games’ sure are going swimmingly. Here’s an idea. Stop awarding the Olympics to the decadent, rotting west.”

Russia has used propaganda to disparage past Olympics, as it did when the then-Soviet Union boycotted the 1984 Games in Los Angeles. At the time, it distributed printed material to Olympic officials in Africa and Asia suggesting that non-white athletes would be hunted by racists in the U.S., according to an analysis from Microsoft Threat Intelligence, a unit within the technology company that studies malicious online actors.

Russia also has targeted past Olympic Games with cyberattacks.

“If they cannot participate in or win the Games, then they seek to undercut, defame, and degrade the international competition in the minds of participants, spectators, and global audiences,” analysts at Microsoft concluded.

A message left with the Russian government was not immediately returned on Monday.

Authorities in France have been on high alert for sabotage, cyberattacks or disinformation targeting the Games. A 40-year-old Russian man was arrested in France last month and charged with working for a foreign power to destabilize the European country ahead of the Games.

Other nations, criminal groups, extremist organizations and scam artists also are exploiting the Olympics to spread their own disinformation. Any global event like the Olympics — or a climate disaster or big election — that draws a lot of people online is likely to generate similar amounts of false and misleading claims, said Mark Calandra, executive vice president at CSC Digital Brand Services, a firm that tracks fraudulent activity online.

CSC’s researchers noticed a sharp increase in fake website domain names being registered ahead of the Olympics. In many cases, groups set up sites that appear to provide Olympic content, or sell Olympic merchandise.

Instead, they’re designed to collect information on the user. Sometimes it’s a scam artist looking to steal personal financial data. In others, the sites are used by foreign governments to collect information on Americans — or as a way to spread more disinformation.

“Bad actors look for these global events,” Calandra said. “Whether they’re positive events like the Olympics or more concerning ones, these people use everyone’s heightened awareness and interest to try to exploit them.”

 

Olympic boxer Imane Khelif said the wave of hateful scrutiny she faced over misconceptions about her gender “harms human dignity,” and she called for an end to bullying athletes after being greatly affected by the international backlash against her.