South Korea proposes 'freedom-based' unification with North Korea

Liberation Day event in Seoul marked by controversy as independence groups and opposition lawmakers protest appointment of director at national independence museum

Yasin Gungor |16.08.2024 - 



ISTANBUL

South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol called Thursday for peaceful unification with North Korea “based on freedom and democracy.”

Yoon also called for an official dialogue channel to address issues between the divided Koreas, Seoul-based Yonhap News reported.

"The freedom we enjoy must be extended to the frozen kingdom of the North," he told an event to mark Liberation Day.

"Only when a unified, free and democratic nation rightfully owned by the people is established across the entire Korean Peninsula will we finally have complete liberation," he added.

South and North Korea have been divided since the 1950s following the defeat of Japan during World War II, when the Korean War ended in an armistice rather than a peace treaty.

Over the years, however, the two sides had set up communication channels and sealed pacts to promote trade and military agreements.

But in recent months, nearly all such pacts and agreements have been ended as the two sides ramped up rival military activities.

While Seoul has closed ranks with the US and Japan, Pyongyang has established closer ties with Russia.

Yoon's proposal towards unification with the North came amid controversy, as some independence fighter groups and opposition lawmakers boycotted the official ceremony.

They protested the appointment of a director at the national independence museum who is accused of justifying Japan's colonial rule over the Korean Peninsula.

How disinformation on Musk’s X is powering smear campaign against America's biggest brands amid polarised election campaign

Attendees react prior to Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump speaking at a campaign event at Harrah's Cherokee Center on August 14, 2024. — AFP pic

Friday, 16 Aug 2024 

WASHINGTON, Aug 16 — From Google to Netflix, prominent US companies are battling internet boycott calls over their perceived political leanings in a polarising election season that has exposed them to what researchers call “brand disinformation.”

The online campaigns, which falsely claim both Netflix and Google are funding or favouring Democratic nominee Kamala Harris ahead of the November election, illustrate how brands are vulnerable to political falsehoods that can expose them to financial perils.

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Those calling for a boycott, researchers say, include fake accounts on the platform X. The site is owned by Elon Musk, who has endorsed Donald Trump and appears to exert an outsized influence on voters through the platform, which has become a hotbed of disinformation.

The recent boycott calls targeting Netflix, which also spread on other platforms such as TikTok and Instagram, were triggered by false claims of a US$7 million (RM31 million) donation from the streaming service to Harris’s campaign, AFP fact-checkers reported.

Reed Hastings, the service’s co-founder and executive chairman, made a contribution to Vice President Harris’s campaign but the company said it was a “personal donation” and had “no connection to Netflix.”

Still, calls to “cancel Netflix” flooded social media sites, with many users falsely claiming the company was indirectly funding the Harris campaign. Some shared screenshots of their cancelled subscriptions.

Nearly a quarter of the boycott calls on X were traced to fake profiles, which have consistently expressed support for Trump through the past year, according to the disinformation security company Cyabra.

“Brand disinformation campaigns in today’s polarised climate have far-reaching impacts beyond just corporate reputation,” Dan Brahmy, Cyabra’s chief executive, told AFP.

“The Netflix case demonstrates how rapidly these campaigns spread, potentially reaching hundreds of millions” and shows how “disinformation can manipulate public opinion and consumer behaviour,” he said.

‘Delicate balancing act’

As the hotly contested election nears, Brahmy cautioned, “brands must be vigilant.”

Similar boycott calls recently targeted Google after unfounded claims that the company censors election-related content and manipulates search engine results in favour of Harris.

Cyabra identified hundreds of fake profiles on X — many with a recent history of pro-Trump content — which called for a boycott of the tech giant while promoting another search engine.

Musk, who has repeatedly criticised Google, played a “significant role in amplifying negative content” against the company, Cyabra said in a report.

In one evidence-free tweet in late July, Musk wrote: “Wow, Google has a search ban on President Donald Trump! Election interference?”

Google did not respond when AFP asked about the allegations, or about the impact of the boycott calls.

Earlier this month, a survey by the portal Sitejabber showed 30 percent of respondents had boycotted a brand over political reasons in the past 12 months, while 41 percent said they prefer that companies keep their “political positions private.”

“Brands face a delicate balancing act this election year,” Michael Lai, chief executive of Sitejabber, told AFP.

“While staying apolitical may seem safe, it’s important for businesses to understand that even neutrality can be interpreted as a position.”

‘Chaos and distrust’

Another survey by market research firm Certus Insights showed that consumers were divided over whether corporations should engage in partisan politics, with more than half the respondents saying companies should refrain from doing so.

Other surveys suggest consumers consider it the brand’s fault if its advertising appears next to polarising, false or defamatory content.

Such concerns have prompted many advertisers to abandon X, which has scaled back content moderation and restored once-banned accounts known to peddle disinformation or hate following Musk’s 2022 acquisition of the platform.

Some also left in light of Musk’s own controversial musings on the site.

Earlier this month, X sued an advertising group and several large corporations, accusing them of causing billions of dollars of losses by “illegally” boycotting his site.

“Disinformation creates chaos and distrust. Brands normally benefit from a well-informed society,” Claire Atkin, co-founder and chief executive of the anti-disinformation watchdog Check My Ads, told AFP.

“On the internet, advertisers have let tech companies take their ads away from the news and straight into the arms of bad actors. Now, unfortunately, we are all experiencing the consequences.” — AFP

Seoul breaks 118-year record with 26th 'tropical night'

Seoul (AFP) – Residents of South Korea's capital are resorting to novel ways to beat the heat as a century-old weather record fell Friday following a 26th "tropical night" in a row -- when the temperature stays above 25 degrees Celsius (77 Fahrenheit).

Issued on: 16/08/2024 -

Pedestrians use an umbrella and a portable fan to cool off in Seoul during a prolonged heatwave © ANTHONY WALLACE / AFP

"I take a cold shower before bed and tie freezer packs around my electric fan to cool the air," Lee Ji-soo told AFP Friday.

Overnight temperatures in Seoul have sizzled above 25 degrees Celsius for 26 days in a row, officials said Friday, marking the longest streak since modern weather observation began in 1907.

Such evenings are widely known as "tropical nights" in South Korea.

Much of the world is enduring a summer of sweltering weather, with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warning last month of an "extreme heat epidemic", and calling for action to limit the impact of climate change.

The intense heat in Seoul is expected to continue, according to the met office, setting a record every day until next week.

"The cold air is not coming down from the north," Youn Ki-han, director at Seoul's Meteorology Forecast Division, told AFP.

"Usually around this time the temperature drops in the morning and evening... but currently we aren't seeing any signs of that yet," said Youn.

As temperatures soar, residents struggle to find ways to cope with the sweltering nights.

"I think I turn on my air conditioner 23 hours a day," said Kim Young-sook, who lives in Gangnam district, an affluent neighbourhood in Seoul.

"I'm worried my dogs will become too hot -- even during at night."

That isn't an option for Lee Ji-soo, who straps icepacks to her fan.

"I do have an air conditioner but I just can't afford the electricity bill," she said.

"The air is suffocating sometimes. I don't know how long I can live like this."
Power hungry

Data from Korea Power Exchange showed South Korea's electricity demand hit an all-time high on Monday as people battled the heatwave with air conditioners and fans.

Some 102.3 gigawatts were used, passing the previous record of 100.6 gigawatts set last August, the agency said.

According to the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED), the number of days with temperatures reaching 35 degrees Celsius in the world's largest capital cities has surged by 52 percent over the past 30 years.

In 2018 alone, Seoul experienced 21 days with temperatures over 35 degrees Celsius -- more than the previous 10 years combined.

"In just one generation, there's been an alarming increase," said Dr Tucker Landesman, a senior researcher at IIED.

Climate activists in South Korea are calling for more government action.

"There's no chance that this will get better and it's bound to get worse," Youn Se-jong, an environmental lawyer, told AFP.

"Strengthening the goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions should be the priority," he added.

South Korea currently has the lowest proportion of renewable energy in its power mix among all OECD countries and is the G20's second-highest carbon emitter from coal per capita, according to energy think tank Ember.

North Korea is also sweltering under a heatwave and issued a warning earlier this week, with central areas including Pyongyang affected.

"Severe heat of 33 to 37 (degrees Celsius) is foreseen in some areas," said Kim Kwang Hyok, an official at the State Hydro-Meteorological Administration.

© 2024 AFP

 

Sweating in squalor: Hong Kong’s elderly struggle to survive in scorching ‘shoe-box’ flats

This photo taken on August 10, 2024 shows retired janitor Chun Loi, 84, sitting on her bed while facing electric fans inside her 50-square-foot windowless one-room flat in Hong Kong. — AFP pic

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Friday, 16 Aug 2024 7:00 AM MYT

HONG KONG, Aug 16 — Even with two electric fans whirring, retired janitor Chun Loi was sweating profusely in her windowless, one-room flat that swelters during Hong Kong’s humid summer.

Her 50-square-foot room is partitioned with well-worn planks from four other small rooms, commonly known as sub-divided units.

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It is a sweaty but low-cost option that has proliferated across Hong Kong, one of the world’s most expensive housing markets.

Experts warn that, with 2024 expected to be the hottest year in recorded history, elderly people like Chun living in Hong Kong’s small, poorly ventilated units face greater risks.

AFP joined a Red Cross Hong Kong team that works with families that live in units like Chun’s to improve their living conditions.

“The heat makes it very hard for me... I feel tired,” the 84-year-old told AFP on Saturday, when the temperature crept past 32 degrees Celsius.

“I try to stay in as much as possible with my fans... Otherwise, where can you go? It’s embarrassing to stay in restaurants and malls if I am not eating anything,” Chun said.

Her unit in Hong Kong’s Kowloon region costs about HK$2,000 (RM1,135) a month.

She has waited more than six years for a public housing apartment to become available, but with only 430,000 targeted for construction in the next decade, her chances of getting one remain out of reach for now.

Eva Yeung of Red Cross Hong Kong, who has been working with about 650 households in subdivided units, warned that the elderly living in such units are especially vulnerable.

“Climate change affects everyone,” Yeung said. “But the impact is not equal because some people, due to their living conditions and physical conditions, are affected more than others.”

This photo taken on August 10, 2024 shows a general view of the apartment block where retired janitor Chun Loi, 84, lives in her 50-square-foot windowless one-room flat in Hong Kong. — AFP pic

Poor living conditions

The number of subdivided units grew rapidly over the past two decades as the value of Hong Kong’s private residential market tripled and public housing construction failed to keep up with demand.

The city is consistently ranked as one of the most expensive housing markets in the world, making low-cost solutions for people like Chun harder to find and blowing out waiting lists for public housing.

Hong Kong’s 2021 census found that, out of a population of 7.5 million, 215,700 people live in such “shoe-box” spaces — almost one in 50 people.

The elderly are the fastest-growing group among them, with an increase of more than 4,300 people from 2016. That reflects a United Nations forecast that Hong Kong will become the city with the world’s oldest population by 2050.

Yeung tries to improve the living conditions of the families she works with by showing them how to increase air circulation or manage the temperature.

She said indexes that measure factors such as temperature, humidity and air quality were all below international standards.

“It means their health has been seriously affected... other than physical impacts, such living environments would also affect emotions,” she said.

A 2020 study by the Chinese University of Hong Kong found that five consecutive “hot nights” — defined as when temperatures rise above 28C — would raise the risk of death by 6.66 percent.

A government task force that tackles this housing issue is expected to this month announce minimum living standards and measures to eradicate substandard units.

‘Climate disaster’

Lam Chiu-ying, the former chief of Hong Kong’s weather observatory and a Red Cross council member, rooted around Chun’s unit looking for any spare room.

He finally spotted an empty cupboard above the entrance that could hold another fan.

Lam, an ardent environmentalist who famously said he would never use an air conditioner, had been visiting families to offer advice.

“Climate change is gradually morphing into climate disaster,” he told AFP.

“But we can’t simply give up... what I am doing is trying my best before the death of the human race, hoping that people would wake up and maybe then, all of a sudden, we will have hope.” — AFP

UNICEF denounces Israeli airstrike killing newborn twins, mother in Gaza

'How many more children will be killed in Gaza or undergo indescribable suffering before the nightmare ends?' says head of agency

Merve Aydogan |16.08.2024 - 



HAMILTON, Canada

The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) highlighted the toll on families in Gaza from Israel’s war Thursday, describing a recent Israeli airstrike that killed four-day-old twins and their mother as "heartbreaking."

"How many more children will be killed in Gaza or undergo indescribable suffering before the nightmare ends?" the agency’s executive director, Catherine Russell, said in a post on X.

Citing the incident Tuesday involving the twins, who were killed as their father, Mohammad Abu al-Qumsan, went to collect their birth certificates, Russell said: "Heartbreaking to hear that newborn twins and their mother were among the latest casualties."

"It's past time for a cease-fire, and the unconditional release of hostages," she added.

The attack was part of Israel’s ongoing offensive on the Gaza Strip, which has killed over 40,000 people since Oct. 7 last year.

Israel, flouting a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate cease-fire, has faced international condemnation amid its continued brutal offensive on Gaza since an Oct. 7 attack last year by the Palestinian resistance group Hamas.

The Israeli onslaught has since killed more than 40,000 people, mostly women and children, and injured over 92,400, according to local health authorities.

More than 10 months into the Israeli onslaught, vast tracts of Gaza lie in ruins amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water and medicine.

Israel is accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), which ordered it to immediately halt its military operation in the southern city of Rafah, where more than a million Palestinians had sought refuge from the war before it was invaded on May 6.

FREE PAUL!

Anti-whaling activist Paul Watson to remain detained in Greenland

REUTERS

August 16, 2024



Paul Watson, founder of the anti-whaling group Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, attends an animal rights rally in Berlin on May 23, 2012. (Reuters)

COPENHAGEN--Anti-whaling activist Paul Watson will remain in detention in Greenland after he was arrested in the Danish autonomous territory last month, while Denmark decides whether to extradite him to Japan, police said on Thursday. 

GEOLOGY

Scottish isles may solve mystery of 'Snowball Earth'


Pallab Ghosh
Science Correspondent•@BBC Pallab

UCL


A cluster of Scottish islands could help solve one of our planet's greatest mysteries, scientists say.

The Garvellach islands off the west coast of Scotland are the best record of Earth entering its biggest ever ice age around 720 million years ago, researchers have discovered.

The big freeze, which covered nearly all the globe in two phases for 80 million years, is known as "Snowball Earth", after which the first animal life emerged.

Clues hidden in rocks about the freeze have been wiped out everywhere - except in the Garvellachs. Researchers hope the islands will tell us why Earth went into such an extreme icy state for so long and why it was necessary for complex life to emerge.

SPL
The Earth became almost completely covered in ice during the longest and most severe ice age in the planet's history


Layers of rock can be thought of as pages of a history book – with each layer containing details of the Earth’s condition in the distant past.

But the critical period leading up to Snowball Earth was thought to be missing because the rock layers were eroded by the big freeze.

Now a new study by researchers at University College, London, has revealed that the Garvellachs somehow escaped unscathed. It may be the only place on Earth to have a detailed record of how the Earth entered one of the most catastrophic periods in its history – as well as what happened when the first animal life emerged when the snowball thawed hundreds of millions of years ago.

Back then Scotland was in a completely different place because the continents have moved over time. It was south of the Earth’s equator and had a tropical climate, until it and the rest of the planet became engulfed in ice.




“We capture that moment of entering an ice age in Scotland that is missing in all other localities in the world,” Prof Graham Shields of University College London, who led the research, told BBC News.

“Millions of critical years are missing in other places because of glacial erosion – but it is all there in the layers of rock in the Garvellachs.”



The islands in the Inner Hebrides of Scotland are uninhabited, apart from a team of scientists working out of the main island's solitary building, although there are also the ruins of a 6th Century Celtic monastery.

The breakthrough was made by Prof Shield’s PhD student, Elias Rugen, whose results have been published in the Journal of the Geological Society of London. Elias is the first to date the rock layers and identify them as from the critical period that is missing from all other rock formations in all other parts of the world.

His discovery puts the Garvellachs in line for one of the biggest accolades in science: the golden spike hammered in at locations identified as the best record of planet-changing geological moments – though to ward off thieves the spike is not actually made of gold.

UCL
The discovery was made by Elias Rugen, here pretending to hammer in a coveted golden spike. For now he's making do with a carrot



Elias has taken many of the judges of the golden spike, formally known as members of the “Cryogenian sub-commission”, several times to the rock faces to press his case.

The next stage is to allow the wider geological community to voice any objections or to come up with a better candidate. If there are none, then the spike could be hammered in next year.

The prize would raise the scientific profile of the location and attract further research funding.

Scottish and Irish rocks may be rare record of ‘snowball Earth’, study suggests


The Port Askaig Formation is made up of layers of rock up to 1.1km thick 

(Graham Shields/UCL)

By Nina Massey, PA Science Correspondent

Yesterday 

A rock formation that spans Ireland and Scotland may be a rare record of snowball Earth – a crucial moment in planetary history when the globe was covered in ice.


The Port Askaig Formation, which is made up of layers of rock up to 1.1km thick, was likely to have been laid down between 662 and 720 million years ago during the Sturtian glaciation, research suggests.

This was the first of two global freezes thought to have triggered the development of complex life.

These rocks record a time when Earth was covered in iceProfessor Graham Shields, senior author

According to the new study, one section of exposed rock, found on Scottish islands called the Garvellachs, is unique as it shows the transition into snowball Earth from a previously warm, tropical environment.

Other rocks that formed at a similar time, like some in North America and Namibia, are missing this transition.

Therefore researchers believe their findings may be the world’s most complete record of snowball Earth – a theory that suggests Earth’s oceans and land surfaces were covered by ice from the poles to the Equator during at least two extreme cooling events between 2.4 billion and 580 million years ago.

Senior author Professor Graham Shields, of University College London (UCL) Earth Sciences, said: “These rocks record a time when Earth was covered in ice.

“All complex, multicellular life, such as animals, arose out of this deep freeze, with the first evidence in the fossil record appearing shortly after the planet thawed.”

First author Elias Rugen, a PhD candidate at UCL Earth Sciences, said: “Our study provides the first conclusive age constraints for these Scottish and Irish rocks, confirming their global significance.”

But in Scotland by some miracle the transition can be seenElias Rugen, first author

He explained that most areas of the world are missing the layers in the rocks that record a tropical environment and mark the transition, because the ancient glaciers scraped and eroded away the rocks underneath.

“But in Scotland by some miracle the transition can be seen,” Mr Rugen said.

Lasting some 60 million years, the Sturtian glaciation was one of two big freezes that occurred during the Cryogenian Period – between 635 and 720 million years ago.

For billions of years before this, life consisted only of single-celled organisms and algae.

After this period, complex life quickly emerged, with most animals today similar in fundamental ways to the types of life forms that evolved more than 500 million years ago.

One theory is that the hostile nature of the extreme cold may have prompted single-celled organisms to co-operate with each other, forming multicellular life.

As soon as the world warmed up, all of life would have had to compete in an arms race to adapt. Whatever survived were the ancestors of all animalsProfessor Graham Shields, senior author

The advance and retreat of the ice across the planet was thought to have happened relatively quickly, over thousands of years, because of the albedo effect – that is, the more ice there is, the more sunlight is reflected back into space, and vice versa.

Prof Shields explained: “The retreat of the ice would have been catastrophic. Life had been used to tens of millions of years of deep freeze.

“As soon as the world warmed up, all of life would have had to compete in an arms race to adapt. Whatever survived were the ancestors of all animals.”

For the new study, the research team analysed samples of sandstone from Port Askaig Formation as well as from the older, 70-metre thick Garbh Eileach Formation underneath.

The researchers said the new age constraints for the rocks may provide the evidence needed for the site to be declared as a marker for the start of the Cryogenian Period.

This marker, known as a Global Boundary Stratotype Section and Point (GSSP), is sometimes referred to as a golden spike, as a gold spike is driven into the rock to mark the boundary, and these sites attract visitors from around the world.

The study, led by UCL researchers, is published in the Journal of the Geological Society of London.

US lawmakers press Meta over illicit drug ads

San Francisco (AFP) – Members of Congress on Thursday called on Meta chief Mark Zuckerberg to give them details regarding ads for opiods and other illicit drugs on the tech titan's platform.


Issued on: 16/08/2024 - AFP

The Tech Transparency Project says blatant ads for OxyContin and other illegal drugs were found in Meta's ad library 

© Handout / US Drug Enforcement Administration/AFP

A letter signed by 19 lawmakers pressed for details about such ads given disturbing reports by the Tech Transparency Project and the Wall Street Journal.

"Meta appears to have continued to shirk its social responsibility and defy its own community guidelines," the letter read.

"What is particularly egregious about this instance is that this was not user generated content on the dark web or on private social media pages, but rather they were advertisements approved and monetized by Meta."

The Tech Transparency Project in March reported finding more than 450 ads on Instagram and Facebook selling an array of illegal drugs.

Many of the ads "made no secret of their intentions," showing photos of prescription drug bottles or bricks of cocaine, and encouraging people to place orders, according to the non-profit research group.

The investigation involved searching Meta's Ad Library for terms including "OxyContin," "Vicodin," and "pure coke," TTP reported.

The letter from Congress members to Zuckerberg asked for answers from Zuckerberg by Sept. 6.

Questions included how may illicit drug ads Meta has run on its platform, what it has done about them, and whether viewers were targeted for such ads based on personal health information.

Meta planned to respond to the letter.

"Drug dealers are criminals who work across platforms and communities, which is why we work with law enforcement to help combat this activity," a Meta spokesperson said in response to an AFP inquiry.

"Our systems are designed to proactively detect and enforce against violating content, and we reject hundreds of thousands of ads for violating our drug policies."

Meta continues to invest in improving its ability to catch illicit drug ads, the spokesperson added.

© 2024 AFP

Meta fends off AI-aided deception as US election nears

San Francisco (AFP) – Russia is putting generative artificial intelligence to work in online deception campaigns, but its efforts have been unsuccessful, according to a Meta security report released Thursday.


Issued on: 16/08/2024 - AFP

Meta says its focus on how accounts act has enabled it to expose deception campaigns on its platform © Tobias SCHWARZ / AFP

The parent company of Facebook and Instagram found that so far AI-powered tactics "provide only incremental productivity and content-generation gains" for bad actors and Meta has been able to disrupt deceptive influence operations.

Meta's efforts to combat "coordinated inauthentic behavior" on its platforms come as fears mount that generative AI will be used to trick or confuse people in elections in the United States and other countries.

Facebook has been accused for years of being used as a powerful platform for election disinformation.

Russian operatives used Facebook and other US-based social media to stir political tensions in the 2016 election won by Donald Trump.

Experts fear an unprecedented deluge of disinformation from bad actors on social networks because of the ease of using generative AI tools such as ChatGPT or the Dall-E image generator to make content on demand and in seconds.

AI has been used to create images and videos, and to translate or generate text along with crafting fake news stories or summaries, according to the report.

Russia remains the top source of "coordinated inauthentic behavior" using bogus Facebook and Instagram accounts, Meta security policy director David Agranovich told reporters.

Since Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022, those efforts have been concentrated on undermining Ukraine and its allies, according to the report.

As the US election approaches, Meta expects Russia-backed online deception campaigns to attack political candidates who support Ukraine.
Behavior based

When Meta scouts for deception, it looks at how accounts act rather than the content they post.

Influence campaigns tend to span an array of online platforms, and Meta has noticed posts on X, formerly Twitter, used to make fabricated content seem more credible.

Meta shares its findings with X and other internet firms and says a coordinated defense is needed to thwart misinformation.

"As far as Twitter (X) is concerned, they are still going through a transition," Agranovich said when asked whether Meta sees X acting on deception tips.

"A lot of the people we've dealt with in the past there have moved on."

X has gutted trust and safety teams and scaled back content moderation efforts once used to tame misinformation, making it what researchers call a haven for disinformation.

False or misleading US election claims posted on X by Musk have amassed nearly 1.2 billion views this year, a watchdog reported last week, highlighting the billionaire's potential influence on the highly polarized White House race.

Researchers have raised alarm that X is a hotbed of political misinformation.

They have also flagged that Musk, who purchased the platform in 2022 and is a vocal backer of Donald Trump, appears to be swaying voters by spreading falsehoods on his personal account.

"Elon Musk is abusing his privileged position as owner of a... politically influential social media platform to sow disinformation that generates discord and distrust," warned Imran Ahmed, CEO of the Center for Countering Digital Hate.

Musk recently faced a firehose of criticism for sharing with his followers an AI deepfake video featuring Trump's Democratic rival, Vice President Kamala Harris.

© 2024 AFP

'Monsoon brides': Extreme weather fuels Pakistan child marriages

Dadu (Pakistan) (AFP) – As monsoon rains were about to break over Pakistan, 14-year-old Shamila and her 13-year-old sister Amina were married off in exchange for money, a decision their parents made to help the family survive the threat of floods.


Issued on: 16/08/2024 -

Shamila (L) was married off in exchange for money, one of a growing number of underage marriages taking place in Pakistan's flood-stricken areas 

© Asif HASSAN / AFP


"I was happy to hear I was getting married... I thought my life would become easier," Shamila told AFP after her wedding to a man twice her age in hope of a more prosperous life.

"But I have nothing more. And with the rain, I fear I will have even less, if that is possible."

Pakistan's high rate of marriages for underage girls had been inching lower in recent years, but after unprecedented floods in 2022, rights workers warn such weddings are now on the rise due to climate-driven economic insecurity.

The summer monsoon between July and September is vital for the livelihoods of millions of farmers and food security, but scientists say climate change is making them heavier and longer, raising the risk of landslides, floods and long-term crop damage.

Many villages in the agricultural belt of Sindh have not recovered from the 2022 floods, which plunged a third of the country underwater, displaced millions and ruined harvests.

"This has led to a new trend of 'monsoon brides'," said Mashooque Birhmani, the founder of the NGO Sujag Sansar, which works with religious scholars to combat child marriage.

Monsoon floods in Pakistan's Sindh province have devastated the agricultural economy and left families struggling to survive © Asif HASSAN / AFP

"Families will find any means of survival. The first and most obvious way is to give their daughters away in marriage in exchange for money."

Birhmani said since the 2022 floods, child marriage has spiked in villages in Dadu district, one of the worst-hit areas that for months resembled a lake.

In Khan Mohammad Mallah village, where Shamila and Amina were married in a joint ceremony in June, 45 underage girls have become wives since the last monsoon -- 15 of them in May and June this year.

"Before the 2022 rains, there was no such need to get girls married so young in our area," said village elder Mai Hajani, 65.

"They would work on the land, make rope for wooden beds, the men would be busy with fishing and agriculture. There was always work to be done".

Parents told AFP that they hurried the marriage of their daughters to save them from poverty, usually in exchange for money.

Shamila's mother-in-law, Bibi Sachal, said they gave 200,000 Pakistan Rupees ($720) to the young bride's parents –- a major sum in a region where most families survive on around one dollar a day.

'I thought I would get lipstick'

Najma Ali, married at just 14, told AFP she had envisioned a better life, only to find herself living at home with her husband and baby © Asif HASSAN / AFP

Najma Ali was initially swept up in the excitement of becoming a wife when she married at 14 in 2022 and began living with her in-laws, as is tradition in Pakistan.

"My husband gave my parents 250,000 rupees for our wedding. But it was on loan (from a third party) that he has no way of paying back now," she said.

"I thought I would get lipstick, makeup, clothes and crockery," she told AFP, cradling her six-month-old baby.

"Now I am back home with a husband and a baby because we have nothing to eat."

Their village, which lies on the banks of a canal in the Main Nara Valley, is barren and there are no fish left in the polluted water -- its stench overwhelms the area.

"We had lush rice fields where girls used to work," said Hakim Zaadi, 58, the village matron and Najma's mother.

"They would grow many vegetables, which are all dead now because the water in the ground is poisonous. This has happened especially after 2022," she added.

"The girls were not a burden on us before then. At the age girls used to get married, they now have five children, and they come back to live with their parents because their husbands are jobless."

'I want to study'

Young Pakistani girls create artwork at the offices of Sujag Sansar, an NGO working to combat child marriages 

© Asif HASSAN / AFP

Child marriages are common in parts of Pakistan, which has the sixth-highest number of girls married before the age of 18 in the world, according to government data published in December.

The legal age for marriage varies from 16 to 18 in different regions, but the law is rarely enforced.

UNICEF has reported "significant strides" in reducing child marriage, but evidence shows that extreme weather events put girls at risk.

"We would expect to see an 18 percent increase in the prevalence of child marriage, equivalent to erasing five years of progress," it said in a report after the 2022 floods.

Dildar Ali Sheikh, 31, had planned to marry off his eldest daughter Mehtab while living in an aid camp after being displaced by the floods.

"When I was there, I thought to myself 'we should get our daughter married so at least she can eat and have basic facilities'," the daily wage labourer told AFP.

Mehtab was just 10 years old.

Village matron Hakim Zaadi (C), mother of a so-called monsoon bride, distributes flatbread to children outside her hut

 © Asif HASSAN / AFP

"The night I decided to get her married, I couldn't sleep," said her mother, Sumbal Ali Sheikh, who was 18 when she married.

An intervention from the NGO Sujag Sansar led to the wedding being postponed, and Mehtab was enrolled in a sewing workshop, allowing her to earn a small income while continuing her education.

But when the monsoon rains fall, she is overcome by dread that her promised wedding will also arrive.

"I have told my father I want to study," she said. "I see married girls around me who have very challenging lives and I don't want this for myself."

© 2024 AFP

'I wanted the job': Sudanese woman defies Libya patriarchy as mechanic

Misrata (Libya) (AFP) – Wrench in hand, Asawar Mustafa, a female Sudanese refugee in Libya, inspects an oil filter in the women-only section of a garage in western Libya, where being a mechanic is considered a man's role.

Issued on: 16/08/2024 -

Asawar Mustafa fled the deadly violence of the war raging in her home country of Sudan, eventually arriving in Libya where she became a car mechanic

 © Mahmud Turkia / AFP


That hasn't deterred the 22-year-old whose main concern until recently was survival, having fled the war in Sudan with her family and abandoned her last year of studies in pharmacy.

"At first, the experience was a bit difficult," said Asawar, who came to Libya with her four sisters, mother and brother, who works in the men's section at the same garage.

She said she was afraid of "making mistakes and damaging the customer's car". But as she honed her skills, she became "passionate" about mechanics, even in the face of misogyny.

People have told Asawar "your place is at home" and "in the kitchen", and that "this is not a job for you", she said.

But the young woman was determined "not to let it become an obstacle... On the contrary, it was funny to me that someone would say that without knowing my circumstances."

"I had one goal: I wanted the job."

Each day, Asawar, wearing a white scarf and black blouse, welcomes a number of female drivers from Misrata, a large port city about 200 kilometres east of Tripoli.

"It's great to see women making inroads in all fields," including mechanics, said Fawzia Manita, a customer.

"More and more women are driving in Libya and need to feel comfortable in a place where they are dealing with women, whereas if they were dealing with men, they would feel intimidated," said the 39-year-old.
Fleeing Sudan

Libya is struggling to recover from years of war and chaos following the 2011 NATO-backed uprising that overthrew longtime dictator Moamer Kadhafi.

Given its proximity to Italy, whose southernmost island of Lampedusa is around 300 kilometres (186 miles) away, Libya is also a key departure point for migrants, refugees and asylum seekers, mainly from sub-Saharan Africa, who risk perilous Mediterranean journeys to reach Europe.

Last month, authorities said that up to four in five foreigners in the North African country were undocumented.

The Mustafas left Sudan last October amid the war that broke out in April 2023 between the Sudanese army under Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), led by his former deputy Mohamed Hamdan Daglo.

The conflict has left tens of thousands dead, according to the UN. While more than 10.7 million Sudanese have been internally displaced, 2.3 million have fled to neighbouring countries.

After a 10-day voyage through the desert, Asawar arrived in Kufra, an oasis where the UN says more than 40,000 Sudanese refugees live alongside 60,000 locals 

© Mahmud Turkia / AFP

After a 10-day voyage through the desert, Asawar arrived in Kufra, an oasis where the UN says more than 40,000 Sudanese refugees live alongside 60,000 locals.

The town is around 1,200 kilometres (745 miles) away from Misrata, where Mostafa finally found a job.

"Those days were the worst days I've ever lived," she told AFP, without wanting to elaborate.

She was reluctant to talk about her experience travelling first to Benghazi, in the northeast, then the capital Tripoli, in the west, then Misrata.
'More comfortable'

At the repair shop, the encouragement of her 19-year-old brother, Sahabi has been a lifeline.

"I'm here for her if she needs help" and "reassurance," said Sahabi.

Abdelsalam Shagib, the 32-year-old owner of the shop, has also been supportive of Asawar, his only female employee.

He said the services offered to female clients should be diversified and conducted by more women. The profession "must not remain reserved for men", he said.

"Women may want to work in this field," he said.

According to the World Bank, the proportion of women in the labour force in Libya reached 37 percent in 2022.

There are other garages in Libya that offer a section for female drivers, but Shagib said his is the first to provide services by a woman.

"Today, women who come here are happy to deal with a woman and are more comfortable," said Asawar.

She said that as long as "a woman is determined," no job "is a man's monopoly".

"If the desire is there, you should not hesitate."

© 2024 AFP