Hong Kong journalists found guilty of sedition in landmark case

Human rights groups have condemned a Hong Kong court ruling on Thursday, which found two former chief editors of the shuttered news outlet Stand News guilty of sedition. Chung Pui-kuen and Patrick Lam were the first journalists to be convicted of sedition since Britain handed Hong Kong over to China in 1997.


Issued on: 29/08/2024 - 

Chung Pui-kuen, the former chief editor of Hong Kong's Stand News, leaves a Hong Kong court on August 29, 2024. 

© Peter Parks, AFP

By: NEWS WIRES

Hong Kong pro-democracy news outlet Stand News and its two former chief editors were found guilty of sedition on Thursday, the first conviction of its kind since the city came under Chinese rule in 1997.

The verdict is part of a crackdown on free speech in the former British colony that has seen critics of China jailed or forced into exile, following huge pro-democracy protests in 2019.

Editors Chung Pui-kuen, 54, and Patrick Lam, 36, are the first journalists to be convicted of sedition since Britain handed Hong Kong over to China in 1997, and the ruling drew resounding international condemnation.

Chung and Lam were in charge of Stand News, a Chinese-language website that gained a massive following during the protests in 2019, before it was raided and shut down in December 2021.

On Thursday, district court judge Kwok Wai-kin said the pair were guilty of "conspiracy to publish and reproduce seditious publications". The parent company of Stand News, Best Pencil Limited, was also found guilty.

"The line (Stand News) took was to support and promote Hong Kong local autonomy," according to a written judgement by Kwok.

"It even became a tool to smear and vilify the Central Authorities (Beijing) and the (Hong Kong) SAR Government."

Kwok also pointed to 11 articles published by Stand News that "caused potential detrimental consequences to national security" and had the intention of "seriously undermining" authorities in Beijing and Hong Kong.

Lam was absent from court on Thursday due to illness.

The judge granted the duo bail before their sentencing on September 26.
Colonial-era law


Chung and Lam were charged under a colonial-era law, which punishes sedition with a maximum jail term of two years.

A recent security law enacted in March raised the jail term for sedition to seven years.

In response to the verdict, the European Union called on Hong Kong to "stop prosecuting journalists".

"The ruling risks inhibiting the pluralistic exchange of ideas and the free flow of information, both cornerstones of the economic success of Hong Kong," a EU spokesperson said.

Speaking outside court, police chief superintendent Steve Li said the verdict "clearly illustrated the necessity and lawfulness" of the enforcement actions in 2021 against Stand News.

Asked if the verdict would further affect press freedom, Li said it would "actually help".

"It would let everyone know what kind of problems could risk breaching the law," he said.

'Not seditious'


But Beh Lih Yi from the Committee to Protect Journalists said the ruling showed that Hong Kong was "descending further into authoritarianism".

"Journalism is not seditious," she said.

Sarah Brooks, Amnesty International's China Director, called the verdict "one more nail in the coffin for press freedom in Hong Kong".

Hong Kong has seen its standing in global press freedom rankings plummet in recent years.


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Chung had testified that the outlet was a platform for free speech and defended his decisions to publish articles critical of the government.

But prosecutors accused them of bringing "hatred or contempt" to the Chinese and Hong Kong governments.

More than 100 people, including supporters and media professionals, queued up for spots in the public gallery on Thursday morning.

The verdict was also attended by representatives from various consulates -- including the United States, Britain, France, European Union, and Australia.

(AFP)


'Hit my heart': trial of Hong Kong editors leave journalists in tears

Hong Kong (AFP) – When sedition charges against Hong Kong news editors Chung Pui-kuen and Patrick Lam were first read out in court, former employees of the now-shuttered Stand News broke down in tears in the public gallery.


Issued on: 29/08/2024 - 16:05

Chung Pui-kuen, the former chief editor of Hong Kong's now shuttered pro-democracy news outlet Stand News, leaves the district court in Hong Kong 

© Peter PARKS / AFP
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The courtroom in the landmark trial became a battleground for debate about the merits and limits of press freedom in Hong Kong.

The former British colony once boasted one of the freest media environments in the world. But after Hong Kong saw pro-democracy protests in 2019, an ensuing government crackdown and the enactment of security laws have effectively quelled dissent.

"It was like a humiliation," recalled a former Stand News reporter who did not want to give his real name -- as with all other ex-employees who spoke to AFP in the months following the trial that began in October 2022.

"We were all very emotional and cried when we heard the allegations."

Similar scenes unfolded Thursday after Chung, 54, and Lam, 36, were found guilty of "conspiracy to publish and reproduce seditious publications".

Their Chinese-language website gained prominence for its coverage of Hong Kong's pro-democracy protests, with its reporters often livestreaming events before authorities quashed the movement.

Stand News chief editor Patrick Lam was arrested in December 2021 after the police raided the newsroom © Daniel SUEN / AFP

By late 2021, police raided Stand News offices and froze its assets under a sweeping security law.

Another former employee, who worked there for three years, burst into tears on Thursday when a defence lawyer read out a letter penned by Lam after the verdict was announced.

"We documented Hong Kong as best we could, trying to leave a first draft of history before these people and events disappeared," wrote Lam, who was not present in court due to illness.

"The only way for journalists to defend the freedom of the press is to report, just like everyone who is still holding fast to their posts today."

The teary reporter, who now works for a different publication, said Lam's letter "really hit my heart".

"He was trying to remind us what values and principles we should adhere to," he told AFP after the ruling.

"The very simple essence of being a journalist is to keep reporting."

- 'Muddy the waters' -

Hong Kong was once known for its freewheeling media scene, a sharp contrast to mainland China which remains one of the most oppressive places for journalists worldwide.

Police raided the offices of pro-democracy news outlet Stand News in December 2021 © Daniel SUEN / AFP

Thursday's verdict made Chung and Lam the first journalists to be convicted under a colonial-era sedition law since the finance hub was handed over to China in 1997.

Prosecutors cited the outlet's interviews with pro-democracy activists and op-eds critical of a security law imposed by Beijing in 2020 as proof of sedition, but during the trial, Chung defended the decision to publish diverse viewpoints.

Former Stand News employees attending the trial saw their work dissected by prosecutors for any hint of sedition.

One columnist said he realised it was dangerous for journalists to question the security law, which prompted further self-censorship across the industry.

"The overall strategy was to muddy the waters, so as to keep (the media) guessing."

Another former reporter said she felt enraged watching prosecutors use "absurd excuses to shut down and delete our work".

In the end, she decided to quit journalism.

"I don't want anyone else to pay a high price for what I wrote," she said.

- 'Pay the price' -

For some, the parrying Chung did on the witness stand sent a message.

"The real audience was the public," an ex-Stand News features writer said.

"In terms of conveying his views on independent media and how it used to exist in this society, I think the message was delivered."

Media researcher Carol Lai, who attended the verdict on Thursday, agreed.

The media wait outside the district court ahead of sedition verdict of Stand News and its two editors © Peter PARKS / AFP

"The trial is not just about them but about the whole industry... It's very depressing, but (Chung's testimony) gave me a lot of positive inspiration."

After he and Lam were granted bail pending their sentencing next month, Chung left the court to face a sea of reporters.

He paused briefly for photographers, then left without saying a word.

But in a letter submitted to court by his lawyers post-verdict, Chung said many Hong Kong journalists, including his former employees, were "determined" to stay in news.

"Some (Hong Kongers) are so concerned about the freedom and dignity of the people in their communities that they are willing to pay the price of losing their own freedom. It is the inescapable responsibility of journalists to faithfully record and report."

© 2024 AFP

EU top diplomat seeks sanctions on Israeli ministers

Issued on: 29/08/2024 - 

03:17

EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said Thursday he will urge the bloc's 27 member states Thursday to back sanctions on Israeli ministers accused of fomenting "hatred" towards Palestinians.

Paraguay's abundant hydropower draws crypto miners, legal and not

Hernandarias (Paraguay) (AFP) – In the Paraguayan city of Hernandarias, a data center with row upon row of supercomputers stands as a testament to a burgeoning crypto mining sector fueled by the South American country's abundance of green electricity.


Issued on: 29/08/2024 -

More than 60 crypto-mining sites have opened in Paraguay in the last three years 

© DANIEL DUARTE / AFP

Run purely on renewable power, the soccer field-sized site was erected by local company Penguin Group near the Itaipu hydroelectric power plant, one of the world's largest, on the Parana river.

Landlocked Paraguay, whose economy is driven by agriculture, is home to three hydropower plants.

This has helped attract more than 60 crypto mining sites in the last three years alone -- representing more than $1.1 billion in investments, Penguin spokesman Bruno Vaccotti told AFP.

Penguin, with a US partner, built its Hernandarias data center for Bitcoin mining, artificial intelligence training models and cloud services as part of its vision for turning Paraguay into "Latin America's tech hub."

The only problem is that illegal crypto miners are also attracted to the country, siphoning off power and angering companies like Penguin in a country with a well-documented corruption problem.

Just this month, police and officers from the state-owned ANDE utility company announced they had dismantled a massive illegal crypto farm near Hernandarias capable of diverting some $60,000 worth of power per month.

They confiscated nearly 700 computers and a transformer, but did not say how long the site had been operating for.

In May, another 2,700 computers and five transformers were seized in Saltos del Guaira in Paraguay's south -- the largest such operation to date.

Bribes

The Itaipu hydroelectric power plant is one of the world's largest

 © DANIEL DUARTE / AFP

ANDE has conceded it loses almost a third of all the power it produces, though not exclusively to illegal crypto mining, which involves computers solving complicated equations that require enormous quantities of computing power.

Vaccotti estimates losses at nearly $3 million per month.

And this in a country where 23 percent of households still cook on wood or charcoal -- still a cheaper source of energy despite Paraguay having some of the lowest electricity prices in Latin America.

This number is almost doubled in rural areas.

And despite being a net exporter, Paraguay's population battles frequent energy cuts due to poor maintenance and lack of investment in its own network.

Opposition politician Salyn Buzarquis has accused government officials of protecting illegal crypto mines in exchange for bribes.

"Why don't they discover more (illegal mines)?" he questioned in an interview with AFP.

"They are easy to detect," he added, as they "consume the equivalent of what a whole city consumes" in electricity.
'Serious struggle'

ANDE director Felix Sosa insisted the entity was doing everything possible to expose electricity thieves.

It had opened criminal proceedings in 71 cases, and has seized some 10,000 computers and 50 transformers in operations, he said.

Companies like Penguin accuse the government of not doing enough to combat illegal crypto mining © DANIEL DUARTE / AFP

Deputy mining minister Mauricio Bejarano has described this as a "serious struggle," and last month, the Senate passed a law increasing the maximum sentence for energy thieves to 10 years in prison.

Companies like Penguin accuse the government of not doing enough, and lament a lack of "predictability" as well as a recent price increase for high energy consumption.

ANDE generates some $12 million a month from crypto mining, said Jimmy Kim of Paraguay's Digital Assets Mining Chamber (Capamad) -- yet charges the industry over 50 percent more than the conventional rate.

"Our companies are looking at Brazil," Kim told AFP, as "there is no legal security" in Paraguay.

© 2024 AFP

Profile

From Gaza to Paris: Paralympian Fadi Deeb vows to show ‘Palestine is not dying’

Shot putter Fadi Deeb, the only member of the Palestinian Olympic delegation from Gaza and the only Paralympian athlete from Palestine, will take part in the Paris Paralympics on August 30. He speaks to FRANCE 24 about training with rocks and scrap metal in war-torn Gaza – and carrying his people’s hopes and dreams at the Paris Games.


FRANCE 24 / AFP
Issued on: 29/08/2024

Palestinian shot putter Fadi Deeb celebrates winning a bronze medal in shot put at the Tunis International Athletics Meetings for the Disabled in 2009 in Tunis, Tunisia. © provided by Fadi Deeb

By:  Mariamne EVERETT

While Fadi Deeb, 39, has been diligently training in Paris in preparation for the Paralympic Games, the Gaza war is never far from his thoughts. “I am raising my flag here in Paris to show people that Palestine is not dying,” Deeb told FRANCE 24 in an interview. “We are still here, we are still fighting and we are still alive.”

Deeb – who has lost over 15 members of his family, including his brother, in the Israel-Hamas war – is the only member of the Palestinian Olympic delegation from Gaza and the only Paralympic athlete from Palestine. His presence is significant, given that about 400 athletes and supporting staff have been killed since the October 7 Hamas attacks that triggered the Israel-Hamas war, and others have been unable to train or travel due to Israeli bombing or restrictions, according to the Palestine Olympic Committee (POC).

 

Born in Gaza City’s Shuja’iyaa district in 1984, Deeb was introduced to the world of sports when he was 10 years old by his primary school gym teacher and international referee Mohammed Elshekh Khalil, during which time he learned how to play football, volleyball, basketball, tennis and volleyball. Khalil also entered him into national competitions, including with the local Shuja’iyaa club. Upon starting secondary school, Deeb became even more interested in volleyball, eventually joining the Palestinian volleyball team in Gaza when he was just 16 years old.

‘This is not the end of my life’

While Deeb was perfecting his sporting prowess and preparing to pursue his studies in computer science at Gaza's Al-Azhar University – which was hit by Israeli strikes in November – tensions were rising further between Israel and the Palestinian Territories, culminating in the Second Intifada from September 2000 to February 2005. Deeb remembers the exact day when he was shot in the back by an Israeli sniper, leaving him paralysed: October 4, 2001, when he was 17 years old.

Read more‘Our way of showing resistance’: Olympians raise Palestinian flag at Paris Games

“After I got my disability … we have an expression in the Arab language, which says ‘you must be like the water’, meaning you have to be flexible, nothing can stop you,” said Deeb. “I told myself ‘this is not the end of my life, it’s hard, but it’s not the end of my life’. You have to think positively. This powerful mentality and my religion helped me become more flexible when it comes to sport. I decided I would go from playing, for instance, table tennis and basketball to playing wheelchair table tennis and basketball.”

Following a meeting with the technical manager of the Palestinian national athletics team in 2007, Deeb also began training and competing in shot put, discus and javelin, going on to win six medals in all three events at the Tunis International Athletics Meetings for the Disabled. While Deeb said he had ventured towards athletics as there is less need for expensive specialist equipment, training in Gaza is still a challenge. “Sometimes we don’t have enough equipment [in the Gaza Strip], even like shot put or discus,” said Deeb. “So we use something that looks like and is about the same weight like a rock, the wheels of a car or a piece of metal, something like that. Some of these items are heavier than the normal disk, but it’s no problem.”

Basketball player and coach

While the Paris 2024 Paralympic Committee selected Deeb to compete in the shot put event, he is also an accomplished basketball player. Deeb has played for wheelchair basketball teams in Turkey, Greece and France, including his current first-division club Hurricane 92 Basketball, based in the Paris suburbs. He also joined the newly established Palestinian national basketball team in 2019, though Israel’s tight restrictions on travel from Gaza to the West Bank make it difficult for Palestinians to compete at home, let alone on the international stage.

Palestinian Paralympian Fadi Deeb poses for a photo during a basketball practice session at Gymnase des Poissonniers in the 18th district of Paris, France. © photo provided by Fadi Deeb

Palestinian Paralympian Fadi Deeb poses with his players and fellow coaches from the association Paris Basket Fauteuil at Gymnase des Poissonniers in the 18th district of Paris, France on August 20, 2024. © Mariamne Everett, France 24

Deeb also believes in the importance of giving back, as he coaches the fourth and fifth divisions of Paris Basket Fauteuil (PBF), a sports association created in May 2021 to help and encourage young people with disabilities to play wheelchair basketball.

“As a player, every time I have information, I share it. ... Just because I’m Palestinian doesn’t mean I only do this in Palestine, I share my information with everyone, to provide love and support to people of different cultures and religions,” said Deeb.

PBF’s outreach goes further, as Deeb regularly goes to schools and universities to teach “normal people (as Deeb calls them) about the disabled life”.

Deeb has a powerful message for those who attend his workshops: “You can use your disability to be talented … Don’t think ‘If I get my disability, I cannot do something’. Don’t look at me like I’m different, no I’m the same as you, I’m using my mind, like you, I’m using my body, like you.”

FRANCE 24 had the opportunity to watch Deeb coach a PBF practice session, during which he provided individualised feedback and encouragement to each player during the five-player matches, demonstrating a supportive and effective coaching style.

Palestinian Paralympian Fadi Deeb coaches players from the association Paris Basket Fauteuil at Gymnase des Poissonniers in the 18th district of Paris, France on August 20, 2024. 

© Mariamne Everett, France 24

Representing the people of Gaza and Palestine

The Paralympic Games officially kicked off on Wednesday and Deeb is very aware that he is not only competing on a personal level but is seen as a representative for his country and people. “I’m competing for the more than 40,000 killed and more than 90,000 injured in Gaza,” said Deeb. “I get at least 15-20 messages daily from my friends in Gaza saying, ‘try to keep going’, ‘I support you’, ‘you are our voice for the world’, ‘you are our hero’, despite their very hard situation in this genocide, they are still sending me messages encouraging me to keep going.”

In July, the head of the International Olympic Committee and French President Emmanuel Macron rejected the POC’s demand that Israel be barred from the Games over the Gaza war. Still angry over this ruling, Deeb wonders what message Israeli athletes want to convey through their participation. “What is your message to the world? What do you want to show and tell to the world? Do you want to show the genocide that has happened in Gaza?”

Read moreEight Palestinian Olympic athletes to compete in Paris under the shadow of Gaza war

Even before the Israel-Hamas war, there were more than 120,000 people with disabilities living in Gaza, according to Deeb, with 45 clubs dedicated to a wide range of sports set up under the Palestinian Paralympic Committee. “This latest genocide” has produced an additional 10,000 people with disabilities, said Deeb, necessitating even more facilities and encouragement that people with disabilities pursue sports. “The Israeli occupation in Gaza causes mass disability and death,” sports journalist Leyla Hamed told US monthly magazine The Nation. “According to Save The Children, more than 10 children per day have lost one or both of their legs since the conflict erupted. In the middle of all these atrocities, people in Gaza will see Deeb insist on making his dream come true, on representing Palestine and the Palestinian cause. It’s a message to the children whose dreams have been shattered by bombs and rockets.”

Throughout his interview with FRANCE 24, Deeb was regularly checking his phone. At one point, Deeb – feeling like he owed an explanation – shared the circumstances surrounding his brother’s death. “On December 6, after I had played a match under the French Basketball Federation and taken a shower, I looked at my phone and saw that I had four missed Whatsapp and international calls from my brother,” said Deeb, adding that there is poor internet connectivity in Gaza. “On the evening of December 7, I found out that my brother had died..and that is why I always keep my phone near me, because I never know when a conversation with someone will be my last one.” Deeb shared the message he hopes to convey through his presence at the Games. “My message as a sportsman, as an athlete, to the world is that the people of Gaza are human. We Palestinians have hopes, we have dreams, we just want to have the same human rights and have the world treat us the same as other countries.”

Deeb will take part in one of the shot put final events of the Paris Paralympics on August 30.

WWI REDUX

Russia using ‘meat-grinding’ military tactics in Pokrovsk


Issued on: 29/08/2024 - 

03:45  Video by:  Robert PARSONS

Russia has been pouring forces, using “meat-grinding” military tactics in its campaign around the strategic Donetsk city of Pokrovsk, says FRANCE 24’s Rob Parsons as he explains the strategic importance of the eastern Ukrainian transport hub.

NO SMALL VICTORY

Court rules S. Korea climate goals 'unconstitutional'

Seoul (AFP) – South Korea's Constitutional Court ruled Thursday that much of the country's climate goals were unconstitutional, handing a landmark victory to young environmental activists, who wept for joy on the court steps.


Issued on: 29/08/2024 - 

Children play in a water fountain during a heatwave in Seoul. The country's constitutional court will decide Thursday a case brought by child plaintiffs against official carbon emmission goals 

© ANTHONY WALLACE / AFP

The first such case in Asia, brought by children and teenagers who named an embryo as a lead plaintiff, claimed that South Korea's legally binding climate commitments were insufficient and unmet, violating their constitutionally guaranteed human rights.

"Just now, the Constitutional Court ruled that it is unconstitutional that there is no government goal to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from 2031 to 2050," said Yoon Hyeon-jeong, one of the young activists involved.

"It was ruled that our right to live a safe life from the climate crisis should be guaranteed," she added, barely managing to finish her sentence as she choked up with tears.

The court ruled that the government's limited climate targets "violates the Constitution as it does not sufficiently protect the basic rights of the people," the legal representatives of the plaintiffs said after the hearing.

The case -- known as "Woodpecker et al. v. South Korea" after the in-utero nickname of an embryo, now toddler, involved -- included four petitions by children.

In 2021, South Korea made a legally binding commitment to reduce carbon emissions by 290 million tons by 2030 -- and to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.

To meet this goal, the country needs to reduce emissions by 5.4 percent every year from 2023 -- a target they have so far failed to meet.

As a result of the ruling, Seoul will now have to revise its climate goals, said Youn Se-jong, a lawyer for the plaintiffs

"The National Assembly and the government of the Republic of Korea will have to revise regulations related to the Framework Act on Carbon Neutrality and present greenhouse gas reduction goals considering the rights of future generations," Youn said.

"With today's ruling, we have confirmed that climate change is a matter of our fundamental rights and that everyone has the right to be safe from it," he said.
'Wish came true'

A similar youth-led effort recently succeeded in the US state of Montana, while another is being heard at the European Higher Court.

The plaintiffs had argued that unless Seoul moved more quickly on climate goals, future generations would not only have to live in a degraded environment, but also have to bear the burden of undertaking massive greenhouse gas reductions.

This, the case claims, would mean that the state has violated its duty to protect their fundamental rights.

Similar climate cases globally have found success, for example, in Germany in 2021, where climate targets were ruled insufficient and unconstitutional.

But a child-led suit in California over alleged government failures to curb pollution was thrown out in May.

"I started this case when I was 10 years old and I'm happy and proud of today's results, like a wish came true" said 12-year-old plaintiff, Han Jeah.

"We have the right to live safely and happily even in the climate crisis. This right should be protected under any circumstances and cannot be infringed upon by anyone," Han Jeah said.

"So I wanted to show people through this lawsuit how much we (young people) know and how deeply we worry about climate change."

© 2024 AFP

Australia census plan prompts LGBTQ+ boycott threat

Sydney (AFP) – Australia's decision not to include new questions about gender and sexual orientation in the next census prompted fierce debate Thursday, and a warning that LGBTQ citizens may boycott the count.


Issued on: 29/08/2024 -

Australia's Pride March in early 2023. An equality group said LBGTQ Australians may boycott next year's census if questions about gender and sexuality are removed © Saeed KHAN / AFP/File

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The country's centre-left government said it scrapped tentative plans to ask Australians -- for the first time -- about their sexual and gender identity in the 2026 survey.

Supporters had hoped the questions would provide a more accurate snapshot of who Australians are and who they love.

But finance minister Jim Chalmers said Thursday that the decision was made to avoid an ugly and potentially divisive public debate.

"We've seen the way that these issues can be weaponised against members of our community, and we don't want to see that happen," Chalmers told public broadcaster ABC.

"The census isn't the only opportunity to gather that sort of data".

But some have voiced anger at the U-turn.

Independent Sydney lawmaker Alex Greenwich said not being properly counted "would be deeply hurtful" to a part of the population "who for many years have been forced into the closet".

"If this decision sticks, the government could expect LGBTQ people and our families not to participate in the next census," he warned.

Anna Brown, the CEO of Equality Australia, a rights advocacy group, said the notion that census questions would be a threat to social cohesion was "frankly, absurd".

"What the government is saying to us is that we are not worth having the hard conversations for, and they are dumping us in the too-hard basket" she said.

© 2024 AFP

Floods submerge Vietnam's dragon fruit farms

Hanoi (AFP) – Floods submerged hundreds of hectares of dragon fruit farms in south Vietnam, residents told AFP on Thursday, with many villagers forced to seek shelter on higher ground.


Issued on: 29/08/2024 -

An aerial photo shows a flooded dragon fruit field in Binh Thuan province, Vietnam 

Thanh LONG / AFP

The flooding in Binh Thuan province was triggered by heavy rain and the discharge of water from an irrigation reservoir on Tuesday and Wednesday.

"We lost all our dragon fruit and cucumber crops this year," Ho Van Trung, 66, told AFP.

Vietnam dragon fruit exports generated a record $1.8 billion in 2018, but the figure has been declining in recent years.

Binh Thuan province is home to Vietnam's biggest growing area, measuring 28,000 hectares and producing 600,000 tonnes of fruit each year.

The fiery red and green fruit with a scaly skin that gives it its name thrives in hot and dry conditions, but, as part of the cactus family, cannot stand immersion in water.

On Thursday, farmers in two villages in Binh Thuan's Ham My commune said the floods in the area were "unprecedented".

"My house and my gardens growing dragon fruit and cucumber are all submerged," Trung said.

Living close by, Dao Thi Bich Thao and her husband had to evacuate their one-storey home after it flooded.

"Water came so quickly that we could only move our TV and refrigerator and then flee," Thao said.

Around 200 households and 400 hectares of crops, mostly dragon fruit, had been flooded, a local official in Ham My commune told state news site VNExpress.

More than 70 residents moved to higher ground as their homes were temporarily uninhabitable, the report said.

Scientists have warned that extreme weather events globally are becoming more intense and frequent due to climate change.

Other parts of Vietnam have also been hit by heavy rain and floods in recent months.

The country's north has suffered through an extremely wet summer, with mountainous areas in the northwest particularly badly hit since early July.

Across the country, nearly 29,000 houses have been damaged and 90,000 hectares of crops destroyed, Vietnam's General Statistic Office (GSO) said late last month.

Floods caused around $85 million in damage in the first seven months of the year, double that of last year, according to GSO.

Ninety-one people were killed or reported missing due to adverse weather during that period, it said.

© 2024 AFP

Garcia decries online abuse after US Open defeat, cites ‘unhealthy betting’

By AFP
August 28, 2024

France's Caroline Garcia serves in her US Open first-round loss to Renata Zarazua - Copyright AFP/File Jim WATSON, Odd ANDERSEN

Former WTA world number four Caroline Garcia of France shared some of the disparaging messages she has received in the wake of recent defeats on Wednesday and cited “unhealthy betting” as a driver of social media abuse of players.

Garcia, an 11-time WTA champion who reached the US Open semi-finals in 2022, fell to 92nd-ranked Renata Zarazua in the first round at Flushing Meadows on Tuesday.

On Wednesday morning in a lengthy post on X (formerly Twitter) she shared “just a few” of the messages she has received after defeats, including one telling her to shoot herself and another saying “I hope your mom dies soon”.

At the age of 30, she said, she’s done enough work to get past the hurtful messages.

“I have tools and have done work to protect myself from this hate. But still, this is not OK,” Garcia wrote.

“It really worries me when I think about younger players coming up, that have to go through this. People that still haven’t yet developed fully as a human and that really might be affected by this hate.”

Garcia called out the practice of the sport and tournaments partnering with betting companies, wondering if it contributed to a rise in such abuse.

“Tournaments and the sport keeps partnering with betting companies, which keep attracting new people to unhealthy betting,” Garcia said.

“The days of cigarette brands sponsoring sports are long gone. Yet, here we are promoting betting companies, which actively destroy the life of some people.”

She continued, “Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying they should be banned as people are free to do whatever they want with their money. But maybe we should not promote them. Also, if someone decided to say this things to me in public, he could have legal issues. So why online we are free to do anything? Shouldn’t we reconsider anonymity online?”

Officials in a range of sports, including tennis, have tried to shield players from abusive messages.

The French Open partnered in 2022 with a company that uses artificial intelligence to filter players’ social media accounts. Wimbledon launched a social media monitoring service to protect players from online abuse and threats.

“Many before me have raised the subject,” Garcia said. “And still, no progress has been made.”

American Jessica Pegula, ranked sixth in the world, was among players posting in support of Garcia.

“The constant death threats and family threats are normal now,” Pegula wrote. “Win or lose.”

American Frances Tiafoe said after his second round victory on Wednesday that social media attacks are par for the course.

“People are saying outlandish stuff,” he said. “You’ve got guys working all their life trying to compete at the highest level. You don’t know people’s circumstances, what they’re going through, how this affects people.”

Athens faces new dangers as forest fires edge closer

By AFP
August 28, 2024

Thousands were forced to flee their homes as the massive blaze raged out of control for three days towards the capital earlier this month - Copyright AFP Angelos TZORTZINIS
Anna Maria Jakubek

With the smell still lingering in its suburbs after Greece’s worst wildfire this year, floods and pollution now threaten Athens, experts say.

Thousands were forced to flee their homes as the massive blaze raged out of control for three days towards the capital earlier this month, swallowing up houses and cars and killing one woman.

Fanned by strong winds, the inferno that began at Varnavas, 40 kilometres (25 miles) northeast of Athens, reached suburbs at the foot of Mount Penteli, devastating some 10,000 hectares (24,700 acres).

With more than a third of the Mediterranean country’s population of 10 million crammed into the capital’s region of Attica, and the fires edging closer and closer to the city, experts are warning that the situation is becoming critical.

The National Observatory says 37 percent of forests around Athens have been consumed by fire over the past eight years alone.

“Attica has lost most of its forest, and now there is imminent danger for the people of Athens, in terms of polluted environment and risk of flooding” from soil erosion, said Alexandros Dimitrakopoulos, of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki.

“Where 100 years ago there were vigorous forests of pines, now forest vegetation is of weak and low pines and evergreen shrubs,” the professor of forest fire science told AFP.

Fire meteorologist Theodore M. Giannaros, of the National Observatory, said the situation is aggravated by the “torrential rainfalls which unfortunately we are getting quite frequently”.

He warned of soil erosion and flash floods which “I believe we will face during the coming winter”.

Dimitrakopoulos said the loss of the forests will push Greece’s already sweltering summer temperatures higher. This year the country saw its hottest June and July on record.

– ‘Repeatedly burnt’ –

Scientists say human-caused fossil fuel emissions are increasing the length, frequency and intensity of global heatwaves, raising the risk of wildfires.

“Attica can’t lose more forest,” fire ecology expert Dimitris Kazanis told AFP.

“The percentage is diminishing year by year. A solution must be found.

“In an area with so much cement, so many roads, so much noise, we need forests,” said the lecturer from the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens.

But the frequent fires are impacting the forest’s ability to regenerate.

The Varnavas blaze struck an area covered by Aleppo pine — a species that has evolved to cope with fire but which requires at least 15 to 20 years between fires to regenerate naturally.

“The area burnt has experienced many fire events in the past, some in very frequent intervals,” said ecology professor Margarita Arianoutsou, also of the National and Kapodistrian University.

“This has already caused a serious problem. There are patches repeatedly burnt which need our intervention in order to be restored.”

Reforestation and fire prevention studies were among measures unveiled this month by Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis.

– Pines ‘demonised’ –

Some have called for the planting of other types of trees altogether, as pines burn very quickly because of their naturally flammable resin.

But forester Nikos Georgiadis, from the World Wide Fund for Nature, said people “have demonised the pines”.

“If nature decides that the pines must be there, it’s not easy to change.”

The trick is to create a more resilient, mixed forest — with some broadleaf or less flammable species — and build green belts, said Georgiadis.

“You try to set these zones around settlements, so as to protect both forest and humans,” he added.

Rather than blame the pines, experts fault the encroachment of urban areas into forest land.

“Where trees are burned, houses grow,” said Dimitrakopoulos.

“It was very common in areas of high demand such as Athens… to burn forest in order to create land for construction,” he said.

Most Greek fires are human-caused, through arson or neglect, he added.

Investigators believe a faulty electricity pole may have sparked the Varnavas fire.

“Where there are people, there is fire,” said Dimitrakopoulos.