GENDER APARTHEID

Barred from sports, Afghan women seek relief in secretive exercise

They exercise secretively for a health and peace of mind in a country where the Taliban government has stopped women from playing sports. 

Sep 15, 2024


KABUL - Most mornings after praying, 25-year-old Sanah joins several women from her neighbourhood in the Afghan capital Kabul for a walk along the main road before it fills with traffic, never jogging or getting too near to the many Taliban checkpoints.

They exercise secretively – and not for competition, but for a modicum of health and peace of mind in a country where the Taliban government has stopped women from playing sports.

“We cannot go near the Taliban checkpoint because they say, ‘Why are you outside the house so early? Where are you going? Why do you need to exercise? You don’t have to, so don’t’,” said Ms Sanah, whose name has been changed – along with all the women interviewed by AFP – for fear of reprisal.


The Taliban authorities have implemented an austere interpretation of Islamic law, with women bearing the brunt of restrictions that the UN has labelled “gender apartheid”.

In November 2022, the Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice announced that women were barred from parks and gyms on the grounds they were not adhering to a dress code that orders them to cover up.

Gyms had previously offered time slots for women, and while some informal women-only fitness clubs still exist, they are rare and low profile.

Ms Sanah and one of her companions, Ms Latifah, who is middle-aged, used to walk in large, tree-lined parks in the city.

The last time Ms Latifah went to the park near her house, not long after they were permanently closed to women, she said she was forcibly removed, crying anew as she recalls the incident.

“The doctor told me to exercise more because I have high cholesterol and a fatty liver, but the Taliban won’t let us exercise or go to the gym or walk (freely) outside,” she said.

Ms Sanah yearns to become a yoga teacher, and guides the group through some gentle aerobic exercises and meditation after their walk.

Pressing her thumb and forefinger together on her knees in the yellow dawn light, away from prying eyes on a protected balcony, Ms Sanah says softly: “Take a deep breath.”
Boxing in secret

Forced out of their gym, 19-year-old Rayan and a few fellow women boxers instead visit a friend’s home and use what little equipment they have to practise in a society that was already hostile to women in sport, but has now turned draconian.

“We train less, but we never stopped,” said Ms Rayan, watching a video on her phone in which her fists fly in jabs and hooks – a bittersweet reminder of the avid boxer she once was.

Pulling her headscarf off in a private garden in the Kabul heat, fellow former competitive boxer Bahar said the situation had left her and other Afghan women stressed, exhausted and low.

“But when we box, it pushes all that away for a moment. Even if we only train for a few minutes, it makes a big difference,” the 20-year-old said, the henna from her recent wedding still staining her hands.

Her husband does not know she still boxes.

Many women athletes fled Afghanistan after the Taliban takeover.

Some still compete on the international stage, including at the recent Paris Olympics, but they come from outside the country and under the flag of the ousted Republic.

The Taliban authorities are not officially recognised by any state.

“In Afghanistan, girls’ sports have been stopped. When girls’ sport isn’t practised, how can they join the national team?“ said Mr Atal Mashwani, spokesman for the Taliban government’s sports directorate.
‘Give them hope’

Ms Banafsha, a black belt in the Chinese martial art of wushu, voiced the mixed feelings echoed by others about Afghan women’s Olympic participation.

The Afghan team in Paris had three men and three women, while Afghan women also competed in the Refugee Team.

“It made me happy that women haven’t surrendered yet, they are committed to their goals,” she said. “But I was also sad. Why can’t they go to the Olympics from within their own country?“

The former national competitor burned her uniform when the Taliban took power.

These days, she can barely leave the house and struggles to motivate herself to practise, feeling “hopeless and heartbroken”.

Ms Hasina Hussain Zada, who works for Free to Run, an organisation focused on women’s empowerment through sports, said while there is a range of online exercise videos and classes, they cannot replace in-person training, being in a team or exercising outdoors.

“We tell our participants to think about it as if it were Covid-19,” said the 28-year-old, who fled to Canada after the Taliban takeover.

She has worked since 2018 with the non-profit, which is still supporting women in Afghanistan in indoor exercise – albeit “cautiously and secretly”.

“You don’t need to think about the Taliban, the rules... just think about it as if it were Covid time when everyone was doing their exercises at home,” she said.

“We’re trying to change their mindsets, we’re trying to give them hope.” 

AFP

 

Indonesia’s shrinking middle class alarms economists

As a result, the economic stability of Southeast Asia’s biggest country is at risk, experts warn.

Nazarudin Latif
2024.09.14
Jakarta

Firdaus Wadjidi, a freelance photographer retrenched from his job at a news agency a year ago, works on his computer at his home in Tangerang city, Banten province, Indonesia, Sept. 12, 2024.

 Pizaro Gozali Idrus/BenarNews

Triana Rahmawati, a mother of two, lost her publishing job in Jakarta earlier this year, forcing her family to cut back on spending drastically. 

Gone are the days of leisurely outings with friends and casual coffee dates, which she could afford in her old job, where Triana worked for nine years and earned around 6 million rupiah (U.S. $400) a month.

“My husband still has a job, but we’ve gone from a double-income to a single-income household,” the 36-year-old told BenarNews. “I have to be prepared for a life of limitations.”

Her story exemplifies the broader struggles faced by Indonesia’s middle class, a group once heralded as a symbol of economic progress in Southeast Asia’s largest and most populous country. 

The size of the Indonesian middle class has decreased significantly since before the coronavirus pandemic.

In 2019, about 57 million people were classified in the country’s middle class but that number has shrunk to nearly 48 million in 2024 – representing just over 17% of the country’s total population – according to the Central Statistics Agency (BPS). 

Indonesia defines the middle class as households with monthly expenditures between 2 million rupiah and 9.9 million rupiah ($130 to $650). 

The lingering effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, which caused waves of layoffs across multiple sectors, took a big bite out of this economic class. 

Economists warn that the declining middle class could jeopardize Indonesia’s long-term ambitions to achieve “developed nation” status by 2045.

The class’s shrinkage poses a significant threat to national economic stability, said Jahen Fachrul Rezki, a researcher at the University of Indonesia’s Institute for Economic and Social Research.

“The middle class is a cornerstone of the national economy, not just for their purchasing power but because they also represent a highly skilled labor force and contribute significantly to tax revenues,” Jahen told BenarNews.

Rahmat Hidayat (left) serves a customer while grilling meatballs in West Java province, Indonesia, July 31, 2024. Hidayat lost his job when the shoe factory he worked for closed last year. [Stefanno Sulaiman/Reuters]

In a country where household consumption drives over 80% of spending, any disruption in middle-class financial security could have widespread ramifications, he said.

“If their numbers continue to fall, the ripple effects will be felt across domestic consumption, the labor market, and government tax collection,” he said.

A key factor contributing to the middle class’s decline, Jahen added, is Indonesia’s inability to generate high-value jobs. 

Despite the country’s steady economic growth of around 5% annually, much of this growth has been concentrated in low-wage, low-productivity sectors such as retail and extractive industries.

Meanwhile, the government has struggled to spur development in high-tech sectors such as manufacturing and information technology, where wages are higher.

“The rise of the gig economy is another symptom of this issue,” Jahen said, pointing to a labor market increasingly reliant on short-term, freelance work rather than stable, full-time employment. 

“Gig work like that should be a supplementary income, but for many Indonesians, it has become their primary source of employment, which is not sustainable.”

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The current economic situation, meanwhile, has led to widespread job losses. Between January and August 2024 alone, more than 46,000 workers were laid off, according to the Ministry of Manpower. 

Last year, over 64,000 people lost their jobs.

Job seekers attend a job market event in East Java province, Indonesia, Sept. 10, 2019. [Juni Kriswanto/AFP]

Among those affected was 42-year-old photographer Firdaus Wajidi, who lost his job at a foreign news agency in August 2023. He had worked there for 5 years, earning a monthly salary of 16 million rupiah ($1,000).

Now, Wajidi scrambles to make ends meet with freelance work, earning about 7.5 million rupiah ($500) a month while grappling with mounting school fees, mortgage payments, and daily expenses for his family of five.

“Trying to apply for a job at a media company is difficult because I’m over 40,” Wajidi said. “Besides, nearly all media companies in Jakarta are facing financial struggles.”

The government has responded by expanding social safety nets to prevent further economic decline, said Muhadjir Effendy, coordinating minister for human development and culture. 

“Our focus now is on providing protections, particularly in health and employment, to safeguard the vulnerable,” the state-run Antara news agency quoted him as saying.  

The government is also bolstering employment-related protections, including old-age benefits, work accident insurance, pensions, and job loss insurance, he said.

Labor demonstrators shout slogans during a protest against a controversial law on job creation that critics argued undermines workers’ rights and environmental protections, Nov. 2, 2020. [Achmad Ibrahim/AP Photo]

However, the structural transformation of Indonesia’s labor market remains incomplete, according to Yorga Permana, a lecturer at the Bandung Institute of Technology’s School of Business and Management.

While there has been a reduction in agricultural employment, much of the growth in the services sector has been confined to low-skill jobs, leaving many workers without a pathway to upward mobility, he said.

“The government has failed to prioritize policies that create decent work,” Yorga said. “What we’ve seen instead is the domination of informal labor and gig economy jobs since 2014.”

Addressing stagnant middle-class wages must be a priority, said Muhammad Faisal, the executive director of the Center of Reform on Economics, an economic think-tank. 

“The government must end the era of low wages if it hopes to rebuild a strong middle class,” Faisal said. “We need to focus on making wage growth sustainable through productivity gains.”

Pizaro Gozali Idrus in Jakarta contributed to this report.

Indonesia breaks ground on first renewable energy-powered EV battery factory


JAKARTA (Xinhua) – Indonesia on Saturday inaugurated its first electric vehicle (EV) battery factory which will operate entirely on renewable energy at the Neo Energy Morowali Industrial Estate in Central Sulawesi.

Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Airlangga Hartarto said that the factory was part of the critical minerals downstream policy aimed at boosting national economic competitiveness, improving public welfare and utilising environmentally friendly technology.

“Successful downstream processing of nickel has significantly boosted the export value of nickel derivatives, rising from USD4.31 billion in 2017 to USD34.44 billion in 2023,” Airlangga said at the event.

With abundant mineral resources especially nickel, Indonesia holds substantial potential for EV battery production, with an estimated annual capacity of 210 GWh. The factory’s high-pressure acid-leaching smelter will process nickel ore into mixed hydroxide precipitate (MHP), a key material for EV battery cathodes, adding 120,000 tons of MHP to the country’s production capacity each year.

The Investment Ministry revealed that as of June 2024, the total investment in nickel downstream activities, particularly smelter and EV battery factory development, has reached USD30 billion in the country.

WAIT, WHAT?!

Rapper Ye’s fans amazed after China’s censors let him perform there

Ye, the rapper formerly known as Kanye West, will be performing in China on Sept 15. PHOTO: AFP

Sep 15, 2024

BEIJING – When the news broke that Ye, the rapper formerly known as Kanye West, would be performing in China on Sept 15, the elation of many of his fans was mixed with another emotion: confusion.

Why would the notoriously prickly Chinese government let in the notoriously provocative Ye? Why was the listening party, as Ye calls his shows, taking place not in Beijing or Shanghai, but in Hainan, an obscure island province?

Under a trending hashtag on social media site Weibo on the subject, one popular comment simply read “How?”, alongside an exploding-head emoji.


The answer may lie in China’s struggling economy. Since China reopened its borders after three years of coronavirus lockdowns, the government has been trying to stimulate consumer spending and promote tourism.

“Vigorously introducing new types of performances desired by young people, and concerts from international singers with super internet traffic, is the outline for future high-quality development,” the government of Haikou, the city hosting the listening party, posted on its website on Sept 12.

But it is unclear whether the appearance by Ye – who would be perhaps the highest-profile Western artist to perform in mainland China since the pandemic – is part of a broader loosening or an exception.


Even before the pandemic, the number of big-name foreign entertainers visiting China had been falling as the authorities tightened controls on speech. Acts such as Bon Jovi and Maroon 5 had shows abruptly cancelled, leading to speculation that band members’ expressions of support for causes like Tibetan independence were to blame. Justin Bieber was barred from China in 2017 over what the Beijing city government, without specifying, called “bad behaviour”.

Ye might have seemed like a no-go, too. The Chinese authorities declared war on hip-hop in 2018, with the state news media saying that artists who insulted women and promoted drug use “don’t deserve a stage”.

But in Ye’s case, objections to hip-hop may have been outweighed by the potential payoff – especially for Hainan.

For years, the Chinese government has sought to turn Hainan, an island roughly the size of Maryland or Belgium, into an international commercial hub. It offers visa-free entry and duty-free shopping, and has pledged to attract more world-class cultural events.


Dr Sheng Zou, a media scholar at Hong Kong Baptist University, said enforcement of censorship was capricious. “When it comes to Ye, I guess his celebrity status may outweigh his identity as a hip-hop artist.”

For Mr Ricardo Shi, 25, an employee of a tech company in Shenzhen, the chance to see Ye was worth spending US$700 (S$900) on plane tickets for a two-day trip to Haikou. “It’s been so long since he last came to China,” he said. (Ye performed in Beijing and Shanghai in 2008.) “It’s a rare opportunity to be there in person.”

Ye, who is touring to promote Vultures, his new album series with singer Ty Dolla Sign, has praised China. He told Forbes in 2020 that the country “changed my life”. He lived in the city of Nanjing as a fifth grader when his mother was teaching English there.

And issues that have led Western brands to cut off collaborations with Ye and alienated many American fans, like his anti-Semitic and homophobic comments, are of less concern to Chinese officials.

Still, no artist can escape political scrutiny altogether.

A photo circulating on Chinese social media showed officials gathered around a conference table, before a screen that read: “Haikou Municipal Bureau of Tourism, Culture, Radio, Television and Sports ‘Kanye West World Tour Audiovisual Concert’ Risk Assessment Meeting.”

Reached by telephone, an employee at the bureau could not confirm the photo’s authenticity but said that similar meetings were routine before large-scale events.

“These things, in my opinion, are a kind of test,” the employee, who gave her surname as Wang, said of the Ye event. “In the future, there will be more foreigners coming to Hainan for similar concerts. As long as they provide positive energy, we’ll do it.”

No one has announced what songs Ye will play. Set lists must be preapproved by censors.

A week before officials announced Ye’s Hainan stop, a listening party planned for Taiwan was abruptly cancelled. The Taiwan organisers cited “unforeseen circumstances”. It is unclear whether the cancellation was related to Ye’s show in China, which claims sovereignty over Taiwan.

A publicist who has worked with Ye on past listening parties did not respond to a request for comment.

Even after Ye passed the Chinese censors, some complained that he should not have. A string of submissions to Haikou’s public complaints website objected to his lyrics and personal behaviour, with one user declaring them “inconsistent with our country’s cultural and social values”.

Some Ye supporters suggested that those complaints were from disgruntled Taylor Swift fans. Swift, with whom Ye has a long and well-documented feud, has yet to announce any China dates for her Eras tour. (Several Shanghai government advisers recently called on the city to loosen its concert approval processes, citing performers like Swift, whom they said were like “walking GDP”, or gross domestic product.)

The anti-Ye comments have since disappeared from the government website.

 NYTIMES

Historians say increased censorship in China makes research hard

September 15, 2024

By Reuters

 A man walks past a sign warning against the sale of illegal publications, underneath which secondhand books, images and statues of Chinese leaders are displayed for sale at the Panjiayuan antique market in Beijing, Aug. 3, 2024.

BEIJING —

At Beijing's largest antiques market, Panjiayuan, among the Mao statues, posters and second-hand books are prominent signs warning against the sale of publications that might have state secrets or "reactionary propaganda."

Some of the signs display a hotline number so that citizens can tip off authorities if they witness an illegal sale.

China's antique and flea markets were once a gold mine of documents for historians, but now the signs are emblematic of the chill that has descended on their ability to do research in the country.

On one hand, Beijing wants to increase academic exchange and President Xi Jinping last November invited 50,000 American students to China over the next five years -- a massive jump from about 800 currently.

How much steam that will gather is very much an open question. But scholars of modern Chinese history in particular -- arguably among the people most interested in China - fear that tightened censorship is extinguishing avenues for independent research into the country's past.

This is especially so for documents relating to the 1966-76 Cultural Revolution -- the most historically sensitive period for the Chinese Communist Party -- when Mao Zedong declared class war and plunged China into chaos and violence.

"I would say the period of going to flea markets and simply finding treasure troves is pretty much over," said Daniel Leese, a modern China historian at the University of Freiburg.

Trawling for documents "has basically gone out of favor because it has simply become too complex, difficult and dangerous," he said, adding that younger foreign scholars are increasingly relying on overseas collections.

The Chinese Communist Party has exerted control over all publications including books, the media and the internet since establishing the People's Republic of China (PRC) in 1949, with the degree of censorship fluctuating over time.

But censorship has only intensified under President Xi Jinping, who came to power in 2012 and has blamed "historic nihilism" or versions of history that differ from the official accounts for causing the collapse of the Soviet Union.

In recent years, a raft of new national security and anti-espionage legislation has made scholars even more wary of citing unofficial Chinese materials.

Some scholars of modern Chinese history who have published studies that either challenged Chinese state narratives or are on sensitive topics say they have been denied visas to China.

James Millward, a historian at Georgetown University, said he had been visa-blocked on several occasions after contributing to the 2004 book Xinjiang: China's Muslim Borderland but has since received short-term visas a few times albeit after a lengthy process.

The political climate is also shaping how historians choose their research subjects. One historian based in the U.S. said he has chosen to work on non-controversial topics to maintain travel access to China. He declined to be identified due to the sensitivity of the issue.

Busts and statues portraying late Chinese chairman Mao Zedong are seen at the Panjiayuan flea market in Beijing, May 19, 2019.

China's education ministry did not respond to a Reuters request for comment. The foreign ministry said it was unaware of relevant circumstances.

Documentary discoveries

Leese and other foreign historians say they previously found case files of persecuted intellectuals as well as secret Communist Party documents at Chinese flea and antique markets.

These were often donated by relatives of deceased officials or painstakingly rescued by booksellers from recycling centers near government offices disbanded during the mass state sector layoffs of the 1990s.

But the government has, since 2008, cracked down on flea markets and other sources of used books and documents. Buyers have been arrested, sellers have been fined and used book websites have been cleared of politically sensitive items, according to domestic media reports, collectors and four overseas researchers who spoke with Reuters.

In 2019, for example, a Japanese historian was detained for two months on spying charges after buying 1930s books on the Sino-Japanese War from a second-hand bookshop.

Two years later, a hobbyist accused of selling illegal publications from Hong Kong and Taiwan publishers on Kongfuzi, China's biggest website for used books, was fined 280,000 yuan ($39,000) for not having a business license, Chinese media reported.

And this year, two workers at a recycling center were punished for selling confidential military documents, state media said.

Buyers now cultivate personal relationships with merchants who sell through WeChat, said a Beijing-based collector interested in documents from the Cultural Revolution, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Historians also note that access to the vast majority of local government archives has been restricted since 2010 and their digitization has enabled censors to heavily redact them.

Foreign-based historians add that their counterparts in mainland China can only preserve materials for posterity in the current political climate. But not all are downbeat.

"Even under Xi, Chinese scholars continue to seek openings and enlarge the understanding and interpretation of PRC history," said Yi Lu, assistant history professor at Dartmouth College, who has worked extensively with Chinese university collections of 20th-century materials. "All is not lost."

Revised anti-wildlife trafficking law in Indonesia brings bite to the rules, but enforcement is key

Indonesia is a key regional biodiversity hotspot and home to endangered species like Sumatran tigers.

 PHOTO ILLUSTRATION: UNSPLASH

Linda Yulisman
Indonesia Correspondent
Sep 15, 2024

JAKARTA – For decades, Indonesia’s protected wildlife such as songbirds and orang utans have been traded illegally and even smuggled out of the country, to the detriment of the species.

A revised law will aid biodiversity conservation and boost hopes of curbing illegal wildlife trading within Indonesia and across its borders, conservationists and experts say. But enforcement is key, they note, emphasising the value of thorough investigation and consistent follow-through in rooting out illegal wildlife trafficking.

The iIlegal wildlife trade is rampant in Indonesia, a key regional biodiversity hot spot and home to endangered species like Sumatran tigers, Asian elephants and komodo dragons (the world’s largest-living lizards). This impinges on its biodiversity and upsets the ecological balance.


The global illegal trade in fauna and flora has been estimated to be worth US$7 billion (S$9 billion) to US$23 billion annually. The value of the illegal trade in Indonesia alone is assessed at up to US$1 billion per year, in addition to enormous economic, environmental, and social losses, according to the United Nations Development

 Programme in Indonesia.

The revised “Law on Conservation of Biological Natural Resources and their Ecosystems”, which took effect in August, will ensure more legal protection for wildlife through harsher penalties and widening the scope for such traffickers to be charged.

Now, individuals can be fined as much as 5 billion rupiah (S$421,300) from a maximum of 100 million rupiah previously, and jailed up to 15 years or triple the duration set in the previous law.

In addition, corporations or corporate traffickers can now be charged under the revised law and if found guilty, be fined as much as 50 billion rupiah and imprisoned for up to 20 years.

The Ministry of Environment and Forestry’s director-general of law enforcement Rasio Ridho Sani believes the move will help reduce illegal wildlife trafficking and strengthen enforcement of the law.

The authorities will also be able to tackle illegal wildlife-related activities and money laundering concurrently, he told The Straits Times. “This approach will be more effective as the charged punishment can be harsher and it enables (law enforcers) to break up criminal networks, including transnational ones, by following the suspects through the flows of the money,” Mr Rasio said.

Among the first cases to be charged under the revised law was the illegal attempted sales of eight rhino horns, five elephant-ivory tobacco pipes and three pipes made from dugong tusks seized on Aug 23 in Palembang, South Sumatra province.

The haul of rhino horns alone was estimated to be worth 245 billion rupiah, reported the daily Kompas. This was the largest bust for the rhino horn trade in 10 years, Mr Rasio was quoted as saying.

And neighbouring Singapore remains a key global transhipment hub for trafficked wildlife, including those from Indonesia.

In 2019, Indonesian police arrested traffickers who tried to smuggle 41 baby komodo dragons into Singapore.

In April this year, a pet shop owner in Singapore linked to a massive cross-border bird smuggling operation was sentenced to jail for 68 weeks.

The global bird trade is a multibillion-dollar business, and wildlife trade monitoring network Traffic’s data shows that at least 459,885 birds have been confiscated from illegal trade in South-east Asia in the past decade.

Singapore also recently upped the ante on the illegal wildlife trade. Wildlife trading and keeping protected species like flying foxes are considered serious offences in Singapore under the Organised Crime Act from Aug 30, and offenders risk jail sentences of up to 20 years.

Endangered orang utans, pangolins and cute gibbons are fair game for poachers, and the mothers are usually killed in the process of capturing their young. Reptiles and birds are popular with buyers and are more easily supplied and transported, say experts.

Between 2015 and 2023, over 82,000 wildlife of various species in Indonesia were sold online to over 7,300 buyers through Facebook, according to Garda Animalia, a local civic organisation committed to protecting wildlife.

While there is no national data on wildlife trafficking, the West Papua natural resources conservation agency has said that endemic species from the province are smuggled abroad most to the Philippines, Singapore, Vietnam and Malaysia.

In a statement responding to ST’s query, Mr Nirwala Dwi Heriyanto, a spokesman at the customs and excise office, which monitors and deters wildlife cross-border smuggling attempts, hopes heavier punishments and fines will have a “deterrent effect” on the traffickers.

“Stronger punishments and bigger fines imposed on wildlife trafficking shows our commitment to eradicate crimes that often involve international networks,” he stated.

The revised law is a step forward in bringing those involved in the network of wildlife traffickers to justice, including the financial backers who play a crucial role in transnational illegal trading in wildlife and animal body parts, conservationists and experts say.

Environmental law expert Adrianus Eryan told ST: “We now expect that law enforcers will begin to target wildlife traffickers that often work in syndicates and across borders... Up to (the) present, only individuals have been arrested while collectors, big traffickers and backers of the syndicates have remained untouched.”

Conservationist and criminologist Dwi Nugroho Adhiasto also noted that under the revised law, protected wildlife outside Indonesia would automatically gain similar status upon entry into the country, which was not the case previously.

“For instance, someone can now be charged... for keeping a Bengal tiger, while previously he would not be,” he told ST.

Besides harsher penalties to deter wildlife trafficking, conservationists and experts say there is a need to consider the enormity of the impact of illegal wildlife trade on the species and the environment.

In order to nurture and reclaim the lost biodiversity, Mr Adrianus welcomes the additional sanctions on traffickers, for instance, to bear the costs of restoring wildlife habitats and conservation areas.

“If the approach is only to punish traffickers with jail sentences, the rehabilitation of the damaged conservation sites will become a burden for the government,” he said.

“Even the most severe punishment will be useless if law enforcement officers are not serious enough to investigate and prosecute criminals,” he added.

NATO IMPERIALISM INVADES THE PACIFIC

China accuses Germany of raising 'security risks' by sending military ships through Taiwan strait

China criticised Germany on Saturday for increasing security risks after two German naval vessels passed through the Taiwan Strait, a key waterway that Beijing claims as its territory. German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius defended the move, stating that the ships were navigating international waters on the safest route, while Beijing responded by deploying forces to monitor the vessels.


Issued on: 14/09/2024 -

The Berlin-class replenishing ship A 1412 Frankfurt am Main of the German Navy (Bundesmarine) leaves its home port of Wilhelmshaven in northwestern Germany for the Indo-Pacific Deployment, May 7, 2024. © Focke Strangmann, AFP

China on Saturday accused Berlin of heightening security risks in the Taiwan Strait, a day after two German military vessels sailed through the sensitive waters.

German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius confirmed on Friday that the frigate Baden-Wuerttemberg and the supply vessel Frankfurt am Main sailed through the strait.

"The German side's behaviour increases security risks and sends incorrect signals," Chinese military spokesperson Li Xi said in a statement.

US military ships as well as those operated by other countries have often sailed through the sensitive waterway.

But the Baden-Wuerttemberg's voyage was the first time in more than two decades that Berlin's navy had done so, according to German media reports.

Beijing views Taiwan as a renegade province and claims jurisdiction over the body of water that separates the island from the Chinese mainland.

Germany and many other countries argue such voyages are usual, citing freedom of navigation.

China's Li said Saturday that the People's Liberation Army had sent sea and air forces to "monitor and warn off" the German vessels.

Beijing's troops in the area would "resolutely counter all threats and provocations", Li added.

The two vessels were headed from South Korea to the Philippines, German defence ministry officials said.

Pistorius said on Friday that the course charted by the vessels was "the shortest route".

"It is the safest route given the weather conditions. And these are international waters, so we are sailing through them."
Freedom of navigation

Though Taiwan has only a dozen diplomatic allies, it maintains strong partnerships with various Western democracies such as the United States, which is its biggest weapons supplier.

Read moreBlinken reiterates to China US concern over ‘provocative’ drills around Taiwan

Beijing has in recent years engaged in an escalating campaign of intimidation against Taiwan, including through large-scale military exercises around the island.


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The Chinese government warned this year that "Taiwan independence forces will be left with their heads broken and blood flowing".

Chinese state media reported in June that Beijing could impose the death penalty for "particularly serious" cases of what it views as separatism from Taiwan.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said on Friday when asked about the vessels that "there is not much to say... it's an international waterway".

Taiwan said earlier this week that it "welcomes and affirms Germany, along with the US, Canada and the Netherlands, for taking actions to demonstrate the legal status of the Taiwan Strait as international waters, while defending freedom of navigation and maintaining regional peace at the same time".

(AFP)

Tax the rich instead of taking money from 'struggling pensioners', says Lib Dem leader Ed Davey

Sir Ed Davey arrived at the Lib Dem conference in Brighton on a jet ski, keeping up his stunt entrances that helped him grab headlines during the election.

Alix Culbertson
Political reporter @alixculbertson

Sky News
Saturday 14 September 2024 

Ed Davey arrives at conference on jet ski


Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey has called for a tax on the wealthiest instead of cutting support for "struggling pensioners".

Speaking after arriving at the Lib Dem conference in Brighton on a jet ski, Sir Ed said his party is the only one offering up a solution on how to "plug the awful financial mess the Conservatives left us with".

More than 10 million pensioners will lose winter fuel payments under government plans which have been heavily criticised by opposition MPs, some Labour MPs and charities.

Sir Ed told Sky News he would have levied a capital gains tax against the wealthiest instead.

Image:Sir Ed Davey arrived at the Lib Dem conference in Brighton on a jet ski. Pic: PA

"The Conservatives won't admit there's a problem, there is a problem, the financial deficit is large, the Conservatives ran the budget in a very bad way, there needs to be a solution to that," he said.



"But withdrawing winter fuel payments from struggling pensioners isn't the solution so we've put forward in the House of Commons our solution.

"We've said, look at the capital gains tax on the very, very wealthiest.

"So there are alternatives to this. The government doesn't have to do this.

"It has to clear up the Conservatives' mess. But there are other ways, much fairer ways to do that."

Sir Ed continued carrying out stunts as he arrived in Brighton

Sir Ed said his party would also reverse the tax cut the Conservatives gave banks "to deal with the deficit and avoid these painful policies".

He said it is possible to give the winter fuel payments to all but the wealthiest pensioners and this has been done before with child benefit.

"But that's not what the government are proposing," he added.

The Lib Dems have pledged to be a "constructive opposition", choosing to do politics differently from the attack method other parties have chosen to adopt.

"We're going to be the best opposition in parliament, far better than the Conservatives by being constructive, by putting forward alternatives," Sir Ed said.

"And I think we're the only group of people doing that, saying this is where you should get the money from to plug the awful financial mess left by the Conservatives.

"Don't take it from struggling pensioners."

On Saturday, Labour's biggest union backer joined calls for a U-turn on the winter fuel payments cut.

A motion to be submitted to Labour's conference by Unite says "workers and communities... voted for a better future, not just better management".

How will Unite's rebellion on winter fuel affect Starmer?

Rob Powell
Political correspondent@robpowellnews

Labour's first conference as a party of government in more than a decade was always going to be a carefully calibrated affair.

Too much celebration and jubilation a likely no-no, given the sombre picture Sir Keir Starmer has been painting since moving into Downing Street.

But the party probably hoped to avoid a full-on union showdown.

And yet, that looks to be on the horizon.

The motion being submitted by Unite is scathing – lashing out at the decision to cut winter fuel payments and squaring up to the current gloomy tone being adopted by the government.

Last week's Commons vote saw just a limited rebellion among MPs.

If this motion makes it to the conference floor, members may not be so loyal to their leader.

That's not to say any of this should – or will – bother Downing Street.

With a huge majority in parliament, Sir Keir Starmer can afford to rile a few allies now.

Providing he can get them back on side before 2029.

The union's motion calls the cuts "cruel" and goes on to say: "We need a vision where pensioners are not the first to face a new wave of cuts."

UK

‘NHS can’t wait any longer’: Ed Davey tells Labour not to delay investment

Michael Savage

 Policy Editor

THE GUARDIAN
Sat 14 September 2024 

Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey in Brighton at the start of the party's autumn conference.

Jamie Lashmar/PA

Keir Starmer must abandon plans to delay investment in the NHS and instead use new taxes on banks and the wealthy to immediately plough almost £5bn a year into the ailing health service, the leader of the Lib Dems has warned.

In an interview with the Observer as the Lib Dem conference takes place in Brighton, Ed Davey said that the forthcoming budget must be squarely a “budget for the NHS”. He warned that waiting to begin the work needed to repair ageing hospitals and increase GP numbers was a serious mistake.

“We’ve got crumbling hospitals,” he said. “We don’t have enough GPs and dentists. Social care is in a mess. Carers aren’t getting support. We need that budget for the NHS. Yes, we agree there needs to be reform, but you can’t do reform without more investment upfront. We will spend a lot of time talking about the NHS. The budget should be a budget for the NHS, above all.”

It comes after Starmer warned last week that the NHS had to “reform or die”, following the publication of a damning report into the health service’s condition in England by the cancer surgeon and former minister Ara Darzi. The prime minister suggested there would be “no more money without reform”.

He conceded that the service was now in a critical condition and that he was willing to face down “loud opposition” to major reforms. However, Davey said that while he was attempting to be constructive with the new government, waiting to invest was a major error.

“That’s the key thing where I think we do differ from what the government’s been saying,” he said. “We’ve been advocating reform, particularly around care. But the government seems to be saying: ‘You do reform first and then you invest.’ I just don’t think that’s possible. You’ve got to invest now, otherwise we won’t have an NHS.

“The NHS can’t wait any longer. Take day-to-day spending. That means you’re going to need more GPs. You’re going to need spending on care, dentists and the like. On capital spend, the backlog of repairs and maintenance in NHS England has nearly doubled since 2015. It’s a crisis.”

He claimed that last year 13.5 million people were admitted to NHS trusts that had sites where buildings were crumbling or were deemed to be high risk from maintenance issues.

“Let’s see what they do in the budget. I’m willing to wait until 30 October, but we are putting down a marker,” he said. “The budget needs to be a budget for the NHS and care.”

The Lib Dems are standing by a pre-election demand for an extra £3.7bn a year in day-to-day NHS spending by the end of the parliament, as well as an extra £1.1bn a year of capital investment in hospitals for 10 years. Davey said it should be paid for by adjusting the rates of capital gains tax, raising £5.2bn a year, and restoring the bank surcharge and bank levy revenues to 2016 levels in real terms. This is forecast to raise £4.3bn.

He warned that the sombre tone struck by Starmer since taking office was unnecessarily negative and said his party would attempt to inject a more positive vision for the country, adding: “There’s a danger that they’re all doom and gloom, and it can’t be done, and you’ve got to wait, and it’s all too difficult. We’ve got to make these cuts.

“Well, I actually think one could be much more optimistic and hopeful about the future. There’s a real return from investing now – an invest-to-save notion where you get people back to work, you boost the economy.

Related: Lib Dems launch election manifesto with pledge to ‘save the NHS’

“We’ve talked about capital gains tax. We had very detailed reform proposals to raise significant amounts from the very wealthy, the billionaires, as well as the banks, the social media giants and some of the oil and gas companies. So I think it’s fair to say we’ve set out quite a big agenda.”

He said that despite a strong election result that saw the Lib Dems return 72 MPs, many in traditionally Tory seats, he wanted to “finish the job” and take even more Conservative areas next time.

“If we can show that there’s hope and optimism about our approach, that will show that, essentially, we’re a better opposition than the Conservatives,” he said.

“If we do that, we’ll not only hold on to our 72 seats that we’ve now got but also I think we can finish the job. We took down a lot of the blue wall. I want to take the whole of it down. I think we can win more Conservative seats at the next election.”

UK

Homelessness charity on 'funding cliff edge'

Daniel Holland
BBC Local Democracy Reporting Service

BBC
Changing Lives warns its rough sleeper outreach programme is at risk

A homelessness charity fears it could have to scrap some services because of a lack of money.

Changing Lives said it was on a "perilous funding cliff edge" that could stop it being able to run services for rough sleepers in Northumberland and North Tyneside.

Changing Lives said it needed the Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government (MHCLG) to extend the Rough Sleeping Initiative (RSI) fund, which is due to run out next March.

The MHCLG has indicated decisions on the fund's future would be made as part of the government's upcoming spending review.


'Moral obligation'


The Local Democracy Reporting Service reports that North East councils received just over £10m of RSI money to use between 2022 and 2025, some of which is passed on to Changing Lives via grants.

Jacquiline Cox, from the charity, said: "Our Rough Sleeper Outreach services [across North Tyneside and Northumberland] are solely reliant on RSI funding.

"These services provide essential, life-saving support to some of the most vulnerable and disenfranchised people in our community.

"Without this funding, those who are experiencing rough sleeping will have even fewer places to turn.

"Continuing to invest in homelessness services is not just a financial necessity but a moral obligation."

An MHCLG spokesperson said: “Far too many people are experiencing homelessness, and we want to make it easier for them to find a secure home.

“The government is taking urgent action by working with local leaders on a long-term strategy, and will prevent homelessness before it occurs by banning Section 21 evictions and delivering the biggest increase in social and affordable housebuilding in a generation.”

Major business leader says Scotland's resources are 'golden ticket for UK growth'

Lucy Garcia
Sun 15 September 2024


Scotland's renewable resources were described as the "golden ticket for UK growth" by the chief executive of the CBI

SCOTLAND’S natural resources are the envy of the world, according to the head of a major business organisation.

The chief executive of the Confederation of British Industry (CBI), Rain Newton-Smith, described Scotland’s resources as the “golden ticket for UK growth”

While highlighting that Scotland “has the tools at its fingertips to be a global clean energy superpower”, she expressed concern that the opportunity could be squandered if ministers failed to address the anxieties of potential investors.

During the CBI’s annual dinner in Glasgow earlier this week, Newton-Smith said: “Though Scotland has made huge progress in pioneering the concept of a just transition and setting one of the most ambitious net zero targets in the world, the truth is, on green growth, as on long-term growth across the UK, we’re not where we need to be.

READ MORE: Grangemouth: Community reacts to cruel fate of oil refinery

“Scotland, the UK – we’ve started to stall on the green investment we need. Since 2020 we’ve fallen down the league tables, behind France and Germany. We’ve lost our first-mover advantage in green growth markets to vast economic stimulus packages from the US and China.”

Newton-Smith added that the Labour government’s plans to increase the windfall tax on North Sea oil and gas companies could spell bad news for Scotland’s industry.

“Energy companies whose current revenues come from oil and gas activities: right now, they represent over 10 per cent of Scotland’s GDP and they can also be a huge part of the transition to net zero,” she said.

She added that since the windfall tax was introduced in 2022 firms had been dealing with a series of changes to how the tax functioned.

Rain Newton-Smith is the chief executive of the CBI (Image: CBI)

“That’s not fiscal certainty and it’s not a spur to invest – exactly when that investment is most important for transitioning the sector.”

While she welcomed the UK Government’s announcement of the National Wealth Fund and GB Energy, she said clarity was still needed around how they would operate.

Indeed, she urged ministers in both the UK and Scottish Governments to focus on removing practical obstacles to growth such as failures in the planning system which result in wind farm developments being delayed.

"We’ve got vision but not detail,” she said.

“We’ve got direction but not certainty.

“Firms will however want to see more in terms of how this aligns with other key net zero plans and strategies, both within Scotland and across the UK – like the yet to be published Energy and Just Transition Plan.”