STATE MONOPOLY CAPITALI$M

Chinese appliance maker Midea soars in Hong Kong after US$4 bn IPO

Hong Kong (AFP) – Shares in Chinese electronic appliance maker Midea surged more than nine percent on its Hong Kong debut Tuesday, having raised around US$4 billion in the city's biggest initial public offering for more than three years.

Issued on: 17/09/2024 - 

Midea's IPO is the biggest in Hong Kong since 2021 © Jade GAO / AFP
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The firm spiked at HK$60.00 in early exchanges, up 9.5 percent from its HK$54.80 list price, which was at the top of the range indicated in its prospectus.

Midea's bumper listing fuelled hopes that the Hong Kong bourse can attract more top Chinese firms and regain its crown as the world's top venue for IPOs.

The Chinese finance hub has suffered a steady decline in new offerings since a regulatory crackdown by Beijing starting in 2020 led some Chinese mega-companies to put their plans on hold.

The city saw just 30 IPOs in the first half of this year, compared with more than 100 annually between 2013 and 2020.

Midea's IPO has eclipsed the combined valuation of all of Hong Kong's new listings so far this year, and is the city's largest since JD Logistics and Kuaishou Technology in the first half of 2021.

The Foshan-based company last week expanded the number of shares on offer by around 15 percent to 566 million -- an indicator of strong demand.

In a filing to the Hong Kong stock exchange on Monday it said the international portion of the IPO was subscribed by more than eight times, before taking into account the adjustment to the offer size.

Midea chairman Paul Fang called the listing "a strategic step forward in the company's globalisation", the South China Morning Post reported on Tuesday.

Cornerstone investors, including a subsidiary of Cosco Shipping Holdings and part of UBS Asset Management Singapore, agreed to buy Midea stocks worth US$1.26 billion.

Founded in 1968, Midea has become one of the world's largest sellers of home appliances such as washing machines and air conditioners and it also owns the German industrial robot maker Kuka.

It last month reported a 14 percent rise in net profit in the first half of 2024 despite weakening consumer spending due to China's economic slowdown, while revenue hit US$52.7 billion.

The company's shares in Hong Kong were offered at a 20 percent discount compared to its stock price in Shenzhen, where it has been listed since 2013.

Hong Kong's stock exchange received a boost earlier this year after Chinese regulators unveiled measures to support the city's status as a finance hub.

The bourse operator will also change its policy this month to keep trading through typhoons and heavy storms, in a bid to raise competitiveness.

© 2024 AFP

Climate finance: what you need to know ahead of COP29

Paris (AFP) – Developing countries will need trillions of dollars in the years ahead to deal with climate change -- but exactly how much is needed, and who is going to pay for it?


Issued on: 17/09/2024 - 

Climate finance will be at the top of the agenda at the upcoming COP29 in November 

© Marvin RECINOS / AFP

These difficult questions will be wrestled at this year's United Nations climate conference, known as COP29, being hosted in Azerbaijan in November.

What is climate finance?

It is the buzzword in this year's negotiations, but there isn't one agreed definition of "climate finance".

In general terms, it's money spent in a manner "consistent with a pathway towards low greenhouse gas emissions and climate-resilient development", as per phrasing used in the Paris agreement.

That includes government or private money channelled into low-carbon investments in clean energy like wind and solar, technology like electric vehicles, or adaptation measures like dikes to hold back rising seas.

But could a subsidy for a new water-efficient hotel, for example, be included in climate finance?

The COPs -- the annual UN-sponsored climate summits -- have never defined it.
How much is needed?

The Climate Policy Initiative, a nonprofit research group, estimates that $10 trillion per year in climate finance will be needed between 2030 and 2050.

This compares to around $1.3 trillion spent in 2021-2022.

But in the parlance of UN negotiations, climate finance has come to refer to something more specific -- the difficulties that developing nations face getting the money they need to adapt to global warming.

The line between climate finance and conventional development aid is sometimes blurred.

But experts commissioned by the UN estimate that developing countries, excluding China, will need an estimated $2.4 trillion per year by 2030.

Who will pay?

Under a UN accord adopted in 1992, a handful of countries deemed wealthy, industrialised, and the most responsible for global warming were obligated to provide compensation to the rest of the world.

In 2009, these countries -- the United States, the European Union, Japan, the United Kingdom, Canada, Switzerland, Turkey, Norway, Iceland, New Zealand and Australia -- committed to paying $100 billion per year by 2020.

They only achieved this for the first time in 2022. The delay eroded trust and fuelled accusations that rich countries were shirking their responsibility.

At COP29, nearly 200 nations are expected to agree on a new finance goal beyond 2025 -- but deep divisions remain over how much should be paid, and who should pay it.

India has called for $1 trillion annually, a ten-fold increase in the existing pledge, but countries on the hook to pay it want other major economies to chip in.

They argue times have changed since 1992. Economies have grown, new powers have emerged, and today the big industrialised nations of the early 1990s represent just 30 percent of historic greenhouse gas emissions.

In particular, there is a push for China -- the world's largest polluter today -- and the Gulf countries to pay, a proposal they do not accept.
Where will they find the money?

Today, most climate finance aid goes through development banks or funds co-managed with the countries concerned, such as the Green Climate Fund and the Global

 Environment Facility.

Campaigners are very critical of the $100 billion pledge because two-thirds of the money was distributed as loans, often at preferential rates, but seen as compounding debt woes for poorer nations.

Even revised upwards, it is likely any future commitment will fall well short of what is needed.

But it is viewed as highly symbolic nonetheless, and crucial to unlocking other sources of money, namely private capital.

Financial diplomacy also plays out at the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and the G20, where hosts Brazil want to craft a global tax on billionaires.

The idea of new global taxes, for example on aviation or maritime transport, is also supported by France, Kenya and Barbados, with the backing of UN chief Antonio Guterres.

Redirecting fossil fuel subsidies towards clean energy or wiping the debt of poor countries in exchange for climate investments are also among the options.

Another proposal, from COP29 host Azerbaijan, has floated asking fossil fuel producers to contribute to a new fund that would channel money to developing countries.

As for the "loss and damage" fund created at COP28 to support vulnerable nations cope with extreme weather events, it is still far from up and running, with just $661 million pledged so far.

© 2024 AFP

'Crushed and downtrodden': Azerbaijan's COP29 crackdown

Baku (AFP) – Azerbaijani rights defender and climate advocate Anar Mammadli was picking up his son from kindergarten when police arrested him in front of the children.

AZERBAIJAN IS A CLIENT STATE OF TURKEY

Issued on: 17/09/2024 - 

Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev, left, and his family have a strong hold on the country © Handout / Press Srvice of the President of Azerbaijan/AFP

His arrest was one of the latest in a series which critics say undermines the oil-rich nation's credibility as a host of the United Nations COP29 climate change conference in November.

Mammadli has been locked up since April 29 and risks up to eight years behind bars on smuggling charges human rights groups say are "bogus".

He and activist Bashir Suleymanli had formed a civil society group called Climate of Justice Initiative.

The organisation set out to promote environmental justice in the tightly controlled Caspian nation.

Suleymanli told AFP that the group "was forced to close under government pressure even before it began raising awareness of environmental issues".

Climate activist Bashir Suleymanli, whose colleague has been behind bars since April © VANO SHLAMOV / AFP

"We have no platform through which we could be heard -- not to mention the fact that we will not be able to stage protests during COP29," he said.

International rights groups, including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, have denounced Mammadli's prosecution on "bogus" charges and demanded his release.

Amnesty said it was part of a "continuing crackdown on civil society activists" ahead of COP29.
'Harsh measures'

In the streets of Baku, roads are being repaired and buildings getting fresh coats of paint as authorities add lustre to the capital in preparation for hosting thousands of foreign guests during COP29, which runs from November 11 to 22.

International rights groups have urged the UN and Council of Europe rights watchdog to "use the momentum of COP29" to "put an end to the persecution of critical voices" in Azerbaijan.

Threatened by police: eco activist Kenan Khalilzade © VANO SHLAMOV / AFP

But rather than an easing of repression, Kenan Khalilzade of the Baku-based Ecofront ecological group said the run-up to COP29 has seen more government pressure on activists.

He said he was briefly detained last year during an anti-pollution protest in the remote village of Soyudlu in the country's western Gadabay region.

In 2023, police fired rubber bullets and tear gas at villagers protesting the construction of a pond intended to drain toxic waste from a nearby gold mine.

Locals argued that the pond would cause serious environmental damage to their pastures.

Several villagers were arrested after the violent police crackdown and Soyudlu remained under lockdown for weeks.

"Police threatened me with harsh measures if I ever tried to return to Soyudlu," Khalilzade told AFP.

An investigation by the Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP), a global network of investigative journalists, found the mine -- formally operated by British company Anglo Asian Mining Plc -- is in fact owned by Aliyev's two daughters.

'Biased and unacceptable'

Brooks no dissent: President Ilham Aliyev (L) © Piero CRUCIATTI / AFP

Any sign of dissent in Azerbaijan is usually met with a tough response from Aliyev's government, which has faced strong Western criticism for persecuting political opponents and suffocating independent media.

The 62-year-old has ruled the country with an iron fist since 2003, after the death of his father, Azerbaijan's Soviet-era Communist leader and former KGB general Heydar Aliyev.

The Union for Freedom of Political Prisoners of Azerbaijan has published a list of 288 political prisoners, including opposition politicians, rights activists, and journalists.

Among them are several journalists from AbzasMedia and Toplum TV, media outlets critical of Aliyev, and prominent anti-corruption advocate Gubad Ibadoglu who remains in custody despite poor health.

In May, Human Rights Watch said the crackdown in Azerbaijan "raises grave concerns" about how activists "will be able to participate meaningfully and push for ambitious action at COP29".

Azerbaijan's foreign ministry has rejected the accusations as "biased and unacceptable".

"Conditioning Azerbaijan's presidency of COP29 with inappropriate political motivation contradicts the very essence of the idea of cooperation addressing climate change that Azerbaijan has undertaken," it said in May.

Despite its modern exterior, Azerbaijan is tightly controlled

 © VANO SHLAMOV / AFP

But Khadija Ismayilova, an investigative journalist who has spent months in jail after revealing official corruption, said COP29 delegations should be mindful of Azerbaijan's human rights record.

"Countries that take part in COP29 must be aware that civil society is crushed and downtrodden in Azerbaijan," she said.

© 2024 AFP

Azerbaijan says 'God-given' oil and gas will help it go green

Baku (AFP) – Flames soar into the air from a sandstone outcrop on a hillside of the Absheron peninsula near Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, as it prepares to host the COP29 climate conference.

Issued on: 17/09/2024 - 

Petrodollar paradise: The Azerbaijani capital Baku © VANO SHLAMOV / AFP

The "burning mountain" -- Yanardag in Azerbaijani -- is fed by underground gas rising to the surface and ignited upon contact with oxygen.

The abundance of naturally occurring fires from the energy-rich nation's huge gas deposits has earned it the nickname "The Land of Fire".

Azerbaijan's vast oil and gas resources "have shaped the history, culture, politics, and the economy" of the Caspian nation, said energy expert Kamalya Mustafayeva.

Azerbaijan's oil deposits -- 7 billion barrels of proven reserves -- were discovered in the mid-19th century, making what was then part of the Russian Empire one of the first places in the world to start commercial oil production.

"The world's first industrial onshore oil well was drilled in Azerbaijan, and also the first offshore one," Ashraf Shikhaliyev, the director of energy ministry's international cooperation department, told AFP.

'Born of oil boom'

Gas flames blaze from the ground in Yanardag near Baku © VANO SHLAMOV / AFP

Since gaining independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, Azerbaijan has produced 1.05 billion tonnes of oil and is set to increase its natural gas production from 37 billion cubic metres (bcm) this year to 49 bcm over the next decade, according to official figures.

Revenues from oil and gas production make up about 35 percent of the country's GDP and nearly half of the state budget.

"Azerbaijan's oil revenues -- up to $200 billion to date since 1991 -- gave the country an opportunity to make a huge leap forward," said Sabit Bagirov, who headed the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan in the 1990s.

"Baku, once a small fishermen's hamlet of some 4,000 people, was born of an oil boom," which led to a massive population growth -- at a faster rate from the 1890s than London, Paris, or New York -- said energy expert Ilham Shaban.

Modern Baku is a bustling metropolis dotted with skyscrapers, seaside promenades, and futuristic buildings designed by world-renowned architects.

The Azerbaijani capital has become a venue for major international events, such as the 2012 Eurovision Song Contest, matches in the Euro 2020 football championship, and the Formula 1 motor racing Grand Prix.

The manna of petrodollars helped Azerbaijan to arm itself against arch-foe Armenia, and last year Baku recaptured its breakaway Nagorno-Karabakh region from Armenian separatists who had controlled it for decades.
'Europe's energy security'

An oil well in the Azerbaijani capital of Baku

 © VANO SHLAMOV / AFP

About 75 percent of Azerbaijan's energy exports go to European markets.

In 2022, the European Commission -- keen to reduce Europe's dependence on Russian gas -- signed a deal with Baku to double gas imports from the country.

While Azerbaijan's share of gas supplies to Europe might only reach five percent by 2033, the country can meet all the gas needs of Bulgaria, Greece, Serbia, Albania, and the south of Italy, said Bagirov.

"Azerbaijan has become an important factor in ensuring Europe's energy security," said expert Mustafayeva.

But fossil fuel reserves, which President Ilham Aliyev has called "a gift of God", are expected to be exhausted within several decades.

"Azerbaijan's oil wells will run dry within 20 years, natural gas reserves will last for 50 years," Bagirov said.

"Economic dependence on hydrocarbons is a concern for the Azerbaijani government, which is making serious efforts to develop other economic sectors," including technology, agriculture, and tourism, he said.

Expert Shaban said "Azerbaijan's goal is to get the maximum money from its hydrocarbon resources before Europe reaches its decarbonisation objective," which will lead to a significant drop in the continent's demand for fossil fuels.

Green agenda

The Heydar Aliyev Cultural Center in Baku designed by the late star architect Zaha Hadid © VANO SHLAMOV / AFP

Azerbaijan's ambitious plans to expand energy production mean the country would emit 781 million tonnes of carbon dioxide greenhouse gas a year -- more than twice the annual emissions of the UK, London-based Global Witness environmentalist group said in January.

The prospect has prompted criticism from environmentalists ahead of the COP29.

"COP hosts have a responsibility to deliver progress and the answer is not found at the bottom of an oil well or a gas pipeline, but through ambitious climate finance and action," said Jasper Inventor, Greenpeace International's head of delegation for COP29.

Azerbaijani officials said the country is making significant strides in setting its own green agenda.

The country aims to increase its renewable energy capacity to 30 percent by 2030 and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 40 percent by 2050.

Shikhaliyev listed "clean energy mega projects" such as transforming the newly-recaptured Nagorno-Karabakh region into a "green energy zone" fully reliant on solar, wind and hydro power.

© 2024 AFP

 FROM STALINISM TO FASCISM

Coal phase-out fuels far right in rural eastern Germany

Spremberg (Germany) (AFP) – White clouds still billow from the cooling towers of a coal plant near Spremberg in Germany's ex-communist east but the end is in sight as Berlin phases out the dirty fossil fuel.


Issued on: 17/09/2024 -

The Schwarze Pumpe power station has long been part of the landscape in the German state of Brandenburg © John MACDOUGALL / AFP/File

Thousands of jobs have already been lost in the region, where wind farms now rise near abandoned open-pit mines and many people look with dread towards 2038, the deadline for the "coal exit".

Their fears help explain the strong local support for the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD), which does not just rail against migrants but also rejects the green energy push and questions man-made climate change.

At local elections held in Spremberg in June, the AfD scored 39.3 percent -- an omen ahead of regional elections next Sunday in the state of Brandenburg, which polls suggest it could win.

Lignite, or brown coal, may be a climate killer, but since the 19th century it has been key to the identity of the Lusatia industrial region on the Polish border, known as the Lausitz in German.

"Thousands of people here have been linked to coal their whole working lives," said the town's mayor, Christine Herntier, an independent who has held the post for a decade.

"We are proud of our tradition," said Herntier, 67, pointing to a huge map on her office wall of the Schwarze Pumpe plant and its surrounding industrial complex.

Most people in Spremberg, population 25,000, have grudgingly accepted the coal phase-out plan, under which the government has earmarked billions for structural transition plans, she said.

But, she added, ahead of the state election the winding down of coal "is still a big issue".
Anger over wind farm

Michael Hanko, the AfD's top representative in Spremberg, said he is certain that the looming demise of the lignite industry is "one of the main reasons" residents are voting for his party.

"I don't think the government has really got them on board with this whole prescribed transformation, saying that we now have to do everything with renewable energies," Hanko said.

The AfD, founded about a decade ago, scored a triumph earlier this month when it won an election in the eastern state of Thuringia and came a close second in Saxony.

The AfD's Michael Hanko says Germany's coal exit has influenced many voters in the town of Spremberg © Femke COLBORNE / AFP

It now also has a good chance of winning in Brandenburg, the state that surrounds Berlin, where it is polling narrowly in first place at around 27 percent.

When the German government decided five years ago to phase out coal, it pledged around 40 billion euros ($44 billion) to help coal regions adapt, with 17 billion euros for the Lausitz alone.

Much of the money is intended to flow into developing the renewables and hydrogen sectors, helping the region maintain its identity as an energy hub.

But residents complain the investment has been too slow to materialise and is flowing into the wrong places.

In Spremberg, plans to extend a nearby wind park have caused outrage among some locals, who fear it will be a threat to 150-year-old trees, a protected swallow species and drinking water.
'Something different'

Coal has long been synonymous with the Lausitz region, which takes in parts of Brandenburg and Saxony and a small strip of Poland, and where lignite was discovered in the late 18th century.

But the industry all but collapsed after German reunification in 1990, when most of the region's open pit mines were shut down and thousands of jobs vanished.

Today, only around 8,000 people are employed in the lignite industry across the Lausitz, with 4,500 of them in Brandenburg, though the industry is still one of the largest private employers in the state and coal remains a strong part of the region's identity.

Already weary from the problems caused by reunification, people in the region have felt "overwhelmed" by recent global challenges, said Lars Katzmarek, a board member of the Pro-Lausitz campaign group.

The town of Spremberg in eastern Germany has a long history linked to coal production © Femke COLBORNE / AFP

"The coronavirus, the energy crisis, the Ukraine war -- these are all very difficult things that people still haven't fully digested... and perhaps at some point they just close their ears," he said.

On a rainy morning in Spremberg, Joachim Paschke, 81, who used to work in mechanical engineering and welding, was buying bread rolls in the bakery opposite the town hall.

"I'm definitely not an AfD supporter but I can understand people who are," he said.

"The established parties have nothing concrete and the AfD is offering something different. People want change."

© 2024 AFP

Intel delays Germany, Poland chip factories for two years

Washington (AFP) – Chip-making giant Intel on Monday said it was delaying its plans to build two mega chip-making factories in Germany and Poland as the company faces lower demand than anticipated.


Issued on: 16/09/2024 - 
I

ntel has delayed two mega chip-making factories in Germany and Poland 

© I-Hwa CHENG / AFP

The announcement will come as a major blow to the German and Polish governments that have heavily subsidized the projects and touted them as a boost to their national industry.

Intel also said it would pull back on its projects in Malaysia, but said that its US plans would remain unaffected.

In Germany, construction work on the Intel project was due to begin in 2023 but it stalled after the Ukraine war sent inflation soaring.

German officials and the company were then locked in talks on financing for months, but both sides finally signed a deal in June 2023, which included increased subsidies.

Germany stepped up its subsidy to launch the 30-billion-euro ($33 billion) factory project to almost 10 billion euros, some three billion more than first offered.

"We recently increased capacity in Europe through our fab (or factory) in Ireland, which will remain our lead European hub for the foreseeable future," Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger said in a statement.

"We will pause our projects in Poland and Germany by approximately two years based on anticipated market demand," he added.

In Poland, Intel had received $1.8 billion to set up a semiconductor factory near Wroclaw.

EU countries are seeking to boost production of semiconductors, used in everything from fighter jets to smartphones, and reduce reliance on Asia after pandemic-induced shortages hit some industries, and Russia's war on Ukraine brought home the risks of over-dependency.

On Monday, Intel also said it would receive up to $3 billion in direct funding from the US government, to boost its manufacturing of semiconductors for the US military.

This is part of efforts to “secure the domestic chip supply chain,” according to an Intel statement.

The company also said it would work with the Department of Defense to improve the resilience of US technological systems.

© 2024 AFP

More than 95,000 Japanese aged over 100, most of them women

Tokyo (AFP) – The number of people in Japan aged 100 or older has hit a record high of more than 95,000 -- almost 90 percent of them women -- government data showed Tuesday.

Issued on: 17/09/2024 - 

A handout photo taken on May 23, 2024 by the Ashiya City government shows Tomiko Itook, ebelieved to be the world's oldest living person, celebrating her 116th birthday © Handout / Courtesy of Ashiya City/AFP/File

The figures further highlight the slow-burning demographic crisis gripping the world's fourth-biggest economy as its population ages and shrinks.

As of September 1, Japan had 95,119 centenarians, up 2,980 year-on-year, with 83,958 of them women and 11,161 men, the health ministry said in a statement.

On Sunday separate government data showed that the number of over-65s has hit a record high of 36.25 million, accounting for 29.3 percent of Japan's population.

The proportion puts Japan at the top of a list of 200 countries and regions with a population of over 100,000 people, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications said.

Japan is currently home to the world's oldest living person Tomiko Itooka, who was born on May 23, 1908 and is 116 years old, according to the US-based Gerontology Research Group.

The previous record-holder, Maria Branyas Morera, died last month in Spain at the age of 117.

Itooka lives in a nursing home in Ashiya, Hyogo prefecture in western Japan, the ministry said.

She often says "thank you" to the nursing home staff and expresses nostalgia about her hometown, the ministry said.

"I have no idea at all about what's the secret of my long life," Japan's oldest man, Kiyotaka Mizuno, who is 110, told local media.

Mizuno, who lives in Iwata, Shizuoka prefecture in central Japan with his family, gets up at 6:30 am every morning and eats three meals a day -- without being picky about his food.

His hobby is listening to live sports, including sumo wrestling, the ministry said.

Japan is facing a steadily worsening population crisis, as its expanding elderly population leads to soaring medical and welfare costs, with a shrinking labour force to pay for it.

The country's overall population is 124 million, after declining by 595,000 in the previous, according to previous government data.

The government has attempted to slow the decline and ageing of its population without meaningful success, while gradually extending the retirement age -- with 65 becoming the rule for all employers from fiscal 2025.

© 2024 AFP

Uganda's 'singing fools' use satire to attack government

Kampala (AFP) – A packed Kampala audience holds its breath as four self-styled "singing fools" in choir uniforms bound onto the stage for their latest daring satire of Ugandan politics.

Issued on: 17/09/2024 

The Bizonto comedy troupe present a rare and sharp satire of Ugandan politics 

© BADRU KATUMBA / AFP

The Bizonto comedy troupe recount the misadventures in a fictional village, ruled by an ageing leader and suffering from a dire lack of basic services and sky-high taxes.

The parallels with real-life Uganda -- ruled for almost four decades by 80-year-old Yoweri Museveni -- are not hard to spot.

The troupe's name means "mentally unstable", which they chose when they formed in 2020 in the hope it would provide some protection from the authorities.

But it has not diluted the sharpness of their satire.

"Our message means people know we are actually not fools," said troupe member Maliseeri Mbambaali, 40.

The show "supports issues raised by the majority of the population," he told AFP.

Their buffoonish front has not always protected them.

In 2020, they released a video sarcastically calling on Ugandans to pray for their leaders, including Museveni, the police chief and the head of prisons, that quickly went viral.

The troupe's name means 'mentally unstable' 

© BADRU KATUMBA / AFP

All four members -- Mbambaali, Julius Sserwanja, 41, Tony Kyambadde, 21, and Joshua Ssekabembe, 19 -- ended up in jail, charged with "promoting sectarianism" and facing up to five years' imprisonment.

The government was on edge at the time ahead of 2021 elections, with singer-turned-politician Bobi Wine galvanising youthful opposition to Museveni's regime.

With a comedian's exaggeration, Sserwanja describes how "50 men armed with 70 guns, helicopters and sub-machine guns" swarmed to arrest the quartet at a radio station.

But their time in jail was not so funny.

"I thought a lot about whether we're ever going to leave the cells -- what's going to happen to us?" Mbambaali said.

They didn't know that outside, #FreeBizonto was trending on social media.

"We gained energy and followers... our fan base grew," Mbambaali said.

The pressure helped ensure the charges were eventually dropped, but the episode still carried a dark warning.

"It gave a signal that whatever we do, the government will be monitoring us," said Mbambaali, who vowed to take a more "coded" approach to future satires.
'We never gave up'

Bizonto's audience stretches across the generations. In the crowd at a recent show were 72-year-old widow Miria Kawuma and her granddaughter Christine Nabaata Kamwesi, 29.

"The performers capture what Ugandans are going through like corruption, bad roads, drugs lacking in hospitals," Kawuma said.

"We pay higher taxes but they are stolen by officials," she added.

Audiences offered raucous supporter to Bizonto's performance 

© BADRU KATUMBA / AFP

Uganda ranks a lowly 141 out of 180 countries on Transparency International's Corruption index.

Young people, infuriated by a string of scandals, took to the streets earlier this year, only to be met with a heavy-handed police response.

At the Bizonto show, cheers, shouts, and ululations make it clear that the comedians' message is striking home.

Their time in prison may have shaken them, but the troupe remains undeterred.

"We never gave up. We never stepped back," Mbambaali said. "We knew we were on the right path."

© 2024 AFP

Young Equatorial Guineans yearn for the American dream

Malabo (Equatorial Guinea) (AFP) – Tiny but oil-rich Equatorial Guinea long escaped the youth exodus plaguing other African nations, but a decade of economic decline and rising unemployment has left many eager to leave.


Issued on: 17/09/2024
Equatorial Guinea's economy has been badly hit since oil prices slumped in 2014 © STR / AFP/File
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The discovery of off-shore oil in the mid-1990s turned the country into Africa's third richest in terms of per capita income.

But the economy has been badly hit since oil prices slumped in 2014, putting a dent in government revenues, and slipped into recession last year.

Despite its natural oil wealth, many of the 1.6 million inhabitants live in poverty. The jobless rate has hit 8.5 percent, according to African Development Bank figures.

"I'm going to the United States, regardless of the job, it's not hard to find work," Paciencia Mangue, 32, vowed.

Her economics degree is not enough, she said, and she is fed up with wasting her time.

"To get a good job here, you have to know someone in the government or be related to those who run the country."

Laura Ntogono, a 27-year-old working at a nail salon, said the idea of starting a new life in Los Angeles was never far from her thoughts.

"What you don't find in your country, you can find elsewhere," she said.

The trend is not discussed in the press -- there is no buzz on social media, or official statistics.

However, everyday conversation is full of the subject in the authoritarian, closed West African country, run by 82-year-old President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, the world's longest-serving sitting president.

In recent years, not a day goes by without news of another young Equatorial Guinean leaving for the United States, an AFP reporter said.
'Make ends meet'

A 44-year-old married father of four who asked to be identified only as Manulo, a pseudonym, has lived in Jacksonville, Florida, for about a year after losing his job at the National Institute of Social Security.

"After three years of unemployment, I could not make ends meet anymore... I sold my car and I got a visa," Manulo told AFP from the United States.

Many of Equatorial Guinea's 1.6 million inhabitants live in poverty despite its natural oil wealth © STR / AFP/File

He declined to reveal how much he earns, indicating it was on another level to back home.

The minimum wage in Equatorial Guinea is 128,000 CFA francs ($210) a month, according to data from the Economic and Monetary Community of Central Africa.

But his dog-sitting job allows him to send $500 (450 euros) home to his family a month.
Border 'ordeal'

Some disenchanted Equatorial Guineans manage to go directly to the United States after getting a visa; others fly to Brazil or Nicaragua, sometimes via Spain, to enter illegally from Mexico.

Based on testimonies heard by AFP, few opt for the Sahel route in order to cross the Mediterranean.

Exile comes with a steep price tag -- 1.6 million CFA francs ($2,620) for a plane ticket from the capital Malabo to San Paulo and a Brazilian visa.

But that still leaves the toughest part -- paying traffickers to get across the US border.

Some can come close to paying with their lives.

Geraldina Adang, 33, said she spent two months on dangerous, illegal routes to travel from Brazil to Mexico early last year.

President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, 82, is the world's longest-serving sitting president © STR / AFP/File

She then waited three months to cross the Mexican-US border.

"We suffered," said Adang, who now washes dishes in California. "To get into the United States, death is not far."

Celestine Fouenfin, a 36-year-old cleaner from Cameroon who set off from Malabo to reach Las Vegas through Mexico, called her perilous journey an "ordeal" and an "obstacle course".
'Lost hope'

The dream of leaving for a better life is one shared by many in the continent, a recent poll indicated.

Equatorial Guinea © STAFF / AFP

Nearly six out of 10 young Africans are considering leaving their countries within three years to find a job, with the United States their top destination, according to the Ichikowitz Family Foundation survey in 16 countries in Africa.

"With or without a visa, I will reach the United States," said taxi driver Angel Ondo, 25.

"Many of our friends who were taxi drivers like us have already left" via Brazil or Nicaragua, then Mexico, he said, in front of his car.

While Equatorial Guinea saw a wave of political exiles flee to Spain after independence in 1968, the reasons to leave today are wide ranging.

"A lack of individual and collective freedom, a lack of robust, independent institutions, systematic corruption, poor management of public affairs, and a lack of respect for human rights are behind the exodus," said rights activist Joaquin Elo Ayeto from the Somos NGO.

Sociology teacher Elias Mba Engonga blamed "disappointment, lost hope for political changes, social policies and the lack of equitable distribution of state revenue".

© 2024 AFP

Meta bans Russian state media outlets for social media 'interference' campaigns

US tech giant Meta said late Monday that it was banning Russian state media outlets from its apps, including Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Threads, following US prosecutors' allegations that RT had covertly funded influence campaigns through social media.


Issued on: 17/09/2024 -

Meta threat reports indicate Russia has been the leading source of covert influence campaigns disrupted at the social networking giant's platform 

© Kirill Kudryavtsev, AFP


Meta late Monday said it is banning Russian state media outlets from its apps around the world due to "foreign interference activity."

The ban comes after the United States accused RT and employees of the state-run outlet of funneling $10 million through shell entities to covertly fund influence campaigns on social media channels including TikTok, Instagram, X, and YouTube, according to an unsealed indictment.

"After careful consideration, we expanded our ongoing enforcement against Russian state media outlets," Meta said in response to an AFP inquiry.

"Rossiya Segodnya, RT and other related entities are now banned from our apps globally for foreign interference activity," said Meta, whose apps include Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Threads.

RT was forced to cease formal operations in Britain, Canada, the European Union and the United States due to sanctions after Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, according to the indictment unsealed in New York,

US prosecutors quoted an RT editor-in-chief as saying it created an "entire empire of covert projects" designed to shape public opinion in "Western audiences."
Secret content backing

One of the covert projects involved funding and direction of an online content creation company in Tennessee, according to the indictment.

Since launching in late 2023, the US content creation operation supported by Russia has posted nearly 2,000 videos that have logged more than 16 million views on YouTube alone, according to the indictment.

Read moreWhat fake news is being shared about US presidential candidate Kamala Harris?

Prosecutors cited a content producer as grousing about being pressed by the company to post a video early this year of a "well known US political commentator visiting a grocery store in Russia," complaining it felt like "overt shilling" but agreeing to put the video out.

The company never disclosed to viewers it was funded by RT, US prosecutors said.

"RT has pursued malign influence campaigns in countries opposed to its policies, including the United States, in an effort to sow domestic divisions and thereby weaken opposition to Government of Russia objectives," prosecutors argued in the indictment.
Proxies and mercenaries

Russia is the biggest source of covert influence operations disrupted by Meta at its platform since 2017, and such efforts at deceptive online influence ramped up after Russia's invasion of Ukraine, according to threat reports released routinely by the social media giant.

Meta had previously banned the Federal News Agency in Russia to thwart foreign interference activities by the Russian Internet Research Agency.


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RT capabilities were expanded early last year, with the Russian government enhancing it with "cyber operational capabilities and ties to Russian intelligence," the US State Department said in a recent release.

Cyber capabilities were focused primarily on influence and intelligence operations around the world, according to the State Department.

Information gathered by covert RT operations flows to Russia's intelligence services, Russian media outlets, Russian mercenary groups, and other "proxy arms" of the Russian government, the United States maintained.

The State Departement said it was engaged in diplomatic efforts to inform governments around the world about Russia's use of RT to conduct covert activities and encourage them to take action to limit "Russia's ability to interfere in foreign elections and procure weapons for its war against Ukraine."

(AFP)

Lebanon… Netanyahu is More Dangerous than Sharon


Opinion
Ghassan Charbel
Editor-in-Chief of Asharq Al-Awsat news
Monday - 16 September 2024

On Sunday, Israeli planes dropped leaflets over the Wazzani area in South Lebanon, demanding residents leave immediately under the pretext that Hezbollah was firing from the area. The most alarming part of the message was a phrase warning the population not to return “to this area until the end of the war.”

The Israeli army’s quick claim that the leaflets were distributed by an officer acting on his own initiative does not diminish the seriousness of what is going on in the minds of Israeli security officials. Chief among their concerns is the view that Hezbollah’s Iranian arsenal poses an existential threat.

This is not the first time Israel has resorted to dropping threatening and warning flyers over Lebanon. The Lebanese have long, bitter experiences with this. In the summer of 1982, the Israeli army surrounded Beirut, and its planes dropped leaflets designating “safe routes” for residents to leave the capital. They did the same in South Lebanon as Israeli tanks advanced rapidly toward the capital.

It would not be an exaggeration to say that the current situation is far more dangerous than it was during the Israeli invasion that summer. At that time, Israeli pressure aimed to force the Palestine Liberation Organization fighters to leave Lebanon, which was achieved after a ceasefire.

Back then, Israel saw the threat as coming from Yasser Arafat’s forces and his keffiyeh-wrapped appearances from a Lebanese balcony. At that time, Lebanon did not host any force that Israel considered an existential threat, one that needed to be eliminated. From that summer of invasion and flyers, Hezbollah would later be born, after Iran viewed Lebanon as an opportunity to implement its constitutional mandate of “exporting the revolution.”

This time, the dropping of leaflets over Lebanon is quite different from what occurred in the early 1980s. Israel is different from what it was a year ago. The region today does not resemble what it was four decades ago. Lebanon has changed, so did Syria, Iraq and Yemen.

We can also talk about a different Iran, with its arsenal, regional presence, nuclear ambitions, and the imprints left by General Qassem Soleimani on four Arab maps, not to mention his involvement in Gaza’s armament, training programs, and war tunnel manufacturing.

Israel’s defense minister and some of its generals do not hide their desire to repeat Gaza’s scenes on Lebanese soil. They see war with Hezbollah as an alternative to war with Iran itself. They view it as a war with Iran, but on Lebanese soil. Within this context lie dreams of restoring deterrence, imposing a long-term ceasefire, and making Lebanon pay a heavy price for Hezbollah’s “war of attrition” strategy, which the group chose to wage at a calculated pace following the outbreak of the war on October 7.

In previous calculations, observers would dismiss the likelihood of Israel waging a full-scale war against Lebanon. Hezbollah is not encircled like Hamas is in Gaza. Its arsenal is advanced, and its supply routes remain open through Syria, with connections to Iran via Iraq. Moreover, Iran, which can afford to provide limited support to Hamas in its confrontation with Israel’s military machine, cannot exercise such restraint if Hezbollah were to face a crippling blow. In the 2006 war, Qassem Soleimani was present in Beirut, actively participating. Today’s calculations appear to be different.

In assessing the imminent danger facing Lebanon, attention must be paid to the changes occurring in Israel. In recent months, Israel’s most dangerous prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has succeeded in turning the conflict in Gaza into an existential war, not merely a war of discipline or revenge. It is likely that even Yahya Sinwar did not anticipate this. The prevailing view was that Israel could not endure the deaths of hundreds of soldiers and the strain of a prolonged war that would exhaust its population and economy.

This issue is not just about Netanyahu’s personal concerns and his fear of the “day after” the war, with investigative committees and courts awaiting. It also involves the military and security establishment’s reading of the scale of the threats, priorities, and the required costs to confront them. The Israeli public’s belief that the current war is an existential one leads them to tolerate the burdens of a costly conflict in terms of human lives and the economy.

Netanyahu has also succeeded in prolonging the war until America enters its election season coma, particularly after confirming that its fleets have no choice but to support him in the event of a wide regional confrontation.

In recent months, Netanyahu has shown an ability to defy American advice and warnings, as if he is attempting to turn the current war into a decisive one that would spare Israel from renewed fighting in the coming decades. Recent Western accusations against Iran, for providing missiles and drones to Russia and concealing its nuclear ambitions, could further push him toward a major war on Lebanese soil. His combat won’t be easy, of course, and destruction won’t be limited to the Lebanese side, but the prolonged war in Gaza reveals that a shift has occurred in Israel regarding its capacity to wage a lengthy battle.

Hamas’ leadership likely did not expect the war to last long enough to nearly mark its first anniversary. Similarly, Hezbollah’s leadership probably did not expect the “war of attrition” to continue to this extent or at its current cost. Hezbollah ties the halt of its “war of attrition” to the cessation of hostilities in Gaza, but what if Israel decides that the second phase of the “existential war” should unfold on Lebanese territory and unleashes its advanced killing machine on an already fractured country?

It is clear that Lebanon is slipping further into the danger zone. The country is exhausted, and the majority of its people oppose involvement in a full-scale, open-ended war, but it lacks the means to stave off the threat of conflict. Only the US can avert the looming danger, but Lebanon is not prepared to pay the price for America’s role. Netanyahu’s Israel is more dangerous than Sharon’s Israel.