India recalls ambassador from Canada in growing dispute over assassination of Sikh activist


Canada’s Deputy High Commissioner to India Stewart Wheeler, left, leaves after meeting with officials at the Indian government’s Ministry of External Affairs, in New Delhi, India, Monday, Oct. 14, 2024. (AP Photo)

Canada’s Deputy High Commissioner to India Stewart Wheeler, speaks to media personnel after meeting with officials at the Indian government’s Ministry of External Affairs, in New Delhi, India, Monday, Oct. 14, 2024. (AP Photo)

 October 14, 2024

NEW DELHI (AP) — India said Monday it is recalling its ambassador and other diplomats from Canada, hours after it rejected a Canadian notification that the ambassador was a “person of interest” in the assassination of a Sikh activist last year.

India’s foreign ministry said in a statement that it had also summoned the top Canadian diplomat in New Delhi and told him that “the baseless targeting” of the Indian high commissioner, or ambassador, and other diplomats and officials in Canada “was completely unacceptable.”

“We have no faith in the current Canadian Government’s commitment to ensure their security,” it said. “Therefore, the Government of India has decided to withdraw the High Commissioner and other targeted diplomats and officials.”

In September last year, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said there were credible allegations that the Indian government had links to the assassination in that country of Sikh activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar. India rejected the accusation as absurd.

In Ottawa, messages left for Canada’s foreign ministry, foreign minister and the prime minister’s office seeking comment were not immediately returned.

Canada and India expel each other’s diplomats in escalating dispute over a 2023 assassination

BY AIJAZ HUSSAIN, SHEIKH SAALIQ AND ROB GILLIES
 October 14, 2024

TORONTO (AP) — Canada and India each expelled six diplomats Monday in tit-for-tat moves as part of an escalating dispute over the June 2023 assassination of a Sikh activist in Canada.

Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly said that Canada was expelling six Indian diplomats, including the high commissioner, after police uncovered evidence of a targeted campaign against Canadian citizens by agents of the Indian government.

Shortly afterward, the Indian foreign ministry said that it was expelling six Canadian diplomats, including the acting high commissioner and the deputy high commissioner. It said in a statement that the diplomats were told to leave India by the end of Saturday.

The ministry had said earlier Monday that India was withdrawing its diplomats, after rejecting Canada’s diplomatic communication on Sunday that said the Indian ambassador was a “person of interest” in the assassination.

A senior Canadian official said that Canada expelled the Indian diplomats first before they withdrew. Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to speak publicly on the matter.

Joly said in a statement that police gathered information that established links between criminal investigations and Indian government agents. Joly said that India was asked to waive diplomatic and consular immunities and to cooperate in the investigation.

“Regrettably, as India did not agree and given the ongoing public safety concerns for Canadians, Canada served notices of expulsion to these individuals. Subsequent to those notices, India announced it would withdraw its officials,” Joly said.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said last year that there were credible allegations that the Indian government had links to the June 2023 assassination in Canada of Sikh activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar.

“The decision to expel these individuals was made with great consideration and only after the RCMP (Royal Canadian Mounted Police) gathered ample, clear and concrete evidence which identified six individuals as persons of interest in the Nijjar case,” Joly said in her statement.

“We continue to ask that the Indian government support the ongoing investigation in the Nijjar case, as it remains in both our countries’ interest to get to the bottom of this,” she said.

RCMP Mike Duheme said that police have evidence allegedly tying Indian government agents to other homicides and violent acts in Canada.

He declined to provide specifics, but also said there have been well over a dozen credible and imminent threats that have resulted in police warning members of the South Asian community, notably the pro-Khalistan, or Sikh independence, movement. He added that attempts to have discussions with Indian law enforcement were unsuccessful.

“The team has learned a significant amount of information about the breadth and depth of criminal activity orchestrated by agents of the government of India, and consequential threats to the safety and security of Canadians and individuals living in Canada,” Duheme said.

RCMP Assistant Commissioner Brigitte Gauvin called it extremely concerning.

“Indian diplomats and consular officials are there to protect the interests of their nationals based in Canada and their national interest and not to be part of criminal activity or intimidation, so we take that very seriously. That is without a doubt a contravention of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations,” Gauvin said.

India has rejected the accusation as absurd.

Nijjar, 45, was fatally shot in his pickup truck in June 2023 after he left the Sikh temple he led in the city of Surrey, British Columbia. An Indian-born citizen of Canada, he owned a plumbing business and was a leader in what remains of a once-strong movement to create an independent Sikh homeland.

India designated him a terrorist in 2020, and at the time of his death had been seeking his arrest for alleged involvement in an attack on a Hindu priest.

In response to the allegations, India told Canada last year to remove 41 of its 62 diplomats in the country. Ever since, the relations between the two countries have been frosty.

The pro-Khalistan movement is a thorny issue between India and Canada. New Delhi has repeatedly criticized Trudeau’s government for being soft on supporters of the Khalistan movement who reside in Canada. The Khalistan movement is banned in India, but has support among the Sikh diaspora, particularly in Canada.

India has been asking countries like Canada, Australia and the U.K. to take legal action against Sikh activists. India has particularly raised these concerns with Canada, where Sikhs make up nearly 2% of the country’s population.

The Indian foreign ministry said Monday that “India reserves the right to take further steps in response to the Trudeau government’s support for extremism, violence and separatism against India.”

The ministry also summoned the top Canadian diplomat in New Delhi and told him that “the baseless targeting” of the Indian high commissioner, or ambassador, and other diplomats and officials in Canada “was completely unacceptable.”

“We have no faith in the current Canadian government’s commitment to ensure their security,” it said.

Stewart Wheeler, the Canadian diplomat who was directed to leave India, told reporters after being summoned that his government has shared “incredible and irrefutable evidence of ties between agents of the government of India and the murder of a Canadian citizen on Canadian soil.”

Wheeler said India must investigate the allegations and that Canada “stands ready to cooperate with India.”

Meanwhile, the U.S. State Department said in a statement Monday that an Indian enquiry committee set up to investigate a plot to assassinate another prominent Sikh separatist leader living in New York would be traveling to Washington on Tuesday as part of their ongoing investigations to discuss the case.

“Additionally, India has informed the United States they are continuing their efforts to investigate other linkages of the former government employee and will determine follow-up steps, as necessary,” it said.

Last year, U,S, prosecutors said that an Indian government official directed the plot to assassinate Sikh separatist leader Gurpatwant Singh Pannun on American soil and announced charges against a man they said was part of the thwarted conspiracy.


The Indian government official was niether charged nor identified by name, but was described as a “senior field officer” with responsibilities in security management and intelligence, said to have previously served in India’s Central Reserve Police Force.

New Delhi at that time had expressed concern after the U.S. raised the issue, and said India takes it seriously.
___

Sheik Saaliq reported from New Delhi, and Aijaz Hussain from Srinagar, India.

AMERIKA

Indigenous Peoples Day celebrated with an eye on the election

AKA COLUMBUS DAY

Performers from the Native American Hoop Dance of Ballet Arizona dance at an Indigenous Peoples Day festival, Oct. 9, 2023, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin, File)

 Khalako Lloyd, 2, of the Mandan and Hidatsa tribes, beats on a drum while carried on the shoulder of his father, Julius Lloyd during a celebratory march for Indigenous Peoples Day, Oct. 9, 2023, in Seattle. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson, File)

- An American Indian Movement flag is flow during a march for Indigenous Peoples Day, Oct. 12, 2015, in Seattle. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson, File)

- Hopi children dance in front of City Hall on Indigenous Peoples Day in Flagstaff, Ariz., Oct. 10, 2022. (AP Photo/Felicia Fonseca, File)

Tatanka Gibson of the Haliwa-Saponi/Nansemond Tribal Nations leads attendees in song and dance during a gathering marking Indigenous Peoples Day at Penn Treaty Park, Oct. 11, 2021, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke, File)

BY HALLIE GOLDEN
Updated 8:54 AM MDT, October 14, 2024Share


As Native Americans across the U.S. come together on Monday for Indigenous Peoples Day to celebrate their history and culture and acknowledge the ongoing challenges they face, many will do so with a focus on the election.

From a voting rally in Minneapolis featuring food, games and raffles to a public talk about the Native vote at Virginia Tech, the holiday, which comes about three weeks before Election Day, will feature a wide array of events geared toward Native voter mobilization and outreach amid a strong recognition of the power of their votes.

In 2020, Native voters proved decisive in the presidential election. Voter turnout on tribal land in Arizona increased dramatically compared with the previous presidential election, helping Joe Biden win a state that hadn’t supported a Democratic candidate in a White House contest since 1996.

Janeen Comenote, executive director of the National Urban Indian Family Coalition, which is involved with at least a dozen of these types of voting events across the country, said this year it’s especially important to mobilize Native voters because the country is selecting the president. But she cautioned that Native people are in no way a monolith in terms of how they vote.


Native Americans in Montana ask court for voting sites on reservation


“We’re really all about just getting Native voters out to vote, not telling them how to vote. But sort of understanding that you have a voice and you’re a democracy, a democracy that we helped create,” said Comenote, a citizen of the Quinault Indian Nation.

In Arizona, her coalition is partnering with the Phoenix Indian Center to hold a town hall Monday called “Democracy Is Indigenous: Power Of The Native Vote,” which will feature speakers and performances, along with Indigenous artwork centered on democracy.

In Apex, North Carolina, about 14 miles (23 kilometers) southwest of Raleigh, the coalition is working with the Triangle Native American Society for an event expected to include a celebration of the 100th anniversary of the Indian Citizenship Act of 1924 and a booth with nonpartisan voter information and giveaways.

While not a federal holiday, Indigenous Peoples Day is observed by 17 states, including Washington, South Dakota and Maine, as well as Washington, D.C., according to the Pew Research Center. It typically takes place on the second Monday in October, which is the same day as the Columbus Day federal holiday.

Imprisoned Belarus activist who was a symbol of defiance hasn’t been heard from for months

Belarus opposition activist Maria Kolesnikova stands behind bars in a defendants’ cage in a court in Minsk, Belarus, on Aug. 4, 2021. (Ramil Nasibulin/BelTA pool photo via AP, File)

BY YURAS KARMANAU
October 13, 2024


TALLINN, Estonia (AP) — The last time any of Maria Kolesnikova’s family had contact with the imprisoned Belarusian opposition activist was more than 18 months ago. Fellow inmates at the penal colony reported hearing her plead for medical help from inside her tiny and smelly cell.

Her father, Alexander Kolesnikov, told The Associated Press by phone from Minsk that he knows she’s seriously ill and tried to visit her several months ago at the facility near Gomel, where she is serving an 11-year sentence, but has failed whenever he goes there.

On his last attempt, he said the warden told him, “If she doesn’t call or doesn’t write, that means she doesn’t want to.”

The 42-year-old musician-turned-activist is known to have been hospitalized in Gomel in May or June, but the outcome was unclear, said a former prisoner who identified herself only as Natalya because she feared retaliation from authorities.

“I can only pray to God that she is still alive,” Kolesnikov said in an interview. “The authorities are ignoring my requests for a meeting and for letters — it is a terrible feeling of impotence for a father.”

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Kolesnikova gained prominence when mass protests erupted in Belarus after the widely disputed August 2020 election gave authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko a sixth term in office. With her close-cropped hair, broad smile and a gesture of forming her outstretched hands into the shape of a heart, she often was seen at the front of the demonstrations.

She became an even greater symbol of defiance in September of that year when Belarusian authorities tried to deport her. Driven to the Ukrainian border, she briefly broke away from security forces in the neutral zone at the frontier and tore up her passport, then walked back into Belarus. She was convicted a year later of charges including conspiracy to seize power.

Natalya, whose cell was next to Kolesnikova’s before being released in August, said she had not heard her talking to guards for six months. Other inmates heard Kolesnikova’s pleas for medical assistance, she said, but reported that doctors did not come for “a very long time.”

In November 2022, Kolesnikova was moved to an intensive care ward to undergo surgery for a perforated ulcer. Other prisoners become aware of her movements because “it feels like martial law has been declared” in the cellblock, Natalya said. “Other prisoners are strictly forbidden not only to talk, but even to exchange glances with Maria.”

Her sister, Tatiana Khomich, said she was told by former inmates that the 5-foot-9-inch Kolesnikova weighed only about 45 kilograms (100 pounds).

“They are slowly killing Maria, and I consider that this is a critical period because no one can survive in such conditions,” said Khomich, who lives outside Belarus.

The last time Kolesnikova wrote from prison was in February 2023. Letters to her “are ripped up before her eyes by prison personnel,” her sister said, relaying accounts from other former inmates.

Kolesnikova, who before the 2020 protests was a classical flautist who was especially knowledgable about baroque music, is one of several major Lukashenko opponents to disappear behind bars.

The prisons department of the Belarusian Interior Ministry refused to comment on Kolesnikova’s case.

The U.N. Human Rights Committee has repeatedly demanded Belarusian authorities take “urgent protective measures” in relation to Kolesnikova and other political prisoners held incommunicado. In September, the European Parliament demanded that Belarus release all political prisoners.

Former inmates say Kolesnikova wore a yellow tag that indicates a political prisoner. That marks them for additional abuse by guards and officials, rights advocates say.

The human rights group Viasna counts about 1,300 political prisoners in Belarus, including the group’s Nobel Peace Prize-winning founder, Ales Bialiatsky. At least six have died behind bards.

“It was too late to save Alexei Navalny (from prison in Russia), and it was too late for six people in Belarus. We and the Western world don’t have much time to save Maria’s life,” Khomich said.

Amnesty International has begun a campaign to raise awareness about Kolesnikova’s fate, urging people to take up her plight with Western officials and politicians.

Other prominent opposition figures who are imprisoned and have not been heard from in a year or more include Siarhei Tsikhanouski, who planned to challenge Lukashenko in the 2020 election but was imprisoned; his wife, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, took his place on the ballot and was forced to leave the country the day after the vote.

Aspiring opposition candidate Viktar Babaryka also was imprisoned before the election as his popularity among prospective voters soared. Kolesnikova was his campaign manager but then joined forces with Tsikhanouskaya. Prominent opposition figure Mikola Statkevich and Kolesnikova’s lawyer, Maxim Znak, are imprisoned and have not contacted the outside world since the winter of 2023.

Lukashenko denies Belarus has any political prisoners. At the same time, in recent months he has unexpectedly released 115 prisoners whose cases had political elements; those released had health problems, wrote petitions for pardons and repented.

Belarus is deeply integrated with Russia and some observers believe Lukashenko is concerned about the extent of his dependence on Moscow, hoping to restore some ties with the EU by releasing political prisoners ahead of a presidential election next year.

“Minsk is returning to the practice of bargaining with the West to try to soften sanctions and achieve at least partial recognition of the results of the upcoming presidential election,” said Belarusian analyst Alexander Friedman. “Lukashenko’s regime is interested in not becoming part of Russia and therefore wants at least some communication with the West, offering to talk about political prisoners”

Lukashenko’s critics and human rights activists say they see no real change in government policy, since all leading pro-democracy figures are still behind bars and authorities have seized three times as many opposition activists to refill the prisons.

“It is difficult to consider these pardons as a real thaw, since the repressions continue, but the West should encourage Lukashenko to continue releasing political prisoners,” Khomich said. “The regime is sending clear signals to Western countries about its readiness to release people, and it’s very important that (the signal) is heard, and the opportunity is seized.”

 Activist Maria Kolesnikova, right, presidential candidate Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, center, and Veronkika Tsepkalo, left, wife of unregistered candidate Valery Tsepkalo, gesture at a rally in Minsk, Belarus, on July 19, 2020. (AP Photo, File)

THE DICKTATOR IN CIVIES

 Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko addresses supporters at Independence Square in Minsk, Belarus, on Aug. 16, 2020. (AP Photo, File)

 Belarus opposition activist Maria Kolesnikova gestures on the way to the Belarusian Investigative Committee in Minsk, Belarus, on Aug. 27, 2020. (AP Photo, File)

 Opposition activist Maria Kolesnikova greets protesters at a rally in front of a government building in Independence Square in Minsk, Belarus, on Aug. 22, 2020. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka, File)

 In this image made from video provided by the State TV and Radio Company of Belarus, President Alexander Lukashenko greets riot police near the Palace of Independence in Minsk, Belarus, amid street protests on Aug. 23, 2020. (State TV and Radio Company of Belarus via AP, File)

Belarus opposition activist Maria Kolesnikova gestures during a rally in Minsk, Belarus, on Aug. 30, 2020. (AP Photo, File)

Belarus opposition activist Maria Kolesnikova gestures during a rally in Minsk, Belarus, on Aug. 30, 2020. (AP Photo, File)

 Belarus opposition activists Maria Kolesnikova attends a court hearing in Minsk, Belarus, on Aug. 4, 2021. (Ramil Nasibulin/BelTA pool photo via AP, File)

YURAS KARMANAU
Karmanau is an Associated Press journalist covering Belarus and the CIS countries. He has worked in Belarus and Ukraine, as well as other countries in the region, for more than 20 years. He is part of the team that covers the Russia-Ukraine war.

In Denmark, 50 well-preserved Viking Age skeletons have been unearthed, a rare discovery

Archaeologists in Denmark say they have unearthed a Viking Age burial ground, containing 50 “exceptionally well-preserved” skeletons. The skeletons are so complete, experts hope to conduct special DNA analyses, perhaps reconstructing detailed life histories as well as looking into social patterns in Viking Age Denmark. (AP video shot by James Brooks)

Skeletons and skulls sit in graves at an excavation site of a 10th century Viking burial ground in Aasum, Denmark, Monday, Oct. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/James Brooks)

Skeletons and skulls sit in graves at an excavation site of a 10th century Viking burial ground in Aasum, Denmark, Monday, Oct. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/James Brooks)

Skeletons and skulls sit in graves at an excavation site of a 10th century Viking burial ground in Aasum, Denmark, Monday, Oct. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/James Brooks)

BY JAMES BROOKS
 October 14, 2024


AASUM, Denmark (AP) —

In a village in central Denmark, archeologists made a landmark discovery that could hold important clues to the Viking era: a burial ground, containing some 50 “exceptionally well-preserved” skeletons.

“This is such an exciting find because we found these skeletons that are so very, very well preserved,” said archeologist Michael Borre Lundø, who led the six-month dig. “Normally, we would be lucky to find a few teeth in the graves, but here we have entire skeletons.”

The skeletons were preserved thanks to favorable soil chemistry, particularly chalk and high water levels, experts from Museum Odense said. The site was discovered last year during a routine survey, ahead of power line renovation work on the outskirts of the village of Aasum, 5 kilometers (3 miles), northeast of Odense, Denmark’s third-largest city.
Experts hope to conduct DNA analyses and possibly reconstruct detailed life histories, as well as looking into social patterns in Viking Age, such as kinship, migration patterns and more.

“This opens a whole new toolbox for scientific discovery,” said Borre Lundø as he stood on the muddy, wind-swept excavation site. “Hopefully we can make a DNA analysis on all the skeletons and see if they are related to each other and even where they come from.”


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During the Viking Age, considered to run from 793 to 1066 A.D., Norsemen known as Vikings undertook large-scale raids, colonizing, conquering and trading throughout Europe, even reaching North America.

The Vikings unearthed at Aasum likely weren’t warriors. Borre Lundø believes the site was probably a “standard settlement,” perhaps a farming community, located 5 kilometers from a ring fortress in what’s now central Odense.

The 2,000-square meter (21,500-square foot) burial ground holds the remains of men, women and children. Besides the skeletons, there are a few cremated bodies.

In one grave, a woman is buried in a wagon -- the higher part of a Viking cart was used as a coffin — suggesting she was from the “upper part of society,” Borre Lundø told The Associated Press.

Archeologists also unearthed brooches, necklace beads, knives, and even a small shard of glass that may have served as an amulet.

Borre Lundø said the brooch designs suggest the dead were buried between 850 and 900 A.D.

“There’s different levels of burials,” he explained. “Some have nothing with them, others have brooches and pearl necklaces.”

Archeologists say many of the artefacts came from far beyond Denmark’s borders, shedding light on extensive Viking trade routes during the 10th century.

“There’s a lot of trade and commerce going on,” said Borre Lundø. “We also found a brooch that comes from the island of Gotland, on the eastern side of Sweden, but also whetstones for honing your knife … all sorts of things point to Norway and Sweden.”

The burial site was discovered last year, and the dig, which started in April, ended Friday. Boxes of artefacts have shipped to Museum Odense’s preservation labs for cleaning and analysis

Conservator Jannie Amsgaard Ebsen hopes the soil may also hold other preserved organic material on the backs of brooches or knife handles.


“We’re really hoping to gain the larger picture. Who were the people that were living out there? Who did they interact with?” she said. “It’s a little bit like a jigsaw puzzle: all the various puzzle parts will be placed together.”

TikTok was aware of risks kids and teens face on its platform, legal document alleges



 The icon for the video sharing TikTok app is seen on a smartphone, Tuesday, Feb. 28, 2023, in Marple Township, Pa. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum, File)

BY HALELUYA HADERO
 October 11, 2024

TikTok was aware that its design features are detrimental to its young users and that publicly touted tools aimed at limiting kids’ time on the site were largely ineffective, according to internal documents and communications exposed in lawsuit filed by the state of Kentucky.

The details are among redacted portions of Kentucky’s lawsuit that contains the internal communications and documents unearthed during a more than two year investigation into the company by various states across the country.

Kentucky’s lawsuit was filed this week, alongside separate complaints brought forth by attorneys general in a dozen states as well as the District of Columbia. TikTok is also facing another lawsuit from the Department of Justice and is itself suing the Justice Department over a federal law that could ban it in the U.S. by mid-January.

The redacted information — which was inadvertently revealed by Kentucky’s attorney general’s office and first reported by Kentucky Public Radio — touches on a range of topics, most importantly the extent to which TikTok knew how much time young users were spending on the platform and how sincere it was when rolling out tools aimed at curbing excessive use.

Beyond TikTok use among minors, the complaint alleges the short-form video sharing app has prioritized “beautiful people” on its platform and has noted internally that some of the content-moderation metrics it has publicized are “largely misleading.”

The unredacted complaint, which was seen by The Associated Press, was sealed by a Kentucky state judge on Wednesday after state officials filed an emergency motion to seal it.

When reached for comment, TikTok spokesperson Alex Haurek said: “It is highly irresponsible of the Associated Press to publish information that is under a court seal. Unfortunately, this complaint cherry-picks misleading quotes and takes outdated documents out of context to misrepresent our commitment to community safety.”

“We have robust safeguards, which include proactively removing suspected underage users, and we have voluntarily launched safety features such as default screentime limits, family pairing, and privacy by default for minors under 16,” Haurek said in a prepared statement. “We stand by these efforts.”
TikTok use among young users

The complaint alleges that TikTok has quantified how long it takes for young users to get hooked on the platform, and shared the findings internally in presentations aimed at increasing user-retention rates. The “habit moment,” as TikTok calls it, occurs when users have watched 260 videos or more during the first week of having a TikTok account. This can happen in under 35 minutes since some TikTok videos run as short as 8 seconds, the complaint says.

Kentucky’s lawsuit also cites a spring 2020 presentation from TikTok that concluded that the platform had already “hit a ceiling” among young users. At that point, the company’s estimates showed at least 95% of smartphone users under 17 used TikTok at least monthly, the complaint notes.

TikTok tracks metrics for young users, including how long young users spend watching videos and how many of them use the platform every day. The company uses the information it gleans from these reviews to feed its algorithm, which tailors content to people’s interests, and drives user engagement, the complaint says.

TikTok does its own internal studies to find out how the platform is impacting users. The lawsuit cites one group within the company, called “TikTank,” which noted in an internal report that compulsive usage was “rampant” on the platform. It also quotes an unnamed executive who said kids watch TikTok because the algorithm is “really good.”

“But I think we need to be cognizant of what it might mean for other opportunities. And when I say other opportunities, I literally mean sleep, and eating, and moving around the room, and looking at somebody in the eyes,” the unnamed executive said, according to the complaint.

Time management tools

TikTok has a 60-minute daily screen time limit for minors, a feature it rolled out in March 2023 with the stated aim of helping teens manage their time on the platform. But Kentucky’s complaint argues that the time limit — which users can easily bypass or disable — was intended more as a public relations tool than anything else.

The lawsuit says TikTok measured the success of the time limit feature not by whether it reduced the time teens spent on the platform, but by three other metrics — the first of which was “improving public trust in the TikTok platform via media coverage.”

Reducing screen time among teens was not included as a success metric, the lawsuit said. In fact, it alleged the company had planned to “revisit the design” of the feature if the time-limit feature had caused teens to reduce their TikTok usage by more than 10%.

TikTok ran an experiment and found the time-limit prompts shaved off just a minute and a half from the average time teens spent on the app — from 108.5 to 107 minutes per day, according to the complaint. But despite the lack of movement, TikTok did not try to make the feature more effective, Kentucky officials say. They allege the ineffectiveness of the feature was, in many ways, by design.

The complaint says a TikTok executive named Zhu Wenjia gave approval to the feature only if its impact on TikTok’s “core metrics” were minimal.

TikTok — including its CEO Shou Chew — have talked about the app’s various time management tools, including videos TikTok sends users to encourage them to get off the platform. But a TikTok executive said in an internal meeting those videos are “useful” talking points, but are “not altogether effective.”
TikTok has ‘prioritized beautiful people’ on its platform

In a section that details the negative impacts TikTok’s facial filters can have on users, Kentucky alleges that TikTok’s algorithm has “prioritized beautiful people” despite knowing internally that content on the platform could “perpetuate a narrow beauty norm.”

The complaint alleges TikTok changed its algorithm after an internal report noted the app was showing a high “volume of ... not attractive subjects” in the app’s main “For You” feed.

“By changing the TikTok algorithm to show fewer ‘not attractive subjects’ in the For You feed, Defendants took active steps to promote a narrow beauty norm even though it could negatively impact their young users,” the complaint says.
TikTok’s ‘leakage’ rates

The lawsuit also takes aim at TikTok’s content-moderation practices.

It cites internal communication where the company notes its moderation metrics are “largely misleading” because “we are good at moderating the content we capture, but these metrics do not account for the content that we miss.”

The complaint notes that TikTok knows it has — but does not disclose — significant “leakage” rates, or content that violates the site’s community guidelines but is not removed or moderated. Other social media companies also face similar issues on their platforms.

For TikTok, the complaint notes the “leakage” rates include roughly 36% of content that normalizes pedophilia and 50% of content that glorifies minor sexual assault.


The lawsuit also accuses the company of misleading the public about its moderation and allowing some popular creators who were deemed to be “high value” to post content that violates the site’s guidelines.

HALELUYA HADERO
Haleluya covers Amazon, retail and technology.

Iceland's PM dissolves coalition government, calls for November snap elections

Oct. 14, 2024 / UPI


Iceland's Prime Minister Bjarni Benediktsson speaks to members of the news media as he arrives at the NATO Summit at Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington, D.C., on July 10, 2024. On Sunday, he announced the dissolution of his coalition government and called for parliamentary elections to be held at the end of next month. 

File Photo by Michael Reynolds/EPA-EFE


Oct. 14 (UPI) -- Prime Minister Bjarni Benediktsson of Iceland has dissolved the country's coalition government and has proposed for snap parliamentary elections to be held next month.

Benediktsson announced the dissolution of the three-party coalition government in a press briefing Sunday. He said that on Monday he would propose to the president for Parliament to be dissolved, with elections to be held at the end of November.

He said in a statement that he was proud of the work and achievements of his government but believes he was "failing myself, party members and the entire nation if I pretended I could continue to lead the government when we cannot reach agreements on the issues that matter most to the people."

"I see no other option but to leave the next steps in the hands of the voters, where the Independence Party will advocate for the policies that have brought the greatest success to Icelandic society over the years," he added.

Iceland has been run by a coalition government of the Independence Party, Progressive Party and the Left-Green Movement since parliamentary elections of 2017. It survived the most recent parliamentary elections on Sept. 25, 2021.

Benediktsson, Iceland's former minister of foreign affairs, took office as the Scandinavian country's prime minister on April 9, after Katrin Jakobsdottir of the Left-Green Movement stepped down.

The announcement comes amid growing discord among the factions of the coalition government, which Benediktsson says represents roadblocks to effective governance.

Svandis Svavarsdottir, chair of the Left-Greens Movement, said the announcement surprised her, as it came a day after the government chairs met to discuss options for combating inflation.

"Nothing pointed to this news at yesterday's meeting. But this means that the election campaign has begun," she said in a statement.

"The endurance of the government under the leadership of the Independence Party is exhausted but we, in the Left-Green Movement, are ready, full of enthusiasm, fighting spirit and joy. We look forward to the election campaign, meeting our grassroots and voters. And we're excited!"

Columbus who? How Latin America is decolonizing the calendar

By Elena Jackson Albarrán, 

Miami University

Oct. 14, 2024 

THE CONVERSATION

Calendars can signal a nation's "official" values and how countries wrestle with these holidays' meanings. Photo by Pixabay/Pexels

This is the season of patriotism in Latin America as many countries commemorate their independence from colonial powers. From July to September, public plazas in countries from Mexico to Honduras and Chile fill with crowds dressed and painted in national colors, parades feature participants costumed as independence heroes, fireworks fill the skies, and schoolchildren reenact historical battles.

Beneath these nationalist displays ripples an uneasy tide: the colonial legacies that still tie the Americas to their Iberian conquerors. And as the calendar turns to October, another holiday highlights similar tensions -- Columbus Day.

Since 1937, the United States has observed the holiday on the second Monday of the month, commemorating the explorer's 1492 arrival in the New World. It remains a federal holiday, even as many states and cities rename it "Indigenous Peoples Day," rejecting Christopher Columbus as a symbol of imperialism.

Most Latin Americans, meanwhile, know Oct. 12 as "Día de la Raza," or Day of the Race, which also celebrates Columbus' arrival in the New World and the tide of Iberian conquistadors that followed. But commemorating the event is all the more charged in these countries, home to the Spanish Empire's most lucrative territorial assets and sweeping spiritual conquests. Days before taking office in September, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum reiterated her predecessor's demand that the king of Spain apologize for the genocide and exploitation of the conquest 500 years ago.

As a historian of Latin America, I've paid attention to the ways calendars signal a nation's "official" values and how countries wrestle with these holidays' meanings.

Día de la Raza

The first encounter between Aztec emperor Montezuma and conquistador Hernando Cortés took place on Nov. 8, 1519 -- the latter backed by an entourage of 300 Spaniards, thousands of Indigenous allies and slaves, and hundreds of Africans, free or otherwise.

This moment of contact began Mexico's 500-year transformation into a "mestizo" nation: a hybrid identity with largely European and Indigenous roots. During the colonial period, racial differences were codified into law, and those with "pure" Spanish bloodlines enjoyed legal privileges over the racially mixed categories that fell below them. The 19th century ushered in independence from Spain and liberal ideas that promoted racial equality -- in principle -- but in reality, European influence prevailed.

It was Spain that first proposed the Día de la Raza, held on Oct. 12, 1892, to commemorate the 400-year anniversary of Columbus' arrival in the Americas -- implying a celebration of Spain's contributions to the mestizo racial mixture.

The celebration was part of a bid to fortify nationalism in Spain, as the waning colonial power continued its retreat from the hemisphere it controlled for the better part of four centuries. Spain also hoped to export the invented holiday to the Americas, strengthening trans-Atlantic cultural affinities tested by the United States' growing sway. Across the Americas, Día de la Raza came to be synonymous with celebrating European influence.

In Mexico, the 1892 commemoration empowered members of the political elite who promoted European investments and culture as the model for modernizing the country. They used the occasion to extol the civilizing influence of the "madre patria," or motherland, justifying the conquest and colonialism as a period of benevolent rule.

Mestizo nationalism

Only a few years later, however, the U.S. victory in the Spanish-American War swept the last vestiges of Spanish empire from the hemisphere. Spain's exit made way for dual -- and dueling -- phenomena: rising patriotic spirit in Latin American countries, even amid increasing economic pressure and cultural influence from the United States.

The 1910 Mexican Revolution ignited mestizo nationalism, which soon extended to other countries. In 1930s Nicaragua, Augusto Sandino started a revolution to oust the occupying U.S. Marines while calling for the unification of the "Indo-Hispanic Race." Meanwhile, Peruvian intellectual José Mariátegui envisioned a modern nation built upon the ideals of a collective, reciprocal society, modeled by the Incan ayllu system. And in Mexico, beauty pageants celebrating native features gained popularity among the social classes accustomed to perusing department stores for Parisian imports.

Yet a tendency to emphasize Spanish cultural ancestry rather than Indigenous ones persisted. In the late 1930s, for example, October issues of Mexican children's magazine Palomilla celebrated Columbus' arrival as a heroic entry that provided the region with a common language and religion.

Pan American Day

Meanwhile, the United States viewed Pan-Hispanic sentiments as a threat: Spanish economic goals, cloaked in racial and cultural solidarity.

To help shore up hemispheric allegiances, Franklin D. Roosevelt proclaimed a new holiday on April 14, 1930: Pan American Day, or Día de las Américas. The holiday sought to offset the narratives of both Columbus Day and Día de la Raza and marked the U.S. administration's Good Neighbor Policy pivot toward Latin America -- a softer form of imperialism that promoted solidarity and brotherhood, at least on the surface.

The Pan American Union, an inter-American organization headquartered in Washington, saw the new date as an opportunity to forge common traditions across the hemisphere. It vigorously promoted Pan American Day celebrations, primarily among schoolchildren, exhorting teachers to implement games, puzzles, pageants and songs created in Pan American Union offices.

The holiday met enthusiastic reception in the United States. Midwesterners donned sombreros for parades, and Spanish language clubs in California hosted pageants celebrating the flags of American nations.

But Latin American commemoration was tepid at best. The Organization of American States, the successor to the Pan American Union, still recognizes Pan American Day. However, it never gained traction in Latin America and faded in the United States during World War II.

Recent shift

Latin America's ambivalence toward holidays to commemorate the colonizers has taken a turn since 1992. The 500-year anniversary of Columbus' arrival corresponded with yet another form of colonialism, in many Latin Americans' eyes, as a new wave of multinational corporations colluded with heads of state to tap the continent's oil, lithium, water and avocados.

Activists used the commemoration to call attention to lingering economic, social, racial and cultural inequities. In particular, the anniversary inspired Indigenous rights movements -- some of which commemorated an "anti-quincentenary" to celebrate "500 years of resistance."

The Día de la Raza has since been renamed to reflect anti-colonial sentiments, similar to Columbus Day in the United States. Ecuador calls Oct. 12 the Day of Interculturalism and Ethnic Identity; Argentina celebrates it as Day of Respect for Cultural Diversity; Nicaragua now refers to it as the Day of Indigenous, Black and Popular Resistance; in Colombia it is the Day of Ethnic and Cultural Diversity; and the Dominican Republic celebrates it as Intercultural Day.

In some places, renaming the holiday has drawn attention to Indigenous rights and culture. Bolivians, for example, draped a statue of a European monarch in a traditional "aguayo" garment, transforming her into an Indigenous woman. However, critics suggest that removing the holiday's reference to the colonizers erases an important reminder of the conquest and its painful legacy.

As in the United States, monuments to colonizers are coming down -- including the monument to Columbus that occupied a conspicuous spot on La Reforma, one of Mexico City's most-traversed thoroughfares.

In its place is a new installation: a purple silhouette of a girl with her fist raised, in honor of Latin America's women activists. She heralds a new era of statues lining La Reforma, and heroes for the future -- not mired in the colonial legacies of the past.


Elena Jackson Albarrán is an associate professor of history and global and intercultural studies at Miami University.

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article. The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of the author.

Kamala Harris' campaign releases agenda to support Black men

WHO COLLECT BITCOIN

Oct. 14, 2024 / 


Vice President Kamala Harris departs during an address on gun violence in the White House on September 26. She released a plan to address issues concerning Black men on Monday.

 Photo by Al Drago/UPI | License Photo


Oct. 14 (UPI) -- Vice President Kamala Harris' presidential campaign on Monday announced an agenda focused on Black men, including plans to help entrepreneurs, educators, and digital currency owners, and address health conditions.

Campaign co-chair, former Louisiana Rep. Cedric Richmond, said, according to The Hill, the agenda would give Black men "the tools to thrive, to buy a home, provide for our families, start a business and build wealth."

One part of Harris's plan would give 1 million forgivable loans up to $20,000 to those who have been traditionally blocked from starting a business.

Another part of the plan would create a National Equity Initiative to address diseases that disproportionately affect Black men such as sickle cell disease, diabetes, mental health issues and prostate cancer.

"There needs to be a reprioritizing of speaking to both Black men and Black women in America when it comes to a lot of challenges that they face," Quentin Fulks, the Harris campaign's principal deputy campaign manager, told Politico.

Fulks said the campaign is also trying to address a lack on interest and investment in attracting Black men by Democrats for years.

Longtime pollster Cornell Belcher said the Harris campaign should be more concerned about getting Black men out to the polls rather than if they are attracted to Trump.

"I'm not worried about the 14% of Black men who may vote for Donald Trump. That's fool's gold," Belcher said.

"That's missing the forest for the trees. I'm more concerned if African American turnout in Milwaukee, which it has been, runs 10 or more points behind that of white voters. That's how she loses this race."

Nearly 90, but opera legend Kabaivanska is still calling tune

Sofia (Bulgaria) (AFP) – Raina Kabaivanska was one of the greatest sopranos of her generation -- arguably the greatest Tosca after Maria Callas. And even at 89, the Bulgarian singer is still a force in opera.

Issued on: 14/10/2024 - 

Opera legend Raina Kabaivanska teaches a young singer at her masterclass in Sofia 

© Nikolay DOYCHINOV / AFP

She may have given her last stage performance a decade ago, but her influence continues through the young stars she mentors through her annual masterclass in Sofia.

"When my career ended, I had this inner necessity to continue to be in the music," Kabaivanska -- who turns 90 in December -- told AFP.

"My life is music. Music gives you energy and inspiration and, above all, forms you as a person."

As her students took turns rehearsing their arias for this year's final gala concert in Sofia, Kabaivanska lip synched and gestured along in the shadows of the darkened hall.

Then suddenly, she left her seat, her arms delicately dancing to guide the singer through the most difficult parts.

"I am very old and absolutely I don't hide this. But this gives me great power to work with the young," Kabaivanska laughed.

"I have this ambition -- to set them on the right path."

Pavarotti duos

Kabaivanska famously sang at the funeral of her friend the singer Luciano Pavarotti in 2007

 © POOL / AFP

Born in 1934 in the Black Sea city of Burgas, Kabaivanska learned piano as a child. Then a teacher at her high school in Sofia noticed her voice and included her in the choir.

She made her debut at the Sofia Opera in 1957 and two years later moved to Italy, where she performed at Milan's famous La Scala opera house, quickly making a name for herself.

She went on to bedazzle audiences around the world making roles such as Tosca and Madame Butterfly her own and sharing the stage with Spain's Placido Domingo and Italy's Luciano Pavarotti, a close friend and collaborator.

His family asked her to open the great tenor's funeral mass in 2007 in Modena, with Kabaivanska giving a particularly moving rendition of Verdi's "Ave Maria".

Strikingly beautiful, Kabaivanska was also a talented actor.

George Tekev was spellbound when as a nine-year-old he watched her play Queen Elisabeth in Verdi's "Don Carlos" half a century ago.

Twenty-five years later the academic invited her to give a masterclass at the New Bulgarian University (NBU).

"First and foremost, she is very inspiring, and she is a heavyweight. Maintaining such high standards requires a lot of effort," said the NBU's executive director of their long collaboration.

'Born to sing'

'I had this inner need to continue in music': Bulgarian opera legend Raina Kabaivanska, who will soon turn 90 

© Nikolay DOYCHINOV / AFP

More than 200 students from all over the world have passed through the masterclasses Kabaivanska has taught every autumn since 2001 in Sofia.

Nearly half have continued to study with her at different schools in Italy with scholarships from a fund bearing her name.

Among those that have passed through "Kabaivanska school" are sopranos Maria Agresta from Italy, South Korean Vittoria Yeo and Ukrainian Sofia Soloviy, Italian tenor Andrea Care and South Korean baritone Simon Lim.

This year more than 90 singers turned up at the auditions for just 14 places.

"What is required is talent. Talent says it all," said Kabaivanska.

"Talent is not just natural abilities but also a capability to see the world in a different way. You are simply born to sing."

Even for the most talented, it is not easy to make a living "because art no longer holds the importance with the public that it had years ago," she said.

For student Baia Saganelidze, a 30-year-old mezzo-soprano from Georgia, the opera star "is teaching us everything -- how to sing, how to live, how to bring a certain role to the public."

"We always think about characters, the composer, every detail is discussed with her," Saganelidze told AFP.

Another student, Romanian bass Andrei Miclea, 25, said it was a "great honour" to be in the class.

"We learn from the maestra but we also learn from each other. We have a saying in this job -- 'You have to steal from everybody.'"

© 2024 AFP

Raina Kabaivanska Gorgeously sings Verdi's Greatest Soprano Aria

    

Spectacular Raina Kabaivanska delivers Fausta's final Aria (Donizettian Masterpiece) and Cabaletta

 

Raina Kabaivanska - Live in Concert  

LUGANO 1987

THE ULTIMATE NIMBY

'Not viable': Barcelona turns against surging tourism

Barcelona (AFP) – Tourists are flocking to Barcelona in ever increasing numbers, fueling anger among locals who complain that mass tourism is driving up housing prices and overwhelming public spaces in Spain's second city.


Issued on: 14/10/2024 -

Visitors jam Antoni Gaudi's architectural masterpeice Park Guell, one of Barcelona's most visited sites © Josep LAGO / AFP

Known for its Belle Epoque architecture, museums and beaches, Barcelona receives an average of 170,000 visitors per day according to municipal figures, and tourism accounts for roughly 13.5 percent of the city's gross domestic product.

At the same time, tourism is now the third most worrying problem for Barcelona's 1.6 million residents according to a municipal survey, mirroring a trend seen in other tourism hotspots across Europe.

"There is an excessive economic dependence on the tourist sector," said Daniel Pardo of the Assembly of Neighbourhoods, adding he was disappointed that after the pandemic there has been an "aggressive" rebound in tourism in the city of around 1.6 million residents.

Thousands of people marched through the streets of Barcelona on Sunday to protest against the city's tourism-centric economic model, as well as the America's Cup sailing competition it is hosting this year.

Graffiti reading "Tourist go home" in English has appeared in multiple spots across the city and in July some participants at a protest against overtourism sprayed people they identified as tourists with water pistols.

Politicians and business leaders condemned the action but Pardo downplayed it, calling it "anecdotal".

"Violence is being expelled from your neighbourhood, extreme labour exploitation, that even if you can stay in your neighbourhood you see how your environment is gradually disappearing," he added.
'Uncontrolled tourism'

Tourists crowd the surroundings of Casa Batllo building in Barcelona, where there is a backlash from local residents against overtourism 

© Josep LAGO / AFP

Tenants of a building near Barcelona's main train station are locked in a legal battle with the owner of property who wants to convert its 120 flats into short-term holiday rentals.

More than 30 flats have already been converted, in what critics say is an example of how mass tourism contributes to a housing shortage and changes the nature of residential neighbourhoods.

"We have had cases of tourists throwing up on neighbours from one balcony to another. Noise problem because they hold parties, the smell of marijuana," said Pamela Battigambe, a longtime resident of the building.

She fears she will be forced to leave Barcelona where rents have jumped 68 percent over the last decade.

"We are not against tourism per se. We are against this form of uncontrolled tourism," Battigambe said.

Barcelona's Socialist mayor, Jaume Collboni, announced in June that the city will scrap the licences of the roughly 10,000 flats currently approved as short-term rentals by the end of 2028 in a bid to rein in soaring housing costs.

Barcelona city hall is considering reducing the number of cruise ships that can dock at its port, pictured here, to address concerns from locals over high numbers of tourist arrivals 

© Josep LAGO / AFP

Barcelona's tourist flats association Apartur has called this a "disguised expropriation" and said it will seek one billion euros in compensation if the measure goes ahead.

Barcelona deputy mayor Jordi Valls said the city is exploring other measures to better manage the tourism sector, such as reducing the number of cruise ships that can stop at the port, and is "trying to grow and develop other activities" to diversify the economy.
Traditional shops vanish

But with city hall also backing a planned expansion of Barcelona's airport, critics charge the measures are not enough.

"We are not tackling ‘overtourism’ from the point of view of degrowth or stopping tourism, but rather we are trying to disperse it over time and territory," said University of Barcelona geography professor Anna Torres Delgado.

"We should start planning tourism development strategies not only by looking at economic indicators, but also at social and environmental ones."

The surge in tourism in Barcelona comes as Spain -- the world's most visited country after France -- is on track this year to smash last year's record for international tourist arrivals of 85.1 million.

Near Barcelona's iconic Sagrada Familia basilica, Jordi Gimeno's haberdashery is one of the few traditional shops left in the neighbourhood.

"There are businesses that tourism is not interested in," he added.

Standing in front of the basilica, Dutch tourist Jolijn said "in Amsterdam we have the same problem".

"People live their lives differently now than before when there was not so much tourism," she said.

© 2024 AFP