Why Christian nationalists’ 'tradwife propaganda' is 'silly online fantasy'

The Duggar family in 2007 (Wikimedia Commons)

Alex Henderson

December 19, 2024

ALTERNET

Far-right Christian nationalists have been aggressively promoting the "tradwife" movement, claiming that U.S. women are rejecting feminism in huge numbers, enthusiastically leaving the workforce and focusing exclusively on being wives and mothers.

But Salon's Amanda Marcotte, in a biting article published on December 19, argues that "tradwives" are nowhere near as plentiful as Christian nationalists claim they are — and that far-right promoters of a "tradwife" lifestyle are engaging in "silly online fantasy."

Online "tradwife" content, according to Marcotte, is "often interwoven with fundamentalist Christianity." And those "pushing back against" their "propaganda" include "feminists" and "critics of Christian nationalism."

READ MORE: 'We want retribution': Atlantic staffer warns MAGA is even more disturbing in-person

"The ubiquity of this content, especially on TikTok, has created widespread anxiety that this is a real-life trend of everyday women rejecting feminism for 'happy housewife' fantasies," Marcotte explains. "In the real world, however, women are not turning their backs on decades of women's progress. The data shows the opposite."

Marcotte continues, "More women than ever are embracing financial independence, delaying motherhood, and choosing single life over unsatisfactory relationships. Tradwifes are a silly online fantasy, and in many cases, overt propaganda."

The Salon journalist notes that according to a 2023 study from Pew Research, wives make as much money as their husbands — or more — in 45 percent of marriages.

Citing data from the U.S. Census Bureau, Pew and others, Marcotte observes, "About half of women are unmarried, which is a record high. Single women are more likely than single men to own their home. Single women without children have as much wealth on average as their male counterparts."

READ MORE: MAGA Republicans ramp up plan to 'indoctrinate' public schools with Christian nationalism

Marcotte adds, "Young women complete college at higher rates than young men, with 47 percent of women ages 25 to 34 having a bachelor's degree, compared to 37 percent of men that age. The birth rate has hit a record low, largely driven by the collapse in teen pregnancy rates. There's no real-world tradwife trend. It's better understood as an online fantasy, which attracts so much attention precisely because it's so foreign to people's lived experiences."

Amanda Marcotte's full Salon article is available at this link.

California declares public health emergency as bird flu spreads in cows

By India Edwards, HealthDay News
Dec. 19, 2024 

California Gov. Gavin Newsom declared a public health emergency on Wednesday as bird flu continues to spread among the state's dairy cattle.

 Photo by Adobe Stock/HealthDay News

California Gov. Gavin Newsom declared a public health emergency on Wednesday as bird flu continues to spread among the state's dairy cattle.

"This proclamation is a targeted action to ensure government agencies have the resources and flexibility they need to respond quickly to this outbreak," Newsom explained in a news release announcing the move. "While the risk to the public remains low, we will continue to take all necessary steps to prevent the spread of this virus."

The move comes on the heels of a Louisiana resident being hospitalized with bird flu (H5N1), the first severe case confirmed in the United States.

The country's bird flu outbreak, which began in Texas earlier this year, has now spread to 16 states, with 865 infected herds identified as of Wednesday.

Related

CDC says first severe case of bird flu confirmed in Louisiana
USDA announces new milk testing order for H5N1 bird flu
Bird flu contamination prompts recall of California raw milk

California has been hit particularly hard, with 645 affected dairies, about half of which were reported in just the past 30 days.
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While experts maintain that the virus cannot yet spread easily among people, each infection in animals increases the risk of the virus mutating into a form more transmissible between humans.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has confirmed 61 human cases of H5N1 infection nationwide, with another seven cases deemed "probable."

Over half of the confirmed cases -- 32 -- are in California. While 37 of these infections have been traced to interactions with infected cattle, others are linked to diseased birds or other animals and several cases remain of unknown origin.

"All these infections in so many species around us is paving a bigger and bigger runway for the virus to potentially evolve to infect humans better and transmit between humans," Dr. Nahid Bhadelia, director of the Boston University Center on Emerging Infectious Diseases, told the New York Times.

Bird flu has been spreading in poultry since 2022, and cases in dairy cows began to crop up last March. The virus was discovered in a pig for the first time recently.

Earlier this month, Canadian officials announced that a teen in British Columbia had been hospitalized in critical condition with what is believed to be bird flu.

It's not clear how the teenager picked up the H5N1 virus because the patient is not known to have any contact with infected animals, officials noted. They added that this is the first human case of the virus reported in both the province and Canada.

"The positive test for H5 was performed at the BC Centre for Disease Control's Public-Health Laboratory," Dr. Bonnie Henry, provincial health officer of British Columbia, said in a statement.

Testing has been performed on about three dozen people who were in contact with the teen, but none show evidence of infection, Henry added.

"We should be very concerned at this point," Dr. James Lawler, co-director of the University of Nebraska's Global Center for Health Security, told the Times. "Nobody should be hitting the panic button yet, but we should really be devoting a lot of resources into figuring out what's going on."

More information

The CDC has more on bird flu.

Copyright © 2024 HealthDay. All rights reserved.

Wisconsin’s first human avian flu infection reported along with second poultry flock case

Photo by Haley Hamilton on Unsplash
seven chicken eggs

Erik Gunn,

 Wisconsin Examiner

December 19, 2024

A farm worker in Barron County has tested positive for avian influenza after being exposed to a poultry flock infected with the virus, Wisconsin health officials said Wednesday. The woman is the first person identified with the infection in Wisconsin.

At the other end of the state, a case of the highly contagious disease has turned up in a Kenosha County poultry flock, according to the state agriculture department. The flock has been isolated and will be destroyed.

The risk of illness for the general public remains low, according to the Wisconsin Department of Health Services (DHS), while people working with infected animals or who might be otherwise exposed to them are at higher risk.

Also Wednesday, the federal government reported the first severe case of bird flu in a patient in Louisiana. That was believed to be associated with wild birds, not domestic poultry.

The infected woman in Barron County was identified through a test at the Wisconsin State Lab of Hygiene. The diagnosis is pending confirmation at federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

She was exposed to the Barron County poultry flock where the state Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection (DATCP) identified an infection with highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI H5N1) last week. The flock was destroyed.

After the infected flock was identified, DHS and Barron County Health and Human Services began monitoring farm workers who may have been exposed to the birds, said Thomas Haupt, a DHS research scientist and epidemiologist, in an online news conference Wednesday.

The woman who tested positive was one of two people tested.

“She had relatively mild symptoms but symptoms that would be consistent with influenza, including sore throat, slight fever, some fatigue, some eye discharge,” said Haupt. He said she was improving after being treated with an antiviral medication and was expected to make a full recovery.

Public health officials are monitoring another 19 people who were exposed, Haupt said.

State public health veterinarian Dr. Angie Maxted said when people are infected with a communicable disease, public health agencies contact family and other household members to test them for the illness and inform them about preventive measures.

The Kenosha flock where an H5N1 infection was reported Wednesday is a “backyard flock” — one that is raised for a family’s own use, with limited, local sales of eggs or other products, said Dr. Darlene Konkle, DATCP state veterinarian. The flock consisted of 88 chickens and five ducks.

Haupt said the Kenosha County residents who might have been exposed are being tested for the virus. There are no concerns that members of the general public were at risk, however. Maxted said that it appears only the flock’s owners were exposed to the birds.

According to DATCP, the birds from the flock where the infection was reported will not enter the food supply.

In addition, poultry within a 10 kilometer (6.2 mile) area of the Kenosha flock will be restricted from being moved on or off any premises, said DATCP, which establishes a control area around any premises where an infection is found.


DATCP has a mapping tool that poultry producers and owners can consult to learn whether their poultry are in an active control area or surveillance zone.

Concern about the virus has been heightened for the last three years, with reports of infections in both wild and domestic birds in North America since December 2021.

Konkle said DATCP has been sending information to dairy, poultry and other livestock producers all year, encouraging them to improve biosecurity measures to prevent the spread of disease and protect their birds and animals.

The H5N1 HPAI virus is highly contagious and can be fatal to domestic poultry. The severity of the illness varies depending on its strain and on which species of animal it affects, according to DATCP.


The virus spreads by contact with infected birds, commingling with wild birds or their droppings, and through clothing or equipment used by people working with infected birds or animals.

DHS has a web page with guidance for Protective Actions for People. The department can provide a limited amount of surplus personal protective equipment for farm workers, businesses and processors from the department’s medical stockpile through its Office of Preparedness and Emergency Health Care.

State law requires all Wisconsin livestock owners to register where their animals are kept, which helps health officials alert flock and herd owners.

Avian flu in domestic birds tends to increase late in the year, likely due to weather conditions and the flow of migrating birds through Wisconsin. “There’s more opportunity, when it’s circulating in these wild birds” for the virus to spread, Konkle said.

People who have contact with livestock and animals are at higher risk for exposure to the H5N1 avian flu virus and should avoid contact with sick or ill animals, said Maxted.

When they must be in contact, people should follow “common sense” precautions, washing their hands frequently and wearing protective clothing including gloves, respiratory protection and eye protection, she said, and clothing exposed to animals should be cleaned and disinfected.

Haupt said the DHS bureau of environmental and occupational health has been working with farmers and farm workers to inform them about the risks of avian influenza and precautions to protect themselves from the virus. The agency urges people who do get sick to take time off.

“If someone is sick, if you don’t have to work — don’t work,” Haupt said. “Stay home, give yourself time to heal.”


Wisconsin Examiner is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Wisconsin Examiner maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Ruth Conniff for questions: info@wisconsinexaminer.com.

First severe bird flu case in US sparks alarm

AFP
December 18, 2024

Rescued chickens gather in an aviary at Farm Sanctuary's Southern California Sanctuary in Acton, California 

- Copyright GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/AFP/File MARIO TAMA

Issam AHMED

An elderly patient in Louisiana is in a “critical condition” with severe avian influenza, US authorities announced Wednesday, the first serious human case in the country as fears grow of a possible bird flu pandemic.

The new case brings the total number of infections in the United States during the current 2024 outbreak to 61, with other patients experiencing mild symptoms they recovered from at home.

The severity of the Louisiana case has heightened alarm, echoing similar cases worldwide. Last month, a teenager in Canada was also hospitalized with a severe case of bird flu.

According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Louisiana patient was exposed to sick and dead birds in backyard flocks.

“The patient is experiencing severe respiratory illness related to H5N1 infection and is currently hospitalized in critical condition,” the Louisiana health department said in a statement to AFP, adding the person has underlying medical conditions and is over the age of 65.

“Over the 20-plus years of global experience with this virus, H5 infection has previously been associated with severe illness in other countries, including illnesses that resulted in death in up to 50 percent of cases,” Demetre Daskalakis, a senior CDC official told reporters on a call.

“The demonstrated potential for this virus to cause severe illness in people continues to highlight the importance of the joint… US federal response,” he added.

The case was confirmed last Friday, according to the CDC. Genetic sequencing revealed that the H5N1 virus in the patient belonged to the D1.1 genotype.

This genotype has recently been detected in wild birds and poultry in the United States, and in human cases reported in Washington state and in the Canadian case, in British Columbia province.

The D1.1 genotype differs from the B3.13 genotype, which has been identified in dairy cows, some poultry outbreaks, and human cases with mild symptoms such as conjunctivitis.

A handful of US cases have had no known animal source of infection, including a case in Delaware, the CDC reported on Wednesday.

Health authorities, however, say there is still not enough evidence to suggest human-to-human transmission is occurring and that the overall risk to the general public remains low.

– Mounting concern –

Still, concerns are mounting among scientists and public health experts that the cases being detected represent only a fraction of the true prevalence.

Meg Schaeffer, an epidemiologist at the US-based SAS Institute, told AFP recently there were now several factors suggesting that “avian flu is knocking on our door and could start a new pandemic any day.”

US cases have included a young child in California, reported last month.

The current US outbreak of the flu — technically the Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza, or H5N1 bird flu — was first reported in March in dairy cows.

The rising frequency and diversity of mammalian infections in recent years have heightened concerns about the virus’ adaptability and its potential for cross-species transmission.

Compounding these concerns is the possible role of raw milk as a vector for transmission.

The US Department of Agriculture issued a new federal order requiring that raw milk samples be shared on request from any dairy farm and milk transporter.

The order also mandates that any samples testing positive for bird flu be reported to federal authorities.

Uncertainty looms over how the incoming administration of President-elect Donald Trump will address the outbreak.

Trump’s pick for health secretary, vaccine skeptic and conspiracy theorist Robert F. Kennedy Jr., is a known proponent of raw milk, raising questions about the administration’s stance on public health measures.

With spate of lawsuits, Trump goes after US media


By AFP
December 18, 2024

US President-elect Donald Trump has launched a slate of lawsuits that critics worry could push media to self-censor - Copyright AFP/File Patrick T. Fallon
Aurélia END

In his first post-election news conference, President-elect Donald Trump vowed to “straighten out” the “corrupt” US press.

Before he’s even taken office, he’s already made efforts to shape the media in his favor — tapping loyalists for publicly funded outlets and launching unprecedented lawsuits against newspapers and pollsters that observers worry are the signs of escalating intimidation and censorship tactics.

On Monday, the billionaire sued pollster Ann Selzer, the Des Moines Register newspaper and its parent company Gannett over a pre-election poll that — wrongly, come Election Day — saw him behind in the state.

That suit came after broadcaster ABC paid $15 million, plus legal fees, to settle a defamation suit after one of its reporters repeatedly said Trump had been found liable for “rape” — in fact, he had been liable for sexual abuse.

Several legal scholars argued the outlet would have likely prevailed in court against Trump.

ABC staffers have complained to US media that the channel is setting a precedent that media should buckle to Trump — a potentially distressing signal, since the broadcaster is hardly alone in being sued.

Also being targeted by Trump’s lawyers is famed reporter Bob Woodward, over publishing taped interviews with the president. Trump is arguing that Woodward was authorized to record them for journalistic purposes, but not to publish the audio.

Broadcaster CBS, meanwhile, has been sued after Trump claimed CBS favorably edited an interview with election rival Kamala Harris.

Trump called it “a brazen attempt to interfere in the 2024 US presidential election.”

Free speech expert Charles Tobin, speaking to CNN, called the suit “dangerous and frivolous.”

– Risk of self-censorship –

Even if Trump loses in court, his willingness to launch lawsuits “creates a chilling effect,” Melissa Camacho, a communications professor at San Francisco State University, told AFP.

“What happens is that outlets start engaging in a practice of self-censorship.”

Khadijah Costley White, an associate professor of journalism and media studies at Rutgers University, said the lawsuits could also push media coverage to be more favorable to the president.

“If he gains a concession like he did with the recent ABC News settlement, gets his perceived adversaries to back down, or scares the press into only giving him favorable coverage, those are all wins,” she said.

There are also procedural ways Trump — who ran on a lack of trust in mainstream media and government institutions — can fight the press.

During his first term, his administration once went more than 300 days without an official media briefing by the White House press secretary.

And if Trump’s White House does hold daily news conferences, he could get rid of seats reserved for mainstream outlets.

“Make it first come, first served. There is no reason these left-wing groups should be guaranteed a seat,” former White House press secretary Sean Spicer wrote in a recent opinion piece for the conservative Washington Times newspaper.

The “left-wing groups” in question? NBC, CBS, CNN, The New York Times and The Washington Post — mainstream outlets that are at times regarded as having a liberal bias but among the most reputable news outlets in the country.

The irony is that even if his White House shuts down traditional media, Trump himself, who has a penchant for chatting with journalists, might still talk to reporters more than outgoing President Joe Biden, who largely avoided interviews with national outlets.

– Voice of America –

Those outside the United States can also expect a change.

The incoming president has tapped hard-line loyalist and election denier Kari Lake to be the new director of Voice of America.

VOA has reach around the world, with programming in a slew of African, Asian and European languages.

It receives US funding but is generally considered a reliable, independent media operation, covering global and US news for international audiences.

During his first term, Michael Pack, Trump’s head of the US Agency for Global Media, which oversees VOA, raised concerns when he moved in 2020 to strip an internal firewall at the organization meant to insulate the newsroom from political interference.

According to Trump, Lake will help “ensure that the American values of Freedom and Liberty are broadcast around the World FAIRLY and ACCURATELY, unlike the lies spread by the Fake News Media.”

State officials accused of illegally issuing permits for massive gas plant

Anita Wadhwani,

 Tennessee Lookout
December 19, 2024 

TVA building in Knoxville, TN. (KLiK Photography/Shutterstock)

A conservation group has accused Tennessee environmental regulators of failing to follow the law by approving an air emission permit for a new Tennessee Valley Authority methane-fired plant in Kingston.

In an appeal filed Monday with the Tennessee Air Pollution Control Board, the nonprofit conservation group Appalachian Voices claimed state regulators are allowing TVA to “avoid installing commonsense pollution controls” needed to protect air quality and public health.

The group is seeking an immediate halt to approval of any more permits needed for the project by the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation, or TDEC — a request, if granted, that would effectively halt construction on the project. The appeal is administrative, meaning it will be heard outside a state courtroom.

A TDEC spokesperson on Tuesday said the agency “is in the process of reviewing the appeal and cannot comment on pending litigation.”

Federal appeals court to hear case over TVA’s Cumberland Pipeline

The appeal marks the latest in a series of legal disputes that have surrounded TVA’s multi-billion dollar makeover plans to convert a fleet of aging coal-fired power plants into natural, or methane gas, plants.

The plans have drawn pushback from environmental and community groups, who have criticized TVA for ignoring cleaner energy alternatives. The groups have also raised concerns about the impact on surrounding communities of the gas-generating plants and miles of new pipelines needed to supply them.

Appalachian Voices, represented in their appeal by the Southern Poverty Law Center, claimed state environmental regulators illegally allowed TVA to seek a “minor modification” of a longstanding air pollution permit tied to its now-defunct coal plant.

State air permits set limits for harmful emissions and require utilities and other companies to operate within the bounds of the federal Clean Air Act.

Environmental groups sue federal agency over Middle Tennessee pipeline approval

New permits present significantly higher hurdles than minor modifications of existing permits, including environmental analysis and more opportunities for public comment.

“By endorsing TVA’s characterization of its proposed methane-fired power plant as a modification to TVA’s soon-to-be-demolished coal plant—which itself lacks modern air pollution controls and never underwent an analysis of its impact on air quality—state regulators have enabled TVA to avoid its Clean Air Act requirements for decades into the future,” a statement from the Southern Environmental Law Center said.


A TVA spokesperson on Tuesday referred questions about the appeal to TDEC.

Report into American diets: Time to go plant based?


By Dr. Tim Sandle
DIGITAL JOURNAL
December 18, 2024


The contamination of fruits and vegetables produced in the European Union by the most toxic pesticides has substantially increased over the past decade, according to new research published Tuesday. Credit - Santeri Viinamäki (CC SA 4.0)

A scientific report – 2025 U.S. Dietary Guidelines – has been published by the U.S. Departments of Agriculture and Health and Human Services (USDA-HHS). The 421-page document is intended to inform new guidelines in 2025, although these will now fall within the scope of Trump Administration selected political appointees.

Updated every five years, the document guides everyone from dieticians to consumers, to food producers to food retailers, in the creation and facilitation of national nutrition programs and nutrition education.

Key recommendations in this report include:Reducing red and processed meats;
Replacing poultry, meat, and eggs with peas, beans, and lentils as sources of protein;
No limits on ultra-processed foods; and
Continued caps on saturated fats, to be replaced by vegetable (seed) oils.

According to HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra: “This report will help to ensure that the next edition of the Dietary Guidelines is based on current scientific evidence and medical knowledge, and that future guidelines factors in socioeconomic status, race, ethnicity, and culture. I want to thank the Committee for all their hard work, as well as the American people for sharing their voice with us in this process. Together, we can help Americans enjoy a healthy diet, and the health benefits that are possible as a result.”

The primary recommendation within the document is with eating more beans, peas and lentils, while reducing the intake of red and processed meats.

A healthy dietary pattern for people 2 years and older “is higher in vegetables, fruits, legumes (eg, beans, peas, lentils), nuts, whole grains, fish/seafood, and vegetable oils higher in unsaturated fat, and lower in red and processed meats, sugar-sweetened foods and beverages, refined grains, and saturated fat.”

The also report addresses other factors that shape health and welfare in the context of diet. Notably, this is manifest in terms of social class. In the section titled Eat Healthy Your Way, the report recognizes that healthy eating and nutrition-related chronic health conditions vary among individuals and between sociodemographic groups. Notably, the prevalence of obesity, hypertension, and Type 2 diabetes is higher among lower-income (working class) families.

Concerns have been expressed about what the incoming Administration will do with the findings, given that the essence of the soon-to-be-government’s approach to food policy is deregulation.

“This is a deregulatory agenda,” Marion Nestle, a professor of nutrition and food policy at New York University, has told The Guardian. “And what we know historically from deregulation is that it’s really bad for consumers, it’s bad for workers, it’s bad for the environment.”

Ghana’s Supreme Court paves way for anti-LGBTQ law


By AFP
December 18, 2024

Ghana's proposed anti-LGBTQ legislation is considered among the most stringent in Africa, stipulating jail terms of up to three years for engaging in same-sex relations and up to five years for promoting or sponsoring LGBTQ activities - Copyright AFP/File Adrian DENNIS

Ghana’s Supreme Court on Wednesday paved the way for a contested bill severely curtailing LGBTQ rights to become law after rejecting two bids to overturn it.

Lawmakers approved the Sexual Rights and Family Values Bill in February, drawing international condemnation despite gaining wide public support in the conservative West African country.

The proposed anti-LGBTQ legislation is considered among the most stringent in Africa, stipulating jail terms of up to three years for engaging in same-sex relations and up to five years for promoting or sponsoring LGBTQ activities.

The bill will only become law after being ratified by the outgoing president Nana Akufo-Addo or his successor John Mahama.

Akufo-Addo, who officially steps down on January 7 after two terms in office, has not yet announced his decision.

He had said he would first await the Supreme Court’s ruling on the bill’s constitutionality.

Opposition leader, Mahama, who won the December 7 elections, voiced support for the anti-LGBTQ bill during the electoral campaign.

Gay sex is already illegal in the religious, mostly Christian nation, but while discrimination against LGBTQ people is common, no one has ever been prosecuted under the colonial-era law.

“The Supreme Court’s decision is a victory for Ghanaian values and cultural sovereignty,” Yaw Biney, a lawyer and supporter of the bill, told AFP.

LGBTQ rights campaigners voiced fear and disappointment.



– ‘Chilling message’ –



The court ruling followed cases filed by Ghanaian broadcaster Richard Dela-Sky, who challenged the constitutionality of the bill, and university researcher Amanda Odoi.

Odoi had sought to block the sending of the bill to the president for ratification.

But the court said it would be “premature” of it to make a judgement on the bill.

“Consequently, the action fails,” judge Avril Lovelace-Johnson, head of the court’s seven-member panel said, reading its judgement.

“Until there is presidential assent to the bill, there is no act of which the Supreme Court will use its supervisory jurisdiction to overturn,” she added.

Takyiwaa Manuh, African Studies professor at the University of Ghana and an advocate for the LGBTQ community, called it a “disappointing day for human rights in Ghana”.

“The Supreme Court had an opportunity to affirm the dignity and freedom of all citizens, regardless of their sexual orientation, but this decision risks deepening discrimination and marginalisation against the LGBTQ community,” Manuh told AFP.

Esi Bonsu, an activist with the Ghana Coalition for Equality, said it sent “a chilling message to LGBTQ Ghanaians that their lives and rights are not valued”.

– Fears for finances –

The bill was initially introduced into parliament in 2021 but the vote faced delays.

It sparked criticism from the United Nations and several countries, including the United States, as well as concern from Ghana’s finance ministry, which warned of a risk of losing billions of dollars in World Bank funding.

The United States reiterated its misgivings over the proposed law.

“We have previously stated our concerns about this bill, and we remain in close contact with Ghanaian government officials and the incoming administration of President-elect Mahama across a range of issues,” State Department spokesman Vedant Patel told reporters in Washington.

“Our primary concern is the safety and well-being of vulnerable populations and individuals. Nobody should be targeted, threatened harm or marginalised (for) who they are,” he said.

Ghana fears it could face the same fate as Uganda, which last year passed one of the harshest anti-gay laws in the world.

The World Bank froze lending to Uganda in the wake of the law, which imposes penalties of up to life in prison for consensual same-sex relations and contains provisions that make “aggravated homosexuality” an offence punishable by death.

Ghana, emerging from its worst economic crisis in decades, is also under a $3-billion loan programme from the International Monetary Fund.

United Nations rights chief Volker Turk condemned the passing of the bill in February, saying that consensual same-sex conduct should never be criminalised.

Around 60 countries in the world ban same-sex relations, about half of them are in Africa, according to the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association (ILGA).

Taiwan’s Foxconn in talks with Renault over Nissan stake: report


ByAFP
December 18, 2024


Foxconn is the world's biggest contract electronics manufacturer and assembles gadgets for many international brands - Copyright AFP Sam Yeh

Taiwan’s Foxconn is in talks with French auto giant Renault to buy its major stake in Japanese carmaker Nissan, a report said Thursday, after the Japanese firm rebuffed its inquiries about an investment.

The development comes after reports on Wednesday that Nissan and local rival Honda were in talks about a merger to help them compete against Tesla and Chinese electric vehicle makers.

Foxconn, also known by its official name Hon Hai Precision Industry, is the world’s largest contract electronics manufacturer and builds devices for major tech companies, including Apple’s iPhones.

But it has been moving to diversify beyond electronics assembly, pushing into areas ranging from electric vehicles to semiconductors and servers.

Taiwan’s Central News Agency cited unnamed industry sources as saying Jun Seki, Foxconn’s chief strategy officer for EV, had gone to France to negotiate with Renault, which owns a significant stake in Nissan.

The report said Foxconn “had directly expressed” its willingness to Nissan to buy equity but after “Nissan did not agree” it approached Renault.

“Seki and his team are currently negotiating with Renault in France, hoping that Renault will be willing to release its equity in Nissan to Hon Hai,” the report added.

Foxconn was not immediately available for comment.

Nissan and Honda, Japan’s number two and three automakers behind Toyota, were said to be in preliminary discussions on a tie-up, having agreed in March to explore a strategic partnership on EVs.

Bloomberg reported Wednesday that an approach by Foxconn to take a controlling stake in Nissan accelerated discussions with Honda.

Foxconn is looking to expand into the Japanese EV market and chairman Young Liu said at an earnings call last month that the company was in talks with “two Japanese carmakers” hoping to sign contracts in the next few months, without providing details.

Nissan has suffered a turbulent decade that included an attempted major alliance with France’s Renault that saw its former boss Carlos Ghosn arrested in 2018.

Last month, it announced 9,000 job cuts, slashed its sales forecasts and said it would reduce global production capacity by 20 percent.

Ivory Coast wants bigger share of its mining boom


By AFP
December 19, 2024

The mining sector now accounts for four percent of Ivory Coast's gross domestic product - Copyright AFP/File Richard A. Brooks

Marietou BÂ

Ivory Coast’s mining industry is booming, driven by foreign investment and the discovery of new deposits, but the country now wants a bigger slice of the pie for its own businesses.

Huge deposits of natural resources — including oil, gas and gold — have pushed the economy of the world’s biggest cocoa producer in a new direction.

Three discoveries of oil and gas have been made since 2021 and gold production last year was four times higher than a decade earlier.

The West African country’s bedrock also contains iron, diamonds, nickel, manganese, bauxite, copper and newly discovered reserves of coltan –- a precious ore used to make electronic devices.

Ivory Coast has offered attractive conditions to bring in foreign investors. Now, a revision of the mining code due in the coming weeks will target homegrown investment.

Current laws introduced in 2014 “facilitated the arrival of many investors” by extending permits and creating a land register for greater transparency, director general of mines Seydou Coulibaly said.

Few details about what will be in the revised mining code are known.

But it is expected to focus on local businesses and communities, Coulibaly added, in order to boost the national economy.

Mining Minister Mamadou Sangafowa Coulibaly has urged experts drawing up the text to include measures to “ensure fairness in the distribution of the wealth, once the discovery has been made”.



– Ten-year boom –



“The new code will be more attractive and the means are being put in place to ensure that operations also benefit Ivorians, particularly by involving national banks, without discouraging international investors,” said specialist Cedric Sehe, who heads mining promotion firm CAMP2E.

It comes at a time when the military juntas in Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger are taking steps to reclaim mining resources from foreign companies operating in the Sahelian countries.

In Ivory Coast over the last 10 years, discoveries of hydrocarbons and minerals have multiplied, production has grown and resources have diversified.

The number of mining permits has roughly tripled to 29, while exploration permits have increased from 140 to 189.

Gold production shot up from 13 to 51 tonnes between 2012 and 2023.

The mining sector now accounts for four percent of Ivory Coast’s gross domestic product, compared to just 1.5 percent a decade ago, according to the Professional Association of Miners of Ivory Coast (GPMCI).

Likewise, tax revenue from mining has ballooned to 250 billion CFA francs ($399,500, 381 million euros) — a 20-fold increase over the same period.

Total investment in Ivorian mines was estimated to be more than 500 billion CFA francs last year.



– Prioritising Ivorians –



Ivorian authorities already sought to “promote and develop” local extractive companies under a 2022 law.

However, it only applied to oil and gas activities.

Under the legislation, Ivorian firms should already get priority in public tenders and certain activities must be carried out only by them.

They include “slickline” operations, where a cable is used to lower tools into oil wells, said Erus Djimo from Ivorian company Hydrodrill, which operates two oil and gas sites.

Speaking at the International Extractive and Energy Resources Exhibition in the main city, Abidjan, last month, he said the technique required technology “within the reach of local companies”.

The exhibition organised by the government was a first, and brought together local businesses and foreign heavyweights such as Italian giant Eni and Canada’s Endeavour Mining.



– Lack of finance –



The 2022 law encouraged oil and gas industry companies “to recruit and employ Ivorian nationals as a matter of priority” and train local workers.

Sangafowa Coulibaly, the mining minister, in May also announced the creation of a digital platform dedicated to the local sector to ease administrative procedures including licence applications and renewals and provide access for hydrocarbons tenders.

Local business manager Faustin N’Dri N’Guessan welcomed the shift towards helping Ivorian companies reap bigger profits.

The new policy is an “opportunity to grow”, said N’Guessan, from the infrastructure manufacturing and maintenance company Kuyo Pipeline.

But “we do not really have financial backing”, he complained, adding that the state needed to “understand that funds must be created” as investment currently comes from abroad or private initiatives.

In a step towards addressing that need, the GPMCI professional miners’ association announced last month that it would set up an investment fund to support local businesses and training.

Melting sea ice in Antarctica causes ocean storms, scientists say


AFP
December 18, 2024


Scientists know the damaging consequences of the loss of Antarctic sea ice 

- Copyright AFP Ludovic MARIN

The record-breaking retreat of Antarctic sea ice in 2023 has led to more frequent storms over newly exposed parts of the Southern Ocean, according to a study published Wednesday.

Scientists know that the loss of Antarctic sea ice can diminish penguin numbers, cause ice shelves to melt in warmer waters, and impede the Southern Ocean from absorbing carbon dioxide.

But this new research, published in the peer-reviewed journal Nature, explores another consequence: increased heat loss from the ocean to the atmosphere, and an associated rise in storms.

Since 2016 there has been a large-scale reduction in Antarctic sea ice, but nothing like 2023 when a record amount failed to reform over the winter.

For this study, Simon Josey of the UK’s National Oceanography Centre and colleagues focussed on three regions that experienced unusually high levels of sea-ice retreat that year.

Using satellite imagery, ocean and atmospheric data, and wind and temperature measurements, they found some newly ice-free areas experienced double the heat loss compared to a stabler period before 2015.

This was accompanied by “increases in atmospheric-storm frequency” over previously ice-covered regions, the authors found.

“In the sea-ice-decline regions, the June–July storm frequency has increased by up to 7 days per month in 2023 relative to 1990–2015.”

The loss of heat caused by reduced sea ice could have implications for how the ocean circulates and the wider climate system, the study added.

Oceans are a crucial climate regulator and carbon sink, storing more than 90 percent of the excess heat trapped near Earth’s surface by greenhouse gas emissions.

In particular, sea-ice retreat could mean changes in how a deeper layer of cold, dense Antarctic bottom water absorbs and stores heat.

The authors said further in-depth analysis of possible climate impacts were needed, including if sea-ice retreat could have even further-reaching consequences.

“Repeated low ice-cover conditions in subsequent winters will strengthen these impacts and are also likely to lead to profound changes further afield, including the tropics and the Northern Hemisphere,” it said.

Myanmar junta FM briefs neighbours on election plans: Thai FM

By AFP
December 19, 2024

Ethnic and pro-democracy rebels are fighting junta forces in Myanmar

 - Copyright AFP/File STR

Myanmar’s junta-appointed foreign minister briefed officials from five neighbouring countries on the military’s repeatedly delayed plans to hold elections, Thailand’s foreign minister said on Thursday.

The Myanmar military seized power in 2021, making unsubstantiated claims of massive electoral fraud in 2020 polls won resoundingly by the Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD).

It has since unleashed a bloody crackdown on dissent and as fighting ravages swathes of the country has repeatedly delayed plans for fresh polls that critics say will be neither free nor fair.

Junta-appointed foreign minister Than Swe met diplomats from China, India, Bangladesh, Laos and Thailand for an “informal consultation”, Thai foreign ministry spokesman Nikorndej Balankura told reporters.

Myanmar “outlined very broadly that progress is being made towards an election” in 2025, he said, adding that no details, including an exact date, were discussed.

The talks in Bangkok were hosted by Thai foreign minister Maris Sangiampongsa and come a day ahead of informal talks on Myanmar hosted by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) bloc.

ASEAN, of which Myanmar is a member, has made little progress towards resolving the Myanmar crisis.

Thailand, which regularly hosts thousands of people fleeing the conflict, has held its own bilateral talks with Myanmar’s junta leaders.

In 2023 its then foreign minister also said he had met briefly with Suu Kyi, who has been in military custody since the coup.

The junta has several times pushed back a timetable for fresh polls as it struggles to crush widespread opposition to its rule from ethnic rebel groups and pro-democracy “People’s Defence Forces”.

In 2022, the junta-stacked election commission announced that Suu Kyi’s NLD would be dissolved for failing to re-register under a tough new military-drafted electoral law.

China, the junta’s most important ally, has grown increasingly alarmed at the conflict on its doorstep and in October called for a “reconciliation led by all people of Myanmar”.

Earlier this year, its foreign minister said Beijing backed the junta’s plans for polls.

The United States has said any elections under the junta would be a “sham”, while analysts say polls would be targeted by the military’s opponents and spark further bloodshed.