US foreign aid halt to have major hit on poorest countries: report

AMERIKANS DON'T CARE THEY VOTED FOR THIS


By AFP
February 11, 2025


For more than 20 economies, a year-long pause on US aid could mean a loss of over one percent of their gross national income, the CGD said 

- Copyright AFP ABDULFITAH HASHI NOR

A suspension of US foreign aid and possible dismantling of the US Agency for International Development (USAID) will have a major impact on some of the world’s poorest countries, the Washington-based Center for Global Development (CGD) warned Tuesday.

For more than 20 economies, a year-long pause on US aid could mean a loss of over one percent of their gross national income, the CGD said in a blog post.

And eight economies including South Sudan, Somalia and Afghanistan could face a hit of three percent or more, the group added.

The impact is especially severe for those eight economies as more than a fifth of their foreign assistance comes from USAID.

The value comes up to 35 percent for Afghanistan, 36 percent for South Sudan and 40 percent for Somalia, the post added.

While “US support is too large to be fully replaced,” the CGD noted that other providers’ official development assistance could be refocused and this could alleviate some of the worst effects.

The poorest countries are among the main beneficiaries of aid from the International Development Association under the World Bank, which provides loans and grants to low-income countries.

Other countries such as Germany, Canada, Japan and Sweden could also step up, the CGD added.

“While there’s still time to change course and mitigate some of the worst effects, countries around the world would be wise to act now in response to a less globally engaged United States,” said the CGD blog post’s authors Ian Mitchell and Sam Hughes.

US President Donald Trump has ordered a 90-day review of USAID, which runs health and emergency programs in around 120 countries, including the world’s poorest.

Less than a week after Trump returned to the White House, USAID told non-governmental groups they would have to cease operations immediately because the new administration had frozen its budgets.

US farmers say Trump let them down with spending freeze


By AFP
February 11, 2025


These are anxious times in US farms where President Donald Trump's attempt at a federal funding freeze has left many subsidized projects in limbo

 - Copyright AFP/File David Swanson

Daniel AVIS

US farmers caught up in President Donald Trump’s short-lived attempt to freeze all federal funding descended on Congress Tuesday to demand answers after grants to their politically influential sector were paused.

Rural America came out strongly for Trump in last year’s presidential election, and farmers say they did not expect to be affected by the Republican’s unprecedented attempt to cut back US government programs.

The farmers say they have not been reimbursed from two United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) programs designed to help them invest in conservation and clean energy generation.

These programs were funded through the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), one of former president Joe Biden’s signature pieces of legislation which pumped billions of dollars into clean energy projects across the country. Trump opposes US efforts to fight climate change and calls the IRA the “green new scam.”

“I’m very concerned about the security of our farms,” 44-year-old Elisa Lane, who owns and runs a farm producing fruit and flower farm in the US state of Maryland, told AFP on Monday.

Lane was awarded $30,000 by USDA last summer to subsidize a $72,000 solar panel installation on her 15-acre farm.

But shortly after taking office on January 20, Trump signed an executive order instructing all agencies to “immediately pause the disbursement of funds” appropriated through the IRA.

Eight days later, the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) published a memo — since rescinded — pausing all federal grant funding.

That left Lane and farmers across the country without the funding they’d counted on to complete costly projects.

Since the OMB memo was published last month, Lane said she has not received the grant funding, despite an OMB clarification claiming that funds for farmers and small businesses would “not be paused” by the funding freeze.

“We are American farmers, and so we are the people that when we hear ‘America first’…, that message is supposed to be for us,” Lane said, referring to Trump’s nationalist, right-wing slogan.

“We’re the ones that are supposed to be elevated and cared for,” she added. “And this is in direct conflict with that ideology.”

Lane planned to join several other farmers at a hearing held by the House Agriculture Committee later on Tuesday, after receiving an invitation from Democrats on the committee.

The USDA did not respond to a request for comment

– ‘Provide immediate clarity’ –

Skylar Holden, a 27-year-old cattle farmer from the Midwestern state of Missouri told AFP that he has also had his USDA funding frozen in the wake of the OMB’s short-lived funding freeze.

Holden had signed up for support from another IRA-funded USDA program designed to helps farmer with conservation work on their farms.

The USDA funding to help support the $240,000 conservation project he is planning for his 260-acre farm is now also on pause.

“The worry is if I complete these projects, I’m still not going to have the funds that I need in order to make the farm payment, in order to purchase the hay we need for the following winter,” he said.

Cases like those of Lane and Holden have been making headlines in the United States since the OMB memorandum was published last month, sparking calls for the Trump administration to take action.

“USDA and other agencies must honor their commitments to farmers and rural communities,” National Farmers Union President Rob Larew said in a statement shared with AFP.

“While it is customary for a new administration to review programs and funding, agriculture is already facing significant economic uncertainty,” he said.

“We strongly urge the administration to provide immediate clarity on funding and ensure that farmers and rural communities aren’t left behind,” he added.

‘Ridiculous and lame’: South Africans mock Trump proposals


By AFP
February 11, 2025


Many are bemused at Trump and Musk's view of white people in South Africa as 'victims' - Copyright AFP Brendan Smialowski

Hillary ORINDE

On the streets of Johannesburg’s student district, US President Donald Trump’s offer to accept white Afrikaners as refugees landed as both “ridiculous” and “lame”, among South Africans of all races.

On Friday, Trump cut off aid to South Africa and claimed, without evidence, that the Pretoria government is seizing white-owned land and persecuting Afrikaners, descendants of European settlers.

South African-born billionaire Elon Musk, the world’s richest person and Trump’s right-hand man, has in the past echoed far-right conspiracy theories about a “white genocide” in the country.

“Trump doesn’t know anything about this. I feel like Elon Musk is pushing him behind and saying: ‘There’s something there. Go look at it,'” said Lulusuku Mahlangu.

“Its greed,” the electrical engineering student said.

“When you have too much power, you think you can control everyone.”

Many have expressed indignation and bemusement that whites could be assigned victim status in South Africa.

The white-supremacist apartheid government, headed by an Afrikaner nationalist party, ruled the country until 1994.

Whites still own two-thirds of farmland and on average earn three times as much as black South Africans.

“I find it funny because I live here and I don’t see that sort of persecution in any way,” said Lwandle Yende, 34.

– ‘Borderline lame’ –



“It’s ridiculous, funny and weird,” said Yende, a telecommunications specialist with neat black and brown dreadlocks and a chin-curtain beard.

“I think we’ve been quite accommodating with everything that has happened in our past,” said Yende, adding: “There is no such thing like apartheid 2.0.”

Trump’s criticism centres on a new law that allows the South African government, in certain particular circumstances, to seize property without payment if this is ruled to be in the public interest.

The law mainly clarifies an existing legal framework. Legal experts have stressed it does not give new powers to the government.

Trump’s offer to accept Afrikaners as refugees caught many off guard, including right-wing white lobby groups.

The suggestion “has some racist undertones,” said Reabetswe Mosue, 22.

“It is uninformed and borderline lame.”

Trump’s executive order pulls the plug on all US funding to South Africa, including a major contribution to the country’s HIV programme.

“America has betrayed us by bringing him back,” 56-year-old pastor Israel Ntshangase said of Trump.

“He messed up with Africa and he is doing it again,” he said, warning that Trump’s policies “will haunt him”.

– Life in America ‘not cheap’ –



The South Africa government has sought to allay fears about the fallout from Trump’s resettlement proposal, saying it was “ironic” that it came from a nation embarking on a deportation programme.

“Who wants to leave this beautiful country?” posed Yende as he adjusted his designer shades, adding that his white friends found the proposal laughable.

Trump’s scheme appears to offer much to Afrikaners but may ultimately deliver little, said Matthew Butler, a 62-year-old tax and insurance specialist.

“America is not cheap,” the white man with a calm demeanour told AFP. “Are you going to have work? How are you going to make a living?”

Nonetheless, the South African Chamber of Commerce in the United States reported a surge in inquiries about resettlement, estimating that 50,000 people may consider leaving South Africa.

None of them should be stopped from leaving, opined University of the Witwatersrand lecturer Hannah Maja, on her way from shopping for a staff party.

“Let them do whatever they want to do in order for them to get the fresh air that they need and want,” the 28-year-old said sardonically.

“I think there’s something interesting when white people get together and decide to fight. Because at the end of the day, black people still suffer,” she said.

It was a call that did not resonate with film student Clayton Ndlovu, however.

“We do need those Afrikaans. As much as we don’t get along, we actually do need them,” said the 22-year-old.

“Trump is just trying to scare people.”

‘Senile insanity’: Ukrainians outraged at Trump’s Russia comment


By AFP
February 11, 2025

'They may be Russian someday, or they may not be Russian someday,' 

Donald Trump said - 

Igor SHVYDCHENKO

Ukrainians in Kyiv were left bewildered and frustrated on Tuesday after US President Donald Trump suggested their country “may be Russian someday”.

Addressing Moscow’s nearly three-year invasion in a Fox News interview aired Monday, Trump said of Ukraine: “They may make a deal, they may not make a deal. They may be Russian someday, or they may not be Russian someday.”

“It is some kind of senile insanity,” Kyiv resident Daniil told AFP.

“He just wants to stand out somehow,” he added, suggesting Trump was attempting a different approach to previous mediators on ending the war.

Others questioned the US leader’s grasp of the conflict.

“Trump does not know at all what Russia and Ukraine are, and the relationship between Russians and Ukrainians,” said Sergiy Prokofiev, another resident of the capital.

“His assistants… probably present to him some not-very-true opinion about our situation.”

The Kremlin seized on Trump’s remarks, saying that the situation in Ukraine “largely corresponds” with his words.

“The fact that a significant part of Ukraine wants to become Russia, and has already, is a fact,” spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters, referring to Moscow’s 2022 annexation of four Ukrainian regions.

– ‘This will not happen’ –

Since coming to office on January 20, Trump has made statements that have left even Washington’s closest allies perplexed and alarmed.

He has repeatedly called for Canada to become the “51st” US state, heightening cross-border tension.

“He can think anything and say anything, but Ukraine will never be Russia,” Ukrainian soldier Mykola told AFP on a street in central Kyiv.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly questioned Ukraine’s statehood, writing in an essay before the war that the country was a product of the Soviet Union shaped on “the lands of historical Russia”.

“This will not happen,” 32-year-old Filonko Daryna told AFP of the idea Ukraine could “be Russian”.

“More than one century will pass before we can ever forgive them for what they did to us.”

Trump has said ending the fighting is one of his priorities, but is yet to outline specific proposals for how he plans to bring the two sides to the negotiating table.

Russia, which has been grinding forward on the battlefield for over a year, has indicated it is open for negotiations but said any peace deal must accept the “realities” on the ground.

Some in Kyiv shrugged off Trump’s comments.

“What he said is still political games,” Gennady Bystrukhin told AFP in Kyiv. “I think that both America and Europe will support Ukraine.”

afptv-cad/jxb

Playgrounds come alive again with Brazil school phone ban


By AFP
February 11, 2025


A student leaves his cellphone at the beginning of the school day at Reverend Martin Luther King public school in Rio de Janeiro

 - Copyright GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/AFP/File JAMIE SQUIRE

Fran BLANDY

In Rio de Janeiro, children are playing again “like in the old days,” and their focus in class has improved after a school cellphone ban pioneered in the city that has now gone national.

Students across the country of more than 200 million people are starting the school year with phones banned from classes and break time after a new law signed by President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva in January.

Brazil, which has more smartphones than people, joins a growing number of nations using such bans to pry devices from the hands of children hooked on social media.

“It was difficult because we get addicted and … it ends up causing a certain withdrawal … but after the habit passes, we interact more,” said Kamilly Marques, 14.

A student at the Reverend Martin Luther King public school in Rio de Janeiro, Marques told AFP she didn’t even bother bringing her phone to school anymore, a year after the city first implemented the ban.

She is not alone. Only a few students now stop under a large mural of the US civil rights hero to place their devices in plastic boxes before heading to class.

Marques said that while she first thought the ban was “annoying” and “boring”, she is happier with her improved grades and social life.

“There was a classmate who was cyberbullied, and we didn’t even know, because we were more focused on our phones than on our friends, you know?” she said.

– Addicted and anxious –



UN culture and education body UNESCO said that at the end of 2024, 40 percent of global education systems had some sort of ban on smartphone use in schools, up from 30 percent a year earlier.

Rio’s municipal education secretary, Renan Ferreirinha, told AFP that officials had noticed children returning to classrooms after the Covid pandemic “more agitated, more impatient, more addicted to cell phones and much more anxious.”

A 2024 survey of parents by digital research company Opinion Box and mobile industry platform Mobile Time showed most Brazilian children got their first cellphone at an average of 10 years old.

While children under the age of three were spending almost an hour and a half a day on smartphones, this rose to almost four hours for those between 13 and 16.

A study carried out by the Rio de Janeiro municipality in September showed improvements in concentration, class participation and student performance since the school ban was implemented.

Ferreirinha, who is also a federal lawmaker, acted as rapporteur for the law which took the ban nationwide.

If moderating cellphone use “is difficult for an adult, imagine what it’s like for a child. It doesn’t make any sense for a teacher to be trying to teach a class while the child is watching a video on social media or playing a game on their phone,” he said.

On a recent school visit, one child told him they were back to playing like kids did “in the old days.”

– ‘Much happier’ –



Fernanda Heitor, 46, the deputy director of the Reverend Martin Luther King school — which has students aged six to 16 — said classes had become unsustainable before the ban.

“There was resistance. Even today, some still hide their cell phones when they enter the school,” she said.

She described break time previously as “islands” of children sitting glued to their phones.

“They didn’t interact, there wasn’t much play, they didn’t talk. Now they play… It’s transformed the school. It’s become much happier, much more lively.”

Brazil’s new law allows cellphone use for educational purposes, emergencies and health purposes.

Fabio Campos, an expert on education and technology, told AFP that while he believed the law was necessary, students should be taught how to use technology responsibly.

“Brazil is a country of inequality. Many students only have access to technology at school. So, if this means that schools will become less technological, it is a failure.”

Ferreirinha said parents also need to impose more limits at home.

At the Reverend Martin Luther King school, Pedro Henrique, 11, still brings his smartphone to school every day and uses it a lot at home.

“I miss the cellphone a little,” during breaktime, he admits, adding that at the end of the day “I feel happy, because I’ll be with my cell phone and using it.”

The squad saving deer from tourist trash in Japan’s Nara


By AFP
February 11, 2025


Tourists at Nara Park in Japan are only allowed to feed the deer special rice crackers, but the animals are increasingly eating rubbish by accident

 - Copyright AFP Philip FONG
Tomohiro OSAKI

As peckish deer chase delighted tourists in Japan’s temple-dotted Nara Park, a quiet but dedicated team of litter-pickers patrols the stone paths, collecting plastic waste that threatens the animals’ health.

The ancient city of Nara is a major draw for the country’s record influx of visitors — but like in nearby Kyoto, where photo-hungry crowds have been accused of pestering the famous geisha, there have been unwelcome consequences.

Tourists are only allowed to feed the deer special rice crackers sold in Nara, but the animals are increasingly eating rubbish by accident.

“More and more people are tossing away their leftovers or snack packaging in the park,” Nobuyuki Yamazaki of the Nara Deer Preservation Foundation told AFP.

“Plastic items can accumulate in deer stomachs over a long period, leading to their death through weakness,” he warned.

Some activists have even retrieved chunks of plastic waste from Nara deer carcasses.

Armed with gloves, tongs and dustpans, the park’s litter-picking squad — called Beautiful Deer — are fighting back.

The team, which mostly employs people with disabilities, has been collaborating with Yamazaki’s foundation for several years.

Around half a dozen Beautiful Deer staff patrol the park in bright green jackets, unfazed by the excited squeals of holidaymakers surrounded by their hooved friends.

For many members, “the idea they’re contributing to society is at the core of their motivation”, said the squad’s supervisor Masahito Kawanishi.



– No bins –



Around 1,300 wild deer roam the vast park, which has been their home since the eighth century, as the legend goes, acting as divine envoys for a Shinto shrine.

Drawn partly by the weak yen, 36.8 million foreign visitors came to Japan last year, a new record that the government wants to almost double to 60 million annually by 2030.

But residents and authorities in tourist hotspots, from tradition-steeped Kyoto to towns near the majestic Mount Fuji, are increasingly voicing frustration about overcrowding, traffic violations and bad behaviour by some visitors.

Nara Park is no exception — especially when it comes to litter.

The park has no public bins — a policy introduced about four decades ago to stop deer scavenging in them for food.

Visitors are instead encouraged to take their trash home — an ingrained habit in Japan that is not always shared by people from abroad, Yamazaki said.

“It’s perhaps difficult to expect the park to remain empty of trash cans forever,” he said.

With cultural differences in mind, Nara authorities are trialling high-tech, solar-powered bins near the park in a 20-million-yen ($129,000) project.

The bins can automatically compress trash and bear the slogan: “Save the Nara deer from plastic waste”.

Public bins are scarce across Japan, with one theory being that the deadly 1995 subway sarin gas attacks by a doomsday cult caused them to be removed.

Gawel Golecki, a 40-year-old from Poland who regularly visits Japan, told AFP he now keeps his trash with him.

“It’s kind of strange for us,” he told AFP. “(In Europe) there is always a place to throw” it.

French tourist Arnaud Bielecki, 56, said it’s “a shame that the deer eat plastic dropped by visitors”, adding that the Beautiful Deer squad should be supported.

“I’m glad there’s a programme like this,” he said.

Truck cabin found in Japan sinkhole search for driver


By AFP
February 11, 2025


The sinkhole suddenly opened up during morning rush hour an intersection north of Tokyo, swallowing the lorry - Copyright JIJI Press/AFP STR

A truck cabin swallowed by a sinkhole in Japan has been found in a sewer pipe and may contain the body of its missing driver, a fire department official said Wednesday.

Rescuers have been struggling to find the 74-year-old driver since the truck plunged into a chasm that appeared near Tokyo two weeks ago.

The sinkhole suddenly opened up at an intersection in the city of Yashio during morning rush hour on January 28, swallowing the lorry.

“After experts analysed photos taken with a drone… they said there’s a cabin of a truck in the photos and they can’t rule out the possibility that what appears to be inside is a person,” local fire department official Tomonori Nakazawa told AFP.

But rescuers could not enter the sewer pipe where the truck cabin was spotted due to water flow and high levels of hydrogen sulfide gas, he said.

Governor Motohiro Ono of Saitama prefecture, where Yashio is located, said it will take about three months to build a temporary bypass pipe to stop water flow.

Rescuers must now wait for the completion of the bypass before accessing the truck cabin, he told reporters late Tuesday.

A 30-metre (98-foot) slope had allowed rescuers to send heavy equipment into the hole, with 1.2 million residents asked to temporarily cut back on showers and laundry to prevent leaking sewage from hindering the operation.

But a good amount of sewage water was discovered underneath the slope, which, combined with rain, led to the rescue mission being suspended.

On Sunday, the search inside the sinkhole was called off to focus on the nearby sewer pipe where the truck’s cabin was spotted, Kyodo News and other outlets reported.

Around 2,600 cases of road sinkholes in 2022 were caused by sewer pipes, according to local media. Most were small, at only 50 centimetres (20 inches) deep or less.

In 2016, a giant sinkhole around 30 metres wide and 15 metres deep appeared on a busy street in Fukuoka city, triggered by nearby subway construction.

No one was hurt and the street reopened a week after workers toiled around the clock.

Chinese animated blockbuster breaks records, prompts patriotism

HANUMAN THE MONKEY KING


By AFP
February 12, 2025


Animated Chinese blockbuster 'Ne Zha 2', based on traditional mythology, has smashed multiple box office records on its way to becoming the country's most successful movie ever - Copyright AFP Pedro Pardo

Sam DAVIES

Animated Chinese blockbuster “Ne Zha 2”, based on traditional mythology, has smashed multiple box office records on its way to becoming the country’s most successful movie ever.

The tale of a rebellious young deity who battles dragons is the first movie to earn over $1 billion in a single market, overtaking “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” which made $936 million in the United States in 2015.

Released on January 29 to coincide with the Lunar New Year holiday, a prime movie-going time in China, the film has reignited the country’s film industry after 2024 saw box office receipts slump 23 percent compared to a year earlier.

A sequel five years in the making, “Ne Zha 2” — which draws on the 16th-century novel “Investiture of the Gods” — has tapped into both growing demand for products that draw from traditional Chinese stories, and national pride in China’s technological progress.

“Ne Zha is deeply rooted in Chinese culture,” 36-year-old Gao Zhen, who watched the movie with his child, told AFP in Beijing.

“We resonate with the characters and background.”

Audiences have also pointed to the movie’s special effects as evidence of China’s film industry catching up with, or even surpassing, Hollywood’s offerings.

“Foreign movies may have dazzling visuals, but Chinese cinema has also mastered those techniques now,” Gao said.

“I used to prefer Western animation, like Disney and Pixar. But now, Chinese animation is getting stronger, and I prefer domestic productions more,” 26-year-old media worker Qu Peihong told AFP.

– ‘Boosted confidence’ –

The original “Ne Zha” became China’s highest grossing animated film after it was released in 2019.

“Ne Zha 2” surpassed all former domestic box office record holders — including the 2019 sci-fi hit “The Wandering Earth” and 2021’s patriotic war film “The Battle at Lake Changjin” — in just nine days.

After a barren spell for standout films in China last year, the return of Ne Zha “has boosted people’s confidence in the industry”, Qu said.

According to local media reports, director Jiao Zi, whose real name is Yang Yu, said he originally tried to work with international partners on the film but found the outcomes not up to standard and instead used an all-Chinese team.

Some fans have speculated that the film also contains hidden geopolitical symbolism, suggesting the villain’s palace is a reference to the US Pentagon or White House, though the filmmakers haven’t commented on these rumours.

“This film far exceeded my expectations, it was really exciting. When I exited the cinema, I felt a deep sense of pride as a Chinese person,” 22-year-old Zhang Zhengfa told AFP.

“I think there will be more in the future. I believe this is just the beginning.”

– ‘Rebellion and nonconformity’ –

The film’s success proves that “Chinese animation has grown into a powerhouse and can rival Disney and Japanese animations in the Chinese domestic market”, Ying Zhu, author of “Hollywood in China”, told AFP.

The film has “transformed a traditional folklore into a modern tale of individuality, which struck a chord with audiences”, she said.

Audiences have chimed with the film’s story of “rebellion and nonconformity”, similar to how they embraced the plot of hit video game “Black Myth: Wukong” last year, CEO of data company BigOne Lab Robert Wu wrote in his newsletter.

“Black Myth” combines the classic 16th-century Chinese novel “Journey to the West” with cutting-edge graphics, and the main character is a fun-loving and defiant Monkey King who battles demons.

But while the game became an international best-seller, there is less certainty around how “Ne Zha 2”, based on a legend little known outside of China, will be received elsewhere, given the limited reception of the original.

“I don’t think (foreign audiences) will understand it as deeply as we do,” said moviegoer Qu. “But I hope this movie will help them to understand Chinese culture.”

https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2024/09/does-black-myth-wukong-conquer-game.html

UN says former Bangladesh govt behind possible ‘crimes against humanity’


By AFP
February 12, 2025


A protester who partially lost his sight after being shot during the student-led uprising - Copyright AFP LUIS TATO

Nina LARSON

Bangladesh’s former government was behind systematic attacks and killings of protesters as it tried to hold onto power last year, the UN said Wednesday, warning the abuses could amount to “crimes against humanity”.

Before prime minister Sheikh Hasina was toppled in a student-led revolution last August, her government cracked down on protesters and others, including “hundreds of extrajudicial killings”, the United Nations said.

The UN rights office said it had “reasonable grounds to believe that the crimes against humanity of murder, torture, imprisonment and infliction of other inhumane acts have taken place.”

These alleged crimes committed by the government, along with violent elements of her Awami League party and the Bangladeshi security and intelligence services, were part of “a widespread and systematic attack against protesters and other civilians,” a UN report into the violence said.

Hasina, 77, who fled into exile in neighbouring India, has already defied an arrest warrant to face trial in Bangladesh for crimes against humanity.

– Up to 1,400 killed –

The rights office launched a fact-finding mission at the request of Bangladesh’s interim leader Mohammed Yunus, sending a team including human rights investigators, a forensics physician and a weapons expert to the country.

Yunus welcomed the report, saying he wanted to transform “Bangladesh into a country in which all its people can live in security and dignity”.

Wednesday’s report is mainly based on more than 230 interviews with victims, witnesses, protest leaders, rights defenders and others, reviews of medical case files, and of photos, videos and other documents.

The team determined that security forces had supported Hasina’s government throughout the unrest, which began as protests against civil service job quotas and then escalated into wider calls for her to stand down.

The rights office said the former government had tried to suppress the protests with increasingly violent means.

It estimated that “as many as 1,400 people may have been killed” over a 45-day time period, while thousands were injured.

The vast majority of those killed “were shot by Bangladesh’s security forces”, the rights office said, adding that children made up 12 to 13 percent of those killed.

The overall death toll given is far higher than the most recent estimate by Bangladesh’s interim government of 834 people killed.

– ‘Rampant state violence’ –

“The brutal response was a calculated and well-coordinated strategy by the former government to hold onto power in the face of mass opposition,” UN rights chief Volker Turk said.

“There are reasonable grounds to believe hundreds of extrajudicial killings, extensive arbitrary arrests and detentions, and torture, were carried out with the knowledge, coordination and direction of the political leadership and senior security officials as part of a strategy to suppress the protests.”

Turk said the testimonies and evidence gathered by his office “paint a disturbing picture of rampant state violence and targeted killings”.

The report also documented gender-based violence, including threats of rape aimed at deterring women from taking part in protests.

And the rights office said its team had determined that “police and other security forces killed and maimed children, and subjected them to arbitrary arrest, detention in inhumane conditions and torture.”

The report also highlighted “lynchings and other serious retaliatory violence” against police and Awami league officials or supporters.

“Accountability and justice are essential for national healing and for the future of Bangladesh,” Turk said.

He stressed that “the best way forward for Bangladesh is to face the horrific wrongs committed” during the period in question.

What was needed, he said, was “a comprehensive process of truth-telling, healing and accountability, and to redress the legacy of serious human rights violations and ensure they can never happen again.”

‘Check the Label’ app lets Canadians scan to check if products are made in Canada

JUST IN TIME FOR U$ TRADE WAR

By Chris Hogg
DIGITAL JOURNAL
February 11, 2025


Check the Label is a community-driven app that helps empower Canadian consumers to make more informed decisions about the products they buy.

A new free app is helping Canadians verify whether the products they buy are made in Canada.

Built and launched in only a week by Punchcard Systems, Check the Label allows users to scan a product’s barcode and instantly see its origin. The beta version is live, as is a mobile app for Android, and iOS is coming soon.

The app launches as Canada faces new tariffs from the U.S., impacting domestic industries and increasing costs for consumers.

With uncertainty around trade policies, many Canadians are looking for ways to support local businesses.

Check the Label gives consumers a way to make informed purchasing decisions by providing transparency on where products are made.

Launched as a social initiative by Punchcard, the app is dubbed a “community-driven platform” where every user is a contributor to a growing knowledge base that helps everyone make more informed choices.
How Check the Label came to be

It all started with mustard. A simple condiment, yet its journey from seed to shelf is anything but straightforward.

The idea started on a Saturday morning when Estyn Edwards, Partner and CTO of Punchcard, was talking with his partner about how he could contribute during the economic uncertainty. His partner suggested something simple — start with the grocery store. That conversation led Edwards to explore how consumers could better understand where their products come from.

By the end of the day, Edwards had developed a rough prototype. On Sunday, he continued iterating on the idea and by Monday morning, the full Punchcard team was involved, refining and expanding the concept.

Within a week, Check the Label was live.

“We’re leveraging AI to be able to provide some value-added data to the consumer,” says Sam Jenkins, Managing Partner of Punchcard.

The app uses multiple data sources and artificial intelligence to assess whether a product meets the criteria for “Made in Canada” or “Product of Canada.”

This process, Jenkins says, isn’t entirely straightforward, as a “product of Canada” means that 98% of the production or manufacturing costs were incurred in Canada, while “Made in Canada” means that 51% of the total direct costs of production or manufacturing were incurred in the country.

With food, Jenkins notes that many products contain Canadian-sourced ingredients but undergo processing elsewhere before being sold back in Canada.

“The use case that came up for Estyn at the very beginning was mustard,” Jenkins says. “It’s 100% Canadian mustard seeds that are shipped over the border for secondary production, turned into mustard, and then shipped back to us as a Canadian mustard product,” says Jenkins. “Our goal is to make these distinctions clearer.”Sam Jenkins is Managing Partner of Punchcard Systems. – Photo by Digital Journal
Refining product data and expanding reach

Punchcard is developing other AI-driven tools aimed at improving business and consumer decision-making, and with Check the Label, increasing the accuracy of its data remains a key focus.

Collaboration with retailers, manufacturers, and consumers is necessary to improve the reliability of product origin information. Ensuring consumers have access to accurate product information requires collaboration and technological refinement.

With Check the Label, success depends on expanding its database through contributions from users, retailers, and manufacturers.

Jenkins emphasizes that crowdsourced data is key to improving product accuracy.

“Once a product is scanned, we try to provide as much information as possible, but we also allow users to contribute their own knowledge — maybe they see something on the label that isn’t reflected in our database yet,” he says. “This helps us make the data more reliable over time.”

In early anecdotal testing, Check the Label successfully identified about 95% of scanned products, but Jenkins says gaps remain because Canadian product databases are not as comprehensive as some international counterparts.

“The challenge being Canadian data sets aren’t nearly as robust,” says Jenkins. “That’s why partnerships and user contributions are so important. We’re actively working to close those gaps.”

To improve accuracy, Punchcard is seeking partnerships with retailers, manufacturers, and producers to expand its database.
Beta testers help refine accuracy

Early adopters play a critical role in refining Check the Label by scanning products and providing feedback.

“User engagement is key,” says Jenkins. “The more people scan and vote, the better this tool becomes. Even if a product isn’t in our database yet, every scan contributes to a better system. Our goal is to make sure no Canadian picks up a product and wonders where it really comes from.”

Retailers can strengthen consumer trust

Retailers can also play a crucial role by sharing verified product origin data and ensuring their Canadian-made goods are properly represented.

“We want to talk to retailers about how we can make sure we’re getting better data into the hands of Canadians,” Jenkins explains. “Many retailers already highlight Canadian-made products, but this app allows them to go a step further by providing clear, real-time verification. This strengthens trust with their customers and reinforces the value of buying local.”

Jenkins says many retailers already highlight Canadian-made products, but this app allows them to go a step further by putting data in the hands of every Canadian who uses the app anywhere in the country, at any retailer.

Manufacturers and data providers can enhance the platform

Manufacturers and suppliers with product origin databases can also significantly enhance Check the Label by contributing verified data.

“We’re integrating third-party databases and actively looking for manufacturers who want to ensure their Canadian-made products are recognized,” Jenkins says. “If you’re a company that produces goods in Canada, now’s the time to help make this platform as robust as possible. The more accurate the data, the better the experience for consumers — and the stronger the case for buying Canadian.”

As more users engage with Check the Label, its potential to influence consumer habits and retail transparency will only grow. With continued collaboration from businesses and individuals alike, the app aims to create a more informed and empowered marketplace.

For Canadians looking to support domestic products and businesses, Check the Label provides a practical tool to make that process easier and more reliable. As the database expands and participation increases, the impact of the platform will become even stronger.

Learn more about Check the Label here.

This article was created with the assistance of AI. Learn more about our AI ethics policy here.


Written ByChris Hogg

Chris is an award-winning entrepreneur who has worked in publishing, digital media, broadcasting, advertising, social media & marketing, data and analytics. Chris is a partner in the media company Digital Journal, content marketing and brand storytelling firm Digital Journal Group, and Canada's leading digital transformation and innovation event, the mesh conference. He covers innovation impact where technology intersections with business, media and marketing. Chris is a member of Digital Journal's Insight Forum.