UK judge rejects U.S. extradition request for 

A British judge ruled on Monday Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks, should not be extradited to the U.S. to face charges of breaking a spying law and conspiring to obtain secret U.S. documents by hacking government computers.

Judge Vanessa Baraitser said she had refused his extradition to the U.S. because of fears he could commit suicide.

"Faced with conditions of near total isolation... I am satisfied that the procedures [outlined by U.S. authorities] will not prevent Mr Assange from finding a way to commit suicide," she said.

"For this reason I have decided extradition would be oppressive by reason of mental harm and I order his discharge," she added.

The U.S. said it would continue to seek the extradition of Assange and the country's prosecutors are set to appeal Monday's decision to London's High Court.

U.S. authorities accuse Australia-born Assange, 49, of 18 counts relating to Wikileaks' release of vast troves of confidential U.S. military records and diplomatic cables, which they said had put lives in danger. He faces up to 175 years in a high-security jail if convicted.

Defense witnesses called during the hearing said Assange's history of depression meant he would be at risk of suicide if sent to the U.S. and locked up in a maximum-security prison. He has also complained of hearing imaginary voices and music during his detention.

In addition, it was noted he has a respiratory condition that makes him more vulnerable to COVID-19.

Assange and his legal team have long argued the protracted case was politically motivated.

The American non-profit Freedom of the Press Foundation said the case against Assange was "the most dangerous threat to U.S. press freedom in decades."

 

WikiLeaks editor-in-chief Kristinn Hrafnsson, left, and Assange's fiancee Stella Moris, right, arrive for the hearing at the Old Bailey. /Tolga Akmen/AFP

 

"The extradition request was not decided on press freedom grounds; rather the judge essentially ruled the U.S. prison system was too repressive to extradite."

In court, Assange wiped his forehead as the decision was announced, while his fiancee Stella Moris, with whom he has two children fathered while seeking political asylum in the Ecuadorian embassy in London, burst into tears and was embraced by WikiLeaks editor-in-chief Kristinn Hrafnsson.

Outside the Old Bailey court in London, supporters, who had gathered since early morning, erupted in cheers and shouted "Free Assange."

It follows more than a decade of legal controversies but the ruling is still subject to appeal. Assange was remanded in custody with a bail hearing to be heard on Wednesday.

 

What is WikiLeaks?

The controversy surrounding Assange is now in its second decade. Some regard the Australian national, 49, as a fearless campaigner for press freedom in reporting information about government and authorities, while others believe he was reckless with classified information and has endangered sources.

The figurehead of the whistleblowing website has spent most of the past decade in custody or holed up in Ecuador's London embassy, as he has tried to avoid extradition – first to Sweden to answer allegations of rape, which he consistently denied, and then to the U.S. over the leaks of classified information related to the Afghan and Iraq wars.

Assange launched WikiLeaks in 2006 along with a group of activists and IT experts.

"We are creating a new standard for a free press," Assange told AFP in an interview in August 2010.

The website first made waves in 2007 when it released manuals for U.S. prison guards at Guantanamo Bay. In 2010 it worked with The New York Times, The Guardian, Der Spiegel, Le Monde and El Pais to publish more than 10 million classified diplomatic cables to the dismay of politicians, governments and corporations worldwide.

They included a leaked video showing a U.S. military Apache helicopter targeting some buildings before firing on and killing two journalists and several Iraqi civilians on a Baghdad street in 2007.

WikiLeaks also caused a storm in July 2016 by releasing emails showing U.S. Democratic Party officials favoring Hillary Clinton over left-winger Bernie Sanders in the presidential primary elections, forcing high-ranking party members to resign.

Over time, it has increasingly set its sights on the U.S., fueling suspicion of collaboration with Russia – claims Assange has denied.

Assange was initially supported by human rights groups and newspapers that once worked with him to edit and publish the U.S. war logs.

However, when WikiLeaks dumped unredacted documents online, including the names of informants, Assange fell out spectacularly with former media partners.

U.S. lawyers conceded that while they were "aware" of sources who disappeared after WikiLeaks published their names, they "can't prove that their disappearance was the result of being outed by WikiLeaks."

Assange's legal battles

Assange's legal saga began in 2010, soon after publishing those videos and further classified documents about U.S. military campaigns, with rape allegations in Sweden, which he consistently denied.

In Britain when Sweden sought his extradition in 2012, Assange managed to evade arrest by seeking political asylum at the Ecuadorian embassy in London. He lived in a small apartment at the embassy for seven years, exercising on a treadmill and making up for a lack of natural light by sitting beside a sun lamp. 

 

Assange's supporters celebrate the verdict. /Daniel Leal-Olivas/AFP

 

When a new government came to power in Quito, however, Assange was turned over to British police in April 2019.

Though Sweden had dropped the rape investigation, citing a lack of evidence in May 2017, Assange was arrested in April 2019 for breaching bail and sent to the high-security Belmarsh prison in south London. Although he had served his time for that offence, he remained behind bars awaiting the outcome of the U.S. extradition request.

Assange's supporters, including the fashion designer Vivienne Westwood and actor Pamela Anderson, have raised concerns about the effect a decade's incarceration has had on him.

Nils Melzer, the United Nations' rapporteur on torture, said Assange's "prolonged solitary confinement in a high-security prison is neither necessary nor proportionate and clearly lacks any legal basis."

UN rights experts do not speak for the United Nations but report their findings to it.

Source(s): Reuters ,AFP

Mexico offers political asylum to Julian Assange

CGTN

Protesters hold a sign to support WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange in front of the British Embassy in EU in Brussels, Belgium, December 7, 2020. /AFP

Mexico said Monday that it was ready to offer political asylum to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, after a British judge blocked his extradition to the United States to face espionage charges.

Mexico's President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador welcomed the British court's rejection of the U.S. request to extradite the 49-year-old Australian, calling it a "triumph of justice."

"I'm going to ask the foreign minister to carry out the relevant procedures to request that the UK government releases Mr. Assange and that Mexico offers him political asylum," said Lopez Obrador, adding that Assange deserves a chance.

Lopez Obrador said Mexico would ensure "that whoever receives asylum does not intervene or interfere in the political affairs of any country."

Whether Assange joins the list would depend on political pressures and the stances of the various actors and countries with an interest in his fate, Adolfo Laborde, a Mexican academic and foreign relations expert said.

The U.S. said it would continue to seek the extradition of Assange and the country's prosecutors are set to appeal Monday's decision to London's High Court.

U.S. authorities are accusing the Australian of 18 counts relating to Wikileaks' release of vast troves of confidential U.S. military records and diplomatic cables, which they said had put lives in danger. If convicted in the U.S., he faces up to 175 years in a high-security jail.

However, defense witnesses called during the hearing said Assange's history of depression meant he would be at risk of suicide if sent to the U.S. and locked up in a maximum-security prison. Assange has also complained of hearing imaginary voices and music during his detention.

In addition, it was noted he has a respiratory condition that makes him more vulnerable to COVID-19. Assange and his legal team have long argued the protracted case was politically motivated.

Arturo Sarukhan, a former Mexican ambassador to the U.S., said the asylum offer risked causing tensions with the incoming administration of U.S. President-elect Joe Biden.

He said Lopez Obrador appeared to be ignoring or overlooking WikiLeaks' publication of 20,000 hacked emails from the U.S. election campaign team of Democrat Hillary Clinton in 2016.

The Mexican president "is turning the issue into another potential area of friction with the next U.S. administration," Sarukhan said.

Activists held a protest in front of the British embassy in Mexico City after the court decision, demanding Assange be released.

Novel film that that evaporates sweat six times faster and holds 15 times more moisture

Promising applications include underarm pads, insoles and shoe linings; Moisture harvested could power small wearable electronics

NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF SINGAPORE

Research News

 

IMAGE: AN NUS RESEARCH TEAM LED BY ASSISTANT PROFESSOR TAN SWEE CHING (SEATED, LEFT) AND PROFESSOR DING JUN (SEATED RIGHT) HAS DEVELOPED A NOVEL FILM THAT IS EXTREMELY EFFECTIVE IN EVAPORATING... view more 

CREDIT: NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF SINGAPORE

A team of researchers from the National University of Singapore (NUS) has created a novel film that is very effective in evaporating sweat from our skin to keep us cool and comfortable when we exercise, and the moisture harvested from human sweat can be used to power wearable electronic devices such as watches, fitness trackers, and more.

Sweating is a natural process for our body to reduce thermal stress. "Sweat is mostly composed of water. When water is evaporated from the skin surface, it lowers the skin temperature and we feel cooler. In our new invention, we created a novel film that is extremely effective in evaporating sweat from our skin and then absorbing the moisture from sweat. We also take this one step further - by converting the moisture from sweat into energy that could be used to power small wearable devices," explained research team leader Assistant Professor Tan Swee Ching, who is from the NUS Department of Material Science and Engineering.

The main components of the novel thin film are two hygroscopic chemicals - cobalt chloride and ethanolamine. Besides being extremely moisture-absorbent, this film can rapidly release water when exposed to sunlight, and it can be 'regenerated' and reused for more than 100 times.

To make full use of the absorbed sweat, the NUS team has also designed a wearable energy harvesting device comprising eight electrochemical cells (ECs), using the novel film as the electrolyte. Each EC can generate about 0.57 volts of electricity upon absorbing moisture. The overall energy harvested by the device is sufficient to power a light-emitting diode. This proof-of-concept demonstration illustrates the potential of battery-less wearables powered using human sweat.

This technological breakthrough was reported in the September print issue of the scientific journal Nano Energy.

Absorbing moisture for personal comfort

Conventional hygroscopic materials such as zeolites and silica gels have low water uptake and bulk solid structures, making them unsuitable for absorbing moisture from sweat evaporation. In comparison, the new moisture-absorbing film developed by NUS researchers takes in 15 times more moisture and do this 6 times faster than conventional materials.

In addition, this innovative film shows a colour change upon absorbing moisture, from blue to purple, and finally pink. This feature can be used an indicator of the degree of moisture absorption.

The NUS team packaged the film into breathable and waterproof polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) membranes, which are flexible and commonly used in clothing, and successfully demonstrated the application of the moisture-absorption film for underarm pad, shoe lining and shoe insole.

Asst Prof Tan said, "Underarm sweating is embarrassing and frustrating, and this condition contributes to the growth of bacteria and leads to unpleasant body odour. Accumulation of perspiration in the shoes could give rise to health problems such as blisters, calluses, and fungal infections. Using the underarm pad, shoe lining and shoe insole embedded with the moisture-absorbing film, the moisture from sweat evaporation is rapidly taken in, preventing an accumulation of sweat and provides a dry and cool microclimate for personal comfort."

"The prototype for the shoe insole was created using 3D printing. The material used is a mixture of soft polymer and hard polymer, thus providing sufficient support and shock absorption," explained research team co-leader Professor Ding Jun, who is also from the NUS Department of Material Science and Engineering.

The NUS team now hopes to work with companies to incorporate the novel moisture-absorption film into consumer products.

CAPTION

A team of researchers from the National University of Singapore invented a novel thin film that evaporates sweat six times faster and holds 15 times more moisture than conventional materials. In this prototype, the insole coated with the novel thin film turns from blue to pink as it absorbs moisture. The insole can be easily 'regenerated' by putting it under the sun, and be reused for more than 100 times.

CREDIT

National University of Singapore

 The densely populated Gaza Strip has long lacked sufficient drinking water, but a new project helps ease the shortage with a solar-powered process to extract potable water straight from the air. Unusually, the project operating in the Islamist-run Palestinian enclave, which has been blockaded by Israel since 2007, is the brainchild of a Russian-Israeli billionaire, Michael Mirilashvili.

Warming driving Eastern Mediterranean species collapse: study

Issued on: 06/01/2021 -

The waters off the coast of Israel are among the hottest in the Mediterranean and they have already warmed 3C within four decades 

MENAHEM KAHANA AFP/File

Paris (AFP)

Populations of marine molluscs have collapsed in recent decades in parts of the eastern Mediterranean as warming waters have made conditions unsuitable for native species, new research showed Wednesday.

The waters off the coast of Israel -- among the hottest in the Mediterranean -- have already warmed three degrees Celsius within four decades, with water temperatures regularly topping 30C (86 Fahrenheit) in summer.

An international team of researchers, writing in the journal Proceedings of Royal Society B, investigated the effect these warmer waters was having on local populations of marine mollusks, as well as the arrival of invasive species from the Red Sea via the Suez Canal.

Paolo Albano, from the University of Vienna's Department of Paleontology, initially set out to contrast populations of local and non-native species along the Israeli shelf in the eastern Mediterranean.

But he quickly realised the extent to which local mollusc populations had declined.

"My expectation was to find a Mediterranean ecosystem with these 'newcomers'," he told AFP.

"However, after the first dive, I immediately realised that the problem was another one: the lack of the native Mediterranean species, even the most common ones that you would find everywhere in the Mediterranean."

- Local 'eradication of species' -

Albano and his colleagues compared mollusc populations identified from more than 100 seabed samples with historical records, finding that only 12 percent of the mollusks historically present in shallow sediment were still there.

On rocky reefs, that figure stood at just five percent.

The team also estimated that 60 percent of the remaining mollusc populations studied do not reach reproductive size, rendering the region a "demographic sink" for some species.

Albano said that while other factors could be playing a role in these population collapses, not least the impact of non-native species and pollution, the overall trend was likely caused by warming seas.

"Tolerance to temperature is what really matters here and most of the native Mediterranean species are in the easternmost Mediterranean Sea at the limits of their tolerance to temperature," he said.

In contrast to local molluscs, populations of tropical species entering the Mediterranean through the Suez Canal were thriving.

This species turnover is causing the onset of a "novel ecosystem", the authors said, and the massive loss of native species is likely too significant to rectify.

Albano said the Eastern Mediterranean was "paradigmatic of what is happening in marine ecosystems due to global warming: species respond to warming by shifting their ranges and in some areas this means local eradication of species."

© 2021 AFP

French baker on hunger strike to protest deportation order FOR HIS APPRENTICE

Issued on: 06/01/2020

French baker Stephane Ravacley says he hasn't eaten since Sunday. 

SEBASTIEN BOZON AFP

Besançon (France) (AFP)

Vowing not to be tempted by his own baguettes or cakes, a French baker has begun a hunger strike in eastern France to protest the planned deportation of his young Guinean apprentice.

Despite the constant temptations found in his "Huche a Pain" bakery in the town of Besancon, Stephane Ravacley says he has not eaten since midnight on Sunday and will continue in order to fight for his employee.

"My doctor tells me I'm in a fragile state, but I don't care. I know I'm right," the 50-year-old told AFP, adding that he has a history of blood circulation problems in his lungs.

Ravacley has spent more than a year training his apprentice -- "a good kid" -- whom he took on as a teenager in September 2019 after he had arrived in France as an unaccompanied minor.

But having recently turned 18, the young Guinean has been informed he faces being sent back to his homeland in West Africa.

The mayor of Besancon, Anne Vignot, has written to Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin asking for clemency, saying in her letter that "the desire to expel this future baker is incomprehensible".

His appeal against the deportation order will be heard on January 26 at a court in Besancon.

In 2019, France deported around 24,000 people. Around 140,000 people were given refugee status, including 5,000 from Guinea, while 113,000 foreigners gained French nationality, according to figures from the French interior ministry.

© 2021 AFP

Why do the latest mass arrests in Hong Kong matter?

BECAUSE THEY ARE REACTIONARY ATTACKS ON THE GAINS OF THE BOURGEOIS REVOLUTION

Issued on: 06/01/2021 - 12:38

Hong Kong police carried out mass arrests of opposition figures on Wednesday for subversion under the new security law Peter PARKS AFP

Hong Kong (AFP)

China has moved to crush Hong Kong's democracy movement in recent months but Wednesday's mass arrest of democracy figures for subversion under Beijing's new national security law was particularly momentous.

Here's why.

What's so significant about this operation?

The most eye-catching element is the scale of the crackdown and the variety of figures caught in the dragnet.

Prior to Wednesday, around 30 people had been arrested under the new security law since its imposition in late June last year.

That figure was eclipsed in a single day with 53 simultaneous arrests carried out by more than 1,000 officers.

The list of those rounded up is a who's who of the democratic opposition, from elderly veterans and youth activists, to lawyers, academics and social workers.

In a first, it also includes an American national.

Bail is not usually granted for those charged with security crimes and offences can carry up to life in prison.

What is subversion?

Subversion is one of the four new crimes outlawed by the security law.

The others are secession, terrorism and colluding with foreign forces.

Beijing says the law is needed to return stability to Hong Kong after huge democracy protests in 2019 and says other countries also have similar security laws.

But few contain the kind of catch-all wording China uses.

The definition of subversion, for example, includes any attempt to "seriously interfere in or disrupt" the government.

Wednesday's arrests reveal Hong Kong authorities have decided that an unofficial primary election organised last year by pro-democracy groups was subversion and therefore a national security crime.

Why would a primary be a security crime?

A primary is a process in which voters cast ballots for their preferred candidates to compete in a future election.

In 2020, Hong Kong's pro-democracy coalition groups held an unofficial primary to choose their candidates for upcoming legislative elections.

The 70-seat body is only half directly elected, a system that all but guarantees pro-government control.

But democracy supporters had been hoping to take all 35 electable seats by capitalising on swirling anger towards the city's pro-Beijing leaders after the protests of 2019.

After that, they could try to block legislation or even force a vote of no confidence in Chief Executive Carrie Lam.

In the end, the election was postponed for a year with authorities blaming the coronavirus.

But Beijing decided the campaign was nonetheless subversion.

What's the reaction been so far?

Hong Kong and Beijing have defended the move.

The city's security minister, John Lee, said those arrested were trying to "sink Hong Kong into an abyss".

Beijing's Liaison Office said those facing prosecution "strategically organised or implemented a plan to paralyse the government".

Opposition figures are horrified.

They say the subversion charges prove that virtually any opposition to government policy is now deemed a security crime.

"Trying to stand in an election, publishing your political ideals, organising public gatherings and expressing your preference in an unofficial primary survey are all considered attempts to 'subvert the state's power'," the Hong Kong Democracy Council, a body largely made up of overseas exiles, said in a statement.

Amnesty International said the arrests "illustrate how the broad scope of the law allows it to be applied in circumstances that do not qualify as genuine threats to national security."

Hong Kong is a major international business hub.

So far most business organisations have stayed quiet about the crackdown, fearful of incurring Beijing's wrath.

Kristian Odebjer, chair of the Swedish Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong, was a rare exception Wednesday.

"HK political crackdown is having a significant negative impact on business," he wrote on Twitter.

"Legitimate questions about rule of law raised and as HK image deteriorates, it becomes more and more difficult to defend why you should maintain costly operations here."

© 2021 AFP

Hazara Shiites refuse to bury dead as Pakistan protest continues

Issued on: 06/01/2021 - 

Shiite Muslims carry placards during a protest against the killing of Hazara miners claimed by the Islamic State group Rizwan TABASSUM AFP

Quetta (Pakistan) (AFP)

Hundreds of mourners in Pakistan protested Wednesday for a fourth day alongside the bodies of miners killed in a brutal attack claimed by the Islamic State group, as officials urged them to bury their dead.

Up to 2,500 people from the minority Shiite Hazara community have since Sunday blocked a road on the outskirts of Quetta, capital of oil and gas-rich Balochistan province, demanding better protection.

There were also protests in the port city of Karachi.

Ten miners were kidnapped by gunmen from a remote colliery before being taken to nearby hills where most were shot dead.

Some were beheaded, said officials who did not want to be named.

The community's refusal to bury the bodies is symbolic in Muslim-majority Pakistan, where according to Islamic culture people should be buried within 24 hours, before the next sunset.

"This is systematic ethnic cleansing of Hazaras in Balochistan and our security forces are behaving like lame ducks, doing nothing," said Zainab Ahman, an activist among the mourners.

Ethnic Hazaras make up most of the Shiite population in Quetta, the capital of Balochistan -- the country's largest and poorest region, rife with ethnic, sectarian and separatist insurgencies. 

IT SHOULD BE AN AUTONOMOUS COUNTRY WHICH PAKISTAN WILL NOT ALLOW

Their Central Asian features make them easy targets for Sunni militants who consider them heretics.

Two ministers, representing Prime Minister Imran Khan, flew to Quetta on Wednesday to try to convince the mourners to end the protest.

Khan tweeted that the government was taking steps to prevent such attacks, but gave no details.

"Please bury your loved ones so their souls find peace," he added.

Two of the miners were Afghans and their bodies returned home for burial, a local security official told AFP.

The attack was claimed by Sunni extremist group IS, according to SITE Intelligence, which monitors jihadist activities worldwide.

IS is affiliated with the local militant group Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, which itself had links to Pakistan's Taliban.

Pakistani officials have long denied the presence of IS in the country, but the group has claimed a number of attacks including a bombing at a vegetable market in 2019.

© 2021 AFP

SEE

LA REVUE GAUCHE - Left Comment: Search results for Balochistan (plawiuk.blogspot.com)

Rival teams race to be first for winter summit of 'savage mountain' K2
Issued on: 06/01/2021 -

Since the first attempt in 1987-1988, only a handful of winter expeditions have been made on K2  NONE OF THEM SUCCESFUL AT REACHING THE TOP

AMELIE HERENSTEIN AFP/File

Islamabad (AFP)

Dozens of mountaineers have converged on Pakistan's mighty K2 peak, vying to conquer one of the world's last major climbing challenges -- reaching the summit in winter.

Four teams with around 60 climbers and sherpas between them have begun climbing the world's second-highest peak -- known as the "savage mountain" -- where winds can blow at more than 200 kilometres per hour (125 miles per hour) and temperatures drop to minus 60 degrees Celsius (minus 76 Fahrenheit).

Since the first attempt in 1987-1988, only a handful of winter expeditions have been made on the 8,611-metre (28,250-feet) mountain in the Karakoram massif on the Chinese border. None of them have got above 7,650 metres.

Even in summer, almost one in six climbers who attempt the summit die, and since the first success in 1954 only 450 people have managed it -- compared to more than 6,000 who have scaled Mount Everest.

Lockdowns and travel bans sparked by the coronavirus outbreak mean the summer climbing season last year was a washout in Pakistan and other popular climbing destinations in the region, such as Nepal.

"People had plans for the year but they couldn't go anywhere," said Dutch mountaineer Arnold Coster, who is helping to lead one of the expeditions.

"So we've been kind of jobless for a year and now lots of people want to do something," he told AFP.

Although Pakistan is still battling more than 2,000 fresh coronavirus cases a day, the country has reopened.

Throughout December, the teams flew into the northern town of Skardu and trekked over the Baltoro Glacier to reach base camp, from where they will begin the ascent -- an expedition that could take up to two and a half months in total depending on the weather.

- Egos and avalanches -

K2 is set amongst some of the most breathtaking landscapes the world has to offer -- and some of the most dangerous.

"Multiple factors must fall in line for anyone to have a chance of summiting," said climbing coach Alan Arnette, who points to altitude sickness, avalanches and landslides -- as well as egos -- as potential pitfalls.

Coster's expedition, organised by Nepalese company Seven Summit Treks, stands out with its supersize team of around 20 clients of varying experience and around 30 support staff.

Together, they will have to accommodate differing ambitions, including those who do not want the help of sherpas or oxygen.

"We have a lot of different people with different ideas. For us, as leaders, it's difficult to manage. But from a manpower point of view, if people work together, we have a bigger chance," said Coster.

Climbers spend days going up and down attaching ropes to the mountain to help them reach the top and also acclimatise to the thinning air -- particularly tiring work for small groups.

One trekker has already been airlifted from base camp because of a pre-existing health condition, the company said.

- Concerns of crowding -

Mingma Gyalje has climbed 13 of the highest peaks but failed to reach the K2 summit last winter.

This year he is heading an all-Nepalese team of three experienced sherpas.

Gyalje is a contender to summit this time, better prepared for the cold after his harsh lesson last year -- but concerned about sharing a crowded mountainside with other teams.

"I don't feel like it's a good sign having so many people, too many clients," he told AFP.

"It puts pressure on the staff. Because there are people in the team who don’t want to go back without reaching the summit."

Many mountaineers shared the same concerns, fearing some of the climbers are not sufficiently prepared.

Of the other two expeditions, one is led by Nirmal Purja, a star Nepalese climber and former British special forces serviceman who has set his team of six apart with a plan to paraglide off the summit.

In 2019, Purja scaled all fourteen of the world’s 8,000-metre mountains in six months and six days -- however, that was in the summer.

The fourth team is an Icelandic-Pakistani pairing of three.

With so many people on K2 this winter, the chances are good that at least one person will reach the top, said Arnette, the climbing coach.

"However, almost everything must go practically perfect," he said.

"And that rarely happens on an 8,000-metre peak, much less on K2."

© 2021 AFP

WHO virus mission to China in disarray 

as entry denied


Issued on: 06/01/2021 
The WHO team was set to try and track down how the virus first appeared in Wuhan, China NOEL CELIS AFP/File
3 min
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Geneva (AFP)

An expert mission to China to find the origins of the coronavirus pandemic stumbled before it even began, with the head of the World Health Organization complaining that Beijing was blocking the team from entering the country.

WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said he was "very disappointed" with the last-minute bar on entry, in a rare castigation of Beijing from the UN body.

A 10-strong team was due to arrive in China this week after months of painstaking negotiations.

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Beijing is determined to control the origin story of the virus, which has killed more than 1.8 million people so far and laid waste to global economies.

The first cases of the coronavirus were recorded in the central Chinese city of Wuhan in late 2019, prompting accusations of chaotic, secretive handling by Chinese authorities which led to its spread beyond China.

US President Donald Trump called the pandemic the "China virus".

But Beijing has so far resisted pressure for a full independent probe into the early days of the outbreak. Instead, it has seeded doubt as to whether the pandemic even started inside its borders.

The WHO mission was billed as a way to cut through the rancour and seek clear answers on how the virus jumped from animals to humans.

But with some of the team already in transit, Beijing had yet to grant them entry, the WHO chief said.

"Today, we learned that Chinese officials have not yet finalised the necessary permissions for the team's arrivals in China," Tedros told reporters on Tuesday.

"I am very disappointed with this news, given that two members had already begun their journeys and others were not able to travel at the last minute."

He stressed that he had been in contact with senior Chinese officials to make clear "that the mission is a priority for WHO and the international team".

"I have been assured that China is speeding up the internal procedure for the earliest possible deployment," Tedros added.

The mission was hugely sensitive and neither the WHO nor China had until now confirmed when specifically it was due to start.

WHO emergencies director Michael Ryan told Tuesday's briefing that the problem was a lack of visa clearances.

"We trust and we hope that this is just a (logistical) and bureaucratic issue that can be resolved very quickly."

There was no immediate comment from China.

- 'Critical' mission -

"We were all operating on the on the understanding that the team would begin deployment today," he said, adding that two members of the team coming from far away had set off early Tuesday, before it became clear that the necessary approvals had not been received.

He stressed the "absolute critical nature" of the mission, acknowledging that the situation was "frustrating and... disappointing".

The origins of Covid-19 remain bitterly contested, lost in a fog of recriminations and conjecture from the international community -- as well as obfuscation from Chinese authorities determined to keep control of the virus narrative.

Scientists initially believed the virus jumped to humans at a market selling exotic animals for meat in the city of Wuhan.

But experts now think the market may not have been the origin of the outbreak, but rather a place where it was amplified.

It is widely assumed that the virus originally came from bats, but the intermediate animal host that transmitted it between bats and humans remains unknown.

burs-apj/qan

© 2021 AFP

Women cultivate a new voice in Indian farm protests

Issued on: 06/01/2021 - 

Although India's rural communities are traditionally male-dominated, women have played an active role in the recent farmer protests Sajjad HUSSAIN AFP

Kundli (India) (AFP)

India's rural landscape is notoriously male-dominated, but thousands of women have become a pillar of the farmer protests blocking roads into New Delhi that have become a huge challenge to the government.

Women of all occupations and ages -- from those who tend cattle or toil in the fields, to city professionals and grandmothers in wheelchairs -- are braving the freezing winter temperatures in a bid to make the government withdraw market reforms.

"I am fighting for my children and my grandchildren," said Parminder Kaur, 40, who chants slogans at rallies during the day, then in the evening helps make chapati flatbread and curry to feed the tens of thousands of protesters.

Women have traditionally been the silent backbone of Indian agriculture -- working the land without the influence that goes with it. Repeat studies have shown how they suffer from poverty, discrimination and domestic violence.

About 85 percent of women in rural areas have some kind of agricultural activity, yet only 13 percent own land, according to anti-poverty activist group Oxfam.

But Kaur was visibly proud at the way women were "walking shoulder-to-shoulder" with men to defend rural welfare.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been forced onto the back foot over three laws which allow farmers to sell their produce on the free market, after decades of channelling their wheat and rice through state-run markets with a guaranteed minimum price.

Modi insists the reforms will attract badly needed investment to a sector which employs about two-thirds of India's 1.3 billion population, but only contributes about 15 percent to its economy.

However, farmer leaders say the changes will lead to a takeover of the agriculture business by Indian conglomerates.

Kaur's family has two acres (about 8,000 square metres) of land where they grow wheat.

"This land is everything for us, it is like our mother," she said.

"They want to snatch our mother away from us, how can we allow this?"

- 'Tension and violence' fears -

Ranjana Kumari, who heads the Centre for Social Research, a Delhi-based non-profit group, said that while women do not own the land, they fear a cut in revenue will badly hit their households.

"When the family income falls, it affects women's health and wellbeing the most. Less income also means more tension and violence at the hands of men.

"That is why they are angry and vocal about these laws."

The women's active participation in the protests has been appreciated by the leaders.

Rana Bhatti, who is from a farming family in Haryana state, said the protests were a way for women to show their strength.

"I feel the time has come for us to take to the frontlines and steer the challenge against this arrogant government," said Bhatti as she led a group of women holding flags and placards. One read: "No farmers, no food, no future."

Kumari said that women are more politically aware than ever before, a trend that Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party has seized upon and credited with helping it to two landslide election wins.

"Looking at the way the women are joining these protests, it makes a statement about their aspirations and the need to be heard. They are saying we won't take things lying down."

The farmers' cause has drawn an urban contingent of female supporters too.

Dressed casually in jeans and a shawl, Jassi Sangha, 33, is an artist and filmmaker who has been at the protest since it started.

She helps bring out a bi-weekly newspaper for the farmers and organises education for children in the camp.

Sangha said she was drawn by the protest as soon as she heard about it: "I left my work and came, we have to fight or we are done."

The farmers' rudimentary camps have been blocking key highways since November 26, and the government has appealed to the protesters to send women, children and the elderly back home, as India endures one of the coldest winters in three decades.

But Kaur, who has two children, said she is staying "for the long haul".

"At least we can proudly tell future generations that we raised our voice."

© 2021 AFP