New Zealand flood recovery estimated to take 'years'

Issued on: 19/08/2022 - 

Several streets in the city of Nelson were flooded after the Maitai river burst its banks 

Sara HOLLYMAN ANDREW APP/AFP

Nelson (New Zealand) (AFP) – A New Zealand city devastated by flooding will take years to recover, the mayor said on Friday, as hundreds more homes were evacuated.

The Pacific nation has been lashed by wild weather with the Nelson-Tasman district on the South Island bearing the brunt after 75 centimetres (29 inches) of rain reportedly fell over three days.

Several streets in the city of Nelson were flooded after the local river, the Maitai, burst its banks.

Nelson Mayor Rachel Reese said the damage to roads and the city's infrastructure will "take years, not months" to repair.

She added that it was "critical" Nelson's residents conserve water as the city's supply was disrupted by a landslide that damaged the main line from the local reservoir.

On a visit to witness the damage, New Zealand's Minister for Emergency Management Kieran McAnulty pledged $200,000 ($125,000) of aid and confirmed more than 400 homes have now been evacuated in Nelson, where a state of emergency remains in place.

He added that flooding and landslides have made 60 homes potentially uninhabitable.

McAnulty told reporters one of the most striking things he saw was a street on a housing development "where the road had just been washed out, (leaving) a crater deeper than I am tall".

Nelson resident Paul Maskell said a neighbour alerted him to the rising water on his street.

"By the time I got back, it was a foot deep in water with boulders running down the road. It was surreal," he told the New Zealand Herald.

An elderly resident recovering after an operation had to be winched to safety by firefighters late Thursday night, after his home was threatened by flooding.

New Zealand's South Island was bracing for another lashing of heavy rain, but other regions did not escape the extreme weather.

The nearby city of New Plymouth endured it's wettest August day since records began with 10 centimetres falling in 12 hours.

"More than a metre of rain has fallen causing significant flows down all rivers," said Taranaki Civil Defence controller Todd Velvin with flooding, road closures and fallen trees creating problems.

Kaitaia, a town near the top of North Island, was cut off by flooding and landslides, and around 400 homes were left without power in the far north.

Experts say climate change driven by human activity is boosting the intensity and frequency of extreme weather events, such as heatwaves, droughts and flooding.

Daniel Kingston, senior geography lecturer at the University of Otago, attributed the heavy rain to an "atmospheric river" -- a narrow band of water vapour high in the atmosphere over New Zealand.

"It's safe to say that with respect to the influence of climate change, it is more than likely playing a role," Kingston told AFP.

© 2022 AFP

The Dieppe Raid: ‘Canada’s single bloodiest day’ of World War II, 80 years on

Bodies lie between British and Canadian tanks stationed on the beach at Dieppe, France, on August 19, 1942, following a failed Allied landing operation. The tanks were disabled and left so the evacuation of troops could be swiftly carried out. © AP

Text by: Mariamne EVERETT

Issued on: 19/08/2022 - 

Canada is one of many overlooked Allied countries that helped turn the tide of World War II from the autumn of 1942 onwards. Although the Canadian-led Dieppe Raid of that year ultimately failed, the Allies reaped important lessons that later helped to ensure the success of the Normandy D-Day landings. FRANCE 24 looks back at the Dieppe Raid, 80 years later.


On August 19, 1942, the Dieppe Raid or Operation Jubilee, as it was codenamed, was launched as Stalin believed that the Western allies were not carrying their fair share of the burden of the war and so demanded that a second front be opened to draw German forces away from Russia. The US, which had just recently joined the war following the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbour on December 7, 1941, also thought it best to launch and expedite a direct attack on mainland Europe. The British high command, particularly Prime Minister Winston Churchill, was acutely aware of these political pressures. The Dieppe Raid occurred under the auspices of the Combined Operations Headquarters (COHQ), which was responsible for conducting British raiding operations. The COHQ’s objective was to try to capture a port during this raid, hold it for a short period of time and then withdraw quickly.

The major contingent in the raid was composed of soldiers from Canada’s 2nd Infantry Division. Originally, COHQ planners had wanted the British Marine Division to carry out the raid, but political pressure from Canadians at home and several senior Canadian officers in Britain (particularly Lieutenant General Harry Crerar) resulted in the job being offered to Canada. This pressure arose from a belief that the Canadian army stationed in Britain was not playing an active role in winning the war, despite the fact that this army was being purposefully preserved so that it could play a major role in the ultimate Allied invasion of France. Canada would eventually play a crucial part on D-Day as it was assigned one of the five landing beaches.

Canada’s role in World War II is not generally well known in Western Europe or even by its Allies, the British and Americans. This is despite the fact that Canada declared war on Germany on September 10, 1939, just a week after Britain and far earlier than the US, as an independent nation, rather than as a member of the Commonwealth. Moreover, not only did it have the third-largest Western Allied army, with more than 150,000 soldiers as part of the First Canadian Army, it was the only army during World War II serving overseas that consisted entirely of volunteers. Only in the final days of the war were a handful of soldiers conscripted and saw combat. Canada also had the third-largest air force and navy by the end of the war.

To take a closer look at the Dieppe Raid, FRANCE 24 spoke to Canadian military historian Mark Zuehlke, who described it as “Canada’s single bloodiest day of the war.” He explains that he wrote the book "Tragedy at Dieppe" to “remember and honour those Canadians who fought and died there, who were badly wounded, or spent the rest of the war in captivity, and even those fewer numbers of soldiers who survived the raid and continued to serve their country in other battles of World War II.”

ADVERTISING


FRANCE 24: Why was Dieppe, a fishing port on the Normandy coast of northern France, chosen as the location for this raid?

Dieppe was selected due to its proximity [to the UK and in relation to mainland Europe]. It was the only French port close enough to Britain that Allied air forces could provide continuous coverage for the duration of the raid in sufficient strength to disrupt inevitable Luftwaffe efforts to strike the raiding ships. Beyond that, Dieppe had no strategic value. It was a minor port of limited use to the German navy.

Planning of the raid was extensive, but also fatally flawed. The beaches were unsuitable for landing tanks and major forces due to their cobbled nature. German defences were thought to be less than they were and the quality of the German soldiers underestimated. Ultimately the raiders barely got off the beaches and the casualties suffered rendered it the most tragic and bloodiest day for Canada of World War II – 913 Canadians died, 1,946 were taken prisoner. The raid achieved nothing of true worth.

Can you explain the role that the Free French forces played in the raid?

The Free French role in the raid was somewhat limited and confined to the involvement of Free French Commandos. Records are a little muddled on their involvement with some reports saying there were 15 French commandos involved and others say 20. They didn’t land on the beaches in front of Dieppe, but rather on the flanks where the British No. 3 and No. 4 Commandos landed with the mission of eliminating German gun batteries that could fire upon the beach facing Dieppe. Their primary role was to serve as guides and translators during the raid. Had the raid proved more successful, they would have also been tasked with picking up some 14 French resistance figures with the idea of gaining intelligence from them back in the UK. These commandos were the first Free French to fight on native soil since the nation’s surrender in 1940.

Curiously, the Combined Operations Headquarters planners did not make much effort to draw on local French knowledge of German strength, defences, or even the nature of the beaches on which the raiders were going to land.

What was the significance of the Dieppe Raid within the greater context of World War II? Can you explain why and how it helped the Allies ensure that D-Day would be a success?

The Dieppe raid did not achieve much of real importance to the overall war effort. What we can say is not so much what was learned that helped make Normandy a success but rather what was learned about what not to repeat. Dieppe proved that trying to capture a port facility with a frontal assault was doomed to fail. Hence the decision to land on the beaches of Normandy quite distant from any port facility. Caen was not far away, but its value was relatively limited. Instead, the Allies brought their own floating ports called Mulberries. The remains of some of these can be found at Arromanches where they were deployed.

The failure to adequately research the beaches at Dieppe for their suitability for amphibious landing operations was not lost on the Normandy planners. Extensive study of the beaches was undertaken, as was study of the German defences. There were no real surprises for the Allies when they attacked the beaches on June 6, 1944. Dieppe had been inadequately supported by naval and air force elements. Naval support was limited to a few small destroyers and the Allied air force engaged in what was the largest air battle fought on the Western Front. For Normandy the naval forces were powerful, consisting of battleships, heavy cruisers, multiple destroyers and other ships. Well before the invasion, the Allied air force won virtually total control of the skies overhead and well inland to hamper the German army from reinforcing the beaches or even defending them.

How did Canada help turn the tide of the war from the fall of 1942 onwards?

The Canadian army, navy and air force played a vital role in bringing about the ultimate victory in 1945. The entire country was also economically and socially dedicated to winning the war. One of the five Normandy invasion beaches (Juno) was given to Canada. From Juno Beach, the Canadians marched up the left flank of the Allied advance—liberating such French cities as Le Havre, Dieppe (the 2nd Division was given this honour), Dunkirk, Calais, and Boulogne. They also liberated Rouen and many other small villages and towns. A good number of these communities have memorials and plaques honouring the Canadian forces who brought freedom to their citizens. From France they continued that left flank advance through Belgium, up through the Netherlands (where Canadians are fondly remembered for relieving the Dutch from starvation suffered during the 1944-1945 Hunger Winter), and were pushing into western Germany when the war ended. A large Canadian contingent also fought from July 1943 through February 1945 in Italy—advancing from Sicily through to just north of Ravenna before being transferred to Northwestern Europe to join the First Canadian Army in liberating the Netherlands.

In all, 1.086 million Canadians served in World War II and 42,042 of these died. Most are buried in Commonwealth War Grave Cemeteries spread across the battlefronts where they fought in Europe. There is such a cemetery outside Dieppe. I think the French in the area of Dieppe, and to some extent through most of Normandy where the Canadians fought up to and including their advance into Belgium on the coast, have some sense of the role Canadian troops played in winning their freedom from German tyranny. But collective memory is a fragile thing and requires each generation ensuring that the generation after them are educated about the events of World War II, and the role Canada played in that great conflict that indelibly changed our world (particularly Europe) forever.

Shanghai court jails Chinese-Canadian tycoon Xiao Jianhua for 13 years

Issued on: 19/08/2022 - 

Shanghai (AFP) – A Shanghai court said Friday it has sentenced Chinese-Canadian tycoon Xiao Jianhua to 13 years in prison for financial crimes.

Xiao, one of China's richest people when he was allegedly abducted from a Hong Kong hotel in 2017, reportedly had close connections to the upper echelons of the ruling Communist Party.

There had been no official word about Xiao -- who is a Canadian citizen -- until Ottawa confirmed in July that he was facing trial.

Xiao was found guilty of "illegally absorbing public deposits... (and) illegal use of funds", the Shanghai No. 1 Intermediate People's Court said in a statement.

The Canadian embassy had said in July that its diplomats were denied access to the trial.

Local media in Hong Kong had reported at the time of Xiao's disappearance that he was snatched by mainland Chinese agents -- fuelling fear over Beijing's tightening influence in the financial hub.

Those fears were at the heart of massive pro-democracy protests that shook Hong Kong in 2019, prompted by a government bill that would have allowed extraditions to mainland China's opaque, party-controlled judicial system.

According to the Hurun Report, which ranks China's wealthiest people, Xiao was worth almost $6 billion in 2017.

He had reportedly denied allegations that he fled to Hong Kong in 2014 to escape a corruption crackdown in China.

Xiao is said to have acted as a broker for the Chinese leadership, including for President Xi Jinping's family.

"After five years of quietly waiting, our family is still, based on my brother's strict instructions, putting faith in the Chinese government and Chinese law," Xiao's elder brother Xinhua told The Wall Street Journal in June this year.

"It's very complicated and full of drama," he said of the case, according to the WSJ.

The years after Xiao's disappearance have been marked by plummeting relations between China and Canada, sparked by the arrest in Vancouver of Meng Wanzhou -- the chief financial officer of telecoms giant Huawei -- at the request of the United States.

Following Meng's arrest, Beijing detained two Canadians in China and targeted Canadian agricultural exports.

All three were released in September 2021 after Meng reached a deal with US prosecutors on fraud charges, ending her fight against extradition to the United States.

Since then there have been hopes of a thaw in diplomatic relations, with Beijing lifting a ban on Canadian canola imports earlier this year.

© 2022 AFP

Strikes halt London's transport network as inflation affects wages


Issued on: 19/08/2022 - 

01:27 London Underground trains sit in their depot as union members strike over jobs, pay and pensions on August 19, 2022. © Frank Augstein, AP

Text by:NEWS WIRES|
Video by:Alison SARGENT


London's transport network ground to a halt on Friday as train and bus workers held strikes over pay and conditions, the latest in a summer of labour market disputes as double-digit inflation eats into wages.

All London Underground and Overground train lines were suspended or part suspended and dozens of bus routes in the west of the city were disrupted, Transport for London (TfL) said.

Tens of thousands of workers from the wider national rail network walked out on Thursday and will do so again on Saturday.

Commuters across the country have already endured disruption from rail strikes this year, organised by unions demanding pay and conditions for their members that better reflect the soaring cost of living caused by energy price-driven inflation.

Data showed inflation at 10.1% in July, the highest since February 1982, as rising energy costs resulting from Russia's invasion of Ukraine hit consumers directly through their household bills, and indirectly through rising food prices.

That has led to a standoff between firms, who say rising costs and falling demand limit their room to negotiate, unions who say their workers cannot afford to live and the government, which is worried that big wage increases may fuel inflation.

"We don't want to be in a 1970s vicious circle where you end up with salaries increasing, inflation increasing and so on and so forth. You never get out of this," Transport Secretary Grant Shapps told the BBC.

The RMT said the underground strike was in response to a lack of assurances about jobs and pensions from TfL. In a letter to Shapps, the union accused him of waging ideological war against rail workers.

TfL is itself in prolonged negotiations with the government after the expiration of an emergency state funding deal, in part necessitated by a post-pandemic fall in passengers.

Workers in other British industries are also planning future strikes or moving towards industrial action. These include port workers, lawyers, teachers, nurses, firefighters, and waste collection, airport and postal staff.

(REUTERS)

Grisly alligator cannibalism witnessed by woman paddling through Florida state park

Mark Price
Wed, August 17, 2022 

Sounds of violent splashing in Florida’s Silver Springs State Park led a woman on a paddleboard to discover a very large alligator was in the process of eating one of its own.

Tammy Shaw shared images and video of the grisly moment on the Alligators of Florida Facebook group, showing the large alligator was slapping its prey against the water — to rip its meal into bite-sized pieces.

It happened around 3:30 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 4, and Shaw says she was at first unsure of what the alligator had in its mouth.

Then she saw the alligator slowly rise out of the water and begin slinging the carcass around like a rag doll.

“Kind of intense, but super cool to witness,” Shaw said.

“My (inflatable) paddleboard is 11 feet and he was close to that (in size) if not longer. The gator he was eating would have been 5 to 7 feet. The video cut short because I felt a little too close for comfort after he slammed it down.”

Silver Springs State Park is known to be home to “many” alligators, and they thrive in the water and on banks of the Silver River, according to The Florida Guidebook. The park is about 85 miles northwest of Orlando.

Shaw is a frequent visitor and says gators at the park “just do their own thing and are not really looking for trouble.”

It’s not clear how the smaller gator came to be prey, but Shaw’s video shows its head was missing.

Video shows the alligator was trying to break its prey into bite-sized pieces.

Cannibalism isn’t uncommon for gators, including elder alligators eating the young. One study found “6 percent to 7 percent of young alligators fall victim to the cruel fate of cannibalism,” Live Science reports.

Another Facebook video shared Aug. 6 by Kayla Green appears to show the same alligator — named “Big Head Fred” — resorted to slapping the dead gator against the muddy river bank to soften it up.

Shaw’s post has gotten hundreds of reactions, with many perplexed as to what drove the older alligator to “snack” on another gator. Some guessed it was intense hunger, while others suspected a territorial dispute.

Many agreed Shaw was brave to linger long enough to record the video.

“That’s the most prehistoric thing I’ve ever seen,” one person wrote on Facebook.

“If King Kong and Godzilla had a baby, I think it would act something like that,” another posted.

“He doesn’t care what it is at that point: Fish, gator or human,” someone said.

“This is precisely why I love my little chlorinated body of water. It’s not fancy, but I have no gator MMA happening in there,” a user wrote.

American alligators are native to all 67 counties in Florida and “can be found anywhere there is standing water,” the state reports.

Crappy chargers and sky-high prices are huge roadblocks to EV adoption



Harri Weber
Wed, August 17, 2022 at 5:43 PM·2 min read

In the U.S., most electric vehicle owners say that public chargers are easy to use. That is, when they actually work.

A new J.D. Power survey finds that, while public charging stations are a tad easier to come by these days, faulty chargers are souring the experience and hampering EV adoption. That's no good, because the planet is only getting hotter and EVs are expected to play a key role in reducing greenhouse gas emissions in the transportation sector.

Out of 11,554 owners of battery electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles who were surveyed by J.D. Power, one in five said they "ended up not charging their vehicle during their visit," the report said. And of the drivers who did not charge, "72% indicated that it was due to the station malfunctioning or being out of service." The findings echo a smaller UC Berkeley study that made headlines earlier this year.

Beyond defective chargers, the survey looked into several other factors, such as price and "ease of payment."

Overall, J.D. Power found that EV owners in the U.S. are less satisfied with public level 2 chargers in 2022 than they were last year. Using a 1,000-point scale, EV drivers gave level 2 stations an average score of 633, down from 643 in 2021. Level 2 chargers can fill up a battery-electric vehicle in as little as four hours, far outpacing a standard residential outlet (40-plus hours).

In contrast, the J.D. Power study found that satisfaction with Level 3 chargers — also known as DC fast chargers — had remained flat year over year, at an average score of 674. Level 3 chargers can fill an EV's battery level to 80% in as little as 20 minutes, but they're a lot rarer.

As for price, the survey found that charging costs had weighed down driver satisfaction scores across the board. Belying that point, a separate survey of 2,040 U.S. adults (paid for by EV financing company Tenet) found that a staggering "81% believe buying electric is too expensive."

Among EV charging companies, Tesla led the pack in J.D. Power's survey as the most-liked station operator, while EVgo and Blink brought up the rear.

EV charging sucks because it hasn’t found the right business model

EV drivers aren't happy with public chargers, new survey says. Neither am I


Mark Phelan, Detroit Free Press
Wed, August 17, 2022 

A bank of electric vehicle charging stations at a Meijer parking lot in Roseville on Monday, April 4, 2022.

Electric vehicles are getting better, but commercial charging stations aren’t.

That’s the verdict of a new survey by J.D. Power, overwhelmingly supported by issues I’ve recently encountered trying to charge two impressive new EVs at commercial DC Fast charging stations.

Just this month, I’ve had a charger stop working long before the battery was full, and I've been double-billed for a single charge. When was the last time anything like that happened to you at the gas pump?

“What if one of every four times you went to the gas station, the pumps weren’t working?” asked Mark LaNeve, president of Charge Enterprises, which installs and maintains charging stations. “That’s totally unacceptable.”

Data from the J.D. Power 2022 U.S. Electric Vehicle Experience – Public Charging Satisfaction Study. This data is the Overall Customer Satisfaction Index Ranking for the DC Fast Charger.

Unacceptable, but typical, according to the survey, which quizzed 11,554 drivers about charging EVs at public stations — both Level 2 and DC Fast Charger — in the first half of 2022.

“The current state of public charging really isn’t very good,” said Brent Gruber, J.D. Power executive director of global automotive and managing director of electric vehicle experience.

The survey concluded: “The growth of EV sales during the past year has been remarkable but has added stress to an already beleaguered public vehicle charging infrastructure.”

It added: “In this growth spurt, owners … are finding the charging infrastructure inadequate and plagued with nonfunctioning stations.”

"Public" is a key word. Department of Energy research shows that more than 80% of EV charging happens at the owners’ home or work, where 240-volt, or Level 2, chargers, top up the batteries.

More: Everything you need to know about charging an EV

More: Cadillac's Lyriq EV answers some questions, leaves others open

From failure to charge to being overcharged

Charging while you work or sleep is easy and convenient. EV owners rave about the ability to start every day with a full battery.

Conversely, the inability to find equally convenient and reliable chargers on long trips, or if you unexpectedly need to charge in your home area, is among the most common reasons other drivers are hesitant or downright hostile to electric vehicles.

“Public charging continues to provide challenges to overall EV adoption and current EV owners alike,” Gruber said. “Not only is the availability of public charging still an obstacle, but EV owners continue to be faced with charging station equipment that is inoperable.” Public satisfaction with Level 2 chargers fell in the Power study, while the faster DC Fast charging was flat.

“Regardless of who’s in first place, satisfaction is not very high,” Gruber said.
Charging while shopping sounded good

In the last three weeks, I’ve had a charger — located in a Meijer parking lot — start, then quit moments after I walked across the parking lot into the grocery store, expecting the battery to be full when I returned. Instead of the 120-odd miles of range I expected, the charger gave me juice for about 10.

The charger, an EVgo 350kW DC Fast Charger that should be an EV owner’s best friend, packed it in again when I tried a couple of days later. It worked as advertised on my third attempt, delivering 31.3 kW in 29 minutes. I sat in the car the whole time this time, reading a novel I brought with me. Fool me twice, shame on you; fool me three times, I may not be able to drive home.

DC fast charging terminals are great, when they work.

So much for the convenience of shopping or getting coffee while my car charged. Not to mention that the smartphone app I used for the transaction crashed repeatedly on earlier attempts to charge.

Data from the J.D. Power 2022 U.S. Electric Vehicle Experience – Public Charging Satisfaction Study. This data is the Overall Customer Satisfaction Index Ranking for the Level 2 Charging Station.

Or that Electrify America, the biggest charging service, recently charged my credit card twice for a single charging session. Electrify America’s customer service promised to rectify the error, but has that ever happened to you at a Shell station?

These self-inflicted wounds could be fatal to EV adoption.

Because home charging is so prevalent, many EV owners' “first experience with DC Fast charging may be on the Thanksgiving visit to Grandma, which is not when they want to find out their car or its app led them to a charging station that's broken,” said journalist and EV analyst John Voelcker. "Carmakers and public funders need to be far more aggressive in requiring a set level of reliability — north of 95% regardless of reason — and ensuring it's independently monitored.”
And then there was Tesla

Tesla got this right years ago by building a nationwide network of chargers only its vehicles can use. They’re virtually flawless, scoring well above charging companies like Electrify America, EVgo, ChargePoint and Volta in the survey.

“Tesla has a huge advantage,” over other automakers, Gruber said.

It’s not even clear whether other automakers understand what a huge asset Tesla’s charging network is. None is inclined to create a network of proprietary chargers, but some have begun to address the issues.

Ford monitors charging stations, reports problems and removes consistently underperforming stations from those it recommends to owners.

General Motors is working with Pilot Flying J truck stops to build a network of chargers along interstate routes. EVgo — No. 4 in customer satisfaction in the DC Fast Charger category of the survey —will run the chargers, so keep your fingers crossed. Only Tesla's DC supercharging network came in above the segment average, evidence of how great the service gap is, and how much the EV automaker's Supercharger network dominates the industry.

Volkswagen was in the game early, funding Electrify America as part of it penance for deceiving regulators about diesel emissions.

Things charging companies should do, according to experts:

Fix chargers quickly when they malfunction.


More chargers. “People will sit for 20-30 minutes, not 1½ hours,” LaNeve said.


More locations, particularly on interstate highways and other long-haul routes.


Locate chargers in convenient, well-lighted and heavily trafficked places.


Give drivers something to do while charging: Offer a coffee shop, food or Wi-Fi. “The average DC charging session is 35 minutes. Drivers’ level of satisfaction for something to do is quite low,” Gruber said.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: J.D. Power survey finds EV drivers aren't happy with public chargers

'Why do we have to bend over backward?': Man lectures women for not speaking English in Canada in TikTok video



Ryan General
Tue, August 16, 2022 at 5:06 PM·2 min read

A woman captured the moment a man subjected a group of Asian women to racist remarks at a train station in Canada.

Donna Damaso uploaded the clip to TikTok on Sunday of a masked man berating two women for not speaking English during their conversation at the Brighouse station on the Richmond Canada Line. According to Damaso, the incident happened on Aug. 11.

“It was my first time encountering that kind of situation,” she told CTV News. “He is harassing the women so I decided to speak up and tell him it’s not right and he’s a racist.

@donnamlu “You’re in Canada you should speak English” “You move to Japan, you can speak Japanese” #racist #yvr #richmond #vancouver ♬ original sound - Donna Lu

In Damaso’s clip, the man can be heard lecturing the women to speak in English because they are in Canada. When Damaso approaches them and calls the man out for being a racist, he repeatedly denies being one. At one point, he claims be a lawyer.

According to the man, his "mother tongue is French," and he was "born, raised and educated here."

Damaso then tells the man that he didn't have "the right to tell people" what language they could speak.

Undeterred, the man shoots back: "If we have to bend over backward to accommodate, then that's a problem. Why do we have to bend over backwards? You move to Japan, you speak Japanese."

The man asks Damaso repeatedly why she doesn’t care about the women speaking another language as they try to walk away.

Damaso and the Asian women finally separate themselves from the man as they make their way up the escalator to the platform. The man can be seen in the clip in the distance going over to his bicycle.

More from NextShark: AAJC, Asian American Groups Are Documenting Racist and Xenophobic Attacks Because of Coronavirus

Damaso’s video has so far racked up over 366,000 views on TikTok and nearly 25,000 likes. Many of the comments commended Damaso for standing up to the man, while others berated the man for claiming he was a lawyer.

The incident brings to mind a similar racist tirade last year by a man who also claimed to be a lawyer and graduate from McGill.

CONTESTED SPACE

Mali: 'Africa's Afghanistan' sees France withdraw troops and terror groups run amok

Paul Tilsley
Thu, August 18, 2022

It is being called Africa’s Afghanistan, a land where militants linked to both al Qaeda and ISIS jihadists fester, reaping terror, death, displacement and despair. Named the world’s terrorism hotspot, a third of all terrorism-related deaths in 2021 spilled blood over this country’s dusty plains.

Some 2,700 have been killed in West Africa’s Mali in the first six months of this year, up 40% on last year. As the mayhem escalates in this region known as the Sahel, this week the last unilateral Western peacekeeping force was pulled – or was it pushed – out. Mali’s military junta is now letting Russia’s shadowy Wagner mercenary group reportedly run amok, with an ever-growing catalog of human rights abuses against Mali’s people.

"Is Mali Africa's Afghanistan?" Jasmine Opperman, a security consultant specializing in extremism and political violence, discussed with Fox News Digital. "Looking at its history, looking at the complexities of the driving forces, looking at international actors’ involvement aggravating the security situation and acting as a trigger mechanism for extremism, I think we can definitely conclude that based on the similarities, Mali can be considered as Africa's Afghanistan."

A protester holds a placard reading "France, gardener of terrorism" during a demonstration celebrating France's plans to withdraw troops from Mali, in Bamako, on Feb. 19, 2022. The last of the French troops left this week.

(Florent Vergnes/AFP via Getty Images)

AFRICA: THE NEW GROUND ZERO FOR JIHADI TERROR GROUPS, EXPERTS SAY


Former colonizing power France withdrew the last of its 5,100 peacekeeping troops this week, with the insults of an ungrateful Mali regime freshly ringing in its ears, saying France’s President Macron should "permanently abandon his neocolonial, paternalistic and patronizing posture to understand that no one can love Mali better than Malians," spokesman Col. Abdoulaye Maiga said on local TV.

Mali has turned to Russia for help, allowing Moscow’s Wagner PMC or private military company to do its dirty work: "Violence against civilians in Mali has increased significantly since the Wagner Group’s arrival in December 2021," Catrina Doxsee, associate director and associate fellow of the Transnational Threats Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, told Fox News Digital.

Doxsee added: "The military junta in Mali, which gained power through a coup in 2021, has prioritized its own power and self-preservation above stability or civilian well-being, and it likely views the Wagner Group’s presence primarily as a tool for 'coup-proofing.' Since Russia and its affiliated PMCs have little concern over human rights abuses, they are appealing partners for an illiberal regime like Mali’s junta."

BLINKEN FLIES INTO 'SUPERPOWER' BATTLEGROUND IN AFRICA

The Russians are far from discreet. As the final French troops flew out of the northern Gao airport this week, two cargo planes landed and reportedly Russian military teams openly unloaded weapons.

Mali is said to be the most dangerous assignment in the world for its 12,000-strong U.N. peacekeeping force. "Since its deployment in 2013, more than 250 peacekeepers have lost their lives, 159 of them in hostile incidents, including IED attacks," the spokesperson for the United Nations' Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission (MINUSMA) told Fox News from Bamako, Mali.

A U.N. armored vehicle that had been hit by an improvised explosive device

 is parked in the U.N. mission in Mali on Nov. 5, 2021.

 (Amaury Hauchard/AFP via Getty Images)

ISIS and al Qaeda relentlessly attack U.N. troops both out on patrol and back at their barracks. "The biggest threat remains the attacks by improvised explosive devices (IEDs) and mines against our convoys and patrols to protect civilians, especially in the northern and central parts of the country," the spokesperson said. "The mission camps have also become targets of terrorist armed groups using direct and indirect fire attacks against the U.N."

RUSSIA WAR WILL HAVE 'SHATTERING' EFFECT ON FOOD SHORTAGES IN AFRICA: 'YOU'RE GOING TO SEE GOVERNMENTS FALL'

MINUSMA’s own so-called explosive ordnance disposal teams search for and deactivate IEDs, but intelligence gathering is perhaps hampered in this deeply devious arena by a United Nations charter that prohibits clandestine intelligence work.

In a 2017 report on peacekeeping in Mali, Researchgate, a scientific research group, noted what it said was a clash of cultures between countries supplying their troops to the U.N.: "Marrying the Western and African capabilities turned out to be challenging due to incoherent procedures, systems, levels of experience as well as reporting mechanisms. In addition, information-sharing from classified NATO databases proved difficult", the report stated.

The Mali government doesn’t make it easy for the U.N. to help them. German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock accused the regime of having "torpedoed time and again" Berlin’s efforts.

Annalena Baerbock, Germany's foreign minister, talks to soldiers 

at Camp Castor in Gao, Mali, where the German military is involved in the U.N. mission. 

(Kay Nietfeld/picture alliance via Getty Images)

This week, Germany suspended most of its operations in Mali, after the government denied flyover rights for Germany’s U.N. aircraft. In the last few days, Egypt has suspended its participation in Mali after seven of its soldiers were killed, and the local regime is still holding 49 Ivory Coast U.N. troops who were arrested when they turned up for duty in Bamako a month ago.

Ominously, last week the Institute for Security Studies’ Martin Ewi briefed the U.N. Security Council that Islamic State fighters fleeing Syria are "finding safe havens on the continent," and that Africa may be "the future of the caliphate".

Opperman is concerned the U.S., as in Afghanistan, may get drawn in: "We have a situation in Mali where superpowers have been sucked in or are withdrawing, we have seen now with France stepping aside, with Russia moving in, and who knows how the U.S. will respond to this."

South Carolina GOP lawmaker chokes up describing teen who was at risk of losing her uterus due to an abortion ban he voted for: 'That whole week I did not sleep'


Kelsey Vlamis
Wed, August 17, 2022 

A man supporting restrictions on abortion holds a sign as abortion-rights supporters hold signs behind him outside the South Carolina Statehouse on Thursday, July 7, 2022, in Columbia, S.C.

Meg Kinnard/AP

State Rep. Neal Collins held back tears Tuesday over the impact of an abortion ban he voted for.

The South Carolina Republican said a 19-year-old's abortion was delayed even though the fetus was unviable.

He said he opposed a proposed bill that would ban nearly all abortions in the state.

A Republican lawmaker in South Carolina held back tears on Tuesday as he described learning about a teenager who was at risk of losing her uterus or even dying due to an abortion ban he previously voted for, video showed.

State Rep. Neal Collins shared the story with the state's House Judiciary Committee as they discussed a proposed near-total abortion ban that would not include exceptions for pregnancies caused by rape or incest.

Collins said he voted in favor of South Carolina's "heartbeat bill," which bans abortions after a fetal heartbeat has been detected and went into effect in June after the reversal of Roe v. Wade. He said two weeks after it took effect, he received a call from a doctor.

"A 19-year-old girl appeared at the ER. She was 15 weeks pregnant. Her water broke. The fetus was unviable," Collins explained. The doctor said the standard of care was to advise her to go home or to extract the fetus.

"The attorneys told the doctors that because of the fetal heartbeat bill, because that 15-week-old had a heartbeat, the doctors could not extract," he said, adding they could have admitted the teen until the heartbeat stopped, but there was no way of knowing how long that would take, so she was discharged.

South Carolina's heartbeat bill does have exceptions for rape, incest, fetal anomalies, and threats to the mother's health, but such health exceptions have left doctors in risky legal territory.

The doctor told Collins that the woman would likely pass the fetus in the toilet and that "she's going to have to deal with that on her own." The doctor also said there was a 50% chance the teen would lose her uterus and a 10% chance she would develop sepsis and die.

"That weighs on me. I voted for that bill. These are affecting people," he began, adding as he appeared to get choked up: "That whole week I did not sleep."

He said he continued to follow up with the doctor and learned the teen was able to come in two weeks later and because the heartbeat had stopped they were able to extract the fetus.

"What we do matters," Collins said as he again appeared to hold back tears. He said he would not vote on the near total ban that was being considered until there were significant changes to the bill.

Despite Collins' objections, the bill made it out of the committee in a 13-7 vote, The Associated Press reported. It now heads to the state House floor, where it likely faces a major legislative battle.

Gaza civilians face airstrikes with ‘go-bags’

and comforting cats

Isra Namey 

Wed, August 17, 2022 

When Israeli warplanes roared over her home earlier this month, firing missiles, Gaza resident Maryam El-Derawi knew the drill.

Just as she had done a year ago during similar strikes, she shepherded her two young daughters, Joud and Noor, into a hallway in the center of their apartment in the Gaza Strip, the only room with no windows that could shatter and splinter.

To take her daughters’ minds off the missile explosions, she told them stories of her days as a schoolgirl and, as the hours stretched out, fairy tales. When she ran out of tales, she scrolled the internet on her smartphone to find more child-friendly fables to pass the time.

“I spent my time thinking of how I can both save my children and provide them with comfort and support,” Ms. El-Derawi says.

“We have nowhere else other than this house. We have no shelters here in Gaza to save civilians from sudden Israeli strikes,” she explains. “This is all we have.”

With no safe houses or bomb shelters to flee to, Gazan families must make their own safety in a place where residential neighborhoods can become war zones at any moment and with little warning.

They are finding small comforts and redefining daily life to create a sense of security in lives full of uncertainty.

A fixture in Gaza homes

This month’s 147 Israeli airstrikes on Gaza – targeting the militant Islamic Jihad group in what the Israeli military described as a preemptive bid to prevent an attack – lasted three days and drew retaliatory rocket fire from Islamic Jihad. The fighting killed 22 Palestinian civilians, 17 of whom were children, according to the United Nations; wounded 70 Israelis; and caused destruction in both Israel and Gaza.

While not as long or as devastating as last year’s war between Israel and Hamas, the August strikes have reinforced fears of how war can suddenly explode in the midst of daily life.

Conflicts between Gazan militants and Israel instill fear, destroy homes, and disrupt life in Israeli border towns too, but people’s ability to cope and adapt to the violence is much more limited in Gaza. There families, still living amid the destruction of the 2021 war, are hemmed in by an Israeli naval blockade, a shuttered border to the east, and an Egyptian-imposed border closure to the southwest.

Should missiles strike close to her home, Ms. El-Derawi, like most Gazans, has one emergency resource at the ready at all times: her “go-bag,” a backpack full of emergency supplies and family documents, including medicines, a first-aid kit, birth certificates, ID cards, leases, rental contracts, and even bank statements.

For many Gazans, the bag has become a fixture in their homes, almost like a family member.

“I prepare this bag and keep it in a safe place so that I can easily access it if we have to evacuate the house,” Ms. El-Derawi says. Often such evacuations are to the street.

Teenager Arwa Salah has her own emergency protocol: find and grab her pet cat, Shujjaa.

Sitting in the center of her family’s apartment during the recent airstrikes, she cuddled and calmed the cat as explosions rocked nearby neighborhoods, settling her pet’s nerves – and, admittedly, her own.

“My cat can’t cope with the sound of the blasts,” she explains sheepishly. “I feel sorry for him.”

Where good views can be dangerous

Weeks after the May 2021 war, when newlywed Hasan Aldawoudi went apartment hunting in Gaza City, like many Gazans he had two criteria in mind: the property’s rent and the likelihood that it might be hit by a rocket.

He looked for a place “far away from the beach” and thus less vulnerable to Israeli naval bombardment, “not in the far east of the strip near the border with Israel, and not in a high building,” Mr. Aldawoudi says.

Since the 2021 war, during which Israeli forces targeted 15 largely residential buildings of five floors or more, residential high-rises once seen as offering affordable apartments with good views are now seen by Gazans as a hazard.

Perceptions that coastal and border areas are unsafe have led to increased demand – and rising prices – for housing in the center of the enclave, though experts warn that the district is no safer than others from potential rocket fire.

For some Gazans, missile strikes mark out the rhythms of their lives.

In the 2021 war, Anisa Blima raced to find the safest room in the house and checked in on her relatives.

When missiles struck this month, though, Ms. Blima’s thoughts turned to a new concern: finding baby formula and diapers for her 2-month-old.

She happened to be visiting her parents in central Gaza, far from the airstrikes, so she could arrange an emergency delivery, fearing that Gaza could enter a multiday war.

“As a mother I need to prepare myself for the worst,” she says. Formula and diapers are now key items in her emergency bag.

Becoming a new father also brought a fresh perspective for Mr. Aldawoudi, who for the first time considered leaving Gaza after the recent strikes.

“In the past, I was only responsible for myself,” he says. “Now, I have a family to think of, a wife and a son. I promised not to let anyone harm them.”

For Gazans far from their families, the telephone can be the only source of comfort in times of war.

Gazan matriarch Faiza Awoda says she feels uneasy until she has spoken with her children and grandchildren to make sure they are all safe. It is a tall order; she has 12 children and 47 grandchildren living across the Gaza Strip.

“I keep in touch with them to make sure they are fine,” Ms. Awoda says. “This puts a lot of pressure on me.”

Gazans’ constant state of insecurity has an outsize impact on children, who are overwhelming a health system already under stress, Gazan mental health experts say.

It has provoked what some call “Gaza syndrome” among young people, an “ongoing traumatic stress disorder” with symptoms such as bed-wetting, hallucinations, and recurrent nightmares, says Dr. Sami Owaida, a consultant psychiatrist at the Gaza Community Mental Health Program.

“We are still working with children who are suffering since last year’s aggression, and now we have to prepare ourselves for another wave of cases,” he worries.

With the prospect of sudden war never far away, Gazans say they will continue to count on each other for emotional safe spaces when physical safe spaces are lacking.

“Like any other woman in the world, I only care about my children’s safety and future,” Ms. El-Derawi says. “But in Gaza this task is getting increasingly difficult.”

Ghada Alhaddad contributed to this report from Gaza City, Gaza Strip.