UK
Major wind farm project off Norfolk coast revived after German developer steps in


Jonathan Leake
Thu, 21 December 2023 

RWE's Gwynt y Mor wind farm located eight miles offshore in Liverpool Bay, off the coast of north Wales - Ben Birchall/PA

A key wind farm project off Norfolk that was scrapped in the summer over soaring costs, has been revived after a takeover by Germany’s RWE.

Swedish utility firm Vattenfall spent more than a decade getting permission to build the Norfolk Boreas wind farm, 40 miles off the UK’s east coast.

But in July, it halted the scheme after realising that the price it had agreed with the UK Government for the power it would generate was far too low.

It announced today it had sold the project to RWE at the cost price of £963m - along with the rights to two other schemes, Norfolk Vanguard East and Norfolk Vanguard West.

The three projects, known collectively as the Norfolk Wind Zone, will have a combined capacity of 4.2 gigawatts - roughly enough for 3-4m homes. All three sites have the consent needed from the Government to go ahead.

Vattenfall confirmed the sale after pausing work on the Boreas sites earlier this year, saying that the finances simply no longer stacked up.

It had agreed a strike price - the minimum price guaranteed by the Government - of £37.35, but the industry was then hit by soaring inflation. The latest minimum price being offered by the Government for offshore wind farm developments is £73 - the costs of which will all be added to consumer bills.

An RWE spokesman said it would need the Government to agree to a much higher strike price before Boreas, and the other schemes, could proceed.

“It is clear that the Norfolk Boreas project is not deliverable under the contract that Vattenfall secured,” they said. “The costs and supply chain issues have been recognised by the Government and we would hope to secure a [new] contract for Norfolk Boreas that allows us to make a final investment decision in the future.”

The trading of such massive UK wind farm sites between entirely foreign utility operators illustrates the growing scale of overseas ownership in the UK’s emerging renewables industry. Earlier this week Orsted, majority-owned by the Danish government, announced plans to build Hornsea 3 - another huge wind farm in the North Sea that could power 3m homes.

Once complete each project will funnel profits out of the UK and into the coffers of overseas shareholders.

RWE already operates 10 offshore wind farms across the UK and the Norfolk acquisition means it is developing nine more. It is also constructing the 1.4 GW Sofia offshore wind project in the North Sea off the UK’s east coast.

Tom Glover, RWE’s UK chairman, said: “The timely and efficient deployment of offshore wind is essential to ensure the UK’s domestic energy security, as well as achieving our net zero targets.

“We very much welcome the UK Government’s recent decisions on future offshore wind auctions which provides us with the confidence to invest and represents a positive step in maximising the UK’s clean energy potential, ensuring sustained and lowest prices for consumers and creating good quality jobs.”

Sven Utermöhlen, chief executive of RWE Offshore Wind, said: “I am very happy that we will work with Vattenfall towards facilitating team continuity to ensure the successful handover and further development of the projects. Equally I am looking forward to continuing the work with the supply chain companies.”

Closing of the transaction is subject to approval by the Crown Estate and regulatory approvals, and expected for the first quarter of 2024.

Nikolai Bukharin: Imperialism and World Economy (marxists.org)

BLACK ARMBAND FOR MOURNING
Khawaja insists armband was not political, after ICC reprimand

AFP
Thu, 21 December 2023 

Australia’s Usman Khawaja (L) wearing a black armband during the first Test against Pakistan Perth (COLIN MURTY)

Australia's Usman Khawaja said Friday that a black armband he wore in the first Test against Pakistan was for a "personal bereavement" and not politically motivated, after the star batter was reprimanded by the International Cricket Council (ICC).

The 36-year-old donned the armband during the team's 360-run victory in Perth, a move seen at the time as support for people in Gaza, where thousands have been killed.

He had wanted to wear shoes emblazoned with the hand-written slogans "Freedom is a human right" and "All lives are equal" during the match, saying he had been hit hard by the Israel-Hamas conflict.


But Khawaja, who is Muslim, was told that it flouted ICC rules on messages that relate to politics, religion or race.

He covered the messages with tape and wore the armband.

Khawaja insisted he told the ICC during the match that it was for a personal bereavement and no hidden meaning.

However, the ICC said it breached their clothing and equipment regulations.

"Usman displayed a personal message (armband) during the first Test match against Pakistan without seeking the prior approval of Cricket Australia and the ICC to display it, as required in the regulations for personal messages," the ICC said late Thursday.

"This is a breach under the category of an 'other breach' and the sanction for a first offence is a reprimand."

Khawaja said he would not wear an armband during the second Test in Melbourne next week, but remained defiant.

"No, I'm not wearing it again. As I said to the ICC, the armband was for a personal bereavement," he told reporters in Melbourne.

"The armband was different to my shoes. The shoes were very obvious. At the end of the day I didn't wear the shoes. I respected the rules and procedures and left it at that."

He added that being reprimanded for the armband "makes no sense" and pointed to other players who had previously put stickers on their bats and names on their shoes without approval and escaped punishment, urging the ICC to be more consistent.

"I will just be asking and contesting that they (ICC) make it fair for everyone and they have consistency in how they officiate. That's all I ask for, and from my point of view, that consistency hasn't been done yet," he said.

mp/arb/kma

METAL ALCHEMY

Japan's hand-forged knives a slice of samurai metallurgy


Saad SAYEED
Thu, 21 December 2023 

Yoshihiro Yauji, seen placing a piece of metal into a forge, believes 'blades are the foundational root of Japanese culture' 

(Saad SAYEED)

Blacksmith Yoshihiro Yauji pulls a piece of glowing metal from the forge in a Japanese village, continuing a tradition dating back centuries to when the region was renowned for crafting swords carried by samurai.

He places the steel under a spring hammer and the sound of the metal being flattened and fortified into a kitchen knife echoes off the mountains surrounding the workshop.

"I believe that blades are the foundational root of Japanese culture," 40-year-old Yauji said.

"If you can condense 700 years, 1,000 years or 1,500 years of technology into a single product, the appeal of the product will be different," he explained, adding that at first, he wanted to make "katana" swords once wielded by samurai.

Yauji started at 20 as an apprentice to Hideo Kitaoka, who helped found the collection of cooperative workshops that make up the Takefu Knife Village.

After 18 years, Yauji launched his knife line in 2021.

But in the 1970s and 80s, the city of Echizen where the knife village is located was in crisis, with artisans unable to compete with cheaper mass-produced tools.

Kitaoka and other top blacksmiths banded together to form a cooperative association and, with the help of famed designer Kazuo Kawasaki, began producing designs that turned Echizen knives into works of art.

"At the time of my boss's generation, the environment was not like it is today; they were struggling just to survive," Yauji said.

"My generation is on the upswing. So I feel it is necessary to once again improve our skills for the brand and its value to continue to exist."

Around 80 percent of Echizen-made knives are now exported, Yauji said, making their way into professional kitchens around the world and even featuring on hit TV series "The Bear".

- Hand fits the knife -

The forge at Takefu burns at 900 degrees Celsius (1,652 degrees Fahrenheit), and the handmade Japanese blades drawn from the molten orange core, once hammered, shaped and polished, are sharp enough to split a hair.

"The Japanese knife brings out the best of ingredients. Texture, bitterness, sweetness," Yauji said.

"I think it is a knife specialised to bring out the true flavour of the ingredient itself."

Knife makers can spend an entire day perfecting a single piece.

The metal is heated until malleable and then hammered -- a process repeated several times -- before being shaped, quenched in oil or water and left to cool.

Once the temperature is stable, it is ready to be sharpened. Most blacksmiths hand the knife over to dedicated sharpeners at this stage.

Then, the utensil is ready for the final step of the process: handle making.

"Japanese cutlery is, in my opinion, about the hands learning to fit the tool" instead of the knife being designed for the comfort of the user, Yauji said.

"It is a way of trying to establish a deeper connection."

- 'Soul of a chef' -

Using his custom-made yanagiba (willow-leaf blade) sashimi knife, Chef Shintaro Matsuo slices a buttery slab of fatty tuna at acclaimed Osaka restaurant Koryu, considered one of the best fine-dining establishments in a city dubbed Japan's kitchen.

Matsuo's dishes combine subtle flavours using ingredients from the surrounding Kansai region, all artfully presented with the help of blades made in Sakai, a small town on the outskirts of Osaka that is considered Japan's hocho (kitchen knife) heartland.

"The knife is an extension of my hand," the chef explained, proudly wielding the elongated blade specially made by blacksmith Minamoto Izumimasa.

"Japanese steel allows the flavours of the food to remain intact," Matsuo added.

Chefs in the country spend years honing their knife skills and patiently learning to master blades that are often more challenging to use and require greater expertise.

"Japanese people have a unique sense of beauty when it comes to cutlery," said Ryoyo Yamawaki, whose Sakai-based company has been making knives since 1929.

"Since ancient times, the Japanese sword is said to have been the soul of a samurai, and the knife the soul of a chef."

ssy/stu/sco/cwl

'Doom for forests': fears over new Cambodia land grants


Suy Se with Sara Hussein in Bangkok
Thu, 21 December 2023 


Map of Cambodia, showing the extent of economic land concessions to local and foreign companies 

(Nicholas SHEARMAN)

Eam Orn kneels in a forest in northwest Cambodia, pressing his hands together before an offering of bananas studded with smoking incense, and prays for the return of his land.

He is one of hundreds of thousands affected by economic land concessions (ELCs) -- land grants to businesses that experts say have driven deforestation and dispossession.

From 2001 to 2015, a third of Cambodia's primary forests -- some of the world's most biodiverse and a key carbon sink -- were cleared, and tree cover loss accelerated faster than anywhere else in the world, according to the World Resources Institute.

The government halted ELCs in 2012, but a new grant has raised fears the moratorium could be over, even as Cambodians like Orn struggle with the policy's legacy.

"If the state wants to compensate me with money, I don't want it," the wiry farmer told AFP in some of the last remaining forest near his village, Praeus K'ak.

"I only want my land."

Orn, of Cambodia's ethnic Kuy people, lives surrounded by more than 40,000 hectares (99,000 acres) of ELC.

He lost eight hectares when the government granted it to subsidiaries of China's Hengfu Group in 2011, for a sugar processing facility touted as one of Asia's largest.

It was supposed to employ thousands, but today its chimney stacks stand silent behind locked gates, and air blows in through broken windows.

Reached by phone, a Hengfu employee in China confirmed the factory was closed, but said only top-level management knew why.

Cambodia formalised ELCs in 2001 with legislation allowing recipients to clear land for "industrial agricultural exploitation".

Large tracts have, however, been handed to rubber, sugar and paper firms since at least 1993, according to the United Nations.

A lack of transparency makes the scale hard to quantify, though Cambodian rights group LICADHO has tracked at least 313 concessions, covering more than 2.2 million hectares.

- 'All gone' -

The country's protected areas, where commercial development is legally prohibited, have not been spared. ELCs covered 14 percent of them by 2013, according to NGO Forest Trends.

Rampant deforestation in Cambodia pre-dates ELCs, but the concessions have been a "predominant driver" since their introduction, according to a 2022 study in journal Scientific Reports that found a clear correlation between forest loss rates and ELC expansions.

And deforestation is not the only consequence.

"Wherever there are ELCs, there are (land) disputes," Pen Bonna, coordinator for rights group ADHOC in Preah Vihear province, told AFP.

Cambodia's land records were largely destroyed by the communist Khmer Rouge regime in the 1970s and after its fall people often settled without legal title.

The 2001 law offered a path to ownership, but the complex process means few have obtained it, leaving villagers like Orn vulnerable to land grabs, despite frequent condemnation by rights groups and the UN.

"My family's livelihood and income has gone down... I'm older and can't work as a labourer," the father of seven said.

He took out bank loans for food and clothing, and even worked at the sugar factory before it closed.

"If we did not go, we had nothing to do."

Thoeun Sophoeun, 29, also took out loans after losing around six hectares of farmland and access to the surrounding forest that once provided crucial additional sustenance.

"We could enter the forest and easily bring meat and food back home but now it's all gone," said the mother of two.

- 'Farm with fear' -

ELCs were long enthusiastically championed by former Cambodian leader Hun Sen as a way to bolster the country's economic development.

"More Cambodians will be rich. I want to see more Cambodian millionaires. There are many of them in China," he said at the opening of a sugar factory on an ELC in 2012.

But that same year, faced with growing land conflicts and admitting the risk of a "farmers' revolution", Hun Sen announced the ELC moratorium.

He pledged the government would seize land from firms who cleared trees for sale or failed to develop their plots.

In Praeus K'ak, little has changed.

Since the factory closed, villagers including Orn and Sophoeun have crept back onto farmland.

"We farm with fear, because the state has not made any announcement," said Sophoeun.

"We don't know whether they will come and take it back."

Locals say some company workers have leased plots to outsiders to farm, violating the ELC agreement, but the government has not acted.

In January, LICADHO sounded the alarm over what it called a new ELC, citing a March 2022 letter authorising the transfer of nearly 10,000 hectares in northeastern Stung Treng province.

- 'Lost forever' -

Locals told AFP that land has already been seized for a road, and described intimidation and the arrest of a villager who challenged the concession.

"They don't let us grow anything," said Tha, who asked not to be identified by his full name to avoid retaliation.

"They have threatened to arrest us one by one."

Licadho operations director Am Sam Ath said the group had identified other new land grants, including inside Botum Sakor National Park.

"Now they use words like long-term lease," he said. But "it is similar to ELCs".

He warned of "doom for forests" if the policy resumes, with little hope of transparency or monitoring.

Government officials from several ministries responsible for ELCs did not respond to AFP's request for comment.

The drive for continued concessions comes despite evidence ELCs offer little economic benefit for the average Cambodian or state coffers.

In 2022, the country's then-agriculture minister admitted that fewer than a million hectares of ELC were active, and the government was earning just over $2 million in annual rent.

In Praeus K'ak, Orn worries that his grandchildren are growing up with no memory of his people's sacred forests and no knowledge of the animals that once populated them.

"We lost worship forests, we lost income... I'm very worried about our identity," he said, calling on others to fight new concessions.

"If it's lost, it's lost forever."

suy-sah/aha/sco

Saboteurs try to outfox hunters in England's countryside

Sylvain PEUCHMAURD
Fri, 22 December 2023 

Hunting with hounds was once an integral part of country life across the UK 

(Ben STANSALL)

Emerging from woods in a quiet corner of rural England, a small band of anti-foxhunting campaigners have just one goal: to confuse the pack of dogs chasing a fox and prevent its death.

These "hunt saboteurs" regularly gate-crash meetings across the country in what has become a fierce clash of cultures.

"Kermit to Animal, are you receiving?" crackles the radio from one old Toyota 4X4 to another, each with their own codename.

The field sport of foxhunting, in which a pack of hounds chases and kills a fox accompanied by riders on horseback, was once an integral part of country life.  OF THE ARISTOCRACY AND THEIR ILK

But the use of dogs to hunt wild animals has seen outlawed in England and Wales since 2004.

Trail hunts, which allow packs of dogs to follow a route artificially laid with fox scent, are allowed.

But critics say they are used as a cover for fox hunts to continue as before.

They say dogs still chase and kill live animals on these hunts, with organisers then claiming it was accidental.

Hunters counter that they comply with the law and that it is the saboteurs who are illegally interfering with their monitoring activities.

Today the saboteurs' target is the Thurlow Hunt in rural Suffolk, eastern England.

Armed with maps on their phones and drones overhead, around 20 saboteurs exchange information over their radios about the position of the riders, taking care not to risk driving the fox back towards the pack.

Spotting a saboteur, one rider -- dressed in a traditional red huntsman's jacket -- looks unhappy and turns back.

The barks of the dogs echo in the distance and hunt members including children on ponies gallop past.

"We don't want to lose sight of them," says Angela Vasiliu of the North London Hunt Saboteurs.

- 'Prolific' -

The saboteurs try to distract the dogs with loud cries and by spraying lemongrass to confuse their sense of smell.

If they fail to put them off and a fox is killed, at least they hope to gather evidence for prosecutions under the 2004 law.

Video taken by the hunt saboteurs led to the conviction of one member of the Thurlow Hunt in 2019, with the footage showing hunt members and saboteurs fighting over a fox's remains during the traditional Boxing Day hunt on December 26, 2017.

Despite the ban, hunt saboteurs like Philip Walters insist that foxes are still being illegally hunted.

A senior police chief earlier this year said he believed unlawful foxhunting was "prolific" in the UK.

Matt Longman, the national police spokesman on foxhunting, even urged police forces to work with "volunteers" monitoring hunts to learn how to gather the sort of evidence that leads to successful prosecutions.

The Thurlow Hunt association stresses that it only "conducts lawful trail hunting activities to comply with the Hunting Act and constantly assesses its procedures to ensure best practice is carried out".

And it complains of harassment and false accusations by the saboteurs, calling them "animal rights extremists".

In Scotland, the devolved government in Edinburgh this year introduced a ban on trail hunting.

The UK's main opposition Labour party has pledged to follow suit in England and Wales if it wins the next general election.

- Vegan sausage rolls -

Clashes between hunt members and saboteurs can often turn ugly -- with accusations from both sides.

"Why, when hunt saboteur monitors turn up, are some hunts so violent if they haven't got anything to hide?" asks Walters, also from the North London group, who says he has received death threats.

"I've had dead rats sent to me in the post, I've had dead foxes left on my car's windscreen," he said.

According to Polly Portwin, campaign director at the Countryside Alliance, which works to protect rural traditions, around 25 hunts out of the 200 that are active are being targeted by saboteurs, who claim 600 members.

Defenders of foxhunting say it is essential to control the number of foxes in the countryside and is more humane than shooting or poisoning.

NONE OF THESE ARE OPTIONS

After hours running through muddy woods, paths and fields, the saboteurs in Thurlow finally take a rest and restore their flagging energy levels with vegan sausage rolls and chocolate brownies.

They say they saw six or seven foxes that day but are hopeful they fulfilled their mission -- to make sure that no fox is killed - because they did not see any dog with traces of blood on it.

spe/gmo/har/phz/gv

Eurostar trains to resume after French strike 

Sky News
Updated Fri, 22 December 2023 at 12:24 am 


Travellers heading to Europe should soon be able to resume their journey after a deal was done to end a strike that halted cross-Channel trains.

Thousands were stranded on Thursday when French workers rejected an end-of-year bonus.

Services affected included Eurostar, which runs passenger services from London St Pancras, and Eurotunnel Le Shuttle, which runs vehicle-carrying trains from Folkestone.

The disruption started about midday and at least 30 Eurostar trains were cancelled, with many turning back to where they started.

Eurotunnel later said management and trade unions had reached a deal that meant services would "resume progressively this evening and Eurostar tomorrow morning [Friday]".

Getlink, the company that manages Channel Tunnel infrastructure, said unions wanted three times the €1,000 (£866) bonus they were offered.

The problems came on a day when all services from London Euston were suspended for a time due to overhead line damage near Watford Junction.

King's Cross also had severe delays due to a fallen tree in the Newark area.

Large crowds massed outside the stations and on concourses, staring at their phones and trying to work out alternative routes.

At 4.30pm, Euston said the problem had been fixed and "we are working closely with train operators to get you on the move".

However some operators, such as London Northwestern, were still reporting disruption on Thursday evening.

Channel Tunnel reopens after end of surprise pre-Christmas strike


Stuart WILLIAMS
Thu, 21 December 2023 

There were scenes of chaos as frustrated passengers waited for trains (Dimitar DILKOFF)

High-speed trains running the Channel Tunnel will resume service on Friday after French unions ended a wildcat strike that had stranded holidaygoers and held up freight just days before Christmas.

The surprise walkout by workers that blocked the tunnel sparked hours of chaos at rail hubs in Paris and London.

Neither side detailed the terms of the agreement or the issues on the negotiating table, but before the strike, French operator Getlink had said unions demanded a tripling of the end-of-year bonus of 1,000 euros ($1,100).

Employees of Eurotunnel, a subsidiary of Getlink, said the movement was motivated by a "terrible deterioration of the social climate".

"Besides the money, there are other things. Our conditions are not what they used to be," Cathia Capon, a freight terminal coordinator told AFP during a rally in Coquelles.

Eurotunnel unions later announced they were ending their action after negotiations with management that "bore results that satisfy us".

Getlink said rail shuttle service would resume from Thursday evening, and Eurostar, which operates passenger trains, said regular service out of London, Paris and Brussels would follow suit Friday.

Eurostar said it would add six extra trains between Friday and Sunday after it had been forced to cancel 30 scheduled trains.

At Gare du Nord station in Paris and St Pancras in London -- the main hubs for cross-Channel passenger train travel -- frustrated travellers dashed to change their reservations or find alternative transportation.

"We support people who want to strike ... but we have to tell people (ahead of time)," said Isabelle Margat, 41, a British translator living in France. "There are lots of people here who simply want to celebrate Christmas with their family."

- 'Disneyland with the kids' -

All service between Paris and Brussels and Paris and London was scrapped after the surprise strike started, appearing to catch even the St Pancras station reception and security off guard as they tried to clear platforms of passengers waiting to board.

Thomson Mouana, from South Africa, who had three children with him, had been in the UK on holiday but needed to leave for his flight home.

"This is disturbing us. We don't have the money and we don't know what to do."

"We must get to South Africa but now we are stuck."

English traveller Sam Boyal said: "We were going to Disneyland (outside Paris) with the kids... it's just too stressful. You can't drive suddenly with three kids, you've got to plan that."

Eurostar employees used megaphones to tell stranded passengers at the Gare du Nord station in Paris that all trains for the rest of the day were cancelled.

At Calais in northern France, vehicle queues more than a kilometre long were beginning to form at the entrance to the French terminal where cars and trucks board trains to reach Folkestone on the other side of the Channel.

The Channel Tunnel, which opened in 1994, carries passengers on Eurostar trains as well as cars and freight vehicles on special cargo shuttles.

Eurostar is owned 55.75 percent by French state-owned SNCF Voyageurs, 19.31 percent by a Quebec public investment bank,

  CAISSE POPULAIRE/DEJARDIN  BANK

18.5 percent by Belgian operator SNCB and 6.44 percent by US-based Federated Hermes Infrastructure.

It almost went bankrupt during the Covid-19 pandemic but was saved with a 290-million-euro bailout from shareholders including the French government.

pib-zap/lb/cwl

Nikolai Bukharin: Imperialism and World Economy (marxists.org)

Singaporean artisan family keeps religious effigy art alive

Catherine LAI
Thu, 21 December 2023 

Singaporean artisan Ng Tze Yong (L), and his father Ng Yeow Hua, work on Taoist deity statues at their workshop, one of the last of its kind in Singapore

 (Roslan RAHMAN)

Tan Chwee Lian picks up a small paddle, her finger resting on a groove worn into the wood over 70 years of making Buddhist and Taoist deities in her shop, one of the last of its kind in Singapore.

Facing competition from mass-produced items and lacking heirs to take up the trade, the traditional craft is in danger of dying out.

Tan's more-than-a-century-old shop in downtown Singapore, tucked between hip cafes and boutiques, is one of the city-state's last effigy establishments still making the wooden statues by hand.

The 92-year-old great-grandmother has been making the wooden statues since her arranged marriage to effigy craftsman Ng Tian Sang at the age of 18.

"I sat beside (my husband) and watched... when he left to buy things or run errands I would take over, then he would come back and tell me what I did wrong," Tan told AFP while using the wooden paddle to roll out a piece of dough made of joss stick ash using a secret family recipe.

She rolled out the mixture until it was a thin thread, then used two bamboo sticks to attach it to a wooden statue in an intricate pattern to demonstrate thread sculpture, a traditional carving technique from southeastern China.

Although she is now retired from crafting, she comes to the Say Tian Hng Buddha Shop daily, helping out with odd tasks from her desk at the front of the traditional shophouse stacked with hundreds of gods looking out from the shelves.

Her son, 71-year-old Ng Yeow Hua, runs the shop, making, selling and repairing Taoist and Buddhist idols for temples and devotees.

Like many Singaporeans, the family's origins can be traced back to China, from where many people emigrated in the 19th and early 20th centuries in search of a better life.

Ng's grandfather founded the shop along with his brother in 1896, after moving to Singapore from Kinmen, an island in modern-day Taiwan.

Ng's son, Ng Tze Yong, is now reinventing the business by running tours of the workshop as well as educational programmes on Chinese culture.

Ng hopes the art can be passed down through the generations.

"If (my son) has the interest he can continue, but don't force it," he told AFP.

To ensure that the art continues, the 43-year-old former journalist decided to become an apprentice several years ago. He now works in the shop one day a week, in addition to his day job at a local charity.

–- 'Beauty of imperfection' –-

Handmade effigies take up to three months to make by artisans who must pick up the skills over years of informal learning and are entrusted with trade secrets passed down over generations.

In comparison, machine-made statues are mass-produced, cost a fraction of the price and can be delivered quickly.

"The customers that come to us believe in the beauty of imperfection, of things made by hand... in the authenticity of something that is made to worship divinity," the younger Ng said.

"But yes, it has caused a decline in the business," he admitted.

"I'm trying to learn the craft from my dad and my grandma before it's too late."

In addition to learning decorative techniques, he must familiarise himself with scores of Taoist deities, each with a unique story.

"In Taoism (there) is this idea that you don't have to be perfect. None of these gods are perfect," he said.

For example, legend has it that the monkey god rebelled against heaven but redeemed himself after protecting a monk on a journey to procure holy texts from India. He is sometimes depicted with golden eyes believed to be able to spot evil.

For the family, the pieces play an important role in the lives of their customers when they are going through rough patches.

"Throughout that time, these effigies were the ones that gave them the hope and encouragement to move on... so we take that very seriously," Ng said.

He is recording all of his family's knowledge and eventually hopes to take on other apprentices to ensure the shop can keep operating beyond his generation.

"The fact is that if (I) don't do anything, the shop dies."

cla/leg/sco

'Pooper' figures star in nativity scenes in Spain

Rosa SULLEIRO
Thu, 21 December 2023

The 'caganer' -- or 'pooper' figurine -- has long been a staple of Christmas in the northeastern region of Spain

 (Josep LAGO)

Look closely at a nativity scene in Spain's Catalonia region and you will likely spot an unusual figure -- a peasant with his pants down and doing his business in the holy scene.

The "caganer" -- or "pooper" -- figurine has long been a staple of Christmas in the northeastern region, usually placed in a discreet corner not far from Mary, Joseph and the baby Jesus.

The defecating statuettes are believed locally to bring prosperity for the coming year. They have become increasingly popular with tourists, especially in Barcelona, the region's capital, where they are easily found in Christmas markets.

The traditional clay figure depicts a peasant or shepherd wearing black trousers, a white shirt and the classic red Catalan cap called the barretina.

But the tradition has expanded to include famous figures such as Chinese President Xi Jinping, former US president Donald Trump, singers such as Michael Jackson and athletes like Paris Saint-Germain star Kylian Mbappe.

"It is very interesting. We are also very surprised to see they have all these figures, celebrities and also political figures. It's definitely a new experience for us," said Amy Hu, a 30-year-old tourist from the United States, as she browsed a selection of caganers in Barcelona.

One of the biggest caganer makers, family-run Caganer.com, currently sells 650 different models of the figures at its six shops in Barcelona and Madrid as well as online, where the United States accounts for the bulk of orders.

The company expects to sell 140,000 of the figures this year, which retail for five to 21 euros ($5-$23).

Sergi Alos, co-owner of the company founded by his mother in 1992, said the figures were a tribute, not a mockery. He said he was happy that tourists could "have something that is typically Catalan".

- 'An icon' -

The roots of the caganer are vague but are generally thought to date from the 18th century.

The figurines aim to "connect the people to the mystery of the nativity", said Josefina Roma, a retired University of Barcelona anthropology professor.

She likened caganers to playful characters that appear in theological narratives to make them more understandable.

Xavier Borrell, the president of the 33-year-old Friends of the Caganer Association, which has around 100 members, said the figures "have gone beyond nativity scenes to become an icon".

The retired engineer owns 1,400 caganers, the bulk of them classic figurines of peasants.

He said he was delighted that the statuettes had become popular tourist souvenirs in Catalonia, a wealthy region of around 7.7 million people that has its own distinct language.

"In Catalonia we sell Mexican sombreros, Sevillian dresses, images of bulls, which are not typical of our culture, and the fact that tourists who come here take a caganer with them pleases me a lot," Borrell said.

- Unusual gift -

At Christmas markets across Catalonia, caganers rub shoulders with "tios", a log with stick legs and a smiling face and red hat that is also a staple in many homes during the Christmas season.

Parents cover the log with a blanket and secretly place little gifts such as candies, nuts and small toys inside.

On Christmas Eve, or in some households on Christmas Day, children hit the blanket-covered log with sticks while encouraging him to "defecate" gifts.

"It is a bit scatological," Borrell said.

The log does not drop large gifts, which are traditionally considered to be brought by the Three Wise Men on January 6, the day of the Epiphany.

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CARNIVALE/TRANSGRESSION/THE FOOL

Edisciplinas.usp.br

https://edisciplinas.usp.br/pluginfile.php/4994029/mod_resource/content/1/Bakhtin%2C%20Mikhail%20_%20DENTITH%2C%20Simon_%20Bakhtinian%20thought%20_%20an%20introductory%20reader.pdf

Bakhtinian Thought : An Introductory Reader 

Mikhail Bakhtin, and the writers associated with him, have come to be recognised as writers of trail-blazing importance. Working in the.

Peru seizes 4,000 live Amazon turtles at airport

AFP
Thu, 21 December 2023 

Among the reptiles were baby Arrau turtles -- the largest river turtle in South America -- and the yellow-spotted river turtle, which were found in small transparent plastic containers inside cardboard boxes (Handout)

Peruvian authorities have seized some 4,000 turtles that originated in the Amazon at the country's main international airport, the national wildlife service said Thursday.

The National Forestry and Wildlife Service said in a statement it has intercepted "a shipment of live turtles at the Jorge Chavez airport that were going to be exported to Indonesia."

Among the reptiles were baby Arrau turtles -- the largest river turtle in South America -- and the yellow-spotted river turtle, which were found in small transparent plastic containers inside cardboard boxes.

Both turtles are listed on the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) of Wild Fauna and Flora Appendix II, which requires the tracking and regulation of trade.

The International Union for Conservation of Nature lists the yellow-spotted river turtle, the second largest freshwater turtle in the Amazon, as vulnerable to extinction.

According to Interpol, the black market for illegal wildlife products are worth up to $20 billion per year, and is pushing many species to the brink of extinction.

CITES says that tortoises and turtles are one of the most threatened groups of animals in the world.

Etsy targeted by child trafficking conspiracy theories

Natalie WADE
Thu, 21 December 2023 

The Etsy company logo is seen at its New York headquarters building on December 13, 2023 (Michael M. Santiago)

Conspiracy theorists who believe in a secret cabal of child sex traffickers have set their sights on yet another online retailer: Etsy, a website best known for selling handmade items.

Social media users point to what they say are "suspicious listings" on Etsy -- including downloadable images of pizza selling for thousands of dollars -- as evidence that the platform is selling children to be abused.

"Don't let them gaslight you anymore," said one QAnon supporter sharing screenshots from the website on X, formerly known as Twitter, during the busy holiday shopping season.

The rumors build on the long-debunked "Pizzagate" conspiracy theory, which falsely linked a pizza restaurant in Washington to an underground child sex trafficking ring involving high-ranking Democrats.

The narrative culminated in 2016 when a North Carolina man opened fire at the restaurant without striking anyone, later saying he intended to investigate the supposed crimes. He was subsequently arrested and sentenced to several years in prison.

Etsy denied the trafficking claims in a statement to AFP. The company said it found no evidence of a risk to child safety but removed the pizza-related posts because they did not appear to be legitimate.

A similar false theory emerged in 2020, accusing online retailer Wayfair of conducting a sex trafficking operation under the guise of furniture sales. In that case, social media users also shared screenshots of items with seemingly exorbitant prices.

No evidence has emerged to link either retailer to human trafficking, but the allegations have taken off among supporters of the baseless QAnon conspiracy theory. Public figures such as commentator Liz Crokin and former national security adviser Michael Flynn have amplified them.

"It used to be the conspiracies kind of died with the fanatics that attempted to spread them. Social media just magnifies and speeds up the process," said Bond Benton, an associate professor of public relations at Montclair State University and an expert on extremist groups.

"This sort of mentality takes us to a really dangerous place where I can sort of rationalize violence against people that I don't like."

- The Musk factor -

The Etsy claims come on the heels of a renewed interest online in child trafficking theories -- thanks in part to a shoutout from Elon Musk.

"Pizzagate is real," said a meme the X CEO shared in late November.

Mike Fenster, a law professor at the University of Florida and a conspiracy theory expert, said influencers often latch onto QAnon-related narratives to boost their likes and followers on social media.

Benton said the correlation between Musk and the Etsy claim is "undeniable."

Research he conducted with Daniela Peterka-Benton, director of the Global Center on Human Trafficking, found Musk's posts increased Pizzagate-related activity on X by more than 9,500 percent from the month prior.

Peterka-Benton said these conspiracy theories "have painted a distorted picture of what human trafficking is" and can affect funding, policies and public perception in ways that harm victims.

One reason such narratives have such a long shelf life is because their promoters often encourage others to research the topic on their own.

"The research is not really 'doing your own research.' It is connecting the dots, a carefully laid-out trail by conspiracy people online," Benton said.

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