UK

MPs poised to decriminalise abortion in historic vote which will stop women who end pregnancies outside permitted circumstances being jailed

Story by Claire Ellicot Whitehall Editor • 

Move would bring England and Wales into line with Northern Ireland

Abortion is poised to be decriminalised in an historic vote next month.

At present, women who end a pregnancy after the 24-week legal time limit and outside other permitted circumstances can be jailed.

But after a surge in police investigations polling suggests a majority of MPs think women should no longer be prosecuted for having an abortion after this point.

They will have the opportunity to vote according to their conscience on the matter next month, making it likely the law will be changed.

The move would bring England and Wales into line with Northern Ireland where abortion was decriminalised in 2019.

Labour MP Dame Diana Johnson (pictured) will bring an amendment to the Criminal Justice Bill to exempt women from prosecution if they have an abortion outside the limits© Provided by Daily Mail


A Department for Health source said Health Secretary Victoria Atkins (pictured) had made it clear abortion was a matter of conscience for MPs and she would respect the rights of individuals to make up their own minds© Provided by Daily Mail

The current law comes from the Offences Against the Person Act which was passed in 1861.

Labour MP Dame Diana Johnson will bring an amendment to the Criminal Justice Bill to exempt women from prosecution if they have an abortion outside the limits.


READ MORE: 

Female students at the University of Manchester say a 'deeply troubling' pro-life society founded by a male president who 'opposes abortion' makes them 'fear for their safety'

It would not change the 24-week rule, and women seeking to terminate a pregnancy would still need to meet the conditions of the 1967 Abortion Act, which also requires the authorisation of two doctors.

Medical professionals who assist could still be prosecuted if the abortion does not meet the Act's rules.

However, women who end pregnancies outside these limits would no longer face criminal prosecution under the 1861 law.

The amendment has cross-party support, with polling suggesting less than one in four MPs back legal action.

It showed 55 per cent of MPs did not think women should be prosecuted for having abortions outside the time limit.

Only 23 per cent supported prosecutions, with the rest answering 'don't know', according to the YouGov polling for abortion provider British Pregnancy Advisory Service and shared with The Times.

Some 81 per cent of Labour MPs were in favour of decriminalisation, compared with 37 per cent of Conservatives.

There has been a rise in the number of women facing police investigation, with around 100 cases since 2019.

That surge has been partly attributed to the abortion 'pills by post' scheme, which was introduced during Covid for unwanted pregnancies up to ten weeks and involved just a telephone call with a medical professional to be prescribed.

Dame Diana told the Mail her amendment had support from six parties, including the Conservatives.

'Vulnerable women are being threatened with jail using a law from the Victorian era, which was passed before women even had the right to vote or sit as MPs,' she said.




The rise in the number of women facing police investigation has been partly attributed to the abortion 'pills by post' scheme, which was introduced during Covid for unwanted pregnancies up to ten weeks (stock image)© Provided by Daily Mail

'Parliament has moved on and society has moved on.'

Rachael Clarke, of BPAS, which is campaigning to change the law, told the Times there was 'support for change from both sides of the house'.

A Department for Health source said Health Secretary Victoria Atkins had made it clear abortion was a matter of conscience for MPs and she would respect the rights of individuals to make up their own minds.

Mother got pills in the post – and a jail term

Mother-of-three Carla Foster was given a 28-month jail sentence for illegally taking abortion pills to end her pregnancy during lockdown.

The 45-year-old from Staffordshire admitted to carrying out the abortion when she was between 32 and 34 weeks pregnant.

She was told she would serve half her sentence but the Court of Appeal reduced the term to 14 months suspended.

Judges called it a 'very sad case', which Dame Victoria Sharp said called for 'compassion, not punishment'.

Ms Foster was sentenced at Stoke-on-Trent Crown Court in 2020.

She got the pills by post after telling British Pregnancy Advisory Service staff she was seven weeks pregnant.

After she took them, emergency services received a call to say she had gone into labour.

The baby was born not breathing during the call and was pronounced dead about 45 minutes later.

CRIMINAL CAPITALI$M

Former Vitol oil trader convicted of Ecuador, Mexico corruption charges

A sign is pictured in front of the Vitol Group trading commodities building in Geneva 

Denis Balibouse/File Photo© Thomson Reuters

By Luc Cohen

NEW YORK (Reuters) -A former oil trader at Vitol, one of the world's largest energy trading companies, was convicted on Friday of corruption charges stemming from more than $1 million in bribes he paid to officials in Ecuador and Mexico to win business.

A federal jury in Brooklyn found Javier Aguilar guilty of three counts of foreign bribery, foreign bribery conspiracy, and money laundering conspiracy.

Federal prosecutors in Brooklyn said Aguilar sent bribe money from his Geneva-based employer to the officials through a series of middlemen and shell companies in violation of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), a U.S. law that prohibits paying bribes to foreign officials.

"The people of Ecuador and Mexico deserved better and companies that play by the rules should know that the process is not rigged," U.S. Attorney Breon Peace in Brooklyn said in a statement.

Aguilar had pleaded not guilty. He faces up to 30 years in prison, but would likely get a lesser punishment.

"We disagree with the jury’s verdict and intend to appeal," Daniel Koffmann, a lawyer for Aguilar, said in an email.

The defense had argued that Aguilar hired consultants he thought were legitimate to help Vitol win a 30-month, $300 million contract to ship crude produced by Ecuador's state oil company Petroecuador in 2016.

It also said the consultants paid bribes without Aguilar's knowledge, and that the payment structure was created by a top Vitol executive.

Aguilar was the first person to stand trial in the U.S. as part of a sprawling Justice Department probe into commodity trading firms paying bribes to win business from state-run companies across Latin America, a scandal that has roiled energy markets from Mexico to Brazil.

Vitol in December 2020 admitted to bribing officials in Brazil, Mexico and Ecuador and agreed to pay $164 million to resolve U.S. and Brazilian probes.

Rival trader Gunvor is bracing for a fine of up to $650 million to resolve U.S. probes into its business dealings in Ecuador.

Aguilar's eight-week trial featured testimony from several intermediaries and bribe recipients, who pleaded guilty and agreed to cooperate with prosecutors.

That included two former employees of a Houston-based subsidiary of Mexico's state-owned oil company Pemex, who testified that Aguilar paid them around $600,000 in bribes to steer a $200 million contract for the supply of ethane gas toward Vitol.


Aguilar's lawyers argued that the Pemex employees were not foreign officials, meaning the payments were not bribes under U.S. law.

Aguilar faces additional charges in federal court in Houston over the alleged Pemex scheme. He has pleaded not guilty.

(Reporting by Luc Cohen in New York; Editing by Noeleen Walder, Marguerita Choy and Daniel Wallis)

 Vice to kill website, lay off hundreds while going all in on ‘social channels’

 Provided by MobileSyru

Vice Media Group is killing off its namesake website.

In a leaked internal memo to Vice employees following a day of rumours surrounding the publication’s future, CEO Bruce Dixon confirmed that the company is undergoing widespread restructuring and will no longer publish content on its website. It’s currently unclear how long Vice’s website will remain online.

In the memo, Dixon says Vice Media Group will place “more emphasis on our social channels as we accelerate our discussions with partners to take our content to where it will be viewed most broadly.” What does this mean when translated from C-suite executive speak? Who knows, but it appears whatever is left of the Vice brand is adopting the classic “let’s go all in on socials” media strategy.

If you’re interested in a deep dive into Vice’s executive-led demise, check out Defector‘s excellent reporting on its slow but steady fall.

“We create and produce outstanding original content true to the Vice brand. However, it is no longer cost-effective for us to distribute our digital content the way we have done previously. Moving forward, we will look to partner with established media companies to distribute our digital content, including news, on their global platforms, as we fully transition to a studio model,” Dixon continued.

In the memo, the CEO also says Vice Media Group is in the process of selling Refinery29, a woman-focused publication the company purchased back in 2019 for roughly $400 million USD (about $539 million CAD).

At one point, Vice Media Group was valued at $5.7 billion USD (roughly 7.6 billion CAD) before filing for bankruptcy protection last year and selling for $350 million USD (about $472 million) to a group of its former lenders, including Fortress Investment Group, Soros Fund Management and Monroe Capital.

While it feels like a distant memory at this point, way back in 2014, Canadian telecom giant Rogers announced a $100 million three-year content and distribution partnership with Vice that most notably resulted in the creation of the Viceland TV channel. That deal ended in 2018.

Think what you want about Vice‘s edgelord tendencies, its notoriously low salaries, the accompanying lavish lifestyle its executives led, and its sometimes morally questionable reporting tactics, because amid all the turmoil, many of the publication’s reporters produced the most important journalism of the past decade, particularly in the context of Canada.

It’s disheartening to see genuinely impactful media publications that produced real, important work shutter their doors due to obvious executive-level mismanagement as the X blue checkmarks of the world rejoice at the death of “mainstream media.” I hope they enjoy getting obviously very reliable news from TikTokers with names like “42069zynman” that have dedicated their lives to wild QAnon conspiracies because, at this rate, that’s all that will be left in a few years.

At least we’ll always have this Vice classic.

Vice was originally founded in 1994 in Montreal as a youth-focused magazine.

Image credit: Vice

AHS defends hiring practices, claims no hiring freeze in effect for frontline staff despite union objections

Story by Matthew Black • 2d • 

An Alberta Health Services building.© Provided by Edmonton Journal

Alberta Health Services (AHS) says changes to its hiring policy that require senior approval to take on new staff do not constitute a hiring freeze, an assertion challenged by the union that represents thousands of health-care workers.

In a policy change contained in a Feb. 20 memo to the Health Sciences Association of Alberta (HSAA), AHS indicated that any hiring of new management or non-clinical staff will have to first receive approval from its CEO, while hiring of frontline workers would require sign-off from a senior operating officer (SOO)

AHS president and CEO Athana Mentzelopoulos told reporters Thursday that the moves were necessary to keep costs in line as AHS faces an operating deficit in the current fiscal year due to “additional clinical staffing costs.”

She claimed there will be no impact on frontline clinical health-care workers as a result of the changes.

“I cannot stress enough that we are still actively recruiting and hiring frontline health-care positions,” she said.

Despite multiple questions from reporters, she declined to provide an estimate on the size of the operating deficit at AHS.

“Right now, it’s a forecast, so I won’t have an answer to that until the fiscal year is complete.”

Mentzelopoulos disputed equating the changes to a hiring freeze, describing doing so as “inaccurate” and “mischaracterized,” and claimed to have approved 255 hires since the email was sent to HSAA.

Health Minister Adriana LaGrange echoed that messaging in a social media post , citing a need to “clarify a recent decision by AHS regarding hiring procedures.”

The HSAA said that doesn’t align with what it heard from some of its nearly 30,000 members, with union vice-president Leanne Alfaro saying she’s heard of recruiting for frontline positions being cancelled as far along as the interview stage.

“It is very confusing to learn there is a need for restrictions on hiring to manage a budget deficit, hear that hiring is being cancelled, and then be told from the CEO that they are still actively hiring,” she stated in an email Friday to Postmedia.

“It does not make any sense to say you need to find cost savings on hiring and you are creating a process to increase the ability to deny recruitment but are also not limiting hiring. If they were not looking to limit the hiring of frontline workers, we would not have received this memo.”

Opposition health critic Luanne Metz described the health-care system as being in a state of chaos due to understaffing.

“I am very worried about the safety of patients who are already in hospital. What are hospitals going to do when they don’t have enough staff to take care of patients on already crowded wards?”

Mentzelopoulos was named president and CEO of AHS on Dec. 7 of last year, a month after Premier Danielle Smith announced her government’s intention to overhaul the health-care system, including downsizing the role of AHS.

Related
Alberta breaking up AHS, creating new agencies in health care overhaul

Dismantling AHS: A summary of the Alberta UCP government plan

 Country star Corb Lund criticizes Alberta minister over coal application support

© Provided by The Canadian Press

TABER, Alta. — An Alberta country music star is criticizing the province's energy minister for advising its energy regulator to accept initial applications for a coal mine project in the eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains in southern Alberta.

Corb Lund says that after meeting with Energy Minister Brian Jean, he doesn't believe the minister knows enough about the issue. 

"I met with Brian Jean to discuss the coal issue a couple of months ago. And I was alarmed by how little he knew," Lund said in an email to The Canadian Press. 

"I knew more about the coal issue than he did, and I'm just a guitar player, not the minister of energy. It's chilling to me that ill-informed politicians are making decisions about our water."

On Thursday, the Alberta Energy Regulator said the Grassy Mountain steelmaking coal proposal near Crowsnest Pass should be considered an advanced project and be exempt from a ministerial order banning coal development in the mountains.

The regulator reached the decision after receiving a letter from Jean in support of considering the applications. 

The regulator says it will hold public hearings on mine proponent Northback's request for exploration permits and a water licence.

In a statement on Saturday, Jean said there's a difference between applying for a drilling permit and a permit being approved, pointing out the application has not been approved.

The provincial energy regulator is independent, and its officials are "the correct people to make this technical decision," he added.

“I consult widely with lots of Albertans on lots of issues. I took the time to speak with Corb and I asked him many questions to get his perspective on this issue. It’s disappointing that he feels this way," Jean said.

Lund, a longtime vocal opponent of coal mining in the eastern slopes, says review panels and governments have already turned down the project and polling has shown the public doesn't support it.  

"How many times do Albertans have to say no to these foreign coal companies?" he wrote. 

"The joint review panel already firmly told them no, at both the provincial and federal levels — and their appeal was denied after that. Public polling has shown over and over that the vast majority of Albertans don't want these coal mines." 

He said southern Alberta can't support another significant water user. 

"We're dealing with crippling drought."

Jean countered that the proposal, if approved, would not use any water from any river or stream in the foothills, and would instead use water from the existing coal mine lake on the property.

"Alberta’s government is serious about protecting water. Rules on water use and water treatment will be a big part of the land-use planning which is being prepared for the foothills," he said.

While the community of Crowsnest Pass strongly supports the mine, environmental groups have said they're considering a court challenge of the decision to exempt the applications from a ministerial order banning coal development along the eastern slopes of the Rockies.

Lund lives in the southern Alberta community of Taber. 

He has released 11 albums and tours regularly in Canada, the United States and Australia. He has been nominated for five Juno Awards, winning once, and has received several nods for Group of the Year from the Canadian Country Music Association. 

Jean said advanced coal projects are allowed to make applications under the 2022 ministerial order. Four projects were told in 2022 that they qualified as advanced coal projects, he said.

— By Bob Weber in Edmonton

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 24, 2024.

The Canadian Press

Thousands of York University workers prepared to strike Monday

Story by Ainsley Smith • 

York University campus view© York University/Facebook

Thousands of staff at York University are prepared to go on strike Monday morning. Agreement between the university and the union that represents the school's academic workers has not been reached.

The union, which represents roughly 3,000 contract instructors, teaching assistants and graduate assistants at York University confirmed Friday it was preparing to walk out

The Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) previously said its members would set up picket lines on Monday morning if a deal wasn't reached with the university over the weekend. As of Sunday afternoon, an agreement still hadn't been made.

The union previously cited a 2018 strike, provincial wage restraint legislation and affordability as key issues behind the looming strike.

Erin McIntosh, a PhD student and CUPE 3903 spokesperson, told Global News reaching an agreement Sunday evening "seems highly unlikely."

"The employer did not table a single proposal or response for the entirety of the five hours of bargaining on Friday afternoon. After no movement from the employer on Friday, they have not signlled any interest in taking action to avoid the strike on Monday," said McIntosh.

She said the union's bargaining team remains open to meeting "at any moment" if the university comes prepared with proposals. However, she added that there's "no sign that that will happen before midnight tonight.

York’s deputy spokesperson said in a statement provided to Global News that the school hoped it could achieve a negotiated collective agreement with CUPE 3903 ahead of the planned strike date of 12:01 am on Monday, Feb. 26.

"With that goal in mind, we offered two consecutive proposals on Feb. 7 and 21, which addressed crucial items, including increase in rates of pay. Thus far, none of these proposals have been responded to at the bargaining table," the spokesperson said.

The spokesperson said the university is ensuring that students learning needs "remain the top priority."

"Contingency plans for all other aspects of university operations are in place and will be activated as required and we will continue to work toward a swift, equitable and sustainable agreement with CUPE 3903," the spokesperson said.

According to McIntosh, if the strike moves forward, the first day will consist of a rally.

"Strikes are challenging for everyone involved, knowing this, we will be starting the strike in the spirit of community," McIntosh said.

The rally is set to take place from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. outside of the York University subway station.




-- With files from Global News' Isaac Callan

Montreal's Beloved Witchcraft Store Has Closed — Here's Why

Provided by MTL Blog

After enchanting Montreal for over two decades, the city's cherished witchcraft and esoteric shop, Charme & Sortilège, has closed its doors, marking the end of an era for the local occult community.

The store, known for its wide range of magical supplies, from herbs and crystals to books and ritual tools, has been a cornerstone for those practicing or curious about paganism, witchcraft, and the metaphysical.

"The rent of $6000 a month for our premises was considerable, but we were already financially fragile from some troubles in 2019 related to embezzlement, just as we were busy opening the Quebec branch," co-owner Marie Renée told MTL Blog. The pandemic further exacerbated their financial strain, leading to the three co-owners taking out personal loans to keep employee salaries afloat despite mandatory closures.

Then, the store's efforts to reach the community online through posts on rituals, herbalist tips, and moon phases saw a dramatic drop in interaction, sometimes getting only a handful of likes per week, a stark contrast to their previous engagement of 200 to 300 likes.

"For two years, we really tried everything… but recently, we had to accept that we were losing money every week," Marie Renée said. A company recovery expert strongly advised them to close as soon as possible.

Despite the store's brick-and-mortar closure in Montreal and Quebec City, the spirit of Charme & Sortilège will live on. The announcement of the closure elicited nearly 4,000 messages of love and sadness, according to Marie Renée, showing the deep connection the community felt with the store.

"It's really sad to see you guys go. I always loved visiting, it felt like entering another dimension. It really felt magical," one person commented on Instagram. "You have helped me a lot during a difficult time in my life and I am endlessly grateful," wrote another.

On entering Charme & Sortilège visitors were often greeted by the scent of incense, selected from a wall lined with dozens of scents, each described for its spell and ritual associations. The store was filled with items like cauldrons, candles, and spellbooks, among other pagan wares, inviting customers into a world of mysticism.

The store also offered unique "spells in a bag," silk sachets filled with herbal mixes labelled with aspirations like "fast luck" and "sweet dreams." The staff would explain how to use the sachets: carry them around, place them under your pillow, and meditate on your desired outcome. Once achieved, the tradition was to return the sachet to nature by burying or burning it. The store put an emphasis on spiritual practices that revered the natural world, which will be missed in its physical absence.

"Many are mourning… just like us. So, we decided to keep a portal dedicated to magic and related arts, allowing the spirit of Charme & Sortilège to continue. The community will now have access to various downloadable products to enrich and diversify their practice, personalized services, the Grimoire-Blog, and consultations directly on the Charme & Sortilège site," Marie Renée shared, ensuring that the store's legacy will persist online.

Looking ahead, Marie Renée has plans to create courses through a series of posters and monographs. Pascal is considering offering a unique and personalized service, and Michel will be back for in-person and virtual meetings starting mid-March.

"Continue to follow us… we haven't spoken our last word," she said.

Chip Giant TSMC Shifts From Hotspot Taiwan With Japan Plant


February 24, 2024 
By Associated Press

The founder of Taiwan's chip giant Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, Morris Chang, center, attends the opening ceremony for the new semiconductor plant by subsidiary Japan Advanced Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, in Kikuyo, Japan, on Feb. 24, 2024.

TOKYO —

Chip giant Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. opened its first semiconductor plant in Japan Saturday as part of its ongoing global expansion.

“We are deeply grateful for the seamless support provided by you at every step,” TSMC Chairman Mark Liu said after thanking the Japanese government, local community and business partners, including electronic giant Sony and auto-parts maker Denso. The company's founder, Morris Chang, was also present at the ceremony in Kikuyo.

This comes as Japan is trying to regain its presence in the chip production industry.

Japan Advanced Semiconductor Manufacturing, or JASM, is set to be up and running later this year. TSMC also announced plans for a second plant in Japan earlier this month, with production expected to start in about three years. Private sector investment totals $20 billion for both plants. Both plants are in the Kumamoto region, southwestern Japan.

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida sent a congratulatory video message, calling the plant’s opening “a giant first step.” He stressed Japan's friendly relations with Taiwan and the importance of cutting-edge semiconductor technology.

Japan had previously promised TSMC 476 billion yen ($3 billion) in government funding to encourage the semiconductor giant to invest. Kishida confirmed a second package, raising Japan's support to more than 1 trillion yen ($7 billion).

Although TSMC is building its second plant in the U.S. and has announced a plan for its first in Europe, Japan could prove an attractive option.

Closer to Taiwan geographically, Japan is an important U.S. ally. Neighboring China claims the self-governing island as its own territory and says it must come under Beijing’s control. The long-running divide is a flashpoint in U.S.-China relations.

The move is also important for Japan, which has recently earmarked about 5 trillion yen ($33 billion) to revive its chips industry.

Four decades ago, Japan dominated in chips, headlined by Toshiba Corp. and NEC controlling half the world’s production. That’s declined lately to under 10%, due to competition from South Korean, U.S. and European manufacturers, as well as from TSMC.

The coronavirus pandemic negatively affected the supply of electronic chips, stalling plants, including automakers, with Japan almost entirely dependent on chip imports. This pushed Japan to seek chip production in pursuit of self-sufficiency.

Sony Semiconductor Solutions Corporation, Denso Corporation and top automaker Toyota Motor Corporation are investing in TSMC’s Japan plant, with the Taiwanese giant retaining an 86.5% ownership of JASM.

Once the two plants are up and running, they’re expected to create 3,400 high-tech jobs directly, according to TSMC.

Ensuring access to an ample supply of the most advanced chips is vital with the growing popularity of electric vehicles and artificial intelligence. Some analysts note Japan still leads in crucial aspects of the industry, as seen in Tokyo Electron, which manufactures the machinery used to produce chips.

Still, it’s clear the Japanese government is intent on playing catchup. Tokyo is supporting various semiconductor projects nationwide, such as those involving Western Digital and Micron of the U.S., and Japanese companies such as Renesas Electronics, Canon and Sumitomo.

 ANTARCTIC

Geological Insights from the Newly Discovered Granite of Sif Island between Thwaites and Pine Island Glaciers

Large-scale geological structures have controlled the long-term development of the bed and thus the flow of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS). However, complete ice cover has obscured the age and exact positions of faults and geological boundaries beneath Thwaites Glacier and Pine Island Glacier, two major WAIS outlets in the Amundsen Sea sector. Here, we characterize the only rock outcrop between these two glaciers, which was exposed by the retreat of slow-flowing coastal ice in the early 2010s to form the new Sif Island. The island comprises granite, zircon U-Pb dated to ~177–174 Ma and characterized by initial ɛNd, 87Sr/86Sr and ɛHf isotope compositions of -2.3, 0.7061 and -1.3, respectively. These characteristics resemble Thurston Island/Antarctic Peninsula crustal block rocks, strongly suggesting that the Sif Island granite belongs to this province and placing the crustal block's boundary with the Marie Byrd Land province under Thwaites Glacier or its eastern shear margin. Low-temperature thermochronological data reveal that the granite underwent rapid cooling following emplacement, rapidly cooled again at ~100–90 Ma and then remained close to the Earth's surface until present. These data help date vertical displacement across the major tectonic structure beneath Pine Island Glacier to the Late Cretaceous.

Details

Publication status:

Published Online

Author(s):

Authors: Marschalek, James W., Thomson, Stuart N., Hillenbrand, Claus-Dieter , Vermeesch, Pieter, Siddoway, Christine, Carter, Andrew, Nichols, Keir, Rood, Dylan H., Venturelli, Ryan A., Hammond, Samantha J., Wellner, Julia, van de Flierdt, Tina

On this site: Claus-Dieter Hillenbrand

Date:

20 February, 2024

Journal/Source:

Antarctic Science

Page(s):

24pp

Link to published article:

https://doi.org/10.1017/S0954102023000287

3,700-Year-Old Red Lipstick Unearthed In Iran May Be Oldest Ever Found

The prehistoric lip product is remarkably similar to contemporary cosmetics.

MADDY CHAPMAN
Editor & Writer
Edited by Francesca Benson

The composition of the lipstick enhanced in false colors: Red (hematite), yellow (braunite), pink (quartz), and green (galena).
Image credit: Eskandari et al., Scientific Reports, 2024 (CC BY 4.0)

What scientists believe to be a Bronze Age lipstick with a deep red color – and possibly a hint of shimmer – has been discovered in Iran, suggesting that ancient Iranians may have been rouging their lips since the second millennium BCE.

The lip paint was contained in a small, ornately decorated chlorite vial, which was discovered in the Jiroft region of southeastern Iran in 2001. Recent radiocarbon dating has revealed it was made somewhere between 1936 and 1687 BCE, which would make this “probably the earliest [lipstick] analytically reported,” the team behind the find report in their paper.

As impressive as almost-four-millennia-old makeup may sound, the researchers add that the lipstick’s advanced age isn’t all that surprising “considering the long-standing, well known technical and aesthetic tradition in cosmetology in ancient Iran.”

Foundations, eye shadows, and black kohl eyeliners have all previously been identified in the ancient Near East and Egypt. However, deep red pigments such as those found in the lipstick have remained elusive – until now.

Chemical analysis of the residue left in the vial, which by now resembles a fine purple powder, revealed it contains predominantly hematite, known for its intense red color, darkened with manganite and braunite, and complete with traces of galena, anglesite, and other organic substances. Vegetal fibers were present in the archaic cosmetic concoction too, possibly for their aromatic properties, which may have been utilized to scent the lipstick.

The researchers also identified quartz particles, from ground sand or crystals, which they suggest might have been included to add a bit of shimmer – although a much less glamorous explanation is that the quartz flaked off the decaying container.

Glittery or not, the mixture “bears a striking resemblance to the recipes of contemporary lipsticks,” the study authors write. It seems the cosmetologists of ancient Iran walked so that modern pout-enhancers could run.

The chlorite vial (left) and its contents (right).
Image credit: Eskandari et al., Scientific Reports, 2024 (CC BY 4.0)


The vial itself is intricately decorated with fine incisions, and is “unlike any other similar object currently known”. Because of this, and the fact of its unusual contents, the researchers write that it “supports the idea that cosmetic products in ancient times were branded, packaged and traded in standard types of containers with specific forms allowing for easy visual identification,” as is the case with contemporary cosmetics and perfumes.

While it's not possible to know who the owner and wearer of the lipstick was, the find nonetheless offers some insight into the often-overlooked Bronze Age cosmetics industry.

Study author Professor Massimo Vidale told Smithsonian Magazine: “It was a costly expression of luxury that played a crucial role in shaping social interaction in the hierarchies of the early cities.”

The study is published in the journal Scientific Reports.