Paul Gosar has a long history of posting unhinged far-right memes on Twitter
Jerod Macdonald-Evoy, Arizona Mirror
November 09, 2021

Gage Skidmore.

This story contains descriptions of videos and images of a racially charged nature, as do some of the links.

Paul Gosar has stoked national outrage for a Tweet depicting himself as an anime character killing and attacking prominent political figures, the latest in a string of posts from the Republican congressman that draw on far-right and racist memes and imagery.

On Tuesday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called for the House Ethics Committee and law enforcement to investigate “this horrific video."

The tweet in question is a parody of the opening sequence of the popular anime series “Attack on Titan," based on the Japanese manga series of the same name.

The series has become widely popular with western audiences and has also garnered attention from the alt-right community, which has latched onto it. Recent themes in the manga have drawn parallels with real world antisemitism and far-right politics in Japan.

The video, which Gosar posted on his official congressional Twitter account, has been viewed over 3.4 million times. Twitter has deemed that the Tweet has violated the company's guidelines for hateful conduct. The social media company initially left it up due to “public interest," but it was no longer visible as of Tuesday afternoon. It is unclear if Twitter removed the post or if Gosar deleted it.

The video depicts Gosar as one of the main characters of the show — his face is digitally pasted over the actual character's face — killing and attacking enemies whose faces have been replaced with those of Democratic politicians.

In one shot, Gosar can be seen killing an enemy that has U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's face superimposed on it. Later, he is about to attack an enemy with President Joe Biden's face on it.

In a quote tweet on his personal account, Gosar thanked his “team" and said their creativity is “off the charts." However, the meme appears to be a rip-off of a similar 2016 meme that cast former President Donald Trump as the hero.

An account claiming to be the creator of the video shared an unfinished video in which Gosar is seen as a character from another anime called “Death Note" in which the main character has the power to kill people by writing their names in a journal. Gosar is seen killing Biden, Osacio-Cortez and Rep. Bennie Thompson, the Mississippi Democrat who chairs the House Homeland Security Committee. Gosar's congressional Twitter account follows the supposed “team" member account.

That same account has posted homophobic remarks, mocked LGBTQ people and said that they want to “end all immigration."

Gosar's office did not respond to a request for comment about the account claiming credit for the video. After an Arizona Mirror reporter followed the account, its owner blocked the reporter and made the account private.

The anime video that sparked outrage this week isn't the first video tweet by the congressman that co-opted far-right meme culture.
White supremacists and Groypers

Just last month, Gosar tweeted out and deleted a meme which has roots in neo-Nazi and white nationalist meme culture.

The since-deleted tweet, which was saved by the Internet Archive, begins with a cartoon image of a man looking dismayed as a number of headlines are displayed while the song “Little Dark Age" by MGMT plays.

Before the song crescendos, a buff cartoon with Gosar's head superimposed on it appears in a doorway before the cartoon character, and a montage of Gosar is played before another photoshopped image of the congressman's head on a muscular man is shown while a spinning “America First" logo is shown around his head.

The meme follows a format that is popular among online neo-Nazis and white nationalists who take the same song and superimpose it with images from Nazi Germany, as well as other imagery, the Arizona Mirror found.

Gosar's office didn't respond to requests for comment about the origins of the video or if it was created by the same “team" that created the anime video and other meme related content the congressman has shared.

Before Gosar deleted the tweet, some white nationalists and white supremacists on Twitter discussed its similarity to popular alt-right memes. One, for example, said the only difference between Gosar's tweet and “w**nat" content was the lack of an image called a “spinsun."

The term “w**nats" is used by the alt-right to describe people within the white nationalist movement that generally advocate for violence, antisemitism and accelerationism.

The “spinsuns" and “spinny wheel" that other Twitter users complained about referred to an image known as a sonnenrad, also known as the sunwheel or Black Sun. The Nazi party adopted the sonnenrad and it has become used by a number of modern Neo-Nazi groups as well as in violent attacks. The man who killed 51 and injured 40 more in New Zealand had a sonnenrad on his manifesto.

The most popular version of the sonnenrad used by white nationalists and white supremacists is two concentric circles with crooked rays that come out from the center circle and to the outer circle. Some sonnenrads have a swastika in the center or another norse rune.

The meme that Gosar tweeted did have a spinning “America First" logo around the congressman's head.

Gosar has also posted other memes related to “America First," a slogan popular among the Groyper movement and white nationalist Nicholas Fuentes.

Groypers are white nationalists and far-right activists who often troll conservatives who they feel are not extreme enough. Though loosely organized and members of many different groups, groypers are almost all followers of Fuentes.

One of the main goals of groypers is to push conservatives in a white nationalist direction, and one way they attempt to do this is to present their views in a mainstream appearance or within mainstream organizations.

Gosar spoke at an event held by Fuentes but later attempted to distance himself by saying he denounced “white racism" and said he attended the event to reach a younger voting base, according to the Washington Post.

In March, on his personal account, Gosar tweeted out a meme depicting a man soliciting a prostitute telling the man that $50 will get him whatever he wants to which the man replies “tell everyone America First is inevitable."

The phrase “America First" was used as far back as 1896 by President William McKinley, but it became prominent in isolationist and xenophobic circles in the 1920s when the Ku Kluk Klan adopted the phrase “America First" in the 1920s. It was later promoted by American Nazi sympathizers. And David Duke, the former Grand Wizard of the KKK, would go on to use the term when describing his foreign policy platform as a U.S. Senate candidate.

“America First" has now become the rallying cry for white nationalists, like Fuentes, a young podcast host and the leader of the white nationalist group that Gosar spoke to earlier this year.

Arizona Mirror is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Arizona Mirror maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Jim Small for questions: info@azmirror.com. Follow Arizona Mirror on Facebook and Twitter.

Sorry, Josh Hawley, the left doesn't hate masculinity — women just don't want to make you a sandwich

Amanda Marcotte, Salon
November 08, 2021

Josh Hawley. (Photo: Screen capture)

Because right-wingers are nothing if not unoriginal, Josh Hawley, the Republican senator from Missouri, is centering his likely doomed 2024 presidential bid on the played "feminists are man-haters" schtick. It's a bit that was long in the tooth even when Hawley, 41, was running off potential prom dates by sneering at their Lilith Fair tickets. In the era of #MeToo and the Texas abortion bounty hunter law, this "men are the real victims" nonsense is particularly laughable. Still, Hawley is digging in. And, to illustrate why he's going to get trounced in the GOP primary by Donald Trump, he's doing so by attacking two very popular American pastimes: porn and video games.

On "Axios on HBO" Sunday night, Hawley defended a speech he made at a gathering of conservatives last week, in which he insisted that liberals are trying to create "a world beyond men" because liberals hate "traditional masculine virtues" like "courage and independence and assertiveness." In response, the supposedly braver, more independent, and more assertive gender, according to Hawley, is "withdrawing into the enclave of idleness and pornography and video games." True men of courage, it's well-known, react to even the slightest criticism by pouting in their mancaves like toddlers throwing a tantrum.

When pressed on this by Axios' Mike Allen, Hawley doubled down, insisting that liberals are saying "your masculinity is inherently problematic." But tellingly, he was extremely vague on examples of either liberals saying this or even what he means by "masculinity." Instead, he just said, "A man is a father. A man is a husband. A man is someone who takes responsibility."

So the charge is what, that liberals are against men being fathers, husbands, and people who take responsibility? Note that it was just last month that it was liberals defending Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg after he took paternity leave to care for his two prematurely born newborn babies. It was conservatives like Tucker Carlson and supposed masculinity icons like Joe Rogan who were bashing Buttigieg for having the courage and independence of mind to shrug off their childish bullying to do what was right for his family. Indeed, looking at that whole incident, what is clear is that whatever conservatives are defending about masculinity is something, but it sure doesn't have anything to do with taking responsibility or being devoted to family.

As is usual with these reactionary defenses of "masculinity," what Hawley is trying to say is left deliberately ambiguous. As Paul Waldman of the Washington Post recently pointed out, for instance, "assertiveness" can mean all sorts of things, as, "Harvey Weinstein was certainly an assertive man, but so is Sen. Bernie Sanders."

It's also worth noting that these "masculine" qualities are hardly exclusive to men. It's doubtful that even Hawley is a troll enough to deny that women should also want to be courageous, independent, and assertive. Indeed, it's hard to think up a supposedly "masculine" virtue that isn't also a quality non-men aspire to have. Strong? Honorable? Competent? All also virtues in women and non-binary folks.

No, Hawley is being vague because what is being defended here is not virtuous behavior at all, but sexism and male dominance. The left doesn't have ire for men who exhibit good or pro-social behaviors. The behavior Hawley whines is called "toxic masculinity" is cis straight men who act entitled and abusive, in ways that range from being merely gross (like mansplaining) to being downright criminal (such as Donald Trump's boast about how he "grabs 'em by the pussy.") You're not really seeing a lot of feminists bash, say, Barack Obama for being a good husband and father. You do, however, see a lot of criticism of, to pull a recent example, Dave Portnoy of Barstool Sports for allegations that, as one woman texted a friend, "I was being raped he video taped me and spit in my mouth and choked me so hard I couldn't breathe."

Hawley's little word games cover up for the truly gross behavior that he and his audience are feeling defensive about. Men who long for when it was easier to get away with sexual harassment and abuse can project that behavior into the term "assertive." But if confronted on this, Hawley will just pretend he's talking about men speaking up for good causes, which, again, no one objects to. "Independence" sounds great, until you realize that a lot of crappy men are hearing a defense of men like Aaron Rodgers and Joe Rogan, who think being "independent" means believing you know better than doctors how immunity works. And by "courage," it's hardly likely Hawley's intended audience is imagining the true courage of a young drag queen performing for the first time or the men at NBC News who turned on Matt Lauer for his alleged sexual assaults. It's men who want to believe they're warrior princes of the highest order because they brave women's eyerolls with their "take my wife, please" jokes.

That it's sexism Hawley is defending is evident in this porn-and-video-games talk. That's just a tired sexist trope, that men's presence in women's lives needs to be purchased with women's submission, and if women demand equality, men will reject them entirely. This threat of male abandonment has been leveraged to keep women down for, well, ever. In recent decades, however, it's lost some teeth. Women are no longer barred from having checking accounts and jobs, and so aren't in danger of being destitute for the sin of being too uppity. The premise that a man's value is so self-evident that a woman should subjugate herself to keep a man happy, which was treated as gospel in the 50s era America the right is so nostalgic for, has also lost a lot of its shine. Straight women are increasingly asking men to demonstrate real worth, by being a partner instead of entitled and domineering. Hawley is speaking to an audience terrified of having to actually step up and be something more than a paycheck with a pulse to women.

The grim truth is a lot of men — and unfortunately, their female enablers — believe female submission is men's birthright and are quite angry about changing gender norms. It's why Donald Trump didn't lose any votes on the right for bragging about sexual assault. It's why there's so much whining about "cancel culture" from so many straight men who are criticized for acting like jerks or bigots. It's why groups like the Proud Boys wallow in "tradwife" fantasies, wishing for the days when women didn't have rights so had to put up their crap.

The audience Hawley is trying to reach isn't courageous or assertive or independent at all. They are whiny babies who are throwing a childish tantrum because women told them to make their own damn sandwiches. Those men are plentiful enough to be a voting bloc, as Trump has shown. Still, it's doubtful Hawley will break through to them with his dismissal of porn and video games. The voters he's seeking want more of that "grab 'em by the pussy" talk when imagining the rebirth of male dominance, not all this needlenecked whining about "responsibility."

New QAnon-style conspiracy theory links Astroworld tragedy with supposed mind control experiments

Brad Reed
November 09, 2021

Travis Scott performed at the Astroworld Festival in Houston on November 5th. © Jamaal Ellis/ AP

A video that's spreading across Facebook is falsely claiming that the tragedy at Astroworld over the weekend was part of an experiment in which the crowds at the show were mind-controlled using "graphene oxide" purportedly found in COVID-19 vaccines.

The Houston Chronicle on Tuesday published a fact check of this claim in which it explained that this conspiracy theory simply has no basis in reality.

First of all, contra the video, there's no evidence that graphene oxide turns people in "zombies." Additionally, none of the COVID-19 vaccines contain graphene oxide.

"We previously fact-checked a claim that falsely said graphene oxide — a material made by the oxidation of graphite — was used in Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine," the paper writes. "A company spokesperson told us that the material is used in some vaccines, but none by Pfizer. None of the listed ingredients is another name for graphene oxide, and the material doesn't appear in ingredient lists for the Moderna and Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccines. "

QAnon conspiracy theorists have also been claiming this that the Astroworld disaster was part of a "Satanic ritual" in which rapper Travis Scott was harvesting people's souls in a purported sacrifice to the devil.

Liberty University files restraining order against 'whistleblower' suing for wrongful firing

By Michael Gryboski, Christian Post Reporter | Tuesday, November 09, 2021

The Freedom Tower at Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia,

 is the home of Liberty's School of Divinity. | Courtesy of Liberty University

Liberty University is asking a federal court to stop a former employee from disclosing confidential information and documents amid a legal battle over claims that the evangelical Christian school wrongfully fired him for speaking out about how it handled sexual assault allegations.

Scott Lamb, formerly the school’s senior vice president of communications, sued the Lynchburg-based university and claimed that he was dismissed because he expressed concern over how Liberty officials handled sexual assault claims.

Liberty filed a request for a temporary restraining order last Friday in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Virginia against Lamb, arguing that he is still bound to his confidentiality agreement with the university.

The motion also asks for Lamb to, among other things, deliver “all documents or other information, including all privileged, confidential, and/or trade secret information” to Liberty and to disclose all the people to whom he has sent such sensitive documents or information.

In a memorandum of law filed in support of the motion, a copy of which was emailed to The Christian Post on Monday, Liberty argued that “Lamb promised not to disclose any confidential information without Liberty approval and to return all confidential Liberty information upon his departure” when he signed a confidentiality agreement in 2018.

“Although many of these materials were likely protected trade secrets, privileged communications or attorney work product protected information, Lamb has admitted that he disclosed them to the media, general public and commercial enemies of Liberty without privilege or prior permission as contractually required,” the memorandum reads.

“Perhaps most shockingly, Lamb has demonstrated no regard for the attorney-client privilege, freely discussing privileged advice regarding litigation strategy and other matters on national media.”

Liberty filed a counterclaim to Lamb’s lawsuit, denying certain statements made in his filing last month. Liberty contends that Lamb was fired "for insubordination, expense mismanagement, and overall poor performance."

In a statement emailed to CP, the university said that while it “made every possible effort to avoid taking this action,” it believes that “Lamb simply continues to make egregious, false claims and to violate the law.

“We simply had to act to protect the institution’s mission. We will let the lawsuit speak for itself. It speaks clearly and factually. We have absolutely no doubt that in court our claims will be irrefutable,” Liberty maintained

Lamb directed CP to a statement he posted to Twitter on Monday in which he explained that he tried to change Liberty from within regarding alleged abuses. He claimed that Liberty is “lying about the reason for my termination.”

“Because Liberty University has neither the law nor the facts on its side, its strategy is to pound on the one who sought to reform from within — the whistleblower,” tweeted Lamb.

“As I allege in my lawsuit, I spoke about abuses at Liberty during my entire duration of employment. I spoke out loudly, often, and with little regard for hanging to my job, because I spoke as one who will give an account to God.”

In his statement, Lamb said that he gave over 20 hours of testimony when the Baker Tilly firm interviewed him during an independent investigation in 2021.

“Before my first minute of testimony, I was given a 2-page letter of ‘whistleblower protection,’ signed by interim president Jerry Prevo, instructing me to speak honestly, forthrightly, thoroughly, and without any regard to the reputation of the school, its leadership, or its board. “And Prevo promised that there would be no retaliation for my honest testimony,” he wrote.

“I indicted the former president, the Board of Trustees for negligence and Jerry Prevo as the chairman of the trustees during the entire presidency of Jerry Falwell Jr. Baker Tilly presented their report to Jerry Prevo and the Board of Trustees on September 29. Seven days later, Jerry Prevo fired me.”

Lamb further added that he has “enough documentary evidence” to prove his claims in court and would be happy to give testimony under penalty of perjury to federal agencies or U.S. Congress.

Lamb added that while Liberty “can hire every lawyer and PR firm in the land to attempt to silence me,” this “will not stop the truth from breaking out of Liberty’s conspiracy of silence.”

“God help me if I do anything else but speak up for the true heroes of this story — those who were silenced previously but now are shouting from the rooftops,” he concluded.

Last month, ProPublica published an investigative piece titled, “‘The Liberty Way’: How Liberty University Discourages and Dismisses Students’ Reports of Sexual Assaults.”

ProPublica interviewed former Liberty students who detailed experiences in which the university allegedly mishandled sexual assault allegations and claimed the school even threatened accusers.

The article mentioned how Lamb was allegedly fired for expressing concerns over how the university was handling the allegations of sexual misconduct.

“Concerns about sexual assault would go up the chain and then die,” Lamb told ProPublica, adding that he believed Liberty engaged in a “conspiracy of silence” regarding allegations.

In July, 12 unnamed women filed a class-action suit against Liberty, claiming the school violated Title IX federal discrimination law by failing to process allegations properly.

“Liberty University has intentionally created a campus environment where sexual assaults and rapes are foreseeably more likely to occur than they would in the absence of Liberty’s policies,” stated the lawsuit.

The suit claimed “The Liberty Way,” the school’s honor code, was used to silence accusers by not clarifying if a woman who reports being sexually assaulted will be punished for violating the code if she admits to breaking other aspects of the code, such as the ban on drinking, when reporting an alleged assault.

Liberty President Jerry Prevo issued a statement declaring that “The Liberty Way should never be misused to cover up wrongdoing.”

“It is also the case that as a Christian university we will remain unwavering in our commitment to cultivating a culture in our Liberty community that honors God’s Word and embraces God’s principles for life,” stated Prevo.

“While ‘The Liberty Way’ must never be used to discourage victims from reporting wrongdoing, we also believe that we do not have to choose between embracing our code of conduct as a Christian university and in complying with our legal Title IX obligations.”

At least 10 missing in Turkey building collapse

Issued on: 09/11/2021 - 

There were conflicting reports about how many people were trapped under the debris Handout IHH humanitarian aid group/AFP

Istanbul (AFP) – A two-storey building packed with shoppers and diners collapsed in eastern Turkey on Tuesday, burying at least 10 people under heavy debris.

The incident occurred on a busy street in the eastern plains city of Malatya during evening rush hour, as residents packed shops on their way home from work.

Witnesses and media reports said the building crumbled during planned repairs that resulted in damage to one of the supporting columns.

"I heard a crack first and then the building collapsed. A cloud of dust emerged. It was like judgement day," witness Turhan Cobanoglu told HaberTurk television.

Turkey's AFAD emergencies service said 13 people had been rushed to hospital as rescuers searched for signs of life under piles of debris spilling across one of Malatya's main thoroughfares.

Officials issued contradictory reports about how many people were believed to be inside the various restaurants and shops when the building crumbled at 4:50 pm.

Local mayor Osman Guder told HaberTurk television that between 20 and 25 were believed to still be trapped inside.

Malatya's main opposition CHP party chairman Enver Kiraz put the number trapped at up to 30.

"On the first floor, there was a chicken restaurant, a dried nuts seller and bakery. And on the second floor there was a coffee house," Kiraz told AFP by telephone.

"It is a very busy street. As far as I know, some of the people were injured while passing by the building."

But HaberTurk later reported that only 10 people remained unaccounted for.

Media reports said two of those rescued had suffered serious injuries.

Television images showed rescuers using construction diggers to remove large blocks of debris and trying to listen for signs of any survivors as the evening set in.

Turkey has been rocked by a series of disasters -- including a wave of wildfires and two flash floods -- that claimed some 100 lives this year.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan came under fierce political pressure when it emerged in August that Turkey no longer had functioning fire fighting planes.

The deadly flash floods wiped out houses in mountain valleys and sparked questions over why officials were approving construction licences for regions prone to violent weather events.

Erdogan's communications director Fahrettin Altun said the state and regional authorities had fully mobilised in the search and rescue mission.

"Our prayers and hearts are with our Malatya brothers and sisters," Altun tweeted.

© 2021 AFP

WTF

WATCH: Starbucks CEO begs workers not to unionize by comparing the company to Holocaust prisoners

Sarah K. Burris
November 09, 2021


Starbucks employees are inches from forming a union to advocate for safer working conditions, better wages and benefits. The movement might be leading CEO Howard Schultz to desperation.

In a video address, Schultz compared Starbucks to Holocaust prisoners in his effort to stop the unionization. He described the experiences of prisoners in rail cars headed to their torture and death in Nazi concentration camps, Vice News reported.

Schultz explained that in those rail cars only a few were given blankets and had to share them with others. He told the workers that the Starbucks workers should share the company's blanket instead of demanding their own individual benefits. One of the many problems with Schultz's argument is that the workers are still the Holocaust prisoners in that analogy.

"Not everyone but most people shared their blanket with five other people," Schultz, who noted that he is Jewish before sharing the story, said. "So much of that story is threaded into what we've tried to do at Starbucks is share our blanket."

Howard Schultz's net worth is $5 billion.

A spokesperson wouldn't comment on the story, but noted he's talked about it before in a March 2016 speech to shareholders about "the American dream" Vice reported.

See the video below:


Howard Schultz compares workers to prisoners of Nazis

www.youtube.com

Sudan internet cuts complicate civil disobedience campaign against coup

Issued on: 09/11/2021 -

Sudanese pro-democracy groups on Sunday launched two days of civil disobedience and strikes in protest against last month's military coup, although participation appeared to be limited by interruptions to internet and phone connections. FRANCE 24's Karim Yahiaoui reports from Khartoum.

TEARGAS IS A CNS

Tunisian demonstrator dies after inhaling tear gas at landfill protest, hospital official says


People clashwith security forces in Tunisia’s central region of Sfax, which has seen weeks of angry demonstrations over a growing waste crisis, on November 9, 2021. 

© Houssem Zouari, AFP

Issued on: 09/11/2021 - 
Text by: NEWS WIRES

A Tunisian demonstrator died overnight after inhaling tear gas as police dispersed protests over the reopening of a landfill site, a medic and a relative said Tuesday.

The 35-year-old died in the town of Aguereb in the central region of Sfax, which has seen weeks of angry demonstrations over a growing waste crisis.

"Abderrazek Lacheheb was transferred to Aguereb hospital suffering from asphyxia," a hospital official said.

The man's cousin Houcine Lacheheb said the man had been alive when he arrived at the hospital but had died after security forces fired tear gas outside.

"It was the police who killed him," he said.

An AFP journalist in Aguereb saw security forces using tear gas to disperse stone-throwing demonstrators.

Tunisian human rights group FTDES said Aguereb had seen "a violent intervention by security forces on Monday night to force the reopening of the Qena rubbish dump".

"The massive use of tear gas caused the death of Abderrazek Lacheheb," it said.

Protests flared again on Tuesday and demonstrators set fire to a National Guard station in the town, interior ministry spokesman Yasser Mesbah said.

The prosecution said it had opened an inquiry into Lacheheb's death.

The interior ministry denied he had been suffocated by tear gas.

"The man had a health problem that was nothing to do with the protests. His hospitalisation and death were nothing to do with" the demonstrations, Mesbah said.

Videos shared on social media showed residents fleeing clouds of tear gas in front of the hospital, where angry relatives of Lacheheb were demonstrating after his death.

Public pressure had forced the closure of the Sfax region's main rubbish dump, in Aguereb, in September. City councils in the region have been refusing to collect trash, complaining that the state has not found workable alternatives.

In a meeting on Monday with Prime Minister Najla Bouden and Interior Minister Taoufik Charfeddine, President Kais Saied called for an urgent solution to the Sfax rubbish crisis.

(AFP)

CNS (chemical weapon) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia CNS is a mixture of chloroacetophenone, chloropicrin and chloroform that is used as a chemical warfare agent. CNS has the lachrymatory effects of chloroacetophenone and choking effects of chloropicrin.

Appearance: Liquid

CAS Number: None

Odor: Flypaper-like

CNS (chemical weapon) - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CNS_(chemical_weapon)

New emissions pledges barely affect global heating: UN

Issued on: 09/11/2021 

Earth is on course to heat some 2.7C this century despite a slew of net-zero country plans Andy Buchanan AFP

Glasgow (AFP) – A flurry of emissions pledges around the COP26 climate summit will likely do little to slow global warming, the UN said Tuesday, calling on nations to sharply accelerate their greenhouse gas cuts this decade.

Nations have presented a range of new and enhanced commitments -- including a vow by India to be carbon neutral by 2070 -- in recent weeks as the UN climate summit sets its sights on limiting temperature rises to 1.5 degrees Celsius.

Countries came in to the negotiations far off target, with national emissions-cutting pledges -- known as nationally determined contributions, or NDCs -- put Earth on course to warm a "catastrophic" 2.7C this century.

And a fresh assessment of their new pledges by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) found the outcome was "very similar", largely because the most ambitious emissions cuts are envisaged after 2030.

The report highlights the challenges facing climate negotiations, given the yawning gap between the emissions cuts needed this decade to keep warming to 1.5C and the continuing increases in greenhouse gases pumped into the atmosphere.

COP26 President Alok Sharma said it shows that "there has been some progress but clearly not enough".

"What we have always said is that we want at this COP to able to say with credibility that we are keeping 1.5 alive, and that's what we will be working at over the next few days," he said on Tuesday.
Off target

Experts have said several new pledges at COP26 could have a significant effect, including India's net-zero commitment and an international agreement to cut 30 percent of global methane emissions by 2030.

These have given rise to a number of recalculated global warming projections.

UN Climate Change said last week that countries' renewed NDCs -- updated every five years under the Paris agreement -- would see emissions climb 13.7 percent by 2030 before sharply declining thereafter.

To keep in line with 1.5C, emissions must instead fall 45 percent by then.

International Energy Agency executive director Fatih Birol said last week if all the pledges were implemented in full and if nations swiftly slashed their emissions then heating could be limited to as much as 1.8C.

But more recent calculations have come in higher.

Looking at just the national plans and announcements, UNEP said they would likely save 500 million tonnes of carbon pollution by 2030.

But it said that, taken together, all current national emissions-reduction plans would still see warming of 2.7C by 2100.

When other net-zero action -- such as carbon offsets and reforestation -- were factored in alongside decarbonisation efforts the warming estimate was 2.1C.

"We are not where we need to be and we need to step up with much more action," said UNEP executive director Inger Andersen.

"At this point, when we look at what has come in in the additional pledges frankly, it's an elephant giving birth to a mouse."
'Kick the can'

UNEP's assessment came on the same day as a similar analysis by the think tank Climate Action Tracker (CAT), which said that if countries fully implement their short-term emissions goals, global heating could be limited to 2.4C this century.

The CAT calculation is based on a 50-percent probability of hitting a given temperature, whereas UNEP's is a more conservative 66 percent.

Teresa Anderson, Climate Policy Coordinator ActionAid International, said the report was "the strongest evidence yet that too many net zero targets aren't worth the paper they're written on".

The latest report came as a who's who of US political heavyweights arrived to underscore America's recommitment to the UN climate process, after former President Donald Trump pulled the country out of the Paris Agreement.

"We come here equipped, ready to take on the challenge and meet the moment," said Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the House of Representatives, a day after ex-President Barack Obama told the conference that he understood why young people were "frustrated" with climate inaction.

"This is all about the children. Leaving them a world where they can be healthy, most secure, and more in reach of their fulfilment," Pelosi said.

© 2021 AFP

THE REAL PURPOSE OF ABSTINENCE EDUCATION
U.S. adolescents getting less sex education now than 25 years ago, study finds
By HealthDay News


Researchers say that about half of teens receive minimum standards of sex education, a far lower number than 25 years ago. File Photo by Zurijeta/Shutterstock

Sex Ed -- it's been a staple of public education for decades, but new research shows that only half of American teens are getting instruction that meets minimum standards.

"The findings show that most adolescents are not receiving sex education that will enable them to manage their sexual lives," said study author Leslie Kantor, chair of the Department of Urban-Global Public Health at Rutgers School of Public Health in New Jersey.

Kantor and her team analyzed data from nearly 8,000 U.S. adolescents in the National Survey of Family Growth from 2011-2015 and 2015-2019. They found that in both periods, about half the youths received sex education that met national standards.

More than 75% of teens received instruction about "how to say no to sex," while only about 60% received information about birth control.

In 1995, more than 80% of teens received information about birth control.

Another concerning finding was that a significant percentage of teens do not receive any information about protecting themselves against sexually transmitted diseases before they begin having intercourse.

The researchers also found notable gender and racial disparities in adolescents' access to comprehensive sex education.

Females are more likely than males to receive instruction in waiting until marriage to have sex, while males are more likely than females to be taught about condom use.

Fewer Black and Hispanic males than white males are instructed about birth control, HIV and STI -- sexually transmitted infections -- prevention, and saying no to sex.

Queer youth are less likely than straight youth to be taught about HIV/STI prevention and where to get birth control.

The study was published this month in the Journal of Adolescent Health.

"Policymakers at every level must invest in inclusive and comprehensive sex education programs with an eye toward greater equity and inclusivity," Kantor said in a Rutgers news release.

"The United States is failing adolescents and their families by providing limited sex education to so many of its youth," Kantor added.

"Federal, state and local policymakers must work harder to ensure that sex education is provided that is age appropriate and that education is equitable and meets the needs of all youth rather than leaving some youth less equipped to lead sexually healthy lives," Kantor said.

More information

The American Academy of Pediatrics offers advice on talking to children about sex.

Copyright © 2021 HealthDay. All rights reserved.

Lyft to offer rides in fully self-driving vehicles in Las Vegas by 2023


The company said Las Vegas will be the first of several U.S. markets to see the self-driving ride-share vehicles. File Photo by Ronda Churchill/UPI | License Photo

Nov. 9 (UPI) -- Autonomous vehicle technology company Motional announced on Tuesday that it will help offer fully driverless Lyft service within two years -- and they'll pick up their first U.S. passengers in Las Vegas.

Motional, a $4 billion joint venture between Hyundai and auto supplier Aptiv, said Las Vegas will be the first U.S. city to see the driverless vehicles in 2023.

The company said it's been operating driverless technology with Lyft in Las Vegas for three years, and they will use Hyundai's electric IONIQ 5-based robotaxi.

"Lyft's powerful network is the ideal platform for deploying autonomous vehicles at scale," Lyft co-founder and CEO Logan Green said in a statement.

"We can't wait for riders in Las Vegas to be the first to summon fully driverless cars on the Lyft platform."

Motional President Karl Iagnemma said Vegas will be the first of several U.S. markets to see the self-driving ride-share vehicles.

"[We] are now laying the foundation for large-scale deployments of driverless robotaxis," Iagnemma said. "We look forward to beginning this next chapter in Las Vegas, and then quickly scaling to other markets across the Lyft network."

Pakistan's crackdown on free press leaves journalists vulnerable to attacks

Journalists in the South Asian nation are facing draconian media laws and a culture of impunity, which has opened the door to intimidation and threats on social media.


A journalist's union protests a government investigation of an article in Pakistan's 'Dawn' newspaper

Journalists in Pakistan are currently working in an increasingly authoritarian environment, and encounter systemic censorship, violence and limits on free speech, according to Pakistani and international media watchdogs.

One report from the Pakistan Press Foundation (PPF), released last week in conjunction with the UN's "International Day to End Impunity for Crimes against Journalists," highlighted the "increasingly repressive environment" faced by Pakistani journalists.

The report said journalists publishing work online are "often on the receiving end of hate, threats and abuse."

"The past year has seen the continuation of trends to threaten and intimidate journalists online. While both private individuals online and members of the government continue to participate and initiate trends against certain media professionals and organizations, there is also an increased focus on setting up rules for social media platforms," the report said.

In June, a draft law was proposed for a government entity called the Pakistani Media Development Authority (PMDA), which would have sole power over media regulation in Pakistan.

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said the PMDA would be able to hand down "arbitrary decisions with no possibility of appeal by journalists or public," and compared it to a "centralized censorship office typical of the worst authoritarian regimes."

Another proposal in October from Pakistan's Information Technology and Telecommunication Ministry is called the "Removal and Blocking of Unlawful Online Content."

It would give authorities the "right to control and censor any type of message posted on social media platforms," RSF said.

Pakistan is currently ranked 145th out of 180 countries in RSF's World Press Freedom Index.

'Dissent treated like a crime' in Pakistan

Rimmel Mohydin, a South Asia campaigner with Amnesty International, told DW that media in Pakistan is facing a "structural attack" by authorities.

This includes applying pressure on independent media houses, their advertisers, their owners and individual journalists to "toe the line," and not hold power to account.

"Dissent is being consistently treated like a crime," Mohydin said.

"Journalists have faced physical violence, censorship and now face the possibility of the PMDA actually materializing, which will further curb the journalistic freedom," she added.

Press freedom under attack under PM Khan?

Pakistan's censorship drive and attacks on press freedom have gathered pace under Prime Minister Imran Khan, who has sought to placate powerful conservative and religious constituencies, say critics.

In July, Khan was featured on the RSF's "red list," along with several other heads of government who have clamped down on press freedom.

"Press freedom is in a decidedly not good place in Pakistan," Michael Kugelman, a South Asia expert at the Washington-based Woodrow Wilson Center for Scholars, told DW.

Kugelman said press crackdowns in Pakistan often play out covertly, with "journalists receiving threats and warnings, media houses punished by having their advertisers removed, and media personnel feeling compelled to self-censor."

Ismat Jabeen, an Islamabad-based journalist and press freedom activist, told DW that Pakistan is facing one of its " worst periods of coercive censorship that is both overt and covert."

"This is in proportion to the rising intolerance of a state dominated by security imperatives that it doesn't want scrutiny of," Jabeen said. She added that it is not in the interest of the government to provide a space for dissent in the media.

Female journalists face online harassment

In Pakistan, female journalists say they are increasingly targeted online with harassment, including rape threats, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), a New York based media watchdog.

Mohydin from Amnesty International said that many female journalists self-censor or stop posting articles online altogether in order to avoid harassment.

"Many of these journalists have told Amnesty International that they have had to deactivate their personal social media accounts," Mohydin said. Some of the attacks even come from officials, she added.

"If authorities object to the work of a journalist, they have the right of reply, but must never target them on the basis of their gender or use abusive language," she said.

"Authorities have a particular responsibility to protect women from gender discrimination and must lead by example and demonstrate through their own actions why journalists must be respected and protected, and discourage attacks launched by their supporters or trolls," Mohydin added.

Online media the last space for free speech

With mainstream media outlets in Pakistan subject manipulation and restriction by authorities, online spaces relatively offer better alternatives for freedom of expression.

"In Pakistan, social media and the broader online space are really the sole remaining repository for liberal and progressive thought, and that includes criticism of the state and especially the military," analyst Kugelman said.

"It's natural that the state would seek to crack down on online dissent. And in a country with a highly patriarchal and sexist society, it's unsurprising that women journalists would face the brunt of this," he added.

Attacks on journalists go unpunished

In Islamabad alone over the last six months, around 30 incidents of violence against journalists were reported, but not a single culprit was arrested.

"The community of journalists and media practitioners in Pakistan feel that without specialized laws on safety for them, the impunity of attackers cannot be lessened. The attacks continue to happen because attackers go unpunished," said Jabeen.

Mohydin echoed a similar view, blaming also Pakistani society's general apathy toward what happens to journalists for contributing to the problem.

"The lack of meaningful legislation and its implementation, a general apathy towards what happens to journalists, vicious online campaigns to cast doubt on their credibility, and a misplaced belief that the press presents a threat to the country all combine to make holding attackers accountable a rarity," she underlined.

Interview: UN genocide adviser says Ethiopia's warring parties must talk

The UN's special adviser on genocide prevention, Alice Wairimu Nderitu, says the parties fighting in Ethiopia's war have few options but to negotiate.



Alice Wairimu Nderitu, UN special adviser on the prevention of genocide, is an experienced armed conflict mediator

Alice Wairimu Nderitu of Kenya is the United Nations special adviser on the prevention of genocide. She is also an experienced mediator in the field of peacebuilding and violence prevention, having led as mediator and senior adviser in reconciliation processes.

DW: The situation in Ethiopia is deteriorating at an alarming rate and there have been calls for action from the United Nations, the United States and others. What needs to happen to alleviate the situation?

Alice Wairimu Nderitu: What needs to happen as a matter of urgency is that the African Union Peace and Security Council needs to convene a meeting on Ethiopia.

The other body that needs to do something is IGAD [the Intergovernmental Authority on Development, which is made up of eight East African countries]. African countries are governed by colonial borders and these colonial borders split ethnic communities into two. For example, the Oromo [ethnic group] exists in both Kenya and in Ethiopia, the Somali exist in both Somalia and Ethiopia, and the Luo exist in both Ethiopia and South Sudan. So the danger of cross-border conflict, of spillover from the conflict is very, very huge right now.

We need IGAD to step in. [Ethiopia's neighbors] need to work on ensuring that cross-border conflicts are prevented before they happen and not deal with it when they happen. I welcomed the statements by President Uhuru Kenyatta of Kenya and President Yoweri Museveni of Uganda, saying that they were now working around supporting Ethiopia. It is a very positive step.

What actions could we be seeing in the coming days to try to solve this conflict?

This violent conflict has been characterized by the refusal of the parties — and by parties I mean the leadership of the TPLF [Tigray People's Liberation Front], the OLA [Oromo Liberation Army] leadership, and the Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy — to engage, to speak. So there is now no option. They have to engage. They have to dialogue. The world will not sit back and allow these transgressions of violence and killings to continue anymore in the name of sovereignty.

The key message that we are putting across, not just from the UN, but internationally, is that sovereignty means responsibility — that they should take responsibility for their actions.

What would be the best solution to the current conflict in the Tigray region?

This is an Ethiopian problem, it's not a Tigray problem. If we solve Tigray today and we don't solve what's happening in [the region of] Oromo, then we will have another issue. People talk about how the Tigray forces are threatening to overrun the capital Addis Ababa. The danger of that, at this moment, is more from the OLA than from the TPLF.

In all the wars that have been fought in the world, ultimately people end up sitting at a table making decisions. So what needs to happen right now to end this conflict? Ethiopian leaders, the Ethiopian prime minister, the TPLS — they must sit at the table now and talk. The Ethiopian prime minister has said over and over again that he cannot negotiate with [the TPLF because it has been designated as] a terrorist organization.

We have to ask Abiy to remember that he's a Nobel laureate for peace and that he needs to sit at the table and not think about sitting with terrorist organizations. He needs to think about which lives he can save next. No more Ethiopians should die because Abiy cannot sit at the table with his fellow Ethiopians.

I know that there has been violence perpetrated by both sides, but at this point in time, all parties must act in the best interests of the average Ethiopian who is sitting in his house cowering in fear, thinking about whether he could be killed or not.

Really for Prime Minister Abiy, I think that the Nobel Peace Prize put him at another level. Whether the Ethiopian comes from Tigray or comes from Amhara or comes from Oromo, we must have the prime minister stepping up and saying: "No more deaths. Nobody will die anymore in this country, and I will now sit at the table in dialogue."

Let him sit with [the African Union envoy, former Nigerian President Olusegun] Obasanjo and with the TPLF and with the OLA and everyone else who is making demands of the state, let them sit together and find a solution. We are here to support that in every possible way.

'Every day we pray for rain': Fuel shortage brings Haiti to brink of water crisis

Video by:Sam BALL

In many parts of Haiti, securing enough water to drink, wash and clean can be a daily struggle, with only half of the population having access to potable water, according to the World Bank. Now though, severe fuel shortages – the result of armed groups blocking access to ports – mean that Haiti's water authority may soon no longer be able to operate water pumps, cutting off the supply to communities around the country

Chile lower house OKs impeachment trial for President Pinera



Chile lower house OKs impeachment trial for President PineraChilean lawmakers have approved the impeachment trial of President Sebastian Pinera over allegations of corruption (AFP/JAVIER TORRES)


Paula Bustamante
Tue, November 9, 2021

Chile's lower house of congress on Tuesday approved an impeachment trial for President Sebastian Pinera over corruption allegations originating from the Pandora Papers leaks.

Lawmakers in the Chamber of Deputies garnered the 78 votes required to seek impeachment and advance proceedings to the Senate over Pinera's alleged involvement in the controversial sale of a mining company.

The call for the impeachment of Pinera -- who is in the final stretch of a second non-consecutive term that began in March 2018 -- was presented in early October by members of the opposition, including socialist deputy Jaime Naranjo.


Naranjo took 15 hours on the floor Monday to read from the 1,300-page accusation against the president, arguing Pinera's "impunity" should end in the South American nation rattled by social unrest that broke out in 2019.

The marathon speech was apparently designed to allow another left-wing lawmaker, Giorgio Jackson, to complete a period of quarantine and join the process before it ended so he could vote.

"What we saw was a show," said Juan Jose Ossa, the minister general-secretary of the presidency, an equivalent to the chief of staff.

The case grew as new details emerged about a deal first revealed in the Pandora Papers document leak, which highlighted offshore transactions involving political figures.

Naranjo highlighted potential corruption around the 2010 sale of the huge Dominga mine in Chile when Pinera, a wealthy businessman, was a first-term president.

The Pandora Papers linked Pinera to the sale of Dominga, through a company owned by his children, to businessman Carlos Delano -- a close friend of the president -- for $152 million.

The papers said a large part of the operation was carried out in the British Virgin Islands, a tax haven.

"Acting as president, he benefited (himself) and his family in a direct way, with information that he had in the exercise of his office," said Naranjo, adding that Pinera's involvement pushed up the sale price.

Pinera's lawyer Jorge Galvez brought the embattled president's defense to a close before the chamber, saying: "I beg you, honorable deputies, to reject this improper constitutional accusation."

The case now moves to the Senate, where the effort to remove Pinera from office does not appear to have the necessary votes.

However, the president is barred from leaving the country while the process is under way.

Pinera risks up to five years in jail.

- Controversial clause -

The government in a statement said it hoped the Senate would dismiss the "unjust" accusations it said had "no basis, either in the facts or in law".

Pinera, one of the richest men in Chile, has denied the claims and said he was absolved in a 2017 investigation.

It is the second impeachment case brought against Pinera after an unsuccessful attempt to remove him from office in 2019 over an at-times brutal crackdown on anti-inequality protesters.

The Pandora Papers said a controversial clause was included in the Dominga deal that made the final payment of the sale conditional on "not establishing an area of environmental protection in the area of operations of the mining company, as demanded by environmental groups."

According to the investigation, the Pinera government at the time decided not to protect the area around the mine.

Galvez denied Pinera "intervened in the decision to sell" the mine, or that the decision to not protect the area was linked to the sale.

Dominga owns two open-air mines in the Atacama desert, 500 kilometers (310 miles) north of Santiago, that are yet to be exploited.

A mining project to do so was approved by a regional court but has yet to be ratified by the Supreme Court due to appeals.

The project included the construction of a cargo port close to an archipelago that is home to a national park reserve hosting protected species including 80 percent of the world's Humboldt penguins.

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Israel Using Facial Recognition Surveillance In Palestinian City


By Ben Simon
11/09/21

Israel's army has deployed a sweeping personal data collection programme using facial recognition technology targeting Palestinians in parts of the occupied West Bank, an organisation working with former soldiers said Tuesday.

The programme sees Israeli troops collecting data of Palestinians in the flashpoint city of Hebron. It was first reported by The Washington Post based on soldier testimony given to the Breaking the Silence organisation.

Soldiers on patrol equipped with specialised devices "take photos of every Palestinian that they see, completely arbitrarily," Breaking the Silence advocacy director Ori Givati told AFP.

After the picture is taken, the system known as "Blue Wolf" generates four possible results, according to Givati who said the findings were based on testimony from six soldiers who participated in the surveillance effort.

A man points at surveillance cameras in the Palestinian city of Hebron, where an organisation working with former soldiers says facial recognition technology is targeting Palestinians

 Photo: AFP / HAZEM BADER

A red result means the individual should be arrested, yellow means the Palestinian should be detained while an army superior is consulted, and green indicates the individual is free to go.

But no result means the Palestinian is not yet in the Blue Wolf system. That prompts the soldier to collect more data.

Asked for comment on the reports about Blue Wolf, Israel's army said it "conducts routine security operations" in the West Bank as part of its "fight against terrorism."

"Naturally, we cannot comment on the IDF's operational capabilities in this context," a spokesman said, referring to the Israeli Defense Forces.

Hebron is the only Palestinian city with Jewish settlers living inside it, making the city "the best place" to test Blue Wolf, Breaking the Silence deputy director Nadav Weiman told AFP.

Israeli soldiers walk past surveillance cameras in Hebon, the only Palestinian city with Jewish settlers living inside it

 Photo: AFP / HAZEM BADER

He spoke in central Hebron near the holy site known to Muslims as the Ibrahimi mosque and to Jews as the Cave of the Patriarchs.

The settlers are guarded by heavy military protection in an urban area, which increases contact between soldiers and Palestinian residents, and the city's vast network of security cameras has been integrated into Blue Wolf, Weiman said.

According to Givati, soldiers have competed for prizes over who takes the most pictures.

"We are talking about another layer of control. Another layer of things that we allow ourselves to do to the Palestinian people," Givati said.

Speaking to AFP from her apartment that overlooks Hebron's Al-Shuhada street -- once a bustling market area but closed to Palestinians for more than 20 years -- Zulaikha Muhtaseb said her neighbourhood was "surrounded by cameras."

She spoke through a door that once opened onto Al-Shuhada street but was welded shut after Israel closed the street, citing security concerns, after Jewish extremist Baruch Goldstein murdered 29 Palestinians in Hebron in 1994.

Muhtaseb said she had not knowingly had direct exposure to Blue Wolf. But as a Palestinian Hebron resident she felt the perpetual nature of Israeli surveillance.

"For the Palestinians it is a kind of violation. Nobody likes to be watched all the time," she said.

Israel has occupied the West Bank -- where more than two million Palestinians live -- since the 1967 Six Day War. Roughly 475,000 Jewish settlers now live in the Palestinian territory, in communities widely regarded as illegal under international law.
Copyright AFP. All rights reserved.

Famine-stricken Madagascar calls for 'climate empathy' at COP26



Famine-stricken Madagascar calls for 'climate empathy' at COP26The UN has said people in Madagascar have resorted to eating cactus, wild leaves and locusts (AFP/RIJASOLO)

Kelly MACNAMARA
Tue, November 9, 2021, 

As the world's first climate change-driven famine ravages her tropical island homeland, Madagascar's environment minister is in Scotland to warn that other countries could find themselves suffering a similar fate.

A multi-year drought has desiccated farmland across the southern part of the Indian Ocean island known for its rich biodiversity, with no end to the crisis in sight.

More than 1.3 million people are severely hungry and tens of thousands are facing famine conditions that the United Nations says are driven by global heating.

In desperation, many are eating locusts, wild leaves and cactus that normally serve as food for cattle, according to the World Food Programme.

"The situation is critical," said Environment Minister Baomiavotse Vahinala Raharinirina.

But in a year where disasters magnified by climate change have touched every continent on the planet, she wants the nations gathered for UN climate talks to realise that this is just the beginning.

"We appeal for climate solidarity," she told AFP, calling on nations to act to halt the march of calamities across the world.

"What we are living through now, others could experience," she told AFP.

"Desertification, islands under water -- a large part of the lands in the south will disappear but so will cities here in the northern hemisphere.

"We must take decisions and act to prevent this type of situation from happening in other countries."

- 'Question of behaviour' -

Already people are faced with desertification and temperatures of 45 degrees Celsius "throughout the year", said Raharinirina.

"The lack of water, the women who now travel 20 kilometres to fetch a container of water, these are the realities," she said.

Madagascar has always suffered prolonged dry spells, but now they are intensifying and if global heating is not halted, she said these punishing droughts could scorch three-quarters of the country by 2080, affecting some 20 million people.

To have a hope of avoiding this fate, energy intensive lifestyles in the rich world -- from taking cheap flights for holidays to using gas heaters on outside terraces -- will have to change.

"This rise in temperature will only be stopped if there is also a change in consumption and production patterns in the so-called polluting countries," she said, adding people and governments all need to play a part.

But she is worried that there is a "psychological distance" that prevents those who have not experienced a situation like Madagascar's from understanding the realities of these climate change-driven calamities.

"It's called empathy, climate empathy, maybe it's a new term but that's what it takes -- empathy from north to south, and between citizens," she said.

"It means telling yourself that your own act of purchase, of consumption, can impact others."

- Children wasting away -

Across Madagascar's vast southern tip, the worst drought in decades has transformed fields into desolate dust bowls. Some villages have been abandoned.

Last week the UN said nearly 30,000 people were now officially affected by famine in the country, and more than 1.3 million others were considered to be in a food security crisis or emergency.

Half a million children are acutely malnourished, including 110,000 suffering from severe acute malnutrition.

Officials described "heartbreaking" scenes of children wasting away.

And things could get worse.

The "lean season" has only just begun and people face another six months before the next harvest. If it comes in.

There is scant hope in the weather forecast. Only 450 millimetres of rain is expected for the whole year, according to Raharinirina, the equivalent of a month's worth.

- Empathy, not pity -

The biting drought is also worsening threats for Madagascar's unique biodiversity, including lemurs and the baobab tree she said, as people leave their homes and move into other regions.

"We are perhaps the only generation able to save this unique part of the world, which we must bequeath to future generations," she said.

She is hoping that the international community will show "climate solidarity to help Madagascar preserve what remains, to reforest, to restore what is damaged".

The COP26 meeting in Glasgow has been rocked by tensions over delays in promises of funding from rich countries historically responsible for the greenhouse gasses driving climate change, to developing nations with low emissions.

But Raharinirina said the conference was able to give voices from a nation like Madagascar a platform they might not otherwise have.

"We still believe in the ability of the world to come together and make intelligent decisions collectively," she said.

And she is adamant that climate "empathy does not mean pity".

"It is how I can access levers to change things so that others can project themselves for the future."

abd-klm/mh/jxb

Facebook will no longer allow advertisers to target political beliefs, religion, sexual orientation
Amanda Silberling@asilbwrites / •November 9, 2021


Facebook announced today that it will no longer allow advertisers to target users based on potentially “sensitive” topics like health, sexual orientation, or religious and political beliefs. “Lung cancer awareness,” “LGBT culture” and “Jewish holidays” are just some of the interest categories that will no longer be targeted starting early next year.

“The decision to remove these Detailed Targeting options was not easy and we know this change may negatively impact some businesses and organizations,” the company wrote in a blog post, saying input from civil rights experts, policymakers and other stakeholders contributed to its decision. Advertising revenue is Facebook’s leading source of income, so any major change to ad policy can have significant ramifications.

Facebook can target users based on information provided in their profile, like their age, location or gender. But the platform never made it possible to target people based on the sexual orientation listed in their profile, a representative from the company told TechCrunch. Rather, the advertising that will be removed refers to ads that are served based on your profile’s interest categories.


Facebook assigns these interest categories to your profile based on your activity. Based on how you engage with Facebook content, you might be assigned categories that Facebook would call “sensitive,” like “American Jewish culture,” “LGBT rights” or “Barack Obama.” Starting January 19, advertisers will no longer be able to target their ads based interests like these. Other interest groups like “rock climbing” and “knitting,” not being sensitive, will still be targetable — there are tens of thousands of these categories, sensitive or not.

Users can see their profile’s interest groups by navigating on desktop to Settings and Privacy > Settings > Ads > Ad Settings > Categories used to reach you > Interest Categories. If you don’t want to receive ads based on a certain interest, you can opt out.

This change in ad policy comes as Meta — the newly renamed parent company to the Facebook platform — faces increased scrutiny after a series of senate hearings related to documents leaked by whistleblower Frances Haugen. As more documents are leaked to the press, Meta has gone on the defensive, claiming that some journalists’ reporting has misrepresented its actions.

But Facebook’s ad policy has been a topic of concern for years. Leading up to the US Presidential election in 2020, Facebook placed limitations on the kinds of political ads that could be created. In 2018, Facebook conducted a similar removal of over 5,000 targeting options for ads after the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) filed a complaint against Facebook that accused it of helping landlords and home sellers violate the Fair Housing Act. Before that, in 2016, Facebook disabled “ethnic affinity” targeting for housing, employment and credit-related ads after a ProPublica report suggested that these capabilities could be used for discriminatory advertising. When it comes to housing and employment, it’s illegal to target ads based on certain demographics. Another report from ProPublica spurred Facebook to remove ad targeting based on anti-Semitic interest categories.