Animals that can learn sounds have higher-pitched calls, study finds


Dolphins and other mammals capable of learning sounds may emit calls at higher pitches, a new study suggests. 

File photo by Neirfy/Shutterstock

Nov. 16 (UPI) -- Animals capable of learning sounds tend to produce calls at higher pitches, a study published Tuesday by the journal Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences found.

Understanding these tendencies can help scientists better identify mammals capable of what is known as vocal learning, the researchers said.

It also could assist efforts to interpret the meaning of the sounds animals make, according to the researchers.

In their analysis of the vocal tendencies among several species, they noted that the manatee, or sea cow, produces calls that are higher than would be expected given its size, they said.

RELATED Species that use sound to 'fake' body size are usually skilled vocal learners

This may mean that the manatee, which to date has not been considered an animal capable of vocal learning, may have hidden vocal talents, the researchers said.

Similarly, non-vocalists who sound lower than expected, such as the Juan Fernandez fur seal, may turn out to have evolved specific anatomical adaptations to avoid predators, according to the researchers.

"We do not claim that all vocal learner species sound higher than expected for their body size," co-author Maxime Garcia said in a press release.

However, "there is a general trend, and this may help us to better characterize vocal communication in mammals," said Garcia, a post-doctoral researcher in evolutionary biology at the University of Zurich in Switzerland.

Some animals -- red deer, for example -- sound "bigger" than they really are, meaning they produce calls that are lower than would be expected based on their body size, according to Garcia and his colleagues.

Biologists think that this "faking" of body size might be a strategy to impress the opposite sex for mating purposes or to fool and intimidate potential predators.

In a study published last year, Garcia and colleague Andrea Ravignani, a research group leader in comparative bioacoustics at the Max Planck Institute Psycholinguistics in Germany, observed that animals who can fake their body size using their calls also tend to be good at learning sounds.

For this study, they expanded their earlier analyses of a wide range of mammals, including various breeds of bats, dolphins, porpoises, seals and whales.

Contrary to expectations, most vocal learners, such as dolphins, whales and seals, sounded higher than would be expected based on their body size, not lower, the researchers said.

This suggests animals that are good vocal learners usually emit sounds at higher pitches, they said.

Vocal learners who sounded lower than expected often had anatomical adaptations that could explain the lowered voice, such as a longer nose, according to the researchers.

"There might be an alternative evolutionary scenario in vocal learners, where selective pressures favor individuals that can change their tone of voice from low to high," Ravignani said in a press release.

House panel mulls ending forced arbitration in workplace sex assault disputes

By Annie Klingenberg, Medill News Service

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., said forced arbitration deprives sexual harassment and assault survivors of their voice. 

File Pool Photo by Greg Nash/UPI | License Photo

WASHINGTON, Nov. 16 (UPI) -- Lawmakers reached a moment of consensus on Tuesday during a House Judiciary Committee hearing: Forced arbitration clauses in employment contracts can be harmful to sexual assault victims.

"Forced arbitration has robbed survivors of sexual violence and sexual harassment of their voice," Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., said.

Lawmakers introduced a bill in July to eliminate forced arbitration for disputes related to sexual abuse and are likely to pass a bill with bipartisan support out of committee on the need for the change.

Forced arbitration is often found in the fine print of employment contracts. If harmed by their company, workers under forced arbitration clauses have to solve disputes through a private arbitration rather than through a public trial in court. Arbitrations are used as an alternative to a trial process as a less expensive and faster way of resolving disputes.

"We all understand the benefits that arbitration provides, however if the arbitration system is not functioning properly, and is being used to stifle individual rights, we have an obligation to fix it," Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, said.

Several witnesses during the hearing said people who face sexual assault in the workplace are harmed significantly by forced arbitrations. They said arbitration limited their legal options and constrained them from speaking about the issue to anyone besides the private arbitrator.

Four of the witnesses, including actress Eliza Dushku, are survivors of sexual harassment and assault who hadn't been able to share their experiences because of forced arbitration. The witnesses were only able to speak Tuesday because they were subpoenaed by the committee.

"I've worked as an actress since I was a child and signed countless contracts negotiated on my behalf, but never understood that there were mandatory arbitration clauses that would be used to keep what had happened to me a secret and would protect CBS and the sexual harassment perpetrator who had blatantly retaliated against me for trying to stop the harassment in my workplace," Dushku said.

The House is considering the bill, H.R.4445, Ending Forced Arbitration of Sexual Assault and Sexual Harassment Act of 2021. On Wednesday, the committee is expected to complete a markup on the bill and could vote and pass the bill onto the full House. Its companion bill in the Senate was advanced out of committee to the full Senate with unanimous support last week.

Forced arbitrations are used in the workplace to solve non-sexual harassment disputes, as well. However, this bill would only eliminate forced arbitration for disputes of a sexual nature.

Face masks don't hide emotions from kids, study shows

By HealthDay News

A recent study showed that kids successfully read emotions more than 67% of the time when actors wore masks and more than 70% when they didn't wear masks. File Photo by John Angelillo/UPI | License Photo

For children, masks don't mask the emotions of others, a new study shows.

It included nearly 300 children, ages 3-6, who were shown 90 pictures featuring actors who expressed joy, sadness or anger. In half of the pictures, the actors wore face masks.

In most cases, the children correctly identified the actors' emotions whether they were wearing a mask or not, according to the study published Nov. 15 in the journal JAMA Pediatrics.

Overall rates of successfully reading emotions were more than 67% when the actors wore masks and more than 70% when they didn't wear masks. Older children had higher success rates. About a quarter of preschoolers had greater difficulty distinguishing sadness from anger and about 21% sometimes confused joy for anger or sadness.

"Actual face masks depicted in static pictures were significantly associated with emotion recognition in healthy preschool children, although differences were small and effect sizes were weak," the researchers from University Hospital Lausanne in Switzerland wrote.

The findings challenge concerns raised by some that the use of face masks in schools may harm younger children's development.

"Even with masks being worn, little kids can probably still make reasonable inferences about other people's emotions," Ashley Ruba, a developmental psychology expert in the Child Emotion Lab at University of Wisconsin-Madison who has made similar findings during the pandemic, told CNN.

"I like to point out that the face isn't the most important way we communicate our emotions, it is only one way. We also use tone of voice, we have body posture, we have other kinds of contextual clues that kids and adults can use to figure out how people are feeling," Ruba said.

More information

Visit the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for more on masks.

SOURCE: JAMA Network Open, Nov. 15, 2021 CNN

Copyright 2021 HealthDay. All rights reserved.

Coffee, tea may lower stroke, dementia risk, study finds


Drinking coffee and tea can help reduce the risk for stroke and dementia, a new study has found. Photo by Christoph/Pixabay

Nov. 16 (UPI) -- Drinking coffee or tea may a lower a person's risk for stroke and dementia, a study published Tuesday by the journal PLOS Medicine found.

Drinking coffee also was associated with a lower risk dementia, or memory loss and reduced cognitive function, after a stroke, the researchers said.

People who drank two or three cups of coffee or three to five cups of tea per day, or a combination of four to six cups of coffee and tea, had up to a 20% lower risk for stroke or dementia compared with those who consumed neither beverage, the data showed.

Those who drank two to three cups of each beverage daily -- about the amount recommended in the Dietary Guidelines for Americans -- had a 32% lower risk for stroke and 28% reduced risk for dementia compared with non-drinkers, according to the researchers.

RELATED Coffee, green tea reduce stroke risk

The dietary guidelines are drafted by the federal Departments of Agriculture and Health and Human Services.

Intake of coffee alone or in combination with tea was also associated with lower risk for post-stroke, or vascular, dementia, which occurs following a stroke, of up to 40%, the researchers said.

"Our findings suggested that moderate consumption of coffee and tea separately or in combination were associated with lower risk of stroke and dementia," researchers from Tianjin Medical University in China wrote.

RELATED Coffee linked to lower risk of death

"However, whether the provision of such information can improve stroke and dementia outcomes remains to be determined," the said.

Strokes, or when poor blood flow to the brain leads to cell damage, cause 10% of deaths globally, according to the World Health Organization.

For years, studies have suggested that coffee and tea consumption can help stave off these significant health events, while drinking the beverages at midlife may lower an adult's risk for dementia.

RELATED Midlife coffee may help stave off dementia

Still, what is new about this study is that it demonstrates risk reduction for specific quantities of both beverages, which contain caffeine and other compounds that seem to provide protective benefits for the brain.

For this study, the researchers analyzed data for 365,682 participants from the UK Biobank, a national database of health information for residents of the British Isles.

Study participants were recruited between 2006 and 2010 and followed until 2020, the researchers said.

At the beginning of the study, participants self-reported their coffee and tea intake, according to the researchers.

Over the study period, 5,079 participants developed dementia and 10,053 experienced at least one stroke, the data showed.

"Consuming the two beverages in combination may have a joint health benefit for preventing the risk of stroke and dementia," the researchers wrote.

However, "further validation" of the effects on the beverages on the brain "in animal experiments is warranted to examine coffee and tea's potential joint associations on dementia," they said.

Ohio Public Pension Fund sues Facebook alleging it misled the public about effect on children


Nov. 16 (UPI) -- Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost has announced a lawsuit against Facebook parent Meta over accusations the company misled the public about the negative effects its products have on the health and wellbeing of children.

The lawsuit alleges that between April 29 and Oct. 21, Facebook and some senior executives violated federal security law by misleading shareholders about how its products can harm children.

It also alleges that the company's platforms facilitate division, and favor high-profile users, and Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and other company officials knew they were making false statements about the safety, security and privacy of its platforms.

The lawsuit filed on behalf of the Ohio Public Employees Retirement System and other investors said the truth emerging over roughly a month caused a devaluation in Facebook's stock of $54.08 per share, costing OPERS and other Facebook investors $100 billion.

Plaintiffs cited Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen, who testified in the Senate last month that the social media company knew its products harmed children and facilitated division, but failed to make necessary changes because it was more concerned about profit.

They also cited the Wall Street Journal's reporting in September, which showed that Facebook's cross-check shields millions of celebrities, politicians, and other high profile users from its normal content moderation rules. The company admitted in internal documents obtained by WSJ for the article: "We are not actually doing what we say we do publicly."

Last month, Facebook's oversight board similarly found that the platform lacks transparency about a program shielding high-profile users from content moderation rules.

"Facebook said it was looking out for our children and weeding out online trolls, but in reality was creating misery and divisiveness for profit," Yost said in a statement Monday. "We are not people to Mark Zuckerberg, we are the product and we are being used against each other out of greed."

The complaint refers to the parent company as Facebook for ease of reference, but noted that Facebook changed the corporate name of its parent company to Meta late last month.

Along with seeking to recover $100 billion, the lawsuit also calls for Facebook to make significant reforms to ensure it does not mislead the public about its internal practices.

Meta spokesperson Joe Osborne said in a statement emailed to The Verge the lawsuit is "without merit and we will defend ourselves vigorously."

CNBC similarly confirmed a Meta spokesperson called the suit "without merit."

Yost plans to ask the court to appoint OPERS as the lead plaintiff in his Facebook securities fraud action by a December 27 deadline, and has welcomed other Facebook investors to join him in holding the company and its executives accountable.

As of December 31, 2020, OPERS managed assets of approximately $125 billion on behalf of more than 1.1 million active members, retirees, and beneficiaries, according to the lawsuit.

The system "purchased shares of Facebook Class A common stock at artificially inflated prices" period between April 29 and Oct. 21, and "suffered damages as a result of the violations of the federal securities laws alleged," according to the lawsuit.

In May, Yost joined 43 other attorneys general in sending a letter to Zuckerberg urging him to halt plans to introduce Instagram app for kids.

In late September, Facebook halted Instagram Kids to study the issue of child safety.

House memo: 'Minor security lapses' left companies vulnerable to ransomware

A memo by the House Oversight and Reform Committee found that "relatively minor security lapses," led to ransomware attacks on CNA Financial Corporation, JBS USA and Colonial Pipeline. 


File Photo by Ken Cedeno/UPI | License Photo



Nov. 16 (UPI) -- Several major companies fell victim to ransomware attacks due to "relatively minor security lapses," according to a memo by House lawmakers Tuesday.

The House Oversight and Reform Committee released the memo in response to a panel investigation into meat producer JBS USA, insurance group CNA Financial Corporation and Colonial Pipeline, which saw all three companies pay ransoms demanded by the attackers.

"Ransomware attackers took advantage of relatively minor security lapses, such as a single user account controlled by a weak password, to launch enormously costly attacks," the memo states. "Even large organizations with seemingly robust security systems fell victim to simple initial attacks, highlighting the need to increase security education and take other security measures prior to an attack."

CNA paid $40 million in bitcoin after an employee accepted a fake browser update from a cybercriminal group called Phoenix, JBS paid $11 million in bitcoin after hackers gained access to an old account with a weak password and Colonial Pipeline, which is responsible for nearly half of the East Coast's fuel supply, paid ransomware gang Darkside $4.4 million in bitcoin after they gained access to the company through a single stolen password.

The committee also determined that some of the companies lacked "clear initial points of contact" with the federal government, delaying their ability to respond to the attacks.

"Depending on their industry, companies were confronted with a patchwork of federal agencies to engage regarding the attacks they faced," the memo reads. "For example, two companies' initial requests for assistance were forwarded around to different FBI offices and personnel before reaching the correct team."

This issue was compounded by the fact that the companies faced pressure to quickly pay the ransom under the promise from attackers that they would release the data and allow the companies to avoid negative publicity.

"Given the uncertainty over how quickly systems could be restored using backups and whether any sensitive data was stolen, the companies appeared to have strong incentives to quickly pay the ransom," the committee said.

Also Tuesday, the nation's top cybersecurity experts testified on the Biden administration's efforts to combat ransomware and improve public-private sector coordination.

"We have followed the money flows and apprehended that money when and wherever possible," National Cyber Director Chris Inglis testified, describing the administration's response. "We have used our intelligence resources to assist the private sector in understanding what the threats to them are, and at the same time give them best practices so they up their game and become a harder target."

RELATED U.S. offers $10M reward for information on DarkSide hackers

Executive Director for the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency Bryan Vorndran testified that passing legislation requiring companies to report cyberattacks to federal agencies was "a top priority."

"We need the information because that enables CISA and the FBI to both engage with that victim, offer our assistance, understand what's happening from on their networks and protect other victims," Vorndran said.

Navajo Nation opposes Biden's drilling ban at Chaco Canyon, wants smaller buffer

The Chaco Culture National Historic Park in New Mexico is considered a UNESCO World Heritage site.

 File Photo by Brendakochevar/Wikimedia Commons



Nov. 16 (UPI) -- The Navajo Nation said Tuesday that it disagrees with the Biden administration's proposal to ban oil and gas drilling within a 10-mile radius of Chaco Canyon in New Mexico, and instead prefers a smaller buffer.

DUTY TO CONSULT

The Navajo Nation's Council -- the legislative body of the government -- called on the administration to work with Navajo leaders regarding the proposed 20-year ban on drilling around the Chaco Culture National Historical Park.

"The Biden administration bypassed previous requests to Congress for field hearings and for leaders to hear directly from our Navajo families affected in the Chaco Canyon region," a statement from Speaker Seth Damon said.

"The position of the Navajo Nation Council is for the creation of a 5-mile buffer within and around this sacred site. It is important that the federal government consider and work with our Navajo allottees to further advance development.

"The administration must respect our tribal sovereignty and what the government-to-government relationship entails."

President Joe Biden's administration announced the proposed protections around the Chaco Culture National Historical Park in northwestern New Mexico on Monday while holding a Tribal Nations summit at the White House. The White House described the greater Chaco region as one of "great cultural, spiritual and historical significance to many Pueblos and Indian Tribes" which contains "thousands of artifacts that date back more than 1,000 years."

Chaco cultural sites were listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1987 and are one of only 24 such sites in the United States.

LOCKEAN PRIVATE PROPERTY RIGHTS

The proposal, under consideration by the Interior Department, doesn't apply to individual allotments owned by private, state or Tribal entities. But Rickie Nez, Navajo Resources and Development Committee chairman, indicated the proposed ban would prevent Navajo families from leasing their allotments.

"Protecting the interests of the Navajo people in the Eastern Agency is vital to our roles as the governing of the Navajo Nation," Nez said. "We must ensure the livelihood of Navajo allotted land owners in the greater Chaco Canyon area are maintained."

Nez called on the Biden administration to work with the Navajo Nation on the issue.

The Interior Department on Tuesday announced the formation of a new Secretary's Tribal Advisory Committee to provide a way for Tribal leaders to converse directly with Interior Secretary Deb Haaland.

"Tribes need a seat at the decision making table before policies are made that impact their communities. The creation of this new Tribal Advisory Committee is a timely and much-needed development that will ensure Tribal leaders can engage at the highest levels of the department on the issues that matter most to their people," Haaland said.

Fog of emissions, ‘greenwashing’ choking India’s most vulnerable

 “We are vulnerable communities, but in my experience, inside the COP, they were not talking about social justice.”

Issued on: 16/11/2021

A labourer loading coal into a truck in the eastern Indian city of Dhanbad in Jharkhand state on September 24, 2021. © Altaf Qadri, AP (file photo)

Text by :Leela JACINTO

As India pushed for a “phase down” compromise on coal at the COP26 summit, a toxic fog enveloped New Delhi, highlighting pollution concerns in the world’s third-largest carbon emitter. While Prime Minister Narendra Modi has embraced solar power as an offset, activists warn that large scale renewable energy projects are marginalising vulnerable tribal and farming communities.

Shubham Tigga made an exceptional journey this month when he left his home state of Chhattisgarh in central India’s coal belt region for the first time ever to attend the COP26 climate summit in Glasgow.

It was a major milestone for the 27-year-old activist, blogger and freelance journalist who hails from India’s indigenous, or Adivasi, community.

But the experience turned out to be disappointing. “Inside the COP, we didn’t get a chance to talk, it was very exclusionary,” recounted Tigga in a phone interview to FRANCE 24 days after the UN climate summit ended.

While the protests and events outside the climate conference were more lively, the young Adivasi man felt overwhelmed and unheard. “I thought Glasgow would be a very good chance to get our voices heard, I wanted our identity to be recognised on a global platform. Our identity is very important because in India, when there are any environmental issues, the first communities to be affected are Adivasi, tribal or indigenous groups,” he explained. “We are vulnerable communities, but in my experience, inside the COP, they were not talking about social justice.”

On Saturday night, as Tigga waited for the release of the final COP26 deal, his country’s delegation was driving a hard negotiating bargain. At India’s urging, a “phase out” of coal-fired power was changed to “phase down” in the 10-page COP26 deal.

Meanwhile in New Delhi, a thick toxic fog descended on the city over the weekend, forcing the country’s top court to order an environmental lockdown in the world’s most polluted capital.

India’s lingering embrace of coal – which accounts for nearly 70 percent of the country’s electricity generation – is driven by its need to fuel development, according to officials.

The development drive has seen India set its net zero emissions target to 2070 – a decade behind China and two decades behind the 2050 goal adopted by the EU and the US, which scientists say is necessary to slow global warming.

While India trails in emission reduction targets, it is a world pollution chart-topper. A 2020 report by Swiss organisation IQAir found that 22 of the world's 30 most polluted cities were in India, with Delhi ranked the most polluted capital.

The alarming situation on the ground though is far removed from Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s public discourse on national and international platforms, where the Indian leader touts his own targets and talking points.

At the start of the COP26 meeting, for instance, Modi unveiled his “Panchamrit” (five nectar) commitment, set to be achieved by 2030. These include generating 500 GW non-fossil energy and committing to produce 50 percent of the country’s energy through renewables, particularly solar power.

India’s commitment to renewable – or green – energy, is welcomed as a step in the right direction for a country with low per capita emissions with hundreds of millions of its citizens living in entrenched poverty.

The problem, though, is that not everyone is convinced the Modi administration’s path to progress – whether it is fueled by coal or renewables – will service India’s most marginalised communities.

Net zero commitments may be announced, but when mining interests are driving indigenous communities off their ancestral lands due to deforestation, those carbon neutral commitments might not get off the ground.

To make matters worse, the intimidation of tribal rights activists, coupled with impunity for corporations skirting already diluted environmental frameworks, make India a climate change powder keg.

Expanded coal production, depleted forests

On October 2, barely a month before Modi’s COP26 speech, hundreds of Adivasis from Chhattisgarh staged a 300-kilometre march against coal mining in their forested ancestral lands.

The protesters hailed from Chhattisgarh’s Hasdeo Aryana forests, one of the largest contiguous stretches of dense forest on the subcontinent, which is rich in biodiversity and wildlife, including elephant corridors that are critical for forestation.

But the Hasdeo forests are also rich in coal. In 2011, the area’s protected “no-go zone” status was revoked, triggering a decade-long, low intensity local campaign to save the forests from coal mining.

The Modi administration’s recent commitment to expand coal production to a massive 1 billion tonnes by 2024 has driven an aggressive expansion of coal mining in Hasdeo. In the lead-up to COP26, desperate villagers made a long trek to the Chhattisgarh state capital, Raipur, where their protest received national and international media coverage.

>> Click here for more on Modi’s coal push in tribal lands

But just weeks later, the government granted a mining clearance in the contested Parsa East-Kente Basan (PEKB) coal block, shocking Hasdeo villagers and local activists.

“The Hasdeo campaign is an overlap of so many issues. The central issue is of local communities and their access to sustainable livelihoods. It’s about large corporations operating in indigenous habitats, landgrabs, displacements. It’s about biodiversity preservation and maintaining elephant corridors to fight the human-elephant conflict in areas where elephants have been mined out of their habitat,” explained Priya Pillai, one of India’s leading environmentalists, in a phone interview with FRANCE 24 from New Delhi.

Pillai shot into the international spotlight a year after Modi was elected to his first term, when Indian authorities took her off a flight bound for London. The environmentalist, who was working for Greenpeace back in 2015, was to testify to a British parliamentary group looking into the coal mining activity of a UK-registered firm in a forest area in Madhya Pradesh, a state that borders Chhattisgarh.

The Delhi High Court subsequently overturned Pillai’s flight ban order, with Justice Rajiv Shakdher reminding the government that, “You cannot muzzle dissent in a democracy.”

Activists jailed or trying to stay out of jail

But that has not stopped the Modi administration from silencing its critics, sending India plummeting down press freedom listings. Activists working on tribal rights issues are particularly targeted, with leading human rights defenders arrested on charges of plotting a Maoist conspiracy against the government under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA).

Rights groups such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have repeatedly called for a repeal of the “abusive” UAPA law, which was passed in the 1960s and has been broadened to include “an overbroad definition of terrorism…including non-violent political activity, according to Human Rights Watch.

Meanwhile leading US newspapers have done investigative reports on the planting of evidence on the detained activists’ computers. The “evidence” – which prosecutors allege prove the activists’ Maoist links – were planted using malware, according to US digital forensics experts.

But dozens of tribal rights activists continue to languish in jails without trials under the draconian UAPA law. Fr. Stan Swamy, an ailing, octogenarian Jesuit priest working with Adivasi groups in central India, died in custody earlier this year. Meanwhile Sudha Bharadwaj, a human rights lawyer working with Adivasi communities affected by land acquisitions in Chhattisgarh, spent her birthday in prison this month for the fourth consecutive year.

Pillai, a friend of many of the detained activists, is no stranger to the climate of intimidation. “Activists are either jailed or, the ones outside, are running from one court to another. The amount of time – and energy and money – that I spend to keep myself out of jail is time I could spend on my work,” she noted.

Going green without environmental checks

Adivasi villagers and activists are pitted against powerful mining interests, including state bodies and corporations with close ties to the Modi administration.

The PEKB mine in Hasdeo is operated by Indian billionaire tycoon Gautam Adani and more coal blocks in the forest are set to be operated by his Adani Group, which also owns the controversial Carmichael coal mine in Australia, according to the Financial Times.

Noting the close links between Adani and Modi, the Financial Times last year reported that, “Since Mr Modi came into office, Mr Adani’s net worth has increased by about 230 per cent to more than $26bn as he won government tenders and built infrastructure projects across the country.”

The tenders have extended into the renewable energy sector with the launch of a new subsidiary, Adani Green Energy, which operates massive solar plants in several states, including the Kamuthi photovoltaic plant, one of the largest solar plants in the world.

The plant “spans a vast area of 2,500 acres, equivalent to about 950 Olympic-size football fields,” notes the company’s website, and “the entire facility was completed within a record eight months”.

But the acquisition of these vast tracts of land has also seen the company battling court petitions and protests against the takeovers.

The Adani Group routinely denies any wrongdoing, but activists say the cases highlight the problem of India’s environmental regulatory frameworks.

“Investments in renewables do not require EIAs [environment impact assessments]. Single window clearances open up land to large scale renewable energy projects. Once you have the “go green” label, the environmental assessment processes are loose and lax,” said Pillai.

Losing livelihoods and dignity

While Pillai welcomes the shift away from fossil fuels, she is dismayed by the energy transition process under the Modi administration.

“This transition is an opportunity to bring more equality and social justice. Instead, what we are basically doing is moving investment from one sector and pushing it into large scale renewables. The question is, is large scale renewable energy any different from fossil fuels? The large scale renewable energy paradigm in this country is no different from the fossil fuel paradigm. It operates very similarly, it involves the same players and the same issues,” she noted.

As an environmentalist, Pillai calls for social justice in the transition to green energy, including smaller scale, community-led renewable energy projects. “The fight against climate change needs to be aligned with social equality,” she maintained.

For many Adivasis such as Tigga, identity lies at the heart of a socially just energy transition.

Adivasi groups are outside the Hindu caste system and their lives are guided by indigenous belief systems that attach spiritual value to every feature of the forests. Tigga says it is a way of life that is derided by what he calls “mainstream” Indians.

“There is a false perception that indigenous people don’t want development. This is bogus. We want development, but not for mining. We want social infrastructure, access to healthcare and education,” said Tigga. “When we talk about government policies and its impact on our land, our forests, our air, then they say we are [Maoist] terrorists – it’s just heart-wrenching.”

As a journalist, Tigga has reported in the Hasdeo area, which is not far from his family’s ancestral village, witnessing the havoc of land dispossessions. “I found some people who took the compensations from Adani and had turned alcoholics because there are deeper, structural problems that need to be addressed. If you give people money, they come to the city, they lose their dependence on the forest and they lose their dignified life,” he explained.

At the COP26, Tigga was immersed in discussions of carbon neutrality and net zero emissions. But in his ancestral village thousands of miles from Glasgow, he finds it hard to square the climate rhetoric circle. “Carbon neutrality means having to absorb more carbon than is emitted,” he explained. “So, they talk about carbon sinks and reforestation. But they’re cutting down dense forests. There’s so much superficial talk and no one’s talking about our issues.”

'New World Order': Asia's Virtual Influencers Offer Metaverse Glimpse


By Dene-Hern CHEN, Jing Xuan TENG in Beijing
11/16/21 

Sporting neon hair and flawless skin, Bangkok Naughty Boo is one of a new generation of influencers in Asia promising to stay forever young, on-trend, and scandal-free -- because they are computer generated.

Blurring the lines between fantasy and reality, these stars are hugely popular with teenagers in the region and will yield increasing power as interest grows in the "metaverse", industry experts say.

"I'm 17 forever, non-binary, with a dream of becoming a pop star," Bangkok Naughty Boo -- who uses they/them pronouns -- said in an introductory video sent to AFP.

Created by fashion designer Adisak Jirasakkasem and his friends, who envisioned a gender-fluid persona to hang the ideals of the artist community, the character is one of a tribe of "Made in Thailand" virtual influencers borne from COVID-19 pressures.

Digital character Ai-Ailynn is one of a tribe of 'Made in Thailand' virtual influencers borne from COVID-19 pressures 

Photo: SIA Bangkok via AFP / Handout


In September, Ai-Ailynn made her debut -- she was created after her agency became frustrated by the "limitations on human influencers" during COVID-19 lockdowns

Virtual influencers "are suitable for the new normal," SIA Bangkok told AFP.

Artificial intelligence creations are establishing a foothold worldwide in the lucrative influencer market, which is expected to be worth $13.8 billion in 2021, according to data giant Statista.

But industry analysts say Asia is where the industry will really boom in the coming decade.

Sporting neon hair and flawless skin, Bangkok Naughty Boo is one of a new generation of influencers in Asia promising to stay forever young, on-trend, and scandal-free -- because they are computer generated Photo: AFP / Lillian SUWANRUMPHA

"We think Asia will be an area of rapid growth in the sector of virtual influencers. Generation Z is the largest group of internet users in Asia, and it is a digitally adept generation that is highly familiar with social media and all things virtual," explained Nick Baklanov, a marketing specialist with Hype Auditor.

The number of virtual influencers has more than tripled to 130 in two years, according to Baklanov, who predicted Facebook's investment in the metaverse -- dubbed a VR version of the internet -- will mean an industry boom.

"Virtual influencers are better suited to the role of the first inhabitants of the metaverse than anyone else," he added.

Blurring the lines between fantasy and reality, virtual influencers are hugely popular with teenagers and will yield increasing power as interest grows in the 'metaverse', industry experts say 

Photo: AFP / Lillian SUWANRUMPHA

The biggest virtual earner is believed to be Lil Miquela, the LA-based "robot It-Girl" who has worked with Prada and Calvin Klein, and makes an estimated $7,000 per post.

The World Health Organization recruited Knox Frost, a 21-year-old AI "universal adapter" from Atlanta, to spread coronavirus safety messages to his 700,000 followers.

In Asia, computer-generated pop stars including Japan's Hatsune Miku and Luo Tianyi from China, as well as virtual K-Pop groups Eternity and K/DA, have paved the way for newer "stars" as technology improves.

To create Bangkok Naughty Boo, Adisak photographed a model in different locations across the Thai capital before creating the character's face online.

Human influencer Mutchima Wachirakomain says she is not worried about the rise of virtual rivals

 Photo: AFP / Lillian SUWANRUMPHA

He merged the computer-generated face and the real life model's body to make his virtual idol.

Bangkok Naughty Boo has already been signed to a leading Thai -- human -- modelling agency, while Ai-Ailynn has already secured a deal to be the face of a major mobile operator.

"Influencers yield more power in the East and provide more lucrative brand and engagement opportunities, as the idol and fandom concepts are more rooted in culture," Saisangeeth Daswani, a fashion and beauty industry analyst at market intelligence company Stylus, explained.

With trouble-free pasts, a round-the-clock work ethic, and easily controlled public personas, the fictional avatars are also respite for companies weary of reputational damage.

"Some brands enjoy the safety of associating with (virtual) influencers who have a pre-defined backstory and future," commented Christopher Travers, the founder of Virtual Humans, a website tracking the industry.

And with authorities in some Asian nations policing freedom of expression, businesses may prefer the ability to control everything.

"The Chinese government's recent crackdown on exorbitantly paid, 'vulgar' and 'immoral' influencers is likely to further boost the appeal of virtual influencers," explained Chen May Yee, APAC director for Wunderman Thompson Intelligence.

"They won't make impolitic comments or be embroiled in sex scandals."

SIA Bangkok say there has been huge interest in Ai-Ailynn with businesses in pandemic-ravaged Asia looking to "innovation and a new world order".

A shake-up of the status quo may have some flesh-and-blood content creators worried, but human influencer Mutchima Wachirakomain welcomes the newcomers.

"They are freaking cool," exclaimed the 25-year-old, who shares glamour shots alongside "no filter" makeup-free looks to her 21,100 followers on Instagram.

"People still yearn for authenticity, the realness of a real-life influencer," she said as she prepped for a shoot at an avocado-themed cafe.

"The characters can't replace the intimate connections humans have with each other."

But Bangkok Naughty Boo is prepared to try.

Their Instagram is a mix of cheeky ensembles shot against the backdrop of Thailand's concrete jungle capital as well as daily life snippets like getting a first vaccine shot and spilling bubble milk tea.

"I hope I can meet you all in person one day. Love you!" they told AFP, signing off with a kiss.

China's millennial 'new farmers' opt to live off the land

China's millennial 'new farmers' opt to live off the landHu Siqin is part of a nascent back-to-the-farm movement in which young Chinese professionals are quitting the rat race for the simple joys of an organic, agrarian lifestyle (AFP/Jessica YANG)More

Dan Martin
Tue, November 16, 2021

Hu Siqin had a promising career in Shanghai with a Fortune 500 company and more than enough money, but something was missing under the bright lights of the big city, a sense of what she calls "roots".

So the 33-year-old chucked it all in to lay down literal roots as part of a nascent back-to-the-farm movement in which young Chinese professionals are quitting the rat race for the simple joys of an organic, agrarian lifestyle.

"People like me don't feel that material comforts stimulate us, and deep down we remain unsatisfied," said Hu.

"So we’ve started thinking, what is the purpose of our lives? What am I living for?"

In many ways, it's a homecoming. Before the 20th century China was a primarily agrarian country for thousands of years, most of its vast population scratching out a life from the soil.

The ruling Communist Party, however, has for decades officially encouraged urbanisation and migration to growing cities to help lift millions out of rural poverty and build a more modern, consumer-oriented economy.

But with a measure of national prosperity now reached, attitudes are reversing among some people.

Millions of young Chinese are increasingly uninspired by modern society's long work hours and meagre pay, urban congestion and high living costs, and parental pressure for success and grandchildren -- spawning a succession of viral online memes encapsulating millennial despair.

- Empty inside -

Hu, who has worked in marketing and supply chains for French companies like personal-care giant L'Oreal and sports retailer Decathlon, said that in her career she "appeared happy on the outside, but felt empty inside."

She now sows organic, pesticide- and fertiliser-free sweet potatoes, long beans and other crops on rented plots of land with like-minded friends on Chongming, a large, primarily agricultural island on Shanghai's outskirts.

Hu, a petite dynamo with a shovel, can barely contain her delight as she pops sweet potatoes out of the soil and samples sorghum plants that tower over her.

"So sweet!" she exclaims, biting into a stalk of the grain.

According to the government, around 20 million people have joined what it terms a "new farmer" movement, some of whom have millions of social media followers as they post on their lifestyles.

China's government has recognised the potential advantage of an influx of tech- and business-savvy millennials bringing new ideas and enthusiasm to an ag sector still largely dominated by longtime peasant farmers, and has pledged financial and policy supports.

The movement also ties into efforts by fast-growing start-ups like Pinduoduo, whose platforms help small farmers tap into a swelling Chinese market for freshly delivered produce.

Former advertising executive Liang Funa became a farmer after feeling burnt out by long work (AFP/Jessica YANG)

- Another path -

For "new farmers" like Liang Funa, 34, its about enjoying a healthy, peaceful and more sustainable life.

The former ad executive felt burnt-out due to excessive work hours and a deeply unhealthy lifestyle.

"Our generation is under huge pressure, and people who stay in cities can't see many other choices," he said.

"The people around them talk constantly about buying a house or a car or getting married, like these are the only measures of success and there are no other roads available."

Liang, who moved to Chongming three years ago, has had to rapidly learn horticulture -- his farmer neighbours and internet websites help -- while dabbling in side work online for extra income.

But his life is now relatively stress-free, and Liang has realised just how few consumer goods he really needs.

And by eating only his own organic vegetables, he feels healthier, mitigating the need for trips to the doctor.

Convincing parents to accept this life choice is another matter.

Hu's parents are baffled, accusing her of "going backwards" in life.

But she is unconcerned, and is now negotiating a long-term lease on a farmstead of her own in rural Zhejiang province near Shanghai.

She hopes to sow her first crop in the spring.

"I jumped out of my comfort zone and went to an unfamiliar and uncertain place, and it has been very profound," she said.

jya-dma/aph

E-buggies replace horse carts at Jordan's Petra



E-buggies replace horse carts at Jordan's PetraJordanian men ride horses as tourists ride an electric cart in Jordan's famed ancient city of Petra (AFP/Khalil MAZRAAWI)

Mussa Hattar
Tue, November 16, 2021

Horses and mules have long drawn tourist carriages through Jordan's ancient city of Petra, but animal rights concerns are driving a project to start replacing them with electric vehicles.

A small fleet of 10 rechargeable e-carts now take visitors through the rose-coloured Siq or gorge leading to the famed capital of the Nabateans, which dates back to the first century BC.

"There is no pollution or smoke" and the change has "reduced the cases of animal mistreatment," said Suleiman Farajat, head of the Petra Development and Tourism Regional Authority.


The golf buggy-style vehicles have less impact because "sometimes the carriage wheels hit the sides of the Siq ... the horse dung caused a bad smell in the place, and cleaning it was not easy.

"It was an unpleasant experience for the tourists, the horses and us," said Farajat.

Animal rights group PETA, which had criticised the use of the often scrawny and overworked draft animals, has described the project as a "major first step to protect working animals".

The group hailed the "game-changing vehicles" and added that it hopes to work with officials "toward the day when there will be only animal-free transportation at Petra".

For now the Petra authority says it will keep some of the horses "to preserve the character of the place, as it is a world heritage site".

E-buggies replace horse carts at Jordan's PetraElectric carts have replaced more traditional animal-powered carriages in Petra, partly in an effort by the authorities to address criticism over animal abuse (AFP/Khalil MAZRAAWI)

- 'This amazing place' -

The change has however also been hailed for another reason -- helping to make the UNESCO World Heritage Site far more accessible to elderly and disabled visitors.

Austrian tourist Rudy, 43, who uses a wheelchair, said he had repeatedly postponed a visit because of the Covid-19 pandemic, and was now "very happy" to have made the trip.

"Disabled people but also people who have difficulty walking for a long distance ... now have a chance to see this amazing place."

A US tourist named Angie, 60, agreed: "It seems a little bit out of character to have these in a beautiful place like this. But at our age, it was nice to come back in an electric cart."

Jordan's tourism industry is recovering from the blow of Covid-19, having previously relied on it for more than 10 percent of its GDP. The pandemic slashed revenues from $5.8 billion in 2019 to $1 billion last year.

Petra, Jordan's most famous tourism site, provides a living for hundreds of families.

The move to replace 12 horse-drawn carriages with 10 e-carts was agreed with the horse owners' association.

Foreign tourists pay 25 dinars ($35) and Jordanians 15 dinars for the round trip from the visitor centre to the archaeological site.

The association receives 75 percent of the income, while 25 percent goes to the authority, said Farajat.

The head of the association, Mohammad Amarat, said those operating the electric carts earn more than 300 Jordanian dinars (about $423) per month.

One benefit is that the carts can carry five passengers, compared to just two in the horse-drawn carriages.

He prefers the new vehicles because previously the horses "were tired, their income was less, and the journey time was longer".

msh/jsa/fz/pjm

Despite mistrust, Afghan Shiites seek Taliban protection
2 of 14

A woman leaves a Shiite shrine in a predominantly Hazara neighborhood while two men stand guard in Kabul, Afghanistan, Tuesday, Nov. 9, 2021. A strange, new relationship is developing in Afghanistan following the takeover by the Taliban three months ago. The Taliban, Sunni hard-liners who for decades targeted the Hazaras as heretics, are now their only protection against a more brutal enemy: the Islamic State group. (AP Photo/Bram Janssen)

A woman leaves a Shiite shrine in a predominantly Hazara neighborhood in Kabul, Afghanistan, Tuesday, Nov. 9, 2021. A strange, new relationship is developing in Afghanistan following the takeover by the Taliban three months ago. The Taliban, Sunni hard-liners who for decades targeted the Hazaras as heretics, are now their only protection against a more brutal enemy: the Islamic State group. (AP Photo/Bram Janssen)

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Outside a Shiite shrine in Kabul, four armed Taliban fighters stood guard on a recent Friday as worshippers filed in for weekly prayers. Alongside them was a guard from Afghanistan’s mainly Shiite Hazara minority, an automatic rifle slung over his shoulder.

It was a sign of the strange, new relationship brought by the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan. The Taliban, Sunni hard-liners who for decades targeted the Hazaras as heretics, are now their only protection against a more brutal enemy: the Islamic State group.

Sohrab, the Hazara guard standing watch over the Abul Fazl al-Abbas Shrine, told The Associated Press that he gets along fine with the Taliban guards. “They even pray in the mosque sometimes,” he said, giving only his first name for security reasons.

Not everyone feels so comfortable.

Syed Aqil, a young Hazara visiting the ornate shrine along with his wife and 8-month-old daughter, was disturbed that many of the Taliban still wear their traditional garb — the look of a jihadi insurgent — rather than a police uniform.

“We can’t even tell if they are Taliban or Daesh,” he said, using the Arabic acronym for the Islamic State group.

Since seizing power three months ago, the Taliban have presented themselves as more moderate, compared with their first rule in the late 1990s when they violently repressed the Hazaras and other ethnic groups. Courting international recognition, they vow to protect the Hazaras as a show of their acceptance of the country’s minorities.

But many Hazaras still deeply distrust the insurgents-turned-rulers, who are overwhelmingly ethnic Pashtu, and are convinced they will never accept them as equals in Afghanistan. Hazara community leaders say they have met repeatedly with Taliban leadership, asking to take part in the government, only to be shunned. Hazaras complain individual fighters still discriminate against them and fear it’s only a matter of time before the Taliban revert to repression.

“In comparison to their previous rule, the Taliban are a little better,” said Mohammed Jawad Gawhari, a Hazara cleric who runs an organization helping the poor.

“The problem is that there is not a single law. Every individual Talib is their own law right now,” he said. “So people live in fear of them.”

Some changes from the previous era of Taliban rule are clear. After their August takeover, the Taliban allowed Shiites to perform their religious ceremonies, such as the annual Ashura procession.

The Taliban initially confiscated weapons that Hazaras had used, with permission from the previous government to guard some of their own mosques in Kabul. But after devastating IS bombings of Shiite mosques in Kandahar and Kunduz provinces in October, the Taliban returned the weapons in most cases, Gawhari and other community leaders said. The Taliban also provide their own fighters as guards for some mosques during Friday prayers.

“We are providing a safe and secure environment for everyone, especially the Hazaras,” Taliban government spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said. “They should be in Afghanistan. Leaving the country is not good for anyone.”

The Hazaras’ turning to Taliban protection shows how terrified the community is of the Islamic State group, which they say aims to exterminate them. In past years, IS has attacked the Hazaras more ruthlessly than the Taliban ever did, unleashing bombings against Hazara schools, hospitals and mosques, killing hundreds.

IS is also a shared enemy. Though they are Sunni hard-liners like the Taliban, IS militants are waging an insurgency, with frequent attacks on Taliban fighters.

Some Hazara leaders see a potential for cooperation. Ahmed Ali al-Rashed, a senior Hazara cleric, praised the Taliban commanders who now run the main police station in Dashti Barchi, the sprawling district of west Kabul dominated by Hazaras.

“If all Taliban were like them, Afghanistan would be like a garden of flowers,” he said.

Others in Dashti Barchi were skeptical the Taliban will ever change.

Marzieh Mohammedi, whose husband was killed five years ago in fighting with the Taliban, said she’s afraid every time she sees them patrolling Dashti Barchi.

“How can they protect us? We can’t trust them. We feel like they are Daesh,” she said.

The differences are partly religious. But also Hazaras, who make up an estimated 10% of Afghanistan’s population of nearly 40 million, are ethnically distinct and speak a variant of Farsi rather than Pashtu. They have a long history of being oppressed by the ethnic Pashtu majority, some of whom stereotype them as intruders.

Aqil said that when he tried to go to a police station for a document, the Taliban guard at the gate only spoke Pashtu and impatiently slammed the door in his face. He had to come back later with a Pashtu-speaking colleague.

“This sort of situation makes me lose hope in the future,” he said. “They don’t know us. They are not broadminded to accept other communities. They act as if they are the owners of this country.”

A young Hazara woman, Massoumeh, said four people were killed last month in her part of Dashti Barchi, raising residents’ fears that people with roles in the previous government were targets.

She went with a community delegation led by a local elder to the area’s Taliban police station to discuss security. The only woman in the delegation, she had to wait in the yard while the others met with the district commander, who she said tried to blame the security failings on the local elder. As the delegation left, a guard told them not to bring a woman with them again, she said.

“How can you keep security in Afghanistan if you can’t keep security in our village?” she said.

The 21-year-old Massoumeh was a nurse at Dashti Barchi’s main hospital in 2020 when IS gunmen stormed the maternity ward, killing at least 24 people, mostly mothers who were pregnant or had just given birth — one of the militants’ most horrific attacks.

Since then, she has been too afraid to return to work because of death threats after she spoke about the attack on Afghan TV. Soon after the attack, two militants approached her on a bus late at night, picking her out using a photo on their phone, and pulled a gun on her, warning her not to go back to work, she said. She and her father still get threatening phone calls, she said.

Police under the previous government gave her some protection, she said. But she doesn’t even bother to ask the Taliban police for help.

“Of course not. We are afraid of them,” she said. “No one will come and help us.”

Other events in the Hazaras’ central Afghanistan heartland have raised the community’s concerns. In Daikundi province, Taliban fighters killed 11 Hazara soldiers and two civilians, including a teenage girl, in August, according to Amnesty International. Taliban officials also expelled Hazara families from several Daikundi villages after accusing them of living on land that didn’t belong to them.

After an uproar from Hazaras, further expulsions were halted, Gawhari and other community leaders said.

But so far, the Taliban have rejected repeated requests from the Hazaras for a say in government. Gawhari, the cleric, said a Hazara delegation approached the Taliban and proposed 50 Hazara experts and academics to be brought into the administration. “They were not interested,” he said.

The international community is pressing the Taliban to form a government that reflects Afghanistan’s ethnic, religious and political spectrum, including women. The Taliban’s Cabinet is comprised entirely of men from their own ranks.

Last week, Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi expressed impatience with international demands for inclusivity. “Our current Cabinet fulfils that requirement, we have representatives from all ethnicities,” he told reporters.

The highest level Hazara in the administration is a deputy health minister. Several other Hazaras hold some provincial posts, but they are Hazaras who long ago joined the Taliban insurgency and adopted its hard-line ideology. Few in the Hazara community recognize them.

Ali Akbar Jamshidi, a former parliament member representing Daikundi province, said Hazaras won’t be satisfied with a few local positions and want to be brought into the Cabinet and the intelligence and security services.

The Taliban, he said, are running a government “that acts like a warlord who has seized everything.”

“Physical security is not enough. We need psychological security as well, feeling like we are part of this government and it is part of us,” he said. “The Taliban can benefit from us. They have the opportunity to form a government for the future, but they are not taking this opportunity.”

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Abdul Qahhar Afghan contributed.

Afghan evacuees enjoy Albania but have eyes set on Canada
By LLAZAR SEMINI

1 of 7

Afghan women look at their cell phones as children play at a coastline tourist resort of Golem, 50 kilometers (30 miles) west of Tirana, Albania, Wednesday, Oct. 27, 2021. A group of Afghans evacuated earlier this month are housed at an Albanian coastline tourist resort enjoying the warm welcome and a normal daily life. The last group of judges, sportsmen, journalists, activists, artists, law enforcement officers, scientists and more arrived earlier in October. They all miss and fear of the fate of their families back home. (AP Photo/Franc Zhurda)

GOLEM, Albania (AP) — One Afghan teacher calls Albania a “paradise” while a former Afghan government official cannot get enough of “the freedom” that exists in the tiny Western Balkan country where they were evacuated to after the Taliban took over their homeland.

Others are more pensive. An Afghan woman who mentored orphan girls deplores the end of her project and the fate of her former students and women under their new Taliban rulers, while a businessman misses his company back home.

All of them are in limbo, waiting for a visa to the United States at the Kolaveri tourist resort on Golem Beach, 50 kilometers (30 miles) west of the Albanian capital, Tirana. And all share a common dream: to go from the U.S. to Canada, where they hope to build a better future.

The resort shelters 571 Afghan evacuees plucked from their “fearsome and chaotic” country, as Fareidoon Hakimi, who has become the community’s leader, described Afghanistan.

A group of 125 Afghans, including judges, cyclists, journalists, TV presenters, human rights activists, family members of Afghan diplomats, artists, law enforcement officers and scientists landed in Albania on Oct. 13, assisted by IsrAID, an Israeli aid organization.

Albania has sheltered up to 2,000 Afghan evacuees, all housed in hotels and resorts. They are supposed to stay there for a year or so until U.S. authorities finish processing their special immigration visas.

“The Albania country in the world / Its soil is like paradise,” was part of a poem that 61-year-old poet and teacher Sadiq Zarei wrote and recited to visiting Associated Press journalists. “They saved shama’il and all of us,” it ends, referring to a collection of sacred tales about the life of the Islamic prophet Muhammad compiled by a 9th-century scholar.

Hakimi said everyone at the resort could now pray in peace there or go to a nearby mosque, especially on Fridays. Albania’s 2.8 million people are predominantly Muslim, living in harmony with Orthodox and Catholic communities.

Hakimi, a 36-year-old former public administration adviser at a province near Kabul, spoke for hours about the saga of how they fled Afghanistan.

“People never expected this to happen suddenly,” he said of the U.S. troop withdrawal from Afghanistan.

Along with his wife, his 2- and 5-year-old sons and his mother, Hakimi reached Kunduz in northern Afghanistan, where they tried to cross into Tajikistan. There were about 125 people like him whom the Taliban tried to stop. After many days, they went to the Mazar-i-Sharif airport, flew to Tajikistan and had to wait for three days inside the terminal until Albania offered them visas and IsrAID chartered a plane.

At the resort, Hakimi and 17 other section leaders are working nonstop to supply food, entertainment, psychological support and other basic needs for the relocated community. He and others enjoy the freedom they have been given and praised the warmth of the Albanian staff.

“We would hardly pass this difficult moment without their open-hearted welcome,” said Hakimi.

At the fenced and guarded beach resort, children play while elders stay at the coffee bar, walk around or stroll on the beach. A young Afghan woman studies on a laptop. Many get together in groups to spend the day in Tirana or the nearby city of Durres.

When Mohammad Javed Khan, who worked as a clerk at the Afghan parliament, was asked what they found in Albania, his immediate answer was “Freedom.”

“The freedom which every human needs; relaxation, sleep,” he said. “We can sleep without fear.”

Afghan poet and teacher and his niece talk on their experience in Albania where they have been evacuated earlier this month, at a coastline tourist resort in Golem, 50 kilometers (30 miles) west of Tirana, Albania, Wednesday, Oct. 27, 2021. A group of Afghans evacuated earlier this month are housed at an Albanian coastline tourist resort enjoying the warm welcome and a normal daily life. The last group of judges, sportsmen, journalists, activists, artists, law enforcement officers, scientists and more arrived earlier in October. They all miss and fear of the fate of their families back home. (AP Photo/Franc Zhurda)

Security and fears about family members were top concerns for Afghans seeking to flee. Khan, who arrived with his wife and 3-month-old daughter, said he has finally relaxed.

“No one will take our daughter,” the 27-year-old said. “No one will carry out suicide bomb attacks. ... We ran away because there was no security.”

Leqa Fahimi arrived with her husband, 9-year-old daughter and 5-year-old son, who misses home and wants to return. In Afghanistan, she worked with an international non-governmental organization taking care of orphan girls.

“I taught them about kindness, about friendship, self-confidence, how to share their own story to the world,” Fahimi said, adding in a desperate voice: “We had lot of activity for the girls. And now ... I don’t know where they are.”

The evacuees try to keep themselves busy, helping the resort staff and each other, organizing sports activities or entertainment for the children.

Hakimi is expecting the confirmation of a special application visa by the U.S. government.

“We have all the good things here that we had lost back at home,” he said. “But I want to go to Canada, where my brother and sister are.”

The same with Fahimi, the poet-teacher, and the clerk, Khan.

“We would love to go to Canada because Canada has the best immigration policies and part of my family lives in Canada,” said Khan.

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Follow all AP stories on Afghanistan at https://apnews.com/hub/Afghanistan

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Follow Llazar Semini at https://twitter.com/lsemini

English cricket racism exposed by victim Rafiq at parliament

There is no ‘yeah, but’ with racism; there is no ‘two sides’ to racism.”

Former cricketer Azeem Rafiq gives evidence during a parliamentary hearing at the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) committee on sport governance at Portcullis House in London, Tuesday, Nov. 16, 2021. Former Yorkshire player Rafiq reported that former national captain Michael Vaughan used racially insensitive comments toward a group of players of Asian ethnicity at county club Yorkshire. (Video grab House of Commons via AP)

LONDON (AP) — English cricket was forced to confront its racist culture on Tuesday when former player Azeem Rafiq testified through tears at a parliamentary hearing but with a determination to expose the Islamophobia and bullying he suffered for more than a decade.

“Do I believe I lost my career to racism? Yes, I do,” said Rafiq, who played for Yorkshire — England’s most successful cricket club.

“I hope in five years’ time we are going to see a big change, that I did something far bigger than any runs or any wickets I got.”

Racism complaints that led to Yorkshire launching an investigation in September 2020 reached the British Parliament after the report that dismissed some abuse as “friendly banter” led to no immediate departures from the club’s hierarchy and was not publicly released.

Rafiq told legislators that Yorkshire teammates used an offensive term referencing his Pakistani heritage and that the leadership at the 33-time winners of the English county championship failed to act on the racism.

“Pretty early on, (for) me and other people from an Asian background,” Rafiq told a House of Commons select committee overseeing sport, “there were comments such as, ‘You lot sit there near the toilets,’ ‘Elephant washers.’ The word P(asterisk)(asterisk)(asterisk) was used constantly. And there just seemed to be an acceptance in the institution from the leaders and no one stamped it out.”

Asked if he thought cricket was institutionally racist in the country, Rafiq responded: “Yes, I do.”

Two former players at Essex have recently also said they were racially abused at that club, whose chairman resigned las week over the use of racist language at a board meeting four years ago.

Rafiq, a former England Under-19 captain, said he felt “isolated, humiliated at times” by his treatment at Yorkshire during two spells playing for the club from 2008 to 2018.

During testimony, Rafiq also made fresh claims of racial discrimination against former England internationals Matthew Hoggard, Tim Bresnan, Alex Hales and Gary Ballance who are accused of using the offensive abbreviation of Pakistani toward him.

“For any part I played in contributing to Azeem Rafiq’s experience of feeling bullied at Yorkshire, I apologize unreservedly,” Bresnan said.

Rafiq said Ballance’s use of “Kevin” as a blanket derogatory term for all people of color was “an open secret in the England dressing room” and Hales called his dog Kevin because it was black.

“It’s disgusting how much of a joke it was,” Rafiq said.

As a graduate of the Yorkshire academy, Rafiq recalled Hoggard told Asian players “you lot sit over there” and referred to them as “elephant washers.”

Rafiq has also said former England captain Michael Vaughan said “there’s too many of you lot” at a 2009 game for Yorkshire. Vaughan denies saying it.

Yorkshire said last month that it would not take any disciplinary action against any of its employees, players or executives despite a report upholding seven of the 43 allegations that Rafiq was the victim of racial harassment and bullying. Only recently have the chairman and chief executive resigned.

The England and Wales Cricket Board has suspended Yorkshire from hosting international matches over its “wholly unacceptable” response to the racism faced by Rafiq, while sponsors are ending deals, including kit supplier Nike.

“I agree that the handling of the report indicates issues around institutional racism,” ECB chief executive Tom Harrison told legislators.

Rafiq said he was being talked about as a captain of Yorkshire before reporting his concerns in 2017. Then Rafiq said board minutes said he was “a problem, a troublemaker and an issue that needs to be resolved.”

That followed a 2017 preseason tour when Rafiq said he suffered abuse from a teammate in front of others.

“Gary Ballance walks over and goes, ‘Why are you talking to him? You know he’s a P(asterisk)(asterisk)(asterisk).’ Or, ‘He’s not a sheikh, he’s got no oil,’” Rafiq testified.

Two weeks ago, Ballance, a former England cricketer, admitted to using a racial slur against Rafiq when they were teammates at Yorkshire, but said that was in the context of friends saying offensive things to each other.

In a written submission to the hearing, Rafiq claimed that Yorkshire “protected” Ballance by allowing him to miss drug hair sample tests to avoid sanctions.

“When he failed a recreational drug test and was forced to miss some games,” Rafiq said, “the club informed the public he was missing games because he was struggling with anxiety and mental health issues.”

At one point the committee had to break for several minutes after Rafiq grappled with the emotions of recounting painful experiences.

The Pakistan-born Rafiq, who is Muslim, described his distressing first experience of alcohol at the age of 15 after being asked about his drinking.

“I got pinned down at my local cricket club and had red wine poured down my throat, literally down my throat,” the 30-year-old Rafiq said. “I (then) didn’t touch alcohol until about 2012 and around that time I felt I had to do that to fit in. I wasn’t perfect. There are things I did which I felt I had to do to achieve my dreams.

“I deeply regret that but it has nothing to do with racism. When I spoke I should have been listened to. The game as a whole has a problem, with listening to the victim. There is no ‘yeah, but’ with racism; there is no ‘two sides’ to racism.”

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More AP sports: https://apnews.com/hub/apf-sports and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

Judge rules Enbridge Line 5 oil pipeline case with Michigan be heard in federal court

JAMES MCCARTEN
WASHINGTON
THE CANADIAN PRESS

Nuts, bolts and fittings are ready to be added to the east leg of the Enbridge Line 5 pipeline near St. Ignace, Mich.

DALE G. YOUNG/THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Calgary-based Enbridge Inc. scored a key victory in the Line 5 dispute Tuesday as a judge in Michigan rejected the state attorney general’s bid to get the dispute over the cross-border pipeline kicked out of federal court.

U.S. Circuit Court Judge Janet Neff issued the long-awaited written ruling late Tuesday, agreeing with Enbridge that its dispute with Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s administration involves “substantial federal issues.”

The decision resolves one of the central questions in the case – whether a federal court is the proper forum for it – and gives additional weight to Enbridge’s argument that the standoff is an important bilateral issue with consequences for both countries, and is for Canada and the U.S. to resolve.

In her ruling, Neff said she’s satisfied that the Line 5 case comprises a “substantial federal question” and that hearing it won’t undermine Michigan’s right to resolve state issues.

“The court holds that the Enbridge parties have borne their burden of demonstrating that this action was properly removed (from state court),” she writes.

“The scope of the property rights the state parties assert necessarily turns on the interpretation of federal law that burdens those rights, and this court is an appropriate forum for deciding these disputed and substantial federal issues.”

The ruling marks a significant victory for Enbridge, which sought the move from state to federal court in the first place, a move the state of Michigan has been contesting for the last 12 months.

“Enbridge is pleased with the decision and agrees that this case belongs in federal court, as we’ve asserted all along,” the company said in a statement. “This is both a federal and international law issue and the federal court will now handle the case.”

A spokesperson for the Michigan attorney general’s office did not immediately respond to media inquiries Tuesday.

Neff also agreed to accept two recent supplemental briefs filed by the federal government in Ottawa detailing Canada’s decision to invoke a 1977 treaty designed to ensure the uninterrupted flow of cross-border energy between the two countries.

Those briefs make it clear that planning for bilateral treaty talks on Line 5 is “well under way,” with formal negotiations expected to begin “shortly.” Should those negotiations fail, the next stage of the dispute resolution process would be binding international arbitration.

The decision comes at an opportune time for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who will have Line 5 on his agenda when he meets Thursday with U.S. President Joe Biden and Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador at the White House.

Canada opted to formally invoke the 44-year-old treaty last month after talks involving a court-appointed mediator ended in what Neff described Tuesday as a “standstill.”

Last November, Whitmer revoked a 1953 easement that allowed Line 5 to operate and ordered it shut down for fear of an environmental disaster in the ecologically sensitive Straits of Mackinac, the waterway where the pipeline crosses the Great Lakes.

The White House has acknowledged that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is conducting an environmental assessment on Enbridge’s plans to encase the underwater portion of the twin pipeline in a deep, fortified underground tunnel.

But they have assiduously avoided casting judgment on the efforts by Whitmer, by all accounts a close ally of Biden’s who was once on the shortlist to be his vice-president, to get the line shut down entirely.

Line 5 ferries upwards of 540,000 barrels per day of crude oil and natural gas liquids across the Canada-U.S. border and the Great Lakes by way of a twin line that runs along the lake bed beneath the straits linking Lake Michigan and Lake Huron.

Proponents call it a vital and indispensable source of energy – particularly propane – for several Midwestern states, including Michigan and Ohio. It is also a key source of feedstock for refineries on the northern side of the border, including those that supply jet fuel to some of Canada’s busiest airports.

Critics want the line shut down, arguing it’s only a matter of time before an anchor strike or technical failure triggers a catastrophic environmental disaster in one of the area’s most important watersheds.

They also point to a recent pipeline rupture off the coast of California, believed to be the result of an anchor strike, as an example of the fate that could befall the straits if Line 5′s operations continue.