It’s possible that I shall make an ass of myself. But in that case one can always get out of it with a little dialectic. I have, of course, so worded my proposition as to be right either way (K.Marx, Letter to F.Engels on the Indian Mutiny)
Monday, October 31, 2022
Ardern in a flap as wren rocks
N. Zealand's bird beauty contest
The flightless kakapo -- a twice previous winner -- was barred from this year's bird of the year competition in New Zealand.
A tiny mountain-dwelling wren was the surprise winner Monday of New Zealand's controversial bird of the year competition, which even had Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern in a flap.
The piwauwau rock wren punched above its 20-gram weight, flying under the radar to win the annual contest ahead of popular fellow native contenders, the little penguin and the kea.
Fans of the wren set up a Facebook page to help the outsider soar up the final rankings when the fortnight-long poll closed Monday.
"It's not the size, it's the underbird you vote for that counts," wrote one supporter.
The annual competition ruffled voters' feathers in years past after a native bat was allowed to enter, then won, the 2021 title.
There was also outcry this year after the flightless kakapo—a twice previous winner dubbed the world's fattest parrot—was barred from running to give others a chance.
The annual avian beauty contest run by environmental group Forest and Bird is popular with New Zealanders, including the country's top politicians.
The ever-popular kakapo (pictured with former prime minister Helen Clark) was barred from this year's competition to give other birds a chance.
The leader of the opposition, Christopher Luxon, took to Twitter —where else?—over the weekend to endorse the wrybill, a river bird with a distinctive bent beak.
On Monday, New Zealand's prime minister was momentarily ruffled live on air when asked if she had voted for her favourite bird.
"No I haven't yet—you can't just chuck a controversial question at me without a warning!," Ardern said with a smile.
New Zealand's leader revealed she will "always and forever" be loyal to the black petrel, which only breeds on the North Island but can fly as far as Ecuador, and she hopes the 2023 competition "will be its year".
TikTok star Rosie Grant bakes spritz cookies at her home in Los Angeles, California, on October 29, 2022
For some, gravestones can evoke mourning, for others a tribute to a loved one, or, with a little imagination, a gaunt hand emerging from freshly turned earth.
But to the discerning eye, a scattering of gravestones contain recipes, and an American librarian has begun to explore them on TikTok, where her videos posted under the account @ghostlyarchive have drawn millions of views.
Peach crumble, blueberry pie or fudge: for each gourmet epitaph, 33-year-old Rosie Grant proceeds in the same way.
Faced with limited instructions -- "there's only so much space on a gravestone," she tells AFP -- she first has to guess the cooking time and temperature. Viewers of her TikTok videos often post comments that allow her to refine the recipes.
It was by chance that Grant stumbled upon her first recipe from the graveyard, that of the spritz cookies of one Naomi Odessa Miller-Dawson, who died in 2009 at the age of 87 and is buried in Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn, New York.
As an intern in the archives of a Washington cemetery, Grant discovered the world of taphophiles, people who have a passion for cemeteries, tombstones and other aspects of burial.
She started a TikTok account dedicated to the unexpected wonders of cemeteries and ended up unearthing Miller-Dawson's recipe on the internet.
"It wasn't just that it said this woman liked cookies... It had the actual ingredients for the cookies on her gravestone. And I was, like, 'that's amazing!'" says the librarian, who has since moved to Los Angeles. "What is this? What is this recipe? What does this taste like? I was so curious."
She has even been contacted by descendants of those whose recipes she makes. All of the recipes she found were on gravestones of women, most of whom have died within the past 30 years.
"A lot of them have grandkids and great grandkids that are on TikTok. So several of them have commented on the videos, like, 'Hey, this is my grandma, this is the recipe we made and I recommend you do it this way, which is the coolest thing ever!" Grant says enthusiastically.
In between recipes, the librarian explores graveyards in her videos, tells about the lives of accused witches buried there, shares anecdotes about the lives of buried celebrities or tells, for example, how the custom of picnicking at cemeteries went out of fashion in the early 20th century.
For Grant, who lost both of her grandmothers during the pandemic, the journey has brought some closure.
"This whole process has made me aware of the idea that people and society are better off if you think about your own mortality. And not to be, like, 'Yay death!' It's not a happy thing, but to be more, like, 'oh, it's okay that we'll all die someday,' and celebrate yourself."
For Halloween, Grant will try a new recipe from the afterlife: apricot ice cream.
And at the end of the video, she'll add these words that she concludes each of her TikTok videos with: "They're to die for."
Rosie Grant found the recipe for these spritz cookies on a gravestone in Brooklyn, New York
TikTok star Rosie Grant tries out all the recipes that she finds on gravestones
The TikTok videos of librarian Rosie Grant have drawn millions of views
Deep In Brazilian Amazon, Ticuna Tribe Celebrates Lula Victory
Ticuna Indigenous leader Geraci Aicuna dos Santos waits to vote in Brazil's presidential election
Deep in the Amazon, near the region where British journalist Dom Phillips and Brazilian Indigenous expert Bruno Pereira were murdered in June, native Ticuna people are glued to a TV, watching the results of Brazil's down-to-the-wire presidential election.
Wearing traditional face paint and feather headdresses, they suddenly explode into cheers and set off fireworks: veteran leftist Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has been declared the winner.
The former president (2003-2010) defeated far-right incumbent Jair Bolsonaro by a razor-thin margin in Sunday's divisive runoff vote, 51 percent to 49 percent.
But in the Umariacu 2 Indigenous reservation, a community of mainly wood and tin-roof houses near Brazil's border with Peru and Colombia, Lula won in a landslide.
The left-wing icon took 67 percent of the vote in the county of Tabatinga, where the community votes.
Bolsonaro is reviled in many native communities for presiding over a surge of destruction in the Amazon, pushing to open Indigenous reservations to mining, and vowing not to allow "one more centimeter" of native lands to receive protected status.
"I was very nervous waiting for the result, but when Lula won, I felt so happy," Indigenous council member Nagela Araujo Elizardo told AFP.
"Lula will do a lot of good for this region. He's completely different from Bolsonaro."
The first thing Lula should change, Elizardo said, is the government Indigenous affairs agency, FUNAI, which native peoples accuse Bolsonaro of gutting and turning into an organization hostile to their interests.
Tabatinga has 57 indigenous villages, including Umariacu 1 and 2, home to around 12,000 Ticunas.
The far-flung region has been hit by violent crime and growing lawlessness, including drug trafficking, poaching and illegal logging.
It is near the sprawling Javari Valley Indigenous reservation, home to the largest concentration of uncontacted tribes on Earth.
Phillips, a correspondent for The Guardian, The New York Times and other leading media, and Pereira, a respected Indigenous expert, were just outside the Javari reservation when they were murdered on June 5.
Police say they were killed by members of an illegal fishing ring angry over Pereira's work organizing Indigenous patrols to combat poaching on native land.
The case triggered international outcry and drew fresh attention to rampant crime and environmental destruction in the Amazon under Bolsonaro, who has presided over a 75 percent increase in the average annual deforestation rate.
Those in Tabatinga know the violence all too well: FUNAI's anti-poaching chief in the region was murdered there in 2019, in a gangland-style execution.
"We suffered for four years, it seemed like there was no way out. Now my community is celebrating," said Sebastiao Ramos, 57, head of the Indigenous council for the Ticuna villages of the Amazon river, who was wearing a yellow and blue feather headdress.
Ticuna residents said they hoped for a change for the better, as they celebrated, played music and waved "L" hand signs for Lula.
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"I've followed Lula for a long time," said 53-year-old teacher Luz Marina Honorato, praising the ex-metalworker's focus on not just Indigenous but women's issues, as well.
In his victory speech, Lula vowed to work to achieve zero deforestation, saying, "We need a living Amazon."
He has also pledged to create a ministry of Indigenous affairs, and name an Indigenous person to lead it.
Canoes line the banks by the Indigenous village of Umariacu, in the Brazilian Amazon
Indigenous Ticuna voters line up to cast their ballots
Lula wins Brazil election, vows to combat destruction of Amazon rainforest
Brazilian president-elect Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva called for "peace and unity" after narrowly winning a divisive runoff election Sunday, capping a remarkable political comeback by defeating far-right incumbent Jair Bolsonaro. Although Lula's own environmental record is hardly spotless, activists say there is no comparison between him and Bolsonaro, under whom deforestation in the Amazon has soared, as Boris Patentreger from the NGO Mighty Earth explains.
Lula wins Brazil election in political resurrection for leftist
Brazilian leftist leader Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva narrowly defeated President Jair Bolsonaro in a runoff election, but the far right incumbent had not conceded defeat by Monday morning. Tens of thousands of jubilant supporters took to the streets of Sao Paulo to celebrate a stunning comeback for the 77-year-old former metalworker who, following his previous two-term 2003-2010 presidency, served prison time for corruption convictions that were later annulled.
Lula wins Brazil election: Bolsonaro defeated in stunning political comeback story
Brazilian leftist leader Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva narrowly defeated President Jair Bolsonaro in a runoff election, but the far right incumbent had not conceded defeat by Monday morning, raising concerns he might contest the result. Octavio Luiz Motta Ferraz, professor of Law at King's College London, joins us on set to talk about the "mixed feeling" in Brazil "given the difference of opinion" that prevailed in the election.
Rosangela da Silva hopes to be a different kind of Brazilian first lady
AFP - 10h ago
Jumping for joy in a bright red dress, then tenderly holding her husband's victory speech as he addressed a sea of euphoric supporters, Brazil's first lady-elect, Rosangela da Silva, looked very much in love.
Brazilian press reports say the two have known each other for decades, but Lula's press people say their romance began only in late 2017 at an event with left-leaning artists
Her husband, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, had just won Sunday's presidential election in Brazil, capping a remarkable political comeback for the leftist icon -- and his new wife was elated at his side.
Da Silva, a 56-year-old sociologist and left-wing activist, married Lula, a twice-widowed cancer survivor who is 21 years her senior, in May.
Despite being stuck in the slog of the ex-president's brutal, divisive election campaign against far-right incumbent Jair Bolsonaro, the newlyweds have appeared to be on an extended honeymoon ever since -- capped by Lula's election victory.
Lula credits Da Silva, widely known by her nickname, "Janja," with giving him new life after the 2017 death of his wife of 30 years, Marisa Leticia, with whom he has four children.
"I am as in love as if I were 20 years old," the former -- and now future -- president says of his wife, a long-time member of the Workers' Party.
Their age difference seems to have breathed new energy into Lula, whose first wife, Maria de Lourdes, died in 1971.
"When you lose your wife, and you think, well, my life has no more meaning. Then suddenly, this person appears who makes you feel like you want to live again," he told Time magazine in an interview published just before he remarried.
The septuagenarian politician often links his political rebirth to his late-life love affair.
"I'm here, standing strong, in love again, crazy about my wife," he told the crowd Sunday. "She's the one who will give me strength to confront all obstacles."
Earlier, Da Silva had celebrated the news of his victory by posting a picture of them on Twitter.
"I love you," she wrote. - A kiss outside prison -
Da Silva was born in the south of Brazil and earned a sociology degree from the university in Curitiba, capital of Parana state.
In 1983 she joined the Workers' Party, which Lula had co-founded two years earlier.
Brazilian media reports say the two have known each other for decades, but Lula's press people say their romance began only in late 2017 at an event with left-leaning artists.
But the love affair between this smiling woman with long chestnut hair and the aging lion of the Brazilian left became widely known only in May 2019.
At the time, Lula was in prison -- jailed on controversial corruption charges that were later annulled by the Supreme Court.
"Lula is in love, and the first thing he wants to do when he gets out of prison is get married," said one of his lawyers after a visit with him.
In the end, the two wed only this year. It was a discreet ceremony -- by Lula's standards. The 200 guests included celebrities like singer Gilberto Gil, who had served as culture minister under Lula.
While Lula was in prison, Janja would pen affectionate tweets about him. "All I want to do is hug you and cuddle with you non-stop," she wrote on his 74th birthday.
In November 2019, shortly after Lula's release from prison, they shared a kiss before a crowd gathered outside the prison in Curitiba, where Lula had spent 18 months locked up.
- 'New meaning' -
While she has been active in Lula's campaign, on stage and on social media, Da Silva is very private with her personal life. The magazine Veja says she was previously married for more than 10 years and has no children.
Now, as of January 1, she will be Brazil's first lady.
"I want to give new meaning to the role of first lady, by focusing on topics that are priorities for women, such as food insecurity or domestic violence," she said in August.
She was one of the stars of his campaign, playing a leading role from the day it launched on May 7 -- right up to his victory speech on Sunday night.
mel-lg/jhb/st
Bolsonaro supporters block Brazil highways over electoral defeat
Truckers protested the defeat of outgoing President Jair Bolsonaro Monday by blocking national highways. Bolsonaro had yet to concede defeat Monday morning following a tight race, raising fears the far-right nationalist might contest the victory of his leftist rival Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. Follow FRANCE 24 for live updates. All times are Paris time (GMT+2).
Brazil’s election authority called the race for former leftist leader and former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on Sunday. Lula won 50.9 percent of the vote to outgoing President Jair Bolsonaro’s 49.1 percent, with a margin of 2 million votes.
About 124 million Brazilians voted in the 2022 presidential election, or nearly 80 percent of the more than 156 million eligible.
As of Monday, Bolsonaro had yet to concede defeat.
7:42pm: Protesters block road to Brazil's Paranagua port
Brazil's Paranagua port authority on Monday said one of the main roads giving access to the port was being blocked by protesters, adding that there was no immediate disruption to cargo movement.
Roadblocks in at least 12 Brazilian states by truckers who support outgoing President Jair Bolsonaro could affect agricultural exports.
6:43pm: Bolsonaro to speak on election result on Monday afternoon, says allied party leader
Outgoing President Jair Bolsonaro will break his silence on the country's presidential election result on Monday afternoon, the acting chief of an allied party said, more than 16 hours after he lost to his adversary Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
"In principle, they want him to read a text, but the format is not yet defined," Claudio Cajado said, pointing out that it is also not certain that Bolsonaro will publicly concede defeat.
03:15
6:19pm: Brazil's Lula to speak with Biden later on Monday
Brazil's President-elect Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva is set to speak with US President Joe Biden later on Monday, said the head of Lula's Workers Party, a day after he won the country's presidential runoff ousting far-right incumbent Jair Bolsonaro.
Biden moved quickly to congratulate Lula on Sunday for his victory in "free, fair and credible elections", according to a White House statement. Bolsonaro has yet to concede. 3:57pm: Brazil's Lula to send reps to COP27 climate summit after election win
Brazilian President-elect Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva will send representatives to next month's COP27 United Nations climate summit, allied environmentalist Marina Silva said on Monday, a day after the left-wing former president won a third term.
The congresswoman-elect told Reuters in an interview that Lula would "definitely send broad representation" even if it was not an official delegation ahead of his Jan.1 inauguration.
05:41
3:36pm: Stocks rise in volatile session after Lula's win
Brazil's real reversed course to rally 1.6 percent on Monday and stocks followed a similar pattern as leftist candidate Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva won a presidential election run-off, while a strong dollar weighed on most other emerging market currencies.
The real, among the best performing emerging market currencies this year, recouped early losses of up to 2 percent. The currency is on course to mark a near 4 percent gain in October. Brazil's benchmark stocks index rose 1.3 percent, with mining giant Vale and Itau Unibanco up around 3 percent each. Oil major and privatisation candidate Petrobras however, fell 3.7 percent. 3:25pm Nordic banking powerhouse may lift ban on Brazil bonds after Lula win
The asset management arm of Nordea, one of the biggest banks in the Nordics, on Monday said it may lift a ban on buying Brazilian government bonds previously established over environmental concerns, after Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva won Brazil's presidential election on Sunday.
Nordea Asset Management's (NAM) head of responsible investing, Eric Christian Pedersen, told Reuters in a statement that the firm is considering whether to lift a prohibition on new government debt purchases instituted in 2019 over concerns about fires in the Amazon rainforest.
NAM has about €237 billion of assets under management, according to its website.
03:54
2:45pm: Trucks, protesters block Brazil highways after Bolsonaro rout
Truckers and other protesters on Monday blocked some highways in Brazil in an apparent protest over the electoral defeat of far-right Bolsonaro to leftist Lula da Silva, authorities said.
Burning tires, as well as vehicles such as trucks, cars and vans were blocking several points in the central-western agricultural state of Mato Grosso, which largely supports Bolsonaro, reported the company which manages the highway in the state.
It was not immediately clear if the protests were being organised by a particular group. Brazil has a powerful, loosely organised truckers' movement that is heavily pro-Bolsonaro.
Local media reported road blockages in at least five other states, including Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo.
(FRANCE 24 with AP, AFP and Reuters)
Brazil awaits Bolsonaro's next move as Lula faces tough to-do list
Joao Peres, Political Science professor in Rio de Janeiro, speaks to FRANCE 24 as a tense Brazil awaited Jair Bolsonaro's next move Monday. The far-right incumbent remained silent after losing a razor-thin runoff presidential election to veteran leftist Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva -- who now faces a tough to-do list.
Brazil holds its breath over Bolsonarist reaction as Lula claims razor-thin win
Issued on: 31/10/2022
With less than two percentage points to spare, Brazil’s leftist leader and former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on Sunday claimed victory over far-right incumbent Jair Bolsonaro in the country’s tightest election race yet. But the ultra-conservative legacy Bolsonaro is leaving behind could mean that Lula’s biggest challenges still lie ahead as the three-time president takes the reins on January 1.
It proved to be a nail-biter until the end: it wasn’t until 80 percent of the votes had been tallied that Lula began to emerge as the winner of Brazil’s most disputed election on record.
For almost three hours the vote was too close to call, but at around 8pm local time, the Supreme Electoral Court (TSE) finally issued a partial result that carried a verdict, showing Lula at 50.9 percent and Bolsonaro at 49.1 percent. With some 2 million votes separating the two, Bolsonaro no longer had a mathematical chance to catch up.
Lula supporters erupted into joy and celebration across the country, but not without trepidation. Since the first round of the elections on October 2, when Bolsonaro largely beat the polls and came out with an unexpectedly strong showing of 43 percent against Lula’s 48 percent, many feared that the incumbent could potentially claim a second straight mandate.
Will Bolsonaro concede defeat?
As in the first round, Lula won the backing of Brazil’s poor states in Nordeste (northeast), while Bolsonaro won the blessings of the rich, including in Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paolo.
But Lula’s victory is a far cry from the tidal wave the country’s polling institutes had predicted, and is likely to leave Brazil even more polarised than it was before the election campaign began – pitting the north against the south, the rich against the poor, and conservative against liberal values.
"Some of the big names within Bolsonarism very quickly recognised Lula’s victory. But we don’t know how the army will react, nor Bolsonaro’s supporters, who can occasionally be violent at the local level,” Anaïs Flechet, a historian who specialises in Brazil at the University of Paris-Saclay, said.
So will Bolsonaro, known by the nickname “Tropical Trump”, follow the example of his north American counterpart in the 2020 US elections? All eyes are now on the former military officer and whether he will concede defeat after spending months alleging - without evidence - that the country’s electronic voting system is plagued by fraud and that the courts, media and other institutions have conspired against him. The fact that Brazil’s 13,000 road network unit (PRF) agents spent election day mounting road blocks and barriers across the country suggests that the next few days could be tense.
Everyone is now waiting for Bolsonaro, who so far has remained silent, to comment on the results.
Democracy vs God?
While Lula on Sunday cast his ballot “for democracy”, Bolsonaro laid his political destiny into the hands of God: “God willing, we will be victorious later today,” he said as he voted.
With roughly half of Brazil’s population of 215 million having bought into Bolsonaro’s ultra-conservative agenda, Lula’s toughest challenge will therefore be to garner support for his more liberal programme.
Lula, who served two presidential terms from 2003 to 2010 and is credited with lifting some 30 million Brazilians out of poverty, is set to face fierce opposition on pretty much all fronts, including on education, healthcare and public service. The former unionist’s negotiation skills will be tested to their utmost as he tackles some of Brazil’s most fractious debates, including abortion and gun rights, as well as the exploitation of the Amazon.
“On January 1, 2023, I will govern for 215 million Brazilians, and not just for those who voted for me,” Lula said at his campaign headquarters. “There are not two Brazils. We are one country, one people, one great nation.”
But at 77, Lula is as hated by Brazilians as he is adored. And even though he might have defeated Bolsonaro at the ballot, “Bolsonarism” still came out of the 2022 campaign stronger than ever, with the far-right nabbing the majority in Congress.
Shortly after the election results were announced, Carla Zambelli, a Brazilian lawmaker and a close Bolsonaro ally, wrote on Twitter: “I PROMISE you, I will be the greatest opposition that Lula has ever imagined.”
But Lula’s challenges are not likely to end with tough debates in parliament: When parliament resumes in early February, the Bolsonaro camp will have enough seats to be able to vote through impeachment procedures against him.
Bolsonaro’s four-year mandate was a chaotic one - marked by the disastrous handling of the Covid-19 pandemic, in which more than 680,000 Brazilians died, a weak economy and damaging attacks on democratic institutions – but will first and foremost go down in history for its ability to polarise.
More than ever, Bolsonaro divided Brazil into two opposite camps, and Lula’s vow to “unite” them is sure to take the latter to task.
Iran to hold public trials for 1,000 people involved in Mahsa Amini protests
Issued on: 31/10/2022
08:30
In this VIDEO taken by an individual not employed by the Associated Press and obtained by the AP outside Iran, Iranians protests the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini after she was detained by the morality police last month, in Tehran, Thursday, Oct. 27, 2022. AP
Iranian authorities announced on Monday they will hold public trials for 1,000 people in the capital, Tehran, over the protests that have convulsed the country. The mass indictments mark the government's first major legal action aimed at quashing dissent since unrest erupted over six weeks ago.
Iran's state-run IRNA news agency quoted judicial officials as saying that a thousand people who had a central role in the protests would be brought to trial in Tehran alone over their “subversive actions,” including assaulting security guards, setting fire to public property and other accusations.
The nationwide protests first erupted over the Sept. 16 death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in the custody of the country’s morality police. She was detained for allegedly violating Iran’s strict dress code for women. Although the protests first focused on Iran’s mandatory headscarf, or hijab, they have since transformed into one of the greatest challenges to the ruling clerics since the chaotic years following the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
“Those who intend to confront and subvert the regime are dependent on foreigners and will be punished according to legal standards,” said Iran’s judiciary chief, Gholam-Hossein Mohseni Ejei, indicating that some protesters would be charged with collaborating with foreign governments. Tehran officials have repeated unsupported claims that Iran’s foreign enemies have fomented the unrest.
“Without a doubt, our judges will deal with the cases of the recent riots with accuracy and speed," he said.
Security forces have dispersed gatherings with live ammunition and tear gas over the weeks of sustained protests. At least 270 people have been killed and 14,000 arrested, according to the group Human Rights Activists in Iran. Demonstrations have continued — even as the feared paramilitary Revolutionary Guard has warned young Iranians to stop.
Ejei claimed that prosecutors sought to differentiate between angry Iranians who merely sought to vent their grievances on the streets and those who wanted to take down the theocracy.
“Even among the agitators, it should be clarified who had the attention of confronting the system and overthrowing it,” he said.
Judicial authorities have announced charges against hundreds of people in other Iranian provinces. Some have been accused of “corruption on earth” and “war against God,” offenses that carry the death penalty.
(AP)
PHILIPPINES
Images of navy ships sunken in wake of Tropical Storm ‘Paeng’ cause social media alarm
Coconuts Manila - 18h ago
Filipinos were alarmed after footage released by the Office of the Press Secretary showed three Philippine Navy ships submerged in its Cavite shipyard after the onslaught of Tropical Storm Paeng. Image: Office of the Press Secretary
However, the Navy clarified in a statement that the half-submerged ships were already decommissioned vessels. The three ships, the former BRP Rajah Humabon, BRP Sultan Kudarat and BRP Cebu, were decommissioned in 2018 and 2019, and were stationed at the Navy’s Graveyard Dock in Cavite.
According to the Navy, the Graveyard Dock is where decommissioned vessels are temporarily berthed “until final disposal,” after which the ships would likely be sold for scrap.
Nonetheless, many on social media still felt the government could have done more to prevent the disgraceful image and ignoble end to the long-serving navy’s ships.
“That is not the proper way to decommission a ship. Which has been in service and served and has been home to many sailors. Whether its condition is questionable. They should have bailed the water out to keep it afloat and decommission properly with honors,” one wrote.
“Poor Rajah Humabon,” another said, referring to the Navy’s old frigate. “The last ship of her class bravely served the Navy for 60+ years (aside from previous JMSDF and WW2 USN service) but didn’t survive due to the PN’s poor leadership and just left to die/rot and sank without her dignity spared. What a disgraceful end to its long, enduring career.”
Tokyo starts recognising same-sex relationships
By AFP October 31, 2022 Hopes are high that the introduction of same-sex partnerships to all Tokyo residents will help fight anti-LGBTQ discrimination in Japan - Copyright AFP/File Philip FONG
Tomohiro OSAKI
Tokyo began issuing partnership certificates to same-sex couples who live and work in the capital on Tuesday, a long-awaited move in a country without marriage equality.
The certificates allow LGBTQ partners to be treated as married couples for some public services in areas such as housing, medicine and welfare.
More than 200 smaller local authorities in Japan have already made moves to recognise same-sex partnerships since Tokyo’s Shibuya district pioneered the system in 2015.
The status does not carry the same rights as marriage under the law but represents a welcome change for couples like Miki and Katie, who have long had no official proof of their relationship.
“My biggest fear has been that we would be treated as strangers in an emergency,” Miki told AFP at home in Tokyo, where photos of the Japanese 36-year-old with her American girlfriend Katie, 31, adorn the fridge.
Without a partnership certificate, the couple, who asked to be referred to by their first names, used to tuck a note inside their wallets with the other’s contact details.
“But these were insubstantial, and we felt official documents certified by the local government would be more effective,” Miki said as their grey-and-white cat frolicked in a rainbow necktie.
As of Friday morning, 137 couples had applied for a certificate, Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike said last week.
Hopes are high that the introduction of the same-sex partnership certificates, which cover both Tokyo residents and commuters, will help fight anti-LGBTQ discrimination in Japan.
“The more people make use of these partnership systems, the more our community will feel encouraged to tell family and friends about their relationships,” without “hiding their true selves”, Miki said.
– ‘More flexible’ –
Recent years have seen Japan — run by a conservative ruling party that espouses traditional family values — take small steps towards embracing sexual diversity.
More firms are now proclaiming support for same-sex marriage, and gay characters feature in TV shows with greater openness.
A 2021 survey by public broadcaster NHK showed 57 percent of the public was in favour of gay marriage, versus 37 percent against.
But hurdles remain, with a court in Osaka ruling in June that the country’s failure to recognise same-sex unions was constitutional.
That marked a setback for campaigners in the wake of last year’s landmark verdict by a Sapporo court, which said the current situation violated Japan’s constitutionally guaranteed right to equality.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has been cautious about the possibility of legislative changes that would recognise same-sex partnerships on a national level.
Meanwhile, Noboru Watanabe, a local assemblyman for Kishida’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party, came under fire last month for calling same-sex marriage “disgusting”.
“Some politicians have made really negative comments, like that we are mentally ill,” Katie told AFP.
But “families are not always made up of a mother, a father and two kids. We should be more flexible,” she said.
Miki and Katie threw a wedding party last month, but despite their joy at the introduction of the new system, they acknowledge its limitations.
The right to inheritance in the event of a partner’s death is still not guaranteed, while Katie’s lack of spousal visa status makes her ability to stay in Japan less stable.
“I feel that Japanese people’s level of understanding towards same-sex marriage is now high enough”, Miki said.
“All that’s left is for policymakers to be serious about it, and make changes”.
‘Starlink is the difference’: Internet connection gives Ukraine edge in drone war • FRANCE 24
Starlink, the satellite internet service provided by Elon Musk’s SpaceX, has become a vital tool for Ukraine’s drone operators, allowing them to relay the coordinates of Russian positions to artillery units in real time. But the future of use of Starlink by Ukrainian forces has been thrown into doubt in recent weeks after Musk suggested his company may no longer provide it for free.
#Starlink#SpaceX#Ukraine
THE PURGE OF KULTISTS CONTINUES Japan’s finance minister resigns over ties to Unification Church Daniel Stewart - Oct 24
Japan's Minister of Economy, Daishiro Yamagiwa, resigned on Monday before Prime Minister Fumio Kishida over his ties to the controversial Unification Church, a sect that has been in the spotlight following the assassination of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe by a man who blamed him for encouraging the establishment of the religious group in the Asian country.
Yamagiwa's resignation letter is another blow to the Kishida administration and responds to calls from the opposition, which demanded his departure from the government, as reported by the Kiodo news agency.
The secretary general of the opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, Kenta Izumi, said that "he should have resigned before parliamentary plenary sessions resumed" and accused Kishida of "lacking the necessary decision-making capacity".
Kishida has shown a more rigid stance towards the Unification Church after receiving criticism about the government's laxity towards the religious movement, especially after receiving numerous complaints from followers who claimed to be coerced into donating large sums of money to the sect.
Last week, the government asked the Ministry of Education to open an investigation into the "sales" tactics of the group, which could lose its "religious corporation" status if it violated the law governing such movements on Japanese soil, although the final decision rests with the courts. However, even if it loses this status, the movement could continue to carry out its religious activity.
Yamagiwa, meanwhile, has been receiving criticism for a lack of explanation about his ties to the group after admitting that he had met in 2018 with Hak Ja Han Moon, widow of the church's founder, Syun Myung Moon.
PRESSURE ON GOVERNMENT DEPUTES
Several Japanese deputies have denounced having been pressured by groups affiliated with the Unification Church to push forward policies akin to the sect. Two of these groups have reportedly tried to persuade the governmental Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) to promote policies in response to the support received by them in previous elections.
Hideyuki Teshigawara, who heads the Unification Church, has admitted that one of its affiliated groups, the World Peace Federation, has tried to urge some members of parliament to sign documents that include related policies, according to Kiodo news agency.
Sources close to the matter have said that two organizations have reportedly contacted members of the formation nationwide and that some of the documents have been signed. At least three deputies have admitted receiving the documents in question.
In September, a survey conducted within the formation suggested that at least 180 deputies had had some kind of relationship with the group, whose name has recently gained prominence following the accusations of Abe's confessed murderer, Tetsuya Yamagami, who claimed that the sect had bankrupted his family.
LIBERAL TORY SAME OLD STORY
Ottawa has ‘failed’ veterans as calls grow for minister to resign: advocates
Sean Boynton - Yesterday
Ongoing issues at Veterans Affairs Canada (VAC), including long waits for disability benefits, are sending the message that the federal government doesn't care about veterans, advocates say — adding it's time for the minister in charge to resign.
Members of the Canadian Armed Forces march at a parade in Calgary on July 8, 2016.
Speaking to Mercedes Stephenson on The West Block Sunday, the advocates — along with former Conservative leader Erin O'Toole who served as veterans affairs minister under Stephen Harper — said they've heard from veterans who have grown increasingly disheartened.
"A lot of them have expressed that they don't feel valued, they don't feel important," said Debbie Lowther, the co-founder and CEO of VETS Canada, a charity that helps veterans in crisis.
"These are men and women who put their lives on the line for our country, so I think we owe them a lot more than what we're providing."
Bruce Moncur, the founder of the Afghanistan Veterans Association, was even more blunt.
"The current government has failed to understand the problems or even frankly care, and the 'triple-D policy' — delay, deny, die — is alive and well," he said.
An update from the Office of the Veterans Ombudsman released on Tuesday found veterans are waiting an average of 43 weeks for disability claim decisions, far above the 16-week standard set by VAC.
The Trudeau government has repeatedly promised to meet that standard and reduce the backlog in files for case managers, who veterans and advocates say are overwhelmed.
The union representing those case managers and hundreds of other VAC employees is now calling for Veterans Affairs Minister Lawrence MacAulay to resign or be fired, accusing him of repeatedly refusing to meet with members to discuss their concerns.
Veterans affairs minister speaks before committee over MAID controversy
Those include a $570-million contract the department recently awarded to an outside company to provide rehabilitation services for veterans, as well as the department's continued reliance on hundreds of temporary staff to address backlogs.
MacAulay's office says the minister has met with Veterans Affairs employees, the union and its senior leadership on numerous occasions. He did not make himself available to The West Block for an interview.
"The bar wasn't set very high with (MacAulay's) predecessors, and he seems to be not able to even make that," said Moncur, who also co-chairs the VAC's service excellence advisory group, adding the minister should "100 per cent" resign.
O'Toole also agreed the time has come for MacAulay to leave his post.
"This (file) always needs a minister who's very capable, very hands-on and action-oriented," he said. "Mr. MacAulay is not like that, so he's got to either step up or step out."
O'Toole added he takes some of the responsibility for the current state of the department as a former veterans affairs minister, saying he should have "moved much faster" in increasing mental health supports for former military members.
But he argued the Trudeau government needs to own up as well and make those services a priority.
The issue of veterans' mental health was brought to the forefront on Aug. 16, when Global News first reported that a VAC employee had discussed medically-assisted dying with a veteran, a case that has brought renewed scrutiny of the department and the ongoing struggle for veterans seeking support.
Sources told Global News a VAC service agent brought up medical assistance in dying, or MAiD, unprompted in a conversation with the combat veteran, who was discussing treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder and a traumatic brain injury.
Global News is not identifying the veteran due to privacy concerns, but has spoken directly with the individual, who says the service agent mentioned MAiD repeatedly, even after the veteran asked the service agent to stop.
The veteran said he felt pressured as a result.
Canadian veteran felt ‘pressured’ to consider medically-assisted death
The agent who discussed MAiD is still working at the department, but is no longer interacting directly with veterans, officials have confirmed.
Earlier this month, MacAulay appeared for the first time in front of the House of Commons standing committee on veterans affairs to discuss that call. Yet he repeatedly deferred questions about the investigation to his deputy minister, Paul Ledwell, and only apologized for the incident after being pressed by lawmakers on the committee.
Ledwell said then that the investigation into the discussion, which is still ongoing two months after it was launched, had determined the service agent’s behaviour was an isolated incident. Yet he also said a majority of service calls are not recorded, adding the conclusion was based on a review of employee files.
O'Toole said he found MacAulay's testimony at the hearing "horrendous" and that the department needs to ensure such discussions never happen again.
"We should not be having MAiD for people with treatable mental health conditions, particularly (because) when a veteran feels like they are a burden on their family and can't access supports, they are
The department says it is still undergoing training for all VAC employees who interact with veterans to ensure MAiD is never discussed during service calls.
Lowther with VETS Canada said better training for VAC employees overall would be a first step toward improving the department and its relationship with veterans.
"About 80 per cent of the referrals we receive do come from Veterans Affairs case managers, and some are very good, and they know what they're talking about," she said.
"And then there are others that are just baffled by their own benefits. They can't understand them themselves, so they can't explain them to the veterans. So, there's a big gap there."
Full investigation underway after Canadian veteran offered medical assistance in dying: Trudeau
As Remembrance Day approaches, those advocates say they are concerned about the ongoing epidemic of veterans dying by suicide, making the discussion of MAiD with someone who wasn’t seeking it all the more painful.
Studies by Veterans Affairs have concluded veterans have a “significantly higher” risk of death by suicide compared to to the general Canadian population, particularly for younger male veterans. Over the past decade, more veterans have died by suicide than the number of Canadian Forces members killed during the entire war in Afghanistan.
"Dead veterans cost no money," Moncur said. "The fact that (MAiD) was offered is disgusting. But how the government has handled it since is even worse."
— with files from The Canadian Press
Want to save the bees? Pay attention to pathogens and flowers
New research published in the journal Ecology conclusively shows that certain physical traits of flowers affect the health of bumblebees by modulating the transmission of a harmful pathogen called Crithidia bombi. In particular, the research, conducted by scientists at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, shows that the length of a flower's corolla, or the flower's petals, affects how this pathogen gets transferred between bees because shorter corollas mean that fewer bee feces wind up inside the flower itself and in the path of the bees in search of nectar.
Scientists have recently sounded the alarm over the "insect apocalypse," or massive die-off of the world's bugs. By some estimates, the past 50 years have seen a 75% decline in the world's insect life. Among the many ecological implications of this apocalypse is the collapse of pollinator species, some of which scientists estimate have died back by 90% in the US during the last twenty years.
Though there are many reasons for the apocalypse, including habitat loss, pesticide use and more, one cause is the devastation wrought by pathogens. For bumblebees, a parasite called Crithidia bombi, often transmitted by bee poop, has been a widely prevalent scourge.
One widespread and popular attempt to save the bees has been to plant pollinator gardens. "But what plants ought we to be planting?" asks Jenny Van Wyk, a postdoctoral researcher in biology at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and the paper's lead author. "We are trying to gather information on how floral traits impact pollinator health, so that we can think beyond species-specific information. That way, we may be able to generalize across species that have similar traits and so help to guide planting decisions."
In particular, flowers with shorter petals may transmit fewer pathogens than flowers of the same species with longer petals.
This is because, in their search for nectar, bees crawl deep into flowers. When the petals are long, a bee might wiggle its entire body inside. When that bee defecates, its feces remain inside the flower, and the next bee to come through in search of nectar and pollen will wind up smeared in another bee's poop. If that poop happened to contain C. bombi, then the second bee would be at high risk for infection.
But in shorter-petalled flowers, "bees' butts hang out," says Van Wyk, and their feces fall harmlessly to the ground.
Research assistant Fiona MacNeill trimming one of the 105,000 flowers. Credit: Ben Barnhart
To reach this conclusion, Van Wyk and her colleagues recruited an army of UMass Amherst undergrads and grad students to plant patches of native wildflowers, which were enclosed in tents. Bumblebees were turned loose in these tents. Half of the bees were healthy, and Van Wyk and her colleagues painted them blue, for easy identification. The other half were inoculated with C. bombi.
The team then altered the physical traits of the flowers in each tent to test which trait had the most impact upon bee health. To test corolla length, Van Wyk and her team used tiny scissors to trim over 105,000 flowers. To test whether or not the orientation of flowers on the plant had an effect, the researchers arranged some flowers in a cross-like pattern, and others in a more linear shape.
They also tested whether or not the amount and distribution of nectar played a role in bee health. The team did this by inserting a tiny nectar-filled pipette into more than 6,500 flowers, squirting more of the sweet substance, to see if the amount of nectar-per-flower played a role, and they spritzed entire groups of plants with sugar water to test whether the distribution of nectar affected bee health. Finally, the team tested tightly bunched plantings of flowering plants against those more spread out.
To track which bees' poop landed where, Van Wyk and her colleagues fed the bees fluorescent paint. Using a black light, they located the glowing poop to understand where the pathogen was deposited.
After all of this, the team found that pathogen transmission was reduced when the corolla lips were trimmed, when nectar was distributed evenly within a group of flowers or when the flowers were planted more widely apart. Flowers with trimmed corollas saw more larval production, as did plant patches where nectar was more evenly distributed.
"This work is really exciting and novel," says Lynn Adler, professor of biology at UMass Amherst and the paper's senior author, "because there's only a handful of studies that have compared how flowers from different species can transmit bee diseases—and only a single study, published more than 25 years ago, that manipulated a floral trait to establish its causal role in disease spread. Our work demonstrates that a wide range of traits may be important."
"The number one question I get when I give public talks," says Van Wyk, "is 'What should I plant for bees?' Our research opens the door to further efforts to understand how specific physical flower characteristics support bee health, which can inform management practices."
More information: Jennifer I. Van Wyk et al, Manipulation of multiple floral traits demonstrates role in pollinator disease transmission, Ecology (2022). DOI: 10.1002/ecy.3866
