Barge to house migrants arrives off UK coast

ARAB NEWS
May 09, 202314:33

Bibby Stockholm to host up to 500 male asylum-seekers at daily cost of £20,000

LONDON: A giant offshore barge has arrived in the UK to be used to house asylum-seekers.

The 222-bedroom Bibby Stockholm vessel is currently on its way to the port of Falmouth to be repurposed and updated to accommodate up to 500 male migrants.

It will be used over the next 18 months as part of efforts to improve the UK’s asylum-seeker processing measures, providing “basic” shelter, food, healthcare, and security at “significantly cheaper” rates than the current system of hotels, the British Home Office said.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak previously suggested the UK was spending around £6 million ($7.57 million) a day on mainland accommodation for tens of thousands of asylum-seekers.

The cost of maintaining and running the three-storey barge, which will be situated off Portland Port, will come to approximately £20,000 per day, when staffing, facilities, and renting the area are taken into account.

The plans have drawn criticism in the UK, including from human rights campaigners and local Conservative MP Richard Drax, who told Sky News the “floatel” had been “dumped on our door” without consultation with local residents or the council.

Drax previously warned the site of the barge was a “very, very restricted area” and that the local police force was “very small,” and would struggle to fulfil its duties with such a large number of incoming people.

He warned that the local tourism economy could be affected by the presence of the barge, describing the area as a “summer resort dependent almost entirely on visitors and tourists.”

The barge was previously used to house asylum-seekers in the Netherlands, who described it as an “oppressive environment,” but its operator, Bibby Marine Ltd., said it had been refurbished since then.

Portland Port Chief Executive Officer Bill Reeves said: “We encourage everyone in the community to approach this with an open mind and help us show other areas just how successful this type of initiative can be, both for the migrants and the local community.”

The UK has so far received around 6,000 people who crossed the English Channel illegally in small boats claiming asylum. Last year, at least 45,755 made the trip from northern France.

Boris Johnson, King Charles reportedly clashed over Rwanda deportation policy

The clash between UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Prince Charles reportedly took place in Rwanda in June last year amid a summit of the Commonwealth countries. (AFP)


ARAB NEWS
May 09, 2023

Future king was ‘appalled’ at scheme to deport migrants to African country

LONDON: Former UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson reportedly clashed with Prince Charles last year over the government’s Rwanda deportation policy, MailOnline reported.

Charles, who was crowned king last week, was said to have been “appalled” at the scheme, which involves the removal of migrants who cross the English Channel in small vessels to the African country.

The 15-minute clash reportedly took place in Rwanda in June amid a summit of the Commonwealth countries.

Johnson is said to have warned Charles to avoid interfering in national politics as well as to cancel a plan to deliver a speech on slavery over fears that it could catalyze demands for reparations.

However, the government denied the reports of a row at the time, while associates of Johnson described them as “inaccurate.”

But Guto Harri, former director of communications for Downing Street, claimed on the “Unprecedented” podcast that the former PM “went in quite hard” on Charles over the Rwanda matter.

Harri also wrote in the Mail: “Boris briefed that the two had ‘a good old chinwag’ and had ‘covered a lot of ground.’

“What actually happened was less amicable. ‘I went in quite hard,’ he told me at the time, essentially squaring up to the prince and confronting him about what he — as unelected royalty — had said about the actions of a democratically elected government.

“Prince Charles was busted. He had obviously expressed some criticism, and though he tried to play it down, Boris pointed out the obvious, (saying): “If you didn’t say it, we both know your people could ring the newspapers and kill the story. The fact they haven’t done that says it all’.”

The former communications director added that Johnson’s relationship with the prince had been strained for years as a result of the former London mayor showing up late for a meeting.

But the Rwanda argument proved to be the final straw, Harri said, adding: “Relations never fully recovered and Charles will be relieved that Boris had left No. 10 before he ascended to the throne.”

Charles had long faced controversy over accusations that he was actively interfering in government affairs.

His comments on the Rwanda policy reportedly left government ministers “infuriated,” the Mail reported.

Sources close to Johnson also told the newspaper that Harri’s account of the conversation with Charles was inaccurate: “This account is simply inaccurate and does not reflect the conversation that took place.

“Boris Johnson has had nothing to do with this podcast, had no knowledge of it and deplores any attempt to report such conversations in public.”

Rwanda floods, landslides fueled by climate change

Stuart Braun
DW

As severe flooding and landslides again inflict heavy fatalities and displacement in Rwanda, one of the most climate-impacted nations on Earth struggles to adapt to global heating.

At least 130 people died amid severe flooding and landslides in Rwanda in early May, while thousands were displaced as entire villages were engulfed. Beyond the 5,000 homes, 17 roads and 26 bridges destroyed, a whole hospital was lost amid torrential rain that followed an extended drought.

The small, mountainous, landlocked African nation — often called the "land of a thousand hills" — is one of the most densely-populated countries in the region, note researchers.

More and more usable land is being eroded and degraded to service a growing agricultural-based economy that employs 65% of the population, reported the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). As a result, its inherent vulnerability to climate shocks is increasing.

Climate the likely culprit

Globally, there has been a 134% increase in climate-fueled, flood-related disasters between 2000-2023, according to the UNDP. And Rwanda, which is naturally vulnerable to floods, has become a flashpoint.

"The whole region looks like a tornado went through," Simone Schlindwein, a journalist located in the Ugandan capital of Kampala, told DW in early May. "Literally whole villages were washed away. It is quite a dire, disastrous situation."

Richard Munang, deputy regional director of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Africa office, believes that temperature rise is increasing the frequency of extreme weather events.

While the globe has warmed to 1.1C, he notes that Africa is "warming up at twice the global average," and that "extreme events" will only get worse.

"East Africa has seen temperature increases of up to 1.7C," Munang said. "This means the consequences of a warming globe, that includes such as extreme precipitation will continue to escalate."

Flooding impact on agriculture could lead to famine

In 2021, Rwandan president Paul Kagame promised to respond to worsening extreme weather — devastating rains and windstorms later that year also sparked mudslides.

"In Rwanda, the changing climate is already making itself felt in unusually heavy rainfall and flooding," Kagame said. "Changing weather patterns also affect agriculture. We are responding by investing in water resources management, restoring catchment areas and wetlands."

Reforestation and forest conservation are important means to combat the rapid soil erosion and landslides that follow heavy rain, according to Damascene Gashumba, the country director of Rwandan environment NGO, the Rural Environment and Development Organisation (REDO).

Flooding and landslides not only destroy the built environment and biodiversity but also badly erode the soil that sustains crops. Nearly 600 million tons of soil is lost annually in Rwanda as a result of torrential rain, with sloping croplands losing the most, noted the UNDP.

The loss of harvest due to heavy rains means communities could "experience a famine," said Gashumba.

"The Rwandan government has focused strongly on adaptation and resilience to climate change, but this is not enough," Gashumba said, pointing out that developed countries are the primary source climate-inducing emissions and beyond their own climate mitigation must help Rwanda improve resilience.

A woman gathers crops from a flooded field in Musanze district in northern Rwanda

Rachid Bugirinfura/AP Photo/picture alliance

Working together to build resilience

The Green Gicumbi Project in the highlands of Northern Rwanda is working to make hilltop farming both flood and drought resistant.

Much of the land was so eroded that it has been left fallow. But the building of terraces and run off channels along with water storage for irrigation during the dry months is rapidly transforming the landscape.

"The harvest that we are expecting this season is a miracle," said Jacqueline Nyirabikari, a Green Gicumbi Project farmer. "This land was no longer usable. But since the arrival of Green Gicumbi, climate change is no longer stopping us from growing crops."

The transformation of an arid wasteland into a productive and climate resilient agricultural region was mostly funded by the Green Climate Fund that emerged out of the Paris climate agreement, and has been implemented by the Rwandan government.

Will it be enough?

UNEP's Munang notes that cities and towns in Rwanda and across the region continue to encroach on "natural drainage areas such as swamps and wetlands that surround cities."

But while priority needs to be given to preserving wetlands and forests, and to increase the efficiency of these drainage areas to limit flood damage, the other benefit will be to retain biodiversity and store more climate-killing carbon.

"We are positive for the future," said Gashumba. "We have hope."

Another dimension of this climate adaptation will also be to simply relocate vulnerable communities to safer, less flood prone areas, he added. But the solution is not ideal.

"When you shift from your home you lose everything."

Edited by: Sarah Steffen

Germany sees record number of politically motivated crimes

Politically motivated crimes in Germany increased by 7% to a new high, according to the police. Offenses connected with the coronavirus pandemic and the war in Ukraine were not the only reasons for the jump.

Germany recorded 58,916 cases of politically motivated crime in 2022, an increase of some 7% compared with the previous year, according to figures released on Tuesday.

Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said right-wing extremism remained the greatest threat to German democracy, with Russia's invasion of Ukraine and the COVID-19 pandemic also cited as important factors for the rise in politically motivated crime.

A significant increase was also recorded in crimes and acts of violence by the far-right Reichsbürger (citizens of the Reich) movement.

What the report said on Ukraine and COVID

Germany recorded 5,510 politically motivated crimes in connection with the Russian war in Ukraine. This was accompanied by a soaring number of "foreign ideology" cases, totaling 3,886 — a rise of 237%.

The war of aggression by Russian President Vladimir Putin, which is in violation of international law, "was a turning point for internal security in Germany," Faeser said.

Braving the pandemic of conspiracy theories  02:06

There was also a significant increase in cases linked with the coronavirus pandemic — a jump of 52% to 13,988.

However, Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) President Holger Münch emphasized that the high point of these cases was at the beginning of 2022. They then "continuously decreased with the lifting of state restrictions."

Rise in Reichsbürger cases

The criminal offenses of Reichsbürger and Selbstverwalter (Sovereign Citizen) movements increased by around 40% to 1865 cases.

Both terms describe a loose grouping of people who do not recognize the authority of Germany's current system of government and many of them refuse to pay taxes or fines. The Reichsbürger insist that the laws of both the German Empire and Nazi Germany still apply today.

While these crimes mainly involved coercion, threats, and insults, the number of violent crimes in this area also increased by 40% to 333.

Germany: Fresh raids on Reichsbürger group 01:34

Faeser said the state would continue to act "with all severity against the Reichsbürger," referring to a major raid at the end of last year against an alleged attempted coup from the scene.

Faeser said care should be taken when it came to the availability of weapons, with some 400 Reichsbürger adherents having at least one gun permit.
Right-wing threat lingers

Faeser and Münch emphasized that overall right-wing extremism continued to be the greatest threat to democracy. The number of such cases rose by 7% to 23,493. While the number of acts of violence in the left-wing extremist area fell significantly, they increased in the right-wing spectrum by more than 12% to 1,042.

The number of acts of violence across the board rose by 4% to 4,043. There were 2,386 cases of physical injury.

In the area of climate and environmental protection, 1,716 politically motivated crimes were registered, including street and other infrastructure blockades attributed to the Last Generation protest group. This was 72% more than in the previous year.

The minister said she had "not the slightest understanding" of such crimes, adding that the climate crisis must be "democratically fought."

rc/sms (dpa, KNA, AFP)

Criminal or hero? Man who dethroned Austrian far-right speaks out

Blaise GAUQUELIN
Tue, May 9, 2023 

Julian Hessenthaler speaks at the Vienna Volkstheater on April 20, 2023

Four years after a far-right Austrian politician was revealed to have cut deals with a woman posing as the niece of a Russian oligarch, the private detective who dreamt up the sting operation is speaking out.

The "Ibiza scandal" caught the then leader of Austria's far-right Freedom Party (FPOe) Heinz-Christian Strache promising the purported Russian public contracts in exchange for election campaign support.

Filmed in 2017, but not released until 2019, the video led to the spectacular collapse of the coalition Strache was part of and triggered corruption investigations. It ultimately dethroned former Chancellor Sebastian Kurz.

Julian Hessenthaler, the detective who conceived of the video filmed on Spain's resort island of Ibiza, was jailed in 2021 for trafficking cocaine and possessing forged documents.

Venerated by supporters as a heroic whistle-blower who exposed the corrupt nature of Austrian politics, to his critics he is a venal criminal deserving of imprisonment.

Now fresh out of jail, the 42-year-old told AFP in an interview that Austria "has not learned much" from the scandal as the FPOe again surges in the polls.

Released from prison on April 7, the former "security consultant" has been giving his side of the story in rounds of interviews and talks.

He argues that he was "wrongfully convicted" without material evidence after stepping on powerful people's toes and describes the whole procedure as "dubious to say the least".

- 'Deterrant effect' -

Dubbed the "Ibiza detective" by the press -- a nickname he despises -- Hessenthaler was behind the trap for Strache, a boozy evening in a luxury Ibiza villa during which the FPOe's illegal dealings came to light.

Hessenthaler alleges that a wealthy, Iranian-born lawyer based in Vienna paid at least 100,000 euros ($110,000) to orchestrate the fateful video.

At the time the lawyer had as a client a former bodyguard of Strache who felt he had been unjustly fired and was seeking revenge.

Published by German media in May 2019, the video and its fallout have prosecutors buried in work to this day.

Some 50 personalities from the world of politics, business and media are under scrutiny in various offshoots of the scandal.

But in contrast to Hessenthaler, so far no trials or indictments have produced any convictions for the political heavyweights implicated in the scandal.

The minute Hessenthaler became a free man again, Vienna's renowned Volkstheater staged public debates with him, featuring journalists and artists.

Press rights group Reporters Without Borders and a dozen other non-profits praised Hessenthaler's "courage" and warned his conviction could have a "deterrent effect" on potential future whistle-blowers.

- Leftist 'darling' -

German investigative website Correctiv wrote a long article about Hessenthaler, casting doubt on the prosecution's findings that put him behind bars for drugs.

But conservative Austrian daily Die Presse dismissed him the new "darling of many leftists", while far-right supporters have denounced him as a drug-pushing criminal.

Now Hessenthaler questions whether it was worth producing the video that ousted the FPOe from office, given that the far-right party has since gained national momentum.

"The FPOe has already become the leading political force in the polls," he told AFP.

The far-right party enjoys nationwide support levels of 29 percent, up from the 16 percent it won at polls in 2019.

With the governing coalition weak, the FPOe has tapped into voter anxieties over the war in Ukraine and inflation, as well as anger over strict measures during the pandemic, on top of its trademark opposition to migration.

As for reforms mooted in the immediate aftermath of the scandal, there was "a lot of talk," Hessenthaler said. But the most important legislative changes brought in to tackle corruption "have still not been implemented", he added.

Nevertheless, he said he would "do it again without hesitation", calling Austrian politicians peanuts compared to "far more dangerous" people he has dealt with in the past, albeit without elaborating.

bg/anb/kym/gil/jm

Illegal mining booms in Brazilian Amazon 'promised land'

Marcelo SILVA DE SOUSA
Tue, May 9, 2023 

A miner works at an illegal copper mine in Canaa dos Carajas, Brazil, in April

Working under an improvised shed hidden in the rainforest, Webson Nunes hears a shout and flips on his winch, hauling a colleague up from deep inside a giant hole with a bucket full of riches.

Nunes, 28, and his four colleagues are "garimpeiros," illegal miners who dig for precious minerals -- in their case, at a wildcat copper mine outside Canaa dos Carajas, a small city at the edge of the Brazilian Amazon that has become a boom town in recent years thanks to mining.

Canaa -- Portuguese for Canaan, the Biblical "Promised Land" -- is a place of extremes: At one end of the spectrum sits mining giant Vale, which runs one of the world's biggest open-air mines here.

Known as S11D, the iron-ore mine made the city the richest in Brazil in 2020 in GDP per capita.

At the other end are an estimated 100 illegal mines like the one where Nunes is employed, bootstrap operations where "garimpeiros" -- Portuguese for "prospectors" -- make a living digging holes in the earth, living on constant alert in case of a raid.

"I work with one eye here (on the mine), and the other outside. The police could arrive at any moment," says Nunes, inside the tarp-covered shack above the narrow, wet, 20-meter (22-yard)-deep hole into which he lowers his colleagues with a harness and steel cable to haul up big blue buckets of shiny, mineral-rich rocks.

But Nunes, who has been doing this for seven years, says he sees it as just another job -- albeit a lucrative one. The mine owner pays him 150 reais ($30) a day, a nice salary in these parts.

- 'Severe environmental damage' -

Illegal mines make around $800 per metric ton of copper they sell on the black market.

This one typically produces more than that in a day, the miners told AFP.

Authorities say the copper mined illegally in Canaa mainly gets exported to China.

Police say they have also detected illegal gold mines in the area, which cause greater environmental damage because of the mercury used to separate gold from soil.

Canaa's population has boomed along with its economy.

Since 2016, when Vale launched S11D, employing 9,000 people, the town has nearly tripled in size, from 26,000 inhabitants to 75,000.

The town, located in the northern state of Para, voted heavily in Brazil's presidential elections last year for far-right incumbent Jair Bolsonaro, who narrowly lost to veteran leftist Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

Bolsonaro, whose father was a garimpeiro, defended wildcat miners as president, pushing to allow mining on protected lands in the Amazon and drawing condemnation from environmentalists.

Since taking office in January, Lula has cracked down on illegal mining in the world's biggest rainforest.

Police have staged six raids in the Canaa region since August 2022, unearthing what they called "severe environmental damage" in the form of "severely" discolored rivers and forestland turned into giant pools of toxic mud.

Officers typically destroy miners' operations, flooding their mine shafts and seizing or burning their equipment.

But it does little to stop them: The same miners can sometimes be seen back at work the next day, says Genivaldo Casadei, a garimpeiro leader.

Casadei, 51, is treasurer of a local small-scale miners' cooperative trying to win legal status for their work.

Under Bolsonaro, miners were in advanced talks with the federal mining agency to do just that, he says.

Lula's victory put an end to that.

"In the cities, people see garimpeiros as criminals. But we're just workers trying to feed our families," says Casadei.

"If (wildcat mining) were regulated, it would create jobs and tax revenue. Canaa could be the richest city in the world."

- 'Dangerous job' -

Garimpeiros say it is unjust that Vale, the world's biggest iron ore producer, has a monopoly on mining rights on local land, but uses just 13 percent of it.

Getting authorization for small-scale mines is nearly impossible, they say.

Crouching over a pile of shiny rocks from a mining pit, Valmir Souza bangs at them with a hammer, separating the copper from the rest.

"It's a hard, dangerous job," says Souza, 33, who works in gloves, rubber boots and a white helmet.

He arrived here seven months ago from his northeastern home state, Maranhao, the poorest in Brazil, where he worked teaching capoeira, a Brazilian dance form and martial art.

There is more opportunity in Canaa, he says.

But "we have to work in secret," he adds. "What else can we do?"

msi/jhb/nro/md/dva

Hong Kongers find new ways to defend democratic ideals

Holmes CHAN and Xinqi SU
Tue, May 9, 2023

Hong Kongers like Lau Ka-tung are still grappling with the aftermath of huge protests that roiled the city in 2019

Two years after being released from a Hong Kong prison, Lau Ka-tung has lost count of the times he has returned -- not as an inmate, but to offer support to pro-democracy activists in jail.

Hong Kongers like Lau, 27, are still grappling with the aftermath of huge, and often violent, protests that roiled the Chinese finance hub in 2019, and a subsequent crackdown by Beijing that saw thousands arrested.

Despite the collapse of organised opposition or pro-democracy activism due to a sweeping national security law passed in 2020, some Hong Kongers are still looking for ways to fight for their values.

During the protests, Lau, a registered social worker, had tried to mediate at a clash between police and demonstrators, an act that landed him in jail for six months for "obstructing police".

"Everything felt incomprehensible and frightening... at the time I had an emotional breakdown, I was crying non-stop," Lau said.

Now, he has made it his mission to ease those anxieties for jailed protesters and their families, making near-daily visits to prisons dotted around Hong Kong.

"Those who have spent a long time in custody are looking for emotional support, while those who just arrived often want to learn about the procedures and unspoken rules," he said.

Frequently asked questions include how to write to judges to request leniency, and what types of supplies prisoners are allowed to receive.

Sometimes, prisoners just need someone to talk to, such as during one recent visit when Lau found himself engaged in a spirited chat about Chinese literature with a young pro-democracy protester.

Lau said there were very few social workers in Hong Kong specialising in protest-related cases.

"If I quit, the very small minority will become even smaller."

- Living through a crackdown -

Hong Kong's protest movement kicked off in June 2019 over an unpopular bill that would have allowed extraditions from the semi-autonomous city to the Chinese mainland.

The movement soon morphed into a wider push for democratic change that brought hundreds of thousands of Hong Kongers from all walks of life onto the streets to take part in huge protests, some of which turned violent.

The subsequent crackdown saw more than 10,000 people arrested over the protests, with more than 6,000 still awaiting formal charges.

Under Beijing's national security law, which sounded the death knell for the protest movement, another 150 people have been charged, with dozens of the city's best-known democrats facing allegations of "subversion" and "foreign collusion".

National security cases have, so far, had a 100 percent conviction rate.

The crackdowns have decimated Hong Kong's once-vibrant civil society, which was made up of dozens of political parties and advocacy groups across a wide spectrum.

At least 60 groups -- including the two largest pro-democracy labour unions and the organiser of a yearly Tiananmen vigil -- have disbanded.

Still standing, however, is the political party League of Social Democrats, where 31-year-old Dickson Chau serves as external vice-chairperson.

"Civil society has been seriously atomised," Chau told AFP.

The LSD was once known for its boisterous street-level campaigning, with activists using megaphones to deliver pro-democracy messages.

"The situation (now) is so bleak that we can only run into each other in courts or prisons and all we can have is small talk -- no one would collaborate for any actions," Chau said.

The group is now allowed only to operate a single booth at a designated location, and police scrutinise every word on their banners.

Police question every new volunteer, Chau said, and group members are warned not to protest around "politically sensitive" days, such as the anniversary of the city's 1997 handover to Chinese rule.

Still, the LSD continues to oppose some government policies, such as a recent $74 billion project to develop new artificial islands around Hong Kong.

"Citizens can no longer speak out in public... but Hong Kong is not yet a pond of stagnant water," Chau said.

- Creating space -

With the streets of Hong Kong cleared of rallies and protests, some have tried to build alternative spaces.

"Civil society around a decade ago was very different... Now, having a space is precious because we don't have many groups and venues left," said Sum Wan-wah, a veteran journalist who recently opened a bookshop named "Have A Nice Stay".

Sum's business partners are former reporters of Stand News, an independent online news platform that closed after police raided its newsroom and arrested its editors for "sedition".

Since opening last May, the bookstore has registered over 1,500 members and organised more than 50 closed-door events -- mostly talks by journalists, authors and documentary filmmakers.

Many of the books on sale focus on media literacy, democratic development and authoritarianism. Events cover a range of topics, from Russia's invasion of Ukraine to documentary production workshops.

The store also displays award-winning news photography and sells handicrafts made by reporters who have lost their jobs since the crackdown.

"As long as people can have a place to gather, there is no limit to what can be imagined," Sum said.

"You won't know whether it will make a difference or how many people it will nurture, but I want to give it a chance."

The bookstore is not immune from pressure and surveillance, with the shop sometimes subject to inspections and event participants once questioned by police in the last year.

Sum remains undeterred.

"I don't want a situation where nothing can happen," he said.

"I am making a choice between zero and 0.1, and I choose 0.1 even though all the efforts may eventually go down the drain."

su-hol/aha/dhc/ser

iPhone maker Foxconn buys huge site in India tech hub

Aishwarya KUMAR with Sean GLEESON in New Delhi
Tue, May 9, 2023 

Apple is making its own push into India and last month opened its first two retail stores in the world's most populous country

Taiwanese electronics giant Foxconn has bought a huge tract of land on the outskirts of Indian tech hub Bengaluru, the key Apple supplier said in a filing Tuesday as it looks to diversify production away from China.

Also known by its official name, Hon Hai Precision Industry, Foxconn is the world's biggest contract electronics manufacturer and a principal assembler of Apple iPhones.

Both companies are seeking to shift manufacturing away from China after strict Covid policies, a bout of industrial unrest and ongoing diplomatic tensions with the United States hurt production.

The 1.2 million-square-metre (13 million-square-foot) acquisition in Devanahalli, near the airport for Bengaluru, was announced in a statement to the London Stock Exchange.

It said that subsidiary Foxconn Hon Hai Technology India Mega Development was paying three billion rupees ($37 million) for the site, the size of more than 50 Manhattan city blocks.

Another Foxconn unit was acquiring land use rights to a 480,000-square-metre site in Vietnam's Nghe An province, it added.

Karnataka state chief minister Basavaraj S. Bommai said in March that Apple would "soon" manufacture iPhones at a new plant that would create "about 100,000 jobs".

Bloomberg News reported that month that Foxconn was planning to invest $700 million in a new factory in Karnataka.

Foxconn chairman Young Liu visited the state then and also met with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who has urged foreign firms to manufacture goods in the South Asian nation.

Foxconn has manufactured Apple handsets in India since 2019 at its plant in the southern state of Tamil Nadu.

The company is expected to break ground on a new facility in Telangana state next week, local media reported.

Two other Taiwanese suppliers, Wistron and Pegatron, also manufacture and assemble Apple devices in India.

- 'Good growth' -

Apple has been making its own push into India and chief executive Tim Cook last month opened its first two retail stores in the world's most populous country.

The California-based firm is betting big on the nation of 1.4 billion people -- home to the second-highest number of smartphone users in the world, after China.

Navkendar Singh of market intelligence firm International Data Corporation told AFP that Apple had already proved "quite successful" in India, with domestic iPhone sales of 6.7 million last year.

"This is good growth considering that Apple plays at the price range of more than $500 all the time," he added.

The world's biggest company in terms of market value is also expanding its manufacturing footprint in India.

Apple said last September it would manufacture its latest iPhone 14 in India, just weeks after launching the flagship model.

The country last year accounted for seven percent of Apple's iPhone production, according to Bloomberg, lagging behind the United States, China, Japan and other countries.

China, by far the leading producer of Apple products, saw production disrupted by violent protests last November at the country's largest iPhone factory, also owned by Foxconn.

Hundreds of employees protested over conditions and pay at the plant in the central city of Zhengzhou, spurred in part by public frustration over the government's zero-tolerance approach to Covid during the pandemic.

"Having contingency or diversification plans helps so you are not too dependent on one region," Counterpoint Technology Market Research senior analyst Prachir Singh told AFP.

"It's not like the Chinese operations will come down to zero," he added. "It is about building a similar world in India so they have multiple locations to rely on."

ash-gle/mtp

ASEAN at a ‘crossroad’ as Myanmar violence escalates

ASEAN’s diplomatic attempts to resolve the crisis have been fruitless as the junta ignores international criticism and refuses to engage with its opponents. Above, a vacant chair for the Myanmar delegation during the ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ meeting in Labuan Bajo, Indonesia on May 9, 2023. (AFP)

Short Url
https://arab.news/p79e9

Updated 09 May 2023
AFP

Myanmar has been ravaged by deadly violence since a military coup deposed Aung San Suu Kyi’s government more than two years ago


LABUAN BAJO, Indonesia: Southeast Asian nations are at a “crossroad,” a senior Indonesian minister warned Tuesday, as escalating violence in junta-controlled Myanmar loomed over a regional summit.

Myanmar has been ravaged by deadly violence since a military coup deposed Aung San Suu Kyi’s government more than two years ago and unleashed a bloody crackdown on dissent.

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) — long-decried by critics as a toothless talking shop — has led diplomatic attempts to resolve the crisis.

But those efforts have been fruitless, as the junta ignores international criticism and refuses to engage with its opponents, which include ousted lawmakers, anti-coup “People’s Defense Forces” and armed ethnic minority groups.

An air strike on a village in a rebel stronghold last month that reportedly killed about 170 people sparked global condemnation and worsened the junta’s isolation.

It also fueled calls for ASEAN to take tougher action to end the violence or risk being sidelined.

“ASEAN is at a crossroad,” Mahfud MD, Indonesia’s coordinating minister for politics, legal and security, warned Tuesday on the first day of the summit.

“Crisis after crisis is testing our strength as a community. And failure to address them would risk jeopardizing our relevance,” he said according to a copy of his remarks, listing Myanmar among the emergencies facing the bloc.

Human Rights Watch said Tuesday that last month’s air strike in the central Sagaing region was a “likely war crime,” and urged ASEAN to “signal its support for stronger measures to cut off the military’s cash flow and press the junta for reform.”

Pressure on the regional bloc increased Sunday after a convoy of vehicles carrying diplomats and officials coordinating ASEAN humanitarian relief in Myanmar came under fire.

Few details have been released about the shooting in eastern Myanmar’s Shan State, but a foreign diplomat in Yangon said diplomats from the embassies of Indonesia and Singapore were in the group.

Singapore confirmed two staff members from its embassy in Yangon were in the convoy but unharmed.

“Singapore condemns this attack,” its foreign ministry said late Monday.
Indonesia, the ASEAN chair this year, has not yet said if its diplomats were in the vehicles.

The shooting happened days before the May 9-11 ASEAN summit on the Indonesian island of Flores, where foreign ministers and national leaders will continue efforts to kick-start a five-point plan agreed upon with Myanmar two years ago after mediation attempts to end the violence failed.

The foreign ministers held talks Tuesday while their countries’ leaders were scheduled to meet Wednesday and Thursday.

Ahead of the arrival of officials in Labuan Bajo, the army deployed more than 9,000 personnel and warships to the small fishing town that serves as the entrance to Komodo National Park, where tourists can see the world’s largest lizards.

In her opening remarks Tuesday, Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi said the ministers had already discussed “the implementation” of the peace plan, but she did not elaborate.

A Southeast Asian diplomat said that Sunday’s shooting “raises the urgency of Myanmar as a key discussion point at this summit.”

The US State Department said it was “deeply concerned” about the shooting and urged the junta to “meaningfully implement the Five-Point Consensus.”

Myanmar remains an ASEAN member but has been barred from top-level summits due to the junta’s failure to implement the peace plan.

Marsudi said Friday that her country was using “quiet diplomacy” to speak with all sides of the Myanmar conflict and spur renewed peace efforts.

ASEAN has long been criticized for its inaction, but its initiatives are limited by its charter principles of consensus and non-interference.

US-based analyst Zachary Abuza said the group was unlikely to offer more than “another milquetoast statement of condemnation” despite Sunday’s attack.

“Had a diplomat been killed, there would have been more pressure on the organization to do something, but frankly they’ve been so feckless in the past two years that it’s hard to see them actually acting in a meaningful way,” Abuza said.

1988 Halabja chemical attacks: European companies on trial in Iraqi Kurdistan

Issued on: 09/05/2023 

01:58 Video by: FRANCE 24

A chemical weapon attack on the town of Halabja killed more than 5,000 people in March 1988. FRANCE 24’s team met one of the leading plaintiffs in an ongoing trial against eight European companies accused of having provided Saddam Hussein with the means to carry out the attack.

More than 600 people killed in Haiti gang violence in April, UN says

NEWS WIRES
Tue, 9 May 2023

© Ralph Tedy Erol, Reuters

More than 600 people were killed last month in violence in the capital of Haiti, which is in the grip of a political-economic crisis, the United Nations said on Monday.

"In the month of April alone, more than 600 people were killed in a new wave of extreme violence that hit several districts across the capital," said the office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.

"This follows the killing of at least 846 people in the first three months of 2023, in addition to 393 injured and 395 kidnapped during that period – a 28-percent increase in violence on the previous quarter."

The Caribbean nation, the poorest in the Americas, has been gripped by a political and economic crisis since the July 2021 assassination of president Jovenel Moise, with gangs now controlling most of the capital, Port-au-Prince.

UN officials have for months asked the Security Council to send a specialised non-UN international armed force to help police restore order.

(AFP)

Autopsies reveal missing organs in Kenya cult deaths: police

By AFP
Published May 9, 2023

The discovery of mass graves last month near Kenya's Indian Ocean coastal town of Malindi has stunned the deeply religious Christian-majority country - Copyright AFP Jameson WU

Autopsies on corpses found in mass graves linked to a religious cult in Kenya have revealed missing organs and raised suspicions of forced harvesting, investigators said, with a fresh round of exhumations set to resume Tuesday.

The discovery of mass graves last month near the Indian Ocean coastal town of Malindi has stunned the deeply religious Christian-majority country in what has been dubbed the “Shakahola forest massacre”.

Police believe most of the bodies belong to followers of self-styled pastor Paul Nthenge Mackenzie who is accused of ordering them to starve to death “to meet Jesus.”

While starvation appears to be the main cause of death, some of the victims — including children — were strangled, beaten, or suffocated, according to the chief government pathologist Johansen Oduor.

Court documents filed on Monday said that some of the corpses had their organs removed, with police alleging that the suspects were engaged in forced harvesting of body parts.

“Post mortem reports have established missing organs in some of the bodies of victims who have been exhumed,” chief inspector Martin Munene said in an affidavit filed to a Nairobi court.

It is “believed that trade on human body organs has been well coordinated involving several players,” he said, giving no details about the suspected trafficking.

Munene said that Ezekiel Odero, a high-profile televangelist who was arrested last month in connection with the same case and granted bail on Thursday, had received “huge cash transactions,” allegedly from Mackenzie’s followers who sold their property at the cult leader’s bidding.

The Nairobi court ordered the authorities to freeze more than 20 bank accounts belonging to Odero for 30 days.

A total of 112 people have so far been confirmed dead, interior minister Kithure Kindiki said Tuesday after arriving in Malindi to supervise the resumption of exhumations, which were suspended last week because of bad weather.

“Search and rescue efforts for persons suspected to be holed up in the thickets and bushes have been going on,” Kindiki said.

Questions have been raised about how Mackenzie managed to evade law enforcement despite a history of extremism and previous legal cases.

The former taxi driver turned himself in on April 14 after police acting on a tip-off first entered Shakahola forest, where some 30 mass graves have now been found.

Prosecutors are asking to hold the father of seven, who founded the Good News International Church in 2003, for another 90 days until investigations are completed.

Senior principal magistrate Yusuf Shikanda said he would rule on the request on Wednesday.

Ukraine updates: Wagner boss says Russian army fled Bakhmut

DW

Pro-Kremlin paramilitary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin accuses a regular Russian military unit of abandoning its positions near Bakhmut. Meanwhile, Russia has launched a new attack on Kyiv. DW has the latest.

Yevgeny Prigozhin, head of the Wagner mercenary group that leads the ongoing assault on Bakhmut, on Tuesday accused the Russian army of fleeing its positions around the city.

"Today one of the units of the Defense Ministry fled from one of our flanks ... exposing the front," said Prigozhin.

Prigozhin, popularly known as Putin's chef because of the lucrative catering contracts he once held with the Kremlin, accused the Russian Defense Ministry of "scheming all the time" instead of fighting.

Prigozhin said soldiers were abandoning their positions because of the "stupidity" of Russian army commanders, who he said were giving "criminal orders."

"Soldiers should not die because of the absolute stupidity of their leadership," Prigozhin said, repeating his threat that Wagner would withdraw from the frontline city if Russia does not supply more ammunition soon.

The mercenary group has been at the forefront of Russia's efforts to take Bakhmut. Russian authorities committed to providing Wagner Group with more ammunition after Prigozhin publicly denounced Russia's military leadership in a confrontational video filmed while standing over the bodies of dead soldiers in Bakhmut.

The city has been the center of fighting between Russian and Ukrainian forces for months, and both sides have suffered severe casualties there. Prigozhin threatened to withdraw Wagner Group fighters from the city due to the shortage of ammunition.

"The people who were supposed to fulfill the (shipment) orders have so far, over the past day, not fulfilled them," Prigozhin said.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Russian forces had failed to capture the city before the May 9 Russian holiday that marks the Soviet Union's World War II victory over Nazi Germany.

A Ukrainian general had said on Sunday that Moscow Russia was still hoping to capture Bakhmut before Tuesday's Victory Day events.

Putin says Russians are united in 'sacred' battle with West over Ukraine

FROM IMPERIALIST INVASION TO WAR OF SELF DEFENSE

Issued on: 09/05/2023 - 

03:25  Video by: Philip TURLE

President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday that Russians were united in a "sacred" fight with the West over Ukraine that would end in victory, and accused the United States and its allies of forgetting the Soviet triumph over the Nazis in World War Two. Putin has repeatedly likened the war in Ukraine - which he casts as a defensive move against a West which wants to carve up Russia - to the challenge Moscow faced when Adolf Hitler invaded the Soviet Union in 1941. FRANCE 24's International Affairs Editor Philip Turle tells us more.



REPLAY - Victory Day in Russia: Putin delivers address to nation from the Red Square


Issued on: 09/05/2023 

14:07 Video by: FRANCE 24

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Tuesday at Moscow's Red Square Victory Day parade that the world was at a "turning point" and claimed a "war" had been unleashed against Russia. He vowed victory and said Russia's future "rests on" its soldiers fighting in Ukraine. The traditional Soviet-style event celebrating Moscow's victory over the Nazis took place amid security fears, 15 months into Russia's Ukraine offensive.

Serbia protests: Thousands join anti-gun march after mass shootings



Issued on: 09/05/2023 -

01:54  Video by: Alison SARGENT

Tens of thousands of Serbians protested on Monday, demanding better security, a ban on violent TV content and the resignation of key ministers, days after two mass shootings killed 17 people. Crowds in numbers not seen in the Balkan country for years solemnly marched through the centre of the capital Belgrade behind a banner reading "Serbia Against Violence".

Serbia: Thousands rally in Belgrade after mass shootings

Serbians took to the streets to demand better security and the resignation of top officials after two mass shootings, including one at a school, in recent days.

Thousands of Serbians marched in silence on Monday in protest against the populist government's reaction to two mass shootings last week.

The country has been in shock after 17 people were killed in two separate onslaughts last week.

A teenage boy brought two handguns to school, killing eight pupils and a security guard. Just two days later, a 21 year-old man killed eight people in central Serbia.
What are protesters demanding?

Dubbed "Serbia against violence," the march in the capital saw members from across the country's political divide come together.

Demonstrators called for the resignation of top officials, including Interior Minister Bratislav Gasic and Aleksandar Vulin, the director of the state security agency. Education minister Branko Ruzic resigned on Sunday, citing the "cataclysmic tragedy" caused by the school shooting.

Protesters also demanded the dismissal of the government's Regulatory Committee for Electronic Media (REM) within a week. They accuse some TV stations and tabloids of promoting violence.

"We demand an immediate stop to further promotion of violence in the media and public space, as well as responsibility for the long-standing inadequate response from competent authorities," the leftist Let's Not Let Belgrade Drown party said in a statement.

Meanwhile, President Aleksandar Vucic's Serbian Progressive Party decried the rally, saying the opposition was "using a national tragedy for their own interest."
President wants to 'disarm' Serbia

Vucic has vowed to "disarm" Serbia with a plan to crack down on gun violence. He proposed new measures that include a freeze on gun permits and more psychological checks for owners.

Mass shootings are rare in Serbia — and purchasing a firearm requires a special permit — but the country has one of the highest levels of gun ownership in Europe.

According to the Small Arms Survey research group, around four out of ten people in Serbia are in possession of a firearm.

Despite the requirements preventing people from acquiring a firearm, many are still left over from the wars of the 1990s and remain in circulation.

Vucic has pledged to remove those weapons.

Congress eyes new rules for tech: What’s under consideration

By MARY CLARE JALONICK

AP

yesterday

1 of 5
A person uses a smartphone in Chicago, Sept. 16, 2017. Most Democrats and Republicans agree that the federal government should better regulate the biggest technology companies, particularly social media platforms. But there is very little consensus on how it should be done.

 (AP Photo, File)

WASHINGTON (AP) — Most Democrats and Republicans agree that the federal government should better regulate the biggest technology companies, particularly social media platforms. But there is very little consensus on how it should be done.

Should TikTok be banned? Should younger children be kept off social media? Can the government make sure private information is secure? What about brand new artificial intelligence interfaces? Or should users be regulating themselves, leaving the government out of it?

Tech regulation is gathering momentum on Capitol Hill as concerns skyrocket about China’s ownership of TikTok and as parents navigating a post-pandemic mental health crisis have grown increasingly worried about what their children are seeing online. Lawmakers have introduced a slew of bipartisan bills, boosting hopes of compromise. But any effort to regulate the mammoth industry would face major obstacles as technology companies have fought interference.

Noting that many young people are struggling, President Joe Biden said in his February State of the Union speech that “it’s time” to pass bipartisan legislation to impose stricter limits on the collection of personal data and ban targeted advertising to children.

“We must finally hold social media companies accountable for the experiment they are running on our children for profit,” Biden said.

Tech companies have aggressively fought any federal interference, and they have operated for decades now without strict federal oversight, making any new rules or guidelines that much more complicated.

A look at some of the areas of potential regulation:

CHILDREN’S SAFETY

Several House and Senate bills would try to make social media, and the internet in general, safer for children who will inevitably be online. Lawmakers cite numerous examples of teenagers who have taken their own lives after cyberbullying or died engaging in dangerous behavior encouraged on social media.

In the Senate, at least two competing bills are focused on children’s online safety. Legislation by Sens. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., and Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., approved by the Senate Commerce Committee last year would require social media companies to be more transparent about their operations and enable child safety settings by default. Minors would have the option to disable addictive product features and algorithms that push certain content.

The idea, the senators say, is that platforms should be “safe by design.” The legislation, which Blumenthal and Blackburn reintroduced last week, would also obligate social media companies to prevent certain dangers to minors — including promotion of suicide, disordered eating, substance abuse, sexual exploitation and other illegal behaviors.

A second bill introduced last month by four senators — Democratic Sens. Brian Schatz of Hawaii and Chris Murphy of Connecticut and Republican Sens. Tom Cotton of Arkansas and Katie Britt of Alabama — would take a more aggressive approach, prohibiting children under the age of 13 from using social media platforms and requiring parental consent for teenagers. It would also prohibit the companies from recommending content through algorithms for users under the age of 18.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., has not weighed in on specific legislation but told reporters last week, “I believe we need some kind of child protections” on the internet.

Critics of the bills, including some civil rights groups and advocacy groups aligned with tech companies, say the proposals could threaten teens’ online privacy and prevent them from accessing content that could help them, such as resources for those considering suicide or grappling with their sexual and gender identity.

“Lawmakers should focus on educating and empowering families to control their online experience,” said Carl Szabo of NetChoice, a group aligned with Meta, TikTok, Google and Amazon, among other companies.

DATA PRIVACY

Biden’s State of the Union remarks appeared to be a nod toward legislation by Sens. Ed Markey, D-Mass., and Bill Cassidy, R-La., that would expand child privacy protections online, prohibiting companies from collecting personal data from younger teenagers and banning targeted advertising to children and teens. The bill, also reintroduced last week, would create a so-called “eraser button” allowing parents and kids to eliminate personal data, when possible.

A broader House effort would attempt to give adults as well as children more control over their data with what lawmakers call a “national privacy standard.” Legislation that passed the House Energy and Commerce Committee with wide bipartisan support last year would try to minimize data collected and make it illegal to target ads to children, usurping state laws that have tried to put privacy restrictions in place. But the bill, which would have also given consumers more rights to file lawsuits over privacy violations, never reached the House floor.

Prospects for the House legislation are unclear now that Republicans have the majority. House Energy and Commerce Chairwoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash.., has made the issue a priority, holding several hearings on data privacy. But the committee has not yet moved forward with a new bill.

TIKTOK BAN/CHINA

Lawmakers introduced a raft of bills to either ban TikTok or make it easier to ban it after a combative March House hearing in which lawmakers from both parties grilled TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew over his company’s ties to China’s communist government, data security and harmful content on the app.

Chew attempted to assure lawmakers that the hugely popular video-sharing app prioritizes user safety and should not be banned due to its Chinese connections. But the testimony gave new momentum to the efforts.

Soon after the hearing, Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley, a Republican, tried to force a Senate vote on legislation that would ban TikTok from operating in the United States. But he was blocked by a fellow Republican, Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, who said that a ban would violate the Constitution and anger the millions of voters who use the app.

Another bill sponsored by Republican Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida would, like Hawley’s bill, ban U.S. economic transactions with TikTok, but it would also create a new framework for the executive branch to block any foreign apps deemed hostile. His bill is cosponsored by Reps. Raja Krishnamoorthi, D-Ill., and Mike Gallagher, R-Wis.

There is broad Senate support for bipartisan legislation sponsored by Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Mark Warner, D-Va., and South Dakota Sen. John Thune, the No. 2 Senate Republican, that does not specifically call out TikTok but would give the Commerce Department power to review and potentially restrict foreign threats to technology platforms.

The White House has signaled it would back that bill, but it is unclear if it will be brought up in the Senate or if it could garner support among House Republicans.

TikTok has launched an extensive lobbying campaign for its survival, including by harnessing influencers and young voters to argue that the app isn’t harmful.

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

A newer question for Congress is whether lawmakers should move to regulate artificial intelligence as rapidly developing and potentially revolutionary products like AI chatbot ChatGPT begin to enter the marketplace and can in many ways mimic human behavior.

Senate leader Schumer has made the emerging technology a priority, arguing that the United States needs to stay ahead of China and other countries that are eyeing regulations on AI products. He has been working with AI experts and has released a general framework of what regulation could look like, including increased disclosure of the people and data involved in developing the technology, more transparency and explanation for how the bots arrive at responses.

Schumer has said that any eventual regulation should “prevent potentially catastrophic damage to our country while simultaneously making sure the U.S. advances and leads in this transformative technology.”

The White House has been focused on the issue as well, with a recent announcement of a $140 million investment to establish seven new AI research institutes. Vice President Kamala Harris met Thursday with the heads of Google, Microsoft and other companies developing AI products.

Facebook has 3 billion users. Many of them are old.

By BARBARA ORTUTAY

AP

yesterday

 Facebook says it is not dead. It’s not even just for “old people,” as young people have been saying for years. The social media platform born before the iPhone is approaching two decades in existence. 

(AP Photo/Jenny Kane, File)

Facebook says it is not dead. Facebook also wants you to know that it is not just for “old people,” as young people have been saying for years.

Now, with the biggest thorn in its side — TikTok — facing heightened government scrutiny amid growing tensions between the U.S. and China, Facebook could, perhaps, position itself as a viable, domestic-bred alternative.

There’s just one problem: young adults like Devin Walsh have moved on.

“I don’t even remember the last time I logged in. It must have been years ago,” said Walsh, 24, who lives in Manhattan and works in public relations.

Instead, she checks Instagram, which is also owned by Facebook parent company Meta, about five or six times a day. Then there’s TikTok, of course, where she spends about an hour each day scrolling, letting the algorithm find things “I didn’t even know I was interested in.”

Walsh can’t imagine a world in which Facebook, which she joined when she was in 6th grade, becomes a regular part of her life again.

“It’s the branding, right? When I think of Facebook, I think ugh, like cheugy, older people, like parents posting pictures of their kids, random status updates and also people fighting about political issues,” Walsh said, using the Gen Z term for things that are definitely not cool.

The once-cool social media platform born before the iPhone is approaching two decades in existence. For those who came of age around the time Mark Zuckerberg launched thefacebook.com from his Harvard dorm room in 2004, it’s been inextricably baked into daily life — even if it’s somewhat faded into the background over the years.

Facebook faces a particularly odd challenge. Today, 3 billion people check it each month. That’s more than a third of the world’s population. And 2 billion log in every day. Yet it still finds itself in a battle for relevancy, and its future, after two decades of existence.

For younger generations — those who signed up in middle school, or those who are now in middle school, it’s decidedly not the place to be. Without this trend-setting demographic, Facebook, still the main source of revenue for parent company Meta, risks fading into the background — utilitarian but boring, like email.

It wasn’t always like this. For nearly a decade, Facebook was the place to be, the cultural touchstone, the thing constantly referenced in daily conversations and late-night TV, its founding even the subject of a Hollywood movie. Rival MySpace, which launched only a year earlier, quickly became outdated as the cool kids flocked to Facebook. It didn’t help MySpace’s fate that it was sold to stodgy old News Corp. in 2005.

“It was this weird combination...no one knew how technology worked, but in order to have a MySpace, we all needed to become mini coders. It was so stressful.” said Moira Gaynor, 28. “Maybe that’s even why Facebook took off. Because compared to MySpace it was this beautiful, integrated, wonderful engagement area that we didn’t have before and we really craved after struggling with MySpace for so long.”

Positioning himself a visionary, Zuckerberg refused to sell Facebook and pushed his company through the mobile revolution. While some rivals emerged — remember Orkut? — they generally petered out as Facebook soared, seemingly unstoppable despite scandals over user privacy and a failure to address hate speech and misinformation adequately. It reached a billion daily users in 2015.

Debra Aho Williamson, an analyst with Insider Intelligence who’s followed Facebook since its early days, notes that the site’s younger users have been dwindling but doesn’t see Facebook going anywhere, at least not any time soon.

“The fact that we are talking about Facebook being 20 years old, I think that is a testament of what Mark developed when he was in college. It’s pretty incredible,” she said. “It is still a very powerful platform around the world.”

AOL was once powerful too, but its user base has aged and now an aol.com email address is little more than a punchline in a joke about technologically illiterate people of a certain age.

Tom Alison, who serves as the head of Facebook (Zuckerberg’s title is now Meta CEO), sounded optimistic when he outlined the platform’s plans to lure in young adults in an interview with The Associated Press.

“We used to have a team at Facebook that was focused on younger cohorts, or maybe there was a project or two that was dedicated to coming up with new ideas,” Alison said. “And about two years ago we said no — our entire product line needs to change and evolve and adapt to the needs of the young adults.”

He calls it the era of “social discovery.”

“It’s very much motivated by what we see the next generation wanting from social media. The simple way that I like to describe it is we want Facebook to be the place where you can connect with the people you know, the people you want to know and the people that you should know,” Alison said.

Artificial intelligence is central to this plan. Just as TikTok uses its AI and algorithm to show people videos they didn’t know they wanted to see Facebook is hoping to harness its powerful technology to win back the hearts and eyeballs of young adults. Reels, the TikTok-like videos Facebook and Instagram users are bombarded with when they log into both apps, are also key. And, of course, private messaging.

“What we are seeing is more people wanting to share reels, discuss reels, and we’re starting to integrate messaging features back into the app to again allow Facebook to be a place where not only do you discover great things that are relevant to you, but you share and you discuss those with people,” Alison said.

Facebook has consistently declined to disclose user demographics, which would shed some light on how it is faring among young adults. But outside researchers say their numbers are declining. The same is true for teenagers — although Facebook seems to have stepped back from actively recruiting teens amid concerns about social media’s effects on their mental health.

“Young people often shape the future of communication. I mean, that’s basically how Facebook took off — young people gravitated toward it. And we we see that happening with pretty much every social platform that has come on the scene since Facebook,” said Williamson. This year, Insider estimates that about half of TikTok’s users are between the ages of 12 and 24.

Williamson doesn’t see this trend reversing, but notes that Insider’s estimates only go as far as 2026. There’s a decline, but it’s slow. That year, the research firm expects about 28% of U.S. Facebook’s users to be between 18 and 34 years old, compared with nearly 46% for TikTok and 42% for Instagram. The numbers are more stark for teens aged 12-17.

“I think the best thing they could do is get away from being a social platform. Like they’ve lost that. But hey, if they want to become the new Yellow Pages, why not?” said Gaynor, who lives in San Diego, California and works in government. “I really like Marketplace. I recently just moved, so that was where I got most of my furniture.”

NASA: Up to 4 of Uranus' moons could have water


A view of the planet Uranus in 2004. A new study by NASA says four of Uranus's moons could have oceans of water under its icy crust. File Photo by NASA/UPI | License Photo

May 5 (UPI) -- NASA scientists concluded that four of Uranus' largest moons likely contain an ocean layer of water between its core and icy crust.

The NASA study announced Thursday is the first to detail the evolution of the interior makeup and structure of all five large moons -- Ariel, Umbriel, Titania, Oberon and Miranda.

It suggests four of the moons hold oceans that could be miles deep after scientists had previously considered the other moons too small to keep an internal ocean from freezing, with Titania, the largest of Uruanus' seven moons the most likely to retain the necessary heat.

"When it comes to small bodies -- dwarf planets and moons -- planetary scientists previously have found evidence of oceans in several unlikely places, including the dwarf planets Ceres and Pluto, and Saturn's moon Mimas," said Julie Castillo-Rogez of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in a statement. "So, there are mechanisms at play that we don't fully understand."

 Czech Republic latest nation to sign on to NASA's moon-focused Artemis Accords

NASA said it came to the discovery after re-examining data originally gathered from its Voyager spacecraft that gathered detailed information on Uranus during two flybys in the 1980s.

Using that data along with traditional telescope observations on Earth, NASA scientists built computer models of the planet infused with additional findings from NASA's Galileo, Cassini, Dawn, and New Horizons.

The researchers also added insights into the chemistry and the geology of Saturn's moon Enceladus, Pluto and its moon Charon, and Ceres. Those planets are also icy bodies around the same size as the Uranian moons.

NASA's James Webb Space Telescope team wins Wernher von Braun award

NASA has been investigating possible water on other moons. In 2005, scientists saw what they believe were watery plumes erupting from the surface of Saturn's moon Enceladus.

The space agency plans on launching the Europa Clipper spacecraft next year which will examine the possibility of water plumes and an ice-covered ocean world with possible plumes the Jupiter moon of Europa.

Met officers shoot dogs dead in front of screaming public


Telegraph reporters
Mon, 8 May 2023 

An unidentified man holds two dogs before being tasered and the dogs shot

The Metropolitan Police has defended its officers after a suspect was tasered and two dogs were shot in front of screaming witnesses.

Footage posted on social media showed officers pursuing a man who was holding the two dogs on a short lead along a canal in Limehouse, east London on Sunday afternoon.

Officers can be heard telling the owner they need to assess the dogs and him, as he shouts back: “Leave them [the dogs] alone”.

The dogs were barking at the armed police as the man turned to walk away.

He was pursued by seven officers who told the man to “come back”. He turned around and the dogs ran towards the officers, held back by their leads.

The officers backed away from the dogs and warned the man to keep them under control.

The situation then became heated, as the man was tasered to the floor and the animals were shot dead.
Aggressive behaviour 'was of considerable concern'

Witnesses in the surrounding flats could be heard screaming from their balconies as the first animal was shot, with one shouting, “why did you shoot the dog?”, according to the Evening Standard.

Commenting on the incident, police said officers "have a duty to act where necessary before any further injury is caused".

In a statement, the force said: "Police were called just after 5pm on Sunday May 7 to a woman being attacked by a dog in Commercial Road, E14.

"Officers attended the location where the aggressive behaviour of two dogs was of considerable concern and posed a significant threat to them.

"A man was arrested in connection with the incident for having a dog dangerously out of control, and assault offences. He has been taken into police custody. A Taser was discharged by police."

The statement continued: "No person was taken to hospital. Both dogs were destroyed by police at the scene.

"This is never an easy decision for any officer to take, but police have a duty to act where necessary before any further injury is caused.

"The Met's Directorate of Professional Standards will review the circumstances of the incident."

Westminster Kennel Club dog show

Tennis, or terriers? US Open’s home hosts famed dog show

By JENNIFER PELTZ

May 7, 2023

1 of 12
A handler and her dog walk past a photo of Billie Jean King on their way to compete in the agility preliminaries at the Arthur Ashe stadium during the 147th Westminster Kennel Club Dog show, Saturday, May 6, 2023, at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in New York. 

(AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)

NEW YORK (AP) — They’re at the top of their sport. They’re primed to run down tennis balls. So perhaps it’s perfectly natural that about 3,000 top-flight canines are converging on the grounds of the U.S. Open tennis tournament, where the Westminster Kennel Club dog show began Saturday.

It’s a new venue for the nearly 150-year-old event, now back in New York City after a two-year, pandemic-induced sojourn in the suburbs.

As the show began Saturday with an agility competition and other events, there were a few double-takes, if not double-faults.

Barks, not the pock of tennis balls, were heard across the sunny, 40-acre (16-hectare) grounds of the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center. Westminster’s traditional green carpet had been rolled out in Arthur Ashe Stadium for fleet-footed — but four-footed — competitors.

Bradie, a corgi, competes in the dock dive competition during the 147th Westminster Kennel Club Dog show. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)

Dogs relaxed in their crates on a tented practice court. The fan-friendly South Plaza was set up with a 27,000-gallon (102,200-liter) pool for a canine dock-diving demonstration. Turn in any direction, and a dog of some sort was likely to pass by.

“It’s kind of weird to see them out and about at a place where you don’t usually see dogs,” spectator Haili Menard said as she watched in the dock diving to pick up pointers for her Dalmatian back at home in Bristol, Connecticut. Menard had been to the U.S. Open but never to the Westminster show.

“The sport of it is highlighted” by the environs, she said.

Meanwhile, Fletcher the Malinois took the plunge.

“We’re never going to get to Westminster any other way,” laughed owner Jenine Wech of Schellsburg, Pa. When not doing dock diving or other sports, Fletcher works as a bedbug-detection dog.

Stella competed in agility in 2021 but was back Saturday as dock diving, her favorite blow-off-steam sport, got a toe in the Westminster water.

A handler and his dog compete in the agility preliminaries inside Arthur Ashe stadium during the 147th Westminster Kennel Club Dog show. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)

“The experience is so neat, to get to come with your dog ... and to even just show a healthy bulldog,” said owner Lucy Hayes of Dayton, Ohio, who taught Stella to swim years ago (she dives in a life jacket for safety).

For most of its history, Westminster was held in Manhattan, where generations of best in show dogs were anointed at Madison Square Garden. In order to hold the event outdoors during the COVID-19 crisis, organizers moved it to the grounds of an estate in suburban Tarrytown, New York, for the last two years.

The club sought to return to New York City, while assessing factors including construction plans at a Manhattan pier building that formerly hosted part of the show. The tennis center emerged as an alternative.

Besides hosting one of tennis’s Grand Slam tournaments, the facility in Queens has been trying to position itself in recent years as a flexible, festive event venue. It has welcomed wrestling, video gaming and BIG3 3-on-3 basketball competitions and embraced letting dogs have their day.

“From the biggest stars in tennis to the biggest stars in the canine world,” said Chris Studley, the facility’s senior director for event services. Westminster President Donald Sturz was equally upbeat about the prospect of “an iconic dog show event in an iconic venue.”

To be sure, Manhattan offered a certain allure to some participants who travel from around the country. But the spacious tennis center allows for holding all the events in one place, adding new ones and giving dogs and people more elbow room.

While dogs aren’t usually the main attraction at the tennis center, there are plenty of players known for bringing their pooches on tour.

Ken McKenna, of Boston, Mass., shows his bulldogs in the Breed Showcase area during the 147th Westminster Kennel Club Dog show. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)

Serena Williams had a pooch courtside in Arthur Ashe Stadium when she practiced ahead of last year’s U.S. Open, her final event before retirement. Her older sister, Venus, also has been spotted with a dog at tournaments. Bianca Andreescu’s pet, Coco, is often found with Andreescu’s mother in the stands during matches. Alexander Zverev adopted a dog while in Miami ahead of the Miami Open a few years ago.

Some vendors had tennis balls on hand Saturday, but dogs like Leslie Wilk’s had other activities on their minds. The border collie-Staffordshire bull terrier mix rocketed through the agility course as if determined to live up to her name, Champion.


“Every time she steps up to the line,” said Wilk, of Camarillo, California, “she just gives it her best.”

Look at it that way, and the human and canine athletes of the tennis center aren’t so different.

___

AP Tennis Writer Howard Fendrich contributed from Washington. New York-based Associated Press journalist Jennifer Peltz has covered the Westminster dog show since 2013.

Across town from show dogs, a labor to save suffering ones

By JENNIFER PELTZ

May 7, 2023

1 of 12
Melanie, one of the dogs being cared for at the ASPCA adoption center, sits behind a treat hole in her kennel at the ASPCA, Friday, April 21, 2023, on the Upper West Side neighborhood of New York. While the Westminster Kennel Club crowns the cream of the canine elite on one of tennis' most storied courts next week, another 19th-century institution across town will be tending to dogs that have had far more troubled lives. New York is home to both the United States' most prestigious dog show and its oldest humane society, the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. Their histories entwine: Some proceeds from the very first Westminster dog show, in 1877, helped the young ASPCA build its first dog and cat shelter years later. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)

NEW YORK (AP) — On a recent afternoon at a Manhattan animal hospital and adoption center, a pit bull mix called T-Bone, rescued after being tied to a utility pole, gazed out at visitors from his tidy room. Trigger was recuperating from a stab wound, a large incision still visible on his side.

Pert little Melanie had been abandoned at one of the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals’ community veterinary clinics. Tip’s owner had been overwhelmed by six dogs and four cats. Friendly, retriever-like Rainbow, surrendered by someone who could not care for him, snoozed in the adoption office.

While the Westminster Kennel Club crowns the cream of the canine elite on one of tennis’ most storied courts this week, the ASPCA’s facility across town will be tending to dogs that have had far darker lives.

New York is home to both the United States’ most prestigious dog show and its oldest humane society, the ASPCA. Their histories connect: Some proceeds from the inaugural Westminster show, in 1877, helped the young ASPCA build its first shelter years later.

Westminster, being held 10 miles (16 km) east, feels like worlds away.

“We have different priorities, different visions,” said ASPCA President Matt Bershadker. “The dog shows are focused on breed and composition and movement. And we’re focused on the heart and the inside.”

Westminster stresses that it aims “to create a better world for all dogs,” and the club donates thousands of dollars a year to individual breeds’ rescue groups and to pet-friendly domestic violence shelters. Still, the show draws protests every year from animal-rights activists who argue that spotlighting prized purebreds leaves shelter pets in the shadows.

Bershadker, for his part, says ASPCA leaders “don’t have a problem with purebreds, but we want them to be responsibly bred.”

At the adoption center, there’s little reference to breed or might-be breed. Instead, staffers try to characterize dogs by, well, characteristics.

During a recent visit, Sauce (“great on a leash,” in adoption center leader Joel Lopez’s description) was paired with Gordon (“likes hot dogs!”) in the airy, windowed training room.

The two young adult males with gut-twisting histories — Sauce had been stabbed, Gordon starved — were there to learn to play and be around other dogs in a city of shared spaces. They sniffed each other and ran around on leashes, with occasional interventions from staffers when the interactions began to intensify.

Elsewhere in the Upper East Side building, a terrace gives a taste of the outdoors to dogs that may seldom have been there. There’s even a mock living room where volunteers can bring animals to get used to just hanging out at home.

“Regardless of where these animals are coming from, these are great pets. They just need a little bit of help to just get them over the hump and get them into the rest of their life,” Lopez said.

That help is part of a $390 million-a-year organization that responds to disasters and large-scale animal cruelty cases nationwide. Its wide-ranging work includes a Miami vet clinic, an Oklahoma City horse adoption initiative, a Los Angeles-area spaying and neutering service, a behavioral rehab facility in North Carolina, and more.

Established in 1866, the ASPCA is familiar to many Americans from its fundraising ads featuring woebegone animals, particularly a 2007 spot that featured singer-songwriter Sarah McLachlan and ran for years. The charity spent over $56 million on advertising and promotion alone in 2021, the last year for which its tax returns are publicly available.

Bershadker says the organization affects hundreds of thousands of animals annually, and its marketing communications form “an essential part of the ASPCA’s lifesaving work” by increasing public awareness and action.

On another end of the dog-rescue spectrum, the all-volunteer Havanese Rescue Inc. takes in an average of about 30 Havanese each year and finds new homes for many within two to four weeks, according to group leaders.

Getting $5,000 from the Westminster Kennel Club this year is “huge” to a group with a $60,000-a-year budget and dogs that have come in needing $10,000 surgeries, President Jennifer Jablonski said.

Westminster also is giving $5,000 apiece to the Newfoundland Club of America, which has a rescue arm that found new homes for 67 Newfs last year, and to Lagotto Romagnolo Dog Rescue.

At the ASPCA, the New York animal hospital alone treats 9,000 to 10,000 patients a year. In late April, there were at least 50 animals apiece in the adoption and recovery centers and about 100 or more in foster care, with kitten season looming.

There are numerous animal shelters and rescue groups in New York City, and the ASPCA isn’t the go-to place for stray and lost dogs and cats. (The city largely directs such inquiries to Animal Care Centers, another nonprofit group.)

The ASPCA’s charges often come through its work with police, but also from clinics, a food bank partnership and other efforts to connect with people struggling to support their pets because of financial, health or other problems.

While the group helps police to build criminal cases, that’s not the only outcome.

One small dog in the recovery area in late April was to be reunited with its owner. What had seemed like abandonment turned out to be a pet-sitting foul-up, but the owner also needed help with some veterinary issues, said Kris Lindsay, who oversees the recovery center.

“This,” she said, “is one of the cases that we like.”

This one, too: Rainbow has a new home — with a Connecticut man who had adopted dogs before.

___

New York-based Associated Press journalist Jennifer Peltz has covered the Westminster dog show since 2013.