Wildland-urban fires trigger biological changes in firefighters


By  Dr. Tim Sandle
March 7, 2025

DIGITAL JOURNAL


Firefighters help control the spread of the Auto Fire in Oxnard, northwest of Los Angeles, California - Copyright AFP ETIENNE LAURENT

Firefighters who fight fires in wildland urban interface zones, where undeveloped and developed land meet, appear to experience genetic changes that may help explain their elevated risk for certain cancers as well as for other diseases.

This health issue is according to a study led by the University of Michigan.

In a collaboration with the Los Angeles and Orange County fire departments, local and federal agencies and public health and medicine researchers from UCLA, the University of Miami and the University of Arizona, scientists used blood samples available through the Fire Fighter Cancer Cohort Study to compare changes in microRNAs and DNA methylation.

The comparison was between firefighters who were exposed to wildland-urban interface, or WUI, fires and those who were not. Firefighters’ exposures to WUI fires are distinct as compared to structure or wildland fires.

Firefighters responding to wildland urban interface fires face special occupational hazards. These occur through exposure to a complex mix of chemicals from burning vegetation, structures, vehicles and other human-made materials.

Fire fighters do so often without respiratory protection and for extended periods. This news comes as Los Angeles is recovering from devastating fires in January and as climate change appears to be increasing fire risk worldwide.

“The molecular changes we’re seeing may help to explain why firefighters face higher rates of certain cancers and other health conditions later in their careers. Understanding these biological pathways gives us potential targets for developing protective strategies that could reduce health risks for firefighters,” Jackie Goodrich, the study’s lead author and research associate professor of environmental health sciences at the U-M School of Public Health, explains in a research note.Wildfires have inflicted unprecedented destruction on Los Angeles, America’s second largest city – Copyright AFP JOSH EDELSON

A key study finding showed that 50 microRNAs had changed in the 10-month follow-up in firefighters who responded to at least one WUI fire. More specifically, one microRNA with known tumour suppression activity decreased in firefighters who had responded to a WUI fire in the prior 10 months versus those who had not.

The affected microRNAs play a role in regulating immune function, inflammation, neurological disorders and cancer, among other conditions and diseases. No significant changes in DNA methylation were found.

“This study builds upon previous evidence from our studies in firefighters that show epigenetic changes accumulating from years of exposure. These new results suggest that even exposure to one-time big events like WUI fires can trigger changes in microRNA expression linked to various disease pathways,” Goodrich adds, noting “Our next steps are to determine whether these changes persist long-term and to develop interventions that could protect firefighter health.”

The study appears in the journal Environmental and Molecular Mutagenesis, and it is titled “Epigenetic Modifications Associated With Wildland–Urban Interface (WUI) Firefighting”.

 Man with Palestinian flag scales London’s Big Ben clock tower

By AFP
March 8, 2025


Supporters below chanted 'Free Palestine' and 'You are a hero' - Copyright AFP STRINGER

A man with a Palestinian flag who climbed London’s Big Ben clock tower early on Saturday was still perched on the famous landmark after nightfall, even as emergency crews urged him to come down.

Police said they were first alerted shortly after 0700 GMT and the man has spent the day barefoot on a ledge several metres up the historic structure.

Crowds have been watching from behind a police cordon, with supporters chanting “Free Palestine” and “You are a hero.”

Negotiators boarded a fire truck lift and used a megaphone to speak with the man, but footage on social media showed him saying: “I will come down on my own terms.”

Police closed off the surrounding area including Westminster Bridge and the Houses of Parliament cancelled tours.

AFP journalists at the scene earlier said the man appeared to be bleeding from his foot.

“Officers are at the scene working to bring the incident to a safe conclusion,” London Metropolitan Police force told AFP.

“They are being assisted by the London Fire Brigade and the London Ambulance Service.”

Pro-Palestinian protester climbs onto the UK parliament's tower

Copyright James Manning/AP

By Daniel Bellamy

Published on 08/03/2025 - 

Emergency services were outside Palace of Westminster in London on Saturday after a man holding a Palestinian flag climbed onto Big Ben tower, police said.

A nearby street was closed and several emergency services vehicles were at the scene as crowds looked on from behind a police cordon up to the protester.

Photos showed the barefoot man standing on a ledge several meters up Elizabeth Tower, which houses Big Ben.

The Metropolitan Police said officers were at the scene “working to bring the incident to a safe conclusion," alongside firefighters and ambulance services.

Three emergency workers were seen lifted up on a fire brigade ladder platform to try to speak to the man on the ledge.

Sleeping man is struck by train in Peru but survives


By AFP

March 8, 2025


Train tracks in Peru: A drunken man fell asleep recently on tracks in another part of the country and was hit by a train, but survived - Copyright AFP Cris BOURONCLE

An apparently drunken man somehow survived after being struck Saturday by a cargo train while sleeping along train tracks in Peru, local authorities said.

“The train knocked him over but through some miracle did not kill him,” General Javier Avalos, a security official for the town of Ate in Lima province, told AFP.

“He apparently was in a state of intoxication, fell asleep along the train tracks and did not feel the train coming,” Avalos said.

The train was on a regular run toward the Peruvian Andes when it struck 28-year-old Juan Carlos Tello, he said, adding that it stopped quickly.

Surveillance footage released by the city shows the locomotive dragging the young man for several yards (meters).

He suffered only minor injuries to his left arm, Avalos said.

Accidents have been common on this train line. In August 2024, a young man wearing headphones was struck and killed by a cargo train while trying to cross the tracks.

CLIMATE CRISIS

Argentina port city ‘destroyed’ by massive rainstorm, 13 dead


By AFP
March 8, 2025


Rescuers wade through floodwaters following a heavy storm that hit the Argentinian port city of Bahia Blanca - Copyright AFP STRINGER

Martín RASCHINSKY

Argentina’s port city of Bahia Blanca has been “destroyed” after being pummeled by a year’s worth of rain in a matter of hours, killing 13 and driving hundreds from their homes, authorities said Saturday.

Two young girls — who local media said are aged four and one — were missing after possibly being swept away by floodwaters from Friday’s storm.

The deluge left hospital rooms underwater, turned neighborhoods into islands and cut electricity to swaths of the city. National Security Minister Patricia Bullrich said Bahia Blanca was “destroyed.”

The death toll rose to 13 on Saturday, up from 10 on Friday, authorities said.

The mayor’s office said more casualties were possible in this city of 350,000 residents, located 600 kilometers (370 miles) southwest of the capital Buenos Aires.

The missing girls “may have been carried away by the water,” Bullrich told Radio Mitre.

At least five of the victims died on flooded roadways, possibly after being trapped in their cars by fast-rising water.

The storm forced the evacuation of Jose Penna hospital, with news footage and video shared on social media showing nurses and other medical staff carrying babies to safety. They were later assisted by the army.

The downpour, which began Friday morning, dumped more than 400 millimeters (15.7 inches) of rain in the area in just eight hours, “practically what Bahia Blanca gets in an entire year,” provincial security minister Javier Alonso said.

“This is unprecedented,” he added.



– Scenes of desolation –



Local media showed images of flooded shops and reported overnight looting.

The government has authorized emergency reconstruction aid of 10 billion pesos ($9.2 million at the official exchange rate).

The storm left much of the surrounding coastal area without power. At one point, city officials in Bahia Blanco suspended electricity due to the huge amount of water in the streets.

The number of evacuees on Saturday stood at 850, down from a peak of 1,321, according to the mayor’s office.

Bahia Blanca has suffered past weather-related disasters, including a storm in December 2023 that claimed 13 lives. It caused houses to collapse and provoked widespread infrastructure damage.

Heavy rains also fell Friday night in the resort town of Mar del Plata, with officials suspending evening activities and urging people to remain indoors.

Buenos Aires was also hit by the storm but suffered no major damage.

‘We have to rebuild a city,’ Argentine official says after storm kills 13

By AFP
March 8, 2025


An aerial view of the flooding in Bahia Blanca, Argentina, on March 7, 2025 - Copyright AFP/File KARIM JAAFAR

“We have to rebuild a city,” a top official of Buenos Aires province said Saturday, after torrential rains and flooding claimed at least 10 lives in the city of Bahia Blanca, south of the capital.

More than 1,000 people evacuated homes in the area, officials said.

Local media said two sisters, aged four and one, remained missing.

“The national and provincial governments are collaborating to deal with the storm,” Buenos Aires government minister Carlos Bianco told local radio station Futurock.

“Basically, we have to rebuild a city. There are people who lost everything.”

The Bahia Blanca mayor’s office put the number of dead at 10, adding that at least five people died in flooded roadways.

The death toll in the city of 350,000 could still rise, the office said.

It put the number of evacuees at 1,128 as of early Saturday.

The downpour, which began Friday morning, was “unprecedented,” dumping more than 15 inches (400 millimeters) of rain in the area in just eight hours, according to the province’s security minister, Javier Alonso.



– Desolation –



Local media showed images of flooded shops and reported overnight looting.

The government has authorized emergency reconstruction aid of 10 billion pesos ($9.2 million at the official exchange rate).

The storm left much of the surrounding coastal area without power, though the local electric utility had restored service to some 30,000 users by Saturday morning.

Bahia Blanca has suffered past weather-related disasters, including a storm in December 2023 that claimed 13 lives.

In the resort town of Mar del Plata, south of Bahia Blanca, officials suspended evening activities Friday and urged people to remain indoors.

The city of Buenos Aires was also hit by the storm but suffered no major damage.

US company says Moon mission over after landing sideways again


By AFP
March 7, 2025


Intuitive Machines' Athena lander in circular orbit around the Moon - Copyright GETTY IMAGES/AFP/File Anna Moneymaker

A private company’s second attempt to land on the Moon officially ended Friday after its Athena spaceship came down sideways in a repeat of an off-kilter landing last year.

Houston-based Intuitive Machines hoped to make history with Athena, a hexagonal lander designed to touch down on the Mons Mouton plateau, closer to the lunar south pole than any mission before.

But after traveling more than a million kilometers through space, the spacecraft came to rest inside a crater, 250 meters from its intended target — once again landing on its side.

Images downlinked from Athena confirmed mission controllers’ worst fears: the lander had suffered a similar fate to Intuitive Machines’ prior attempt in February 2024.

But mission controllers were able to “accelerate several program and payload milestones,” including a NASA experiment designed to drill beneath the lunar surface in search of ice and chemicals, before Athena’s batteries depleted.

“With the direction of the Sun, the orientation of the solar panels, and extreme cold temperatures in the crater, Intuitive Machines does not expect Athena to recharge,” the company said.

“The mission has concluded and teams are continuing to assess the data collected throughout the mission.”

On Thursday, the company suggested that issues with Athena’s laser altimeter — which provide altitude and velocity readings — may have contributed to the bad landing, much like in the previous mission.

Adding to the disappointment, Intuitive Machines’ latest mishap comes just days after Texas rival Firefly Aerospace successfully landed its Blue Ghost lander on its first attempt.

The missions are part of NASA’s $2.6 billion Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program, which seeks to leverage private industry to lower costs and support Artemis — NASA’s effort to return astronauts to the Moon and eventually reach Mars.

Of the four CLPS missions attempted so far, only one lander managed an upright touchdown, two landed sideways, and one failed to reach the Moon altogether.

#MMIW  #FEMICIDE

Remains of murdered Indigenous woman found at Canada landfill

By AFP
March 8, 2025


A sign is displayed at the entrance of a makeshift camp near near the Prairie Green landfill in Winnipeg in 2024 - Copyright AFP Sebastien ST-JEAN

The remains of an Indigenous woman murdered by a convicted serial killer three years ago have been found in landfill in central Canada, local authorities confirmed following a months-long search.

Morgan Harris was one of the Indigenous women slain by Jeremy Skibicki, who is serving multiple life sentences after being convicted of four murders last year.

Skibicki met his victims in homeless shelters, in a case seen as a symbol of the dangers faced by Indigenous women in Canada, where they disproportionately fall victim to violence, termed a “genocide” by a national public inquiry in 2019.

Testimony at Skibicki’s trial said he raped, killed and dismembered Harris and another woman, Marcedes Myran, in 2022.

Police believed their remains were dumped at the Prairie Green Landfill site, north of Winnipeg, the capital of the province of Manitoba.

Last month, authorities announced that the remains of two bodies had been found at the site. They confirmed late Friday that one set of remains are those of Harris.

Manitoba police “have confirmed that human remains found in the Prairie Green Landfill search have been identified as those of Morgan Beatrice Harris of Long Plain First Nation,” the province said in a statement on Friday.

Identification of the second set of remains will be released “as facts are confirmed,” it added.

The body of another of Skibicki’s victims, Rebecca Contois, was found in a separate landfill and in a garbage bin, while the remains of a fourth unidentified victim in her 20s are still missing.

In a social media post, Harris’s daughter called the identification of her mother’s remains “a bittersweet moment.”

“She’s coming home just like we said from the very beginning…we fought with our hearts and now her spirit can rest,” Cambria Harris said.

The families of Harris and Myran had pushed authorities in Manitoba to search for the bodies.

Manitoba’s Premier Wab Kinew, the first Indigenous person to lead a Canadian province, said “Morgan Harris we honor you,” in a post on X.

Indigenous women represent about one-fifth of all women killed in gender-related homicides in the country — despite comprising just five percent of the female population.

WOMAN, LIFE, FREEDOM

Women will overthrow Iran’s Islamic republic: Nobel laureate


By AFP
March 8, 2025


Narges Mohammadi could be sent back to prison any time, her lawyers fear - Copyright NTB/AFP Hanna Johre

Women will overthrow the Islamic system established in Iran after the 1979 revolution even if the authorities survive a military conflict, Nobel Peace Prize winner Narges Mohammadi said in a message Saturday marking international women’s day.

Mohammadi, 52, who won the 2023 Nobel prize in recognition of her years-long fight for human rights in Iran, is currently on temporary release from a prison term for health reasons. Her lawyers fear she could be sent back to prison any time.

Even behind bars, she was a strong supporter of the 2022-2023 protests that erupted across Iran following the September 2022 death in custody of Mahsa Amini.

An Iranian-Kurdish woman, Amini, 22, had been arrested for allegedly violating the Islamic republic’s strict dress rules for women.

The protests shook Iranian authorities and remain a rallying cause even after petering out in the face of a fierce crackdown.

“Women have risen up against the Islamic republic in such a way that the regime no longer has the power to suppress them,” said Mohammadi in the Persian video message from Iran published on her social media channels.

As usual, she was not wearing the headscarf that is obligatory for women in Iran.

“I am convinced that if the Islamic republic survives any war it will not survive resistance from women,” she said, in apparent reference to the risk of armed conflict between Iran and Israel or the United States.

“The glass vessel that holds the life of the Islamic republic will be smashed by women,” she said.

Mohammadi charged that Iranian women had been subjected to “gender apartheid” since the inception of the Islamic republic.

“I hope women will continue to lead the struggle against religious tyranny,” whose defeat will be “our day of victory”.

Her release in December from Evin prison marked the first time Mohammadi, who spent much of the past decade behind bars, has been free since her arrest in November 2021.

She also paid tribute to three women — Sharifeh Mohammadi, Verisheh Moradi and Pakhshan Azizi — who have been sentenced to death by Iran on charges of “rebellion”. Mohammadi said the verdicts were “revenge” for their support of the protests.

Protesters rally on International Women’s Day, fearing far right


By AFP
March 8, 2025


Protesters in Istanbul took to the streets for International Women's Day - Copyright AFP STRINGER

Protesters took to the streets across the world Saturday to mark International Women’s Day, demanding equal pay, political representation and an end to gender-based violence while voicing fears of rising repression.

In eastern Ukraine, scores of demonstrators held a minute’s silence to honour women killed defending the country from Russia’s invasion. Many carried banners bearing the faces of the deceased.

“Women are half of our society and we need to talk about what they do, what they are like, how they protect and what they do to make our country free and independent,” activist Iryna Lysykova told AFP in Kharkiv.

Many of the women marking on the streets in European capitals including Paris, Berlin and Madrid said they feared the growing strength of reactionary political forces, including a resurgent far right.

“It is coming now and we’re taking backwards steps,” said Dori Martinez Monroy, 63, in the Spanish capital. “We have to reclaim what has already been won, because women are the first to be targeted.”

In Jakarta, one activist, Ajeng, accused the Indonesian government of budget cuts that were “making women lose their rights.

“Women are killed, impoverished, criminalised,” she said, as nearby protesters held up placards reading “This body belongs to me” and “Glory to the women of the working class”.

“Indonesian woman are fighting against the state for these reasons,” he said.

– ‘Not over’ –

Some demonstrators their directed ire at US President Donald Trump.

In Paris, women from the Femen activist group marched topless with either the US or the Russian national flag, marked with a swastika, painted on their chests.

Dozens of women have alleged the Republican sexually abused them, and his administration has been accused of pushing through anti-women policies.

“This is a battle, it’s not over,” said 49-year-old Sabine, who was marching with her seven-year-old son in Paris, where organisers put turnout at around 250,000. Police gave a figure of 47,000.

“We’re going in the right direction: Trump, the masculinists, they make lots of noise but they’re not as strong as we are,” she told AFP.

At the Berlin protest, some protesters held placards bearing messages including “Burn the patriarchy not the planet”.

One marcher, Steff Voigt, expressed her fears for the future.

“I find it quite frightening how certain developments are reversing, how women’s rights could simply be moving backward again, so to speak, because of the right. Especially in the USA,” she said.

At the rally in Istanbul, Cigdem Ozdemir took aim at male violence against women and the Turkish authorities’ declaration of 2025 as “The Year of the Family”.

“Since 2025 was declared ‘The Year of The Family’, we as women have been confined to our homes,” the psychologist lamented, adding that LGBTQ people like her were “criminalised”.

“Today, we are here to make our struggle visible, to defend our lives against male violence, to defend our place in society and our rights.”

Iran’s Nobel Peace Prize winner Narges Mohammadi said it would be women who would overthrow the Islamic republic established after the 1979 revolution.

“Women have risen up against the Islamic republic in such a way that the regime no longer has the power to suppress them,” Mohammadi said in a video message where she was, as usual, not wearing the headscarf obligatory for all Iranian women.

Mohammadi, 52, who won the 2023 Nobel prize in recognition of her years-long fight for human rights in Iran, is currently on temporary release from a prison term for health reasons.

Her lawyers fear she could be sent back to prison at any time.

burs-afptv-sbk/jj

French throng streets for International Women’s Day rallies


By AFP
March 8, 2025


Some protesters took aim at US President Donald Trump 

- Copyright AFP Sebastien ST-JEAN

Tens of thousands across France packed rallies for International Women’s Day on Saturday, taking aim at persistent gender pay gaps, violence against women and male-dominated politics.

Teh collective organising the rallies, Greve feministe (Feminist Strike), said 250,000 people had taken to the streets across France at some 150 demonstrations, with 120,000 people in Paris alone.

Police put turnout in the capital at 47,000 people.

Some demonstrators took aim at US President Donald Trump including women from the Femen activist group. They marched topless with either the US or the Russian national flag, marked with a swastika, painted on their chests.

Dozens of women have alleged the Republican sexually abused them, and his administration has been accused of pushing through anti-women policies.

“This is a battle, it’s not over,” said 49-year-old Sabine, who was marching with her seven-year-old son.

“We’re going in the right direction: Trump, the masculinists, they make lots of noise but they’re not as strong as we are,” she told AFP.

The French capital’s Eiffel Tower is due to be lit up with a message of solidarity with Afghan women, whose freedoms have been curtailed since the Taliban returned to power. The message will be displayed in French, English, Farsi and Arabic.

Salary grievances remained top of the agenda for many of the marchers. The average women’s salary in France is around 14 percent lower than a man’s for the same amount of time worked, according to the national statistics institute Insee.

burs-mdh-vac-alu/sbk/jj

International Women’s Day: We need ‘active’ listening


By Dr. Tim Sandle
DIGITAL JOURNAL

March 7, 2025


Zanele Sokatsha, centre, lead research for the GRIT project. — © AFP

Saturday, March 8 2025, sees the global celebration of International Women’s Day (IWD). This event acts as a timely reminder that many issues still impact women’s equality and progress, not least representation and wage equality.

Organizers say it is important to take action and acknowledge the incredible contributions of women across industries while pushing for real change. This year’s theme is “Accelerate Action for Women’s Equality” and this emphasizes the need to do more than just include women’s voices.

Instead, it is about making sure they’re heard loud and clear, especially in tech and AI, where equal representation still has a long way to go.

Phyllis Rhodes, Director of Sales and Business Development at Parallel Works, has advanced her career in the financial services and technology sectors, both still primarily male-dominated.

Rhodes has shared her thoughts about this very timely and important topic with Digital Journal: “International Women’s Day is more than just a celebration—it’s a call to action and a day to recognize the achievements of women across industries while also addressing the systemic barriers that still stand in the way of true equality.”

She adds, looking at he 2025 event: “This year’s theme, Accelerate Action for Women’s Equality, highlights the urgency of ensuring that women’s voices are not just included but actively amplified in spaces where decisions are made, particularly in technology and artificial intelligence (AI).”

On the topic of artificial intelligence, this technology is shaping the future at an unprecedented pace. Consequently, it is important, as well as beneficial for society, that the voices that train these models are representative of the diverse world we live in.

If AI systems are developed predominantly using content or voices that are homogenous or largely representative of the most dominant figures in a room, they risk reinforcing existing biases rather than breaking them down. Artificial intelligence will mirror the biases that are present in our society and that manifest in AI training data.

Furthermore, without a diversity of perspectives, these biases become amplified within AI models, perpetuating inequality instead of fostering inclusivity. To truly harness the power of AI for good, Rhodes explains that “we must prioritize a broad range of voices, ensuring that women, along with other underrepresented groups, are actively involved in the training and development of these systems.”

To achieve this, Rhodes recommends: “A diversity of perspectives is not just a checkbox—it’s the foundation of innovation. The more viewpoints we bring to the table, the more dynamic and effective our solutions become. A team rich in varied experiences and views can generate more creative ideas, challenge ingrained biases, and ultimately lead to better, more informed, and more equitable technology.”

This means: “When we cultivate an environment that values different lived experiences, we open the door to progress that benefits everyone, not just a select few.”

Beyond AI, accelerating women’s equality means creating space for more women to be heard, valued, and respected in every industry.

By this, Rhodes means: “Lifting up younger women—amplifying their ideas, crediting their contributions, and mentoring them—ensures a stronger, more inclusive future. Too often, valuable insights go unnoticed simply because the voices behind them are quieter or less assertive in male-dominated spaces. Recognizing when someone may feel intimidated and making an effort to draw them into discussions is a simple but powerful way to promote equality.”

In terms of what success looks like, Rhodes defines this as: “True progress requires active listening, intentional amplification, and a commitment to inclusivity at every level. By ensuring that AI, workplaces, and leadership structures reflect the diversity of the world we live in, we take tangible steps toward gender equality. The future of innovation depends on it.”

 

Wang Yi reveals China's foreign policy in 2025

By Xia Ji | chinadaily.com.cn | Updated: 2025-03-07 21:27

During this year's two sessions, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi addressed a total of 23 questions, covering critical topics such as China-US relations, the Ukraine crisis, and Gaza over a 90-minute news conference. Here are the highlights from Wang Yi's remarks.

Land Has to be in Hands of People: Lula at Agrarian Reform Rally

Brasil de Fato | 08 Mar 2025

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In an MST camp, the federal government announced the delivery of more than 12,000 plots in 138 settlements.

The president stated that the government created a “shelf” of land for agrarian reform and that now is the time to distribute it. Photo: Lucas Bois/MST

On Friday, March 7, Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva announced the delivery of 12,297 plots to families camped in 138 rural settlements spread across 24 states in the country. The announcement, made during the National Act in Defense of Agrarian Reform, in Campo do Meio in the state of Minas Gerais, marks the resumption of the country’s land distribution policy.

“The land has to be in the hands of the people so that they can produce,” said Lula, who signed seven decrees of social interest for agrarian reform purposes, totaling 13,307 hectares and Rs 189 million in investments, with the potential to serve around 800 families.

The event was held at the Quilombo Campo Grande camp, a complex of 11 areas, occupied 27 years ago by families linked to the Landless Rural Workers’ Movement (MST). Since the occupations began, the residents have been evicted 11 times and had a school and crops destroyed.

Protest for agrarian reform drew a crowd with Lula present. Photo: Sara Gehren/MST

This was the president’s first visit to a Landless Workers’ Movement (MST) camp in his third term. Lula said that it took his team the first few years in office to survey the land available for land reform.

“It took us two years to achieve this,” said the president, justifying the delay in starting to hand over the land. “Now we need to make this area available so that we can start settling, not just those who are already in camps, but so that other people who want to can have the right to work,” he says.

At the event, the federal government announced Rs 1.6 billion for Installation Credit in 2025, intended for newly settled families. The benefit can be applied to housing, initial support and the promotion of young people and women in agrarian reform.

“It’s a great thrill, the fruit of a lot of struggle,” celebrates farmer Helen Mayara dos Santos, who has lived in the area for 18 years and grows coffee, corn, beans and other food. Without land regularization, farmers not only suffered violence, such as eviction attempts, the farmers were unable to access credit and trade with cooperatives. “We have a cooperative here and we can’t cooperate because we don’t have a land document. We were on a camp, we’re not recognized,” he says.

For Nei Zavaski, from the national leadership of the MST, Friday’s announcements and decrees show the way to achieving agrarian reform, “which is through popular organization, mobilization and struggle.”

This was the president’s first visit to an MST camp during his third term. Photo: Lucas Bois/MST

Those who produce food still have little land

During the event, Edjane Rodrigues Silva, National Secretary for National Policies at the National Confederation of Rural Workers and Family Farmers (CONTAG), cited data from the 2017 Agricultural Census carried out by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE) to highlight the concentration of land in Brazil.

According to Silva, Brazil has more than 5.7 million agricultural establishments. Of these, those with areas of less than 10 hectares occupy just 2.29% of the national territory. Areas of more than 1,000 hectares account for 47% of the entire national territory, although they represent only 1% of the country’s rural properties.

“That’s what’s wrong in this country, because the properties that hold up to 100 hectares account for practically 70, 80% of the food we consume in Brazil,” says Lula.

CONTAG’s secretary emphasized that “family farming will put an end to hunger in Brazil, with fair prices for both those who sell and those who buy.”

Commitment to paying the plant’s employees

The area of Quilombo Campo Grande belonged to Companhia Agropecuária Irmãos Azevedo (CAPIA), the former administrator of Usina Ariadnópolis Açúcar e Álcool S/A. The company went bankrupt in the 1990s without paying its employees their labor rights, and they decided to occupy the land.

Batista expects compensation for working for free as a child for the Ariadnópolis Plant. Photo: Carolina Bataier/Brasil de Fato

This is the case of farmer Rubens Leal Batista, who was born in the territory. In his childhood, he even worked for the mill for free. “The owner of the company made our parents take us to work on the farm for free for them,” he says. He recalls that the owners of the company used to justify that the children of the employees needed to work without pay “to learn”.

Now, in addition to seeing his land regularized, Batista has been informed that he will be able to count on the support of the federal government in the search for the labor rights that remain outstanding.

“We arrived here and received a complaint that many of the comrades here have a claim,” said Jorge Messias, Minister of the Federal Attorney General’s Office. “We will be at your side, going to the Public Labor Ministry, going to the labor police station, to recognize your rights,” he promised.

For Batista, the announcement is of great importance. “Many comrades, former employees of the plant, have already fallen..decades ago, right?” he says. He says that although some of his former colleagues have passed away, others who, like him, worked at the plant without a formal contract, are still alive. “If this lawyer gets us compensation, it will be fantastic,” he says. “But the most important thing now in the struggle for us was this decree, so that we can be at peace, work in peace on our plot,” he celebrates.

Courtesy: Peoples Dispatch

 

Death of New York Inmate is Tip of Iceberg of Prison Brutality

Natalia Marques | 06 Mar 2025

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New York State prison guards went on a wildcat strike following some of their own being held accountable for the inmate’s death.

Marcy Correctional Facility, where Brooks was killed, is particularly notorious for its brutality (Photo: Flickr user Bronayur)

New York State prison guards have been on a wildcat strike for over 15 days, following some of their own being charged for the brutal beating of Black prisoner Robert Brooks by white officers. Chaos in the state’s prison system has ensued, with seven other inmates dying since the strike began.

Shocking body camera footage revealed how multiple prison guards at Marcy Correctional Facility in upstate New York beat Brooks to death while he was handcuffed and bleeding. The footage was released by state Attorney General Letitia James on December 27, 2024, and the killing occurred on December 9.

The footage revealed a striking disregard for Brooks’ life. The video showed that one of the officers forced an object into Brooks’ mouth, while another held his throat, after which multiple officers began to brutally beat Brooks. At one point, two officers lifted Brooks by his shirt in an attempt to throw him out of a window.

A preliminary examination determined that Brooks’ cause of death was “asphyxia due to compression of the neck” from the beating.

Rebellion against accountability

Many of the prison employees involved have since been held accountable for Brooks’ death. On December 21, New York State Governor Kathy Hochul directed the New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision to begin the termination of 13 officers and one prison nurse involved in the beating. On February 20, murder, gang assault, manslaughter, and tampering with evidence charges were brought against several of the officers involved. Five of the officers have been charged with murder. 18 corrections employees were suspended following Brooks’ killing in December.

Prison employees began a wildcat strike two weeks after Brooks’ killing was declared a homicide, on February 17. According to some prisoners, the strike is directly related to the loss of impunity to kill and torture inmates. “It happened because correction officers have been held accountable for their actions, and they feel threatened because they can be prosecuted for killing an incarcerated individual,” one New York State prisoner told The Hell Gate.

According to the nonprofit legal aid provider the Legal Aid Society, the strike is an effort to make a “political point” against restrictions of solitary confinement within prisons, and “to deflect from the brutal killing of Mr. Robert Brooks.”

“Their actions this week only serve to reinforce The Legal Aid Society’s view that New York’s prison system is inherently brutal. This resistance to transparency and accountability gives us no confidence that DOCCS facilities can protect and respect the humanity and dignity of those in prison,” LAS said in a statement.

What began as a strike of hundreds ballooned into a work stoppage in which nine out of ten New York State prison guards were refusing to work, in a strike that was never sanctioned by the leadership of their union, the New York State Correction Officers and Police Benevolent Association (NYSCOPBA). The strike became the largest strike in the state’s prisons in over four decades.

The right to torture with impunity is at the root of the guard strike

Striking prison guards lambasted low staffing levels, as well as the Humane Alternatives to Long-Term Solitary Confinement Act (HALT) Act, which reduced the use of solitary confinement in the state’s prisons. Solitary confinement is an internationally recognized method of torture.

“Now these guys are all in [the general prison] population, they commit a major offense, they remain in population where they can hurt others and hurt us!” a striking prison guard, Israel Sanchez, told CBS News in February.

Despite the strike never being officially sanctioned by members of the union, on Thursday, February 27, the state reached a deal with union leaders in order to end the strike which included a 90-day suspension of the HALT law.

“We are suspending the elements of HALT that cannot safely be operationalized under a prison-wide state of emergency until we can safely operate the prisons,” wrote Daniel Martuscello III, the state corrections commissioner, in a memo titled “Path to Restoring Workforce.” Martuscello III has been referred to as the “scion” of New York State’s “prison dynasty” based on his family’s deep historic involvement in the state’s prison leadership, characterized by nepotism. Martuscello’s popularity among guards has plummeted recently due to his acquiescence to some reform following Brooks’ killing, and his implementation of the HALT law in the first place.

Antony Gemmell, supervising attorney for the Prisoners’ Rights Project at the Legal Aid Society, denounced the decision to suspend HALT. “It’s not acceptable for the commissioner to just say, ‘Well, we’re just suspending indeterminate provisions of HALT for indeterminate reasons,’” Gemmell told the New York Times.

Prison guards wage brutal riot in 2016

Brooks’ murder is far from an isolated incident, and instead reveals the brutal reality of conditions within New York’s prisons—the state where the Attica prison rebellion of 1971 took place, a historic example of resistance to the US prison system.

“The tragic death of Robert Brooks underscores the urgent need for the state to address deeply rooted issues plaguing New York’s prisons,” said Jennifer Scaife, Executive Director of the Correctional Association of New York (CANY), an independent organization that monitors conditions in New York State prisons.

Marcy Correctional Facility, where Brooks was killed, is particularly notorious for its brutality. In 2016, prison guards staged a riot in the prison after they, erroneously, assumed that one of their ranks had been injured by an inmate. Prisoners reported being brutally beaten by guards after they stormed into the prison dormitory in the early morning of July 6, 2016: one inmate described being slammed into a wall headfirst and another claimed that guards slammed his head repeatedly with a metal door. In 2024, a judge ruled that at least 31 guards had inflicted all manner of brutality, including sexual assault, against Marcy inmates.

At least three prisoners reported being sexually assaulted by guards during this riot. According to prisoner Raymond Broccoli, a guard hissed in his ear “You want to know what it feels like to feel weak?” after which the prison employee assaulted him with “something metal,” Broccoli told reporters with The New York Times.

“One inmate testified that an officer tore up 50 family photos in front of him, while another said guards poured food all over his legal paperwork, destroying it,” writes Syracuse.com. “Some guards at the medium-security prison hit the inmates with fire extinguishers.”

Despite the barbaric behavior of the guards, none were ever held to any account following this riot. When the corrections department’s Office of Special Investigations was called in, they were met with the infamous “blue wall of silence,” in which law enforcement officers refuse to report their colleagues’ misconduct due to an unspoken code of extreme loyalty. Marcy guards didn’t “want to be what they would call a snitch,” senior investigator Donald Oliver testified in a trial in 2023.

Conditions worsen in prisons following guard strike

The wildcat strike by prison guards has only worsened the conditions within New York State prisons. Since the strike, seven prisoners have died within the system. “We are hearing from clients across the state that they are not receiving critical medical care,” Antony Gemmell told The New York Times. “If these strikes continue, I think it’s a question not of if we will see more deaths, but when.”

According to reports from nine inmates, yet another prisoner, whose name has not been released, was beaten to death at a separate prison near Marcy Correctional Facility, during the guard strike. Eleven correctional staff members have been placed on leave following the death.

New York State itself is not isolated in these conditions. Data and reports show that the entire US prison system is plagued by institutional violence. In Los Angeles County, 30 juvenile detention officers are facing charges over their alleged role in facilitating “gladiator fights” between youth detainees, with an indictment alleging that these employees “allowed and, in some instances, encouraged” 69 brawls at a juvenile facility in Downey, California.

Courtesy: Peoples Dispatch

Trump Intensifies Threats Against Pro-Palestine Students

Natalia Marques | 07 Mar 2025

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Trump administration continues crackdown on pro-Palestine student movement, with threats to jail students “for years”.

Cops in riot gear encircling the Dartmouth encampment in New Hampshire. 

Photo: PSL

“All Federal Funding will STOP for any College, School, or University that allows illegal protests,” US President Trump wrote on March 4 on Truth Social, the social media platform he has majority ownership of. “Agitators will be imprisoned/or permanently sent back to the country from which they came. American students will be permanently expelled or, depending on on [sic] the crime, arrested. NO MASKS! Thank you for your attention to this matter.”

Representative Elise Stefanik, Trump’s pick to serve as US Ambassador to the United Nations and who has spearheaded attacks against the pro-Palestine student movement, shared Trump’s announcement to Twitter, adding that under Trump’s leadership, “colleges and universities will be held accountable.”

“Antisemitism and anti-Israel hate will not be tolerated on American campuses. Promises made, promises kept,” Stefanik continued. 

These threats come one year after students in the United States sparked an international student movement in solidarity with Palestine, and faced brutal repression from both police forces, Zionist vigilantes, and right-wing billionaires. 

“We are going to put these people in jail—not for 24 hours, but for years”

This announcement comes a week after Trump’s multi-agency Task Force to Combat Anti-Semitism announced it would visit 10 college campuses in which the student movement for Palestine is active. The institutions are: Columbia University, George Washington University, Harvard University, Johns Hopkins University, New York University, Northwestern University, the University of California, Los Angeles; the University of California, Berkeley; the University of Minnesota and the University of Southern California. 

This task force was formed as a result of Trump’s January 29 executive order on “Additional Measures to Combat Anti-Semitism”. The order directed several officials, specifically the Secretary of State, the Secretary of Education, and the Secretary of Homeland Security, to guide higher education institutions to “report activities by alien students and staff” that Trump’s administration could consider as anti-semitic or supportive of terrorism. Such reports could “lead, as appropriate and consistent with applicable law, to investigations and, if warranted, actions to remove such aliens.”

“To all the resident aliens who joined in the pro-jihadist protests, we put you on notice: come 2025, we will find you, and we will deport you,” said Trump in a statement following the executive order. “I will also quickly cancel the student visas of all Hamas sympathizers on college campuses, which have been infested with radicalism like never before.”

The threats against the student movement are severe. Leo Terrell, who leads the task force, told Israel’s Channel 12 News that he was considering jailing students for years for protest activity. 

“You see all these disorderly demonstrations, supporting Hamas and trying to intimidate Jews? We are going to put these people in jail—not for 24 hours, but for years,” said Terrell, who serves as the Senior Counsel to the Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division in the United States Department of Justice.

Trump’s US Department of Justice (DOJ)’s Attorney General, Pam Bondi recently released memorandums on various policies. Among them includes the establishment of a “Joint Task Force October 7 (JFT-7)”, tasked with “seeking justice for victims of the October 7, 2023 terrorist attack in Israel, addressing the ongoing threat posed by Hamas and its affiliates, and combatting antisemitic acts of terrorism and civil rights violations in the homeland.”

Among JFT-7’s priorities are “Investigating and prosecuting acts of terrorism, antisemitic civil rights violations, and other federal crimes committed by Hamas supporters in the United States, including on college campuses,” and “Investigating and prosecuting those responsible for funding Hamas.”

The memo outlines that the Office of the Deputy Attorney General of the DOJ is tasked with spearheading “engagement with Israeli counterparts.”

With elaborate plans made to crack down on protesters, Trump’s bid to present himself as a defender of free speech seems contradictory. During his address to Congress on Tuesday, March 4, he claimed that his administration had “stopped all government censorship and brought back free speech in America.”

Columbia once again launches severe repression against student movement

Columbia University, where students inaugurated the first Gaza solidarity encampment last year, faced mass arrest, and sparked an international student movement in solidarity with Palestine, is now first on the list of Trump’s targets. 

The university stands to lose over USD 50 million in federal funding as Trump continues his crackdown on the student movement. A federal review of Columbia’s contracts and grants with the government was announced Monday night, which identified USD 51.4 million in contracts that could be subject to stop-work orders. 

The university’s repression of the continued movement in solidarity with Palestine on campus indicates that it might be responding in fear to Trump’s escalations. Students at Barnard College, the women’s college that is part of Columbia University, staged a sit-in protest at the college’s Milstein Library on Wednesday, renaming it the Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya Liberated Zone, after the Palestinian doctor who served as the director of Kamal Adwan Hospital in Gaza and is still being held captive by Israeli forces. 

Nearly four hours after the sit-in began on March 5, New York Police Department officers entered Barnard’s campus and arrested nine of the student protesters. University administrators claimed there was an active bomb threat in the building, a claim which the students disputed.

this is what @preslrosenbury and @BarnardCollege have decided will be normal. https://t.co/mxQY8jWrLC

— Columbia Students for Justice in Palestine (@ColumbiaSJP) March 5, 2025

“We stand firm against mounting repression as the Trump administration’s Department of Justice carries out a witch-hunt against the movement for Palestine, targeting students and activists across the country, many of whom are fighting expulsion and other retribution from their universities while facing arrests for protesting on their campuses,” wrote the Palestinian Youth Movement in a statement. “University administrators are openly complying with the Trump administration’s repressive policies in a desperate effort to protect their funding and appease their donors, putting targets on the backs of their own students and encouraging the broader suppression of our rights.”

Last year, the student movement for Palestine was met with heavy repression, after Columbia’s then-President Minouche Shafik authorized the NYPD to conduct multiple mass arrests against peaceful student protesters. Some students reported sustaining injuries as a result of the NYPD’s arrests following the police raid against students peacefully occupying Hamilton Hall, which they renamed Hind’s Hall after Palestinian child Hind Rajab, killed by Israeli Occupation Forces.

Courtesy: Peoples Dispatch