Penske bans team president, three more over cheating scandal

Washington (AFP) – Penske Racing team president Tim Cindric and three others were suspended Tuesday by the IndyCar squad following an internal review of the cheating scandal that led to forfeiting a race victory.

Issued on: 07/05/2024 - 

Penske Racing team president Tim Cindric and three others were suspended for two races by Penske Racing, including this month's Indianapolis 500, for their roles in a cheating scandal involving an extra power boost on restarts against IndyCar rules 

© Chris Graythen / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/AFP/File

Cindric, race engineer Luke Mason, senior data engineer Robbie Atkinson and managing director Ron Ruzewski were all suspended for two races, including the signature Indianapolis 500 later this month.

The punishments were handed down after IndyCar uncovered a set-up on three Penske cars at Long Beach last month allowing drivers to utilize a "push-to-pass" button on starts and restarts in violation of series rules.

As a result, American driver Josef Newgarden, the 2023 Indianapolis 500 winner, was stripped of a March win at St. Petersburg, Florida, in the season opener and Penske teammate Scott McLaughlin of New Zealand was stripped of his third-place finish.

Australian driver Will Power, who did not use the overtake button, was stripped of 10 points in the standings for having the set-up on his car in the Florida street race.

Penske Racing said the set-up was used for a pre-season engine test and mistakenly not removed from the cars while Newgarden said he thought the rules on restart "push-to-pass" had been changed to allow the extra power boost.

"I recognize the magnitude of what occurred and the impact it continues to have on the sport to which I've dedicated so many decades," team owner Roger Penske said in a statement.

"Everyone at Team Penske along with our fans and business partners should know that I apologize for the errors that were made and I deeply regret them."

Penske also owns IndyCar and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, where Saturday's Indianapolis Grand Prix will be staged on a road course before teams focus on the legendary 2.5-mile (4km) oval ahead of the 108th Indy 500 on May 26.

Cindric, Ruzewski, Atkinson and Newgarden race team engineer Mason will be banned from both races by Penske following what a team statement called "a full and comprehensive analysis" that uncovered "significant failures in our processes and internal communications."

Cindric, who has accountability for all Team Penske operations, apologized for the stain on the powerhouse team's reputation.

"For Ron and I as leaders of this team, it's not about what we did, it's about what we didn't do," Cindric said in a statement. "It's our responsibility to provide the team and all our drivers with the right processes to ensure something like this can't happen.

"For that, I apologize to Roger, our team and everyone that supports us. Our number one job is to protect and enhance the reputation of our brand and that of those that support us. In that regard, as the overall leader, I failed, and I must raise my hand and be accountable with the others. This is a team and in my position it's the right thing to do."

© 2024 AFP

Brazilians queue for precious water as flood damage intensifies

Porto Alegre (Brazil) (AFP) – Humanitarian aid arrived Tuesday in Porto Alegre and other flood-ravaged municipalities of southern Brazil, where queues formed for drinking water as forecasters warned of more downpours.

Issued on: 07/05/2024 - 

Nearly 400 municipalities have been hit by devastating floods in southern Brazil, and more than 156,000 people have been forced to leave their homes

 © Nelson ALMEIDA / AFP

The worst natural calamity ever to hit the state of Rio Grande do Sul has claimed at least 90 lives, with 362 people reported injured and 131 still missing, according to the civil defense force that handles disaster relief.

Nearly 400 municipalities in total have been hit, including state capital Porto Alegre, and more than 156,000 people have been forced to leave their homes as streets were transformed into rivers after days of rain in unprecedented amounts.

Porto Alegre is home to some 1.4 million people and the larger metropolitan area more than double that.

For tens of thousands of people left stranded amid impassable roads, collapsed bridges and flooded homes in Rio Grande do Sul, "the most urgent demand is (drinking) water," said civil defense official Sabrina Ribas.

Helicopters were flying two and fro delivering water and food to communities most in need, while work continued on restoring road access.

In the municipality of Alvorada, west of Porto Alegre, there were queues of people with buckets and plastic bottles, collecting drinking water from the few municipal taps still working.

Most shops have run out of bottled water.

"This is horrible. We have children," said 27-year-old Gabriela Almeida, queuing at a public tap with a one-year-old in her arms.

For tens of thousands of people left stranded amid impassable roads, collapsed bridges and flooded homes, 'the most urgent need is (drinking) water,' said civil defense official Sabrina Ribas © NELSON ALMEIDA / AFP

Individuals and businesses with wells were doing what they could to help.

Alvorada resident Benildo Carvalho, 48, was one of them -- filling neighbors' bottles with a hose as a line of people started to form outside his house.

"It's a matter of solidarity," he told AFP. "You cannot deny people water."

Only one of Porto Alegre's six water treatment plants was functioning, the mayor's office said, and hospitals and shelters were being supplied by tankers.
'Changed the map'

President Luiz Inacio Lula de Silva said more emergency funds would be freed up Tuesday, vowing there would be "no lack of resources to meet the needs of Rio Grande do Sul."

Some 15,000 soldiers, firefighters, police and volunteers were hard at work in planes and boats, even jet skis, to rescue those who are trapped and bring aid where they can.

Brazil's neighbors Uruguay and Argentina have sent rescue equipment and trained personnel.

The Beira-Rio stadium of Porto Alegre's Internacional football team has been flooded 

© Anselmo Cunha / AFP

As the calamity showed no signs of abating, weather forecasts suggested it could still get worse.

The Inmet meteorological institute warned of possible storms in the south of Rio Grande do Sul until Wednesday, followed by rainfall in the center and north it said would imperil the rescue effort.

The state's Guaiba River, which runs through Porto Alegre, remained at historic levels Tuesday.

According to weather agency MetSul, the flooding has "changed the map of the metropolitan region" of Porto Alegre.

Police, meanwhile, said there have been reports of evacuated homes being looted and some residents, afraid of such intrusions, were refusing to move to shelters.

© 2024 AFP

Brazil's football giants rally to help victims of deadly flooding

Rio de Janeiro (AFP) – Brazil's football giants -- including Neymar, Vinicius Junior and Ronaldinho -- are rallying behind a fundraising effort for victims of devastating floods that have killed at least 85 people in the south of the country.

Issued on: 07/05/2024 - 

Aerial view of the flooded Arena do Gremio Stadium, of Brazilian football team Gremio, in Porto Alegre on May 7, 2024

 © CARLOS FABAL / AFP

Using their huge social media presence, the stars of Brazil's most popular sport have joined ranks with local club players, who have used their own jet skis to help people escape waters that have completely inundated entire towns.

Former Barcelona and Paris Saint-Germain forward Neymar, 32, shared a video Tuesday showing his private jet being filled with crates of water bottles and other supplies.

"Brazil is going through a delicate moment and helping is NEVER too much," he wrote in the post shared with his 221 million followers, after endorsing a call for donations led by the Brazilian Football Confederation.

Brazil's southern state of Rio Grande do Sul was hit by deadly flooding last week after days of heavy rains, forcing more than 150,000 people from their homes and cutting off many from drinking water and electricity.

The disaster, which the government and experts have linked to climate change, swept away bridges and roads, further complicating humanitarian relief.

Floodwater also filled the stadiums and training facilities of Porto Alegre's two main football clubs, Internacional and Gremio. The typically fierce rivals have united in rescue efforts.

"We are all on the same side. This is our goal," Uruguayan goalkeeper Sergio Rochet, who plays for Internacional, told local station Radio Gaucha.

He and Ecuadoran teammate Enner Valencia have personally delivered aid supplies to a shelter for displaced people.

Opposing Brazilian goalkeeper Caique, of Gremio, also took dramatic measures to help -- using his jet ski to save people in Porto Alegre cut off by the overflowing Guaiba River.

His teammate Diego Costa, a Brazilian-born forward, donated four jet skis to help rescue people stranded by floodwaters.

© 2024 AFP

Wild bees are threatened by domestic bees, invasive species, pathogens and climate change

The Conversation
May 7, 2024 

Honey Bee (Photo: Keith McDuffee/flickr/cc)


Canada is home to more than 800 species of wild bees — few may have noticed the diversity of native bees buzzing around, but bees play a significant role in the survival of native plant populations.

With changes in climate, habitat loss, pesticide use and pathogen spillover, some of our native bees are in decline.

Our research takes place along a section of the Niagara Escarpment, which features a huge diversity of native plants, many microclimates, and lots of natural land that makes ideal habitats for wild bees

The vast majority of wild bee species are rare. More than 200 species live in the habitat-rich forests, fields and neighbourhoods around Hamilton and McMaster University, where they are the subjects of our research.


A 2013 Toronto rally to save the bees. (Shutterstock)

In Ontario, there are many different types of bees, including bumblebees, carder bees, carpenter bees, cellophane bees, cuckoo bees, leaf cutter bees, long horned bees, mason bees, mining bees, sweat bees and yellow-faced bees.

Many of our wild bees are solitary, highly specialized and transient from one year to the next. This makes them hard to track, especially when some species are only active for a period of weeks each year. These already-small populations are especially susceptible to competition and disease from domesticated bees.
Impacts on wild bees

Domestic honeybees can have negative effects on wild bee populations, both through direct competition and by indirectly affecting the reproductive success of some native and commercial plants that count on specialized wild bees to pollinate them. Blueberry bushes, which are native to eastern North America produce better and greater yields in the presence of native bees that practice buzz pollination.

There has been a huge proliferation in beekeeping as a hobby, driven by well-meaning citizens who have started hives on rooftops and in backyards and community gardens, believing they are helping the environment.

More domesticated bees are also being used in agriculture now, with some pollinators-for-hire services driving hives to huge farms to service blossoming crops. Those bees also roam and forage for many kilometres beyond the targeted fields, which is a concern near conservation areas.

While other bees are still hungry and groggy from the winter, well-fed domestic honeybees are already in top shape, appearing in large numbers to feed at vital early-spring sources, including plants with short bloom cycles such as spring beauty, trout lily and trees such as maples and willows.

A lesser-known consequence of imported bees is the risk of pathogen spillovers, when diseases or parasites move from their original hosts to new species. The rusty-patch bumblebee, for example, was common in Ontario until the 1990s, but is now officially considered endangered. This is likely due to pathogen spillover from domestic bumblebees used to pollinate greenhouse crops.


Cellophane bees are early spring pollinators. (Shutterstock)

Bee versus bee

Honeybees are omnipresent, persistent generalists that forage through the entire blooming season, compared to roughly 15 per cent of our native bees which are pollen specialists, restricted to specific native plants to provide the pollen used to feed their young. The presence of large numbers of honeybees may disrupt these ecological links and result in changes to plant-pollinator relationships.


One colony of 10,000 honeybees may collect 10 kilograms of pollen over a three-month period, an amount that would support 100,000 solitary wild bees.

To most of its competitors, the honeybee is also a giant. A honeybee is about 1.2 cm long and can fly for kilometres, while a typical native bee might be eight millimetres long, with a maximum flight distance of only 300 metres.

Honeybees bully some wild bees and other pollinating insects such as wasps, flies and beetles out of the blossoms they need to survive. They even force burly bumblebees out of flowers.

Inconspicuous vulnerability

Wild bees persist in in-between pockets of land, where their mainly solitary living quarters are inconspicuous and vulnerable to destruction. Borders between farmers’ fields, for example, are critical to wild bees, which nest primarily on or in the ground among dried leaves, stalks and sticks. One species, the eastern snail shell mason bee, even nests in the shells of dead snails.

In cities, residential neighbourhoods are critical to wild bees, which live in uncultivated pockets at the backs of flower beds, under hedges and in open lots. These areas provide bees with key corridors between more expansive natural spaces, and are essential to their survival.

There is still a lot to learn of the wild bees in North America, and we hope our research will be helpful. What we have learned so far confirms that while some wild bees can take advantage of new resources to expand their populations, many others face negative consequences from climate change and invasive species.


Pollinator gardens can provide habitats for wild bees. (Shutterstock)

Supporting bees

Outreach efforts, such as the publication of the Bees of Toronto guide by the City of Toronto, provide fascinating insights into the diversity of Ontario bees, fostering a deeper appreciation.

A growing number of local nurseries now provide a range of native plants that are better suited to attract bees and other wildlife. Local efforts such as the Hamilton Pollinator Paradise Project promote native gardens to provide corridors for bees and other pollinators such as butterflies.

McMaster University is a bee-certified campus, and the City of Hamilton is a bee-certified city through Pollinator Partnership Canada.

Such efforts are key to the long-term maintenance and resilience of our native bees. Initiatives by local groups bring together science and local interest in gardening to provide helpful advice on creating beautiful, and ecologically functional gardens.

This spring and summer, you may want to keep a sympathetic eye out for wild bees. If we make a little space for them, they will more than repay the favour.

Sebastian Irazuzta, PhD candidate, Biology, McMaster University; Noah Stegman, PhD Student, Earth & Environmental Science, McMaster University, and Susan A. Dudley, Professor, Biology, McMaster University

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

London's gentlemen-only club votes on admitting women

Agence France-Presse
May 7, 2024 

Singer Sting (L), pictured with daughter Mickey Sumner, is a Garrick club member (ANGELA WEISS/AFP)

One of London's oldest gentlemen's clubs on Tuesday votes on whether to start accepting women amid a row that has bitterly divided members.

The club's membership is a closely guarded secret but is known to include leading figures from the civil service, the law, journalism, publicly funded institutions and the arts.

BBC world affairs editor John Simpson last week tweeted: "Various Garrick Club members including Sting, Mark Knopfler and leading actors and producers have reportedly written to the club chairman saying they'll resign if the membership doesn't vote to accept women next Tuesday."

He added: "Many others like me would also find it impossible to stay."

In March, the head of Britain's spy service Richard Moore resigned after a list of the club's membership was made public for the first time.

Moore sent a message to MI6 employees acknowledging the reputational hit that news of his membership posed to the service -- in particular the risk of it undermining its work to attract more women to join MI6.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's most senior policy adviser, the civil service leader Simon Case, also quit his membership.

Founded in 1831 for actors and "men of refinement and education", the Garrick is one of the last such clubs not to allow women in, except as guests of men.

A petition launched in 2021 backing the admission of women attracted the support of Cherie Blair, a leading barrister and wife of former prime minister Tony Blair.

She recalled that in 1976 as a trainee lawyer she was left standing outside while her future husband Tony was allowed in for dinner.

"It's outrageous that so little progress has been made since then," she wrote.

Organizers of the petition said that the large number of judges and senior lawyers who were members deprived women of networking opportunities in a profession in which women were under-represented, particularly in the higher echelons.


A previous vote in 2015 on allowing female members saw the narrowest of majorities -- 50.5 percent -- back continuing the ban on female membership.

The Garrick, located in Covent Garden in central London, offers members overnight accommodation, a restaurant, bars and a library.

Other high-profile figures reported to be members include "Sherlock" star Benedict Cumberbatch and senior minister Michael Gove.

An early member was Charles Dickens.

Revealed: Aileen Cannon failed to disclose all-expenses-paid right-wing junket in Montana

Matthew Chapman
May 7, 2024 

U.S. Senate Television/CNP/Zuma Press/TNS

The judge overseeing the former president's Mar-a-Lago classified documents case lived it up at an all-expenses-paid retreat for right-wing federal jurists at a $1,000-a-night resort in Montana near Yellowstone National Park, reported Lucian K. Truscott IV for Salon.

"It's called the Sage Lodge in Pray, Montana, and it’s where George Mason University sends gaggles of federal judges for a week-long 'colloquium' every year or so," wrote Truscott — all paid for by the Antonin Scalia Law School, named for the late justice who ironically died on a ranch getaway paid for by right-wing benefactors.

Topics at these conferences include "Woke Law!" and “Unprofitable Education: Student Loans, Higher Education Costs, and the Regulatory State” — which, Truscott noted, "rings what we might call a rather different bell after the Supreme Court struck down President Biden’s student loan forgiveness program last year."

The GMU department behind this program has received generous donations from Leonard Leo, the Federalist Society leader who helped Trump appoint numerous judges and is under investigation in D.C. for allegedly funneling nonprofit money into his for-profit consulting firm.

Cannon was a guest at these conferences in 2021 and 2022, Truscott wrote — however, she "failed to file the form known as a Privately Funded Seminar Disclosure Report, which lists whoever paid for the judge to attend the seminar, who the speakers were and what topics were discussed.

"The form is supposed to be posted on the website of every federal court within 30 days of the time a judge attending such an all-expenses-paid seminar.

"Cannon, however, somehow forgot to do so, so anyone who might be interested in learning who was paying for Cannon’s vacations and the nature of her judicial education would have been out of luck."

Cannon has become a constant point of controversy for a series of unusual decisions made in the Trump case that appear calculated to help the former president. She tried to stop the FBI reviewing classified documents seized at Mar-a-Lago, later being smacked down by an all-Republican appellate panel, demanded special counsel Jack Smith hand over information to Trump that could expose witnesses to tampering, and is currently delaying the trial with no clear timeline for it moving ahead.

"I mean, 10 grand or so in first-class air travel and luxury accommodations and bottomless trips to the luxo-resort’s 'local produce' salad bar and steak pit might start to look like a bribe when you pay attention to what was actually being discussed between float trips down the Yellowstone and hikes through the mountains, don’t you think?" wrote Truscott.

'An abomination': Libertarians rebel after Trump invited to speak to party convention

Travis Gettys
May 7, 2024 

Republican presidential candidate, former U.S. President Donald Trump talks to supporters during a campaign rally at the Sheraton Portsmouth Harborside Hotel on January 17, 2024 in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. 

(Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

Donald Trump's invitation to address the Libertarian Party's national convention has outraged many members — but leadership is refusing to rescind it, according to a report.

Party leaders considered disinviting the presumptive Republican nominee after the treasurer moved to reverse the decision, but national committee chair Angela McArdle insisted the dissenters were “a small noisy faction" and defended the invitation, reported the Washington Post.

“I can certainly understand that there are a handful of people allergic to relevance, afraid to confront their political opposition, afraid of losing control of the narrative,” she said. “But in 50-plus years, the Libertarian Party has never been on the main stage politically and this is an incredible opportunity for us to bring someone who grabs the spotlight and put them on our stage.”

The newspaper reviewed emails where the dissenters called for a vote because "over half of the membership is up in arms,” saying that many of the ideas Trump has discussed — including domestic military deployments, expanding tariffs and indemnifying police — violate their principals of limited government and free markets.

“People are terribly upset,” said national committee member Beth Vest. “I know very few party insiders, except the few that are connected to this caucus and to [McArdle], who think this is a good idea.”

Vest filed a case Friday arguing that McArdle had violated party bylaws, without explicitly referring to the invitation, and Libertarian Party presidential hopefuls Chase Oliver, Lars Mapstead, Jacob Hornberger and Mike ter Maat complained that Trump's presence might appear to be an endorsement of his candidacy.

ALSO READ: ‘Morality does not exist for him’: Remembering Ted Cruz’s epic Trump rant

“Could you imagine if the Republican National Committee invited me to come be a main speaker at the convention?" Mapstead said. “It seems ridiculous, right?”

Hornberger called the invitation “an abomination," adding that "people have come to perceive that Libertarian Party as right-wing, and he will just be reinforcing that image."

“I think we’re seeing a lot of people who said, ‘Oh this is going to be turned into the Donald Trump party,’ and they have been feeling like they’ve been proven right,” Oliver said. “I think it’s up to libertarians to shout Donald Trump down and to boo him and to give him the reception he deserves to prove them wrong. Otherwise, they’re proven right.”

WAIT, WHAT?!

Republican promotes Nazi 'great replacement theory' in briefing on rising anti-Semitism

Sarah K. Burris
May 7, 2024


Congressman Scott Perry speaks during CPAC Texas 2022 conference at Hilton Anatole. (lev radin / Shutterstock.com)

The House Oversight and Reform Committee held a Tuesday briefing discussing the increase in antisemitic attacks on Americans on college campuses — and Rep. Scott Perry (R-PA) used it as the moment to promote the fringe conspiracy of the "Great Replacement Theory."

According to an excerpt of the transcript posted by The Forward's political reporter, Jacob N. Kornbluh, the meeting was held behind closed doors.

"When [Jamie] Raskin, when my colleague from Maryland talks about 'White Replacement Theory' — 'Replacement Theory' is real," complained Perry.

Read Also: How the racist 'Great Replacement' theory keeps fueling Trumpism

"They added 'white' to it to stop everybody from talking about it," Perry continued, without elaborating on who he was referring to.

"But bringing people into the country — I think most people on the right are happy to accept people that are here legally, including me, as my ancestors immigrated legally to become Americans," he said.

"But what's happening now is we're importing people into the country that want to be in America, be in America, but have no interest in being Americans, and that's very different. And to disparage the comments is to chill the conversation so that we can continue to bring in more people ... that are un-American," Perry also said.

So-called "Replacement Theory" is a conspiracy that claims the white race is under threat of extinction at the hands of Jews and other minority groups, the American Jewish Committee posts on its website.

"A similar conspiracy theory was prevalent in Nazi Germany and has been promoted by white nationalists for decades, this recent iteration was popularized through Renaud Camus’s 2011 book The Great Replacement, which claimed Muslims in France were destroying French civilization and culture," the site continued.

Perry is known for using Nazi analogies in speeches. According to comments he made at the Republican Leadership Conference in June 2021, Democrats are a lot like Nazis.

“We can acknowledge that maybe not every one of them is that way, but that doesn't matter,” Perry said.

“We've seen this throughout history, right? Not every citizen in Germany in the 1930s and ’40s was in the Nazi Party. They weren't. But what happened across Germany? That's what's important. What were the policies? What was the leadership? That's what we have to focus on.”

"It is alarming that elected officials continue to recklessly make such comparisons, minimizing the genocide of millions of people," the Jewish Federation of Greater Harrisburg said in a joint statement with other groups at the time.

Surge in leaked accounts makes more data available for hackers


By Dr. Tim Sandle
DIGITAL JOURNAL
May 5, 2024

The IT Army of Ukraine is a group of volunteer hackers first set up in the wake of Russia's invasion which has since grown - Copyright AFP/File Fabrice COFFRINI

Globally, leaked personal digital accounts increased by five-fold in Q1 2024 compared to Q4 2023 (from 81 million to 435 million). This is according to the company Surfshark’s global data breach monitoring tool.

A data breach happens, according to IBM, when confidential and sensitive data gets exposed to unauthorised third parties. In the study, every breached or leaked email address used to register for online services was considered as a separate user account.

Each account may have been leaked with additional information, such as password, telephone or smartphone number, Internet protocol address, postal code, and other information that can be considered as personally identifiable. Hackers, as Forbes points out, can use compromised data for illegal activities including identity theft, financial fraud, spamming or even extortion.

Most people use the same email for different accounts when registering online. This explains why a single email or account can be breached several times in separate cases.

The findings also reveal that, globally, a total of 17.2 billion user accounts have been breached over the last 20 years, and approximately 34 percent of them have unique email addresses.

On average, each email address is leaked with around 3 additional data points. A total of 60.9 biloion data points have been exposed (17.2 billion of them have been email addresses) since 2004.

Geographically, the U.S. tops the list with 3 billion breached accounts since 2004, followed by Russia (2.4 billion), China (1.1 billion), France (522 million) and Germany (487 million). Canada and the UK are bubbling under:Brazil (354.2 million),
UK (321.9 million),
India (320.5 million),
Italy (266.8 million),
Canada (213.8 million).

“Surfshark’s extensive monitoring of data breach trends over the past two decades reveals an alarming digital reality: data leaks persist as an ongoing global threat. Since 2004, a staggering 17 billion user accounts have been leaked worldwide, with over 400 million occurrences recorded at the start of this year,” s Lina Survila, a spokesperson at Surfshark has told Digital Journal.

Survila makes the following recommendation: “We urge everyone to remain vigilant, create strong passwords, refrain from reusing them, and exercise caution when sharing personal information online.”

WILL XI VISIT

Chinese mill blamed for turning Serbia village red with pollution

AFP
May 7, 2024

The steel plant owned by Chinese company HBIS in Radinac, near the eastern Serbian city of Smederevo - Copyright AFP Andrej ISAKOVIC

Mina PEJAKOVIC

In the eight years since Chinese company HBIS bought a steel mill near the eastern Serbian city of Smederevo, locals say they have been plagued by heavy air pollution and thick red dust.

“There are times of the day when breathing normally is impossible,” said Zvezdan Veljkovic, from the village of Radinac, where the mill is based.

Radinac has become known as “red village”, because everything is permanently coated in a layer of red dust. Locals say cancer cases have rocketed and that the dust contains high levels of arsenic, chromium and lead.

Dragana Milic told AFP her grandchildren don’t like coming to visit her anymore. “They won’t play outside,” she said.

HBIS — one of the world’s largest steel producers — bought the mill in 2016 in a high-profile deal marked by a visit from Chinese President Xi Jinping, on his last official trip to Serbia.

Xi is to arrive in Serbia on Tuesday on another official visit, one of only three countries he is flying into on his first European trip since the Covid pandemic.

China has invested billions in Serbia and neighbouring Balkan countries in recent years, with Beijing and Belgrade signing a free trade agreement last year.

But locals around Smederevo blame Chinese investment for the increased pollution.

In the three villages near the mill, residents say that they have experienced throat irritation, unpleasant smells and continual soot coating their houses, clothes and bodies.

Milic said the only thing villagers can do to protect themselves is to stay indoors.

– Cancer cases quadrupled –

The Serbian Environmental Protection Agency has ranked Smederevo repeatedly among the country’s most polluted cities, classified as having “excessively polluted air”.

Nikola Krstic, an activist at NGO Tvrdjava (“Fortress”), said pollution has soared since the Chinese takeover.

“We don’t know the reason why… whether it’s high production, technology failure, lack of maintenance or non-compliance,” he said.

Tvrdjava carried out an analysis of the dust produced by the factory in 2021, together with the scientific group National Environmental Association.

The analysis, seen by AFP, found high concentrations of heavy metals including arsenic, chromium and lead, which the report warned are among “the most toxic and carcinogenic metals when present in ambient air”.

“(HBIS) have saved this steel mill in economic terms, but in environmental terms they have caused great damage to this city,” said Krstic.

Data from the state-run Smederevo Health Centre found a four-fold increase in cancer cases between 2011 and 2019, which activists believe is due to increased pollution.

The group filed a criminal complaint against the company in Smederevo, but it was rejected on the basis of lack of evidence.

They now plan to take their case to the European Court of Human Rights.

– Special relationship –


The steel mill employs about 5,000 people, with thousands more employed indirectly.

Once a state-owned enterprise, it was privatised in 2003 and sold to US Steel. But the American corporation pulled out in 2012 after a steel market crash, and the Serbian government bought it back for one dollar.

In April 2016, the plant was sold for 46 million euros ($49 million) to China’s HBIS, heralded as a sign of the “friendship” between the two countries.

Chinese-owned companies were among Serbia’s top three exporters last year — including HBIS, whose exports topped 549 million euros.

Tomislav Momirovic, Serbia’s trade minister, told state broadcaster RTS that “no other country in the region or Europe” enjoys a similar level of cooperation with China.

Smederevo is one of several big investments by Chinese companies in Serbia, including a $3.8 billion investment by Chinese state-owned company Zijin Mining near the eastern city of Bor.

Stefan Vladisavljev, of the Foundation BFPE for a Responsible Society, said claims Chinese investment “saved” Serbia are “exaggerated”.

“What is true is that Chinese companies were willing to take over the management and ownership of certain industrial systems for which Serbia had no other solution,” he added.

HBIS did not respond when contacted by AFP.

But earlier this year its Serbia director Vladan Mihailovic told RTS that the company plans to build a wall around its open raw material storage and construct a new processor to reduce the dust.

Milic, who has been living in Radinac for 37 years, has little hope this will solve the issue.

“I think there is no other solution” but for everyone to move, she said.

Arman and the war against journalists: A year of pain and loss


AFP
May 7, 2024

A mural of AFP journalist Arman Soldin, who was killed near Bakhmut last year, by artist Christian Guemy on a destroyed cafe in Ukraine 

- Copyright AFP GENYA SAVILOV

Phil CHETWYND

The killing of the brilliant young AFP journalist Arman Soldin on the front lines in Ukraine one year ago remains a uniquely traumatic event for all of us.

There is nothing more painful for a newsroom than to lose a friend and colleague in the line of fire.

Arman had proved both his talent as a video storyteller and his unbridled commitment to his craft. He was passionate about giving a voice to the ordinary people caught up in the tumult of war.

His death at 32 was not just a crime, it was a great loss to journalism.

At AFP we try to honour his memory every day with our continued commitment to reporting from Ukraine as well as Gaza, Lebanon, Israel and many other conflicts on our increasingly fragile planet. It is our mission, it is in our DNA, we do not consider it a choice.

But that does not mean we can accept a growing global culture of impunity around the killing, maiming and imprisonment of journalists. The statistics are profoundly shocking.

– Killed and detained –

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) records over 950 journalists worldwide murdered for doing their job since 1992. It has documented over 90 journalists killed in Gaza over the past seven months alone, an unprecedented assault on press freedom that has passed largely under the radar.

The CPJ also notes over 350 journalists detained worldwide last year including Russia-based Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, a former AFP colleague with many friends in our newsroom.

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) also stated last week in their annual Press Freedom Index that the primary culprits in the failure to protect journalists are governments and politicians. The tilt towards authoritarianism and populism is systematically undermining a culture where journalists are valued in society.

The lack of outrage and concrete action over this unacceptable state of affairs cannot be allowed to stand. It is essential the media industry rallies together and uses every lever available to push back against this creeping and existential threat.

Those responsible for this unprecedented attack on civil society should be named, held to account and ultimately brought to justice. It may take time, but we need to be resolute and stay the course.

Arman was killed by a Russian Grad rocket attack as he reported with colleagues on the bloody battle for the town of Bakhmut on May 9, 2023. The group, which included several Ukrainian soldiers, appears to have been directly targeted, but we don’t know yet whether they were targeted because journalists were present.

– War crimes investigation –

We are encouraged that French anti-terrorism prosecutors have opened a war crimes investigation to determine the exact circumstances of Arman’s death. We hope this will bring some answers and accountability.

We are also working to bring clarity to the circumstances around the horrific attack by an Israeli tank on a group of journalists in southern Lebanon on October 13. The attack killed Reuters journalist Issam Abdallah and wounded six other journalists including AFP photographer Christina Assi and video journalist Dylan Collins. Christina had a leg amputated and spent five months in intensive care in hospital.

One of our strongest weapons in our fight against impunity is our own journalism. The rise of open-source intelligence (OSINT) techniques has given digital investigators tremendous resources to track down culprits and provide facts to counter false narratives and misinformation. The combination of this digital sleuthing with old-fashioned on-the-ground evidence gathering is a powerful cocktail.

In southern Lebanon, the investigative journalism of AFP and Reuters has produced facts to prove that Israeli tank fire was responsible. Military experts say it is evident the group, who were all clearly identified as press, were deliberately targeted. This was not about the fog of war. Something went terribly wrong, and we must now have answers.

This is a tough and unsettling anniversary for all Arman Soldin’s family, friends and colleagues. His force of personality, humanity and humour left deep traces and memories which cannot be erased. We grieve deeply for his loss. And we shall continue to seek justice for his killing.