Retinal implants can give artificial vision to the blind

ECOLE POLYTECHNIQUE FÉDÉRALE DE LAUSANNE

Research News

 

IMAGE: RETINAL IMPLANTS CAN GIVE ARTIFICIAL VISION TO THE BLIND view more 

CREDIT: ALAIN HERZOG / 2021 EPFL

Being able to make blind people see again sounds like the stuff of miracles or even science fiction. And it has always been one of the biggest challenges for scientists. Diego Ghezzi, who holds the Medtronic Chair in Neuroengineering (LNE) at EPFL's School of Engineering, has made this issue a research focus. Since 2015, he and his team have been developing a retinal implant that works with camera-equipped smart glasses and a microcomputer. "Our system is designed to give blind people a form of artificial vision by using electrodes to stimulate their retinal cells," says Ghezzi.

Read more: https://actu.epfl.ch/news/a-retinal-implant-that-is-more-effective-against-b/

Star-spangled sky

The camera embedded in the smart glasses captures images in the wearer's field of vision, and sends the data to a microcomputer placed in one of the eyeglasses' end-pieces. The microcomputer turns the data into light signals which are transmitted to electrodes in the retinal implant. The electrodes then stimulate the retina in such a way that the wearer sees a simplified, black-and-white version of the image. This simplified version is made up of dots of light that appear when the retinal cells are stimulated. However, wearers must learn to interpret the many dots of light in order to make out shapes and objects. "It's like when you look at stars in the night sky - you can learn to recognize specific constellations. Blind patients would see something similar with our system," says Ghezzi.

Running simulations, for now

The only catch is that the system has not yet been tested on humans. The research team first needs to be certain of their results. "We aren't yet authorized to implant our device in human patients, since obtaining the medical approval takes a long time. But we came up with a process for testing it virtually - a type of work-around," says Ghezzi. More specifically, the engineers developed a virtual reality program that can simulate what patients would see with the implants. Their findings have just been published in Communication Materials.

Field of vision and resolution

Two parameters are used to measure vision: field of vision and resolution. The engineers therefore used these same two parameters to evaluate their system. The retinal implants they developed contain 10,500 electrodes, with each one serving to generate a dot of light. "We weren't sure if this would be too many electrodes or not enough. We had to find just the right number so that the reproduced image doesn't become too hard to make out. The dots have to be far enough apart that patients can distinguish two of them close to each other, but there has to be enough of them to provide sufficient image resolution," says Ghezzi.

The engineers also had to make sure that each electrode could reliably produce a dot of light. Ghezzi explains: "We wanted to make sure that two electrodes don't stimulate the same part of the retina. So we carried out electrophysiological tests that involved recording the activity of retinal ganglion cells. And the results confirmed that each electrode does indeed activate a different part of the retina."

The next step was to check whether 10,500 light dots provide good enough resolution - and that's where the virtual reality program came in. "Our simulations showed that the chosen number of dots, and therefore of electrodes, works well. Using any more wouldn't deliver any real benefits to patients in terms of definition," says Ghezzi.

The engineers also performed tests at constant resolution but different field-of-vision angles. "We started at five degrees and opened up the field all the way to 45 degrees. We found that the saturation point is 35 degrees - the object remains stable beyond that point," says Ghezzi. All these experiments demonstrated that the system's capacity doesn't need to be improved any further, and that it's ready for clinical trials. But the team will have to wait a little longer before their technology can be implanted in actual patients. For now, restoring vision remains in the realm of science fiction.

CAPTION

Retinal implants can give artificial vision to the blind

CREDIT

Alain Herzog / 2021 EPFL

The future of contactless care: robotic systems gain patient approval

BRIGHAM AND WOMEN'S HOSPITAL

Research News

 

WHO: Giovanni Traverso, MB, BChir, PhD, Associate Physician, Division of Gastroenterology, Brigham and Women's Hospital; corresponding author of a new article published in JAMA Network Open.

Peter Chai, MD, MMS, Assistant Professor, Department of Emergency Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital; first author.

WHAT: In the age of COVID-19, mobile robotic telehealth systems could help clinicians and patients interact without contact. Last spring, some health care systems deployed robotic systems within a hospital to evaluate and interact with patients. In a JAMA Network Open article, Traverso and colleagues report the results of a national survey and a cohort study in an emergency department (ED), which analyzed patients' satisfaction with an initial evaluation conducted by a robotic system. Overall, 92.5 percent of patients were accepting of and satisfied with their experience.

"Taken together, this investigation suggests that a robotic system to facilitate contactless tele-triage in the ED is feasible, acceptable, and could have a large public health impact during the COVID-19 pandemic," the authors write.

In the cohort study, 40 stable patients in the Brigham's ED agreed to have their medical histories recorded by a four-legged, dog-like robotic system called Dr. Spot. The system, which includes four cameras and a mounted tablet, is operated remotely by a single emergency medicine provider. Of the participants, 92.5 percent reported satisfaction with Dr. Spot, and 82 percent stated that their experience was as good as an in-person encounter.

Results of the national survey, which was completed by 1,000 participants, indicated that individuals believe robotic systems are most useful for facilitating patient-physician interactions, acquiring contactless vital signs, and conducting basic SARS-CoV-2 testing by obtaining nasal and oral swabs. Participants also demonstrated approval of robotic systems that could support placement of intravenous catheters, and, for those who are critically ill, provide potential assistance with tasks like turning patients (proning).

"We anticipate robotic systems can be developed to assist with these tasks, especially during surges of patients with potential COVID-19 infection," the authors write. "Minimizing human contact with individuals who may have COVID-19 disease, but are otherwise well, may reduce the risk of in-hospital disease transmission and enable high-risk health care workers to safely interact with patients through tele-triage."

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Beauty is in the brain: AI reads brain data, generates personally attractive images

Researchers have succeeded in making an AI understand our subjective notions of what makes faces attractive

UNIVERSITY OF HELSINKI

Research News

 

IMAGE: A COMPUTER CREATED FACIAL IMAGES THAT APPEALED TO INDIVIDUAL PREFERENCES. view more 

CREDIT: COGNITIVE COMPUTING RESEARCH GROUP

Researchers have succeeded in making an AI understand our subjective notions of what makes faces attractive. The device demonstrated this knowledge by its ability to create new portraits on its own that were tailored to be found personally attractive to individuals. The results can be utilised, for example, in modelling preferences and decision-making as well as potentially identifying unconscious attitudes.

Researchers at the University of Helsinki and University of Copenhagen investigated whether a computer would be able to identify the facial features we consider attractive and, based on this, create new images matching our criteria. The researchers used artificial intelligence to interpret brain signals and combined the resulting brain-computer interface with a generative model of artificial faces. This enabled the computer to create facial images that appealed to individual preferences.

"In our previous studies, we designed models that could identify and control simple portrait features, such as hair colour and emotion. However, people largely agree on who is blond and who smiles. Attractiveness is a more challenging subject of study, as it is associated with cultural and psychological factors that likely play unconscious roles in our individual preferences. Indeed, we often find it very hard to explain what it is exactly that makes something, or someone, beautiful: Beauty is in the eye of the beholder," says Senior Researcher and Docent Michiel Spapé from the Department of Psychology and Logopedics, University of Helsinki.

The study, which combines computer science and psychology, was published in February in the IEEE Transactions in Affective Computing journal.

Preferences exposed by the brain

Initially, the researchers gave a generative adversarial neural network (GAN) the task of creating hundreds of artificial portraits. The images were shown, one at a time, to 30 volunteers who were asked to pay attention to faces they found attractive while their brain responses were recorded via electroencephalography (EEG).

"It worked a bit like the dating app Tinder: the participants 'swiped right' when coming across an attractive face. Here, however, they did not have to do anything but look at the images. We measured their immediate brain response to the images," Spapé explains.

The researchers analysed the EEG data with machine learning techniques, connecting individual EEG data through a brain-computer interface to a generative neural network.

"A brain-computer interface such as this is able to interpret users' opinions on the attractiveness of a range of images. By interpreting their views, the AI model interpreting brain responses and the generative neural network modelling the face images can together produce an entirely new face image by combining what a particular person finds attractive," says Academy Research Fellow and Associate Professor Tuukka Ruotsalo, who heads the project.

To test the validity of their modelling, the researchers generated new portraits for each participant, predicting they would find them personally attractive. Testing them in a double-blind procedure against matched controls, they found that the new images matched the preferences of the subjects with an accuracy of over 80%.

"The study demonstrates that we are capable of generating images that match personal preference by connecting an artificial neural network to brain responses. Succeeding in assessing attractiveness is especially significant, as this is such a poignant, psychological property of the stimuli. Computer vision has thus far been very successful at categorising images based on objective patterns. By bringing in brain responses to the mix, we show it is possible to detect and generate images based on psychological properties, like personal taste," Spapé explains.

Potential for exposing unconscious attitudes

Ultimately, the study may benefit society by advancing the capacity for computers to learn and increasingly understand subjective preferences, through interaction between AI solutions and brain-computer interfaces.

"If this is possible in something that is as personal and subjective as attractiveness, we may also be able to look into other cognitive functions such as perception and decision-making. Potentially, we might gear the device towards identifying stereotypes or implicit bias and better understand individual differences," says Spapé.

VIdeo Abstract: Brain-computer interface for generating personally attractive images

The negative effects of powerful political connections

SINGAPORE MANAGMENT UNIVERSITY

Research News

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IMAGE: SMU ASSISTANT PROFESSOR KIM JUNGBAE'S RESEARCH FOUND THAT GOVERNMENTS LOCATED WITHIN THE CONSTITUENCIES OF POWERFUL CONGRESSIONAL MEMBERS REDUCE THEIR STEWARDSHIP OVER PUBLIC RESOURCES. view more 

CREDIT: SINGAPORE MANAGEMENT UNIVERSITY

SMU Office of Research and Tech Transfer - One of the motivations for the recently published Journal of Accounting Research paper "Politically Connected Governments" was the daily experience with the subway system in New York City.

The author of the paper, SMU Assistant Professor of Accounting Kim Jungbae, told the Office of Research & Tech Transferthe research question for the paper which examines the consequences of powerful political connections for local governments, was inspired by the New York Times article "The Most Expensive Mile of Subway Track on Earth" (January 24, 2018).

"The article suggests that the NYC subway system is not fully efficient in part due to the political connection between labor unions and local politicians," Professor Kim explains. "They exchange benefits with each other and sacrifice the welfare of those who use the transportation system." Although this story does not directly speak to the main message of the published paper, it brought the researchers' initial attention to the possibility that the quality of public services might suffer when local governments have ties with powerful politicians.

Professor Kim's research interests lie in financial reporting, auditing, regulatory intervention, and the political economy. He is particularly interested in how financial reporting and auditing shape the incentives of economic entities, either corporations or governments, and lead to certain consequences.

Purpose and relevance

Professor Kim argues that as voters and taxpayers, we need to pay attention to how local governments spend public funds and be aware of factors that may lead to corruption or misappropriation of public resources. "This paper, based on the U.S. political system, focuses on the local governments' political connections as such a factor."

The study, he says, is relevant to the academic literature examining political connections for several reasons. First, the researchers show a cost of political connections, whereas prior studies generally show the benefits. Second, the study provides evidence about a largely unexplored type of "political connection" that manifests through the representation of shared constituents. In particular, local government officials and members of Congress each advance their political success by ensuring their shared constituents are satisfied.

Third, the paper draws attention to the idea that a range of organisations are affected by political connections. By contrast, prior studies have largely focused on the effects of political connections for corporations.

"The paper shares similarities with many other academic papers in that they examine the consequences of political connections. However, by examining the consequences on local governments, it differentiates itself from prior studies, which examine the consequences of political connections in the corporate sector," Professor Kim expounds.

"Also, most of prior studies document positive results, whereas our paper is one of only a few exceptions in the literature that document negative consequences of political connections."

Methodology

Local governments in the U.S. that receive more than $750,000 direct fund allocations are obliged to receive an audit each year. The researchers used the outcomes of these audits to construct a quantitative measure of stewardship.

"This measure is based on whether a local government has an unmodified audit opinion, no material weakness, no significant deficiency, no material noncompliance, and the timeliness of audit reports," explains Professor Kim. "We augment this main measure of stewardship with a news-based measure by counting the number of news articles that mention a local government's corruption each year." They found that their main measure was positively correlated with this news-based measure.

So how was the strength of members of Congress determined for comparison?

According to Professor Kim, the members of Congress yield their power by engaging in the legislative process at congressional committees. "Therefore, our basic notion of the strength of members of Congress is that they are more powerful if they serve on powerful congressional committees for a longer period of time."

To determine which committee is powerful, following prior studies, the researchers use the transfer of members of Congress. For example, if a politician moves from committee A to committee B, it suggests that the latter committee is considered more valuable and influential.

The above measure of strength is determined at politician-level. A city or county government in the U.S. has three politicians (i.e., two Senators and one House member) who represent its interest in Congress. Later, the strength of political connections at local government-level is aggregated by adding up each politician's strength in Congress.

Findings

The main finding of this paper is that local governments' ties with powerful congressional members lead to a decrease in stewardship over public resources. Ex ante, the researchers had two opposing predictions.

On the one hand, powerful politicians are subject to greater scrutiny in the form of government audits and media attention, Professor Kim avers. On the other hand, local governments may care less about how well they serve the public because powerful politicians provide preferential access to federal resources.

"Our finding is consistent with the latter prediction. Although local politicians care about reelection prospects, the increased resources brought by powerful congressional representation allow local governments officials to reduce stewardship."

In addition, the researchers were the first to provide evidence about the effects of powerful political connections in the context of U.S. local governments. Professor Kim writes: "Our study highlights room for improvement in the stewardship over public resources at the local government level, despite recent reports that show the United States is in the bottom 10 percent of corrupt countries. As such, the study is relevant to the literature examining state and local government reporting and governance choices such as those by Zimmerman [1977], Gore [2004], and Beck [2018]." The findings complement this literature by showing a distinct channel - powerful representation in Congress - that adversely affects local governments' governance efforts.

Universal application

Could this U.S.-based study help other countries especially those that are culturally different like those in Asia, where local governments and members of Congress interact differently?

Professor Kim says the study relies on several institutional features in the U.S. where local governments receive funds from the federal government and, in turn, local governments receive an audit to ensure that they use federal funds as intended. Also, members of Congress represent the population in a certain geographical region.

"I think these features are present in many countries including my home country, South Korea," observes Professor Kim. "The implication of our study may be different for some countries, depending on the extent to which local governments are financially reliant on federal governments and how autonomous local governments are."

He adds that although the Transparency International Corruption Perceptions Index (2017) ranks the U.S. in the bottom 10 percent of corrupt countries, they still found that there is room for improvement in how well local governments serve their constituents. "In this sense, the extent to which political connections hurt the quality of public services may be greater in other countries."

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By Grace Segran

 Slim margin but Swiss outlaw facial coverings in "burqa ban" vote

              EYES WITHOUT A FACE....TERRORIZES

                 ISLAMOPHOBIC PROPAGANDA 

IT'S MOOT

Switzerland voted Sunday to ban full facial coverings in public places including the burqa, despite women in Islamic full-face veils being an exceptionally rare sight in Swiss streets

NOT EXACTLY THE PURPOSE OF REFERENDA 

THAT ORIGINATED WITH THE JURA ANARCHISTS 

Swiss narrowly pass Muslim ′burqa ban′ | News | DW | 07.03.2021

GREAT APES HAVE BECOME THE FIRST NON-HUMANS TO BE VACCINATED FOR COVID

THEY'RE THE FIRST APES TO BE VACCINATED AGAINST THE CORONAVIRUS.

Great apes at the San Diego Zoo became the first non-humans to receive a COVID-19 vaccine last week.

The nine great apes — four orangutans and five bonobos — received two doses of an experimental vaccine on March 3, according to National Geographic. That makes them the first ever non-humans to receive a COVID shot. 

If you’re looking to get ahold of the “Ape Vaccine” like it’s the Moderna or Pfizer shots, don’t hold your breath: The vaccines the apes received were specifically made for animals.

To wit, the shots were developed by veterinary pharmaceutical company Zoetis. The company began research into a vaccine after the first dog tested positive for coronavirus in February 2020.

The news comes in the wake of eight gorillas at the San Diego Zoo testing positive for the COVID in January. Each gorilla made a full recovery by mid-February. By the time they tested positive, though, Nadine Lamberski, chief conservation and wildlife health officer at the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance, was already in touch with Zoetis about the vaccine. 

“This isn’t the norm,” Lamberski explained to NatGeo. “In my career, I haven’t had access to an experimental vaccine this early in the process and haven’t had such an overwhelming desire to want to use one.”

Before the gorillas received their inoculation, the vaccine had only been tested on cats and dogs. However, the stakes with the San Diego Zoo and Lamberski are particularly high since they have 14 gorillas, eight bonobos, and four orangutans under their care — meaning they’re at great risk for spreading the disease.  

Luckily, the apes haven’t shown any ill effects from the vaccine, NatGeo reports. The park has plans to test the blood of one of the orangutans and bonobos to test whether they’ve developed antibodies, signaling the efficacy of the shots. 

Even if it does work, though, it’s not a time to rest on their laurels, Lamberski believes. Talking to Insider, she said “that big sigh of relief isn’t going to come until our entire community is vaccinated, until the vaccine gets to, you know, remote communities all over the world, to areas where gorillas live.”

Lamberski has reason to be concerned, too. When you consider that fewer than 5,000 gorillas are left in the wild and that many of them live in close family groups, you’ll see a massive blinking sign warning that a global pandemic like coronavirus could pose an extinction threat to the already dwindling species.

Opinion: 

Dangerous for anti-semitic Canadian Nationalist Party to have access to voters list

IT INCLUDES ISLAMPOPHOBIA

Special to National Post 3/6/2021

© Provided by National Post Travis Patron, Canadian Nationalist Party leader, making a court appearance on two allegations of assault in 2019.

The appearance of an officially registered anti-Semitic political party in Canada is the type of nostalgia we can do without.

Travis Patron, the leader of the Canadian Nationalist Party (CNP) has recently been charged with one count of wilful promotion of hate against Jews. He already faces two serious charges of aggravated assault, assault causing bodily harm and a breach of probation. While these charges have not yet been proven in court, there can be little question that the CNP’s status as a registered political party is alarming.

Sadly, Canada has some history with anti-Semitism in the political arena.

On July 24, 1943, Norman Jaques, the Social Credit member of parliament for Wetaskiwin, Alberta read portions of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion into Hansard during a discussion on war-time appropriations. Despite objections from other MPs, including one who derided the inclusion of “fraudulent or forged Jew-baiting documents,” Jaques was permitted to proceed.

Jaques was a hard-core anti-Semite even by the standards of Social Credit. He believed in an international Jewish financial conspiracy, Jewish control of the media, blamed Jews for communism and opposed the entry of Jewish refugees into Canada. It took many years for the party to repudiate such vile opinions.

Today, we have a new anti-Semitic party in Canada, one whose Jew-hatred forms a central plank of its platform. In 2019, the Canadian Nationalist Party satisfied the requirements set out by the Elections Act to be formally registered as a political party. This means that people who wish to financially support these anti-Semites can now receive a tax credit. It also means that racists have received a listing of all federal voters in Canada, with names and addresses.

Patron is quite clear in his beliefs. In a video charmingly titled Beware the Parasitic Tribe, Patron regurgitates well-known, vicious tropes that have been used over the centuries to vilify Jews.

We won’t provide free advertising for Patron’s views, but the video is easily found online. In case anyone doubts that Patron is talking about Jews, he clears up that misconception by helpfully posting scripture from Revelations directly beneath the video posted on the CNP website: “Behold, I will make them of the synagogue of Satan, which say they are Jews, and are not, but do lie.”

So, we have a potentially violent anti-Semite who spouts the most ancient and toxic libels about Jews, who has registered a political party which calls for the creation of a white-only ethnostate which will be achieved by the removal of the parasitic tribe — meaning Jews — “once-and-for all.” It’s not difficult to see that as a call for genocide.

The CNP also provides a modern version of the Protocols in the form of a “Wake-Up Call” that reprises many of the arguments found in that foundational conspiracy text: an unseen cabal that moves behind the scenes to corrupt youth, control international banking and the media, to create a world economy, a world judiciary, a world army and a new world order.

The language used throughout the website is not accidental: the projected fears, hostility and dreams of Blood, Folk and Land have echoed through white nationalist organizations for decades.

And the CNP can be supported with tax-receipted donations. And using a list provided by Elections Canada, they can deliver their messaging right to your door.

But it’s more than that. A complete electoral list giving the personal information of every Canadian voter puts anti-racists, human and civil rights workers, politicians, journalists and many others in potential jeopardy. Those who might wish to do harm now have access to what they need.

We think that’s a problem, but our concerns are not shared by the government of Canada. A recent statement issued by the office of Minister Dominic Leblanc said, in part: “Accordingly, we have no plans to amend the (law) to require the chief electoral officer to deregister a party on the basis of its views.” So far, Canada’s opposition parties also remain silent.

We get the problem. We understand that democracy requires that space be made for unpopular opinions. But we also understand that the inclusion of ideologies rooted in a history of hatred, violence and genocide erodes confidence in our institutions and faith in our democracy.

With memories of Quebec mosque shooter Alexandre Bissonnette, the Pittsburgh synagogue shootings, the white supremacist rally in Charlottesville and the events of Washington, D.C. still fresh in our minds, we expect our government leaders to act. To do otherwise is a failure.

Bernie M. Farber is the chair of the Canadian Anti-Hate Network. Len Rudner is a human rights consultant and a member of the advisory committee of the Canadian Anti-Hate Network

Italian politicians targeting LGBTQ people to divert attention away from the COVID economy, experts say

© Tiziana Fabi/AFP via Getty Images A man waves a Pride flag past the Colosseum during a Rome Pride flash mob on June 13, 2020 in Rome. Lifelines for LGBT youth in Italy and elsewhere in Europe are thinly stretched amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Two years ago, Francesco, then 18, became homeless overnight.

His mother, an evangelical Christian, called the police to evict him from the family's home in the southern Italian city of Naples, saying his relationship with his boyfriend was corrupting his younger sister.

"I was literally kicked out on the street with no help from the police or social services to try to resolve the situation," Francesco recounted. CBC News has agreed not to use his last name.

"My boyfriend and I tried to find work to support ourselves, but it's difficult to get hired for young, gay people in a city like Naples. You're constantly made to experience your normality as abnormality."

 Megan Williams/CBC Francesco from Naples, southern Italy, was left homeless after his family kicked him out, saying his relationship with his boyfriend was corrupting his younger sister.

Through a network of Italian LGBTQ associations, the Gay Center in Rome — one of few Italian refuges for young LGBTQ kids in distress — was alerted to Francesco's situation and took him and his boyfriend in. The group home provided housing, food and support for more than a year, until the two were able to launch a new, independent life in the Italian capital.

But with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, these kinds of lifelines for LGBT youth in Italy and elsewhere in Europe are even more thinly stretched – putting thousands of young gay and transgender people, trapped in families that refuse to accept them, at even greater risk.

Alessandra Rossi, who helps run the centre in Rome, worries about all the young people calling the centre during the lockdowns, crying out for help with isolation and depression.

"With fewer jobs and university residences shutting down, many youth had to move back home," said Rossi. "The loneliness for LGBTQ kids back with families who reject [their sexual identity] is even more acute. The community and networks that kept them going before the pandemic are now cut off, making the situation even more dramatic."

Large numbers of LGBTQ youth isolated, depressed

In a survey of 2,445 Italian LGBTQ youth carried out by the Gay Helpline after the first lockdown in the spring of 2020, half of respondents reported facing problems of acceptance and support from their families, with 70 per cent feeling isolated and 56 per cent feeling depressed.

"We have cases of kids coming out to their parents during the lockdown and parents punishing them by taking away their computers and cell phones, claiming they're protecting them from gay propaganda," she said. "It's led to a lot of suffering, especially for the teenagers who have had to withstand constant rejection and pressure all on their own."

 Megan Williams/CBC Alessandra Rossi of the Gay Center in Rome worries about young gay and transgender kids trapped in homophobic families during COVID-19.

Rossi says in her experience as a group home worker, homophobic fathers are more likely to resort to physical violence in reaction to a child coming out. Mothers, she says, tend to exert psychological pressure on their gay or trans children to conform — not just to heterosexual norms, but stereotypical gender roles.

"For lesbian daughters, it's even more complicated," she said, "because there's all the cultural pressure to look 'feminine,' with long hair and skirts and that sort of thing. It's especially tough for those transitioning to men, where it's important for them to bind their breasts, cut their hair and dress in [a] masculine way, and with families forbidding that."

What is just as concerning during the pandemic, say experts, are politicians targeting gay and trans people as a way to divert attention away from the economic challenges of COVID.

Last month, the ILGA-Europe, an LGBTQ rights group, sounded alarm bells about the rise in homophobic language and political hate speech against transgender people in Europe during the pandemic.

In its latest annual report, it found that politicians in 17 countries in Europe and Central Asia, Italy among them, have verbally attacked LGBTQ people.

'LGBT-free zones' in Poland

The situation in countries such as Poland, where a nationalist government has been openly hostile to its gay population and where 100 regions, towns and cities passed anti-gay resolutions, creating so-called "LGBT-free zones," is especially difficult.

This week, a Polish court acquitted activists accused of offending religious sentiment for producing images of a Roman Catholic icon that included the LGBTQ rainbow — a form of protest, the activists say, against a homophobic Polish Catholic Church.

Under Pope Francis, the Italian Catholic Church has been more tolerant of LGBTQ people — with one Rome parish offering shelter to migrant trans sex workers during the pandemic and the Pope telling parents of LGBTQ children that the Church loves their children.

But Italy, one of the last major European countries to recognize same-sex unions in 2016, still doesn't offer legal protection against hate speech to gay and trans people.

It's a situation Italian MP Alessandro Zan has been trying to address for several years.

© Chris Warde-Jones for CBC Alessandro Zan, Italian MP and LGBT activist, is hoping the anti-LGBT hate speech bill he is sponsoring will pass after six attempts.

Zan, a member of Italy's Democratic Party, has sponsored an amendment to Italy's penal-code provisions on hate speech and crimes that would add LGBTQ, gender and disability to groups already protected under the law, which protects against hate based on religion, ethnicity and nationality.

"Italy is in one of the last positions in Europe when it comes to recognizing civil rights and human rights. That's why we need advanced legislation. For civil society and for all society," said Zan.

The bill has sparked a national debate, including among religious leaders, and has divided the country. An international petition gathered over 77,000 signatures in support. Far-right organizers, opposing the law, argued it would violate freedom of speech.

If passed, Zan says it would likely outlaw as hate speech attacks like one launched by far-right Italian Sen. Simone Pillon, a member of the Lega party and organizer of so-called Family Day rallies against same-sex marriage and parenting.

After Pillon repeatedly accused an LGBTQ group of "luring minors" and "distributing pornography" for handing out gay-positive sex education brochures, a lower court found him guilty of defamation. Late last month, a court of appeals absolved him.

Like Rossi, Zan is especially concerned about the lack of protection against Italy's LGBTQ community at a time when its members, especially younger ones, are more isolated than ever. This year alone, ILGA-Europe documented 138 hate crimes against Italy's gay community, including violent attacks and murders of gay and trans couples.

There have also been several cases of politicians denouncing LGBTQ people, with Rome City Coun. Massimiliano Quaresima stating at a meeting last summer that "homosexuality is a disease … caused by vaccines."

While Zan's anti-hate speech bill has failed to pass into law five times, it did pass Italy's lower house in November and will soon be voted on in the Senate. But with a new government headed by Prime Minister Mario Draghi that includes members of the far-right, observers say it's far from certain it will pass.

Zan, though, says he believes enough of his fellow politicians will support it.

"It's important to approve this law because one can change the mentality, the mind of people," said Zan.

And he hopes that by passing an anti-hate-speech law in Italy, a strong message that Europe is firmly on the side of civil rights will be sent to Poland, Hungary and other countries where LGBTQ groups face even more violence with fewer protections than Italy.

Indian farmers mark 100th day of protests with road blockade


NEW DELHI — Thousands of Indian farmers blocked a massive expressway on the edges of New Delhi on Saturday to mark the 100th day of protests against agricultural laws that they say will devastate their income.

© Provided by The Canadian Press

Farmers stood on tractors and waved colorful flags while their leaders chanted slogans via a loudspeaker atop a makeshift stage.

Thousands of them have hunkered down outside New Delhi’s borders since late November to voice their anger against three laws passed by Parliament last year. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government says the laws are necessary to modernize agriculture, but farmers say they will leave them poorer and at the mercy of big corporations.

Samyukta Kisan Morcha, or Joint Farmers’ Front, said the blockade would last five hours. “It is not our hobby to block roads, but the government is not listening to us. What can we do?” said Satnam Singh, a member of the group.

The farmers have remained undeterred even after violence erupted on Jan. 26 during clashes with police that left one protester dead and hundreds injured. But they could soon run into problems.

For 100 days, Karnal Singh has lived inside the back of a trailer along a vast stretch of arterial highway that connects India’s north with New Delhi. He camped outside the capital when it was under the grip of winter and smog. Now the city is bracing for scorching summer temperatures that can hit 45 degrees Celsius (113 Fahrenheit).

But Singh, like many other farmers, is unfazed and plans to stay until the laws are completely withdrawn.

“We are not going anywhere and will fight till the end,” Singh, 60, said Friday, as he sat cross-legged inside a makeshift shelter in the back of his truck.

The mood at the Singhu border, one of the protest sites, was boisterous on Friday, with many farmers settling into their surroundings for the long haul.

Huge soup kitchens that feed thousands daily were still running. Farmers thronged both sides of the highway and hundreds of trucks have been turned into rooms, fitted with water coolers in preparation for the summer. Electric fans and air conditioners are also being installed in some trailers.

Farmers say the protests will spread across the country soon. The government, however, is hoping many of them will return home once India’s major harvesting season begins at the end of the month.

Karanbir Singh dismissed such concerns. He said their community, including friends and neighbours back in the villages, would tend to farms while he and others carried on with the protests.

“We’ll help each other to make sure no farm goes unharvested,” Singh said.

But not all farmers are against the laws. Pawan Kumar, a fruit and vegetable grower and ardent Modi supporter, said he was ready to give them a chance.

“If they (the laws) turn out to not benefit us, then we will protest again,” he said. "We will jam roads, and make that protest even bigger. Then more common people, even workers, will join. But if they turn out to be beneficial for us, we will keep them.”

Multiple rounds of talks between the government and farmers have failed to end the stalemate. The farmers have rejected an offer from the government to put the laws on hold for 18 months, saying they want a complete repeal.

The legislation is not clear on whether the government will continue to guarantee prices for certain essential crops — a system that was introduced in the 1960s to help India shore up its food reserves and prevent shortages.

Farmers also fear that the legislation signals the government is moving away from a system in which an overwhelming majority of farmers sell only to government-sanctioned marketplaces. They worry that will leave them at the mercy of corporations that will have no legal obligation to pay them the guaranteed price anymore.

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Associated Press videojournalist Rishabh R. Jain contributed to this report.

Neha Mehrotra And Sheikh Saaliq, The Associated Press

WAR IS ECOCIDE

Aerials show huge blaze after oil facility strike in Syria

BEIRUT — A suspected missile strike on an oil-loading facility used by Turkey-backed opposition forces in northern Syria sparked a massive blaze across a large area where oil tankers are normally parked, aerial and satellite images show.© Provided by The Canadian Press

Syrian opposition groups and at least one war monitor blamed Russia for the strike Friday night near the towns of Jarablus and al-Bab, near the border with Turkey. In a report, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, based in Britain, said Russian warships in the Mediterranean had fired three missiles that struck primitive oil refineries and tanker trucks in the region.

It said more than 180 trucks and tankers were burned in the massive blaze, and at least four people killed and 24 wounded.

Photos and videos from the air taken by the Syrian opposition's civil defence group known as the White Helmets showed scores of workers struggling to extinguish a massive fire resulting from burning oil tanker trucks in an open field, as black and gray smoke covered the area.

Satellite images by Planet Labs Inc. analyzed by The Associated Press on Sunday also showed the aftermath of a large fire that tore through an area near Jarablus between Friday and Saturday morning.

Past satellite photos of the site, some 75 kilometres (45 miles) northeast of the Syrian city of Aleppo, showed hundreds of tanker trucks gathered in the area.

An image from Saturday showed char marks across the entire area where the trucks once were. NASA’s fire satellite monitoring, which watches for flashes associated with blazes or explosions, showed fires at the site in the early morning hours of Saturday.

The reports of missiles fired from a Russian warship — a rare occurrence — could not be independently verified and Russia, which is a main supporter of Syrian President Bashar Assad in the country’s 10-year civil war, has not commented on the accusations.

Turkey’s state-owned Anadolu news agency reported they were ballistic missiles, but said it was not clear who carried out the attacks.

Turkey and allied Syrian opposition fighters control large parts of northern Syria.

The Associated Press