Over 1,000 political prisoners in Hong Kong since the 2019 protests (INFOGRAPHIC)

According to the Hong Kong Democracy Council, more than three-quarters are under the age of 30, more than 15% are under the age of 18. At least 179 opponents are in custody; 1,159 are on trial. Yesterday, well-known jurist Benny Tai was sentenced. While awaiting trial, Card. Zen says "martyrdom is normal in our Church": yesterday he celebrated a Mass for Catholics in China.


Hong Kong (AsiaNews) - There are 1,014 political prisoners languishing in the city's jails: in June 2019, when protests by the pro-democracy movement against the extradition bill broke out in the city (before being called off), there were only a handful. This is according to the database of the Hong Kong Democracy Council (Hkdc), a Washington-based non-governmental organisation that promotes the protection of fundamental freedoms and the rule of law in the former British colony, as well as its autonomy from the Chinese central government.

The new data presented by the Hkdc shows that Hong Kong rivals authoritarian nations such as Cuba, Belarus and Myanmar in the growth of prison populations linked to political offences. The crackdown imposed by the city authorities after the 2019 demonstrations, especially with the adoption of the Beijing-imposed National Security Act in 2020, has in fact restricted, suspended or cancelled the rights of assembly, association, expression and political participation.

The prisoners in question include leaders of NGOs, trade unions and protest groups, as well as journalists, activists, teachers, students, opposition politicians and lawyers. Many of them are well-known figures in the democratic camp, such as Catholic media magnate Jimmy Lai and Joshua Wong, but most are ordinary citizens. The most contested crime is that of unauthorised demonstration, with 234 convicted.

The number of young people in prison is striking: more than three quarters of the political prisoners are under 30; more than half are under 25 and more than 15% are minors. Largely due to the passing of the security measure, the number of opponents held in pre-trial detention and awaiting trial has also increased: to date there are 179; 69 have served more than a year in pre-trial detention, the average being 12.4 months per defendant.

To date, 1,159 citizens are on trial on politically motivated charges. Many are already in prison, and most are indicted for threats to national security, sedition and riots. The latest to receive a conviction yesterday was Benny Tai. Already on remand for threats to national security, the lawyer and democratic activist will have to serve 10 months in prison for breaking the local law on electoral publicity.

Card. Joseph Zen Ze-kiun was also on trial, on 19 September. A court yesterday indicted the city's emeritus bishop, along with five well-known representatives of the Democratic Front, for failing to properly register Fund 612, which until last October assisted thousands of protesters involved in the 2019 protests. Card. Zen and the other defendants were trustees of the humanitarian organisation: they all pleaded not guilty.

The police had arrested and then released the cardinal and the others charged with the far more serious charge of 'collusion' with foreign forces, in violation of the security law. Yesterday in front of 300 faithful, Card. Zen celebrated a Mass for the World Day of Prayer for the Church in China. In an indirect reference to his court case, he said in his homily that 'martyrdom is normal in our Church'. The cardinal then asked the faithful to pray for "our brothers and sisters who cannot attend Mass because they are not free".

“Green Nobel” goes to activist who saved Mekong River rapids

by Steve Suwannarat

Retired Thai teacher Niwat Roykaew is among this year's recipients of the Goldman Environmental Prize. In his country, he successfully battled a Chinese project that would have blasted rocky islets to allow commercial and tourist navigation on a 400-kilometre stretch of the mighty river.

Bangkok (AsiaNews) – Thai activist Niwat Roykaew is among the recipients of this year’s Goldman Environmental Prize, also known as the “Green Nobel”, awarded yesterday by the Goldman Environmental Foundation in San Francisco.

Of undeclared age, with well-known principles pursued with determination, Niwat Roykaew was one of several people selected for their environmental commitment and care for communities who draw what they need to exist from nature.

Like every year, the prize went to outstanding individuals from each continent: Niwat Roykaew was joined by Chima Williams from Nigeria (Africa), Marjan Minnesma from the Netherlands (Europe), Nalleli Cobo from the United States (North America), Julien Vincent from Australia (Islands), and Alex Lucitante and Alexandra Narvaez from Ecuador (Central/South America). The latter are engaged in the fight against mining on Indigenous land.

Affectionately known as “Kru Thi”, Teacher Thi in Thai, Niwat Roykaew taught for many years. After his retirement, he distinguished himself for his uncompromising defence of the Mekong River, Southeast Asia’s main waterway, threatened by massive development projects.

Because of his action, Thailand achieved its only victory so far against corporate interests (starting with China’s) with an eye on the mighty waterway, home to tens of millions of people and a habitat that is both unique and increasingly threatened.

A Chinese project was cancelled after a struggle that lasted 20 years. Had it been approved, it would have blasted several rapids to allow commercial and tourist navigation on the river along a 400 km stretch between Thailand and Laos.

The project had been initially welcomed and supported by Thai authorities, who eventually reversed their position under pressure from public opinion, environmental groups and rural communities.

In its decision to award the prize to Niwat Roykaew, the Goldman Environmental Foundation noted that “The official cancellation of the Mekong rapids blasting project marks a rare, formal win in a region facing substantial pressure from development projects and is a testament to the collective power of Kru Thi’s campaign.”

Furthermore, “By amplifying the voices of local people in articulating the Mekong’s environmental, social, and cultural value, he forced the Thai government to pay attention to civil society and increased its accountability to its citizens.”

With his typical frankness and simplicity, Niwat Roykaew welcomed the award stating: “If I didn’t speak out about this, the Mekong River would be destroyed 100 per cent”.

He also noted that his activism and that of others brought to the attention of world public the risks facing the mighty river, local traditional ways of life, and its extremely varied and valuable habitats.

DW fact check: Is hunger being used as a weapon in the Ukraine war?

Who is responsible for shuttered ports and mined maritime routes in the Black Sea? Are sanctions against Russia driving up global food prices? Can grain supplies from Ukraine be replaced? A DW fact check clarifies.

A Russian solider at the empty Ukrainian port of Mariupol, which has stopped exporting food grains

Are food exports being misused as a "quiet weapon" in Russia's war against Ukraine?

Claim: Russia is weaponizing food supplies in its war against Ukraine. "There is no question that food is being used as a weapon of war in many different ways," says World Food Program (WFP) chief David Beasley.

DW Fact Check: True.

Since the outbreak of the Ukraine war, WFP Executive Director David Beasley has warned of a global hunger crisis. In an interview on US TV network CBS' "Face the Nation" show on April 17, he answered "yes" to the question of whether Putin was using hunger as a weapon, stating: "There's no question that food is being used as a weapon of war in many different ways."

Just days later at a UN Security Council meeting on May 19, Beasley warned: "Failure to open the ports in the Odesa region is a declaration of war on global food security and will result in famines, destabilization and mass migration around the world."

A temporary halt in Russia's grain exports has further exacerbated the situation. The world's largest wheat exporter suspended grain exports from late March through the end of June.

Former Russian president and senior security official Dmitry Medvedev called food exports a "quiet weapon" in the fight against Western sanctions, indirectly confirming Beasley's statements. "Many countries depend on our supplies for their food security," Medvedev wrote on his Telegram channel on April 1. "It turns out that our food is our quiet weapon," he wrote. "Quiet but ominous."

Per Brodersen, director of the German Agribusiness Alliance at the German Eastern Business Association accuses Moscow of using this weapon deliberately: "Uncertainty is driving up prices," Brodersen said in an interview with DW. "Countries that hoard grain can sell it later at a higher price."

Who is laying mines in the Black Sea?

Claim: "Russia is not the one refusing to open 'Ukrainian ports,' but rather it's Ukraine that refuses to remove mines from ports to ensure a safe exit of ships," says Russia's UN Ambassador Dmitry Polyansky.

DW fact check: Not provable.

The war in Ukraine has led to the closure of key ports in the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov, resulting in a drastic drop in grain exports from Ukraine. In statements to the International Maritime Organization (IMO), both Ukraine and Russia accuse each other of laying underwater mines in the sea, paralyzing international shipping.

Ukraine's Ministry of Infrastructure issued a decree on April 28 closing the seaports of Berdyansk, Kherson, Mariupol, and Skadovsk because of inadequate security.

Reacting to the closures, Russia's ambassador to the UN, Dmitry Polyansky, wrote on Twitter: "It's egregious that some #SecurityCouncil members continued to appeal to us today at #foodsecurity debates to 'open Ukrainian ports' knowing that it's #Ukraine️ who refuses to demine them and allow safe passage of ships which we guarantee. What a hypocrisy!"

In a report by the AFP news agency published in The Moscow Times on May 20, a spokesman for the French army suggested that both Russia and Ukraine had laid mines in the Black Sea and port basins.

Are sanctions to blame for high grain prices?

Claim: "The disruption of trade, logistics and financial chains and the resulting rise in global food prices is a direct result of the senseless buildup of unilateral anti-Russian restrictions and threats of further escalation of sanctions pressure on Russia," Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said at a May 18 press conference in Moscow.

DW Fact Check: False.

Accusing the West of "spreading lies," Zakharova says Russia is not responsible for global food shortages. As early as mid-2020, World Food Program Executive Director David Beasley warned of the threat of "biblical famine," Zakharova said. "Western sanctions against Russia have exacerbated these trends."

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock called the Kremlin's accusations a "disinformation campaign" and reiterated at the G7 foreign ministers meeting in Berlin in mid-May that "there are no sanctions against grain and humanitarian aid."

The World Food Program has confirmed that. "Food exports from Russia are not sanctioned," spokesman Martin Rentsch told DW. However, it is "not economical to buy from there because prices are high and there are administrative hurdles," he added.

The Russia Union of Grain Exporters, Rusgrain Union, which says it is supported by Russia's Ministry of Agriculture, also reiterates this: "We stress that sanctions and export controls against Russia do not or will not affect essential food exports and agricultural products for developing countries," reads a tweet from the association.

Can Ukrainian grain supplies be replaced?

Claim: "The positive news is that other suppliers can step in. The gap can apparently be filled," says Per Brodersen, director of the German Agribusiness Alliance at the German Eastern Business Association.

DW fact check: True.

Ukraine is one of the world's largest producers and exporters of grains and oils. In view of rising food prices and collapsing Ukrainian exports, there are growing fears of famine in poorer countries, prompting the World Food Program to look for new suppliers.

"Global market prices are also causing huge problems and increasing the cost of our operations," WFP spokesman Martin Rentsch told DW. "Ukraine was our largest source of food in terms of volume. But we are able to find other sources of supply, for example in Indiaor Canada."

The Leibniz Institute of Agricultural Development in Transition Economies (IAMO) also assumes that "additional exports from other regions, including India, the USA and Australia, will probably largely compensate for the lower supplies from Russia and Ukraine," IAMO Director Thomas Glauben wrote in a statement.

Per Brodersen, director of the German Agribusiness Alliance says it's a bright spot in an otherwise bleak scenario. "The gap can apparently be filled," he said. "Other suppliers can step in."

This article was originally written in German

NO ZIRCON ENCRUSTED TWEEZERS
Russia shows off Zircon hypersonic cruise missile in test-launch at sea

Sat, May 28, 2022

(Reuters) - Russia successfully test-fired a hypersonic Zircon cruise missile over a distance of about 1,000 km (625 miles), the defence ministry said on Saturday.

The missile was fired from the Barents Sea and hit a target in the White Sea, it said. Video released by the ministry showed the missile being fired from a ship and blazing into the sky on a steep trajectory.

President Vladimir Putin has described the Zircon as part of a new generation of unrivalled arms systems. Hypersonic weapons can travel at nine times the speed of sound, and Russia has conducted previous test-launches of the Zircon from warships and submarines in the past year.

Russia's military has suffered heavy losses of men and equipment during its three-month invasion of Ukraine, which it calls a "special operation", but it has continued to stage high-profile weapons tests to remind the world of its prowess in missile technology.

Last month it test-launched a new nuclear-capable intercontinental missile, the Sarmat, capable of carrying 10 or more warheads and striking the United States.

Cannes Film Festival: Iran's Zar Amir Ebrahimi wins best actress award

The New Arab Staff & Agencies
28 May, 2022
Exiled Iranian actress Zar Amir Ebrahimi in Holy Spider plays a journalist trying to solve the serial murders of prostitutes in the holy city of Mashhad in Iran.

Iranian actress Zar Amir Ebrahimi said cinema has 'practically saved my life' 

[PATRICIA DE MELO MOREIRA/AFP/Getty]

The Cannes Film Festival on Saturday awarded its best actress award to Iranian Zar Amir Ebrahimi, who lives in exile in France, for her role in Holy Spider.

In the film, she plays a journalist trying to solve the serial murders of prostitutes in the holy city of Mashhad.

"I have come a long way to be on this stage tonight," she told the audience at the awards ceremony.

"It was not an easy story, it was humiliation, it was solitude but there was cinema, it was darkness but there was cinema. Now I'm standing in front of you on a night of joy."

Holy Spider, directed by Iranian Ali Abbasi, is inspired by the true story of a working-class man who killed prostitutes in the early 2000s and became known as the "Spider Killer".

Abbassi was denied permission to film in Iran and it was ultimately shot in Jordan.

Palestinian director dedicates film to Shireen Abu Akleh

Ebrahimi became a star in Iran in her early twenties for her supporting role in one of its longest-running soap operas, Nargess.

But her life and career fell apart shortly after the show ended, when a sex tape was leaked online in 2006 which, it was claimed, featured her.

Ebrahimi's character in Holy Spider has also been a victim of lascivious rumours and male predation.

The film suggests there was little official pressure to catch the murderer, who ends up a hero among the religious right.

"This film is about women, it's about their bodies, it's a movie full of faces, hair, hands, feet, breasts, sex – everything that is impossible to show in Iran," Ebrahimi said.

"Thank you, Ali Abbasi for being so crazy and so generous and for directing against all odds this powerful thing."

Cinema, she added, has "practically saved my life".

Boy from Heaven: Tarik Saleh’s thriller set in Egypt’s Al-Azhar

Saleh’s new film, which depicts religious power struggles and corruption in Egypt, premiered at Cannes Film Festival.

The film stars Tawfeek Barhom as Adam, a student at Cairo’s prestigious Al-Azhar University who becomes embroiled in a conspiracy 

[Still from Boy from Heaven/Atmo]

By Namrata Joshi

Published On 28 May 2022

Cannes, France – Tarik Saleh, the Swedish-Egyptian director whose new film Boy from Heaven premiered in the competition section of the Cannes Film Festival this week, makes light of being called bold and brave for his work.

“I know Egyptians and Saudis who go out and say the truth. [They] go to jail, get tortured, get out and tell the truth again. Those are brave people,” he told Al Jazeera.

“I have a Swedish passport. I live in Europe. I shot the film [that is set in Cairo] in Istanbul,” he says.

Nevertheless, Boy from Heaven is set to ruffle feathers with its portrayal of corruption, hypocrisy, and power struggles within Egypt’s religious establishment and the state.

The film is a thriller about Adam (played by Tawfeek Barhom), a young man from a fishing community in northern Egypt who receives a grant to study Islamic thought at Cairo’s prestigious Al-Azhar University only to become embroiled in a conspiracy to elect the next grand imam. It is a story of spying and scandal, informants and assailants, intrigues and killings.

Film critic Peter Bradshaw praised the “intersection between a conspiracy-thriller and a more general human drama” in the film.

“Boy from Heaven reminded me a little bit of the English author John Le Carré, who of course writes about spying and the human cost of that job,” he told Al Jazeera. “[Saleh] is also boldly challenging the corruption of church and state,” says Bradshaw.

Saleh’s last outing, The Nine Hilton Incident, won the World Cinema Grand Jury Prize: Dramatic at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival but was banned in Egypt for its portrayal of corruption in the country’s police.

Saleh thinks that it is his job to make films without thinking of the potential fallout.

“I believe that as an artist, you must tell the truth; the emotional truth because there is no objective truth. If you are specific, and you’re trying to be honest, and you don’t speculate, there is a chance to actually say something [of significance] through cinema,” he says.

Tarik Saleh poses at the 75th Cannes Film Festival [Eric Gaillard/Reuters]

The film’s setting in one of the most renowned educational institutions for Sunni Muslims makes it highly unusual.

“How many would have known about Al-Azhar and the grand imam before they saw the film?” Saleh asks.

Boy from Heaven tries to present a rounded view of the religious world, warts and all – the factionalism within the faith in Al-Azhar, the divides between the liberals and conservatives – but it is not an attack on the Islamic faith itself.

Saleh thinks the most controversial aspects will be in its portrayal of the state security’s interference in the religious establishment, and the abuse of power – be it by an individual or an institution.

“Power is a double-edged sword. It can easily cut your own hand,” asserts the lead protagonist, Adam, in the film.

Saleh believes he has a responsibility to tell these kinds of stories.

“Egyptians who live in Egypt cannot tell the story. It’s impossible to do so. Egypt is a military dictatorship.”

‘I am someone else I don’t like to be’

Raised in Stockholm by a Swedish mother and an Egyptian father, Saleh, 50, calls himself an “everyday Muslim”.

“I don’t fast as much as I should, I don’t pray as much, I drink alcohol every now and then. I know five verses that you need to know to be able to pray but I don’t know the whole Quran by heart like my grandfather and grandmother did,” he says.

His grandfather, incidentally, studied at Al-Azhar – which sparked Saleh’s curiosity and desire to make a film about the university.

Saleh worked closely with an imam while he was writing the film’s script because he wanted it to be theologically correct, and he was mindful of the pervasiveness of Islamophobia in popular culture. “We had incredible discussions. I enjoyed asking him all the forbidden questions and he had these beautiful explanations,” he says.

Saleh is keen to stress that Boy from Heaven is fictional. The only real figure in the film is President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, but even he is only present as a photograph on the wall. The real grand imam of Al-Azhar, Sheikh Ahmed Mohamed el-Tayeb, is someone Saleh has described in a news conference as a “sophisticated voice of reason in a region full of crazy voices and megalomaniac leaders”.

Al-Azhar itself is a modern educational institution that also teaches subjects like medicine and computer science and has female students.

“What I have done is married history with how things are today to create a parallel reality,” he says.

Saleh thinks that human beings need to constantly ask themselves the question that forms the last line of his film: “What did you learn?” It is the line that motivated Barhom to take up the lead role.

“It’s a journey. It’s about growing up in these places which might rob you a little of youth, but you get to a point to be the best version of yourself, to deal with anything life throws at you,” Barhom said in a news conference.

The last line of the film – ‘What did you learn?’ – motivated Barhom to take up the lead role [Still from Boy from Heaven/Atmo]

Ultimately, Saleh believes the film has universal resonance, in that it is about people struggling with the conflict between what they believe in and what they have to do.

He said this conflict applies to his own work, and describes himself as a reluctant director who makes films because others cannot and because he does not trust other directors with his writing, as well as for more prosaic reasons.

“I am a father of two children. I must put food on the table. And as a director, I get paid well, because people think I’m good at it,” he laughs.

He said he finds being on the sets a tortuous process; he loves being with the cast and crew, but hates commanding them.

“I am someone else that I don’t like to be,” he says. “I must be like a general who is sacrificing people and it’s very harsh. It’s brutal. I feel like I’m a guy who’s just sending people off to die,” he says.

SOURCE: AL JAZEERA

Jordan's plastic rubbish transformed into art with environmental message

Artist Maria Nissan said she became enchanted with Jordan's capital of Amman when she first visited three years ago but felt 'frustration and anger' at the piled-up rubbish.

The New Arab Staff & Agencies
29 May, 2022

Only 7 percent of Jordan's annual solid waste load of 2.2 million tonnes is recycled, according to the UN Development Programme 

[Stephen J. Boitano/LightRocket/Getty-file photo]


Jordan-based artist Maria Nissan is on a mission: to rid the world of single-use plastics and to raise public awareness about the environmental scourge through eye-catching art.

One of her best-known murals graces the side of a building in the capital Amman, a giant work made from more than 2,000 plastic bottles, almost 1,000 shopping bags and over 150 hookah pipe hoses.

A US citizen of Iraqi origin, Nissan said she became enchanted with Amman when she first visited three years ago, but also felt "frustration and anger" at the piles of rubbish on the streets and in areas of natural beauty.

"Despite the beauty of the city, walking its streets can be a journey filled with all kinds of trash," the 35-year-old said.

"My eyes cannot turn away from the abundant shiny plastic bags, glass bottles, soda cans, candy bar wrappers," said Nissan, who occasionally sports a dress made from a sturdy blue Ikea bag.

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Trained in painting and drawing in the United States and Italy, Nissan decided to collect and repurpose the rubbish to create art – often collages themed on women's faces and flowers, and motifs.

Her home, where she has a rooftop workspace under a large canopy, is filled with every imaginable kind of discarded plastic object, from razors and toothbrushes to lighters, pens and plastic spoons.

"Art made of plastic is a concrete and powerful way to raise concerns on environmental issues that affect Jordanians, their children, their communities and natural environments in the kingdom," she said.
'Everybody's problem'

"A bottle littered in a valley will take up to 450 years to decompose," said Nissan, pointing out that the effect is "micro-plastics polluting the soils, water and the wildlife.

"Because plastics are littered indiscriminately in fields and water, livestock and fish feed themselves indirectly with plastic pieces that we will ultimately find on our plates."

Nissan's work has been exhibited in 12 shows in Jordan as well as in Italy and Greece, and features on her Instagram channel @marianissanart, all with the purpose of changing minds and habits.

Jordanians use three billion plastic bags every year, part of the country's annual solid waste load of 2.2 million tonnes, of which only seven percent is recycled, according to the UN Development Programme.

Nissan urges people to avoid buying plastic products and to go shopping with reusable bags, and also advocates a tax on single-use plastics.

"The consequences of single-use plastic pollution are often delayed, and therefore it is difficult to have people feel accountable and responsible for their own acts," she said.

"Plastic comes back to us in one way or another… It's nobody's responsibility until it becomes everybody's problem."

KETTLING AND TEAR GASSING TO FOLLOW

Climate change: Egypt promises to allow environmental activism as COP27 host

Egypt's foreign minister said his country would allow environmental protests during the COP27 UN Climate Change Conference, for which Cairo is the president.

The New Arab Staff & Agencies
24 May, 2022

'We are developing a facility adjacent to the conference centre that will provide them the full opportunity of participation,' said a senior Egyptian official [source: Getty]

Egypt, host of the next UN summit on climate change, will push countries to make good on their pledges to sharply reduce greenhouse gas emissions, facilitate “non-adversarial” talks on compensation to developing countries for global warming impacts and allow climate activists to protest, said the incoming president of COP27.

In an interview on Monday with The Associated Press, Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry, who is also the president-designate of the next annual Conference of the Parties, to be held in November in the Red Sea resort city Sharm El-Sheikh, called the overall goal “implementation”.

Shoukry said the last summit, held last year in Glasgow Scotland finalised many commitments made during the Paris Agreement in 2015, which aimed to reduce emissions aimed at limiting global warming to 1.5 Celsius (2.7 Fahrenheit) since pre-industrial times.

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“The commitments and the pledges now have to be implemented in all sectors of the climate change agenda, whether it’s in adaptation, mitigation or finance, loss and damage,” said Shoukry, who was attending the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

In recent years, many developing nations and activists have increased long-standing calls to establish a fund to compensate poor countries for the devastation brought about by climate change, disproportionately caused by rich countries because of past emissions.

The call was rejected during last year’s summit. Many supporters of the idea, often called “loss and damage,” hope to make progress on it in November. Their arguments could get a boost by the symbolic significance of this conference being held in Egypt, a developing nation in North Africa.

“We hope that the discussion (on loss and damage) is comprehensive, but it is non-adversarial,” said, Shoukry, adding that there should be a recognition among all countries “that we are all in the same boat and for us to succeed, we all have to succeed”.

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Shoukry said protests would be allowed during the conference. Egyptian authorities crackdown on demonstrations not sanctioned by the government and retain the right to cancel or postpone any protests, leading activists to wonder what, if any, demonstrations would be able to happen, a common occurrence at previous COPs.

“We are developing a facility adjacent to the conference centre that will provide them the full opportunity of participation, of activism, of demonstration, of voicing that opinion,” said Shoukry. “And we will also provide them access, as is traditionally done on one day of the negotiations, to the negotiating hold itself.”

Protests at global UN climate conferences often fill the streets with floats and banners and go on for days. The protests, as well as booths and press conferences outside the official facilities, make up a conference of their own, although they are not where critical language on carbon commitments is hammered out.

Shoukry said during meetings in Denmark earlier this month around climate pledges he invited protesters who were outside to speak with him. He called the meeting “productive” and that Egypt’s climate goals lined up with those of many protesters.

“We recognize their impact, their determination, their commitment to keep us all honest as governmental representatives and parties that we should not be delinquent and rising to the occasion and dealing with this very important issue,” he said.

Ahead of hosting the conference, Egypt has been racing to launch many agreements around renewable energies.

In March, Egypt and Norway signed an agreement for several projects around green hydrogen and building green infrastructure projects in African countries. Egypt and clean energy company Scatec also signed a $5 billion memorandum of understanding to establish a plant in the Suez Canal area for producing green ammonia from green hydrogen. Such deals come on the heels of years of steady investment in wind and solar technologies.

Shoukry said Egypt was relying as much as possible on renewable energy in the building of several new cities, including a new administrative capital east of Cairo. Critics have called it a “vanity project,” but the government said it’s necessary to absorb Cairo’s booming population, expected to double to 40 million people by 2050.

Shoukry said a rapid shift to renewable energies presented enormous opportunities for investors, a common argument of proponents. When asked whether fossil fuel companies could or should be part of the transition to renewable energies, an argument made by oil and gas companies, including many at the Davos conference, Shoukry disagreed.

“I can’t say that fossil fuels are part of the solution. Fossil fuels have been the problem,” he said. “We might see in gas a transitional source of energy with certainly less emissions. But I think we have to really move quickly to the net zero goal and we have to apply ourselves more effectively in new technologies, in renewable energy.”

GLOBAL HEALTHCARE CRISIS

Uganda: You Have Three Days to Return to Work or Be Dismissed - Govt Tells Striking Nurses

28 MAY 2022
Nile Post News (Kampala)By Kenneth Kazibwe

Government has given a three day ultimatum to striking allied workers to return to work or else they will be sucked for absconding from duty.

Allied workers under their umbrellas body , the Uganda Nurses and Midwives Union (UNMU) laid down tools accusing government of failure to implement the Collective Bargaining Agreement made in 2017 to have their pay increased.

The strike has seen many patients in government hospitals throughout the country stranded without anyone to attend to them.

However, on Friday, the Minister for Public Service, Wilson Muruuli Mukasa said the strike contravenes the Public Service Negotiating, Consultative and Disputes Settlement Machinery Act 2008 that stipulates that any industrial action must follow a 90 day notes after exhaustion of all the other avenues.

He however noted this was not the case in regards the current strike, urging the striking nurses and other allied workers to return to work by Monday or face dismissal.

"In this regard, government is calling upon all allied professional health workers, nurses and midwives to report to duty by Monday, 30, May, 2022. By failing to do so, they will be considered as having abandoning duty and resigned accordingly, "Minister Mukasa said.

The Public Service Minister directed Chief Administrative Officers and hospital directors to take stock of all health professionals who will not have returned to work by Monday and declare the positions vacant in line with laid down procedures.

Ray of hope

There seemed to be a ray of hope for the striking health professionals after the minister said their enhancements are soon going to be effected.

Minister Muruuli Mukasa told the striking health professionals that after consultations with various stakeholders including the executive, Prime Minister , Ministry of Finance and Ministry of Gender, it was agreed that their pay rise will be effected in the financial year 2022/23.

"This is based on the 2018 pay enhancement plan, the collective bargaining agreement and available resources. Communication of the revised pay structures will follow the statutory procedures through the issuance of the annual salary circular standing instruction to the public service alongside the budget for financial year 2022/23."

However, it remains to be seen if the nurses and other striking health professionals will heed to the directive by government to lay down tools.

AUSTERITY CAUSES GLOBAL HEALTHCARE CRISIS

AUSTRALIA

AMA urges federal government to fix ‘broken’ health system as NSW paramedics protest shortages

Dr Omar Khorshid calls on commonwealth to work with states as union protests ambulance ramping and staffing shortages in NSW

NSW paramedics have chalked their ambulances to protest against working conditions. Photograph: Brett Simpson/Australian Paramedics Association

Royce Kurmelovs
Guardian Australia

Sat 28 May 2022 

The head of the Australian Medical Association says the federal government must “stop the blame game” and step in to relieve state and territory health systems buckling under high demand.

The AMA president, Dr Omar Khorshid, said the federal government had to “accept its responsibility for our national health system” and “sit down” with the states to resolve the issues during an appearance on Weekend Sunrise on Saturday.


“Having a federal government actually accept its responsibility for our national health system, for the fact that all parts of the system are all interlinked, and they’re broken at the moment. That would be a great start,” Khorshid said.


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The comments come as roughly 2,500 of the New South Wales’ 3,800 paramedics are taking part in the action to protest ambulance ramping and staffing shortages in the state.

Paramedics have chalked their ambulances to protest working conditions and are refusing to leave their home stations to cover roster gaps elsewhere, refusing to fill out forms relating to key performance indicators, and refusing to bill patients.

The industrial action was originally planned to take place from Monday and last for two weeks but the NSW government applied to the industrial relations commissioner to stop it after the Australian Paramedics Association gave notice.

NSW Ambulance said “the safety of patients is our top priority” and there were “plans in place to minimise disruption to the community”.

“NSW Ambulance will continue its open discussions to mitigate any potential impacts on patients and the public should be assured that despite the industrial action, all paramedics will continue to immediately respond to life threatening medical emergencies,” it said.

NSW Ambulance said 750 paramedics and control centre staff had been recruited under a surge plan with staffing and final postings to be determined “over the coming months”.

The premier, Dominic Perrottet, said on Friday that the June budget would bring more funding for paramedics.
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“[That funding is] incredibly important because they do an amazing job on our frontline every single day,” he said

The Australian Paramedics Association delegate Brett Simpson, who has been working as a paramedic for 13 years, said the situation was getting worse “week on week” and that a fix was needed now.

“Being told by the premier that we have to wait until the budget announcement for some sort of answer to the crisis – it is beyond belief,” he said.

Prior to the pandemic Simpson said the service received around 3,300 triple zero calls a day but that number had increased to between 3,800 and 4,000 calls for help. On some days he said that number spikes closer to 5,000.

“It is genuinely frightening,” he said. “It’s not unusual to see over 300 triple zero calls across metropolitan Sydney waiting to be answered.

“It’s taking 30 or even 60 minutes to even find an ambulance to put on the case.”

On Thursday he said there were zero available ambulances in the greater Newcastle area, the Central Coast and the Illawarra while there were eight available in metropolitan Sydney.

According to the Productivity Commission there were 48.6 ambulance officers, including both students and qualified paramedics, per 100,000 residents in NSW.

This is compared to 61.7 per 100,000 in Victoria, 71.3 in Queensland and 61.1 in South Australia. The only state with lower coverage was Western Australia with 34 ambulance officers per 100,000.

With the Omicron strain of Covid-19 now endemic, and the long-anticipated flu season roaring back, health systems around the country are struggling.

Some jurisdictions such as Victoria have taken steps to change the way triage takes place to reduce pressure on the system, but the Victorian Ambulance Union general secretary, Danny Hill, said the situation was the worst he had seen.
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“Our response times are blowing out,” Hill said. “They’re the worst they’ve ever been by far and with the flu season coming it’s not looking like it’s going to get any better any time soon.”

Hill said on Thursday a spike in demand coincided with an outage in the computer-aided dispatch system (CAD) forcing operators to switch to a pen and paper system for allocating ambulances during the half hour it took to get it fixed.

The situation resulted in the ambulance service going to “code red”.

“We had 70 patients pending, which meant 70 patients who required an ambulance,” Hill said.

He said the health system was in crisis but he did not believe any state or territory was “handling the situation comfortably at the moment”.

“It’s a very scary thing to think about,” he said. “You want to know that when, at the time you need to call an ambulance, you’ll get one and you’ll get life-saving care.”