Women and nonbinary Icelanders go on a 24-hour strike to protest the gender pay gap

October 24, 20238:02 PM ET

By 

Ayana Archie

People across Iceland gather during the women's strike in Reykjavik, Iceland, Tuesday, Oct. 24, 2023. Iceland's prime minister and women across the island nation are on strike to push for an end to unequal pay and gender-based violence.

Arni Torfason/AP

Women and nonbinary people in Iceland, including the country's prime minister, went on strike Tuesday in protest of the country's gender pay gap.

Organizers of the strike encouraged women and nonbinary people to stop paid and unpaid work for a full day, including childcare, household chores and "other responsibilities related to the family or home."

Thousands of women gathered on Arnarhóll, a hill in the country's capital city of Reykjavík, and about a couple dozen other events were held around the country, such as in Drangsnes, Hvmmstangi and Raufarhöfn.

Women earn about 21% less than men, according to the organizers, and lower wages in Iceland are most distinct among immigrant women, women who work in sanitation and with children, disabled people and elderly people.

"International humanitarian law must be upheld, the suffering has to stop now and humanity must prevail," Iceland Prime Minister Katrín Jakobsdóttir said on X, formerly known as Twitter.

This is the seventh time since 1975 that Icelandic women have gone on strike, though Tuesday marks the first 24-hour strike since then. More than 90% of women went on strike in 1975, which paved the way for Vigdís Finnbogadóttir to serve as the world's first elected female president, according to the Icelandic Ministry for Foreign Affairs.

Other strikes happened in 1985, 2005, 2010, 2016 and 2018 to protest the gender pay gap and sexual violence and support the #MeToo movement.

"Their activism for equality has changed Icelandic society for the better and continues to do so today," Iceland President Guðni Jóhannesson said.

Eliza Reid, an author and Jóhannesson's wife, referenced the 1975 strike in the out-of-office message she posted Tuesday.

"Almost half a century later, equality is still far from being achieved, hence this reminder," she said. "I will therefore not be responding to emails today. You can expect to hear from me tomorrow when I am back at work."

The strike was organized by groups including the Icelandic Feminist Initiative, Women in Film and Tech and the Delta Kappa Gamma Society International.

Men are encouraged to fill in for women and nonbinary persons in their absence at work and at home.

"​​Those who can, must rely on fathers or other male relatives to take care of the child/children for that day," organizers said. "Not every child has a father and not all fathers are present, of course. Unless otherwise stated, children are welcome to the demonstrations [and] meetings, girls and boys."

New Species of Croc-Like Creature From 250 Million Years Ago Discovered

Oct 24, 2023 a
By Aristos Georgiou
Science and Health Reporter

Researchers have discovered a previously unknown species of a crocodile-like reptile that lived around 250 million years ago.

The new species belongs to an extinct group of animals known as Proterosuchidae, according to a study published in the journal Royal Society Open Science.

These ancient creatures superficially resembled crocodiles and likely lived similar lives. They were slender and had long snouts like crocs, though they lacked the armored scutes that are characteristic of these animals.

Proterosuchids were medium-sized reptiles, with the largest specimens measuring more than 10 feet long.

These animals lived approximately 255 to 245 million years ago and represent early members of a group called the Archosauriformes. This latter group includes crocodiles, dinosaurs (including birds) and several other completely extinct reptile groups.

"Proterosuchids were predatory, quadruped animals characterized by robust limbs that projected to the sides of the body, like a modern lizard," Martin Ezcurra, paleontologist with the Bernardino Rivadavia Museum of Natural Science in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and lead author of the study, told Newsweek.

"They probably had semi-aquatic habits and an unusual feature of the proterosuchid anatomy is an oversized and downturned tip of the snout that possess multiple teeth. They lived in current day South America, Africa, India, Australia, eastern Europe and Asia," he said.

An artist's reconstruction of the newly described species, Samsarasuchus pamelae. The prehistoric creature belongs to an extinct group of animals known as Proterosuchidae, which were reptiles that superficially resembled crocodiles.

GABRIEL LIO/EZCURRA ET AL., ROYAL SOCIETY OPEN SCIENCE 2023

Proterosuchids flourished on the supercontinent Pangaea following the devastating Permian-Triassic mass extinction event.

This extinction wiped out the majority of life on Earth and is considered by scientists to be the worst in our planet's history. It occurred at the transition between the end of the Permian period (around 299-252 million years ago) and the beginning of the Triassic period (around 252-201 million years ago).

The event is thought to have resulted from an intense period of volcanic activity that spewed out vast quantities of greenhouse gases, ash and other debris. This led to significant global warming as well as other environmental effects such as ocean acidification.

While the extinction event caused devastation for life on Earth, many new groups of terrestrial animals—especially reptiles—flourished and diversified following the catastrophe over the course of the Triassic as biodiversity recovered.

In the latest study, an International team of researchers describe a newly identified species of proterosuchid, which they have named Samsarasuchus pamelae.

They were able to describe the new species after a reexamination of historical specimens and the collection of several new fossils from the Panchet Formation in eastern India—a geological assemblage containing rocks that date to the early Triassic. Several isolated proterosuchid bones have been reported from this formation previously.

Other proterosuchid species have been documented from the late Permian period in Russia and the early Triassic in South Africa and China.

Samsarasuchus pamelae is represented by most of the vertebrae of the neck and trunk, although researchers also identified several cranial, pelvic, limb and tailbone fossils that may also belong to the new species.

The researchers estimate that the animal measured around 5 feet in length and had a height of around 1.5 feet.

"Samsarasuchus and other proterosuchids were predatory reptiles and probably fed upon other smaller vertebrates," Ezcurra said. "However, it is possible that they also fed upon an animal of similar size called Lystrosaurus, which are distant forerunners of mammals."

"It is probable that proterosuchids spent, at least, part of the day in shallow waters. It is not clear if proterosuchids were active hunters or not, but it is a possibility that they ambushed animals that got close to the coast of rivers."

Samsarasuchus lived in a river delta where vegetation was scarce, according to Ezcurra. This environment was dominated by very few species that were survivors of the mass extinction event.

The latest findings provide new insights into the diversity of proterosuchids following the devastating mass extinction event, according to the study.

"The discovery of Samsarasuchus sheds light on the early evolution of the group of reptiles that subsequently gave rise to dinosaurs, crocodiles and pterosaurs," Ezcurra said.

"It has allowed us to recognize robustly and using modern methodological techniques how and when the first diversification of these reptiles occurred after the end-Permian mass extinction. Thus, the new information allow us to understand better the aftermath of this dramatic biodiversity loss and how terrestrial ecosystems recovered," Ezcurra said.

Anger boils in Morocco’s earthquake zone as protesters demand promised emergency aid

Oct 24, 2023 

AMIZMIZ, Morocco (AP) — Hundreds of protesters on Tuesday took to the streets of a city near the epicenter of a devastating earthquake that hit Morocco last month to express anger and frustration after weeks of waiting for emergency assistance.

Flanked by honking cars and motorcycles, demonstrators in the High Atlas town of Amizmiz chanted against the government as law enforcement tried to contain the crowds. The protest followed a worker’s strike and torrential weekend storms that exacerbated hardship for residents living in tents near the remains of their former homes.

“Amizmiz is down!,” men yelled in Tachelhit, Morocco’s most widely spoken Indigenous language.

Entire neighborhoods were leveled by the Sept. 8 quake, forcing thousands to relocate to temporary shelters. In Amizmiz and the surrounding villages of Morocco’s Al Haouz province, nearly everyone lost a family member or friend.

Tuesday’s protest was initially organized by a group called Amizmiz Earthquake Victims’ Coordination to draw attention to “negligence by local and regional officials” and to denounce how some residents had been excluded from emergency aid.

WATCH: Frustration and anger grow amid slow earthquake rescue operations in Morocco

“The state of the camps is catastrophic,” Mohamed Belhassan, the coordinator of the group told the Moroccan news site Hespress.

The group, however, called off its planned march after meeting with local authorities who ultimately pledged to address their concerns. Despite the organizers’ cancellation, hundreds still took to the streets to protest the conditions.

Protesters waved Moroccan flags and directed their anger toward the way local authorities have failed to provide the emergency assistance announced by Moroccan King Mohammed VI’s Royal Cabinet. They chanted “Long Live the King” but implored him to visit Amizmiz to check on how local authorities were carrying out his decrees. They protested about a need for dignity and justice, decrying years of marginalization.

In the earthquake’s aftermath, Morocco convened a commission and formed a special recovery fund. The government announced earlier this month that it had begun disbursing initial monthly payments of 2,500 Moroccan dirhams ($242) and planned to later provide up to 140,000 dirhams ($13,600) to rebuild destroyed homes.

Residents of Amizmiz told The Associated Press earlier this month that although many had given authorities their contact information, most households had not yet received emergency cash assistance. In Amizmiz, which had 14,299 residents according to Morocco’s most recent census, many worry about shelter as winter in the Atlas Mountains approaches.

A trailer-based banking unit began operating in the town square in the aftermath of the earthquake. Local officials collected phone numbers to send banking codes to allow residents get their cash. For many, the subsequent delays were the final straw, Belhassan told Hespress.

The Amizmiz protest over delays in aid comes after Morocco faced criticism for accepting limited aid from only four foreign governments several days after the earthquake killed a reported 2,901 people. Officials said the decision was intended to prevent clogged roads and chaos in days critical for emergency response. Search and rescue crews unable to reach the country expressed frustration for not getting the green light from the Moroccan government.

While the world looks elsewhere, Myanmar’s civil war grinds on


Preoccupied with other conflicts, the democratic world is passing up the chance to shift the dynamics in Myanmar


ADAM SIMPSON & NICHOLAS FARRELLY 

25 OCTOBER 2023

 1503 WORDS

Myanmar’s seat left empty at the Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit in Jakarta in September.

 Willy Kurniawan/Pool/EPA

Three years have gone by since we assessed the political prospects for Myanmar just before its 2020 election. Coinciding with the release of our edited book on that country’s politics, economy and society, our thoughts weren’t wildly optimistic. The National League for Democracy, led by Aung San Suu Kyi since it took power five years earlier, had tightened controls on civil society and the media, and in 2017 the military had launched a genocidal campaign against Myanmar’s Muslim Rohingya ethnic minority.

It’s true that the country’s military-authored 2008 constitution gave the civilian government no effective oversight of the military and other security services. But while Suu Kyi’s lamentable defence of its actions before the International Court of Justice in 2019 did her no harm domestically, it brought her international celebrity to a shuddering halt, alienating democratic governments around the world. Foreign aid continued to flow, but Western investment dried up as corporations registered the reputational risk of operating under a regime tainted by horrific human rights abuses.

At the time, like other Myanmar analysts, we considered a military coup unlikely given the cosy, profitable arrangement the military had designed for itself under the 2008 constitution. But a more general principle should have given Suu Kyi pause for thought before she travelled to the Hague: authoritarian leaders, and bullies more generally, see compromise or acquiescence as weakness.

We weren’t surprised when the National League for Democracy was re-elected with a thumping majority and seemed set to consolidate its power. In the light of the hardship and abuse of the long years of miliary government, Suu Kyi’s win offered at the least a glimmer of hope.

Yet her government’s second term was cut short even before it started. On 1 February 2021, the first day of the new parliament, the military commander-in-chief, Min Aung Hlaing, ended a decade of reforms and semi-democratic rule and returned the country to the authoritarianism of the pre-2011 era. Suu Kyi was arrested and returned to her former role as political prisoner, as were the president and other National League for Democracy leaders.

As we wrote on the day of the coup, Myanmar’s people had enjoyed a decade of increased political and economic freedoms. The military was therefore likely to encounter “uncooperative subjects” as it sought to reimpose authoritarian rule.

That proved to be an understatement. The early opposition to the coup, nonviolent, almost festive, filled the streets of Yangon and other cities and towns around the country. The protesters were watched closely by the police, and sometimes the military, but little action was taken. A civil disobedience movement took hold, with striking or uncooperative workers paralysing major parts of the economy. Doctors, teachers, university lecturers: they all voiced their opposition to the military’s strangling of the government.

A month into these nonviolent protests the security services launched a more forceful response. Indiscriminate live fire into the crowds killed and injured protesters. National League for Democracy politicians and other protesters were arrested and tortured to death. A grim new chapter of reprisals and crackdowns had begun.

Under these conditions, opposition to the junta transformed from open, nonviolent action, with the risk of being abducted or shot, to an armed underground movement. The disparate militias of the newly formed People’s Defence Force are playing the key role, often supported by ethnic armed groups long opposed to the military.

The country descended into civil war — not only in the remote borderlands, where fighting led by ethnic armed groups has smouldered since independence in 1948, but also in the main cities and, perhaps most importantly, in the normally docile central dry zone populated by the numerically dominant Bamar (Burman) majority. This is the heartland from which the military usually draws much of its political strength and recruits.

A parallel National Unity Government was established, and the National League for Democracy’s UN ambassador managed to retain his position despite repeated attempts by the military junta to remove him.

The Myanmar people, their dreams having been so brutally dashed, are unlikely to accept a return to the uncomfortable compromises of the 2008 constitution. The army, having so carelessly discarded its comfortable and lucrative relationship with Suu Kyi’s League, now faces a popular and determined opposition implacably opposed to allowing it any role in government.

The catastrophic error of judgement by Min Aung Hlaing and the military leadership hasn’t only devastated much of the country. It has also destroyed any chance of peaceful coexistence between military and civilians for the foreseeable future.

This unravelling of constitutional rule made it necessary to revise our book. Our assumption had been that the National League for Democracy would govern for another five-year term, in coalition if necessary with some of the ethnic minority parties. The chance that another party would emerge to dominate Myanmar politics seemed remote, particularly while Suu Kyi remained at the League’s helm, and nor were the military-backed parties likely to cobble together a governing coalition.

We had a provisional agreement with our publishers to issue a second edition in the lead-up to the anticipated 2025 election, but these decisions are always conditional on first edition sales and other factors. Now the book required much earlier updating. Routledge accepted our proposal to accelerate the process, and the result is a fully revised second edition, just published, with extra chapters on education, health and the coup in historical context.

One difference in the new edition is that it draws on (and links to) articles published by the growing number of open-access policy outlets that provide fast — in some cases almost instant — research findings and analysis of regional issues. For Australian academics working on Myanmar politics these include the Australian Strategic Policy Institute’s Strategist, the Lowy Institute’s Interpreter, the Australian Institute of International Affairs’s Australian Outlook and the Australian National University’s East Asia Forum. The Conversation also provides an invaluable space for academics to reach a more general audience with short research-based articles, and Inside Story publishes longer essays.

While these outlets don’t provide all the rigour of refereed journal articles, they overcome the delays in traditional academic publishing that can be frustrating for academics analysing contemporary events. Having this political analysis available much more quickly and free of charge is crucial, particularly when dealing with a region like Southeast Asia where local academics, analysts and members of the public are much less likely to have access to paywalled journal articles and books.

We are particularly pleased that help from our contributors’ institutions has enabled us to make the book available for download free of charge. We see it as a crucial social justice issue that the contributors’ analyses are freely available to readers in Myanmar, Southeast Asia and the rest of the world.

Meanwhile, with much of the world’s focus understandably on conflict in Ukraine and the Middle East, the Myanmar crisis has been relegated to footnote status. Although the United States’ BURMA Act earlier this year raised hopes of more international support for the opposition movement, little progress is evident.

Myanmar’s military continues its brutal campaign of attacks on civilians, including the burning of villages and indiscriminate air strikes on civilian targets. A single attack in central Myanmar in May killed more than 160 people, including children.

While the privations and suffering of the Rohingya that we described three years ago have spread across much of the rest of the population, we should not forget the terrible situation of that community. Over a million Rohingya refugees have spent more than six years in Bangladeshi border refugee camps at the mercy of criminal gangs, their already tiny food rations further reduced in recent times.

As investigations of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity slowly wind their way through the International Court of Justice, International Criminal Court, and courts in Germany and elsewhere, the Rohingya and Myanmar’s wider population experience no respite.

The top generals have been excluded from most diplomatic engagement, and are only welcomed by Russia, China, North Korea and a few other authoritarian regimes. Even ASEAN, which has tended to tolerate a fair bit of bad behaviour in Myanmar, recognises that the military regime in Naypyitaw presents a reputational risk for the entire region. An empty seat at ASEAN symbolises much wariness about legitimising the violence and devastation unleashed by the coup and sends a signal, albeit a weak one, to other autocratic regimes.

Like Ukraine, Myanmar is suffering the consequences of terrible decisions by ruthless, isolated leaders. As we look ahead it is crucial that we don’t ignore the crimes of these despots and the need to find just outcomes.

The answers will usually be found on the ground, in the hard slog of defying dictatorial rule. But let’s not ignore the contributions that can be made by democratic states prepared to resolutely oppose these dictatorial regimes. A concerted international effort to support the National Unity Government materially, diplomatically and militarily could easily alter the dynamics in Myanmar. •


ADAM SIMPSON & NICHOLAS FARRELLY
Adam Simpson is Senior Lecturer in International Studies within Justice & Society at the University of South Australia. Nicholas Farrelly is Professor and Head of Social Sciences at the University of Tasmania. They are co-editors of the second edition of Myanmar: Politics, Economy and Society, published this month by Routledge.

The decision to revoke Shamima Begum’s British citizenship was “unlawful”, the Court of Appeal has been told.

25 October 2023,

Her lawyers attended the Court of Appeal on Tuesday in a bid to overturn the previous ruling. Picture: Alamy/Getty

By Jenny Medlicott@JennyMedlicott

At 15, Begum and her school friends Kadiza Sultana, 15, and Amira Abase, 16, fled London to join ISIS.

She was later found in a refugee camp in 2019 and had her British citizenship withdrawn on national security grounds.

Ms Begum, now 24, lost her legal challenge over the decision to deprive her of her British citizenship earlier this year.

She brought a challenge against the Home Office over the decision at the Special Immigration Appeals Commission (SIAC) but Mr Justice Jay rejected Ms Begum’s legal challenge in February.


On Tuesday Ms Begum’s lawyers began another bid to overturn the decision, which is being opposed by the Home Office.

The tribunal earlier this year found there was “credible suspicion” that Begum had been trafficked to Syria for sexual exploitation.

Now her legal team has claimed the Home Office failed to consider the legal duties Ms Begum may have been owed as a potential trafficking victim.

“[Ms Begum's] trafficking was a mandatory, relevant consideration in determining whether it was conducive to the public good and proportionate to deprive her of citizenship, but it was not considered by the Home Office,” Samantha Knights KC said in written submissions.

"As a consequence, the deprivation decision was unlawful."

Shamima Begum has taken her case to the Court of Appeal 

in a bid to overturn February's ruling. Picture: Getty

Ms Knights also pointed to another instance of a group of schoolgirls from Tower Hamlets who had been radicalised but were successfully stopped from joining ISIS after prompt action from police and the courts.

“In contrast in (Begum’s) case there was no State protection”, Ms Knights told the court.

“SIAC found that there were arguable State failures by the police, the school, and the local authority to take reasonable preventative measures to protect (her) from being trafficked.

“The UK has since failed to investigate these State failures, and Ms Begum has been provided with no protection or recovery services by the UK authorities.”

Ms Knights said these State failures could have also have contributed to Ms Begum’s trafficking.

Sir James Eadie KC said in written submissions: "The fact that someone is radicalised, and may have been manipulated, is not inconsistent with the assessment that they pose a national security risk.

"Ms Begum contends that national security should not be a 'trump' card. But the public should not be exposed to risks to national security because events and circumstances have conspired to give rise to that risk."

He continued: “An individual could have been manipulated, radicalised, and have her travel to ISIL-controlled territory facilitated by someone else.

“However, that would not touch the assessment that the individual also posed a real risk to national security, whether or not as a result of those same circumstances.”

The hearing is expected to last three days.

His Daughters Were Killed by an Israeli Tank — He Just Wants Peace

He’s a proud Palestinian-Canadian who was born and raised in the Gaza Strip’s Jabalia refugee camp. He’s a Harvard-trained fertility specialist — the first Palestinian doctor to work in an Israeli hospital. He has been nominated five times for the Nobel Peace Prize.

October 24, 2023 
Gabriel Levin

Izzeldin Abuelaish lost three daughters and a niece when an Israeli tank destroyed his Gaza home in 2009. He is now an activist for peace and wrote a memoir, "I Shall Not Hate."

 (Photo illustration by VOA; AP, Reuters photos)



It’s hard to overstate Izzeldin Abuelaish’s influence as a professor, author and fierce activist.

But before all else, he’s a family man. Three of his daughters and a niece were killed nearly 15 years ago when an Israeli tank blasted away his Gaza home, just four months after his wife succumbed to leukemia.

He has turned his anguish not into hatred but a message for peace.

He wants the world to know that from the cinders of death and devastation, there’s a glimmer of hope for a future where no child, whether Palestinian or Israeli, has to die.

By Friday, January 16, 2009, the Gaza War was in its waning days. As the Israel Defense Forces, or IDF, were drawing their ground invasion to a close, all of Gaza held on for a cease-fire that wouldn’t come until the weekend.

Abuelaish witnessed the bloodshed firsthand as the barrage of bombs and missiles dragged on for three weeks straight.

He thought the worst had passed.

Two days prior, a tank rolled up to his apartment building. He watched from his window as it readied its cannon in his direction, though no combatants were anywhere to be seen.

In a panic, he phoned one of his Israeli friends, a TV anchor, who in turn pulled some strings to get the tank to back off.

“I thought we were safe. There was nowhere else to go. We stayed home, and nothing happened. Then two days later, on Friday, [the IDF] shelled my house,” Abuelaish told VOA.

“We were there waiting for a cease-fire, a negotiation. But human lives are not a matter of negotiation. We were waiting in line for who would be killed next.”

 Palestinian Dr. Izzeldin Abuelaish sits inside Israel's Supreme Court for a hearing on his demand for an apology from Israel over a 2009 tank strike that killed three of his daughters and a niece in the Gaza Strip, in Jerusalem, Nov. 15, 2021.

Abuelaish remembers that horrific day as if it were yesterday, right down to the minute.

It was a quarter to 5 in the evening when his home was torn apart as if by a thunderclap. He rushed to his room to find his daughters struck dead, their bodies violently disfigured. His niece, too, was slain in the attack.

“These are my lovely, beautiful daughters, and I couldn’t recognize them,” he said in choked desolation. “I couldn’t recognize them. My daughter Mayar was decapitated. In that moment, I lost faith in humanity.”

Abuelaish described the scene in graphic detail. His daughters’ school journals and textbooks were streaked with blood pouring from fresh wounds.

“I see in my daughters every child, every girl, every human being. I am not free as long as others are not. I am not safe as long as others are not. We live in a world where we are all potential victims.”

It was that belief in equality that inspired Abuelaish’s activism. He published a memoir in 2010 called I Shall Not Hate and went on to create the Daughters for Life Foundation, a charity to help young women in the Middle East afford college.

Now a Canadian citizen, for over a decade he has taught lecture halls of aspiring doctors at the University of Toronto. Few people know the transformative power of an education better than Abuelaish, who made the most of refugee camp schooling before going on to some of the world’s finest universities.

He tried unsuccessfully to sue over the 2009 shelling, working his way up to Israel’s Supreme Court before his case was rejected two years ago. The IDF admitted the deaths were an accident, or “collateral damage” as they put it, but Abuelaish still hasn’t received the apology he had asked for time and again.

Izzeldin Abuelaish, a Palestinian doctor, visits the graves of his three daughters who were killed during the 2009 war in Gaza, at a cemetery in northern Gaza Strip, Nov. 15, 2021.

At least once or twice a year, he visits Gaza. The first thing he does there is go to his daughters’ graves to speak to them.

He’s confident his girls are out there somewhere, listening intently to each word. “They are only farther away from me now,” he said.

He never had the chance to say goodbye to them. His daughters couldn’t even be laid to rest in the same plot as their mother because the graveyard she’s buried in is under the strict command of the IDF.

Today, Abuelaish said he’s losing faith in humanity all over again as the death toll in Gaza spirals and the familiar roar of Israeli airstrikes and missiles returns. A number of his family members have perished in the last two weeks.

After Hamas unleashed the deadliest single-day massacre of Jews since the Holocaust, butchering everyone from infants to the elderly with callous indifference, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed a “mighty vengeance.”

Everyday Palestinians have had to bear the brunt of the IDF’s counteroffensive.

More than 2,000 Gazan children have reportedly been killed and 1.4 million Palestinians have fled their homes since the war broke out.

All Abuelaish ever wanted is peace.

And the only path toward that, he insisted, is in recognizing that all humankind is deserving of the same reverence and goodwill, that no identity is superior to the next and that the law must view each person equally.

“Palestinians and Israelis, we’re all in the same boat,” Abuelaish said. “We have to reach the shore together safely, peacefully.”

“I think it’s fair to say that there won’t be reconciliation between [Israelis and Palestinians] without Abuelaish’s perspective gaining serious ground,” said Hussein Ibish, a senior resident scholar at the Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington. “It’s ultimately about human beings treating each other as human beings.”

The world has a long way to go before that happens. The U.S. is no exception.

The FBI released data days ago finding that hate crimes surged to all-time highs last year and the year before that. On Sunday, the Department of Homeland Security warned law enforcement across the nation of swelling Islamophobia and antisemitism. Police in New York City and Los Angeles are already recording dramatic upticks in attacks against Jewish and Muslim residents.

Earlier this month, a 6-year-old Palestinian-American boy named Wadea Al-Fayoume was stabbed to death in his home by a racist landlord outside Chicago, according to the local sheriff’s office.

“The poison of hate is spreading everywhere,” Abuelaish said.

In the run-up to the apparent hate crime, bigotry has been on the rise across America because of “people who should know better,” said Maya Berry, the executive director of the American Arab Institute.

One day before Al-Fayoume was slaughtered, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who is running for president, called all Palestinians in the Gaza Strip antisemitic and vowed to turn them away as refugees.

“At times like this,” Berry said, “we need our elected officials, we need our leaders, we need our civil society organizations and we need our media to not fan the flames of hatred.”

“There has been, I think, a very unfortunate and morally bankrupt civil discourse that’s taken hold here,” Berry added. “If it’s not checked and if it’s not stopped, it’s absolutely putting communities at risk.”

As a doctor, hatred never occurred to Abuelaish as a real option.

“When I deliver babies, I don’t discriminate between Muslim, Jewish and Christian. And with all my God-given skills, I’ll always advocate for their safety, security and freedom.”

Costa Rica investigating $6.1 million bank heist, the largest in national history

Tuesday, October 24, 2023

SAN JOSE, Costa Rica (AP) — Costa Rica is investigating the theft of 3.3 billion colons ($6.1 million) in cash from its national bank, the largest bank robbery in the country's history, anti-corruption authorities confirmed Tuesday.

The money was noticed missing from bank vaults three weeks ago, but the robbery itself must have taken place in August, or earlier, said Jaime Murillo, interim manager of Costa Rica's Banco Nacional.

Two area supervisors, a technician, a guard and an accountant — all of whom worked in the area of the bank that handles currency — are under investigation. All five were suspended with pay once the theft was noticed Oct. 3. No one has been arrested.

Murillo said in a press conference that the bank had been investigating the theft privately, but that national prosecutors took up the case after details were leaked to the press and the bank brought an official complaint.

Authorities have not provided details about how the theft was carried out.

The state-owned Banco Nacional is the largest financial institution in Costa Rica.

 

Lao officials, villagers in the dark about impacts of new railway

The project to construct a route to a Vietnamese seaport is expected to be completed by 2028.

By RFA Lao
2023.10.24

A train and cargo are seen at Vientiane South Station in Laos, Aug. 9, 2022. A new Laos-Vietnam railway will connect Vientiane to the Vietnamese seaport of Vung Ang.

 Kaikeo Saiyasane/Xinhua via Getty Images

Construction of the Laos-Vietnam high-speed railway is expected to begin in early 2024, but its potential impacts on villagers who live along the planned route through Laos’ Khammouane province have not yet been made public, provincial officials and residents said.

The US$6.3 billion, 555-kilometer (345-mile) railway is being built under a public-private partnership and will connect Laos’ capital Vientiane to the Vietnamese seaport of Vung Ang in Ha Tinh province. The cross-border railway is a joint venture between Petroleum Trading Lao Public Company and Vietnam’s Deo Ca Group Joint Stock Company.

The project is part of a larger plan by the Lao government to build several new railroads to increase trade in the mostly poor, landlocked country.

The 150 kilometers (93 miles) of railway built during the first phase of construction in Laos will run from the Lao-Thai border in Khammouane province’s Thakhek district to the Lao-Vietnamese border. 

During phase two, 313 kilometers (194 miles) will be built from the Laos-Thai border to Vientiane. The project survey and design for this phase has yet to be completed.

The project’s environmental impact assessment and an environmental and social impact assessment have been completed but not disclosed to the public, the sources said.

An official from the province’s Department of Natural Resources and the Environment told Radio Free Asia that he didn’t know how many Lao residents would be affected by the construction because the companies involved have not shared the information with him.

“Everything has to be based on the information from the companies,” he said Monday. “I have not seen any reports about how many families and villages will be affected. The district has not been informed.”

Major infrastructure projects in Laos, such as hydropower dams and other railways, have caused the forced relocation of villagers and the loss of land they use along with their planted crops. Those affected have complained of being shortchanged on monetary compensation offered by the companies involved in the projects.

An official from Khammouane province’s People’s Council told RFA on Monday that he has not seen the assessments either, so he doesn’t know how many villagers will lose their land or be relocated.

Representatives of companies involved in the Laos-Vietnam railway sign the contract for the project in Vientiane, Laos, Aug. 31, 2023. Credit: Vientiane Times

Villagers express concern

Some residents who believe they may be affected by the project said they have not received any information, and there is no relevant office they can go to for information about the project’s impacts.

A villager in Thakhek district said he has not received any information about the railway construction project and that provincial administrators have not informed villagers because they are afraid that some will oppose the project and demand fair compensation. 

With other development projects in the province, some affected residents complained about receiving low compensation, he said.

The villagers were not happy about receiving compensation that was less than the market value of land they lost, he said. 

“The Lao government rarely reports on this via state media,” the villager added.

Another villager in Mahaxay district said she learned about the railway project via social media, but officials have yet to inform villagers about the potential impacts.

The signing ceremony for the construction took place in Vientiane in late August between Petroleum Trading Lao Public Company, South Korea’s Yooshin Engineering Corporation, and Korea National Railway, which were tasked with conducting a detailed design study of the railway before construction began.

Chanthone Sitthixay, chairman of Petroleum Trading Lao Public Company, told Lao Star Channel on Aug. 31 that phase one of the railways in Laos was expected to take a little over two years to complete.

In Vietnam, the railway will span 103 kilometers (64 miles) from the Laos-Vietnam border to Vung Ang seaport.

The Laos-Vietnam railway is expected to be completed and enter into operation by 2028.

Translated by Phouvong for RFA Lao. Edited by Roseanne Gerin and Matt Reed.

Turkey: Immigration Authorities Accused of Violating Syrians’ Rights with Illegal Deportations

Wednesday October 25th, 2023 by AL-MODON (Lebanese website)

The Turkish Bar Association has called for an immediate halt to deportation procedures, al-Modon writes.

The Turkish Bar Association has confirmed allegations of human rights violations against Syrian refugees within its borders. It has been reported that Turkey’s Immigration Presidency illegally deported hundreds of refugees to northern Syria.

In its report, the association has documented instances of unlawful conduct by the Turkish Immigration Presidency toward Syrians. This included arbitrary arrests and coercion, where refugees were forced to sign documents for voluntary return to northern Syria.

The report highlights that, in recent weeks, a number of foreigners and refugees were deported despite not having exhausted the legal recourse available to challenge their deportation decisions through administrative channels. Some deportations even took place despite pending annulment lawsuits against deportation orders.

What was once considered isolated incidents have evolved into a systematic administrative practice. Deportations are now carried out within seven days, a timeframe that precedes the legal deadline for filing annulment lawsuits against deportation decisions.

An investigation by the association revealed that over half of those deported through these means were Syrians, with the remainder comprising citizens from Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, and other nations. The methods of illegal deportation varied depending on the nationality of the individuals involved.

The Turkish Bar Association has called for an immediate halt to deportation procedures that contravene international legal principles and laws protecting the legal profession. It also expressed concerns about the state of the judiciary, which it believes is facing inherent flaws.

Lawyer Serhat Hikri, the head of the Immigration and Asylum Center at the Urfa Bar Association, has announced that the association intends to file a criminal complaint related to suspicions of document forgery and signature manipulation at regional immigration departments.

International and human rights organizations have previously criticized Turkish authorities for their treatment of Syrian refugees, including illegal deportations to northern Syria, where the lives of those deported may be at risk. However, the authorities have refuted these allegations, stating that deportations are limited to individuals who have violated property ownership laws, regardless of their possession of temporary protection cards or short-term residence permits.

Recent statistics from the Immigration Presidency reveal that the number of Syrian refugees under temporary protection (kamlik) in Turkey has reached its lowest level in seven years, coinciding with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s announcement of plans to “voluntarily” deport one million Syrian refugees. This move is to occur following the completion of a housing project funded by the State of Qatar, aimed at providing permanent housing for Syrian refugees in northern Syria.

10 Baha'i Followers In Iran Detained With No Reason Given -- Sources


October 24, 2023
By RFE/RL's Radio Farda

Sources have told RFE/RL’s Radio Farda that Iran’s Intelligence Ministry in the central city of Isfahan has arrested 10 people who are adherents to the Baha'i faith, the country's largest non-Muslim community.

The sources, who spoke to Radio Farda on condition of anonymity, said that security agents armed with judicial orders detained Yeganeh Agahi, Negin Khademi, Arzoo Sabhanian, Yeganeh Rouhbakhsh, Shana Shoughifar, Mojgan Shahrezaei, Neda Badakhsh (Agah), Bahareh Lotfi, Neda Emadi, and Prasto Honneini.

The reasons for their arrest and their current whereabouts remain unknown, while the sources added that the belongings of some of the detainees were confiscated by security personnel.

Some of those arrested have previously been detained and handed judicial sentences.

There are some 300,000 Baha'i adherents in Iran, where the faith is not officially recognized, and an estimated 5 million followers worldwide.

In a religious fatwa issued in 2018, Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei forbade contact, including business dealings, with followers of the faith.

Since the Islamic Republic of Iran was established in 1979, hundreds of Baha'is have been arrested and jailed for their beliefs. At least 200 have been executed or arrested and never heard from again.

Thousands more have been banned from pursuing higher education or had their property confiscated, while vandals often desecrate Baha'i cemeteries.

Since nationwide protests began in 2022, there has been a significant increase in the summoning and detention of Baha'i citizens.

Iran's judiciary last month said it closed down 12 schools and educational centers and made several arrests in the northern city of Babol on charges of “promoting the Baha'i faith.”

In July, Iranian security agents raided the homes of dozens of Baha'is in different parts of the country, arresting several well-known community leaders and charging many with "spying for Israel."