Israel’s main labour union calls strike as pressure mounts for hostage deal

The call for a one-day general strike by Arnon Bar-David was backed by Israel’s main manufacturers and entrepreneurs in the high-tech sector.

Sunday 01/09/2024

People attend a candlelight vigil accompanied by prayers for killed Israeli hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin, September 1, 2024. (AFP)

JERUSALEM –

The head of Israel’s biggest labour union called for a general strike on Monday to pressure Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government to bring back Israeli hostages still held by Hamas in Gaza, as thousands of protesters took to the streets.

The call for a one-day general strike by Arnon Bar-David, whose Histadrut union represents hundreds of thousands of workers, was backed by Israel’s main manufacturers and entrepreneurs in the high-tech sector.

The alliance of some of the most powerful voices in Israel’s economy reflected the scale of public anger over the deaths, announced on Sunday, of six hostages among some 250 people seized by Hamas militants on October 7 last year.

“We must reach a deal (on the return of the surviving hostages). A deal is more important than anything else,” Bar-David told a press conference. “We are getting body bags instead of a deal.”

Israel said earlier it had recovered the six bodies from a tunnel in southern Gaza where they were killed not long before Israeli troops reached them.

Ben Gurion Airport, Israel’s main air transport hub, will be closed from 8 a.m. (0500 GMT) on Monday, he said. Municipal services in Israel’s economic hub Tel-Aviv will also be shut for part of Monday.

Israel’s Manufacturers’ Association said it backed the strike and accused the government of failing in its “moral duty” to bring the hostages back alive.

“Without the return of the hostages we will not be able to end the war, we will not be able to rehabilitate ourselves as a society and we will not be able to begin to rehabilitate the Israeli economy,” said association head Ron Tomer.

Israeli opposition leader and former prime minister Yair Lapid earlier threw his support behind the strike action.

Protests

Thousands of protesters blocked roads on Sunday in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv and demonstrated outside Netanyahu’s residence.

The Hostages Families Forum, which represents the families of some of those held in Gaza, said the death of the six was the direct result of Netanyahu’s failure to secure a deal to halt the fighting and bring their loved ones home.

“They were all murdered in the last few days, after surviving almost 11 months of abuse, torture and starvation in Hamas captivity,” the group said in a statement.

Gil Dickmann, a cousin of Carmel Gat, whose body was among those returned, urged Israelis to put pressure on the government in a post on social media platform X.

“Take to the streets and shut down the country until everyone returns. They can still be saved,” Dickmann wrote.

Some 101 hostages are still being held in Gaza, although Israel believes one-third are no longer alive. Netanyahu and many hardliners in his government, as well their supporters, remain opposed to any hostage deal that would release militants from Israeli prisons and help to keep Hamas in power.

Aerial footage showed Tel Aviv’s main highway blocked with protestors holding flags with pictures of the slain hostages.

Shiri Elbag, whose daughter Liri is being held by militants in Gaza, told Israel’s Channel 12 that she was moved to see the protesters but saddened that it took this event to get masses into the streets.

“It’s true that (Hamas chief Yahya) Sinwar is the murderer, the father of all murderers, but ultimately Liri and I are citizens of Israel and I appeal to Benjamin Netanyahu. It’s his responsibility and his job to bring them home,” Elbag said.

Meirav Leshem Gonen, whose daughter Romi is being held by Hamas in Gaza said, “hostages are being murdered due to the military pressure.”

 

Massive protests hit Israel after six hostages killed in Gaza

• by Amu TV
• 
  

iedInhatsappPrintShare via Email

 Massive protests swept Israel on Sunday following the death of six hostages in Gaza as frustration mounted over the failure of the country’s leadership to secure a ceasefire deal that would free Israeli captives.

Crowds estimated by Israeli media to number up to 500,000 strong demonstrated in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and other cities, demanding that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu do more to bring home the remaining 101 hostages, about of a third of whom Israeli officials estimate have died.

In Jerusalem, protesters blocked streets and demonstrated outside the prime minister’s residence. Aerial footage showed Tel Aviv’s main highway filled with protesters holding flags with pictures of the slain hostages.

Israeli television footage showed police directing water canons at demonstrators who had blocked roads. Local media reported 29 arrests.

Labour leaders called a one-day general strike on Monday.

The Israeli military announced the recovery of the bodies from a tunnel in the southern Gaza city of Rafah, as a polio vaccination campaign began in the war-shattered Palestinian territory and violence flared in the occupied West Bank.

The bodies of hostages Carmel Gat, Hersh Goldberg-Polin, Eden Yerushalmi, Alexander Lobanov, Almog Sarusi and Ori Danino were returned to Israel, military spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari told reporters.

A forensic examination determined they were “murdered by Hamas terrorists in a number of shots at close range” 48-72 hours previously, an Israeli health ministry spokesperson said.

Netanyahu, who faces growing calls to end nearly 11 months of war with a deal for a ceasefire and the release of remaining hostages, said Israel would not rest until it caught those responsible. “Whoever murders hostages – does not want a deal,” he said.

Senior Hamas officials said that Israel, in its refusal to sign a ceasefire agreement, was to blame for the deaths.

“Netanyahu is responsible for the killing of Israeli prisoners,” senior Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri told Reuters. “The Israelis should choose between Netanyahu and the deal.”

Israel’s assault on Gaza began after Hamas and other militants killed about 1,200 people and took about 250 hostages in attacks on Israel on Oct. 7, according to Israeli tallies.

Since then, Israel’s offensive has levelled much of the enclave of 2.3 million people, and the Gaza health ministry says at least 40,738 Palestinians have been killed. Displaced people are living in dire conditions with inadequate shelter and a hunger crisis.

 

For love of game, Turkey’s top Kurdish football club resists hatred

Many Kurds say they face significant discrimination in the country. Ankara denies the claims.

Sunday 01/09/2024

Amedspor’s fans cheer in the stands during the Trendyol League football match between Amedspor and Sakaryaspor at Necmi Kadooglu stadium in Esenyurt district of Istanbul, August 28, 2024. (AFP)

ISTANBUL –

The slurs shouted by the ultras of a football club in northwest Turkey at their Kurdish rivals is just one way that the decades-old feud opposing Turks and Kurds plays out in the sport.

While Amedspor is the most popular team among Turkey’s Kurds, who make up about a fifth of the country’s 85 million people, it is the most hated by the rest of the population.

“They are not a team, they are terrorists,” said Efe Kaan Ozkaya, a Sakaryaspor fan, standing with friends outside the Istanbul stadium hosting a second-division football match between his club and Amedspor.

Police officers and armoured vehicles flooded the Istanbul neighbourhood welcoming the southeast Turkish club.

As the national anthem played, Sakaryaspor supporters made the salute of the Grey Wolves, a far-right group accused of having killed several Kurdish and left-wing activists.

But the game is a precious opportunity for the 200 Amedspor lovers, guarded by 100 police officers, who came to watch their idols, a trip that is frequently banned by authorities over security concerns.

The club’s home city of Diyarbakir, also known as Turkey’s “Kurdish capital,” remains scarred by intense fighting between the army and the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in 2015-2016.

The conflict opposing the government and the PKK, which is considered a terrorist organisation by Turkey, the United States and the European Union, has killed more than 40,000 people since 1984.

Many Kurds say they face significant discrimination in the country. Ankara denies the claims, insisting that it does not discriminate against Kurds as a minority but rather opposes the PKK.

‘A form of resistance’

The players sporting white jerseys with red and green stripes, the colours of Kurdistan, began kicking the ball, as fans chanted “Amed! Amed!”, Diyarbakir’s Kurdish name.

Support, and hatred, for the club exploded after 2015, when it changed its name to Amedspor.

Nine years later, “the existence of Amedspor, with its colours and its name, is a very strong and unprecedented form of resistance,” said Daghan Irak, a sports sociologist.

The Kurds, an ethnic minority who live in mountainous regions spread across Turkey, Syria, Iraq and Iran, have long fought for their own homeland.

The Diyarbakir-based club and its players have faced repeated sanctions, including over calling for the end of operations against the PKK, said Irak.

“Kurds in Turkey are free to live as Kurds privately, as long as they accept to be Turks publicly,” he said.

“Kurds are free to play as long as they do not play as Kurds.”

‘Kurdish national team’

The popular club played in the third division last year in front of crowds averaging 20,000, more than 17 of the 20 teams in the first division managed to attract.

It was promoted to second division at the end of last season, and still faces attacks with each away fixture.

Teams from Turkey’s Kurdish regions and their supporters have been involved in repeated fights during Turkish league matches.

At a match in the western conservative city of Bursa last year, Amedspor players had objects, including knives, thrown at them.

“Whichever team they face, Amedspor is almost always perceived as representing another country,” Reha Ruhavioglu, the director of the Centre for Kurdish Studies, said.

Although the team’s roster has several non-Kurdish players, identity is a key component of the club.

“Amedspor is to Kurds what Barcelona is to Catalans,” said Uygar Ozturk, 43, after a disappointing score (0-0).

“Amedspor is not just the Diyarbakir team, it is like a national Kurdish team,” said Azer Gunes, a 19-year-old waiter who arrived in Istanbul last spring.

Gunes said he wears his club’s colours everywhere he goes, even more so after Kurdish construction workers were beaten, with one shot, in central Turkey in August for refusing to take off their Amedspor shirts.

Seconds later, fellow fan Ugur Cetin railed at heavy policing.

“We were 200 fans for 2,000 police officers!” he said, adding that he was searched eight times.

“Why so many precautions? That’s because of our race.”

FASCIST IMPERIALISM AGAINST KURDISTAN

Turkey defends presence in Syria, says ready for ‘dialogue at all levels’

“Turkey’s presence in Syria prevents the division of Syrian territory and the creation of a terror corridor there,” a Turkish ministry of defence source told reporters.

Friday 30/08/2024

A file picture shows Turkish army vehicles parked on a road, between the Turkish town of Nusaybin and the Syrian town of Dirbesi. AFP

ANKARA

Turkey’s presence in neighbouring Syria is to stop the war-torn country falling under the sway of terrorist groups, a Turkish defence ministry source said Thursday, after Damascus said a withdrawal of its troops was not a prerequisite for better relations with Ankara.

Regional experts says Ankara had backed many Islamic extremist groups fighting the Bashar al-Assad regime since the Syrian civil war erupted in 2011.

Turkish forces and Turkey-backed rebel factions control swathes of northern Syria, and Ankara has launched successive cross-border offensives since 2016, mainly to clear the area of Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which are backed by the US but which it mistrusts.

Turkey sees the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG), which dominate the US-backed SDF, as an offshoot of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which it considers a “terrorist” group.

“Turkey’s presence in Syria prevents the division of Syrian territory and the creation of a terror corridor there,” the ministry source told reporters speaking on condition of anonymity.

“We want to see a democratic and prosperous Syria, not a Syria plagued by instability and terrorist organisations,” the same source added.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who had supported rebel efforts to topple Syria’s Bashar al-Assad, has in recent months sought rapprochement with Damascus, inviting Assad to Turkey.

Assad said on Sunday that the withdrawal of Turkish forces from its territory was not a prerequisite for a rapprochement.

“Our president has personally expressed our readiness for talks and dialogue at all levels,” the Turkish defence ministry source said, adding that Ankara’s recent remarks on talks appeared to have an impact.

“We have a clear stance on Syria,” the source added.

The Kurdish-led SDF spearheaded the battle that dislodged Islamic State group jihadists from their last scraps of Syrian territory in 2019. The Kurds have established a semi-autonomous administration spanning large areas of the north and northeast.

Syria’s war began after the repression of anti-government protests in 2011 and has killed more than 500,000 people and displaced millions.

Turkey hosts some 3.2 million Syrian refugees out of a population of 85 million, according to United Nations data.

Their fate has been a delicate political issue, with some opponents of Erdogan promising to send them back to Syria.

Saudi World Cup bid renews fears for migrants’ welfare

The Saudi human resources ministry spokesman said criticism was misleading.

The Arab WeeklyWednesday 28/08/2024

A foreign labourer works at a construction site amid scorching heat in the Saudi capital Riyadh. (AFP)


DUBAI –

Fosir Mia moved to Saudi Arabia thinking he would earn a handsome salary as an electrician, only to find himself hauling steel rods in harsh desert heat for paltry pay.

After 13-hour shifts at a construction site outside Riyadh, the Bangladeshi national would return to the room he shared with 11 other workers, then fight for a turn at the gas stove so he could make dinner before repeating the routine the next day.

Now back home, the 35-year-old says he was never paid for seven of his 17 months in the Gulf kingdom. He warns that a pending construction boom, for stadiums for the 2034 World Cup and other large-scale projects, could expose others to similar exploitation.

“There is a lot of opportunity, but also a lot of opportunity for suffering,” said Mia, who said he saw project managers beat fellow labourers who dared to complain.

Unpaid wages, shoddy housing and hours of toil in life-threatening heat are already common grievances for migrant workers in Saudi Arabia, some of whom, like Mia, say recruiters lied to them about the jobs they would be doing and how much they would make.

The world’s biggest crude oil exporter says strengthening workers’ rights is a priority under Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s Vision 2030 economic and social reform agenda, which aims to lay the groundwork for a prosperous post-oil future.

“We take allegations of forced labour extremely seriously, and we investigate any claims of this nature thoroughly,” a spokesman for the Saudi human resources and social development ministry said.

Human rights groups nonetheless fear problems like those described by Mia could explode as Saudi Arabia gears up to host the men’s football World Cup, for which it is the sole candidate.

The FIFA Congress is set to formally approve Riyadh’s bid in December, and last month Saudi authorities unveiled plans to construct 11 new stadiums that labour unions estimate will easily require manpower in the hundreds of thousands.

‘Window of opportunity’

Equidem, a London-based labour rights charity, says the Saudi World Cup bid creates a “window of opportunity” for reforms.

But if nothing changes, “tens of thousands of workers will be subjected to modern slavery and forced labour,” Equidem founder Mustafa Qadri said.

“Lives will be literally destroyed.”

The kingdom’s “kafala” sponsorship system binds foreign workers to their employers, making it difficult for them to leave their jobs.

In 2021 Riyadh announced the easing of some kafala-related restrictions, specifically when it comes to requesting exit permits, but activists say the changes were limited and exempted millions, notably domestic workers.

In June, the Building and Wood Workers’ International union took its concerns to the International Labour Organisation, filing complaints on behalf of 21,000 alleged victims of “severe human rights abuses” and wage theft in Saudi Arabia.

The complaints focus on two Saudi-based construction firms that went bankrupt in 2016.

Both BWI and Equidem contend conditions for migrant workers have not improved in a country where non-Saudi nationals account for 13.4 million people out of 32.2 million total.

The Saudi human resources ministry spokesman said such criticism was misleading.

“Unfortunately, there have been repeated allegations that are based on inaccurate information or that fail to recognise the significance of the reforms implemented and the magnitude of their positive impact,” the spokesman said.

“The kingdom has already rectified and provided compensation for the vast majority of the historic cases of unpaid wages, with the process ongoing for reviewing the remaining few.”

‘Secret’ suffering

Similar concerns over workers’ welfare dogged neighbouring Qatar ahead of its hosting of the 2022 World Cup.

Amnesty International and other rights groups claimed thousands of migrant workers died in the lead-up to the tournament, though Doha has said only 37 workers on World Cup projects perished, and only three in work-related accidents.

Former migrant workers in Saudi like Vyel say there is good reason for scepticism.

Needing money to treat his mother’s heart disease, the 52-year-old from the Philippines took a cushy-sounding job coordinating social events for oil workers in eastern Saudi Arabia.

But the firm failed to pay him regularly and he spent months living in a crowded, bedbug-infested warehouse before finally leaning on wealthy friends to buy him a ticket home.

He estimates his former employer owes him roughly $16,700, and he still feels ashamed he could not send more in remittances during his time abroad.

Even today he cannot bring himself to tell relatives the worst details about his time in Saudi Arabia: the power outages, the piles of garbage outside the warehouse, the rats that scurried around at night.

“I kept all those things secret,” he said.

“Of course I wouldn’t want my parents to worry.”

WHO KILLED HVALDIMIR THE WHITE WHALE?!

‘Russian spy’ whale Hvaldimir found dead in Norway

The white beluga was found off the southwest coast at Risavika Bay by a father and son who were out fishing.

Hvaldimir was first spotted off the coast of northern Norway in 2019 [Jorgen Ree Wiig/Sea Surveillance Service/Handout/NTB Scanpix via Reuters]

Published On 2 Sep 2024

A beluga whale nicknamed Hvaldimir, after his strange harness prompted suspicions he was a Russian spy, has been found dead in the southwest of Norway.

The whale’s carcass was discovered floating off Risavika Bay in southern Norway on Saturday by a father and son who were out fishing, Norwegian public broadcaster NRK reported.

“Hvaldimir was not just a beluga whale; he was a beacon of hope, a symbol of connection, and a reminder of the deep bond between humans and the natural world,” Marine Mind, a nonprofit organisation that had been tracking his movements, said on social media.

Hvaldimir, a combination of the Norwegian word for whale, “hval”, and the first name of Russia’s President Vladimir Putin, was first spotted off Norway’s far northern coast in 2019.

His man-made harness, with what appeared to be a mount for a camera stamped with the words “Equipment St Petersburg”, fuelled speculation that he was a “spy whale“.

Norwegian officials said Hvaldimir may have escaped an enclosure and been trained by the Russian navy as he appeared to be accustomed to humans.

Moscow has never responded to the speculation.

Hvaldimir was thought to be between 14 and 15 years old [File: Jorgen Ree Wiig/Sea Surveillance Service/NTB Scanpix via Reuters]

After Hvaldimir was found dead, his carcass was lifted out of the water with a crane and taken to a nearby harbour for further examination.

“We’ve managed to retrieve his remains and put him in a cooled area, in preparation for a necropsy by the veterinary institute that can help determine what really happened to him,” marine biologist Sebastian Strand told NRK, adding that no major external injuries were visible on the animal.

Strand, who has monitored Hvaldimir’s adventures for the past three years on behalf of Marine Mind, said he was deeply affected by the whale’s sudden death.
“It’s absolutely horrible,” Strand said. “He was apparently in good condition as of [Friday). So we just have to figure out what might have happened here.”

Hvaldimir was 4.2 metres (14ft) long, weighed 1,225kg (2,700 pounds) and was thought to be between 14 and 15 years old.

Over the past five years, he had been seen in several Norwegian coastal towns and it was clear that he was very tame and enjoyed playing with people, NRK said.

Norwegian media speculated that rather than being a “spy whale”, Hvaldimir had actually been a “therapy whale” of some kind.

Beluga whales, whose habitat is the northern waters of Greenland, Norway and Russia, usually live to between 40 and 60 years of age.

 

Hvaldimir: a Beluga whale found dead in Norway… and also alleged ‘Russian spy’?



A white whale wearing a harness was seen by fishermen off the coast of northern Norway in April 2019. On Sunday, an NGO that tracks his movements said the whale, nicknamed ‘Hvaldimir’ had been found dead. — Picture courtesy of Norwegian Directorate of Fisheries via AFP

Monday, 02 Sep 2024 

STOCKHOLM, Sept 2 — A Beluga whale whose strange harness sparked suspicions it was trained by Russia for spying purposes has been found dead in Norway, according to an NGO which tracks his movements.

-Advertisement-

Nicknamed “Hvaldimir” in a pun on the Norwegian word for whale, hval, and its purported ties to Moscow, the beluga first appeared off the coast in Norway's far-northern Finnmark region in 2019.

At the time, Norwegian marine biologists removed an attached man-made harness with a mount suited for an action camera and the words “Equipment St. Petersburg” printed on the plastic clasps.

Norwegian officials said Hvaldimir may have escaped an enclosure and may have been trained by the Russian navy as he appeared to be accustomed to humans.

Moscow has never issued any official reaction to speculation that he could be a “Russian spy”.

On Saturday, the beluga's lifeless body was discovered off the southwest coast at Risavika by Marine Mind, an organisation that has tracked his movements for years.

“I found Hvaldi dead when I was scouting for him yesterday like usual,” Marine Mind's founder Sebastian Strand told AFP.

“We had confirmation of him being alive little more than 24 hours before finding him floating motionlessly,” he added.

Fredrik Skarbovik, maritime coordinator at the port of Stavanger, confirmed the beluga's death to the VG tabloid newspaper.

Strand said the cause of the whale's demise was unknown and no visible injuries were found during an initial inspection of Hvaldimir's body.

“We've managed to retrieve his remains and put him in a cooled area, in preparation for a necropsy by the veterinary institute that can help determine what really happened to him,” Strand added.

With an estimated age of around 14 or 15, Hvaldimir was relatively young for a Beluga whale, which can live to between 40 and 60 years of age.

Beluga whales can reach a size of six metres (20 feet) and generally tend to inhabit the icy waters around Greenland, northern Norway and Russia.

Those include the Barents Sea, a geopolitically important area where Western and Russian submarine movements are monitored.

It is also the gateway to the Northern Route that shortens maritime journeys between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. — AFP

South Korea police launch probe into Telegram over online sex crimes, Yonhap reports

A keyboard is placed in front of a displayed Telegram logo in this illustration taken February 21, 2023. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo

Sep 02, 2024

SEOUL - South Korean police have launched an investigation into the messaging platform Telegram over deepfake online sex crimes, Yonhap news agency reported on Monday, citing a senior police official.

The probe will examine whether it had been abetting distribution of sexually explicit deepfake content, Yonhap said, quoting the head of the National Office of Investigation.

An official at the National Police Agency's cyber investigation bureau declined to confirm the report when reached by telephone.


South Korean authorities have called on Telegram and other social media platforms for cooperation in fighting sexually explicit deepfake content.

The steps follow reports by several domestic media outlets that sexually explicit deepfake images and videos of South Korean women were often found in Telegram chatrooms.

Telegram could not immediately be reached for comment but the company last week said it actively moderates harmful content on its platform including illegal pornography.

"Moderators use a combination of proactive monitoring of public parts of the platform, sophisticated AI tools and user reports in order to remove millions of pieces of harmful content each day," it said in a statement. 

REUTERS

After Telegram Founder Arrest, Russians Fear Loss of 'Main Information Source'

Since the start of its offensive in Ukraine in February 2022, Russia has cracked down on dissent and protest, leaving Russians without independent news outlets or access to Western social media.

by AFP | September 1, 2024

This picture taken on October 5, 2020 shows the logo of mobile messaging and call service Telegram on a tablet screen.

 Lionel BONAVENTURE / AFP

France's arrest of Telegram chief Pavel Durov has raised fears in Russia that the popular messaging app -- used both by the Kremlin and its opponents -- could be blocked, depriving them of one of the last sources of critical, uncensored news.

Since the start of its offensive in Ukraine in February 2022, Russia has cracked down on dissent and protest, leaving Russians without independent news outlets or access to Western social media such as Facebook, Instagram and X, formerly Twitter.

In that climate, Telegram -- which was itself blocked for a period by the Kremlin for refusing to cooperate with Russian law enforcement agencies -- has become one of the last bastions of free speech and uncensored information.

Moscow now fears for the fate of the messenger and its Russian-born founder Durov, charged late August with failing to curb extremist and illegal content on the platform.

Though he has been released on bail, he cannot leave the country and the Kremlin has warned France against turning the case against him "into political persecution."

Durov's arrest is not the only headache the privately-owned service faces.

The European Commission is also investigating whether Telegram has more EU users than claimed and must therefore comply with more stringent rules.

- 'For all Russians' -

In Russia, Telegram channels widely cover subjects that are otherwise strictly censored in state media.

Other Topics of Interest
The Unintended Consequences of Surrogate Propaganda Hyperbolism
The Wagner Group is a perfect example of how the weaponization of propaganda can catastrophically backfire and why one should always caution from believing conjured hype.

That includes everything from front-line reports of the conflict in Ukraine to trials of Kremlin critics and manifestos dispatched from political prisoners.

The most popular channels have millions of subscribers.

The Kremlin, government ministries and regional governors also use Telegram as their go-to public communications tool.

"Telegram is a very practical and reliable messaging service for all Russians, regardless of their political opinions," said Alexei Venediktov, head of the Echo of Moscow radio station, blocked in Russia after its criticism of the Ukraine offensive.

The messaging service "is considered independent of the Russian state," the veteran journalist -- who has over 200,000 subscribers there -- told AFP.

Blocking Telegram would be equivalent to "a measure of censorship," he said.

- 'Main source of information' -

Telegram's popularity has grown steadily in Russia throughout the Ukraine conflict, after Russia blocked access to Instagram, Facebook and X, as well as the websites of several opposition media outlets.

It is the fourth most popular online service, ahead of YouTube and the Russian social network VKontakte, according to a study by Russian media research group Mediascope.

It is also heavily focused on news. Two-thirds of its Russian readers prefer to follow political and news channels, with only six percent preferring entertainment or cinema, for instance.

Mila, a 45-year-old psychologist, said she started using it after Facebook was blocked and she now subscribes to some 80 Telegram news channels. She also uses it to communicate privately with friends who are against the offensive in Ukraine.

"Today, it is my main source of information. If Telegram stops working, it will hurt me a lot," Mila told AFP, speaking on condition her full name not be used.
Advertisement

Naida, a 56-year-old logistician said she trusts Telegram more than other messaging services.

"And all the news is there, you don't need to have a VPN on all the time," she said.

Telegram is now "the main source of information" for those seeking independent views, said political scientist Tatiana Stanovaya of the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center.

"Telegram has no alternative" in Russia, she said, adding the free flow of information on the service is a throwback to before President Vladimir Putin began to crack down hard on dissent.

- Battlefield communications -

Amid the conflict in Ukraine, the platform has also become a key military communication tool.

Both Russia and Ukraine warn their populations of incoming air attacks via Telegram posts, while their armies use it to communicate and coordinate internally.

"Telegram has almost become the main way of commanding units on both sides of the front," said Mikhail Zvinchuk, a former military officer whose Telegram blog on the conflict, Rybar, has more than 1.3 million subscribers.

Pro-Kremlin Russian journalist Andrei Medvedev also said Telegram was "the main messaging service" of the conflict.

"It is an alternative to the secret military communication system," he said.

Thanks to its broad appeal across the political spectrum, the fate of Durov and the implications for the site have become a rare point of unifying concern.

Russian opposition politician Ilya Yashin, recently released as part of a historic prisoner exchange with the West, is among those who have taken Durov's side.

"I do not consider Pavel Durov a criminal, and I hope that he will be able to prove his innocence," Yashin said.

How Russia uses Durov’s case to rally doubters against West


Euractiv.com with Reuters
Aug 30, 2024

Undated photo of Pavel Durov. [Public domain]
 Euractiv is part of the Trust Project >>>

Russians who still share Western values are being told to choose sides and support their warring homeland or risk being victimised by the West, in the same way that Telegram boss Pavel Durov was supposedly victimised by being arrested in France.

The Russian-born tech entrepreneur, with his multiple passports and global ambitions for his messaging platform, was once idolised by cosmopolitan Russians who, before the Ukraine conflict, bet their future on ties with the West, working in multinational firms and travelling the globe.

After Moscow sent troops into Ukraine in February 2022, many lost their jobs as multinational businesses pulled out, and hundreds of thousands fled Russia to build a new life elsewhere.

But prominent Russian leaders have long told them that they made the wrong choice.

“This [Durov’s detention] is the latest evidence that neutrality during a total world war is impossible for anyone to maintain,” said philosopher Alexander Dugin, widely seen as one of the main ideologues of the Ukraine war.

“There are two irreconcilable worlds at odds with each other: us and them. And there is a chasm between us. Dual citizenships, blurred loyalties, manoeuvring between camps – all of this is in the past,” Dugin said on Telegram.

“You are either with us or against us.”

His remarks echo appeals to Russians who fled the Bolshevik Revolution in 1917 by Soviet emissaries who tried to convince them to return home or become foreign agents for the NKVD secret police.

Durov, a 39-year-old billionaire based in Dubai, had been hailed at home as the Russian version of Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg or Amazon’s Jeff Bezos. It is not clear whether or not he maintained links with the Kremlin.

But he is now under investigation in France for suspected complicity in running an online platform that allows illicit transactions, drug trafficking, images of child sex abuse and fraud.

Russia, where media are tightly controlled and dissenting voices are suppressed, says this gives the lie to Western assertions that free speech is sacrosanct.

A lawyer representing Durov said it was “absurd to say that a platform or its boss are responsible for any abuse” carried out on the platform, and that Telegram abided by European laws.
‘Different blood’

Durov’s critics in Russia now say that any Russian who falls for what they regard as “false” Western values could be victimised in the West, although France says his arrest stems from its independent judiciary and is therefore apolitical.

“He [Durov] is Russian, and therefore unpredictable and dangerous. Of different blood. Definitely not Musk or Zuckerberg,” said Dmitry Medvedev, the Russian former president once regarded as pro-Western.

A video recorded by the late outspoken politician Vladimir Zhirinovsky when addressing Durov in 2018 went viral in Russia after his detention.

“A foreign land does not accept you, Pasha. Here at home, it’s both more interesting and more fun,” Zhirinovsky is heard saying in the video, using a diminutive of the name Pavel.

This view has been shared by many Russian Telegram users who have rallied around the flag of what has become known as “Fortress Russia” since the start of what the Kremlin calls its special military operation in Ukraine.

Members of the Russian public are regularly told by state media to view sympathisers with the West as potential traitors.

“This will be a good lesson for those kinds of people who are trying to sit on several chairs at once,” said Irina, a Moscow resident who declined to be identified by her last name for fear of retribution.

The future of chocolate

California Cultured employees work at the company’s office. PHOTO: AP

WEST SACRAMENTO (AP) – Climate change is stressing rainforests where the highly sensitive cocoa bean grows, but chocolate lovers need not despair, say companies that are researching other ways to grow cocoa or develop cocoa substitutes.

Scientists and entrepreneurs are working on ways to make more cocoa that stretch well beyond the tropics, from Northern California to Israel.

California Cultured, a plant cell culture company, is growing cocoa from cell cultures at a facility in West Sacramento, California, with plans to start selling its products next year. It puts cocoa bean cells in a vat with sugar water so they reproduce quickly and reach maturity in a week rather than the six to eight months a traditional harvest takes, said Alan Perlstein, the company’s chief executive. The process also no longer requires as much water or arduous labour.

“We see just the demand of chocolate monstrously outstripping what is going to be available,” Perlstein said. “There’s really no other way that we see that the world could significantly increase the supply of cocoa or still keep it at affordable levels without extensive either environmental degradation or some significant other cost.”

California Cultured lab technician Aubrey McKeand works on cell cultures in the company’s lab. PHOTO: AP

Cocoa trees grow about 20 degrees north and south of the equator in regions with warm weather and abundant rain, including West Africa and South America. Climate change is expected to dry out the land under the additional heat. So scientists, entrepreneurs and chocolate-lovers are coming up with ways to grow cocoa and make the crop more resilient and more resistant to pests — as well as craft chocolatey-tasting cocoa alternatives to meet demand.

The market for chocolate is massive with sales in the United States surpassing USD25 billion in 2023, according to the National Confectioners Association. Many entrepreneurs are betting on demand growing faster than the supply of cocoa. Companies are looking at either bolstering the supply with cell-based cocoa or offering alternatives made from products ranging from oats to carob that are roasted and flavored to produce a chocolatey taste for chips or filling.

The price of cocoa soared earlier this year because of demand and troubles with the crop in West Africa due to plant disease and changes in weather. The region produces the bulk of the world’s cocoa.

California Cultured’s Erika Cavanaugh collects biological materials from cell lines for experimentation and production at the company’s lab. PHOTO: AP

“All of this contributes to a potential instability in supply, so it is attractive to these lab-grown or cocoa substitute companies to think of ways to replace that ingredient that we know of as chocolatey-flavored,” said Carla D Martin, executive director of the Fine Cacao and Chocolate Institute and a lecturer in African and African American Studies at Harvard University.

The innovation is largely driven by demand for chocolate in the US and Europe, Martin said. While three-quarters of the world’s cocoa is grown in West and Central Africa, only four per cent is consumed there, she said.

The push to produce cocoa indoors in the US comes after other products, such as chicken meat, have already been grown in labs. It also comes as supermarket shelves fill with evolving snack options – something that developers of cocoa alternatives say shows people are ready to try what looks and tastes like a chocolate chip cookie even if the chip contains a cocoa substitute.

Chocolate callets are displayed at the California Cultured office. PHOTO: AP

They said they also are hoping to tap into rising consciousness among consumers about where their food comes from and what it takes to grow it, particularly the use of child labor in the cocoa industry.

Planet A Foods in Planegg, Germany, contends the taste of mass market chocolate is derived largely from the fermentation and roasting in making it, not the cocoa bean itself. The company’s founders tested out ingredients ranging from olives to seaweed and settled on a mix of oats and sunflower seeds as the best tasting chocolate alternative, said Jessica Karch, a company spokesperson. They called it “ChoViva” and it can be subbed into baked goods, she said.

“The idea is not to replace the high quality, 80 per cent dark chocolate, but really to have a lot of different products in the mass market,” Karch said.

Yet while some are seeking to create alternative cocoa sources and substitutes, others are trying to bolster the supply of cocoa where it naturally grows. Mars, which makes M&Ms and Snickers, has a research facility at University of California, Davis aimed at making cocoa plants more resilient, said Joanna Hwu, the company’s senior director of cocoa plant science. The facility hosts a living collection of cocoa trees so scientists can study what makes them disease-resistant to help farmers in producing countries and ensure a stable supply of beans.

“We see it as an opportunity, and our responsibility,” Hwu said.

GLOBAL PATRIARCHAL GUILD CULTURE

Before Kolkata doctor rape, murder, 

an unmet promise to keep physicians safe
 

People participate in a candlelight vigil held outside Jadavpur University campus condemning the rape and murder of a trainee medic at a government-run hospital in Kolkata, India, August 15, 2024

REUTERS/Sahiba Chawdhary/File photo

Sep 02, 2024, 12:09 PM

KOLKATA - Five years ago, the government of West Bengal state in India pledged to clamp down on violence against doctors. It promised public hospitals better security equipment, female guards to support female physicians and controlled entry points, according to an internal government memo seen by Reuters.

None of these measures had been implemented at the public hospital where a young female doctor was sexually assaulted and killed on Aug. 9, allegedly by a police volunteer, four trainee doctors there told Reuters.

Instead, in the days leading up to the homicide-assault, which prompted nationwide outrage and a doctors strike, only two male guards manned R.G. Kar Medical College and Hospital, they said. They were supplemented by a few closed circuit cameras that did not comprehensively cover the sprawling premises, according to the trainees.


One of the doors of the lecture hall where the doctor had been resting during a 36-hour shift when she was attacked had no lock, said two other trainee doctors who had also slept there. The air conditioning in the designated break room had malfunctioned, they said.

After two doctors at a different hospital were assaulted by a patient's relatives in 2019, West Bengal had promised to install "effective security equipment and systems," regulate entry and exit to hospital premises and create a compensation policy for assaulted staff, according to the state health department memo dated June 17, 2019.

The two-page document, which is reported by Reuters for the first time, was prepared after chief minister Mamata Banerjee met that day with trainee doctors protesting the attack on their colleagues as a "record note" of the interaction. The memo did not state to whom it was addressed.


Banerjee had directed officials to take "effective and prompt" action "within a specified timeframe," according to the document. It did not detail the preparation period.


ST Asian Insider: Malaysia Edition
Get exclusive insights into Malaysia in weekly round-up

 Sign up

By signing up, I accept SPH Media's Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy as amended from time to time.

Yes, I would also like to receive SPH Media Group's
SPH Media Limited, its related corporations and affiliates as well as their agents and authorised service providers. marketing and promotions.

"If those measures had been taken, this incident may never have happened," said Dr Riya Bera, a postgraduate trainee at R.G. Kar, of her colleague's death.

Asked by Reuters about the 2019 assurances, West Bengal Health Secretary N S Nigam said the COVID-19 pandemic had disrupted improvements for two years but "a lot" had been done since 2021, including strengthening CCTV coverage and engaging private security in hospitals.

"We are committed to do the remaining work and fill the gaps that emerged after the R.G. Kar incident," he said.


Banerjee on Aug. 28 also announced that $12 million would be spent to begin work on improvements such as better lighting in health facilities, resting spaces and female security staff.

The chief minister's office, as well as R.G. Kar hospital, did not respond to calls seeking comment.

Authorities continue to investigate the Aug. 9 incident, for which no charges have yet been filed.

'PATRIARCHAL ATTITUDES AND BIASES'

The assault on the doctor in Kolkata, who cannot be named under local laws, recalled memories of the 2012 gang rape of a physiotherapist in a Delhi bus, which convulsed India in anger and triggered protests.

Reuters interviewed 14 female doctors at government hospitals in West Bengal and elsewhere in India about their challenges in a country where women's safety is a long-standing concern.

They described poor working conditions, including aggressive treatment from the families of patients and having to sleep on benches in dimly-lit corridors due to a lack of rest facilities.

Some doctors spoke of napping in break rooms with no locks during lengthy shifts, only to have people barging in. Others described confronting male patients who photographed them without permission, claiming that they were documenting evidence of their treatment.

Indian Medical Association (IMA) President RV Asokan told Reuters that while the Aug. 9 homicide-assault appeared to be unique in its brutality, "the fact that anybody can walk in shows the vulnerability of the place, and this when more and more women are joining the profession."

Some doctors have taken self-defense measures: One doctor at a hospital in Odisha state, which neighbours West Bengal, said her father gave her a knife to ward off potential attackers.

And Dr Gauri Seth, a post graduate trainee at Medical College, Kolkata, told Reuters that after the Aug 9. incident, she would not go on duty again without carrying a pepper spray or scalpel to defend herself.

About 60% of India's doctors are female, and three-quarters of them have described being victims of verbal abuse, physical attacks and other harassment while on duty, according to the IMA, the nation's largest group of physicians.

"Due to ingrained patriarchal attitudes and biases, relatives of patients are more likely to challenge women medical professionals...(they) also face different forms of sexual violence at the workplace," India's Supreme Court wrote in a Aug. 20 ruling ordering the creation of a taskforce on medical workers' safety.

India introduced tough laws governing crimes against women following the 2012 Delhi gang rape, including expanding the definition of rape to include all penetration without consent, as well as criminalizing voyeurism and stalking.

But the situation remains bleak, according to activists and government data.

Almost 450,000 crimes against women were reported in 2022 - the most recent year for which data is available - up 4% on 2021, government data show. More than 7% of the alleged crimes were rape-related.

Lawyer and rights activist Vrinda Grover blamed inadequate training for police investigators and broader cultural issues.

"What is very disturbing in this case is the ordinariness of what the victim was doing: she was in her workplace," she said. "There is something wrong with a society where such conduct is so commonplace."

LIVING HER DREAM

The 31-year Kolkata physician, whose battered, half-naked body was found by colleagues, had always wanted to be a doctor, family members and friends told Reuters.

"When I bumped into her last year, she told me she was very happy and was living her dream," said Somojit Moulik, who had studied with the victim in medical school.

When Reuters visited the victim's family home, the nameplate bore only her name with the prefix Dr, in an indication of how highly her relatives valued her achievements.

Her aunt said in an interview that her niece had been set to marry a physician she had studied with later this year, and that she had not complained about safety issues at work.

But in the wake of her death, colleagues are speaking out. Dr Shreya Shaw, a postgraduate trainee at R.G. Kar hospital, said she found two strangers shaking her awake at around 3 a.m. when she was sleeping in a designated rest room, which did not have locks.

"It was initially quite scary to wake up to unknown men in the dark," she said, adding that she was shocked the patients could enter the floor where she was resting without being stopped.

 REUTERS

Death of doctor in Indonesia following alleged bullying reveals dark side of country’s medical training

Experts say the bullying culture endured by junior doctors during their training may affect their interactions with patients.

Bullying among doctors has become a culture in Indonesia's medical education system. (Photo: iStock/Milan Markovic)

20 Aug 2024 

JAKARTA: The recent death of a doctor in Indonesia who was undergoing specialist medical training at a hospital in Central Java has cast a spotlight on bullying culture in such institutions, amid what appears to be unsuccessful efforts by the authorities to curb the scourge.

Ms Aulia Risma Lestari - a doctor who was studying for an anaesthesia specialist programme at Diponegoro University’s Faculty of Medicine in Semarang - was found dead in her room on Aug 12.

A specialist medical programme is a form of further education for general practitioners to gain specialised expertise in a specific medical field.

Local media reported that Ms Aulia, 30, had allegedly injected herself with a high dosage of the anaesthetic Roculax. According to online medical sites, the drug is used to facilitate tracheal intubation as well as to relax skeletal muscles during surgery.

In her personal diary, Ms Aulia purportedly wrote that she could no longer work “like this”, raising suspicions that the doctor had taken her own life due to the bullying she endured.

Suspicions of alleged bullying were further raised following the circulation of WhatsApp conversations between Ms Aulia and several senior students in her residency programme at Kardinah Hospital in Tegal City.

On Aug 16, Indonesia’s Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin acknowledged that Ms Aulia’s death was the result of bullying and said that the issue appears widespread in the country’s medical training institutions.

According to the Jakarta Post, Mr Budi promised to take stern measures to put an end to the practice. He noted that based on surveys done by the health ministry, many medical students undergoing residency programmes appear to have suicidal tendencies as a result of stress and depression due to bullying.

The study cited by Mr Budi found that 22.4 per cent of the more than 12,000 specialist medical students in the country were showing signs of depression.

The health minister also called on all senior medical students as well as teaching personnel to put an end to the “toxic seniority culture”, the Jakarta Post reported.

It was not the first time Mr Budi had touched on the topic. Last July, the health minister was reported as saying that the bullying culture in higher learning institutions is an open secret that has been ongoing for decades.

In a sign that things have not yet abated, local media has since reported on another case of bullying that took place in the neurosurgery specialist medical training programme at Bandung’s Padjadjaran University in West Java province.

The university has since terminated the studies of two doctors who were allegedly involved in the bullying and sent warning letters to the head of the department and the head of the neurosurgery programme.

The university has also sanctioned seven other alleged perpetrators in the mild to moderate categories, with the punishment of repeating lecture classes imposed on them.

“One lecturer involved … is now being processed for severe sanctions,” said Dr Yudi Mulyana, Dean of the Faculty of Medicine, as quoted by Antara news agency on Aug 19.

In the bullying case at Padjadjaran University, junior doctors were allegedly physically and verbally abused by their seniors. They were also subjected to paying for their seniors’ expenses - including for food, drinks, car rentals as well as accommodation.

Last year, the health ministry issued guidelines on the prevention of bullying cases in medical education. It also started a channel for victims to channel their complaints, though this has not stopped the bullying cases from happening.

On Aug 17, Kompas reported that since 2023, Indonesia’s health ministry has received some 1,200 reports of bullying in specialist medical education programmes.

According to experts, the bullying culture in medical training institutions could also have an impact on the junior students’ interactions with patients once they graduate.

“The mentality of these students will affect their interaction with patients and if not treated while in their training, will leave an impact when they enter the community,” said Chairman of the Indonesian Doctors Association (IDI) Mahesa Paranadipa, as quoted by Tirto.