PERMANENT ARMS ECONOMY

Germany exports millions in arms to Libya war belligerents, despite embargo

Despite supporting an embargo, Germany has exported €330 million in weapons to countries involved in the war in Libya. The conflict has escalated since Khalifa Haftar's forces seized Tripoli.




Since hosting a Libya summit four months ago, the German government has approved arms exports worth €331 million ($358 million) to countries accused of supporting warring parties in the country, according a report from the German Economy Ministry seen by news agency DPA.

Between January 20 and May 3, Germany approved €308.2 million in arms destined for Egypt alone, the ministry said. The information was provided in response to a request from Germany’s leftist die Linke party.

The German government also approved €15.1 million in arms exports for Turkey and €7.7 million for the United Arab Emirates (UAE), DPA reported.Turkey supports the Government of National Accord (GNA), which is backed by the UN, while Russia, Egypt, and the UAE support rival forces led by Khalifa Haftar.

Read more: Khalifa Haftar's repressive proto-state and the 'myth' of stability

Embargo on ice?

Libya has been plagued by warfare since the Western-backed toppling of Libyan dictator Muammar al-Gaddafi in 2011. Multiple groups continue to fight for power in the oil-rich country, often with backing from foreign powers.

In January, Germany hosted a summit of world leaders whose countries have sent arms or soldiers to Libya.

In a closing declaration, 16 countries and international organisations agreed to a weapons embargo for Libya.

Read more: UN welcomes Libya peace commitments from Berlin summit

Deep frustration from UN

Egypt, Turkey, Russia, and the UAE were among the signatories. United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres later accused these four countries of breaching the embargo and continuing to provide arms for the conflict.

"I am deeply frustrated with what’s happening in Libya," Guterres said at a press conference in February. "They committed not to interfere in the Libyan process and they committed not to send weapons or participate in any way in the fighting. The truth is that the Security Council (arms) embargo remains violated."

Conflict has escalated since April last year, when Haftar's forces seized Tripoli from the GNA.

Violence has continued in recent weeks despite international calls for a cease-fire in light of the coronavirus outbreak.

Read more: Germany threatens 'consequences' over Libya arms sales


Watch video 12:35 Hell on Earth: Refugees in Libya 
Permalink https://p.dw.com/p/3cLnv 

DW RECOMMENDS


EU launches new Libya arms embargo mission in Mediterranean

The EU has agreed to launch a new mission in the Mediterranean to monitor the UN-mandated arms embargo on Libya. NGOs are critical of the bloc's policy on fighting human smuggling and arms trafficking. (26.03.2020)

Berlin: Libya peace summit agrees on commitment to UN arms embargo

The summit on the conflict in Libya has ended with an agreement to more strictly enforce the UN arms embargo. Host Angela Merkel said a "new spirit" had been created to find a lasting solution to the conflict. (19.01.2020)

Germany urges Libya's neighbors to help find solutions

The German foreign minister has called for collective efforts to end the conflict, saying Libya's neighbors "also suffer from this civil war." Algerian officials have sought to position Algiers as a key mediator. (23.01.2020)

Turkey warns Libya's Haftar of military escalation

The Turkish government said it would consider forces loyal to general Khalifa Haftar "legitimate targets" if they didn't stop attacks on diplomatic missions. The UN has warned that Haftar's may have committed war crimes. (10.05.2020)

Libya: Khalifa Haftar declares 'popular mandate,' end to 2015 UN agreement

The commander of the Libyan National Army said his forces had a "popular mandate" to rule Libya. He also declared an official end to a UN-brokered political agreement that attempted to establish a unity government. (28.04.2020)

Libya: Turkish strategy leaves Haftar on the defensive

The tides have turned in Libya's conflict as Turkish intervention has tilted the balance of power. What options do Khalifa Haftar and his foreign backers now have? (07.05.2020)

Berlin Libya summit: Who wants to achieve what?

Leaders and top government officials are meeting to discuss a solution to Libya's complex civil war. As expectations build, DW looks at what each party is hoping to achieve. (19.01.2020) 

AUDIOS AND VIDEOS ON THE TOPIC

Power struggle in Libya: Does peace have a chance?


Date 17.05.2020
Author Kristie Pladson
Related Subjects Libya, Germany
Keywords Germany, Libya, weapons, arms exports, arms

New coronavirus study recalls Germany's 'Patient Zero'

Interviews with 16 patients infected by a visiting Chinese colleague at a company in southern Germany reaffirms that the virus often stays hidden. Most of them exhibited no or only mild symptoms, researchers say.


Global efforts to contain Covid-19 still face a "huge challenge," warns The Lancet Infectious Diseases magazine in a Bavaria case study confirming that some patients were infected before symptoms emerged or only as they started.

The London-based medical publisher focused on Europe's first case in January, explaining how the virus Sars-Cov-2 spread from a Chinese colleague visiting Munich to workmates of the firm Webasto and then their households.

From "Patient Zero" a sequence of four "generations" of infection was traced with "all patients recovered fully" via quarantine, said the magazine, citing testing and interviews done mainly by German epidemiologists and health authorities.

The potentially lethal virus' incubation period — between initial infection and symptoms — was four days, concluded the authors, who included Chinese and Spanish contributors.

Read more: 1.8 million people in Germany could be infected with coronavirus, researchers find

Hidden infectiousness

Viral transmission to one and up to "possibly five more" patients had occurred before symptoms became apparent; in at least four cases on the day of symptom onset and the remainder once symptoms were apparent, according to the study.

That pattern of hidden "infectiousness was "substantial" and had also thrown up "false-negative tests," suggesting infection was present but only became evident later.

Bavaria study matches other evidence

The data from "Patient 0" matched other results that suggested the occurrence of pre-symptomatic transmission was estimated at up to half of all infections, said infectiology researchers at Cologne's University Clinic [Uniklinik Köln] in a Lancet commentary.

"This is one of the most serious obstacles to controlling the pandemic,'' said the Cologne team, adding: "new technologies such as contact tracking apps are urgently needed to effectively control the pandemic."

Watch video Permalink https://p.dw.com/p/3cMzy

Vaccine efforts a mix of competition and cooperation

"All countries that have introduced rigorous contact tracing were most effective in keeping the number of newly infected small, said Annelies Wilder-Smith of the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM).

She cited South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Thailand, Vietnam and Singapore as "clear examples of countries that do not economize on resources and technology to carry out rigorous contact tracing. All were successful."

Read more: Germany to spend €750 million on coronavirus vaccine

Deprived more at risk

Germany's Welt am Sonntag newspaper in a four-page Sunday special entitled "The Wasted Weeks" quoted German Health Minister Jens Spahn at the end of January — when the Webasto case had just emerged in Munich — as saying that the course of the disease was "relatively moderate."

Already on Januar 22, virologist Alexander Kekule on during a television science broadcast had contradicted Germany's Robert Koch Institute, saying: "I also reckon on cases in Europe; we must also prepare ourselves for them in Germany."

Another study published Friday by The Lancet, conducted by University of Oxford researchers, found that people living in the most deprived areas of Britain were more than four times likelier to test positive for COVID-19 than those living in the richest neighborhoods.

The Oxford study looked at more than 3,600 COVID-19 test results from national programs and found that statistical deprivation, age and chronic liver disease all increased the likelihood of testing positive.

Among its sample of 660 people living in most deprived areas, 29.5 percent had tested positive, compared with just 7.7 percent of those in richer areas, the study found.

ipj/mm (dpa, AFP)

Germany's data chief tells ministries WhatsApp is a no-go

Germany's data privacy chief has told federal bodies not to use WhatsApp, amid concerns that it feeds Facebook with data. Ulrich Kelber said it appeared that the government has failed to establish enough safe services.



Date privacy commissioner Ulrich Kelber said any use of WhatsApp was prohibited for federal ministries and institutions, even if some had resorted to using it during the current pandemic.

In a letter to branches of the federal government, Kelber said that bodies must respect, and not neglect, data protection "even in these difficult times."

Read more: WhatsApp in India — Scourge of violence-inciting fake news tough to tackle

He stressed that federal entities were obliged to uphold Germany law and had a role model function.

The Düsseldorf newspaper Handelsblatt said Kelber, previously a Social Democrat (SPD) federal parliamentarian, was reacting to complaints from citizens about the use of WhatsApp by unnamed federal authorities.

"Just by sending messages, metadata is delivered to WhatsApp every time," said Kelber, adding that it could be assumed that these data snippets were then forwarded directly to Facebook, WhatsApp's parent concern.

Read more: Security lapses plague messaging and video apps

"These contribute, even if only as a small piece of the mosaic, to the increased storage of personal profiles," he wrote, referring to IP addresses and locations.

WhatsApp, cited in Handelblatt's Monday edition, rebutted Kelber's warning, saying the messaging service did not forward user data to Facebook — for example, to enable more accurately the distribution of online advertising.

Watch video 03:15 Permalink https://p.dw.com/p/3cN8

DW investigation finds private Whatsapp groups can still be found online

"WhatsApp cannot read messages because they are encrypted throughout by default," said its spokesman. 

Only the people who sent messages to each other could read them — but not WhatsApp, Facebook or anyone else, asserted the commercial service.

In recent weeks, Kelber has also entered debate in Germany about plans to create viral tracing and vaccination apps, warning that a person's health data must be especially protected in the online realm.

ipj/rc (AFP, KNA)


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WhatsApp security flaw: Thousands of links to groups can still be easily found online

A DW journalist recently discovered WhatsApp links that lead to closed groups could be found with a simple Google search. (27.02.2020) 

Date 17.05.2020

Related Subjects Facebook

Keywords data privacy, WhatsApp, Facebook, Ulrich Kelber, data mining, Cambridge Analytica

MLB 
NO SHOWERS NO SPITTING 
NO SHOWERS OF SPIT 

I'D LIKE TO TEACH THE WORLD TO SING  

FIFTY YEARS LATER

"I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing (In Perfect Harmony)" is a pop song which originated as an advertising jingle, produced by Billy Davis and sung by the Hillside Singers, for Coca-Cola, and was featured in 1971 as a TV commercial. The Hillside Singers' version was released as a successful single the same year. The New Seekers also had a hit with the song around the same time.

TRUDEAU TREND SETTER

Amazon hit from all sides as crisis highlights growing power

AFP/File / Angela WeissAmazon warehouses have been the site of worker protests as the company's role to meet consumer demands during the pandemic has risen

As Amazon becomes an increasingly important lifeline in the pandemic crisis, it is being hit with a wave of criticism from activists, politicians and others who question the tech giant's growing influence.

Amazon has become the most scrutinized company during the health emergency.

It has boosted its global workforce to nearly one million and dealt with protests over warehouse safety and reported deaths of several employees.

But Amazon has also pledged to spend at least $4 billion in the current quarter -- its entire expected operating profit -- on coronavirus mitigation efforts, including relief contributions and funding research.

But Amazon has also pledged to spend at least $4 billion in the current quarter -- its entire expected operating profit -- on coronavirus mitigation efforts, including relief contributions and funding research.

Amazon's AWS cloud computing unit, which powers big portions of the internet, is also a key element during the crisis with more people and companies working online.

Amazon's market value has hovered near record levels around $1.2 trillion dollars as it reported rising revenues and lower profits in the past quarter.

"Its sheer size justifies the scrutiny," said Dania Rajendra of the activist group Athena, a coalition which is focused specifically on Amazon's corporate activity and treatment of workers.

Athena activists fret that Amazon, which also controls one of the major streaming television services, infiltrates so many aspects of people's lives.

Rankling many activists, the rise in Amazon's shares has boosted the wealth of founder and chief executive Jeff Bezos to over $140 billion even as the global economy has been battered by the virus outbreak.

Amazon has faced employee walkouts at several facilities over safety and hazard pay and has been accused of firing people for speaking out against the company.

"It's a minority going on strike but the sentiment represents thousand if not hundreds of thousands," said Steve Smith of the California Labor Federation.

While Amazon has boosted base pay to $15 an hour, above the minimum wage required, and added bonuses during the pandemic, activists say it's insufficient, especially in high-cost states like California.

"This company can afford to make these jobs middle class jobs, good jobs," Smith said.

- Tensions in Washington -

AFP/File / MANDEL NGAN

The fortune of Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos has risen with the company's share value, but the company will be using its profits from the current quarter for coronavirus mitigation efforts


The tensions have spilled over into the US capital Washington and elsewhere. US lawmakers leading antitrust investigations asked Bezos to respond to reports that the company improperly used data from third-party sellers to launch its own products, which the company has denied.

New York state Attorney General Letitia James called Amazon "disgraceful" for firing a warehouse employee who led a worker protest over safety. Amazon said the employee refused to quarantine after testing positive for COVID-19.

In a statement to AFP, Amazon defended its actions on workplace safety, social distancing and noted that it is implementing its own employee testing program.

The company also disputed claims it was stifling employee speech.

Spokeswoman Lisa Levandowski said the employees in question were dismissed "not for talking publicly about working conditions or safety, but rather, for repeatedly violating internal policies."

Levandowski added that Amazon already provides what many unions have been seeking, including a high base wage, health benefits and career opportunities.

"She said the company seeks "a great employment experience" along with offering "a world-class customer experience (while) respecting rights to choose a union."

- Alternatives? -

Analyst Patrick Moorhead of Moor Insights & Strategy said Amazon is getting heightened scrutiny because of its growing global influence and because of the wast wealth of Bezos.


Moorhead said Amazon also brought on some of its woes with its highly public search for a second headquarters which highlighted tax breaks for the tech giant.

But Moorhead said Amazon is "not profiting" from the coronavirus crisis, and should be credited for some 150 measures taken including the pooling of high-performance computing for researchers.

"If you think about the alternative of shutting down Amazon, so many people wouldn't get the supplies that they need. You'd have a tremendous number of people unemployed," he said.

WHAT DO AFGHANISTAN AND ISRAEL HAVE IN COMMON?

DUAL  PRIME MINISTERS SHARING THE OFFICE

Israel's parliament swore in a new unity government on Sunday led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former rival Benny Gantz, ending the longest political crisis in the nation's history.

https://www.afp.com/en/news/15/israel-swears-unity-govt-pm-insists-west-bank-annexation-doc-1rr3b221

Israel ends 500-day political crisis with inauguration of Netanyahu-Gantz unity government

After nearly 18 months without a government, Israel has sworn in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former rival Benny Gantz in a power-sharing agreement.

https://www.dw.com/en/israel-ends-500-day-political-crisis-with-inauguration-of-netanyahu-gantz-unity-government/a-53470338

Afghan President Ghani and rival Abdullah sign power-sharing deal

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and his rival Abdullah Abdullah signed a power-sharing deal on Sunday, ending a bitter months-long feud that plunged the country into political crisis. The breakthrough, which sees Abdullah heading peace talks with the Taliban, comes as Afghanistan battles a rapid spread of the deadly coronavirus and surging militant violence that saw dozens killed in brutal attacks last week.

https://www.afp.com/en/news/15/afghan-president-ghani-and-rival-abdullah-sign-power-sharing-deal-doc-1rr6az5

Afghanistan president Ashraf Ghani and rival Abdullah Abdullah ink power-sharing deal

President of Afghanistan Ashraf Ghani and his rival Abdullah Abdullah have agreed to share presidential powers. The decision ends months of uncertainty that had included dual inauguration ceremonies.

https://www.dw.com/en/afghanistan-president-ashraf-ghani-and-rival-abdullah-abdullah-ink-power-sharing-deal/a-53470402

Hamster tests show masks reduce coronavirus spread: scientists

AFP/File / Oli SCARFF

Hong Kong researchers found coronavirus transmission can be reduced by over 60 percent when surgical masks are used

Tests on hamsters reveal the widespread use of facemasks reduces transmission of the deadly coronavirus, a team of leading experts in Hong Kong said Sunday.

The research by the University of Hong Kong is some of the first to specifically investigate whether masks can stop symptomatic and asymptomatic COVID-19 carriers from infecting others.

Led by Professor Yuen Kwok-yung, one of the world's top coronavirus experts, the team placed hamsters that were artificially infected with the disease next to healthy animals.

Surgical masks were placed between the two cages with air flow travelling from the infected animals to the healthy ones.

The researchers found non-contact transmission of the virus could be reduced by more than 60 percent when the masks were used.

Two thirds of the healthy hamsters were infected within a week if no masks were applied.

The infection rate plunged to just over 15 percent when surgical masks were put on the cage of the infected animals and by about 35 percent when placed on the cage with the healthy hamsters.

Those that did become infected were also found to have less of the virus within their bodies than those infected without a mask.

"It's very clear that the effect of masking the infected, especially when they are asymptomatic -- or symptomatic -- it's much more important than anything else," Yuen told reporters Sunday.

"It also explained why universal masking is important because we now have known that a large number of those infected have no symptom."

Yuen was one of the microbiologists who discovered the SARS virus -- a predecessor of the current coronavirus -- when it emerged in 2003, killing some 300 people in Hong Kong.

Armed with knowledge from that fight, he advised Hong Kongers early in the current pandemic to adopt universal masking, something embraced by the city's residents.

At the time the World Health Organisation and many other foreign health authorities dismissed using masks widely among the public, saying they should instead go to frontline medical workers.

Four months after its first COVID-19 case was detected, Hong Kong has largely managed to contain the disease with just over 1,000 infections and four deaths.

Experts have credited widespread mask use as well as efficient testing, tracing and treatment in the city of 7.5 million for the relatively low numbers.

17MAY2020






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MAY 18 DEMOCRACY UPRISING
Trauma endures of South Korea's Gwangju Uprising

AFP / Ed JONES

The only remaining photo of Jung Ki-young, one of more than 70 South Koreans who disappeared during the Gwangju Uprising in 1980

It is 40 years since Choi Jung-ja saw her husband, who has been missing since South Korea's military dictatorship killed hundreds of people when they crushed the pro-democracy Gwangju Uprising, a scar that burns in the country's political psyche to this day.

On May 18, 1980 demonstrators protesting against dictator Chun Doo-hwan's declaration of martial law confronted his troops and 10 days of violence ensued.

But conservatives in the South still condemn the uprising as a Communist-inspired rebellion backed by the North, while left-leaning President Moon Jae-in wants to enshrine it in the constitution.

AFP / Ed JONESThe May 18 National Cemetery holds the remains of victims from South Korea's Gwangju pro-democracy uprising


Choi's husband was 43 when he left their house in the southern city to buy oil for a heater at the family pub, never to return.

Once the violence was over Choi frantically searched for him, even opening random coffins in the streets covered with blood-stained Korean flags.

"I couldn't continue after opening the third coffin," she told AFP. "The faces were covered with blood -- there were no words to describe them. The faces were unrecognisable."

She still takes medication to deal with the trauma, she said, and curses whenever Chun appears on television.

- 'Fuel for the fire' -

There is no agreed toll for Gwangju, with reports of secret burials both on land and at sea. The military remaining in power for another eight years offered ample opportunity to dispose of the evidence.

AFP / Ed JONES

Official counts estimate around 160 people died in the 

Gwangju Uprising, but activists say up to three times as

 many may have been killed

Official bodies point to around 160 dead -- including some soldiers and police -- and more than 70 missing. Activists say up to three times as many may have been killed.

But the search for justice has gone through multiple twists and turns and Gwangju is one of the most politicised historical events in a viciously polarised country.

The South is still technically at war with the nuclear-armed North. At the time of the Gwangju Uprising, Chun's military regime described it as a rebellion led by supporters of then-opposition leader Kim Dae-jung, who comes from nearby Sinan, and pro-Pyongyang agitators.

Kim was arrested, convicted of sedition and sentenced to death. But the penalty was commuted under international pressure and he was granted asylum in the US, before being elected president himself in the 1990s after the restoration of democracy and winning the 2000 Nobel Peace Prize.

AFP / Ed JONES

Jung Ho-hwa, whose father Jung Ki-young disappeared during the Gwangju Uprising


Chun was convicted in 1996 of treason over Gwangju and bribery and condemned to hang, but his execution was commuted on appeal and he was released following a presidential pardon. He still denies any direct involvement in the suppression of the uprising.

Today, the South's president Moon -- who as a student took part in other anti-dictatorship protests -- regularly highlights Gwangju, promising to reopen investigations into it and calling for it to be included in the constitution.

South Korea's opposition seeks to paint Moon as a Pyongyang sympathiser, and Hannes Mosler of the University of Duisburg-Essen said the right sought to use Gwangju to discredit liberals by linking them to the "absolute evil" of the North.

"North Korea lies at the heart of polarisation strategies in South Korea," Mosler told AFP.

AFP / Ed JONES

The May 18 National Cemetery holds the remains of victims from South Korea's Gwangju pro-democracy uprising

"Once a fake narrative is built around the Gwangju Uprising that connects it with North Korea, this provides the fuel for the polarisation fire to burn further and further."

Moon's Democratic Party won a landslide election victory last month largely on the back of the government's successful handling of the coronavirus epidemic in the country.

But while the city of Daegu was at the centre of the outbreak, it is the last stronghold of the right and Moon's party lost every one of the seats there.

- Last wish -

Last year the remains of around 40 people were discovered at the site of a former prison in Gwangju, where 242 relatives of missing people have given DNA samples in the hope of identifying corpses that have yet to come to light.

Among them is Cha Cho-gang, 81, whose son never returned after setting out to sell garlic at a market in the city, aged 19.

"My husband died three years ago," she said. "His last wish was to bury our son's remains before his own funeral.

"I have the same wish, but I don't know if it will ever come true."