Living Planet: First Nations alternatives to industrial farming in Iowa

Iowa's industrial agricultural system suffered massive damages after a storm tore through the area in August 2020. But between the vast monocultures of soy and ethanol corn, the Indigenous Meskwaki Nation grows food using different techniques that may provide key lessons for farmers wanting a more resilient and sustainable agricultural system in the face of increasingly severe climatic changes.

Climate inaction will cost G7 countries 'billions'

Oxfam has called on the leaders of the G7 countries to pursue greater cuts to emissions or face economic consequences worse than those caused by coronavirus.



Oxfam has warned the G7 countries of the economic impacts of not taking measures to keep global temperature rises to below 1.5 degrees

The world's richest countries face billions of dollars in economic losses if they fail to take stringent measures to curb climate change, Oxfam said on Monday, citing research by the Swiss Re Institute.

According to the report, the G7 (Group of Seven) economies — Germany, France, Italy, Japan, Canada, the UK and the US — could see annual average losses of up to 8.5% by 2050 if CO2 emissions continue unabated.

Total losses could amount to $4.8 trillion (€3.95 trillion) a year, double the GDP losses caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

What did the report reveal?

The Swiss Re report looked out how different aspects of changing climate, including heatwaves, rising sea levels and degradation of agricultural land, may impact economic activities in 48 countries.

Although the report concluded that the richest countries would be badly hit by the consequences of runaway climate change, poorer countries would fare much worse.

It predicted that up to 35% of the Philippines' economy could be wiped away while India, home to over 1.3 billion people, may see its economic activity shrink by 27%.

Oxfam added that between 32 and 132 billion people could be pushed into extreme poverty by 2030 due to climate change, citing a recent report by the World Bank.

What is Oxfam's message for the G7?

Oxfam called on the leaders of the G7 countries to immediately increase the pledges to cut carbon emissions, pointing out that most were falling short of necessary reductions to keep global warming below 1.5 degrees.

The charity also demanded that the G7 countries — who represent some of the world's worst emitters of CO2 historically — stick to their pledge to provide $100 billion annually to help poorer countries deal with the impacts of climate change.

"The economic turmoil projected in wealthy G7 countries is only the tip of the iceberg: many poorer parts of the world will see increasing deaths, hunger and poverty as a result of extreme weather. This year could be a turning point if governments grasp the challenge to create a safer, more liveable planet for all," Oxfam expert Mark Lawson said.


6 CITIES AT RISK OF CHRONIC FLOODING
Shanghai (China)
Ninety-three million people currently live on land in China that could be inundated by 2050 due to the localized coastal flooding, according to research by independent US-based science organization Climate Central. Shanghai, which is China's most populous city, is expected to be particularly vulnerable to ocean flooding as it lacks coastal defenses.   PHOTOS 123456

The leaders from the G7 countries are meeting in the UK later this week.

"The economic case for climate action is clear ― now we need G7 governments to take dramatic action in the next nine years to cut emissions and increase climate finance," Lawson said.

Malala Yousafzai features on Vogue UK's July cover

The youngest woman to receive the Nobel Peace Prize joins a list of activists and cultural celebrities to grace the cover of the fashion and lifestyle magazine.


Malala Yousafzai: The outspoken survivor

As a 15-year-old, Malala was shot by the Taliban in Pakistan because she spoke up for girls' education. In 2014, she received the Nobel Peace Prize. The now 23-year-old features on the cover of Vogue UK's July edition, in which she discusses the limits of online activism: "Right now... we have associated activism with tweets. That needs to change, because Twitter is a completely different world."

PHOTOS 12345678910

Opinion: US voting rights restrictions are a warning to all democracies

New restrictive voting laws in many Republican-ruled US states are hollowing out citizens’ basic civil rights, especially those of African Americans. DW’s Ines Pohl says an existential attack on democracy is underway.


The person who resides here should represent all Americans, irrespective of gender, skin color, religion or origin


On the surface, it all seems to be nothing more than a classic US power struggle of the kind presented to the rest of the world in many a Netflix series. In this two-party country, it is often a dubious political custom to thwart the other party by any means and to prevent the ruling party from scoring any political successes in order to win back a majority in at least one, if not both, houses in the midterm elections. And it should not be forgotten: These are tactics that Democratic politicians have also used in the past.

But what is currently happening in the US is something more fundamental, more existential. After four years of Donald Trump and a Republican Party that remains firmly caught in his web of lies, it is nothing less than the entire political system that is at stake. That may sound exaggerated, but it is not.
Preventing Black Americans from voting

A true democracy is characterized by the fact that all citizens have the right to vote freely and secretly, regardless of origin, sexual orientation, religion, age or income. But it is precisely this right that is currently being undermined in parts of the US. Republican governments in 14 states have already changed election laws, and several more are set to do so. The goal is to minimize the ability of Blacks and other minorities to influence the outcome of elections and to bolster the Republican Party's hold on power. This is how the party is trying to secure its future in a country where the white majority will be a thing of the past in a few years' time.

Ines Pohl heads the DW studio in Washington, DC

To this end, boundaries of congressional districts are being redrawn, it is being made mandatory to present proof of identity to vote, non-recent signatures are being declared invalid and absentee voting is being abolished or made more difficult. The state of Texas is even going so far as to prohibit voting on Sunday mornings — the time many Black Americans tend to head for polling stations, combining their democratic rights with their churchgoing.

What's most dangerous, however, are the legal reforms making it much easier for election commission chairs to simply declare elections invalid. To put this in context: A broad majority of Republicans claim to this day — without any evidence and despite all recounts to the contrary — that Donald Trump actually won the presidential election last November.
What's at stake

These are extremely grim developments with hardly foreseeable consequences — not only for the upcoming midterm elections at the end of 2022, but also for the next presidential election in 2024. That's because ultimately, both chambers, the Senate and Congress, must certify the results of the vote by the so-called Electoral College so that the president elected by the people can actually take office.

It was precisely this process that Donald Trump's supporters tried to stop on January 6 by storming the Capitol. Since then, democratic forces within the United States have been in a state of alarm and realize just what is at stake.
All democracies should pay close attention

All democracies around the world should watch the situation in the US closely and draw lessons from it:

1. There is no such thing as being a bit anti-democratic. Forging coalitions with anti-democratic persons and parties as a strategy to gain or retain power is a bad idea. The Republicans are discovering they can no longer restrain the populist spirit unleashed by Donald Trump.

2. No one has found an answer to the question of how to break up social media echo chambers. The US is a disturbing example of how quickly facts can be replaced by lies when the latter support people's own worldview.

3. Politicians' credibility starts with respect for voters. The presidency of Donald Trump was made possible partly by the arrogance of the liberal political elite, which simply ignored the concerns of many Americans.

4. Democracies can survive only with an independent, critical media that is capable of dialogue and reaching a broad public.

5. And the most important thing of all is educating young people in media literacy and encouraging them to think for themselves. It all starts at school. But that is also where everything can end.

This article has been translated from German

Opinion: Spying among friends? Sadly, it's the norm

Denmark is believed to have helped the US National Security Agency spy on German politicians. Anyone who's surprised by this is being naive, writes Marcel Fürstenau


I spy with my little eye: Intelligence services remain largely uncontrolled by their respective governments


Denmark has now been added to the unofficial list of states who are believed to have treated supposedly friendly countries as if they were enemies. From 2012 to 2014, Germany's northern neighbor is said to have assisted the National Security Agency (NSA) in spying on the electronic communications of prominent German politicians: Chancellor Angela Merkel, Frank-Walter Steinmeier — then foreign minister, now German president — and Peer Steinbrück, the Social Democrats' chancellor candidate in the 2013 election.

Thanks to Edward Snowden, it has been common knowledge for some time that the NSA had targeted Merkel and Steinmeier. His 2013 revelations sent shockwaves around the world. It was always obvious that secret service agencies, even those of democratic states, are not simply harmless associations. But the degree of ruthlessness and lack of scruple astonished even political heavyweights like Angela Merkel, a victim of the NSA's surveillance. Her comment at the time — "Spying among friends is unacceptable" — has become a familiar bon mot. Because, in reality, anything goes. Spying knows no limits, either moral or geographical.
Secret services must be subject to stricter control

DW's Marcel Fürstenau

We can and should continue to be outraged at the way the NSA, Germany's Federal Intelligence Service (BND), and others of their ilk effectively write their own rules. However, since the Snowden revelations at the very latest, this reaction — while all too understandable — seems downright naive. It would be much more important for the political leaders in Germany, Denmark and all other countries that practice the separation of powers to finally exercise better control over their intelligence services. Unfortunately, this looks as unlikely as ever.

In Germany, a parliamentary investigative committee spent years looking into the NSA/BND scandal, but the outcome was scandalous and shameful. The reform led to the legalization of the illegal wiretapping practice, which had only became common knowledge as a result of Snowden's information. Fortunately, Germany's Federal Constitutional Court proved it could be relied on: It quashed this shameless and false relabeling in 2020.
A scandal: Snowden in Russian exile

Anyone who wants to understand how the United States, Germany and democratic Europe tick with regard to intelligence services need only look at Snowdon's fate. Since making his unprecedented revelations, he has been living in exile in Russia. The fact that Vladimir Putin, the strongman in the Kremlin and a former Soviet secret service (KGB) officer, has to hold his protective hand over Snowden is and remains an indictment of the West.

And unfortunately, there is nothing whatsoever to indicate this might change. Because the 37-year-old American's opponents on both sides of the Atlantic are in agreement: In their eyes, he is a traitor. This was the opinion of former US President Barack Obama, who was in office when Snowden made his revelations; and the current president, Joe Biden, shares the same view.
A culture change is needed

There have been no reports of Merkel, Steinmeier, or other German victims of the NSA insulting the whistle-blower in the same way — but the controversial former president of Germany's domestic intelligence service, Hans-Georg Maassen, has done so. It is people like him, and their ideal of the intelligence services remaining largely uncontrolled, that stand in the way of a radical culture change in this area. This will remain the case for as long as they still have enough support from legislators and governments — and it will have to change before Snowden can hope to leave his dubious exile in Russia.

This article was translated from German.

Germany warns: AI arms race already underway

The world is entering a new era of warfare, with artificial intelligence taking center stage. AI is making militaries faster, smarter and more efficient. But if left unchecked, it threatens to destabilize the world.


'Loitering munitions' with a high degree of autonomy are already seeing action in conflict


An AI arms race is already underway. That's the blunt warning from Germany's foreign minister, Heiko Maas.

"We're right in the middle of it. That's the reality we have to deal with," Maas told DW, speaking in a new DW documentary, "Future Wars — and How to Prevent Them."

It's a reality at the heart of the struggle for supremacy between the world's greatest powers.

"This is a race that cuts across the military and the civilian fields," said Amandeep Singh Gill, former chair of the United Nations group of governmental experts on lethal autonomous weapons. "This is a multi-trillion dollar question."


Great powers pile in

This is apparent in a recent report from the United States' National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence. It speaks of a "new warfighting paradigm" pitting "algorithms against algorithms," and urges massive investments "to continuously out-innovate potential adversaries."

And you can see it in China's latest five-year plan, which places AI at the center of a relentless ramp-up in research and development, while the People's Liberation Army girds for a future of what it calls "intelligentized warfare."

As Russian President Vladimir Putin put it as early as 2017, "whoever becomes the leader in this sphere will become the ruler of the world."

But it's not only great powers piling in.

Much further down the pecking order of global power, this new era is a battle-tested reality.

German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas: 'We have to forge international treaties on new weapons technologies'

Watershed war

In late 2020, as the world was consumed by the pandemic, festering tensions in the Caucasus erupted into war.

It looked like a textbook regional conflict, with Azerbaijan and Armenia fighting over the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh. But for those paying attention, this was a watershed in warfare.

"The really important aspect of the conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh, in my view, was the use of these loitering munitions, so-called 'kamikaze drones' — these pretty autonomous systems," said Ulrike Franke, an expert on drone warfare at the European Council on Foreign Relations.

'Loitering munitions' saw action in the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh war

Bombs that loiter in the air

Advanced loitering munitions models are capable of a high degree of autonomy. Once launched, they fly to a defined target area, where they "loiter," scanning for targets — typically air defense systems.

Once they detect a target, they fly into it, destroying it on impact with an onboard payload of explosives; hence the nickname "kamikaze drones."

"They also had been used in some way or form before — but here, they really showed their usefulness," Franke explained. "It was shown how difficult it is to fight against these systems."

Research by the Center for Strategic and International Studies showed that Azerbaijan had a massive edge in loitering munitions, with more than 200 units of four sophisticated Israeli designs. Armenia had a single domestic model at its disposal.

Other militaries took note.

"Since the conflict, you could definitely see a certain uptick in interest in loitering munitions," said Franke. "We have seen more armed forces around the world acquiring or wanting to acquire these loitering munitions."

AI-driven swarm technology will soon hit the battlefield

Drone swarms and 'flash wars'

This is just the beginning. Looking ahead, AI-driven technologies such as swarming will come into military use — enabling many drones to operate together as a lethal whole.

"You could take out an air defense system, for example," said Martijn Rasser of the Center for a New American Security, a think tank based in Washington, D.C.

"You throw so much mass at it and so many numbers that the system is overwhelmed. This, of course, has a lot of tactical benefits on a battlefield," he told DW. "No surprise, a lot of countries are very interested in pursuing these types of capabilities."

The scale and speed of swarming open up the prospect of military clashes so rapid and complex that humans cannot follow them, further fueling an arms race dynamic.

As Ulrike Franke explained: "Some actors may be forced to adopt a certain level of autonomy, at least defensively, because human beings would not be able to deal with autonomous attacks as fast."

This critical factor of speed could even lead to wars that erupt out of nowhere, with autonomous systems reacting to each other in a spiral of escalation. "In the literature we call these 'flash wars'," Franke said, "an accidental military conflict that you didn't want."

Experts warn that AI-driven systems could lead to 'flash wars' erupting beyond human control

A move to 'stop killer robots'

Bonnie Docherty has made it her mission to prevent such a future. A Harvard Law School lecturer, she is an architect of the Campaign to Stop Killer Robots, an alliance of nongovernmental organizations demanding a global treaty to ban lethal autonomous weapons.

"The overarching obligation of the treaty should be to maintain meaningful human control over the use of force," Docherty told DW. "It should be a treaty that governs all weapons operating with autonomy that choose targets and fire on them based on sensor's inputs rather than human inputs."

The campaign has been focused on talks in Geneva under the umbrella of the UN Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons, which seeks to control weapons deemed to cause unjustifiable suffering.

It has been slow going. The process has yielded a set of "guiding principles," including that autonomous weapons be subject to human rights law, and that humans have ultimate responsibility for their use. But these simply form a basis for more discussions.

Docherty fears that the consensus-bound Geneva process may be thwarted by powers that have no interest in a treaty.

"Russia has been particularly vehement in its objections," Docherty said.

But it's not alone. "Some of the other states developing autonomous weapon systems such as Israel, the US, the United Kingdom and others have certainly been unsupportive of a new treaty."

TECHNOLOGIES THAT REVOLUTIONIZED WARFARE

AI: 'Third revolution in warfare'

Over 100 AI experts have written to the UN asking them to ban lethal autonomous weapons — those that use AI to act independently. No so-called "killer robots" currently exist, but advances in artificial intelligence have made them a real possibility. Experts said these weapons could be "the third revolution in warfare," after gunpowder and nuclear arms. PHOTOS 12345678910

Time for a rethink?

Docherty is calling for a new approach if the next round of Geneva talks due later this year makes no progress. She has proposed "an independent process, guided by states that actually are serious about this issue and willing to develop strong standards to regulate these weapon systems."

But many are wary of this idea. Germany's foreign minister has been a vocal proponent of a ban, but he does not support the Campaign to Stop Killer Robots.

"We don't reject it in substance — we're just saying that we want others to be included," Heiko Maas told DW. "Military powers that are technologically in a position not just to develop autonomous weapons but also to use them."

Maas does agree that a treaty must be the ultimate goal. "Just like we managed to do with nuclear weapons over many decades, we have to forge international treaties on new weapons technologies," he said. "They need to make clear that we agree that some developments that are technically possible are not acceptable and must be prohibited globally."

Germany's Heiko Maas: 'We're moving toward a situation with cyber or autonomous weapons where everyone can do as they please'

What next?

But for now, there is no consensus. For Franke, the best the world can hope for may be norms around how technologies are used. "You agree, for example, to use certain capabilities only in a defensive way, or only against machines rather than humans, or only in certain contexts," she said.

Even this will be a challenge. "Agreeing to that and then implementing that is just much harder than some of the old arms control agreements," she said.

And while diplomats tiptoe around these hurdles, the technology marches on.

"The world must take an interest in the fact that we're moving toward a situation with cyber or autonomous weapons where everyone can do as they please," said Maas. "We don't want that."

SEE KILLER ROBOTS IN MY GOTHIC CAPITALI$M

 The Horror Of Accumulation And The Commodification Of Humanity 

For more, watch the full documentary Future Wars on YouTube.

CRIMINAL CAPITALI$M

France opens probe into personal wealth of Lebanon’s central bank chief

Issued on: 06/06/2021 - 

Lebanon's Central Bank Governor Riad Salameh gestures during a press conference at the bank's headquarters in Beirut on November 11, 2019. © AFP (Archive)

Text by: NEWS WIRES

France has opened a probe into the personal wealth of Riad Salameh, central bank chief in crisis-hit Lebanon, sources told AFP Sunday.

Paris financial prosecutors have opened a preliminary probe into criminal association and money laundering by Salameh, a source close to the investigation and a judicial source said, following a similar move by Switzerland.

Its findings could shed light onto the origins of the 70-year-old former Merrill Lynch banker's wealth.

In post since 1993 and once hailed by political and business leaders, Salameh has been repeatedly accused by the government of caretaker Prime Minister Hassan Diab of being responsible for the collapse of the Lebanese pound.

The Lebanese public suspect him and other high officials of transferring money abroad during a 2019 uprising, when ordinary people were prevented from doing so.

Lebanon has since been hit by an economic crisis which the World Bank says is one of the worst anywhere since the 19th century.

Close to the powerful Hariri family, Salameh has been under investigation for months in Switzerland on suspicion of serious money laundering and embezzlement from the Bank of Lebanon.

He also owns several properties in France and may have transferred money via the country.

One of the criminal complaints that prompted French prosecutors to get involved came from Swiss foundation Accountability Now, daily Le Monde reported.

Another was filed by anti-financial crime group Sherpa and by the Collective of Victims of Fraudulent and Criminal Practices in Lebanon, set up by savers devastated by the post-2019 crisis.

Capital flight

The French move signals the start of "a universal mega-investigation across Europe", said William Bourdon and Amelie Lefebvre, lawyers for Sherpa and the savers' collective.

"Enormous money laundering operations will be examined, which ought to open every nook and cranny of the mafia that has brought Lebanon to its knees," they hope.

Their criminal complaint, seen by AFP, accuses Salameh and people close to him -- his brother Raja, his son Nadi, a nephew and an aide at the central bank -- of fraudulently building a vast fortune in Europe.
The groups urge the judiciary to investigate massive capital flight from Lebanon since the crisis began, as well as property purchases out of all proportion to the buyers' income and the roles played by financial intermediaries, tax havens and strawmen.

Based especially on reports by Lebanese website Daraj.com and the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project, the plaintiffs believe that Salameh's worldwide total wealth amounts to more than $2 billion.

He contests that figure, saying his holdings stem from inheritances, his banking career and legitimate investments since taking office in 1993.

The French prosecutors' investigation is the latest in a string of probes into "ill-gotten gains" of foreign leaders -- especially from Africa or the Middle East.

(AFP)

Engine No.1, a tiny ‘green’ investment fund, is challenging the oil titans

Issued on: 05/06/2021 -

The 'green' investment fund Engine No.1 succeeded in getting three of its candidates elected to the board of the oil giant Exxon. © Karen Bleier, AFP

Text by: Sébastian SEIBT

Activist investment fund Engine No.1 has succeeded in getting three of its candidates elected to Exxon’s 12-member board of directors, despite strong opposition from the oil giant. This confirms the increasing pressure the sector is experiencing as it struggles to make the shift to energy transition.

Until this week, Alexander Karsner was best known for being a senior strategist for the innovation lab Alphabet, the parent company of Google. On June 2, Karsner became the third candidate backed by the Engine No.1 hedge fund to be elected to the board of directors of the American oil powerhouse Exxon.

For this small-scale financial player, it was almost total victory. Founded only seven months ago, on December 1, 2020, this fund set itself the mission to shake up the oil industry from the inside out, to push these rich multinationals to prepare for a future without fossil fuel.

BREAKING: Hedge fund Engine No.1 has stunned the world by winning a third seat for climate activists on Exxon's Board.

A terrible day for a major polluter is a great day for the planet. pic.twitter.com/ekvM4FRd86— Steven Donziger (@SDonziger) June 3, 2021

Eternal battle of David versus Goliath

Engine No.1 began its assault on fortress Exxon just a week after its creation. With $240 million (€200m) in its pocket and 22 employees, this David of 'green' finance set out to bring the US energy Goliath, which is worth $250 billion and employs more than 70,000 people, back into the environmental fold.

The investment fund's first step was to acquire 0.02 percent of Exxon's capital. This allowed it, as a shareholder, to send a letter to the ExxonMobil board on December 7 demanding the group's management to focus more on renewable energies to boost its long-term growth and achieve carbon neutrality by 2050.

When Exxon predictably refused to comply with these demands, Engine No.1 moved on to phase two of its plan: to propose four candidates for election for the board of directors. It seemed an almost preposterous idea, this small unknown investment fund taking on Exxon's favourites for these board positions.

David had laid down the gauntlet to Goliath and emerged victorious: Engine No.1 started to gain seats. The election on May 26 of the first two candidates put forward by this fund reverberated "like an earthquake in the industry", said the Financial Times. The triumph of Engine No.1's third candidate on June 2 confirmed their successful entry in a board that has the power to influence strategic choices such as the replacement of the CEO of Exxon or the validation of his salary.

A sign of a change in mentality

These appointments do not fundamentally change the balance of power within the board of directors, since nine of the 12 seats are occupied by Exxon-backed directors. But they do highlight a change in mindset among Big Oil investors.

To get support for their candidates, Engine No.1 had to convince a majority of investors to vote essentially against Exxon's advice. In particular, it obtained the support of three pension funds (including the Church of England) that are Exxon shareholders, and of the Blackrock and Vanguard investment funds, which hold more than 15 percent of the oil group. "This would not have been possible one or two years ago," said business website Quartz.

Engine No.1 cleverly appealed less to the "green" motives of these investors and more to their appetite for profit. In a document the firm circulated to shareholders, it said that Exxon's obsession with fossil fuels and disdain for renewables was jeopardising future dividends.

"This is one of the first times that talk of the long-term financial prospects of the energy transition has had concrete consequences for a major oil company," reported the Bloomberg business channel. The Exxon fight is the most high-profile proof to date that environmental and social issues are now fully at the forefront.

Engine No.1 has also been careful to choose candidates who do not have an overly "green" CV. In addition to the Alphabet executive, their other two new Exxon directors are Kaia Hietala, an executive who worked for Finnish oil refiner Neste, and Gregory Goff, a veteran of the North American oil industry.

Exxon the perfect target

Exxon was also the perfect target for this first environmental infiltration operation. Currently, the group appears to be the weak link in the oil industry. In 2020, it lost money for the first time in its history. Some analysts put this poor performance down to Exxon's stubbornness in producing only oil without seeking to diversify into renewables.

In this context, Engine No.1 “tapped a well of discontent among Exxon shareholders, arguing that the company’s climate approach and its financial underperformance were part of a whole – and only deep changes to the board and strategy would fix it,” said the Financial Times. Frustrated investors were ready to lend an attentive ear to an investment fund that came to explain that by changing strategy now, it will be possible to return to profit growth.

Exxon is not an isolated case. Since the end of May, disappointments have been piling up for the oil giants, which are struggling to make the transition to cleaner energy. In the Netherlands, a court ordered Shell "to reduce its CO2 output by 45 percent" on May 26, and Chevron's shareholders voted by a 60 percent majority that same week to ask the group's executives to reduce their CO2 emissions.

Of course, multinational executives are not going to be rushed into action. The Dutch court ruling can be appealed, Chevron's shareholder resolution is only a recommendation, and Exxon retains control of its board despite the arrival of three Engine No.1-backed troublemakers.

But this black streak for these oil giants does suggest "an ongoing transformation of the industry", says the news site Vox. One of the pension funds that supported Engine No.1 issued a statement after the appointment of the new directors to say that "this is just the beginning". Revolutions are no longer just happening in the streets, they are now in the boardrooms too.

This article has been translated from the original in French.

New exhibition 'Science Friction' blends nature and art

Issued on: 07/06/2021 -

PERSPECTIVE © FRANCE 24

By:Alison SARGENT
10 min

"All living forms are interdependent." That's the jumping off point for the exhibition "Science Friction", opening this month at Barcelona's Centre of Contemporary Culture. It challenges us to think of evolution, "not as a tree with humans at the top, but as network of collaborations". We spoke to the show's curator Maria Ptqk about symbiosis, feminism and recognising the legal rights of the world's ecosystems.

TRIAL FOR THE DOWNING OF MH17

Dutch judges will on Monday start hearing evidence against three Russian suspects and a Ukrainian in the downing of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 over war-torn Ukraine in 2014. The trial formally began in March 2020 but has so far been dealing with legal arguments, mainly about the admissibility of evidence in the crash in which 298 passengers and crew were killed. FRANCE 24's Fernande Van Tets tells us more.