Protestors in New York cry ‘Globalize the intifada’ at demonstration

Several hundred participate in a pro-Palestinian demonstration in Brooklyn, New York, chanted ‘We don’t want no two states, we want all of it,’ and ‘There is only one solution, intifada revolution.’

By JEREMY SHARON

Jerusalem Post 

HOSTILE/BIASED ANTI BDS 

AUGUST 1, 2021 16:59

Pro-Palestine protesters hold a banner, as they demonstrate outside Downing Street in London, Britain, June 12, 2021.
(photo credit: REUTERS/HENRY NICHOLLS)

Several hundred protesters took part in a pro-Palestinian rally on Saturday in Brooklyn, using inflammatory rhetoric and messaging against Israel. They lauded “intifada” uprisings and called for taking control of Israeli territory, the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

During the protest, organized by an organization called “Within Our Lifetime – United for Palestine,” demonstrators marched behind three large banners: “Globalize the intifada,” “Zionism is terrorism,” and “We will free Palestine within our lifetime.”

Intifada is an Arabic word meaning uprising or rebellion. During the Second Intifada from 2000-2005, Palestinian terrorist groups, including Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad and some affiliated with Fatah, carried out hundreds of terrorist attacks against Israeli civilians and security personnel, killing more than 1,000.

During Saturday’s rally, marchers chanted, “We don’t want no two states, we want all of it,” referring to the two-state solution that has formed the basis of peace proposals.

A Twitter account was deleted on Sunday afternoon after it posted video footage of demonstrators chanting, “We don’t want no two states, we want all of it.”

Among the demonstrators’ other slogans were: “If we don’t get no justice, then they don’t get no peace,” “Intifada, intifada,” “There is only one solution, intifada revolution,” “Mobilize the intifada,” and “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.”

Demonstrators held aloft Palestinian flags, fired red, green and black flares, the colors of the flag, and held up pictures of Palestinians who they said were killed by Israeli security personnel. A pickup truck bearing activists flying the Palestinian flag led the rally.

Some demonstrators blocked traffic in the area and shouted vulgar expressions at commuters and pedestrians.

 

Iran terms accusations concerning attack on Israeli tanker as baseless

Tehran, IRNA- Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh on Sunday described accusations of the US and Zionist regime concerning Iran’s involvement in the attack on Israeli-managed tanker as baseless.

Khatibzadeh made the remarks in a weekly news conference that was streamed online.

Asked about the Zionist regime's accusations that Iran was involved in an attack on an Israeli tanker, he said that the illegitimate occupying regime must put an end to false accusations against Iran.

This is not the first time that the regime makes these accusations, he added.

He termed the accusations as naïve, noting that the accusations are based on the regime’s link in the US.

The officials of the regime must come to sense that they will not achieve anything by using the distractions.

The regime is in a bitter day of its own life, he said, adding that diverting attention by the regime is nothing new.

Occasionally, when good things happen in the region, the country uses distractions, he further noted.

The regime has created insecurity, violence, terrorism, and war wherever it has stepped into, he underlined.

The responsibility falls on those who have helped the regime to this end, Khatibzadeh added.

Elsewhere in his remarks, the Foreign Ministry spokesman reacted to the news on imposing the sanctions on Iran.

Washington is obsessed with these measures, he said, noting that even though they have repeatedly stated that maximum pressure policy has not only failed but has become a maximum failure for the US.

Imposing sanctions is also a failed logic under false pretenses, he underscored. 

Iran, which has been subjected to cruel sanctions for over four decades, has proved that whatever they have done cannot break Iran's will or cause a problem with Iran's legitimate self-defense programs, he stated.

Jacobs storms to shock Olympic 100m crown as Italy celebrates golden double

Issued on: 01/08/2021 - 

Italy's Lamont Marcell Jacobs pulled off a surprise victory in the Olympic 100 metres

 Jewel SAMAD AFP

Tokyo (AFP)

Lamont Marcell Jacobs stormed to a shock victory in the Olympics 100m final on Sunday to cap a golden double for Italy on a dramatic day of athletics action at the Tokyo Games.

Jacobs became the first Italian in history to be crowned Olympic 100m champion after powering home in a blistering 9.80sec, with Fred Kerley of the United States taking silver in 9.84sec and Canada's Andre de Grasse bronze in 9.89sec.

The 26-year-old Jacobs erupted as he crossed the finish line and leapt into the arms of compatriot Gianmarco Tamberi, who only moments earlier had clinched a rare shared gold medal for Italy in the high jump after a duel with Qatari world champion Mutaz Essa Barshim.

It was the final act of a pulsating day three of track and field at the Olympic Stadium which also saw a brilliant world record-breaking gold medal victory in the triple jump for Venezuela's two-time world champion Yulimar Rojas.

But the undisputed headline-grabbing performance of the night belonged to Italy's Jacobs, who had never previously gone under 10 seconds before the 2021 season.#photo1

The muscular El Paso, Texas-born sprinter had only finished third in his semi-final earlier on Sunday, clocking 9.84sec behind China's Su Bingtian and Ronnie Baker of the US to qualify for the final as one of the two fastest losers.

- Golden dream -

But in the final he roared from the blocks, hit the front at around the 50-metre mark and then held on to become the first Olympic 100m gold medallist of the post-Usain Bolt era.

He was greeted by high jumper Tamberi, who had clinched a share of the gold medal with Barshim minutes earlier.

Both men hugged after settling for gold having both recorded a best clearance of 2.37 metres.

"This is a dream I don't want to wake up from," said Barshim. "But we are here today sharing this moment and all the sacrifices. It's really worth it now in this moment."

In the triple jump meanwhile, Rojas did her best to electrify a largely empty stadium with a scintillating world record with her last leap of 15.67m, smashing the previous best of 15.50m set by Ukraine's Inessa Kravets in 1995.

"I am lost for words, I can’t describe this feeling and this moment," Rojas said.

"Gold medal winner, with an Olympic record, and a world record ... Wow. It is a fantastic night."

It was the first world record of the Tokyo Olympics athletics programme.

- Golden Gong -

Portugal's Patricia Mamona won silver with a national best of 15.01m, while Spain's Ana Peleteiro jumped 14.87m.

Earlier Sunday, China's Gong Lijao claimed gold in the women's shot put after leading the competition from start to finish.

Gong sealed her win with a personal best of 20.58 metres on her sixth and final attempt having led from her opening effort of 19.95m.

American Raven Saunders took silver with 19.79m, while New Zealand veteran Valerie Adams, in her fifth Olympics, was left delighted as she claimed bronze with 19.62 to go with golds in 2008 and 2012, and silver in 2016.

It marked the end of a long journey to gold for the 32-year-old Gong, a bronze medallist at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing and a silver medallist four years later in London.

In the women's 100m hurdles semi-finals, Puerto Rico's Jasmine Camacho-Quinn set an Olympic record to qualify for Monday's final with a superb display of technique and power.

Camacho-Quinn surged home in 12.26sec, smashing Sally Pearson's previous Olympic record set in 2012 of 12.35sec.

The 24-year-old's performance suggested that world record holder Keni Harrison may once again be kept waiting for her first major outdoor title.

The American favourite finished second in her heat in 12.51sec, trailing Jamaica's Britany Anderson (12.40sec).

In the opening rounds of the men's 400m, world champion Stephen Gardiner of the Bahamas and American Michael Cherry led a host of contenders into Monday's semi-finals of what promises to be an ultra-competitive race.

In the 400m hurdles semi-final, world champion Karsten Warholm qualified safely for the final along with US rival Rai Benjamin.

CRIMINAL CAPITALI$M

How Germany's stolen bikes end up in Ukraine

Hundreds of thousands of bikes are stolen in Germany every year, with top-of-the-range models increasingly being targeted. Many eventually find their way to Ukraine. DW has been following the trail.



Bike theft is a growing problem in Germany

Anna from Berlin (name changed) bought her brand new red e-bike for €2,600 ($3,100) in January 2020 — but she didn't get to enjoy it for long. It was stolen in July, just six months later, from the storage room in the basement of her apartment building. Anna reported the theft to the police.

According to the Federal Criminal Police Office, the thefts of more than 260,000 bicycles, with a total value of almost €200 million ($236 million), were registered in Germany last year. More than half of these bikes were insured. The German Insurance Association (GDV) says that the trend in stolen bicycles is leaning toward top-of-the-range models and e-bikes.

GDV spokeswoman Kathrin Jarosch told DW that damages of €110 million were paid out in 2020, with the average compensation paid by insurers reached an all-time high of €730. Ten years ago, the average insurance payout for a stolen bike was €400.

Germans are willing to pay a lot for a good bike

Police and GDV statistics show that the majority of bikes are stolen in the port cities of Hamburg and Bremen, and in the eastern states of Berlin, Brandenburg and Saxony. However, not many are recovered in Germany. According to the police, only 10% of bike thefts in Germany in 2020 were resolved.

Cheap, stolen bikes are often offered for sale on the internet, or at flea markets in Germany. Expensive bikes, however, are more likely to be dismantled into spare parts. The thief may attempt to sell them in one piece, but this is a risky undertaking in the European Union, because the police keep a register of stolen bikes and can quickly identify them by their frame numbers.

Consequently, thieves will very often try to sell stolen bikes in non-EU countries. When they are exported, customs officials may of course check the frame numbers at the border, but such spot checks are usually rare.

Where do stolen German bikes end up?

Thanks to some tips that came from Ukraine, DW managed to track down Anna's e-bike. It had made its way from Berlin to the central Ukrainian city of Dnipro. Volodymyr, a resident there, bought it in a store in the fall of 2020.

"Yes, I bought the bike for 26,000 hryvnia (the equivalent of €800)," he said. "The people who sold it said it came from Germany. But they didn't give me any papers, just a receipt. I wasn't surprised by the price, or the lack of papers; after all, it wasn't a new bike. I actually thought they could have sold it to me even cheaper," he said.

DW contacted the store he mentioned. They said they sold "secondhand bicycles from Germany, among other countries" and that "papers were available" for all of them. However, when DW asked them to provide proof, or at least say what these documents were, they refused. It was emphasized that the store did not import the bikes itself; rather, it bought them via the online portal OLX.ua, or sold them "on commission" on behalf of private individuals.

Anna's e-bike was identified when the E-Motion store in Berlin, where Anna purchased it, verified the frame number.

Trade in stolen bicycles more profitable

The Ukrainian internet is full of "secondhand bicycles from Germany and the EU," and there are stores everywhere offering bikes like these for sale. However, there is no precise data on the number of secondhand bikes entering Ukraine from the EU. People who know the market say that estimates vary, from tens of thousands to upward of 100,000 per year.

However, importing large numbers of secondhand bicycles to Ukraine legally is a laborious process, and scarcely worthwhile, because transportation costs, customs and tax payments all bump up the price. "It's difficult to compete with stolen secondhand bikes; it's economically unviable," said Anton Vakulenko, the owner of a bike store in Kyiv. "That's why dealers in Ukraine prefer to sell new bikes, which is not an easy business."

Mykhailo Umanez legally sells used bikes from Germany in a store in Ukraine

Mykhailo Umanez, on the other hand, is one of the few people in Ukraine officially importing secondhand bikes from the EU. "We have between 1,000 and 1,300 bikes coming through customs every year," he said. "We import them in batches. We mainly buy mountain bikes from German secondhand dealers, and city bikes from the Netherlands."

Umanez shows the papers he gives his customers in Ukraine. "As well as the receipt, there's a bike passport with the frame number, and a warranty. Some bikes also come with a manual or a service book," he said.

Everyone DW spoke to complained that the vast majority of secondhand bikes entering Ukraine are stolen. However, they also commented that buyers take little interest in documentation; low price is always the decisive factor. Vakulenko and Umanez, as well as other official dealers in Ukraine, say that in recent years the market for stolen bicycles in Ukraine has clearly shifted toward more expensive models, and that there are more and more e-bikes on offer.

A man from Lutsk in western Ukraine, who requested he not be named, told DW that importing stolen bikes was not a problem. "You take them apart, then the numbered frames are hidden and the pedals and seats declared as spare parts," he said.

Drivers with minibuses often do the transportation. They collect packages in German cities and bring them all the way to Ukraine. "If you've got your own people at the border, you can bring whatever you like into the country," the man claimed. He added that the Ukrainian market is now so saturated with stolen bikes, especially e-bikes, that they are being sent on to Russia, and further on to Kazakhstan.
Can a German owner get their bike back?

Anna from Berlin was very surprised to hear that her bicycle had been found in Dnipro, Ukraine. But she doesn't want it back. And Volodymyr, who bought it, doesn't want any contact with Anna because he's afraid the police would want to talk to him.

1.9 million e-bikes were sold in Germany in 2020

DW asked the German and Ukrainian authorities whether any action was being taken to stop the movement of stolen bikes. The police in Berlin said they were not aware of any operations of this kind, nor was there any cooperation between them and the Ukrainian police in tackling bicycle theft.

Incidentally, the Ukrainian police do not consider the importing of stolen bikes to be a big problem. "There are no plans to compile statistics on the detection of stolen bicycles from Germany and other EU countries," the Ukrainian criminal investigation department told DW.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian customs report that a grand total of 17 customs regulations violations involving bicycles or spare parts were logged in 2020. In 2019, the total was seven. Anna's bicycle was not among them. It seems it didn't have any problems crossing the Ukrainian border.


E-BIKES AND CO: HOW ECO-FRIENDLY IS ELECTROMOBILITY?
Old-school biking
Until recently, the classic old bicycle would have been an obvious option for anyone wanting to get active outdoors. These days, however, there are a number of electric alternatives that require slightly less exertion. But e-bikes and e-scooters aren't always as eco-friendly as you might think, and can cause other problems too.
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Germany's Seehofer backs Afghanistan deportations despite Taliban advances

Interior Minister Seehofer sees no reason why criminals cannot continue to be deported, despite the insecurity in war-torn Afghanistan. Human rights organizations and the Green party have spoken out against the policy.



Seehofer remains unperturbed, despite the security threat posed by the Taliban

Despite the recent advances of the Taliban in Afghanistan, German Interior Minister Horst Seehofer (CSU) said on Sunday he wants to maintain the existing policy regarding deportations to the country.

In an interview with the German newspaper Bild am Sonntag, Seehofer said: "We are currently negotiating with Afghanistan so that we can continue to deport criminals there."

Seehofer argued that Afghan criminals in Germany must continue to be "able to be returned to their home country."

The interior minister also backed finding ways to "further strengthen voluntary departure."

The final stages of the withdrawal of US-led foreign forces from Afghanistan, coupled with the Taliban's sweeping offensive, has led to increased instability in the war-torn country.

Backlash in Germany

Germany's largest pro-immigration advocacy organization, Pro Asyl, however, said that it is not just criminals who have been deported, but also well-integrated migrants.

Given the deteriorating circumstances in Afghanistan, the Green party in Germany has also spoken out against plans to continue with the current deportation policy.

The federal government continues to act as if "nothing" is happening in Afghanistan, said the Greens' co-leader Robert Habeck. He told the newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung that the Foreign Ministry's assessments must be revised and deportations suspended.

Last month, hundreds of people in Munich demonstrated against deportations to Afghanistan

Human rights spokeswoman for the Greens Margarete Bause called the government's deportation practice a "scandal" in an interview with the AFP news agency.

She criticized the government for downplaying the situation in Afghanistan in order to "continue its irresponsible deportation policy." Bause also demanded the cancellation of a planned deportation flight for August 10.


Afghan diva launches fashion brand amid Taliban threats

Desperate people leaving Afghanistan: How dire is the situation?

Deterioration of security in Afghanistan

Since the beginning of the withdrawal of foreign troops, the Taliban in Afghanistan have taken control of numerous districts and now dominate large parts of the country.

An example of the ever-worsening situation was reported on Sunday, when at least three Taliban rockets struck Kandahar airport in southern Afghanistan.

The Afghan government's pleas for a pause in deportations due to the instability in the region have so far fallen on deaf ears.

According to the United Nations, more than 300,000 people have been forced to leave their homes in Afghanistan since January.

Iraq: 17,000 ancient looted artifacts returned

A stone inscription bearing part of the Epic of Gilgamesh and thousands of other priceless, ancient objects were stolen following the 2003 US invasion of Iraq.



Gilgamesh's 'dream tablet' FOUND AT THE USA HOBBY LOBBY BIBLE MUSEUM


Iraqi historian Abdullah Khorsheed Qader has been working in the field of archaeology since 2000, when he started his master's degree at the Salah-al-Din University in Erbil, northern Iraq, and where he went on to become a professor at the university's department of archaeology.

As a scholar and the director of the Iraqi Institute for the Conservation of Antiquities and Heritage, Qader is elated his country will get back its ancient treasures from the US. "Feeling great and hopeful because of the positive responses from the United States of America," he told DW in an email interview.
17,000 artifacts to be returned

On Wednesday, the US announced it was returning 17,000 archaeological artifacts to Iraq. The objects, which are around 4,000 years old and from the Sumerian period, were returned on Thursday onboard the flight of Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi, who was in Washington DC for a meeting with US President Joe Biden.

Calling the restitution "unprecedented," Iraqi culture minister Hassan Nazim said it was "the largest return of antiquities to Iraq" and a "result of months of efforts by the Iraqi authorities in conjunction with their embassy in Washington," he said in a press statement. In 2018, the British government returned ancient objects that were similarly looted after the US invasion and which then appeared in England.

Watch video 42:31 Stolen - Blood antiquities

Stolen during the US invasion

"Most of these artifacts were part of the materials that were that were looted from the Iraq Museum in Baghdad during the US invasion," Elizabeth Stone, an archaeologist and professor of anthropology at the Stony Brook University in New York, told DW. Stone has been a part of various archaeological expeditions to Iraq, including a notable one in 2012, where she and her team excavated close to the site of Ur, the home of the biblical figure of Abraham.

According to Stone, these objects left Iraq through illegal trade in antiquities. "It was clear to everyone that these had been stolen from the Museum since they had catalog numbers on them and so could not have come from illegal excavations," the archaeologist added.

Some objects were confiscated by customs officials, but others were bought by Cornell University and Hobby Lobby, the arts and crafts chain, Stone said.

Hobby Lobby was in the news recently after it was revealed the business had acquired a rare tablet in cuneiform script, inscribed with a portion of the Epic of Gilgamesh. The object was bought to display at the Museum of the Bible in Washington DC — the institution is funded by the family of David Green, Hobby Lobby's founder.

On July 27, a New York court ordered the forfeiture of the object, which was reportedly purchased by an American antiquities dealer from the family of a London coin dealer, the US Department of Justice said in a statement.

"The antiquities dealer and a US cuneiform expert shipped the tablet into the United States by international post without declaring the contents as required. After the tablet was imported and cleaned, experts in cuneiform recognized it as bearing a portion of the Gilgamesh Epic. The tablet measures approximately 6 inches by 5 inches [15 x 12 centimeters] and is written in the Akkadian language," according to the press statement.
The Epic of Gilgamesh

The Sumerian poem is considered one of the oldest works of literature, and together with several thousand other objects, comprises one of the largest caches of archaeologically important artifacts that were stolen from Iraq following the 2003 US-led invasion.

Illegal excavation, theft and smuggling of historical artifacts is an ongoing problem — especially in Iraq and Syria — with black market dealers, smugglers and members of the "Islamic State" (IS) exploiting the chaotic situation in the region, where it is relatively easy to find antiquities and sell them abroad.

WHAT'S LEFT OF THE ANCIENT CITY OF PALMYRA?

IS strikes again

What is now left of the ancient ruins at Palmyra - known as the "Pearl of the Desert" - is uncertain after a new strike by IS militants on Thursday. This photo shows the face of statue at a destroyed museum in March 2016. Syrian government forces had recaptured Palmyra that month from jihadists, who view the UNESCO-listed site's ancient ruins as idolatrous. 12345

 

Iraqi officials prepare

Meanwhile, archaeologists like Qader are happy that efforts to bring back the treasures have borne fruit. "Iraqi contacts with the American side made it clear that the smuggled antiquities are in the safe hands of the American Homeland Security," Qader says. Embassy officials had been communicating for many years to recover these pieces and "this has become a reality, finally," adds Qader.

He hopes that the rest of the world, too, will step in and help recover other lost artifacts. Meanwhile, the archaeologist and his colleagues are busy laying the groundwork for re-establishing archaeological institutions that were damaged during years of war and conflict.

Together with US organizations like the Smithsonian Institution and the University of Delaware, Qader, the director of the Iraqi Institute for the Conservation of Antiquities and Heritage, is training young professionals and educating the community.

One important goal of his program is "restoring confidence and self-belief in the Iraqi Museum community and archaeological professionals by building and strengthening a national conservation program for cultural heritage."

 

Clothing rules for female athletes: 'Taking control over the outfits'

After a protest by the Norwegian women's beach handball team, women's sporting attire — and what female athletes are forced to wear in competition — has come under the spotlight.

    

A protest by Norway's beach handball team has put female sports attire center stage

The decision to take to the court in shorts instead of the required but, in their eyes, degrading bikini bottoms had been brewing for some time. The question was whether they were prepared to risk a fine or worse for breaking the rules.

And then finally, before their bronze medal match against Spain at the European championships earlier this month, the Norwegian women's beach handball team just went for it.

"We were afraid that we were going to be kicked out of the tournament," the team's goalkeeper, Tonje Lerstad, told DW. "But in the last match, we were already willing to pay a fine if we got one. So we were like: 'Screw it, we can't be kicked out now. What's the worst that can happen?'"

What did actually end up happening was, in Lerstad's own words, "crazy." The team's plight gained worldwide attention — the US singer Pink offered to pay the resulting fine — and has put a renewed focus on clothing rules for female athletes.

"I hope that it's a trend we started," Lerstad said. "Before women just thought: 'It is how it is.' But now we are taking control over the outfits. It's great."

Female athletes in many sports have long complained about what they see as the sexist nature of the rules and double standards compared to their male counterparts. Now, magnified by the Olympic Games in Tokyo, the issue is bubbling to the surface.

Mary Harvey, CEO of the Centre for Sport and Human Rights, says women often have to balance building their brands and how they look with feeling comfortable. And that can affect their performance.

"First and foremost, if you're an athlete at that level, you want it to be about performance," Harvey said. "One thing is the function of what you're wearing and how that helps you physiologically. The other one is mental. If you feel good, you're going to do well."

Different rules for different sports

The beach handball case is not the only one in recent months to shine a light on what women are expected to wear when they compete. In Tokyo, Germany's gymnasts have been taking a stand against the sexualization of their sport by performing in so-called unitards, a full-body outfit that they first wore in competition in April.

Back then, one of the gymnasts, Elisabeth Seitz, told DW that she wanted every female athlete to "have the opportunity to decide by herself what she wants to wear."

The barriers to achieving that, though, vary from sport to sport. Gymnastics does allow full-body outfits; it is just that most have preferred, mainly out of habit, to stick with traditional leotards. For beach handball, however, things are more restrictive as the rules state that female players must wear bikini bottoms "with a close fit and cut on an upward angle toward the top of the leg."

Germany's gymnasts wore full-body outfits at the Tokyo Olympics

In the wake of the Norwegian team's protest, the International Handball Federation, which sets the sport's rules, is now likely to have to change its dress code. "I can't think of any other outcome," Lerstad said.

Tellingly, nobody, including the federation itself, seems entirely sure why such clothing rules still exist. In some cases, says sports historian Johanna Mellis, the rules are needed to ensure that sports are fair and safe. But in others, she says, it is about controlling how women look and how they are perceived.

"Historians of uniform have shown that, when it came to female athletes, [the rulemakers] were so afraid that female athletes were going to look masculine that they wanted to ensure uniforms made women look feminine, appealing and attractive to men," Mellis told DW.

After all, who can forget how Sepp Blatter, the former president of world football's governing body, FIFA, once suggested that female players should wear "tighter shorts" to boost the popularity of the women's game? The idea didn't go anywhere, but the implication was clear.

'Rooted in white Western male culture'

Sexualization, though, is not the entire story. Mellis said that there are issues of race or religion to consider, as well. She calls the beach handball case a "positive result" but doesn't necessarily view it as a turning point because sexualization, for her, is one part of a broader issue.

"The thing is, these organizations are loath to make any changes that may seem as if they're having to give up any power," Mellis said. "Men largely run these organizations. These are all rooted in white Western male culture."

The example Mellis pointed to was the fact that Tokyo competitor Alice Dearing, the first Black female swimmer to represent Great Britain at an Olympic Games, was forbidden from wearing a cap modified to protect her natural Black hair.

FINA, the sport's governing body, argued that the cap didn't fit "the natural form of the head" and claimed that international swimmers had never previously required "caps of such size and configuration."

"This harks back to a racist phrenology," said Mellis, who also co-hosts "The End of Sport Podcast," which analyzes how sport can be harmful to people. "Swimming is a real public health concern. If people don't know how to swim due to systemic racism or other forms of discrimination, that can result in horrific drowning rates — and, in fact, it has done."

Despite the lifting of the restrictions in some sports like boxing, in others, Muslim women can still be fined or even banned for wearing the hijab.

"In some cultures, culture dictates what you can and can't wear," Harvey said. "For example, the issue with the hijab. If you ban the hijab in international competition, it means a lot of women aren't going to be able to participate. Clothing is also about access in some cultures."

Diversity in decision-making

To address the problem, both Mellis and Harvey agree that sports bodies need more women and more diversity in their decision-making processes.

"Fundamental to all of these things is the athlete voice," Harvey said. "It has to be well-rounded, you can't talk to one athlete. You have to talk to athletes, particularly with women, all around the globe. There are considerations for more conservative societies that should be taken into account. Because you could unknowingly exclude people.

"Women may inform decisions but they don't take decisions. The more diversity you bring into decision-making, the better your decisions are. If you have 10 Swiss guys making decisions about what women can and can't wear, that's not the process we want."

As far as Norwegian beach handball player Lerstad is concerned, there is no better time for a rethink.

"We have shown that when we did what we did, we got a lot of support," she said. "Any other team or athlete will get the same support. Now we have gotten this topic out in the air, there's a lot of focus on it. This really is the time to make a change."

THIS IS A GLOBAL ISSUE REVEALED BY THE PANDEMIC

How Germany fails to manage care for the elderly 

Between 300,000 and 600,000 caregivers from Eastern and Central Europe provide assistance to elderly Germans in their homes. 

How long can that system last if they have to be paid more? 


Many elderly people in Germany wish to stay in their homes even if they require full-time assistance

Peter Müller* has been confined to a wheelchair for the past three years. He sits at home next to his wife, who has Parkinson's disease, and says life would be impossible without their Polish caregiver.

Germany's population is aging. Everyone in this country could face the reality of needing care sooner or later.

But what if you are old and need help, but do not want to move into a nursing home and have no children for support?

Watch video 02:45 Germany faces a care crisis

Peter and his wife are faced with that very dilemma. He is bound to a wheelchair. She has Parkinson's. But they wanted to stay in the house they moved into half a century ago, right after their wedding.

For three years now, the Müllers have been sharing their home with a Polish caregiver.

"We wouldn't be able to manage anything without her," Peter Müller says.

Watching the three of them sitting together over coffee, one gets the feeling they have known one another for decades. The woman from Poland who cares for them is practically family. In her previous job, she managed to get a bedridden woman back on her feet within only a few weeks, now she runs the entire Müller household. She is a "24-hour caregiver." At 8 a.m., she wakes Mrs. Müller and gives her a shower. At 8:45 a.m., she brings Mr. Müller coffee to his bedside, then she does the washing, cooking, and cleaning.

Besides a talent for organization, what else does a perfect caregiver need to have? "You have to put your heart into it, and speak the language," she replies.

The Müllers had their basement cleared out so that their caregiver could move in there. Her husband also works as a full-time caregiver, for another family in the neighborhood. Their children are all adults. Every few months, the Polish couple return to their small farmhouse in Poland.

A market worth billions, rife with abuse

For decades, the informal deal has been this: Germans needing care pay foreign workers on average about €1,600 ($1,900) a month net — a salary that is low by German standards, given the number of hours and amount of work involved. Payment is often in cash, without a bill or receipt, and therefore untaxed — an attractive prospect for many in Poland, Romania, or Bulgaria.

Today, caregiving for the old and disabled in Germany is a sector worth billions of euros, and one rife with reports of abuse: middlemen lining their pockets; families exploiting their caregivers or treating them like modern slaves; careworkers who steal or just vanish overnight.

It has happened to the Müllers, too. Peter Müller recounts how his wife once called out all night for her caregiver, who was simply no longer there.

"Germany better be careful that untrained people do not keep coming, who have no idea of caregiving," he says.

Watch video02:46 Migrant carer sues German employer for back pay

A far-reaching court ruling

In Germany, the issue of caregiving is like those of infrastructure, digitization, and education: The country just muddles through. Policymakers kick the can down the road, shrinking away from the long-overdue reform that would hold for the coming decades.

Everyone knows that it cannot go on like this much longer. Germany already has more than 4 million people in need of care, and that number keeps rising. According to estimates, by 2035, the country will need half a million caregivers — 120,000 more than today, as the baby boomer generation will be needing help.

This year in June, a ruling by Germany's Federal Labor Court sent shockwaves through the sector. It found that caregivers from abroad were entitled to Germany's minimum hourly wage of €9.35 — even for the hours when they are on standby.

That means, the Müllers would also have to pay their caregiver for her nights. "We cannot finance that. We would have to sell our house to be able to afford that," Peter Müller says.

Watch video12:36Reporter - A Nurse Moves to Germany

  

Live-in caregivers work around the clock

The Müllers found their caregiver through Angela Meyer.

She is a trained pediatric nurse and has been finding caregivers from Poland, Romania, Bulgaria, and Ukraine for people needing help all over Germany for eight years now. She came to her new occupation through a domestic emergency of her own, when suddenly her mother needed care.

Angela Meyer knows about cases of exploitation and of workers who end up being overwhelmed by their tasks. "Fifteen percent are unsuited to this profession," she estimates. She says she's become good at detecting unsuitable applicants. "When the first question in the interview is 'how much can I earn?' I say goodbye immediately."

What matters for Meyer is professional experience and knowledge of the German language. Also, with a background as a healthcare worker herself, she knows how important health insurance is. So she brokers caregivers only if they have health insurance, which she also helps them to organize if necessary.

She finds the federal court's ruling on 24-hour care unrealistic. "Hardly anyone actually works around the clock. For those who need that level of help we'd have to impose a three-shift system," Meyer says. "A model like that is unaffordable and will never work. And besides, not enough Germans would be willing to do this kind of job."

Meyer says the caregivers she has spoken with are outraged at the ruling because they now fear they will soon lose their jobs. "They need the work, it feeds their families back home, but when the price gets jacked up so steeply, the patients will no longer be able to pay it," Meyer says. "And the caregivers will have to stop coming. No one should be exploited, but this ruling helps no one."

Watch video12:02 Open Borders and Elderly Care

'Care is society's pivotal issue'

Claus Fussek is an author and has been writing about the issue of care for the elderly for 30 years now. "I speak the uncomfortable truths that, actually, everyone already knows about. Doing so is not especially courageous, everything is just so obvious," he says.

Fussek's mother died in February. For 10 years, women from Romania helped him care for her. He says Germany cannot manage to care for the elderly without help from these migrant workers.

"These people, who work here for one, two, three months in a row, we have to help them and treat them well. Some have huge problems and no one they can talk to. We must support them and make sure they are not left alone," Fussek says.

And the Federal Labor Court's ruling? It's essentially the right one, Fussek says. But he fears, however, that this ruling will simply drive up the number of caregivers who work illegally with no kind of social insurance at all, as their employers cannot afford to pay for around the clock assistance.

Care for the elderly is an issue Germany urgently needs to deal with. Once the baby boomers — individuals born between 1955 and 1969 — are in need of care, the system will collapse, says Fussek. "We have to finance care through a combination of taxes and social security contributions for it to remain affordable. We have to change the whole concept," said Claus Fussek. 

And if too little is done in the next few years and politicians continue to avoid this uncomfortable topic in an election year, what then? Fussek has a drastic answer: "Eldery care is a question about the fate of society. If we don't manage to get this sorted, we may have to seriously consider active forms of euthanasia because there will be no one left to provide care." 

*This is a pseudonym. Our protagonist did not wish to be named in this article.

This article was translated from German.

Opinion: Germany's floods highlight need for urgent climate action

As scientists warn that increased flooding marks the end of a stable climate, we must step up our efforts to minimize the damage caused by extreme weather events, write Ban Ki-moon and Patrick Verkooijen.



Scientists are warning that we need to adapt fast in order to mitigate the extent of climate catastrophes

The recent catastrophic flooding across the Rhine basin and into Belgium and the Netherlands must be taken as a warning by countries across Europe and elsewhere of the increasingly urgent need to do more to adapt to and prepare for climate change.

The full cost of the damage is not yet known, but repairs are likely to run into billions and take many months.

While it is too early to know precisely the extent of climate change, scientists fear that damage caused by emissions is producing even worse extreme weather events than predicted. Brutal heatwaves seen recently along the western seaboard of the United States and Canada, as well as in Siberia and other parts of the world, are further evidence of an increasingly hostile climate — and the need to adapt to it, fast.
A global problem

The pictures from Germany underscore the dangers that climate change poses even to the world's most advanced economies. While Europe has done more than most to attempt to mitigate the risks — the European Commission recently proposed the most ambitious package of climate measures yet by a major economy — these will not reverse changes that have already happened. Carbon dioxide lingers in the atmosphere for about 100 years.

A certain amount of warming — and the extreme weather events associated with it — is already baked into our future making adaptation a necessity even if the Paris Agreement targets are met. Scientists warn that the recent floods and heatwaves are not the new normal, rather they herald the end of a stable climate. And without action, according to the World Bank, up to 132 million people could be pushed into extreme poverty by climate change by 2030.

Patrick Verkooijen (left) and Ban Ki-moon

These warnings must urge us into faster action, with more funding, to adapt and find ways to work with the natural world rather than against it.

By accelerating investment today, we can prevent billions — even trillions —worth of economic damage and save many thousands of lives. A Global Commission on Adaptation report found that investing $1.8 trillion (€1.5 trillion) globally by 2030 in just five key areas, including climate-resilient infrastructure, such as stronger dams and drainage systems, and early warning systems could generate $7.1 trillion in total net benefits.

Some excellent climate-resilience projects already exist. In Germany, the new district of HafenCity within Hamburg is being built on raised plinths, lifting the whole area at least eight meters above sea level. In the Netherlands, engineers have been working on "Room for the River," a program to widen and deepen the rivers Rhine, Meuse, Waal and IJssel to protect nearby cities and towns. Besides creating additional water channels, flood-prone buildings have been removed and additional storage basins created with farmers co-operating to allow agricultural areas to be flooded as required.

In China, where floods have caused on average ¥251 billion ($38 billion, €33 billion) of damage annually in the decade to 2016, so-called sponge cities such as Xiangyang Han River Eco City now feature more water-absorbent areas including green roofs, fewer hard surfaces, and more efficient water channels and storage.


IN PICTURES: DEADLY EXTREME WEATHER SHOCKS THE WORLD
Fierce flash floods in Europe
Unprecedented flooding — caused by two months' worth of rainfall in two days — has resulted in devastating damage in western Europe, leaving at least 209 people dead in Germany and Belgium. Narrow valley streams swelled into raging floods in the space of hours, wiping out centuries-old communities. Rebuilding the ruined homes, businesses and infrastructure is expected to cost billions of euros.
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On their own, however, these projects are not enough. One of the greatest challenges of climate adaptation is that responsibility spans many diverse authorities, at the local, regional and national level.

Extreme heat, floods and storms also require precautionary planning and upfront investment in adaptation measures.

This makes it imperative that we share successful strategies and transfer knowledge and solutions wherever appropriate. To understand the scale of action needed, as well as measure success, governments and the private sector must carry out climate vulnerability assessments and stress tests to evaluate the risk of damage from flooding and heat stress. They must incorporate the resulting data into planning and investments, and closely monitor progress toward greater resilience.

We need to act fast. Gathering detailed knowledge will also allow us to better protect vulnerable groups, which usually suffer disproportionately more.

These recent extreme weather events have shown that the climate emergency is an all-of-society and all-of-world problem. It is encouraging to read that the US and the EU are planning to increase their contributions to help developing countries fight climate change, but all developed countries must now deliver on their promise to jointly mobilize $100 billion a year in finance for both mitigation and adaptation in developing countries.

As the floods in Europe and China have shown, we need to accelerate adaptation efforts worldwide to ensure we are as well placed as possible to deal with whatever our newly unstable climate unleashes next. And we need to do it now.

Ban Ki-moon is 8th Secretary-General of the United Nations. Patrick Verkooijen is CEO of the Global Center on Adaptation in Rotterdam.

Watch video 01:55 Extreme weather prompts climate change warnings

    

 

More violence, less income: Arab women bear the brunt of COVID-19, study finds

A new survey by Arab Barometer adds numbers to the narrative that COVID has led to a harsher reality for women in the Middle East and North Africa.

The pandemic saw many working mothers in the Middle East return to being stay-at-home mums

The COVID-19 pandemic has turned Heba Mordaa's life upside down. "Ever since the lockdowns started in March 2020, my work has been deteriorating," the 29-year-old manicurist and mother of three in Beirut says. "At first, the shop owner deducted our salaries because we had no customers coming in. Then, in July 2020, the owner decided that we will start offering home service, which my husband completely refused. I had to leave my job in August 2020 and stay at home. Since I am a mother of three kids, I remained without a job for the whole school year 2020-2021." 

Mordaa's professional set back and her involuntary return to life as housewife and stay-at-home mum is a common COVID-related turn of events for many Arab women. "Women are bearing the brunt at home and at work," concludes the latest Arab Barometer's survey on the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic on women in the Middle East.

Working women had not much ground to lose

Even before the pandemic, the Middle East has had the lowest female labor participation of the world, with an average of 27%, according to data from the World Bank. And this situation has been exacerbated by the pandemic, as a recent paper by the International Labor Organization (ILO), a specialized agency of the UN, pointed out.

After the Americas, the Arab States have experienced the second highest drop in the number of employed women: by 4.1% — in comparison to 1.8% of men between 2019 and 2020. "The disproportionate job and income losses suffered by women during the pandemic will persist in the near future," the ILO report concluded. 

Furthermore, the ILO projects for this year that the employment-to-population ratio for women will stand at only 14.3% compared to 70.8% for men.

This teenage-bride was disfigured in an acid attack by her husband

Uptick in domestic violence in Jordan and Lebanon

Another pressing concern in the Middle East is the uptick in domestic violence during the pandemic.

At least a quarter of women in the surveyed Arab countries reported an increase in gender-based violence (GBV) in the first round of the Arab Barometer survey, conducted between July and October 2020. In Morocco and Algeria, 47% of women reported an increase, in Tunisia even 69%.

But in the latest round of the survey, conducted between March and April 2021, the numbers dropped to 25% in Morocco, to 24% in Algeria and to 62% in Tunisia. In Libya it increased slightly from 26% to 29% while it skyrocketed in Jordan from 29% to 55% and in Lebanon from 23% to 43%.

"Jordan and Lebanon in particular had massive spikes in daily case rate just before our latest survey was conducted. We don't have a causal link between domestic violence and COVID-19 case rates, but the correlation suggests it is worth further research," MaryClare Roche, author of the Arab Barometer study, told DW.

The Arab Barometer's latest survey shows an uptick in domestic violence in Jordan and Lebanon

Mary Lawlor, UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders, emphasized that "new restrictions of movement mean it's even harder for women to reach places of safety when threatened," she told DW.

The Dublin-based Women Human Rights Defender highlighted that "it is important that networks between Women Human Rights Defenders are fostered. There is strength in numbers, so when, even virtually, they are better equipped to address the common challenges they face, and support one other when they're at risk."

Structural obstacles bar women from the workforce

Opening up possibilities and reducing societal barriers for women in the Middle East and North Africa are considered the most sustainable ways to support women who suffer from domestic violence. "Increasing female labor force participation can help protect women two-fold: First, by decreasing the amount of time a woman spends with her abuser, and second, by providing some degree of economic independence from her abuser," Roche told DW.

Providing an adequate framework, however, mainly lies in the hands of governments. "When we surveyed citizens in MENA about perceived barriers to women joining the workforce, structural barriers, i.e. barriers the government can affect, were the most popular. These barriers were lack of childcare options, lack of transportation, and low wages," Roche added.

Her conclusion is that if governments create policies that increase public transportation, after school and early childcare programs, and there are increases in standard wages, there will be more financially independent women in the Middle East.

For Beirut's Heba Mordaa, at least the financial insecurity had an end in June this year. "I started another job and hope that no more lockdowns will be imposed as my income is necessary for the family in these difficult financial circumstances," she told DW.