LAST ONE OUT TURN OFF THE LIGHTS

The ignoble end to America's longest war


Issued on: 31/08/2021 

Major General Chris Donahue, commander of the US Army 82nd Airborne Division, XVIII Airborne Corps, boards a C-17 cargo plane at the Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul on August 30, 2021 -- the last American soldier to leave Afghanistan Jack Holt US Central Command (CENTCOM)/AFP


Washington (AFP)

America's longest war ended ignobly, in the dead of night in Afghanistan.

A giant C-17 transport laden with troops and the US ambassador flew out of Kabul airport a minute before midnight local time on August 31, the deadline set by President Joe Biden.

That brought to an end a helter-skelter airlift that evacuated more than 120,000 people fleeing the harsh rule of the Islamist Taliban, who seized power a fortnight earlier -- two decades after US-led forces drove them from power.


The land that had brutally rebuffed the British empire and the Soviet Union delivered the same result to the modern world's superpower.

The distant war had plodded along in the background for most Americans.

But they were jolted back to it in the final days with the massive evacuation and the death of 13 US troops from an Islamic State suicide bomber who blew himself up at an airport gate.

A US Chinook military helicopter flies above the US embassy in Kabul on August 15, 2021 Wakil KOHSAR AFP/File

The image of President Joe Biden attending a ceremony for their flag-draped caskets Sunday at the air force base in Dover, Delaware, could well be the lasting one of America's war.

Five of the 13 were just 20 years old, meaning they were infants when Al-Qaeda, based in Afghanistan and protected by the Taliban, launched the September 11, 2001 attacks that sparked the conflict.

- Afterthought -

With great irony, the US exit depended heavily on trusting the Taliban to provide security around the airport against the Islamic State threat.

A US Air Force aircraft takes off from the airport in Kabul hours before the American withdrawal was completed after 20 years of war 

Aamir QURESHI AFP

"The Taliban have been very pragmatic and very businesslike," said General Kenneth McKenzie, head of the US Central command.

The primary front of the "War on Terror" declared after the 9/11 attacks, Afghanistan became almost an afterthought as the administration of George W. Bush decided in 2003 to invade Iraq as well to oust then-leader Saddam Hussein.

Rather than exit either after victory, the US took on nation-building tasks which it had not prepared for.

Meanwhile the US-backed government in Kabul proved corrupt and ineffective at consolidating its power and the Taliban persisted as a potent insurgency.

Afghan civilians and security forces have long taken the brunt of the failures, with tens of thousands killed and many more wounded.

Afghan people climb atop a plane at the Kabul airport on August 16, 2021, after a stunningly swift end to Afghanistan's 20-year war, as thousands of people tried to flee the Taliban 

Wakil Kohsar AFP/File

But the costs to Washington were immense: 2,356 US military deaths, and an overall financial cost of $2.3 trillion, according to Brown University's Watson Institute.

- Time to end -

The end began under president Donald Trump, who came to office in 2016 promising to end the "Forever Wars."

In one of the ironies of the 20-year war in Afghanistan, the United States depended on Taliban fighters to provide security outside Kabul airport for the two-week US-run airlift for evacuees 

WAKIL KOHSAR AFP

After initially increasing troops to 16,000, with no lasting impact on the Taliban, he entered negotiations with the insurgents.

In a February 2020 agreement Washington committed to withdrawing by May 1 this year. The Taliban agreed to enter peace negotiations with Kabul, and to not attack American troops in the meantime.

But they then stepped up their campaign against Afghan government forces, who were immensely dependent on the United States.

By the time Biden replaced Trump on January 20, the official US troop presence was down to a bare-bones 2,500.

He conducted a review and opted to proceed with the drawdown, though buying four months extra, to August 31, for what he hoped would be an orderly pullout.

Behind the scenes, he and his advisors concluded that the Afghans could not or would not wage the fight themselves.

"We went to Afghanistan because of a horrific attack that happened 20 years ago. That cannot explain why we should remain there in 2021," Biden said.

"It's time to end the forever war."

- 'We messed this up' -

The end came faster than Washington expected.

US President Joe Biden(C) attends the ceremony for the return of the remains of 13 US service members killed in Kabul days before the final US military withdrawal from Afghanistan

 SAUL LOEB AFP

They had planned an orderly evacuation, aiming to avoid the debacle of the US withdrawal from Vietnam, famously captured in a photo of scores of Vietnamese trying to climb aboard a helicopter atop the US embassy in Saigon.

"There's going to be no circumstance where you see people being lifted off the roof of a embassy of the United States from Afghanistan," Biden said on July 8.

Five weeks later, when the Taliban marched into Kabul with no resistance, a surge of Chinook helicopters landed on the grounds of the US embassy to whisk American diplomats to safety.

Meanwhile an arguably more harrowing scene erupted at the airport: tens of thousands of Afghans rushing there in a desperate bid to flee, a few even clinging to US planes as they took off -- only to fall from the sky.

The war began before smartphones and social media existed and ended with the viral video posted last week by a Marine lieutenant colonel, Stuart Scheller, calling for honesty over the war itself.

"People are upset because their senior leaders let them down. And none of them are raising their hands and accepting accountability or saying, 'We messed this up.'"

Scheller was removed from his duty, and no one offered to take the blame.

© 2021 AFP

Wildfire prompts evacuation of South Lake Tahoe, a popular tourist destination

Issued on: 31/08/2021 - 

Heavy smoke from the Caldor Fire is seen along highway 50, in South Lake Tahoe, California. © REUTERS - Fred Greaves

Text by: NEWS WIRES

A popular vacation haven normally filled with tens of thousands of summer tourists was clogged with fleeing vehicles Monday after the entire resort city of South Lake Tahoe was ordered to leave as a ferocious wildfire raced toward Lake Tahoe, a sparkling gem on the California-Nevada border.

Vehicles loaded with bikes and camping gear and hauling boats were stuck in gridlock traffic in the city of 22,000, stalled in hazy, brown air that smelled like a campfire. Police and other emergency vehicles whizzed by.

Ken Breslin was in bumper-to-bumper traffic less than a mile (1.6 kilometers) from his home, with only a quarter-tank of gas in his Ford Escape. His son begged him to leave Sunday night, but he shrugged him off, certain that if an evacuation order came, it would be later in the week.

“Before, it was, ‘No worries. It’s not gonna, it’s not going to crest. It’s not gonna come down the hill. There’s 3,500 firefighters, all those bulldozers and all the air support,’” he said. “Until this morning, I didn’t think there was a chance it could come into this area. Now, it’s very real.”

Monday's fresh evacuation orders, unheard of in the city, came a day after communities several miles south of the lake were abruptly ordered to evacuate as the Caldor Fire raged nearby. South Lake Tahoe’s main medical facility, Barton Memorial Hospital, proactively evacuated dozens of patients, and the El Dorado Sheriff’s Office transferred inmates to a neighboring jail.

“There is fire activity happening in California that we have never seen before. The critical thing for the public to know is evacuate early,” said Chief Thom Porter, director of the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, or Cal Fire. “For the rest of you in California: Every acre can and will burn someday in this state."

Overnight, the already massive Caldor Fire grew 7 miles (11 kilometers) in direction in one area northeast of Highway 50 and more than 8 miles (13 miles) in another, Cal Fire officials said.

More than 15,000 firefighters were battling dozens of California blazes, including crews from Utah, Washington, Wisconsin and West Virginia, said Mark Ghilarducci, director of California’s Office of Emergency Services. About 250 active-duty soldiers were being trained in Washington state to help with the arduous work of clearing forest debris by hand.

Crews from Louisiana, however, had to return to that state because of Hurricane Ida, “another major catastrophic event taking place in the country and is a pull on resources throughout the United States,” he said.

Porter said that only twice in California history have fires burned from one side of the Sierra Nevada to the other, both this month, with the Dixie and Caldor fires.

The Lake Tahoe area in the Sierra Nevada mountains is usually a year-round recreational paradise offering beaches, water sports, hiking, ski resorts and golfing. South Lake Tahoe, at the lake’s southern end, bustles with outdoor activities, and with casinos available in bordering Stateline, Nevada.

On weekends, the city’s population can easily triple and on holiday weekends, like the upcoming Labor Day weekend, up to 100,000 people will visit for fun and sun. But South Lake Tahoe City Mayor Tamara Wallace said they've been telling people for days to stay away due to poor air from wildfires.

She said she thought the Caldor Fire would stay farther away. Fires in the past did not spread so rapidly near the tourist city.

“It’s just yet another example of how wildfires have changed over the years,” she said as she gathered treasures passed from her deceased parent and her husband's while they prepared to leave.

The last two wildfires that ripped through populated areas near Tahoe were the Angora Fire that destroyed more than 200 homes in 2007 and the Gondola Fire in 2002 that ignited near a chairlift at Heavenly Mountain Resort.

Since then, the dead trees have accumulated and the region has coped with serious droughts, Wallace said. Climate change has made the West much warmer and drier in the past 30 years and will continue to make weather more extreme and wildfires more frequent and destructive, scientists say.

Wallace said traffic was crawling Monday, but praised the evacuation as orderly because residents heeded officials’ orders. Authorities have also been more aggressive in recent years, issuing warnings and orders sooner so people have more time to flee.

Not everyone agreed as fierce winds kicked up dust and debris and drivers sat in gridlock. The California Highway Patrol added “quite a bit of additional personnel” to help guide a chaotic evacuation from South Lake Tahoe, as huge traffic jams slowed the evacuation of vehicles, said CHP Assistant Commissioner Ryan Okashima. Congestion had eased by Monday afternoon.

The fire destroyed multiple homes Sunday along Highway 50, one of the main routes to the lake’s south end. It also roared through the Sierra-at-Tahoe ski resort, demolishing some buildings but leaving the main buildings at the base intact. Crews used snow-making machines to douse the ground.

There were reports of cabins burned in the unincorporated community of Echo Lake, where Tom Fashinell has operated Echo Chalet with his wife since 1984. The summer-only resort offers cabin rentals, but was ordered to close early for the season by the U.S. Forest Service due to ongoing wildfires.

Fashinell said he was glued to the local TV news. “We’re watching to see whether the building survives,” he said.

The Caldor Fire has scorched 277 square miles (717 square kilometers) since breaking out Aug. 14. After the weekend’s fierce burning, containment dropped from 19% to 14%. More than 600 structures have been destroyed, and at least 20,000 more were threatened.

The National Weather Service warned of dangerous fire conditions and winds through Wednesday.

Diane Kinney, who has lived in the city since the 1970s, said this is the first time her neighborhood has been ordered to evacuate. She and her husband were packing up keepsakes, jewelry and insurance papers shortly after noon. They had to leave their 1964 Chevelle, but she hopes it stays safe.

“Everybody wants to live in Lake Tahoe. There are definitely advantages of being in the mountains, being with these beautiful pine trees," she said. “But we definitely have to get out now.”

(AP)

RETURN OF SNAKE OIL 

Tenpenny's gospel: How an indebted US physician sells Covid falsehoods

Issued on: 31/08/2021 - 

People arrive to hear Doctor Sherri Tenpenny speak at a "Freedom Crusade" event on August 5, 2021, in Huntington Beach, California Robyn Beck AFP

Washington (AFP)

For Sherri Tenpenny, God is on the side of those who spurn Covid-19 vaccines. Making money, critics say, is the Ohio osteopath's higher calling.

From a $240 premium podcast annual membership to $165 webinars on why people "should not take the shot," health supplements and ticketed public speaking, Tenpenny runs a sprawling enterprise based on anti-vaccine activism, disdain for masks and testing, and denials that Covid-19 is real.

An AFP investigation has found that the 63-year-old widow developed a business around coronavirus skepticism at the same time as she owes US tax authorities at least half a million dollars.

Earlier this year, Tenpenny was named one of the worst known spreaders of falsehoods, myths and misleading statements about vaccines -- a group the non-profit Center for Countering Digital Hate dubbed the "Disinformation Dozen."

A separate study put her in the cadre of America's biggest anti-vaccine profiteers.

But in comments to AFP, Tenpenny stood by her claims, maintaining that she is not spreading misinformation and is simply making "a living."

Her business is an alchemy fueled by social media and mistrust of public health officials, two factors blamed for more than 25 percent of eligible American adults declining to be vaccinated.

While US President Joe Biden's administration pleads with the vaccine-hesitant to take the shot, Tenpenny brands Covid-19 a manufactured crisis and a means of government control.

In an address to Ohio lawmakers in June, the osteopath pointed to online images purporting to show people who were "magnetized" after receiving a Covid-19 vaccine.

"They put a key on their forehead, it sticks. They can put spoons and forks all over them, and they can stick," she said in remarks that were soon debunked, but only after gaining a national audience.

YouTube removed that footage of Tenpenny, saying it broke the platform's rules on information likely to cause harm. Many of Tenpenny's other videos have been fact-checked as misleading or false, and several of her social media accounts were suspended or removed.

But much of her prolific output remains accessible -- illustrating the whack-a-mole problem of weeding out dangerous online content, which Big Tech has yet to solve.

- 'Rabbit hole' -

Rachelle Eaton, who lives a half-hour drive from Tenpenny in the Cleveland area, watched the doctor's remarks to lawmakers in horror.

"No one wants this life," said Eaton, who suffered heart and lung damage, has to take oxygen intermittently, and is incapable of remembering simple things because of Covid-19.

"This doctor pulled a lot of people down this rabbit hole of misinformation," said the 52-year-old, who eight months later is struggling with what is known as "long Covid," after contracting the disease despite doing "everything right" -- wearing a mask and leaving home only to work.

Eaton -- who later quit her job as an accountant due to her illness -- cut herself off from neighbors and co-workers who did not take the pandemic seriously. She saw people in her community succumb to the "insanity" of Tenpenny's ideas about vaccines.

Covid-19: lingering long haul effects John SAEKI AFP

"She's dangerous, and what makes her so dangerous is that I think her audience are these young moms who only want to do what is best for their children," Eaton said of Tenpenny.

In defense of her claim that Covid-19 vaccines are killing people, the osteopath cites data from the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS), a federal government database.

But VAERS is no more than a collation of unverified reports of vaccine side effects, which do not prove causality. AFP has repeatedly fact-checked inaccurate claims about the system.

After watching Tenpenny's testimony, Eaton says she was puzzled "as to why her governing board didn't pull her license right then and there."

A group representing medical regulators, the Federation of State Medical Boards, warned in July that doctors spreading inaccurate Covid-19 vaccine information risk disciplinary action, including suspension or revocation of medical licenses. Tenpenny has so far faced no such sanction.

- 'Boot camp' -

Although she is not trained in epidemiology, Tenpenny's status as a physician -- Kirksville College of Osteopathic Medicine confirmed she graduated in 1984 -- lends her posts credibility with followers, despite their medical implausibility.

But her critics describe her as a quack whose online business contributes to needless loss of life by undermining public faith in vaccines -- especially the Covid-19 shots that she casts as "deadly."

Tenpenny sold a weeks-long "boot camp" on vaccines for several hundred dollars, in the autumn of 2020 and then again earlier this year. More recently she promoted an August 5 "Freedom Crusade" event in California at $57 a ticket.

Her products are marketed through two companies, Choonadi, LLC and Requeza, LLC. Public records show them registered in Ohio in 2015 and 2018 respectively.

Tenpenny, who spent years battling the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) in court, refused to comment on whether there is a connection between her business activities and her tax debts.

- Tax battle -

Public records have for more than two decades given Tenpenny's address as a property near Cleveland's international airport, with Google images showing a tree-shaded suburban house set back on a wide lawn.

It is the address listed on tax liens repeatedly issued to her. One recorded debts exceeding $1.5 million, but IRS documents currently show unpaid assessments of more than $500,000.

In 2013, a judge cited precedent of dismissing "irrational or wholly incredible" claims in rejecting her argument that she is a "non-taxpayer." Tenpenny had sought an order that the IRS close its books on her and that "all outstanding amounts are zeroed out."

"The amount that the IRS originally claimed I owed has ballooned by year-after-year compounded interest and penalties to the present amount, which looks exorbitant," Tenpenny said.

When asked for additional details on her finances, she replied: "None of your business."

Based on public and proprietary data, business information provider Dun & Bradstreet reported that Tenpenny's clinic, known as the Tenpenny Integrative Medical Center, has $4.04 million in estimated annual sales.

As well as the "Disinformation Dozen," she was named in a separate Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH) list of "Pandemic Profiteers," anti-vaccine figures who operate businesses or organizations with significant revenues.

A Facebook page set up a decade ago to mock the osteopath puts it more bluntly.

Its title: "'Doctor' Tenpenny: Getting Rich Off Stupidity."

Questioned on the accusation of profiteering, Tenpenny wrote: "We do not apologize for earning a living."

- Christian message -

Known in the anti-vaccine movement for more than 20 years, Tenpenny published a 2008 book titled "Saying No To Vaccines," which pushed the discredited theory that vaccines cause autism.

She underpins her stance with a Christian message, in step with many of the American conservatives who have railed against lockdowns, masking and other measures to contain the pandemic. Tenpenny starkly displayed these views in a June 15 video broadcast titled "The Satanic Goal Behind the Covid Plandemic."

In it, she linked "rulers, authorities, cosmic powers in the darkness around us and evil spiritual forces in the heavenly realm" to the disease that has killed more than 630,000 people in the United States, and 4.5 million worldwide.

A couple walks outside Old World Huntington Beach in California where Sherri Tenpenny, an osteopath from Ohio and anti-vaccine advocate, spoke on August 5, 2021 

Robyn Beck AFP

Those who succumbed and got shots "need to go to the Lord with a really heavy heart and the deepest regret that they could possibly muster. They need to repent for the sin of fear," she said on stage at a July event dubbed "Reawaken America."

However far-fetched, her ideas have won a massive audience.

The CCDH earlier this year reported that Tenpenny and other anti-vaccine campaigners had a combined 59 million followers across social media platforms.

The "Disinformation Dozen," the research found, were responsible for 65 percent of anti-vaccine misinformation and conspiracy theories circulating on Facebook and Twitter between February and March 2021.

Biden referred to the dozen in July as he urged online tech giants to crack down on the spreaders of misinformation that, he said, is "killing people."

Asked to respond to Biden's criticism, Tenpenny said: "It's not just 12. There are millions who have done our research -- and are posting all over the internet. This is not misinformation."

As to whether her advice could be harmful -- even fatal -- to her followers, she replied: "How responsible will you feel as millions die from this shot?"

- Still spreading -

Pamela Glasner, a Connecticut-based author and filmmaker, filed a complaint with Facebook after watching news coverage of Tenpenny's false statements on magnetism, and hearing others repeat them.

"It's irresponsible, and it is harmful," she said.

For Imran Ahmed, CCDH's chief executive, "Tenpenny serves up a lethal mix of misinformation and wackadoodle conspiracy."

In her viral address to lawmakers, Tenpenny referred to the debunked conspiracy theory that there is an "interface" between Covid-19 shots and 5G network towers. The remarks drew attention from social media giants, with consequences for Tenpenny.

Her Twitter account was permanently suspended on July 1 for violating rules on Covid-19 misinformation.

Facebook says it has removed three dozen pages, groups and accounts linked to members of the "Disinformation Dozen."

Specifically, it said it has "taken action against many of the pages associated with Dr Tenpenny" on Facebook and Instagram, and taken down an account associated with another of her businesses, Vaxxter.

But Tenpenny's message continues to spread through other online outlets, including the Vaxxter.com website, where she solicits donations starting at $25, two Instagram channels and a personal Facebook account.

She is particularly active on Telegram, a messaging app banned in some countries over its encryption methods. Her followers there have grown from 100,000 to more than 120,000 in recent weeks. Thousands more have turned to her on Gab, a forum that says it champions free speech.

Tenpenny has also flirted with politics, speaking at the "Reawaken America" event alongside Mike Lindell, chief executive of the My Pillow company, who endorses former president Donald Trump's baseless 2020 election fraud claims. Lindell's products are marketed on Tenpenny's personal website.

But sales remain the core of her activities.

Callers to Tenpenny's Cleveland-area clinic are directed to "please dial three" for a supplement order. Other options offer a "paid vaccine consult" or a speaking engagement.

"If you are calling in regards to ivermectin or hydroxychloroquine, please dial four," the message adds, referring to unproven Covid-19 treatments.

For the likes of Eaton, such a business is irreconcilable with legitimate health care.

"She's a grifter in a lab coat and those are the most dangerous kind," she said of Tenpenny.

© 2021 AFP

Planet in peril: Global conservation congress urges wildlife protection

Issued on: 31/08/2021 - 

Protecting wildlife is no longer perceived as a noble gesture but an absolute necessity David SCHWARZHANS Reykjavik Helicopters/AFP

Paris (AFP)

When the world's leading conservation congress kicks off Friday in the French port city of Marseille it will aim to deliver one key message: protecting wildlife must not be seen as a noble gesture but an absolute necessity -- for people and the planet.

Loss of biodiversity, climate change, pollution, diseases spreading from the wild have become existential threats that cannot be "understood or addressed in isolation," the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) said ahead of the meeting in a vision statement endorsed by its 1,400 members.

Over nine days, government ministries, indigenous groups and NGOs -- backed by a network of 16,000 scientists -- will hammer out conservation proposals that could help set the agenda at critical upcoming UN summits on food systems, biodiversity and climate change.

Previous congresses paved the way for global treaties on biodiversity and the international trade in endangered species.

"This is the only place where both governments and conservation organisations, big and small, are all members," said Susan Lieberman, a 30-year conservation veteran and vice president of the Wildlife Conservation Society.

For the first time in the IUCN's history, indigenous groups will share their deep knowledge on how best to heal the natural world as voting members 

CARL DE SOUZA AFP/File

"When IUCN says 'this is our position', that's not just one more conservation group," she added.

"It's a position informed by almost every government and every conservation organisation in the world."

- 'Mass extinction' -

The World Economic Forum has put a hard number on our vulnerability: $44 trillion of economic value generated every year -- half of global GDP -- largely dependent on services rendered by nature, from water for agriculture to healthy soil in which to grow our food.

The creatures with which we share the planet are at high risk too --- from us.

As the human population climbs toward nine billion by mid-century, many creatures are being crowded, eaten, snared, poisoned, poached, hawked and hunted out of existence.

Current extinction rates are 100 to 1,000 times greater than the normal 'background' rate Erin CONROY AFP

Craig Hilton-Taylor, head of the IUCN's Red List Unit, said that if species' destruction continues on its current trajectory, "we'll be facing a major crisis soon".

"I would certainly say that we're on the cusp of a sixth mass extinction event," he told AFP.

In each of the previous mass die-offs over the last half-billion years, at least three-quarters of all species were wiped out.

The IUCN has assessed nearly 135,000 species over the last half-century for its Red List of Threatened Species, the gold standard for measuring how close animal and plant life are to vanishing forever.

Nearly 28 percent are currently at risk of extinction, with habitat loss, overexploitation and illegal trade driving the loss.

Big cats, for example, have lost more than 90 percent of their historic range and population, with only 20,000 lions, 7,000 cheetahs, 4,000 tigers and a few dozen Amur leopards left in the wild.

Big cats have lost more than 90 percent of their historic range and population Romeo GACAD AFP/File

Invasive species are also taking a toll, especially in island ecosystems where unique species of birds have already fallen prey to rodents, snakes and disease-bearing mosquitos that hitched rides from explorers, cargo ships or passenger planes.

An update of the Red List on September 4 is likely to show a deepening crisis.

- 'Our right to exist' -

For the first time in the IUCN's seven-decade history, indigenous peoples will share their deep knowledge on how best to heal the natural world as voting members.

One proposal calls for a global pact to protect 80 percent of Amazonia by 2025.

"We are demanding from the world our right to exist as peoples, to live with dignity in our territories," said Jose Gregorio Diaz Mirabal, lead coordinator for COICA, which represents indigenous groups in nine Amazon-basin nations.

Every year 6.4 million tons of waste end up in the sea, of which between 60% and 80% are plastics 

Luis ACOSTA AFP/File

Recent research has warned that unbridled deforestation and climate change are pushing the Amazon towards a disastrous "regime change" which would see tropical forests give way to savannah-like landscapes.

Rates of tree loss drop sharply in the forests where native peoples live, especially if they hold some degree of title -- legal or customary -- over land.

"Indigenous peoples have long stewarded and protected the world's forests, a crucial bulwark against climate change," said Victoria Tauli-Corpuz, UN Special Rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples.

- An ocean of plastic pollution -

Other motions offer a lifeline to ailing oceans, including one calling for an end to plastic pollution by 2030.

Plastic debris causes the deaths of more than a million seabirds every year, as well as more than 100,000 marine mammals, from otters to whales.

Wildlife trafficking, a multi-billion-dollar business that has flourished in the internet era, will also be in the spotlight.

Current global extinction risk in different species groups, according to the IUCN 

Erin CONROY AFP

This year's congress was delayed from 2020 and will still be hampered by the pandemic, with a hybrid format of in-person and online attendance.

And then there's the question of money, and the fact that so little of it has been earmarked for nature.

Current global spending of about $80 billion a year needs to be increased 10-fold, said Sebastien Moncorps, director of France's IUCN committee.

"That's about one percent of global GDP, but when you realise that half of all economic activity depends on nature being healthy, that's a good return on investment."

© 2021 AFP

In Argentina, giant rodents vie with the rich for top real estate

Issued on: 31/08/2021 -

Capybaras eating grass in a luxury gated community in Buenos Aires 

MAGALI CERVANTES AFP

Buenos Aires (AFP)

Families of a giant rodent native to South America have been invading a luxury gated community in Argentina, highlighting the country's controversial environmental and social policies.

Nordelta is a 1,600 hectare (3,950 acre) luxury private urban complex built on the outskirts of Buenos Aires, on a wetland from the Parana river that is the capybara's natural habitat.

Many Nordelta residents have complained about capybara's ruining manicured lawns, biting pets and causing traffic accidents.

Also known as a carpincho or chiguire, the capybara is the largest rodent in the world and can measure up to 1.35 meters (53 inches) in length and reach 80 kilograms (176 pounds) in weight.

"Nordelta is an exceptionally rich wetland that should never have been touched," biologist Sebastian di Martino, conservation director at the Rewilding Argentina foundation, told AFP.

"Now that the damage has been done, the residents need to reach a certain level of coexistence with the carpinchos," said Di Martino.

Built 20 years ago, Nordelta has homes, offices, a shopping center, schools, a church, a synagogue and an artificial lake that is home to aquatic birds.

But since work to build a clinic began on the last remaining piece of natural land, many residents have noted a sudden capybara "invasion."

"Carpinchos were always here. We always saw them from time to time. But three or four months ago (builders) went for their last remaining stronghold and the stampede began," Perla Paggi, a Nordelta resident and capybara activist, told AFP.

Nordelta and similar luxury developments on wetlands have also been a controversial topic in Argentina.

As well as eating into the capybara's natural habitat, large scale development of the wetland means the soil can no longer absorb heavy rains, which then end up flooding poorer surrounding neighborhoods.

In politically polarized Argentina, leftists have long attacked Nordelta as an example of elite exploitation, while jokingly presenting the capybara as a hero of the working classes.

- Lack of predators -

Di Martino says the proliferation of capybaras is harmful to the environment, but that too is the fault of humans.

Capybaras are prey for jaguars, pumas, foxes, wild cats and wild dogs but all of these animals are now virtually extinct in Argentina.

Aerial view of luxury gated communities built on wetlands from the Parana river in Argentina MAGALI CERVANTES AFP

"It's happening all over the country, in urbanized and non-urbanized areas. It is caused by the alteration and degradation of ecosystems. We've extinguished a ton of species that were their natural predators," Di Martino told AFP.

"The carpincho needs a predator to reduce its population and also make it afraid," said Di Martino.

"When there's a herbivore without a predator threatening it, it doesn't hide and can spend all day eating, thereby degrading the vegetation which traps less carbon and contributes to climate change."

In the wild, capybaras live between eight and 10 years and give birth to litters of up to six young, once a year.

Not everyone in Nordelta views them as a nuisance. In fact they have become the main attraction in the residential complex.

Drivers slow down to take pictures of them, while children seek them out at nightfall for selfies.

Some Nordelta residents want to create a natural reserve for the capybaras to live in.

"We have to learn to live beside them, they're not aggressive animals," said Paggi.

"A 20 to 30 hectare reserve is enough to maintain diversity. They are defenseless animals, we corner them, we take away their habitat and now we complain because they're invading."

Di Martino, though, says a natural reserve would change nothing.

"It's complicated, you need to keep them away from children and pets. And then you're going to have to find a way to reduce the population, maybe moving them to other places."

© 2021 AFP

A LAST REMINDER 

US drone strike wiped out Kabul family, brother says

Issued on: 31/08/2021 - 

Afghan residents and family members of the victims gather next to a damaged vehicle inside a house, after a US drone strike which they say went wrong in Kabul WAKIL KOHSAR AFP

Kabul (AFP)

When Ezmarai Ahmadi returned home from work on Sunday evening in Kabul, the usual gaggle of squealing children were waiting to greet him -- his sons and daughters, and a slew of nieces and nephews.

He pulled his white sedan into the driveway of a modest house in Kwaja Burga, a densely populated neighbourhood in the northwest of the Afghan capital, and handed the keys to his eldest son to park.

Youngsters piled into the vehicle -- pretending the parking routine was an adventure -- while Ezmarai watched from the side.

Then out of the blue Afghan sky, a missile came screeching down -- striking the car with a terrible force and obliterating the lives of 10 people in an instant.

The United States said Sunday it had destroyed an explosive-laden vehicle in an air strike, thwarting a bid by the Islamic State to detonate a car bomb at Kabul airport.

On Monday, it looked as if they could have made a terrible mistake.

"The rocket came and hit the car full of kids inside our house," said Aimal Ahmadi, Ezmarai's brother.

"It killed all of them."

Aimal said 10 members of the family died in the air strike -- including his own daughter and five other children.

On Monday, when AFP visited the scene, Aimal was impatiently waiting for other relatives to arrive to help him organise burials for most of his family.

"My brother and his four children were killed. I lost my small daughter... nephews and nieces," he said disconsolately.

"We are aware of reports of civilian casualties following our strike on a vehicle in Kabul," Captain Bill Urban, a US military spokesman, said in a statement.

- Despair -

Aimal can scarcely believe his brother could be mistaken for an Islamic State sympathiser, let alone an operative planning a deadly car bomb attack.

Ezmarai was an engineer working with a non-governmental organisation -- an ordinary Afghan trying to make ends meet in a turbulent time.

US nerves have been frayed since an IS suicide bomber triggered a massive blast at an entrance to the airport on Thursday, as huge crowds clamoured to get inside in the hope of getting aboard one of the final evacuation flights out of Afghanistan.

Nearly 100 Afghans were killed, and also 13 US service members -- just days before the last American soldier withdrew from the country on Monday night.

Against that backdrop, US intelligence had warned of another imminent attack, and on Sunday the US military said it had stopped one before it happened.

"We are still assessing the results of this strike, which we know disrupted an imminent ISIS-K threat to the airport," Urban said Sunday, using an acronym for the Afghan branch of the Islamic State group.

"We know that there were substantial and powerful subsequent explosions resulting from the destruction of the vehicle, indicating a large amount of explosive material inside that may have caused additional casualties," he continued.

"It is unclear what may have happened, and we are investigating further."

The deaths were among the last reported before the final US forces flew out of Afghanistan on Tuesday, after a brutal 20-year war.

Just over 38,000 civilians were killed between 2009 and the end of 2020, according to the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan, which began systematically recording civilian casualties in 2009.

More than 70,000 others were wounded over the same period.

When locals heard the blast in the neighbourhood, they swiftly came to see what help they could offer.

"All the children were killed inside the car, the adults were killed just outside. The car was on fire -- we could hardly find body parts," said one, named Sabir.

"We would be deeply saddened by any potential loss of innocent life," the US spokesman said in the statement.

But those words rang hollow for another neighbour, Rashid Noori.

"The Taliban kill us, IS kill us and the Americans kill us," he said.

"Do they all think our children are terrorists?"

© 2021 AFP

 

Lee 'Scratch' Perry: Reggae and dub pioneer dies at 85

After six decades of groundbreaking musical innovation, the "mad genius" of dub music and self-styled Upsetter has passed away in a Jamaican hospital.

    

Lee 'Scratch' Perry, performing in Manchester in 2017, was still touring well into his 80s

"Music is the only comforter, I'm telling you the truth," said reggae producer and musical light seeker Lee Scratch Perry with preacher-like gusto at the time when he was revolutionizing a new dub sound. Central to the evolution of rocksteady and reggae music — a sound he developed with Bob Marley and the Wailers — Perry later pioneered electronic dub beats that continue to color the contemporary musical landscape to this day.

Following the passing of reggae legend Bunny Wailer in March, news of Perry's death on August 29 at the age of 85 in Jamaica signaled the end of a musical epoch. But the outpouring of tributes indicate that the mad genius' star will continue to shine brightly.

Mike D of the band Beastie Boys, who collaborated with Perry in the 1990s, wrote on Instagram: "We are truly grateful to have been inspired by, worked with and collaborated with this true legend. Let us all listen to his deep catalogue in tribute."

"Few people were as weird or cast as long a shadow as Lee Perry," tweeted rock producer Steve Albini, who worked with bands like the Pixies and Nirvana. "His records were shocking and became talismans for anybody who ever tried to manifest the sound in their head."

Kingston reggae roots

Born Rainford Hugh Perry on March 20, 1936 in a poor rural district of Jamaica, the musical prodigy was still a teen when he moved to the capital, Kingston, and began an apprenticeship at Studio One, the label dubbed the Motown of Jamaican music.

There he produced near 30 songs until interpersonal conflicts saw him move to various studios and finally establish his own label in 1968, Upsetter Records — a play on his own nickname, Upsetter, which stuck after his hit song "I Am the Upsetter," released in '67.

His first single on the label, released under the name Lee Perry, was "People Funny Boy," which employed a groundbreaking sample (a crying baby) and a distinctive beat that would become known as reggae.

It sold over 50,000 copies and set Perry on the path to stardom, especially after he built his legendary Black Ark studio and began to collaborate with Bob Marley and the Wailers — the band that would make an obscure Jamaican reggae sound a global phenomenon.

The 'mad genius' of dub music

As a producer for acts from The Wailers to The Heptones, Perry often worked with his own studio band, The Upsetters.

This continued as reggae's founding father developed his inimitable dub sound in the 1970s by employing revolutionary remixing techniques that would later influence hip hop and electronic dance music — exemplified by his 1976 album, "Super Ape." 

In this halcyon decade, Perry's increasingly eccentric persona began to mirror his musical experimentation. 

As author David Katz wrote in his Perry biography, "People Funny Boy": "He has claimed to come from Jupiter, once said he was born in the sky, and has often named Africa as his true birthplace; Perry has additionally suggested that his empty body was taken over by space aliens after his undocumented death."

The iconoclastic Perry was known to enjoy smoking large marijuana cigarettes at concerts around the world as he rose to global fame. In 1980, his pro-pot advocacy was aimed at the Japanese government when he protested the arrest of Paul McCartney for marijuana possession.

Lee 'Scratch' Perry generating 'positive feelings' during a performance

Exile from Jamaica

But Perry's personal demons caused his work to suffer. He fell out with Bob Marley, and later claimed that he himself had laid the fire which destroyed his Black Ark studio in 1979 in a fit of rage.

He left Kingston and went into a long exile, living mostly in Switzerland. His career bottomed out until a revival in the 1990s, when he worked with acts such as the Beastie Boys, performing vocals on the song "Dr Lee, PHD," and collaborating with the British dub music producer and protege, Mad Professor. 

Then in 2002, Perry's album Jamaican E.T. won a Grammy for best reggae album. He was nominated another four times as he toured the globe. 

Perry described his music as "rhythm from the ghetto and music from the streets," and he stayed true to his Jamaican roots, ultimately returning to and dying in the place where his musical odyssey began — and no doubt will continue.   

 

At 100, Iris Apfel is as stylish as ever

She's an inspiration for fashion fans and designers of all ages. As she turns 100, the iconic Iris Apfel continues to boldly break all the rules.

    

Iris Apfel knows how to look stylish

One necklace is not enough. There should be at least five — and they should get your attention. A single bracelet is boring. Go for 10 at a time. On each arm. And glasses should be bold. 

Iris Apfel's jewelry rattles along whenever she moves, and her oversized round glasses have become her trademark. The style icon, glamour girl, fashion designer and interior designer turns 100 on August 29.

The exceptional centenarian is not afraid of extravagant clothes and eye-catching makeup. Her hair is colored bright gray, her lipstick bright red, pink or orange.

She has been dubbed the "oldest teenager in the world," and her Instagram account has more than 1.7 million followers. Her guiding philosophy has also been widely quoted: "I don't have any rules, because I would only be breaking them, so it's a waste of time."

That was her recipe for success right from the start.

A true fashion star: Iris Apfel in 2016

It's all a matter of accessories

Born in New York City in 1921, Apfel grew up during the Great Depression. Her mother advised her to buy a single simple black dress— that way she would always have something to wear, as it can be worn in casual and more dressy contexts. It all depends on the accessories you add.

The young Iris never forgot her mother's advice.

At age 11, she discovered a brooch she really wanted in a basement shop in Greenwich Village, a neighborhood in New York. It cost $0.65, and she saved every penny she could find to finally buy it.

It was her first shopping experience, and it launched one of the largest private jewelry collections in the United States.

Curiosity and a sense of humor

To this day, Apfel still hunts for the right accessory in boutiques of all price ranges, at flea markets and in secondhand shops. She combines items that no one else would consider combining, mixing haute couture with junk, as well as shapes and patterns that supposedly do not go together. And when Apfel wears them together, they end up harmonizing. That's her great talent. She just dares and doesn't follow any trends. Instead, she sets them herself.

Young fashion designers flock around her wherever she appears, whether at a gallery opening or a fashion show.

Apfel presents her own collections with a lot of humor but also with meticulousness. She'll often add the finishing touch to a model's look — perhaps an extra necklace — before they head out to the catwalk.

Her fashion shows reveal her sense of humor. This photo was taken during a show for the

 spring/summer 2017 collection

Apfel only recently started working as a fashion designer. For decades, she was a successful interior designer who was in great demand among the rich and famous in the US.

Her fabric creations were unique. Together with her late husband, Carl, whom she was married to for 68 years, Apfel traveled all over the world to find inspiration. She worked with various weavers to realize her very specific ideas, and she specialized in reproducing forgotten fabrics from past centuries.

Apfel's reputation even brought her to the White House, where she worked for nine US presidents. Even though she has never revealed too many details about working with them, she has hinted at the fact that former first lady Jackie Kennedy was a rather complicated client.

An exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum changed everything

Apfel's evolution into a fashion star was thanks to a 2005 exhibition at the Costume Institute of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Harold Koda, the curator of the New York museum at the time, had heard of Apfel's jewelry and clothing collection. Apfel has dedicated several rooms in her apartment on New York City's Park Avenue to her clothes. Creations by Dior, Lagerfeld, Saint Laurent, Galanos and Ungaro hang next to flea market finds and items from department stores.

Koda worked his way through Apfel's collection and finally transported around 300 items of clothing and several hundred accessories to the museum. The resulting exhibition was a huge success — and Apfel became a pop culture icon. There's now even a series of Iris Apfel emojis.

Iris Apfel can pull off the most unusual looks

After her husband died in 2015, shortly before his 101st birthday, Apfel did not retire but instead launched various new projects. Among others, she designed jewelry for the elderly with integrated technology that checks the wearer's health and alerts an ambulance in case of an emergency.

She's irritated by the fact that older people have been largely forgotten by designers and has repeatedly pointed out that no older woman can identify with 15-year-old models. And so she ended up signing her first modeling contract at the age of 97.

Not ready for retirement yet

Even at 100, Apfel's still not thinking about stepping back from active working life. She continues to work as an interior designer and is curating a collection of designs for Lowe's, a US home improvement retail chain that is also marking a century this year.

She's also still designing new glasses for her eyewear collection, which, of course, includes reading glasses — with stylishly bold frames. Because, as she says: "More is more and less is boring."

This article has been translated from German

Cologne Pride parade draws 10,000 people despite rain

Thousands braved the rainy weather to celebrate LGBTQ rights in Cologne, while also following COVID-related restrictions. The route was altered to avoid overcrowding.

Participants had to be vaccinated, recovered or tested for the coronavirus, and wear face masks

Around 10,000 people attended Cologne's Pride parade on Sunday. Participants made their way through the city's streets carrying rainbow flags, and were seen singing and dancing despite the rain.

Attendees had to be vaccinated, recovered or tested for the coronavirus, and wear face masks. The normal route of the parade was also modified to prevent overcrowding in Cologne's narrower streets.

"Even if it's not so sunny, at least you all have shining eyes," said Jens Pielhau, one of the organizers.

Many attendees wore face masks bearing the rainbow flag.

"This symbol is very important to our community," Pielhau said of the rainbow flag. "It shows that despite all the differences, we have a unifying strength," he told the DPA news agency.

The rainy weather and COVID restrictions did not stop people from participating in the parade

Far cry from 1.2 million before the pandemic

Hugo Winkels, a spokesman for Cologne Pride, said some 100 groups had registered for the parade to support the rights of LGBTQ people.

The western city's Pride parade is considered the largest in Germany. In 2019, prior to the pandemic, the Cologne Pride parade attracted 1.2 million people.

Last year's Pride demonstration had been postponed to the beginning of October. Instead of a parade, there was a bicycle demonstration.

The Pride parade is also known in Germany as Christopher Street Day (CSD), referring to the 1969 police raid of Stonewall Inn bar on Christopher Street in New York. The raid prompted riots that launched the gay rights movement.

Watch video 06:47 Pride and LGBTQI Germany

mvb/dj (dpa, AFP)