Art, terror and erections show VR potential at Venice

Issued on: 09/09/2021 

There are 37 projects in the Venice VR Expanded official selection, which has been part of the film festival since 2016 

Marco BERTORELLO AFP

Venice (AFP)

"Can you tell the difference between what is and isn't real?" intones Tilda Swinton as the room disintegrates into pixels.

Swinton is the latest star to lend her talents to the world of virtual reality, which has been quietly building into a medium with incredible -- and disconcerting -- potential.

She narrates "Goliath", about a man's descent into schizophrenia, illustrated by startling visual effects and interactive experiences that illustrate his slippery hold on reality.

It premiered in the VR section of the Venice Film Festival which is running until Saturday.

It was far from the only intense experience on offer to those willing to don helmets and flail around in a booth.

"Container" was a particularly arresting experience.

One minute, the container is filling with water as a woman tries desperately to keep from drowning, then suddenly it becomes a massage parlour with a man trying to force a woman into sex, then suddenly a tiny sweatshop in which a family of garment workers are toiling away.

The viewer is so utterly immersed, effectively standing just centimetres away from the characters, that it feels viscerally, uncomfortably real.

"VR is immersive theatre meeting technology. It has extreme potential, it goes beyond the wildest imagination of what people can experience spatially and artistically," May Abdalla, co-creator of "Goliath", told AFP.

- Fully fledged artform -

"Not every project suits VR. You need to find the right experience," Abdalla added.

One of the most daring at Venice was "In the Mist", which skirts a delicate line between art and porn.

Given that its 15-minute running time is almost entirely filled with naked men fellating and penetrating each other in a sauna, some might feel the line is crossed.

Michel Reilhac, Venice VR co-curator, insisted it should be seen as naked contemporary dance that "transcends sexuality", though he added that the porn industry was the only sector to turn a profit with VR for now.

VR competitions have become a regular feature of film festivals around the world, from Sundance to Cannes, but many remain unaware of how quickly the medium is evolving.

"The tech has reached the point where the makers are no longer fascinated by the tech... where it can call itself a fully-fledged artform," said Reilhac.

- Tricking the brain -

The projects at Venice range from 360-degree films in which the viewer can look around but not interact with objects, to the other end of the spectrum in which they embody an avatar and are fully immersed in an interactive world.

Swinton is the latest star to get involved with VR, narrating new release 'Goliath' CHRISTOPHE SIMON AFP

"You're tricking the limbic brain and you can't turn that off," said co-curator Liz Rosenthal.

"When you're standing on the edge of a virtual cliff, you can't stop yourself feeling vertigo."

The vast potential means creators are still defining what VR can be for themselves and for audiences.

"You can feel the possibilities changing as you're working with the tools," said Abdalla.

"With film, there is already a sophisticated rapport with the audience. They understand the vocabulary of cinema. But with VR, you know it's often their first time. You have to connect with that. It's a collaboration with them."

- 'Will become ubiquitous' -

Famously, VR is a medium that has been on the cusp of going mainstream for years -- even decades -- without ever quite getting there, held back by the expensive and unwieldy equipment.

A visitor takes part in the Venice VR Expanded programme at the Venice Film Festival Marco BERTORELLO AFP

But the industry only really got going in the mid-2010s as many companies -- including Google, Apple and Amazon -- began pouring money into the technology.

Reilhac said things were now moving fast thanks to the surge of interest in "social VR", where people meet up for digital gaming and gigs -- a trend accelerated by the pandemic.

"It will become ubiquitous when the headsets become glasses," he said.

The business potential was underlined last month when Facebook -- which owns the Oculus headset firm -- unveiled "Horizon Workrooms" for people to collaborate virtually.

"Give it two to three years and we'll see where we are, but I bet it's going to be major," Reilhac said.

© 2021 AFP



Facebook and Ray-Ban debut 'smart' shades



Issued on: 09/09/2021 

Facebook and Ray-Ban have launched new smart glasses, seen here in an undated handout photo

 Handout Ray-Ban and Facebook/AFP

San Francisco (AFP)

Facebook and iconic eyewear brand Ray-Ban on Thursday launched their new smart glasses, the latest effort in a tricky, niche market but which the social media giant sees as a step toward its future.

The "Ray-Ban Stories" shades can take pictures and video upon the wearer's voice commands, and the frames can connect wirelessly to Facebook's platform through an app.

"We took our Wayfarer (frames), born in 1952, and we reinvented the design squeezing in some cool technology," said Fabio Borsoi, global research and design director at the EssilorLuxottica group, Ray-Ban's maker.

Facebook is wading into a market that has already seen 2013's Google Glass, which sparked a privacy backlash over built-in cameras and prompted the tech titan to pivot its focus for the device away from the general public.

Messaging app SnapChat has also released its camera-equipped Spectacles, but they are pricey and have struggled to catch on broadly with tech lovers.

Notably, the Ray-Ban Stories glasses will not have augmented reality features -- technology that can mesh online computing with visual cues such as mapping or face recognition.

Instead, the shades are an early step toward efforts to create futuristic eyewear that adds to real-world views with data or graphics from the internet, Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg has said previously.

The company had said in July it was combining specialists from across its hardware, gaming and virtual reality units to build an immersive digital world known as the "metaverse."

- Privacy features -

Priced starting at $299, the Ray-Ban Stories will roll out in Australia, Britain, Canada, Ireland, Italy and the United States.

Cameras are built into the front of the frames, while the arms are designed to act as directional speakers for listening to calls or streamed audio.

A white light in the front of the frame goes on when the cameras are being used, which is intended as a privacy feature to alert people they could be filmed.

Users can take a picture or a video clip of up to 30 seconds by pressing a button at the temple or using a voice command, both of which can be cues that a camera is on.

"We need the user to feel completely in control of their capture experience," said Facebook Reality Labs product manager Hind Hobeika.

"And, similarly, we need people around them to feel comfortable that these smart glasses exist and always be in the know when a capture is happening," Hobeika added, referring to filming.

The glasses also have a physical switch for turning them off.

Users log into the glasses' Facebook View app using their accounts at the social network.

Ray-Ban Stories frames sync wirelessly to a smartphone app designed specifically for handling images or video captured by the glasses.

Users can decide using the app whether they want to share pictures or video they have just captured, such as posting to Facebook or attaching them to an email.

Only data needed to run the app is gathered, and no information is used for targeting ads, said Hobeika.

© 2021 AFP

BELLA CIAO COMRADE THEODORAKIS 

'Zorba the Greek' composer Theodorakis buried in Crete

Issued on: 09/09/2021

Theodorakis was adored in Greece for his inspirational music and defiance during the junta that ruled from 1967-74

 Costas Metaxakis AFP


Chania (Greece) (AFP)

Renowned Greek composer Mikis Theodorakis, who scored the 1964 film "Zorba the Greek", was buried on Thursday in Crete where thousands converged to pay homage to the man who came to personify the country's modern music.

Adored in Greece for his inspirational music and defiance during the junta that ruled from 1967-74, Theodorakis died last week at age 96.

His coffin was laid out on Thursday morning at the cathedral in Chania, where a steady trickle of admirers came to pay their respects before he was taken to Galatas cemetery to be buried.

Speaking to the press, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said this was "the last journey of the great ambassador of Greekness".

"We say goodbye, as he deserves, to the last great Greek of the 20th century."

Theodorakis's coffin arrived in Crete, where his family was from, on Thursday morning from Athens where it had been on display for three days in the capital's cathedral.

At a ceremony on Wednesday to say goodbye, the head of the Communist Party of Greece said: "All your life you have held the gun in one hand and your scores in the other."

"Impulsive, revolutionary, passionate, your music shows that our world must change and can change," said Dimitris Koutsoumbas.

Theodorakis joined the resistance against the German and Italian occupation of Greece when he was just 17, during World War II.

Liberation in 1944 was followed almost immediately by civil war between the communists and royalists.

By the time he graduated from Athens Conservatory in 1950, Theodorakis had already been sent to deportation camps on several occasions.

At one point, he was sent to the dreaded Makronisos island prison off the eastern coast of Attica, where he was tortured as a "red".

After studying music at the Paris Conservatory, Theodorakis was elected to parliament as a left-wing deputy in 1964.

When a dictatorship seized control of the government in a 1967 coup, Theodorakis was among the first left-wing politicians to be arrested.

Pardoned a year later, he was involved in setting up the clandestine Patriotic Front, which led to another detention and a ban on his works.

Even in old age, he maintained an active interest in Greek politics.

© 2021 AFP

CONSERVATIVE GOVT OUTLIER
Australia vows to keep mining coal despite climate warning

Issued on: 09/09/2021 - 

Prime Minister Scott Morrison said Australia's energy resources exports were needed to power developing countries 

WILLIAM WEST AFP

Sydney (AFP)

Australia vowed Thursday to keep mining coal for export and said global demand was rising, rejecting a study that warned nearly all its reserves must stay in the ground to address the climate crisis.

Researchers warned in a study published in the journal Nature this week that 89 percent of global coal reserves -- and 95 percent of Australia's share -- must be left untouched.

Such restraint, they said, would still only offer a 50 percent chance of limiting warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels -- the current global goal

But Prime Minister Scott Morrison said Thursday Australia's energy exports were needed to power developing countries, and predicted technology would enable them to be burned "in a much more climate-friendly way" in the future.

"We will keep mining the resources that we're able to sell on the world market," Morrison told a news conference when asked if he would put an "expiration date" on the coal mining industry.

"We obviously anticipate that over time world demand for these things may change."

Under existing agreements, developing countries are able to use Australian resources "well into the future", Morrison said.

Negotiators from 196 countries will join the 26th edition of the UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties -- COP26 -- in the Scottish city of Glasgow in November.

The 12-day meeting, the biggest climate conference since landmark talks in Paris in 2015, is seen as a crucial step in setting worldwide emissions targets to slow global warming.

Climate scientists warn extreme weather and fierce fires will become increasingly common due to manmade global warming.

Environmentalists argue inaction on climate change could cost Australia's economy billions of dollars as the country suffers more intense bushfires, storms and floods.

But Canberra has refused to adopt a net-zero emissions target and remains one of the world's largest fossil fuel exporters.

Australian Resources Minister Keith Pitt said coal remained Australia's second-largest export, after iron ore.

Coal exports brought in Aus$50 billion (US$37 billion) a year and the industry provided direct jobs for 50,000 Australians, he said.

"The reality is that global demand for Australian coal is increasing and forecast to continue rising into the next decade at least," Pitt said in a statement, promising coal industry workers they had a "long-term commitment" from the government.

© 2021 AFP

AUSTRALIAN MINERS ARE BUYING COAL MINES IN ALBERTA WHICH PRODUCE STEEL MAKING COAL  THIS IS CONTROVERSIAL BECAUSE THEY ARE IN THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS AND WOULD INCLUDE MOUNTAIN TOP REMOVAL. THE IDEA IS TO HAVE ANOTHER SOURCE FOR COAL IN CASE AUSTRALIA GETS BOYCOTTED. THE DEAL WASWORKED OUT BETWEEN THE MINERS AND ALBERTA AT ALBERTA UCP GOVERNMENT INSTIGATION!!

NOT JUST THE SQUAD SAYING THIS

Nobel Economist to Biden: Ditch Fed Chair Powell If You Want to 'Build Back Better'

Economist Joseph Stiglitz said Fed Chair Jerome Powell's refusal to take climate risk seriously should disqualify him for another term.


Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell testifies during a Senate hearing on July 15, 2021. 

(Photo: Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc. via Getty Images)


KENNY STANCIL

September 8, 2021

If U.S. President Joe Biden wants to fulfill his "Build Back Better" agenda, he should not appoint Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell to another four-year term, Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz said in an interview released Wednesday, joining a group of progressive lawmakers in advocating for fresh leadership at the nation's central bank.

"People have given Powell a lot of kudos because he has supported the economy through the pandemic... On one hand I agree with that," Stiglitz, a professor at Columbia University with previous roles as the chief economist of the World Bank and chair of the Council of Economic Advisers during the Clinton administration, told Reuters.

"On the other hand that is a bare minimum for qualification. Almost anybody reasonable would have done something similar," said Stiglitz, referring to Powell's implementation of near-zero interest rates and the Fed's monthly purchases of billions of dollars in government-backed bonds since March 2020.

"Is the Biden administration going to fulfill what is at the heart of its agenda?" asked Stigltiz. If so, he added, "it should not be Powell."

Stiglitz rebuked Powell for his weak approach to financial regulation and unwillingness to reduce climate risk. And, although Powell has received praise from some progressive economists for embracing monetary policies that aim to keep unemployment low instead of only focusing on price stability, Stiglitz questioned whether the current Fed chair is truly committed to prioritizing full employment regardless of fears about inflation.

Powell's four-year term as Fed chair is set to expire in February 2022. With potentially as many as four seats on the Fed's seven-member governing board expected to be open, many progressive advocates have made the case that it would be a major mistake for Biden to prolong the tenure of Powell—a Republican appointee of former President Donald Trump with connections to the private equity industry—when he has an opportunity to remake U.S. central banking.

Stiglitz, who has "not yet spoken about his views to members of the administration but 'probably will engage' as debate over the Fed appointments continues," identified current Fed Governor Lael Brainard as "the 'one obvious candidate out there,' who would take a stronger regulatory stance, push the Fed to account more fully for climate risks, and arguably tolerate more risk of inflation to generate higher employment," Reuters reported Wednesday.

While acknowledging that Brainard would be an improvement over Powell, the Revolving Door Project's Max Moran in July provided a shortlist of potential progressive Fed nominees that includes Michigan State University professor Lisa Cook, AFL-CIO economist William Spriggs, and attorney Sarah Bloom Raskin, who previously served on the Fed's Board of Governors.

According to a report released last month by Oil Change International, the Fed under Powell has "worked to maintain and increase fossil fuel finance from the United States." The Fed's financing of coal, oil, and gas extraction persists despite recent reports from the International Energy Agency and the United Nation's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, both of which warned that preventing catastrophic levels of global warming requires rapidly moving away from fossil fuels.

After Powell delivered a closely watched address last month in which the climate crisis went unmentioned, Public Citizen's Yevgeny Shrago warned that the Fed is "sleepwalking through climate chaos" and refusing to use its authority to mitigate risk.

In his conversation with Reuters, Stiglitz was adamant that "financial stability requires dealing with the mispricing of assets" projected to be devalued by extreme weather disasters or "stranded" as a result of the clean energy transition. "If there is a risk of mispricing you have to include it" in the regulatory frameworks guiding investment decisions, he said.

Alluding to his mid-1990s stint in the White House, Stiglitz criticized former President Bill Clinton's decision to reappoint Republican Alan Greenspan as Fed chair—a move that "promot[ed] stability and bipartisanship," the news outlet noted, "but allow[ed] Greenspan's faith in markets and more hands-off approach to regulation to set the stage for the internet stock bubble and the later and more serious housing market crash."

"Nobody wants to disturb the financial markets... There is a political attractiveness to not rocking the boat," said Stiglitz. "But in my view we made a big mistake reappointing Greenspan... I hope Biden does not make the same."

As The American Prospect's David Dayen argued late last month, the stakes surrounding the next Fed chair appointment could not be higher.

"Whoever the selection," he wrote, "they must recognize how intertwined their role is with the future of the planet."

Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.

YOU FIRST

US calls on G7 to quickly implement global tax reform

Issued on: 09/09/2021 -

In this file photo US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen speaks to reporters at the White House in Washington in May 2021 

SAUL LOEB AFP/File

Washington (AFP)

US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on Thursday urged countries in the G7 group of richest nations to quickly implement a global tax reform aimed at curbing tax avoidance.

The proposal announced in June would impose a 15 percent minimum corporate tax globally, and is aimed at stopping companies from shifting their profits to jurisdictions with lower tax rates.

G20 finance ministers backed the deal in July, followed by 134 Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development member countries representing more than 90 percent of the world's GDP, according to the Treasury.

"Secretary Yellen today expressed support for ongoing efforts to improve the international tax system and the importance of swift implementation of the new system," Treasury said in a statement following a meeting of G7 finance ministers held virtually.

However the reform has been opposed by Ireland, which is not part of the G7 and a favorite headquarters location for companies, particularly US tech and pharmaceutical giants, who prefer their lower 12.5 percent tax rate.

The United States is also working on a reform targeting companies that benefit from tax havens, with the objective of making these companies pay a minimum of 21 percent tax regardless of the rate in the country where their profits are declared.

"Together with the global deal, this policy will generate funding for a sustained increase in critical investments in education, research, and clean energy -- which will improve the lives of US citizens and help the US remain the best place in the world to do business," Yellen said.

© 2021 AFP

FASCISM IS A PETITE-BOURGEOIS IDEOLOGY

Pro-Bolsonaro truckers block Brazil highways

Issued on: 09/09/2021

Truck drivers supportive of President Jair Bolsonaro blocked highways across Brazil, defying the president himself who has urged an end to the protests because they threaten to hurt the economy

 Miguel SCHINCARIOL AFP


Brasília (AFP)

Truck drivers blocked highways across Brazil Thursday in support of President Jair Bolsonaro, who has sought to fire up his far-right base as he fights sinking poll numbers and a supposedly hostile political establishment.

The truckers launched their protest Tuesday on Brazilian Independence Day, when Bolsonaro held massive demonstrations to rally his base against what he calls attacks by the Supreme Court and electoral authorities.

The drivers continued blocking major roads in at least 15 of Brazil's 27 states even though Bolsonaro himself called on them to stop.

"Tell our allies the truckers that the blockades are hurting the economy. It causes shortages, inflation -- it harms everyone, especially the poor," he said in a message sent to supporters Wednesday night.

The infrastructure ministry said there were 10 percent fewer blockades early Thursday, but it was not immediately clear whether the holdouts would comply with Bolsonaro's request.

In 2018, Brazil was paralyzed for days by a massive truckers' strike against high fuel prices.

The current blockades are not endorsed by truckers' unions. But they span much of the country, including Rio de Janeiro, Brasilia and, according to media reports, key industrial hub Sao Paulo.

In Brasilia, dozens of drivers parked their trucks in the middle of the Esplanade of Ministries, at the heart of the capital, and refused to leave even when the police tried to remove them Wednesday night.

They displayed protest signs calling for a "military intervention with Bolsonaro in power" and "prison for the corrupt justices of the Supreme Court."

Bolsonaro has repeatedly hit out at the high court, which has ordered investigations of him and his inner circle, notably over accusations of systematically spreading fake news from within the government.

© 2021 AFP

Drought squeezes Brazil's electricity supply

Brazil's worst drought in almost a century is threatening electricity supply and critical crops, pushing up energy and food prices at a time the country was hoping to start recovering from the economic fallout of the coronavirus pandemic.  

Supreme Court postpones trial verdict on Brazil Indigenous lands
Brazil's Supreme Court postpones trial verdict on Indigenous lands. FRANCE 24's Jan Onoszko reports from the Brazilian capital.

Afghan journalists tell of Taliban beatings after covering protests

Issued on: 09/09/2021 -

Afghan journalists Nematullah Naqdi and Taqi Daryabi show their wounds after being released from Taliban custody

 Wakil KOHSAR AFP


Kabul (AFP)

Two Afghan journalists were left with ugly welts and bruises after being beaten and detained for hours by Taliban fighters for covering a protest in the Afghan capital.

The pair were picked up at a demonstration on Wednesday and taken to a police station in the capital, where they say they were punched and beaten with batons, electrical cables and whips after being accused of organising the protest.

"One of the Taliban put his foot on my head, crushed my face against the concrete. They kicked me in the head... I thought they were going to kill me," photographer Nematullah Naqdi told AFP.

Despite promises of a more inclusive regime, the Taliban have moved to snuff out mushrooming opposition against their rule.

On Wednesday night they declared demonstrations illegal unless permission had been granted by the justice ministry.

Naqdi and his colleague Taqi Daryabi, a reporter, who both work for Etilaat Roz (Information Daily) had been assigned to cover a small protest in front of a police station in Kabul by women demanding the right to work and education.

Naqdi said he was accosted by a Taliban fighter as soon as he started taking pictures.

"They told me 'You cannot film'," he said.

"They arrested all those who were filming and took their phones," he told AFP.

Naqdi and Daryabi say they were beaten and detained for hours by Taliban fighters for covering a women's protest in Kabul

 Wakil KOHSAR AFP

Naqdi said the Taliban tried to grab his camera, but he managed to hand it to someone in the crowd.

Three Taliban fighters caught him, however, and took him to the police station where the beatings started.

Taliban officials have not responded to repeated requests for comment from AFP.

- 'They see us as enemies' -

"The Taliban started insulting me, kicking me," said Naqdi, adding that he was accused of being the organiser of the rally.

The Taliban have claimed they will uphold press freedoms -- in line with unspecified Islamic principles -- although journalists are increasingly being harassed covering protests across the country 

Wakil KOHSAR AFP

He asked why he was being beaten, only to be told: "You are lucky you weren't beheaded".

Naqdi was eventually taken to a crowded cell where he found his colleague, Daryabi, who had also been arrested and beaten.

"We were in so much pain that we couldn't move," Daryabi said.

A few hours later the pair were released without explanation -- sent on their way with a string of insults.

"They see us as enemies," Taqi said.

The Taliban have claimed they will uphold press freedoms -- in line with unspecified Islamic principles -- although journalists are increasingly being harassed covering protests across the country.

In recent days, dozens of journalists have reported being beaten, detained or prevented from covering the protests, a show of resistance unthinkable under the Taliban's last regime in the 1990s.

Most are Afghan journalists, whom the Taliban harass more than the foreign media.

The men say they were punched and beaten with batons, electrical cables and whips after being accused of organising the protest

 Wakil KOHSAR AFP

The protests are proving an early test for the Taliban, who after taking power on August 15 promised a more tolerant rule and to work for "the peace and prosperity of the country".

Zaki Daryabi, chief of the Etilaat Roz newspaper, said the Taliban's words rang hollow.

"This official speech is totally different from the reality that can be observed on the ground," he told AFP.

Kabul rallies called off after Taliban outlaws protests

Issued on: 09/09/2021 - 

Taliban fighters holding the group's flag stand guard along a road in Kabul

 WAKIL KOHSAR AFP

Kabul (AFP)

Protest organisers cancelled rallies in Kabul on Thursday after the Taliban effectively banned demonstrations, warning violators "will face severe legal action".

Earlier this week armed fighters dispersed hundreds of protesters in cities across Afghanistan, including the capital Kabul, Faizabad in the northeast and in Herat in the west, where two people were shot dead.

Late Wednesday, the Taliban moved to snuff out any further civil unrest, saying protests would need prior authorisation from the justice ministry, adding "for the time being" no demonstrations were allowed.



There was a noticeably stronger Taliban presence on the streets of Kabul on Thursday morning as armed fighters -- including special forces in military fatigues -- stood guard on street corners and manned checkpoints, according to AFP journalists.

An organiser of a protest outside the Pakistan embassy -- where gunmen sprayed shots into the air on Tuesday to disperse a rally -- told AFP on Thursday it had been cancelled because of the overnight ban.

At the site of another planned protest in the city, there were no signs of a demonstration.

- Promises of inclusion -

A Taliban interim government, drawn exclusively from loyalist ranks, formally began work this week with established hardliners in all key posts and no women -– despite previous promises of an inclusive administration for all Afghans.

Tuesday night's announcement of the cabinet was a key step in the Taliban's consolidation of power, following a stunning military victory that saw them oust the US-backed administration on August 15.

As the Taliban transition from militant force to governing power, they face a growing number of protests against their rule

 Hoshang Hashimi AFP

All the top positions were handed to key leaders from the movement and in particular the Haqqani network -- the most violent Taliban faction, known for devastating attacks.

Mullah Mohammad Hassan Akhund -- a senior minister during the notorious Taliban regime of 1996 to 2001 -- was appointed interim prime minister.

Afghanistan's new leadership John SAEKI AFP

Mullah Yaqoob, the son of the Taliban founder and late supreme leader Mullah Omar, was named defence minister, while the position of interior minister was given to Sirajuddin Haqqani, the Haqqani network leader.

Taliban co-founder Abdul Ghani Baradar, who oversaw the signing of the US withdrawal agreement in 2020, was appointed deputy prime minister.

The feared Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice -- previously responsible for arresting and punishing people for failing to implement the movement's restrictive interpretation of sharia -- is being reinstated.

Even as the Taliban consolidate power, they face a monumental task in ruling Afghanistan, which is wracked with economic woes and security challenges -- including from the Islamic State group's local chapter.

A member of the Taliban Fateh, a "special forces" unit, stands guard atop a vehicle outside the US embassy in Kabul Aamir QURESHI AFP

- Legitimacy must be 'earned' -

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said any international legitimacy for the Taliban government would have to be "earned", after leading a 20-nation virtual meeting on the Afghan crisis.

In Germany, Blinken said the ministerial talks were the "starting point for international coordination" on dealing with the Taliban.

Among the countries in the virtual meeting were European allies and historic Taliban backer Pakistan.

"The Taliban seek international legitimacy. Any legitimacy -- any support -- will have to be earned," Blinken told reporters.

The European Union said the "caretaker" government failed to honour previous vows of inclusion.

China meanwhile said it welcomed the end of "three weeks of anarchy", adding it "attaches great importance" to the announcement of an interim government.

Former Afghan president Ashraf Ghani, who fled the country as the Taliban entered Kabul, apologised Wednesday to the Afghan people for how his rule ended.

And on Thursday Cricket Australia said it would cancel a historic maiden Test match against Afghanistan unless the Taliban backtracks on a reported ban on women playing sport.

There were other superficial signs of the Taliban tightening their grip.

Images on social media showed the country's main airport -- previously dubbed Hamid Karzai International, after the first post-Taliban president -- had been renamed Kabul International.

A public holiday scheduled for Thursday honouring Ahmad Shah Massoud, the famed anti-Taliban resistance fighter assassinated 20 years ago by an Al-Qaeda suicide squad, was also cancelled.

© 2021 AFP

OK WHO IS SMOKING SOBRANIE BLACK RUSSIANS
Astronauts smell smoke, burning on Russia's ISS module


Issued on: 09/09/2021 - 

In July, the entire ISS tilted out of orbit after the thrusters of the Nauka module reignited several hours after docking -

 NASA/AFP/File



Moscow (AFP)

A smoke alarm sounded Thursday in Russia's segment of the International Space Station (ISS) and astronauts smelled "burning" on board, Russia's space agency and NASA said.

The incident, which the Russian space agency Roscosmos said happened at 01:55 GMT ahead of a scheduled spacewalk, is the latest in a string of problems to spur safety concerns over conditions on the Russian segment.

"A smoke detector was triggered in the Zvezda service module of the Russian segment of the International Space Station during automatic battery charging, and an alarm went off," Roscosmos said in a statement.

French astronaut Thomas Pesquet said "the smell of burning plastic or electronic equipment" wafted to the US segment of the station, Russian state news agency RIA Novosti reported, citing a NASA broadcast.

The Russian crew turned on a filter and after the air was cleaned up the astronauts went back to sleep, Roscosmos said.

The space agency said that a planned spacewalk would go ahead as scheduled.

Russia's Oleg Novitsky and Pyotr Dubrov are scheduled to leave the station to continue work on the Nauka science module that docked in July.

"All systems are operating normally," Roscosmos said.

The Russian segment of the ISS has experienced several problems recently and a space official warned last month that out of date software could lead to "irreparable failures".

The Zvezda service module, part of the Russian segment, has experienced several air leaks, including earlier this year and in 2019.

Citing concerns stemming from ageing hardware, Russia has previously indicated that it plans to leave the ISS after 2025 and launch its own orbital station.

In July, the entire ISS tilted out of orbit after the thrusters of the Nauka module reignited several hours after docking.

© 2021 AFP

The most popular is the Sobranie Black Russian, considered as one the most heavy-hitting cigarettes. Sobranie Black Russian cigarettes are housed in black paper with gold filters, giving them an easily recognizable look. They are also one of the most expensive cigarettes in the world. At CigsSpot.com, Sobranie Black Russians go for $7.00 per pack.

Syrian army enters opposition bastion under Russian-negotiated truce

Issued on: 09/09/2021 

The Syrian army deployed in Deraa al Balaad, Syria on September 8, 2021. 

© SANA, Reuters
Text by:NEWS WIRES


Syrian forces Wednesday entered the rebel-held district of a volatile southern city as part of a truce negotiated by Russia to end weeks of fighting, according to state media, the opposition and a war monitor.

The troops are to set up checkpoints and search for gunmen who have refused to implement the agreement that involves surrendering their weapons. It was the first time that government troops have entered Daraa al-Balad, a bastion of the Syrian armed opposition since 2013.

The Russian-negotiated deal went into effect last week to end a government siege and intense fighting in the city of Daraa and with rebel fighters holed up in the city’s old quarter, known as Daraa al-Balad. But the cease-fire was riddled with fighting and government bombing of rebel-held areas, where civilians also live.

Following two days of quiet, Syrian army units entered the quarter, raising the Syrian flag over the reconciliation center where hundreds of gunmen have already handed in their weapons, according to the state news agency SANA.

Ahmed al-Masalmeh, an opposition activist based in neighboring Jordan, said about 400 Syrian troops entered Daraa al-Balad. The gunmen are believed to be holed up in a displaced camp outside the district.

The move will be followed by deployment of nine government checkpoints under the Russian-negotiated deal reported on by the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. The Observatory said the checkpoints will also include Russian military police.

Russia negotiated a cease-fire last week to end the violence that erupted this summer between government forces and opposition fighters, and included a siege on the city that had threatened to undo years of relative calm along the borders with Israel and Jordan.

The opposition blamed the government for the escalation, saying that troops were pressing an offensive to force insurgents to surrender.

Under the agreement, insurgents who accept the deal have to hand over their weapons in return for amnesty. More than 900 have handed their weapons in, according to the Observatory. Those who refused would have to be sent to a rebel-held area in northern Syria.

Daraa province, which straddles the borders with Jordan and Israel, became known as the cradle of the uprising against Syrian President Bashar Assad that erupted in 2011 as part of the Arab Spring revolts and eventually led to civil war. It was recaptured by Syrian government troops in 2018 but rebels remained in parts of it. Assad has since regained control of most of Syria with the help of Russia and Iran.

A Russian-mediated deal in 2018 allowed some of the province’s armed opposition to remain in their former strongholds, in charge of security. Government troops retained control of the province, but security duties were divided. Tensions regularly erupted and government troops tried several times to take over areas under opposition control.

(AP)

ORBAN'S TALIBAN

Crosses and catechism: Hungary's push to 'Christianise' education

The so-called re-Christianisation of Hungary's schools has been spearheaded by controversial leader Viktor Orban 

Issued on: 09/09/2021 - 

School days are now punctuated by prayer since the push to 'Christianise' education 

ATTILA KISBENEDEK AFP

Hodmezovasarhely (Hungary) (AFP)

Hands clasped, children line church pews as nuns lead morning prayer in Hungary.

"Jesus loves me... Jesus is happiness," they sing, clapping along to the hymns.

It is not a scene from Sunday mass, but from a primary school where students are kicking off the day with prayer as part of the government's efforts to re-Christianise education.

The decade-old campaign has been pioneered by Hungary's nationalist firebrand prime minister as part of his "conservative revolution" in the eastern European nation that Pope Francis will visit on Sunday.

The result: more crosses in classrooms and daily schedules punctuated by prayer and catechism.

It has also led to more government funds being funnelled into Christian schools -- often attended by wealthier students -- at the expense of public schools where poorer children are enrolled.

For Andrea Magyar, headmistress at Ferenc Liszt, the change has been a welcome one.

Her school of 400 in the southeastern town of Hodmezovasarhely has been under the direction of Dominican nuns since September 2020.

ATTILA KISBENEDEK AFP

She says relations are "less bureaucratic and warmer" with the diocese compared to the centralised education authority, and insists the curriculum itself "has not changed".

The religious elements -- crosses and catechisms -- are not obligatory, she says, and a new crop of young teachers have helped revive the school.

So have government subsidies, which have allowed her to freshen the paint work and plan other renovations, she told AFP in early September, speaking under an old oak tree in the school's sunny courtyard.

- 'Christian civilisation' -

The so-called re-Christianisation of Hungary's schools has been spearheaded by controversial leader Viktor Orban, who rose to power on a tide of populist support in 2010.

A self-styled defender of "Christian civilisation", he bucked trends secularising education elsewhere in Europe, vowing to reverse course on a communist-era suppression of religion in Hungary.

In 2018, 18 percent of schools of schools in Hungary were Catholic, up from 9.4 percent in 2010 ATTILA KISBENEDEK AFP

Instead, his government has overseen an increasing number of educational establishments coming under the authority of the Church.

He may be keen to showcase this shift on Sunday when he meets the Pope in Budapest.

His former chief-of-staff Janos Lazar said in 2016 that "education should be the business of Church institutions" in the service of two essential aims: "that children learn to be good Christians and good Hungarians".

By 2018, 18 percent of schools in Hungary were Catholic, up from 9.4 percent in 2010 when Orban took office.

But the uptick in Church-run schools may not reflect a more pious society, said Kriszta Ercse, a sociologist at the Civil Platform for Public Education.

In the last national census in 2011 only 39 percent of Hungarians identified as Catholics and 11 percent as Protestants. Among adherents, only 15 percent attended religious services.

A new census has been delayed by the pandemic but experts estimate these figures haven't changed substantially.

Instead, Ercse says parents are attracted to church schools because they outperform public ones -- in part due to the more generous state funding they receive, according to Ercse.

- 'Ghettoisation' -

That's why Ildiko sends her children aged seven and 14 to Ferenc Liszt primary school in Hodmezovasarhely -- for free like public schools in the country.

She praises the school's "excellent atmosphere and committed teachers" since it was taken over by the Church, and says she is "very satisfied" with the changes.

Eager to keep up academic performance, some religious schools actively seek out students from wealthy families

 ATTILA KISBENEDEK AFP

But it's not all positive.

Eager to keep up academic performance, some religious schools actively seek out students from wealthy families at the expense of poorer children and those from the Roma minority.

Ercse calls this a "drastic form of selection" and warns it could lead to "ghettoisation".

"The government is leaving public schools to rot," she says.

The evidence is already emerging.

According to the Fiscal Council, an independent auditor of the public finances, during the 2017-18 school year, religious schools received the equivalent of 570 euros per pupil.

Public schools got just 25 percent of this amount.

Some fear that the scheme is leading to a two-tier schooling system

 ATTILA KISBENEDEK AFP

Hodmezovasarhely's mayor Peter Marki-Zay is also worried about the "segregation" the system may foster.

Himself a Catholic, Marki-Zay said he supports schools teaching Christian values.

But he doesn't support a two-tier system.

"I find it unfair that religious schools get more government subsidy than public ones," he told AFP.

© 2021 AFP