Friday, October 29, 2021

US State Dept. urges investigation of Myanmar military torture




- In this image from video obtained by The Associated Press, soldiers line up arrested protesters in Yangon, Myanmar on March 3, 2021. The U.S. State Department expressed outrage and demanded an investigation on Friday, Oct. 29, after The Associated Press reported that Myanmar’s military has been torturing detainees in a systemic way across the country. (AP Photo/File)More

KRISTEN GELINEAU and VICTORIA MILKO
Thu, October 28, 2021, 

SYDNEY (AP) — The U.S. State Department expressed outrage and demanded an investigation on Friday after The Associated Press reported that Myanmar’s military has been torturing detainees in a systemic way across the country.

The United Nations’ top expert on human rights in Myanmar also called for strong international pressure on the military. And lawmakers in Washington urged Congress to act in the wake of AP’s investigation, which was based on interviews with 28 people, including women and children, imprisoned and released since the military took control of the government in February.

“We are outraged and disturbed by ongoing reports of the Burmese military regime’s use of ‘systematic torture’ across the country,” the State Department said, using Myanmar’s other name, Burma. “Reports of torture in Burma must be credibly investigated and those responsible for such abuses must be held accountable.”

AP’s report, which included photographic evidence, sketches and letters from prisoners, along with testimony from three recently defected military officials, provides the most comprehensive look since the takeover into a highly secretive detention system that has held more than 9,000 people. The AP identified a dozen interrogation centers in use across Myanmar, in addition to prisons and police lockups, based on interviews and satellite imagery.

Security forces have killed more than 1,200 people since February, including at least 131 detainees tortured to death.

The AP found that the military, known as the Tatmadaw, has taken steps to hide evidence of its torture. An aide to a high-ranking commander told the AP that he watched security forces torture two prisoners to death. Afterwards, he said, soldiers attached glucose drip lines to their corpses to make it look like the men were still alive, then forced a military doctor to falsify their autopsy reports.

“The AP’s investigation sheds important light on the scope and systemic nature of the junta’s criminal torture campaign,” U.N. special rapporteur on Myanmar, Tom Andrews, said in a statement. “The confession of military personnel who directly witnessed detainees being tortured to death will be important for accountability efforts, as well as the AP’s uncovering of torture and interrogation center locations.”

Given the military’s efforts to hide its abuses, Andrews said the accounts in AP’s report are “very likely just the tip of the iceberg.”

U.S. Rep. Michael McCaul of Texas, the top Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, urged the House to hold a vote on the BURMA Act in light of the findings. The legislation would authorize additional targeted sanctions against the military.

While the U.S., United Kingdom and European Union have already placed sanctions on high-ranking Myanmar military members and state-owned enterprises, they have yet to sanction American and French oil and gas companies working in Myanmar. That has allowed the military to maintain its single-largest source of foreign currency revenue, which the Tatmadaw uses, in part, to purchase weapons.

“The disturbing reporting by the Associated Press on the sadistic torture and horrific violence committed by the Burmese military junta are sadly the latest in a long string of their atrocities, including genocide against the Rohingya,” McCaul said in a statement, referring to the military’s mass slaughter and rape of thousands of Rohingya Muslims in 2017.

Rep. Gregory Meeks of New York, the Democratic chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, also urged Congress to pass the legislation.

“I condemn the Burmese military’s unconscionable treatment of detainees, allegedly including victims as young as 16 years old, in the strongest possible terms,” Meeks said in a statement.

The administration is considering sanctions that could impact Myanmar’s oil and gas industry but has yet to make a decision, according to officials familiar with the process. These officials say privately that there is great internal debate among the National Security Council, the State Department and Treasury about how best to ensure that any sanctions imposed do not negatively affect the people of Myanmar.

Human rights groups also urged an immediate international response.

“The AP’s searing and expansive investigation sheds light into the black-box of the Myanmar military’s detention facilities. The Tatmadaw’s methodical torture regime – and attempts to hide it from public view – demand immediate global acknowledgement and action,” said Susannah Sirkin, director of policy at Physicians for Human Rights. The group concluded that the wounds seen in photographs sent by the AP of three torture victims were consistent with deliberate beatings by sticks or rods.

The military did not respond to a request for comment on AP’s report. Earlier this week, it dismissed questions from the AP about its findings as “nonsense.”



A monk, a student, an artist: Tortured by Myanmar military (apnews.com)

___

Milko reported from Jakarta, Indonesia. AP Diplomatic Writer Matthew Lee in Washington contributed to this report.
Jupiter's Great Red Spot is deeper than thought, shaped like lens, studies say


Jupiter's Great Red Spot is about 10,000 miles wide and up to 300 miles deep. 
File Photo courtesy of ESA/NASA | License Photo

Oct. 28 (UPI) -- New studies of Jupiter's Great Red Spot released Thursday have found that while the meteorological phenomenon is deeper than originally thought, it's largely shaped like a flat lens about 10,000 miles wide.

The vortex storm, the largest of many such spots on Jupiter's surface, extends up to 310 miles below the planet's cloud tops, some 100 miles deeper than previous research indicated.

Two groups of scientists published their analyses of data from the Juno spacecraft on the GRS on Thursday in the scientific journal Science.

One team from the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio put together a 3D map of Jupiter's atmosphere, giving scientists an "understanding of how Jupiter's beautiful and violent atmosphere works," SWRI principal investigator and lead author of one of the studies, Scott Bolton said.

"These new observations from Juno open up a treasure chest of new information about Jupiter's enigmatic observable features," said Lori Glaze, director of NASA's planetary science division. "Each paper sheds light on different aspects of the planet's atmospheric processes -- a wonderful example of how our internationally diverse science teams strengthen understanding of our solar system."

Juno traveled low over Jupiter's atmosphere -- a distance of about 400 million miles -- to measure velocity changes to determine the depth of the GRS.

The research also found that cyclones are warmer toward the top with lower atmospheric densities and colder at the bottom with higher densities. Anticyclones, which spin in the opposite direction, are colder at the top and warmer at the bottom.

"The precision required to get the Great Red Spot's gravity during the July 2019 flyby is staggering," said Marzia Parisi, a Juno scientist from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory and lead author of the second study in Science. "Being able to complement [Juno's microwave radiometer]'s finding on the depth gives us great confidence that future gravity experiments at Jupiter will yield equally intriguing results."

Juno, which was launched in 2011, has been in orbit around Jupiter since July 2016, sending back valuable data to scientists including photographs and scientific reading
IT INCLUDES THE MARITIMES 
Nor'easter off U.S. coast has similarities to 1991 'Perfect Storm,' may become tropical

By Alex Sosnowski, AccuWeather, Accuweather.com

These side-by-side images show the nor'easter from Thursday (L) and the nor'easter known as the "Perfect Storm" from Oct. 31, 1991, (R) off the coast of the northeastern United States. File Photos courtesy of NOAA

Oct. 28 (UPI) -- A nor'easter that pummeled areas from New Jersey to Maine, leaving hundreds of thousands without power, bears striking similarities to the 1991 "Perfect Storm," an infamous nor'easter that meteorologists still use as a benchmark storm 30 years later.

The nor'easter could also transform into a tropical or subtropical system in the coming days, claiming the last designated name on the 2021 Atlantic hurricane season list, according to AccuWeather forecasters. The storm became the latest bomb cyclone to impact the United States, in the footsteps of two bomb cyclones that brewed over the eastern Pacific and slammed into the West Coast.

The storm that would later garner names such as the Halloween storm of 1991 and the 'Perfect Storm' for a Hollywood motion picture, took the lives of more than a dozen people. The greatest impacts on the U.S. were from heavy seas that caused considerable coastal flooding and beach erosion in New England and the mid-Atlantic.


Winds from this week's nor'easter gusted over 100 mph, far above the readings from the 1991 storm, which maxed out at 76 mph. However, AccuWeather.com senior weather editor Jesse Ferrell pointed out, "There are hundreds of weather stations on the Massachusetts coast today compared to only a handful 30 years ago, so we can't be sure this storm had higher winds."

RELATED Deadly nor'easter knocks out power for more than 500,000 in N.Y., New England

"Because wind speeds can be local," Ferrell went on to say, "meteorologists typically use pressure to gauge storm strength. By that measure, so far, this week's nor'easter dropped to 28.76 inches of mercury (974 mb), slightly less powerful than the 'Perfect Storm' which measured 28.70 inches (972 mb) at its lowest reading."

After undergoing bombogenesis (a pressure drop of 0.71 of an inch of mercury in 24 hours) on Tuesday, the nor'easter continued to circulate off the southeastern coast of New England overnight Wednesday, completing a counterclockwise loop.

Even though rain is over from the nor'easter, the system remains a significant low-pressure area and is acting like a giant vacuum in the atmosphere and will continue to create strong winds over the North Atlantic.

"Since the storm will spend a considerable amount of time over sufficiently warm Atlantic Ocean waters into the end of the week, there is the potential for the system to acquire tropical or subtropical characteristics," AccuWeather senior meteorologist Bill Deger said. A subtropical system has both tropical and non-tropical storm features.


"In either case, there is a chance that the nor'easter could become a named storm late this week to this weekend while taking an eastward path away from the U.S.," Deger stated.

No significant impacts from the feature as a tropical or subtropical system are expected on the U.S. other than a continuation of heavy seas well offshore. The most significant impacts would be to cross-Atlantic shipping, cruise and deep-sea fishing interests.

Temperatures in the waters a couple of hundred miles off the New England coast range from the upper 60s to the lower 70s F and are a bit too cool to nurture tropical development. Water temperatures near and above 78 degrees are generally the threshold.




However, several hundred miles offshore, water temperatures are higher. As the system turns eastward and treks over that warmer water, there could be some tropical development. The area where development may take place is somewhat detached from disruptive wind shear to the east.

No official names are given to non-tropical storms in the United States, but toward the latter part of the lifecycle of the storm in late October and early November three decades ago, it became apparent that a tropical storm or hurricane had formed near the center of circulation. Despite this, no name was officially assigned to the storm by the National Hurricane Center.

The storm in 1991 had some piece of the tropics with it since it had absorbed Hurricane Grace, but the system churning just offshore in the Atlantic this week has no real tropical roots, according to AccuWeather senior meteorologist Randy Adkins.

The next and final name on the pre-determined list of tropical storm names for the 2021 Atlantic hurricane season is Wanda.



There have been 20 named systems as of Thursday morning, of which one was a sub-tropical storm (Teresa), with seven hurricanes. Four of the systems strengthened into major hurricanes of Category 3 strength or greater.

The most intense tropical system of the season has been Category 4 Hurricane Sam with maximum sustained winds that reached 155 mph. Fortunately, Sam remained at sea while a tropical system from Sept. 22 to Oct. 5. However, the second strongest hurricane of the season, Category 4 Hurricane Ida, produced maximum sustained winds of 150 mph and slammed into the Louisiana coast on Aug. 29. Ida was a deadly and destructive hurricane in the United States with 95 fatalities and damage estimates of at least $60 billion.

Should Wanda form, the 2021 Atlantic hurricane season will be solely in third place of the number of named systems, surpassing the 1930 season (20 named storms). Only the infamous 2005 season, which brought Katrina and 28 systems of tropical storm strength or greater, and the record 2020 season with 30 named systems had more.
COACHING IS ABUSE
Florida Panthers coach Joel Quenneville resigns amid Chicago Blackhawks scandal


Former Chicago Blackhawks and Florida Panthers head coach Joel Quenneville, shown Oct. 6, 2018, was in his third year as the Panthers' coach. 
File Photo by Bill Greenblatt/UPI | License Photo

Oct. 28 (UPI) -- Florida Panthers head coach Joel Quenneville resigned Thursday, hours after meeting with NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman about his involvement in the Chicago Blackhawks' sexual abuse case during the club's 2010 Stanley Cup run.

Assistant coach Andrew Brunette is expected to take over on an interim basis for the unbeaten Panthers.

Quenneville was in his third season as head coach of the Panthers, who were off to a 7-0-0 start in the 2021-22 campaign. He steps down with two additional years and more than $15 million remaining on his contract.

Bettman said in a statement that the league agrees with Quenneville's resignation.

RELATED   Stan Bowman, Blackhawks president, resigns amid release of investigative report

"Following a meeting with Mr. Quenneville that took place this afternoon in my office, all parties agreed that it was no longer appropriate that he continue to serve as Florida's head coach," Bettman said Thursday. "We thank the Panthers' organization for working with us to ensure that a thorough process was followed.

"Given the result, there is no need for any further action by the NHL regarding Mr. Quenneville at this time. However, should he wish to re-enter the league in some capacity in the future, I will require a meeting with him in advance in order to determine the appropriate conditions under which such new employment might take place."

Earlier this week, Kyle Beach revealed himself as "John Doe," the former Blackhawks player who filed a lawsuit against the franchise in May for mishandling his sexual assault allegations in 2010.

The suit led the Blackhawks to hire law firm Jenner & Block in late June to conduct an independent investigation, which looked into the accusations that former Blackhawks video coach Brad Aldrich sexually assaulted and harassed Beach during Chicago's 2010 Stanley Cup run.

The investigation, which was made public Tuesday, revealed that Quenneville was aware of the alleged misconduct and took part in at least one meeting centered around the allegations during the 2010 postseason. The former Blackhawks and Panthers coach previously said he only learned of the accusations this summer "through the media."

"With deep regret and contrition, I announce my resignation as head coach of the Florida Panthers," Quenneville said in a statement Thursday. "I want to express my sorrow for the pain this young man, Kyle Beach, has suffered.

"My former team, the Blackhawks, failed Kyle and I own my share of that. I want to reflect on how all of this happened and take the time to educate myself on ensuring hockey spaces are safe for everyone."

Quenneville joins former Blackhawks general manager Stan Bowman and Blackhawks senior director of hockey administration Al MacIsaac in stepping down for their roles in the scandal. The Blackhawks also were fined $2 million.

"After the release of the Jenner & Block investigative report on Tuesday afternoon, we have continued to diligently review the information within that report, in addition to new information that has recently become available," Panthers CEO Matthew Caldwell said in a news release. "It should go without saying that the conduct described in that report is troubling and inexcusable.

"It stands in direct contrast to our values as an organization and what the Florida Panthers stand for. No one should ever have to endure what Kyle Beach experienced during, and long after, his time in Chicago. Quite simply, he was failed. We praise his bravery and courage in coming forward."

Quenneville has the second-most coaching wins in league history, posting a 969-572-150-77 record over 25 years with the Blackhawks, Panthers, Colorado Avalanche and St. Louis Blues. He guided the Blackhawks to three Stanley Cup trophies, including in the 2009-10 campaign when Beach reported the allegations to the franchise.

Bettman is scheduled to have a meeting with Winnipeg Jets general manager Kevin Cheveldayoff on Friday. Cheveldayoff was an assistant general manager for the Blackhawks in 2010.
U.S. recorded more than 20K road fatalities in first six months of 2021

The United States reported an estimated 20,160 motor vehicle traffic fatalities in the first six months of 2006, the most in that time period since 2006, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation.  Photo by Jim Ruymen/UPI | License Photo

Oct. 28 (UPI) -- The U.S. Department of Transportation on Thursday reported the largest number of motor vehicle traffic fatalities in a six-month span since 2006.

An estimated 20,160 people died in motor vehicle crashes in the first half of 2021, a 15-year high, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's estimates for January-June 2021.

The total also represented an increase of 18.4% from the same period in 2020.


"This is a crisis.
More than 20,000 people died on U.S. roads in the first six months of 2021, leaving countless loved ones behind," said U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg. "We cannot and should not accept these fatalities as simply part of everyday life in America."

The NHTSA also released behavioral research findings from March 2020-June 2021 finding that incidents of speeding and traveling without a seatbelt remained at levels higher than before the pandemic.


Preliminary data from the Federal Highway Administration found that vehicle miles traveled in the first half of 2021 increased by about 173.1 billion miles, or about 13%, while the fatality rate increased to 1.34 fatalities per 100 million vehicle miles traveled, up from 1.28 fatalities per 100 million in 2020

In June, the agency reported that motor vehicle traffic fatalities in the United States rose to a 13-year high for the entirety of 2020 despite VMT decreasing by 13.2%.


The NHTSA said the first quarter of 2021 proved that the trend shown in the 2020 data that "drivers who remained on the road engaged in more risky behavior, including speeding, failing to wear seat belts and driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol" continued to prevail.


"The report is sobering," said NHTSA Deputy Administrator Dr. Steven Cliff. "It's also a reminder of what hundreds of millions of people can do every day, right now, to combat this: Slow down, wear seat belts, drive sober and avoid distractions behind the wheel."

Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety on Thursday called on the Department of Transportation to issue new safety requirements to "protect all road users," while stating every new vehicle should be equipped with crash avoidance technology, driving prevention technology and other upgrades.

The Department of Transportation said it will release a strategy in January to "significantly reduce serious injuries and deaths on our nation's roadways" in response to the report.

"No one will accomplish this alone," said Buttigieg. "It will take all levels of government, industries advocates, engineers and communities across the country working together toward the day when family members no longer have to say goodbye to loved ones because of a traffic crash."
UK 
Insolvencies soar 40% as Covid support ends

Terry Murden, Editor | October 28, 2021
DAILY BUSINESS


Many firms failed to reopen after being forced to shut

Forecasts of a rise in company failures as government support measures came to an end are borne out by a 40% rise in corporate insolvencies across Scotland in the third quarter.

Insolvency practitioners have been hiring extra staff in anticipation of a surge in company failures.

As well as the withdrawal of Covid-related subsidies from the Treasury, inflation and supply chain pressures also began to bite.

Analysis of notices in The Gazette by Interpath Advisory reveals that 14 companies fell into administration or receivership from July to September 2021 – from 10 in Q2, and also up on the 10 appointments seen during the same period last year.

This upward trend mirrors the national picture, which saw UK administrations and receiverships increase by 26% in the third quarter of 2021 – from 123 in Q2 2021 to 155 in Q3.

However, this was significantly down from the 243 appointments during the comparative period in 2020, and is still at only 39% of pre-Covid levels when compared to the 401 appointments in Q3 2019.

Blair Nimmo, chief executive of Interpath Advisory, commented: “With inflation on the rise, COVID-19 support measures, including the Job Retention Scheme, now tailing off, and well-publicised issues affecting global supply chains and availability of labour, it’s perhaps unsurprising that we are starting to see a modest rise in insolvency levels as we enter the final quarter of the year.”


Blair Nimmo: a challenging quarter

Across the UK, the construction and energy sectors saw the largest rise in levels of administrations and receiverships in Q3 2021, with three times as many filings for insolvency in the energy sector (nine appointments) and twice as many filings in the construction sector (34 appointments) compared to the previous quarter.


Mr Nimmo said: “It’s been a particularly challenging quarter for the UK’s energy sector, which is reeling from the recent spikes in wholesale gas, coal and electricity prices to unprecedented highs.

“Not only has this had an impact on energy-intensive industries such as manufacturing, but it’s also left the domestic energy supply market in disarray with 13 retail suppliers entering into a SOLR (supplier of last resort) process in the last eight weeks alone, impacting over 2 million customers who have been switched to new providers.

“The reality is that with the price cap restricting the ability of companies to pass increasing input costs onto consumers, there is little room for manoeuvre for those smaller suppliers which don’t have the financial bandwidth to absorb the higher price, leaving many with little option but to enter an insolvency process.

“Meanwhile, the larger players, who are being asked to take on new customers as a result of SOLR processes, are also having to absorb the cost of doing so. It’s an incredibly difficult situation, and we certainly expect further casualties over the weeks and months ahead.

“Against a backdrop of rising inflation costs and lessening government support, there are signs that the level of insolvencies in Scotland is beginning to rise.

“We are yet to see the deluge of corporate failures that many anticipated but, whilst the outlook remains uncertain, I would expect to see filings continue to escalate, with more momentum gathering into the New Year.”

Reflecting on the rising insolvencies in the building and construction sector, Alistair McAlinden, managing director and head of the Scotland team at Interpath Advisory, said: “This is another sector that feels on the brink of a perfect storm. Raw material costs remain at high levels, with steel, timber and plastic products nearly 50% higher than they were pre-April 2020.

“To further compound the problem, the UK’s timber supply is impacted by both transport and Brexit-related constraints, and the construction industry is navigating a range of other issues including wage inflation, haulage labour shortages, reverse charge VAT implications, and wider instability in the global shipping industry.

“The knock-on effect is a stop-start situation for many construction projects, which in turn is resulting in inefficient resource allocation and downtime, creating further pressure.”

He added: “The good news is that, despite these challenges, the UK and devolved Governments remain supportive, with increased infrastructure spending and commitments to new projects.

“Suppliers of debt capital are also continuing to provide support to Scottish businesses to help them trade through the impacts of COVID-19 and Brexit.

“Ultimately, these challenges are making businesses across the sector consider what work they want to undertake; how they manage current demand; how they quote for new work; and how they contract to try and mitigate these risks.

“We are also seeing continued challenges across a range of other sectors and have already seen an uptick in activity across general manufacturing, automotive and aerospace supply chains, and wholesale.”

UK

Banks hike mortgage costs as interest rate rise looms

For sale, sold, homes, housing, property

The cost of buying a home is rising (pic: Terry Murden)

Mortgage lenders have anticipated a likely rise in the cost of borrowing next week by hiking their rates to home buyers.

The Bank of England is expected to become the world’s first major central bank to increase rates in order to keep a lid on inflation.

Banks have responded by putting up the cost of loans. Barclays is lifting rates by up to 0.35 percentage points on a range of fixed-rate mortgages, while Halifax has announced rises of up to 0.20 percentage points on some products from next Monday.

NatWest (RBS) has increased rates on a range of its fixed deals while HSBC and TSB are expected to make similar moves.

Markets now seem convinced that the base rate will rise to 0.25% next Thursday when the Bank’s monetary policy committee concludes its latest two-day meeting.

They believe it could rise to 1% by next May, still extremely low against periods of double-digit rates, but it could hit 3.5% by 2023 according to a forecast from the Office for Budget Responsibility, which would make a material difference to monthly payments and demand for homes.

How karate is helping Nigerian women protect themselves

Zainab Saleh found karate as a young girl. Now she uses her annual women-only championship to advocate for the sport, in a country where domestic violence and mass kidnapping is endangering the lives of women and girls.


Hajiya Zainab Saleh: Karate teaches respect and self-confidence

Every October for the last eight years, young women have gathered in Lagos for the Zainab Saleh International Female Open Karate Championship. It's the only time that karatekas, practitioners of the sport, get to compete at a women-only tournament.

They are mostly drawn from teams across Nigeria's 36 states, while neighboring Benin also sent a big delegation. There were 207 athletes who registered to participate this year, eager to show their progress after the COVID-19 pandemic led to the cancellation of the tournament in 2020.

"I noticed that there was always a lot of interest in the male category at tournaments because the technical ability of the men was much better," said Saleh. "I felt that it was important to build the technical abilities of the women. A man may be stronger but a woman can be more technically sound."

And she is happy that the level of competition is rising every year, with categories ranging from under-12s to seniors.


Godfirst Sampson (red belt) sparred against Fridole Tobossou during the championship
Martial arts amid social upheaval


Saleh hails from the town of Monguno, in northeast Borno State, which has seen a lot of fighting between Nigerian troops and the jihadi Boko Haram group. Eighteen soldiers and many other civilians were killed in September, after an attack on the town that hosts a United Nations base. The ongoing insurgency has left families displaced.

Bandits operate in the country's northwest where mass kidnapping and ransom payments are now quite common, since the 2014 kidnapping of girls at a school in Chibok. According to Lagos-based SBM Intelligence, 2,371 people were kidnapped in the first half of 2021 across Nigeria.

"I worry for our girls, I worry for our women, I worry for everybody because it is just so sad what the country has become today," said Saleh, who supports back-to-school programs for displaced children in the region through her foundation.


Portraits of some of the school girls kidnapped in Chibok


"I believe that the development of grassroots sports is one way to keep children engaged. And karate can help children learn important values early in life."
Inspired by Bruce Lee

Hajiya, as everyone calls her, holds a fourth-degree Dan black belt. She started practicing karate after watching Bruce Lee films when her father was a diplomat in Mexico in the 1970s.

"I told my father, I want to practice karate like Bruce Lee. So, he enrolled my brother and I in a school. He would always take us to our training. When he couldn't, my mom would take us," Saleh told DW.

She learned the core karate values of respect, focus and non-violence. Through her foundation and the support of family and friends, she runs the championship that has become a major highlight of the karate calendar in Nigeria.


Saleh: Women can be technically as good as men

The athletes participate in kata (a choreography of technical form) and kumite (sparring to score points against opponents). During the tournament, which took place from October 21 to 24, the Teslim Balogun Stadium in Lagos came alive with the traditional Osu greeting, a word used as a sign of respect between competitors as women clad in their white karate gi uniforms begin to practice the ancient Japanese martial arts.

Godfirst Sampson, a 19-year-old 1st Dan black belt, took part in her fourth championship this year but lost in the 55-kilogram weight class final to her opponent from Benin, Fridole Tobossou.

"Every single year Hajiya makes it happen and she doesn't disappoint us. I am grateful that she is a tough woman and has not allowed anything to stop her vision for women's karate," said Sampson.

Giving girls an opportunity to compete

The championship offers women an opportunity to be competitive in a country where conservative values mean girls who play sport are often frowned upon. But Saleh has seen many change their minds after attending her tournaments.

"When people come and see what women are capable of doing, they say I want to learn that sport," she said.

Her work in women's sport is commendable, said Tega Onojaife, founder of the Lagos-based advocacy group Ladies In Sport International.

"When we ask for gender equality in sports, we are asking for deliberate and intentional action to be taken to ensure women and girls get equal opportunity to participate in sports. Hajiya Zainab has consistently put in the investment, year after year to make this happen. It is rare and it is intentionally giving girls the opportunity to participate in sports," she told DW.

Bigger picture

Karate was a sport at the Olympic Games at Tokyo 2020, but it will not return at the next Summer Games in Paris in 2024. Saleh, who is a member of many organizations including the Union of African Karate Federations, hopes the sport will be back on the Olympic roster by 2028.

Her aim is that Nigerian karatekas will get better in order to participate on the international stage despite the financial challenges they face.

"How do you get better if you cannot get your athletes to international competitions? We can't rate our progress against other countries if we cannot get funding to attend those championships. We need sponsors to take an interest in karate," said Saleh.

But she remains encouraged by the passion of the young women who come to her championship, and she hopes to start another championship in Abuja, Nigeria's capital, for both men and women.
"The fact that the technical standard of our female athletes is getting better encourages me," she said. "I caught some moments when some little girls were jumping for joy after winning gold medals. It makes me want to continue. And I wish I can do more for them."


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Generation gap: Why Japan's youth don't vote


Veteran leaders who cater to a greying population, archaic campaign tactics and a lack of political education have led to chronically low turnout rates among young people, voters and campaigners say (AFP/Behrouz MEHRI)More

Kyoko Hasegawa and Katie Forster
Thu, October 28, 2021

Shoma Motegi will vote for the first time in Japan's general election on Sunday, but the 19-year-old is a minority in his age group -- something he wants to change.

Veteran leaders who cater to a greying population, archaic campaign tactics and a lack of political education have led to chronically low turnout rates among young people, voters and campaigners say.

Voter turnout in Japan, where the ruling party has held power almost continuously for decades, is the fifth lowest among 41 developed economies surveyed by the OECD.

The age gap in voting patterns was stark in the country's last general election, with just a third of people in their twenties casting their ballot compared to 72 percent among people aged 60-69.

"It's a waste of the right to vote in elections that determine our future," Motegi told AFP.

If younger people don't turn up, "policies will favour the current working generation, or the elderly," added the economics student from Yokohama.

Analysts say the election's outcome is largely predictable, with the new Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, 64, widely expected to win.

After becoming leader of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, he unveiled his cabinet this month: its average age is 62, with just three women.

To Misha Cade, a 24-year-old student who also plans to vote on Sunday, "it doesn't look very inspiring".

Cade regularly posts about feminism and other social issues in English and Japanese to her 46,000 followers on TikTok, and says young women in Japan often don't feel represented in mainstream politics.

"They think it's a man's world -- like it's not really something they can step into," said Cade, who is of dual heritage and grew up in the US before moving to Japan as a teenager.

Would she ever go into politics herself?

"I could never do it... There's a lot of sexual harassment and just blatant sexism, and I don't think that's something I could really tolerate on a daily basis."


- 'Awkward atmosphere' -

To try and engage the next generation, the government lowered the voting age to 18 from 20 five years ago.

But Motegi says some of his friends still shy away from political debate -- especially on divisive topics like nuclear power or national security.

"I think they don't feel ready to discuss the issues, as they don't know much about current policy," he said.

They may also "fear that disagreement could lead to an awkward atmosphere".

He is a member of Japan Youth Conference, an NGO that recently held two debates at which younger voters asked lawmakers about issues important to them, from working conditions to education costs and gender policies.

"Japanese young people have a high interest in social issues, including gender equality, the income gap and climate change," said Yuki Murohashi, one of the group's organisers.

But "often students don't even know the difference between political parties," the 32-year-old said.

This is partly due to a lack of voter education at school, or because "parties don't make enough effort to reach out to young people".

- Threat to democracy? -

Digital petitions and social media have helped drive change in Japan in recent years, but old-school campaign tactics like speeches at train stations are still widespread.

To persuade more people to exercise their rights, a group of film industry workers launched the Voice Project, which rallied actors and singers to make a video urging members of the public to vote.

The three-and-a-half minute clip, viewed on YouTube more than 600,000 times, does not take a political stance and is centered around the slogan #I'mVotingToo.

Kosai Sekine, 45, an award-winning film director who is one of the project's leaders, said some viewers had told them it had helped them decide to vote.

If the non-voting trend continues, it could even threaten the functioning of Japan's democracy, Sekine warned.

"Young people not going to ballot stations means decision-making will be done by elderly people, leading to a society with little consideration towards youth -- which is scary."

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Colombia: Coca farmers release 180 soldiers from hostage

Some 600 coca growers with sticks and machetes took a group of soldiers hostage earlier this week. The government has increased its efforts to eradicate coca plantations.



Colombia is the world's biggest exporter of cocaine, with the US as its biggest customer

Almost 200 Colombian soldiers were released on Thursday after being held hostage by coca farmers with sticks and machetes, a government official said.

The soldiers had been part of an operation to destroy coca plants — the source of cocaine — on the border with Venezuela on Tuesday when they were taken. General Omar Sepulveda said six platoons had been "kidnapped" by around 600 farmers.

The coca growers subsequently decided to "unilaterally" withdraw and "not to impede the work of government forces," the office of the ombudsman said.

"The situation ends here with a voluntary agreement from the growers," Jhon Ascanio, who participated in the mediation, told AFP

Coca growers claim protest action

President Ivan Duque said that the soldiers had "wanted to avoid confrontation and I value their professionalism."

But he went on to condemn the farmers' actions, saying that they "cannot continue in this country... It is a kidnapping, and if there is no quick release, it will be treated as a kidnapping by all the authorities."

One of the coca growers told a local radio station that the soldiers had been taken as a protest against the government that had failed to help them substitute their coca crops with legal ones.

Colombian lawmaker John Bermudez tweeted after the kidnapping of the soldiers that: "We cannot allow these types of acts as a means of protesting the eradication of illegal crops.


Colombia's worsening economic woes

The incident took place in the Catatumbo region, home to over 40,000 hectares (99,000 acres) of coca plantations, according to UN data.

Colombia remains the world's biggest exporter of cocaine with an estimated 1,010 tons leaving the country in 2020. Colombia's economy was hit hard by the pandemic with over 40% of the population living in poverty.

Soldiers have been redoubling efforts to destroy coca plantations, under the orders of President Duque.

Duque came to power in 2018, two years after a landmark agreement with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) which led to the militant groups disbandment.

However, the country is now experiencing a surge in violence, partly related to armed groups fighting over control of drug trafficking routes.