Study: Water supplies threatened as Himalayan glaciers quickly melt


Himalayan glaciers are melting at an exceptional rate, threatening water sources for millions of people in Asia, according to a study published Monday. 

Photo by Duncan Quincey/University of Leeds

Dec. 20 (UPI) -- The melting of glaciers in the Himalayas has increased 10-fold over the past few decades, threatening water sources for millions of people in Asia, according to a study published Monday.

The study led by the University of Leeds in Britain found that Himalayan glaciers are shrinking at an "exceptional" pace, far exceeding the rate of loss of glaciers in other parts of the world.

"Our findings clearly show that ice is now being lost from Himalayan glaciers at a rate that is at least ten times higher than the average rate over past centuries," Dr. Jonathan Carrivick, the study's lead author, said. "This acceleration in the rate of loss has only emerged within the last few decades, and coincides with human-induced climate change."

The study compared today's glaciers to 14,798 Himalayan glaciers during the "Little Ice Age" period of expansion around 400-700 years ago. It found that the glaciers have lost about 40% of their area in the interim.

During that period, they've also lost about the equivalent of all the ice currently contained in the central European Alps, the Caucasus and Scandinavia combined.

Water released as a result of the melting has caused global sea levels to rise between 0.92 millimeters and 1.38 millimeters.

The Himalayan mountain range, commonly referred to as "the Third Pole," holds the world's third-largest concentration of glacier ice following Antarctica and the Arctic. Its meltwater serves as the headwaters for the Brahmaputra, Ganges and Indus river systems.

Study co-author Dr. Simon Cook said people in the region "are already seeing changes that are beyond anything witnessed for centuries" as the thinning of the glaciers produces concerns about the sustainability of the water supply.

"This research is just the latest confirmation that those changes are accelerating and that they will have a significant impact on entire nations and regions," Cook said.

Former general says Israel was involved in killing Iran commander Qassem Soleimani
By Simon Druker

Mourners hold posters of Iranian military commander Qassem Soleimani during a funeral procession in Baghdad, Iraq, on January 4, 2020. 

File Photo by Ibrahim Jassam/UPI | License Photo

Dec. 20 (UPI) -- The Israeli government played a role in the assassination of Iranian commander Qassem Soleimani almost two years ago, according to the man who headed the country's military intelligence branch.

Retired Israeili Maj. Gen Tamir Hayman said in an interview with Malam magazine that the country, in fact, did play a role in Soleimani's January 2020 assassination
.
It's the first time a top Israeli official has confirmed the country's involvement in the killing. Soleimani was killed during a U.S. drone strike on Jan. 3, 2020, not far from Baghdad International Airport.

Iranians burn U.S. and Israeli flags as they mourn the death of Iranian Revolutionary Guard Commander Qassem Soleimani in Tehran, Iran, on January 3, 2020. 

File Photo by Maryam Rahmanian/UPI

Malam magazine is published by the Israeli Intelligence Heritage and Commemoration Center.

In his remarks, Hayman said that Israel supplied the United States with intelligence ahead of the drone strike.

At the time of his death, Soleimani was the longtime leader of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards' Quds Force, which is designated by the United States as foreign terrorist organization.

The U.S. government has accused the group of conducting attacks in Iraq and elsewhere in the Middle East, resulting in the deaths of hundreds of American and allied military personnel.

White House touts Bears Ears National Monument as conservation accomplishment


President Joe Biden and Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland participate in a signing ceremony to restore and protect the Bears Ears, Grand Staircase-Escalante, and the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts monuments on October 8. The White House touted the protections as part of its conservation efforts on Monday. File Photo by Shawn Thew/UPI | License Photo

Dec. 20 (UPI) -- The White House highlighted restored protections for national parks, including the controversial Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante monuments in Utah as conservation accomplishments in an update on Monday of its America the Beautiful Initiative.

The initiative, announced in May, outlined work the federal government was doing collaboratively with local and state agencies to conserve and restore the lands, waters and wildlife.

President Joe Biden preserved 1.36 million acres in the Bear Ears monument and 1.87 million in Grand Staircase-Escalante in October through an executive order. Former President Donald Trump had reversed an order from former President Barack Obama that protected most of those monuments.

Biden's move earned praise from local Native American groups and conservationists but scorn from state officials, who said the land use should have been negotiated through legislation and included more of their concerns.

The White House said the administration also stopped oil and gas leasing in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge; commenced the process to reinstate protection of the Tongass National Forest under the Roadless Rule and proclaimed the Northern Bering Sea Climate Resilience Area.

It also touted the reinstatement process to protect Bristol Bay and its salmon fishery industry and kicked off public processes to consider further protection for the Boundary Waters in Minnesota and culturally significant Chaco Canyon in New Mexico.

The White House said the newly passed infrastructure law is also playing a part in conservation efforts.

"The new law provides the largest investment in the resilience of physical and natural systems in American history and will help communities be more prepared for drought and wildfire; address the legacy of pollution from orphan wells and abandoned mines; invest in clean drinking water; fund watershed rehabilitation and flood prevention projects; and improve coastal resilience efforts," the White House said.

Not all Pilgrims were white, historians say

PLYMOUTH, Mass. -- One of the leading citizens of historic Plymouth Colony may have been Abraham Pearce, a black man who historians say had voting rights, owned land and was a leading figure in the community.

Dispelling the notion that all Pilgrims were white, historians say they have enough evidence to suggest one of the first New England colonists was a 'blackamore.'

'We have decided -- and we are about as definite on this as we can be -- that hecame to Plymouth in 1623,' said Robert Marten, director of programs at Plimoth Plantation, a village recreating the early settlement.

'He was not there as a slave or that sort or thing,' Marten said, adding Pearce apparently owned land, voted and had equal standing in the community, spelled 'Plimoth' at the time.

Some historians have thought for years there was a black Pilgrim, but Marten said only recently have researchers compiled enough documentation to substantiate the claim.

'The presence of a black man in early Plimouth shatters the popular stereotype of the strictly European Pilgrim,' Marten said.

In June, plantation officials installed a black modern day Pilgrim to take part in the village's activities for tourists who visit the old colony, said Dr. Richard Ehrlich, director of education.

The decision to place a black Pilgrim in the village was made after the 'body of information' was re-evaluated, he said, noting historians in the past have disagreed over the issue.

By carefully examining the colony's records, researchers believe the black Pilgrim arrived at Plymouth -- about 40 miles south of Boston - three years after the first 100 settlers landed on the Mayflower at Plymouth Rock.

The only reference to Pearce's color is a colony record dated 1643, listing the names of men available to serve in the Plymouth militia. The list said: 'Abraham Pearce, blackamore.'

But records indicate Abraham Pearce -- or variations in the spelling - came to the colony on the windswept coast of Massachusetts as an indentured servant aboard the Anne, a ship that sailed from England.

Although researchers have no proof, they suspect Pearce was born in the West Indies and was brought to Jamestown, Va., as a slave in 1619. He apparently crossed the Atlantic before returning to the New World.

When Plymouth was incorporated in 1633, Pearce was listed as a freeholder and a voting member of the community. Between 1633 and 1637, Pearce received cattle under a community division system, bought land and then sold his house and garden, records show.

'He was also one of the leading figures in the community,' Marten said.

Marten said Pearce died in 1673 around the time racial attitudes began to change in New England with the advent of slavery, Marten said.

James W. Baker, head of research at Plimoth Plantation, said Pearce apparently was 'quite equal of everyone else.

'Plimoth was an equal kind of society, which isn't really what one thinks of the Puritans,' he said.

Ancestors of Abraham Pierce [1580] (bakerancestry.org)

Death toll from Super Typhoon Rai soars to 375 in Philippines

By Renee Duff & Robert Richards, Accuweather.com

Motorists maneuver next to a toppled electric post in the typhoon-hit city of Cebu, Philippines, on Sunday. Photo by Juanito Espinosa/EPA-EFE

Dec. 20 (UPI) -- Horrors continued to emerge over the weekend as the scope of the utter destruction left behind by Super Typhoon Rai in the Philippines came clearly into view.

The fierce storm, described as "one of the most powerful typhoons to ever hit the southern Philippines" by the chairman of the Philippine Red Cross, has left hundreds of people dead and has completely cut off some communities from the outside world

As of Monday, the death toll in the Philippines had risen to at least 375 people, with another 56 people missing and over 500 injured, according to The Washington Post.

Government officials were having difficultly assessing the full scope of the damage due to the extensive loss of telecommunications in the affected provinces, Al Jazeera reported. Flooded roadways and extensive debris are adding more challenges to rescuers attempting to reach the hardest-hit areas

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) called Rai "a terrible surprise for the festive season" as it severely flooded cities and towns, tore homes and businesses to shreds and littered the ground with downed power lines, snapped trees and other debris.

"The full picture is only just starting to emerge, but it is clear there is widespread devastation. It is heartbreaking to see homes, Red Cross offices and even a hospital ripped apart. We hold grave fears for people in areas, including Siargao and other islands that still have no communication and contact with the outside world," Alberto Bocanegra, IFRC Head of the Philippine Country Office, said in a statement.

The Philippine Coast Guard released aerial pictures on Friday of homes that were leveled and left unrecognizable by the fury of Rai

Siargao Island sustained significant damage as the typhoon first roared ashore Thursday afternoon, local time, with the equivalent strength of a Category 5 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale (maximum sustained winds of at least 156 mph) in the Atlantic or East Pacific basins.

In total, Rai made eight landfalls as it weaved through the various islands that make up the south-central Philippines, according to the country's National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council.

The islands of Mindanao and Nonoc also sustained significant devastation.

Authorities flag 455 social media accounts linked to illegal border crossings at Belarus

By UPI Staff

A handout photo made available by Belta news agency shows people receiving humanitarian aid at the Belarusian-Polish border. Photo by Leonid Scheglov/EPA-EFE

Dec. 20 (UPI) -- Europol agents targeted 455 social media accounts for encouraging illegal immigration from Belarus to Europe as a result of a large-scale referral action, the agency announced Monday.

The misuse of online platforms has contributed to a growing crisis of migrants fleeing from the Middle East and Asia through Belarus to enter Poland, Europol said.

The accounts advertised the sale of counterfeit ID documents and visas, along with illegal transportation services.

Europol's European Migrant Smuggling Center and the European Union Internet Referral Unit coordinated the referral action last week.

Law enforcement agencies in Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Finland, Poland, and Germany were involved in collecting content.

"These accounts have been referred to the Online Service Providers with the request to review them against the terms of service," Europol said. "The misuse of these online platforms by facilitators led to a large increase of departures and irregular border crossings."

Earlier this month, Poland said it planned to build a wall along its border with Belarus to stop the flocks of migrants -- primarily from Iraq, Afghanistan and Syria -- from crossing into the country.

The United States and others enacted sanctions against Belarus over human rights abuses and inhumane exploitation of vulnerable people, targeting 20 individuals and 12 entities.

President Alexander Lukashenko faces accusations of perpetuating the crisis.

REFUGEES FROM NATO'S WARS

Freezing in the Alps, migrants find warm hearts and comfort

By JOHN LEICESTER

1 of 14

Migrants headed to France from Italy walk by a grafitti that reads "No Border" in a tunnel leading to the French-Italian border, Saturday, Dec. 11, 2021. As Europe erects ever more fearsome barriers against migration, volunteers along the Italy-France border are working to keep migrants from being killed or maimed by cold and mountain mishaps as they cross the high Alps. (AP Photo/Daniel Cole)


MONTGENEVRE, France (AP) — From the inky night, two women loomed. Police? The wary migrants, crossing the high-altitude Alpine border clandestinely from Italy to France, couldn’t be sure. They scattered and ran.

In fact, the women wanted to help the Moroccans evade border patrols, not detain them. They distributed hand-warmers to the shivering migrants, helped them hide in snowy woods until the coast was clear, and then steered them to waiting cars that whisked them from the frozen peaks to a warm shelter.

“They treated us like humans,” said Hamid Saous, among the rescued. “Not everyone does that.”

As Europe erects ever more fearsome barriers against migration, volunteers working along the Italy-France border to keep migrants from being killed or maimed by cold and mountain mishaps are driven by a simple creed: The exiles from conflict zones and oppression of all kinds who trek through the Alps and onward to European cities in search of brighter futures are people, first and foremost.

Armed with thermoses of hot tea and the belief that their own humanity would be diminished if they left pregnant women, children and men young and old to fend for themselves, the Alpine helpers are a counter-argument to populist politicians with large followings in Europe who say migrants, particularly Muslims and Africans, are threatening European livelihoods and liberal traditions.

In the Alps, on both sides of the border, the approach is essentially humanist and humanitarian, grounded in local traditions of not leaving people alone against the elements. Starting around 2016, when they first began encountering sneakered and thinly clothed migrants in trouble on Alpine passes, mountain workers refused to look the other way.

That assistance grew into networks of hundreds of volunteers who run migrant shelters, clothe those in need for the hazardous crossing and trek into the cold. They clear paths in the snow by day for migrants to follow and wait for them at night, to guide them past border police to safety and, if necessary, treatment for frostbite and other medical needs.

“Often, we say, ‘Welcome! How are you?’ We speak a bit of English because most people speak at least a bit,” said volunteer helper Paquerette Forest, a retired teacher.

Some refuse assistance, generally “men who are quite robust,” she said. “Exhausted people say, ‘Yes.’”

“We walk with them, discreetly. We try to avoid being spotted. We wait in the forest if needed. And we sort out vehicles to come and pick them up,” she said.

Migrants credit the volunteers for saving lives and limbs. The Alps aren’t as deadly for migrants as the Mediterranean Sea, where many hundreds have died or gone missing this year alone. And the mountains have so far been spared a tragedy on the scale of the boat sinking that killed 27 men, women and children, the majority Iraqi Kurds, in the English Channel in November.

“If not for them, we would have died of cold,” said Aymen Jarnane, 23, another Moroccan led to safety on a night when the thermometer dropped to minus-15 degrees Celsius (5 Fahrenheit).

But there have been deaths. Aid groups pleaded for French authorities to provide Alpine shelter to exiles and stop pushing them back into Italy after a Togolese man found hypothermic in freezing temperatures died during a night trek across the border in February 2019.

Iranian exile Bizhan Bamedi had a companion film him on the crossing, to show how punishing it is.

“Hi guys. I’m recording this for those who say, ‘Good for you, you went to Europe!’” he said, ankle-deep in snow in a clearing amid frosted pines. “Someone like me who has crossed through jungles and mountains from Turkey is now here. I have no place to lie, no place to sit. ... It’s a really difficult path.”

“The temperature is minus-10 degrees,” he continued. “I’m hungry and thirsty but can’t eat snow. Good luck!”

On top of the physical difficulty, a cruelty of the crossing is that Europeans pass through the border without even knowing it’s there. Crisscrossed by ski runs, the frontier is a playground for vacationers who don’t get stopped by police. But it is so inhospitable for migrants that some quickly give up, even equipped with donated cold-weather gear.

“When you are African or Arab with black hair you’re not getting through even if you dress up like that,” said Jarnane. “If you put on a hat or something, people can still see your brown or black eyes and that you’re not from around here.”

Health workers in a volunteer-run shelter for migrants on the French side, in the fortified town of Briançon, patch up those who get through.

“People arrive cold, dehydrated, thirsty, hungry,” said Isabelle Lorre of Doctors of the World, after taking care of an Iranian with an infected toe who trekked for 15 hours through snow he said was thigh-deep at times.

European opponents of migration argue that aiding exiles encourages others to follow. The view of those assisting them in the Alps is that not helping simply isn’t an option.

“Some of them have traveled 7,000 or 8,000 kilometers before getting here, so it’s not a mountainous barrier that will stop them,” said Jean Gaboriau, a mountain guide who helps run the Briançon shelter.

“Regardless of skin color, political or religious beliefs, everyone has the right to be saved or simply to be welcomed.”

___

Follow AP’s global migration coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/migration

New Syrian migrants seek Europe, driven by post-war misery

By SARAH EL DEEB and CHRISTOPH NOELTING

Syrian Kurd Bushra, who only gave her first name, poses for a photograph in Minsk, Belarus, Sept. 22, 2021. Bushra set out on the perilous trip to Europe through Belarus. She didn't leave when Syrian government forces first withdrew from her areas at the start of the war, or when Islamic State militants ruled her town. She did it when she saw no end to the risks of staying home. After a harrowing journey, she has made it to Germany. (Bushra via AP)


GIESSEN, Germany (AP) — She had already walked for 60 hours through the wet, dark forests of Poland, trying to make her way to Germany, when the 29-year-old Syrian Kurd twisted her knee.

It wasn’t the first setback in Bushra’s journey.

Earlier, her road companion and best friend had fainted in a panic attack as Polish border guards chased them. They hid in ditches and behind trees as her friend tried to regain her breath, but it was no good. They turned themselves in and the guards dumped them back across the border into Belarus.

They quickly returned, bedraggled and wet, on the same trail. After twisting her knee, Bushra persevered. For two more days, she dragged her right foot behind her through the rain and freezing temperatures of the forests. Finally, they reached a Polish village where a car took them across the border into Germany — for a life she hopes will be free.

“I put up with the unbearable pain. Running away from something is sometimes the easiest thing,” Bushra said in the central German town of Giessen, where she applied for asylum as a refugee. “There is no future for us in Syria.”

Bushra, who asked that her last name be withheld for her own safety, is the face of the new Syrian migrant. More Syrians are leaving home, even though the 10-year-old civil war has wound down and conflict lines have been frozen for years.

They are fleeing not from the war’s horrors, which drove hundreds of thousands to Europe in the massive wave of 2015, but from the misery of the war’s aftermath. They have lost hope in a future at home amid abject poverty,  rampant corruption and wrecked infrastructure, as well as continued hostilities, government repression and revenge attacks by multiple armed groups.

More than 78,000 Syrians have applied for asylum in the European Union so far this year, a 70% increase from last year, according to EU records. After Afghans, Syrians are the largest single nationality among this year’s nearly 500,000 asylum applicants so far.

Nine out of 10 people live in poverty in Syria. Around 13 million need humanitarian assistance, a 20% increase from the year before. The government is unable to secure basic needs, and nearly 7 million are internally displaced.

Roads, telecommunications, hospitals and schools have been devastated by the war and widening economic sanctions are making reconstruction impossible.

The coronavirus pandemic compounded the worst economic crisis since the war began in 2011. Syria’s currency is collapsing, and minimum wage is barely enough to buy five pounds of meat a month, if meat is even available. Crime and drug production are on the rise while militias, backed by foreign powers, operate smuggling rackets and control entire villages and towns.

The numbers are far below the levels of 2015, but desperate Syrians are racing to get out. Social media groups are dedicated to helping them find a way.  Users ask where they can apply for work or scholarship visas. Others seek advice on the latest migration routes, cost of smugglers, and how risky it would be to use assumed identities to get out of Syria or enter other countries.

At the same time, Syria’s neighbors, grappling with their own economic crises, are calling for the refugees on their soil to be sent home.  Among the new migrants to the EU are Syrians leaving Turkey or Lebanon, where they had been refugees for years.

Belarus briefly opened its border with Poland to migrants this summer. That created a standoff with the EU, which accuses Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko of orchestrating illegal migration in retaliation for European sanctions against him.

Bushra was one of only several thousand who managed to get through from Belarus, where 15 died trying to make the trek.

She left for Minsk from Irbil, Iraq, in late September.

It was the start of a harrowing journey. Bushra recounted how they survived on biscuits and water for days and how six of them slept sitting up on a single dry mat. Her friend broke a tooth shivering from the cold.

After the forest ordeal, they had to hide in a ditch at one point when a police patrol with sniffer dogs came to check their car. Riding along the highway, Bushra removed her head scarf to avoid suspicion at checkpoints. She reached Giessen on Oct. 12.

“I surprised myself by how I put up with all this,” Bushra said.

It was all worth it, she said. “When you lose hope, you follow a path more dangerous than where you started.”

Bushra’s life in Syria had been in upheaval for years. She was at university in the eastern city of Deir el-Zour when the war broke out in 2011 and anti-government protests spread in the city. She quickly moved to another university farther north. Soon Deir el-Zour and the rest of the east were taken over by the Islamic State group.

Bushra and her parents were outside IS rule in the Kurdish-held northeast but still lived in fear of violence. She hardly left the house for two years.

Eventually, she found a job with an international aid group. Ever since, she saved up to leave, checking into routes out of Syria.

Syria’s oil-rich northeast, which already suffered from years of neglect, was devastated by the war. Drought wrecked farmers’ livelihoods. The currency collapse gutted incomes. The salary of Bushra’s father, a government employee, is now worth $15 a month, down from $100 at the start of the war.

Moreover, the region was not secure. IS militants were defeated in 2019, but sleeper cells continue to target Kurdish-led security and civil administration.

Eight kidnappings were reported this summer in a town near her.

Threats were made against Bushra after she exposed a corruption case involving powerful local officials, causing her to fear for her life. She declined to give details because her family remains in Syria.

The harassment expedited her plans to leave and convinced her parents, who had been worried about a single woman going on such a journey alone.

The U.S. troop withdrawal from Afghanistan this summer raised Bushra’s worries that the U.S. would also pull out its 900 troops in Syria’s Kurdish-administered northeast. The troops carry out anti-terrorism operations with local forces, and their presence also keeps rival forces at bay.

If they withdraw, she feared that Turkey, which considers the Kurdish-led forces in Syria as terrorists, could launch a military campaign against the Kurds. Syrian government forces would also move in, endangering Bushra because they consider those who work with international aid groups unregistered in Damascus as traitors.

“If I stay in Syria, I will be pursued by security all my life,” she said.

Gaining asylum and residency in Germany is her gateway to freedom.

She hopes to study political science to understand the news, which she boycotted since the war started to avoid scenes of the atrocities she was already living. She wants to have freedom to travel. “I am done with restrictions,” she said.

Going back to Syria is impossible, she said. If she doesn’t get her papers in Germany, Bushra says she will keep trying.

 “If I can’t get to where I want to go, I will go to where I can live.”

___

El Deeb reported from Beirut.

'Like pushing a rock': NGOs decry uphill battle for legitimacy in Greece



Refugee aid groups in Greece complain of the difficulties they face in joining the mandatory NGO registry (AFP/ANGELOS TZORTZINIS)

John HADOULIS
Mon, December 20, 2021

Raging seas, pitiless hours and now red tape. Refugee aid groups in Greece, some with years of experience in the field, say trying to get onto the government's mandatory NGO registry is nothing short of an uphill struggle.

"You bring one (document), they ask for something else," said a source involved in the process, who asked not to be identified.

"It's like Sisyphus pushing up the rock," the source added, referring to the mythical ancient king condemned for eternity to roll a boulder up a hill.

A number of organisations with a years-long record of helping asylum seekers now face a "hostile" environment in Greece, while several newcomer groups are essentially waved through, the source told AFP.

The conservative government of Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis -- which is seeking to discourage migration -- set new registry requirements in February 2020 after an initial database was established by the previous leftist administration.

It says it has a duty to vet all organisations and staff coming into close daily contact with vulnerable people for possible crimes, including sexual abuse and drug trafficking.

But the rejection of veteran aid groups and the impact for those they seek to help has raised concerns including beyond Greece's borders.

- 'Taking back control' -

With Greece a key gateway for migrants into Europe, the government has bolstered border patrols, tightened asylum laws and curtailed refugee benefits.

Athens also assumed responsibility for EU-funded programmes previously run by the UN refugee agency.

"We have taken back control," Migration Minister Notis Mitarachi said last week.

In September, a new law also made it illegal for charities to undertake rescues at sea, unless they work in close conjunction with the coastguard or the coastguard is absent from the area and approves the operation.

Failure to comply carries a fine of at least 500 euros ($565) per participant, at least 3,000 euros for the organisation and a minimum prison sentence of up to a year.

The Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights Dunja Mijatovic warned that the law "would seriously hinder the life-saving work carried out at sea by NGOs, and their human rights monitoring capacities in the Aegean."

In November, some two dozen humanitarian activists went on trial on the Greek island of Lesbos for helping migrants reach the island three years ago.

Greece has faced persistent accusations that it illegally repels migrants at sea, which it has steadfastly denied.

- 'Same rules for all' -

In a letter to Mijatovic, the Greek ministers of migration, maritime policy and citizens' protection insisted that the register "does not aim to set obstacles to NGOs" and entry requirements "are in no way excessive or complicated."

"The aim is to set the same rules for all NGOs active in Greece," they said.

Among the organisations whose application has been rejected is Equal Rights Beyond Borders, a Greek-German group which says it is currently helping more than 400 people with family reunification and asylum claims.

And Refugee Support Aegean (RSA) was told it was not eligible for the registry because it gives legal advice to people slated for deportation.

RSA told AFP it had provided over 60 documents and paid nearly 15,000 euros in legal and ISO certification fees over the last two years.

Both groups are trying to overturn the decision at Greece's top administrative court, the Council of State, which is due to examine their case in June.

Earlier this month, 19 aid groups -- including several already on the registry -- said RSA's exclusion for helping migrants under deportation set a "major negative precedent" and "shamed" Greece.

UN special rapporteur on human rights defenders Mary Lawlor, likewise, called the move "worrying".

"Everyone is entitled to the protection of international human rights law, including those facing deportation," she tweeted.

- 'Opportunistic' -

But concern has also been raised about groups that have won registry approval.

The opposition Syriza and Kinal parties have tabled three parliamentary questions about HopeTen, a civil society organisation whose induction into the registry in October 2020 took less than a month.

Previously a lobby group formed to organise municipal events before changing hands, HopeTen now says it works for the social welfare and protection of vulnerable people.

Other agencies added to the register are contracted to work on migration projects -- some still lacking essentials such as a functioning website or recent tax audits -- including a theatrical events group and a municipal car park company.

Syriza, which was in government until mid-2019, has accused the migration ministry of enabling "opportunistic" use of EU funding for a migration programme by groups "lacking adequate expertise".

The ministry did not respond to AFP questions on the issue.

jph/kjm/ach

UN-backed investigator into possible Yemen war crimes targeted by spyware

Exclusive: Analysis of Kamel Jendoubi’s mobile phone reveals he was targeted in August 2019

Tunisian Kamel Jendoubi chaired the now defunct Group of Eminent Experts in Yemen – a panel mandated by the UN Human Rights Council to investigate possible war crimes. Photograph: Salvatore Di Nolfi/EPA

Stephanie Kirchgaessner in Washington
THE GUARDIAN
Mon 20 Dec 2021

The mobile phone of a UN-backed investigator who was examining possible war crimes in Yemen was targeted with spyware made by Israel’s NSO Group, a new forensic analysis of the device has revealed.

Kamel Jendoubi, a Tunisian who served as the chairman of the now defunct Group of Eminent Experts in Yemen (GEE)– a panel mandated by the UN to investigate possible war crimes – was targeted in August 2019, according to an analysis of his mobile phone by experts at Amnesty International and the Citizen Lab at the University of Toronto.

The targeting is claimed to have occurred just weeks before Jendoubi and his panel of experts released a damning report which concluded that the Saudi-led coalition in the Yemen war had committed “serious violations of international humanitarian law” that could lead to “criminal responsibility for war crimes”.

Jendoubi’s mobile number also appears on a leaked database at the heart of the Pegasus Project, an investigation into NSO by the Guardian and other media outlets, which was coordinated by Forbidden Stories, the French non-profit media group.

The leaked list contained numbers of individuals who were believed to have been selected as potential surveillance targets by NSO’s government clients.

‘We need free speech’: protests erupt across Poland over controversial media bill


The bill, yet to be signed into law, would tighten rules around foreign ownership of media

Protesters march in Krakow on Sunday to demand Poland’s head of state veto a law they say would limit media freedoms in the country. 

Photograph: Alex Bona/Sopa Images/Rex/Shutterstock


Guardian staff with agencies
Mon 20 Dec 2021 02.29 GMT

Poles have staged nationwide protests including a thousands-strong rally outside the presidential palace to demand the head of state veto a law they say would limit media freedoms in the European Union’s largest eastern member.

Unexpectedly rushed through parliament on Friday, the legislation would tighten rules around foreign ownership of media, specifically affecting the ability of news channel TVN24, owned by US media company Discovery Inc, to operate.

The bill, yet to be signed into law by president Andrzej Duda, has soured ties between Nato-member state Poland and the United States at a time of heightened tension in eastern Europe amid what some countries see as increased Russian assertiveness.


Poland angers US by rushing through media law amid concerns over press freedom

It has also fuelled wider fears about attacks on media freedoms that have been running high since state-run oil company PKN Orlen said last year it was taking over a German-owned publisher of regional newspapers.

“This is not just about one channel,” the Warsaw mayor and a former opposition candidate for president, Rafal Trzaskowski, told the crowd on Sunday. “In a moment [there will be] censorship of the internet, an attempt to extinguish all independent sources of information – but we will not allow that to happen.”

At demonstrations outside the president’s palace, 38-year-old Emilia Zlotinska told Agence France-Press: “We need free speech. I would like the president not to sign it.”

TVN24 footage showed protesters in Warsaw waving Polish and EU flags and chanting “free media”.

Thousands of people attended protests at the Main Square in Krakow.

 Photograph: Beata Zawrzel/NurPhoto/REX/Shutterstock

“We have to be here today because free media are a pillar of democracy,” said Beata Laciak, a member of the crowd and a sociology professor.

Demonstrations took place across the country. Pictures from the southern city of Krakow showed protesters brandishing banners with slogans like “Hands off TVN” and “Free Poland, free people, free media”.

As of 8.20pm local time, more than 1.5 million people had signed a petition in TVN24’s defence, the channel said.


Polish parliament passes controversial new media ownership bill

The ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party has long said that foreign media groups have too much power in the country and distort public debate.

Critics say the moves against foreign media groups are part of an increasingly authoritarian agenda that has put Warsaw at loggerheads with Brussels over LGBT rights and judicial reforms.

Last week, the US state department called on Duda to protect free speech, freedom to engage in economic activity, property rights and equal treatment.

“The United States is deeply troubled by the passage in Poland today of a law that would undermine freedom of expression, weaken media freedom and erode foreign investors confidence in their property rights and the sanctity of contracts in Poland,” state department spokesperson Ned Price said in a statement on Friday.

The European Commission said the new law sent another negative signal about the respect of rule of law and democratic values in Poland.

“Once this bill becomes a law, the commission will not hesitate to take action in case of non-compliance with EU law,” commission vice-president Vera Jourova said in a statement.

Reuters and Agence France-Presse contributed to this report