The AP Interview: Exiled artist Ai Weiwei on Beijing Games
By STEPHEN WADE

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Chinese artist Ai Weiwei poses for the media with cast iron work entitled 'Martin 2019' at an art gallery in London on Oct. 1, 2019. Ai is one of China's most famous artists, and many regard him as one of the world's greatest living artists. Working with the Swiss architectural firm Herzog & de Meuron, he helped design the Bird's Nest stadium, the centerpiece of Beijing's 2008 Summer Olympics. The stadium will also host the opening ceremony for Beijing's Winter Olympics on Feb. 4, 2022. (AP Photo/Alastair Grant, File)

Ai Weiwei is one of China’s most famous artists, and many regard him as one of the world’s greatest living ones. Working with the Swiss architectural firm Herzog & de Meuron, he helped design the Bird’s Nest Stadium, the centerpiece of Beijing’s 2008 Summer Olympics.

The stadium in northern Beijing, instantly recognizable for its weave of curving steel beams, will also host the opening ceremony for Beijing’s Winter Olympics on Feb. 4.

In the design phase, Ai hoped the stadium’s latticework form and the presence of the Olympics would symbolize China’s new openness. He was disappointed. He has repeatedly described the stadium and the 2008 Olympics as a “fake smile” that China presented to the world.

Ai expects the Winter Games to offer more of the same.

Even before his fame landed him the design job, Ai had been an unrelenting critic of the Chinese Communist Party. He was jailed in 2011 in China for unspecified crimes and is now an outspoken dissident who lives in exile in Portugal. He has also lived in exile in Germany — he still maintains a studio there — and in Britain.

His art — ranging from sculpture to architecture to photography, video and the written word — is almost always provocative, and he’s scathing about censorship and the absence of civil liberties in his native country.
His memoir — “1000 Years of Joys and Sorrows” — was published last year and details the overlap of his life and career with that of his father Ai Qing, a famous poet who was sent into internal exile in 1957, the year Ai Weiwei was born.

Ai writes in his memoir: “The year I was born, Mao Zedong unleashed a political storm — the Anti-Rightist Campaign, designed to purge “rightist” intellectuals who had criticized the government. The whirlpool that swallowed up my father upended my life too, leaving a mark on me that I carry to this day.”

He quotes his father: “To suppress the voices of the people is the cruelest form of violence.”

Ai responded to a list of questions by email from the Associated Press. He used his dashed hopes for the Bird’s Nest to illustrate how China has changed since 2008.

“As an architect my goal was the same as other architects, that is, to design it as perfectly as possible,” Ai wrote to Associated Press. “The way it was used afterwards went in the opposite direction from our ideals. We had hoped that our architecture could be a symbol of freedom and openness and represent optimism and a positive force, which was very different from how it was used as a promotional tool in the end.”

The 2008 Olympics are usually seen as a “coming out” party for China, When the IOC awarded Beijing the Olympics in 2001, it said they could help improve human rights. Ai, instead, termed the 2008 Olympics a “low point” as migrant workers were forced out of the city, small shops were shuttered and street vendors removed, and blocks-long billboards popped up, painted with palm trees and beach scenes to hide shabby neighborhoods from view.

“The entire Olympics took place under the situation of a blockade,” Ai told AP. “For the general public there was no joy in participation. Instead, there was a close collaboration between International Olympic Committee and the Chinese regime, who put on a show together in order to obtain economic and political capital.”

Ai writes in his book that he watched the opening ceremony away from the stadium on a television screen, and jotted down the following.

“In this world where everything has a political dimension, we are now told we mustn’t politicize things: this is simply a sporting event, detached from history and ideas and values — detached from human nature, even.”

The IOC and China again say the Olympics are divorced from politics. China, of course, has political ends in mind. For the IOC, the Olympics are a sports business that generates billions in sponsor and television income.

In his email, Ai described China as emboldened by the 2008 Olympics — “more confident and uncompromising.” He said the 2008 Olympics were a “negative” that allowed China’s government to better shape its message. The Olympics did not change China in ways the IOC suggested, or foster civil liberties. Instead, China used the Olympics to alter how it was perceived on the world stage and to signal its rising power.

The 2008 Games were followed a month later by the world financial crisis, and in 2012 by the rise of General Secretary Xi Jinping. Xi was a senior politician in charge of the 2008 Olympics, but the 2022 Games are his own.

“Since 2008 the government of China has further strengthened its control and the human rights situation has further deteriorated,” Ai told AP. “China has seen the West’s hypocrisy and inaction when it comes to issues of human rights, so they have become even bolder, more unscrupulous, and more ruthless. In 2022 China will impose more stringent constraints to the Internet and political life, including human rights, the press, and We-media. The CCP does not care if the West participates in the Games or not because China is confident that the West is busy enough with their own affairs.”

Ai characterized the 2022 Winter Olympics and the pandemic as a case of fortunate timing for China’s authoritarian government. The pandemic will limit the movement of journalists during the Games, and it will also showcase the state’s Orwellian control.

“China, under the system of state capitalism and especially after COVID, firmly believes that its administrative control is the only effective method; this enhances their belief in authoritarianism. Meanwhile, China thinks that the West, with its ideas of democracy and freedom, can hardly obtain effective control. So, the 2022 Olympics will further testify to the effectiveness of authoritarianism in China and the frustration of the West’s democratic regimes.”

Ai was repeatedly critical of the IOC as an enabler; interested solely in generating income from the Chinese market. The IOC and China both see the Games as a business opportunity. Ai suggested many Chinese see the Olympics as another political exercise with some — like athletes — trying to extract value.

“In China there is only the Party’s guidance, state-controlled media, and people who have been brainwashed by the media,” Ai wrote. “There is no real civil society. Under this circumstance, Chinese people are not interested in the Olympics at all because it is simply a display of state politics. Nationally trained athletes exchange Olympic gold medals for economic gains for individuals or even for sport organizations; this way of doing things deviates from the Olympics’ original ideas.”

Ai was asked if the planned to go back to China. He said he was doubtful.

“Judging from the current situation, it is more and more unlikely for me to be able to return to China,” he said. “My main point here is that the situation in China has worsened. The West’s boycott is futile and pointless. China does not care about it at all.”

—-

AP Sports Writer Stephen Wade reported for The Associated Press from Beijing for 2 1/2 years in the lead-up to the 2008 Olympics, and also the follow-up.

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More AP Winter Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/winter-olympics and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

Race to cut carbon emissions splits U.S. states on nuclear

By JENNIFER McDERMOTT

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FILE - Framed by the Manhattan skyline electricians with IBEW Local 3 install solar panels on top of the Terminal B garage at LaGuardia Airport, Tuesday, Nov. 9, 2021, in the Queens borough of New York. As climate change pushes states in the U.S. to dramatically cut their use of fossil fuels, many are coming to the conclusion that solar, wind and other renewable power sources won't be enough to keep the lights on. Nuclear power is emerging as an answer to fill the gap as states transition away from coal, oil and natural gas to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and stave off the worst effects of a warming planet. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer, File)


PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — As climate change pushes states in the U.S. to dramatically cut their use of fossil fuels, many are coming to the conclusion that solar, wind and other renewable power sources might not be enough to keep the lights on.

Nuclear power is emerging as an answer to fill the gap as states transition away from coal, oil and natural gas to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and stave off the worst effects of a warming planet. The renewed interest in nuclear comes as companies, including one started by Microsoft founder Bill Gates, are developing smaller, cheaper reactors that could supplement the power grid in communities across the U.S.

Nuclear power comes with its own set of potential problems, especially radioactive waste that can remain dangerous for thousands of years. But supporters say the risks can be minimized and that the energy source will be essential to stabilize power supplies as the world tries to move away from carbon dioxide-emitting fossil fuels.

Tennessee Valley Authority President and CEO Jeff Lyash puts it simply: You can’t significantly reduce carbon emissions without nuclear power.

“At this point in time, I don’t see a path that gets us there without preserving the existing fleet and building new nuclear,” Lyash said. “And that’s after having maximized the amount of solar we can build in the system.”

The TVA is a federally owned utility that provides electricity to seven states as the nation’s third largest electricity generator. It’s adding about 10,000 megawatts of solar capacity by 2035 — enough to power nearly 1 million homes annually — but also operates three nuclear plants and plans to test a small reactor in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. By 2050, it hopes to hit its goal of becoming net zero, which means the amount of greenhouse gases produced is no more than the amount removed from the atmosphere.

An Associated Press survey of the energy policies in all 50 states and the District of Columbia found that a strong majority— about two-thirds— say nuclear, in one fashion or another, will help take the place of fossil fuels. The momentum building behind nuclear power could lead to the first expansion of nuclear reactor construction in the U.S. in more than three decades.

Roughly one-third of the states and the District of Columbia responded to the AP’s survey by saying they have no plans to incorporate nuclear power in their green energy goals, instead leaning heavily on renewables. Energy officials in those states said their goals are achievable because of advances in energy storage using batteries, investments in the grid for high-voltage interstate transmission, energy efficiency efforts to reduce demand and power provided by hydroelectric dams.

The split over nuclear power in U.S. states mirrors a similar debate unfolding in Europe, where countries including Germany are phasing out their reactors while others, such as France, are sticking with the technology or planning to build more plants.

The Biden administration, which has tried to take aggressive steps to reduce greenhouse gases, views nuclear as necessary to help compensate for the decline of carbon-based fuels in the nation’s energy grid.

U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm told the AP that the administration wants to get to zero-carbon electricity, and “that means nuclear, that means hydropower, that means geothermal, that means obviously wind on and offshore, that means solar.″

“We want it all,” Granholm said during a visit in December to Providence, Rhode Island, to promote an offshore wind project.

The $1 trillion infrastructure package championed by Biden and signed into law last year will allocate about $2.5 billion for advanced reactor demonstration projects. The Energy Department said studies by Princeton University and the Decarb America Research Initiative show that nuclear is necessary for a carbon-free future.

Granholm also touted new technologies involving hydrogen and capturing and storing carbon dioxide before it is released into the atmosphere.

Nuclear reactors have operated reliably and carbon-free for many decades, and the current climate change conversation brings the benefits of nuclear to the forefront, said Maria Korsnick, president and chief executive officer of the Nuclear Energy Institute, the industry’s trade association.

“The scale of this electric grid that’s across the United States, it needs something that’s always there, something that can help really be the backbone, if you will, for this grid,” she said. “That’s why it’s a partnership with wind and solar and nuclear.”

Nuclear technology still comes with significant risks that other low-carbon energy sources don’t, said Edwin Lyman, director of nuclear power safety at the Union of Concerned Scientists. While the new, smaller reactors might cost less than traditional reactors to build, they’ll also produce more expensive electricity, he said. He’s also concerned the industry might cut corners on safety and security to save money and compete in the market. The group does not oppose the use of nuclear power, but wants to make sure it’s safe.

“I’m not optimistic we’d see the kind of safety and security requirements in place that would make me feel comfortable with the adoption or deployment of these so-called small modular reactors around the country,” Lyman said.

The U.S. also has no long-term plan for managing or disposing the hazardous waste that can persist in the environment for hundreds of thousands of years, and there’s the danger of accidents or targeted attacks for both the waste and the reactors, Lyman said. Nuclear disasters at Pennsylvania’s Three Mile Island, Chernobyl and more recently, Fukushima, Japan, in 2011 provide an enduring warning about the dangers.

Nuclear power already provides about 20% of electricity in the U.S., accounting for about half the nation’s carbon-free energy. Most of the 93 reactors operating in the country are east of the Mississippi River.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has approved just one of the new, small modular reactor designs — from a company called NuScale Power, in August 2020. Three other companies have told the commission they’re planning to apply for their designs. All of these use water to cool the core.

The NRC is expecting about a half dozen designs to be submitted for advanced reactors, which use something other than water to cool the core, such as gas, liquid metal or molten salt. That includes a project by Gates’ company, TerraPower, in Wyoming, which has long depended on coal for power and jobs.

As utilities quit coal, Wyoming is tapping into wind and installed the third-largest amount of wind power generating capacity of any state in 2020, after Texas and Iowa. But Glen Murrell, executive director of the Wyoming Energy Authority, said it’s unrealistic to expect all the nation’s energy to be provided exclusively through wind and solar. Renewable energy should work in tandem with other technologies such as nuclear and hydrogen, he said.

TerraPower plans to build its advanced reactor demonstration plant in Kemmerer, a town of 2,700 in western Wyoming where a coal plant is closing. The reactor uses Natrium technology, which is a sodium-cooled fast reactor paired with an energy-storage system.

In another coal-dependent state, West Virginia, some lawmakers are trying to repeal the state’s moratorium on the construction of new nuclear facilities.

A second reactor design by TerraPower will be built at the Idaho National Laboratory. The Molten Chloride Reactor Experiment will have a core that’s as small as a refrigerator and molten salt to cool it instead of water.

Among the other states that support nuclear power, Georgia maintains that its nuclear reactor expansion will “provide Georgia with ample clean energy” for 60 to 80 years. Georgia has the only nuclear project under construction in the U.S. — the expansion of Plant Vogtle from two of the traditional large reactors to four. The total cost is now more than double the original projection of $14 billion, and the project is years behind schedule.

New Hampshire said that without nuclear, the region’s environmental goals would be impossible to meet as affordably. And the Alaska Energy Authority has been working since 2007 to plan for the use of small modular nuclear reactors, possibly at remote mine sites and military bases first.

The Maryland Energy Administration said that while the goal of all renewable energy is laudable and costs are declining, “for the foreseeable future we need a variety of fuels,” including nuclear and cleaner natural gas-powered systems to ensure reliability and resiliency. Maryland has one nuclear plant, and the energy administration is talking with manufacturers of small modular reactors.

Other officials, mostly in Democratic-led states, said they’re moving beyond nuclear power. Some said they never relied heavily on it to begin with and don’t see a need for it in the future.

They said the cost of new reactors compared to installing wind turbines or solar panels, the safety concerns and the unresolved question of how to store hazardous nuclear waste are deal-breakers. Some environmentalists also oppose small modular reactors because of the safety concerns and hazardous waste questions. The Sierra Club has described them as “high-risk, high‐cost and highly questionable.”

In New York, which has some of the nation’s most ambitious goals to combat climate change, the future energy grid will be dominated by wind, solar and hydropower, said New York State Energy Research and Development Authority President and CEO Doreen Harris.

Harris said she sees a future beyond nuclear, dropping from nearly 30% of the state’s energy mix currently to around 5%, but the state will need advanced, long-duration battery storage and perhaps cleaner-burning fuels such as hydrogen.

Nevada is especially sensitive to nuclear energy because of the failed plan to store the nation’s commercial spent nuclear fuel at Yucca Mountain. Officials there don’t consider nuclear power a viable option. Instead, they see potential for battery technology for energy storage and geothermal energy.

“Nevada understands better than most other states that nuclear technology has significant lifecycle problems,” David Bobzien, director of the Nevada Governor’s Office of Energy, said in a statement. “A focus on short-term gains can’t alleviate the long-term issues with nuclear energy.”

California is slated to close its last remaining nuclear power plant, Diablo Canyon, in 2025, as it turns to cheaper renewables to power its grid by 2045.

Officials think they can meet that goal if California sustains its expansion of clean electricity generation at a “record-breaking rate for the next 25 years,” building on average of 6 gigawatts of new solar, wind and battery storage sources annually, according to state planning documents. California also imports power produced in other states as part of a Western U.S. grid system.

Skeptics have questioned whether California’s all-in renewable plan can work in a state of nearly 40 million people.

Research from scientists at Stanford University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology concluded that delaying Diablo Canyon’s retirement to 2035 would save California $2.6 billion in power system costs, reduce the chances of brownouts and lower carbon emissions. When the research was presented in November, former U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu said the nation is not positioned in the near-term to go to 100% renewable energy.

“They’ll be times when the wind doesn’t blow and the sun doesn’t shine,” he said. “And we will need some power that we can actually turn on and dispatch at will. That leaves two choices: either fossil fuel or nuclear.”

But the California Public Utilities Commission says it would likely take “seismic upgrades” and changes to the cooling systems, which could cost more than $1 billion, to continue operations at Diablo Canyon beyond 2025. Commission spokesperson Terrie Prosper said 11,500 megawatts of new clean energy resources will be online by 2026 to meet the state’s long-term needs.

Jason Bordoff, co-founding dean of the Columbia Climate School, said that while California’s plans are “technically possible,” he’s skeptical because it’s challenging to build that much renewable capacity quickly. Bordoff said there is “good reason” to think about extending the life of Diablo Canyon to keep energy costs down and reduce emissions as quickly as possible.

“We have to incorporate nuclear energy in a way that acknowledges it’s not risk-free,” he said. “But the risks of falling short of our climate goals exceed the risks of including nuclear energy as part of the zero carbon energy mix.”

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Associated Press writer Matthew Daly in Washington, D.C., contributed to this report.

Family of Amazon driver killed in Illinois tornado files wrongful death lawsuit

Slabs of concrete sit near Amazon Hub vehicles in Edwardsville, Ill., after a powerful tornado leveled the football-size plant. File Photo by Bill Greenblatt/UPI | License Photo

Jan. 17 (UPI) -- The family of one of the six Amazon employees killed in a collapse at an Illinois Amazon facility that was struck by tornadoes in December has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the company.

The suit filed in Madison County Circuit Court states that Austin McEwen, 26, of Edwardsville, Ill., and other employees at the facility were ordered to continue working instead of being told to evacuate despite the known possibility of a major tornado.

The suit alleges Amazon failed to adhere to Occupational Safety and Health Administration preparedness plans for inclement weather, chose to have workers continue working during the peak holiday season instead of evacuating and failed to have a facility that contained a basement shelter.

"Initial reports from those that survived this avoidable tragedy are disturbing. We certainly intend to discover what precautions Amazon could have taken to save lives," said Jack J. Casciato, a partner at Clifford Law Offices representing McEwen's family.

In a press conference Monday, Casciato said it was "very clear there could be a profits over safety" argument could be made in the case.

Twisted metal and chunks of concrete crushing vehicles, seen among the wreckage of the Amazon Hub. File Photo by Bill Greenblatt/UPI | License Photo

"Amazon was more concerned, during its peak delivery season, with keeping its production lines running," he said. "This facility could have easily shut down for the day. Workers like Austin could have been directed home the next morning, only losing perhaps 12 hours, could have resumed work and a lot of (lost) lives and injuries would have been avoided here."

McEwan worked as a contract driver at the facility, had played hockey at McKendree University and hoped to start a family with his girlfriend of five years, his mother, Alice McEwen said.

"Our son was a very loved individual," she said. "He had a love for life."

The lawsuit is seeking more than $50,000 in damages but a specific amount was not mentioned.

Amazon spokeswoman Kelly Nantel said the facility is less than four years old and was "in compliance with all applicable building codes" allowing for continued work on the day of the storm.

"Severe weather watches are common in this part of the country and, while precautions are taken, are not cause for most businesses to close down," said Nantel.

OSHA sent compliance officers to the Amazon complex, which opened in July 2020 and employs about 190 people across several shifts as part of an ongoing investigation.

The agency has six months to complete its investigation, including issuing citations and proposing monetary violations if safety or health violations are found.

3 / 5The office section of the Amazon Hub building is intact following the powerful tornado. File Photo by Bill Greenblatt/UPI | License Photo

Opinion: Deserved defeat for Novak Djokovic

The final decision has been made in the case of Novak Djokovic: The Australian Open will take place without the Serbian. This entire saga has had many losers, writes DW's Andreas Sten-Ziemons.

A week ago, Australia's prime minister, Scott Morrison, had — more or less — the last word on the Novak Djokovic case: "Rules are rules" and they also apply to the best male tennis player in the world, whether it's convenient for him or not.

Djokovic is — even before the tennis at the Australian Open in Melbourne starts — one of the biggest losers in all of this. Sadly, his actions have also resulted in collateral damage, because even the reputation of the Australian authorities, the tournament organizers and the world tennis association have all suffered scars during the endless Djokovic saga.

The breaking of a lie

You want to believe Djokovic landed in Melbourne certain his documents were sufficient for entry. When it turned out that this wasn't the case, everything became abstruse.

Then there was news of a positive COVID-19 infection that the tennis star had recovered from. However, there were discrepancies about timing of the positive tests. This was followed by a public apology, as someone who had tested positive for the virus would have been well advised not to meet with a group of children or jounalists.

A lie almost always leaves a trail and eventually the construct of it falls apart.

It would not be a surprise if the Serbian soon back-pedalled and had to admit that his test was falsified in order to avoid prosecution for violating COVID-19 regulations in Serbia and Spain. Although, further investigations due to forgery of documents and deception could well see that come to pass.

DW's Andreas Sten-Ziemons

No grip on reality

Novak Djokovic appears to live in his own universe, where he is the sun around which everything turns. That back home in Serbia he is celebrated like a saint and his fans protested for his "release" certainly doesn't help him keep a grip on reality. Statements from his father that his son has been crucified like Jesus also don't help.

Australian Immigration Minister Alex Hawke's decision to revoke Djokovic's visa was a return to reality. It is a shame that Djokovic and his team failed to realize this fight couldn't won and instead went ahead with an appeal, but it was good that was also eventually denied.

"We have all followed the rules in order to get to Australia and to play at the tournament," Djokovic's rival Stefanos Tsitsipas said in an interview with Indian channel WION. "A very small minority has decided to go their own way, leaving the majority somehow looking a bit like idiots."

The Greek is wrong in this case. The idiot in this story is Novak Djokovic.

This article was originally written in German.

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Hong Kong to cull hamsters after Covid found in pets


Hong Kong will cull hundreds of hamsters after some tested positive for the coronavirus

FREDERICK FLORIN AFP

Issued on: 18/01/2022 

Hong Kong (AFP) – Hong Kong will cull hundreds of hamsters after some tested positive for the coronavirus, officials said Tuesday, as the city pushes to maintain its strict "zero-Covid" strategy.

The Chinese territory's staunch adherence to the mainland's "zero-Covid" policy has kept the number of cases low, but maintaining it has cut the finance hub off from the rest of the world for the last two years.

The decision to cull about 2,000 hamsters and other small animals comes after health officials recorded Covid cases at a Hong Kong pet shop.

Health secretary Sophia Chan said the move will protect public health after a pet shop employee and a customer handling hamsters tested positive.

The employee was found to be infected with the Delta variant, which has become rare in Hong Kong.

"Internationally, there is no evidence yet to show pets can transmit the coronavirus to humans, but... we will take precautionary measures against any vector of transmission," Chan said during a press conference.

Eleven preliminary positive samples were found on hamsters for sale at the Little Boss pet shop in the bustling shopping district of Causeway Bay.

Officials believe they were imported from the Netherlands and urged anyone who bought a hamster after December 22 to give up their pet for culling.

About 1,000 animals from Little Boss and its warehouse will be seized and put down, while staff and customers have been sent for testing.

Health officials also issued quarantine orders for around 150 people who visited the pet shop as well as more than 20 warehouse employees.

The shop was shuttered Tuesday.

Another 1,000 hamsters from dozens of other pet shops across Hong Kong will also be killed and the businesses have been ordered to close temporarily.

Imports of small mammals will be suspended, officials added.

Deputy agriculture chief Thomas Sit defended the cull as a precautionary measure when asked why the decision was made without a clear scientific basis.

"The public should avoid kissing their pets and keep their homes clean," added agriculture director Leung Siu-fai.

"They should not abandon their pets on the streets under any circumstances."

Reaction from hamster lovers in Hong Kong was swift -- and angry.

"Is there anyone who can save the hamsters and other small animals?" said one person in a Facebook group called Hamster Blog HK -- which boasts more than 10,000 members.

Another ridiculed officials over the cull, telling them to "go to Wuhan and help the bats there wear two masks", referring to the Chinese city where Covid-19 first emerged two years ago.

© 2022 AFP

As Shiite rivals jostle in Iraq, Sunni and Kurdish parties targeted



A man checks the scene of an explosion outside a Kurdish bank in Iraq's capital Baghdad on January 17 (AFP/AHMAD AL-RUBAYE)

Laure Al Khoury
Mon, January 17, 2022

As Iraq's Shiite leaders jostle to secure a majority in the newly-elected parliament, Sunni and Kurdish minorities have been caught up in a spate of warning grenade attacks, analysts say.

In recent days, unknown attackers have hurled grenades at Kurdish and Sunni targets including political party offices and a lawmaker's home -- groups that could help Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr win the critical parliamentary majority needed to make his choice of prime minister.

"It is a way of punishing the forces that have allied with Moqtada Sadr to form a parliamentary majority," said political scientist Ihsan al-Shammari.

"Their message is political," he added, calling the attacks "part of the mode of political pressure" adopted by some groups.

In multi-confessional and multi-ethnic Iraq, the formation of governments has involved complex negotiations since the 2003 US-led invasion toppled dictator Saddam Hussein.

- Horse trading for power -

No single party holds an outright majority, so the next leader will be voted in by whichever coalition can negotiate allies to become the biggest bloc -- which then elects Iraq's president, who then appoints a prime minister.

In previous parliaments, parties from Iraq's Shiite majority have struck compromise deals to work together and form a government, with an unofficial system whereby the prime minister is Shiite, the president is a Kurd and the speaker of parliament is Sunni.

But Sadr, who once led an anti-US militia and who opposes all foreign interference, has repeatedly said the next prime minister will be chosen by his movement.

So rather than strike an alliance with the powerful Shiite Coordination Framework -- which includes the pro-Iran Fatah alliance, the political arm of the former paramilitary Hashed al-Shaabi -- Sadr has forged a new coalition.

That includes two Sunni parties, Taqadum and Azm, as well as the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP).

It has infuriated the Coordination Framework -- who insist their grouping is bigger.

In recent days, grenades have been lobbed at the home of a Taqadum lawmaker, as well as at the party offices of Azm, Taqadum and the KDP in Baghdad.

On Sunday, flashbang stun grenades were hurled into the branches of two Kurdish banks in the capital Baghdad -- wounding two people.

The heads of both banks are said to be close to political leaders in Iraq's autonomous northern Kurdistan region.

There has already been unrest following the election, with Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhemi escaping unhurt when an explosive-packed drone hit his residence in November during what his office called an "assassination attempt."

No group has claimed the attack.

While the culprits of the recent grenade blasts have also not been identified, a security source charged that the attacks "convey the messages of the parties that lost in the elections".

The purpose, the security source claimed, is to "disrupt the formation of the government" --- implicitly pointing to the Coordination Framework, and in particular the Fatah alliance.

- 'They threaten violence' -

Fatah lost much of its political capital in the October 10 polls, having secured only 17 seats, compared to the 48 it had before.

It alleged the vote was rigged, but Iraq's top court rejected a complaint of electoral irregularities filed by Hashed.

Hashed, which maintains an arsenal of weapons, fighters and supporters, has sought a variety of ways to make itself heard outside parliament, including demonstrations and sit-ins.

"Rather than accepting defeat at the polls, they threaten violence," said Lahib Higel, of the International Crisis Group.

Sadr has considered striking deals with certain members of the Coordination Framework, such as Fatah chief Hadi al-Ameri, at the expense of other figures in the bloc, such as former prime minister Nuri al-Maliki, Higel said.

But such an arrangement "is not Iran's preference" Higel argued, adding that Tehran "would rather see a consensus that includes all Shiite parties".

However, she said Iran could settle for a deal where Shiite parties held sway.

"It is possible that they (Iran) would accept a scenario where not everyone is represented in the next government, as long as there is a sufficient amount of Shiite parties, including some Hashed factions," she said.

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Korean Director Takes On Decades Of Generational Trauma

By Claire LEE
01/17/22 

Award-winning filmmaker Yang Yonghi was just six years old when she watched her eldest brother leave Japan for North Korea as one of 200 "human gifts" for leader Kim Il Sung's 60th birthday.

As a North Korean anthem blared, through bursts of confetti, he handed her a note before his ferry departed Niigata port: "Yonghi, listen to a lot of music. Watch as many movies as you want."

It was 1972, a year after her parents -- members of the ethnic Korean "Zainichi" community in Japan -- had sent their other two sons the same way, lured by the Kim regime's promise of a socialist paradise with free education, healthcare and jobs for all.

The boys never moved back.

"My parents dedicated their entire lives to an entity that came up with such a senseless project and forced them to sacrifice their own children for it," Yang, now 57, told AFP.

The trauma of being ripped apart from her siblings reverberates in all of Yang Yonghi's films Photo: AFP / Anthony WALLACE

The trauma of being ripped apart from her siblings reverberates in all of Osaka-born Yang's films, which document the suffering of her family across generations -- from the end of Japanese colonial rule to decades after the split of the Korean peninsula.

Her father was a prominent pro-North Korean activist in Osaka, and had sent his sons to live there in the 1970s as part of a repatriation programme organised by Pyongyang and Tokyo.

Around 93,000 Japan-based Koreans left for North Korea under the scheme between 1959 and 1984. Yang's eldest brother was among 200 university students specially chosen to honour Kim Il Sung.

The regime's promises came to almost nothing, but the Zainichi arrivals were forced to stay. Their families could do little to bring them back.

Yang's parents "had no choice after having already sent their children. To keep the kids safe (in North Korea), they couldn't leave the regime, and had to become even more devoted," she said.

"I was so angry at the system that kept my brothers as hostages."

Japanese-born South Korean filmmaker Yang Yonghi says she had no choice but to speak out about what her family went through Photo: AFP / Anthony WALLACE

Unlike her parents, Yang rebelled.

Yang said she faced discrimination in Japan -- repeatedly denied jobs and fired from a film project because of her Korean heritage.

She also had to grapple with the pro-North Korean sentiment in her community.

Her father was a prominent figure in the Chongryon organisation -- Pyongyang's de facto embassy in Japan -- which ran the university where she studied literature.

Yang Yonghi had to grapple with the pro-North Korean sentiment in her community in Japan Photo: AFP / Anthony WALLACE

During her time at the school, when students were asked to interpret texts with leader "Kim Jong Il's literary theories", Yang said she once submitted a blank page.

And at home, where portraits of North Korean leaders Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il hung side by side, she resented her parents for sending her brothers away.

"I wanted to be free," Yang told AFP.

"I could have... pretended I was Japanese, and avoided being honest about my father and brothers, acting as if I don't recognise any problems."

"But to really break free, I had to confront them all."

After a failed marriage and spending some three years as a teacher at a Pyongyang-linked high school, she left for New York to study documentary filmmaking.

Yang Yonghi's parents were deeply loyal to North Korea, and her father was a prominent pro-Pyongyang activist in Osaka Photo: AFP / ED JONES

And it was through movies that she began to unpack the story of her family.

Her first documentary, "Dear Pyongyang", was released in 2005 to critical acclaim, including at the Sundance and Berlin film festivals.

It offered a rare, independent look inside North Korea, featuring footage from Yang's camcorder during her trips to visit her brothers.

It infuriated the Chongryon, which demanded an apology.

By then, Yang had acquired South Korean nationality, making it impossible for her to ever visit her brothers again.

"It's a huge price, but I have no regrets. I at least stayed true to my own desire -- to make a movie, and to tell a story about my own family," Yang explained.

Yang's latest step in that quest is the film "Soup and Ideology", set for a theatrical release this year.

It focuses on her mother Kang Jung-hee, who fiercely loves her children but is also deeply loyal to Pyongyang.

For 45 years, she sent food, money and other goods to her sons in Pyongyang, including Seiko watches to be exchanged for cash.

Yang said her mother was often "unnaturally and overly cheerful", telling people that her sons are doing well in Pyongyang "thanks to the North Korean leaders".

"But at home, she would cry alone," the director said, especially after Kang's eldest son was diagnosed with bipolar disorder.

Yang said her mother would send any medicine for the disease she could afford from Japan to North Korea, without knowing what he might need.

He died in 2009.

In her old age, she told Yang of yet another traumatic event -- a bloody crackdown by South Korean forces on Jeju Island in 1947-54 to crush an uprising.

As many as 30,000 people were killed, according to the National Archives of Korea.

They included Kang's fiancee and relatives.

"My mother is someone who desperately wanted a homeland. She wanted to belong to Jeju but she was forced to leave. She didn't see her place in Japan," Yang said.

"She was looking for a government that she could trust, and she believed in North Korea."

That is where Yang's two surviving brothers remain.

Despite the struggles facing her, Yang said she still wanted to speak out.

"Since I was young, I was constantly told: 'don't say this, don't say that, always say this'," she told AFP.

"I realised I wanted to do it whatever the price."

Mexican journalist shot dead outside home in border city of Tijuana

By Lizbeth Diaz - 

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - A Mexican photojournalist died after being shot in the head outside his home in the northern border city of Tijuana, officials said on Monday.

Margarito Martinez, 49, worked for more than a decade in Tijuana for several national and international news outlets covering the gang crime and violence that has scarred the city, which sits on U.S.-Mexico border opposite San Diego.

The Attorney General's office in the Tijuana's home state of Baja California said officials who responded to a 911 call around midday found Martinez's body outside his home with a head injury caused by firearm.

A fellow journalist from Baja California said Martinez had been included in a state program aimed at safeguarding the lives of journalists.

"He recently entered the protection program because he received threats," said the reporter, who requested anonymity.

Tijuana has become one of Mexico's most violent cities due to conflicts among drug gangs caught in turf wars over trafficking routes.

Baja California's Human Rights Commission condemned Martinez's killing, saying "any attack on journalists constitutes an attack on freedom of expression and the right of society to be informed."

Martinez was the second journalist to be killed this year in Mexico, after the death of Jose Gamboa last week in the southeastern state of Veracruz.

From 2000 to 2021, human rights group Article 19 has registered 145 murders of journalists in Mexico, with seven deaths recorded last year.

(Reporting by Lizbeth Diaz, Editing by Daina Beth Solomon and David Gregorio)

Austria raises alarm about 'dramatic' femicide plague

Austria is gripped by a public debate about femicide after several particularly shocking and widely reported cases last year (AFP/ANDREA KLAMAR-HUTKOVA)

Denise HRUBY
Mon, January 17, 2022, 11:07 PM·4 min read

Painted in blood red on an improvised memorial in Vienna, the number 31 is a stark reminder of a grim toll: the women killed by men in Austria last year.

After several particularly horrific cases among the killings were widely reported in the media, the issue of femicide is now squarely under the spotlight.

In a small, wealthy country where violent crime generally is rare, a public debate has begun, galvanising activists and forcing politicians to act.


"It's a really dramatic situation... It's incomprehensible," Maria Roesslhumer, executive director of a network of women's shelters, told AFP.

Figures have fluctuated over the years, but between 2010 and 2020, 319 women were killed in Austria, mostly by their male partners or ex-partners, with a record high of 43 victims in 2019, according to a study commissioned by the government last year.

In 2018, Austria was among the three European Union members to report the highest rates of femicide where the perpetrator was a family member or relative, Eurostat data showed.

However, activist Ana Badhofer still decries a "lack of outrage" over femicide, saying her group instigated the memorial at a Vienna market out of frustration.

She cited an example from November of a woman beaten to death with a baseball bat.

It was a particularly shocking case last March that forced the issue to the forefront.

A 35-year-old woman, identified only as Nadine W., was beaten and strangled with a cable in a Vienna tobacco store by her 47-year-old ex-partner.

He then poured gasoline on her and set her alight before leaving the shop and locking the door.

She was rescued but died a month later from her horrific injuries.

In April, the 43-year-old owner of a craft beer store -- previously accused by a politician of harassing her with obscene messages -- was arrested for killing his former partner, a 35-year-old mother of two.

Both men were given life sentences and sent to institutions for mentally disturbed offenders.

-'Shame and stigma'-

From France to Mexico, South Africa to Turkey, campaigners have sounded the alarm about femicide and violence against women, often through massive rallies.

In Austria, the coalition government recently allocated 25 million euros ($28 million) this year, among several initiatives towards fighting the problem.

The killings have prompted some soul-searching in the Alpine country, where more women than men are killed, according to Eurostat figures, making it an outlier in the EU.

Roesslhumer pointed to a "tangible societal disrespect and disdain of women" which needed to be tackled.

Karin Pfolz has bitter firsthand experience of such attitudes.

During the decade in which she was stuck in an abusive marriage, she frequently felt isolated, she told AFP.

"You don't have anyone you can talk to, because there is so much shame and social stigma," said Pfolz, who now speaks about her experiences in schools.

Criminologist Isabel Haider, of the University of Vienna, said that law enforcement officers also needed to be trained to respond more sensitively, as many women feel "police aren't taking them seriously".

It was a fear of not being believed that kept Pfolz from reaching out to the police.

When she did eventually take her husband to court, she said that the -- female -- judge's attitude reinforced the sense she wasn't believed.

- 'Refugee in your own country'-

The Council of Europe's human rights commissioner Dunja Mijatovic, on a recent visit to Austria, called for "an ambitious and comprehensive approach" to "protect women's rights and gender equality".

She noted the Austrian gender pay gap -- just under 20 percent in 2019, according to Eurostat -- is among the widest in the EU.

"When you leave, all you've got is a plastic bag in one hand and a child in the other," Pfolz said.

"You become a refugee in your own country," she added.

But Pfolz knows that even when women are in the process of building a new life, they often still face threats from former partners.

Her ex-husband would come to her new house and she remembered having to "lock myself into a room with my son because our lives were at risk".

While she recognises that the issue of violence against women is now higher up the agenda, Pfolz still laments that "almost nobody even considers this a crime -- until it turns to murder".

This year was only a few days old before another shocking case hit the headlines -- a 42-year-old woman shot in the head and killed by her husband at their dinner table.

deh/jza/jsk/kjm

Rescue workers search for survivors after deadly Afghanistan quake


Afghanistan quake (AFP/STAFF)

Tue, January 18, 2022

Rescue workers on Tuesday searched for survivors after an earthquake in a remote western region of Afghanistan killed at least 26 people and damaged hundreds of houses, officials said.

Monday's 5.3-magnitude shallow quake jolted the province of Badghis and wrecked houses, mostly in Qadis district -- a rural area not easily accessible by road.

"The earthquake caused massive damage to houses, about 700 to 1,000 have been damaged," Badghis provincial spokesman Baz Mohammad Sarwary said in a video message.

"There is the possibility that the casualties could increase."

Images circulating on social media showed residents, including children, searching through the rubble of collapsed homes for belongings and essential items.

Taliban government spokesman Inamullah Samangani said rescue workers were helping find survivors and transferring the wounded to local hospitals.

A Taliban team was in the area assisting in the relief work.

Some of the victims, including women and children, died when the roofs of their houses collapsed, officials said.

The quake also inflicted damage on the residents of Muqr district but details, including casualties, were still unavailable.

The epicentre of the quake was near the city of Qala-i-Naw, the capital of Badghis, less than 100 kilometres from the Turkmenistan border, according to the United States Geological Survey.

Afghanistan is already in the grip of a humanitarian disaster, worsened by the Taliban takeover of the country in August when Western countries froze international aid and access to assets held abroad.

The United Nations has said it needs $5 billion in 2022 to avert a humanitarian catastrophe in Afghanistan and offer the ravaged nation a future after 40 years of suffering.

A devastating drought has compounded the crisis, with earthquake-hit Qadis one of the worst affected areas.

Afghanistan is frequently hit by earthquakes, especially in the Hindu Kush mountain range, which lies near the junction of the Eurasian and Indian tectonic plates.

Even weak earthquakes can cause significant damage to poorly built homes and buildings in the impoverished country.

In 2015, nearly 280 people were killed when a powerful 7.5-magnitude earthquake ripped across South Asia, with the bulk of the deaths in Pakistan.

In that disaster, 12 young Afghan girls were crushed to death in a stampede as they tried to flee their shaking school building.

bur-jd/ecl/qan