Antony Blinken stresses need for Israel to complete investigation of Abu Akleh killing

The US secretary of state raised the journalist's death in a call with Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke to Israel's foreign minister, Yair Lapid, on Friday. EPA

The National
May 28, 2022

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken urged Israel to expedite its investigations into the killing in the West Bank of journalist Shireen Abu Akleh during a call with Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid on Friday.

"Secretary Blinken underscored the importance of concluding the investigations into the death of Palestinian-American Shireen Abu Akleh," the US State Department said.

Abu Akleh, a veteran journalist for Al Jazeera, was shot dead on May 11 while covering an Israeli military raid in the city of Jenin in the occupied West Bank. She had been wearing a helmet and a press vest that clearly identified her as a journalist.


Al Jazeera US-Palestinian journalist Shireen Abu Akleh shot dead

The Palestinian Authority said on Thursday its investigation showed Abu Akleh was shot by an Israeli soldier in a "deliberate murder". Israel denied the accusation and said it was continuing its own investigations. The PA has refused to hand over the bullet recovered from Abu Akleh's post mortem to Israel and is demanding an international investigation into her death.

The Israeli army said she might have been shot accidentally by one of its soldiers or by a Palestinian militant in an exchange of fire.

Palestinian Attorney General Akram Al Khatib told reporters on Thursday that its enquiry showed there had been no militants close to Abu Akleh when she died.

Abu Akleh had covered Palestinian affairs and the Middle East for more than two decades. Qatar's Al Jazeera TV Network, which also says Israel had killed the reporter, said it would refer the case to the International Criminal Court.

READ MORE

UK lawyers add shooting of Shireen Abu Akleh to International Criminal Court complaint

Abu Akleh's death sparked widespread anger at a time of heightened Israeli-Palestinian tensions following a series of deadly attacks by Palestinian militants inside Israel and Israeli military raids to arrest suspects in the West Bank, mostly in and around Jenin.

On Saturday, the Palestinian Health Ministry reported the death of a fifth teenager to be killed during Israeli military raids over the past month.

The ministry said Zaid Ghunaim, 15, was wounded by Israeli gunfire in the neck and back during an operation in a town near Bethlehem on Friday and that doctors failed to save his life.

The official Palestinian news agency, Wafa, cited witnesses as saying Ghunaim came upon the soldiers in Al Khader and tried to run away but the troops fired at him. Online videos purportedly of the shooting’s aftermath show bloodstains near a white car parked in a passageway.

The Israeli military said soldiers opened fire at Palestinians who threw rocks and Molotov cocktails, endangering the troops.

“The soldiers provided an injured suspect with initial treatment at the scene” before transferring him to Palestinian medics, the military said.

Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh said Israeli forces “deliberately” shot at Ghunaim with the intention to kill him.

Tensions are expected to escalate on Sunday, when Israeli ultranationalists plan to march through the main Muslim thoroughfare in the Old City of Jerusalem. The march is meant to celebrate Israel’s capture of East Jerusalem in the 1967 Middle East war. Israel subsequently annexed the area in a move that is not internationally recognised.

The Palestinians seek East Jerusalem as the capital of their future state.

Mr Blinken emphasised US support for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in his call with Mr Lapid on Friday, the State Department said, as well as the Biden administration’s commitment to Israel’s security.

With reporting from agencies.

SEE

LA REVUE GAUCHE - Left Comment: Search results for Shireen Abu Akleh 

LEAVE IT TO THE MARKET

Bubs Australia to ship at least 1.25 million baby formula cans to US

28 May 2022 - BY REUTERS

PLANNED ECONOMY

US Department of Health and Human Services allowed global farm commodities trader Cargill Inc to provide raw materials needed to maximize the production of infant formula by invoking the Defence Production Act.

Bubs Australia Ltd plans to ship at least 1.25 million cans of its baby formula to the US to help ease a nationwide shortage, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said on Friday.

Some of it is currently in stock for transport and more will be produced by the Australian company in the coming weeks and months, according to the FDA.

MONOPOLY CAPITALI$M
Meanwhile, the US department of health and Human Services allowed global farm commodities trader Cargill Inc to provide raw materials needed to maximise the production of infant formula by invoking the Defence Production Act.

Cargill supplies dozens of products to infant formula makers and the move will allow the manufacturers to produce at full capacity to address the “urgent marketplace shortages”, the department said in a statement.

The Biden administration had earlier decided to urgently meet the nationwide shortage by importing emergency supplies from Europe, the first of which arrived earlier this week.

THE ANARCHY OF CAPITALI$M

Bubs' supply is another import allowed by the FDA as part of its regulatory flexibility started earlier this month to mitigate one of the biggest baby formula shortages in recent history.

The shortage is partly due to Abbott Laboratories' manufacturing plant in Michigan recalling some products including Similac in February.

Abbott said on Tuesday it plans to restart production at the facility on June 4, adding it would prioritise making EleCare and supplying it on or about June 20.

TIT FOR TAT

Iran Seizes Two Greek Oil Tankers In Persian Gulf In Response To US Seizure

Iran had threatened to take "punitive action" earlier over Greek involvement in the US seizure of an Iranian oil tanker in Greek waters.

UPDATED: 28 MAY 2022 

In latest escalation with the West, Iran on Friday seized two Greek oil tankers in the Persian Gulf in apparent retaliation to Greece's help to the United States in seizing an Iranian-flagged tanker in the Mediterranean Sea.

The seizure by Iran's Revolutionary Guard comes as tensions remain high between Iran and the West over stalled negotiations regarding its rapidly advancing nuclear program. This is also a break from recent months during which no major incident happened in the Persial Gulf, despite the area having seen a series of attacks since former President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew America from the accord in 2018.

The Guard issued a statement on its website, accusing the unnamed tankers of unspecified violations.

Greece's Foreign Ministry said it made a strong demarche to the Iranian ambassador in Athens over the “violent taking over of two Greek-flagged ships” in the Persian Gulf.

“These acts effectively amount to acts of piracy,” a ministry statement said.

The ministry called for the immediate release of the vessels and their crews, and said these acts would have “particularly negative consequences” in bilateral relations and in Iran's relations with the European Union, of which Greece is a member.

The ministry's statement said that earlier Friday, an Iranian helicopter landed on the Greek-flagged Delta Poseidon in international waters some 22 nautical miles off the coast of Iran.

“Armed men then took the crew captive,” it said, adding that two Greek nationals were among the crew.

“A similar incident has been reported on another Greek-flagged vessel, that was carrying seven Greek citizens, close to the coast of Iran,” the ministry said.

A Greek official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss details of the attack with a journalist, identified the second ship as the Prudent Warrior. Its owner, Polembros Shipping in Greece, earlier said the company was “cooperating with the authorities and making every possible effort to address the situation effectively”.

Greek officials did not identify the nationalities of the other crew onboard the vessels.

A US defence official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss intelligence matters, said it appeared the two ships had come close to — but not in — Iranian territorial waters Friday before drifting off into Iranian waters. The ships also had turned off their tracking devices, another red flag, the official said. However, neither had issued a mayday or a call for help, the official said.

Iran had threatened to take “punitive action” earlier Friday over Athens being involved in the U.S. seizure of an Iranian oil tanker in Greek waters.

Iran's Nour News website, close to its security services, made the threat just as shipping news site Lloyd's List said it believed two Greek tankers had been seized in the Persian Gulf. Quoting anonymous industry sources, Lloyd's reported that the two ships had been boarded after Iranian military helicopters approached them on Friday afternoon. It said both tankers had just been loaded with Iraqi crude oil.

The crude oil cargo of an Iranian-flagged tanker that was stopped in Greek waters last month has been seized and is being transferred to another vessel following a request from the United States, a Greek official said Thursday.

The official said following a “judicial intervention by US authorities concerning the ship's cargo” the process is currently underway, at US government expense, for the oil “to be handed over” off the port of Karystos on the Aegean Sea island of Evia.

The official, who asked not to be identified in order to discuss the case, did not provide further details. A Justice Department spokesman in Washington and the US Embassy in Athens declined to comment Thursday.

Iran's seizure on Friday was the latest in a string of hijackings and explosions to roil a region that includes the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf through which a fifth of all traded oil passes.

The US Navy blamed Iran for a series of limpet mine attacks on vessels that damaged tankers in 2019, as well as for a fatal drone attack on an Israeli-linked oil tanker that killed two European crew members in 2021.

Iranian hijackers also stormed and briefly captured a Panama-flagged asphalt tanker off the United Arab Emirates last year, as well as briefly seizing and holding a Vietnamese tanker in November.

Tehran denies carrying out the attacks, but a wider shadow war between Iran and the West has played out in the region's volatile waters. Meanwhile, the Guard is building a massive new support ship near the strategic Strait of Hormuz as it tries to expand its naval presence in waters vital to international energy supplies and beyond, according to satellite photos obtained by The Associated Press.

(With AP inputs)

The Legacy of Cyril and Methodius
by Stefano Caprio

The mission of the two Thessalonian brothers is indeed a prophecy not only of the development of the peoples of Eastern Europe, but even of their conflicts. Well before the Baptism of Kiev in 988, the endless wars between Russians and Poles, up to the present conflict, Europe had remained unfinished. And their language remained 'written on water' and blood, waiting for a new miracle of peace.

In recent days, Patriarch Kirill of Moscow (Gundjaev) commented on the memory of saints Cyril and Methodius, "equal to the apostles", also known as the "masters of the Slavs", whom the Orthodox Church celebrates on 24 May and whom the Polish pope, John Paul II, wanted as Catholic patrons of Europe.

The Patriarch reiterated the themes he has expounded on in several homilies during this dramatic period of war, recalling the common roots of the Slav peoples, and in particular of Russians and Ukrainians and of "all the states on whose territories the Russian Orthodox Church exists and acts, where I hope we can strengthen that communal faith (sobornaja) that the holy Masters have embedded in the depths of the Slav people's experience".

The mission of the two Thessalonian brothers is truly a prophecy not only of the development of the peoples of Eastern Europe, but even of their conflicts. They were sent by the Byzantine Emperor Michael III in the year 862, at the request of Prince Rostislav, leader of the Slavs of Great Moravia, who had vainly sought an audience with Pope Nicholas I in Rome. The latter did not believe in the sincerity of these barbarians who wanted to become Christians.

Cyril's name was still Constantine, he was a philosopher and man of letters at the pinnacle of Constantinople's culture, and he decided to bring his brother, the monk Methodius, who shared with him his Macedonian origins and knowledge of the Slavic dialect, which they elevated to the dignity of an official, even liturgical language. He expressed his doubts to the emperor that the task might be as futile as 'writing words on water'. Instead, they succeeded in inventing an alphabet, Glagolitic, which was later replaced by Cyrillic, and performed the miracle of having it approved by both Rome and Constantinople, uniting Eastern and Western Europe.

The two brothers arrived in Rome just before Christmas in the year 867, travelling along the ancient Roman road known as the Flaminian Way, and instead of the hostile Nicholas I they found another pope, Hadrian II, elected a month before their arrival. He solemnly welcomed them at the Porta Flaminia, as they were carrying the remains of Saint Clement, the fourth pope of Rome chosen by Saint Peter himself, from the Crimea.

The Slavs became heralds of a universal Christianity, and the martyr's relics still rest in the extraordinary basilica of St Clement, together with those of Constantine himself, who fell ill in Rome and took monastic vows before dying, taking the name Cyril, the same name taken in his honour by the current patriarch of Moscow.

Methodius was sent by the pope to Moravia with the dignity of archbishop, but was blocked and imprisoned by the Bavarian bishops, who considered him an usurper of their territory. With great difficulty he managed to be freed, but had to take refuge with his disciples in more southern territories, Macedonia and Bulgaria, which remained vassals of the Byzantines.

The dream of the great sobornaja unity of the Slavs, evoked by Kirill of Moscow, was left hanging over a divided reality, the Catholic West Slavs (Poles, Czechs, Slovaks, Slovenes and Croats) against the Orthodox East Slavs (Bulgarians, Serbs, Macedonians, Russians), with a series of 'in-between' territories marking their incommunicability: the Finno-Ugric Baltics, the Hungarian Magyars, the Latin Wallachians and Moldavians (now Romanians), and above all then the Ukrainians, a border people who assume in themselves elements of both sides.

Well before the Baptism of Kiev in 988, the endless wars between Russians and Poles, Russians and French, Russians and Germans, up to the present conflict, Europe had remained unfinished and divided, and even today it is still unable to piece together the whole picture. The language of Cyril and Methodius remained 'written in water' and blood, waiting for a new miracle of peace and unity between 'brother' peoples.

Patriarch Kirill wished on the occasion of the feast to express his thanks to the Orthodox metropolitans and bishops, both Russian and from other nations, who have expressed solidarity with him in recent times. Indeed, he is well aware that the division of the war is closely linked to divisions in the Churches and in the Orthodox Churches, which are leaving the Moscow Patriarchate in an increasingly uncomfortable and isolated condition.

Kirill recalled the patriarchs of the past who have "expressed personal ideas, even very interesting ones", but ended up provoking further schisms and conflicts, such as that of the Old-Believers in the 17th century because of a patriarch, Nikon (Minin) who claimed to rule even over the tsar, and was eventually dismissed by a local synod, as many would like to see happen to Kirill himself.

So Kirill justified himself by saying that 'the main task of the patriarch is not to generate ideas and try to propose them to the people of believers, but first and foremost to guarantee the unity of the episcopate, and through it the unity of the whole Church'. These words sound like a surrender to the official ideology, which imposes military action as an indispensable act to reunite the historical peoples of Russia, without any other "interesting ideas" and discordant opinions.

In fact, the Patriarch insists, 'we live in a time of great suffering, when external forces seek to destroy the unity of the Russian Orthodox Church, and tear our Church in Ukraine from the fullness of the Russian Church... I pray every day, that the Lord will give strength to our brothers who are thus subjected to hard trials, that they may preserve their fidelity'.

The Patriarch casts all the blame on the 'external enemies who seek followers and supporters within our Church', and want to destroy true Russian Orthodoxy. He recalls when 'we resisted together the most dangerous pressures at the time of state atheism and were able to guard the purity of our Church from all temptations and dangerous ideas', the times when he himself trained as a young bishop collaborating with the Soviet regime, when Ukrainians in dissent from Moscow, especially Greek Catholics, were harshly persecuted. He now says he 'feels the weight of the patriarchal cross', aware that a decisive game is being played for the future of Orthodoxy.

The Ukrainian autocephalous Church, detached from Moscow because of the 'external enemies' condemned by Kirill, the first of whom is the Patriarch of Constantinople Bartholomew II, came together on the very day of Saints Cyril and Methodius in a synod held in the cathedral of St Sophia in Kiev, the mother-church of Russian Orthodoxy. After pointing out that several hundred Moscow parishes have already passed under the leadership of Kiev, Metropolitan Epifanyj (Dumenko) made an explicit appeal "to the hierarchs, clergy and faithful of the jurisdiction of the Moscow Patriarchate in Ukraine" to unite in the single independent Church, and together appeal to Constantinople, the other ancient patriarchates and all the Orthodox Churches in the various countries to demand the dismissal of Kirill.

It should "bring the Russian Patriarch to answer canonically for spreading the heretical teaching of ethno-filetism" - religious nationalism - "on the basis of the ideology of the Russian World, which has led to the blessing of the Russian armies in the war in Ukraine and to provoke schisms in Orthodoxy at every latitude, particularly after the creation of Russian eparchies on the canonical territory of the Patriarchate of Alexandria".

Autocephalous Ukrainians cite as an example to follow the behaviour of the Church of Serbia, which in recent days recognised from Belgrade the autocephaly of the Church of North Macedonia, already blessed as canonical by the Ecumenical Patriarchate. Indeed, the peaceful reconciliation and separation between Serbs and Macedonians has something of the miraculous, and must be considered largely an effect of the Ukrainian conflict.

For years, the Serbs had in turn threatened to have to intervene even by force, something they proved to be no less capable of doing than the Russians already thirty years ago, fighting for Kosovo 'the homeland of the local Orthodox Church'. Then they tried to prevent the division of a part of their Church, formed by the union of various jurisdictions just like in Ukraine, into a State that Serbia tried in turn not to recognise and that became independent with no less uncertainty and suffering than Kiev, North Macedonia of Skopje and Ohrid, ancient cities with Orthodox schools that taught Cyrillic to all the other southern and eastern Slavic peoples.

The Slavic apostle Methodius and his disciples had in fact taken refuge in the Balkans and Macedonian territories, from which the two brothers had departed at the beginning of the mission. The first to attempt to create independent ethnic patriarchates were the Bulgarians and the Serbs, who were stifled first by the Byzantines and then by the Ottomans; the Russians have for a thousand years pretended to interpret this aspiration of the Slavs for unity free from any other master, ending up in turn becoming masters of other Slavs who do not want to submit to them. What is at stake is not only Orthodoxy and its many jurisdictions, among which Catholics try to fit in with varying fortunes as brothers and mediators; it is the whole of Europe that must rediscover the sense of its own history, its own unity, its own faith.

Tokyo launches an advisory service to protect migrant workers

by Guido Alberto Casanova


The serious demographic crisis in the Land of the Rising Sun opens the door to foreigners. Today there are 1.72 million, but more than six million are needed. In many cases they are victims of abuse or oppressive conditions. The JP-MIRAI - in several languages - aims to help immigrants solve problems and settle disputes.



Tokyo (AsiaNews) - Among more developed nations, Japan is usually singled out as one of the most reluctant to open its borders to foreign workers. However, with a patently visible demographic crisis, in recent years the Tokyo government has begun to take some important steps to remedy the lack of local labour.

Today, around 1.72 million foreign nationals reside and work in the Rising Sun, two and a half times the number present a decade ago. Yet, well below the estimated 6.74 million migrant workers the nation will need by 2040.

The condition of foreign workers in Japan is very harsh and immigrants, lacking adequate support, are often abused.

A few weeks ago in Miyagi prefecture, three Vietnamese women workers, who had been forced out of their jobs and had decided to join the local union to assert their rights, were told to leave the union as a prerequisite for applying for re-employment.

By comparison, at the beginning of the year, a company in Hokkaido demanded two million yen in damages (around 17,000 euro) for 'dereliction of duty' from foreign employees at its plant who had gone on strike to demand better working conditions.

Even with regard to physical mistreatment, foreigners are often confronted with an oppressive reality. In January, a Vietnamese technical trainee reported two years of mistreatment by his Japanese colleagues, some of which had resulted in several broken bones or stitches in his lip. The worker demanded an official apology and compensation from the employment agency and the company.

To cope with these and other difficulties, a counselling service for foreign workers operated by JP-MIRAI (Japan Platform for Migrant Workers toward a Responsible and Inclusive Society), an independent body set up by the Japan International Cooperation Agency, local governments and trade unions, went into operation this week.

This service, available in several languages including Mandarin and Vietnamese, will help foreign workers to solve problems in the workplace such as unpaid wages, visa difficulties or health care. JP-MIRAI aims to act as an intermediary between foreign workers and company management, anonymously reporting employee difficulties and complaints to the latter. Should the problems be particularly serious, the platform's advisors can refer workers to a lawyer to initiate legal action.

For the time being, the service is in a pilot phase. Financing the initiative are eight Japanese companies, including Toyota and Seven&i Holdings, whose employees will be able to take advantage of the JP-MIRAI counselling. For the first year, up to 20,000 workers will have access to this service, which can be expanded to 200,000 next year and one million in 2024. The target is ambitious, and it will be necessary to wait before evaluating its effectiveness, since adherence on the part of companies (some of which have preferred not to communicate their participation to the public) remains voluntary for the time being. While the pressure to preserve human rights in the workplace is increasing in the rest of the world, something is also moving in Japan; there is still a long way to go, but the steps taken are in the right direction.

China, Russia reportedly block UN statement on Myanmar crisis

The UN Security Council sought to address ongoing violence in Myanmar since the February 2021 military coup ousted the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi. Over 1,800 people have been killed in the aftermath.

Last year's coup sparked widespread resistance to the army's takeover in Myanmar

 — with the military responding with a violent crackdown on demonstrators

China and Russia blocked the UN Security Council from issuing a statement on the crisis in Myanmar on Friday, according to diplomats familiar with the talks.

The statement, expressing concern at the violence and humanitarian situation in the country, was aimed at pushing Myanmar's military leaders to take steps to resolve the crisis.

The move comes a day after  Russia and China had vetoed a UN Security Council move to implement new sanctions on North Korea after the country's latest ballistic missile tests.

What did the statement say?

The Security Council was briefed virtually behind closed doors by Cambodia's Foreign Minister Prak Sokhonn, the special envoy for Myanmar for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the UN envoy for Myanmar, Noeleen Heyzer.

The proposed press statement, drafted by the United Kingdom, had expressed concern at the "limited progress” in implementing a five-point plan on ending the crisis.

The 10-nation ASEAN group issued the Five Point Consensus on Myanmar's crisis in late April 2021.

It called for the immediate cessation of violence, a dialogue among all concerned parties, mediation of the dialogue process by an ASEAN special envoy, provision of humanitarian aid through ASEAN channels, and a visit to Myanmar by the special envoy to meet all concerned parties. Myanmar, a member of ASEAN, has not been willing to implement the plan.

Council diplomats, speaking to the Associated Press on condition of anonymity, said China and Russia objected to parts of the text.

Why did China object?

Following the meeting, China and the United Kingdom blamed each other for the failure of the negotiations.

The Chinese delegation said it proposed "slow" progress rather than "limited" progress on the Five Point Consensus, saying in a statement that this wording "is factual but less condescending," according to news agency AFP.

China also said it was a "real shame" that there was no agreement, adding there was only a slight difference that was "not impossible to overcome.”

The UK said China was asking "too much," which led to the collapse of the negotiations.

China and Russia form part of the permanent members of the UN Security Council

 — meaning they hold veto power

What is the situation in Myanmar?

Myanmar saw weeks of street protests in the aftermath of the February 2021 military coup that ousted the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi.

The junta claimed that the general election in November 2020, which Suu Kyi's party won in a landslide, was marred by widespread fraud.

Suu Kyi faces several charges brought against her by the military. She has already been sentenced to 11 years in prison, and also faces more charges that her supporters and human rights activists say are an attempt to discredit her and legitimize the military's seizure of power. 

The combined charges against her carry prison sentences that could total over 150 years. Since the coup, more than 1,800 people have been killed in Myanmar in a deadly crackdown on dissent, according to a local monitoring group.

ss/rs (AP, AFP)

Tampa Bay Rays, Yankees use social media to spread gun violence facts


By The Associated Press
Published: May. 27, 2022

The New York Yankees and Tampa Bay Rays used their social media accounts during Thursday night’s game between the teams to spread information about how gun violence affects American life.

The move was made in response to recent mass shootings in Uvalde, Texas, and Buffalo. Several notable sports figures — including Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr — have used their platform over the past few days to plead for action to combat gun violence.

MLB's social media accounts are usually used during games to show video highlights, relay baseball statistics or exchange witty jokes with other accounts about the action on the field. On Thursday, that was replaced by posts like, "Firearms were the leading cause of death for American children and teens in 2020."

Both accounts then posted a link to the source of their information.

“In lieu of gave coverage and in collaboration with the Tampa Bay Rays, we will be using our channels to offer facts about the impacts of gun violence." the Yankees said in a statement. "The devastating events that have taken place in Uvalde, Buffalo and countless other communities across our nation are tragedies that are intolerable.”

The Rays also released a statement, saying that the recent shootings “cannot become normal.”

“We all deserve to be safe — in schools, grocery stores, places of worship, our neighborhoods, houses and America. The most recent mass shootings in Buffalo and Uvalde have shaken us to the core. The Tampa Bay Rays are mourning these heartbreaking tragedies that took the lives of innocent children and adults.

“This cannot become normal. We cannot become numb. We cannot look the other way. We all know, if nothing changes, nothing changes.”

The Uvalde school shooting was particularly personal for Rays reliever Brooks Raley, who is from Uvalde and still has family who live in the town. He attended the school where the shooting occured.

The NBA’s Miami Heat also took a different approach to raising awareness and calling for change following the Uvalde shootings. Before Game 5 of the Eastern Conference finals against the Boston Celtics on Wednesday night, the Heat held a moment of silence in memory of those who were killed -- followed by a statement urging fans to call lawmakers and demand change.

“The Heat urges you to contact your state senators by calling 202-224-3121 to leave a message demanding their support for common sense gun laws,” public address announcer Michael Baiamonte read to the fans, some of whom broke into applause as he spoke.

The moment was also broadcast as part of ESPN’s telecast of the game.

Associated Press 2022

'Democracy can be fragile': New Zealand PM Jacinda Ardern pays glowing tribute to the late Benazir Bhutto

She shared fond memories of the former premier during a speech at Harvard University's commencement ceremony.

Photo: AP, The Boston Globe


We love seeing women support women, so we loved seeing New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern paying homage to the late Benazir Bhutto, the first and only woman prime minister of Pakistan, in her speech at Harvard University's commencement ceremony.

On Thursday, New Zealand's premier took the stage at Harvard University to speak to graduates. While she appreciated some of her country people being a part of the ceremony as graduating students, she spoke more about her "connection" to the late Benazir.

"In June 1989, the prime minister of Pakistan stood on this spot and delivered the commencement address titled Democratic Nations Must Unite. She spoke about her journey, the importance of citizenry, representative government, human rights and democracy," began Ardern.

She also added her personal experience of meeting Benazir in Geneva in June 2007. Ardern described it as a conference that drew together "progressive parties from around the world", Benazir being one of them. "Seven months later, she was assassinated. Now there will be opinions and differing perspectives written about all of us as political leaders. Two things that history will not contest about Benazir Bhutto — she was the first Muslim female prime minister elected in an Islamic country when women in power was a rare thing. She was also the first to give birth in office," she said.

"The second and only other leader to have given birth in office, almost 30 years later, was me," said Ardern. She shared that her daughter, Neve Te Aroha Ardern Gayford, was born on on June 21, 2018, Benazir's birthday.

"The path she carved as a woman feels as relevant today as it was decades ago. And so too is the message she shared here in this place. She said partway through her speech in 1989 the following, 'We must realise that democracy can be fragile.' Now I read those words as I sat in my office in Wellington, New Zealand, a world away from Pakistan. And while the reasons that gave rise to her words then were vastly different, they still ring true."

Ardern appreciated what Benazir said 33 years ago and believed that indeed, "democracy is fragile".

REST IN POWER

Obituary: Mountaineering community mourns demise of ‘humble master’

Jamil Nagri Published May 28, 2022 - 

ALI Raza Sadpara at a mountaineering shop in Skardu.—Dawn

GILGIT: Legendary mountaineer Ali Raza Sadpara passed away on Friday morning at a hospital where he was under treatment for the critical injuries he had sustained over 10 days ago. He was 56.

His funeral prayers were offered in the Olding village of the city here and attended by a large number of people from all walks of life. He was buried in his native graveyard in Skardu. Fellow climbers, politicians, the army chief and the civil society expressed condolences with his family and called Sadpara’s passing “a great loss for Pakistan”.

On May 17, the veteran mountaineer had suffered serious injuries when he slipped off a cliff and fell into a ditch. He was immediately rushed to the Skardu District Headquarters Hospital where his spinal cord was found fractured and ribs broken. He was being treated at the hospital since then and died on Friday morning.

Ali Raza Sadpara was scheduled to attempt an ascent of K2, the world’s second-highest peak, this summer, and was practising for the purpose. Starting climbing mountains at the age of 20 as a porter, he soon became the strongest high-altitude porter in 1992. He also has to his credit the honour of climbing Pakistan’s 8,000-metre peaks (or 8,000ers) 17 times, including the Broad Peak (8,047m) five times, Gasherbrum-II (8,035m) four times, Gasherbrum-I (8,068m) four times and Nanga Parbat (8,125m).

Muhammad Ali, a tour operator from Gilgit-Baltistan, said Ali Raza was among the pioneers of high altitude climbing. He was considered the most technical and strongest climber, who not only promoted adventure tourism in Pakistan, but also guided and trained renowned mountaineers, including the late Muhammad Ali Sadpara — who had died while climbing K2 last year, Hasan Sadpara and Nisar Sadpara.

Sadiq Sadpara, who has summited five peaks above 8,000m in Pakistan and been a part of many expeditions with the deceased mountaineer, lauded Ali Raza’s stamina at high altitude. “We lost another star, the vacuum cannot be filled,” he said.

Luke Smithwick, an American climber, said it’s important to remember “a humble master” who climbed the mighty 8,000ers many times.

Renowned clim­ber Sirbaz Khan said the legendary Ali Raza had spent his life serving the country and trained a whole generation of mountaineers. “We called him ‘ustaadon ka ustaad’.”

Another eminent mountaineer, Sajid Ali Sadpara, said above everything, Ali Raza was a good human being who had taught his equally famed father. He said despite old age, Ali Raza had an amazing stamina and was more active than young climbers.

Naila Kiani, Pakistan’s first female climber to summit an 8,000m peak in Pakistan, undertook the Gasherbrum II expedition with Ali Raza last year, and had planned to summit K2 with him this summer. Mourning the loss of her “teacher, guide, friend”, she said: “He made us laugh like crazy during the most difficult times in the last expedition. Why did you have to leave so soon before seeing all of your dreams come true? You taught climbing to so many people, helped the Pakistan Army on so many missions, rescued so many people in the mountains. A true hero, a legend. Chacha, your name will live forever.”

President Dr Arif Alvi expressed grief over Mr Sadpara’s demise.

In a message of condolence, the president prayed to Allah Almighty to rest the departed soul in eternal peace and grant courage to the bereaved family to bear the loss with fortitude.

Army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa also expressed grief over his demise. “May Allah Almighty bless the departed soul in eternal peace, Ameen,” he was quoted as having said in a tweet by the Inter-Services Public Relations.



Gilgit-Baltistan CM Khalid Khurshid Khan, opposition leader Amjad Hussain, and members of the GB Assembly also expressed condolences.

Published in Dawn, May 28th, 2022

Report: ‘Insufficient evidence’ to prove whistleblower’s claim state manipulated COVID data

Mary Ellen Klas, 

McClatchy Washington Bureau - Yesterday 


A claim by data expert Rebekah Jones that her bosses at the Florida Department of Health intentionally falsified COVID case data as Gov. Ron DeSantis was attempting to reopen the state is unfounded, according to an internal inspector general’s report conducted by her former agency.

“Based upon an analysis of the available evidence, the alleged conduct, as described by the complainant, did not occur,” the report said, referring to that allegation in Jones’ whistleblower complaint.

Two other allegations by Jones, that directives were issued by higher-ups to falsify COVID-19 positivity rates, were deemed “unsubstantiated” because “based upon an analysis of the available evidence, there is insufficient evidence to clearly prove or disprove the alleged conduct.”

The report, released this week, does acknowledge that the evidence supports Jones’ separate claim that two of the agency’s top doctors ordered Jones and others to restrict public access to COVID case data after the Miami Herald asked a question about it. However, the report indicates the data was later restored after concerns about exposing private information were allayed.

Removing the data from public access did not violate “any governing directive,” the report said, so the officials she accused of wrongdoing were “exonerated.”

Jones, who was responsible for maintaining the COVID-19 data dashboard for the Florida Department of Health, was fired in May 2020 for insubordination after going public with her concerns.

At the heart of Jones’ claim was that the data collected by epidemiologists was accurate and adequate, but the information was not being communicated to the public in the midst of a public health crisis.

Jones did not submit to an interview by IG investigators but answered the inspector general’s questions in writing and provided the agency with a 530-page written rebuttal to the report’s preliminary findings.

“If ordering a state employee to hide data during a crisis for the sole purpose of the public and media to not hold them accountable is not against the policy or rule, then it needs to be,’’ she told the Miami Herald.

The 27-page IG investigation, which involved interviewing 13 current and former DOH officials and contractors, took place between January 2021 and March 2022. It included no policy recommendations.

Asked to comment on whether the report would lead to any changes in providing access to public information during a public health emergency, both Jeremy Redfern, chief public information officer for DOH, and the governor’s communications director, Taryn Fenske, replied: “The report speaks for itself.”

National profile

At the end of her tenure, Jones became a controversial public figure, attacked by DeSantis by name. For some time afterward, she became a frequent guest on cable news outlets. She also became an aggressive Twitter combatant until her account was suspended in June 2021 for allegedly violating Twitter rules.

Earlier that year, in January, armed officers of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement raided her house and seized her electronic devices, alleging she had broken into a state messaging system and encouraged her former co-workers to “speak up.”

The controversies brought Jones national media attention, allowed her to raise substantial amounts of money through a Gofundme campaign, and fueled the governor’s dissatisfaction with the mainstream media. At the same time, she created her own COVID-19 dashboard using state data that competed with the state’s dashboard.

Jones’ attorney, Rick Johnson of Tallahassee, said Friday the IG “could not conclude that the evidence proves or disproves the two main allegations” — that Jones’ bosses directed falsification of data and pressured her to falsify Covid positivity rates. He said his client intends to continue to pursue her wrongful termination claim before the Florida Council on Human Relations.

“Unfortunately, this neutral finding is labeled ‘unsubstantiated’ but they explain that really means too close to call, not a win for DOH,’’ Johnson said. “And a neutral finding from DeSantis’ own team is as good as a win for us.”

He added that even though the IG found the state suppressed some COVID data, “It is not technically illegal, but it is clearly wrong.”

The investigation is the latest development in a two-year battle involving Jones, now a long-shot Democratic candidate for Congress running against Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz of Shalimar in North Florida.

Jones had worked at the Department of Health since September 2018 and began work on the COVID-19 dashboard in early March 2020.

In late April of that year, DeSantis brought a slideshow to a news conference to announce that all counties but three in South Florida would lift stay-home orders for many nonessential businesses.

As DeSantis was preparing to end COVID-19 restrictions in order to reopen the state for business, Jones alleged that Shamarial Roberson, the now-former deputy secretary of the Florida Department of Health, had directed her to “manipulate” data on the state’s COVID-19 digital dashboard to downplay the high case count in rural counties. A low positivity rate in each county was needed to satisfy the White House benchmarks for reopening the state.

Roberson denied she ordered Jones to manipulate data and, after Jones allegedly threatened to file a whistleblower complaint, DeSantis accused Jones of insubordination and fired her.

“Our data is transparent,’’ DeSantis said on May 20, 2020, with Vice President Mike Pence standing silently beside him, in a denunciation of the news media that went viral on Twitter.

‘Take it down’

The events that culminated in Jones’ dismissal began with an email from a Herald reporter on May 4, 2020. Reporters were inquiring about something they had seen in DOH’s published data: a variable that indicated illnesses dating back into late December 2019 and evidence of community spread earlier than previously reported.

According to internal DOH emails obtained by the Herald, the Herald’s question was referred from the communications director to Carina Blackmore, the director of disease control, who emailed that it should be answered by someone “high level.” It then bounced around the team of epidemiologists and, when no one wanted to answer, landed on Jones’ lap.

The Herald’s question had been prompted by a discrepancy it found in the COVID Open Data hub, an open source site that has long been run by the state to house de-identified individual cases of tracked diseases. It contains limited demographic information as well as dates associated with each case and is widely used by researchers, epidemiologists and journalists.

“This whole site needs to come down,” DOH epidemiologist Scott Pritchard wrote in an email to Blackmore after receiving the question about the data hub.

Blackmore said in her statement that’s when she gave the order — “take it down.”

“This is the wrong call,” Jones wrote in an email to her IT supervisor, Craig Curry, before doing as she was told.

The next day, Jones’ managers removed the dashboard’ from her control and accused her of publishing “unauthorized” data, according to the emails provided to the Herald that were not included in the IG report.

Blackmore said in her sworn statement that Jones was fired for having had “extensive, unauthorized communication with dashboard users, including reporters, about the data on the dashboard and the case-line data.”

In July 2020, Jones filed a whistleblower complaint with the Florida Commission on Human Relations and that led to the IG investigation.

The IG report was completed and signed on March 9 by Michael Bennett, the DOH inspector general. He reports to the state surgeon general and the Florida chief inspector general, who works for the governor.

‘Insufficient evidence’

Bennett concluded there was no evidence that Roberson or Courtney Coppola, the former DOH chief of staff, ordered Jones or other staff to falsify new COVID case positivity rates, as Jones claimed, and the report suggests her claim is therefore “unsubstantiated.”

“Based upon an analysis of the available evidence, there is insufficient evidence to prove or disprove that Dr. Roberson ordered a subordinate to misrepresent positivity rates or that that subordinate then relayed the order down to Jones,’’ the report states.

In her rebuttal, Jones disputed a claim that she did not have access to the raw data on the state’s disease reporting system known as Merlin, stating that she “worked with an extracted copy of all raw data from Merlin, and wrote the code to independently aggregate it herself.”

Jones provided the IG with a process by which investigators could test her claim but there is no indication in the report it was done.

Data briefly removed

Regarding the claim that Jones’ bosses were involved in withholding the information from the public, the report confirms it happened, albeit briefly.

The IG report echoes the DOH position statement and states that data from the open data hub was removed only “temporarily” for a quality assurance check.

Emails, not included in the report and reviewed by the Herald, show that Blackmore considered republishing the case line data after realizing that the removal of the public data caused the case numbers to disappear from the DOH website. Even then, she didn’t want the information public, she said in a May 5 email.

“I had great concerns these could be used to violate patients’ privacy,” Blackmore said in her statement in Jones’ whistleblower case, also obtained by the Herald. “I also had great concerns about external users manipulating Florida data without guidance on the strengths and limitations of these data.”

Jones confirmed to the OIG “that COVID-19 data was not deleted; rather, access to the dashboard’s underlying data was temporarily removed and then restored,’’ the report said.

Roberson, Blackmore, and Pritchard each testified during their sworn OIG interviews that they “were unaware the dashboard contained an open ‘data hub’ when the dashboard was first activated,’’ the OIG report said.

Jones disputes that and, in her response, produced emails that she says contradict those claims.

“Dr. Roberson, Dr. Blackmore, and Mr. Pritchard directed the complainant to restrict access to underlying data that supported what appeared on the COVID-19 Data and Surveillance Dashboard,’’ the report concluded. But the IG said the verdict is that they are “Exonerated.”

Miami Herald reporters Sarah Blaskey contributed to this report.Mary Ellen Klas can be reached by meklas@miamiherald.com and @MaryEllenKlas

©2022 McClatchy Washington Bureau. Visit mcclatchydc.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

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