Turkey seeks to tighten media control with 'fake news' bill

A new bill, if approved, is expected to bring further restrictions on online freedom of expression and media freedom in Turkey.



Critics of the proposed 'fake news' law say it is another step toward complete government control of the media

A bill now before the Turkish parliament that purports to want to combat "fake news" is being sharply criticized for potentially expanding the control of the government over the internet and the media.

If enacted, the law could allow the government to further narrow down journalistic activities, critics say.

In Turkey, almost 90% of national media is already controlled by the government, and critical media outlets are under heavy financial and judicial pressure. The newly proposed bill aims to target social and online media — a space the government hasn't been able to entirely control until now.

Under the law, the offense of "openly disseminating information that misleads the public" would be added to the Turkish penal code. Those who disseminate information that is deemed to be false about the "internal and external security of the country, public order and public health" would face up to three years in prison. If the offense was committed by someone concealing their real identity or as part of the activities of an organization, the sentence would be increased by half.
Imminent discussion

Parliamentarians from the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) put the proposal to amend the press law before Turkey's parliament on May 26. The parliamentary Committee on Justice will start discussing the bill on June 1.

According to its makers, the bill aims to protect people from "swearing, slander, insults, smears, discreditation, hatred and discrimination."

"The act of intentionally producing or disseminating fake news has become a serious threat that prevents citizens' rights to access true information in Turkey," a statement justifying the bill said.

However, the lack of a clear definition in the bill of what "disinformation" or "fake news" actually is has raised questions about what such accusations will be based on.

Thousands of social media users in Turkey have already been victims of doubtful legal proceedings in this regard. Social media posts are frequently cited as evidence in indictments against journalists, intellectuals and politicians, and evidence in trials to do with charges of "insulting the president" is also usually taken from social media posts.

Communication experts and opposition parties agree that the general purpose of the bill is to control and restrain freedom of opinion and expression.

Watch video05:04 Exiled Turkish journalist Can Dündar speaks to DW

'Incomprehensible type of crime'

Yaman Akdeniz, a professor of law and cyber-rights defender, told DW that the bill's establishment of a new offense defined as openly disseminating information aimed at misleading the public will cause difficulties in practice.

According to Akdeniz, the description of this crime in the bill shows that the mode of legal procedure will not be different than in the case of other crimes such as insulting the president.

"Actually, it is an incomprehensible type of crime on paper. It has been defined rather broadly and is open to being applied arbitrarily. It seems that it will be used frequently in the upcoming election period. We will see that prosecutors start initiating investigations into news with a big impact and into social media content," he says.

Gurkan Ozturan, the Media Freedom Emergency Response (MFRR) coordinator at the European Center for Press and Media Freedom (ECPMF), told DW: "When you look at the subtexts and even between paragraphs, it is possible to say that it contains very dangerous elements and a very broad scope. To put it very briefly, it seems that anything that does not echo information published by the Directorate of Communications can be considered as a potential crime."

The proposed law contains 'dangerous elements," says Gurkan Ozturan

MHP deputy Feti Yıldız, one of the first signatories of the bill, has responded to such criticism. Speaking to DW, Yıldız said, "We are not preparing anything to harm, imprison or impugn people. We say that anyone who willingly spreads fake news that undermines internal and external security will have to put up with the consequences. It's that simple."
'Pre-election preparation'

According to the main opposition party, CHP, the primary aim of the government is to control both the internet and social media before the election.

CHP deputy Utku Cakırozer, who followed the preparation stages of the proposal in the parliament's Digital Media Commission, told DW that during the negotiations, opposition parties criticized the bill for narrowing down online freedom of expression and media freedom.

"Before the election, the government not only wants to prevent the press from reporting freely and objectively, but also wants to create an atmosphere of pressure that will restrict citizens' right to criticize and freedom of expression on social media. Perhaps this is what we should focus on," he said.

Watch video26:05 One-man rule: Can Turkey survive Erdogan?

Press card issues

Another critical item of the proposal has to do with the issuing of press cards.

According to the bill, in order to obtain a press card, a person must not be convicted under the anti-terror law and the law on the financing of terrorism.

If the proposal becomes law, any reporter whose press card has been canceled in connection with such convictions will not be able to receive a press card for a year after the date of cancellation even after the obstacles have been removed. If the press card is canceled as a result of activities and behaviors deemed contrary to press moral principles, the press card will not be issued again for a period of five years.

These are some other crimes as well for which journalists will be unable to obtain a press card for a year from the date of cancellation even if they no longer stand convicted: slander, crimes against public peace, crimes against the constitutional order and its functioning, crimes against national defense, crimes against state secrets, and espionage.

Press organizations have long criticized the government on the grounds that it was being arbitrary in its regulations on press cards. Many press organizations and unions now emphasize that one of the most serious censorship and self-censorship mechanisms in the history of the country is now being prepared and called for the withdrawal of the proposal.

Edited by: Timothy Jones

Social class: Germany's forgotten career hurdle

Today many German companies support diversity in the workplace and are making efforts to create better opportunities for women and people of color. But socioeconomic background is a factor that often goes overlooked.

Workplace discrimination due to socioeconomic background can be harder to recognize than sexism or racism

In Germany, all doors are open to you if you work hard and do a good job.

It's a nice idea, but unfortunately one that doesn't fully reflect reality. "As long as you come from the right social class," might be important to add. Talent and commitment often aren't enough on their own. A potential employee would also have to understand the hidden codes of the company elite. That includes knowing how to behave, which clothes to wear, the right hobbies to have and how to communicate such that doors to the executive floor open.

In other words, socioeconomic background plays a key role in determining which academic and professional opportunities are available in Germany — and how much discrimination a person will face in their career.  

Discrimination starts early in Germany. "More than 80% of children whose parents went to university go to 'Gymnasium,'" said Konstantina Vassiliou-Enz, referring to the most advanced type of German secondary schools, usually a precursor to university. "For children from families with less formal education, it's not even half." Vassiliou-Enz is a journalist and co-founder of the Diversity Kartell consultancy, which campaigns for more diversity in the media.

A child's educational path often correlates to that of their parents. For example, 79 out of 100 school children with college-educated parents will go on to study at a university, compared with just 27 out of 100 whose parents did not attend university.

In a US study, fictitious job seekers with elite hobbies like sailing or polo were more likely to be invited to an interview

The many sides of social background

Education is just one example of how social background can influence your future. A family's socioeconomic position also plays a role. Do the parents have assets? What kind of jobs do they have? Exacerbating the problem, people born into a lower social class are often discriminated against for other reasons, for example, if they have families who recently migrated to Germany.

"The income and educational level of the parents are particularly decisive for educational success in Germany, and children with a migration background, for example, are more likely to come from low-income families," explained Vassiliou-Enz.

A long journey to the top

Even for those who do make it to the top, the very decision to invest in their own education isn't an easy one. People who grew up in precarious financial situations often can't count on support from their parents if they run into financial problems, Vassiliou-Enz said. Sometimes, they're the ones supporting their parents.

This means not everyone can afford to do unpaid internships, for example. Those from privileged social classes also often have better professional connections, putting them in a better position to land these coveted internships in the first place. People who choose to study also have to consider whether they're ready to take on student debt. This is a more difficult decision for people with a lower socioeconomic background.

Put simply: "People from poor families have to take disproportionately more risks and do more to move up than those born into the middle class or college-educated middle class," says Vassiliou-Enz, who herself grew up in what she calls a poor family. "I didn't want to pay to go to college," she recalled. Growing up in a family that was short on money, she said, she wanted to earn her own money first, rather than racking up student debt.

Helping others climb the ladder

"In my own case, it was because my parents had been unemployed for very many years, since the mid-1990s, to be exact," Natalya Nepomnyashcha told DW. "Of course, this left them with no self-confidence at all. And that gets passed on to the children, who also feel they might not be able to achieve that much."

Nepomnyashcha did, in fact, make it to the top of the career ladder. But it wasn't a straight path. Her parents had emigrated to Germany from Ukraine, and she grew up in a marginalized area in Bavaria.

She managed to move out of the "Hauptschule," a type of vocational secondary school in Germany, to the "Realschule," a step below Gymnasium. Despite her good grades, however, she was not accepted at the Gymnasium. After graduating from secondary school, she completed vocational training and a master's degree in the United Kingdom.

Today, Nepomnyashcha works for a renowned management consulting firm and, on the side, founded the organization Netzwerk Chancen, which helps young people from lower social classes advance their careers.

"It's absolutely fundamental to first let go of what you have been told: That you're not good enough, that you'll never have a good job," she said. "It's important to realize what your talents are, what your strengths are, what jobs you enjoy."

Netzwerk Chancen supports young people from challenging social backgrounds to navigate every step of their career path by offering free coaching, workshops, mentoring and help finding work.

Social background is an important aspect of workplace diversity, says Netzwerk Chancen's Natalya Nepomnyashcha

Social diversity pays off

To prevent discrimination on the basis of social origin, it's necessary to do more than support those who are affected; obstacles also need to be removed. Most people probably don't feel that they discriminate against others from a different social milieu. However, studies show that people tend to favor those who are similar to themselves — a phenomenon known as unconscious bias.

Discrimination based on social class can be harder to recognize than discrimination due to age, skin color or if they or their parents migrated to Germany, for example. That makes it all the more important that people in educational institutions and human resource departments are trained to recognize bias and critically examine their own actions.

This starts, for example, with job advertisements, Nepomnyashcha pointed out. Her organization recommends that job postings pay less attention to applicants' qualifications on paper and more to their actual competencies, since many socially disadvantaged job candidates often haven't been to top universities or don't necessarily have excellent grades. They can still be talented nonetheless, she emphasized.

Half of managers have observed discrimination against workers due to social background, a study from Charta der Vielfalt showed

German media organizations are also considered to be relatively homogeneous and lacking in diversity on this level. Most newsrooms are staffed by people with college degrees.

"But that is now changing in some media houses," Vassiliou-Enz said. Hessischer Rundfunk and SWR, two regional German broadcasters, no longer require a university degree to be considered for their journalism traineeships. They now also accept vocational training.

Yet even when the topic is uncomfortable, it pays for companies to focus on diversity: According to a study by management consulting firm McKinsey, 50% of the projected skilled labor shortage in Germany could be remedied if companies embrace a more diverse workforce.

This article was originally written in German.

Plastic packaging might be biodegradable after all

Leipzig researchers have found an enzyme that rapidly breaks down PET, the most widely produced plastic in the world. It might just eat your old tote bags.


Christian Sonnendecker in his lab at the University of Leipzig, where he and other researchers have found a new enzyme that can "eat" PET plastic

While scavenging through a compost heap at a Leipzig cemetery, Christian Sonnendecker and his research team found seven enzymes they had never seen before.

They were hunting for proteins that would eat PET plastic — the most highly produced plastic in the world. It is commonly used for bottled water and groceries like grapes.

The scientists weren't expecting much when they brought the samples back to the lab, said Sonnendecker when DW visited their Leipzig University laboratory.

It was only the second dump they had rummaged through and they thought PET-eating enzymes were rare.

But in one of the samples, they found an enzyme, or polyester hydrolase, called PHL7. And it shocked them. The PHL7 enzyme disintegrated an entire piece of plastic in less than a day.

To test the rate at which the seven enzymes broke down PET, Sonnendecker and his team added a mixture of water, a phosphate buffer, which is often used to detect bacteria, for example, and the new enzyme to seven individual test tubes

After adding the mixture to the test tubes, the team added tiny slivers of PET plastic to each container to see how quickly it took to degrade

Two enzymes 'eat' plastic: PHL7 vs. LCC

PHL7 appears to 'eat' PET plastic times faster than LCC, a standard enzyme used in PET plastic-eating experiments today.

To ensure their discovery wasn't a fluke, Sonnendecker's team compared PHL7 to LCC, with both enzymes degrading multiple plastic containers. And they found it was true: PHL7 was faster.

"I would have thought you'd need to sample from hundreds of different sites before you'd find one of these enzymes," said Graham Howe, an enzymologist at Queens University in Ontario, Canada.

Howe, who also studies PET degradation but was not involved in the Leipzig research, appeared to be amazed by the study published in Chemistry Europe.

"Apparently, you go to nature and there are going to be enzymes that do this everywhere," said Howe.

PET plastic is everyone

Although PET plastic can be recycled, it does not biodegrade. Like nuclear waste or a nasty comment to your partner, once PET plastic is created, it never really goes away.

It can be refashioned into new products — it's not hard to create a tote bag from recycled water bottles, for example. But the quality of the plastic weakens with each cycle.

So, a lot of PET is eventually fashioned into products like carpets and — yes — an exorbitant number of tote bags that end up in landfill sites.

There are two ways to look at solving this problem: The first is to stop production of all PET plastic.

But the material is so common that even if companies stopped producing it immediately, there would still be millions of empty soft drink bottles — or tote bags fashioned from those bottles — lying around for thousands of years.

This is what a grape container looks like after it's been treated with the enzyme PHL7 — the white particles are leftover terephthalic acid and ethylene glycol, chemicals that can be used to create brand new PET rather than a lower quality version

The second way is to force the plastic to degrade. Scientists have been trying to find enzymes that will do that for decades and in 2012 they found LCC, or "leaf-branch compost cutinase."

LCC was a major breakthrough because it showed that PETase, a component of LCC, can be used to degrade PET plastic when it is combined with another enzyme known as an esterase.

Esterase enzymes are used to break chemical bonds in a process called hydrolysis.

Scientists working on LCC have found that the enzyme does not differentiate between natural polymers and synthetic polymers — the latter being plastic. Instead, LCC recognizes PET plastic as a naturally occurring substance and eats it like it would a natural polymer.

Engineering the enzyme

Since the discovery of LCC, researchers like Sonnendecker have been looking for new PET-eating enzymes in nature. LCC is good, they say, but it has limitations. It is fast for what it is, but it still takes days to break down PET and the reactions have to occur at very high temperatures.

Other scientists and researchers have been trying to figure out how to engineer LCC to make it more efficient.

A French company called Carbios is doing that. They are engineering LCC to create a faster, more efficient enzyme.

Elsewhere, researchers at the University of Texas in Austin have created a PET-eating protein using a machine learning algorithm. They say their protein can degrade PET plastic in 24 hours.

David Zechel, a professor of chemistry at Queen's University said these approaches always start with something that is known — the researchers don't necessarily find anything new, but work to improve what has already been discovered.

The team are testing a "pre-treatment" that is applied to soft drink bottles, like this one in the jar, before it's degraded by the enzyme PHL7

This type of engineering is important as researchers try to create the optimal enzyme to degrade PET, said Zechel.

Sonnendecker's work shows that "we haven't even remotely scratched the surface" in terms of the potential of naturally occurring enzymes "with respect to PET," he said.
Bottles still don't biodegrade

Sonnendecker's newly discovered enzyme has its limitations, too. It can break down the containers you buy your grapes in at the grocery store, but it can't break down a soft drink bottle. Not yet.

The PET plastic used in drink bottles is stretched and chemically altered, making it tougher to biodegrade than the PET used in grape containers.

In tests, Sonnendecker's team has developed a pre-treatment that is applied to PET bottles, making it easier for the enzyme to degrade the plastic. But that research has yet to be published.

With industry help, said the researcher, technology using PHL7 to break down PET at a large scale could be ready in around four years.

Edited by: Zulfikar Abbany

'The coverage continues': Palestinian journalists vow to carry forward Abu Akleh's legacy

Israelis and Palestinians started separate inquiries into the killing of a prominent US-Palestinian reporter. Those who knew Shireen Abu Akleh worry no one will be held to account for her death.

It's been almost two weeks since Faten Elwan woke up to the dreadful news that her colleague and close friend Shireen Abu Akleh had been fatally shot in the early morning of May 11. Abu Akleh, a senior correspondent with Al Jazeera Arabic, was covering an Israeli military raid in the Jenin refugee camp in the occupied West Bank on that fateful day. 

"Now we start to realize and it just doesn't make sense," says Elwan, a Palestinian journalist who lives in Ramallah and currently works for a youth website. "We just pick up the phone and call her, we are not over that habit yet." 

Elwan used to work for US-based Alhurra TV and for more than 15 years often reported side-by-side with Abu Akleh. "What was so special about her was that she will never go to any place just thinking of a mission that she quickly needs to finish," says Elwan, still speaking in the present tense. 

Abu Akleh, who was just a few years older, took Elwan under her wing when she started out in journalism. Elwan remembers her colleague always looked for the "human angle" in her story. "She respects the place, she makes people around her feel comfortable to talk and then she starts the work."

Dispute over circumstances continues

The Qatar-based Al Jazeera network, for which the Palestinian-American journalist worked for over 20 years, and the Palestinian Authority, which administers parts of the occupied West Bank, have blamed Israel for what they believe was the intentional killing of the well-known journalist. Al Jazeera said on Thursday that it assigned a legal team to refer it to the International Criminal Court in The Hague.

While the Israeli Defense Force (IDF) has not ruled out that she was accidentally killed by an Israeli sniper stationed around 200 meters away, the army argues that she may have been shot by indiscriminate Palestinian gunfire. Eyewitness accounts from Palestinian journalists and bystanders contradict the claim that there was an exchange of fire when the journalist was killed.

In the findings of an initial investigation, published two days after the incident, the IDF concluded that "it is not possible to unequivocally determine the source of gunfire which hit and killed Ms. Abu Akleh." The IDF  has denied accusations of deliberately targeting journalists.

Too close to home for many journalists 

The death of Abu Akleh, who was well-known and respected beyond the Palestinian Territories, has sent shockwaves throughout the journalistic community. 

Many among the younger generation of Palestinian journalists grew up watching her reporting and she is endearingly remembered for her famously calm and collected sign-off, no matter the story. 

"She was our face at Al Jazeera, and for us media students, we learned a lot from her, and we owe her a lot," says 20-year-old Diana Shweiki, a third-year student in media studies at Al Quds University, a Palestinian university in Jerusalem. 

But her death also raises difficult questions about reporting from a conflict zone. "There is no more safety for journalists," says Shweiki.

The Committee to Protect Journalists says it has confirmed the killing of 19 journalists in Israel and the Palestinian Territories since 2000, although other organizations such as Paris-based Reporters Without Borders puts that figure higher. 

"Wherever there's conflict, there's danger," says Walid Batrawi, a former colleague of Abu Akleh's at Al Jazeera English. Batrawi, a Palestinian journalist, has made it his mission to train Palestinian journalists who work in hostile environments.

"The basic rule for journalists is to be aware and to take all cautious measures and considerations. Mostly those who work for foreign media would have the chance to be trained in protecting themselves, even though, you are not protected 100 percent." 

Batrawi says he is still in denial that his former colleague, who was known for being extra careful and cautious and never endangering her team, was killed while doing her job. She was clearly identifiable with a press flak jacket and helmet. 

Following her killing, field reporting continues for Palestinian journalists who live with the realities of the conflict and under a military occupation every day. 

"The slogan that Palestinian journalists are using right now after Shireen's death is 'The coverage continues,'" Batrawi says. "That is a huge message." 

Calls for independent investigation

Focus remains on whether those responsible for the killing will be held to account. The United Nations, the United States and several European countries have called for an independent probe into the killing of the Palestinian-American journalist. 

Several media outlets such as US network CNN and news agency Associated Press (AP), or investigative collective Bellingcat have made their own investigations, speaking with eyewitnesses, cross-referencing sounds, analyzing video material and consulting forensic experts, suggesting that Abu Akleh was killed by the Israeli military.

On Thursday, the Palestinian Authority's chief prosecutor, Akram Al Khatib, laid out the findings of its investigation in Ramallah, concluding that the journalists were directly fired at by Israeli snipers. According to the report, forensic evidence suggests that Abu Akleh was fatally shot in the head from behind while attempting to escape from Israeli sniper fire. 

The Palestinian Authority (PA) has previously said that it won't cooperate with a joint investigation given the mistrust between both parties. Al Khatib reiterated that the bullet that killed Abu Akleh will not be handed over to Israel as the Israeli military has requested. 

Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz replied to the inquiry by the Palestinian Authority that "any claim that the IDF intentionally harms journalists or uninvolved civilians, is a blatant lie." He also accused the Palestinian Authority and CNN of attempting "to undermine the ability to achieve peace and stability in the region."

'You have enough burden of pain in your heart'

Some of Abu Akleh's friends and colleagues are weary, concerned that accountability may never come and the violence that accompanied the journalist's funeral in east Jerusalem further traumatized them. 

Elwan says she was shocked by the heavily armed Israeli border police charging into mourners and beating pallbearers preparing to take Shireen's coffin from Saint Joseph's Hospital to the church in the Old City. 

"A dead body in a coffin with her loved ones around her. In every country in the world, it's only your simplest human right To do this with respect, in peace, you have enough burden of pain in your heart," says Elwan who remained next to Shireen's coffin. 

Edited by: Sean Sinico

SEE

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

60s filmstar Claudia Cardinale honoured in Tunisian birthplace

Italian-Tunisian actress Claudia Cardinale (2nd-L) poses in front of a mural of her during a street naming ceremony in her honour in Tunisia - FETHI BELAID

by Françoise KADRI
May 29, 2022 — Tunis (AFP)

Actress Claudia Cardinale may have been a sixties legend of Italian and French cinema, but in Tunisia, in the portside district where she grew up, she says she feels "at home".

"I left very young, but I spent my whole childhood here, my adolescence," said Cardinale, now 84. "My origins are here."

To celebrate her connection to the North African country, authorities on Sunday named a street after her in the La Goulette suburb of the capital Tunis, where petals were scattered in a ceremony in her honour.

"You marked the world of cinema for almost half a century with your dazzling beauty, your charisma and through the roles you played," said Amel Limam, the mayor of La Goulette.

"I am very honoured, because it is here that I was born and spent my childhood," Cardinale said. "I kiss you!"

The multicultural beachfront neighbourhood was once home to a sizeable Sicilian population -- including Cardinale's parents.

Before Tunisia's independence from France in 1956, more than 130,000 Italians were resident, and many of their ancestors had settled there before French colonial rule.

"I still keep a lot of Tunisia inside me -- the scenery, the people, sense of welcome, the openness," Cardinale told AFP.

- 'We're all equal' -


In 1957, aged 19, Cardinale won a beauty contest for "the prettiest Italian" in newly independent Tunisia.

Her prize was a trip to the Venice film festival, where she caught the eye of influential cinema figures.

That led to her first film role, in Mario Monicelli's Le Pigeon.

Soon afterwards, she moved with her family to Rome to pursue her career, which took off with a role in Luchino Visconti's film The Leopard, alongside French film star Alain Delon and Hollywood legend Burt Lancaster.

That was the start of a long career that has continued into her 80s. After starring in The Pink Panther opposite David Niven in 1963, she shot to attention in the United States and Britain.

In one of her latest roles, she plays a grandmother in a film by Tunisia's Ridha Behi, "L'ile du Pardon", currently in post-production.

Her parents never recovered from their departure from Tunisia, which they experienced as an exile.

"It was very hard. My father never wanted to come back, that's how much he dreaded the pain of what was for him a real heartbreak," she said.

"My mother recreated Tunisia in Italy. She planted all Tunisian plants and kept on cooking Tunisian meals."


But Cardinale said the Tunisian sense of hospitality can be a model for how to treat migrants.

The country "can and should be proud of its history," she said.

And in an era when many Tunisians are willing to risk their lives boarding unseaworthy boats to reach Europe, she stresses the importance of "remembering this shared past to build the future".

"The wind changes, and we're all equal in terms of the need to leave," she said.

"Tunisia for us was a welcoming land. I wish everyone in the world who needs to leave somewhere could receive the same welcome."

Sri Lanka police tear-gas students in fresh clashes
AFP - Sunday
© ISHARA S. KODIKARA

Police fired tear gas to disperse thousands of students trying to storm the Sri Lankan president's home Sunday as the government offered an olive branch to demonstrators demanding his resignation.

Anti-riot squads used water cannon followed by tear gas, as furious protesters pulled down yellow iron barricades across a road leading to President Gotabaya Rajapaksa's official residence in Colombo.


© ISHARA S. KODIKARA

An anti-government demonstrator throws back a tear gas canister fired by police in Colombo, Sri Lanka

Nearby, thousands of men and women demonstrated for the 51st straight day outside Rajapaksa's seafront office, demanding he step down over the country's worst economic crisis since independence.

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe went on national television on Sunday evening offering young protesters a greater say in how the country is administered.

"The youth are calling for a change in the existing system," Wickremesinghe said, laying out plans for 15 committees that would work with parliament to decide national policies.

"I propose to appoint four youth representatives to each of the 15 committees," he said, adding that they could be drawn from the current protesters.

The demonstrations led to tense scenes in Colombo, where authorities struggled to disperse large crowds and chemical irritants hung over the streets.


Related video: Sri Lanka university students rally against president (AFP)

Several men were seen picking up canisters spewing tear gas and throwing them back towards the police who fired them.

Female medical and science students joined the protests, with many running for cover when authorities unleashed water cannon.

Wickremesinghe is not from Rajapaksa's party, but was given the job after the president's elder brother Mahinda resigned as prime minister on May 9 following weeks of protests, and when no other legislator agreed to step in.

Wickremesinghe is the sole parliamentary representative of the United National Party, a once-powerful political force that was nearly wiped out in Sri Lanka's last elections.

Rajapaksa's party, which has a majority in the legislature, has offered to provide him with the necessary support to run a government.

Sunday's student action came a day after a similar clash when protesters tried to storm Rajapaksa's heavily guarded colonial-era official residence, where he has bunkered down since thousands surrounded his private home on March 31.

An unprecedented shortage of foreign exchange to import even the most essential supplies, including food, fuel and medicines, has led to severe hardships for the country's 22 million people.

The government last month asked the International Monetary Fund for urgent financial assistance. Talks are continuing.

The country has defaulted on its $51 billion foreign debt.

Its currency has depreciated by 44.2 percent against the US dollar this year, while inflation hit a record 33.8 percent last month.

aj/mlm/bbk

More than 4,000 Salesforce employees have signed an open letter demanding the company cut ties with the NRA

wsoon@insider.com (Weilun Soon) - 

Salesforce co-founder and co-CEO Marc Benioff. 

NICHOLAS KAMM/AFP via Getty Images

Salesforce employees signed an open letter urging company leadership to drop the NRA as a customer.

It's "unconscionable" that the NRA can use their software for marketing and fundraising, the employees said.

Marc Benioff, the co-CEO of Salesforce, has previously voiced support for gun control.

More than 4,000 Salesforce employees have urged their company's leadership to drop the National Rifle Association (NRA) as a customer.

The employees made their request in an open letter addressed to company leaders including co-CEOs Marc Benioff and Bret Taylor, SFGate first reported, citing a copy of the letter it viewed. The employees delivered the letter a day after a teenager went on a shooting rampage in Uvalde, Texas, on May 24, killing at least 19 students and two adults.

"It's not in our power to get background checks or other gun control measures passed by Congress — but we can effect change by ending our commercial relationship with our customer, the National Rifle Association," the Salesforce employees wrote in their letter.

The letter's signatories expressed concern the NRA would rely on Marketing Cloud even more after the Uvalde massacre, according to a copy of the letter published by Protocol. Marketing Cloud is a Salesforce software that helps users plan and analyze digital marketing campaigns.

The signatories said the NRA would ramp up its marketing efforts "not to prevent future tragedies from happening, but to sow fear, sell guns, and abet future atrocities," the letter continued.

"It is unconscionable to consider their use of Marketing Cloud to capitalize on mass shootings," the letter continued.

The NRA has continued its advertising activity in the aftermath of the shooting. It started running Facebook ads about two weeks ago that urged gun owners to not let Congress limit gun ownership, and those remained active after the Uvalde shooting, per CNBC. The weekend after the massacre, the NRA held its annual convention in Houston, just 300 miles from Uvalde. The group showcased "14 acres" of guns and gear at the convention.

Some Salesforce employees, however, were cautious about urging the company to end its commercial relationship with the NRA, especially if what it was doing was not illegal, SFGate reported.

Salesforce has taken action against gun ownership before. In 2019, it banned customers from using its software to sell certain types of firearms. After the Uvalde massacre, Benioff showed his support for gun control. In a May 25 CNBC interview, he said "we need to take direct action" against gun violence.

Salesforce hasn't responded to the open letter, an unnamed employee told Protocol. Employees are expected to attend an all-hands meeting with leadership next week, per Protocol.

Salesforce did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.

Brazil facing more deadly storms: expert

AFP - 

Tragedies like the floods and landslides that killed more than 100 people in northeastern Brazil will likely keep happening as climate change advances unless authorities act to protect poor communities in high-risk areas, an expert said.

Torrential rains over the weekend wrought havoc on the city of Recife and surrounding areas, the latest in a series of deadly storms to hit Brazil in recent months.

Jose Marengo, research coordinator at the National Monitoring and Alert Center for Natural Disasters (CEMADEN), told AFP climate change will continue fueling ever heavier rains -- and that "if cities aren't prepared, we'll be mourning more and more deaths."


© SERGIO MARANHAOA woman greets firefighters working to rescue and recover victims of a landslide in the Barro neighbourhood of Recife, Brazil, where the strom death toll in the country's northeast has risen past 100

- Is latest disaster related to climate change? -

"Climate change is a long-term process that is advancing slowly. No one isolated, extreme event can be attributed to it. Rain and disaster are different things.

"In Recife, very intense rains fell on areas near rivers and hills. Any intense rain in places like that will cause similar tragedies in these circumstances, with rivers sweeping away houses and avalanches of mud taking out everything in their path.

"Climate change could be responsible for the rise in extreme, violent rain that is being detected not only in Brazil but around the world. But it can't be blamed for the fact that governments allow people to build in high-risk areas, or that the poor have nowhere to go and have to live in vulnerable areas. Those are urban planning problems."


- What do Brazil's recent storms have in common? -

"In Bahia state (northeast), where 33 people were killed in December, there is a phenomenon called the South Atlantic Convergence Zone that produces rain in the (southern hemisphere) summer. It's always present in southeastern Brazil, but in December it reached Bahia and caused deadly floods.

"In Petropolis (southeast, where 233 people were killed in February), there was an intense meteorological phenomenon, unusual but not impossible, more similar to what happened now in Recife. In both cases, the rain had been correctly forecast, but the problem was vulnerable populations living in high-risk areas.

"If you look at videos of landslides and flash floods from both Petropolis and Recife, it's impossible to tell which is which, because they were very similar disasters."

- How can Brazil, other governments prepare better? -

"Rain is only part of the problem. In Brazil, we're good at forecasting rain. The problem is the weak link in the chain: the vulnerability of the population.

"It's a common mistake to say, 'The rain killed X number of people.' Rain doesn't kill people, except when it combines with the problem of people living in high-risk areas.

"Governments need to prevent people from building on areas such as hillsides and evacuate people from existing houses to safer areas -- every year, not just when there are disasters.

"And cities need to be better-organized, because we can see looking at the climate that phenomena like these rains are getting more intense and violent.

"If people and cities aren't prepared, we'll be mourning more and more deaths. The rainy season is just starting in the northeast, and we may see a lot more such phenomena this year."

msi/jhb/mlm

Gabon takes grassroots approach in anti-poaching drive

by Adrien Marotte

Success story: The number of forest elephants in Gabon has doubled in the past decade.

A whistle blows. The car stops, and the driver is politely asked to turn off the engine and get out.

A team from Gabon's anti-poaching brigade then searches the vehicle from top to bottom, looking in every cranny for guns or game. Nothing is found, and the driver is allowed to move on.

The unit's task is to help guard Gabon's rich biodiversity.

Forests cover 88 percent of the surface of this small central African nation, providing a haven—and a tourism magnet—for species ranging from tropical hardwoods and plants to panthers, elephants and chimps.

The team was on patrol close to a small village called Lastourville, 500 kilometres (300 miles) southeast of the capital Libreville.

The area has been badly hit by poaching, and tracks dug into the forest floor by logging vehicles are also used by illegal hunters to enter and shoot game.

'Everyone poaches'

"There's no standard profile of a poacher. Everyone poaches—from the villager who is looking for something to eat to some big guy in the city who has an international network," the brigade's commander, Jerry Ibala Mayombo, told AFP.

The unarmed unit sees its role as "educating, awareness-building and, as a last resort, punishing," he said. The heaviest sentences are for ivory smuggling, which can carry a 10-year jail term.

Money-spinner: A motorised canoe carrying tourists in Louango National Park, whose 

lagoon is a treasure trove of elephants, hippos and fish.

The two-year-old service was created by a partnership between Gabon's ministry for water and forests, a Belgian NGO called Conservation Justice and a Swiss-Gabonese sustainable forestry firm, Precious Woods CEB.

"At the start, the overall feeling towards us was mistrust. But that's not the case today, because we have got the message across to people about what we do," said Ibala Mayombo.

"We sometimes face violent poachers who threaten us, sometimes with their guns," he said. The team can be given a police escort when necessary.

Last year, the unit seized 26 weapons, several dozen items of game and arrested eight individuals for ivory smuggling.

"The trend is downward," said Ibala Mayombo.

Daily challenges

Gabon, an oil-rich former French colony, is putting itself forward as a major advocate for conservation in central Africa, where wildlife has been battered by wars, habitat destruction and the bushmeat trade.

In 2002, Gabon set up a network of 13 national parks covering 11 percent of its territory.

Conflict: Elephants have ravaged crops planted in a field near the village of Baposso.

In 2017, it created 20 marine sanctuaries covering 53,000 square kilometres (20,500 square miles)—the biggest ocean haven in Africa, and equivalent to more than a quarter of its territorial waters.

These initiatives have helped to place Gabon firmly on the map for lucrative eco-tourism.

But beneath the applause, there is the daily challenge of managing problems when humans and animals collide.

Gabon has a huge success story in its conservation of African forest elephants.

Across Africa, numbers of this species have fallen by 86 percent in 30 years—the animal is now in the Critically Endangered category on the Red List compiled by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

But in Gabon, the forest elephant population has doubled in a decade to 90,000 animals—although this has also come at a cost of frequent conflict between animals and farmers.

In one of the villages, Helene Benga, 67, was in tears over what to do.

"You go into the field in the morning and you see he's eaten a bit (of the crop). You go the following day, and he's eaten another bit. Within a few days, all the crop will be gone. I've got no money and nothing left to eat. What am I going to do?" she asked.

Gabon.

'We hunt to live'

In the village of Bouma, around 30 local people attended a meeting to promote awareness about hunting restrictions—which species could be hunted and at what dates, areas where hunting was banned, how to obtain a permit, and so on.

The mood was tense.

"What can we do when animals invade our fields?" asked one person. "How can you tell the difference between a protected species and a (non-protected) one when you're hunting at night?" said another.

"I do understand that we have to protect wildlife," said Leon Ndjanganoye, a man in his 50s.

"But here, in the village, what do we do to live? We hunt. The laws are a vexation."

UNESCO awards Gabon's Ivindo park World Heritage status

© 2022 AFP

Trans Rohingya refugee fights prejudice with beauty

Tanbirul MIRAJ, Sam JAHAN
Tue, May 31, 2022, 


A minority in a minority, transgender Rohingya beautician Tanya has faced discrimination on even more fronts than most other residents of the world's biggest refugee camp.

Five years ago, Myanmar's military launched a brutal crackdown on the Rohingya, forcing an estimated 750,000 of them -- including Tanya and her family -- to flee and take shelter in squalid settlements across the Bangladesh border.

Since then, Tanya's skills with mascara and foundation have earned her a reputation as one of the best make-up artists in Cox's Bazar -- and better earnings than most other Rohingya.

But she still has to contend with harassment from fellow members of the often socially conservative Muslim ethnic group, as well as recriminations from her own family.


"My soul says I'm a woman," the 22-year-old told AFP. "I don't understand why other people have a problem with that.

"I liked to dress up and do make-up like girls from a very young age. My family didn't like it. My brothers used to hit me. They were ashamed of me."

She came out as trans in her early teens and said she had been subjected to violence and abuse ever since.

"I was called a curse of the devils and a punishment from Allah," she said.

Since her arrival, she has found work at a salon, where dyeing the hair and painting the lashes of excited brides is a welcome respite from life in the camp, a sprawling patchwork of overcrowded shanty homes fashioned from tarpaulin and bamboo.

Tanya is "the best beautician in the entire district", according to her client Salma Akter.

"She is a hijra, but she is very good," Akter told AFP, using a common South Asian term for a "third gender".

"People come here from all over the region to get their face done by her."

Tanya is now one of a lucky few bringing a steady income into her community.

But the around 300 Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh who openly identify as transgender are routinely subjected to discrimination, taunts and physical attacks from other members of their community.

"There are many instances of Rohingya transgender being brutally beaten and left on the roads in pool of blood," said Dil Afrose Chaity, who works with transgender Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh.

"During the pandemic, one of them was beaten for sporting bigger hair. They were accused of carrying coronavirus to the camp with their hair," Chaity said.
- New horizons -

Myanmar's Rohingya had already laboured under decades of discrimination when the military attacked in 2017.

An international tribunal in The Hague is investigating the violence, which has been designated by the United States as an act of genocide.

Despite the trauma of the crackdown, arriving in Bangladesh opened new horizons for Tanya, who found a much larger transgender community that welcomed her with open arms and gave her the female name she now uses.

She began offering beauty services from her shelter in Kutupalong before her talents were discovered by a Bangladeshi businessman, who set up a salon for her at a market outside the camp.

Her earnings have helped her win some respect from her family, with whom she shares a home.

But they have not accepted her identity.

Elder sister Gul Bahar, who still refers to Tanya by her birth name and gender, says she hopes her sibling "would start being like my older brothers again".

"Whenever he is out on the road, people laugh at him. Sometimes they follow him to our door and mock him," she told AFP.
- 'Man or woman' -

The taunts and abuse have hardened Tanya's resolve and cast her in the role of mentor to other members of her community, some of whom she has invited into the salon to learn the beauty trade.

"People call us boy whores even when we'd simply walk on the road minding our own business," Farhana, a fellow transgender refugee, told AFP while working in the salon as a trainee.

"If we react, they'd group up and start beating us. Tanya shows us how to ignore these taunts."

Tanya plans to eventually set up her own salon and hire other transgender women to work alongside her, offering them the same respite from the rejection and insults of other refugees.

"There are more hijra in the camps than you see. Most are afraid to come out," she said.

"I dream of a time when it will never occur to anyone here whether I have a body of a man or woman."

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