Child care in Germany leaves mothers with few options to work

Too little choice, too few hours, and little political will to change the status quo is forcing mothers in Germany to either work part-time or not at all, often against their wishes. The same cannot be said for fathers.

Few mothers with children under 3 work more than 20 hours a week

Child care in Germany is often touted abroad as an enviable model that is both affordable and friendly to working parents. But in fact, mothers who have had to balance their careers with parenthood face the much more difficult reality that the system appears to be designed to keep them out of the labor market entirely.

"Our village has at least 40 children who don't have a spot in kindergarten," said Julia, a working mom who lives in Germany's southeast, "despite the fact that the government is legally obligated to provide childcare over the age of three. Local governments aren't advertising the jobs and aren't doing anything to make them more attractive. The kids that do get places are in overlarge groups, and if a member of staff is sick or quits, which is understandable given the poor pay and working conditions, those families are just out of luck."

The 38-year-old high school teacher added that "if you can't find a nanny or a day care spot, you are of course allowed to take the local government to court, but most people can't be bothered with that stress when you may end up with a spot that's a 90-minute drive away."

Women are pressured to work part-time

Susanne Kuger, an expert on child care with the German Youth Institute (DJI), confirmed that "the number of families who actually do take the matter to court is extremely low," and instead opt to "send the children to grandparents or pay for expensive private day cares and nannies if they're able. If not, one parent, usually the mother, has to reduce their hours or work or delay returning to their job entirely."

She said that "every nanny and day care center can decide what their own opening hours are," whether it's conducive to full-time work or not, and there is often pressure to pick up children by 2 pm at the latest.

Germany has well over 1 million jobs to fill in 2022. One idea being floated is to promote some of the country's 11 million part-time workers — 80% of whom are women — into these full-time positions. But providing child care is proving to be the biggest hurdle.

According to a wide-ranging study carried out by the DJI in 2020, 49% of parents with children under three say they require child care. Of these, a mere 24% is able to secure the number of hours they need to be covered with a nanny or at a day care center. For children over three, 97% require care, and only 71% of parents say they have the necessary hours covered.

But for many of those who say they have all the child care they need, the truth is that one parent has merely accepted that if they can return to work at all, they will have to work part-time.

"The expectation is clear that, for heterosexual couples, that parent is the mother," said Julia, who had to reduce her hours at work after the local government took half a year to respond to her request for child care. "It's an extremely difficult situation if you don't have a support system, such as grandparents who live nearby and are able and willing to provide child care."

High hurdles for immigrant families

The problem is even more dire for immigrant families without this social support network, Alexandra Jähnert of the DJI explained. "The system of registering children for care is complex, usually only available in complicated bureaucratic German language, and there is often a lack of support for families who are not already familiar with how German government offices work," she said, adding that the web of different laws and opportunities across 16 different state governments and countless municipal governments made the barriers for immigrants even higher. This also leads to wildly varying prices, with care costing hundreds a month in some cities, and being completely free in others.

Jähnert said that, for both foreign women and native Germans, there was also "the vicious cycle that day cares give preference to couples where both parents work. Well, if you can't find a child care spot, you can't get a job or return to your old one."

According to Alexandra Jähnert, the hurdles that make it harder for immigrant families to access childcare perpetuate gaps in education and income later in life

German tax system rigged against women

A study by the Bertelsmann Foundation in 2020 found that even before the pandemic forced more women to stay home, "having children costs mothers up to two-thirds of their lifetime earnings" due to reduced payment during maternity leave, being forced into part-time work or staying at home, as well as a quirk of the German tax system known as "spousal splitting," all three of which also reduce payments into pensions for later in life.

Spousal splitting means that married couples can choose to be placed into different tax brackets where one spouse pays significantly more than the other (usually this is the woman). This means that the couple overall pays less tax, but one partner takes home a much lower net income at the end of every month. For many, this is just another encouragement to stay home with small children rather than spend every cent of their income on child care.

As economist Marcel Fratzscher put it in Die Zeit newspaper, "scientific studies show that in no other [EU] country except Belgium does this tax effect have a greater negative impact on women's employment."

Labor market plagued by shortages

Similar studies show that within the context of the German labor market, mothers are far less likely than fathers to get invited to interviews, and much less likely to work as many hours as they'd like. This impacts their pension payments and pushes them into old-age poverty.

According to the German Economic Institute (IW), in 2021 69% of mothers with children under 3 do not work at all, though only 27% wanted to stay at home full-time. About 21% work under 20 hours a week, the IW found, largely due to the lack of adequate child care options.

"Over the past 20 years, the role of mothers in Germany has changed considerably," study author Wido Geis-Thöne wrote, particularly in how women see themselves after having children. The German labor market, however, still has far to go to catch up in allowing women to realize their desire to return to full-time work.

And child care options must also be expanded to cover that full-time work. "Day care staff must be better paid, having better opportunities for advancement, and the job itself should be changed to encourage higher education levels in staff and increased prestige as a career path," said Susanne Kuger.

"Germany needs 600,000 new staff to cover day care needs in the coming years," she added, and while there are many initiatives at the local level to increase the number of child care centers and staff, a much greater push from state and national government bodies is needed if Germany wants to promote equity between working mothers and fathers.

Edited by Rina Goldenberg

Lebanon turns to solar power to address acute energy crisis

Facing a severe energy crunch, Lebanese are increasingly turning to the sun to meet their electricity needs. But high costs remain a barrier to widespread adoption of solar power systems.

Solar panels are increasingly seen on the rooftops of buildings in Beirut

When Patrick Ardahalian moved from Saudi Arabia to Lebanon in 2010, he was shocked at the frequent power outages in the country's capital, Beirut. 

"Power outages are something I had never experienced," he said. But for the Lebanese people, the situation was different, he added. "They never experienced stable electricity in their life."

To address the country's energy crisis, Ardahalian, who is of Lebanese origin but grew up in Greece, decided to pick up solar power. 

"Lebanon is a very sunny country, and we needed electricity. I asked my dad to help me financially, and he agreed," he said. "I started from scratch. I had a marketing background, so I went to a technical school to learn about electricity. Within a few months, I launched my company: Eco Friendly." 

Ardahalian, now 48, recalled that people were initially skeptical of solar power, and did not believe it could resolve their energy problems. 

"Some people didn't believe that I could provide them electricity from the sun ... They said I was lying, and I couldn't continue the discussion," he said.

Lebanon's power crunch

Lebanon is currently battling one of its worst economic crises in decades. The country defaulted on its national debt in 2020, and its currency has collapsed in value.

An acute energy crunch is compounding problems, with households nationwide grappling with long power cuts — some regions face blackouts for up to 23 hours a day. 

The state-run utility Electricite du Liban (EDL), which accounts for about 90% of the country's electricity production, has been plagued by dire cash shortages, and has only been able to provide power to households for a few hours a day. 

Faced with power outages, many Lebanese have resorted to using expensive private diesel generators for electricity. 

Due to the nation's economic turmoil and surging fuel prices due to its weak currency, along with removal of government subsidies and the Russia-Ukraine conflict, the finances of many Lebanese households are hurting, forcing them to seek alternatives. 

Solar panels are meant to stabilize Lebanon's shaky electricty supply

Suffering in darkness

Mohamad Mahmoud Hariri, a 43-year-old living in the nation's third-largest city of Sidon, told DW that although he had suffered power outages for years, now things are far worse than in the past. 

"Without electricity, everything stops. I am convinced that things are going from bad to worse, and that the state cannot solve this problem," he said.

Hariri said that electricity prices soared following the onset of the economic crisis, pointing out that monthly rates now equal or exceed the average monthly salary of many Lebanese. 

That's why he chose to invest in renewable energy by installing a solar panel system three months ago. Hariri paid $3,000 (€2,900) for the system, which allows him to consume around 10 amps of electricity in the morning and 3 amps at night. But in winter months, he will be forced to decrease consumption as the system produces less energy. 

Hariri is not alone, as Lebanese companies and households are increasingly turning to the sun to meet their electricity needs. Banks have even begun offering loans to those looking to install solar power systems. 

However, not everyone has been able to afford solar energy, even though prices have dropped significantly over the past decade. 

Ardahalian said that he charges about $3,000 for a 5-amp system or $9,000 for a 20-amp system; prices that are out of reach for most Lebanese. 

Bilal Alabaas, an energy technician who has been active in the solar industry for the past decade, underlined how most people cannot afford those prices. He also pointed out that even after installing such a system, people still needed diesel generators, as solar panels alone cannot supply the entire energy required by a household at all times. 

Marc Ayoub, an energy researcher and associate fellow at the American University of Beirut, shares a similar view. 

He said that solar alone couldn't provide a definitive solution to the energy crisis. "People still need electricity from EDL. The solar component helps the transition to renewable sources; but that doesn't mean we don't need a central solution from the government," Ayoub stressed.

"Renewable energy starts to become a solution at the national level when communities install projects, solar farms with hundreds of megawatts. But now, people are installing solar panels for their own energy security only."

Employees at Beirut-based Mashriq Energy provide turnkey solar photovoltaic solutions

Boosting solar power capacity

Mohamad Mneimneh, founder of Mashriq Energy, a company providing turnkey solar photovoltaic solutions, described how there are some solar initiatives at the community level.

However, such projects require several permits and coordination between many different stakeholders, while red tape and the lack of a distribution system hinder their development, he added. 

Mashriq Energy recently won a tender worth about $400,000 to build a photovoltaic-diesel (PVD) hybrid system to supply the campus of the Beirut Arab University. Technicians are installing 920 solar panels that will cover from 20% to 40% of the campus' total energy requirement.

Unlike traditional solar energy systems, Mneimneh said, PVD systems don't necessarily require the use of batteries as solar energy taken from panels is used in combination with diesel generators. 

"Large energy consumers can't afford to have only a solar energy system, because this would require so many solar panels and batteries. Instead, PVD systems are attractive because they don't need batteries, which cost from $600, and you would need more than one," Mneimneh said.

Although Lebanon has yet to come up with a feasible plan to boost energy production using renewable sources, it has adopted an ambitious target to cover 30% of its energy consumption from renewables by 2030. 

According to a report by the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), "Lebanon could realistically and cost-effectively obtain 30% of its electricity supply from renewables by 2030." But it added that for this to become reality, however, the government would need to implement existing plans and policies, which are already in the pipeline.

Pondoland: South Africa's cannabis growers left behind by legalisation plans


Vumani Mkhize - BBC Africa Business, Umthatha
Sat, August 20, 2022 

People sitting down with cannabis

For generations, people in South Africa's Eastern Cape have made their living growing cannabis. You might expect that as the country moves to legalise the crop, they would be first in line to benefit, but that is not necessarily the case.

Short presentational grey line

The drive from Umthatha to the Dikidikini village in South Africa's Eastern Cape province is a picturesque journey filled with endless vistas, scattered homesteads and winding roads which scythe through undulating green hills that could easily be mistaken for corn fields - yet they are anything but.

"That's cannabis," my local guide and cannabis activist Greek Zueni tells me. "Everyone here grows it, that's how they make a living."


Cannabis, colloquially referred to as "umthunzi wez'nkukhu," or, chicken shade, is an intrinsic part of many rural communities in Eastern Cape's Pondoland and a vital source of income.

At a homestead near the riverbank, we meet a group of men, women and children tending to a fresh harvest. Their hands are stained green from plucking the cannabis heads all day.

The pungent smell of cannabis hangs heavy in the air. They crack jokes while they work - harvesting is a group effort. A massive heap of green heads lies besides them, drying in the midday sun.

For community member Nontobeko, which is not her real name, farming cannabis is all she has ever known: "I learnt how to grow it as an eight-year-old girl," she says proudly.

"Cannabis is very important to us because it's our livelihood and source of income. Everything we get, we get it through selling cannabis. There are no jobs, our children are just sitting here with us."

While cannabis might be a way of life for this community, growing it at this scale is illegal.

There are more than 900,000 small-scale farmers in the Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal provinces who have been growing cannabis for years.

These growers have found themselves on the wrong side of the law many times, but the government's tough stance on cannabis looks set to change.

It started with a landmark court ruling in 2018 which decriminalised the private use, possession and growing of cannabis.

Earlier this year during his State of The Nation Address, President Cyril Ramaphosa said South Africa should tap into the global multi-billion-dollar medical hemp and cannabis industry, which he said had the potential to create 130,000 much-needed jobs.

While this may be good news for commercial companies, traditional growers in the Eastern Cape feel left behind. The cost of getting a licence to grow cannabis is just too expensive for many.

Greek Zueni says the government needs to do more to support small-scale cannabis farmers

"Government needs to change its approach and come up with laws that are grower-friendly and citizen-friendly. Right now, the people who have licences [to grow cannabis] are rich people," Mr Zueni says.

"The government should be assisting the communities to grow so that they can compete with the world market. Here is a commodity growing so easily and organically. We are not jealous, the rich should also come in, but please accommodate the poorest of the poor," Mr Zueni says.
Turning a blind eye

Last year, the government unveiled a master plan for the industrialisation and commercialisation of the cannabis plant. It values the local industry, which has largely been operating in the shadows, at nearly $2bn (£1.6bn).

It is seeking to make South Africa's cannabis industry globally competitive and to produce cannabis products for the international and domestic market.

Key to the roll-out is the Cannabis for Private Purposes Bill, set to be signed during the 2022-23 financial year, which provides guidelines and rules for consumers and those that want to grow cannabis in their own homes.

It would legalise the cultivation of hemp and cannabis for medicinal purposes, thus opening up the industry for serious investment and growth. It is also expected to clear up legal grey areas and so provide prospective investors with clarity on the future of the South African cannabis market.

Although much still remains unclear, it seems the government is committed to opening up the industry, because the economic opportunities are too enticing to ignore. The plans have broad public support, with few dissenting voices.

While the legal framework is still trying to catch up with a fast-moving market, many companies are forging ahead in anticipation that the law will eventually open up the sector.

As it stands, even though private use has been decriminalised, it is still illegal to buy and sell cannabis and various cannabis products.

However, judging from the proliferation of shops that sell cannabis products around the country, authorities are already turning a blind eye.

Adding to this legal minefield is that it is legal for private companies to grow and export medicinal cannabis to other countries.
'Opportunities for European distribution are big'

One company that is seeking to capitalise on medicinal cannabis is Labat Africa Group. The Johannesburg Stock Exchange-listed company recently acquired Eastern Cape cannabis grower Sweetwater Aquaponics.

Labat's director, Herschel Maasdorp, says the company is undergoing significant growth in both Europe and Africa.

The Sweetwater Aquaponics facility has a large cannabis production capacity

It has also listed in Frankfurt, because "Germany is the single largest market in Europe for medicinal cannabis distribution", he says.

"The opportunities for distribution in Europe are very big. In addition to that, across borders, in Africa alone, there is a proposition that we have consolidated across a number of different countries all the way from Kenya, to Zambia to Uganda, Rwanda, Tanzania, as well as in Zimbabwe."

Legal cannabis trade on the continent is set to rise to $7bn as regulation and market conditions improve, says London-based industry analyst Prohibition Partners It says Africa's top producers by 2023 will be Nigeria with $3.7bn, South Africa $1.7bn, Morocco $900m, Lesotho $90m and Zimbabwe $80m.

In its Global Cannabis Report, Prohibition Partners is forecasting exponential worldwide industry growth: "Combined global sales of CBD, medical and adult-use cannabis topped $37.4bn in 2021 and could rise to $105bn by 2026."

Considering South Africa's stagnant economic growth and record unemployment, tapping into the cannabis industry could reap rich rewards.

For Wayne Gallow from Sweetwater Aquaponics, incorporating traditional growers in the industry is crucial for economic development in the Eastern Cape.

Sweetwater Aquaponics wants their production of cannabis to benefit local people

"What we wanted to achieve with our licence is not only to grow medicinal cannabis, but to use that licence to benefit everybody in the Eastern Cape," he told the BBC.

He admits the more traditional growers have been left behind as cannabis legislation progressed.

"The Pondoland area was synonymous with supplying the cannabis throughout South Africa," he says.

However, changes in the law had a "detrimental" effect on Pondoland farmers, because it meant anyone could now grow and consume their own cannabis, so they no longer had a market for a crop that was previously very lucrative.

Even growing cannabis to export for medicine is not feasible for small-scale farmers, because of the eye-watering costs. It requires a licence from the South African Health Products Regulatory Authority (SAHPRA) which costs about $1,465.

Besides the licence fee, to set up a medicinal cannabis facility you need about $182,000 to $304 000, which is beyond the reach of many traditional growers.

However, there is some promising news for the Eastern Cape farmers. The Pondoland or Landrace strain of the plant, which grows so abundantly in the area, has shown some encouraging results in treating breast cancer.

Sweetwater Aquaponics and the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) are currently running a study, and scientists are optimistic that the strain will yield good results.

It is still early days, but if the Pondoland strain is found to be effective, this could be the game-changer that indigenous growers have been desperately searching for.
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German bureaucrat under fire for trashing British WWII hero who inspired Israeli army

Benjamin Weinthal
Sat, August 20, 2022 

The 10 million-member Christians United for Israel (CUFI) and the Jewish War Veterans of the U.S.A. joined the Israel Defense Forces in issuing an unprecedented stinging rebuke of a German official for comments about late British Major-General Orde Wingate, a WWII hero and Israeli icon.

Michael Blume, the bureaucrat tasked with fighting antisemitism for the southwestern German state of Baden-Württemberg, has repeatedly called the decorated war hero and deeply religious Christian Wingate a "war criminal" and "British murderer."

When asked about Blume’s attacks on Wingate, Israel Defense Forces spokesman Lt.-Col. Richard Hecht told Fox News Digital, "Orde Wingate’s spirit and disruptive thinking were an inspiration to the founding fathers of the IDF, and he is deeply admired until today."

Christians United for Israel Action Fund Chairwoman Sandra Hagee Parker told Fox News Digital, "Given his history of anti-Jewish bigotry, that Blume is allowed to stay in his present role is an embarrassment to the people of Germany and makes a mockery of the fight against antisemitism. Mr. Blume is plainly an antisemite who should be fired immediately."

The Chindit Memorial is a war memorial in London that commemorates the Chindit special forces, which served in Burma under Major General Orde Wingate in World War II. The memorial was erected in Victoria Embankment Gardens in 1990 near the Ministry of Defence headquarters and commemorates Wingate, who died in active service in Burma in 1944. 

Universal History Archive/Universal Images Group via Getty Images.More

CUFI is one of the Jewish state’s most important nongovernmental allies in America and the world.

Retired Col. Nelson Mellitz, national commander of the Jewish War Veterans of the U.S.A., told Fox News Digital that his organization "celebrates the extraordinary military record of Major General Orde Wingate. As a decorated British Army officer during the 1930s and World War II, Wingate’s service is revered by Israelis, Americans and the British in creating special military units."

Mellitz served 32 years in the U.S. Air Force and continues a family legacy of over 80 years serving in the JWV.

"JWV vehemently disagrees with German Commissioner Michael Blume’s characterization of Wingate as a war criminal and British murderer and urges Blume to resign or for Baden-Württemberg officials to immediately remove him from office," Mellitz said.

"Wingate’s legacy continues with streets and squares in Israel named after him, as well as Israel’s National Center of Physical Education and Sport also bearing his name. In the United States, Wingate is honored by being buried in the hallowed grounds of Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia. These lasting tributes to Wingate are fitting memorials."

The JWV was founded in 1896 and is the leading organization for Jewish uniformed service members and veterans in the United States.

"I have not heard or seen Michael Blume’s comments, but I would say that anyone in Germany looking for real war criminals would better spend their time personally examining the 70,000-plus Stolperstein (‘Stumbling Stones’), small brass plaques set in the pavement outside the last known addresses of the innocent victims murdered in Germany during the reign of the National Socialists," said military historian Tony Redding, author of "War in the Wilderness: The Chindits in Burma 1943-1944. "There are plenty of Stolperstein memorials in Baden-Wurttemberg."

Major General Orde C. Wingate was a brilliant military tactician, and his methods are still taught in military schools around the world. © CORBIS/Corbis via Getty Images

OLDEST BATAAN DEATH MARCH SURVIVOR, BEN SKARDON, DEAD AT 104

Wingate famously created and led a special unit called the Chindits (officially the "Long Range Penetration Groups") that conducted guerilla warfare behind Japanese lines in the Burmese jungle. Wingate and nine other persons were returning from Burma March 24, 1944, when their USAAF B-25 bomber crashed in northeastern India, killing everyone aboard.

Former Israeli ambassador to the U.S. Michael Oren, a military historian and an expert on Wingate, told Fox News Digital that Blume "should resign." Oren, a former deputy minister in then-Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office, also served as a paratrooper during the First Lebanon War in 1982.

Leading Israeli and British military officers issued withering criticism of Blume’s anti-Wingate remarks.

"The late Orde Wingate was a trailblazer and revolutionary military commander whose daring raids and tactics are still studied at military schools around the world," Brig.-Gen. (res.) Amir Avivi, founder and CEO of the Israel Defense and Security Forum (IDSF), told Fox News Digital, "Wingate fought gallantly against oppressors on at least three continents and will forever be enshrined in Israeli memory as a hero."

Avivi, who commanded the IDF’s Gaza Division, said "to accuse Wingate of war crimes is a reprehensible attempt to rewrite history and blemish the exceptional legacy of a British officer. This attempt should be squarely rejected. The IDSF will continue to advocate exactly the type of military strategy that Wingate embodied — initiative, creativity and a firm belief in the justness of our cause."

Israeli soldiers hold positions at Netiv HaAsara near the site where an IDF vehicle was directly hit by a rocket fired from Gaza Strip, injuring two and killing one May 12, 2021. 

Gili Yaari/NurPhoto via Getty Images

Wingate warned as early as 1937 about the need to stop the Hitler movement’s plan to exterminate European Jewry and to create a Jewish state.

"We are in for a war sooner or later – no hope now of avoiding that after the Abyssinian fiasco [Fascist Italy’s conquest of Ethiopia] – for pity’s sake let us do something just and honourable before it comes. Let us redeem our promises to Jewry and shame the devil of Nazism, Fascism, and our own prejudices," he wrote.

Col. (ret.) Richard Kemp, who commanded the British troops in Afghanistan, told Fox News Digital: "Wingate, a highly decorated British officer who was killed fighting for his country in the Second World War, bravely defended Jews in Palestine against murderous Arab gangs in the 1930s. He was a committed Zionist, revered as a hero and friend in Israel. That is enough to incite hatred from those opposed to Israel and Zionism. ISLAMOPHOBIA

"Germany, of all of the countries in the world, has a responsibility to fight Jew-hate at every turn. And for one of its public officials – whether or not he’s an antisemitism commissioner – to support this sickness is a cause for national disgrace. Herr Blume shames Germany and should resign or be fired."

The Los Angeles-based Simon Wiesenthal Center classified Blume as antisemitic last year for his activities and rhetoric against Jews and Israel.

Fox News Digital sent numerous press queries to Blume and to the Green Party governor of the state of Baden-Württemberg, Winfried Kretschmann.

Argentina's Kirchner goes on offensive over graft trial

Tue, August 23, 2022 

Argentina Vice-President Cristina Kirchner on Tuesday launched a long and politically charged defense against corruption charges, for which prosecutors have asked that she face 12 years in jail and a lifetime ban from politics.

Kirchner, 69, is accused of fraudulently awarding public works contracts in her stronghold in Patagonia.

She said on Tuesday in a live social media broadcast that her political ideology, Peronism, was on trial and that prosecutors had already "written the sentence."

"Nothing, absolutely nothing that they have said was proven," said Kirchner, a lawyer by trade who was president from 2007-15 having succeed her late husband, Nestor.

It was during those three presidential terms that the alleged graft occurred.

"It's not a trial against me, it's a trial of Peronism, of the national and popular governments," she said, brandishing during her one and a half hour speech excerpts from laws, press articles, emails and accounts.

"It is 12 years (of prison time requested), the 12 years of the best government Argentina has had in these last decades."

Kirchner was speaking from her office at the senate, where she is the president and for which she enjoys parliamentary immunity.

Even if convicted -- the verdict is expected at the end of the year -- she would not go to prison, unless her sentence were ratified by the country's supreme court, or she loses her senate seat at the next elections at the end of 2023.

Another dozen people are on trial alongside the vice president and their court statements are due to last weeks.

Kirchner has decided to mount her defense on social media after her request for an extra deposition was refused on Monday.

Several hundred supporters cheered her arrival at the senate on Tuesday, while others did the same as she left her home in an upmarket Buenos Aires neighborhood.

Such is her divisive nature that rival groups of protesters, those for and against her, congregated outside her home on Monday night after public prosecutor Diego Luciani requested she be sentenced to 12 years in jail and barred from politics for life.

Police were forced to intervene as tensions mounted.

Luciani hit out at "an authentic system of institutional corruption" which he said was "probably the biggest corruption operation the country has known."

On Tuesday, fellow South American left-wing former presidents, Bolivia's Evo Morales and Dilma Rousseff of Brazil, expressed their support for Kirchner.

Winemaker defends selling Hitler-branded bottles of wine, claiming customers merely want to 'remember' history


Joshua Zitser
Sun, August 21, 2022 

Bottles of wine with labels depicting Nazi leader Adolf Hitler sit on a shelf in the cellar of Vini Lunardelli.

Giuseppe Cacace/Getty Images

An Italian winemaker has been selling Hitler-themed bottles of wine for more than 25 years.

He told Vice World News that the Hitler labels are not political and are for customers looking to "remember" history.

The Hitler range of wine bottles will be discontinued, the winemaker said, but not until next year.

An Italian winemaker, whose company has been selling bottles of wines with photographs of Adolf Hitler and Nazi slogans for over 25 years, has defended the controversial products in an interview with Vice World News.

The bottles of wine are branded with photographs of the genocidal dictator and Nazi slogans such as "Blut und Ehre" ("Blood and Honor"), "Sieg Heil" ("Hail Victory"), and "Ein Volk, Ein Reich, Ein Führer" ("One People, One Realm, One Leader").

Different labels depicting Nazi leader Adolf Hitler rest on boxes in the cellar of Vini Lunardelli.Giuseppe 

Cacace/Getty Images

The products are banned in Germany and Austria due to laws prohibiting the display of Nazy symbols but are sold online, and in more than 50 Italian stores, Vice World News reported.

Recent media coverage in Germany of the bottles sparked outrage. Representatives of Jewish communities have also expressed horror. Rabbi Abraham Cooper, director of global social action at The Simon Wiesenthal Centre, told Vice World News that the products are a "celebration of evil and genocide."

Nonetheless, Andrea Lunardelli of Vini Lunardelli told the media outlet that the products are not "political," adding that there's a lot of demand for them.

Andrea Lunardelli boxes a bottle of Hitler-branded wine in September 2003.

Giuseppe Cacace/Getty Images

Lunardelli told Vice World News that the Hitler wines are the "most requested label" in the historical line of products, which features labels honoring dictators like Joseph Stalin and Francisco Franco. There's a lot of demand from customers, many of whom are German, British, French, Scandinavian, and Russian, he told the media outlet.

Lunardelli clarified that he is "absolutely not a Nazi" and suggested that the labels aren't antisemitic, telling Vice World News that the Hitler wine bottles are merely for a market that wants to "remember" history.

"Whoever buys [the Hitler wine] is a collector, or remembers history, or wants nationalism against the current policies of multinationals… not against Jews," he said, per Vice World News.

"Besides, Hitler was a teetotaller, so we can even say that alcohol and Hitler are a nice joke," Lunardelli continued.

The wine will eventually be discontinued, Vice World News reported, but not until the start of 2023. It coincides with when Lunardelli takes over the company from his father, the media outlet said.

He told Vice World News that the product would be discontinued because he was fed up with the controversy surrounding it, and not because he's bowing to pressure.

Read the original article on Insider

US says Ukraine grain exports near pre-war levels

Tue, August 23, 2022


Ukraine is on course to ship nearly as much grain this month as it did before the Russian invasion, in a triumph for international efforts to ease food shortages, a US official said Tuesday.

Ukraine is one of the world's largest exporters of wheat, corn, barley and sunflower oil, shipping around five million metric tons of grain each month before the war.

Its exports ground to a trickle after the February 24 invasion, contributing to a spike in global food prices that has hit poor nations especially hard.

"Thanks to intensive international cooperation, Ukraine is on track to export as much as four million metric tons of agricultural products in August," a senior US State Department official told AFP.


Ukraine and Russia in July reached a first wartime agreement through the mediation of Turkey and UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, with guarantees for ships to sail out of Ukraine's Black Sea ports.

The State Department official said that the efforts have moved out more than 720,000 tons of grain from the ports through 33 ships over the past several weeks.

More significant so far has been a European initiative to ship Ukrainian grain by river, rail and road routes.

The so-called "Solidarity Lanes" established by the European Union rushed additional vehicles including trucks to the border, addressing hurdles including Ukrainian wagons' incompatibility with European rail gauges.

The European effort is shipping 2.5-3 million tons of produce into the European Union and beyond to international markets each month, the official said.

As part of the agreement negotiated in Istanbul, Russia will also be guaranteed shipment of food and fertilizer without being subject to sanctions.

Guterres recently appealed for "unimpeded access," saying that the world could face dangerous agricultural shortfalls next year unless Russian fertilizer reaches international markets.

The United States says that its sweeping sanctions on Russia over the Ukraine war have exempted agricultural products and accuses Moscow of seeking to distract the world from its own responsibility for shortages.

Last week the United States said it was contributing another $68 million to the World Food Programme to buy 150,000 metric tons of Ukrainian wheat to address food insecurity.

The UN agency warned on Friday that some 22 million people face starvation in Horn of Africa countries where the rising costs of imported food have exacerbated the effects of climate change.

Kenya, Ethiopia and Somalia have suffered the unprecedented failure of four straight rainy seasons.

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Angolans prepare to vote in a tight race that could affect pro-Russia ties

NEWS WIRES - Yesterday 

Angolans will vote on Wednesday in a tight race in which the main opposition coalition has its best-ever chance of victory, as millions of youth left out of its oil-fuelled booms are expected to express frustration with nearly five decades of MPLA rule.


Angolans prepare to vote in a tight race that could affect pro-Russia ties

© John Wessels, AFP

The ruling party remains favourite, though the margin is narrow enough for a surprise UNITA victory, which could shift relations with global superpowers—with possibly less friendly ties with Russia.

Since independence from Portugal in 1975, Angola has been run by the formerly Marxist People’s Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA), led since 2017 by President Jaoa Lourenco.

But an Afrobarometer survey in May showed the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA)’s opposition coalition, led by Adalberto Costa Junior, increasing its share to 22%, from 13% in 2019.

That’s still seven points behind the MPLA, but nearly half of voters were undecided. Many youths—under 25s make up 60% of the country—are voting for the first time.

In a tense run-up to the vote for both president and parliament, UNITA has urged voters to stay near polling stations after voting to reduce the risk of fraud.

Tweaked vote-counting rules may delay official results by days, analysts say, raising tensions—which some fear may boil over into violence.
Russia ties

A UNITA victory could weaken decades of close ties with Moscow, for whom the MPLA was a cold war proxy during Angola’s 27-year civil war ending in 2002, while UNITA was U.S./CHINA-backed.

UNITA condemned “the invasion of Ukraine by Russia,” Costa Junior said on Twitter. He also travelled to Brussels and Washington to build ties with Western partners before elections.

Russia’s ambassador to Angola, Vladimir Tararov, was quoted in Angolan press in March as praising the country for its neutrality while lambasting UNITA for wanting to show it “stands with the West, the so-called civilised countries”.

Lourenco has also opened up to the West since his election in 2017, but in March it abstained from supporting a United Nations resolution which condemned Russia’s war in Ukraine.

“It is highly possible that a UNITA win would mean a distancing of Angola from Russia,” Charles Ray, head of the Africa Programme at the Foreign Policy Research Institute, told Reuters, but only if it can consolidate power over a pro-Russian military first.

Lourenco has tried to improve relations with Washington, and just before the elections applied to join a trade agreement with the European Union and southern African states, which has been in force since 2016. Talks start in months.

Asked about this shift in stance, Costa Junior told Reuters over the weekend: “The image (Lourenco) built to the outside world is disappearing.”.

Lourenco was “successful in terms of international relations”, but that had not achieved positive consequences for Angolans, Ricardo Soares de Oliveira, professor of African Politics at Oxford University, said.

Lourenco has also pledged to continue economic reforms, including privatisation and encouraging the non-oil sector.

(REUTERS)

After '1,000-year' storm in Dallas, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott chooses not to mention 'climate change'

Dylan Stableford and Ben Adler

Tue, August 23, 2022

A day after a “1-in-1,000-year” storm dumped up to 15 inches of rain in Dallas, triggering flash floods that submerged vehicles along a highway and left at least one person dead, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott on Tuesday said that the state is prepared to handle “extreme weather.”

But he wouldn’t use the term climate change.

At a press conference alongside Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson and other city officials, Abbott was pressed by a reporter about the impact climate change is having on Texas, including record heat, wildfires and historic drought.

“At what point do you ever discuss or have a conversation about climate change?” the reporter asked.

“So we have constant conversations about what we categorize as extreme weather,” Abbott replied. “We are dealing with more extreme weather patterns.”

Abbott noted the period between April through the end of July was the hottest on record in the history of Texas, and said that the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), which operates the state’s power grid, was able to handle it.

Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas at a news conference in Dallas on Tuesday. (Shelby Tauber/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

“They were able to deal with a dozen record usage demands with ease,” he said.

“We’re constantly looking at what extreme weather may lead to, whether it be power demand, extreme heat, extreme cold, heavy water or even drought,” the governor added. “We constantly focus on issues related to extreme weather, and we want to be prepared for whatever type of weather may be coming our way.”

"Can you even say climate change?" the reporter asked.

Abbott did not respond.

An abandoned car sits in floodwaters on a highway in Dallas on Monday. (AP Photo/LM Otero)

Despite the governor’s assertions, ERCOT has not always been ready to handle the extreme weather stemming from climate change.

In February 2021, when extremely cold temperatures arrived in much of Texas, the utility was unable to keep pace with surging demand.

“Nearly 4 million Texas customers — representing more than 11 million people — lost power during the Arctic blast,” as 38 of Texas’ 176 gas processing plants shut down due to weather conditions, the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas reported. Hundreds of Texans died from lack of access to heat or water.

More intense cold spells are, counterintuitively, an effect of climate change. A paper published in the journal Science last year found that climate change is leading to more extreme winter weather in the United States because Arctic warming distorts the jet stream, a band of air flowing west to east, and the polar vortex, a wintertime area of cold air near the North Pole. When the jet stream dips further south than is normal, it brings unusually cold air to places like Texas, scientists say. That’s also why Florida, Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina experienced an unusual snow and ice storm, causing blackouts, this January.

Texas is also suffering from more extreme summer heat waves. On one day in July, over a dozen municipalities in Texas set record-high temperatures, some reaching 113 degrees. That event was caused by a “heat dome,” another consequence of jet stream disruption. Essentially, it is the inverse of what happens in the winter: In such cases, the jet stream moves unusually far northward.

Much of the state, like the rest of the West, is in the throes of an epic drought.

A buoy normally used to mark "No Wake" zones sits on dry land on June 18 at Medina Lake near San Antonio, Texas, amid a severe drought. (Jordan Vonderhaar/Reuters)

“Texans across the state are facing water restrictions as the state experiences its worst drought since 2011,” the Texas Tribune reported last Friday. “Almost the entire state of Texas is experiencing a severe level of drought, and only a few corners of the state, such as El Paso, are not ‘abnormally dry’ amid this year’s particularly hot summer.”

Climate change is causing more frequent and severe droughts, because warmer air causes more evaporation and reduces the reserve water held in snowpack.

Climate change is also partially responsible for the recent spate of overwhelming rains. Since climate change disrupts the water cycle and pushes precipitation to extremes — both to drought and to more intense storms —Texas is the fourth state in recent weeks to experience a rainfall event that would normally only occur once every 1,000 years. Within the last month, southern Illinois received 8 to 12 inches of rain in 12 hours, record-breaking rainfall caused flash flooding in the St. Louis area and parts of eastern Kentucky were flooded after receiving as much as 14 inches of rain.

Academic studies have shown that extreme rainfall and flooding will become more frequent and severe if climate change continues to worsen.

 

TikTok stars boycott Amazon in activism push

Daniel HOFFMAN
Tue, August 23, 2022 


TikTok influencers boasting collectively more than 51 million followers say they won't work with Amazon until the e-commerce colossus delivers key concessions to workers and halts anti-union efforts.

It's the latest example of creators lending their online stage to a cause on the massively growing platform more known for dance crazes and catchy songs.

An advocacy group calling itself Gen-Z for Change said it coordinated the pledge from more than 70 popular TikTok talents to stand in solidarity with Amazon workers through a "People Over Prime Pledge."

The vow references Amazon Prime -- a paid subscription from the online giant that includes benefits like rapid deliveries -- but also the pressure it puts on those working to fill the orders.

"We are calling on Amazon to listen to their workers and make tangible changes to their workplace environment," the group said in a letter, noting that TikTok has more than a billion users.

"Unless changes are made, we will prevent Amazon from monetizing one of the largest social media platforms in the world."

The coalition is pushing for the firm's workers to get a minimum hourly wage of $30, improved medical leave and easing of productivity requirements.

The group is also calling on Amazon, which has long resisted unionization efforts in its US facilities, to stop its opposition.

"We have always known how essential creators are to the Amazon marketing model," Gen-Z for Change director of strategy Elise Joshi told AFP on Monday.

"Creators, especially TikTok creators, are the gateway to young people; we are reclaiming that power," the 20-year-old added.

An Amazon Influencer Program launched five years ago offers creators at TikTok, YouTube, Instagram and other social media platforms ways to make money by recommending products in posts and steering buyers to the e-commerce service.

Some, but not all coalition members -- who began last week refusing to do business with Amazon, including direct sponsorships and use of the e-commerce titan's storefront -- were associated with that partnership initiative.
- 'Comfortable pace' -

The demands sought in this case are those put forth by labor organizers who early this year won a vote to launch the first union shop at one of Amazon's US warehouses.

The second largest employer in the United States behind retail mega-chain Walmart, Amazon has fiercely opposed attempts to unionize workers.

"The health, safety and welfare of our employees is our top priority," Amazon spokesman Paul Flanigan said in response to an AFP inquiry.


"We are committed to giving our employees the resources they need to be successful, creating time for regular breaks and a comfortable pace of work," he added.

Amazon has invested billions of dollars in safety measures, technology and more intended to protect employees, Flanigan said.

Joshi dismissed Amazon's response as "boilerplate" and hoped it would inspire social media influencers to get involved in the campaign.

- TikTok activism -

Gen-Z for Change organizers reasoned that the power to reach tens of millions of young internet users comes with responsibility to advocate for social justice.

"We feel obligated because we have a large platform and a passion for equity," said 19-year-old Connor Hesse, a content specialist at Gen-Z for Change and TikTok creator with some 2.3 million subscribers.

Mobilizing on social media for Amazon employee rights can prompt other companies to improve worker conditions to avoid being targets of similar campaigns, argued Aly, a TikTok creator behind the account usa.mom.in.germany

Gen-Z for Change has aimed pro-labor campaigns at coffee chain Starbucks and Kroger supermarket group.

TikTok users in 2020 took credit for duping former US president Donald Trump into bragging that an election rally in Oklahoma was going to be overflowing because of online ticket requests, only to have him met with a below-capacity audience.

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