Denmark and Rwanda consider sending asylum seekers arriving in the European country to Kigali

Daniel Stewart - Friday

The governments of Denmark and Rwanda announced Friday that they are studying the possibility of signing an agreement on sending to the African country asylum seekers arriving on Danish territory, a plan similar to the one announced a few months ago by London and Kigali, harshly criticized by many NGOs.


Archivo - La primera ministra de Dinamarca, Mette Frederiksen - Philip Reynaers/BELGA/dpa© Provided by News 360

The foreign ministries of the two countries have indicated in a joint communiqué their "commitment to strengthening bilateral dialogue and partnership in multiple areas", including climate, good governance and "refugee policy".

"Rwanda and Denmark are jointly exploring the establishment of a program through which spontaneous asylum seekers arriving in Denmark can be transferred to Rwanda for consideration of their applications and protection, as well as the option for them to settle in Rwanda," they said.

They stated that "any such agreement would be in line with the international obligations of both countries, including those relating to refugees and human rights", before stressing that the dialogue on this point "is ongoing".

Related video: UK sees record migrant crossings despite Rwanda plan
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"The parties are committed to continue exploring the possibility of reaching a formal agreement," they said, while revealing that Denmark will open a project office in Kigali in 2022 with the presence of two diplomats.

"The current global asylum and migration system is dysfunctional and a new stance is needed. Asylum seekers and migrants with sufficient resources use human traffickers to move along migratory routes, while the most vulnerable refugees remain in their countries of origin," they argued.

In this regard, Denmark and Rwanda have stated that "irregular movements caused by human smugglers further affect the security situation of countries along the migratory routes and risk undermining public confidence in the international refugee protection system."

Therefore, both countries have argued that "there is a need to address the underlying causes of irregular migration in countries of origin and transit, including the huge imbalance in human capital opportunities between Europe and Africa," and have indicated that they will contact UN agencies to "facilitate an international dialogue" on this initiative.

The announcement comes in the wake of the announcement made in April by the UK Government, when the then British Home Secretary, Priti Patel, unveiled a "pioneering" project to deport migrants who have arrived illegally on British territory to Rwanda, where their asylum applications could be processed.

However, the first flight of deportations was scheduled for June, but a judicial appeal prevented it from being carried out, amid international criticism, rejected by the authorities of both countries, who defended the need to move forward with the plan.

Nigerian customs bust shipment of 7,000 donkey penises destined for Hong Kong

Brad Hunter - Toronto Sun

Donkey penises and skin are prized for folk medicine in 

China triggering illicit smuggling

Nigerian authorities intercepted an illicit shipment of 7,000 donkey penises destined for horndogs in Hong Kong who believe it boosts their libido.

But it was the stench of the penises packed in 16 sacks that tipped off customs officials at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport in the capital of Lagos.

Airport customs controller Sambo Dangaladima told the BBC News Pidgin , the British broadcaster’s online news service in West African Pidgin English, that the animal parts were found in sacks in the animal export section.

Donkey parts — mostly penises and skin — command big money in Asia where they’re seen as an aphrodisiac. The illicit trade is sadly common, the BBC reports.

Dangaladima said that the prime suspect linked to the shipment — worth an estimated $610,000 (200 million Nigerian naira) — managed to slip away and evade capture.

The illicit trade of donkey parts — including the animal’s penises and skin — from Nigeria to China is common. The parts make a folk medicine called ejiao.

According to PETA, donkey prices have shot up during the past decade with the rise in demand for the concoction. Uganda, Tanzania, Botswana, Niger, Burkina Faso, Mali, and Senegal have banned donkey exports to China.

The Donkey Sanctuary said in 2019 that 4.8 million donkey hides were required to satisfy the global demand for ejiao resulting in a planet-wide decrease in population. As a result, Brazil also banned donkey exports to China.

BBC News said that in June, the Nigerian Customs Service intercepted three 100-kilogram bags filled with donkey genitalia and 3,712 pieces of donkey skin at an airport.

Four months earlier in March, four suspects were arrested while they were trying to smuggle 2,754 donkey penises and 3,712 pieces of skin.

Between 2012 and 2018, Nigeria claims it lost an eye-watering $9 billion to the black-market trade destined for China. In Nigeria, it is illegal to kill donkeys for their body parts.

The Donkey Dealers Association of Nigeria wants harsh penalties for smugglers.

bhunter@postmedia.com
@HunterTOSun

Guion Bluford's astonishing career — first African American to go to space

Randi Mann - Aug 30

On Tuesday, August 30, 1983, Guion Bluford became the first African American to go to space. Bluford was one of five people on the STS-8 mission. It was NASA's eighth mission to space and the Space Shuttle Challenger's third. The shuttle launched from Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The mission was overall successful, but Bluford really put it on the map.

Bluford was born on Nov. 22, 1942, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. His tenure of education includes a Bachelor of Science in aerospace engineering from Pennsylvania State University, a Master of Science in Aerospace Engineering from the U.S. Air Force Institute of Technology, a Doctor of Philosophy degree in Aerospace Engineering (with a bonus minor in Laser Physics), and a Master of Business Administration degree from the University of Houston–Clear Lake.

Guion Bluford's astonishing career — first African American to go to space© Provided by The Weather Network"Bluford on STS-8 in 1983." Courtesy of Wikipedia

Bluford joined the Air Force and received his pilot wings in Jan. 1966. In 1967, he was assigned to the Sheppard Air Force Base in Texas as an instructor pilot. In 1971, Bluford became an executive support officer to the Deputy Commander of Operations.

In 1974 Bluford was assigned to the Air Force Flight Dynamics Laboratory and served as the staff development engineer. By the time he was recruited by NASA in 1978, he logged over 5,200 hours of jet flight time.

Bluford was a part of NASA astronaut group 8. By Aug. 1979, he was officially an astronaut. Bluford's assignments included working with the Space Station operations, the Spacelab systems and experiments, and the Space Shuttle systems.



The STS-8 was NASA's first night launch and landing. During the mission, the crew tested the Canadarm (the Canadian robotic arm), deployed the Indian National Satellite, conducted experiments to better understand the biophysiological effects of space flight, and executed other tasks.

The mission completed 98 orbits around Earth in six days, one hour, eight minutes and 43 seconds before landing at Edwards Air Force Base, California, on Sep. 5, 1983.

Bluford completed four flights with NASA, logging more than 688 hours in space. Bluford has been inducted into the International Space Hall of Fame, the United States Astronaut Hall of Fame, and the National Aviation Hall of Fame.

Lula may tap running mate to head Brazil economic policy, aides say

By Marcela Ayres and Bernardo Caram - Friday

Brazil's Presidential candidate Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva holds a campaign rally, in Nova Iguacu, near Rio de Janeiro© Reuters/RICARDO MORAES

BRASILIA (Reuters) - Former Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva could tap his centrist running mate and former rival, Geraldo Alckmin, to run economic policy if he wins a third term in October, four of his senior advisors told Reuters.

Lula's aides said the leftist leader, who is ahead of President Jair Bolsonaro in opinion polls, would only pick his finance minister after the election is settled, but Alckmin, a former Sao Paulo governor who lost to Lula in the 2006 presidential race, is clearly in the running for the job.

If he gets the nod, it would be a clear signal to financial markets that Lula aims to reprise orthodox economic policies from early in his 2003-2010 presidency. Alckmin, a former power broker in the center-right Brazilian Social Democracy Party, has been a key interlocutor between Lula and the business community.

"There are several candidates who fulfill the conditions to be good finance ministers. Certainly Alckmin is one of them: he is a competent administrator, he has been governor more than once, he is qualified," said Guido Mantega, ex-finance minister for Lula and his Workers Party (PT) successor from 2006 to 2014.

Related video: Lula widens lead over Bolsonaro ahead of Brazil election
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PT Congressman Alexandre Padilha, who has also connected Lula's campaign with business leaders, said Alckmin has proven "very loyal and important in political dialogue and with economic actors," which he would "certainly" keep doing in government.

Two other Lula advisors, who are engaged in the campaign's economic debates and requested anonymity to discuss them, said Alckmin is one of several veteran politicians in the running for the top economic job in the next administration. Lula has made clear that he wants a finance minister in that mold, rather than a professional economist.

Workers Party politicians in the mix include Bahia Governor Rui Costa, former Piaui Governor Wellington Dias, Congressman Padilha himself and Lula's former Education Minister Fernando Haddad, if he loses the race for São Paulo governor, aides said.

Alckmin would not be the first vice president to also run a ministry in a Lula government. Vice President Jose Alencar served as defense minister from late 2004 to early 2006.

Alencar's son Josue Gomes, now president of Sao Paulo industry group Fiesp, is another name in the running for finance minister if Lula wins, according to advisors.

Lula's lead over Bolsonaro ahead of the October election has narrowed to 10 points from 12, a Genial/Quaest poll released this week showed.

(Reporting by Marcela Ayres and Bernardo Caram; Editing by Brad Haynes and Richard Pullin)

Slain Las Vegas reporter spent career chasing corruption

By KEN RITTER and JOHN SEEWER

September 9, 2022


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Jeff German, host of "Mobbed Up," poses with Planet Hollywood, formerly the Aladdin, in the background on the Strip in Las Vegas, Wednesday, June 2, 2021. Authorities say German, a Las Vegas investigative reporter has been stabbed to death outside his home and police are searching for a suspect. The Las Vegas Review-Journal says officers found journalist German dead with stab wounds around 10:30 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 3, 2022, after authorities received a 911 call. 

(K.M. Cannon/Las Vegas Review-Journal via AP)


LAS VEGAS (AP) — In four decades of writing about the Las Vegas underworld and government corruption, investigative reporter Jeff German took on plenty of powerful and dangerous people. The hard-bitten newsman was once punched by an organized crime associate and received veiled threats from mobsters.

Nothing seemed to faze him as he doggedly went about his work.

So German (GEHR’-man) characteristically didn’t express concern when Clark County Public Administrator Robert Telles, a virtually unknown politician in charge of an obscure and small government office, took to Twitter last spring to angrily denounce the reporter.

German, who worked for the Las Vegas Review-Journal, had written about bullying and favoritism in the public administrator’s office and an inappropriate relationship by Telles with a female subordinate.

Authorities say German’s initial investigation and follow-up stories were the motivation for Telles to fatally stab German last week at the reporter’s home. DNA at the scene linked Telles to the killing as did shoes and a distinctive straw hat found at his home that matched those worn by a suspect caught on video, investigators said Thursday.

Police arrested Telles on Wednesday after a brief standoff at his home. Telles was hospitalized for what Clark County Sheriff Joe Lombardo described as non-life-threatening, self-inflicted wounds.

Glenn Cook, executive editor of the Review-Journal, said there was talk within the newspaper about Telles being “unhinged” but he never made any physical threats against German and the reporter never said he was worried.

The thought this was the story that would put German’s safety at risk seemed implausible, he said, remembering how the reporter recounted once being punched by an organized crime associate.

“He cut his teeth covering the mob,” Cook said. “Jeff spent over 40 years covering the worst of the worst of Las Vegas. This was a guy who ran down mobsters, wise guys and killers.”

Killings of journalists in the U.S. in retaliation for their work are extremely rare. Up until German’s death, eight journalists have been killed in the U.S. since 1992, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists. The deadliest attack came in 2018 when a shooting at the Capital Gazette in Maryland left five dead.

“Jeff’s death is a sobering reminder of the inherent risks of investigative journalism,” said Diana Fuentes, executive director of the organization Investigative Reporters & Editors. “Journalists do their jobs every day, digging deep to find information the public needs to know and has a right to see.”

German joined the Review-Journal in 2010 after more than two decades at the Las Vegas Sun, where he was a columnist and reporter who covered courts, politics, labor, government and crime. He was 69, but never talked with his boss about retirement, Cook said.

Former co-workers along with attorneys and government officials German counted on as sources called him a hard-nosed, tenacious journalist who could be gruff at times, especially if someone didn’t know him or was holding back information.

“He was not someone who was easily intimidated,” said Geoff Schumacher, who worked with German at the Sun until the late 1990s. “Getting to the truth, that was more important to him than his own well-being or being popular.”

The pair recently worked together on a podcast called “Mobbed Up.”

German talked about receiving veiled threats from mobsters in the early 1980s at a time when people were disappearing as law enforcement cracked down on organized crime. The warnings definitely got German’s attention, but he never went to police, said Schumacher, who now works at at The Mob Museum in Las Vegas

Alan Feldman, a former executive with MGM Resorts International, said getting a call from German was like hearing from the CBS news show, “60 Minutes.” He didn’t talk tough or threaten anyone, Feldman said, but he never backed down.

And he always followed the story even if it didn’t go in the direction he expected, he said.

“The last thing I would say about Jeff is that anything scared him or that he was afraid,” Feldman said. “He was prepared to go after anyone who was doing something not in the public interest.”

Telles, a Democrat who apparently had never served in public office until he was elected in 2018, oversaw less than 10 people and was paid about $120,000 a year to run an office that deals with estates and the property of people after they die. Before that he was a lawyer practicing probate and estate law.

In the weeks before the June primary, German bylined reports about an office “mired in turmoil and internal dissension” between longtime employees and new hires under Telles’ leadership. Following the stories, county officials hired a consultant to help oversee the office.

Telles blamed “old-timers” for exaggerating the extent of his relationship with a female staffer and falsely claiming that he mistreated them. He posted complaints on Twitter about German, saying he was a bully who was “obsessed” with him.

Telles ended up finishing last in the three-way primary and was serving out the remainder of his term at the time of the killing.

The articles “ruined his political career, likely his marriage, and this was him lashing out at the cause,” Chief Deputy Clark County District Attorney Richard Scow said Thursday.

German’s family called him “a loving and loyal brother, uncle and friend who devoted his life to his work exposing wrongdoing in Las Vegas and beyond.”

“We’re shocked, saddened and angry about his death,” they said in a statement. “Jeff was committed to seeking justice for others and would appreciate the hard work by local police and journalists in pursuing his killer. We look forward to seeing justice done in this case.”

___

Seewer reported from Toledo, Ohio

Oral herpes is about 5,000 years old, according to researchers


One of the samples of ancient herpes DNA came from a young adult male from the late 14th century, buried in the grounds of medieval Cambridge’s charitable hospital -- later to become St. John’s College -- who had suffered appalling dental abscesses. 

Photo by Craig Cessford/Cambridge Archaeological Unit

July 28 (UPI) -- A Cambridge University-led team of scientists has uncovered and sequenced ancient genomes of the herpes simplex virus that causes cold sores, dating it to about 5,000 years ago.

Roughly 3.7 billion people globally have HSV-1, or oral herpes, with most infections classified as mild or asymptomatic.

The study, published Wednesday in the journal Science Advances, said the oral herpes infection found in the ancient DNA may have arisen in conjunction with the then-new practice of romantic and sexual kissing.

The University of Cambridge's Dr. Christiana Scheib co-wrote the report.

"Every primate species has a form of herpes, so we assume it has been with us since our own species left Africa," study co-author Christiana Scheib said in a press release.

"However, something happened around five thousand years ago that allowed one strain of herpes to overtake all others, possibly an increase in transmissions, which could have been linked to kissing," Scheib said.

The oldest HSV-1 DNA sample was from an adult male in Russia dated to the late Iron Age, around 1500 years ago.

"By comparing ancient DNA with herpes samples from the 20th century, we were able to analyze the differences and estimate a mutation rate, and consequently a timeline for virus evolution," said study co-lead author Lucy van Dorp, a researcher at Cambridge Genetics Institute.

Remains found in British well provide insight into Ashkenazi genetic 'bottleneck'


Genome analysis of bodies found in a well in Norwich, England provided insight into the start of a genetic "bottleneck" brought on by a repaid shrinking in the population of Ashkenazi Jews. 

Photo by Rob Farrow/Geograph/Creative Commons

Aug. 30 (UPI) -- Genome analysis suggests that human remains recovered from a medieval burial site in Britain may provide insight into the rapid decrease of the population of Ashkenazi Jews, according to a study released Friday.

Researchers in Britain analyzed the DNA of 17 bodies found at the bottom of a medieval well in Norwich, Britain, and found that six of them had "strong genetic affinities with modern Ashkenazi Jews" and that they were likely victims of antisemitic violence during the 12th century, according to findings presented in the journal Current Biology.

"It's been over 12 years since we started looking into who these people are, and the technology finally caught up with our ambition," Ian Barnes, one of the coauthors of the study, told phys.org. "Our main job was to establish the identity of those individuals at the ethnic level."

Radiocarbon dating showed that the bodies were deposited between 1161 and 1216, which aligns with a time frame that includes a historically documented antisemitic massacre in Norwich in 1190.

Analysis of the individuals' DNA found that three were sisters -- one aged 5-10, one aged 10-15 and the third a young adult -- while at least one of the individuals was descended from a recent union between two close relatives.

The DNA analysis also indicated one body belonged to a child that may have been as old as 3 and had had blue eyes and red hair, with the latter associated with historical stereotypes of European Jews.

It further showed the victims were predisposed to genetic conditions that are prevalent in modern Ashkenazi Jews.

Scientists have speculated that an event between 500 and 800 years ago caused a dramatic decline in the Ashkenazi Jewish population, creating a "bottleneck" that can lead to an increase in the frequency of rare genetic variants.

Co-author Mark Thomas, however, said the presence of these genetic predispositions in 12th-century Jews would alter the current timeline.

"The bottleneck that drove up their frequency must be before the [Norwich individuals]," Thomas said. "That puts it back older than the vast majority of estimates of when that bottleneck occurred."

Following the discovery, the local community arranged a formal Jewish burial for the individuals.

"When you study ancient DNA from people who've died hundreds to thousands of years ago, you don't often get to work with a living community at the same time," Barnes said. "It's been really satisfying to work with this community on a story that's so important to them."

Wood company says one of its machines may have started deadly California wildfire

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The remains of multiple burned homes are seen in Weed, Calif., last Saturday, where the Mill Fire has burned about 4,000 acres and killed at least two people. Photo by Peter DaSilva/UPI | License Photo

Sept. 8 (UPI) -- A wood products company said that it's investigating the possibility that one of its machines sparked a deadly wildfire in Northern California that's charred 4,000 acres and killed at least two people.

The company, Roseburg Forest Products, said that its co-generation plant may have ignited the Mill Fire in the far northern part of the state last Friday. The blaze has destroyed more than 100 structures and killed two women.

Roseburg said the investigation centers on a machine at its Weed, Calif., plant that was used to cool ashes ejected from the co-generating electrical plant.

The plant produces its own electricity in a facility that's fueled by wood remnants, and a generator ejects ash after consuming the wood.

"That particular machine is perhaps the most likely candidate for what propelled or started the fire," company spokesman Pete Hillan said according to the Redding Record Searchlight.

"We're still investigating. We don't know that yet. But of all the things that were near where the fire appears to have started, that seems to be the most risky item."

Authorities said the Mill Fire in Siskiyou County, near the California-Oregon border, was about 75% contained by Thursday.


On Monday, the Siskiyou County Sheriff's Office said the two women, aged 66 and 73, died in Weed.

The Roseburg plant employs about 140 people. The Mill Fire destroyed two buildings in the back of its property, but most of the plant was not damaged and continues to be operational.

Canadian philanthropist donates $173M in Australia to fight next pandemic

Canadian philanthropist Geoffrey Cumming pledged a $171.4 million (AUD250 million) donation over 20 years to fund research meant to guard against future pandemics, the University of Melbourne announced in a release Wednesday. 

Photo courtesy of Alberta Business Hall of Fame

Aug. 31 (UPI) -- A philanthropist is donating around $171.4 million (AUD250 million) over 20 years to fund research meant to guard against future pandemics, the University of Melbourne announced in a release Wednesday.

Geoffrey Cumming, a Canadian and New Zealand citizen living in Melbourne made the donation to establish the new Cumming Global Centre for Pandemic Therapeutics. The center is being established as part of a new $445 million (AUD650 million) Australian Institute for Infectious Disease, in partnership with the university and the Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunit

The gesture is the largest philanthropic donation to medical research in Australia's history. The state government also contributed an additional $51 million (AUD75 million) toward the center.

Its goal is to develop technologies to quickly create antiviral treatments like monoclonal antibodies when new infectious diseases emerge. It is expected to open its doors in 2027

Enduring strict lockdowns at his home in New Zealand during the COVID-19 pandemic first inspired Cumming to make the donation.

"Many people may not appreciate just how significant the medical research community is here," he told The Age.

"The whole purpose here is to build resilience for the world community to build a second shield of protection."

Cumming said he chose Melbourne over two other candidates for the medical hub, Boston and London.



The center will focus on being able to rapidly respond to future pandemic

"It will enable the rapid design and testing of new therapeutics, and their delivery to the community within months of a pandemic outbreak," the university said in its statement.

"The development of new treatments has the potential to transform how the next outbreak is managed, but progress has traditionally lagged when compared to vaccines. Experience from other pandemics, including COVID-19, have shown that therapeutics are critically important in preventing the progression of infections to severe disease, and ultimately in saving lives."

Born in Ontario, Cumming made his fortune in the oil and gas sector. He previously made a $76 million donation (CAD100 million) to the University of Calgary, one of the largest in Canadian history.

Jeep unveils first all-electric SUVs, including Wrangler-inspired Recon

The Recon, Jeep said, was inspired by the legendary Wrangler, an off-road stalwart that's been in constant production in the United States since World War II. Photo courtesy Jeep/Stellantis

Sept. 8 (UPI) -- Jeep announced on Thursday that it's producing its first entirely electric vehicles and they will be available in the United States within three years -- including a new model that was inspired by the iconic Wrangler.

The automaker said there will be multiple new all-electric sport-utility vehicles by 2025 -- including the Grand Wagoneer, Avenger and Recon.

The Recon, Jeep said, was inspired by the legendary Wrangler, an off-road stalwart that's been in constant production in the United States since World War II.

All the vehicles are part of a comprehensive plan by Jeep to have EVs account for half of U.S. Jeep sales and all of European sales by 2030.

"This is a forward-thinking strategy to help ensure millions of Jeep fans around the world continue to have a planet to explore, embrace and protect," Jeep CEO Christian Meunier said in a statement.

Jeep is owned by Stellantis and said the new electric SUVs are part of the automaker's designs to produce vehicles that are more environmentally friendly. 

File Photo by Brian Kersey/UPI

"Electrification is great for our brand, making it even more capable, exciting, sustainable and fun."

The automaker said the Recon will be trail-rated and designed for drivers who love extreme adventures. It will be available with removable doors, like the Wrangler, and a power top.

The electric Grand Wagoneer, which will have an estimated range of 400 miles on a single charge, will have a whopping 600 horsepower.

The Avenger, an all-new Jeep that's smaller than its entry-level Renegade, will be available in Europe in 2023 and will debut at the Paris Auto Show next month. It will not be sold in the United States.

Jeep introduced its first hybrid vehicle, a Grand Cherokee, last year. On Thursday, it said those vehicles -- marked "4xe" -- will continue to be sold in North America and Europe.