DEMOCRACTIC ELECTIONS UNDER THREAT

A group of 110 OSCE parliamentarians will monitor the mid-term elections in the U.S.
Daniel Stewart - 
Some 110 members of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) from more than 30 countries will travel to the United States to monitor the mid-term elections scheduled for November 8.


U.S. President Joe Biden at an abortion rights rally ahead of the midterm elections. - Jordan Tovin/SOPA Images via ZUM / DPA© Provided by News 360

"Supported by some 30 staff members, the delegation of parliamentarians is the largest ever deployed. It will work closely with the OSCE's Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Mission, which consists of 40 long-term observers deployed throughout the country and 17 Washington-based experts," the organization said in a statement.

In this sense, the special coordinator of the OSCE short-term observation mission, Margareta Cederfelt, stressed that this initiative demonstrates its "strong commitment to help increase transparency and build confidence in the U.S. electoral system".

For his part, the head of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly mission, the Spaniard Pere Joan Pons, emphasized that the OSCE parliamentarians are "sensitive to issues of fairness and ensuring a level playing field for candidates".

"At the same time, as observers, we are impartial and assess elections solely on the basis of their adherence to a set of democratic standards that the United States and all OSCE countries have agreed to," he recalled.

Thus, the OSCE mission will be responsible for monitoring the campaign environment: the legal framework, election administration, new voting technologies, redistricting issues, election day procedures and media coverage.

These elections are of vital importance for the Democratic Party as they will condition its representation in the legislature. U.S. President Joe Biden stated on Sunday that this is not a referendum for his re-election, but a choice between "two very different visions for the country".

Currently, the Democrats have very slim majorities in both houses, while in the House of Representatives they have an advantage of only 10 seats over the Republicans, in the Senate they are equal with the conservative party, although they are favored by the casting vote of Kamala Harris as Speaker of the Upper House.

Three monkeys have been kidnapped and a huge ransom is demanded in return

Buzznews - 2h ago

Three baby chimpanzees have been abducted from a refuge in Congo, and the kidnappers are demanding $200,000 to free the apes they stole with (most likely) the help of people who work there.


Congo Monkeys© Facebook

There are reports that five accomplices and employees of the refuge are behind bars, but the kidnappers keep demanding an inordinate ransom to free the three chimpanzees.

The owners of the « JACK » shelter have no way of paying such an exorbitant sum, so negotiations with the criminals are continuing through the telephone company.

Via a Facebook video, one of the refuge’s owners, Franck Chantereau, said that what was happening to them is unprecedented in the world of great ape conservation. This refuge is experiencing a first, a monkey theft in return for a monstrous amount of money.

The three baby chimpanzees are named Monga, Caesar and Hussein, who were rescued from poaching and trafficking, and then cared for.

The three « brothers » have been filmed, in a more or less clean place, by the kidnappers.

MONGA, HUSSEIN & CÉSAR1 mois que vous nous avez été enlevés. Vous êtes sans cesse dans nos pensées et toujours dans nos coeurs. Nous ne vous oublions pas https://bit.ly/3CET18fHUSSEIN, MONGA & CÉSARIt's been 1 month that you have been taken away from us. You are constantly in our thoughts and always in our hearts. We don't forget about you https://bit.ly/3CGhc7f#chimpanzee #kidnapping #chimpnapping #trade #trafic #especemenacee #wildlifecrime #betheirvoice #love#givingdayforapes #security

Posted by JACK – Jeunes Animaux Confisqués au Katanga on Sunday, October 9, 2022

US and EU: Supporting Iranians demanding freedom is not a luxury

Opinion by Elliott Abrams and David J. Kramer, opinion contributors - Yesterday - The Hill

Iran and Russia — two repressive regimes with very few allies, both under major international sanctions — are now collaborating militarily. In response, the United States and Europe need to ramp up pressure against the Iranian regime and demonstrate clear support for the Iranian people.



Iran is providing Russia with armed “kamikaze” drones and personnel to train Russian soldiers to use them against Ukrainian civilians and civilian infrastructure. This support for Russian President Vladimir Putin’s brutal and unprovoked invasion of Ukraine makes Tehran willingly complicit in feeding Putin’s war crimes and crimes against humanity. It also heightens the danger the Iranian regime poses to Israel, the United States and the entire Persian Gulf region, its role as the leading state sponsor of terrorism, and its pursuit of nuclear weapons.

The United States and European Union, which already have severe sanctions on Russia for its invasion of Ukraine, should impose tighter sanctions on Iran for both the delivery of drones to Russia and the regime’s ugly use of deadly force against Iranian protestors following the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, who died in September after being detained by morality police. The EU has more leeway to impose such measures than the United States does. It enacted additional sanctions on Iranian officials and the manufacturer of the Shahed-136 drones that Iran has sold to Russia for use in Ukraine on Oct. 20, but it needs to do much more.

The way regimes treat their own people is often indicative of how they will act beyond their borders — and the regime in Tehran has abused the fundamental human rights of Iranians since coming to power in 1979. It has repeatedly and brutally put down protests, including the Green Movement in 2009 and now the recent protests in memory of Amini, who was arrested and detained for violating the regime’s severe dress code by not fully covering her hair. Eyewitnesses claim she was brutally beaten in prison.

Iran’s security services have injured and killed several hundred Iranians, including dozens of children, following protests against the country’s leaders, led by women and girls. More nationwide protests occurred on the 40th day after her death and were again suppressed violently. Such an ugly crackdown is not unusual for the regime, but it has not deterred brave Iranians from turning out into the streets to voice their opposition and frustration.

Still the brutality of the Iranian authorities is a reminder of their readiness to do whatever is necessary to hang onto power. That includes efforts to crush any demonstrations or labor strikes as well as a willingness to sell deadly weapons to their friends in Moscow. It should not shock the international community when the Iranian regime sides with Russia against Ukraine.

Neither Washington nor Brussels should let faint hopes of a new nuclear agreement get in the way of a proper and needed response. While Iran is supplying deadly weapons to Putin to use against Ukrainian civilians and that nation’s infrastructure, a nuclear agreement that would enrich Iran’s leaders with tens of billions of dollars in new revenue would reward such behavior.

For the last few decades, human rights issues in Iran have taken a back seat to nuclear and other “realpolitik” arguments. Support for the Iranian people was often viewed as a marginal issue — one that might interfere with far more serious concerns. During the Green Movement protests of 2009, the United States remained passive, leading demonstrators to hold up signs, in English, asking which side we were on. Former President Obama recently called his reaction at the time “a mistake.”

Indeed, it was. Nothing about Iran can be more “serious” than the Iranian people’s desire to rid themselves of their repressive regime. Moreover, compromises with the regime cannot resolve the dangers from Iran’s nuclear program, its support for terrorism, and, most recently, its military support for Putin. That requires the rise of a popular democratic movement in Iran to replace the Islamic Republic — one with a duly elected government that protects human rights and seeks to restore Iran to its proper place as a member of the international community.

Accordingly, our support for human rights and clear backing of the demonstrations and protests must be at the center of any serious approach to the dangers Iran presents today.

We should not leave today’s protestors in any doubt that we stand with them against their brutal oppressors. What started as a movement in support of Amini — with many brave Iranian women and girls publicly cutting their hair in solidarity and burning their headscarves — has morphed into a far larger push against the regime. It now involves all sections of Iran, geographically and socially.

This means the United States should be seeking all practical and peaceful means of helping the Iranian people. Together with allies, the United States should do more to enable broadcasting into Iran. We should try to ensure that information gets through — despite censorship and regime efforts to block access — working through Radio Farda (run by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty), Voice of America and other nations’ broadcasters and with private radio and television stations. We should be sure that our own government-supported stations are adequately financed and staffed and send a clear message in support of the fundamental rights of the Iranian people.

We should seek ways to reach the population through smartphone satellite technology to ensure internet access, especially as the regime seeks to control it. Given the centrality of the internet as a provider of information, we should be seeking to advance this technology as rapidly as possible.

The Iranian people need to know we are unambiguously with them in their pursuit of freedom and against the stifling regime that has threatened them and the globe for more than four decades. Just as the Ukrainian people must know that we are behind them.

And we cannot forget the lesson of Iran: support for a people demanding freedom is not a luxury. The goals of U.S. foreign policy in Iran will only be achieved when that hated regime is replaced by a government that reflects the Iranian people’s desire for peace, freedom and prosperity.

Elliott Abrams is senior fellow for Middle Eastern Studies at CFR and former special representative for Iran in the U.S. State Department (2020-21).

David J. Kramer is executive director of the George W. Bush Institute and a former assistant secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights & Labor in the George W. Bush administration.

Here's what the Day of the Dead means, and why it endures

Albinson Linares, Noticias Telemundo - 


MEXICO CITY — José García López was sweating profusely as he stirred a cauldron of boiling oil in which dozens of potatoes were swimming, though his mind, he said, was on something else.

“When I’m done I’m going to buy the paper and candles that I need; I can’t let my grandparents down,” he said Friday afternoon, referring to the decorations he's going to make to honor his deceased relatives, as he spoke on the sidewalk of the Panteón Francés de la Piedad, an old cemetery in Mexico City.

García López is a street vendor who, like millions of Mexicans inside and outside the country, was getting ready to celebrate Día de los Muertos, or the Day of the Dead, a holiday in which Indigenous and Catholic traditions blend to honor loved ones who have died.

"I like that Mexicans do not forget our dead. In that way we are different," he said. "We live here, while relatives remember us."

The idea is magical and powerful: celebrating the dead for a few days while their souls return to Earth to share with the living. Nov. 1 honors deceased children and Nov. 2 focuses on adults.



The© Claudio Cruz

"In Mexico, Nov. 1 and 2 are very special days because they celebrate All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day, respectively," said Diana Martínez, an academic at the Institute of Anthropological Research at the National Autonomous University of Mexico, or UNAM.

Día de los Muertos is celebrated not just across Mexico, but also in U.S. cities such as Los Angeles and New York, where large offerings, parades and cultural events are held. Countries like Spain, the Philippines, Brazil and Guatemala, among others, also have traditions to celebrate their deceased.

Both public places and homes are filled with altars or offerings to commemorate loved ones with their favorite things, and decorations include cempasúchil flowers (marigolds), paper cut-outs, candles, salt, water, chocolate, sugar skulls, pan de muerto (bread of the dead) and the favorite foods and liquor of the deceased.

"It is a purely Catholic tradition that the Spaniards bring to Mexico and merges with the entire worldview or form of Mesoamerican thought. It is a festival that gives us belonging and unites us," Martínez said.

Popular beliefs vary depending on the Mexican region. Apart from Nov. 1 and 2, Oct. 28 is celebrated for those who died tragically or accidentally, and Oct. 30 is dedicated to those who died without being baptized and are in limbo.

From the 11th century to 'Coco' and 'Spectre'

The festivity dates back to the 11th century, when the abbot of Cluny created a special day to honor believers who died when Christianity was still considered a sect and persecutions and executions were frequent. By the 13th century, the Roman Catholic Church established Nov. 1 as All Saints’ Day.

In Spain, "the kingdoms of León, Aragón and Castile prepared sweets and breads similar to relics, which are the remains or bones of saints," Martínez said.

This ritual was combined with ancient festivals related to the end of the rainy season, harvest and drought. "It is that duality of abundance and scarcity, of life and death," she said.

Since before Spaniards and Christianity came to Latin America, Indigenous groups such as the Nahuas established rites and festivals that celebrated the deceased, as is the case of Miccailhuitontli, the Aztec Festival of the Little Dead.


The 23rd Annual Dia De Los Muertos at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery on Oct. 29, 2022, in Hollywood, Calif. (Emma McIntyre / Getty Images)© Emma McIntyre

The ancient Mexicans considered death a transition, not the end of existence but the beginning of the journey to Mictlan, the place of eternal rest in Aztec mythology.

Following the Mexican Revolution and the first years of independence, what it meant to be Mexican was re-evaluated, Martínez said, and that promoted a series of traditions such as the Day of the Dead. In the 1930s, President Lázaro Cárdenas promoted the celebration, trying to distance it a little from the Catholic Church and emphasizing its Indigenous, pre-Hispanic roots.

In 2008, UNESCO declared Día de los Muertos an Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, and in recent years it has transcended borders, becoming a cultural phenomenon enhanced by movies such as Pixar's "Coco," which grossed more than $800 million worldwide.

The Day of the Dead was prominent in the memorable opening scene of the 2015 James Bond movie "Spectre," in which actor Daniel Craig seduces a catrina — the female skeleton — while running, jumping, shooting and exploding a building in the Historic Center of Mexico City during the Día de los Muertos parade.

It's a case in which reality imitates fiction because that parade had never been done, but now it's celebrated every year; in 2021 over 400,000 people participated.

"There are people who say that this is pure cultural marketing, but they don't understand that culture is culture because it changes, adapts and transforms," said Enrique Rodríguez Balam, a researcher at UNAM'S Peninsular Center for Humanities and Social Sciences in Mérida, Yucatán. "For me it is a triumph that this parade is popular and brings together thousands of people."

Altars, dancing, even cleaning bones

From Oct. 28, offerings begin to be made at altars, both public and private, and of all sizes. Although there are variations, there seems to be a consensus among experts about the shape of the altars: They are three steps or levels that, from bottom to top, represent the underworld, the earthly plane and the upper stage.

"Although it began with the saints and the faithful departed, now it has become popular to put movie stars, grandparents, saints and even pets," Martínez said. "In general, the offerings contain salt, water, copal (tree resin), candles, flowers, papel picado (paper cut-outs), skulls, photographs of loved ones and the deceased’s favorite dishes. Depending on the region there are changes. For example, in the Huasteca arches with flowers and fruits are placed that invite the dead to enter to the earthly world."

According to the National Institute of Indigenous Peoples, each element has a specific meaning.

Water is a symbol of life and is included so that the souls recover after their long journey. Since ancient times, salt has been an element of purification because, among other things, it helps prevent bodies from becoming corrupted.


The Day of the Dead parade on Oct. 30, 2022, in Brooklyn, N.Y. 

(Stephanie Keith / Getty Images)

The candles are light and guide the souls so they can return to their old places: The number of candles on the altar will depend on the souls that the family wants to receive. If the candles are placed in the shape of a cross, they represent the cardinal points so that souls can find their way home.

Copal or incense is used to cleanse places of evil spirits. In general, flowers adorn the room of the soul; marigolds are stripped in some places to make paths of petals and guide the deceased to the offering.

The izcuintle dog helps the souls to cross the powerful river before entering Mictlan. Bread is a Christian element that symbolizes "the Body of Christ," according to the Institute. Portraits of loved ones are the physical representation of those who are no longer on Earth, and their favorite dishes are also part of the celebration.

Some practices include making altars on tombstones. In some towns in Mexico there are dances with masks; it's believed that the souls of the dead temporarily take over the bodies of the living. In some towns in Guatemala, the celebrations lead to parties where people end up singing in cemeteries among the dead.

Few celebrations are as peculiar as those that take place in the Pomuch cemetery, in the Mexican state of Campeche, where the Cleaning of the Holy Remains takes place. In that town, the remains of loved ones rest in boxes at the cemetery and, every year, people gather to clean their relatives' bones.

'A beautiful tradition'

Mexican culture's fascination with and respect for death has been a recurring motif in the country’s literary tradition. Important writers such as José Revueltas, Carlos Fuentes, Octavio Paz and Juan Rulfo have reflected on this in their works.

"What is a fact is that the Mexican's obsession with mixing death with a celebration of rituals and daily life is something very much ours," Rodríguez Balam said, "and that is what draws attention in other parts of the world."




Raúl Flores, 57, is a gravedigger at the Panteón Francés de la Piedad cemetery. He lives among the bowels of the Earth where everything changes, even the notion of time — he measures time by how long it takes to dig pits.

“In this job we deal with so many things, and, in the end, death is something very, very common, right? It’s just one more step that all people, rich and poor, have to go through,” he said.

He's worked at the cemetery from a very young age and has witnessed many Día de los Muertos celebrations.

"It is a beautiful tradition, because people remember their grandparents, their parents, their brothers," he said. "It is not sad. Rather many times they look happy when they make the altars. People think that cemeteries are scary, but no. They are the quietest places."

West Bank militants threaten Israel, urge Palestinian leaders to join resistance as tensions rise

Sam Kiley - Yesterday - CNN


Four US-made M4 Carbine rifles lean against the back of the sofa. The young men, mostly dressed in black civilian clothes, are relaxed and chatty. Neighbors pop their heads in to say hello through a door open to the street.

'We are the resistance': CNN talks to Palestinian militant brigade in exclusive interview

Duration 4:13  View on Watch

Which is odd.

Because these men are being hunted, targeted for kill-or-capture in a new Israeli military campaign to try to stamp out a fast-growing armed insurrection in the north of the West Bank.

The six men sip tea. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) says it’s hunting them because they’re members of an armed militant group that’s planning more attacks against Israeli targets.

“Martyr posters” cover most of the back wall. Young men from the Jenin Brigade, most of them killed in fighting with Israeli troops, smile from their photographs at their living comrades across the room. The men now fiddling with their phones know they themselves may move from the sofa to that wall. An Israeli military strike team could attack at any time.



West Bank militants threaten Israel, urge Palestinian leaders to join resistance as tensions rise© Provided by CNNA shrine to the Palestinians who've been killed fighting Israel. For Israelis, this wall memorializes murderers. - Matthias Somm/CNN

This is Jenin Refugee Camp. It’s less than half a kilometer square, home to about 12,500 people and a hotbed of armed resistance against the Israeli occupation of the West Bank – and the existence of the Jewish state itself – for more than 20 years. Its tight alleys and ramshackle homes are densely packed, and crackle with tension.

At midday it’s shuttered while the neighboring town of Jenin is raucous with life. Locals say people mostly sleep during the day because at night there’s often fighting.

Earlier this year, eight Israeli civilians were killed in attacks in Tel Aviv and nearby Bnei B’rak by gunmen from around Jenin. Both of the militants in those incidents were killed.

There has been a surge in armed assaults on Israeli troops and civilians this year. According to the IDF, there have been around 180 shooting incidents in Israel and the occupied territories this year, compared to 61 shooting attacks in 2021. The Israeli military and police have seized 900 weapons from Palestinians.

Two days after we met, another Palestinian youth, aged 19 and a member of the Jenin Brigade’s militant armed group, was killed when Israeli forces stormed Jenin in an operation against the militants.

“Jenin is the hornets’ nest,” says IDF spokesman Lt. Col. Richard Hecht.

Growing anger with Palestinian Authority

Some of the M4 weapons cradled by the Palestinian militants have Hebrew etched onto them. “Senior Israeli commanders steal the weapons and they sell them. We buy them on the black market with money we raise ourselves,” claims a leader with the Jenin Brigade at our secret meeting in Jenin Refugee Camp.

In 2020 a report by Israel’s Knesset estimated that 400,000 illegal weapons were circulating in Israel. The IDF admits that weapons have been stolen but denies that “senior commanders” are likely to be involved.

Many, the IDF said, are smuggled into the West Bank. Hecht admits: “We’re putting a big effort into the connectivity between criminal gangs and terrorism.”

It’s been the bloodiest 10 months since 2015 – at least 131 Palestinians (not counting Gaza) and 21 Israelis or foreigners have been killed this year.

But there’s been a shift, too, not just in the level of armed attacks against Israeli targets and Israel’s campaigns – but a growing resentment towards the leadership of the Palestinian Authority (PA).

Indeed, the militants of the Jenin Brigade who sit in the shade of olive trees to hide from Israeli surveillance drones had a barely hidden threat to make against the PA.

“This is a message to the Palestinian leadership: if they believe in the will of the Palestinian people, they have to join the resistance and give the resistance fighters the freedom to defend and protect our people,” says the man who leads this delegation of fighters.



West Bank militants threaten Israel and warn their own leaders as tensions rise© Provided by CNNSome of the weapons cradled by the Palestinian militants have Hebrew etched onto them. - Matthias Somm/CNN

Without explicitly threatening the PA leadership, he said that it was hemorrhaging support even among the ranks of its own security forces. Numerous members of the PA’s police force and other security agencies have been involved in attacking Israeli forces, he said.

Under agreements signed with Israel under the so-called Oslo peace process, the PA is supposed to cooperate on security issues with Israel.

Many other Palestinian factions condemn this as “collaboration” and, according to officials in the Israeli military, security cooperation has almost broken down in the north of the West Bank, especially around Jenin and nearby Nablus.

In 1999, members of Fatah, the main group in the Palestine Liberation Movement which still dominates the PA, were beginning to condemn their own leader openly. Back then that was Yasser Arafat – who had led the Palestinian cause for years.

Arafat’s successor at the head of the PA is Mahmoud Abbas, known as Abu Mazen. At 87 his grip has slipped and a growing level of defiance against all that his authority has apparently failed to achieve is driving opposition in the West Bank.

The Jenin Brigade’s demands of the Palestinian Authority to join a new fight last week prompted PA Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh to visit Jenin Camp.

He stood next to Fathi Hazem, the father of two sons killed by Israel – one who murdered three Israelis in Tel Aviv in a shooting attack at a bar. Both had been members of the Jenin Brigade.

No hope of a ‘dignified life’

Whether out of choice or a need for political survival, the PA’s “security cooperation” with the Israelis in the north of the West Bank has dwindled to almost nothing, an Israeli government official said.

This may be because any attempt to do so risks igniting a civil war between Palestinian militants and the Palestinian Authority.

The apparently unstoppable march of Israeli settlements into the West Bank, while peace talks with Israel have ceased, means that many Palestinians have no real hope of an independent or even prosperous future. This has provoked more violence.

On that, both the IDF spokesman and the fighters in Jenin Camp agree.

On the Israeli side, Lt. Col. Hecht, a former battalion commander says, “They’re frustrated and disaffiliated and they are saying to all the organized Palestinian groups and the PA, ‘we have had enough of you all – we’re sons of the Camp.’ They don’t identify with the five-star leadership of the PA in their fancy hotels around the world. They’re now saying we’re fighting for their manhood.”

And in the West Bank, the Jenin Brigade leader concurs: “All Palestinian people – as a result of the [Israeli] occupation’s daily violations, and invasions, and the formation of many extreme right-wing governments [in Israel] that weakened the PA and its organizations and leadership – have lost trust in all of the PA organizations.”



West Bank militants threaten Israel and warn their own leaders as tensions rise© Provided by CNNThese men are being hunted by Israel, they say, for being armed and affiliated with militant groups. - Matthias Somm/CNN

“Most of our Palestinian youth that fight and are martyred have a university or college degree. They’ve lost hope of a dignified life,” he adds.

But, we asked, given that during the last 20 years, the Israelis have got more settlements, and there has been no progress to independence from the Palestinian perspective, maybe a new path should be found? Isn’t it time to put down your weapons and switch to non-violent protest?

He replies: “The occupation killed off all of the peaceful solutions, and here, on this land, there is no place for peaceful solutions with this Zionist Israeli occupation.”

Asked if they are of the view that the Jewish state should be wiped out, he replies: “All armed factions and every militant does not believe in a two-state solution because this occupation did not, and will not, respect any peaceful agreement. I repeat this again, those [Israeli governments] are criminal gangs.”

Does this mean that the two sides are stuck in a fatal embrace? “We always aim for victory, and not death. This occupation is sending messages to the international community that we are terrorists. We are not terrorists, we are resistance fighters for freedom,” the commander replies.

But he agrees there are more young men flocking to the armed groups and setting up on their own.

Fast-growing threat

In Nablus, a group known as the “Lion’s Den” is growing fast, outside the control of the PA or even Hamas or Islamic Jihad.

According to the IDF, “they think up a target and then go and ask funding from Hamas or Islamic Jihad but they don’t take orders from anyone.” Israeli forces are intent on trying to break up these armed groups and reduce the threat to Israel, Hecht says.

“We’re very focused on precise intelligence: we’re trying to contain it when we see ticking bombs, the movement of weapons, rhetoric and warnings online – then we move to stop it,” he adds.

On Tuesday, joint Israeli security forces raided Nablus, targeting what they said was the leadership of the Lion’s Den and an explosives factory. At least five Palestinian men were killed in the raid.

In Jenin, the Palestinian brigade commander talks of plans for operations with militants across the West Bank and abroad that would “spark a regional war” that would come out of the camp.

But the more the conflict grows and the bloodier it gets, the greater the chance of the Palestinian Authority being sucked into direct conflict with Israel – or that the PA leadership which governs most of the 3.1 million population, dissolves itself. The latter possibility is the outcome Israel most fears.

If the Palestinian leadership in the PA disbanded and returned to full-time resistance across the whole of the West Bank, Israel would have to physically police the whole region – and pay for it.

“The PA collapsing or dissolving is the biggest threat. Having us go back into the towns would be a living nightmare,” says the Israeli government official.

This would turn the clock back to the days before the Oslo peace process. To when Palestinian groups ran a worldwide violent campaign, including terrorist attacks, in the name of freedom. To when Israel was largely isolated internationally – and had to use its own money to fund its responsibilities to Palestinians living under its occupation.

That may be exactly what the Jenin Brigade and others may be hoping for.

The headline on this story has been updated to better characterize a comment made by a militant leader.

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BRAUN: Putin's Russia wages war on its LGBTQ citizens

Liz Braun - Yesterday -  Toronto Sun

Let it never be said that “traditional family values” is an innocent term.

While America tries to turn back time over abortion rights, Russia has redoubled its efforts to blame the LGBTQ community for almost everything — even war.

The notion of traditional values is part of a smokescreen used by Russian state media to depict the gay community as a threat to the very fibre of what it means to be Russian.

The country is loudly homophobic, but things are so bad lately that an anti-gay stance was key to selling the war in Ukraine.

A recent article in the academic journal, The Conversation Canada, outline how the state and the Russian Orthodox Church have made LGBTQ activism the ultimate symbol of western corruption.

Carlton University professor Richard Foltz, in the article Homophobia as a wartime marketing tool: Some Russians fear the West will make them gay , wrote about the 2013 Russian legislation that banned anything that could be seen as promoting gay rights to children.

That law was described by Human Rights Watch as a “classic example of political homophobia” for “political gain.”

Now the law is a bout to be expanded, Foltz wrote, “to anything construed as presenting information about homosexuality and would apply to all ages.”

(As the Russian Book Union recently noted, this could mean the banning of classics by Tolstoy and Dostoevsky, among others — bit of a problem.)

The LGBTQ community has been a useful target for 10 years in the state’s attempt to separate Russia — conservative and family oriented — from the perverse and hedonistic West.

According to foreign policy.com , this has become a matter of national security in Russia. Anyone who does not conform to ideas of heterosexual family norms is a threat.

The anti-gay agenda in Russia has fuelled a big increase in hate crimes and is just part of a larger hate campaign the state appears to be waging.

Both President Vladimir Putin and Russian Orthodox Church leader Patriarch Kirill have presented the invasion of Ukraine as a form of holy resistance against the LGBTQ — people they claim are representative of failed Western morals.

It all sounds frankly bizarre — except that, as foreignpolicy.com wrotes , Russia’s attacks on the rights of LGBTQ citizens is approved of by Christian conservative groups in the U.S. and elsewhere. Hungary has passed a similar gay propaganda law, while Romania and Poland are thinking it over.

Moreover, as Foltz stated, using LGBTQ issues to win support for the invasion of Ukraine means Russia has a lot in common with the Republican Party in the U.S. “and their cynical exploitation of the abortion debate and other social issues.

“In both cases,” Foltz wrote, “a deliberate policy of inflaming the ignorant and irrational passions of broad segments of the population appears to have great success in stifling science and rational discourse — along with any level of human compassion.”

(Canada is not immune from such “deliberate policies” — as with Pierre Poilievre purposely using his videos to appeal to far-right, misogynistic online movements.)

Earlier this year, NBC reported on the massive donations to 11 American nonprofits identified by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) as anti-LGBTQ+ hate groups.

Some of the groups assert that, “LGBTQ people are a threat to society itself,” and some justify violence against the community.

The common thread in all this is how hate translates into political power.

If the Parental Rights in Education bill — Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” bill — is signed into law, it would prohibit “classroom discussion about sexual orientation or gender identity” in the state’s primary schools.

Sounds just like that repressive anti-gay Russian legislation of 2013.

30 people rescued after being trapped in Malaysian cave

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — About 30 members of a film crew who were trapped in a limestone cave in northern Malaysia during heavy rain Wednesday have been rescued, police said.


30 people rescued after being trapped in Malaysian cave© Provided by The Canadian Press

Two police officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to release information, confirmed that all of the people trapped in Tempurung Cave in Kampar district in Perak state were safely evacuated. They couldn't give further details.

Perak police chief Mohamad Yusri Hassan Basri was quoted by the Utusan Malaysia newspaper as saying that the people were trapped when water level near the cave's exit rose to about 1.5 meters (5 feet) due to heavy rains.

He said those trapped were members of a film crew from a Singaporean production company who were shooting at the location. He said there were a total of 80 crew members but most managed to escape except for 30 people, including local people and Singaporeans.

“All the trapped crew were rescued and taken out of the area" two hours after authorities were notified, he was quoted as saying. He said no injuries were reported.

Tempurung Cave, a spectacular network of chambers more than three kilometers (1.8 miles) long, is believed to be the longest and largest limestone cave in peninsular Malaysia. It is a popular tourist attraction, with sections developed with walkways and lighting.

The Associated Press

Survey finds thriving online market for Indonesian birds in Philippines

Mongabay - Wednesday
By Danielle Keeton-Olsen

Survey finds thriving online market for Indonesian birds in Philippines© Mongabay

Protected by law but threatened by trade, rare and endangered parrots native to Indonesia are frequently sold via Facebook in the Philippines, a new survey has found.

The analysis of online sales, government seizures and trade data compiled by the U.K.-based wildlife trade watchdog TRAFFIC indicates strong market demand in the Philippines for birds native to Indonesia.

Though officials have stepped up seizures, researchers say regulation of online sales remains absent or inconsistent, and warn that poached birds could potentially be sold from the Philippines to other countries.

Researchers surveyed 20 Facebook groups known to sell wild birds between January 2018 and December 2019, finding 501 posts by vendors in the Philippines selling a total 841 birds native to Indonesia. These species, which aren’t found in the Philippines, were mostly native to the eastern Indonesian islands of Papua and the Wallacea biodiversity hotspot.

Researchers identified 25 different species of birds from the posts, 24 of which were regulated by CITES, the global convention on the wildlife trade.



Survey finds thriving online market for Indonesian birds in Philippines© Mongabay

Serene Chng, one of the report’s authors, said researchers scanned sales posts for visual indications that the birds had been caught in the wild: birds that appeared injured or had missing feathers from being caught, or lacked tags used by captive breeders like microchips or closed rings around their legs. More than half of the posts analyzed advertised birds the researchers suspected were wild-caught.

The most common bird found among the trading posts was Eclectus roratus or the eclectus parrot, with 281 birds found for sale, followed by the sulfur-crested cockatoo (Cacatua galerita, 152 found) and the white cockatoo (Cacatua alba, 80), which is an endangered species.

“These three species, they’re not considered difficult to breed in captivity,” Chng said. “But nonetheless they ultimately continue to be poached from the wild for trade because there’s continued evidence, records of them being poached from the wild, there’s declining wild populations and confiscation from smuggling attempts so we do know that in addition to birds that are bred there’s continuous offtake from the wild.”



Survey finds thriving online market for Indonesian birds in Philippines© Mongabay

An analysis of online sales, government seizures and trade data compiled by wildlife trade monitor TRAFFIC found evidence that birds are being sold online in the Philippines, including species regulated by CITES. Images courtesy of TRAFFIC.

Trade networks

Prior to publishing the report, the researchers notified Facebook of the 20 groups that displayed offers for allegedly wild-caught birds. While Facebook removed the 20 groups, TRAFFIC noted that it had found 144 new groups selling birds as of January 2022.

Chng said this is an example of a consistent pattern: researchers from groups like TRAFFIC will alert Facebook or other platforms about illicit sales and the groups will disappear, only for others to pop up in their place later on. Though repetitive, she said, the effort of constantly reporting this activity effectively discourages smaller sellers.

“In established groups that have been there for a while, there’s more opportunities for stronger trader-seller connections to be formed because they have their own network and they’re maintained, but when these [networks] are disrupted … these can take time to be reestablished,” she said.

Boyd Leupen, a program officer for the Monitor Conservation Research Society who has studied Indonesia’s domestic bird trade, says the international sales of birds is a fraction of the local demand. This, he says, could be because the Philippines has domestic songbird populations that would satisfy the market, while Indonesia “has a unique songbird-keeping culture, which may be less present in the [Philippines].”

“Whereas parrots make up 99% of the trade in the [Philippines] report, they are a minority in the [Indonesian] domestic market where their trade numbers are dwarfed by those of songbirds (Passeriformes),” he said, adding that parrots are also in demand internationally.

Though he hasn’t conducted on-the-ground market studies in Indonesia since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, Leupen noted an increase in the online domestic trade of songbirds. He pointed to a recent survey that scraped more than 100,000 online sale posts to find 247 different species of songbird for sale in Indonesia’s domestic market between April 2020 and June 2021.



Survey finds thriving online market for Indonesian birds in Philippines© Mongabay

Leupen noted that trade in songbirds and in parrots appear to be largely separate, but both indicate a need for stronger enforcement.

“In 2018 the [Indonesian] Government revised the protected species list, adding many bird species, which could be seen as an effort to better regulate trade,” he wrote. “However, bird trade in [Indonesia] is so culturally entrenched that illegal or unsustainable trade are often not an enforcement priority.”

Chng also emphasized the need for tighter enforcement, noting that while seizures by authorities in the Philippines and Indonesia are increasing, the unofficial trade continues to flourish.

The TRAFFIC report also compared trade data from the Philippine government and other countries, noting that the Philippines reported exports of 1,034 birds of 21 species between 1979 and 2019, but other countries reported receiving eight times that total. And while the country already has legislation banning trade of wildlife from any seller without a permit, the report found exports of six bird species listed under CITES Appendix I, for which commercial trade is prohibited, and for which there are no approved export facilities in the Philippines.

One potential solution Chng recommended is to hold regular inspections of licensed breeding facilities, adding this is an issue globally.

“There’s so many examples of registered breeding facilities that are not actually breeding birds or any other type of animal,” she said. “They are taking animals from the wild and they’re holding them, selling them and passing them off as captive bred.”

An independent inspector, she added, “can have a look at [a] place and say there’s no way there’s breeding going on here.”

Related reading:

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‘It’s just a bird’: Online platforms selling lesser-known Indonesian species

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Banner image: Feral Moluccan cockatoo in the Philippines’ Parañaque City, Luzon Island. Image © Reynaldo Cruz.

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This article was originally published on Mongabay

NWT government releases archival data from residential schools

Friday

On Wednesday, the territorial government released a report containing a complete list of all residential schools, day schools, and residences in the Northwest Territories from 1862 to 2021.

Drawing from government records, historical accounts, news reports, academic theses, and monographs sourced through the NWT Archives, the report is intended to help provide clarity to researchers, former students, and families who have questions about the history of residential schools in the Northwest Territories.

“The NWT had a far higher percentage of Indigenous people attend residential schools than anywhere else in Canada," said RJ Simpson, minister of education, culture and employment, in a news release.

"To help support the work of reconciliation and healing, the GNWT has examined its own files to identify any information it has that can help communities study and document their own residential school history. This report is a resource for communities wishing to undertake residential school research.”

The report focuses specifically on administrative data, and contains a chronological timeline of schools in each community in the NWT, a brief history of each, and how the institutions received funding. It also notes whether the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation has listed any deceased students that went to the school, and which organizations were responsible for running the schools.

The GNWT provided first access to the report to Indigenous governments through the Council of Leaders – a group of Indigenous leaders and territorial government leaders – before releasing it to the public.

"By working with Indigenous leadership as part of the Council of Leaders we are committed to providing support however we can," said Premier Caroline Cochrane. "There is a great deal of work that remains to address reconciliation in the Northwest Territories and Canada, and we continue to move forward. And while it will be long, and at times difficult, we are committed every step of the way."

The report also contains references and guidelines to aid further study.

"I know that for many people in the territory, this is not history – it is lived experience," said Simpson.

Former residential school students can call 1 (866) 925-4419 for emotional crisis referral services and information on other health supports from the Government of Canada.

The Hope for Wellness Help Line is also available to survivors 24 hours a day, 7 days a week for counselling and for anyone in crisis. Call the toll-free Help Line at 1 (855) 242-3310 or connect to the online chat.

Caitrin Pilkington, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Cabin Radio

Parliament Hill language interpreter sent to hospital, union blames lax headset rules

OTTAWA — A parliamentary interpreter was sent to the hospital during a Senate committee meeting last Thursday, and a union blames that on a lax approach to wearing headsets during video conferencing.

"I was astonished, because it should just not be happening," Public Services and Procurement Minister Helena Jaczek said.

At the Senate environment committee on Oct. 20, two witnesses testified over video conference with poor sound quality, and did not wear the recommended headphones with a microphone wand.

The meeting's chair, Sen. Paul Massicotte, opened the meeting cautioning that it might need to be paused.

"I must note that our two witnesses have forgotten or misplaced their headsets. We'll try doing it without the headsets, and hope it won't be too difficult for our interpreters," he said in French.

The first witness wore headphones while the second wore earbuds. During questions from senators, a buzz could be heard as the first witness spoke, similar to a smartphone vibrating on a table.

As the second witness answered questions from senators, there was a sudden moment of loud feedback.

The French interpretation briefly stopped at that point, with another voice taking over.

The Canadian Association of Professional Employees said the interpreter, a freelancer who is not amember of their union, was sent to hospital in an ambulance after experiencing severe symptoms and collapsing.

The union said that is due to an acoustic shock, which is when inner ear muscles are startled by sudden noises, such as someone tapping a microphone or suddenly speaking much louder than the rest of their remarks.

The meeting should have been stopped, the union argued, instead of proceeding with witnesses using inadequate equipment.

The union is calling for an independent investigation with public reporting of the results, and for all meetings to be suspended if Ottawa can't guarantee interpreters' safety.

In an interview, Jaczeksaid she was not sure if her department was conducting a probe but that the "entirely preventable" incident merited followup.

"The rules are that nobody should be speaking without using the approved headset," said Jaczek, who oversees the translation bureau.

"Whether it's the House of Commons or the Senate, I would have thought that those rules were clear."

Her department and Senate administration did not have an immediate comment.

The Canadian branch of the International Association of Conference Interpreters says that even brief noises can be loud enough to create concussion-like symptoms, loud ringing in the ears or vertigo.

Experts have testified to Parliament that the staff who translate meetings between English and French are getting injured because they are straining to hear some voices and are exposed to sudden noises.

So many interpreters have been placed on injury leave that the department has hired contract workers, to make up for the staff shortages.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 25, 2022.

Dylan Robertson, The Canadian Press