Sudan clashes kill at least 25 in power struggle between army, paramilitaries

2023/04/15


By Khalid Abdelaziz and Nafisa Eltahir

KHARTOUM (Reuters) -Clashes between Sudan's main paramilitary group and the armed forces on Saturday killed at least 25 people, a doctors' group said, in an apparent struggle for control amid the country's halting moves toward elections after a military coup.

The Sudanese Doctors' Union said 183 people were wounded in fighting between the military and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF). It was unclear whether the victims were civilians.

The group said it recorded deaths at Khartoum's airport and the nearby city of Omdurman as well as in the cities of Nyala, El Obeid and El Fasher, which are west of the capital Khartoum.

The paramilitary RSF claimed to have seized the presidential palace, army chief's residence, state television station and airports in Khartoum, the northern city of Merowe, El Fasher and West Darfur state. The army rejected those assertions.

The Sudanese air force late on Saturday told people to stay indoors while it conducted what it called an aerial survey of RSF activity, and a holiday was declared in Khartoum state for Sunday, closing schools, banks and government offices.

Gunfire and explosions could be heard across the capital, where TV footage showed smoke rising from several districts and social media videos captured military jets flying low over the city. Eyewitnesses reported shooting in adjoining cities.

A Reuters journalist saw cannon and armoured vehicles deployed on the capital's streets and heard heavy weapons fire near the headquarters of both the army and RSF.

Army chief General Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan told Al Jazeera TV the RSF should back down: "We think if they are wise they will turn back their troops that came into Khartoum. But if it continues we will have to deploy troops into Khartoum from other areas."

The armed forces said on Facebook it would not negotiate with the RSF unless the paramilitary force dissolved. The army told soldiers seconded to the RSF to report to nearby army units, which could deplete RSF ranks if they obey.

The RSF leader, General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, better known as Hemedti, called Burhan a "criminal" and a "liar". The military and RSF, which analysts say is 100,000 strong, have been competing for power as political factions negotiate forming a transitional government.

"We know where you are hiding and we will get to you and hand you over to justice, or you die just like any other dog," he said in an interview with the station.

A prolonged confrontation between the RSF and army could plunge Sudan into widespread conflict as it struggles with economic breakdown and tribal violence, and could also derail efforts to move towards elections.

The clashes follow rising tensions over the RSF's integration into the military. The disagreement has delayed the signing an internationally backed agreement with political parties on a transition to democracy.

A coalition of civilian groups that signed a draft version of that agreement in December called on Saturday for an immediate halt to hostilities, to stop Sudan sliding towards "the precipice of total collapse".

"This is a pivotal moment in the history of our country," they said in a statement. "This is a war that no one will win, and that will destroy our country forever."

The RSF accused the army of carrying out a plot by loyalists of former strongman President Omar Hassan al-Bashir - who was ousted in a coup in 2019 - and attempting a coup itself. A 2021 coup ousted the country's civilian prime minister.

RSF SAYS EGYPTIAN TROOPS SAFE

Eyewitnesses reported fighting in many areas outside the capital. Those included heavy exchanges of gunfire in Merowe, northern Sudan, eyewitnesses told Reuters.

The RSF shared a video that it said showed Egyptian troops who "surrendered" to them in Merowe. Egypt's military said the troops were in Sudan for exercises with their Sudanese counterparts.

Hemedti told Sky News Arabia the Egyptians were safe and the RSF would cooperate with Cairo on their return.

The video showed men dressed in army fatigues crouched on the ground and speaking to RSF members in an Egyptian Arabic dialect. Unconfirmed reports by open-source intelligence analysts said several Egyptian Air Force fighter planes and their pilots were captured by the RSF along with Sudanese weapons and military vehicles.

Clashes also erupted between the RSF and army in the Darfur cities of El Fasher and Nyala, eyewitnesses said.

International powers - the U.S., Russia, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the United Nations, the European Union and the African Union - all called for an immediate end to the hostilities.

After a phone call, the Saudi, U.S. and UAE foreign ministers called for a return to the framework agreement on the transition to democracy, the Saudi state news agency reported.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres spoke with Burhan and Hemedti, according to Guterres' spokesperson, and appealed for a return to dialogue. Guterres also spoke with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, Egypt's presidency said.

Chad closed its border with Sudan while Ethiopia and Kenya called for restraint.

A Saudi Arabian airlines plane came under fire at Khartoum airport and the carrier suspended flights to and from Sudan, the state-owned airline said. Egypt's national airline, Egyptair, said it was suspending flights to Khartoum for 72 hours. Social media video showed frightened passengers cowering on the floor of Khartoum airport and a destroyed U.N. aircraft on the tarmac.

(Reporting by Khalid Abdelaziz in Khartoum and Nafisa Eltahir in Cairo; Writing by Nafisa Eltahir, Michael Georgy, Giles Elgood and Cynthia Osterman; Editing by Alex Richardson, Jan Harvey, Frances Kerry and Daniel Wallis)



© Reuters

Clashes escalate across Sudan between army, paramilitaries

Issued on: 15/04/2023 -

Regional France 24 Correspondant Bastien Renouil reports that fighting between the Sudanese army and paramilitaries is still ongoing in Khartoum and several major cities. Conflicting information is also being reported. However, Renouil is able to confirm that the airstrip at Khartoum airport saw heavy fighting, several civilians have been killed with dozens injured and there have been clashes at the presidential palace, amongst other things. 

 

03:27

Mars CEO sees 'moral' duty in tackling climate change

Marie-Morgane LE MOEL
Fri, April 14, 2023 


The new chief executive of Mars, maker of M&M's sweets, chewing gum and pet food, says companies have a "moral" duty to reduce their environmental footprint as the world battles climate change.

Poul Weihrauch, a Dane who took the reins of the US-based group in September, acknowledges that the food industry has a big impact on the environment, with its plastic wrappers and its contribution to deforestation and carbon emissions.

Big companies have a "massive opportunity" to have an impact against climate change, Weihrauch told AFP.

"It's an important area of development for Mars to be known for changing the curve and not only talk about it," he said in an interview in Paris.

The family-owned multinational, whose brands include the Mars and Snickers chocolate bars, Pedigree pet food and Wrigley's chewing gum, aims to reach net-zero emissions by 2050.

The century-old company, whose businesses include pet care veterinary clinics, has invested $1.1 billion in striving to achieve that target since 2020 and plans to double the amount in the next three years.

"In the food (industry) there are thousands of ingredients that are being worked on," Weihrauch said.

"Today, some of them are not better from a carbon point of view. Some of them may have health issues. So it's a long development. It's just the start but it's going to explode with new innovative solutions," he added.

- 'Profit and purpose' -

Mars' investments include using wind power for its veterinary clinics, ensuring a more sustainable cocoa supply and finding new packaging for thousands of products.

"We have a moral obligation to invest in these areas and carbon solutions," Weihrauch said.

Instead of extracting oil from palm trees, companies can use algae, "which has a much better carbon neutrality", he said.

"When you design pet food, there's a huge carbon footprint difference between having lamb in the recipe or having beef. So our food designers need to take every single ingredient that goes into a food product and redesign it."

CDP, a non-profit organisation that tracks and rates the climate pledges of companies, gave Mars an "A" for its climate change efforts in 2022 and an A-minus for its forests programmes, including on palm oil.

A company must have a strong financial foundation to be able to invest in sustainability, Weihrauch said.

"We don't believe that profit and purpose don't work hand in hand. They do. Unless you grow a healthy company you won't make a difference," he said.

The company has diversified its business since the beginning.

In a major move, Mars acquired veterinary clinics group VCA for $9 billion in 2017. A year later, it took over another pet care firm, Europe's AniCura.

- 'Fantastic' M&M's campaign -

The company's pet care division now accounts for 60 percent of Mars' overall sales, or just under $50 billion last year.

The sector is expected to grow by eight percent annually in the United States over the next seven years, according to Morgan Stanley.

Speaking at the Royal Canin flagship shop in Paris, Weihrauch said Mars was not going to abandon its sweets business.

"The world would be a pretty boring place without chocolate," he said.

He also defended an M&M's publicity campaign that courted controversy in the United States.

The brand introduced a new "spokescandy", Purple, calling the addition a symbol of "acceptance and inclusivity". The colour is often associated with the LGBTQ community.

Right-wing Fox News commentator Tucker Carlson criticised M&M's as "woke" and the company said in January it was pausing the ad campaign.

"We made a fantastic campaign," Weihrauch said, adding that it "did a lot of good for the brand".

AS IT HAPPENED

Fresh protests across France as Constitutional Council largely upholds Macron's pension reform

Issued on: 14/04/2023

Demonstrators protest outside the Paris town hall, Friday, April 14, 2023 in Paris. 

© Lewis Joly, AP

Text by: FRANCE 24

The French constitutional court on Friday approved the key elements of President Emmanuel Macron's controversial pension reform while rejecting certain parts of the legislation. Pushing the legal age for drawing a full pension from 62 to 64, the legislation is deeply unpopular in France and has triggered months of mass protests. Follow our blog to see how the day's events unfolded. All times are Paris time (GMT+2)

France's constitutional court on Friday approved the key elements of President Emmanuel Macron's pension reform, paving the way for him to implement the unpopular changes that have sparked months of protests and strikes.

The nine-member Constitutional Council ruled in favour of key provisions, including raising the retirement age to 64 from 62, judging the legislation to be in accordance with the law.

Six minor proposals were rejected, including efforts to force large companies to publish data on how many people over 55 they employ, and a separate idea to create a special contract for older workers.

The decision represents a victory for Macron, but analysts say it has come at a major personal cost for the 45-year-old while causing months of disruption for the country with sometimes violent protests that have left hundreds injured.

This live blog is no longer being updated. For more of our coverage on France's pension reform, please click here.

10:20pm: Police station entrance set on fire in Western city of Rennes

In the western city of Rennes, protesters set fire to the entrance of a police station, while other fires were also started in the city.

"The attacks in Rennes against a police station and the Couvent des Jacobins, by vandals determined to fight it out are unacceptable," tweeted Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin.

9:20pm: Unions call for mass new protests on May 1

As tensions mounted in the hours before the Constitutional Council's decision, Macron invited labour unions to meet with him on Tuesday no matter what the decision was, his office said. The unions rejected Macron’s invitation, noting that he had refused their previous offers of a meeting, and called for mass new protests on May 1, International Workers Day.

The CGT union's new leader Sophie Binet called for a "popular and historic tidal wave" of people on the streets to oppose the reforms on May 1, and the labour unions issued a press release calling for protests.

9:01pm: Clashes in western city of Nantes and in southeastern city of Lyon

Protests rallying hundreds have erupted in other cities besides Paris, including Marseille and Toulouse. Clashes broke out in the Western city of Nantes after protests in reaction to the decision of the Constitutional Council. According to local newspaper Ouest France, the police used water cannons to prevent demonstrators from reaching the local town hall. A fire was set in an underground car park.

According to Reuters, police also used tear gas against protesters in Lyon, France’s third biggest city, located in the southeast.

8:35pm: Police and demonstrators clash among burned trash bins

According to local newspaper Le Parisien, spontaneous demonstrations are currently taking place across France. In Paris itself, police and protesters have been clashing since the announcement of the Constitutional Council decision, especially near the Place de la Bastille.

Some burned trash bins as they marched through Paris, singing a chant popular with anti-Macron protesters: "We are here, we are here, even if Macron does not want it, we are here."

Thousands of protesters gathered outside Paris city hall and booed the court decision. Some then marched through the city centre. Bikes, e-scooters and garbage were set on fire as police in body armour brandishing truncheons stopped protesters from advancing further, AFP correspondents said.

Tensions are still growing between authorities and demonstrators. The much-criticised motored police section has started intervening, according to Le Parisien.
8:05pm: French unions urge Macron not to sign pensions reform into law

French trade unions urged President Emmanuel Macron on Friday not to sign his pensions reform into law in a last-ditch attempt to prevent the retirement age from rising to 64.

"Given the massive (public) rejection of this reform, the unions request him solemnly to not promulgate this law, the only way to calm the anger which is being expressed in the country," said a joint statement sent to the AFP news agency.

7:35pm: Massive police presence guarding Constitutional Council and Elysee Palace neighbourhood

According to FRANCE 24's Olivia Bizot, reporting from the Constitutional Council building, large numbers of riot police have been guarding the neighbourhood since the early hours on Friday. The presidential Elysee palace is also located nearby.

01:50

7:04pm: French PM Borne says 'there is no winner, no loser' after ruling

France's Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne said on Twitter: "The Constitutional Council has ruled...that the reform is in line with our constitution. The text arrives at the end of its democratic process. Tonight there is no winner, no loser."
7:00pm: Labour Minister sets September 1 date for reform's implementation

"The Labour Ministry and the pension system will work hard to make sure this reform is implemented on September 1," French Labour Minister Olivier Dussopt said on Twitter.

6:50: Right-wing opposition LR leader urges 'political forces' to 'accept' the reform, Socialist leader says 'the fight will take other forms'

Right-wing party Les Republicains leader Eric Ciotti tweeted that "The Constitutional Council has issued its ruling. All political forces must accept it and show respect for our institutions."

Talking to reporters, opposition Socialist Party leader Olivier Faure said "the Constitutional Council only ruled on the legality of the law, its approval does not mean that this is a fair law... French people have fought this reform for months, they will be disappointed and the fight will take other forms."

6:40pm: Protesters gather outside Paris City Hall against reform as riot police guard Constitutional Council building

Protesters gathered outside Paris City Hall, holding banners reading "climate of anger" and "no end to the strikes until the reform is pulled "as the Constitutional Council's verdict was announced.

Protesters gathered outside Paris's City Hall after the Constitutional Council decision validating pension reform

Police are expecting up to 10,000 people to gather again in Paris on Friday night, raising fears of the vandalism and clashes that have marred recent rallies.

The Constitutional Council, a short walk from the Louvre museum in the centre of the French capital, has been protected with barriers, and dozens of riot police are on guard nearby.

6:35pm: Opposition leaders say 'fight continues'

Far-left France Unbowed (La France Insoumise) party leader Jean-Luc Melenchon said on Twitter, "the Constitutional Council decision shows that it is more attentive to the needs of the presidential monarchy than to those of the sovereign people. The fight continues and must gather its forces."

Far-right National Rally (Rassemblement National) party leader Marine Le Pen tweeted that "the constitutional court decision may close the institutional sequence, but the political fate of the pension reform has not been sealed. The people always have the last word, it is the people's right to prepare for the change in power that will be the result of this unnecessary and unjust reform."

6:21pm:  France’s Constitutional Council also rejects opposition request for a referendum

Separately, the Constitutional Council rejected a proposal by the opposition to organise a citizens' referendum on the pension reform.

The opposition has tabled another bid for a referendum, which should be reviewed by the Council in early May.

5:45pm: France's Constitutional Council validates Macron's unpopular pension reform

The banner reform in the legislation to raise the retirement age from 62 to 64 was validated by the Constitutional Council after almost three months of protests opposing the measure.

The court struck out six measures not seen as fundamental to the essence of the reform and threw out a request filed by the left for a referendum on an alternative pension law that would keep the retirement age at 62.

>> Read more: Protests, appeals, referendum: What’s next for France’s pension reform?

(FRANCE 24 with AFP & Reuters)

Macron secures pension victory but gloom deepens in France

Adam PLOWRIGHT
Fri, April 14, 2023 

President Emmanuel Macron looks to have won his battle to push through widely unpopular pension reform, but many experts and historians believe he has deepened the gloom enveloping French democracy.

France's constitutional court approved the core parts of Macron's pension reform on Friday, paving the way for the centrist head of state to sign into law a hike in the retirement age to 64 from its current level of 62.

But the manner in which the legislation has been passed -- in the face of opposition from two out of three voters, trade unions, and a majority of MPs in the National Assembly -- has dismayed even previously sympathetic observers.


Pierre Rosanvallon, a highly respected sociologist and historian, issued a striking warning in early April that Macron needed to restore the legitimacy of his presidential office in the eyes of voters.

"Without this, the time of revolutions could come back, or else there will be an accumulation of toxic disaffection which will open the way for far-right populism," the centre-left thinker told Liberation newspaper.

Political historian Jean Garrigues also wrote that it was "all of our institutional foundations, all of our political figures which are discredited" by the way the reform had been passed.

"The link between our citizens and their national representatives has been stretched further in this crisis, as it was during the Yellow Vests," Garrigues wrote in Le Monde newspaper, referring to fierce anti-Macron protests in 2018.

Criticism has focused in particular on how the president's minority government rammed the legislation through parliament on March 16 without a vote.

The move -- legal but controversial -- came after other constitutional measures were used to keep parliamentary debate to a minimum, deepening the sense of outrage felt by protesters who have taken to the streets almost every week since January.

The sometimes violent protests peaked at 1.28 million people on March 7, according to official statistics, the biggest in a generation.

"This protest movement will leave a mark in the history our country, through its size and the new people who have joined in," the leader of the moderate CFDT union, Laurent Berger, told reporters as he marched -- for the 12th time since January -- on Thursday.

He repeated his belief that the country faced a "democratic crisis."

- 'No crisis' -

In his only media interview on the subject of pensions since his election to a second term last April, Macron conceded that he and his government had failed to win the battle for public opinion.

Asked if he had any regrets, he told the TF1 channel: "If I have any, it's that we haven't always succeeded in convincing people of the necessity of this reform, which I don't take pleasure in."

But he remained convinced that it was "necessary" and for the greater good of the country -- to avoid pension deficits forecast to hit 13.5 billion euros by 2030, and to bring the country into line with its EU neighbours.

Furthermore, he saw it as legitimate given that he had been re-elected on a platform that included the pension reform and a pledge to make France "work more" to pay for one of the most expensive welfare systems in the world.

Some allies had warned him beforehand, however, about the risks of hiking the retirement age in the middle of a cost-of-living crisis and so soon after Covid-19.

Speaking in China last week, he shot back at critics.

"You can't call it a democratic crisis when an elected president... seeks to implement a policy that has been proposed democratically," he told reporters in off-the-record remarks that were published in the French media.

"If people wanted to retire at 60, then they shouldn't have elected me as president."

- A new republic? -

The talk of crisis and revolution comes amid gathering evidence that confidence in French democracy is waning.

A widely watched annual poll published by the Cevipof political institute at Sciences Po university in Paris showed in February that two out of three people (64 percent) thought French democracy was functioning "not well".

An even higher proportion had negative feelings about politicians (72 percent) and still more (82 percent) thought politicians did not share their priorities.

The pensions reform has also revived debate about whether the current constitution, the foundation of the modern Fifth Republic, is fit for purpose.

Approved during a national emergency and shaped by war-time hero Charles de Gaulle, it created an executive presidency with powers superior to any other western European chancellory or prime minister's office.

"This constitution which hands extremely brutal, authoritarian powers to the governing power is crashing into a society that no longer tolerates decisions seen as too top-down," said constitutional expert Bastian Francois.

"What was acceptable in the 60s, even in the 80s, is less and less acceptable today," the historian at the Sorbonne university in Paris told AFP.

adp/sjw/ach

'Really Hard' -- The Life Of An Amazon Brazil Nut Harvester


By Martín SILVA

AFP

April 14, 2023

For each bag of 70 kilograms of nuts (about 154 pounds), which takes about eight hours to fill, a harvester earns the equivalent of about $40

Assailed by mosquitoes and wary of snakes, Jorge Lengua walks watchfully through the Bolivian Amazon collecting Brazil nuts from the forest floor.

Lengua, 56, wears rubber boots to protect his ankles from stingers and fangs, and uses a long stick to pick up the softball-sized shells that contain about 20 nuts each.

"The life of a nut harvester is risky... the forest is dense, there are snakes, insects like fire ants, scorpions and millipedes," Lengua told AFP on one of his excursions.

"When it's humid like this, it's worse because there are snakes," he said and lit a cigarette, blowing the smoke around him as "this scares away mosquitoes."


The life of a Brazil nut harvester is filled with perils

"It is hard work, isn't it?" he mused. "It's really hard."

Lengua lives in the village of Luz de America on the edge of an Indigenous reserve in the department of Pando in northern Bolivia -- one of the world's largest Brazil nut exporters.

Every year, between December and March, Lengua and others from the community enter the reserve to collect the fruit of the Bertholletia excelsa tree, which can grow to a height of 60 meters (nearly 200 feet) and live for hundreds of years.

Clearing his path with a machete, Lengua collects the hard, brown shells dumped on the ground by wind and rain.

He places them in a basket on his back before dumping them on a collective heap on the forest floor.


Some 80,000 Indigenous families make a living from Brazil nut collection in the Bolivian Amazon

Some 80,000 Indigenous families make a living from Brazil nut collection in the Bolivian Amazon, according to Luis Larrea of the ACEAA Amazonian conservation association.

During the season, "this is our job... there is no other work," added Lengua.

Brazil nuts are a rare non-timber Amazon forest product with a major export market.

In 2021, Bolivia was the world's top Brazil nut exporter, according to the World Bank.

And while Brazil nut production represents only about one or two percent of Bolivian GDP, it plays an important role in forest protection, said Larrea.

As it does not involve logging, Brazil nut collection is considered sustainable as long as some nuts are left on the ground to sprout new trees.


The Brazil nut tree is listed as 'vulnerable' on the Red List of threatened species of the International Union for Conservation of Nature

According to a 2017 study in the journal Biodiversity and Conservation, the Brazil nut is the only globally traded seed crop collected from the wild.

However, the tree is listed as "vulnerable" on the Red List of threatened species of the International Union for Conservation of Nature, menaced by fires and other damage caused by deforestation.

The Brazil nut tree itself is protected from logging by law.

When they have collected enough, Lengua and his 25-year-old son, also named Jorge, settle down under an imposing tree to slash the shells open with their machetes and remove the seeds inside.

"This is the life of Amazonian men," the older Lengua contemplated as he chewed on coca leaves for energy.


Brazil nuts are one of the few Amazonian non-timber forest products with an important export market

"We come to harvest the nuts, even in the rain. Sometimes we get caught in bad weather, there are strong winds and branches fall."

For each bag of 70 kilograms of nuts (about 154 pounds), which takes about eight hours to fill, a harvester earns the equivalent of about $40.

But the last years have been tough, said Lengua, citing weaker demand due to the coronavirus pandemic, the war in Ukraine and inflation.

PHOTOS Martín SILVA AFP

Brazil’s Supreme Court orders ex-president Bolsonaro to testify over January riots

Issued on: 14/04/2023 

THE BRAZILIAN ANTI CHRIST IS GROWING A HORN

Former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro looks on during the "Power of The People" (SIC)  event hosted by Turning Point USA at Trump National Doral Miami Resort in Doral, Florida, USA, February 3, 2023. © Marco Bello, Reuters

Text by: NEWS WIRES

A Supreme Court judge ordered Brazil's ex-president Jair Bolsonaro Friday to face questioning by police over his supporters' invasion of the presidential palace, Congress and high court on January 8.

Justice Alexandre de Moraes ruled Bolsonaro had to appear before federal police within 10 days to answer to questions over accusations he incited the rioters, who called for the ouster of President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who defeated Bolsonaro in last year's elections.

"I grant the request by the prosecutor general's office and determine the federal police must take Jair Messias Bolsonaro's testimony within a maximum of 10 days," Moraes wrote in the ruling, obtained by AFP.

Thousands of Bolsonaro's far-right supporters stormed the halls of power in Brasilia on January 8, trashing offices, vandalizing artworks and calling for the military to intervene to oust veteran leftist Lula.

The scenes drew widespread comparisons to the January 6, 2021 riots in Washington, when supporters of ex-president Donald Trump -- Bolsonaro's political role model -- invaded the US Capitol building in a failed bid to overturn his election loss.

The riots in Brasilia came one week after Lula, who previously led Brazil from 2003 to 2010, took office after narrowly beating Bolsonaro in a brutal, divisive election last October.

Prosecutors called for Bolsonaro to be investigated over a video he posted online -- and later deleted -- two days after the attacks, in which he portrayed Lula's election as illegitimate.

However, prosecutors said their probe of the ex-president would not be limited to the video, but a "full investigation of all acts before and after January 8."

Bolsonaro, who left for the US state of Florida in the final days of his term, returned to Brazil on March 30, vowing to oppose Lula's government.

(AFP)

Biden to hold first meeting with Colombia's leftist president

Issued on: 14/04/2023 - 

Washington (AFP) – Colombian President Gustavo Petro will travel to Washington next week for his first meeting with President Joe Biden, the two countries announced Friday, as the longstanding US ally charts a new course under its first leftist leader.

Biden will welcome Petro on Thursday to discuss key issues involving Colombia including climate change, drug trafficking and migration, the White House said.

The two leaders will also speak about how to "promote democratic values and human and labor rights in the region and the world," a White House statement said.

Colombia's Narino Palace said that the visit, at Biden's invitation, "will be a milestone in consolidating the relationship between Colombia and the United States in this new moment."

Petro was elected in June in part of a wave of left-leaning leaders to win power in Latin America.

Petro has sought to shift away from longstanding US-backed policies in Colombia including by moving away from a military-led campaign against drugs.

The new Colombian president has also pursued diplomacy with Venezuela, after his predecessor worked with the United States to topple leftist leader Nicolas Maduro, who presides over a crumbling economy from which millions have fled.

Days ahead of the visit, the FBI put a leader of Colombia's ELN rebels on its most-wanted list over narco-trafficking in apparent coordination with Bogota, which is nonetheless pursuing talks with the armed group.

The State Department also offered a $5 million reward for information for Wilver Villegas-Palomino, described by the FBI as a ranking member of the ELN, a long-running insurgent group which stands for the National Liberation Army.

The FBI's Houston office accused Villegas-Palomino of running laboratories in Colombia behind at least 80 percent of the cocaine entering the United States and of alleged responsibility for ordering kidnappings and assassinations as well as money laundering and weapons trafficking.

Villegas-Palomino's "placement on the FBI's ten most wanted list reinforces our nation's partnership with Colombia to combat both terrorism and the spread of dangerous narcotics into the US and around the world," FBI Director Christopher Wray said in a statement.

Colombia in February signalled its support for extraditing Villegas-Palomino, who is also wanted at home for homicide, after judging that he was not being sought for political reasons.

Three other ELN members were extradited to the United States in 2021 as part of an alleged 20-year plan involving Villegas-Palomino to export cocaine.

ELN representatives are set to resume talks with Petro's government on April 26 in Cuba. The negotiations come despite an ELN attack last month in northeastern Colombia that killed nine soldiers.

How Japan's big plans for a 'hydrogen society' fell flat

Issued on: 14/04/2023 -

Japan's plan to expand its hydrogen market and slash greenhouse emissions has suffered delays and criticism over the fuel's green credentials 

© Etienne BALMER / AFP/File

Tokyo (AFP) – It was once touted as a miracle solution to Japan's energy problems: creating a "hydrogen society" by sharply ramping up use of the fuel for vehicles, industry and housing.

But the country's plan to expand its hydrogen market and slash greenhouse emissions has suffered delays and criticism over the fuel's green credentials.

As G7 climate ministers meet in the northern Japanese city of Sapporo, here are some key points about the strategy:
Ambitious plans

In 2017, Japan became the first country to devise a national strategy for hydrogen power, aiming to drastically scale up its use by 2030

The colourless, odourless gas is an exciting prospect on paper.

It can be produced, stored and transported in large quantities, and does not emit carbon dioxide when burned.

These qualities are attractive to Japan, which is heavily reliant on fossil fuel imports.

Most of its nuclear reactors are still offline after the 2011 Fukushima disaster, and the nation set a goal two and a half years ago of reaching carbon neutrality by 2050.
Fuel cell blues

Hydrogen-powered fuel cell vehicles, which Japanese automakers helped pioneer, were a key part of the original plan.

The government had hoped for 40,000 of these cars to be on the road by 2020, and 800,000 by 2030.

But by the end of last year, just 7,700 units had been sold in the country since 2014.

Despite subsidies for buyers, they remain "very expensive", even compared to battery-powered electric cars, Kentaro Tamura, a Japan-based expert at the Institute for Global Environmental Strategies (IGES), told AFP.

Hydrogen refuelling stations have high installation and upkeep costs, and are rare in comparison to charging spots for electric vehicles, Tamura added.
Hydrogen-powered homes

The results have been better but still modest in housing -- the other major area initially earmarked for hydrogen expansion.

A residential fuel cell programme called "Enefarm" was meant to equip 5.3 million Japanese homes by 2030.

It uses gas to create hydrogen that reacts with oxygen from the air to generate electricity and heat water.

But by the end of 2022, just 465,000 systems had been installed, far short of the government's target of 1.4 million by 2020.

Price is a key factor here too, Tamura said, with installation costs "very high compared with alternative technologies like heat pumps".
'Grey' area

Energy experts were sceptical of Japan's hydrogen strategy from the start, because it was launched without creating a reliable supply chain for environmentally friendly "green" hydrogen, produced from renewable energy sources.

Instead, Japan opted for so-called "grey" hydrogen, made using greenhouse gas-emitting coal, petrol or gas, and "blue" hydrogen, which also comes from fossil fuels but with the carbon emissions captured and stored.

In the meantime, countries such as China and some European nations have moved faster on green hydrogen, which remains rare and expensive but is key to decarbonisation, the Japanese Renewable Energy Institute think-tank says.

In March, Tokyo agreed to spend $1.6 billion on an ambitious but controversial venture in Australia to produce liquid hydrogen from lignite coal and export it to Japan.

But critics say the project's "blue" hydrogen claims are based on carbon capture technology that does not yet exist.
Co-firing controversy

Despite the setbacks, Japan will revise its hydrogen strategy by the end of May, with the Nikkei business daily reporting plans to increase its supply of the fuel to six times the current level by 2040.

It is also promoting another use for hydrogen and its derivative ammonia: burning it alongside gas and coal at existing power stations, to reduce carbon emissions.

An official from the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry told AFP that ammonia co-firing is "a realistic means of energy transition that is more CO2-reducing and economically efficient than the early phase-out of coal-fired power and its replacement with renewable energy".

But climate campaigners question the value of the expensive practice on the path to cleaner energy.

Japan is "the only G7 member" pushing for co-firing, Greenpeace's Hirotaka Koike said, describing it as a "national policy to keep the 'sunset' industry (of thermal power stations) alive".

Arizona court upholds clergy privilege in child abuse case

This church's negligence in reporting abuse, the lawsuit argues, allowed a father to continuing abusing the girl for as many as seven years, a time in which he also abused the girl’s infant sister.

FILE - The Salt Lake Temple stands at Temple Square in Salt Lake City on Oct. 5, 2019. In a ruling made public Tuesday, April 11, 2023, the Arizona Supreme Court has ruled that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints can refuse to answer questions or turn over documents under a state law that exempts religious officials from having to report child sex abuse if they learn of the crime during a confessional setting. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer, File)

April 14, 2023

By 

Michael Rezendes, Jason Dearen

(AP) — The Arizona Supreme Court has ruled that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints can refuse to answer questions or turn over documents under a state law that exempts religious officials from having to report child sex abuse if they learn of the crime during a confessional setting.

The ruling was issued April 7 but not released to the public until Tuesday. A lawsuit filed by child sex abuse victims accuses the church, widely known as the Mormon church, two of its bishops, and other church members of conspiracy and negligence in not reporting church member Paul Adams for abusing his older daughter as early as 2010. This negligence, the lawsuit argues, allowed Adams to continuing abusing the girl for as many as seven years, a time in which he also abused the girl’s infant sister.

Lynne Cadigan, an attorney for the Adams children who filed the lawsuit, criticized the court’s ruling.

“Unfortunately, this ruling expands the clergy privilege beyond what the legislature intended by allowing churches to conceal crimes against children,” she said.

In a statement, the church concurred with the court’s action.

“The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints agrees with the Arizona Supreme Court’s decision,” the statement said. “We are deeply saddened by the abuse these children suffered. The Church has no tolerance of abuse of any kind.”

Adams had also posted videos of himself sexually abusing his daughters on the internet, boasted of the abuse on social media, and confessed to federal law enforcement agents, who arrested him in 2017 with no help from the church.

Those actions prompted Cochise County Superior Court Judge Laura Cardinal to rule on Aug. 8, 2022, that Adams had waived his right to keep his 2010 confession to Bishop John Herrod secret.

“Taken together, Adams’ overt acts demonstrate a lack of repentance and a profound disregard” for the principles of the church, Cardinal said in her ruling. “His acts can only be characterized as a waiver of the clergy penitent privilege.”

Clergy in Arizona, as in many other states, are required to report information about child sexual abuse or neglect to law enforcement or child welfare authorities. An exception to that law — known as the clergy-penitent privilege — allows members of the clergy who learn of the abuse through spiritual confessions to keep the information secret.

The church has based its defense in the lawsuit on the privilege, asserting that Herrod and a second bishop who learned of Adams’ confession, Robert “Kim” Mauzy, had no legal obligation to report him for abusing his older daughter and appealed Cardinal’s ruling.

On Dec. 15, the Arizona Court of Appeals ruled in favor of the church, saying it did not have to turn over disciplinary records for Adams, who was excommunicated in 2013. The Appeals Court also ruled that a church official who attended a church disciplinary hearing could refuse to answer questions from the plaintiff’s attorneys during pretrial testimony, based on the clergy-penitent privilege.

Lawyers representing the Adams girls and one of their brothers took the case to the Arizona Supreme Court, where they did not prevail, according to the April ruling.

In an unusual move, Cadigan said attorneys for the three Adams children intend to file a motion asking the Supreme Court to reconsider its ruling.

An Associated Press investigation of the clergy privilege shows it exists in 33 states and that the Mormon church, often joined by the Catholic Church, Jehovah’s Witnesses and other faiths,   PROTESTANT SECTS  have successfully lobbied against attempts to reform or eliminate it.

For BLM’s Patrisse Cullors, art is a vocation and salvation

Through controversy and personal tragedy, Cullors has focused on her art practice and its themes of race and religion.

Artist Patrisse Cullors poses for a portrait at her studio, Friday, March 24, 2023, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello)

April 14, 2023

By 

Jocelyn Noveck

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Patrisse Cullors was sitting at a table outside the Crenshaw Dairy Mart, the art collective she co-founded in Inglewood, California, taking advantage of a rare break in the March rains when her phone buzzed with a text message a few weeks ago.

Cullors broke into a contented grin: One of her art pieces had just sold. The work, a tapestry made of vintage mudcloth from Mali and adorned with cowrie shells, is part of her current show at the Charlie James Gallery in Chinatown, an exhibit honoring traditions of the Ifa religion of the Yoruba in West Africa.

A few nights earlier, the longtime artist and activist best known for co-founding Black Lives Matter had experienced another satisfying artistic moment: a solo performance at the Broad museum in which she unfurled a 360-foot-long (110-meter-long) bonnet — meant as a symbol of protection for Black women, among other things — in a show about healing amid hate.

Cullors is leaning into her art these days, gaining sustenance and perspective from it. She speaks of it as not just a vocation, but a means of salvation: At one point, the impact of accusations of financial mismanagement at BLM — from which she resigned in 2021 — wounded her so deeply, her mental health was imperiled and she felt her very life was in danger, she says. What has ultimately saved her more than once, she feels, is her art.

“So much of the last few years has been, to be really honest, just deep depression and anxiety and a lot of trauma, a lot of freezing, a lot of fear,” she says, “and I just kept going back to my art practice. I kept going back to art, and every time I would go back to art, I would feel like myself again. I would feel more connected again and I would feel more hopeful.”

“My art practice has saved my life, over and over again,” she adds.

In 2019, after nearly seven years in the public spotlight as co-founder of BLM, Cullors contemplated quietly transitioning from day-to-day leadership of BLM Global Network Foundation, Inc. But in 2020, after the murder of George Floyd and a tidal wave of donations to BLM’s foundation amid historic racial justice protests nationwide, Cullors became the organization’s full-time executive director. She said she intended to help build out the foundation’s infrastructure so it could manage the surge in resources.

After the organization revealed it had taken in close to $90 million from donors through early 2021, Cullors and the foundation were targets of sharp criticism from the left and right and from both inside and outside the broader movement. Far-right critics published reports of Cullors’ purchase of a Southern California home and many on the left pushed unproven allegations that she misused donated funds. The controversy eventually quieted, but not before Cullors hired security out of concern for her personal safety. She resigned from the foundation in May 2021.

Then in 2022, criticism of Cullors and BLM intensified again, after the foundation confirmed in nonprofit tax filings that it spent $6 million on a Los Angeles-area compound that includes a home with six bedrooms and bathrooms, a swimming pool, a soundstage and office space. The foundation has said the property is used as a campus for a Black artists fellowship, but Cullors also acknowledged using the home for personal reasons on two occasions.

As the controversy faded last year, Cullors focused on her art practice. At the start of 2023, tragedy struck Cullors’s family — her 31-year-old cousin Keenan Anderson, a father of 5-year-old boy and English teacher at high school in Washington, D.C., died after being zapped by a stun gun during an encounter with Los Angeles traffic police. Cullors joined with family members and local activists in calls for police reforms.

And she turned to art, in a sense, to express her grief — at the influential Frieze Los Angeles art fair, she held a “performance disruption” in February along with fellow activist JaQuel Knight, a peaceful protest to bring attention to deaths of Black people at traffic stops.

The year so far has been a busy one, for the artist, activist and author who also has a multi-year TV development deal with Warner Bros. and is working on a show about the impact of local politics on women.

Her recent show at the Broad, her second at the contemporary art museum, was part of an evening focusing on the effects of colonialism on literature, language, and music of people of color. It reflected her experience with what she describes as “the impact of right-wing media on Black people and Black leaders through targeted misinformation and disinformation campaigns,” and focused on healing.

The performance, titled “Don’t Disappear Us/Keep us Leaping/Low Riders and Bonnets that Heal,” centered on a few seemingly mundane artifacts: the bonnet, which she says has a protective symbolism for Black women; a partially built lowrider; and a trampoline. The piece included a live singer and a recording of Cullors chanting in her daily Ifa religious practice.

Religion will also be a theme of a multi-artist exhibit beginning in October at the Fowler Museum at UCLA, highlighting Yoruba art and featuring works from Nigeria, Brazil, Cuba, and the United States. Cullors will contribute “Free Us,” an installation accompanied by an audio track of prayers, along with several mixed media works and a one-time live performance on Oct. 28.

And Cullors’ religious practice is the theme of her current gallery show in Chinatown, “Freedom Portals,” a collaboration with fellow LA-based artist noé olivas — whom she met during graduate school art studies at the University of Southern California — that has been extended to April 15. Highlighting Ifa, it comprises 12 tapestries, illustrations of “Odù,” or oral literary books containing poetic teachings. Eventually, she wants to create 256 such tapestries, accounting for all Odù poetic tutorials.

Walking a guest through the gallery, she explains the simple materials — vintage mudcloth from Mali, black yarn, and cowrie shells — some cast in glittery gold — which are symbolic in the religion and also an element of decoration in crowns and garments.

“This work is really an ode to the Ifa tradition and to the ancient symbology,” Cullors says. She explains how the mudcloth was passed on by a friend: “It’s important for me to not be a part of the world of waste, so vintage mudcloth is critical in building out these works.” As for the yarn, that was lying around her house.

The objects are meant to honor tradition but also to be viewed “in response to the contemporary moment and its accelerated pace and attendant exhaustion,” the gallery materials say, referring to community building and self-care.

And self-care is something Cullors is focusing on these days, especially through her art.

“I have spent the better half of my own life fighting on behalf of others,” she says. “But in the last couple of years it has taken a lot to figure out how to fight for myself, and to fight for my mental health, spiritual health and emotional health.”

“These artworks are a really deeply personal call to fight for myself, especially as a Black woman,” she adds. “Because many people don’t fight for us.”

___

AP National Writer Aaron Morrison contributed to this report from New York.