Monday, August 07, 2023


Heat, Wildfires Put Southern Europe's Vital Tourism Earnings at Risk

August 06, 2023 
Associated Press
Local residents try to extinguish a fire, near the seaside resort of Lindos, on the Aegean Sea island of Rhodes, southeastern Greece, on July 24, 2023.

RHODES, GREECE —

Tourists at a seaside hotel on the Greek island of Rhodes snatched up pails of pool water and damp towels as flames approached, rushing to help staffers and locals extinguish one of the wildfires threatening Mediterranean locales during recent heat waves.

The quick team effort meant that "by the time the fire brigade came, most of the fire actually was dealt with," said Elena Korosteleva from Britain, who was vacationing at the Lindos Memories hotel.

The next morning, some unsettled guests cut their holiday short — but most stayed on as the resort wasn't damaged in the small brush fire outside its grounds.

The Greek island known for sparkling beaches and ancient sites is nursing its wounds after 11 days of devastating wildfires in July. After thousands of people were evacuated during the height of travel season, Rhodes is weighing how the crisis will affect its vital tourism sector, which fuels most of its economy and some 20% of Greece's.

It's the same for other Mediterranean destinations, like Italy and Spain, where the tourism sector also is being hit by heat waves and wildfires. Greece, Italy, Algeria and Tunisia combined lost more than 1,350 square kilometers to blazes that affected 120,000 people in late July, according to European Union estimates. And Greece is expecting even more extreme heat in the coming days.

The mayor of Villardeciervos village, in part of northwestern Spain ravaged by fires last summer, said hikers are still coming.

People play with a ball in front of a burnt forest at a beach of Glystra, on the Aegean Sea island of Rhodes, southeastern Greece, on July 27, 2023.

"Tourism is bound to suffer a bit in the next few years, (whether) we like it or not," Rosa María López said. "On the hiking trails, there are no trees, and it is very sad to see. … But this area is still highly valued by tourists in spite of everything. We will have to adapt."

Fires have chased away tourists in hard-hit parts of Greece and Italy. Rhodes saw mass cancellations of flights and the trend is similar in Sicily, said Olivier Ponti, vice president of insights at ForwardKeys, a travel data company with access to airline industry ticketing data.

While travel to Greece overall has not been hit too hard, Italy isn't as lucky. Wildfires "have caused a slowdown in bookings for many Italian destinations, even places not close to the fires," he said, noting a drop for Rome in the last week of July.

Even without the flames, summer heat intensified by climate change can be a turnoff for travelers.

Hoteliers are worried in southeastern Spain's coastal resort city of Benidorm, a longtime favorite for British and Scandinavian tourists.

"If heat waves were to be repeated every summer, the impact on our economy would be significant," said Antonio Mayor, chair of the hotel and tourism association in the Valencia region, which includes Benidorm. "Our activity is centered on the three summer months."

That could mean tourists head north to Scandinavian countries or the United Kingdom instead.

"Record-setting temperatures in European countries such as Greece, Italy and Spain are not scheduled to ease up as we enter August, so it might be considered a much safer option to opt for a stay in northern Europe," said Tim Hentschel, CEO of digital booking platform HotelPlanner.

The World Meteorological Organization and the EU's Copernicus Climate Change Service calculated July to be the hottest month on record. Heat records foreshadow changes ahead as the planet warms, scientists say, including more flooding, longer-burning wildfires and extreme weather events that put people at risk.

Jaquelin Stocklein of Germany drops water to a burnt area during a wildfire near the seaside resort of Lindos, on the Aegean Sea island of Rhodes, southeastern Greece, on July 24, 2023.

With that in mind, U.S.-based climate technology startup Sensible Weather is developing insurance that would compensate people if extreme heat wrecks their holiday.

It's rolled out "weather guarantee" coverage to travel companies in the U.K., France and the U.S., which pays travelers if prolonged rain ruins their beach break or there's no snow for a ski trip.

Sensible Weather will soon add a heat cover option "in anticipation of next summer," founder Nick Cavanaugh said. "People are asking me about it more because they're thinking about these things more."

While people differ on how hot is too hot, "in the simplest version, if it was 42 degrees Celsius for three hours in the middle of the day and you couldn't go out and do an activity, we could give you some money back," he said.

Rhodes had expected foreign arrivals to increase 8%-10% over a bumper year in 2022, when about 2.6 million people flew to the Greek island, mostly from Britain and Germany. But after the fires, flight cancellations in the last week of July exceeded all bookings made in the equivalent week in 2019, said Ponti of ForwardKeys.

Manolis Markopoulos, head of the Rhodes hotel association, is optimistic that rebounding arrivals to parts of the island not damaged by flames can salvage much of the projected boost in tourism.

"Every day we're seeing more business," he said. "By Aug. 8-10, I think we'll be back to our normal pace at all these resorts," which account for about 90% of the island's 220,000 beds.

In damaged areas, "some brave tour operators have already decided to bring customers from this coming weekend," Markopoulos said. "These areas have a longer road before they return to normality — but they're not even 10% of the (island's) total capacity."

New bookings for future travel to Rhodes did take a hit, falling 76% the week of July 17, when the fires began, over the previous week. For Greece as a whole, they slumped 10%, Ponti said.

While some major British operators briefly canceled all Rhodes flights and holidays — offering refunds to people who'd booked for fire-hit areas — other budget airlines kept offering seats and reported normal travel figures, HotelPlanner's Hentschel said.

In Germany, leading travel operator TUI is again offering vacations to all parts of Rhodes after it stopped flying tourists in.

"We would do more damage to the people of Rhodes if no more tourists came now after the forest fires," TUI CEO Sebastian Ebel told Germany's dpa news agency.

Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis offered an additional incentive, appearing on ITV's "Good Morning Britain" this week to promise people whose Rhodes vacations were spoiled by the fires a free week on the island next spring or fall.

Korosteleva, the Rhodes vacationer, said the blazes should motivate action against climate change.

"It makes people aware what we've caused to the planet, that this change may not be reversible. So it's not just about tourism," said Korosteleva, who heads the University of Warwick's Institute of Global Sustainable Development. "I think it actually clearly touches upon how we need to start acting now."
Sweltering Europeans Give Air Conditioning a Skeptical Embrace

August 06, 2023 
Associated Press
Air conditioning external units are seen on the wall of a building in Rome, July 25, 2023.

MILAN —

During Europe's heat wave last month, Floriana Peroni's vintage clothing store had to close for a week. A truck of rented generators blocked her door as they fed power to the central Roman neighborhood hit by a blackout as temperatures surged. The main culprit: air conditioning.

The period — in which temperatures hit 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit) — coincided with peak electricity use that came close to Italy's all-time high, hitting a peak load of more than 59 gigawatts on July 19. That neared a July 2015 record.

Intensive electricity use knocked out the network not only near the central Campo de Fiori neighborhood, where Peroni operates her shop, but elsewhere in the Italian capital. Demand in that second July week surged 30%, correlating to a heat wave that had persisted already for weeks, according to the capital's electricity company ARETI.

Like many Romans, Peroni herself does not have AC either in her home or her shop. Rome once could count on a Mediterranean breeze to bring down nighttime temperatures, but that has become an intermittent relief at best.

A truck of generators rented to provide power to a central Roman neighborhood hit by a localized blackout blocks the doors of stores forcing them to shut down for a week, July 25, 2023.

"At most, we turn on fans,'' Peroni said. "We think that is enough. We tolerate the heat, as it has always been tolerated."

In Europe, though, that is starting to change.

Air conditioning is less a part of the culture in Europe

Despite holdouts like Peroni, rising global temperatures are dropping air conditioning from luxury to a necessity in many parts of Europe, which long has had a conflicted relationship with energy-sucking cooling systems deemed by many to be an American indulgence.

Floriana Peroni walks in her vintage clothing store in downtown Rome, that was forced to shut down for a week by a truck of rented generators blocking her door, in Rome, July 25, 2023.

Europeans look with disdain at overcooled U.S. buildings, kept to near meat-locker temperatures, where a blast of cold air can shoot across city sidewalks as people come and go, and where extended indoor appointments necessitate a sweater even in the height of summer.

By contrast, event organizers in Europe may offer hand fans if events are expected to overheat. Shoppers can expect to sweat in under-cooled grocery stores, and movie theaters are not guaranteed to be climate-controlled. Evening diners have typically opted for outside tables to avoid stuffy restaurants, which rarely offer AC.

Tourists use foldable fans to cool off as they visit Rome, July 22, 2023.

To deal with the heat, Italy and Spain typically shut down for several hours after lunch, for a riposo or siesta, and most vacation in August, when many businesses shut down completely so families can enjoy a holiday at the seaside or in the mountains. Italians in particular are happy to abandon overheated art cities to foreign tourists, which reduces the urgency for a home AC investment.

Still, European AC penetration has picked up from 10% in 2000 to 19% last year, according to the International Energy Agency. That is still well shy of the United States, at around 90%. Many in Europe resist due to cost, concern about environmental impact and even suspicions of adverse health impacts from cold air currents, including colds, a stiff neck, or worse.

Cooling systems remain rare in Nordic countries and even Germany, where temperatures can nudge above 30 degrees (into the 90s Fahrenheit) for extended periods.

But even those temperate climates may cross the threshold of discomfort if temperatures increase beyond 1.5 degrees C to 2 degrees C, according to a new study by the University of Cambridge. In that scenario, people living in northern climes like Britain, Norway, Finland and Switzerland will face the greatest relative increase in uncomfortably hot days.

Nicole Miranda, one of the study's authors, said their estimate, which would mean surpassing the international goal of limiting future warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial times, are conservative.

"They don't take into account the urban island effects," she said, when cities are unable to cool at night and surfaces become radiators. "From a scientific point of view, if we all run to the go-to solution, which is air conditioning, we are going to get into a different type of problem, because there is high energy consumption and high carbon emissions related to air conditioning."

People walk next a mist machine to cool down, in Monastiraki district of Athens, July 20, 2023.

Cities should consider less intensive solutions, like shading buildings, and incorporating cooling bodies of water, she said. She also advocated a trend toward cooling individuals, instead of spaces, using personal devices like ice packs in jackets or high-tech textiles that dissipate body heat more efficiently.

Growing — if reluctant — demand

In Italy, sales of air conditioning units grew from 865,000 a year in 2012 to 1.92 million in 2022, mostly for business and not residential use, with growth reported in the first quarter of this year, according to the industry association Assoclima. Most are split heat air pump systems, which can heat spaces in the winter, which Assoclima said can reduce gas consumption as prices spike during the war in Ukraine. That dual use attracts consumers.

France, with a slightly larger population, is showing more resistance, selling 1 million units a year. Air conditioning was rare in France until a 2003 heat wave killed thousands, mainly among the elderly. Still, most private homes and apartments there aren't air conditioned, and many restaurants and other businesses aren't either. Businesses with AC will often advertise to attract customers on hot days.

A man looks at a a wall displaying air conditioning models on sale at department store, in Rome, July 25, 2023.

AC aversion persists, both among French conservatives who see it as a frivolous American import and French people on the left who see it as environmentally irresponsible.

Cécile de Munck and Aude Lemonsu, meteorologists at France's national weather service, warned this summer that if the number of AC units doubles in Paris by 2030, the city temperature would rise by 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) because of heat released by the pump systems.

Despite the concerns over energy costs, air conditioning is rapidly conquering homes in Spain, a country that traditionally bent towards the use of fans and drawing heavy blinds, a very Spanish fixture. A study by Ca' Foscari University projects that half of Spanish households will have AC by 2040, up from just 5% in 1990.

With the cooler indoor air come disputes as neighbors complain about noise from external units. That means problems for Spain's real estate managers. "Some people can't open a window because they get a puff of fire,'' said Pablo Abascal, president of Spain's council of real estate managers. "With the increase of AC systems in homes, many buildings will soon have nowhere to place the devices."

Air conditioning external units are seen on the facade of a building in Rome, July 25, 2023.

Air conditioning and cooling was found to be key for older populations in extreme heat, reducing strain on cardiovascular functions in a heat wave of 37 degrees Celsius (99 degrees Fahrenheit), according to a study at the University of Ottawa in Canada. But even in countries like Cyprus, where heat waves of 40 degree Celsius have become the norm, the sustained use of AC isn't an affordable option for many elderly people living on fixed incomes.

Many on the Mediterranean island nation restrict usage to the hottest times of day, sometimes confining themselves to a single room.

"Undoubtedly, this scenario significantly impacts their mental well-being as well," said Demos Antoniou, director of the Cyprus Third Age Observatory, a seniors-rights group. "The prevailing fear is that refraining from using air conditioners could potentially lead to heat stroke."

At 83, Angeliki Vassiliou thinks both about her energy bill and future generations before she hits the "on" button.

"There's no sense in wasting energy. Waste is unfair," Vassiliou said. "Waste of any resource is wrong, because what would happen to our planet because of all this waste?"
Could nickel reserves be the key to independence for New Caledonia?
NOT INDEPENCE BUT NEO COLONIALISM

The South Pacific French territory of New Caledonia is a major producer of nickel, a metal that is increasingly in demand around the world to make electric car batteries.

 The precious resource is at the heart of a political and economic tug of war between indigenous, pro-independence groups and the administration in Paris.

A nickel mine near Voh on the French island of New Caledonia
© Alain JOCARD / AFP
Issued on: 05/08/2023 - 

New Caledonia is the world’s fourth-largest nickel producer. According to Investing News, a Canadian portal that focuses on metals, the archipelago produced 190,000 metric tons in 2022 – less than Indonesia, the Philippines and Russia, but ahead of Australia and Canada.

"The nickel sector contributes around 90 percent" of New Caledonia's export value, according to Matthias Kowasch, professor of geography and economics education at University College of Teacher Education Styria in Graz, in Austria.

"And that shows the importance," he says.

New Caledonia's riches have always attracted outsiders. The discovery of nickel and its lucrative mining was one of the reasons that French settlers moved to this overseas territory on a massive scale, outnumbering the indigenous Kanak population.



Friction with Paris

Over the centuries since France annexed the island chain in 1853, tension has flared, reaching a peak in the 1980s with a short but brutal, civil war that saw Paris quell independence aspirations.

A series of agreements between France and New Caledonia have brought relative stability, but full independence remains a dream for many.
03:42


PODCAST: Matthias Kowasch, Professor Geography Education at University College of Teacher Education, Graz, Austria.Jan van der Made

Under the Noumea Accord of 1998, Paris vowed to gradually give more political power to the territory and decide its future through three referenda – the last of which was boycotted and rejected by pro-independence groups.

During his recent visit to New Caledonia, French President Emmanuel Macron did not exclude a future referendum, but concrete discussion seems to have been put on hold for now.Paris talks on New Caledonia's future will 'avoid return to violence'
Why are talks between Paris and New Caledonia’s rival groups deadlocked?
Local control

The pro-independence groups, which govern the northern province of New Caledonia's main island, do have a trump card: most of the nickel mining is located on their territory.

According to Kowasch, New Caledonia's nickel resources are "under control of the provinces first". The tiny archipelago has some 20 mines, which experts estimate contain around 25 percent of the world's reserves not yet extracted.

Meanwhile nickel ore processing is in the hands of private companies: global giants Eramet (a company that was founded on New Caledonia in 1880), Glencore and Trafigura. The local governments have a 51 percent stake in two of the three main processing plants, Koniambo and Goro Nickel.
A view of the Eramet group's SLN nickel factory in Noumea, on 24 July 2023. 
© AFP / LUDOVIC MARIN

In the north, this means pro-independence Kanak groups control the processing.

"Most pro-independence parties have the position that New Caledonia should hold more than 50 percent in the nickel processing projects in the country," according to Kowasch.

In the south, processing is controlled by Prony Resources, in which New Caledonia has a 51 percent stake via employees, local communities and a public investment company. Macron's visit to New Caledonia shows Paris' concern over Chinese influence

The difficulty is for France to find its place among other countries that are also after the massive nickel reserves – notably China, which currently is the world's largest nickel importer. It needs more and more of the mineral to feed its battery and electric vehicle industry, which is growing exponentially.

The raw materials, combined with New Caledonia's strategic location in the South Pacific, underline the importance of Macron's recent visit to the islands.
A global market

But more important for France (and the EU as a whole) is the fact that Indonesia, the world's largest nickel producer, banned export of raw nickel ore in 2020 – which is also the aim of pro-independence groups in New Caledonia.

Under President Joko Widodo, Indonesia has been progressively banning the exports of key minerals such as nickel, bauxite, copper and tin. At the same time, it has forced foreign investors to build domestic processing plants, so the higher-value end product contributes more to Indonesia's economy than the export of raw materials.

The EU has contested the ban, but French-controlled New Caledonian nickel reserves could compensate for the decline in nickel imports from Indonesia.

Alex Lo, a columnist for Hong Kong's South China Morning Post – which is strongly monitored by China – writes that "New Caledonia could theoretically take up the slack in nickel supplies from Indonesia".

But, he warns, "the territory could declare independence, kick out the French, and invite the Chinese to invest in its mines and smelters".

A resident near the SLN factory in Noumea, in the French Pacific territory of New Caledonia, on 23 November 2021.
 © Theo Rouby / AFP

For now, France is doing everything to keep its influence in the South Pacific despite the growing independence movement.

"There are many compromises in between," says Kowasch, referring to a proposal by some of the pro-independence groups "where France can be responsible for defence or foreign politics", for example.

Full independence that would see France kicked out completely is unlikely, he believes, because ties with Paris are strong.

"Even the pro-independence parties don't want to stop all relations with France, even if there is full independence," Kowasch says.

The forester on a quest to end superstition about Ghana's threatened owls

By keeping rodents under control, owls help maintain the natural balance of Ghana's forests. But superstitious beliefs have led to attacks on the birds. Kwabena Poku Bosompim, regional director of the Forestry Commission in the Ahafo region of Ghana, is on a mission to save the country's owls.



Issued on: 06/08/2023 - 
Kwabena Poku Bosompim in the field. The forester, who heads the Forestry Commission in the Ahafo region of Ghana, is on a mission to save the country's owls. 
© Kwabena Poku Bosompim

Text by: Michael Sarpong Mfum in Ghana

Speaking to RFI, Bosompim explained what motivated him to fight for these nighttime predators who play a key role in protecting the ecosystems of Ghana’s forests.

"A church in my vicinity killed an owl and dismembered it. It was horrible. As a result of what I saw, I decided to do something to protect them, as their survival is being threatened because of superstition," he said.

The owls, he explained, protect forests by hunting and killing mice and other rodents that damage the wider ecosystem.

Kwabena Poku Bosompim, regional director of the Ahafo Regional Forestry Commission of Ghana. 
© Kwabena Poku Bosompim

Fighting for survival

In Ghana owls are often regarded as malevolent and harbingers of bad luck, which has resulted in their destruction in many areas of the country.

"Because it is a nocturnal animal people believe it is associated with witchcraft and given any opportunity, they will harm the owl," Bosompim explained.

The result, he said, is that many species are facing extinction.

Ghana has a diverse owl population with as many as 17 identified species, among them the barn owl, African scops owl, pearl-spotted owlet, African wood owl and greyish eagle-owl.

Many of these species are now on the brink of extinction.

Natural predators like this greyish eagle owl play a key role in maintaining the ecosystem of Ghana's forests.
 © Kwabena Poku Bosompim / Ahafo Regional Forestry Commission of Ghana

Bosompim, however, says he is taking steps to change this.

His mission is to educate the public about the significance of owls in the ecosystem and the urgent necessity of protecting these magnificent birds.


He is also calling for an end to deforestation, which is reducing owls' natural habitat.

Bosompim travels deep into various forests to make educational videos, which he publishes on his YouTube channel Bosompixel.


By fostering a deeper understanding of these birds' ecological importance, he says, he is hoping to change people's perceptions of owls.

Changing minds

"I love owls and I am creating that awareness and sensitisation for the protection of owls in Ghana," he said.

"I realised that owls are important for the ecosystem ... I also realised there is a misconception about owls often rooted in superstition."


Ghana's women farmers fight patriarchal system of land access

Lydia Basiebon, who lives in the Ahafo region, says she used to share those beliefs about owls – but not anymore.

“Since I was taught about owls and their importance from Bosompim, my attitude towards owls has changed drastically," she told RFI.

"I believe if more is done to educate Ghanaians they will also change their mind."

Israel Prepares for Possible Third Intifada in the West Bank

Palestinian security forces during a visit by President Mahmoud Abbas to the Jenin refugee camp on July 12.
(AFP)

6 August 2023
 AD ـ 20 Muharram 1445 AH

Israel’s security establishment is preparing for the possibility of a third intifada (uprising), a more likely scenario in the post-President Mahmoud Abbas era.

Israel's Ynet reported that the recent operation in Jenin and its refugee camp served as a miniature representation of a broader military conflict that could unfold in the West Bank, involving tens of thousands of armed militants, with an abundant supply of ammunition smuggled from Israel or across the Jordanian border, and lacking no financial resources.

According to the website, this is the scenario outlined by Israeli intelligence officers for the situation in the West Bank.

This scenario gained more prominence in the past week as Israeli security received another reminder of the escalating situation in the West Bank, following three attacks occurring within a single day, including two shooting incidents.

The report said it is the Israeli army that bears the cost of this situation, including reduced training for regular brigades, increased activation of reserve soldiers for operational duties, and incurring costs amounting to hundreds of millions of shekels.

In the span of a year and a half, only 13 battalions have been involved in current security missions in the West Bank.

Since the surge in attacks began, the number of battalions has increased by an average of 25.

This figure still stands at approximately a quarter of the battalions that operated in the West Bank during the peak of the second uprising nearly two decades ago.

This gap in the number of soldiers deployed in the field can largely be attributed to advanced technologies and artificial intelligence, which were not available 20 years ago.

Furthermore, Ynet revealed that the Israeli army command in the West Bank has recently renewed its operational plans for any anticipated escalation.

These new offensive plans are based on precise intelligence information prepared by the Israeli Military Intelligence Directorate, which believes that every household in Palestinian cities and villages contains some form of weaponry.

It asserts that an unprecedented and substantial quantity of arms, previously absent in the West Bank, is now present.
Russian Raids Leave Casualties in Syria's Idlib

Smoke rises after a Russian raid on the outskirts of Idlib on Saturday. 
(dpa)

Asharq Al Awsat
6 August 2023 
AD ـ 20 Muharram 1445 AH

At least three civilians from the same family were killed when Russian warplanes struck the outskirts of the northwestern Syrian city of Idlib on Saturday.

Meanwhile, the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and the international coalition carried out an airdrop at dawn in the northern countryside of Deir Ezzor, which resulted in the arrest of an ISIS member.

Russian airstrikes on western Idlib left “three dead from the same family... and six people wounded,” the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said, adding that the rescue teams removed them from the rubble and transferred them to the hospital for treatment.

SOHR documented the death of 27 civilians and combatants in airstrikes by Russian warplanes in the “Putin-Erdogan” area, in addition to the injury of more than 46 people.

Four strikes hit the area where armed factions’ bases are present, added the Observatory.

Syria’s 12-year-long war has killed more than half a million people.

With Russian and Iranian support, the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has clawed back much of the territory it had lost to the armed opposition early in the conflict.

The last pockets of armed opposition include swathes of opposition-held Idlib province, controlled by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), in addition to the areas controlled by Kurd fighters in the north and northeast of the country.

Since 2020, a ceasefire deal brokered by Ankara has largely held, despite periodic clashes.

However, the month of June witnessed increased violence.

Moreover, the Observatory reported on Saturday that the SDF and the international coalition carried out an airdrop operation in Daman village in Al-Basirah city in the northern countryside of Deir Ezzor. The operation resulted in the arrest of a person who is an ISIS member.

SDF and international coalition forces are continuing to pursue “ISIS” remnants in areas in the northeast of Syria, which is witnessing increased activity recently, through targeting and surprise attacks against the military formations in the region.

Since the beginning of 2023, the Observatory has documented 58 operations carried out by the international coalition forces, which resulted in the killing of 13 ISIS members, the death of a civilian, and the arrest of 473 of them.
Israeli Settlers Attack Palestinians, Destroy Their Properties Northern Jordan Valley

by S.K | DOP
August 6, 2023


A group of Israeli settlers attacked Sunday, August 6, 2023, Palestinian citizens in Khallet Makhoul in the northern Jordan Valley.

Human rights activist, Aref Daraghmeh, stated that Israeli settlers attacked Khallet Makhoul and destroyed parts of an animal pen belonging to the Palestinian citizen Yusef Bisharat.

According to latest Amnesty International reports, Israeli settlers have been violating Palestinians’ right to life, as Israeli forces and security guards have unlawfully killed and injured many Palestinian civilians, including during protests against the confiscation of land and the construction of new settlements.

It’s worth noting that more than 650,000 colonial settlers are distributed among 164 illegal settlements and 124 outposts built on the stolen lands of occupied West Bank and Jerusalem.
Scientist discover bacteria which could help tackle malaria



Copyright © africanews
CHANDAN KHANNA/AFP 

By Philip Andrew Churm



Scientists have discovered a type of bacteria which could help tackle malaria.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) says in 2020 half the world’s population was at risk of malaria with most deaths in sub-Saharan Africa.

But researchers working at a laboratory in Tres Cantos in Madrid found that when a particular strain of bacteria is consumed by mosquitoes it lowers the amount of infection carried by the insect and cuts the risk of transmitting malaria.

David Barros-Aguirre is Head of Tres Cantos Laboratory, GSK.

“So, the bacteria gets inside the gut of the mosquito. Even if one single bacteria will go there it stays there like the microbiome, it stays in the gut of the mosquito, reproduces in the gut of the mosquito and that bacteria produces a metabolite, a compound, naturally by itself that is called harmane and it is the harmane, the compound, that affects the viability of the eggs of the parasite.”
Unaltered DNA

The mosquito does not sense an attack from the bacteria which means it is less likely to become resistant and the bacteria does not genetically modify the mosquito itself.

“What happens is that the bacteria colonises the gut of the mosquito, but doesn’t modify its DNA, doesn’t modify the ability of the mosquito to grow, doesn’t affect the ability of the mosquito to live as any other mosquito, not even in the reproduction so there are no changes at all affecting the life, the span, the spread of the mosquito,” says Barros-Aguirre.

Pharmaceutical giant GSK has nicknamed the bacteria 'TC1' after the laboratory in which it triggered so much interest.

It will never lead to a complete solution to malaria but it is being seen as another tool in the armour against the disease.

“Because it doesn’t affect the mosquito’s viability, it won’t create a resistance.

"It’s not the same like an insecticide. Insecticides kill the mosquito and therefore they try not to be killed and escape that distress. Because this doesn’t distress them they won’t try to resist it.”

Globally researchers are continuing to investigate ways of controlling malaria.

GSK is now collaborating with Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, USA, to develop this bacteria for use against the disease however this is likely to take many years.
Tunisia union leaders demand action on migration and economy


Copyright © africanews
AFP
By Philip Andrew Churm
06/08 - 
TUNISIA


The head of Tunisia's largest trade union has demanded Western nations do more to support migrants who are continuing to arrive in Libya after Tunisian authorities began a mass expulsion in early July.

Chief of the Tunisian General Labour Union (UGTT), Noureddine Taboubi was speaking at a political rally in Sfax.

"The West must understand that we are not its border guards," he said.

"They colonised Africa and other countries for many years. It is about time to implement real development so people can live in dignity and prosperity in their countries."

Around 250 UGTT members had gathered in Sfax to commemorate the death of activists in 1947, during the French protectorate in Tunisia.

Taboubi also questioned whether Tunisia's new Prime Minister Ahmed Hachani, appointed by President Kais Saied on 1 August, would have any real power and said the country should better reflect its society's many elements.

"The point is not in changing faces but in changing policies and strategies," said Taboubi.

"Does the prime minister have the power to take decisions? Will he be open to the components of the society to overcome the difficulties and challenges in our country?"

Kais Saied, who was democratically elected in October 2019, seized all powers on 25 July 2021 and has governed since then by presidential decree. He can dismiss his head of government or ministers at any time.

Tunisia currently faces shortages and is running out of cash after being strangled by a debt of 80 percent of GDP and a policy of the state buying basic products before putting them back on the market at subsidised prices.


Heat Waves Are Killing Older Women. Are They Also Violating Their Rights?

A group of Swiss women over 64 have filed a lawsuit against Switzerland with Europe’s top human rights court, saying the country has violated their rights by failing to curb emissions.

Members of KlimaSeniorinnen, or Senior Women for Climate Protection, with the French environmental activist and member of the European Parliament Marie Toussaint, third from right, in 2020 in Strasbourg, France.
Credit...Georgios Kefalas/EPA, via Shutterstock


By Isabella Kwai
NEW YORK TIMES
Aug. 6, 2023


The women live scattered around Switzerland, speak a mix of the country’s languages — German, French and Italian — and have worked in varying professions.

But the KlimaSeniorinnen Schweiz, a group of about 2,400 Swiss women aged 64 and over, say they have a common fear: soaring temperatures and heat waves that are threatening them with health ailments in their final decades.

“It is difficult to go outside — it is difficult to breathe,” said Fatima Heussler, 71, a member of the group who lives in Zurich, who retired after several decades of working with visually impaired older people. Last year’s summer heat last year was so tiring, she said she could not do even light household chores.

“I feel like I need to protect myself,” said Isabelle Joerg, 70, a former insurance risk manager and a member of the group from Basel, who says she sits in the dark with the blinds drawn at her home on particularly hot days. “I used to love summer — and now I can be threatened by it.”

A heat wave this summer that sent temperatures soaring in southern Europe has highlighted those concerns — along with a landmark lawsuit that the women filed in 2020 at Europe’s top human rights court accusing the Swiss government of violating their fundamental rights by not doing enough to protect them from the effects of climate change.

Firefighters in Greece battling a wildfire in July. A heat wave this summer that sent temperatures soaring in southern Europe has highlighted the concerns of climate activists.
Credit...Dan Kitwood/Getty Images

Switzerland experienced its hottest year on record last year, and though it has not been battered as much as southern Europe this year, a hot spell early last month sent temperatures as high as 98 degrees Fahrenheit in some Alpine areas. The national average last month was about 60 degrees, about 35 degrees higher than pre-1900 records.

The case, the first of its kind to be heard at that top court, the European Court for Human Rights, is among a growing number of lawsuits around the world using human rights grounds to argue that governments are shirking their obligations, as temperatures and sea levels rise, to ensure the safety and security of citizens.

Similar cases have come before national courts and human rights bodies, including a finding by a United Nations human rights committee that Australia had failed to protect Indigenous Australians in the Torres Strait, in the north of the country, from “the adverse impacts of climate change.”

While climate change is affecting all Swiss people, the KlimaSeniorinnen Schweiz — known in English as the Senior Women for Climate Protection Switzerland — say that older women like them are the most vulnerable.

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One recent study found that last summer’s heat waves killed more than 61,000 people across Europe, most of them women over 80. In Switzerland, more than 60 percent of about 600 heat-related deaths last summer were attributed to global warming, according to a study from the University of Bern, with older women having the highest mortality rate.

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“Our health is at risk,” said Elisabeth Stern, 75, a member of the KlimaSeniorinnen in Zurich and an avid hiker, who said she had kept herself fit and healthy her whole life. Last summer, sick of staying indoors with the windows shut, Ms. Stern, a former cultural anthropologist, visited the cooler mountains for a reprieve. But she collapsed in a cable car, overcome by the heat.

“There was a time when Switzerland was a cold place in general,” said Ms. Stern, who spent part of her childhood on a farm in Switzerland’s east and has watched a nearby glacier disappear in her lifetime. “It just has changed so rapidly.”

Experts say a ruling in the case brought by the KlimaSeniorinnen will most likely influence how the 46 countries that are members of the European court will handle similar claims.

“This will have a domino effect,” said Annalisa Savaresi, a senior lecturer for environmental law at the University of Stirling, in Scotland, who has studied climate change litigation. “It’s the first of its kind to be heard, but there are many others in the pipeline.”

The litigants in the Swiss case include four women who said they had heart and respiratory diseases that put them at risk of death on hot days.

The crux of the complaint is a charge that the Swiss government’s failure to reduce greenhouse gas emissions enough to prevent global warming of 2 degrees Celsius is at odds with its obligations under the European Human Rights Convention. Those include rights to life and autonomy, given that older women have been proved to be particularly vulnerable to heat-related illnesses.

The dry bed of Brenets Lake on the border between Switzerland and France in 2022.
Credit...Fabrice Coffrini/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

“What this would give citizens is an additional tool to name and shame these states and make their grievances visible and, eventually, enforceable,” Dr. Savaresi said. But, she added, how such rulings could be imposed remain in “uncharted territory.”

The case was initially brought to domestic courts in 2016, with the Swiss Supreme Court ruling that there was not enough evidence to prove that women’s rights had been violated. The litigants say that those courts did not properly analyze the case, so they took it higher, to the European Court of Human Rights.

The Swiss government has argued that international law does not give individuals rights to be protected from climate change, and that addressing its effects should be a political, rather than legal, process. It declined to comment further on the proceedings for this article, saying that it was waiting for the judgment.

Other governments, like Ireland’s, have also given arguments in the case on behalf of the Swiss government, while several rights groups have supported the litigants.

Marc Willers, one of the lawyers involved, said the litigants felt a moral obligation to pursue the case. If Switzerland, one of the richest and most technologically advanced countries in the world, did not step up to tackle climate change, he said, “what hope is there that other countries will fill the gap?”

Experts say that Europe will experience more frequent and more intense heat waves in the future, and that Switzerland is particularly vulnerable and is warming at more than double the rate of the global average. Its glaciers melted last year at a faster rate than ever recorded, and dwindling winter snow in Alpine villages has been devastating for popular ski resorts.

That urgency has sent climate change to the top of the political agenda, with climate activists saying that the country is not doing enough to meet its obligations under the Paris Agreement, the 2015 treaty aimed at reducing global emissions.

In June, Swiss voters passed a referendum that would require Switzerland to reach a net zero emissions target by 2050.

Many women in the KlimaSeniorinnen, which is affiliated with Greenpeace, are longtime activists who have also taken up the mantle of reducing emissions in their daily lives.

Cooling off on Lake Geneva last year in Lausanne, Switzerland. Climate issues have shot to the top of the country’s political agenda.
Credit...Laurent Gillieron/EPA, via Shutterstock

Ms. Heussler, of Zurich, says she rarely travels, does not own a car and grows her own vegetables. But she mostly gave up gardening during last year’s heat waves, except for during the earliest hours of the day.

Ms. Joerg, of Basel, said she was excited to retire several years ago. “I thought, ‘Finally, no job, no work, no agenda,’” she said, “‘I can do whatever I want.’” Instead, during heat waves in recent years, she has stayed indoors, unable to go out to see friends or otherwise socialize. “That makes me angry,” she said.

A ruling in the KlimaSeniorinnen’s case is not expected until 2024. The court is also considering several other climate change-related cases, including one filed by a group of young Portuguese who have accused 33 countries of not upholding their human rights obligations by failing to curb emissions, and by a French citizen who has brought a similar case against the French government.

But as they wait and try to go about their lives, the members of KlimaSeniorinnen say they are hopeful that the case can demonstrate that older people can be powerful climate advocates, even if they may not be around for the future.

“I know that statistically speaking in 10 years, I’m gone,” said Ms. Stern, the avid hiker. “So whatever I fight for now, I am not going to be the benefactor.”

She added, “It’ll be for the next generation.”