ANARCHO CAPITALI$TS ARE FASCISTS
The Trump-loving economist vowing to shake-up Argentina's financial system

Tim Wallace
Thu, 17 August 2023 

The former tantric sex coach is the surprise frontrunner in the race to become Argentina’s next 

president 

Milton Friedman was not renowned for being soft and cuddly. The father of monetarist economics inspired tough central bank crackdowns on inflation that triggered recessions and provided the intellectual ballast for Margaret Thatcher, the Iron Lady.

However, for Javier Milei, Milton Friedman is a good name for a dog.

The surprise frontrunner in the race to become Argentina’s next president has named one of his five English Mastiffs after the Nobel prize-winning. Other pets are named after Robert Lucas, another Nobel economics laureate, and Murray Rothbard, an economist of libertarian leanings.


Milei thanked his dogs alongside his supporters over the weekend in the wake of his surprise victory in the primary round of the election.

The one-time rock star and former tantric sex coach has been dubbed a Latin American Donald Trump and Milei is said to be an admirer of the former president.

His success has alarmed not only the political establishment but also investors and the economic mainstream.

A self-described “anarcho-capitalist”, Milei has proposed abolishing the central bank and claimed he would “burn down” the institution.

He has proposed moving Argentina from its plunging peso onto the US dollar and wants to balance the books by taking a “chainsaw” to public spending.

He also wants to cut taxes, including on workers and agricultural exports, and shrink the public sector by encouraging people to retire rather than laying off staff.

Milei has been dubbed a Latin American Donald Trump and is said to be an admirer of the former US president - ROBYN BECK/AFP

The radical package has sent investors fleeing from Argentina, with the peso plunging this week.

Yet his proposals have struck a chord with voters. Inflation is running at over 110pc in the country, one of the highest rates in the world, and surging prices have tipped around 40pc of the population below the poverty line.

“Remember, a different Argentina is impossible with the same people as always, with the same people that have always failed,” Milei told supporters after the votes came in over the weekend.

“Today we have stood up to say enough to the model of decadence. Today we took the first step for the reconstruction of Argentina.”

Despite his eye-catching appearance and colourful background, Milei’s proposals are addressing some of Argentina’s most pressing problems.

The country has racked up debt steadily over the past 30 years, with the exception of six years of surpluses before the financial crisis.

“The concept of reducing the fiscal deficit is definitely a good one,” says Sergi Lanau at Oxford Economics.

When it comes to addressing the inflation plaguing the nation, Milei’s plan to dollarise the economy also has merits.

“If you look at other emerging markets that have curbed inflation, pegging to the dollar is often a part of the process,” says William Jackson at Capital Economics.

Adopting a currency issued by the Fed removes the temptation for politicians to print money to pay for their policies, which fuels inflation.

Jackson says: “It removes the problem of deficit monetisation and the political influence over the central bank.”

This may be where the scheme to scrap the central bank comes in. Adopting the dollar would remove the central bank’s control over monetary policy and potentially leave it responsible for topics such as bank regulation instead.

Yet, in echoes of the market reaction to Liz Truss’s reformist budget in Britain, investors have baulked at Milei’s electoral success.

The peso went into freefall after the first round presidential primary results were announced, in which Milei gained more than 30pc of the vote.

A devaluation took the peso down almost 18pc on Monday. One US dollar now buys 350 pesos at official exchange rates, up from 135 a year ago and 60 just before the pandemic.

The Central Bank of Argentina was forced to take emergency action to defend the economy, raising its headline interest rate from 97pc to 118pc.

Investors are worried that Milei’s shock therapy risks crippling Argentina’s already weak economy and putting it at risk of defaulting on its international debts.

There are also questions about just how credible the policies are when looked at in detail.

Lanau says: ”When his advisers say they will bring the deficit down to zero in a few months while not getting rid of civil servants and not slashing social spending, it is not possible.”

The practicalities of adopting the dollar are also challenging.

“Essentially the government or central bank needs to hold dollar assets at least equivalent to the monetary base, so it can cover all of the cash in circulation and all of the banks’ reserves at the central bank,” says Jackson.

The state has been running down its supplies of foreign currency in the hope of propping up the peso. Without many physical dollars, it is hard to seek to replace the currency. Few are willing to lend to the country.

Then comes calculating the exchange rate at which to make the shift. Too low and households feel hard done by, replacing their hard-earned pesos with a very small stack of greenbacks. But too high and the economy can be hamstrung with an uncompetitive rate, making exports unaffordable and undermining growth.

Milei’s team has indicated it could let individuals choose which currency to use, in a more free-floating manner, though the details are unclear.

Lanau says more announcements on the plan could push Argentinians to buy dollars as soon as possible, effectively dumping the peso and pushing it down further.

“Depending on what he says in the campaign, people could freak out even more,” he says.

Further falls in the peso would mean higher inflation, adding to the already bleak economic outlook. Argentina’s economy has contracted for five of the past 10 years and is expected to shrink again this year before, at best, stagnating in 2024.

It is far and away the biggest borrower from the International Monetary Fund, with a loan scheme worth $44bn rearranged last year. Buenos Aires only agreed a new deal at the end of last month to avoid the country falling behind on its debt repayments to the Fund.

Jackson says: “It is fair to say Argentina is in a pretty dire crisis. There is enormous pressure on the currency. It is really only keeping its head above water because it is receiving funding from the IMF.”

Milei’s team has indicated it could let individuals choose which currency to use - Natacha Pisarenko/AP

Milei said officials from the IMF have approached him to discuss the situation following his success in the weekend’s polls. The Fund itself says it regularly meets politicians.

A spokesman said: “In the case of presidential candidates, these engagements also allow staff to better understand key aspects of future potential economic policies.”

Argentina has defaulted on its debts nine times in its history, including failures to pay creditors in 2020 and in 2014. The recent collapse of the peso puts the country at risk of yet another default.

Major falls in currencies against the dollar have led to debt defaults around 50pc of the time over the past three decades, according to Capital Economics, and a recession in 80pc of cases. “Argentina is unlikely to be an exception,” analysts there say.

A dependence on the IMF may yet be turned into a strength, suggests Juan Grigera at King’s College London.

“Argentina is the biggest debtor to the IMF, for the IMF it represents about 34pc of all it lent,” he says. “This was a leverage of sorts in negotiating a restructuring of the debt in 2019 and during Covid.”

Grigera, who teaches international development and earned his PhD in Buenos Aires, points out that all three leading presidential candidates are also committed to continuing debt payments.

However, Lanau warns that rising debt repayments in 2025 mean “it will be impossible not to default” by the end of that year.

“The only way you can refinance without defaulting is issuing new bonds, but [Argentina] is very far from being able to borrow money from anyone other than the IMF,” he says.

“There is virtually a 100pc chance that by late 2025, they will run out of dollars, even if there is someone in charge who is trying to fix things.”

International community cheers Guatemala anti-graft candidate's landslide victory

Mon, 21 August 2023
By Kylie Madry

(Reuters) - International leaders celebrated the overwhelming victory on Sunday of Guatemalan presidential aspirant Bernardo Arevalo, a win which had long seemed out of reach for the anti-graft candidate in an elections process shaken by accusations of government intervention.

"A salute to the people and government of Guatemala for an exemplary election day, a true civic celebration," said Organization of American States (OAS) chief Luis Almagro on X, the social media network formerly known as Twitter.

Arevalo, a 64-year-old former diplomat and son of Guatemala's first democratically elected president, nabbed 58% of votes versus former first lady Sandra Torres' 37%, with nearly all votes counted late Sunday.

"The outcome of the vote is already very clear," European Union's foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said in a statement. "It is crucial for all state institutions and all sectors of society to support and join in this effort in the interests of the country."

Arevalo, who ran on a campaign of fighting corruption, faced an uphill battle at the polls. He came in a surprise second place in a first-round vote earlier this year, triggering a run-off. A number of other opposition candidates had been barred from running.

His competitor Torres alleged irregularities in the first round of voting and Arevalo's party, Semilla, was briefly suspended at the request of a top prosecutor.

By Monday morning, Torres had yet to accept her loss publicly. In a press conference Sunday afternoon, the candidate, an ally to outgoing President Alejandro Giammattei, said she was "worried" about the integrity of the vote.

Her UNE party said in a statement late Sunday it would take a position once the elections results were put out "with total transparency."

An OAS representative, with a team of 86 election observers in Guatemala, said voting had gone smoothly and the election "fulfilled all the demanding obligations."

An EU mission will put out a preliminary statement with its findings on Tuesday.

The EU, as well as governments such as Brazil and Norway said they expected a peaceful transition of power.

However, the attacks on Arevalo are likely to continue, said Risa Grais-Targow, analyst at political risk consultancy firm Eurasia Group.

"The ruling pact will likely continue to target electoral officials and Arevalo's Semilla party with investigations ahead of January's change in government," she said.

President Giammattei has vowed to ensure an orderly transition of power. He said on X he had congratulated Arevalo, and invited him to meet "the day after election results were finalized."

Arevalo will face challenges once in office, as Guatemala is roiled by violence and food insecurity. Guatemalans now represent the largest number of Central Americans seeking to enter the United States.

Arevalo said he had already spoken with Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador and Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele on Guatemala's agenda with its neighbors.

Honduran President Xiomara Castro said on X she was sure that following Arevalo's win, "We will unify the people of Central America."

(Reporting by Kylie Madry; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)

In rural Zimbabwe, a group of grandmothers counters alleged election intimidation, bias on WhatsApp

Sat, August 19, 2023 



DOMBOSHAVA, Zimbabwe (AP) — Four grandmothers wearing bright yellow headscarves, T-shirts and skirts huddled around a cellphone in Zimbabwe’s rural Domboshava area. They cackled at a video showing a troop of mischievous baboons ripping up ruling party election posters with the face of the president on them.

With a swish and a click, 64-year-old Elizabeth Mutandwa posted the video on a couple of community WhatsApp groups, and followed it up with some election campaign information from the party she supports in next week's election — the main opposition Citizens Coalition for Change.

The grandmothers say they and their fellow opposition supporters are facing intimidation from followers of the long-ruling ZANU-PF party and a biased state-run media that restricts their options. But they have found a way to counter that with the use of WhatsApp group chats.

“Let’s share this one with our own people. It’s good content,” said Mutandwa of the baboon video, once her giggles had subsided.

She then got up and walked several kilometers (miles) wearing the yellow colors of her party to a rally addressed by opposition leader Nelson Chamisa, the man she hopes will finally bring change to Zimbabwe after 43 years.

The ruling ZANU-PF party has been in government ever since the southern African nation won independence from white minority rule in 1980, and Mutandwa was a young woman in her early 20s.

A couple of hundred others attended the Domboshava opposition rally alongside Mutandwa to hear presidential candidate Chamisa speak.

But with national elections just days away, many more stayed at home, afraid of being threatened, intimidated, or maybe even attacked by ruling party activists for daring to show support for Chamisa and his party, Mutandwa said. Others hadn't even heard about the rally because the state-run TV and radio channels they mostly rely on for information rarely cover opposition events.

President Emmerson Mnangagwa, who came to power in a coup in 2017, is seeking re-election Wednesday. Chamisa will challenge him again, having lost to Mnangagwa in a very close and disputed contest in 2018.

The 80-year-old leader has warned his supporters against engaging in violence in the buildup to the Aug. 23 vote. That plea came days after an opposition party supporter was killed, allegedly at the hands of ruling party activists, in the first deadly violence of the election buildup.

Even though Mnangagwa replaced long-ruling autocrat Robert Mugabe in that popular coup, he's been accused of weaponizing the police and the courts to stifle opposition in the same way Mugabe did. Chamisa and international rights groups claim opposition party figures and supporters are often targeted with harassment, violence and intimidation.

Some rural folks like Mutandwa have found a way to combat the threats and the media bias they also see, but which often go unnoticed deep in the rural areas where the majority of the country's 15 million people live, and where the opposition's reach is limited.

“Everyone around here knows we are opposition activists, so some people are too afraid to openly associate with us," said Mutandwa. “But it’s not a problem anymore. We talk to them through WhatsApp and they can participate in the campaign from the safety of their homes.”

The way Mutandwa and her group of grannies are using cellphones and the internet to cut through the propaganda ahead of elections represents a shift from past rural election campaigns, said Rejoice Ngwenya, a strategic communications specialist in Zimbabwe. While cellphone and internet access was widespread in the cities, opposition parties previously could only use rallies, community meetings, or sometimes even funerals, to reach rural voters and share their message.

Mutandwa now gets Citizens Coalition for Change information straight to her smartphone. And she spreads the word, too, among the 10 or so WhatsApp groups the four grandmothers in Domboshava administer. She needed a couple of lessons from one of her grandsons to get going on WhatsApp, she said.

WhatsApp and other messaging apps are having a “high impact” in rural areas in the buildup to these elections, according to Ngwenya.

“Everybody has a cellphone,” he said. "They are not necessarily state of the art, but that they can be used to send a message is an appeal.”

The four grandmothers are going up against a ruling party machine, though.

European Union observers compiled a report on the use of state media — the domninant outlets — following the last general election in Zimbabwe five years ago. It said that state-controlled public television dedicated 85% of its coverage to Mnangagwa's ZANU-PF during the election period. Just over 80% of coverage went to the governing party on one popular public radio station monitored by the mission.

During this election campaign, Mnangagwa and his party have dominated TV and radio again, and have also been sending bulk text messages to millions of people with campaign information and notifications of ZANU-PF rallies that Chamisa's opposition party, and the grannies, simply can't match.

Their hope for long-awaited change in their country lies more in word of mouth — or word of message — with Mutandwa hoping, but not really knowing for sure, that her WhatsApp posts are re-posted and shared multiple times. She said people are yearning for change, even in rural areas once ZANU-PF's strongholds, but are still afraid.

“We are not afraid, but we know that others are," she said as she tossed some grain to her chickens in her dusty yard. “At least we are able to communicate with some of them and the ones we reach can spread the word to others.”

___

Associated Press Africa news: https://apnews.com/hub/africa

Farai Mutsaka, The Associated Press

‘It’s Europe or death’: Why no amount of EU money has stopped migrants fleeing Tunisia

Stephen Quillen
Sun, 20 August 2023

Operation carried out by coastguards teams of the Tunisian National Guard against migrants off the city of Sfax - Anadolu Agency

Felix looks on in despair at the hundreds of sub-Saharan migrants strewn on makeshift cardboard mattresses and dirt-stained blankets in the streets of Sfax, a coastal Tunisian city just 75 miles from Italy.

“There are babies, children, and pregnant women sleeping on the ground,” the 36-year-old from Nigeria, said. “This is dehumanising. This is torture for us.”

Samuel, a 27-year-old migrant who has been on the move for eight years, added: “I lost so many of my friends and brothers to the civil war in South Sudan. I went to Sudan and then Libya before coming here ... Still I have no good place to lay my head.”


Hundreds of sub-Saharan migrants of all ages have been sleeping rough in Sfax’s parks and alleyways for nearly two months. Many were forced from their homes in racist pogroms that swept the city earlier this summer.

The violent crackdown has added urgency to migrants’ plans to set sail for Italy, and the EU, in spite of the millions of euros Brussels and Rome have spent trying to control the flow of people across the Mediterranean.

Luis, a 40-year-old migrant from Cameroon, put it bluntly: “For us, it’s Europe or die. We don’t have any fear anymore.”

Those who make it to Tunisia live as second-class citizens, unable to rent homes, find reliable jobs, or take public transport without harassment.

“The racism is intense,” said Felix, who like many others, travelled to Sfax, a hub for people-smuggling, to catch a boat to Italy. “We don’t have homes or jobs. We don’t even have anywhere to bathe ... I see myself as a slave in this country.”

So far this year, more than 60,000 irregular migrants, the majority from sub-Saharan countries, have reached Italy from Tunisia. Of these, more than half have made the trip since the start of June, when mass violence broke out against black migrants.

Tensions had long been brewing between migrants and locals fearful the city is being overrun by people desperate to reach Europe.

So far this year, more than 60,000 irregular migrants, the majority from sub-Saharan countries, have reached Italy from Tunisia - Anadolu Agency

In February, President Kaid Saied branded the estimated 20,000-50,000 sub-Saharans in Tunisia, who make up just 0.4 per cent of the population, a “demographic threat”.

There were waves of mob violence and forced evictions of sub-Saharans after a local man was killed in a clash with several Cameroon migrants in early June.

Moussa, a 25-year-old migrant from Guinea, described the raids that left him penniless on the streets. “A group of guys broke into my house, beat me and took everything I had, even my clothes. I’ve been sleeping here ever since,” he said in a city centre park.

Tunisian authorities were active participants in abuses against migrants. During the unrest, they arbitrarily arrested and expelled around 1,200 migrants to desert areas at the Libyan and Algerian borders, leaving them to suffer with no food or water in the sweltering heat.
‘Threw me into the desert three times’

“They threw me into the desert three times, beating me and taking everything I had,” Mel, a south Sudanese migrant, who fled his country due to its civil war, said. “They told me not to return.”

After weeks of pressure from rights groups, activists, and the United Nations, Tunisia said on Aug 10 that it had brought back the last group of migrants it had abandoned in the desert, but not before dozens had died there.

“I never in my life thought I’d see such events in my own country,” Selim Kharrat, the president of Al Bawsala, a Tunisian human rights organisation and watchdog, told The Telegraph. “It is inhuman.”

The European Union has tried to quell activity along the thriving Mediterranean migration route with little success.

Migrants who want to reach Europe illegally via the Mediterranean Sea, off the city of Sfax in Tunisia - Anadolu Agency

On June 11, it announced it would provide Tunisia with €100 million (£85.5 million) for border management, overlooking reports of abuses committed by Tunisia’s coast guard towards migrants at sea.

Since then, there has been an increase in pullbacks of Italy-bound vessels, migrants and activists say, but the overall number of boats reaching Europe has hardly changed.

“It doesn’t matter if you double the number of police officers or double the number of control operations. There will still be migrants seeking a better life,” said Kharrat, from Al Bawsala.

Adrian, a Cameroon migrant whose boat was intercepted by Tunisia’s coast guard en route to Italy on Wednesday, told The Telegraph that “nothing can stop” migrants like him from reaching Europe.

“We will try again and again,” he said. “We have no other choice.”
Cramped metal boat

To reserve a seat on a cramped metal boat, migrants must pay anywhere from £376 to £877 to Tunisian smugglers, who supply the vessels and organise the trips.

For many, the cost amounts to their life savings - and they get no refund if something goes wrong.

Adrian said he lost all his money when national guardsmen ripped out his boat’s engine and left him and other passengers adrift at sea.

While he was lucky to be brought back to shore by a passing fisherman, he must now find a way to raise more funds for his next attempt to cross. The EU has tried to quell activity along the thriving Mediterranean migration route with little success.

On June 11, it announced it would give Tunisia €100 million (£85.5 million) for border management.

In recent weeks, at least 46 migrants drowned after departing Sfax for the Italian island of Lampedusa, with several bodies washing ashore at a crowded beach.

Back in Sfax, news of these drownings has become routine, eliciting little surprise from migrants intent on escaping “hellish” conditions in Tunisia for Europe.

“The risk is high ... but I have no choice but to keep going,” said Felix, who has already tried twice to reach Italy by sea, each time being turned back by Tunisia’s coastguard. “There is no future for us here.”

‘Fired on like rain’: Saudi border guards accused of mass killings of Ethiopians

Peter Beaumont
Sun, 20 August 2023

Photograph: Nariman El-Mofty/AP

Saudi border guards have been accused of killing hundreds of Ethiopians using small arms and explosive weapons in a targeted campaign that rights advocates suggest may amount to a crime against humanity.

The shocking claims are made in a detailed investigation by Human Rights Watch, which interviewed dozens of Ethiopian people who said they were attacked by border guards while they tried to cross into Saudi Arabia from Yemen.

Last week Downing Street confirmed that Rishi Sunak plans to welcome Saudi Arabia’s crown prince Mohammed bin Salman to London “at the earliest opportunity”. It would be the first visit since the death in 2018 of the Saudi dissident Jamal Khashoggi, who US intelligence believe was murdered and dismembered by Saudi agents in Istanbul on the orders of Prince Mohammed.

Using satellite imaging, photographs of fatalities from more than 20 incidents, witness testimony by survivors and forensic experts’ examination of survivors’ wounds, HRW has built up a compelling and horrific picture of an escalating campaign of extreme violence aimed at people trying to cross the border.

Witness testimony describes mass fatality events involving significant numbers of women and children killed in shelling, with dead people and body parts spread along trails.

“I saw people killed in a way I have never imagined,” Hamdiya, a 14-year-old girl who crossed the border in a group of 60 in February, told researchers. “I saw 30 killed people on the spot.”

HRW’s lead researcher on the report, Nadia Hardman, described the findings as “obscene”.

“I cover violence at borders, but I have never come across something of this nature, the use of explosive weapons including against women and children,” Hardman said.

The report builds on a mounting body of evidence of extremely serious human rights violations on the Saudi-Yemen border. Last year UN Special Rapporteurs wrote to the Saudi government with allegations about the killing of hundreds of migrants.

In June the International Organization for Migration’s Missing Migrant Project issued its own estimate of fatalities on the Saudi border. It said that at least 795 people, “believed to be mostly Ethiopians”, had died.

The Guardian has contacted the Saudi ministry of foreign affairs and Saudi embassy in London for comment.

In March the Saudi government “categorically denied” claims from the UN rapporteurs of an apparent “systematic pattern of large-scale, indiscriminate cross-border killings by Saudi security forces against migrants, including refugees and asylum seekers, and victims of trafficking”.

The latest investigation into abuses in an area largely shut off to foreign journalists and aid workers is the most detailed picture yet of what is happening at the border.

Among the most shocking claims are that:

Saudi border forces shelled a group of people who had been arrested, detained and expelled even as they attempted to cross the border back into Yemen.


Saudi border forces forced a young person who had survived an attack to rape another survivor under threat of execution.

People detained after crossing the border were shot at close quarters, and survivors were told by border forces to choose a limb to be shot in.

Hundreds of thousands of Ethiopians live and work in Saudi Arabia. Many migrate for economic reasons but some have been driven to leave by rights abuses in Ethiopia, including during the recent brutal war in the north of the country.

The alleged killings have occurred on a major migration transit route used by people traffickers and smugglers between Al Jawf in Saudi Arabia and Sa’dah in Yemen, a region controlled by the Houthi Ansar Allah movement that borders Saudi Arabia’s Jizan province.Interactive

HRW’s researchers interviewed 42 Ethiopian people who had tried to cross into Saudi Arabia from Yemen, or the friends and relatives of those who tried to cross, and analysed more than 350 videos and photographs posted to social media or gathered from other sources filmed between 12 May 2021 and 18 July 2023.

These included pictures of dead and wounded people scattered along trails used by people-trafficking groups, as well as injured survivors in camps and medical facilities, some with horrific injuries consistent with shrapnel from mortars and similar weapons.

“Saudi border guards have used explosive weapons and shot people at close range, including women and children, in a pattern that is widespread and systematic,” HRW’s report says. “If committed as part of a Saudi government policy to murder migrants, these killings would be a crime against humanity. In some instances, Saudi border guards first asked survivors in which limb of their body they preferred to be shot, before shooting them at close range.

“While Human Rights Watch has previously documented killings of migrants at the border with Yemen and Saudi Arabia since 2014, the killings documented in this report appear to be a deliberate escalation in both the number and manner of targeted killings.”

Shown video and photographs of injuries sustained in the attacks, the Independent Forensic Expert Group (IFEG) of the International Rehabilitation Council for Torture Victims, an international group of forensic experts, concluded that injuries were consistent with small arms fire and explosive weapons.

IFEG’s report for HRW describes 22 images of sufficient quality to analyse. “A range of weaponry appear to have been used,” it says. “Some injuries have characteristics consistent with gunshot wounds, while others exhibit clear patterns consistent with the explosion of artefacts with capacity to produce heat and shrapnel.”

The estimated scale of the killings was provided by witnesses.

In one of the incidents, a survivor said that from his group of 170 people, “I know 90 people were killed, because some returned to that place to pick up the dead bodies – they counted [about] 90 dead bodies.”

Those killed and injured set off from two camps run by people smugglers and controlled by Houthi forces close to the Saudi border – Al Thabit migrant camp located in a wadi about 4 km (2½ miles) from the border and Al Raqw, a tented encampment 17km (10 miles) south of Al Thabit, also located on the border.

In one alleged incident from early June interviewees said Saudi border guards fired explosive weapons on a group of people who were preparing to re-enter Yemen having just been released from Saudi detention.

Munira, a 20-year-old-survivor who suffered facial injuries consistent with shrapnel during the alleged incident, said it happened after the group was put on a minibus heading back towards the border.

“When they released us, they created a kind of chaos; they screamed at us to get out of the car and get away,” she said.

“When we were 1km away, the border guards could see us. We were resting together after running a lot … and that’s when they fired mortars on our group. Directly at us.

“There were 20 in our group and only 10 survived. Some of the mortars hit the rocks and then the [fragments of the] rock hit us … The weapon looks like a rocket launcher, it had six ‘mouths’, six holes from where they fire and it was fired from the back of a vehicle – it fires several at the same time. They fired on us like rain.”

British aircraft maker behind Islander plane hit by winding-up petition


Howard Mustoe
Sun, 20 August 2023 

Britten-Norman’s success is built on its Islander aircraft which first flew in 1965

 - Universal Images Group Editorial

A British manufacturer that builds aircraft used by MI5 is scrambling to get its finances in order after it was hit with a winding-up petition.

Britten-Norman’s 69-year existence was recently under threat as the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) made an attempt to recoup unpaid debts through the High Court.

The CAA launched a winding-up petition against the Isle of Wight-based company earlier this month, but it is understood this has now been withdrawn.

Britten-Norman’s bosses insisted the legal action was due to an “error”.

However, winding-up proceedings, which can lead to a company’s assets being seized, are typically used by creditors as a last resort to recover cash.

Legal papers show Britten-Norman owed the regulator £36,577 for invoices relating to design approvals, airworthiness and noise certification.

“The petitioner has provided the company with multiple opportunities to make payment in line with an arranged payment plan,” said the CAA’s court filing, dated Aug 11. “Despite this, the company has failed to pay the agreed instalments or meet the demanded payments.”

The CAA declined to comment.

A Britten-Norman spokesman said: “This is an error which is being amended.”

Britten-Norman’s success is built on its nine-seat, twin-engined Islander aircraft which first flew in 1965.

Popular as an air ambulance and short-haul travel, around 1,300 have been built to date.

The British Army and Royal Air Force used Britten-Norman’s camera-equipped Islanders for domestic surveillance over a 30-year period, including missions over Northern Ireland during the Troubles to feed vital intelligence to MI5 agents.

The last Britten-Norman Defenders, as the military called their Islander aircraft, were withdrawn in 2021.

Companies House records show that the aeroplane manufacturer and its owner are also late in filing their annual accounts.

Britten-Norman and its parent company B-N Group Ltd are both overdue by more than six weeks.

B-N Group’s last accounts for 2021 show an £80,000 profit, down from £462,000 in 2020.

The winding-up petition comes months after Britten-Norman unveiled ambitious plans to merge with Cranfield Aerospace Solutions to begin making a hydrogen-fuelled version of its aircraft.

The company has also set out plans to bring production back to the Isle of Wight after offshoring the majority of its work to Romania six decades ago.

While plenty of military jets and helicopters are made in the UK, civil aerospace manufacturing is mostly limited to building parts.

Airbus makes wings and other components in Britain, while Rolls-Royce makes jet engines.

The Isle of Wight is also home to Airframe Assemblies, a specialist aerospace company that rebuilds Spitfires from salvaged wrecks back to flying condition.

Britten-Norman was founded by engineers John Britten and Desmond Norman in 1954 to build a small commuter aeroplane.

They diversified into crop-spraying aircraft and also ventured into hovercraft under the Cushioncraft name.

The success of the Islander led the company to farm out production, handing a contract to Intreprinderea de Reparatii Material Aeronautic in Romania.

DEI/SPAIN HAD MORE COLOUR

England Lionesses team 'looks blonde, blue-eyed' and lacks diversity, says TV commentator

Ellen Manning
Mon, 21 August 2023

England's Lionesses were beaten in the final by Spain. (Getty Images)

An entrepreneur has commented on the ethnic make-up of the England's Lionesses squad - who narrowly missed out on World Cup victory on Sunday - commenting that it "isn't that diverse".

Wilfred Emmanuel-Jones MBE's comments came ahead of the Women's World Cup final, which saw England lose 1-0 to Spain.

Despite the defeat, the Lionesses have been praised for inspiring millions and doing "fantastic" work to promote the women's game.


The Prince of Wales, who faced criticism ahead of the game for not attending in person, tweeted a personal message to the squad after the match saying their “spirit and drive have inspired so many people".

Read more: England v Spain: Women's World Cup Final in pictures

Wilfred Emmanuel-Jones MBE has been criticised for his comments. (Alamy)

Speaking on Sky News ahead of the match, Wilfred Emmanuel-Jones MBE - who describes himself as food industry diversity advocate The Black Farmer - said the women's squad lacked diversity, describing them as "blonde, blue-eyed".

During a discussion of the newspaper front pages, he said: "I don't want to pour boiling water on it but it isn't that diverse".

"It really sticks out at you. They look blonde, blue-eyed. If it was the men's World Cup it would be very representative of the Britain that we're in and very, very diverse."

He went on: "I'm going to be watching it and I'm going to be supporting it and I don't want to be seen as pouring cold water on but there is something we need to look at."

Read more: England coach Sarina Wiegman aims for 'new moments' with defeated Lionesses

An FA spokesperson said: "We have publicly committed to improving the diversity within our England pathway but also within the wider game as a whole.

"That includes working with government so every girl can have the chance to play in school. We have also completely restructured our talent pathway so more young girls from all backgrounds can find a local place to play and we are then ensuring it is possible for the very best talent to be identified.

"Of course, while progress is being made, there is always more to do."

Questions have been asked previously about how to improve diversity within the Lionesses squad. (Getty)

The issue of diversity in the Lionesses has been raised previously, with key figures saying work is underway, but change will be gradual.

In the Euro 2022 tournament, the BBC received 222 complaints after a report from Alex Scott looked into diversity in women's football.

The presenter’s investigation was aired during half-time of the Denmark vs Finland match in the tournament, with broadcaster Eilidh Barbour saying that England’s all-white Lionesses highlighted a lack of diversity in the sport.

She commented that all starting 11 players and five substitutes who came on to the pitch were white, saying: "that does point towards a lack of diversity in the women’s game in England".

Read more: Girls' football now so popular clubs 'can't form teams fast enough'

Commenting on suggestions that professional women’s football in England remains a middle-class sport in February this year, England manager Sarina Wiegman said: "You’re not going to change things overnight.

"Over the last weeks the FA and Kay Cossington [the FA’s women’s technical director] launched an improved pathway, which is really about performance, but also inclusivity, diversity and accessibility.

“Hopefully in the future, and I don’t know how long it will take, we will get very, very good players we can start with, but also [players] that represents more the diversity of our community."

The issue re-emerged as the Lionesses squad for the FIFA Women's World Cup in Australia came under scrutiny, with some pointing out that only two of the 23-player squad are black.

Again, Wiegman said change was underway but would not happen "overnight".

Jess Carter, one of two Black players in the World Cup squad along with Lauren James, has also previously addressed the lack of diversity in the elite squad.

“I think it comes from the same place. It’s about recognising what the demographic in whatever area needs. With equal access will come more diversity in the sport," she told Vogue.

Opinion

England's World Cup Lionesses bring home something far more valuable than a trophy - a sporting legacy that shall endure

The Yorkshire Post
Updated Mon, 21 August 2023 

Mary Earps of England is congratulated by Millie Bright after saving the penalty taken by Jennifer Hermoso of Spain (not pictured) during the FIFA Women's World Cup Australia & New Zealand 2023 Final match between Spain and England at Stadium Australia on August 20, 2023 in Sydney, Australia. (Photo by Catherine Ivill/Getty Images)

And it isn’t unusual for city squares, town and village halls and community centres to bring people together to watch important football matches.

We are a nation well-versed in supporting the national team, people in their millions wearing three lions on their chest with pride, cheering on England with a collective spirit that sport in this country has a habit of bringing out in us all.

But what is unusual is for all of that to be brought about by women’s football, and yet, as England set about yesterday’s World Cup Final against their ultimately victorious opponents Spain, the fizz that has for years bubbled up around the country was there.

Social media awash with anticipation, messages of support for this England team, who went yet again in search of glory having been crowned European champions just last year.

The front pages of our national newspapers carried in unison headlines screaming support for our Lionesses, news broadcasts on television and radio led with the football. And so even though that coveted trophy will not be ‘coming home’, to borrow a little bit of footballing parlance, a sporting legacy that will prevail forever is heading home.

Because what our national team has done in the last year or so, not just for the so-called women’s game – football belongs to us all – but for sport in general and for wider society should not be underestimated.

In the years to come, certainly in this country, the likes of Yorkshire’s Millie Bright, Rachel Daly, Bethany England, Ellie Roebuck and Esme Morgan will be able to count as their legacy leading women’s football into the mainstream.

Opinion

Powerless in the face of Britain’s crises, Rishi Sunak has now entered his self-pitying era

Nesrine Malik

THE GUARDIAN
Sun, 20 August 2023

In this article:

Nesrine Malik
Sudanese-born journalist and author

We are used to the fact that Rishi Sunak only has two speeds: blandly repeating his five political “priorities” and dutifully affirming the nastiest of his party’s rhetoric. When he’s not answering questions by reciting the five pledges, he’s attacking lefty lawyers, “woke nonsense” or inventing cruel ways to detain and deport asylum seekers. Both, to a certain extent, are performances: the robotic recitations to make clear that, after a series of reckless Tory prime ministers, a grownup is back in charge. The rightwing populist setting, meanwhile, is designed for his own party and the Tory press.

But sometimes another Sunak appears in flashes in a third speed: the self-pitying and frustrated prime minister. One who seems to say: look, you don’t understand how much I’m sacrificing for you people.

Just last week, the prime minister told ITV News that he is enduring political pain in the cause of bringing down inflation. His argument seemed to be that by not doing what people want – increasing government spending to mitigate the cost of living – he is serving the long-term good. “It might make everyone feel better in the short term to borrow lots of money to do lots of things,” he told political editor Robert Peston. “I’m not going to do that.” It is now a familiar piece of Sunak rhetoric. Earlier this year, he justified his refusal to give what he termed a “massive” pay rise to nurses in England on similar grounds. He even spoke of not making his “life easier” during the Conservative party leadership contest against Liz Truss last year. It seems a surprise to him, or at least something that has not yet sunk in, that being prime minister is not about his own personal martyrdom.

On some level, Sunak’s pained parent doling out hard truths persona is familiar from Thatcherite ideology: a morality tale in which self-sacrifice pays out. But Sunak delivers it with condescending impatience rather than sobriety, revealing something deeper about himself. It is hard to avoid the impression that here is a man who has eschewed a peaceful private life making even more exorbitant sums of money in finance in order to publicly serve – and is now annoyed that it’s all a bit more of a pain than he frankly has the patience for. The British people are not shareholders who he can placate with a PowerPoint presentation spelling out the financial picture, but people who have pesky feelings about being able to eat and house themselves, who are rightly making demands about an economic system that has failed them.

Some of this is personality. It is now abundantly clear that Sunak is increasingly impatient with – and distant from – a public that just doesn’t grasp how much he and his government are doing for them. Last week, the Liberal Democrats accused Sunak of being “woefully out of touch” when he appeared to tell people struggling with high energy bills that they don’t quite understand that, sure, bills are high, but they could be even higher. “A typical family will have had about half their energy bills paid for by the government over the past several months,” he said. “Now you wouldn’t have quite seen that because you would have still just got your energy bill, it would have been very high and you’d have been: ‘Oh my gosh, what’s going on?’ but what you wouldn’t have realised, maybe, is that before that even happened, £1,500 had been lopped off, and the government had covered it.” In other words, the public would do better to see the numbers that are not on their bill rather than those that are actually on it, and stop asking so many silly questions of this very busy man.

What’s more, last month, he got testy when a radio interviewer pressed him on his use of jets and helicopters to get around, saying it was “an efficient use of time” for someone so busy, and rounded on the interviewer with one hell of a strawman, accusing him of thinking “that the answer to climate change is getting people to ban everything that they’re doing, to stop people flying, to stop people going on holiday. I mean, I think that’s absolutely the wrong approach”.

There is an argument that these are inevitable PR glitches on the part of someone under constant scrutiny. I am sometimes told by Sunak supporters that he is just not good with the media; he is genuinely hard-working and liked by his team. But these tetchy statements betray a real sense of powerlessness, misdirected at the public and the media. He is indeed backed into a corner, not just by his own limitations, but by his party and ideological positions. Those Thatcherite convictions are either already played out – there is little left to privatise – or preventing him from actually fixing the ailing British economy. He will not raise taxes on assets or capital gains, or genuinely consider price controls to keep inflation in check, or contemplate, Maggie forbid, borrowing to invest in the sort of green tech or insulation that liberates consumers from the gouging of energy companies and the whims of distant warmongering strongmen. What is exposed is an isolated man who is out of moves.

He is restrained even further by his own fractious party. There is no amount of hard graft that will vanquish the troublesome Johnsonites, Brexit obsessives and loudmouths who say refugees should “fuck off back to France”. They can only be appeased and domesticated with jobs in cabinet. And so he is stuck, unable to look inward and admit Tory policies are the problem, or outward to confront his own party’s excesses. He is a man, to adapt the words of the comedian Stewart Lee, “trapped between two different forms of cowardice”.

But I don’t want to spend too much time picking on Sunak. After all, his style of political petulance isn’t confined to him: it is a feature of a dead-end consensus in Westminster. It is echoed in Keir Starmer’s scolding about all the “tough” and “hard” decisions that he has to make when pressed on the pledges he has watered down or abandoned. Both party leaders agree that people’s expectations must be tempered, horizons narrowed. It speaks volumes about the direction of British politics that, as a general election looms, their job is finding more ways to promise nothing.

Nesrine Malik is a Guardian columnist

UK

LONDON

Bidding war for Labour insiders as City prepares for red shift RED TORIES

Melissa Lawford

TORY TELEGRAPH 

LOVES CONSERVATIVE LABOUR LEADER SIR KEIR
Sun, 20 August 2023 

Labour’s lead over the Tories has prompted a scramble among companies to hire those in the know - Leon Neal/Getty Images Europe

After 13 years of Tory government, business leaders are facing up to the fact that a new party may be in Downing Street next year – one that many have no experience of working with.

With Labour enjoying a 17-point lead over the Tories, Sir Keir Starmer looks increasingly likely to sweep to power. That prospect is sparking a scramble to figure out how to deal with the government in waiting.

“Public affairs and comms consultancies are getting CEOs asking them what are we doing in preparation for this potential change, do we have the right contacts and connections?” says Lucy Cairncross, managing director at VMA Group, a recruiter that specialises in public affairs.


“We didn’t hear those kinds of conversations happening in 2019. It wasn’t high up on their agenda because they would have thought it’s not going to happen. This time, clearly, there is a shift.”

PR firms and City advisors are rushing to hire current or former Labour insiders who know how the party works and can help get things done.

“We made a conscious decision at the start of the year to hire senior people with a background in centre-Left politics. The value of their stock is currently climbing,” Nick Faith, director of WPI Strategy, says.

“We work with organisations from pretty much every sector of the economy and they are all gearing up for the possibility of a potential change of government.”

City firms are rapidly undergoing a facelift – and they are trying to look like Keir Starmer.

Perhaps the clearest example of the shift is Hanbury Strategy.

The London-based lobbying and communications company has close ties to the Tory party and was set up by a former close ally of Dominic Cummings, Paul Stephenson, who ran PR for the Vote Leave campaign. However, Chris Ward, Sir Keir’s former deputy chief of staff, joined Hanbury last year and launched a new Labour Unit in September.

“Every business and every trade body in the country is making a contingency plan at the moment for a Labour government,” says Alec Zetter, a public affairs headhunter at recruiter Ellwood Atfield.

It is an increasingly expensive procedure: there is a shortage of talent, meaning companies must pay a premium to attract those with real insight.

Labour has been out of power for more than a decade, and many of those who worked under the party’s last leader have been written off.

“There aren’t that many credible people from the Corbyn period because so many of them were avowedly anti-business and of course it’s a long time since Labour were in government, so there aren’t that many Labour advisers who also have government experience,” says Nick King, managing director of Henham Strategy.

One senior public affairs figure says: “Clients are more and more likely to want a Labour offering, and in a classic case of supply and demand, given there is not a lot of supply, Labour people are definitely attracting higher salaries now.”

Many of those who served under the Labour Party’s last leader, Jeremy Corbyn, have been written off - Eddie Mulholland

Former MPs are in particular demand. Luciana Berger, who quit Labour in protest in 2019 before later rejoining briefly, joined iNHouse Communications last year and became a senior adviser this summer.

Anna Turley, who served in Corbyn’s shadow cabinet, has joined Arden Strategies, as has the party’s former head of business relations, Ellie Miller.

Instinctif, the City advisor to several FTSE companies, took on former Labour shadow minister Tom Harris in July 2023 to expand its Navigating Labour Unit.

Former shadow deputy leader of the House of Commons Melanie Onn, who left the Commons in 2019, has joined Blakeney Communications.

“For good people who are able to do the role really well and have really good contacts, there is always going to be a bit of a war for that talent,” says Cairncross.

If it becomes even more clear that Labour could win the next general election, there could be a “tipping point of going hell for leather” in throwing money at Labour-connected people, she adds.

Consultancies that have sold themselves for years on having expertise dealing with the Conservative Party know that their currency will slide fast if Labour win the next election.

A current Labour source says: “I get some kind of call probably once a month. It started last year when the Tories properly began to implode.”

Those who have worked with Starmer, the shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves or the shadow business secretary John Reynolds are most in demand.

Firms are seeking people who have worked with key figures in the shadow cabinet such as Rachel Reeves - Eddie Mulholland

However, many of those working for Labour now won’t consider a move because they know they may get their first opportunity to work within government, says Faith.

The public affairs sector is also losing staff to Labour, as people return to the party ahead of the election. “I know loads of people seconding jobs into Labour from business,” says Ward.

Demand for Labour expertise is strongest in finance, tech and net zero adjacent industries.

“Any industry that is under particular pressure from a net zero agenda, for example, they are absolutely trying to talk to what they perceive will be the next government around what their responsibilities and contributions will be,” says Zetter.

Ward adds: “Then you also get very large employers who are asking: what is Labour going to do on employment rights and taxation for large companies?”

Labour are happy to answer these questions. When Starmer launched his “Prawn Cocktail Offensive 2.0” last autumn, it marked the second phase of a long push to try and woo businesses to the Left.

“The first phase was basically decontamination – basically trying to convince people that the party is no longer Jeremy Corbyn,” says Ward. “The second phase is carpet bombing – meeting every business or anyone who will meet you. That is what they are doing now and have been for the last year or so.”

The third phase will be a calculated, targeted programme of engagement with a much smaller group of businesses that Labour can trust, he says.

As the circle gets smaller and the election draws nearer, the value of insiders will only go up.

UK

Sunak to spend £100m of taxpayer cash on AI chips in global race for computer power


James Titcomb
Sat, 19 August 2023 

Rishi Sunak

Rishi Sunak is to spend up to £100m of taxpayer money on thousands of high-powered artificial intelligence chips in an effort to catch up in a global race for computing power.

Government officials have been in discussions with IT giants Nvidia, AMD and Intel about procuring equipment for a national “AI Research Resource” as part of Rishi Sunak’s ambitions to make Britain a global leader in the field.

The effort, led by science funding body UK Research and Innovation, is believed to be in advanced stages of an order of up to 5,000 graphics processing units (GPUs) from Nvidia, whose chips power AI models such as ChatGPT.


£100m has been allocated to the project. However, it is believed that the outlay is seen as insufficient to match the Government’s artificial intelligence ambitions, with civil servants pushing Jeremy Hunt to allocate far more funds in the coming months.

GPUs are the critical components in building artificial intelligence systems such as ChatGPT, whose latest version was trained on as many as 25,000 Nvidia chips.

Nvidia’s chips power AI models such as ChatGPT - I-Hwa Cheng/Bloomberg

Mr Sunak has outlined plans for Britain to be an AI superpower but the UK severely lags the US and Europe in the computing resources needed to train, test and operate sophisticated models.

A Government review published this year criticised the lack of a “dedicated AI compute resource” with fewer than 1,000 high-end Nvidia chips available to researchers.

It recommended that at least 3,000 “top-spec” GPUs be made available as soon as possible.

Mr Hunt set aside £900m for computing resources in March, although the majority of that is expected to be spent on a traditional “exascale” supercomputer.

It is believed that slightly more than £50m was assigned to AI resources, but that the bill is expected to rise to between £70m and £100m amid a global race for the chips powering AI.

Officials are likely to press for more funding to be released in the Autumn Statement, which could take place around an AI safety summit in November.

Last week The Financial Times reported that Saudi Arabia had bought at least 3,000 Nvidia H100 processors, the company’s $40,000 high-end component for training AI.

Tech giants such as Microsoft, Amazon and Google are also racing to secure tens of thousands of the in-demand chips, while Joe Biden has blocked Nvidia from selling them in China under national security powers.

It was not clear what types of chips Britain is in talks to buy.

GPUs will be used to construct an AI Research Resource that the Government hopes will be operational by next summer.

Funds for the project are separate from a £100m taskforce that will conduct safety research into AI systems such as ChatGPT and Google Bard.

Officials have also been weighing up the merits of a “sovereign chatbot” – a publicly-funded language model similar to ChatGPT – and finding ways of boosting AI’s deployment in public services such as the NHS.

The Government has been in discussions with multiple microchip companies although Nvidia, whose chips are widely used to train AI, is seen as the clear frontrunner.

Mr Sunak is pushing for the UK to become a hub for setting global standards for the safe development of AI. He has spearheaded plans for the AI safety summit, expected to take place at the World War II codebreaking hub of Bletchley Park.

It is hoped the event will lead to international agreements between governments and top AI companies on developing the technology.

A Government spokesman said: “We are committed to supporting a thriving environment for compute in the UK which maintains our position as a global leader across science, innovation and technology.”

Nvidia did not comment.