Niger observers link coup to president’s support for EU migration policies


Zeinab Mohammed Salih
Wed, 23 August 2023 


Observers have linked Mohamed Bazoum’s support for European Union policies aimed at stifling migration routes through north Africa to his ousting as president of Niger last month.

Army officers toppled Bazoum on 26 July, as Niger became the fourth west African country since 2020 to have a coup, following Burkina Faso, Guinea and Mali.

Domestically, Bazoum had been closely associated with a law against people smuggling that was brought in by Niger’s government with the support of EU authorities in 2015, at the height of the European refugee crisis.


Under the terms of a deal struck with EU leaders, Niger – one of the poorest countries in the world and a transit point for people heading for Libya and then southern Europe – received aid money in return for blocking routes north.

Bazoum became interior minister in 2016, the same year the law was implemented. The legislation became known as the “Bazoum law”. In 2021, he was feted by the international community including the former colonial power France after winning elections that ushered in Niger’s first peaceful transition of power.

The legislation was opposed by figures in the Nigerien military who had previously benefitted financially from bribes paid by people smugglers and those being smuggled.

People sit on the back of pickup trucks, as they leave the outskirts of Agadez, Niger, for Libya 

Photograph: Issouf Sanogo/AFP/Getty Images

Alkontchy Mohamed, a community leader in Agadez – a desert city through which thousands of people used to pass – said everyone related to the people-smuggling industry had been affected by the law. “The army officers who used to stand on the checkpoints, the people who drove the migrants, the people who would take migrants into Libya – the whole population used to depend on this business,” he said.

On Sunday, people from the Tuareg and Toubou communities protested in front of the offices of the International Organization for Migration and the UNHCR to call for the law to be repealed.

The reasons the army launched a coup were many, according to a university professor in the Nigerien capital, Niamey, who did not want to be identified. “Among them was the impact of their loss of revenues from illegal migration, but also the fact that Bazoum comes from a minority group in Niger.”

Jérôme Tubiana, a French researcher and journalist who has covered conflict and displacement issues across the Sahel region and Horn of Africa, said the EU had ignored warnings that its Niger policy could undermine democratic progress in the country.

“Much like in Sudan, EU countries like Italy and Germany were not listening to warnings of the destabilising effects of the migration policy, they were just obsessed with [reducing] migration,” Tubiana said.

“Now, I’m afraid that within the French establishment voices who believe Africa is not ripe for civilian democracy will rise again, since they see that armies are turning against France only when France supports civilian democracies.”

The coup has heightened international worries over instability in the Sahel region, which faces growing jihadist insurgencies linked to al-Qaida and the Islamic State group.

On Monday, a representative of the west Africa bloc Ecowas described a call by the coup leaders for a three-year transition back to democracy as unacceptable.

Ecowas has agreed to activate a “standby force” as a last resort to restore democracy in Niger and has said it is ready to act, though it is still pursuing diplomacy. But the regional bloc has given no date for or details about any potential military intervention.

Majority of Scots support introduction of carbon land tax on large estates

Ross Hunter
Wed, 23 August 2023

It is hoped the tax would lead to landowners choosing to protect areas which sequester large amounts of carbon, including peatlands

A MAJORITY of Scots support the introduction of a carbon emissions tax on Scotland’s biggest estates, according to a new poll.

Last month, a range of community groups, trade unions, charities and businesses backed proposals from wild places charity the John Muir Trust calling on the Scottish Government to introduce a world-leading tax for greenhouse gas emissions on landholdings over 1000 hectares in Scotland.

The tax was proposed as a way of encouraging large landowners to manage their properties in a manner which realises the potential of their land to sequester carbon and making them pay for failing to do so.

Now, a poll commissioned by the John Muir Trust has found that a majority of Scots are in favour of the tax.

It found that 64% of those surveyed supported the introduction of a carbon land tax on Scotland’s biggest landholdings, with just 14% opposed to the proposal.

Voters from all parties backed the policy. Even among Tories support for the tax outnumbered opposition.

Mike Daniels, head of policy for the John Muir Trust, said: “Much of Scotland’s land, especially in the mountains and uplands, is failing to pull its weight in helping the nation deliver climate and biodiversity targets. The Scottish Government is now trying to address this huge gap. We applaud these efforts.

“This YouGov poll should give confidence to politicians to act boldly. There is clearly a great public appetite for using fiscal measures to compel big landowners to face up to their responsibilities and manage their land in the wider public interest.

"This level of support gives the Scottish Government the mandate required to legislate for a new Carbon Emissions Land Tax.”

The poll also found overwhelming support for landowners to take responsibility for improving nature and minimising climate damage.

Almost 80% of voters agreed that “landowners who produce polluting greenhouse gases should have to pay for any costs resulting from it”.

So far, organisations such as Oxfam, the Scottish Trades Union Congress, and Stop Climate Chaos Scotland have lent their support to the proposal.

Under the John Muir Trust’s plans, revenue from the scheme would be retained by local councils, who would also be given the power to introduce the tax in the first place.

The trust would like to see the money generated ringfenced for spending on projects which contribute to climate and biodiversity.

It comes as the Scottish Parliament’s summer recess is set to end and MSPs are due to begin working the Land Reform Bill.

A petition in support of the tax has also been launched by the John Muir Trust.

Rare ‘fire tornado’ caught on camera as Canada wildfires rage



Tamara Davison
Wed, 23 August 2023 at 4:24 am GMT-6·2-min read

Footage has emerged of a rare “fire tornado” sweeping through British Columbia as wildfires raged in the Canadian province, prompting thousands to flee after authorities declared a state of emergency.

As fire crews battled blazes around Gun Lake in North Pemberton, firefighters were able to capture the rare fire tornado on camera. The footage shared on the BC Wildfire Service’s social media showed a giant plume of smoke swirling past blazing trees alongside the lake. The huge inferno, filmed as ground personnel raced against time throughout the night, continued to whip up smoke throughout the 30-second clip.

The recent fire tornado is believed to have formed after a cold front came through the state after several days of extreme heat. BC wildfire crews suggested that a unique mix of conditions had helped the hellish-looking burning tornado form.

Strong winds had fanned the flames and increased the intensity of the wildfire, which crews said became more intense throughout the night. However, a cold front then swept through the area and contributed to an “air mass instability”. This led to the creation of the fire tornado, a phenomenon that is a rarity in BC wildfires.

Alongside the video, the fire service shared an explanation of what caused the fire tornado, suggesting that unique conditions as well as the terrain had contributed.

Fires in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, Canada. Emergency evacuation flights from the area began on August 17 (European Space Agency/AFP via Gerre)

“Fire whirls are an incredibly rare phenomenon. These unique conditions and extreme fire behaviour are not experienced on the majority of fires in BC,” said one post.

The fire tornado was filmed just days before thousands of Canadian residents were forced to flee from their homes in the face of encroaching wildfires. The military was brought in to help residents evacuate as the fast-spreading fires continued.

Over the weekend, land roughly the size of New York state had already burnt throughout British Columbia. Chronic drought-like conditions have exacerbated the issue, meaning that firefighters could be battling fires well into autumn.

The wildfire in Kelowna, British Columbia on August 17 (George Solowan via Reuters)

BC’s premier, Daniel Eby, recently said: “This is a historic wildfire season for British Columbia.”

New reports have indicated that the wildfires could be slowly easing as the cold front helped firefighters tackle the blaze. However, thousands remain displaced from their homes.

Volcanoes and wildfires offset 20% of global heating over eight years

Kate Ravilious
Tue, 22 August 2023

Photograph: Giordana Schmidt/AFP/Getty Images

Explosive volcanic eruptions and wildfires have offset global heating by around a fifth over the last eight years, a study shows. In particular the eruption of Calbuco in southern Chile in 2015 and the 2019-20 Australian wildfires injected vast amounts of smoke and gas into the high atmosphere, which helped to cool the planet by absorbing heat leaving the Earth and reflecting sunlight back to space.

Pengfei Yu from Jinan University in China and his colleagues used data gathered by high altitude balloons over the Tibetan plateau and the US to model the cooling impact of stratospheric volcanic eruptions – those that inject ash into the high atmosphere – and wildfires.

Their results, which are published in Geophysical Research Letters, show that these events have produced a greater than average amount of cooling in recent years. This is partly because there were more low-latitude events where smoke and gas is transported quickly around the globe by high-level winds and remains suspended for longer than events closer to the poles.

The study also showed, however, that the rapid increase in greenhouse-gas warming means that the cooling effect from wildfires and volcanic eruptions is diminishing and cannot be relied on to offset global heating in the coming decades.

NYC man convicted of attempted murder for terrorizing Black Lives Matter activists with bladed glove

KAREN MATTHEWS and JULIE WALKER
Updated Tue, August 22, 2023

 

NEW YORK (AP) — A New York City man who menaced Black Lives Matter protesters wearing a glove with serrated blades and then got in his SUV and tried to run them over has been convicted of nine counts of attempted murder and other charges, prosecutors announced.

Frank Cavalluzzi, 57, was found guilty on Monday after a two-week trial for threatening peaceful demonstrators on June 2, 2020, during a wave of protests over the murder of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer, Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz said.

Cavalluzzi faces up to 25 years to life in prison for each of the attempted murder charges when he is sentenced in October.

“A dangerous man is going to jail," Katz said in a news release. "It’s a good day for New York and the First Amendment.”

According to prosecutors, Cavalluzzi was driving through the Whitestone neighborhood of Queens when he encountered a group of demonstrators with Black Lives Matter signs and posters.

Cavalluzzi stopped his SUV and started screaming profanities and racial slurs at the protesters, Katz said. He also told them, “You are in the wrong neighborhood,” according to Katz.

He then got out of his SUV wearing four serrated blades attached to a leather glove, which he waved at the protesters while chasing them and continuing to scream at them, Katz said.

Then Cavalluzzi got back in the SUV, yelled “I will kill you,” and drove onto the sidewalk at the demonstrators, Katz said.

No one was injured, but one of the protesters, Lorraine McShea, 22, told The New York Times that the confrontation was “extremely scary."

Arianna Agudo, who witnessed the encounter when she was in the area making grocery deliveries, told The Associated Press that she was pleased with the verdict.

“That man’s literally spending his whole life in prison so I’m happy with the result,” Agudo, 25, said Tuesday.

Cavalluzzi's attorney, Michael Horn, said his client was experiencing mental health challenges and "struggling to understand the evolving city where we all live.”

Horn said evidence presented at the trial showed that Cavalluzzi did not intend to physically harm the protesters. “He literally drove past two protesters and could have crushed them but didn't,” Horn said.

Horn said the guilty verdict would be appealed.

A spokesperson for the district attorney said the two longest blades of Cavalluzzi’s claw-like glove were about a foot long.

Agudo, who shot video of the episode and gave it to the police, said the glove contraption was “literally out of a movie. Like what the hell, who would create that kind of weapon?”

The Republican Plan to Trick Americans Into Voting Against Abortion

Christina Cauterucci

 Slate
Mon, August 21, 2023 

Illustration by Slate. Photos by Getty Images Plus.

Abortion bans are unpopular. So unpopular that Republican extremists seem to have to invent conspiracy theories to trick Americans into voting for them.

That’s the major takeaway from recent political battles in Ohio, Michigan, and Wisconsin. In all three states, abortion-related ballot initiatives and elections were framed by right-wing groups as the only thing standing between parents and “trans ideology” in the classroom.

In Ohio, political ads intoned that malicious entities from out of state were arriving to “encourage sex changes for kids.” In Wisconsin, Republicans distributed a video that claimed a child was “transitioned into a boy by school officials without parental consent.” And in Michigan, millions of dollars went into ads that warned “minors as young as 10 or 11” could be sterilized without “their parents even knowing.”

All would be resolved, the ads assured, if voters just sided with conservatives at the ballot box. But in reality, “parental rights” were not on the ballot in any of these states. Instead, all three votes had enormous implications for access to abortion.

This is the new playbook. Using the specter of child corruption and social contagion, Republicans are attempting to manipulate parents, scapegoat trans and queer people, and erode multiple axes of bodily autonomy, all in one fell swoop. It does not appear to be a particularly effective tactic, as the recent right-wing efforts failed in each of the three states that tried it. But initiatives like Promise to America’s Children, a coalition of far-right groups that has advanced anti-trans legislation in states across the country, are putting money behind these fearmongering tactics. These groups believe that by agitating conservatives and uniting voters against a trans boogeyman, they can get people to ignore their own support for (or indifference to) abortion rights and eagerly line up to give those rights away.

This month, Ohioans went to the polls to vote on a ballot measure, known as Issue 1, that was specifically designed by the Republican Party to bulldoze a proposed amendment to the state constitution that residents will vote on this fall. That proposed amendment, if passed in November, will enshrine abortion rights in the state constitution.

Ohio Republicans knew they were at a disadvantage on this issue. Abortion rights are broadly popular in Ohio, as they are in most of the country. In a recent USA TODAY Network/Suffolk University poll of likely Ohio voters, 58 indicated support for the abortion rights amendment while only 32 percent opposed it, with 10 percent undecided. The ranks of the supportive included 85 percent of independent women and a full third of surveyed Republicans.

So conservatives knew they wouldn’t be able to thwart the proposed amendment on the merits of their anti-abortion arguments alone. Instead, they scheduled an emergency vote on a ballot initiative—in the dead of August—that would have made it much easier to defeat the abortion rights amendment on procedural grounds. If Issue 1 had passed this month, it would have required 60 percent of voters to approve any amendment to the state constitution, rather than a simple majority.

It didn’t work. Ohioans streamed to the polls—turnout was 38 percent, higher even than any regular primary election since 2016—and voters rejected Issue 1 by a resounding margin of 14 points.

In the aftermath, state Republicans lamented that they hadn’t enough time to get their message out—despite the fact that they were the ones who tried to rush the vote on Issue 1, and despite the millions of dollars that had gone into trying to make voters fear for their children.

In an ad that circulated before the August vote, funded by a right-wing group called Protect Women Ohio, a parent tucks a young girl into bed. “You promised you’d keep the bad guys away. Protect her,” the voice-over says. “Now’s your chance.” Malicious entities from out of state are arriving in sheep’s clothing to “encourage sex changes for kids” and sneak “trans ideology” into schoolrooms, it continues. “Protect your rights as a parent by voting yes on August 8th.”

What do “sex changes for kids” have to do with a ballot measure about the amendment-making process? Nothing at all. In trying to cloak an unpopular agenda in anti-trans messaging, GOP operatives were hoping to mislead voters and incite them to panic—regardless of the fact that Issue 1 would not have protected “parental rights” at all.

The Ohio special election was not the GOP’s first stab at this switcheroo tactic. In the lead-up to a Wisconsin Supreme Court election held in April, Republicans distributed a video that claimed to tell the story of an “innocent” 12-year-old child who was “transitioned into a boy by school officials without parental consent.” (In fact, the child had not medically transitioned but requested to use a boy’s name and he/him pronouns. After the school respected those wishes, the parents sued.)

The outcome of the election “will determine if parents still have rights,” said the video, which was funded by the American Principles Project, which is part of the coalition of far-right groups pushing anti-trans legislation in multiple states. “Don’t leave your children in the hands of Janet Protasiewicz,” it continued, referring to the liberal candidate on the ballot.

During the campaign, Wisconsin voters got texts from anti-Protasiewicz campaigners, many with links to the American Principles Project ads. Some texts said that the candidate “and her woke allies want to TRANS our children without notifying parents.” Other texts referred to the “trans madness” that would overtake Wisconsin’s children if conservative judicial candidate Daniel Kelly didn’t win the race.

In actuality, the election was widely seen as a referendum on abortion rights: It was set to determine the ideological balance of the state court, which was previously right-leaning, in advance of a case that would either uphold or strike down an 1849 abortion ban that had become newly enforceable in Wisconsin after Roe v. Wade was overturned. With money pouring in from across the country—to support both Protasiewicz and Kelly—this Wisconsin election became the most expensive state Supreme Court race in U.S. history.

Protasiewicz had never weighed in on the case of the 12-year-old mentioned in the attack ad, and her opposition never presented proof of her supposed opinions on health care for trans kids. But Terry Schilling, the president of the American Principles Project, has said that campaigns to ban gender-affirming treatments for trans people are “a political winner.” Trans rights are “enormous issues for swing voters and moderates” and can pull centrists toward conservative candidates, Schilling told the New York Times.

So even in a judicial election with little connection to trans issues, when you’re an anti-trans hammer, the race looks like a nail.

Republicans pulled the same trick last year in Michigan, where a right-wing PAC spent millions of dollars on anti-trans ads aimed at defeating an abortion rights amendment on the ballot in November. The amendment, which ended up passing, affirms that every person has the right to make their own decisions related to pregnancy, including “prenatal care, childbirth, postpartum care, contraception, sterilization, abortion care, miscarriage management, and infertility care.” Conservatives spent the months before the election trying to convince voters that the inclusion of the term “sterilization” was a sneaky admission, by Democrats, that they would be legalizing secret gender-affirming surgeries for children.

One ad that ran in the state focused on puberty blockers, depicting a syringe dripping with fluid. If the abortion rights amendment passed, the voice-over said, “minors as young as 10 or 11 will be able to receive this prescription without the consent of their parents or their parents even knowing.” The implication was that puberty blockers were somehow part of the amendment and that they would be used to sterilize children. (Puberty blockers do not cause “sterilization.”)

“A constitutional right to ‘sterilization’ surely includes a right to be sterilized to align one’s sex and gender identity,” wrote a spokesperson for Citizens to Support MI Women & Children, the PAC that funded the ads, in an email to the Detroit Free Press. “The majority of voters do not support a 12-year-old girl’s right to sterilization without her parent’s notice or consent.”

Legal analysts who responded in the Detroit Free Press said the abortion rights amendment in Michigan was not written to legalize clandestine procedures for children, nor could it be reasonably interpreted as such by a judge. But again, that wasn’t the point. Abortion access, though despised by Republican extremists, is quite popular; the right had no chance of blocking the amendment without inventing a conspiracy theory to go with it.

Conservatives are now promoting this same sort of misleading, disingenuous reading of an abortion-related text in Ohio, where just a simple majority of voters may pass the abortion rights amendment in November.

Protect Women Ohio, the main coalition fighting the amendment, maintains that the language the amendment uses—“every individual has a right to make and carry out one’s own reproductive decisions” without burdensome state interference—will mark the end of the Ohio law requiring a guardian’s consent for a minor’s abortion. In its ads, the group also says the amendment would allow a child to undergo “sex change surgery without her parents’ knowledge or involvement.”

The reproductive rights amendment, a woman says in one Protect Women Ohio ad, is “not just about abortion like they say it is.”

Again, nonpartisan legal analysts have refuted this interpretation. But anti-abortion activists aren’t concerned about the truth of the matter; they’re invested in the long-term maintenance of transphobic anxiety in the electorate as a means to achieve their other political goals. In trans people, they have found the perfect punching bag: members of a tiny minority with little political power who can be made out to represent a fundamental threat to the traditional gender order.

Pursuing an agenda that leans far further right than what constituents want is nothing new for conservative leaders. Due to a combination of aggressive gerrymandering and strong right-wing activism in Ohio, for example, the state has long been a vanguard of anti-abortion policy in spite of its relatively balanced political makeup and broad support for abortion rights. But lately, on abortion, Republicans have been watching their wins come undone by ballot measures and state constitutional amendments—in other words, by mechanisms that put the power back in the hands of voters.

It’s democracy in action. In the wake of the Supreme Court decision that overturned Roe v. Wade, every time abortion rights have been put to a popular vote—anywhere in the country—voters have rejected the anti-abortion ballot measures and approved the ones that codify or expand abortion rights. It’s no surprise that GOP operatives are trying to divert the focus to literally any other issue where they perceive themselves to have the upper hand, though it is horrifying to see that they believe virulent transphobia is a winning enough position that it may convince voters to sign away their access to legal abortion. The only silver lining, in Ohio as in Wisconsin as in Michigan, is that the bait-and-switch doesn’t seem to be working.

California Republicans Shift Stance on Abortion, Marriage-Equality

Christopher Wiggins

ADVOCATE
Mon, August 21, 2023 

People protesting for abortion and LGBTQ rights

To the outrage of national Republicans, the California GOP is trying to broaden its appeal by removing language opposing abortion and critical of same-sex marriage from its platform.

In the blue state, Republicans have indicated they intend to broaden their tent ahead of the party’s convention, where the 2024 candidates are expected to speak. By bringing the state’s conservatives into alignment on key social issues with the majority of Americans, including the majority of people in the state with the largest population, they intend to make their party more appealing.

In late July, the California GOP committee adopted a proposal emphasizing “traditional family values” and a “strong and healthy family unit.” However, the committee removed a phrase that said, “It is important to define marriage as a union between one man and one woman,” the Los Angeles Times reports.

At 71 percent, Americans hold a record-high favorable opinion of marriage equality, according to recent Gallup data. That record was set in 2022 and remained as high in 2023.

In July, with a unanimous bipartisan vote of 31-0, the California Senate passed a measure allowing for a public vote on a constitutional amendment to protect marriage equality within the state. It would enshrine same-sex and interracial marriages as protected rights.

Further, the proposal eliminates opposition to a federally shielded right to abortion but preserves the party’s backing of “adoption as an alternative to abortion.”

As was seen in the aftermath of the Dobbs opinion in which the U.S. Supreme Court’s conservative justices overturned Roe vs. Wade, a significant majority of Californians (as was the case in other states, including red states that attempted to ban abortion) opposed stripping a pregnant person’s right to bodily autonomy and they voted to protect access to abortion in the state constitution.

According to the Public Policy Institute of California, more than three in four Californians oppose overturning federal abortion protections, including 59 percent of Republicans.

Former President Trump, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, and other presidential candidates are expected to attend the party’s fall convention, where the draft platform will be voted on.

Last year, the Texas Republican Party explicitly banished LGBTQ+ people from its ranks. It adopted language calling homosexuality “an abnormal lifestyle choice” and rejecting “all efforts to validate transgender identity.”

The Log Cabin Republicans, a group of conservative gay people, decried the move after the group was excluded from the state convention.

Despite the marked progress in the U.S. generally, when it comes to the normalization of LGBTQ+ existences in American society, in recent years, and particularly as the country shifts into the next election cycle, far-right extremists have demonized the LGBTQ+ community, singling out transgender Americans as targets by spreading misinformation about gender-affirming care and conspiracy theories claiming that liberals were trying to make children trans in schools.

The California Republican convention will be held in September in Anaheim.

'Barbie' hits nerve in conservative Gulf

Amanda Mouawad
Mon, August 21, 2023 

Kuwait blocked the film to "protect public ethics and social traditions"

 (YASSER AL-ZAYYAT)

After being banned in some Arab countries, the film "Barbie" is dividing audiences in the conservative Gulf.

In the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia -- which did not allow women driving or cinemas until 2018 -- fans have queued up in pink versions of the abaya, the traditional all-covering robe, to see the hit movie.

But not everyone is comfortable with the celebration of female emancipation in a region where attitudes towards women's empowerment are only slowly changing.

A doctored photo showing Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and UAE President Mohamed bin Zayed in pink robes was widely shared on social media, and a popular Bahraini preacher railed against what he regards as the film's progressive agenda.

Bahrain is one of the Gulf monarchies to show "Barbie", which is banned in Kuwait and has not been released in Qatar or Oman. In the wider Middle East, it is also barred in Algeria and Lebanon.

"We never imagined that such a movie would be shown in Gulf countries," Wadima Al-Amiri, an 18-year-old Emirati, told AFP at a packed Dubai cinema offering pink popcorn to movie-goers dressed in matching colours.

Feminist film-maker Greta Gerwig's tongue-in-cheek movie contains no explicit LGBTQ references but it subtly nods at topics of diversity and inclusion, and features a trans actor.

In Dubai, which styles itself as the Gulf's cosmopolitan centre, cinemas are adorned with memorabilia and photo booths shaped as doll boxes.

Mounira, a 30-year-old Saudi, joined her three pink-clad daughters in a Dubai theatre.

"If the movie includes principles or concepts opposed to those we believe in, it should not be shown in Saudi Arabia or in other Gulf countries," she told AFP.

"But we came to give the film a chance."

- 'Challenges masculinity' -

Social media has been swept by the craze. A video of a giant, digitally created Barbie next to the Burj Khalifa, the world's tallest building, was shared by thousands.

Female empowerment is tackled in the film's early stages. The various Barbies include a president, diplomat and Supreme Court justices, jobs traditionally handed to men.

As the plot unfolds, the patriarchy threatens to infect 'Barbieland' -- a matriarchal utopia where men lounge on the beach while women occupy prestigious roles.

The movie has made a splash in Saudi Arabia, where female activists still face charges for social media posts violating strict dress codes and where homosexuality is outlawed like across much of the region.

Restaurants in the capital Riyadh have introduced Barbie-inspired dishes and drinks to their menus. But not everyone is impressed.

Hanan Al-Amoudi, a Saudi mother-of-four waiting to watch a different film in Dubai, said she has no interest in seeing "Barbie".

"I support freedom and openness, but with regard to 'Barbie', I heard that it challenges masculinity," she said, wearing a black abaya and niqab face covering.

"For a man to resemble a woman by wearing make-up, and dressing (effeminately)... this is something I do not like," she said, referring to Ryan Gosling's flamboyant Ken.

- 'White and superficial' -

In Bahrain, "Barbie" has drawn the ire of Islamic preacher Hassan Al-Husseini who is followed by millions on social media and has called for a ban.

In an Instagram post, he criticised the movie for "revolting against the idea of marriage and motherhood" and showing men "without manhood" or depicting them as "monsters".

Similar objections were raised in Kuwait, which blocked the film to "protect public ethics and social traditions".

Kuwait was the only Gulf Arab country this month to ban Australian horror movie "Talk to Me" which features a trans actor but makes no mention of LGBTQ issues.

Kuwaitis, however, have still managed to watch "Barbie" through piracy websites or even by driving across the border to Saudi Arabia.

Kuwaiti journalist Sheikha Al-Bahaweed streamed it online but was left disappointed because she felt it was not feminist or inclusive enough.

"It showed white, colonial and superficial feminism," she said.

"Feminism is never based on replacing a patriarchal system with a matriarchal one, but rather... it is based on equality, justice and equal opportunities."

But for Reefan al-Amoudi, an 18-year-old Saudi, "Barbie" pushes the feminist agenda too far.

"It is nice for a woman to work and be self-reliant," she said at a Dubai cinema.

"But her body is not like a man's body. She is able to do everything like a man, but within limits."

am/ho/th/srm/leg

IS IT SHARK WEEK?
Idaho Officials Find Strange Shark on Riverbank in the Landlocked State

David Chiu
Mon, August 21, 2023

The Idaho Department of Fish and Game suspects someone left the creature by the Salmon River as a prank

Officials suspect something fishy happened along the Salmon River in Idaho.

According to the Idaho Department of Fish and Game (IDFG), a strange creature that turned out to be a shark was recently spotted on the banks of the Salmon River, which runs through the landlocked state.

"Calls and e-mail came pouring in yesterday claiming they found a shark washed up on the shores of the Salmon River near Riggins." the department shared in an Aug. 16 news release. The numerous calls prompted the agency to investigate.

IDFG officials found an odd dead creature at the sight referenced in the calls and later determined the animal was a salmon shark, per the Idaho Statesman.

IDFG shared two photos of the find on the department's Instagram.

Related: How to Prevent a Shark Attack and What to Do If Bitten? An American Lifeguard Association Expert Weighs In

According to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, salmon sharks can grow over 10 feet long, but their average size is usually between 6.5 and 8 feet, and their maximum weight is more than 660 pounds. They are typically found in "coastal and oceanic environments of the subarctic and temperate North Pacific Ocean," and their maximum age is 25 years. The salmon shark's diet consists of salmon, squid, birds, and herring.

Idaho Fish and GameIdaho officials believe the discovery of a salmon shark found on the banks of the Salmon River was a joke.

IDFG doesn't believe this salmon shark came from the Salmon River and suspects the creature was placed on the riverbank as a joke. The department's social media post assured Salmon River visitors that no sharks are swimming around in Idaho.

"Seeing no sharks have been observed swimming up our fish ladders lately, and the only known shark that can live in freshwater is the bull shark, we think it is safe to assume that somebody dropped this on the shore for a good laugh. Our Clearwater regional fisheries manager certainly had a good laugh about it. This would have been a great April Fool's joke," IDFG wrote.

While sharks in Idaho are almost unheard of, they are common in other parts of the country and have been responsible for attacks on humans. According to the Tracking Sharks website, there have been 31 shark bite attacks in the U.S. so far this year.

To avoid a shark attack, experts recommend that beachgoers swim in front of lifeguards, do not swim during dawn and dusk, avoid swimming shortly after stormy conditions, don't swim in the ocean alone, and stay calm if you spot a shark in the ocean.

This year over 200 Palestinians and nearly 30 Israelis have been killed, highest since 2005, UN says

Mon, August 21, 2023

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The Israeli-Palestinian conflict has killed over 200 Palestinians and nearly 30 Israelis so far this year – already surpassing last year’s annual figures and the highest number since 2005, the U.N. Mideast envoy said Monday.

Tor Wennesland told the U.N. Security Council that the upswing in violence is being fueled by growing despair about the future, with the Palestinians still seeking an independent state.

“The lack of progress towards a political horizon that addressed the core issues driving the conflict has left a dangerous and volatile vacuum, filled by extremists on all sides,” he said.

While Israelis and Palestinians have taken some actions toward stabilizing the situation, Wennesland said unilateral steps have continued to fuel hostilities.

He pointed to the unabated expansion of Israeli settlements – which are illegal under international law “and a substantial obstacle to peace” – as well as Israel’s demolition of Palestinian houses, its operations in the West Bank area under Palestinian administrative and police control, and attacks by Israeli settlers. He also cited “Palestinian militant activity.”

Wennesland said the current situation is compounded by “the fragility” of the Palestinian Authority’s financial situation and severe funding shortages facing U.N. agencies including the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA.

“While we must urgently focus on addressing the most critical issues and on de-escalating the situation on the ground, we cannot ignore the need to restore a political horizon,” he said.

U.S. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield, who chaired the meeting, condemned violence by both sides and urged immediate steps to reduce the escalating violence.

She reiterated U.S. support for a two-state solution and “good-faith dialogue” between the parties. And she acknowledged the appointment of Saudi Arabia’s ambassador Jordan as non-resident consul general in Jerusalem, adding that the U.S. will support “any and all efforts that will bring us closer to a two-state solution.”

Russia’s deputy U.N. ambassador Dmitry Polyansky told the council the long-term stagnation of the peace process “is compounded by the ongoing illegal unilateral actions of Israel to create irreversible facts on the ground, which negates the prospects for reviving direct talks between Palestinians and Israelis.” He called the “unprecedented pace” of Israel’s settlement expansion the biggest threat.

Polyansky called a visit to the region by U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, expected before the end of the year, “very timely." And he reiterated Russia’s call for a meeting of the so-called Quartet of Mideast mediators – the U.N, U.S., European Union and Russia -- “to revive the peace process and direct Palestinian-Israeli talks on all final status issues.”

France’s political coordinator Isis Jaraud Darnault also condemned “the Israeli colonization of the Palestinian territories” that it wants for its future state, and continuing Israeli demolitions, including a school in the West Bank’s Ramallah region on Aug. 17 which was financed by European donors including France. She also condemned violence against Israelis.

Darnault told the council the U.N. and regional actors have an essential role to play in restoring “a credible political horizon.”

“The normalization of relations between Israel and several states in the region contributes to stability and security, but this dynamic will remain incomplete as long as it is not accompanied by a resumption of the political process towards a solution that meets the legitimate aspirations of both Palestinians and Israelis,” she said.

17-year-old Palestinian killed during Israeli military raid in northern West Bank

Associated Press
Updated Tue, August 22, 2023 

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli security forces stormed into a town in the north of the West Bank on Tuesday, leading to fighting that killed a 17-year-old Palestinian, according to Palestinian health officials, the latest violence to grip the occupied territory.

The Israeli military conducted an arrest raid before dawn in the town of Zababdeh south of Jenin, local medics said. The Palestinian Health Ministry reported that 17-year-old Othman Abu Kharj was fatally shot in the head. The Palestinian Islamic Jihad militant group claimed Abu Kharj as a fighter.

The raid came as Israeli security forces were still searching for the Palestinian gunman who carried out a shooting in the northern Palestinian city of Hawara that killed an Israeli father and son on Saturday.

The Israeli military said its forces arrested 15 Palestinian suspects in several northern West Bank towns. In Zababdeh, Israeli security forces said they opened fire at residents who threw explosive devices at them.

In the southern West Bank, the Israeli army captured two Palestinians who were suspected in a shooting the day before that killed an Israeli woman and seriously wounded a man. The Israeli military said the two suspects confessed during interrogation to involvement in the attack near the Palestinian city of Hebron. Israeli security forces said they also confiscated the rifle used to shoot at the car on Monday. A car without a license plate that was allegedly used to carry out the attack was found burned north of Hebron, said mayor of the town of Halhoul.

Palestinian media identified the two suspects arrested near Hebron as Saqer and Muhamad al-Shantir.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s far-right government has come under pressure from coalition members that want to exert more control over the occupied West Bank and take harsher measures against Palestinians.

In response to the spasm of violence, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said he was ordering authorities to ensure that the family members of the Palestinians who carried out the deadly shooting in Hebron were banned from obtaining entry permits into Israel, where day wages are roughly double what people typically earn in the West Bank.

The Israeli military said that its forces further conducted large-scale searches and arrest raids throughout the West Bank, interrogating 20 Palestinians, confiscating illegal vehicles and arresting an additional 13 suspects near Hebron.

Nearly 180 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire in the West Bank since the start of this year, according to a tally by The Associated Press. Israel says most of the Palestinians killed were militants. But stone throwing youths protesting the incursions and those not involved in the confrontations have also been killed.

Some 30 people have been killed by Palestinian attacks against Israelis during that time.

Israel says the raids are meant to dismantle militant networks and thwart future attacks. Palestinians say the raids undermine their security forces, inspire more militancy and entrench Israeli control over lands they seek for a hoped-for future state. Israel captured the West Bank in the 1967 Mideast war, along with east Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip.

Israeli police ‘branded Star of David’ onto Palestinian’s face

James Rothwell
Tue, 22 August 2023 

Mr Sheikh Ali says he was brutally beaten during his arrest in the Shuafat refugee camp

Israeli police officers have been accused of “branding” a Palestinian man’s face with a Star of David while violently arresting him without recording the incident on their body cameras.

The claim, issued by lawyers representing Arwa Sheikh Ali, 22, has been disputed by Israel’s police force, who claim the mark was “presumably” caused by pressure from a shoelace on an arresting officer’s boot.

A photograph taken of Mr Sheikh Ali, who was arrested on drugs charges, showed wounds on his left cheek, underneath a black eye, which seemed to resemble the Jewish religious symbol.

Mr Sheikh Ali’s lawyer claimed that he was brutally beaten by officers before being branded with the mark.

The arrest occurred in the Shuafat refugee camp in East Jerusalem, where Mr Sheikh Ali lives, as part of a drug investigation. Mr Sheikh Ali has denied all criminal charges, according to his lawyer.

‘Misleading and distorted’

Israeli police insisted that they had used reasonable force and said the suspect violently resisted arrest. They also dismissed the branding claim as “misleading and distorted”.

Officers instead suggested that a patterned shoelace on an officer’s boot was “presumably” imprinted on the suspect’s face while they were restraining him. Police issued a photograph to Israeli media outlets of the type of boot which they said may have been responsible for the triangular marks.

It came as video footage emerged of a separate incident in which Israeli border police officers shot an unarmed Palestinian in the back of the head in the occupied West Bank, where violence has worsened over the past 15 months with frequent Israeli raids, Palestinian street attacks and assaults on villages by Jewish settlers.

‌The Israeli border police are investigating the graphic footage, which shows the man falling flat on his face after being hit with a bullet while walking away from clashes between Palestinians and Israeli forces. It was not immediately clear if the man survived the attack.

The incident occurred as Israeli forces searched for a Palestinian who earlier this week killed two Israelis, a father and son, in an attack at a car wash in Huwara, a flashpoint town in the northern West Bank.

Also this week, an Israeli woman was killed and an Israeli man seriously injured in a shooting attack near the southern West Bank city of Hebron.

One Israeli forensics expert in Jerusalem has cast doubts on the official explanation by police for the Star of David incident, though he stressed he could not definitively disprove it.

‘Laces can’t leave this kind of imprint’

Dr Avner Rosengarten, the head of the Israel Forensic Science Institute, told local media: “It seems that the markings were created by a metallic tool or instrument … first of all, the width of the laces is not suitable. Secondly, the laces can’t leave this kind of imprint, as the edges are bleeding; it must be a straight, solid instrument.”

He added: “The laces also don’t have the pressure and force required to create this mark, because laces are flexible and soft, and remain the same no matter how much pressure one might put into a shoe.”

A judge has referred the case to police internal affairs as no “reasonable explanation” has been provided for the lack of video footage of the arrest, which involved 16 police officers.

Israeli police officers are increasingly wearing body cameras following a series of pilot schemes, but a 2021 report by the country’s state comptroller found that most do not switch them on during interactions with citizens.

‘The suspect escalated the situation’

An Israeli police spokesman said in a statement: “Upon executing a search warrant at the suspect’s residence in Shufat, law enforcement officials uncovered a significant quantity of substances believed to be drugs, well beyond the scope of personal use.

“At a certain juncture, the suspect escalated the situation by resorting to violence, physically assaulting police officers and vehemently resisting arrest,” the spokesman added.

“This necessitated the involvement of multiple officers to lawfully apprehend the individual … a notable observation during this incident was an injury on the suspect’s person that bore a resemblance to a triangular shape, presumably stemming from an article of clothing worn by one of the police officers.”

SPORTS CRIME

New York Knicks sue former employee, Toronto Raptors personnel over alleged stolen proprietary information

Homero De la Fuente, CNN
Tue, August 22, 2023 

The New York Knicks filed a lawsuit against the Toronto Raptors and their parent company, Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment (MLSE), among others, alleging that a former team employee stole propriety information and shared it with his new team, the Knicks confirmed to CNN on Monday.

According to the lawsuit filed on Monday in the U.S. District Court in Manhattan and obtained by CNN, the Knicks allege that former employee Ikechukwu Azotam shared thousands of proprietary files with the Toronto Raptors to help the newly-hired rookie head coach Darko Rajaković exploit the Knicks’ organizational structure and coaching methods.

Some of the files allegedly included confidential information such as play frequency reports, a prep book for the 2022-23 season, video scouting files and materials and more, according to the Knicks in the complaint.

Per the suit, the Raptors began to recruit Azotam, who worked for the team from October 2020 to August 2023 in several roles including, most recently, as a Director of Video/Analytics/Player Development Assistant, to join the franchise around the same time that the team named Rajaković as head coach in June of this year.

The lawsuit alleges that Rajaković and other Raptors personnel conspired with Azotam, while he was still employed by the Knicks, to act as a “mole” and funnel information to aid the rookie head coach “organize, plan, and structure the new coaching and video operations staff.”

After Azotam informed the Knicks he had received an offer of employment from the Raptors in July, he allegedly started to secretly forward the propriety information from his team account to his personal Gmail account, and then sharing it with the Raptors personnel, according to the complaint.

Furthermore, the Knicks allege that not only did the Raptors defendants know about what was going on but that they directed Azotam to misuse his access to the Knicks’ confidential files “to create and then transfer to the Raptors Defendants over 3,000 files consisting of film information and data,” according to the complaint.

The New York Knicks play against the Toronto Raptors at the Scotiabank Arena on January 22, 2023 in Toronto, Canada. - Mark Blinch/Getty Images

“Given the clear violation of our employment agreement, criminal and civil law, we were left no choice but to take this action,” the Knicks said, in part, to CNN.

The Knicks reveal in the suit that the team’s insider threat security team identified the theft on August 15, one day after Azotam’s last day with the team, with records showing that the stolen files were “accessed over 2,000 times by the Raptors Defendants.”

“MLSE and the Toronto Raptors received a letter from [Madison Square Garden] on Thursday of last week bringing this complaint to our attention,” a statement from MLSE and the Raptors said, which CNN obtained Tuesday.

“MLSE responded promptly, making clear our intention to conduct an internal investigation and to fully cooperate.

“MLSE has not been advised that a lawsuit was being filed or has been filed following its correspondence with MSG. The company strongly denies any involvement in the matters alleged.

“MLSE and the Toronto Raptors will reserve further comment until this matter has been resolved to the satisfaction of both parties.”

Among the damages, the Knicks are seeking that the Raptors personnel refrain from engaging in further acts of misappropriation of any of the Knicks propriety information, a judgement that the Raptors and Azotam’s violations and breaches were “willful and malicious” and for the former Knicks employee to “have no benefit as a result of his misappropriation and wrongful acts,” the suit says.

CNN has reached out to the NBA for comment.

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