Israelis protest judicial reform at Supreme Court in Jerusalem (10 images)

By Wade Sheridan

UPI

Protesters gather in front of the Supreme Court in Jerusalem over Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's overhaul of the country's judicial system on September 11, 2023. The court is set to hear a landmark case on the "reasonableness" law, which prevents courts from weighing in on the reasonableness of government decisions.

Opponents of changes to the judiciary system in Israel gather in front of the Supreme Court in Jerusalem on September 11, 2023, a day before the court is set to hear a landmark case on the law limiting the "reasonableness" standard. 

Photo by Debbie Hill/UPI
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The Israeli Knesset passed the so-called "reasonableness" law in July. Photo by Debbie Hill/UPI
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The bill was the first of the government's judicial reform plan to pass. Photo by Debbie Hill/UPI
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Protesters use smoke and flares to draw attention to their message. Photo by Debbie Hill/UPI
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A protest near Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's residence on Aza Street was planned for later. Photo by Debbie Hill/UPI
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Student protest movements gathered earlier in the day and marched from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem's campus toward the Supreme Court. Photo by Debbie Hill/UPI
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Drummers perform and march in front of the Supreme Court. Photo by Debbie Hill/UPI
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A protester holds up a sign that reads, "Stop dictatorship." Photo by Debbie Hill/UPI
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A protester holds up a sign that reads, "Supreme court justices, you are the voice of ethics and reason. We the people of Israel stand by you!" Photo by Debbie Hill/UPI
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The scene outside the Supreme Court. Photo by Debbie Hill/UPI
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Invasive red fire ant spotted in Europe for first time, researchers say


The invasive red fire ant, or Solenopsis invicta, has been found in Europe for the first time and unless quickly halted could quickly alter the continent's ecosystems, researchers reported Monday. 

Photo by Insects Unlocked/Wikimedia Commons


Sept. 11 (UPI) -- The red imported fire ant, classified as one of the worst and costliest invasive species in the world, has been spotted in Europe for the first time, researchers warned Monday.

Although there have been several "interceptions" of the destructive and stinging South American ant species previously in Europe, an established, mature colony had never been found on the continent until this past winter in Italy, according to the authors of a study published in the journal Current Biology.

The team of Spanish and Italian researchers found 88 red fire ant nests across 5 hectares (12 acres) near the Sicilian commercial port city of Syracuse and determined through genetic testing that the colonies could have come via shipping routes from China or the United States.

The authors said they used wind tracking and species distribution modeling to determined that half of the urban areas in Europe "are already suitable" for infestation by Solenopsis invicta and that climate warming expected under current trends "will favor the expansion of this invasive ant."

Large cities such as Barcelona, Rome, London or Paris could be "considerably affected" by this invasive species, which can impact people's lifestyles due to its abundance and aggressiveness, the researchers warned.

"S. invicta is one of the worst invasive species. It can spread alarmingly quickly," lead author Mattia Menchetti of the Institute of Evolutionary Biology in Spain said in a release. "Finding this species in Italy was a big surprise, but we knew this day would come."

Unless authorities respond forcefully to the spread of the fire ants, there could be serious consequences for Europe's ecosystems, agriculture and human health, the authors warned, noting its sting is painful and irritating and can cause pustules and allergic reactions, possibly leading to anaphylactic shock.

"Coordinated efforts for early detection and rapid response in the region are essential to successfully manage this new threat, before it spreads uncontrollably," said Roger Vila, principal investigator at the Spanish institute's Butterfly Diversity and Evolution group.

The researchers said the public could play a key role in the detection of S. invicta, considering the ants are frequently found in urban and adjacent areas. It is fairly easy for untrained observers to detect their presence due to their painful stings and the characteristic mounds of their nests.

Ukraine claims to have recaptured key Black Sea oil, gas rigs

Ukraine on Monday claimed in an unverified video that it had

 recaptured key oil and gas rigs in the Black Sea. 

Screen capture/Ukraine military intelligence

Sept. 11 (UPI) -- The Ukrainian military said on Monday that it regained control of critical oil and gas drilling platforms in the Black Sea near Crimea that had been in control of the Russian military for the past eight years.

Ukraine's military intelligence, or GUR, posted an unverified video of Ukrainian soldiers posing on the platforms, which would hold strategic significance for Ukraine. Ukrainian special forces had been fighting Russian troops for about a month around the platform as part of Kyiv's summer counteroffensive.

"During the operation, the special forces managed to seize valuable trophies: a stockpile of helicopter ammunition of the NAR type (unguided aerial missiles), as well as the Neva radar, which can track the movement of ships in the Black Sea," GUR said.



The British Ministry of Defense reported last month that skirmishes had taken place near the platforms between Crimea and Odessa.

Some officials said the seizure of the so-called "Boyko Rigs" could help as military staging as well.

"A unique operation to regain control over the Boyko Rigs was executed by the units of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine," Ukraine's defense ministry said. "In particular, the Petro Hodovalets and Ukraina drilling platforms, as well as the Tavrida and Syvash rigs, were brought back under control."

Russia first took control of the rigs in 2015 and started using them for the military during Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Officials said the platforms were used as helipads and radar.

Farm laborers to receive greater protections under Biden administration proposal

BY CHRISTOPHER RUGABER
September 12, 2023

WASHINGTON (AP) — Immigrant farm workers would receive a raft of new protections under a Biden administration proposal to be announced Tuesday, which would boost safety requirements on farms and raise transparency around how such workers are brought to the U.S., to combat human trafficking.

The proposal would reform the H-2A visa program, under which hundreds of thousands of immigrants, mostly from Mexico, take on seasonal jobs in the U.S. agriculture industry. The number of people admitted under the program has soared in recent years, as rapid hiring after the pandemic and a low unemployment rate has left many farmers scrambling for workers.

Last year, about 370,000 people were admitted with H-2A visas, double the number in 2016 and five times as many as in 2005, Labor Department officials said. Yet as the popularity of the program has grown, so have concerns about abuses. Reports of overcrowded farm vehicles and fatalities have increased as the numbers have risen, senior department officials said.

The department is already required to ensure that the H-2A program doesn’t undercut the wages or working conditions of Americans who take similar jobs. Employers are required to pay minimum U.S. wages or higher, depending on the region.

“This proposed rule is a critical step in our ongoing efforts to strengthen protections for farm workers and ensure that they have the right to fair and predictable wages, safe working conditions and freedom from retaliation,” said Julie Su, acting secretary of Labor, in a statement.

The new rule, which is subject to a 60-day comment period, seeks to make it easier for labor unions to contact and interact with the H-2A workers, and to protect the workers from retaliation if they meet with labor representatives. The workers would be allowed to have visitors, including those from labor groups, in employer-provided housing, for example.

The rule would also require farmers who employ H-2A workers to provide seat belts on vans that are often used to transport workers long distances. Transportation accidents are a leading cause of death for farm workers, according to the department.

And in a step intended to counter human trafficking, employers would be required to identify anyone recruiting workers on their behalf in the U.S. or foreign countries and to provide copies of any agreements they have with those recruiters.

Another visa program, the H-2B, which allows temporary workers in fields other than agriculture, already includes similar requirements, department officials said.

“We’re putting together a series of new protections or clarifying protections to make sure that workers in the program can really advocate on behalf of themselves, and that...will help prevent the problems that we’re seeing with exploitative conditions,” a senior Labor department official said.

House Democrats urge Biden to ease work permit rules for migrants, asylum seekers


Hundreds of asylum seekers dwell in a tent city in Tijuana, Mexico, in 2021. In a letter dated Sunday and signed by Rep. Jerrold Nadler, the ranking minority member on the House Judiciary Committee, and 102 other Democrats, lawmakers urge President Joe Biden and Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas to "use all the tools available" to assist migrants who seek but can't obtain work permits as they wait for their immigration court cases to be heard.

 File Photo by Ariana Drehsler/UPI | License Photo


Sept. 11 (UPI) -- Dozens of House Democrats are urging the Biden administration to take whatever steps are necessary to speed the process of granting work permits to undocumented migrants and asylum seekers.

In a letter dated Sunday and signed by Rep. Jerrold Nadler, the ranking minority member on the House Judiciary Committee, and 102 other Democrats, lawmakers urge President Joe Biden and Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas to "use all the tools available" to assist migrants who seek but can't obtain work permits as they wait for their immigration court cases to be heard.

The letter, first obtained by Politico, said such migrants are "stuck in limbo" without the ability to obtain work authorizations despite "want[ing] to work and give back to their new communities."

Asylum seekers, the lawmakers wrote, "should be permitted to apply to obtain work authorization from the moment that they file their asylum claim." Instead, under current regulations, they must wait up to six months after submitting asylum applications before work authorizations can be issued.

"As a result, asylum seekers are forced to rely on underfunded community groups to provide them with everything from housing to food to health services," they wrote. "This is particularly troubling given the tight labor market we are experiencing across the country."

The Democrats urged the Biden administration to "ease the undue delays" by adopting a series of available measures, such as the increased use of "humanitarian parole" and "provisional waivers" and decreasing the regulatory 150-day wait period for asylum seekers to apply for work authorization.

The plea comes at a time when the House Republican majority is seeking to clamp down on undocumented migrants and asylum seekers rather than easing their transition into the United States.

Conservative members of the House Freedom Caucus last month threatened to force a government shutdown unless the measures contained in the "Secure the Border Act of 2023" are enacted as part of any stopgap spending bill to keep the federal government functioning amid the debate on appropriations measures.

Among its other provisions, the legislation would restart construction of former President Donald Trump's border wall and slap new restrictions on asylum seekers.

Asylum seekers wait to enter U.S. in Tijuana

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Asylum seekers wait in line for food near El Chaparral plaza in Tijuana, 

Mexico on March 21. 

Photo by Ariana Drehsler/UPI | License Photo

Gallup Poll shows sharpest rise yet in workers' fears of obsolescence


Some 22% of U.S. workers told Gallup pollsters they feared being replaced in their jobs by technology, up from 15% two years ago. 

Sept. 11 (UPI) -- While the great majority of U.S. workers do not fear being replaced by technology, the percentage of those who do is rising at its fastest rate ever, according to a Gallup Poll released Monday.

While only 22% of workers are worried that technology will be used to replace them, that's up from 15% in 2021 when the same question was asked -- a jump of 7 percentage points, the polling organization reported.

That's the sharpest two-year increase seen since Gallup began asking the question in 2017. Previous polls had found the rate holding steady at between 13% and 17%.

Breaking down the results further, Gallup found that the jump in "fear of becoming obsolete," otherwise known as FOBO, came almost entirely from college-educated workers, among whom the percentage worried has soared from 8% to 20%. FOBO among without college educations, meanwhile, remained virtually unchanged at 24% since 2021.

"As a result, whereas non-college-educated workers were previously much more concerned about technological replacement than college-educated workers, these groups now express similar levels of concern," the pollster said.

Gaps between younger and older workers, as well as between those making less than $100,000 and those earning $100,000 or more, also continued to widen.

FOBO increased just 2 percentage points among workers over 55 years of age while jumping 11 points among those between 18 and 34. Meanwhile, workers making less than $100,000 recorded a 10-point surge in obsolescence fears, while those making more than $100,000 saw a 5-point rise.

The poll results come as Hollywood writers and actors have focused on producers' use of artificial intelligence as a key factor in their strike against studios. The Writers Guild of America has demanded to "regulate use of material produced using artificial intelligence or similar technologies" in television and movie productions.

Among the array of worries facing U.S. workers, however, FOBO still remains well behind loss of benefits and wage reduction as the top concern, Gallup found.

Nearly a third of respondents, or 31%, said they are worried they could lose benefits in the near future, while 24% indicated they were most concerned about having their wages reduced.

It’s Google versus the US in the biggest antitrust trial in decades


This photo, in New York, Monday, Sept. 11, 2023, shows various Google logos when searched on Google. The U.S. government is taking aim, Tuesday, Sept. 12, 2023 in federal court, at what has been an indomitable empire: Google’s ubiquitous search engine that has become the internet’s main gateway. 

(AP Photo/Richard Drew)

The Google sign is shown over an entrance to the company’s new building in New York on Wednesday, Sept. 6, 2023. The U.S. government is taking aim at what has been an indomitable empire: Google’s ubiquitous search engine and the lucrative digital services hatched by its unwavering status as the internet’s main gateway. 

(AP Photo/Peter Morgan)

BY PAUL WISEMAN AND MICHAEL LIEDTKE
September 11, 2023

WASHINGTON (AP) — Google will confront a threat to its dominant search engine beginning Tuesday when federal regulators launch an attempt to dismantle its internet empire in the biggest U.S. antitrust trial in a quarter century.

Over the next 10 weeks, federal lawyers and state attorneys general will try to prove Google rigged the market in its favor by locking its search engine in as the default choice in a plethora of places and devices. U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta likely won’t issue a ruling until early next year. If he decides Google broke the law, another trial will decide what steps should be taken to rein in the Mountain View, California-based company.

Top executives at Google and its corporate parent Alphabet Inc., as well as those from other powerful technology companies are expected to testify. Among them is likely to be Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai, who succeeded Google co-founder Larry Page four years ago. Court documents also suggest that Eddy Cue, a high ranking Apple executive, might be called to the stand.


The Justice Department filed its antitrust lawsuit against Google nearly three years ago during the Trump administration, charging that the company has used its internet search dominance to gain an unfair advantage against competitors. Government lawyers allege that Google protects its franchise through a form of payola, shelling out billions of dollars annually to be the default search engine on the iPhone and on web browsers such as Apple’s Safari and Mozilla’s Firefox.

MORE TECHNOLOGY COVERAGE

Google’s search engine dominance is at the center of the biggest US antitrust trial in decades

EU targets Apple, Amazon, Meta and other Big Tech in next phase of digital crackdown

Regulators also charge that Google has illegally rigged the market in its favor by requiring its search engine to be bundled with its Android software for smartphones if the device manufacturers want full access to the Android app store.

Google counters that it faces a wide range of competition despite commanding about 90% of the internet search market. Its rivals, Google argues, range from search engines such as Microsoft’s Bing to websites like Amazon and Yelp, where consumers can post questions about what to buy or where to go.

From Google’s perspective, perpetual improvements to its search engine explain why people almost reflexively keep coming back to it, a habit that long ago made “Googling” synonymous with looking things up on the internet.

The trial begins just a couple weeks after the 25th anniversary of the first investment in the company — a $100,000 check written by Sun Microsystems co-founder Andy Bechtolsheim that enabled Page and Sergey Brin to set up shop in a Silicon Valley garage.

Today, Google’s corporate parent, Alphabet, is worth $1.7 trillion and employs 182,000 people, with most of the money coming from $224 billion in annual ad sales flowing through a network of digital services anchored by a search engine that fields billions of queries a day.

The Justice Department’s antitrust case echoes the one it filed against Microsoft in 1998. Regulators then accused Microsoft of forcing computer makers that relied on its dominant Windows operating system to also feature Microsoft’s Internet Explorer — just as the internet was starting to go mainstream. That bundling practice crushed competition from the once-popular browser Netscape.

Several members of the Justice Department’s team in the Google case — including lead Justice Department litigator Kenneth Dintzer — also worked on the Microsoft investigation.

Google could be hobbled if the trial ends in concessions that undercut its power. One possibility is that the company could be forced to stop paying Apple and other companies to make Google the default search engine on smartphones and computers.

Or the legal battle could cause Google to lose focus. That’s what happened to Microsoft after its antitrust showdown with the Justice Department. Distracted, the software giant struggled to adapt to the impact of internet search and smartphones. Google capitalized on that distraction to leap from its startup roots into an imposing powerhouse.

Hundreds of Pride activists march in Serbia despite hate messages sent by far-right officials


People hold a large Rainbow flag as they take part in a Pride march in Belgrade, Serbia, Saturday, Sept. 9, 2023. Hundreds of Pride activists gathered in the Serbian capital Saturday amid heavy police presence and anti-gay messages sent by the country’s conservative leadership and far right groups. 

Anti-gay protesters hold crosses and religious banners amid heavy police presence and during a Pride march in Belgrade, Serbia, Saturday, Sept. 9, 2023. Hundreds of Pride activists gathered in the Serbian capital Saturday amid heavy police presence and anti-gay messages sent by the country’s conservative leadership and far rights groups. 

People hold a large Rainbow flag as they take part in a Pride march in Belgrade, Serbia, Saturday, Sept. 9, 2023. Hundreds of Pride activists gathered in the Serbian capital Saturday amid heavy police presence and anti-gay messages sent by the country’s conservative leadership and far rights groups. 

People take part in a Pride march in Belgrade, Serbia, Saturday, Sept. 9, 2023. Hundreds of Pride activists gathered in the Serbian capital Saturday amid heavy police presence and anti-gay messages sent by the country’s conservative leadership and far rights groups. 

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(AP Photos / Marko Drobnjakovic)

BY MARKO DROBNJAKOVIC
September 9, 2023


BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — Hundreds of Pride activists gathered in the Serbian capital Saturday amid a heavy police presence and anti-gay messages sent by the country’s conservative leadership and far-right groups.

Last year, the LGBTQ+ event was marred by skirmishes between the police and anti-Pride groups who believe the event goes against traditional Serbian Christian Orthodox values and should be banned.

The participants of the march on Saturday held banners reading “We Are Not Even Close” — referring to the current status of the gay population is Serbia — as well as “Marriage” and “Queer Liberation not Rainbow Capitalism.”

A heavy police presence of officers in riot gear blocked off central Belgrade. In a rally against the march, about 50 anti-gay protesters and Orthodox priests held religious icons in front of a downtown church as the Pride event participants passed by.

A group of anti-gay activists held a banner on the main downtown street that said, “I don’t want a gay parade in Belgrade.”

Before the 11th consecutive Pride event held in Serbia, the country’s populist president, Aleksandar Vucic, said that as long he is in power, he wouldn’t approve a law allowing same-sex marriages or partnerships. He also said that he didn’t allow rainbow colored flags to be placed on flags at his downtown office during the march.

Prime Minister Ana Brnabic, a close Vucic ally, is the Balkan country’s first openly gay politician. She has, however, rarely spoken in favor of LGBTQ+ rights in Serbia.

Before the Pride event, the embassies and representative offices of 25 countries and the European Union delegation in Serbia issued a joint statement of support for the values of Pride and urging protection of the rights of LGBTQ+ persons.

“On the occasion of Belgrade Pride 2023, we want to reaffirm our commitment to respecting, promoting and protecting human rights for all,” the joint statement said. “We proudly stand with the LGBTQ+ community in Serbia and strongly support the values that Pride represents — acceptance, inclusion and diversity.”

Serbia formally wants to join the EU, but under Vucic’s more than decade rule it has gradually slid toward Russia and its anti-Western policies, including disrespect for the rights of gay people.

DOLLY'S DADDY RIP 

Ian Wilmut, a British scientist who led the team that cloned Dolly the Sheep, dies at age 79


 Scottish scientist Ian Wilmut is seen in the Pauls Church in Frankfurt, central Germany, Monday, March 14, 2005. Ian Wilmut, the cloning pioneer whose research was critical to the creation of Dolly the Sheep, has died, the Roslin Institute at the University of Edinburgh said Monday. He was 79. 

(AP Photo/Michael Probst, File)

Dolly, the first cloned sheep produced through nuclear transfer from differentiated adult sheep cells, is seen in its pen at the Roslin Institute in Edinburgh, Scotland, in early December, 1997. The British scientist who led the team that cloned Dolly the Sheep in 1996, Ian Wilmut, has died at age 79. Wilmut set off a global discussion about the ethics of cloning when he announced that his team at Roslin had cloned Dolly using the nucleus of a cell from an adult sheep.

 (AP Photo/John Chadwick, File)

September 11, 2023


LONDON (AP) — Ian Wilmut, the cloning pioneer whose work was critical to the creation of Dolly the Sheep in 1996, has died at age 79.

The University of Edinburgh in Scotland said Wilmut died Sunday after a long illness with Parkinson’s disease.

Wilmut set off a global discussion about the ethics of cloning when he announced that his team at the university’s Roslin Institute for animal biosciences had cloned a lamb using the nucleus of a cell from an adult sheep.

Initially referred to as “6LL3” in the academic paper describing the work, the lamb was later named Dolly, after the singer Dolly Parton. The lamb’s cloning was the first time scientists were able to coax a mature adult cell into behaving like a cell from a newly fertilized embryo in order to create a genetically identical animal.

While Dolly’s creation was heralded as a revolution by some scientists, it unnerved many, with critics calling such experiments unethical.

The year after Dolly’s creation, U.S. President Bill Clinton imposed a ban on the use of federal funds for human cloning but stopped short of banning all cloning research.

Dolly’s creation prompted other scientists to clone animals including dogs, cats, horses and bulls. Dolly also spurred questions about the potential cloning of humans and extinct species. In recent years, scientists have proposed bringing back the woolly mammoth by using a mix of gene editing and cloning.

Dolly’s creation was part of a broader project by scientists to create genetically modified sheep that could produce therapeutic proteins in their milk. About six years after Dolly’s birth, it was euthanized by scientists after she developed an incurable lung tumor.

Wilmut, a trained embryologist, later focused on using cloning techniques to make stem cells that could be used in regenerative medicine. His work was critical to research that aims to treat genetic and degenerative diseases by helping the body repair damaged tissue.

The Roslin Institute said Wilmut was knighted in 2008 and retired from the university in 2012. He later researched Parkinson’s disease after he was diagnosed with the condition, it said.

“We are deeply saddened to hear of the passing of Sir Ian Wilmut,” Bruce Whitelaw, the institute’s director, said in a statement Monday. Whitelaw described Wilmut as a “titan” of science and said his work in Dolly’s creation transformed scientific thinking at the time.

He said the legacy of Wilmut’s work in cloning Dolly continues to be seen.

“This breakthrough continues to fuel many of the advances that have been made in the field of regenerative medicine that we see today,” he said.

Wilmut is survived by his wife, three children and five grandchildren, the University of Edinburgh said. Funeral arrangements have not yet been announced.

RIP REST IN POWER
Holocaust survivor Eva Fahidi-Pusztai, who warned of far-right populism in Europe, dies at age 97


 Auschwitz survivor Eva Pusztai-Fahidi from Budapest leaves the court hall during the noon breaks of the trial against former SS guard Oskar Groening in Lueneburg, northern Germany, Tuesday, April 21, 2015. Holocaust survivor Eva Fahidi-Pusztai, who spent the late years of her life warning of the re-emergence of far-right populism and discrimination against minorities across Europe, has died. She was 97.

Auschwitz survivor Eva Pusztai-Fahidi delivers her speech during an event of the International Auschwitz Committee to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz Nazi death camp in Berlin, Monday, Jan. 26, 2015. Holocaust survivor Eva Fahidi-Pusztai, who spent the late years of her life warning of the re-emergence of far-right populism and discrimination against minorities across Europe, has died. She was 97.

 (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber, File)

BY KIRSTEN GRIESHABER
September 12, 2023

BERLIN (AP) — Eva Fahidi-Pusztai, a Holocaust survivor who spent the late years of her life warning of the re-emergence of far-right populism and discrimination against minorities across Europe, has died. She was 97.

The International Auschwitz Committee said Fahidi-Pusztai died in Budapest on Monday. A cause of death was not given.

“Auschwitz survivors all over the world bid farewell to their fellow sufferer, friend and companion with deep sadness, gratitude and respect,” the group said in a statement on its website

Fahidi-Pusztai was born in 1925 in Debrecen, Hungary, into an upper middle-class Jewish family. Her family converted to Catholicism in 1936, but that did not shield them from persecution.

After the occupation of Hungary by the German Wehrmacht in early 1944, the family was forced to move to a ghetto.

In June 1944, the Jewish population was rounded up in a brick factory and deported to the Nazis’ Auschwitz death camp in several transports.

Fahidi-Pusztai was 18 years old when she and her family were deported in the last transport to Auschwitz, on June 27, 1944. Her mother and little sister Gilike were murdered immediately after their arrival. Her father succumbed to the inhumane camp conditions a few months later, the Auschwitz Committee said on its homepage.

Six million European Jews were murdered by the Nazi Germany and its henchmen across Europe during the Holocaust — including 49 members of Fahidi-Pusztai’s family, Germany’s news agency dpa reported. She was the only one who survived.

Fahidi-Pusztai was deported from Auschwitz to a subcamp of the Buchenwald concentration camp in the town of Allendorf, in Hesse province. For 12 hours a day, she had to work as a slave laborer in an explosives factory at the Muenchmuehle concentration camp there.

In March 1945, only weeks before the end of World War II, she managed to escape on a so-called death march taking concentration camp inmates to the west as Soviet soldiers approached from the east. It was then that she was freed by American soldiers.

“It was only many years after her liberation, that Eva Fahidi began to speak about her memories of the murder of her family and her existence as a slave laborer,” Christoph Heubner, Executive Vice President of the International Auschwitz Committee, said in Berlin.

“Her life remained marked by the loss of her family, but nevertheless, with an infinitely big heart, she persisted in her joy of life and trusted in the power of memory,” Heubner added.

After the war, Fahidi-Pusztai moved back to Hungary. She later wrote two books about her experiences and visited schools in Germany to share her traumatic experiences from the Holocaust with students and warn of the re-emergence of far-right populism in Europe.

Fahidi-Pusztai also worked closely together with the Buchenwald Memorial at the former camp site near the city of Weimar in eastern Germany, to ensure that especially the fate of Jewish women is not forgotten, the memorial wrote on its website.

“Eva Fahidi’s books, which show her to be a great stylist and clear-sighted storyteller, will remain as will her fears and warnings in the face of populist tirades and right-wing extremist violence against Jewish people and Sinti and Roma not only in her native Hungary but in many European countries,” the International Auschwitz Committee wrote in its farewell message.

Sinti and Roma minorities were also persecuted during the Nazi era.

UN food agency warns of ‘doom loop’ for world’s hungriest as governments cut aid and needs increase

 The agency said the more than 60% funding shortfall this year was the highest in WFP’s 60-year history and marks the first time the Rome-based agency has seen contributions decline while needs rise.  

An Afghan school girl, right, walks past sacks of milled wheat on the main road in the city of Kandahar province, south of Kabul, Afghanistan on Sunday, June 29, 2008. The World Food Program warned Tuesday, Sept. 12, 2023, that humanitarian funding cuts by governments are forcing the U.N. agency to drastically cut food rations to the world’s hungriest people, with each 1% cut in aid risking to push 400,000 people toward starvation. The agency said the more than 60% funding shortfall this year was the highest in WFP’s 60-year history and marks the first time the Rome-based agency has seen contributions decline while needs rise.
 Laborers unload a consignment of food aid from the World Food Programme (WFP) in Mogadishu, Somalia, on Monday, Aug. 8, 2011. The World Food Program warned Tuesday, Sept. 12, 2023, that humanitarian funding cuts by governments are forcing the U.N. agency to drastically cut food rations to the world’s hungriest people, with each 1% cut in aid risking to push 400,000 people toward starvation. The agency said the more than 60% funding shortfall this year was the highest in WFP’s 60-year history and marks the first time the Rome-based agency has seen contributions decline while needs rise. 

A view of the exterior of the headquarters of the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP), in Rome, Friday, Oct. 9, 2020. The World Food Program warned Tuesday, Sept. 12, 2023, that humanitarian funding cuts by governments are forcing the U.N. agency to drastically cut food rations to the world’s hungriest people, with each 1% cut in aid risking to push 400,000 people toward starvation. The agency said the more than 60% funding shortfall this year was the highest in WFP’s 60-year history and marks the first time the Rome-based agency has seen contributions decline while needs rise. 

AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia, File)

 September 12, 2023

ROME (AP) — The World Food Program warned Tuesday that humanitarian funding cuts by governments are forcing the U.N. agency to drastically cut food rations to the world’s hungriest people, with each 1% cut in aid risking to push 400,000 people toward starvation.

The agency said the more than 60% funding shortfall this year was the highest in WFP’s 60-year history and marks the first time the Rome-based agency has seen contributions decline while needs rise.

As a result, the WFP has been forced to cut rations in almost half its operations, including in hard-hit places like Afghanistan, Syria, Somalia and Haiti. In a statement, WFP warned that 24 million more people could slip into emergency hunger over the next year as a result.

WFP’s executive director, Cindy McCain, said with starvation at record levels, governments should be increasing assistance, not decreasing it.

“If we don’t receive the support we need to avert further catastrophe, the world will undoubtedly see more conflict, more unrest, and more hunger,” she said. “Either we fan the flames of global instability, or we work quickly to put out the fire.”

The WFP warned that if the trend continues, a “doom loop” will be triggered “where WFP is being forced to save only the starving, at the cost of the hungry,” the statement said.