Facebook’s ‘Supreme Court’ investigates deepfake nudes after Taylor Swift controversy


Matthew Field
Tue, 16 April 2024 

Fake explicit images of Taylor Swift on X in January sparked concern over online misogyny and abuse - Allison Dinner/Shutterstock

Meta’s oversight board is investigating the spread of deepfake nude pictures of women and celebrities on Instagram and Facebook, weeks after explicit fake images of singer Taylor Swift went viral on social media.

The oversight board, which reviews moderation decisions and has been likened to Facebook’s “Supreme Court”, is examining two incidents where images of naked women generated by artificial intelligence were reported on Meta’s platform.

One incident involved a synthetic nude image of a public figure from India on Instagram. The second centred around an “AI-generated image of a nude woman with a man groping her breast”. The woman resembled an unnamed American celebrity, with the board declining to provide details on who the person in question was when asked.

While not mentioning Ms Swift, the investigation comes after explicit fake pictures of the singer spread rapidly across Facebook, Instagram and X in January, prompting an outcry about online misogyny and abuse directed at women.

The controversy reached the White House, with press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre declaring the spread of deepfake nudes of the singer “very alarming”.

The oversight board said it would investigate the effectiveness of Meta’s enforcement practices, as well as “the nature and gravity of harms posed by deepfake pornography including how those harms affect women, especially women who are public figures”.

The deepfakes of Ms Swift also sparked concerns that AI tools will be misused on a grand scale to create huge volumes of deepfake pornography. Fake images of celebrities have also been used to promote scams on social networks.

The oversight board said it was investigating “whether Meta’s policies and its enforcement practices are effective at addressing explicit AI-generated imagery”.

The picture from India was not reviewed within 48 hours and remained online until it was appealed to the board, before Meta ultimately decided to take the picture down.

The deepfake of the US celebrity was blocked under Meta’s bullying and harassment policy, specifically its rules on “derogatory sexualised photoshop or drawings”. The user who posted the image has since appealed for a review.

Meta has a policy of labelling images uploaded to Instagram or Facebook, in some cases automatically, if it detects the image is made with AI.

Launched in 2020, Meta’s oversight board has reviewed thorny moderation decisions made by the technology giant, such as its decision to ban former US President Donald Trump.

The 22-person board features figures such as former Guardian editor Alan Rusbridger and Helle Thorning-Schmidt, the former prime minister of Denmark.

Some critics have raised questions over its impact, and its decisions are not binding on the tech giant.

Seeing fake porn of myself ‘shocking’, says AOC as she launches AI bill

Last-minute deal saves Britain’s biggest train factory from closure

Christopher Jasper
Tue, 16 April 2024 


Alstom had earlier told unions that a redundancy process for 1,200 staff had to be restarted - Asadour Guzelian/Guzelian

Britain’s biggest train factory is to be saved from closure following crisis talks, after Transport Secretary Mark Harper agreed to sign off on a vital new order.

Alstom’s plant in Derby, which employs 3,000 people and completed its last remaining trains in March, is set to be awarded a deal for 10 new commuter units after crunch discussions between Mr Harper and the French company’s boss Henri Poupart-Lafarge.

The new work will commence in the first half of 2025 and cover a gap in activity before the Derby plant begins construction of a fleet of express trains for the HS2 line in mid-2026.

The drought period threatened the factory’s viability and Alstom told unions earlier in April that a redundancy process for the 1,200 blue-collar staff had to be restarted.


Mr Poupart-Lafarge travelled to London on April 16 to impress the seriousness of the situation upon Mr Harper, a source said. The breakthrough was reached when the Government agreed to finance an extra five trains for the Elizabeth Line in addition to five others that had already secured outline funding from the Treasury.

Earlier talks with the Department for Transport failed to result in any new orders.

Mark Harper agreed to sign off on a vital new order - 

Andy Rain/Shutterstock

Mr Harper has now agreed to finance the construction of Aventra trains, featuring a total of 90 railcars, sources close to the talks said. Transport for London, which oversees the Elizabeth Line and will own the new trains, still needs to present a formal business case for the purchase, though that process is not expected to pose significant hurdles, the sources said.

Alstom’s entire Litchurch Lane factory in Derby had faced closure following the completion of final testing work in four or five months, a step that would have thrown the HS2 programme into chaos and made Britain the only G7 country without a combined train design and manufacturing capability.

An Alstom spokesman said: “The parties have agreed to conclude discussions as soon as possible and no later than the end of May. This could help secure the future of the Litchurch Lane site.”

Mr Harper said in a social media post that he’d had a “constructive meeting” with Alstom on the future of train manufacturing in the UK and that intensive discussions will continue with the aim of finalising the accord.

In a letter to MPs with constituencies in the Derby area, Mr Harper said that the onus is on the French firm to provide competitive pricing and transparency on costings to ensure swift closure of the contract. He has asked Alstom for written confirmation that it will invest in Litchurch Lane and make it a hub for design and production.

Alstom would move some other work to Litchurch Lane to help sustain jobs until the start of the new contract. The factory, which traces its history back more than 140 years, helps support 15,000 jobs in the supply chain and contributes about £1bn annually to GDP.

The future of Hitachi’s train plant in County Durham remains uncertain as it prepares to complete manufacturing work on its last orders over the summer. The site at Newton Aycliffe is scheduled to build HS2 trains from the second half of next year before they’re sent to Alstom for completion, but currently lacks work to see it through to that point.

‘World’s most advanced robot’ to be exhibited in Scotland


Sarah Ward, PA Scotland
Tue, 16 April 2024 

A humanoid robot described as the most advanced in the world will be showcased in Scotland.

The National Robotarium, the UK’s centre for robotics and artificial intelligence (AI) based at Heriot-Watt University in partnership with The University of Edinburgh, has purchased the robot, named Ameca, from Engineered Arts.

Ameca is described as able “to interact with people in a natural and engaging way”, and facial expressions include “playful” and “pondering”.

Ameca, the humanoid robot, has a range of facial expressions along with embedded microphones and cameras (National Robotarium/PA)

The acquisition is a bid to “demystify complex technologies and foster a greater understanding of the potential benefits of robotics”, and AI.

The robot has embedded microphones, cameras, facial recognition software and articulated motorised components.

The National Robotarium hopes to break down barriers and build trust between humans and robots by exhibiting Ameca in schools and workshops to provide opportunities for people of all ages to interact directly with the robot and learn about the latest advancements in robotics and AI.

The robotarium aims to introduce Ameca as part of its public engagement initiatives by summer.

The facility is supported by £21 million from the UK Government and £1.4 million from the Scottish Government in a bid to turn Edinburgh into the data capital of Europe.

Researchers will also use Ameca to study public perceptions and attitudes towards humanoid robots, gathering valuable insights to inform the development of future technologies that prioritise trust, transparency and user-friendliness.

Steve Maclaren, chief operating officer at the National Robotarium, said: “The arrival of Ameca at the National Robotarium marks a significant step forward in our mission to make robotics more accessible and relatable to the people of Scotland, the UK and beyond.

“Since opening our doors in September 2022, we’ve successfully hosted more than 100 in-person and virtual events and engaged thousands of school-aged children.

“Ameca represents an exciting opportunity to build on that success and take public engagement to the next level.

“By giving people the chance to interact with this state-of-the-art humanoid robot first hand, we aim to demystify robotics, foster trust in human-robot interaction, and showcase the remarkable potential of these technologies to improve our daily lives and benefit society as a whole.”

Will Jackson, founder and chief executive of Engineered Arts Ltd, said: “We are incredibly proud to have Ameca join the many preeminent robots at The National Robotarium.

“Meeting an AI-embodied humanoid robot is a unique experience that very few people have witnessed and we are very excited to be able to share what can be a profound moment with a wider audience.”

LA REVUE GAUCHE - Left Comment: Search results for AMECA 

Ban smacking children in England and Northern Ireland, say doctors


Denis Campbell

 Health policy editor

The Guardian
Tue, 16 April 2024 

Smacking children made them much more likely to suffer poor mental health, do badly at school and be physically assaulted or abused, the college said.

Photograph: Mark Waugh/Alamy

Parents in England and Northern Ireland should be banned from smacking their children because doing so is unjust, dangerous and harmful, leading doctors have urged ministers.

It was “a scandal” that Scotland and Wales had outlawed smacking but not the other two home nations, the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health said on Wednesday.

Smacking children made them much more likely to suffer poor mental health, do badly at school and be physically assaulted or abused, it added, condemning the practice as “a complete violation of children’s rights”.

It said parents in England and Northern Ireland should no longer be able to claim that hitting their child was “reasonable punishment”, as was allowed under the current law.

The paediatricians want the education secretary, Gillian Keegan, to change the law before the general election expected later this year. All political parties should include a commitment to do so in their election manifestos, they added.

“The laws around physical punishment as they stand are unjust and dangerously vague,” said Prof Andrew Rowland, a consultant paediatrician, who is the college’s officer for child protection. “They create a grey area in which some forms of physical punishment may be lawful and some are not.”

The vagueness created by the “lack of legislative clarity … makes it extremely challenging to talk to families about what the rules are on physical punishment of children, thus making it more difficult to talk about the best interests of their children”, he added.

Rowland said that he saw children “sometimes once a week” at his clinics in Manchester who had been hit by a parent.

“I see children who have been physically punished with a smack or a slap [or] sometimes with an implement. They can be hit on their leg, arm, back or bottom.

“I’ve seen children who have been hit with a belt or blunt implement from the kitchen, like a spoon, or cables from a phone or laptop charger that’s been used as a whip. That can leave a child needing medical attention for an injury such as a bruise, open wound or even a fracture.

“I’ve seen this happen to children aged two to 18. This is wrong for all children, no matter what the circumstances, and it leaves them upset, angry and confused. It shouldn’t happen.”

Bess Herbert, an advocacy specialist at the campaign group End Corporal Punishment, said “hundreds of studies” had found that, besides physical and mental harm, the damage from being smacked could include poorer cognitive development, a higher risk of dropping out of school, increased aggression and perpetrating violence and antisocial behaviour as adults.

Sixty-five countries had banned smacking and 27 others had committed to doing the same, Rowland said. “England and Northern Ireland are out of step, internationally speaking.”

The NSPCC backed the college’s call. “All children deserve the same protection from assaults as adults,” said Joanna Barrett, the charity’s associate head of policy.

“In England and Northern Ireland, children continue to be exposed to a legal loophole that can undermine their basic right to protection under the guise of ‘reasonable chastisement’,” Barrett said.

“Hitting a child can have harmful and lasting consequences. We know from Childline that physical punishment can impact a child’s mental and emotional health and damage the relationship between parent and child.”

Rachel de Souza, the children’s commissioner for England, did not express a definitive view on the issue when she answered questions from MPs on the Commons education committee at her confirmation hearing in December 2020.

However, she indicated to Times Radio in April 2022 that she wanted ministers to consider banning smacking. “I absolutely abhor, and I’m against, violence of any kind against children,” she said.

“Because children are more vulnerable than adults, I think we do need to ensure that their rights are supported.”

The Guardian has approached the Department for Education for comment.

'Social inequalities' pushing disproportionate number of children into care in north of England, new report finds

Sky News
Updated Tue, 16 April 2024



One in every 52 children in Blackpool is in care compared with one in 140 across England, according to new analysis which researchers said exposes "deeply rooted social inequalities".

The report also found the North of England accounts for just over a quarter (28%) of the child population, but more than a third (36%) of the children in care, the analysis by the Child of the North All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) said.

Professor David Taylor, the co-author of the report, said the findings reflect a "doom loop", with poverty pushing children into the care system at an additional cost to local and national government.


He said: "Cuts to prevention services, things like Sure Start, family support, investment in youth services have been cut, particularly in the areas where they're needed most.

"In those places poverty has gone up, that's increased the number of children in the care system and it's putting incredible pressure on health and care systems."

The report was researched and funded by Health Equity North - an organisation focused on finding solutions to public health problems and health inequalities across the North of England. It used existing data including official statistics and academic studies.

The analysis also suggested the higher rates of children entering care are estimated to have cost the North at least £25bn more in the past four years.

In the light of the report's findings, APPG members and the report authors have made a number of recommendations, including policies to reduce child poverty such as scrapping the two-child limit and benefit cap, as well as more investment in prevention strategies such as targeting additional investment in the North.

'A part of you ripped away'

One person who has benefited from this type of grassroots support, is Kirsty, a mother from Newcastle.

She became a mum at the age of 17. Her daughter was taken into care twice, in moments she described as "tragic".

"I've been through a lot in my life, but losing a child is the most traumatic, unexplainable feeling that I could ever imagine," she said.

"It's like having a part of you ripped away, then not understanding and not feeling good enough."

Kirsty previously struggled with a drug addiction and had been a victim of domestic abuse.

She was also previously homeless before eventually joining a narcotics anonymous group, and later being supported by Reform UK, an organisation in the area aimed at improving the outcomes of mothers at risk of child removal.

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Their work involves creating a "sisterhood" in the form of a safe space aimed at allowing women to share their experiences and finding them the right support for issues like addiction, domestic abuse and homelessness.

Reform's chief executive Amy Van Zyl feels the social care system needs to be better equipped and better funded to help people with complex needs.

She said: "Women who come to our service don't have friends and loved ones. What they gain when they come into our service is friends and loved ones, we can then signpost them to services."

Kirsty, who is speaking about her experiences at an event in Parliament on Wednesday, feels she could have benefited from early intervention.

She said: "If there was anything like Reform back then or anywhere else it would have made a massive difference.

"Because I felt like I was the only person, I felt like I not only failed me but I failed my family and I brought shame on everyone because I wasn't able to look after my child and that wasn't the case.

"All of the reports that were done by social services said that I was a good mum, and that I was really good with my daughter. It was just my lifestyle. I didn't have accommodation and my drug use and all that stuff could have been helped. It's curable."

In response to the report, a Department for Education spokesperson said: "Early intervention is at the core of our ambitious children's social care reforms - including a £45m investment in pilot areas across the UK to help us shape a future system where we provide families with the right support at the right time, delivered by the right people.

"For those leaving care, we are investing £250m over three years to help them succeed - providing housing, access to education, employment, and training."

One in 52 Blackpool children in care as poverty soars in north of England

Robyn Vinter 

North of England correspondent

THE GUARDIAN
Tue, 16 April 2024 

Blackpool (pictured) and Hartlepool had the highest rate of children in care.Photograph: Christopher Furlong/Getty Images

One in every 52 children in Blackpool are in care compared with one in 140 across England, leading to calls for more to be done to urgently tackle the widening north-south divide, brought on by “decades of underinvestment”.

Nine in every thousand children are in care in the north, compared with six in the rest of England, according to a report by Health Equity North.

A total of £25bn of public money would have been saved between 2019 and 2023 if the north had the same care entry rates as the south, the report’s authors said.

Child poverty was the main factor in the disproportionate figures, with the north-east having the highest overall care rates, followed by the north-west, West Midlands and then Yorkshire and the Humber.

Blackpool was followed by Hartlepool, where the highest rate of children in care is one in 63.

The review of existing research, compiled for the child of the north all-party parliamentary group, found a 27% increase in the number of children’s homes between 2020 and 2023 disproportionately affected the north of England.

The north has 1,176 children’s homes – more than 40% of the children’s homes in England – with just 1,704 in the rest of England.

There were more than 83,000 children in care in England in 2023, with the report warning the risk of that number rising was high as health inequalities continued to widen and more and more families were falling into poverty, particularly in the north.

Related: North-south wealth inequality in England on course to grow, report finds

The rise in child poverty between 2015 and 2020 led to more than 10,000 additional children entering care – equivalent to one in 12 care entries over the period.

Dr Davara Bennett, the lead author of the report and head of public health, policy and systems at the University of Liverpool, said: “Our report has exposed the deeply rooted social inequalities reflected in, and exacerbated by, the child welfare system. These need to be tackled head-on by policymakers.”

Underinvestment has left councils “trapped in a cycle” of spending billions on looking after children in care at the expense of providing support for families in need, she said.

She added: “The evidence shows the damage caused by cuts to prevention and failure to address the very real problem of child poverty in the north.

“There are a number of policies that, if implemented, could help reduce the number of children entering care and improve the care and support children and families receive when in need. We urge government to hear our calls for action and commit to addressing them as a priority.”

Emma Lewell-Buck, the MP for South Shields and co-chair of the child of the north APPG, said: “As a former social worker, I have experienced first-hand the immense pressure placed on children’s services in the north. When children and families aren’t given the right support the consequences and damage done can last a lifetime. In my region specifically, shameful levels of poverty coupled with underinvestment has led to dramatically disproportionate rises in the number of children in care, compared with the south.

“Excellent social work happens every single day, yet this report highlights how valuable opportunities to improve social care for both children, families and those who work with them are being ignored. Our children deserve better.”

Backlash as USC cancels valedictorian’s speech over support for Palestine


Ramon Antonio Vargas and Abené Clayton
Tue, 16 April 2024 


University of Southern California in Los Angeles.

Photograph: Chon Kit Leong/Alamy

The University of Southern California is facing intense backlash for the decision to cancel the valedictorian speech of a Muslim student at the commencement ceremony in May, a decision which the student has criticized as being silenced by anti-Palestinian hatred for her views on human rights.

In a missive to the USC community, the university’s provost, Andrew Guzman, wrote that the Los Angeles university took the unprecedented step of canceling Asna Tabassum’s planned speech because the “alarming tenor” of reactions to her selection as valedictorian – along with “the intensity of feelings” surrounding Israel’s ongoing military strikes in Gaza – had created “substantial risks relating to security”.

Guzman’s statement did not refer to Tabassum by name, or specify what about her speech, background or political views had raised concerns. Nor did it detail any particular threats.

The decision has been met with outrage from online commenters and the Council of American Islamic Relations (Cair) the US’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, who, in a statement said Tabassum described herself as “shocked … and profoundly disappointed” after being informed on Monday that she would be barred from addressing her fellow graduates at their 10 May commencement.

“The university is succumbing to a campaign of hate meant to silence my voice,” Tabassum said in the statement.

Cair dismissed USC’s decision as “cowardly” and called on the university to reverse course – but Guzman maintained that “there was no free-speech entitlement to speak at a commencement”.

“While this is disappointing, tradition must give way to safety,” Guzman continued. “The issue here is how best to maintain campus security and safety, period.”

Since Hamas’s 7 October attack on Israel killed more than 1,100 mostly civilians as well as captured hostages, and the resulting assault on Gaza has killed more than 30,000 civilians – mostly women and children – while pushing the territory toward famine, US campuses have been roiled with debate over growing support for Palestine as well as dueling accusations of rising Islamophobia and antisemitism.

It was amid that climate that a USC committee selected Tabassum out of about 100 students with perfect, or nearly perfect, grade-point averages who applied to be valedictorian for a spring graduation ceremony honoring more than 19,000 graduates before an anticipated 65,000 spectators, according to Guzman.

NBC News described Tabassum as a first-generation south Asian American Muslim from Chino Hills – a city east of Los Angeles – in her fourth year as a biomedical engineering student. She has also been pursuing a minor in resistance to genocide.

At the top of Tabassum’s Instagram account, a link directs users to a slideshow encouraging readers “to learn about what’s happening in Palestine and how to help”. The presentation also advocates for “one Palestinian state”, saying that “would mean Palestinian liberation and the complete abolishment of the state of Israel”.

Although Tabassum told NBC’s Los Angeles affiliate that she posted the link five years earlier and did not author the slideshow, pro-Israel and Jewish groups objected to USC’s selection of her as valedictorian based on her social media activity.

In the Monday statement, USC said that their commencement ceremonies draw a crowd of more that 65,000 people which is a challenge for the public safety department on campus to handle. The university also cited heated demonstrations that have taken place at other schools as a part of their reasoning.

“The intensity of feelings, fueled by both social media and the ongoing conflict in the Middle East, has grown to include many voices outside of USC and has escalated to the point of creating substantial risks relating to security and disruption at commencement,” the statement read. “We cannot ignore the fact that similar risks have led to harassment and even violence at other campuses.”

A February protest against an event organized by Jewish students at the University of California, Berkeley, resulted in police evacuating the speaker – who was from Israel – as well as the attendees at the gathering after demonstrators broke through the doors.

USC’s public safety reasoning did not sit well with Jody David Armour, a law professor at the university who specializes in race issues and legal decision-making.

“So at USC cops decide what speech is allowed?” Armour posted on X.

Tabassum said she also was told USC possessed the ability “to take appropriate safety measures for my valedictory speech” but opted not to because a tougher security posture was “not what the university wants to present as an image.’”

Instead, Tabassum said USC was “caving to fear and rewarding hatred”, which she said was being directed by “anti-Muslim and anti-Palestinian voices” targeting her “because of my uncompromising belief in human rights for all”.

Among those who claimed to have taken offense to Tabassum’s selection as valedictorian was the group Trojans for Israel, which said it “strongly supports the right to free expression – including informed criticism of the Israeli government”.

“However,” a statement from the group said, “rhetoric that denies the right of the Jewish people to self-determination or calls for the destruction of the only Jewish state in the world must be denounced as antisemitic bigotry.”

The group added: “All … eligible valedictory candidates have valuable work ethic and accomplishments, but the university chose a candidate who publicly propagates antisemitic and anti-Zionist rhetoric as the most esteemed representative of the class of 2024.”

Guzman’s message to the USC community said “social media presence” was not part of the criteria that the university used to evaluate its valedictorian candidates.

The leader of Cair’s Los Angeles chapter, Hussam Ayloush, on Monday said criticism of Tabassum had been “dishonest and defamatory … [and] nothing more than thinly veiled manifestations of Islamophobia and anti-Palestinian racism which have been weaponized against college students across the country who speak up for human rights – and for Palestinian humanity”.

Ayloush also said: “USC cannot hide its cowardly decision behind a disingenuous concern for security.”

In her statement, Tabassum said her undergraduate minor studies in genocide resistance had shown her the danger of allowing “cries for equality and human dignity” to be deliberately conflated with “expressions of hatred”.

“Due to widespread fear, I was hoping to use my commencement speech to inspire my classmates with a message of hope,” she wrote.

Reuters contributed to this report

In Tajikistan, climate migrants flee threat of fatal landslides


Bruno KALOUAZ
Tue, 16 April 2024 

Many retirees in Tajikistan look after their grandchildren, whose parents have left to earn money in Russia (-)

Peeling onions in her new home, Yodgoroy Makhmaliyeva recalled the terrifying moment four years ago when a landslide buried her family home in mountainous Tajikistan.

Heavy snow and rain, she said, sent a deluge of rocks, water and mud crashing into the house in the Central Asian country estimated to be among the most vulnerable to effects of climate change.

"We had lived in fear until the day the mountain collapsed and destroyed our house," the 61-year-old said, wearing a shimmering headscarf.


Makhmaliyeva and her husband Jamoliddin had feared a torrent of earth would destroy their home, and are now among thousands of Tajiks displaced by a growing number of natural disasters.

Authorities in the ex-Soviet country of around 10 million believe hundreds of thousands live in regions threatened by mudslides, landslides, avalanches, floods and earthquakes.

They have made relocating people to safety a priority -- a daunting task for one of the world's poorest countries.

The Makhmaliyevs were rehoused in a new village in the Khuroson district, some 70 kilometres (43 miles) south of the capital Dushanbe.

Rows of modest homes built for "ecological migrants" lined a road surrounded by fields, with mountain peaks dotting the horizon.

- 'Did not know where we will live' -

Makhmaliyev recounted that the couple's old home had already survived several mudslides before it was levelled in early 2020.

"We spent a week digging out everything that was covered in dirt while we lived in a tent," the retired music teacher said.

"We didn't know where we were going to live," his wife Makhmaliyeva added.

One year later the couple were allotted their home in the village designated for people threatened by natural disasters.

Tajikistan says it relocated 45,000 people between 2000 and 2017, and that tens of thousands of others are waiting their turn.

The issue is pressing. Authorities say 557 emergency situations linked to natural disasters in last year alone killed 51 people.

- 'Huge material damage' -

The couple said the village where they look after six grandchildren is comfortable. Their own children are working in Russia like millions of other Tajiks.

Sitting on a bench embracing four small children, Makhmaliyev thanked President Emomali Rakhmon, who has ruled the tightly-controlled country since 1992, for the new family home.

Rakhmon has repeatedly underlined the huge financial and material damage his country suffers each year due to natural disasters.

He has even urged the population to stockpile food because of how vulnerable the country is to the negative effects of climate change.

A large portrait of the 71-year-old leader was plastered on the entrance of the village.

- 'Houses for future displaced' -

In a field across the road from the Makhmaliyevs, construction was ongoing to house new arrivals.

"It's houses for future displaced people," Murotbek Murodov, a uniformed officer with the emergency situations ministry, told AFP.

He said 67 new residential buildings were being built after a "natural disaster" hit another village.

"Approximately 900 village residents were evacuated," he said, adding those displaced were due to be rehoused in Khuroson.

"The aim is to put all residents in risk zones to safer places," he added.

- 'Thousands of danger zones' -

Murodov said there were more than 1,000 "dangerous zones" in the country that people needed to be removed from.

A United Nations report on climate change published this year said Tajikistan is the "most exposed" of all Central Asian countries.

The World Bank, meanwhile, has said that "natural catastrophes are a serious threat to economic stability" in the country, estimating that they caused more than $1.8 billion in damage between 1992 and 2019.

In the safety of his new home, Makhmaliyev ploughed a small garden as workers nearby laid foundations for new houses that would soon house Tajikistan's newest climate migrants.

bk-oc/jbr/yad/smw

Sweden votes on controversial gender reassignment law


NEWS WIRES
Tue, 16 April 2024 



Sweden was the first country to introduce legal gender reassignment in 1972, but a proposal to lower the minimum age from 18 to 16 to be voted on by parliament Wednesday has sparked controversy.

The debate has also weakened conservative Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson's standing, after he admitted to caving into pressure from party members on the issue.

Beyond lowering the age, the proposals also aim to make it simpler for a person to change their legal gender.

"The process today is very long, it can take up to seven years to change your legal gender in Sweden," Peter Sidlund Ponkala, president of the Swedish Federation for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer and Intersex Rights (RFSL), told AFP.

Under the proposal, two new laws would replace the current legislation: one regulating surgical procedures to change gender, and one regulating the administrative procedure to change legal gender in the official register.

If parliament adopts the bill as expected on Wednesday, people will be able to change their legal gender starting at the age of 16, though those under 18 will need the approval of their parents, a doctor, and the National Board of Health and Welfare.

A diagnosis of "gender dysphoria" -- where a person may experience distress as a result of a mismatch between their biological sex and the gender they identify as -- will no longer be required.

Surgical procedures to transition would, like now, be allowed from the age of 18, but would no longer require the Board of Health and Welfare's approval.

The removal of ovaries or testes would however only be allowed from the age of 23, unchanged from today.

Security Council to vote Thursday on Palestinian state UN membership


AFP
Tue, 16 April 2024 

The Palestinians -- who have had observer status at the United Nations since 2012 -- have lobbied for years to gain full membership, which would amount to recognition of Palestinian statehood (ANGELA WEISS)

The United Nations Security Council will vote Thursday on the Palestinians' application to become a full UN member state, several diplomatic sources have told AFP.

Amid Israel's military offensive in Gaza, the Palestinians in early April revived a membership application first made to the world body in 2011, though the veto-wielding United States has repeatedly expressed opposition to the proposal.

The General Assembly can admit a new member state with a two-thirds majority vote, but only after the Security Council gives its recommendation.


Regional bloc the Arab Group issued a statement Tuesday affirming its "unwavering support" for the Palestinians' application.

"Membership in the United Nations is a crucial step in the right direction towards a just and lasting resolution of the Palestinian question in line with international law and relevant UN resolutions," the statement said.

Algeria, a non-permanent Security Council member, has drafted the resolution that "recommends" to the General Assembly "the State of Palestine be admitted to membership of the United Nations."

The vote on Thursday will coincide with a Security Council meeting scheduled several weeks ago to discuss the situation in Gaza, which ministers from several Arab countries are expected to attend.

The Palestinians -- who have had observer status at the United Nations since 2012 -- have lobbied for years to gain full membership.

"We are seeking admission. That is our natural and legal right," Riyad Mansour, the Palestinian ambassador to the United Nations, said in April.

According to the Palestinian side, 137 of the 193 UN member states already recognize a Palestinian state, raising hope that their request would be supported in the General Assembly.

But the Palestinian push for UN membership faces a major hurdle, as the United States -- Israel's closest ally -- could use its veto power to block the Security Council recommendation.

"We call on all members of the Security Council to vote in favor of the draft resolution... At the very least, we implore Council members not to obstruct this critical initiative," the Arab Group said Tuesday.

The United States has voiced its opposition to full Palestinian membership, saying it backed statehood but only after negotiations with Israel, while pointing to US laws that would require cuts to UN funding if such a move took place without a bilateral agreement.

"That is something that should be done through direct negotiations through the parties, something we are pursuing at this time, and not at the United Nations," State Department spokesman Matthew Miller told reporters in April.

Israel's UN Ambassador Gilad Erdan has strongly opposed the Palestinian membership bid, saying in mid-April the considerations were "already a victory for genocidal terror."

"The Security Council is deliberating granting the perpetrators and supporters of October 7 full membership status in the UN," Erdan said.

Hamas launched an unprecedented attack against Israel on October 7, resulting in the deaths of 1,170 people in Israel, mostly civilians, according to Israeli figures.

Israel's retaliatory offensive has killed over 33,000 people in Gaza, mostly women and children, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory.

Cost of fire-ant outbreak in Australia could be much higher than ‘flawed’ earlier prediction, data shows

Daisy Dumas
Tue, 16 April 2024 




Red imported fire ant (Solenopsis invicta). Data shows the invasive species will cost Australians more than $22bn by the 2040s if left to run rampant.

The cost of a widespread fire ant outbreak may be far higher than predicted in “flawed” government modelling provided to ministers in the fight against the highly invasive species, new research suggests.

The Australia Institute data, released on Wednesday, found that red imported fire ants will cost Australians more than $22bn by the 2040s if left to run rampant, with the benefits of achieving eradication estimated to be three to nine times greater than the $3bn needed to achieve that eradication.

The findings are in contrast to a 2021 Biosecurity Queensland Department of Agriculture and Fisheries-commissioned report that indicated the cost benefits of eradicating the fire ants were generally positive but in some scenarios “quite poor” and even loss-making.


Related: ‘Wildly toxic’ poison used on fire ants is killing native Australian animals, experts warn Senate inquiry

The highly invasive insect is believed to have entered Australia in the 1990s and was discovered at Brisbane port in 2001. It has spread across more than 700,000 hectares in south-east Queensland and outbreaks were recently detected in northern New South Wales.

The policy thinktank found the government-commissioned analysis, entitled Assessing the Impacts of the Red Imported Fire Ant, was unusual in that it was limited to a 15-year timeframe when most fire ant economics modelling is conducted over 20 to 30 years. It also ignored the $2.5bn a year in damage that fire ants will cause beyond 2035, the authors said.

“The key flaw is that it only looks at costs over 15 years,” the research director of the Australia Institute, Rod Campbell, said.

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By changing the timeframe to 20 years and keeping all other parameters the same, the case for funding fire ant eradication efforts went from “marginal” to “compelling” because costs rise rapidly as the pest becomes more established.

“If you just extend their analysis for another five years you start capturing some of those benefits or avoided costs, then suddenly the economic case for investing in fire ant eradication goes from kind of marginal to absolutely compelling,” he said.

The National Fire Ant Eradication Program spans state, territory and federal governments and has been allocated $593m federal and state funding from 2023 to 2027.

This is well below the $200m to $300m a year over 10 years that is necessary to “avert, by 2032, predicted annual impact and control costs of $2bn, and up to 140,000 medical consultations”, as recommended in a separate strategic review.

Dr Minh Ngoc Le, post doctoral fellow at the Australia Institute, said that “eradicating fire ants is not only one of the best environmental policies governments could pursue, but also one of the best economic policies”.

The Biosecurity Queensland report stated that the 15-year timeframe was chosen “even though only a small proportion of total potential infestation would occur in this time period, so as to maintain relevance for current decision makers and budget allocations.”

A spokesperson from the National Fire Ant Eradication Program said it “has been very clear that the costs of living with fire ants far outweigh the cost of eradication.”

Related: Fire ants detected south of Byron Bay after gardener raises alarm

“This position has been informed by multiple independent cost benefit studies over the past decade,” the spokesperson said.

The report was not made public until almost two years after it was completed. It was provided to ministers and senior federal agriculture department officials when fire ants breached containment in 2023, said the Invasive Species Council advocacy manager, Reece Pianta.

He said the revised modelling “paints an even more dire picture and should prompt further fire ant action”.

“We’ve been calling for greater transparency including early public disclosure of reports like this to ensure governments are making the best decisions about fire ants. It raises questions about how invasive species are modelled, particularly around the impacts on our natural environment,” he said.

“Governments have never invested enough to deal with fire ants in Australia – modelling which has underevaluated the fire ant threat has contributed to that.”

The Senate inquiry’s report into the national response to fire ants is due to be released on Thursday, a month after the conclusion of three days of hearings in which the Senate committee, led by Nationals senator Matt Canavan, heard the National Fire Ant Eradication Program was an “absolute shambles” and lacked transparency.