U.S. says plea deal reached with 9/11 mastermind

Agence France-Presse
August 1, 2024 

This undated FBI file image shows Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, as he appeared on the FBI's Most Wanted Terrorists website

U.S. prosecutors have reached a deal with 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the Pentagon said Wednesday, reportedly involving a guilty plea in exchange for avoiding a death penalty trial.

The agreements with Mohammed and two other accused moves their long-running cases toward resolution. These have been bogged down in pre-trial maneuverings for years while the defendants remained held at the Guantanamo Bay military base in Cuba.

A Pentagon statement said no details of the deal would be immediately made public at this time, but the New York Times reported that Mohammed, Walid bin Attash and Mustafa al-Hawsawi had agreed to plead guilty to conspiracy in exchange for a life sentence instead of a trial after they could get the death penalty.

Such a proposal was detailed by prosecutors in a letter last year but divided the families of the nearly 3,000 people killed in the September 11, 2001 attacks, with some still wanting the defendants to face the ultimate penalty.

Much of the legal jousting surrounding the men's cases has focused on whether they could be tried fairly after having undergone methodical torture at the hands of the CIA in the years after 9/11 -- a thorny question that the plea deals help avoid.

Mohammed was regarded as one of Al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden's most trusted and intelligent lieutenants before his March 2003 capture in Pakistan. He then spent three years in secret CIA prisons before arriving in Guantanamo in 2006.

The trained engineer -- who has said he masterminded the 9/11 attacks "from A to Z" -- was involved in a string of major plots against the United States, where he had attended university.

In addition to planning the operation to bring down the Twin Towers, Mohammed claims to have personally beheaded US journalist Daniel Pearl in 2002 with his "blessed right hand," and to have helped in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing that killed six people.

- 'War on Terror' prison -

Bin Attash, a Saudi of Yemeni origin, allegedly trained two of the hijackers who carried out the September 11 attacks, and his US interrogators also said he confessed to buying the explosives and recruiting members of the team that killed 17 sailors in an attack on the USS Cole.

He took refuge in neighboring Pakistan after the US invasion of Afghanistan in 2001 and was captured there in 2003, and was then held in a network of secret CIA prisons.

Hawsawi is suspected of managing the finance for the 9/11 attacks. He was arrested in Pakistan on March 1, 2003, was also held in secret prisons before being transferred to Guantanamo in 2006.

The United States used Guantanamo, an isolated naval base, to hold militants captured during the "War on Terror" that followed the September 11 attacks in a bid to keep the defendants from claiming rights under US law.

The facility held 800 prisoners at its peak, but they have since slowly been repatriated to other countries. President Joe Biden pledged before his election to try and shut down Guantanamo, but it remains open.

In another 9/11-related case, the Justice Department denied a request by Zacarias Moussaoui, the so-called "20th hijacker," to serve the remainder of his life sentence in France.

In a hand-written letter to District Judge Leonie Brinkema obtained by the website Legal Insurrection, Moussaoui -- the only person convicted in the United States in connection with the September 11 attacks -- expressed fears he would be executed if Donald Trump regains the presidency in November.

A Justice Department spokeswoman said the department does not discuss prisoner transfer requests but noted that Moussaoui is "serving a life sentence following conviction for terrorism offenses."

"The Department of Justice plans to enforce this life sentence in US custody," the spokeswoman added.

Ex-Ukraine official who helped Trump and Giuliani now running for office in Russia

Sarah K. Burris
August 1, 2024 

Rudy Giuliani and Ukrainian politician Adriy Derkach 

(Photo: Adriy Derkach's press office)

Former Ukrainian parliamentarian Andriy Derkach is running for office again, this time from Russia.

Financial Times reporter Christopher Miller reported on Thursday that Derkach is best known for his alleged efforts in helping Donald Trump and Rudy Giuliani pressure other Ukraine officials to attack Joe Biden as he launched his 2020 presidential campaign.

The U.S. ultimately sanctioned Derkach for being an "active Russian agent" attempting to interfere with the election, which he has denied.

Trump and the Republicans will do anything to win — even collude with Russia

Miller cited a Russian publication, the Pravada newspaper, which was the official paper for the Communist Party in the Soviet Union from 1918 to 1991, Britannica describes.

In 2022, the U.S. Justice Department filed a seven-count indictment that charged Derkach "with conspiracy to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Acts (IEEPA), bank fraud conspiracy, money laundering conspiracy, and four counts of money laundering in connection with the purchase and maintenance of two condominiums in Beverly Hills, California."

Derkach fled Ukraine in 2023 after the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office recommended him for trial for treason and self-enrichment. The investigation determined that Dekach attempted to discredit Ukraine on the global stage, harm Ukraine's relationship with the U.S., and stop any candidacy of Ukraine for NATO and the European Union, the Pravada report continued.

“The conduct of this Kremlin asset, who was sanctioned for trying to poison our democracy, has shown he is ready, willing and capable of exploiting our banking system in order to advance his illicit goals,” said U.S. Attorney Breon Peace for the Eastern District of New York said at the time in a statement. “The U.S. will not be a safe haven where criminals, oligarchs or sanctioned entities can hide their ill-gotten gains or influence our elections. This office, together with our law enforcement partners, will use every tool available to prosecute those who evade sanctions and abuse the U.S. financial system, and we will identify, freeze and seize criminal proceeds whenever and wherever possible.”

In 2019, he met with Trump's then-attorney, Rudy Giuliani 2019, as they worked to build a corruption case against Biden's son, Hunter, the Washington Post reported last year.

Trump was impeached in late 2019 for "using the power of his high office" to "[solicit] the Government of Ukraine to publicly announce investigations that would benefit his reelection, harm the election prospects of a political opponent, and influence the 2020 United States Presidential election to his advantage," the Articles of Impeachment read.

"President Trump also sought to pressure the Government of Ukraine to take these steps by conditioning official United States Government acts of significant value to Ukraine on its public announcement of the investigations. President Trump engaged in this scheme or course of conduct for corrupt purposes in pursuit of personal political benefit," it was also alleged.

Those same articles passed a full House vote. A Republican-led Senate refused to hold a trial.

In his 2024 campaign for president, Trump continues to claim that any accusations related to Russia are false.

"They and their mouthpieces in the right-wing media (and sometimes the far-left media) have derided references to [Russian President Vladimir] Putin’s assault on the 2016 campaign as nothing but the fever dreams of deranged Trump critics, derisively dismissing the matter as 'Russia, Russia, Russia,'" wrote Mother Jones' David Corn in February.

"For the umpteenth time, the Russians did mount a clandestine scheme to boost Trump in 2016. And the Trump campaign—in a meeting between top Trump aides (Donald Trump Jr., Paul Manafort, Jared Kushner) and a Moscow emissary—signaled to the Kremlin that it welcomed this secret intervention," Corn also wrote.

He cited his book written with Michael Isikoff, Russian Roulette: The Inside Story of Putin’s War on America and the Election of Donald Trump as a "good primer."

China says July was its hottest month since records began


By AFP
August 1, 2024

China is the world's biggest emitter of the greenhouse gases that scientists say are driving climate change and making extreme weather more frequent and intense - Copyright AFP GREG BAKER

Matthew WALSH

Chinese weather authorities said Thursday July was the country’s hottest month since records began six decades ago, as extreme temperatures persist across the globe.

China is the world’s biggest emitter of the greenhouse gases that scientists say are driving climate change and making extreme weather more frequent and intense.

Heatwaves this summer have scorched parts of northern China, while torrential rains have triggered floods and landslides in central and southern areas.

Last month was “the hottest July since complete observations began in 1961, and the hottest single month in the history of observation”, the national weather office said Thursday.

It said the average air temperature in China in July was 23.21 degrees Celsius (73.78 degrees Fahrenheit), exceeding the previous record of 23.17C (73.71F) in 2017.

The mean temperature in every province was also “higher than the average for previous years”, with the southwestern provinces of Guizhou and Yunnan logging their highest averages, the weather office said.

It forecast that the mercury would continue to climb in eastern regions this week, including Shanghai, where a red alert for extreme heat was in place on Thursday.

“Next week will be more of the same. It’s like being on an iron plate,” wrote one user of the Weibo social media platform in response to the megacity’s heat warning.

“It’s so hot. Did Shanghai do something to anger the gods?” quipped another.

The nearby city of Hangzhou may hit 43C (109F) on Saturday, which would break its all-time record, the weather office said.

Middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River would likely see daily temperatures fall no lower than 30C (86F), it said.

As a result, people “must not relax efforts to avoid the heat and keep cool”.

– Extreme summer –

The report came little more than a week after Earth experienced its warmest day in recorded history.

Preliminary data from the Copernicus Climate Change Service showed the daily global average temperature was 17.15C (62.9F) on July 22.

That was 0.06C hotter than the day before, which itself broke the all-time high temperature set a year earlier by a small margin.

China has pledged to bring emissions of carbon dioxide to a peak by 2030 and to net zero by 2060, but has resisted calls to be bolder.

It long depended on highly polluting coal power to fuel its massive economy but has emerged as a renewable energy leader in recent years.

Research showed last month that China is building almost twice as much wind and solar energy capacity than every other country combined.

Extreme weather across large parts of the country has triggered deadly natural disasters in the past few weeks.

State media reported Tuesday that at least seven people had died after heavy rain and flooding hit central Hunan province.

The downpours have been caused by the remnants of Typhoon Gaemi, which made landfall in eastern China last week.

A landslide in Hunan on Sunday destroyed a guesthouse and killed 15 people, while nearly 4,000 residents were evacuated after a dam breach elsewhere in the province.

Mediterranean heatwave 'virtually impossible' without climate change: scientists

Agence France-Presse
July 31, 2024

Scientists from the World Weather Attribution group say the heatwave that hit countries around the Mediterranean in July would have been up to 3.3 degrees Celsius cooler in a world without climate change (FADEL SENNA/AFP)

The punishing heat experienced around the Mediterranean in July would have been "virtually impossible" in a world without global warming, a group of climate scientists said Wednesday.

A deadly heatwave brought temperatures well above 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit) to southern Europe and North Africa, where such extreme summer spells are becoming more frequent.

Scorching heat claimed more than 20 lives in a single day in Morocco, fanned wildfires in Greece and the Balkans, and strained athletes competing across France in the Summer Olympic Games.

World Weather Attribution, a network of scientists who have pioneered peer-reviewed methods for assessing the possible role of climate change in specific extreme events, said this case was clear.

"The extreme temperatures reached in July would have been virtually impossible if humans had not warmed the planet by burning fossil fuels," according to the WWA report by five researchers.

The analysis looked at the average July temperature and focused on a region that included Morocco, Portugal, Spain, France, Italy and Greece.

Scientists used this and other climate data to assess how the heat in July compared to similar periods in a world before humanity began rapidly burning oil, coal and gas.

They concluded the heat recorded in Europe was up to 3.3C hotter because of climate change.

Beyond the Mediterranean, intense heat reached Paris this week where athletes competing in the Olympic Games withered as temperatures hit the mid-30s this week.

"Extremely hot July months are no longer rare events," said Friederike Otto, a climate scientist at Imperial College London, a co-author of the study.

"In today's climate... Julys with extreme heat can be expected about once a decade," she said.

Scientists have long established that climate change is driving extreme weather and making heatwaves longer, hotter and more frequent.

This latest episode came in a month when global temperatures soared to their highest levels on record, with the four hottest days ever observed by scientists etched into the history books in July.

The past 13 months have been the warmest such period on record, exceeding a 1.5C limit that scientists say must be kept intact over the long term to avoid catastrophic climate change.

SPACE

NASA smacked a spacecraft into an asteroid – details on its 12-million-year history

The Conversation
August 1, 2024 

Aestroids Festa/SHutterstock.com

NASA’s DART mission – Double Asteroid Redirection Test – was humanity’s first real-world planetary defence mission.

In September 2022, the DART spacecraft smashed into the companion “moon” of a small asteroid 11 million kilometres from Earth. One goal was to find out if we can give such things a shove if one were headed our way.

By gathering lots of data on approach and after the impact, we would also get a better idea of what we’d be in for if such an asteroid were to hit Earth.

Five new studies published in Nature Communications today have used the images sent back from DART and its travel buddy LICIACube to unravel the origins of the Didymos-Dimorphos dual asteroid system. They’ve also put that data in context for other asteroids out there.



DART’s last complete image of Dimorphos, about 12km from the asteroid and 2 seconds before impact. NASA/Johns Hopkins APL

Asteroids are natural hazards

Our Solar System is full of small asteroids – debris that never made it into planets. Those that come close to Earth’s orbit around the Sun are called Near Earth Objects (NEOs). These pose the biggest risk to us, but are also the most accessible.

Planetary defence from these natural hazards really depends on knowing their composition – not just what they’re made of, but how they’re put together. Are they solid objects that will punch through our atmosphere if given the chance, or are they more like rubble piles, barely held together?

The Didymos asteroid, and its tiny moon Dimorphos, are what’s known as a binary asteroid system. They were the perfect target for the DART mission, because the effects of the impact could be easily measured in changes to Dimorphos’ orbit.

They are also close(ish) to Earth, or are at least NEOs. And they’re a very common type of asteroid we haven’t had a good look at before. The chance to also learn how binary asteroids form was the icing on the cake.

Quite a few binary asteroid systems have been discovered, but planetary scientists don’t exactly know how they form. In one of the new studies, a team led by Olivier Barnouin from Johns Hopkins University in the United States used images from DART and LICIACube to estimate the age of the system by looking at surface roughness and crater records.

They found Didymos is roughly 12.5 million years old, while its moon Dimorphos formed less than 300,000 years ago. That may still sound like a lot, but it’s much younger than was expected.

A pile of boulders

Dimorphos is also not a solid rock as we’d typically imagine. It is a rubble pile of boulders that are barely held together. Along with its young age, it shows there can be multiple “generations” of these rubble pile asteroids in the wake of larger asteroid collisions.

Sunlight actually causes small bodies like asteroids to spin. As Didymos started to spin like a top, its shape became squashed and bulged in the middle. This was enough to cause large pieces to just roll off the main body, with some even leaving tracks.

These pieces slowly created a ring of debris around Didymos. Over time, as the debris started sticking together, it formed the smaller moon Dimorphos.

How the spin of Didymos could have produced its tiny moon Dimorphos. Video by Yun Zhang.

Another study, led by Maurizio Pajola from Auburn University in the US used boulder distributions to confirm this. The team also discovered there were significantly more (up to five times) large boulders than have been observed on other non-binary asteroids humans have visited.

Another of the new studies shows us that boulders on all asteroids space missions have visited so far (Itokawa, Ryugu and Bennu) were likely shaped the same way. But this excess of larger boulders on the Didymos system could be a unique feature of binaries.


The locations of 15 suspected boulder tracks on the surface of Didymos. Bigot, Lombardo et al., (2024)/Image taken by DRACO/DART (NASA)

Lastly, another paper shows this type of asteroid appears to be more susceptible to cracking. This happens due to the heating–cooling cycles between day and night: like a freeze–thaw cycle but without the water.

This means if something (such as a spacecraft) were to impact it, there would be much more debris thrown up into space. It would even increase the amount of “shove” it could have. But there is a good chance that what lies underneath is much stronger than what we’re seeing on the surface.

This is where the European Space Agency’s Hera mission will step in. It will not only be able to provide higher-resolution images of the DART impact sites, but will also be able to probe the asteroids’ interiors using low-frequency radar.

The DART mission not only tested our ability to protect ourselves from future asteroid impacts, but also enlightened us on the formation and evolution of rubble pile and binary asteroids near Earth.


Eleanor K. Sansom, Research Associate, Curtin University

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Iceland’s recent volcanic eruptions driven by pooling magma are set to last centuries

The Conversation
August 1, 2024 

Video images showed lava oozing from a fissure illuminating a plume of smoke © Icelandic Department of Civil Protection and Emergency Management / AFP

To experience a volcanic eruption is to witness nature’s raw power. If you would like to see one for yourself, Iceland is a great location for it. Since 2021, seven eruptions have taken place along the Reykjanes Peninsula, close to Reykjavík.

These recent Icelandic eruptions have garnered attention from Earth scientists like me. The eruptions help us understand how volcanoes work in incredible detail. My team has been taking samples from the erupting lava from the Reykjanes Peninsula and finding some interesting results.

One of our findings suggests that magma from the first eruption pooled just under the island’s surface, where it built up the energy to spectacularly erupt. This initial burst of volcanism made it easier for more eruptions to follow after it.

Why is Iceland called the land of fire?

The island nation of Iceland is sometimes called “the land of ice and fire.” Early settlers witnessed several great “fires” – or volcanic eruptions – along the Reykjanes Peninsula.

After about 800 years without a volcanic event on the Reykjanes Peninsula, the Fagradalsfjall volcano roared to life on March 19, 2021. Then, two more discrete volcanic events occurred at Fagradalsfjall in 2022 and 2023. Subsequently, four more eruptions have taken place to the west at the Sundhnúkur fissure system in 2023 and 2024.

While these eruptions provide an incredible spectacle, they also have the power to wreak havoc. The recent Sundhnúkur eruptions threatened the fishing town of Grindavík, the geothermal power plant at Svartsengi and Iceland’s premier tourist destination: the geothermal spa the Blue Lagoon. Lava erupted within the town limits of Grindavík, and only human-made berms have prevented further destruction.
What makes Iceland so volcanically active?

Iceland is a unique place on Earth. It is part of a huge chain of volcanoes submerged in the center of the Atlantic Ocean, with Iceland being exposed above the ocean’s surface. This volcanic chain is known as the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, and it plays an essential role in plate tectonics.


Plate tectonics describes how the vast, rigid plates that make up Earth’s crust slide past, into and under one another. Their behavior slowly reshapes Earth’s surface. In some locations, the plates collide to form mountain ranges like the Himalayas. In other locations, one plate slides under another, creating volcanoes and earthquakes, like in Japan.

On the Mid-Atlantic Ridge – which stretches between the South Atlantic and Arctic Ocean – the plates pull apart, allowing molten magma to pour through. This magma solidifies into volcanic crust and creates new parts of the tectonic plates.

Geologists have also found a buoyant, hot plume of rocky material rising from deep in the Earth that intersects with the Mid-Atlantic Ridge under Iceland. This plume, along with several other similar plumes in the central and southern Atlantic, may have triggered the formation of the Atlantic Ocean basin more than 200 million years ago.


The plate tectonics associated with the Mid-Atlantic Ridge and the hot, rocky plume under Iceland together form Iceland’s volcanoes.

Scientists have been able to show that previous eruptions on the Reykjanes Peninsula are not random in time or space. Instead, they occur in periods that last centuries and along the same volcanic zones. These patterns indicate that these volcanic periods happen when vast tectonic forces pull apart the Reykjanes Peninsula. It appears that, while the plates pull apart evenly, volcanism along the Reykjanes ridge segment pulses with time.
What’s driving the eruption?


Many groups, including my colleagues from Iceland, have been collecting the erupted lavas on a near-daily basis. The collected samples provide a vital scientific time series of the eruptions.

Taking a volcanic time series is like regularly drawing someone’s blood to understand their medical condition. In this case, though, the blood is red-hot lava.

An initial study by another team in 2022 suggested that the mantle – the solid geological layer beneath the Earth’s crust – was melting to feed the lavas in Iceland, and that the lavas’ chemical makeup was changing over time. They suggested that these changes had to do with where and when the melting was happening in the mantle.


In July 2024, my research team and I published a longer time-series of the lavas from the eruption using a sensitive chemical method that helped us understand the lavas’ composition and origin.

The layer of basaltic rock that people live on in Iceland extends to a depth of about 9 miles (15 kilometers). It’s part of Earth’s crust. The mantle that lies directly beneath this crust is distinct – it’s made mostly of minerals like olivine that form a rock called peridotite. The magmas feeding these volcanic eruptions come from mantle peridotite.

The chemical method that my team used revealed that the first magmas feeding these eruptions rose from the mantle, but got stuck beneath the surface in a magma chamber for as long as a year. The rocks in the chamber walls melted into the magma, and we could see traces of them in our analyses.


Our research also suggests that the magmas gained water, carbon dioxide and other gases from sitting in the magma chamber. This water and gas allowed the magma to build up enough pressure to break through the surface and erupt as lava.

Magma pooling in the crust can trigger explosive eruptions – the beginnings of eruptions like those in Iceland or in La Palma in the Canary Islands in 2021 may require this type of pooling.

What might we expect in the future?

History tells researchers that these eruptions will likely last a long time. The volcanoes will erupt periodically every few years, for days to months at a time, for up to several hundred years into the future.

Generations of geologists and volcanologists are likely to forge their careers in Iceland, and millions of geo-tourists will get to experience the hauntingly beautiful eruptions.


German Typhoon jets fly in formation over the 2023 Litli-Hrútur eruption. 

James Day/SIO

With all these eruptions, Icelanders will have to adapt. Lava flows can disrupt infrastructure such as the Svartsengi geothermal plant, and volcanic gases can cause health problems.

The Fagradalsfjall and Sundhnúkur eruptions have already provided scientists with a treasure trove of data and insight into how volcanoes work. Continued study of volcanism on the Reykjanes Peninsula will help scientists understand how, when and why eruptions take place, and to better manage the hazards associated with living with volcanoes.

James Day, Professor of Geosciences, University of California, San Diego

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Police clash footage shocks Bangladesh as internet returns

By AFP
July 31, 2024


Footage of clashes between security forces and demonstrators was largely absent from news broadcasts in Bangladesh - Copyright AFP/File Munir UZ ZAMAN

Qadaruddin SHISHIR

When millions of Bangladeshis came back online this week after a nationwide internet shutdown, many were shocked to watch a ferocious police clampdown they had earlier only heard while bunkered in their homes.

At least 206 people were killed last month during some of the worst unrest of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s tenure, sparked by student demonstrations against civil service hiring rules.

Bystanders and several police officers were among the dead but most were protesters killed by police fire, hospitals told AFP, with rights groups and the European Union condemning what they said was an excessive use of force.

Footage of clashes between security forces and crowds was largely absent from news broadcasts and few had a grasp of their extent until the national mobile internet network was switched back on after an 11-day shutdown.

Though the unrest has since calmed, several graphic amateur videos published to social media that show police firing on protesters have inflamed public anger against Hasina’s government.

“How come the police are killing our brothers and sisters like this?” one user wrote, in response to a short clip of a police officer firing at a wounded young man while another tried to drag him safely from the scene.

– ‘I cried countless times’ –

AFP was able to pinpoint the footage to Jatrabari, a bustling neighbourhood in the capital Dhaka, and from there identify three eyewitnesses who corroborated the video.

All spoke on condition of anonymity, fearing retribution if they identified themselves.

The incident occurred on July 20, hours after Hasina’s government announced a nationwide curfew and deployed troops to restore order at the height of the unrest.

One witness said the wounded man in the video, 18-year-old Imam Hossain Taim, had been accosted by police but denied participating in protests before he was shot.

“He fell on the ground and was trying to crawl away. Two other men fled the scene but one guy came back to take his friend away,” the witness added.

Taim was brought to Dhaka Medical College Hospital but died of his injuries later that day, his father Moynal Hossain told AFP.

“He was not even a protester,” Taim’s elder brother Tuhin told AFP. “He was roaming around with friends during a break in the curfew.”

The footage of the attack on Taim was viewed more than half a million times after it was posted to Facebook, and the 60-second clip was widely shared on WhatsApp and other messaging platforms.

AFP also verified another video taken a day earlier in the nearby neighbourhood of Rampura that showed police firing at a man at point-blank range as he clung to an under-construction building. The man had fled into the site, according to eyewitnesses. The clip has been viewed more than two million times on Facebook.

“I cried countless times watching this. I am crying now,” one user wrote in response. “This would not happen in a free country.”

– ‘Forced to open fire’ –

Rights groups have accused Hasina’s government of sidelining opposition parties and ruthlessly stamping out dissent during its 15-year tenure.

Bangladesh ranks 165 out of 180 countries on Reporters Without Borders’ press freedom index, below Russia and just above Saudi Arabia.

Many in Dhaka could hear gunfire and explosions from around the megacity of 20 million people from inside their homes during last month’s unrest.

But television coverage was heavily censored and showed little of the police response to the disorder, instead focusing on arson attacks and vandalism by protesters.

Amnesty International said its review of photographic, video and eyewitness testimony found the “unlawful” use of force by police against protesters on several occasions.

European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell also condemned the police response to the disorder and called for perpetrators to be brought to justice.

“There must be full accountability for the numerous instances of use of excessive and lethal force by the law enforcement authorities against protesters and others,” he said in a statement.

Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan last weekend denied that the police response to the unrest was excessive, saying security forces had shown “extreme levels of patience” and only fired when necessary to stop attacks on government buildings.

“When they saw that the properties could not be protected, then police were forced to open fire,” he said.

What's behind India's uneasy silence on Bangladesh riots?

Murali Krishnan in New Delhi

July 30, 2024

The deadly unrest in Bangladesh is an "internal matter" for Dhaka to deal with, according to India. When looking over the border, New Delhi prefers to focus on Bangladesh's role as trade partner and buffer to the east.

'New Delhi still considers Hasina as someone who will prevent Bangladesh from transforming into a stooge of Beijing

 Naveen Sharma/ZUMA/IMAGO

Student groups in Bangladesh have called for fresh street protests after Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's government failed to meet their demand for releasing detained leaders and apologizing for the recent violence. The government puts the death tally at 150 as of this week, while media speaks of over 200 deaths in the clashes that came to articulate displeasure with Hasina's 16-year rule.

India has been keeping a close eye on the unrest in Bangladesh, which is both a neighboring country and one of New Delhi's closest allies. It is also a temporary home for thousands of Indian students.

But New Delhi was careful not to rock the boat.

"India considers the ongoing situation in the country to be an internal matter of Bangladesh. With the support and cooperation of the Bangladesh government, we were able to arrange for the safe return of our students," the foreign office spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said in a weekly press briefing.

Around 6,700 Indian students have returned from Bangladesh amid the violent clashes in the country.

Bangladesh unrest: 'I have not earned anything for days'  01:44

"Being a close neighbor with whom we share very warm and friendly ties, we are hopeful that the situation in the country would return to normal soon," Jaiswal added.
Bangladesh key to security, trade, diplomacy

For India, returning to normal means having Hasina firmly in power, partly for security reasons. The two countries share a 4,100-kilometer-long (2,500-mile) porous border, which can be exploited by human traffickers and terrorist groups.

Moreover, Bangladesh shares the border with the Indian states of West Bengal, Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura, and Mizoram which are vulnerable to violent insurgencies.


Pinak Ranjan Chakravarty, a former India's high commissioner to Bangladesh, told DW that India has invested in the neighboring country to build public support and goodwill.

"Bangladesh's geographical position makes it a stakeholder in the development of the sub-region comprising Bangladesh, Bhutan, India and Nepal. This region includes Indian states to the north and east of Bangladesh. These states in the northeast of India were once integrated into the supply chain in undivided India," Chakravarty told DW.

Now, Bangladesh and India are working to boost transport links and "restore what existed in the pre-partition era," he added.

Billions in credit to Dhaka

India recognizes Bangladesh as a vital eastern buffer and provides critical support through its ports and power grid access. New Delhi has so far extended almost $8 billion (€7.39 billion) in lines of credit to Dhaka which is used for development projects, building infrastructure and construction of a pipeline to supply diesel.

Major Indian companies that have invested in the country include Marico, Emami, Dabur, Asian Paints, and Tata Motors. Any escalation of the student protests could directly or indirectly affect these companies.

"The relations between India and Bangladesh are embedded in their shared history, complex socio-economic interdependency, and their geo-political positioning. Any confrontational politics and political instability in the region invite the problems of terrorism, fundamentalism, insurgency, and migration," Sanjay Bhardwaj of Jawaharlal Nehru University's Centre for South Asian Studies told DW.

"The violent protest and political instability will lead a circle of violence and people's migration to India," he said.

Locked between India and China

In recent years, both India and China have expanded their economic stakes in Bangladesh, which is being folded into the two countries' growing geopolitical rivalry.

Despite boasting close ties to Bangladesh, however, some analysts believe that Indian policymakers struggle to understand the anti-Indian sentiment prevalent among parts of the Bangladesh population. Some of it can be explained by New Delhi's support to the ruling Awami League.

"The 'uneasy quiet' is India's silent support for Hasina's government and its policies to deal with the ongoing unrest. Over the past decades, India has invested heavily in the Awami League as a pro-India entity in Bangladesh," Shanthie Mariet D'Souza, the founder of independent research forum Mantraya, told DW.

Regime critics in Bangladesh accuse Hasina of trying to turn Bangladesh into a one-party state and are especially enraged by her crackdown on political opponents and civil society groups.

"The Indian government has shielded her government from American pressure to yield to the opposition's demand to make the polls more democratic and transparent. The present silence is a continuation of the policy," D'Souza added.
India looks at bigger picture

According to D'Souza, India sees Bangladesh as crucial for several strategic reasons — including the development of the northeast, curtailing migration into India, and dealing with Islamist radicalization.

"Despite significant Chinese investments in that country, New Delhi still considers Hasina as someone who will prevent Bangladesh from transforming into a stooge of Beijing. As a result, supporting her becomes New Delhi's only strategic option, even while her policies have often bordered on autocracy," she said.

Seen from that angle, the recent failings of the Hasina government and strengthening of the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party, as well local Islamist parties, is not good news for India.

Bangladesh detains student protest leaders  05:35

Even so, professor Sreeradha Datta from the India-based Jindal School of International Affairs believes that the extreme response of the Hasina government to the student protests cannot be justified.

She criticized the Bangladeshi officials over their attempt to place all blame for the violence on opposition parties and Islamist students. The protests turned violent as a reaction to the government's "non-response and rather derogatory remarks," Datta said.

"The mindless violence and deaths cannot be ignored or excused. The government turned the peaceful protests to the darkest phase in Bangladesh's recent history," she told DW.

Edited by: Darko Janjevic


Murali Krishnan Journalist based in New Delhi, focusing on Indian politics, society and business

In world first, EU's sweeping AI law enters into force

Agence France-Presse
August 1, 2024 

The EU's sweeping risk-based rules will cover all types of artificial intelligence (Fabrice COFFRINI/AFP)

The European Union's landmark law on artificial intelligence came into force on Thursday, which Brussels vows will drive innovation while protecting citizens' rights.

The EU earlier this year adopted the world's first sweeping rules to govern AI, especially powerful systems like OpenAI's ChatGPT after difficult and tense negotiations.

Although the rules were first proposed in 2021, they took on greater urgency when ChatGPT burst onto the scene in 2022, showing generative AI's human-like ability to churn out eloquent text within seconds.

Other examples of generative AI include Dall-E and Midjourney, which can generate images in nearly any style with a simple input in everyday language.

"With our artificial intelligence act, we create new guardrails not only to protect people and their interests, but also to give business and innovators clear rules and certainty," European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said.

Companies will have to comply by 2026 but rules covering AI models like ChatGPT will apply 12 months after the law enters into force.

Strict bans on using AI for predictive policing based on profiling and systems that use biometric information to infer an individual's race, religion or sexual orientation will apply six months after the law enters into force.

The law known as the "AI Act" takes a risk-based approach: if a system is high-risk, a company has a stricter set of obligations to fulfil to protect citizens' rights.

The higher the risk to Europeans' health or rights, for example, the greater the companies' requirements to protect individuals from harms.

"The geographic scope of the AI Act is very broad, so organisations with any connections to the EU in their business or customer base will need an AI governance programme in place to identify and comply with their obligations," said Marcus Evans, partner at law firm Norton Rose Fulbright.

Companies in violation of the rules on banned practices or data obligations face fines of up to seven percent of worldwide annual revenue.

The EU in May established an "AI Office" of tech experts, lawyers and economists under the new law to ensure compliance.

AI washing: How to detect it and why it's a growing problem

Rachel Nduati

July 30, 2024

Artificial intelligence is becoming more common in everyday life. Some companies are exaggerating the use of AI when marketing their products and services, which could impact our relationship with AI technology.

AI washing may frustrate investors as they miss out on funding and real genuine projects

Marc Asensio/NurPhoto/IMAGO


Imagine this: You want to buy the latest vacuum cleaner, you go to your favorite online store and begin to scroll through your cellphone or tablet. Then, you see a product that claims it is powered by advanced artificial intelligence (AI) technology, which makes it sound super high-tech and smart.

But really, it just has a simple sensor button to make sure it doesn't bump into furniture. Nothing special or groundbreaking. That's AI washing. It means making products sound way cooler or smarter by claiming they have AI when they are just doing regular stuff.
Why is AI washing a problem?

First of all, real AI innovation can get buried under all the hype, making it hard to spot real breakthroughs. Secondly, it makes people skeptical about AI claims, so they stop trusting the technology altogether.

Christoph Lütge, from the Munich-based Institute for Ethics in Artificial Intelligence, says that since the term AI is used in very different ways, there are so many concepts which make it easier for companies to hype it up.

"The challenge is that it's hard to deal with AI from a legal perspective because the term is too vague. From an ethical point of view, it can work. It's good to have an expert who comes in and guides regulatory bodies and civil society from an ethical point of view," he told DW.

It's also a headache for investors. They might miss genuine projects because of all the noise. Companies may also begin to aim for impossible goals, believing that AI could do more than it really could.

Earlier this year, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced settled charges against two investment firms, Delphia and Global Predictions, for making false and misleading statements about their purported use of artificial intelligence. The firms agreed to settle the SEC's charges and pay a total of $400,000 (€368,000) in fines.

According to the SEC, Toronto-based Delphia made false claims that it "put[s] collective data to work to make our artificial intelligence smarter so it can predict which companies and trends are about to make it big and invest in them before everyone else" when in fact it did not have the AI and machine-learning capabilities that it claimed.

Meanwhile, San Francisco-based Global Predictions had wrongly claimed on its website and on social media that it was the "first regulated AI financial advisor" and misrepresented that its platform provided "expert driven forecasts."

"We've seen time and again that when new technologies come along, they can create buzz from investors as well as false claims by those purporting to use those new technologies," SEC chair Gary Gensler said in a press statement. "Investment advisers should not mislead the public by saying they are using an AI model when they are not. Such AI washing hurts investors."

Major companies like Coca-Cola and Amazon have also faced backlash for allegedly engaging in so-called AI washing. In September, Coca-Cola launched the Y3000 drink, a futuristic new flavor of cola that it claims was "co-created" by AI.

How does an AI chatbot work?  01:04

Is it a thing in Germany?

Some companies may advertise AI in their products before they launch it. Even though they intend to include AI in the product at some point, they may advertise as if the product already contains AI, which may not be the case.

According to Joerg Heidrich, an AI lawyer and certified AI specialist based in Hannover, Germany, it's not that people are not aware of AI washing in Germany, but rather the concept of how its applied in products and services.

"We are in an era of false advertising, with companies claiming that they do have something which in fact does not exist. I see that really a lot in two areas where I work. First one is in the area of legal tech, where every legal-tech company is advertising that it uses AI which is largely false and another area where I see it, is in cyber security, where I work a lot," Heidrich told DW.

A 2019 report by London-based venture capital firm MMC Ventures found that out of more than 2,830 startups in Europe are classified as AI companies. However, 40% percent had nothing to do with AI at all.

The EU AI Act

The EU AI Act comes into effect on August 1, 2024, with provisions coming into force gradually over the following six to 36 months. It has a limited risk category, which ensures that users are informed that they are interacting with AI systems, allowing them to make informed decisions.

However, Heidrich says: "Although the AI Act is not responsible to regulate the area of AI washing, it might be helpful because the act ensures organizations are very transparent about AI so this might help indirectly limit false advertising from companies due to transparency requirements."

The European Consumer Center (ECC) in Germany is the first contact point for all German consumers with cross-border issues and for foreign consumers living in Germany. Having dealt with disputes to do with green and social washing, they are sure that the topic of AI washing will come up.

"[But] consumers must be able to prove this claim and that there is reliable proof of that because now everyone tries to use AI as a buzzword," ECC spokesperson Karolina Wojtal told DW.

Edited by: Uwe Hessler

How is AI changing the way we work?  01:18

Rachel Nduati A multimedia journalist with a focus on food security, climate change, technology and human rights.

WOMAN, LIFE, FREEDOM

Supporters say Iranian Nobel winner's health deteriorating in prison

Paris (AFP) – The health of jailed Iranian Nobel laureate Narges Mohammadi has deteriorated in prison, supporters said Thursday, demanding her freedom and calling to give her access to medical care "without delay".


Issued on: 01/08/2024 -

Iranian activist Narges Mohammadi is held in Tehran's Evin prison, and has spent much of the past decade in and out of prison 

© Hanna Johre / NTB/AFP

Rights activist Mohammadi, 52, has been jailed since November 2021, and has spent much of the past decade in and out of prison.

A group of supporters of Mohammadi, who in 2023 won the Nobel Peace Prize in recognition of her advocacy work, said they had been informed of the results of medical tests carried out last month "which showed a worrying deterioration of her health".

"The Free Narges Coalition is extremely worried about the deterioration of Narges Mohammadi's health in detention," the group said in a statement, noting cardiovascular, gastrointestinal and other risks.

Mohammadi, who is held in Tehran's Evin prison, should be released "immediately" and have access to medical care "without delay", the coalition added.

In the past eight months, Mohammadi has been suffering from acute back and knee pain, including a herniated spinal disc, the supporters said.

Mohammadi has kept campaigning even behind bars and strongly supported the protests that erupted across Iran following the September 2022 death in custody of Mahsa Amini who had been arrested for allegedly violating the Islamic republic's strict dress rules for women.

In recent weeks, Mohammadi and other women held with her at Evin have staged protests in the prison yard against death sentences handed to two Iranian Kurdish activists, Pakhshan Azizi and Sharifeh Mohammadi who were tried for membership of an illegal armed group.

Narges Mohammadi received in June a new one-year prison term for "propaganda against the state", on top of a litany of other verdicts that already amounted to 12 years and three months of imprisonment, 154 lashes, two years of exile and various social and political restrictions.

© 2024 AFP

CLIMATE CHANGE HAPPENING

Pakistan's second-largest city Lahore hit by record rain

Lahore (Pakistan) (AFP) – Pakistan's second-largest city of Lahore was deluged with record-breaking rainfall on Thursday, the national weather agency said, with hospitals flooded, power interrupted and streets in the metropolis submerged.


Issued on: 01/08/2024 

Thursday's rainfall in Lahore breaks a record dating to July 1980 

© Syed MURTAZA / AFP

The eastern city was lashed by almost 360 millimetres (14 inches) of rain in three hours, the Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD) said.

"This was record-breaking rainfall," the agency's deputy director Farooq Dar told AFP.

The previous record dates to July 1980, when 332 millimetres fell over three hours.

"Look at all these buckets and how much water has accumulated. We're exhausted from trying to remove the water," Sadam, a 32-year-old shopkeeper, told AFP as he took stock of his considerable losses.

The PMD had forecast a wetter-than-usual monsoon season this year for Pakistan, one of the countries experts say is most vulnerable to extreme weather being spurred by climate change.

Over the past three days, 24 people have been killed by rainfall in the country's mountainous northwestern province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the Provincial Disaster Management Authority said.

In Lahore, a city of 13 million in the eastern Punjab province, one person was killed by electrocution as a result of Thursday's cloudburst, according to local police.

The city's commissioner declared an emergency and said offices and schools would be shut for the day.

Yasir Ali, a 26-year-old resident, said it was a "sad day for the nation".

"For a poor person it is heartbreaking that he's been unable to go to work today," he told AFP.

'Pay some attention here'

Two government hospitals in Lahore reported flooding in their wards, and there were intermittent power outages continuing into the afternoon.

Roads were also submerged, bringing traffic and businesses to a standstill.

Ahmed Khan, 48, who earns a daily wage, appealed to the government "to pay some attention here and resolve this water issue".

Maryam Sharif, the chief minister of Punjab province, posted on X that "the entire government machinery is in the field" to drain the water.

The summer monsoon brings to South Asia about 70 to 80 percent of the region's annual rainfall between June and September.

It is vital for agriculture, but changing weather patterns that scientists attribute to climate change are putting both lives and livelihoods at risk.

Earlier this year Pakistan -- home to 240 million people -- was hit by a succession of heatwaves and this April was the wettest since 1961.

At least 143 people died from lightning strikes and other storm-related incidents in April.

In neighbouring India, at least 160 people, most believed to be labourers and their families, have been killed by torrential rains causing landslides in the southern coastal state of Kerala.

In 2022, a third of Pakistan was submerged by unprecedented monsoon rains that displaced millions of people and cost $30 billion, according to a World Bank estimate.

© 2024 AFP

Druze father's search for son after Golan rocket attack ends in grief

Majdal Shams (AFP) – When Ibrahim Ibrahim heard the sirens warning of incoming rocket fire on the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights, his first thought was for his son Guevara, who was out at the playing field.

Issued on: 01/08/2024

Ibrahim Ibrahim spent 27 hours desperately searching for his 11-year-old son Guevara before finally hearing that DNA evidence confirmed he was among 12 children killed by a rocket strike on his Druze Arab hometown in the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights

© Jalaa MAREY / AFP

When the family realised the rocket fired from nearby Lebanon on Saturday had struck the playing field in their Druze Arab hometown of Majdal Shams, 47-year-old Ibrahim ran there, heart racing.

"When I heard the siren, I felt something had happened to Guevara," Ibrahim told AFP from the balcony of his home, just a few hundred metres (yards) from the armistice line with Syria.

"When I saw many casualties, I feared he was among them," he added in a shaky voice that soon gave way to tears.

But they could not find Guevara among the other children killed or wounded as they ran from their football game towards a nearby bomb shelter, some close enough that their blood still stained the concrete structure.

The 47-year-old, who works at a local fruit packing factory, did not find out what had happened to his 11-year-old son until 27 hours later.

"It was a difficult feeling, especially not knowing for two days," Ibrahim said.

When Ibrahim talked to AFP four days after the strike, Majdal Shams, the main Druze town of the Golan with around 11,000 inhabitants, still mourned its loss.

Black flags hung from lamp posts and statues. On one roundabout, 12 chairs were arranged with the names of each victim and footballs taped to them in remembrance.

Israel and Lebanese militant group Hezbollah have traded rocket fire since the beginning of the war in Gaza, when Hamas's Shiite ally began to target its southern neighbour, in support of the Palestinians.

Due to their particular status as an Arabic-speaking group in a territory seized by Israel from Syria in 1967 and later annexed in a move never recognised by the international community, the Druze of the Golan had felt safe from danger.

But Majdal Shams's location, at the foot of Mount Hermon, just seven kilometres (a little over four miles) from Lebanon, means that rockets and missiles fired from over the border strike seconds after sirens sound.

'There was no Guevara'

Ibrahim says he named his son after the Argentine Marxist revolutionary during his student days in the Syrian capital Damascus, where many Golan Druze still go for their higher education

 © Jalaa MAREY / AFP

From the playing field Ibrahim and his wife Dalia went to the town's clinic after being told his son was there. From there they went to the hospital in the Israeli city of Safed with no luck.

They were told Guevara was undergoing surgery in a hospital in the port city of Haifa, more than an hour's drive away. But once there, another man told them the boy in the intensive care unit was actually his son, not theirs.

"It turned out there was no Guevara. It was all lies, but we kept hoping," said Ibrahim, who named his eldest son for the Argentinian Marxist revolutionary during his college days in Damascus, where Golan Druze often study.

Today, a portrait of Che still hangs on a shelf outside the room Guevara shared with his younger brother Ram.

Ibrahim laid turf on his balcony for Guevara, who "never went anywhere without his ball".

A Brazil supporter and Ronaldinho fan, Guevara wanted to be a professional football player, had a Brazil jersey and a Brazil flag pillow on his bed.

DNA results

Ibrahim says Guevara was a football fanatic, never going anywhere without a ball 

© Jalaa MAREY / AFP

At the Safed hospital, police took a DNA sample from Ibrahim to compare it to forensic evidence collected after the strike.

Ibrahim's brother-in-law had gone to the police to look at footage of the strike.

Ibrahim said security cameras showed Guevara "playing with his friend, holding the ball, shooting, and then heading to the other kids when the siren went off at 6:18 pm (1518 GMT)" on Saturday, Ibrahim said.

"He and his friend reached the gate when the rocket hit," which is when Ibrahim said he "began to understand" that his son may have been so close to the impact that there were no remains to enable his identification.

But Ibrahim and Dalia remained hopeful, especially when the DNA test results showed no matches. Another sample was taken, from Dalia, on Sunday afternoon.

Between 500 and 1,000 members of the still reeling community went out in search of Guevara.

But at 9:00 pm, the police called and confirmed that Dalia's DNA had been matched to biological evidence from the scene.

"That was the end," said Ibrahim.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited Majdal Shams the following day and vowed a "severe response" to the attack Israel blamed on Lebanese militant group Hezbollah.

Hezbollah has denied it fired the deadly rocket.

Despite his son's death, Ibrahim harbours no desire for revenge. Like many in the Golan, he says he does not want the attack to justify more war.

"No one likes war. Our children and everyone's children suffer," he said.

"This incident didn't change my views. I still support peace."

© 2024 AFP