E-car trailblazer, biologist win German environment prize

An electric car battery engineer who developed a system to slash charging times was announced as a winner of the German environmental prize. A moor and peatland researcher shares the 2024 accolade.

Speidel, seen here, developed a system that has slashed the amount of time it takes to charge vehicles, the DBU said

Image: picture alliance/dpa

The German Federal Environmental Foundation (DBU) on Thursday announced engineer Thomas Speidel, who developed a quick-charge electric vehicle battery system, as one of its winners.

Foundation judges also declared moor researcher Franziska Tanneberger — a driving force in the revitalization of moors — his co-winner of the German Environmental Prize, with the pair sharing €500,000 (about $555,000) in prize money.
What makes the battery system important?

As managing director of Ads-Tec Energy, the engineer developed an innovative battery system for fast charging.

Speidel has described his charging system as being "like a Swiss Army knife of the energy transition."

The idea is that cars can be charged in just minutes, even on low-powered grids from very compact stations.

The new battery technology could help to promote the rapid, comprehensive expansion of the currently still manageable charging infrastructure, explained Speidel.

He said the battery-buffered fast chargers can be installed flexibly on roads, at company buildings, and in residential areas without garages or wall boxes.

DBU Secretary General Alexander Bonde declared the engineer a "trailblazer for climate-friendly electromobility."
How moorlands can better stem climate change

Tannberger is committed to preserving wet moors, said Bonde. He added that Tannberger had helped place the importance of moor protection and "rewetting" in national and international political decision-making processes.

Moors store greenhouse gases, acting as carbon sinks, so they also play a role in limiting climate change.

Biologist Franziska Tanneberger (left) German Environment Minister Steffi Lemke

Image: picture alliance/dpa

Rewetting involves returning a degraded peatland to its original waterlogged conditions, which ultimately aids the peatland's restoration.

Tannberger is committed to preserving wet moorland areas and develops "use perspectives together with farmers, even in rubber boots," said Bonde.

"For her, moor protection and moor use are not a contradiction," Bonde added

The German Environmental Prize recognizes outstanding achievements in environmental, climate, and biodiversity protection. The award will be presented by Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier in the western city of Mainz on October 27th.

'Tradwives': Where well-dressed wives and far-right meet?

Anna Chaika

DW

The "traditional wife" trend celebrates orthodox gender roles. But does this thriving movement on TikTok and Instagram also serve the far-right political agenda?

Presenting their own glamorous version of the traditional 1950s housewife is earning influencers millions of followers on social mediaI

mage: Dodenhoff/akg images/picture alliance

Nara Smith sports a sequined red evening dress as she carefully prepares a kimchi dinner for her three children and husband. The 23-year-old's hair is perfectly styled, her makeup flawless — just as it always is in her social media videos on TikTok or Instagram.

Similarly glamorous outfits are worn when Smith is crafting homemade versions of everything from Coca-Cola to granola and Nutella.

An American blogger of South African and German descent, Smith is part of the growing "tradwife" trend — short for traditional wife — on TikTok where traditional gender roles are promoted, with a lot of cooking and childcare content. She already has more than 9 million followers on the platform who watch her daily.




But the tradwife trend isn't just about glamor, as it includes a range of lifestyles.

Hannah Neilman, 34, is a TikTok influencer known under the social media name "Ballerina Farm" who showcases her farm life in Utah where she keeps house, milks cows, grows vegetables and raises eight children with her husband. With nearly 10 million followers, the former ballerina, model and blogger embodies a new online movement promoting 1950s-style domestic bliss.

Tradwife: Historically rooted or imagined ideal?

The "traditional wife" movement began gaining popularity on social media about six years ago. Some say it has ties to an anti-feminist, misogynistic forum on social media site Reddit called "Red Pill." In the film "The Matrix," taking the red pill means being awakened to the truth — in this case, a metaphor embraced by men who feel their manhood has been repressed and who yearn for conventional gender roles.

But the notion of the tradwife goes right back to the 1950s ideal of the nuclear family. Today this idea is a nostalgic, class-based fantasy, says Lisa Wade, associate professor of sociology and faculty member in the gender and sexuality studies program at New Orleans' Tulane University.

In earlier US history, most families operated as small businesses in which the husband and wife both contributed to the household's economic viability, Wade explained.

"The ideal of a breadwinner husband and homemaker wife emerged in the 1950s but quickly fell apart," she told DW. "By the 1970s, the dual-earner family model became dominant due to economic necessity, as it was increasingly difficult to sustain a family on a single income."

The researcher believes that the tradwife trend "cherry picks history by focusing on a brief period when middle class and wealthy white men could afford to have stay-at-home wives." But this ignores the economic realities of most families today, says Wade.

The dream of the mid-century stay-at-home housewife is being revived, despite most women having to workImage: akg-images/picture-alliance

The retrograde tradwife trend draws as many fans as it does haters. Some admire these bloggers' femininity and their choice to focus on their families. Others argue that these women portray outdated gender roles and are effectively making themselves prisoners in their own homes.

Other critics say that the lifestyle depicted is unrealistic and unattainable for most. Being a tradwife influencer on social media is itself a full-time job for those who are successful enough to monetize their output.

Where well-dressed wives and far-right politics meet

Some also question whether the promotion of this kind of domestic idyll is part of a culture war that serves certain political ends.

According to sociologist Viktoria Rösch, tradwives are part of a broader discussion about gender roles and how we want to live as a society. Even if they don't see themselves as political, their portrayal of a specific gender order makes them a useful tool for far-right groups, Rösch adds. Tradwives tend to blame modern feminism for the struggles women face today, such as balancing career and family. This reinforces far-right ideas about the family and gender roles, Rösch tells DW.

Germany's far-right party, the Alternative for Germany (AfD), typically known for its conservative stance on family and gender issues, has seen a rise in support among women. The anti-immigrant, Euroskeptic party, labeled "suspected far-right extremist" in Germany, currently leads opinion polls in several states in the country's east.

Support for the AfD is driven primarily by men. Nevertheless 15% of women in Germany in the 30 to 44 age group support the AfD, a 2024 poll by the German broadcasting company RTL found.

The AfD has used imagery in their campaigns that reflects ideas also promoted — even if unconsciously — by tradwives. For instance, an AfD Instagram post compares "modern feminists" to "traditional women" through the use of negative stereotypes such as attractiveness, career choices and values.

Kamala Harris: Another version of womanhood

As the US presidential election approaches, this tradwife trend stands in sharp contrast to the candidacy of Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee.

Harris, who is the US' first female Vice President, represents another vision of womanhood that is career oriented. Harris has no children of her own but has helped raise her two stepchildren.

JD Vance, the Republican vice presidential nominee, has made controversial comments suggesting that women should prioritize raising children over pursuing careers. Harris' candidacy challenges precisely these traditional expectations, Wade points out.

This contrast makes the election a key moment in determining what the next generation of women really want — including the freedom to choose the life they want to lead.

https://p.dw.com/p/4k0pu

Climate change fuelled deadly Typhoon Gaemi: study

Bangkok (AFP) – Climate change turbocharged the winds and rain of Typhoon Gaemi, which killed dozens of people across the Philippines, Taiwan and China earlier this year, a group of scientists said Thursday.


Issued on: 29/08/2024 

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Rescue workers evacuate flood-affected residents in China's Hunan province following heavy rains caused by Typhoon Gaemi © STR / AFP

Gaemi skirted the Philippines in July, triggering floods and landslides that killed at least 40 people, before making landfall in Taiwan and China.

In China, the weather system caused torrential downpours that killed 50 people and prompted authorities to evacuate 300,000.

World Weather Attribution (WWA), a network of scientists who have pioneered peer-reviewed methods for assessing the role of climate change in extreme events, looked at three regions worst affected by the typhoon: the northern Philippines, Taiwan and China's Hunan province.

It found the system's wind speeds were seven percent more intense due to man-made climate change, and its rainfall was 14 percent heavier in Taiwan and nine percent heavier in Hunan.

Manila residents walk amid debris in the aftermath of Typhoon Gaemi, which led to at least 40 deaths in the country © Jam Sta Rosa / AFP

The study could not draw definitive conclusions about the role of climate change on the rainfall in the Philippines, because of the region's complex monsoon rain patterns.

Still, they found the warm seas that helped form and fuel Typhoon Gaemi "would have been virtually impossible" in a world that had not warmed to the current 1.2 Celsius above pre-industrial levels.

And the group's modelling found this warming has already increased the number of similarly strong storms by 30 percent -- up from around five a year to six or seven.

"This study confirms what we've expected –- hotter seas and atmospheres are giving rise to more powerful, longer-lived and deadlier typhoons," said Ralf Toumi, director of the Grantham Institute-Climate Change and the Environment, at Imperial College London.

Teasing out the impact of climate change on tropical cyclones is complicated, but scientists are focusing more work on these weather systems.

Streets in Taiwan's Kaohsiung are flooded after Typhoon Gaemi hit the island in July

© Johnson LIU / AFP

WWA's method involves assessing how unusual an extreme event is, then modelling the likelihood of a similar event and its intensity in two scenarios: today's world, and one without current levels of warming.

The scientists used that method and a new approach developed by Imperial College London that is tailored specifically to tropical storms.

It uses computer modelling to overcome the relative lack of historical data on tropical cyclones.

While the Asia-Pacific region has long dealt with typhoons, the scientists warned that their work highlighted "gaps in typhoon preparedness and the massive impacts caused by Gaemi."

They called for better urban flood management and targeted warnings that offer more information on the likely impacts of a storm.

The study was released as Typhoon Shanshan made landfall in Japan, which issued its highest level warning for wind and storm surges.

© 2024 AFP

Bbc.co.ukwww.bbc.co.uk/newsround/24879162

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Apr 25, 2024 ... In the North Atlantic and Northeast Pacific oceans, the term 'hurricane' is used, whereas in the Northwest Pacific Ocean they are called ' ...

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Typhoon Shanshan barrels up Japan as five reported dead

The typhoon, one of the strongest to hit Japan in decades, had weakened by early morning, though gusts were still reaching 126 kilometres (78 miles) per hour.

Oita (Japan) (AFP) – Typhoon Shanshan slowly barrelled up the Japanese archipelago Friday, dumping torrential rains and causing transport havoc as its reported death toll reached five.


Issued on: 30/08/2024 

A car drives through a flooded street in Yufu city of Oita prefecture © Yuichi YAMAZAKI / AFP

The typhoon, one of the strongest to hit Japan in decades, had weakened by early morning, though gusts were still reaching 126 kilometres (78 miles) per hour.

Even before making landfall on the island of Kyushu, a landslide caused by the heavy rains preceding it killed three members of the same family late Tuesday in Aichi prefecture, around 1,000 kilometres (600 miles) away.

A bus is seen submerged in floodwaters in Yufu city of Oita prefecture © Yuichi YAMAZAKI / AFP

Two more people were reported to have died including a man last seen on a small boat in Kyushu and another whose two-storey home partially collapsed in Tokushima prefecture on the neighbouring island of Shikoku.

At least 81 others have been injured, including many hurt by broken glass after the typhoon smashed windows and ripped tiles off roofs when it slammed into Kyushu on Thursday with gusts up to 252 kph.

A car overturned by strong winds from Typhoon Shanshan in Miyazaki © Handout / Miyazaki City Hall/AFP

Authorities issued their highest alert in several areas, with more than five million people advised to evacuate, although it was unclear how many did.

As far away as the town of Ninomiya near Tokyo, authorities urged residents to take "immediate measures" to secure safety such as moving to higher floors after a local river flooded.

Some parts of Kyushu saw record rains for August, with the town of Misato recording a staggering 791.5 millimetres (31 inches) in 48 hours, the Japan Meteorological Agency said.

A worker in Japan removes debris blown away by strong winds caused by Typhoon Shanshan on Thursday © STR / JIJI Press/AFP

Power cuts hit more than 250,000 Kyushu households but the utility operator said Friday that only 6,500 were still without electricity as engineers repaired damaged transmission lines.

Overnight, many motorways were fully or partially closed in Kyushu, as well as others further afield, media reports said.

Shinkansen bullet trains remained suspended in Kyushu and were also halted on the major route between Tokyo and Osaka, with operators warning of disruptions elsewhere.

Japan Airlines and ANA had already announced the cancellation of more than 600 flights between them for Friday, having scrapped a similar number the previous day, affecting almost 50,000 passengers.

Auto giant Toyota suspended production at all 14 of its factories in Japan.

Nissan and Honda also halted operations at their Kyushu plants, as did chipmakers including Tokyo Electron, reports said.

Shanshan comes in the wake of Typhoon Ampil, which dumped heavy rain that disrupted hundreds of flights and trains this month but caused only minor injuries and damage.

Another released by World Weather Attribution (WWA) on Thursday said that climate change turbocharged Typhoon Gaemi, which killed dozens of people across the Philippines, Taiwan and China this year.

© 2024 AFP

Typhoon Shanshan batters Japan leaving five dead, dozens injured

Typhoon Shanshan has killed at least five people and injured dozens since making landfall in Japan on Thursday, according to the latest report given on Friday. Floods and landslides are now feared by the authorities.


Issued on: 30/08/2024 -

A vehicle drives along a flooded road next to the Sakai River which overflowed due to the effects of Typhoon Shanshan, Japan, August 29,2024. © AFP - STR

By: NEWS WIRES

Typhoon Shanshan slowly barrelled up the Japanese archipelago Friday, dumping torrential rains and causing transport havoc as its reported death toll reached five.

The typhoon, one of the strongest to hit Japan in decades, had weakened by early morning, though gusts were still reaching 126 kilometres (78 miles) per hour.

Even before making landfall on the island of Kyushu, a landslide caused by the heavy rains preceding it killed three members of the same family late Tuesday in Aichi prefecture, around 1,000 kilometres (600 miles) away.

Two more people were reported to have died including a man last seen on a small boat in Kyushu and another whose two-storey home partially collapsed in Tokushima prefecture on the neighbouring island of Shikoku.

At least 81 others have been injured, including many hurt by broken glass after the typhoon smashed windows and ripped tiles off roofs when it slammed into Kyushu on Thursday with gusts up to 252 kph.

Authorities issued their highest alert in several areas, with more than five million people advised to evacuate, although it was unclear how many did.

As far away as the town of Ninomiya near Tokyo, authorities urged residents to take "immediate measures" to secure safety such as moving to higher floors after a local river flooded.

Some parts of Kyushu saw record rains for August, with the town of Misato recording a staggering 791.5 millimetres (31 inches) in 48 hours, the Japan Meteorological Agency said.

Power cuts hit more than 250,000 Kyushu households but the utility operator said Friday that only 6,500 were still without electricity as engineers repaired damaged transmission lines.

Overnight, many motorways were fully or partially closed in Kyushu, as well as others further afield, media reports said.

Shinkansen bullet trains remained suspended in Kyushu and were also halted on the major route between Tokyo and Osaka, with operators warning of disruptions elsewhere.

Japan Airlines and ANA had already announced the cancellation of more than 600 flights between them for Friday, having scrapped a similar number the previous day, affecting almost 50,000 passengers.

Auto giant Toyota suspended production at all 14 of its factories in Japan.

Nissan and Honda also halted operations at their Kyushu plants, as did chipmakers including Tokyo Electron, reports said.

Shanshan comes in the wake of Typhoon Ampil, which dumped heavy rain that disrupted hundreds of flights and trains this month but caused only minor injuries and damage.
Typhoons in the region have been forming closer to coastlines, intensifying more rapidly and lasting longer over land due to climate change, according to a study released last month.

Another released by World Weather Attribution (WWA) on Thursday said that climate change turbocharged Typhoon Gaemi, which killed dozens of people across the Philippines, Taiwan and China this year.

(AFP)

Powerful Typhoon Shanshan slams into southern Japan


By AFP
August 28, 2024

A Japan Meteorological Agency satellite photo shows typhoon Shanshan moving closer to Kyushu island - Copyright Japan Meteorological Agency/AFP Handout
Hiroshi HIYAMA

Typhoon Shanshan slammed into Japan’s main southern island of Kyushu early Thursday, with authorities advising thousands of people to evacuate and issuing the highest warning level for wind and storm surges.

The weather office said that Japan’s most powerful typhoon this year made landfall at around 8:00 am (2300 GMT Wednesday) packing gusts of up to 252 kilometres (157 miles) per hour.

Kyushu’s utility operator said that 254,610 houses were already without power.

“Special warnings of violent storms, high waves and high tides are being issued to the Kagoshima region (of Kyuhsu),” the Japan Meteorological Office said.

“Please exercise maximum vigilance against violent storms, high waves and high tides in Kagoshima, as well as landslides, flooding in low-lying areas and overflowing rivers in southern Kyushu,” it said.

“Please also be advised that the risk of a disaster due to heavy rain can rapidly escalate in western Japan as Friday approaches.”

Heavy rain brought by Shanshan has been lashing large parts of Japan since Tuesday.

Three members of a family died after a landslide buried a house in Gamagori, a city in central Aichi prefecture, Japan’s Kyodo news agency reported early Thursday, citing local government officials.

The deceased included a couple in their 70s as well as a son in his 30s, while two adult daughters in their 40s survived with injuries, Kyodo reported.

For southern Kyushu, the JMA predicted an enormous 1,100 millimetres (43 inches) of precipitation in the 48 hours to Friday morning.

Video on public broadcaster NHK TV showed roof tiles being blown off houses, broken windows and felled trees.

“Our carport roof was blown away in its entirety. I wasn’t at home when it happened, but my kids say they felt the shaking so strong they thought an earthquake happened,” a local resident in Miyazaki told NHK.

“I was surprised. It was completely beyond our imagination,” she said.

Auto giant Toyota has suspended production at all 14 of its factories in Japan.

Japan Airlines cancelled 172 domestic flights and six international flights scheduled for Wednesday and Thursday, while ANA nixed 219 domestic flights and four international ones on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.

The cancellations affected around 25,000 people.

Kyushu Railway said it would suspend some Shinkansen bullet train services between Kumamoto and Kagoshima Chuo from Wednesday night and warned of further possible disruption.

Trains between Tokyo and Fukuoka, the most populous city on Kyushu, may also be cancelled depending on weather conditions this week, other operators said.

Shanshan comes in the wake of Typhoon Ampil, which disrupted hundreds of flights and trains this month.

Despite dumping heavy rain, it caused only minor injuries and damage.

Ampil came days after Tropical Storm Maria brought record rains to northern areas.

Typhoons in the region have been forming closer to coastlines, intensifying more rapidly and lasting longer over land due to climate change, according to a study released last month.

Israel, Hamas agree to limited pauses in Gaza fighting to allow for polio vaccinations

Rik Peeperkorn, the World Health Organization's senior official for the Palestinian territories, said on Thursday that Israel had agreed to limited pauses in the fighting in Gaza to allow vaccinations against polio. Hamas said it is “ready to cooperate with international organisations to secure the campaign", according to a statement from Hamas’s political bureau. The urgent campaign comes after a 10-month-old Palestinian boy was partially paralyzed by a mutated strain of the virus, having missed the chance to be vaccinated because he was born just before the October 7 attacks by Hamas militants and Israel's ensuing offensive.


Issued on: 29/08/2024 - 

00:35

Palestinian children play outside a medical tent in Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip, July 11, 2024. © Ramadan Abed, Reuters

By: NEWS WIRES|

Video by:FRANCE 24

The U.N. World Health Organization said Thursday it has reached an agreement with Israel for limited pauses in fighting in Gaza to allow for polio vaccinations for hundreds of thousands of children after a baby contracted the first confirmed case in 25 years in the Palestinian territory.

Described as “humanitarian pauses” that will last three days in different areas of the war-ravaged territory, the vaccination campaign will start Sunday in central Gaza, said Rik Peeperkorn, WHO’s representative in the Palestinian territories.

That will be followed by another three-day pause in southern Gaza and then another in northern Gaza, he said, noting that the pauses will last eight or nine hours each day. He thinks that health workers — more than 2,000 — will take part among U.N. agencies and Gaza’s Health Ministry might need additional days to complete the vaccinations.

Peeperkorn told reporters via video conference that they aim to vaccinate 640,000 children under 10 and that the campaign has been coordinated with Israeli authorities.

“We need this humanitarian pause,” he said. “And that has been very clear. We have an agreement on that, so we expect that all parties will stick to that.”

These humanitarian pauses are not a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas that mediators U.S., Egypt and Qatar have long been seeking, including in talks that are ongoing this week.

Hamas is “ready to cooperate with international organizations to secure this campaign,” according to a statement from Basem Naim, a member of Hamas’ political bureau.

An Israeli official said before the plan was announced that there was expected to be some sort of tactical pause to allow vaccinations to take place. The official had spoken on condition of anonymity before the plan was finalized.

Israel didn’t immediately comment Thursday on the vaccination campaign. The Israeli army has previously announced limited pauses in limited areas to allow international humanitarian operations.

WHO said health workers need to vaccinate at least 90% of children in Gaza to stop the transmission of polio.

“I’m not going to say this is the ideal way forward. But this is a workable way forward,” Peeperkorn said of the humanitarian pauses. Later he added, “It will happen and should happen because we have an agreement.”

The campaign comes after 10-month-old Abdel-Rahman Abu El-Jedian was partially paralyzed by a mutated strain of the virus that vaccinated people shed in their waste. The baby boy was not vaccinated because he was born just before Oct. 7, when Hamas militants attacked Israel and Israel launched a retaliatory offensive on Gaza.

He is one of hundreds of thousands of children who missed vaccinations because of the fighting between Israel and Hamas.

(AP)

Israel agrees 'humanitarian pauses' in Gaza for polio vaccinations

United Nations (United States) (AFP) – Israel has agreed to a series of three-day "humanitarian pauses" in Gaza to allow health officials to administer polio vaccinations to children in the territory, the World Health Organization said Thursday.


Issued on: 29/08/2024

More than 640,000 children under the age of 10 are to be vaccinated in Gaza, according to the World Health Organization

 © Eyad BABA / AFP/File

"The way we discussed and agreed, the campaign will start on the first of September, in central Gaza, for three days, and there will be a humanitarian pause during the vaccination," said Rik Peeperkorn, the agency's representative for Palestinian territories.

The vaccination rollout will also cover southern and northern Gaza, which will each get their own three-day pauses, Peeperkorn told reporters, adding that Israel had agreed to allow an additional day if required.

The vaccination campaign aims to cover more than 640,000 children under the age of 10.

"We stress the critical importance for all parties to adhere to the commitments that have been made," Michael Ryan, WHO deputy director-general, told the UN Security Council.

"At least 90 percent of coverage is needed during each round of the campaign in order to stop the outbreak and prevent international spread of polio," he added.

He said that 1.26 million doses of the NoPV2 vaccine had been delivered in Gaza, with another 400,000 still to arrive.

The vaccine is administered orally in two drops. Health workers will need to return in four weeks' time to give two more drops to each child to complete the vaccination, although so far there has been no public discussion of arranging another pause in the fighting.

Oren Marmorstein, Israel's foreign affairs spokesman, said on X that his government has "has coordinated a large-scale operation with WHO and UNICEF to vaccinate children in the Gaza Strip against polio."

Hamas said it supports the "UN humanitarian truce."

Robert Wood, US deputy ambassador to the United Nations, said it is "vital that this campaign be implemented without delay."

He called on Israel to "facilitate access for agencies carrying out the vaccination campaign, and for it to ensure periods of calm and refrain from military operations during vaccination campaign periods."

The United States and European Union have voiced concern over polio in Gaza, after the first case there in 25 years was confirmed this month in an unvaccinated 10-month-old baby.

Poliovirus is highly infectious and most often spread through sewage and contaminated water -- an increasingly common problem in Gaza with much of the territory's infrastructure destroyed by Israel in its war against Hamas.

The disease mainly affects children under the age of five. It can cause deformities and paralysis, and is potentially fatal.

© 2024 AFP

UN aid official questions world's 'humanity' as Gaza war rages

United Nations (United States) (AFP) – A top UN aid official on Thursday questioned "what has become of our basic humanity," as the war in Gaza rages and humanitarian operations struggle to respond.


Issued on: 30/08/2024 
A Palestinian man who returned to Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip to check on his home sits atop items salvaged amid the devastation © Eyad BABA / AFP

Joyce Msuya, acting head of the UN's humanitarian office (OCHA), said that "we cannot plan more than 24 hours in advance because we struggle to know what supplies we will have, when we will have them or where we will be able to deliver."

"Civilians are hungry. They are thirsty. They are sick. They are homeless. They have been pushed beyond... what any human being should bear," she told the Security Council.

Msuya's comments came after the UN had to halt the movement of aid and aid workers within Gaza on Monday due to a new Israeli evacuation order for the Deir al-Balah area, which had become a hub for its workers.

"More than 88 percent of Gaza's territory has come under an (Israeli) order to evacuate at some point," Msuya said, adding that civilians, "in a state of limbo," were being forced into an area equivalent to just 11 percent of the Gaza Strip.

"The evacuation orders appear to defy the requirements of international humanitarian law," she added.

Israel's war against Palestinian militant group Hamas has come under increasing scrutiny as the civilian death toll rises, but international powers including the United States have failed so far to help negotiate a ceasefire.

The current fighting was sparked by Hamas's October 7 attack on southern Israel, which resulted in the deaths of 1,199 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures.

Israel's retaliatory military campaign has killed at least 40,602 people in Gaza, according to the territory's health ministry. The UN rights office says most of the dead are women and children.

"What we have witnessed over the past 11 months... calls into question the world's commitment to the international legal order that was designed to prevent these tragedies," Msuya said.

"It forces us to ask: what has become of our basic sense of humanity?"

Calling on the Security Council and wider international community to use its leverage to end the war, Msuya urged the release of hostages and "a sustained ceasefire in Gaza."

© 2024 AFP

Israel faces backlash from EU, US over growing West Bank violence


Issued on: 29/08/2024 - 

Video by:Eliza HERBERT

EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said Thursday he will urge the bloc's 27 member states Thursday to back sanctions on Israeli ministers accused of fomenting "hatred" towards Palestinians. It follows new sanctions imposed by Washington on Israeli settlers in the West Bank over increasing violence against Palestinians.

EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell urges allies to allow Ukrainian airstrikes in Russia


Issued on: 29/08/2024 -

Video by:FRANCE 24

The European Union’s top diplomat on Thursday ramped up pressure on Ukraine’s international backers to lift restrictions on the use of weapons they provide to the conflict-ravaged country to allow its armed forces to strike targets inside Russia. FRANCE 24's Douglas Herbert provides analysis.

TYRANT

Tunisian President Saied: ‘A populist criticising representative democracy’ standing for re-election

Tunisian President Kais Saied is standing for a second term in an election set for October 6. Accused of authoritarianism by the opposition, the incumbent is maintaining an iron grip on the country’s political life, which has seen arrests of potential candidates and the recent replacement of 19 ministers. FRANCE 24 speaks with Tunisian essayist Hatem Nafti.


Issued on: 29/08/2024 - 

A supporter of Tunisian President Kais Saied holds up his image along Habib Bourguiba Avenue, Tunis, July 25, 2024. © Ons Abid, AP

By:FRANCE 24

In a speech broadcast on Sunday night, Saied announced the dismissal of Tunisia' foreign minister, the defence minister and 17 other cabinet members. The move followed the surprise replacement of former premier Ahmed Hachani with Prime Minister Kamel Madouri on August 7.

The president justified this sweeping change in the name of “national security” and “the supreme interest of the state”. He said that “a corrupt system whose participants hope for a return to the past” has “managed to manipulate” a large number of officials and block the inner workings of the state.

At least three candidates will face him in the October 6 presidential vote: Zouhair Maghzaoui, a former MP from the pan-Arab left; Ayachi Zammel, an industrialist and the leader of a liberal party; and Abdellatif Mekki, a conservative Islamist.

A Tunisian court on Thursday accepted the appeal of Mondher Znaidi, a former minister who worked with the late president Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali, against the rejection of his candidacy by the election authority.

The final list of candidates must be made official during the first week of September. Some potential challengers to Saied, who was elected in 2019, have complained that they have faced administrative obstacles to obtaining the sponsorship forms and copies of judicial records that are required to stand.

Tunisian essayist Hatem Nafti, the author of “Tunisie, vers un populisme autoritaire?” ("Tunisia, towards an authoritarian populism?), published in 2022, and “Notre ami Kaïs Saïed. Essai sur la démocrature tunisienne” ("Our friend Kais Saied: Essay on the condition of democracy in Tunisia), due for publication on October 3, judges Saied’s five-year term harshly.

FRANCE 24 spoke to Nafti about the arrest of opposition figures and critical voices, the propagation of conspiracy theories and the advent of authoritarianism in Tunisia.

FRANCE 24: In what kind of political climate will the October 6 presidential election unfold?

Hatem Nafti: First of all, we need to remember that the current president, Kais Saied, under the pretext of an economic and health crisis, staged a coup d’état on July 25, 2021. Since then, he has completely transformed political governance by moving towards a regime with very, very extensive presidential powers.

He has, for example, given himself the right to dismiss judges. Simply on the basis of a police report saying that so-and-so is a corrupt judge, he can dismiss him. The judges who don’t rule as the president would like can find themselves suddenly banned from practicing or forcibly transferred. The executive puts pressure on the judiciary and the president makes no secret of it.

In practice, we have an ultra-presidential regime where the president decides on almost everything. Saied governed by decree-laws between September 2021 and March 2023. With Decree 54 against cybercrime (in 2022), he went back on the liberalisation that Tunisia had experienced since the revolution in 2011. Concerning press offences, until now we had laws which did not provide for prison sentences for defamation.

Decree 54 is supposed to fight fake news but many people who support the president actually spread it, inciting hatred morning, noon and night, and they are hardly ever investigated. The decree above all targets the opposition and voices that are critical of the regime.

01:24



Which candidates will face the president in the October 6 vote?

The list of accepted candidates has not been finalised, but most of the opposition candidates are in prison. Among the three opposition candidates selected so far (editor’s note: this interview took place before the Tunisian Administrative Court upheld Znaidi’s appeal), one must travel every day from town to town to respond to accusations of supposedly having tampered with the sponsorships needed for his candidacy.

On Tuesday, the former health minister, Abdellatif Mekki, a figure in the conservative Islamist party Ennahda, was authorised to stand. But an examining magistrate has banned him from travelling beyond his district, speaking to the press or using social media.

We must also remember that after the coup, the independent electoral body, whose members were elected by a qualified majority of two-thirds of the parliament, was dissolved – and the president has since named members of a new body himself.

In this context, do you think that Tunisian voters will go to the polls?

It’s very difficult to say. Turnout was between 11 and 12 percent for the 2022-2023 legislative elections. A world record! Except this time, there’s something at stake. In Tunisian culture, a presidential election is very important, like in France. Everything is going to depend on the ballot's line-up, which is still in flux.

The opposition does not dare call for a boycott because there may be serious candidates who represent the different political families (people from Ben Ali's regime, the Islamists and the democrats). It’s thus difficult to say, today, if the elections will be valid. This will depend on the conduct of the executive and the resilience of the opposition.

It’s also important to emphasise that there is a massive rejection of the entire political class by the population, a sort of resignation: “anyway, there’s no alternative for president”. There could therefore be a legitimist reflex among many Tunisians who view the post-revolutionary period (2011- 2021) as a sort of dark age.

In your publications, you denounce the conspiracy theories that Saied frequently invokes to explain Tunisia’s ills. Will these theories have an impact on voters?

Saied explains his failures in terms of plots, either by old elites or from abroad. He explains everything in terms of plots, whether it relates to the economy when there are supply problems or the drought hitting Tunisia for the past seven years.

In the face of the influx of sub-Saharan migrants in Tunisia, he invokes the “great replacement” theory instead of saying the European Union supports any government in power to reinforce control of its southern borders to prevent migrants from reaching Europe (editor’s note: Tunisia in July 2023 signed a “strategic and comprehensive partnership” with the EU on immigration, providing Tunisia with €150 million in direct aid.)

The way he speaks about the issue of immigration is very effective in the eyes of many Tunisians, who wait in line every day to buy bread and often perceive migrants as colonisers.

Is Saied still perceived by some in Tunisia as a bulwark against the Islamist party Ennahda?

No, we need to stop with that. Many people supported his coup because they thought he would rid them of the Islamists. But Saied introduced Sharia law into the constitution. When it comes to secularism, I’ve seen a little better.

This is a major misunderstanding among the Tunisian elite and a part of the Western elite. Saied is a populist who criticises representative democracy. He is opposed to political Islam because he is against all political parties, who are for him a perversion of the popular will. He is also against all intermediary bodies, including associations and particularly NGOs, which he considers to be the "armed wing" of the Western powers.

This interview is a translation of the original in French.

ECOCIDE

Yemen's Huthis blew up stranded oil tanker: video

Sanaa (AFP) – Yemen's Iran-backed Huthi rebels announced Thursday they had booby-trapped and detonated the Greek-flagged oil tanker Sounion, stranded in the Red Sea after a drone and missile attack earlier this month.


Issued on: 29/08/2024 - 

This picture released on by Yemen's Huthi Ansarullah Media Centre shows fireballs and smoke aboard the oil tanker Sounion 

© - / ANSARULLAH MEDIA CENTRE/AFP

The group's leader said the operation took place earlier this week. Since then, the rebels have agreed to allow rescue teams to access the ship.

A video shared on the rebels' media outlets showed masked men planting explosives on the vessel and then detonating them, causing several fires on board.

The Sounion was hit by the Huthis off the coast of Hodeida on August 21, according to the UKMTO maritime agency, which said at the time the attack caused a fire and cut engine power.

The European Union's Red Sea naval mission, Aspides, had rescued its 25 crew members last week, leaving the vessel -- now at risk of causing an oil spill -- abandoned.

The EU naval force was formed in February to protect merchant vessels in the Red Sea from attacks by the Huthi rebels, who have waged a campaign against international shipping that they say is intended to show solidarity with Palestinian group Hamas in its war with Israel in the Gaza Strip.

Rebel chief Abdul Malik al-Huthi on Thursday said his forces had "stormed" the tanker earlier this week.

He added in a speech that the Sounion had violated the Huthis' "embargo" on shipping to Israeli ports.

The vessel had departed from Iraq and was destined for a port near Athens, carrying 150,000 metric tons of crude oil, according to Greek port authorities.

On Wednesday, Iran's mission to the UN said the Tehran-backed Huthis had agreed to "a temporary truce for the entry of tugboats and rescue ships into the incident area", citing fires and "subsequent environmental hazards".

A Huthi spokesman confirmed late Wednesday on social media the group had granted a request from "numerous international parties, particularly European" to access the vessel.

The Aspides mission said on Thursday there were "reports that multiple fires have been detected in several locations on the main deck of the vessel", but "there's no oil spill, and the ship is still anchored and not drifting".

The EU mission was "preparing to facilitate any courses of action, in coordination with European authorities and neighbouring countries, to avert a catastrophic environmental crisis", it said on social media platform X.

© 2024 AFP