Hefty electric vehicle costs dent Ford profits

By AFP
October 28, 2024

Ford is reducing output of its electric F-150 Lightning - Copyright AFP/File JEFF KOWALSKY

Ford reported lower profits Monday and reduced its full-year earnings outlook as hefty one-time electric vehicle (EV) expenses weighed on results.

The major US automaker reported third-quarter profits of $892 million, down 26 percent from the year-ago level, on revenues of $46.2 billion, up 5.5 percent.

The results were the latest in which Ford has seen profits from its conventional internal combustion engine and fleet businesses offset losses in electric vehicles.

The results included a $1 billion hit after Ford in August pushed back the timeframe of one planned EV model and shifted away from a proposed EV project entirely.

Ford executives have said they are still bullish on EVs in the long-term, but that consumers “aren’t willing to pay a premium,” said Chief Financial Officer John Lawler.

“We need to change the way we’re designing the vehicles,” including having the “smallest battery possible,” said Lawler.

While Ford has slowed some EV campaigns, it has increased output of hybrid vehicles, which enjoyed higher sales again this quarter.

Lawler said Ford needed to do more to reduce costs, citing a hit from product “refreshes,” inflation in a production joint venture and excessive warranty expenses.

Ford has “taken out $2 billion of material, freight and manufacturing costs this year, as we talked about doing, but what we’re seeing is we’re seeing higher warranty costs than we expected, and higher inflationary costs than what we expect,” Lawler said.

Shares of Ford fell 5.1 percent in after-hours trading.

UNRWA, a lifeline for Palestinians amid decades of conflict


ByAFP
October 28, 2024

A Palestinian woman walks past a damaged wall bearing the UNRWA logo at a camp for internally displaced people in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip in May 2024 - Copyright AFP/File Eyad BABA
Nina LARSON

The UN agency for Palestinian refugees, whose operations in Israel were banned by the Israeli parliament on Monday, is seen by some as an “irreplaceable” humanitarian lifeline in Gaza, but as an accomplice of Hamas by others.

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) has for more than seven decades provided essential aid and assistance to Palestinian refugees.

The agency has also long been a lightening rod for harsh Israeli criticism, which has ramped up dramatically since the start of the war in Gaza, following Hamas’s deadly October 7 attacks last year.

UNRWA, which coordinates nearly all aid to Gaza, has seen more than 220 of its staff killed in the war there — even as it has faced dramatic funding cuts and calls for its dismantlement amid Israeli accusations that some of its workers took part in the October 7 attack.



– Created in wake of war –



UNRWA was established in December 1949 by the UN General Assembly in the wake of the first Arab-Israeli conflict following Israel’s creation in May 1948.

The agency, which began its operations on May 1, 1950, was tasked with assisting some 750,000 Palestinians who had been expelled during the war.

It was supposed to be a short-term fix, but in the absence of a solution to the Palestinian refugee problem, the General Assembly has repeatedly renewed UNRWA’s mandate, most recently extending it until June 30, 2026.



– Millions of refugees –



The number of Palestinian refugees under its charge has meanwhile ballooned to nearly six million across Gaza, the West Bank, Lebanon, Jordan and Syria.

Palestinian refugees are defined as “persons whose normal place of residence was Palestine during the period 1 June 1946 to 15 May 1948, and who lost both home and means of livelihood as a result of the 1948 conflict”.

Their descendents also have refugee status.



– Operations –



UNRWA is unique among UN organisations in its direct service delivery model, and is the main provider of basic public services, including education, healthcare, and social services for registered Palestinian refugees.

It employs more than 30,000 people, mainly Palestinian refugees and a small number of international staff.

The organisation counts 58 official refugee camps and runs more than 700 schools for over 540,000 students.

It also runs 141 primary healthcare facilities, with nearly seven million patient visits each year, and provides emergency food and cash assistance to some 1.8 million people.



– UNRWA in Gaza –



In the Gaza Strip, controlled by Hamas since 2007, the humanitarian situation was already critical before the war between Israel and Hamas began last October, with more than 80 percent of the population living below the poverty line.

The territory, squeezed between Israel, Egypt and the Mediterranean Sea, counts eight camps and around 1.7 million refugees, the overwhelming majority of the population of 2.4 million, according to the UN.

The situation has spiralled into catastrophe following Hamas’s deadly attack inside Israel on October 7, 2023.

Israel’s retaliatory military offensive has killed more than 43,000 people, mostly civilians, according to figures from the territory’s health ministry, deemed reliable by the UN.

Two-thirds of buildings have been damaged and nearly the entire population of Gaza has been displaced, many of them multiple times, the UN says.

“In the midst of all the upheaval, UNRWA, more than ever, is indispensable. UNRWA, more than ever, is irreplaceable,” UN chief Antonio Guterres has said.

UNRWA, which employs some 13,000 people in Gaza, has seen two-thirds of its facilities there damaged or destroyed.



– Israeli criticism –



Israel has long been harshly critical of UNRWA, alleging it is perpetuating the Palestinian refugee problem and that its schools use textbooks that promote hatred of Israel.

Since October 7, the criticism has ballooned, targeting UNRWA in Gaza especially.

In January, Israel accused a dozen of UNRWA’s Gaza employees of involvement in the October 7 attack by Hamas.

A series of probes found some “neutrality related issues” at UNRWA, and determined that nine employees “may have been involved” in the October 7 attack, but found no evidence for Israel’s chief allegations.

The agency, which traditionally has been funded almost exclusively through voluntary contributions from governments, was plunged into crisis as a string of nations halted their backing over Israel’s allegations.

Most donors have since resumed funding.

The barrage of accusations has meanwhile continued, with Israel alleging UNRWA employs “hundreds of Hamas members and even military wing operatives” in Gaza.

Despite objections from the United States and warnings from the UN Security Council, Israeli lawmakers on Monday overwhelmingly passed a bill banning UNRWA from working in Israel and occupied east Jerusalem.

Israel bans UN aid agency UNRWA from operating in Israel

Reuters
Updated Mon 28 October 2024 

Aftermath of a fire at UNRWA headquarters, in Jerusalem


JERUSALEM (Reuters) -Israel passed a law on Monday banning the U.N. Palestinian refugee agency UNRWA from operating in the country, legislation that could impact its work in war-torn Gaza.

The lawmakers who drafted the law cited what they described as the involvement of some UNRWA staffers in the Oct. 7, 2023, attack on southern Israel and staffers having membership in Hamas and other armed groups.

The legislation has alarmed the United Nations and some of Israel's Western allies who fear it would further worsen the already dire humanitarian situation in Gaza, where Israel has been fighting Hamas militants for a year. The ban does not refer to operations in the Palestinian territories or elsewhere.

"UNRWA workers involved in terrorist activities against Israel must be held accountable. Since avoiding a humanitarian crisis is also essential, sustained humanitarian aid must remain available in Gaza now and in the future," Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu posted on social media after the vote.

"In the 90 days before this legislation takes effect – and after – we stand ready to work with our international partners to ensure Israel continues to facilitate humanitarian aid to civilians in Gaza in a way that does not threaten Israel’s security."

Parliament also passed an addendum to the new law saying that Israeli authorities could no longer have contact with UNRWA, but exceptions to that could be made in the future.

The head of UNRWA, Philippe Lazzarini, called the vote a "dangerous precedent" that opposes the U.N. charter and violates Israel's obligation under international law.

"This is the latest in the ongoing campaign to discredit UNRWA and delegitimize its role towards providing human-development assistance and services to #Palestine Refugees," he wrote on social media platform X.

UNRWA, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees, employs tens of thousands of workers and provides education, health and aid to millions of Palestinians in Gaza, the West Bank, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria.

It has long had tense relations with Israel but ties have deteriorated sharply since the start of the war in Gaza and Israel has called repeatedly for UNRWA to be disbanded, with its responsibilities transferred to other U.N. agencies.

The U.N. said in August that nine UNRWA staff may have been involved in the Oct. 7 assault and had been fired. A Hamas commander in Lebanon - killed last month in an Israeli strike - was found to have had an UNRWA job. Another commander killed in Gaza last week doubled as a U.N. aid worker. UNRWA had confirmed both men had been employees.

"If the United Nations is not willing to clean this organization from terrorism, from Hamas activists, then we have to take measures to make sure that they cannot harm our people ever again," said Israeli lawmaker Sharren Haskel.

"The international community could have taken responsibility and made sure that they used the proper organizations to facilitate humanitarian aid, like the World Food Organization, like UNICEF, and many others who work all around the world," Haskel said.

An UNRWA spokesperson said prior to the vote that the proposed law would be a "disaster" and would have a serious impact on the humanitarian operation in Gaza and in the occupied West Bank.

"We know that previous attempts that aimed at replacing UNRWA and providing humanitarian assistance have failed miserably," said Juliette Touma, the main spokesperson for the organisation.

"It's outrageous that a member state of the United Nations is working to dismantle a UN agency which also happens to be the largest responder in the humanitarian operation in Gaza."

The law would likely directly impact UNRWA institutions in East Jerusalem, which Israel annexed in a move not recognised abroad.

Another of the law's authors, Boaz Bismuth, said UNRWA’s work there has been counterproductive for years. “If you really want stability, if you really want security, if you want real peace in the Middle East, organizations like UNRWA won't bring you there," said Bismuth.

Israel has faced heavy international pressure to do more to alleviate the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and to get more aid to people displaced by Israel's campaign.

Before the legislation was passed, foreign ministers from France, Germany, Britain, Japan and South Korea, Canada and Australia issued a statement expressing "grave concern."

"It is crucial that UNRWA and other UN organizations and agencies be fully able to deliver humanitarian aid and their assistance to those who need it most, fulfilling their mandates effectively," the statement said.

(Reporting by Dedi Hayoun, Maayan Lubell and Ari Rabinovitch in Jerusalem; Editing by Leslie Adler and Matthew Lewis)

Middle East latest: Israel passes 2 laws restricting UN agency that distributes aid in Gaza

The Associated Press
Updated Mon 28 October 2024


The laws, which do not immediately go into effect, signal a new low for a long-troubled relationship between Israel and the U.N. Israel’s international allies said they were deeply worried about its potential impact on Palestinians as the war’s humanitarian toll is worsening.

Under the first law, the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees, or UNRWA, would be banned from conducting “any activity” or providing any service inside Israel, while the second would sever diplomatic ties with it. The legislation risks collapsing the already fragile process for distributing aid in Gaza at a moment when Israel is under increased pressure from the United States to ramp up aid.

Israel has alleged that some of UNRWA’s thousands of staff members participated in the October 2023 Hamas attacks that sparked the war in Gaza. It also has said hundreds of UNRWA staff have militant ties and that it has found Hamas military assets near or under the agency’s facilities.

The agency fired nine employees after an investigation but denies it knowingly aids armed groups, and says it acts quickly to purge any suspected militants from its ranks. Some of Israel’s allegations prompted major international donors to cut funding to the agency, although some of it has been restored.

The first vote passed 92-10 and followed a fiery debate between supporters of the law and its opponents, mostly members of Arab parliamentary parties. The second law was approved 87-9.

___

Here’s the latest:

United Nations chief warns Israel against barring UNRWA from its work

UNITED NATIONS — The United Nations chief is warning that if two laws adopted by Israel’s parliament are implemented, the U.N. agency providing essential services to Palestinian refugees in Gaza and the West Bank would likely be prevented from continuing work that is mandated by the U.N. General Assembly.

Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called the work of the agency known as UNRWA “indispensable,” and said implementing the laws “could have devastating consequences for Palestinian refugees in the occupied Palestinian territories, which is unacceptable.”

“There is no alternative to UNRWA,” he said in a statement issued Monday night.

UNRWA was established by the General Assembly in 1949 to provide relief for Palestinians who fled or were expelled from their homes before and during the 1948 war that followed Israel’s establishment, as well as their descendants.

The laws adopted Monday by Israel’s parliament, which do not immediately go into effect, bar UNRWA from operating on Israeli soil, sever ties with the agency and declare it a terror organization. They were approved amid an escalating humanitarian crisis in Gaza, now in the second year of Israel’s military retaliation following Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attacks in southern Israel.

Guterres called on Israel “to act consistently with its obligations” under the U.N. Charter and international law, as well as the privileges and immunities of the United Nations.

“National legislation cannot alter those obligations,” Guterres stressed. He said implementing the laws would be detrimental to resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and more broadly for peace and security in the region.

A second bill severing diplomatic ties with UNRWA was also being voted on later Monday.

Taken together, these bills would signal a new low in relations between Israel and UNRWA, which Israel accuses of maintaining close ties with Hamas militants. The changes would also be a serious blow to the agency and to Palestinians in Gaza who have become reliant upon it for aid throughout more than a year of devastating war.

The Knesset will vote on bills that would severely restrict UN agency that is a lifeline for Gaza

JERUSALEM — Israel’s parliament is scheduled to vote Monday on a pair of bills that would effectively sever ties with the U.N. agency responsible for distributing aid in Gaza, strip it of legal immunities and restrict its ability to support Palestinians in east Jerusalem and the West Bank.

Israel accuses the U.N. Relief and Works Agency, or UNRWA, of turning a blind eye to Hamas militants it says have infiltrated its staff, including a small number of its 13,000 employees in Gaza who participated in the Oct. 7, 2023 attack on southern Israel. The agency denies it knowingly aids armed groups and says it acts quickly to purge any suspected militants from its ranks.

The bills risk crippling humanitarian aid distribution in the Gaza Strip, at a time the United States is pressing Israel to allow in more food and other supplies. More than 1.9 million Palestinians are displaced from their homes and Gaza faces widespread shortages of food, water and medicine.

The bills, which do not include provisions for alternative organizations to oversee its work, have been strongly criticized by international aid groups and a handful of Israel’s Western allies.

Iran says it reserves the right to respond to Israeli attack ‘at the appropriate time’

UNITED NATIONS — Iran’s foreign minister said in a letter requesting an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council that his country reserves the right to respond to Israel’s recent attacks “at the appropriate time.”

Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi accused Israel of violating Iran’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, and “a flagrant breach of international law and the United Nations Charter,” which prohibits the use of force against any U.N. member nation.

Israel’s U.N. Ambassador Danny Danon called Iran’s request “another attempt by Iran to harm us, this time in the diplomatic arena.”

“We will stand up for Israel’s right to defend itself,” he said in a statement, stressing that the Israeli attack was in response to an Iranian attack on Oct. 1.

The Security Council scheduled a meeting Monday afternoon at 3 p.m. EDT (1900 GMT) at Iran’s request, which was supported by Russia, China and Algeria, the Arab representative on the U.N.’s most powerful body.

Araghchi urged the Security Council and Secretary-General Antonio Guterres in the letter obtained by The Associated Press “to take a firm stance and condemn the Israeli regime for committing these acts of aggression strongly and unequivocally.”

Israel’s airstrikes early Saturday followed Iran’s launch of at least 180 missiles into Israel on Oct. 1. The Iranian airstrikes were in retaliation for devastating blows Israel landed against Iran’s ally Hezbollah in Lebanon.

Associated Press writer Tia Goldenberg contributed.

Middle East aid workers say rules of war being flouted

Nina LARSON
Mon 28 October 2024

Palestinian children sitting around a fire in the rubble of Gaza (Eyad BABA) (Eyad BABA/AFP/AFP)

Flagrant violations of the laws of war in the escalating conflict in the Middle East are setting a dangerous precedent, aid workers in the region warn.

Since Hamas's deadly October 7 attack on Israel from Gaza last year, humanitarians say the warring parties are flouting international humanitarian law (IHL).

"The rules of war are being broken in such a flagrant way... (it) is setting a precedent that we have not seen in any other conflict," Marwan Jilani, the vice president of the Palestine Red Crescent (PCRS), told AFP.


Speaking last week during a meeting in Geneva of the 191 national Red Cross and Red Crescent societies, he lamented a "total disregard for human life (and) for international humanitarian law".

Amid Israel's devastating retaliatory operation in the Gaza Strip, local aid workers are striving to deliver assistance while facing the same risks as the rest of the population, he said.

The PCRS has more than 900 staff and several thousand volunteers inside Gaza, where more than 43,000 Palestinians have been killed, according to the Hamas-ruled territory's health ministry, and where the UN says virtually the entire population has been repeatedly displaced.

- 'Deliberate targeting' -

"They're part of the community," said Jilani. "I think every single member of our staff has lost family members."

He decried especially what he said was a "deliberate targeting of the health sector".

Israel rejects such accusations and maintains that it is carrying out its military operations in both Gaza and Lebanon in accordance with international law.

But Jilani said that "many of our staff, including doctors and nurses... were detained, were taken for weeks (and) were tortured".

Since the war began, 34 PRCS staff and volunteers have been killed in Gaza, and another two in the West Bank, "most of them while serving", he said.

Four other staff members are still being held, their whereabouts and condition unknown.

Jilani warned that the disregard for basic international law in the expanding conflict was eroding the belief that such laws even exist.

A "huge casualty of this war", he said, "is the belief within the Middle East that there is no international law".

- 'Unbelievable' -

Uri Shacham, chief of staff at the Israeli's emergency aid organisation Magen David Adom (MDA), also decried the total disregard for laws requiring the protection of humanitarians.

During Hamas's October 7 attack, which resulted in the deaths of 1,206 people, according to an AFP tally of official Israeli figures, MDA staff and volunteers rushing to the scene to help were also killed, he said.

It lost seven people that day.

Shacham said they were killed "while they were treating others, while they were identified as humanitarians.

"This was so unbelievable for us," he said, warning of potentially dangerous ripple effects.

"Our biggest concern is that once the barrier was broken, then this might be something that others would do," he cautioned.

- Gaza scenario looming -

The Red Cross in Lebanon, where for the past month Israel has been launching ground operations and dramatically escalating its air strikes against Hezbollah, also condemned the slide.

Thirteen of its volunteers have been recently injured on ambulance missions.

One of its top officials, Samar Abou Jaoudeh, told AFP that they did not appear to have been targeted directly.

"But nevertheless, not being able to reach the injured people, and (missiles) hitting right in front of an ambulance is also not respecting IHL," she said, stressing the urgent need to ensure more respect for international law on the ground.

Abou Jaoudeh feared Lebanon, where at least 1,620 people have been killed since September 23, according to an AFP tally based on official figures, could suffer the same fate as Gaza.

"We hope that no country would face anything that Gaza is facing now, but unfortunately a bit of that scenario is beginning to be similar in Lebanon," she said.

The Lebanese Red Cross, she said, was preparing "for all scenarios... but we just hope that it wouldn't reach this point".

nl/rjm/fg

WAR IS RAPE

‘No one heard our cries’: Tigray war rape survivors recount their ordeals

By AFP
October 28, 2024

Rawa had just given birth to twins when the Tigray conflict broke out in November 2020 - Copyright AFP CHRISTIAN MONTERROSA

Dylan GAMBA

Rawa curls up on a chair, pulls her knees tight to her chest and hides her face with a large white veil as if to shield herself from the outside world.

“There were seven men who raped me,” she whispers, haltingly recounting a brutal assault shortly after the start of the two-year war in Ethiopia’s northernmost region of Tigray.

Rawa, whose name has been changed like those of the other rape survivors interviewed by AFP, had just given birth to twins when the fighting broke out in November 2020.

The conflict — pitting Ethiopian government forces, backed by regional militias and Eritrean troops, against Tigrayan rebels — killed around 600,000 people, with the warring sides accused of numerous atrocities against civilians.

Rawa, one of the million people still displaced by the war, comes from Welkait, an area in the hotly disputed western Tigray region near the border with Eritrea.

“I stayed behind because I was a new mother, but everyone else fled and left me behind,” the 40-year-old tells AFP at a small health clinic in the Tigrayan town of Shire.

Several people denounced her, claiming her husband was part of the rebellion. She was arrested and beaten while carrying one of her infant twins in her arms.

“The baby is no longer alive,” she says through sobs, and she still has no idea about her husband’s whereabouts.

“I endured a lot of suffering,” she says, describing how she lost consciousness during her savage attack at the hands of seven Eritrean soldiers.

Rawa was left HIV positive after the rape.

“I’m not in very good health and I’m not able to go for medical treatment because I don’t have the strength and I don’t have money for transport,” says Rawa, who is now forced to live on the streets with her remaining children, unable to pay rent.



– ‘Systematic’ rapes –



The fighting in Tigray finally ended with the signing of a peace accord in Pretoria in November 2022, but many victims are still struggling to rebuild their lives.

Among the many barbaric acts inflicted on civilians during the conflict, rape and sexual violence were “systematic” and used as a weapon of war, according to a study published in 2023 by the scientific journal BMC Women’s Health.

Estimates of the number of rapes committed vary widely — up to as many as 120,000 — according to data compiled by the researchers, with many reluctant to report the attacks.

The victims reported that most of the perpetrators were Ethiopian or Eritrean soldiers, but also militiamen from the neighbouring Amhara region.

The Tigray war had been raging for a year when Tsega — another rape survivor who spoke to AFP — went to a small store near her home in the town of Sheraro to buy flour.

Her family had nothing left to eat.

“I thought the stories about soldiers grabbing and raping women were just rumours,” says the 29-year-old.

On the way to the shop, Tsega came across two Eritrean soldiers who followed her.

“The soldiers threatened to bomb (the shop) if I didn’t come out,” she recalls, anxiously twisting a ring around her finger.

“As soon as I left, they forcefully took me away and raped me.”

“I only thought of two things: either kill myself or go underground and fight (with the rebels).”



– ‘Held in a warehouse’ –



Two years on from the Pretoria deal, teams from Doctors Without Borders (MSF) “are still receiving survivors in need of essential psychological and medical support”, says Nimrat Kaur, Shire project coordinator manager for the medical charity.

MSF operates two health centres in Shire and Sheraro in collaboration with the regional authorities, with around 40 new people arriving each month.

The vast majority of rapes were committed against women and girls. But men were also targeted.

Mamay, who was 21 at the time, left his home in Humera in western Tigray when fierce fighting erupted at the start of the conflict.

On the road, he was stopped by Eritrean soldiers, along with about 60 other people, including girls aged around 10.

“They held us in a warehouse, then took us one by one and committed sexual assault on us,” says the frail young man.

“There was no one to hear our cries… no one to help us,” he says, adding that they endured daily assaults over a period of almost two years.

Mamay was finally released along with other captives after the guns fell silent.

Like more than one million other people across Tigray, however, Mamay has still not been able to return home to Humera.

But he is not giving up.

“As a Tigrayan I will not lose hope. Justice will have its day. I’m very sure we will get freedom and return to our homes.”

Frauenkultur.co.ukfrauenkultur.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Against-Our-Will.pdf

Against Our Will: Men, Women, and Rape - Frauenkultur

... Against. Our Will. Men, Women and Rape. SUSAN BROWNMILLER. Fawcett Columbine • New York. Page 5. Sale of this book without a front cover may be unauthorized. If ...

Myanmar’s lost generation battles trauma, addiction at jungle rehab


By AFP
PublishedOctober 28, 2024

A recovering drug addict from Myanmar is given disinfection swabs after an acupuncture session that is part of his rehabilitation programme - 

Copyright AFP Lillian SUWANRUMPHA

Stuart GRAHAM

In a drug treatment centre in a wooden stilt house deep in the Thai jungle, young refugees from Myanmar wait patiently for the prick of an acupuncture needle.

They are among the thousands who have become addicted to methamphetamine and other synthetic drugs that have flooded camps housing those forced to flee their homes by Myanmar’s civil war.

Myanmar’s military ousted Aung San Suu Kyi’s government in a February 2021 coup, igniting a conflict that has killed thousands, displaced nearly three million people and triggered a boom in drug production.

A rehabilitation programme across the border in Thailand, run by former addicts, is trying to help stem the rising tide of addiction among young people living in the camps.

“Youths from the camps are hopeless… they don’t know what to do. They have no guarantee for jobs and no future,” said Marip, a counsellor and former addict, using a pseudonym because of the stigma associated with addiction.

“They end up taking drugs. Drugs are easy to find in the camps,” the 34-year-old told AFP at the camp in a remote forest location in Thailand’s western province of Tak.

The Drug and Alcohol Recovery and Education (DARE) rehabilitation centre, funded by the UN and other aid agencies, uses acupuncture as part of its regimen, along with massages to reduce drug cravings and yoga to help manage intense withdrawal pains.

The group operates in five refugee camps, as well as more than 40 villages in Myanmar’s Karen state, and claims a 60 percent success rate for its 90-day treatment programme.

It did not allow AFP to speak to any of its patients or former cases, saying doing so would violate its treatment principles.



– ‘Cheaper than beer’ –



More than three years of conflict in Myanmar combined with the easy availability of drugs have created a “perfect storm”, Edward Blakely, a director at DARE, told AFP.

“You have two large problems, trauma from people who fled their homes and saw their relatives killed and an abundant supply of drugs and a sense of hopelessness,” he said.

The junta led by General Min Aung Hlaing is battling multiple armed groups opposed to its rule across the country.

As well as death and displacement, the conflict has also seen law enforcement wither, enabling drug gangs to ramp up production.

The “Golden Triangle” region where Myanmar, Thailand and Laos meet has long been a hub for the illegal drug trade.

But the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) said in a report this year that methamphetamine production has “significantly increased”, sending wholesale prices of the drug’s crystal form crashing from over $10,000 a tonne in 2019 to $4,000 a tonne in 2023.

On the streets and in the camps, a tablet of “yaba” — a potent mix of methamphetamine and caffeine — can be bought for small change.

“They are so cheap at this point, it is really easy for people to buy drugs,” Benedikt Hofmann, the UNODC’s Southeast Asia and Pacific deputy representative, told AFP.

“Right now, in most parts of the Mekong, getting a tablet of yaba is cheaper than buying a beer.”

– Drug-funded groups –

The displacement camps are in border regions of Myanmar mostly controlled by ethnic minority armed groups — many of which fund their activities by making and trafficking drugs.

One senior anti-drugs police official in Myanmar told AFP that many new trafficking routes had opened up around the country due to the fighting.

“We face many difficulties in cracking down on the drug trade,” the official who asked not to be named told AFP.

“The problem is severe, as many armed groups are involved.”

The costs fall on those who have suffered most, and counsellor Marip told AFP: “There is no price that compares to the freedom from drugs.”

Countdown to Busan: is a plastic pollution treaty in reach?


By AFP
October 28, 2024

Countries hope to reach the world's first treaty to end plastic pollution later this year

 - Copyright AFP/File Asif HASSAN

Sara HUSSEIN

Negotiators meet in less than a month to agree on the world’s first treaty to end plastic pollution, but countries remain so far apart that a deal may prove impossible.

It has been two years since the UN first agreed to work towards a treaty, and negotiators have met four times already to hammer out details.

But observers say progress on substance has been painfully slow — and at times actively stymied by countries keen to water down any final treaty.

That has left negotiators, and the diplomat chairing the process, scrambling to rescue the treaty and avoid emerging from talks in South Korea’s Busan with a weak one, or none at all.

The scale of the problem is undisputed.

Plastic production has doubled in 20 years and at current rates could triple by 2060, according to the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development.

Yet over 90 percent of plastic is not recycled, with much of it dumped in nature or buried in landfills.

As a result, microplastic has been found in the deepest ocean trenches, highest mountain peaks and just about every part of the human body.

But how to address this remains fiercely contested.

There are disagreements over whether to cap production, how to pay for better waste management, and even what process to use to adopt a treaty — a majority vote or consensus.



– ‘Everything, and its contrary’ –



The talks are set to begin with a draft text that runs over 70 pages — which almost all parties agree is unworkable.

It contains “everything, and its contrary”, warned David Azoulay, director of the environmental health programme at the Centre for International Environmental Law.

Even Luis Vayas Valdivieso, the Ecuadorian diplomat chairing the negotiations, has admitted “it will be very, very difficult… to start our negotiations in Busan with that text”.

The chaotic draft text reflects a fundamental faultline over what the treaty should do.

Some countries, particularly oil-producing nations such Saudi Arabia, Iran and Russia, insist it should focus on so-called downstream measures — primarily waste management.

They want targets and implementation to be set nationally.

Others, like the so-called High Ambition Coalition that includes the European Union and many Asian and African countries, want rules limiting production of new plastic, pointing to the longstanding failure of waste management and recycling, and the emissions from making new plastic.

They also back bans on chemicals believed or known to be harmful, and want global standards with targets, monitoring mechanisms, and compliance enforcement.

The United States is not part of the coalition, though it recently signalled potential support for production restructions.

“It’s just a mess,” said Graham Forbes, global plastic project leader at Greenpeace USA.

“We’ve wasted a lot of time.”



– ‘Going to deliver’ –



Negotiators will have just a week to whittle down the draft into a workable treaty, and Vayas Valdivieso is hoping to speed things up with his own starting document — a so-called “non-paper”.

He is expected to circulate a third iteration of the document this week, which will be closely scrutinised for any language on the outstanding contentious issues.

But the document has no legal basis and it is unclear whether negotiators will agree to use it as a starting point.

Those pushing for a more ambitious treaty fear the pressure to make Busan a success could create momentum for a weaker document.

“There’s tremendous political momentum to land something,” said Forbes.

But “we’re not going to sacrifice ambition to get a political outcome that feels easy in the short-term”.

Even within the High Ambition Coalition, there is significant variation on how stringent and specific the document should be.

And while some major industry players have backed a call to limit “problematic and avoidable plastic products” and reduce virgin plastic production, others are firmly opposed.

The American Chemistry Council has publicly urged Washington to “steer the global community away” from production caps and material bans.

For all the disagreements, Vayas Valdivieso insisted this month that “we’re going to deliver” in Busan.

But many observers increasingly believe the negotiations could be extended for another round, or even see some ambitious countries going it alone on a text.

“Nobody really wants a negotiation that either goes on for years and years, or delivers something that is not fit for purpose,” said Azoulay.

“This is the tension that exists.”

RIP
Cuba’s Buena Vista trumpeter Manuel ‘Guajiro’ Mirabal dies


By AFP
October 29, 2024

Cuban trumpeter Manuel "Guajiro" Mirabal died aged 91 - 

Copyright AFP/File ADALBERTO ROQUE

Celebrated Cuban trumpet player Manuel “Guajiro” Mirabal of the music collective Buena Vista Social Club, died in Havana on Monday, the Cuban Music Institute said. He was 91.

Mirabal “is considered one of the greatest trumpet players in Cuba and the world,” and his “death represents a sad loss for Cuban music and culture,” the institute said in a Facebook post.

His funeral will be held on Tuesday in the Cuban capital Havana, it said.

Born on May 5, 1933 in the town of Melena del Sur in Mayabeque province, Mirabal began his musical career in 1951 and played the trumpet for more than 70 years.

He was a member of prominent Cuban orchestras, such as the Conjunto Rumbavana and the Orquesta Riverside, but it was his participation in the Buena Vista Social Club project that crowned his fame.

Created in 1996, Buena Vista Social Club reunited veteran Cuban musicians, some of whom had slipped into obscurity but were coaxed out of retirement by Cuban star Juan de Marcos Gonzalez, the World Circuit’s Nick Gold and American guitarist Ry Cooder.

It became one of the most celebrated Cuban music projects, producing the eponymous Buena Vista Social Club album, which won a Grammy Award in 1998 and is the best-selling Cuban album of all time. A documentary of the same name made by German filmmaker Wim Wenders was nominated for an Oscar in 2000.

Pope’s commission against abuse to publish first report


By AFP
October 29, 2024

The Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors has faced strong criticism over its organisation, funding and role, with several high-profile members quitting - Copyright AFP/File Filippo MONTEFORTE

The Vatican on Tuesday publishes its first annual report on protecting minors in the Catholic Church, a move requested by Pope Francis amid pressure for more action to tackle clerical child sex abuse.

The Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors said its report will be a “first step towards a process of data gathering and reporting”, and will document “where risks remain, and where advances can be found”.

Pope Francis set up the independent panel of experts in December 2014 amid an avalanche of revelations of sexual abuse by Catholic clergy across the world, and its cover-up.

But the commission has faced strong criticism over its organisation, funding and role, with several high-profile members quitting.

In 2022, Francis incorporated the commission into the Roman Curia — the government of the Holy See — and asked for an annual, “reliable account on what is presently being done and what needs to change”.

The first of these will be published on Tuesday, launched at the Vatican by the commission’s president, US Cardinal Sean O’Malley, the former archbishop of Boston who has spent decades listening to abuse survivors.

In a statement ahead of the launch, the commission described the report as a “new tool”, part of a process to set out clear standards on protecting children and vulnerable adults.

It will be divided into four areas — a review of safeguarding policies in 15 to 20 local churches each year, trends across continents, policies within the Vatican and the Church’s broader role in society.

“It collects resources and practices to be shared across the Universal Church, and makes specific recommendations to promote further progress in safeguarding,” it said.



– Embracing transparency –



Since becoming pope in March 2013, Francis has taken numerous measures to tackle abuse, from opening up internal Church documents to punishing high-ranking clergy, while making it compulsory to report suspicions of sexual assault to Church authorities.

But clergy are still not required to report abuse to civil authorities, unless the laws of that country require it, while any revelations made in confession remain private.

“The global church must implement true zero tolerance on sexual violence by clergy,” Anne Barrett Doyle, co-director of the US group Bishop Accountability, which documents abuse in the Church, told AFP earlier this year.

She called for the Church to name convicted priests and insisted that “any priest found to have abused a child or vulnerable adult or credibly accused of abusing a child or adult must be permanently removed from public ministry”.

For all his efforts so far, she said “Pope Francis has shown an absolute aversion to transparency”.

Maud de Boer Buquicchio, a Dutch lawyer and former UN special rapporteur on the sexual exploitation of children who chaired the abuse commission report, said last week it would help promote a “change of mindset in the Church that embraces accountability and transparency”.

During its compilation, “we have been able to explore many of the concerns about the lack of available data”, she added.

Members of the abuse commission are directly appointed by the pope and are experts in fields related to safeguarding, from clinical psychology to law as well as human rights.

But two members representing abuse survivors resigned in 2017, while last year, influential German Jesuit priest Hans Zollner also quit, complaining about “structural and practical issues”.

Francesco Zanardi, founder of Italian survivors group Rete L’Abuso (The Abuse Network), told AFP in 2023 that the commission was “absolutely useless”.

FOSSIL FOOL

Oil giant BP reports drop in third-quarter net profit

By AFP
October 29, 2024

BP's third quarter performance was hit by lower oil prices and refining margins - Copyright AFP/File SEBASTIEN BOZON

Britain’s BP on Tuesday announced a sharp fall in net profit for the third quarter, with the oil and gas giant hit by weak oil trading and refining margins.

Profit after taxation slumped to $206 million in the three months to September, after a net profit of $4.9 billion in the same period in 2023, BP said in a results statement.

The group earlier this month flagged to markets that its latest earnings would take a sizeable hit after oil prices have fallen on concerns over Chinese demand and the prospect of higher crude production in 2025.

The company’s underlying replacement cost profit excluding exceptional items — a measure of operating earnings — came in at $2.3 billion, down more than $1 billion from a year earlier.

Total revenue dropped around 11 percent to $48.3 billion.

Energy majors have also been impacted by declining gas prices, which have fallen heavily since soaring after the invasion of Ukraine by major energy producer Russia in early 2022.

“In oil and gas, we see the potential to grow through the decade with a focus on value over volume,” chief executive Murray Auchincloss said in an earnings statement.

Looking to the fourth quarter, the company said it expects to report lower upstream production and lower volumes, and for refining margins to remain low.

Despite the results beating analysts expectations, shares in the company dropped around one percent in morning deals on the news.

“Refining margins continue to be a thorn in BP’s side,” said Derren Nathan, head of equity research at Hargreaves Lansdown.

The oil giant is “holding its nerve” by upping its dividend payment and releasing another $1.75 billion to buy back more shares, he added.



– Oil prices –



Global oil demand has been weighed down in recent months by an economic slowdown in China, the world’s largest importer of crude.

“The uncertain economic backdrop, including growth concerns for China, continue to offer uncertainty over future energy demand and usage”, said Keith Bowman, equity analyst at Interactive Investor.

However, oil prices soared in early October on escalating tensions in the Middle East, particularly between Israel and Iran, which drove concerns about supply from the region.

Prices have since eased again after Israel came under international pressure not to strike Iranian oil installations and concerns around Chinese demand reignited.

Under the new CEO Auchincloss, who took up the role in January, BP has said it will focus more on oil and gas to raise profits and has walked away from various climate commitments — a strategy also taken up by its rival Shell.

Earlier this year, BP gave the green light to the Kaskida oil project in the US Gulf of Mexico, the group’s sixth hub in the area, with production set to begin in 2029.

Shell will report its third-quarter earnings on Thursday, after it too warned of lower refining margins.

Olympus CEO resigns over alleged illegal drugs purchase


By AFP
October 28, 2024

Image by Focus35mm — CC BY-SA 4.0

The German CEO of major Japanese optical equipment manufacturer Olympus has stepped down after allegedly buying illegal drugs, the company said on Monday.

Stefan Kaufmann became chief executive officer in April 2023, having served as a board member since 2019. He first joined the European arm of Olympus in 2003.

Olympus shares plunged six percent in morning trade as the company apologised in a statement “for the concern this has caused to our shareholders, customers and all stakeholders”.

“Upon receiving an allegation that Mr Stefan Kaufmann had purchased illegal drugs, Olympus, in consultation with outside legal counsel, immediately investigated the facts, made a report to the investigative authorities, and cooperated fully with their investigation,” it said.

The company’s board of directors then “unanimously determined” that Kaufmann “likely engaged in behaviours that were inconsistent with our global code of conduct”.

Kaufmann, who is reportedly the company’s second non-Japanese president, was asked to offer his resignation which the board then accepted, Olympus added.

Olympus said in 2020 it was selling its struggling camera division to focus on medical equipment. It had been in the camera business since 1936, but struggled along with industry rivals aftr the advent of smartphones.

The storied company has seen success in the medical equipment field, and controls much of the global endoscope market.

Olympus chairman Yasuo Takeuchi will stand in as CEO “for the time being” while the board’s nominating committee considers “all options for a successor”, the company said.

Review: Dr Strangelove opens in London

By Dr. Tim Sandle
DIGITAL JOURNAL

October 28, 2024

Noel Coward Theatre, London. — Image by © Tim Sandle

During the late 1950s and early 1960s, concern over nuclear annihilation peaked with mass membership organisations like the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) leading thousands on protest marches. Today, the threat is arguably greater, having moved on from the Cold War arms race to greater proliferation with weapons held by a wider number of states.

This situation means a new play based on Stanley Kubrick’s 1964 film ‘Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb’ is timely. Not only does the new play satirise the 1960s, it presents a window into the world of today’s political mayhem.

The play, like the film, satirizes the Cold War fears of a nuclear conflict between the Soviet Union and the United States, ridiculing nuclear war planning.

“Gentlemen, you can’t fight in here, this is the War Room!”

The stage adaptation of the film has been created by Armando Iannucci and Sean Foley and it stars the actor Steve Coogan. The play debuted in London’s West End during October 2024, beginning its run at the Noel Coward Theatre on St. Martin’s Lane.Dr Strangelove. Image by © Tim Sandle

In the same way that Peter Sellers pulled off playing four characters, Coogan achieves the same feat and with equal skill and believability. Coogan plays Dr. Strangelove, Captain Mandrake, President Muffley and Major TJ Kong.

The way Coogan is able to change costumes (and hair) to seamlessly move between characters is a tribute to Foley’s direction. There are occasional video interludes to help this process along.

The plot largely follows the film. It begins with the U.S. General Ripper suffering a mental breakdown that triggers a cataclysmic chain of events, beginning with the launching of US missiles at the Soviet Union. Black comedy follows as various characters attempt to thwart the attack, but in a Kafkaesque way they are unable to do so due to the bureaucracy and culture of secrecy that has been created around the command structure, with an added splattering of incompetence.

Dr Strangelove playing at the Noel Coward Theatre. Image by Tim Sandle.

Coogan is great in all four parts, but he is especially hilarious wheelchair-bound and titular former Nazi Dr Strangelove who is struggling to control a mechanical arm.

The ending is pretty stunning and ends on quite a high note with a rendition of ‘We’ll Meet Again’ and a bang.

The play is funny and thought-provoking, well-staged and terrifically acted. It also carries a warning, ahead of the U.S. presidential elections. Trump is often portrayed as a factor of entertainment, yet the decisions he will make, should he win, have global consequences.