Gazing at your dog can connect your brain with theirs, research shows

The Conversation
October 11, 2024 

French bulldog (Shutterstock)

It might sound far-fetched, but recent research suggests that dogs’ and humans’ brains synchronise when they look at each other.

This research, conducted by researchers in China, is the first time that “neural coupling” between different species has been witnessed.

Neural coupling is when the brain activity of two or more individuals aligns during an interaction. For humans, this is often in response to a conversation or story.

Neural coupling has been observed when members of the same species interact, including mice, bats, humans and other primates. This linking of brains is probably important in shaping responses during social encounters and might result in complex behaviour that would not be seen in isolation, such as enhancing teamwork or learning.

When social species interact, their brains “connect”. But this case of it happening between different species raises interesting considerations about the subtleties of the human-dog relationship and might help us understand each other a little better.

What’s new puppy dog?

The dog was one of the first animals humans domesticated. And they have a long history of sharing time and space with us. Dogs are not only companions for us, they also have key roles in our society, including therapeutic support, detecting diseases and protecting and herding livestock.

As a result, dogs have developed some impressive skills, including the ability to recognise and respond to our emotional state.

In the recent study, the researchers studied neural coupling using brain-activity recording equipment called non-invasive electroencephalography (EEG). This uses headgear containing electrodes that detect neural signals – in this case, from the beagles and humans involved in the study.




Looking into those irresistible eyes could help deepen your bond. Wirestock Creators/Shuterstock

Researchers examined what happened to these neural signals when dogs and people were isolated from each other, and in the presence of each other, but without looking at each other. Dogs and humans were then allowed to interact with each other.

Look into my eyes

When dogs and humans gazed at each other and the dogs were stroked, their brain signals synchronised. The brain patterns in key areas of the brain associated with attention, matched in both dog and person.

Dogs and people who became more familiar with each other over the five days of the study had increased synchronisation of neural signals. Previous studies of human-human interactions have found increased familiarity between people also resulted in more closely matching brain patterns. So the depth of relationship between people and dogs may make neural coupling stronger.


The ability of dogs to form strong attachments with people is well known. A 2022 study found the presence of familiar humans could reduce stress responses in young wolves, the dog’s close relative. Forming neural connections with people might be one of the ways by which the dog-human relationship develops.

The researchers also studied the potential effect of differences in the brain on neural coupling. They did this by including dogs with a mutation in a gene called Shank3, which can lead to impaired neural connectivity in brain areas linked with attention. This gene is responsible for making a protein that helps promote communication between cells, and is especially abundant in the brain. Mutations in Shank3 have also been associated with autism spectrum disorder in humans.

Study dogs with the Shank3 mutation did not show the same level of matching brain signals with people, as those without the mutation. This was potentially because of impaired neural signalling and processing.


However, when researchers gave the study dogs with the Shank3 mutation, a single dose of LSD (a hallucinogenic drug), they showed increased levels of attention and restored neural coupling with humans.

LSD is known to promote social behaviour in mice and humans, although clearly there are ethical concerns about such treatment.

The researchers were clear that there remains much to be learned about neural coupling between dogs and humans.


It might well be the case that looking into your dog’s eyes means that your respective brain signals will synchronise and enhance your connection. The more familiar you are with each other, the stronger it becomes, it seems.

So the next time a dog gazes at you with their puppy dog eyes, remember you could be enhancing your relationship.

Jacqueline Boyd, Senior Lecturer in Animal Science, Nottingham Trent University


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

AI affects everyone – including Indigenous people

The Conversation
October 12, 2024

AI (Fabrice COFFRINI/AFP)

Since artificial intelligence (AI) became mainstream over the past two years, many of the risks it poses have been widely documented. As well as fuelling deep fake porn, threatening personal privacy and accelerating the climate crisis, some people believe the emerging technology could even lead to human extinction.

But some risks of AI are still poorly understood. These include the very particular risks to Indigenous knowledges and communities.

There’s a simple reason for this: the AI industry and governments have largely ignored Indigenous people in the development and regulation of AI technologies. Put differently, the world of AI is too white.

AI developers and governments need to urgently fix this if they are serious about ensuring everybody shares the benefits of AI. As Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people like to say, “nothing about us, without us”.
Indigenous concerns

Indigenous peoples around the world are not ignoring AI. They are having conversations, conducting research and sharing their concerns about the current trajectory of it and related technologies.

A well-documented problem is the theft of cultural intellectual property. For example, users of AI image generation programs such as DeepAI can artificially generate artworks in mere seconds which mimic Indigenous styles and stories of art.

This demonstrates how easy it is for someone using AI to misappropriate cultural knowledges. These generations are taken from large data sets of publicly available imagery to create something new. But they miss the storying and cultural knowledge present in our art practices.

AI technologies also fuel the spread of misinformation about Indigenous people.


The internet is already riddled with misinformation about Indigenous people. The long-running Creative Spirits website, which is maintained by a non-Indigenous person, is a prominent example.

Generative AI systems are likely to make this problem worse. They often conflate us with other global Indigenous peoples around the world. They also draw on inappropriate sources, including Creative Spirits.

During last year’s Voice to Parliament referendum in Australia, “no” campaigners also used AI-generated images depicting Indigenous people. This demonstrates the role of AI in political contexts and the harm it can cause to us.


Another problem is the lack of understanding of AI among Indigenous people. Some 40% of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population in Australia don’t know what generative AI is. This reflects an urgent need to provide relevant information and training to Indigenous communities on the use of the technology.

There is also concern about the use of AI in classroom contexts and its specific impact on Indigenous students.

Looking to the future


Hawaiian and Samoan Scholar Jason Lewis says:
We must think more expansively about AI and all the other computational systems in which we find ourselves increasingly enmeshed. We need to expand the operational definition of intelligence used when building these systems to include the full spectrum of behaviour we humans use to make sense of the world.


Key to achieving this is the idea of “Indigenous data sovereignty”. This would mean Indigenous people retain sovereignty over their own data, in the sense that they own and control access to it.

In Australia, a collective known as Maiam nayri Wingara offers important considerations and principles for data sovereignty and governance. They affirm Indigenous rights to govern and control our data ecosystems, from creation to infrastructure.


The National Agreement on Closing the Gap also affirms the importance of Indigenous data control and access.

This is reaffirmed at a global level as well. In 2020, a group of Indigenous scholars from around the world published a position paper laying out how Indigenous protocols can inform ethically created AI. This kind of AI would centralise the knowledges of Indigenous peoples.

In a positive step, the Australian government’s recently proposed set of AI guardrails highlight the importance of Indigenous data sovereignty.


For example, the guardrails include the need to ensure additional transparency and make extra considerations when it comes to using data about or owned by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, to “mitigate the perpetuation of existing social inequalities”.
Indigenous Futurisms

Grace Dillon, a scholar from a group of North American Indigenous people known as the Anishinaabe, first coined the term “Indigenous Futurisms”.


Ambelin Kwaymullina, an academic and futurist practitioner from the Palyku nation in Western Australia, defines it as:
visions of what-could-be that are informed by ancient Aboriginal cultures and by our deep understandings of oppressive systems.


These visions, Kwaymullina writes, are “as diverse as Indigenous peoples ourselves”. They are also unified by “an understanding of reality as living, interconnected whole in which human beings are but one strand of life amongst many, and a non-linear view of time”.

So how can AI technologies be informed by Indigenous ways of knowing?


A first step is for industry to involve Indigenous people in creating, maintaining and evaluating the technologies – rather than asking them retrospectively to approve work already done.

Governments need to also do more than highlight the importance of Indigenous data sovereignty in policy documents. They need to meaningfully consult with Indigenous peoples to regulate the use of these technologies. This consultation must aim to ensure ethical AI behaviour among organisations and everyday users that honours Indigenous worldviews and realities.

AI developers and governments like to claim they are serious about ensuring AI technology benefits all of humanity. But unless they start involving Indigenous people more in developing and regulating the technology, their claims ring hollow.


Tamika Worrell, Senior Lecturer in the Department of Critical Indigenous Studies, Macquarie University

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

Journalist tells Bill Maher evangelicals see Trump as their 'barbarian' 'protector'

Daniel Hampton
October 11, 2024

Reading the Bible (Shutterstock)

A journalist and author told comedian Bill Maher on Friday night that "clear-eyed" evangelicals view former President Donald Trump as an "imperfect" protector from a "culture that has slipped away and a country they don't recognize."

Tim Alberta, a staffer at The Atlantic, joined "Real Time" on HBO to talk about evangelicals his book "The Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory: American Evangelicals in an Age of Extremism."

Maher said he was glad to have Alberta on the show to talk about the key voting subgroup of evangelicals, noting that white evangelicals "break huge" for Trump at more than 80 percent.

The comedian cracked a joke about how he could ask why the group supports "the least religious" and "most immoral" man in the world, but said he'd rather know if evangelicals see a "bigger picture" than the left sees in Trump.

ALSO READ: The Purge is real: Inside the GOP's 2024 playbook to disenfranchise voters

Alberta replied that he sees the group as having what he called a "persecution complex."

While that may seem "silly" to outsiders, not so to them, he said.

"For folks inside the church who believe that the country is slipping away from them, that they no longer recognize the Christian America of their youth, and they believe that Donald Trump is an imperfect vessel for God's perfect will," said Alberta. "And they look at him and say, 'Well, the barbarians are at the gates, maybe we need a barbarian to protect us.'"

Alberta said it resembles a mercenary relationship, as Trump's "bad behavior almost reinforces their support," as a good Christian man wouldn't be as capable of protecting them as Trump. That dynamic allows the former president to have a license to say things that many disagree with.

'So evil': Pro-Trump TV host calls immigrants 'satanic' and 'involved in human sacrifice'

Carl Gibson, AlterNet
October 12, 2024 9:00AM ET

Republican presidential nominee and former U.S. President Donald Trump dances during his rally at Gaylord Rockies Resort and Convention Center in Aurora, Colorado, U.S., October 11, 2024. 

REUTERS/Isaiah J. Downing

A core campaign plank in former President Donald Trump's third bid for the White House is his promise to deport millions of immigrants. A far-right network host took that claim to new depths ahead of a Trump rally on Friday.

Prior to the rally in Aurora, Colorado, host Bobby McNeily of the Right Side Broadcasting Network — an openly pro-Trump outlet — prepped audiences by insisting that immigrants in Aurora were primarily affiliated with the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua (TDA), calling them "so evil."

He went on to baselessly conflate the gang members with other Aurora migrants, suggesting they were pedophiles and even that they were participants in occult practices.

"These people, they are are so evil. They are not your run of the mill criminal. They are people that are satanic. They are involved in human sacrifice," he said. "They are raping men, women, and children — especially underaged children."

Trump has seized on a narrative that has spread among right-wing media outlets that TDA members had taken over the city of Aurora, and highlighted one incident of gang members running amok in a handful of apartment buildings.

Aurora police have identified 10 TDA members in the city, though law enforcement said the gang's activity is "isolated."

Aurora Mayor Mike Coffman — a Republican — has maintained that there is no migrant gang problem in his city and that Trump's claims are not accurate. He invited the former president to accompany him on a tour of Aurora as "an opportunity to show him and the nation that Aurora is a considerably safe city — not a city overrun by Venezuelan gangs."

"My public offer to show him our community and meet with our police chief for a briefing still stands," Coffman told the New York Times. He added that the narrative of migrant gangs taking over apartment buildings was overblown.


“The reality is that the concerns about Venezuelan gang activity have been grossly exaggerated,” Coffman said. “The incidents were limited to several apartment complexes in this city of more than 400,000 residents.”

READ MORE: 'Go back where you came from': Small-town Pennsylvania residents run off far-right YouTuber

In the final weeks of the campaign, Trump is staying out of swing states and is holding rallies in blue states like California, Colorado, Illinois and New York.

This could be a strategy to assist swing district Republicans in liberal states in an effort to keep the lower chamber of Congress in Republican hands. However, one Republican strategist said the ex-president was making a mistake by choosing "optics and vibes" over trying to win over voters in the states most likely to decide the election.Trump has zeroed in on the Haitian migrant communities in Springfield, Ohio and Charleroi, Pennsylvania as groups of immigrants he would deport shortly after taking office should he win the November election

Harris stars on Vogue cover as 'candidate for our times'

Agence France-Presse
October 12, 2024 


A cover shot by celebrity photographer Annie Leibovitz of Kamala Harris in a chocolate-colored suit and a silk blouse, seated in an armchair. Image Credit: Vogue

U.S. Vice President and Democratic White House hopeful Kamala Harris appeared on the cover of Vogue magazine Friday, with the style bible calling her a "candidate for our times."

A cover shot by celebrity photographer Annie Leibovitz captured the 59-year-old in a chocolate-colored suit and a silk blouse, seated in an armchair.

A long article on Harris features a series of largely familiar anecdotes, including the story of her sudden rise to the top of the Democratic ticket after President Joe Biden's shock withdrawal from the race in July.

Harris did speak in the article about the conflict in the Middle East, but gave little away about what she would do to end the crisis if elected in November's tight battle against 78-year-old Donald Trump.

Asked what "new element" she would bring to the table on the conflict, she replied that "I can’t anticipate what the circumstances will be four months from now."

Harris then said that the United States should provide a "pathway" for stability, particularly to end Israel's war in Gaza, even more so than in Lebanon, but provided few details.

Harris, the first female, Black and South Asian vice president in US history, previously starred on the cover of Vogue when she arrived at the White House in 2021.

But the magazine came under fire for the photo, which showed her wearing a pair of Converse Chuck Taylor sneakers, saying it should have chosen a picture more suited to her position.

Vogue editor Anna Wintour has made no secret of her support for the Democrats, and hosted a fundraiser for Biden before he dropped out.


Harris's appearance in the magazine comes amid a major media blitz, from traditional television interviews to chat shows and podcasts, as she seeks to move the dial in a neck-and-neck race with Trump.

Last-minute legal ruling allows betting on US election


By AFP
October 11, 2024


With just a month until the November 5 vote between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris, markets opened after a court in Washington ruled that a startup could take wagers as legal appeals by regulators continue - Copyright AFP/File Mandel NGAN, Erin SCHAFF
Nicholas ROLL

Millions of dollars have poured into bets on who will win the US election after a last-minute court ruling opened up gambling on the vote, upping the stakes on a too-close-to-call race that has already put voters on edge.

Contracts for a Harris victory were trading between 48 and 50 percent in favor of the Democrat on Friday on Interactive Brokers, a firm that has taken advantage of a legal opening created earlier this month in the country’s long running regulatory battle over election markets.

With just a month until the November 5 vote, markets opened after a court in Washington ruled that Kalshi, a startup that has been trying to introduce political betting in the United States for years, could take wagers as legal appeals by regulators against the company continue.

Within days, more than $6.3 million had been put on the line for the Harris-Trump matchup alone, with users also betting on control of the House and Senate.

It’s the latest turn in a yearslong saga between the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and firms wishing to offer election betting — a legal practice in a number of other countries and one that some Americans participate in outside of regulators’ oversight via offshore markets.

More than $1.7 billion has been placed on the Harris-Trump matchup on one such offshore site, Polymarket, where Trump held a 54 to 45 advantage over Harris Friday evening.

Those in favor of gambling — or “event contracts” in finance terms — say it is a legitimate way to hedge bets against adverse outcomes, likening it to futures contracts. Some also argue that the markets are better than polls.

“These contracts are important,” Steve Sanders, executive vice president of marketing and product development at Interactive Brokers, told AFP. “They’re good for people to take a view on what they think is happening and hedge their portfolios.”

In just days, more than 1 million contracts had been traded on Interactive Brokers.



– Polarization, disinformation –



Only two election betting markets were legally operating in the United States before the October 2 ruling, having been granted exemptions due to their affiliation with research projects and the strict limits they placed on the amount people could bet.

But critics worry about widespread election gambling in a polarized moment when basic facts are in dispute and disinformation on which people might base their wagers is abundant.

“I don’t want to be too dramatic, but we live in a country where tens of millions of Americans believe the last presidential election was stolen,” CFTC General Counsel Rob Schwartz said during recent arguments against Kalshi.

“Ensuring the integrity of elections and avoiding improper interference and misinformation are undoubtedly paramount public interests,” Judge Patricia Millett wrote in the decision that allowed bets to be placed while the appeals against Kalshi play out.

But the CFTC had “given this court no concrete basis to conclude that event contracts would likely be a vehicle for such harms.”



– New era for legal betting? –



While the door on political betting might shut again on further appeal, any decision on that would likely come after November 5, meaning markets will stay open through the election.

For Pratik Chougule, co-founder of the Coalition for Political Forecasting, an advocacy group, “it’s been a good year” for his own political wagers so far.

He’s taking a look at opening an account with Interactive Brokers now that it is operating election contracts.

Judges on further appeals might be “a bit more skeptical,” but Chougule told AFP that in recent years the CFTC has warmed up to at least understanding the arguments in favor election markets, even if regulators don’t endorse them.

Read more: https://www.digitaljournal.com/business/last-minute-legal-ruling-allows-betting-on-us-election/article#ixzz8oSRRCbLa

Alexei Navalny wrote he knew he would die in prison in new memoir


By AFP
October 11, 2024

Prominent Russian dissident Alexei Navalny believed he would die in prison, according to his posthumous memoir entitled 'Patriot' which will be published on October 22 - Copyright AFP/File Kirill KUDRYAVTSEV

Russian dissident Alexei Navalny, who was President Vladimir Putin’s top political opponent before his death in February, believed he would die in prison, according to his posthumous memoir which will to be released on October 22.

The New Yorker published excerpts from the book Friday, featuring writing from Navalny’s prison diary and earlier.

“I will spend the rest of my life in prison and die here,” he wrote on March 22, 2022.

“There will not be anybody to say goodbye to … All anniversaries will be celebrated without me. I’ll never see my grandchildren.”

Navalny had been serving a 19-year prison sentence on “extremism” charges in an Arctic penal colony.

His death on February 16 at age 47 drew widespread condemnation, with many blaming Putin.

Navalny was arrested in January 2021 upon returning to Russia after suffering a major health emergency from being poisoned in 2020.

“The only thing we should fear is that we will surrender our homeland to be plundered by a gang of liars, thieves, and hypocrites,” he wrote on January 17, 2022.

The excerpts capture the loneliness of imprisonment, but also a touch of humor.

For instance, on July 1, 2022, Navalny outlined his typical day: wake up at 6:00 am, breakfast at 6:20 am and start work at 6:40 am.

“At work, you sit for seven hours at the sewing machine on a stool below knee height,” he wrote.

“After work, you continue to sit for a few hours on a wooden bench under a portrait of Putin. This is called ‘disciplinary activity.'”

The book, entitled “Patriot,” will be released by US publisher Knopf, which is also planning a Russian version.

“It’s impossible to read Navalny’s prison diary without being outraged by the tragedy of his suffering, and by his death,” wrote New Yorker editor David Remnick.

In the last excerpt published in the magazine, dated January 17, 2024, Navalny responds to the question asked to him by his fellow inmates and prison guards: why did he return to Russia?

“I don’t want to give up my country or betray it. If your convictions mean something, you must be prepared to stand up for them and make sacrifices if necessary,” he said.

Small Quebec company dominates one part of NHL hockey: jerseys

By AFP
October 12, 2024

An employee works on a jersey at SP Apparel in Saint-Hyacinthe, Quebec; the Canadian firm makes jerseys for all 32 NHL teams 

- Copyright AFP Sebastien ST-JEAN

Anne-Marie PROVOST

As a sport that involves men colliding at high speeds, bare-knuckle brawls, and a fair number of players with missing front teeth, ice hockey is not commonly linked to high fashion.

But SP Apparel, a Canadian company based east of Montreal that makes the jerseys worn by all 32 National Hockey League (NHL) teams, says superior material and meticulous craftmanship have kept it at the top of the game.

“It’s like haute couture,” Steve Berard, president of the company with 260 employees in the city of Saint-Hyacinthe in Quebec province, told AFP.

SP Apparel has been making jerseys for the NHL for 50 years, through nearly half the league’s 107-year history.

For the last 25 years, it has also made the uniforms for all national ice hockey teams competing at the Olympics.

Being based in a hockey-mad nation, which has consistently produced many of the sport’s top stars, has helped SP Apparel retain its primacy in hockey apparel, Berard said.

But the quality of the product is paramount, he stressed.

“These are not jerseys made on a production line,” Berard said. “There are 90 pieces to assemble, with different colors and materials.”

– Brutal wear and tear –

The company says its products are made to withstand particularly brutal wear and tear.

So, while there are a few industrial machines like laser fabric cutters at its 9,000-square meter (97,000-square foot) factory, seamstresses with simple sewing machines do the assembly work.

An NHL jersey is worn only five to 20 times on average. That depends partly on the individual player’s amount of ice time, and partly on his style of play in a sport where fights can involve grabbing or even tearing an opponent’s jersey.

The company estimates that it makes 300,000 to 500,000 units per year, including hockey jerseys and socks, as well as the uniforms it makes for major junior Canadian Hockey League and baseball teams (but not those in the major leagues).

During past Winter Olympics, SP Apparel sent tailors on site to make any repairs or adjustments required during the Games.

Tania Berlinguette, SP Apparel’s executive director, told AFP the company also accommodates “special requests for certain players,” notably Pittsburgh Penguins star Sidney Crosby.

“We make his socks slightly larger because his calves are a little bigger than average,” Berlinguette said.

– ‘Through our hands’ –

Staff said the most popular jersey on the factory floor belongs to the Vegas Golden Knights, with fine detailing that nods to a knight’s mesh armor, and the words “Always Advance. Never Retreat” on the inner collar.

Lyne Gagne, who has worked at SP Apparel for 35 years and now oversees a department responsible for a jersey’s final detailing, said the work has changed considerably over the years.

Jerseys are now “much more adapted to the players’ movements,” she said.

“They used to be straight cut, with big sleeves, with five to 10 pieces. Now they hug the body and the material is different,” she said.

The predominance of SP Apparel’s jerseys at hockey’s highest levels is a “source of pride” for employees, she told AFP.

“When you watch a hockey game, you know that the jersey has passed through our hands.”

Nobel prize a timely reminder, Hiroshima locals say

By AFP
October 12, 2024

Around 140,000 people died when the United States dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945 

- Copyright AFP Philip FONG

Kyoko HASEGAWA

Just like the dwindling group of survivors now recognised with a Nobel prize, the residents of Hiroshima hope that the world never forgets the atomic bombing of 1945 — now more than ever.

Susumu Ogawa, 84, was five when the bomb dropped by the United States all but obliterated the Japanese city 79 years ago, and many of his family were among the 140,000 people killed.

“My mother, my aunt, my grandfather,and my grandfather all died in the atomic bombing,” Ogawa told AFP a day after the survivors’ group Nihon Hidankyo was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

Ogawa himself recalls very little but the snippets he garnered later from his surviving relatives and others painted a hellish picture.

“All they could do was to evacuate and save their own lives, while they saw other people (perish) inside the inferno,” he said.

“All nuclear weapons in the world have to be abandoned,” he said. “We know the horror of nuclear weapons, because we know what happened in Hiroshima.”

What is happening now in the Middle East saddens him greatly.

“Why do people fight each other? …hurting each other won’t bring anything good,” he said.



– ‘Great thing’ –



On a sunny Saturday, many tourists and some residents were strolling around the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park to the bomb’s 140,000 victims.

A preserved skeleton of a building close to ground zero of the “Little Boy” bomb and a statue of a girl with outstretched arms are poignant reminders of the devastation.

Jung Jaesuk, 43, a South Korean primary school teacher visiting the site, said the Nobel was a “a victory for (grassroots) people.”

“Tension in East Asia is intensifying so we have to boost anti-nuclear movement,” he told AFP.

Kiyoharu Bajo, 69, a retired business consultant, decided to take in the atmosphere of the site after the “great thing” that was the Nobel award.

With Ukraine and the Middle East, the world “faces crises that we’ve not experienced since the Second World War in terms of nuclear weapons,” he told AFP.

The stories told by the Nihon Hidankyo group of “hibakusha”, as the survivors of the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki are known, “have to be known to the world,” he said.

He said he hopes that the Nobel prize will help “the experiences of atomic bomb survivors spread further spread around the world” including by persuading people to visit Hiroshima.



– Future generations –



Kiwako Miyamoto, 65, said the Nobel prize was a “great thing, because even some locals here are indifferent” to what happened.

“In Hiroshima, you pray on August 6, and children go to school”, even though the date is during summer vacation, she told AFP.

“But I was surprised to see that outside Hiroshima, some people don’t know (so much about it)” she said.

She said that like many people in Hiroshima, she personally knows people whose relatives died in the bombing or who witnessed it.

With the average age among members of the Nihon Hidankyo over 85, it is vital that young people continue to be taught about what happened, added Bajo.

“I was born 10 years after the atom bomb was dropped, so there were many atom bomb survivors around me. I felt the incident as something familiar to me,” he said.

“But for the future, it will be an issue.”

Buried Nazi past haunts Athens on liberation anniversary


By AFP
October 12, 2024

Traditionally attired women carry a Greek flag on Acropolis hill during the liberation commemoration

 - Copyright AFP Philip FONG

Hélène COLLIOPOULOU

A brass sculpture of a naked man being garrotted, a monument evoking prison bars and a sign are the only hints this sleepy central Athens street once housed the Gestapo’s headquarters.

As Athens marks 80 years since its liberation from Nazi Germany in World War II this weekend, historians lament that this modest memorial is typical of the lack of attention paid to one of the most horrific periods in Greece’s history.

In the basement below where a cosmetics store stands today, Adolf Hitler’s secret police would beat, maim and torment their opponents, with thousands of resistance members arrested, tortured and killed during the Nazi occupation of 1941-44.

“In another European country this place would be a museum,” Menelaos Charalampidis, a historian of the time told AFP by telephone.

Across Greece, 250,000 people died as a result of famine during the Nazi occupation, including some 45,000 in Athens and Piraeus, the capital’s major port nearby.

More than 86 percent of Greece’s Jews were deported to be exterminated in the Holocaust.

To bring this dark chapter of the capital’s history to light, Charalampidis launched Athens History Walks, an initiative preserving locations where the Nazi occupation left its mark.

“Places of remembrance of this difficult period in Athens are not highlighted enough, and for some major events there are not even any monuments,” he said.

For example, there is no monument to the famine’s many victims, the historian noted — an omission which may have to do with what happened after Greece was freed.



– A ‘traumatised society’ –



Greece annually commemorates October 28, 1940, when its strongman leader Ioannis Metaxas refused Italian fascist leader Benito Mussolini’s ultimatum to surrender or face invasion.

Yet scant attention is paid to October 12, 1944, when Greece’s foremost resistance group ELAS marched through Syntagma Square in central Athens to the applause of hundreds of thousands of people.

That historic moment marking Greece’s freedom from the Nazi yoke was soon overshadowed by violence and clashes between the communist ELAS and British-backed royalist government for control of the country.

The ensuing 1946-1949 civil war saw the communists defeated and led to decades of political turmoil.

“The civil war in Greece, as in Spain, deeply traumatised society, making it impossible to deal with certain events of the past and move forward as a society,” said historian Tasoula Vervenioti.

“If we don’t deal with our past, we run the risk of losing our places of remembrance,” she warned.

This year, the Athens city council urged the public to take part in a series of conferences and exhibitions to “honour those who fought for democracy and freedom”.

“We are keeping memories alive so that younger people can learn and determine their future with strength and vigour,” the city’s socialist Mayor Haris Doukas said in a statement.



– ‘Loss of memory’ –



Charalampidis argued that because the Greek resistance effort was mainly by the left, successive conservative governments that followed the civil war had little interest in celebrating it.

It was not until 1982, after the country’s first socialist government came to power following decades of conservative rule, that the main left-wing portion of Greece’s ‘national resistance’ was officially recognised by parliament.

Taboos over the authorities’ actions during the civil war have also stifled historical research into the era.

In 2017, the left-wing government of Alexis Tsipras created a special Directorate for the History of the Greek Police to investigate, among other issues, collaboration with the Nazis.

But some files have still not been integrated into the Greek national archives, meaning that regular access is not guaranteed, experts say.

“We have a major problem in Greece concerning the upkeep of archives and our historical culture,” Charalampidis said.

“Governments are not interested in it and so there is a loss of memory despite our important history.”

Extent of anti-money laundering revealed: Report



By Dr. Tim Sandle
October 11, 2024


Image: - © POOL/AFP/File Patrick Pleul

The Anti-Money Laundering Megaminds Report finds that 70 percent of experts warn the fight against money laundering is failing. This comes from the anti-money laundering (AML) automation company Strise.

Is the fight against money laundering failing? Most AML professionals agree that current measures are inefficient, citing outdated legacy systems, fragmented data, and overwhelming false positives as major obstacles. One expert emphasised that “relying on outdated technology is like bringing a knife to a gunfight” calling for urgent modernisation of AML infrastructure.

By synthesising over 60 hours of in-depth conversations from The Laundry podcast, one of the industry’s leading podcasts on money laundering, the report details the output from artificial intelligence systems used to identify critical trends shaping the future of AML and financial crime prevention.

What are the top threats in financial crime?

Experts warn of rising threats, including cyber-enabled financial crimes, sophisticated sanctions evasion techniques using decentralised finance (DeFi), and the expansion of professional money laundering networks. Emerging technologies are making financial crimes more complex and harder to detect.

Emerging technologies

The report provides insights on the effectiveness of sanctions, the inefficiency of current AML systems, and the transformative potential of emerging technologies like AI and machine learning.

Pioneering the use of AI in financial crime intelligence

The AML Megaminds Report is an authoritative, data-backed resource that is both forward-thinking and practical, according to Marit Rødevand, CEO & co-founder of Strise and The Laundry host. Rødevand adds: “This report is a game-changer. By using AI to weave together the experiences and insights of over 80+ financial crime professionals, we’re offering a uniquely holistic view of the industry’s most critical challenges and opportunities. It’s an invaluable tool for anyone involved in financial crime prevention, and we’re proud to be at the forefront of this innovation.”

Is the industry suffering from sanctions fatigue?

While sanctions remain a vital tool, 40 percent of experts believe they are not fully effective. Many questioned their long-term impact and pointed to issues such as “sanctions fatigue” and the potential for driving illicit activities further underground. Others, however, highlighted success stories such as the freezing of Russian oligarchs’ assets, showcasing the importance of better-targeted sanctions and stronger enforcement.

Companies must also invest in the best available systems. Here regulatory pressure is the primary driver for making financial crime prevention a priority at the senior management level. The threat of significant fines and reputational damage compels boards to focus on compliance and crime prevention initiatives.

What are the main solutions for tackling financial crime?

Reframing financial crime as a public health issue could allow governments to allocate resources similarly to how they handle pandemics, with emergency powers to freeze assets, force cooperation from private entities, and impose mandatory reporting for suspicious activities. Other solutions include mandating the use of AI for all financial institutions, traditional banking secrecy laws, or creating public beneficial ownership registries with blockchain verification.

Rødevandcontinues: “Financial crime impacts every facet of society, and we can no longer afford to operate in silos. This report is not only a synthesis of expert opinion but a catalyst for change. We can’t keep doing the same things and expect different results. The inefficiency identified by the majority of experts signals that it’s time for a paradigm shift in how we approach AML efforts.”

TD Bank to pay more than $3 bn to US in money-laundering case


By A FP
October 10, 2024


TD Bank has agreed to pay $3 billion in penalties for failing to adequately monitor money laundering by drug cartels, US officials say - Copyright GETTY IMAGES/AFP SPENCER PLATT

Canada’s TD Bank has agreed to pay more than $3 billion in penalties for failing to adequately monitor money laundering by drug cartels, US officials said Thursday.

TD Bank, the 10th largest bank in the United States, has pleaded guilty to multiple felonies including violating the Bank Secrecy Act and conspiracy to commit money laundering, Attorney General Merrick Garland said.

“TD Bank created an environment that allowed financial crime to flourish by making its services convenient for criminals,” Garland said at a press conference.

“Our anti-money laundering laws dictate that a bank that willfully fails to protect against criminal schemes is also a criminal,” Garland said. “That is what TD Bank was.”

Garland said that between January 2014 and October 2023, TD Bank failed to monitor $18.3 trillion in customer activity, allowing three money laundering networks to transfer over $670 million through TD Bank accounts.

Under the settlement, TD Bank will pay $1.8 billion to the Justice Department and another $1.3 billion assessed by the US Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN).

Criminal investigations into individual employees at TD Bank were “active and ongoing,” Garland said.