Long-shut factory helps COVID-struck Afghans breathe free


1 of 9 https://apnews.com/4f87093bd1b898229b53169980f7f4ca
A man helps his father to drink juice at the Afghan-Japan Communicable Disease Hospital, for COVID-19 patients, in Kabul, Afghanistan, Thursday June 18, 2020. Afghan media reported last week that several COVID-19 patients died in government hospitals due to a shortages of medical oxygen, though the government denied the reports. (AP Photo/Rahmat Gul)

A man tests oxygen at a privately owned oxygen factory, in Kabul, Afghanistan, Thursday June 18, 2020. For seven years, Najibullah Seddiqi's oxygen factory sat idle in the Afghan capital Kabul. He shut it down, he says, because corruption and power cuts made it impossible to work. But when the novel coronavirus began racing through his country, he opened the factory's dusty gates and went back to work. Now he refills hundreds of oxygen cylinders a day for free for COVID-19 patients — and at reduced rates for hospitals. (AP Photo/Rahmat Gul)

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Seven years ago, Najibullah Seddiqi closed his oxygen factory, frustrated with power cuts and with rampant corruption that kept him from getting contracts with hospitals.

But as the coronavirus raced through Afghanistan, he knew he had to help.

“I saw a man crying for his wife who died from coronavirus due to lack of oxygen,” Seddiqi said. “That moment I made the decision to reopen my factory.”

Now relatives of Afghans ailing with COVID-19 line up at his factory in the capital city of Kabul for free refills that can keep their loved ones alive.

Afghanistan has struggled with shortages of medical oxygen under the pandemic. The country gets its oxygen cylinders from abroad. Until recently, imports were halted by sealed borders.

Prices for new canisters have skyrocketed 10-fold, to 20,000 Afghanis ($250). With people stockpiling as much as they can, the price to refill a canister is now 2,000 Afghanis, or $25, five times what it once was. Many accuse retailers of price gouging and the government of failing to ensure a supply.


A man carries an oxygen tank from a privately owned oxygen factory, in Kabul, Afghanistan, Thursday June 18, 2020. For seven years, Najibullah Seddiqi's oxygen factory sat idle in the Afghan capital Kabul. He shut it down, he says, because corruption and power cuts made it impossible to work. But when the novel coronavirus began racing through his country, he opened the factory's dusty gates and went back to work. Now he refills hundreds of oxygen cylinders a day for free for COVID-19 patients — and at reduced rates for hospitals. (AP Photo/Rahmat Gul)


So Seddiqi’s free service is a godsend for the many poor hit by the virus. Minivans of people bringing cylinders roll in as word of the distribution spreads on social media.

“This factory is doing great work offering it for free,” said Bilal Hamidi as he waited on the crumbling concrete floor.

Hamidi said he fills three small cylinders a day for his brother, who was infected while caring for their mother. She died of COVID-19 in early June.

The factory, closed and long idle, is dusty. Parts are run-down. But when Seddiqi reopened the doors to resume production, everything still worked.
“I’m happy I didn’t sell these machines,” said Seddiqi, who also owns an ice factory.

He hired 12 men, working in two shifts. Seddiqi even moved in temporarily so he’s always on hand: “I’m worried that I go home and someone in intense need comes late at night and doesn’t find anyone to help them.”

His factory refills 200 to 300 small cylinders a day free for COVID-19 patients. For hospitals and retail sellers, he fills close to 700 large cylinders a day for 300 Afghanis each, or $3.80. That’s far cheaper than the going rate but it’s enough to cover his free distribution, he said.


NOT UNLIKE THE CANADIAN LIQUID AIR PLANT I WORKED AT IN THE SEVENTIES

AND NO THIS IS NOT AS EASY AS IT SEEMS AND IF THEY FALL IT CAN BE DANGEROUS IF A NOZZLE BREAKS OFF THE CANISTER BECOMES A TORPEDO

Retailers insist they are not jacking up prices. Imports of cylinders from the United Arab Emirates and China stopped for months amid pandemic restrictions. They recently resumed, but “unbalanced supply and demand has caused prices to rise,” said Khanjan Alkozai, a board member at the Afghanistan Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

Afghan media reported last week that several COVID-19 patients died in government hospitals due to lack of oxygen, though the government denied it.

Lawmaker Fatima Aziz, who has been infected by the coronavirus, posted a video from her bed, an oxygen tube in her nose. She blamed corruption and government failures.

“People lose their life for two drops of oxygen,” she said. “I curse all the mafias in this business that take advantage.”

The Health Ministry’s deputy spokeswoman, Masooma Jafari, said shortages at hospitals are being resolved. She said the Health Ministry ordered oxygen factories to give the health sector priority over industry.

Seddiqi’s factory is one of six in Kabul that produce oxygen — but his is the only one giving free refills.

“My only aim is to save as many lives as I can,” he said. “When the virus spread ends, then I’ll go home.”

Video: Florida police laugh after shooting rubber bullets

BOYS AND THEIR TOYS

By KELLI KENNEDY

1 of 4
LaToya Ratlieff looks at a photograph of herself, Friday, June 12, 2020, in Lauderhill, Fla. Ratlieff was hit in the face by a police officer's rubber bullet during a Fort Lauderdale protest over the death of George Floyd on May 31. Protests continue in support of Floyd, a black man who died while in police custody in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)


FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — Newly released body camera footage shows Florida police officers laughing and celebrating after shooting rubber bullets at a protest last month in which a Black woman was shot in the face and seriously injured.

Fort Lauderdale police posted a video on its official YouTube channel Wednesday taken from the body camera of Detective Zachary Baro, who was leading the department’s SWAT team unit on May 31. At one point in the video, Baro can be heard saying, “Beat it” and using a profanity, after officers shot the less lethal projectiles.

LaToya Ratlieff was hit in the face with a rubber bullet during what had been a largely peaceful demonstration less than a week after the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis police custody. The 34-year-old said she suffered a fractured skull and required 20 stitches. She couldn’t eat for a week and still has trouble seeing out of one blood-filled eye.

She’s asked to sit down with the police department to discuss reform and make sure there’s accountability going forward. However, her spokesman, Evan Ross, said the city has not yet accepted her invitation.

“I’m heartbroken. We deserve better,” she said in response to the latest video.

A Fort Lauderdale police officer was charged with battery during that same protest after video showed he pushed a kneeling woman to the ground. Witnesses said the peaceful gathering took an angry turn after that and protesters responded by throwing bottles. The officer’s colleagues quickly pushed him away from the woman and down the street.

During another section of the new video released Wednesday, Baro incorrectly tells another officer that his camera is not recording and the two officers begin laughing and joking about the people they had shot with rubber bullets.

Fort Lauderdale Police Chief Rick Maglione said the department was conducting an exhaustive review of nearly 8,000 minutes of body camera footage, with a report to be completed within the next month.

“The entire video clearly demonstrates our officers were under attack by a group of people who chose to use violence instead of peace to antagonize the situation,” Maglione said in a statement. “Although the language is extreme, and offensive to some, our officers were dealing with the chaos of a developing situation.”

Several disturbing videos have emerged from that protest in recent weeks. Ratlieff said they’re traumatizing and make her feel like she’s relieving the moment. She often turns them off.

One graphic witness video shows Ratlieff wearing a bright pink backpack, bending over and coughing from the tear gas. As she walks away from police, they fire a rubber bullet and a protester grabs her hand and tries to hurry her. A second shot cracks loudly through the air and Ratlieff crumples to the concrete with a bone-chilling cry.

“She’s hurt, she’s hurt. She’s bleeding,” a witness screams frantically, as several gather around her and blood is seen pouring onto the ground.

A stranger tore off his shirt and applied pressure to her head as another stranger drove her to the hospital.

Ratlieff has an attorney, but hasn’t filed a lawsuit, saying it’s not about money. She testified this week before the U.S. House Subcommittee on Civil Rights & Civil Liberties during a briefing on government violence against peaceful civil rights protesters.

“I just didn’t want to think that the police did that,” she said. “I still want to understand why ... not having those answers, it does leave me in a place of frustration.”

___

David Fischer contributed to this report in Miami

UPDATED 

Landslide at Myanmar jade mine kills at least 162 people

By ZAW MOE HTET and PYAE SONE WIN

1 of 12 https://apnews.com/8d689af35b5f65e0971b1e6b5af5b611

People gather near the bodies of victims of a landslide near a jade mining area in Hpakant, Kachine state, northern Myanmar Thursday, July 2, 2020. Myanmar government says a landslide at a jade mine has killed dozens of people. (AP Photo/Zaw Moe Htet)


HPAKANT, Myanmar (AP) — At least 162 people were killed Thursday in a landslide at a jade mine in northern Myanmar, the worst in a series of deadly accidents at such sites in recent years that critics blame on the government’s failure to take action against unsafe conditions.

The Myanmar Fire Service Department, which coordinates rescues and other emergency services, announced about 12 hours after the morning disaster that 162 bodies had been recovered from the landslide in Hpakant, the center of the world’s biggest and most lucrative jade mining industry.

The most detailed estimate of Myanmar’s jade industry said it generated about $31 billion in 2014. Hpakant is a rough and remote area in Kachin state, 950 kilometers (600 miles) north of Myanmar’s biggest city, Yangon.

“The jade miners were smothered by a wave of mud,” the Fire Service said.

It said 54 injured people were taken to hospitals. The tolls announced by other state agencies and media lagged behind the fire agency, which was most closely involved. An unknown number of people are feared missing.

Those taking part in the recovery operations, which were suspended after dark, included the army and other government units and local volunteers.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres expressed deep sadness at the deaths, sent condolences to families of the victims and Myanmar’s government and people.

Gutteres reiterated “the readiness of the United Nations to contribute to ongoing efforts to address the needs of the affected population,” said his spokesman, Stephane Dujarric.

The London-based environmental watchdog Global Witness said the accident “is a damning indictment of the government”s failure to curb reckless and irresponsible mining practices in Kachin state’s jade mines.”

“The government should immediately suspend large-scale, illegal and dangerous mining in Hpakant and ensure companies that engage in these practices are no longer able to operate,” Global Witness said in a statement.

At the site of the tragedy, a crowd gathered in the rain around corpses shrouded in blue and red plastic sheets placed in a row on the ground.

Emergency workers had to slog through heavy mud to retrieve bodies by wrapping them in the plastic sheets, which were then hung on crossed wooden poles shouldered by the recovery teams.

Social activists have complained that the profitability of jade mining has led businesses and the government to neglect enforcement of already very weak regulations in the jade mining industry.

“The multi-billion dollar sector is dominated by powerful military-linked companies, armed groups and cronies that have been allowed to operate without effective social and environmental controls for years,” Global Witness said. Although the military is no longer directly in power in Myanmar, it is still a major force in government and exercises authority in remote regions

Thursday’s death toll surpasses that of a November 2015 accident that left 113 dead and was previously considered the country’s worst. In that case, the victims died when a 60-meter (200-foot) -high mountain of earth and waste discarded by several mines tumbled in the middle of the night, covering more than 70 huts where miners slept.

Those killed in such accidents are usually freelance miners who settle near giant mounds of discarded earth that has been excavated by heavy machinery. The freelancers who scavenge for bits of jade usually work and live in abandoned mining pits at the base of the mounds of earth, which become particularly unstable during the rainy season.

Most scavengers are unregistered migrants from other areas, making it hard to determine exactly how many people are actually missing after such accidents and in many cases leaving the relatives of the dead in their home villages unaware of their fate.

Global Witness, which investigates misuse of revenues from natural resources, documented the $31 billion estimate for Myanmar’s jade industry in a 2015 report that said most of the wealth went to individuals and companies tied to the country’s former military rulers. More recent reliable figures are not readily available.

It said at the time the report was released that the legacy to local people of such business arrangements “is a dystopian wasteland in which scores of people at a time are buried alive in landslides.”

In its statement Thursday, Global Witness blamed the civilian government of Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy party, which came to power in 2016, for failing “to implement desperately needed reforms, allowing deadly mining practices to continue and gambling the lives of vulnerable workers in the country’s jade mines.”

Jade mining also plays a role in the decades-old struggle of ethnic minority groups in Myanmar’s borderlands to take more control of their own destiny.

The area where members of the Kachin minority are dominant is poverty stricken despite hosting lucrative deposits of rubies as well as jade.

The Kachin believe they are not getting a fair share of the profits from deals that the central government makes with mining companies.

Kachin guerrillas have engaged in intermittent but occasionally heavy combat with government troops.

___

Pyae Son Win reported from Yangon, Myanmar.

More than 100 dead in landslide at Myanmar jade mine

ARTISANAL MINING

Issued on: 02/07/2020 -


Rescue workers carry a dead body following a landslide at a mining site in Hpakant, Kachin State City, Myanmar on July 2, 2020, in this picture obtained from social media. © Myanmar Fire Services Department via Reuters

Text by:NEWS WIRES

The bodies of at least 100 jade miners were pulled from the mud after a landslide in northern Myanmar on Thursday, in one of the worst ever accidents to hit the perilous industry.

Scores die each year while working in the country’s lucrative but poorly regulated jade industry, which uses low-paid migrant workers to scrape out a gem highly coveted in China.

The disaster struck after an early bout of heavy rainfall close to the Chinese border in Kachin state, the Myanmar Fire Services Department said in a Facebook post.

“The miners were smothered by a wave of mud,” the statement said. “A total of 113 bodies have been found so far.”

They had apparently defied a warning not to work the treacherous open mines during the rains, local police told AFP.

Rescuers worked all morning to retrieve the bodies from a mud lake, pulling them to the surface and using tyres as makeshift rafts.

Police told AFP that 99 bodies were found by noon, with another 20 injured.

They said search and rescue efforts had been suspended because of more heavy rains.

The workers were scavenging for the gemstones on the sharp mountainous terrain in Hpakant township, where furrows from earlier digs had already loosened the earth.

Photos posted on the fire service Facebook page showed a search and rescue team wading through a valley flooded by the mudslide.

Rescuers carried bodies wrapped in tarpaulins out of the mud lake as a deluge poured down from above.

Unverified footage of the scene showed a torrent of sludge crashing through the terrain as workers scrambled up the sharp escarpments.

Chinese demand

Police said the death toll could have been even higher if authorities had not warned people to stay away from the mining pits the day before.

“It could have been hundreds of people dead—more than this, but the notice might have saved some,” superintendent Than Win Aung told AFP.

Open jade mines have pockmarked Hpakant’s remote terrain and given it the appearance of a vast moonscape.

Landslides in the area are common, especially when rainfall hammers the muddy terrain during Myanmar’s notoriously severe monsoon season.

The workers combing through the earth are often from impoverished ethnic communities who are looking for scraps left behind by big firms.

A major collapse in November 2015 left more than 100 dead.

A mudslide buried more than 50 workers last year, when a days long recovery effort saw police digging through a “mud lake” to retrieve bodies from the sludge.

Myanmar is one of the world’s main sources of jadeite and the industry is largely driven by insatiable demand for the green gem from neighbouring China.


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The mines are mired in secrecy, though Global Witness claims their operators are linked to former junta figures, the military elite and their cronies.

The watchdog estimated that the industry was worth some $31 billion in 2014, although very little reaches state coffers.

Northern Myanmar’s abundant natural resources—including jade, timber, gold and amber—help finance both sides of a decades-long civil war between ethnic Kachin insurgents and the military.

The fight to control the mines and the revenues they bring frequently traps local civilians in the middle.

(AFP)

US seizes Chinese products made from human hair in forced labor crackdown

Issued on: 02/07/2020 -

A US Customs and Border Protection officer at the Port of New York/Newark inspects a shipment of hair pieces and accessories from China suspected to have been made with forced or prison labor Handout US Customs and Border Protection/AFP
Washington (AFP)

US customs officials said Wednesday they had seized a shipment of products made from human hair believed to be made by Muslims in labor camps in the country's western Xinjiang province.

They were part of an $800,000, 13-ton shipment from Lop County Meixin Hair Product Co. US Customs and Border Protection ordered on June 17 that the company's goods be held on grounds it uses prison and forced labor, including from children.

"The production of these goods constitutes a very serious human rights violation," said Brenda Smith, executive assistant commissioner for trade at CBP.

"The detention order is intended to send a clear and direct message to all entities seeking to do business with the United States that illicit and inhumane practices will not be tolerated in US supply chains."

Lop County Meixin was the third Xinjiang exporter of human hair -- typically used in weaves and extensions -- to be blacklisted in recent months for using forced labor.

The announcement came as the US State, Commerce, Treasury and Homeland Security departments warned US businesses to beware importing goods through supply chains that involve forced or prison labor in Xinjiang and elsewhere in China.

And they also warned companies against supplying surveillance tools to be used by authorities in Xinjiang, or aiding in the construction of facilities used in the mass detention of Muslims and minorities in the province.

The Chinese government "continues to carry out a campaign of repression in Xinjiang, targeting Uyghurs, ethnic Kazakhs, ethnic Kyrgyz, and members of other Muslim minority groups," the State Department said.

Businesses that expose themselves to this "should be aware of the reputational, economic, and legal risks," they said.

© 2020 AFP

DESPICABLE ME
Unpopular New Zealand health minister quits after COVID lapse
Issued on: 02/07/2020

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern (L) said the minister's presence had become a distraction. He had also been accused of blaming top health official Ashley Bloomfield (R) Marty MELVILLE AFP/

Wellington (AFP)

New Zealand's health minister resigned Thursday after a public backlash over his breach of lockdown and his criticism of the civil servant responsible for the country's world-leading coronavirus response.

Outgoing minister David Clark was already under a cloud after breaking lockdown in April and Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, who faces an election in September, admitted his presence had become a distraction.

"It's essential our health leadership has the confidence of the New Zealand public," she said.


"As David has said to me, the needs of the team must come before him as an individual."

Clark described himself as "an idiot" in April after admitting he breached strict lockdown orders by taking a 20-kilometre (12-mile) drive to the beach with his family.

He kept his job but was kept out of the public eye, with health department director-general Ashley Bloomfield appearing alongside Ardern to give daily updates on the coronavirus crisis.

As the success of New Zealand's response became apparent -- it has recorded only 22 deaths in a population of five million -- the bespectacled Bloomfield became wildly popular, with fans printing his face on tea towels and posting tributes on social media.

It meant there was public anger when Clark criticised Bloomfield for a series of mistakes linked to border quarantine and footage went viral of the minister admonishing his subordinate as the civil servant stood by looking crestfallen.

Critics said it was "like kicking a puppy" and accused Clark of throwing Bloomfield "under a bus".

Announcing his resignation, Clark insisted he had a warm relationship with Bloomfield and singled him out for praise.

"He is an exceptional public servant," Clark told reporters.

"Thank you Ashley and your team for the extraordinary work you have done for our country during our most serious health crisis in a century."

Clark denied he was pushed from his ministerial position ahead of the September 19 election, saying he only stayed on after breaking lockdown because he did not want to leave in the midst of a health emergency.

"Now that we're on a stable footing, it feels appropriate to let someone else take the reins," he said.

Ardern said Education Minister Chris Hipkins would handle the health portfolio until the election.

If the government is re-elected, Ardern did not rule out another ministerial role for Clark, who plans to stay in parliament.

Uruguay rides out COVID threat without imposing a lockdown

Issued on: 02/07/2020 -

Women jog along the seafront of Uruguay's capital Montevideo, where government strategy has kept the coronavirus pandemic under control Mariana SUAREZ AFP/File
Montevideo (AFP)

Uruguay's president was recently photographed surfing in the early morning ahead of a cabinet meeting, symbolizing his government's relief that a policy of "freedom with responsibility" in containing the COVID-19 pandemic is succeeding.

Photos of 47-year-old Luis Lacalle Pou emerging from the South Atlantic in a wetsuit with a board under his arm and a smile on his lips hit the newsstands on Tuesday, as Europe reopened its borders to 15 countries.

The list included only one Latin American country: Uruguay.

With less than 1,000 registered novel coronavirus cases and just 27 deaths, the country of 3.4 million is a notable exception in a region that has become the epicenter of the global health crisis.

Uruguay currently has just 83 active cases, while its giant neighbor Brazil is the world's worst-hit country after the United States.

This success is especially remarkable as there never was an official lockdown.

- Closures, but no lockdown -

Instead, amid industry furloughs and school and border closures, officials urged people to stay indoors and strictly adhere to social distancing.

The message was drilled home in the media and by police helicopters flying overhead.

The center-right president, who took office in early March as the pandemic was heating up, has said he opted for "individual freedom" rather than "a police regime."

The calls for self-isolation were widely followed.

Infectious diseases specialist Alvaro Galiana attributes Uruguay's success to early tracing.

"The early appearance of well known cases, at a time when the circulation of the virus within the population was very limited, led to adequate measures being implemented -- even if at the time they seemed exaggerated -- right at the start of the school year," Galiana said, referring to the southern hemisphere's school year.

Uruguay's demographics were also in its favor, given a low population density and the absence of large urban centers outside of the capital Montevideo.

- Gradual easing -

Uruguay chose to ease back to normal gradually, beginning in April with the return of 45,000 construction workers. Later, cafes and restaurants reopened, followed by gyms in May.

Shopping centers reopened in mid-June and football, the national passion, is due to resume on August 15, though in empty stadiums.

The economic shock however has been considerable: 200,000 people are unemployed, a massive spike from the 10,000 at the start of the pandemic. Exports fell 16 percent in the first half of the year, and GDP is expected to fall by 3.0 percent this year.

The IMF is forecasting a 9.4 percent contraction for all of Latin America this year.

The government is also relaxing requirements in a bid to attract foreign investment.

This week, Uruguay became the first country in the region to allow schools, colleges and universities to reopen.

The government however is refusing to declare victory, fearing flare-ups or even a second wave. Meanwhile, after three months of voluntary confinement, Uruguayans are easing back into a semblance of normality.

In February work started on the first tests to screen for the virus, said Henry Cohen, a specialist on the government's COVID-19 advisory board. "Today we have more than the country needs," he said.

Spanish carrier Iberia is to resume direct flights between Madrid and Montevideo on Sunday, though land borders with Brazil and Argentina remain closed.

Facundo Caballero, 29, has been waiting to join his girlfriend in Europe since his flight to Paris was canceled in March.

"I've been waiting for someone to tell me 'go ahead' and I'll go for it. You never know if there is a second wave and I have to stay here longer," he said.

© 2020 AFP

3D-printed fake meat: The healthier, greener future of food?

Issued on: 01/07/2020 - 

Text by:FRANCE 24
Video by:Sam BALL AT THE END OF THE ARTICLE 

Israeli firm Redefine Meat is using 3D printing technology to produce plant-based steaks designed to mimic real meat and plans to start selling them in restaurants later this year. With a handful of other firms working on similar technology, could 3D-printed meat soon provide a healthier and greener alternative to the real thing?

The process used by Redefine sees protein taken from plants that are then built up in layers by a 3D printer to produce an entirely plant-based steak.

"We analyse the different components that make those beautiful cuts and try to figure out which are the key components that we need to mimic in order to achieve those beautiful cuts of meat,” Redefine Meat food engineer Alexey Tomsov told Reuters.

“We identified three main components: the muscle, the blood and the fat. These are the components that we need to mimic on order to reach the perfect, beautiful steak."

In Spain, a company called Novameat has begun producing its own version of a plant-based 3D-printed steak and also makes a pork-style product.


Meanwhile, another Israeli company, MeaTech 3D, is using lab-grown meat in its 3D-printed steaks.

These companies say their products are not only healthier, as they are lower in cholesterol, but also much better for the environment than meat produced by farming, which has been highlighted by the UN as a major contributor to climate change, in part through the methane emitted by cattle.

“Our technology can create whole-muscle cuts just as a cow can produce that but in a much more efficient way, with a lower cost and, of course, it's much better for the environment,” Redefine Meat CEO Eshchar Ben-Shitrit told Reuters.

“This is the biggest problem we face today as humanity and this is the best way to fight climate change, to deliver healthier solutions and food to the entire population of the planet."

Meat-alternative products are already growing in popularity in many countries across the world and their share of the market is predicted to be worth €7.2 billion ($8.1bn) by 2026, according to figures from Fortune Business Insights.

But Redefine Meat and others claim the 3D printing process can better recreate the taste and texture of real meat, while reducing costs once the technology is scaled up.

“We can do the entire cow, not only one part of the cow. Steaks, roast, slow-cooking, grilling, everything that an animal can do we want to do the same or even better,” said Ben-Shitrit.

“We want to work with more and more chefs around the world, more and more big distributors, and we don't see a reason that this cannot be on the table of everybody in every country around the world."

China: Uighur women reportedly sterilized in attempt to suppress population
Two Uighur majority counties in Xinjiang province reportedly planned to sterilize between 14% and 34% of women aged between 18 and 49. Politicians around the world are calling on the UN to investigate the claims.

Several countries have this week condemned China over reports it systematically and forcibly sterilized Uighur minority women in Xinjiang province.

Investigations by German researcher Adrian Zenz and the Associated Press found that China is trying to slash the birth rate in the oppressed region through pregnancy checks, forced acceptance of intrauterine devices, compulsory sterilization and even abortion for hundreds of thousands of women.

The report found that Uighur women are threatened with mass detention and large fines, with many women imprisoned for the crime of having more than two children.

Read more: Exclusive: China's systematic tracking, arrests of Uighurs exposed in new Xinjiang leak

'Cut out our organs'

Zumret Dawut spent two months in a detention camp in Xinjiang where she was forcibly sterilized along with other Uighur women in her area.

"We lost a part of our body, we lost our identity as women. We will never be able to have children again," she told the Associated Press. "They cut out one of our organs. It's gone."

ulnar Omirzakh avoided detention by paying a huge fine for having three children and accepting an IUD birth control implant.

"They give shots and remove fetuses forcefully. They won't ask the spouse's permission or anyone else," she said. "If they say it's illegal, they make you get an abortion. Those who didn't obey were sent to the camps. Now people are terrified of giving birth."

DW's Sandra Petersmann, who has reported extensively on the plight of the Uighurs, said the reports were credible.

"It is true that surveillance in Xinjiang is all encompassing. And it is also true that China certainly wants to reduce fertility rates by locking people up, especially the young sexually active generations and by birth control," Petersmann said.

"Most people in the camps have to repent for having 'too many children.' We have spoken to women who told us about sexual violence and birth control."

Read more: Exclusive: New evidence of China's arbitrary oppression of the Uighurs

Falling birth rate

The population control measures led to a massive drop in birth rates in the mostly Uighur regions of Hotan and Kashgar, falling by more than 60% from 2015 to 2018, AP found, citing the latest available government statistics. Across the whole Xinjiang region, birth rates fell by nearly 24% in just 2019 compared to just 4.2% nationwide, it found.

Researcher Zenz said: "Populations that do not grow as quickly and rapidly are easier to control as part of Beijing's coercive social reengineering strategy in the area."

The birth suppression has been combined with an influx of Han Chinese migrants to the region, Zenz found.


AP found that Han Chinese people in the region were not subject to the same regime.

China denied the reports, with Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesman Zhao Lijian saying "some institutions are bent on cooking up disinformation on Xinjiang-related issues. ... Their allegations are simply groundless and false."

"The media report is purely for ulterior motives and baseless. I also want to emphasize that ethnic minorities and Han people need to act in accordance with the law."

Read more: DW interview: Uighur woman remains 'unfree' despite release from re-education camp

Global response

A group of politicians from Europe, Australia, North America and Japan called on the United Nations to launch an independent inquiry in relation to the claims.

The Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China said in a statement: "The world cannot remain silent in the face of unfolding atrocities. Our countries are bound by solemn obligations to prevent and punish any effort to destroy a national, ethnic, racial or religious group 'in whole or in part.'"

"Our governments must now support a resolution at the United Nations General Assembly to establish an international, impartial, independent investigation into the situation in the Xinjiang region; must act to ensure that the appropriate legal determinations regarding the nature of alleged atrocities can be made; and must spare no effort in pursuing rapid and decisive political action to prevent the further suffering of the Uyghur people and other minorities in China."

The US Commission on International Religious Freedom called for a joint UN and State Department investigation, saying the campaign "might meet the legal criteria for genocide."

US Secretary of State Michael Pompeo said in a statement: "We call on the Chinese Communist Party to immediately end these horrific practices."

The US Commerce Department on Wednesday warned US companies about maintaining supply chains associated with human rights abuses in China's western Xinjiang province.

Reinhard Bütikofer, Chair of the China-Delegation in the European Parliament and foreign affairs spokesperson for the Greens/EFA group said in a statement: "The European Parliament condemned the massive detention of Uyghurs in political 're-education camps' in Xinjiang in its resolution of 19 December 2019 in response to the revelation in the China-Cables. The new findings underline the urgent need of an independent investigation of the situation and the need of a sanction regime for human rights violations."

aw/rs (AFP, AP, Reuters, dpa)

Germany to raise minimum wage despite pandemicMinimum-wage workers in Germany are set to see their incomes grow by nearly 12% percent by 2022, an official committee announced. Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, the minimum wage "must not fall behind," one minister said.


Germany's minimum wage will be raised over several stages, officials announced on Tuesday, eventually amounting to €10.45 ($11.74) per hour by mid-2022.

The talks on raising the minimum wage in Germany were "partly controversial" as members of the country's official commission wrangled over the sum, said commission head Jan Zilius.

However, after prolonging the talks and canceling one press conference last minute, the representatives of both employers and workers' unions unanimously agreed to boost the minimum wage from the current €9.35 to €10.45 by July 2022.

The minimum wage will be gradually increased over four stages, with the first bump set to take place in January 2021.

German Labor Minister Hubertus Heil said the government would implement the recommendation.

Read more: EU launches 'fair minimum wage' initiative

With the German economy reeling under the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, many employers have warned that raising the minimum wage too much would make it harder to hire people during the recovery phase.

The economy council of Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservative CDU party described it as a "millstone" for the business, according to a report published by the newspapers of the Funke media group.

In turn, workers' representatives said the raise would give boost to spending among some two people in the lowest income bracket. Following the Tuesday decision, the opposition Left and Green parties said the increase was too small.

Read more: Germany's minimum wage spurred productivity, but hit small firms

Germany's 'success story'

Labor Minister Heil, however, said there will be more minimum wage reforms coming this fall.

"The minimum wage must not fall behind," said the politician from the left-leaning SPD party, which is the junior partner in Merkel's ruling coalition.

Germany only introduced the minimum wage regulation in 2015. On Tuesday, Heil said it has been a "success story, that needs to keep being written" and that the state should work towards bringing it closer to €12 per hour.

The upcoming raise is set to be implemented in four stages, with the first increase set for January next year.

dj/rs (KNA, Reuters, dpa)

Montenegro: Parliament legalizes same-sex civil partnerships
Montenegro is the first European country outside of Western Europe and the EU to legally recognize same-sex couples. President Milo Djukanovic said it was a confirmation that Montenegrin society "is maturing."

The Balkan nation of Montenegro legalized same-sex partnerships on Wednesday. President Milo Djukanovic described the moment as "one step closer to joining the most developed world democracies."

Montenegro is considered a predominantly conservative and male-dominated society, where the LGBT+ community has often faced rejection and harassment.

But the country's government is currently undergoing advanced negotiations to join the EU. Boosting the rights of minority groups has been seen as necessary for the EU integration process.

The move makes Montenegro the first European country outside of Western Europe and the EU to legally recognize same-sex partnerships.

Read more: Balkan LGBT+ artists still fighting for Pride

Djukanovic said on Twitter that legalizing same-sex partnerships was "a confirmation that our society is maturing, accepting and living the differences. Born free and equal in dignity and rights!"


The law, which would give same-sex couples the same legal rights as heterosexual ones except over child adoption, passed Montenegro's 81-seat legislature by a margin of 42 votes to five.

"This is a huge leap in the right direction for the Montenegrin society," Prime Minister Dusko Markovic said. "In a European Montenegro, there is not and there should not be any room for sexual discrimination," Markovic added.

Most members of parliament who opposed the bill chose not to vote on it and described same-sex civil partnerships as something imposed by "global world Satanists."

LGBT Forum Progress group said the law had "unspeakably tremendous importance for all LGBT persons in Montenegro."

"I honestly I wasn't expecting it," said John Barac, executive director of LGBT Forum Progress. "It's really extraordinary; it's a big day for all of us."

jcg/sms (Reuters, AP, dpa)

European human rights court condemns France for treatment of asylum-seekers

The asylum-seekers from Russia, Iran and Afghanistan filed a complaint after spending months sleeping rough. The ECHR ordered France to pay damages, saying the men suffered "degrading treatment."


The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) on Thursday ordered France to pay compensation to three asylum-seekers who spent months sleeping on the street without any financial support.

The court noted that the applicants, all single men, waited months for acknowledgement that they had lodged asylum claims. Without this recognition, they were not able to access housing or welfare payments, and were at risk of deportation.

The court heard how one of them, a 46-year-old Iranian journalist, lived on the streets for almost six months before being granted refugee status. Another applicant, a 27-year-old Afghan national, was ultimately granted humanitarian protection in France after sleeping under canal bridges for 262 days. The third complainant was from Russia.

Read more: In lockdown: Migrants in France up against pandemic, police abuse

'Victims of degrading treatment'

The court said French officials had "failed in their duties," and that the men were "victims of degrading treatment" who were "sleeping rough, without access to sanitary facilities, having no means of subsistence and constantly in fear of being attacked or robbed."

Read more: French police remove over 1,600 migrants from Paris camps

The ECHR ordered the French government to pay the claimants damages ranging from €10,000 to €12,396 ($11,285 to $13,990).

The court rejected a claim by a fourth asylum-seeker because, although he had lived in a tent for nine months, he had been given a subsistence allowance after two months.

Since mid-2018, authorities in France have stepped up efforts to clear migrant camps on the outskirts of Paris and move the people living there to shelters. Many of those sleeping rough included undocumented migrants and those attempting to apply for asylum in France. But NGOs say even recognized refugees and registered asylum-seekers ended up sleeping there because of a severe lack of official accommodation.

nm/rs (dpa, AFP)

PATENT'S FOR PRIMATE GENE SCRAPPED The European Patent Office has disallowed two patents that include great apes, the family of primates that humans also belong to. A US firm had registered the patents for genetically modified chimpanzees.


Two patents relating to the genetic modification of apes were removed by the European Patent Office (EPO) on Thursday. The patents themselves still exist but can no longer include apes, an EPO spokesperson said.

Animal welfare activists have celebrated the decision as a success, including world-renowned British primatologist Jane Goodall who called it a "wise and responsible decision."

The assigning of patents resulted in "the suffering of these animals without any substantial medical benefit to man or animal," the EPO said.

The controversy arose after a US company filed two patents claiming that genetically modified chimpanzees as well as other animal species, were an invention that could be used in experiments. The patents were filed in 2012 and 2013, with 14,000 signatories supporting groups that opposed the patents.

Read more: 10 facts you probably didn't know about great apes

Animals are 'not research tools'

Goodall, who has worked with chimpanzees in Tanzania for over 60 years, said "Chimpanzees are our closest relatives, sharing 98.6% of our genetic makeup. All those who understand that genetic modification of these monkeys and other sentient animals is unacceptable will welcome this ruling."

Read more: 'The biggest problem is greed,' says conservationist Jane Goodall

The ruling should be a sign to other companies that "animals are capable of suffering and should not be seen as research tools," she added.

However, many researchers will still be permitted to conduct experiments on primates and other animals, even if they no longer are allowed to hold patents relating to their research.

Other patents under pressure

The question of whether patents can be filed on genetically modified animals has been under discussion for over 30 years. The new ruling does not affect provisions for patents on mice, rats, cats, dogs, cattle, pigs or a number of other animals.

However, the decision will affect other patents relating to primates within Europe, for example in Germany's Max Planck Society, which holds a 2010 patent on primates who were genetically modified to have epilepsy.

Chimpanzees are a species of great ape, the primate family that includes humans.

ed/ng (AFP, dpa)

SYSTEMIC RACISM PANDEMIC
Discrimination increases hypertension risk by 49 percent in black Americans

HEALTH NEWS JULY 1, 2020 

Lifelong discrimination may contribute to increased rates of high blood pressure among black Americans, a new study has found. File Photo by ronstik/Shutterstock

July 1 (UPI) -- Facing racial discrimination increases risk for high blood pressure among black Americans, according to a study published Wednesday by the journal Hypertension.

Black people who reported "medium levels" of lifetime discrimination had a 49 percent increased risk for high blood pressure, or hypertension, compared to those who indicated low levels of lifetime discrimination, the researchers found.

The study was based on nearly 2,000 black Americans who participated in The Jackson Heart Study, which focused on cardiovascular disease among residents in the tri-county region of Jackson, Mississippi.

"African Americans continue to be disproportionately affected by hypertension, making it imperative to identify the drivers of hypertension in this population," co-author Allana T. Forde, said in a statement.

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"Greater lifetime discrimination was associated with an increased risk for hypertension among African Americans in this study, which reflects the impact of cumulative exposure to stressors over one's lifetime and the physiological reactions to stress that contribute to deleterious health outcomes," said Forde, a postdoctoral research fellow at the Urban Health Collaborative at Drexel University.

Forde and colleagues reviewed data on 1,845 black Americans, aged 21 to 85, who were enrolled in The Jackson Heart Study. None of the participants had a history of hypertension at the start of the research, the authors said.

Participants self-reported their discrimination experiences through in-home interviews, questionnaires and in-clinic examinations, researchers said.

RELATED Study: 70% of hospitalized COVID-19 patients in Detroit are African American

For the purposes of the study, having hypertension was defined as taking blood pressure-lowering medication, having a systolic blood pressure of 140 mm Hg or above or having diastolic blood pressure higher than 90 mm Hg at follow-up visits, according to the authors.

During the follow-up period, more than half of the participants -- 954, or 52 percent -- developed hypertension.

The study results, Forde said, "suggest how social determinants such as racism and discrimination affect health in measurable ways."

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Strategies to reduce health inequities and improve health are needed to address these broader social determinants, she added.

Although the study included experiences of discrimination among a large sample of black Americans, discrimination was measured at a single point in time, which limited the researchers' ability to capture changes in discrimination experiences over the entire follow-up period, according to the researchers.

In all, nearly 80 million American adults are living with high blood pressure, including more than 40 percent of black Americans, according to the American Heart Association.

"Previous studies have shown that discrimination affects African Americans' health," Forde said.

"Traditional risk factors, such as diet and physical activity, have been strongly correlated with hypertension, yet important psychosocial factors like discrimination, which also have the potential to negatively impact health, are rarely considered," she said.


upi.com/7018479

British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell arrested in Jeffrey Epstein case

British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell has been accused of luring girls and young women into Jeffrey Epstein's circle, where they were sexually abused. She has said that many accusations against her are "absolute rubbish."


Ghislaine Maxwell, a British socialite who was a longtime friend of the late accused sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, was arrested by the FBI on Thursday in the US state of New Hampshire.

Maxwell, who was also Epstein's girlfriend at one point, has been accused of luring underage girls into the late billionaire's circle, where he and his friends allegedly sexually abused them.

FBI spokesman Marty Feely said Maxwell was taken into custody around 8:30 AM local time.

Maxwell has repeatedly denied wrongdoing and has said that many of the claims against her are "absolute rubbish."

Epstein's 'highest-raking employee'

The lawsuit alleges that Maxwell oversaw and trained recruiters, developed recruiting plans and helped conceal the activity from law enforcement.

An unsealed indictment, reported by Reuters, shows Maxwell charged with six counts, which include enticing a minor to travel to engage in illegal sex acts, conspiracy to transport minors with intent to engage in criminal sexual activity and two counts of perjury, among other related offenses.

''The victims were as young as 14 years old when they were groomed and abused by Maxwell and Epstein, both of whom knew that certain victims were in fact under the age of 18,'' the indictment read.


One victim accused Maxwell of arranging for her to have sex with Prince Andrew, a claim denied by the royal

One of the most controversial accusations leveled against Maxwell was a claim by one Epstein victim, Virginia Roberts Giuffre, who said the socialite arranged for her to have sex with Britain's Prince Andrew at Maxwell's London townhouse.

In a separate lawsuit by another Epstein victim, Maxwell was described as the ''highest-ranking employee'' in the alleged sex trafficking operation.

A lavish life in New York

Maxwell is the daughter of late British media magnate Robert Maxwell, who founded a publishing house and owned tabloids, including the Daily Mirror.

In the early 1990s, she moved to New York, where she began a romantic relationship with Epstein, who was a financier at the time. The two lived a lavish style and frequently attended high society parties.

Maxwell largely disappeared from public view in 2016 and has been elusive since Epstein was charged with sex trafficking.

jcg/rs (Reuters, AP, dpa,AFP)

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Special edition: Israel's contentious annexation plan for the West bank

FRANCE 24 English

In this edition, we're focusing our entire programme on Israel’s planned annexation of settlements in the West Bank. The term ‘annexation’ is used when a state unilaterally incorporates another territory within its borders. Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has called these zones “an integral part of the historic Jewish homeland”. Palestinians say the plan is an “existential threat" and have threatened to respond with their own measures.

This latest move comes after US President Donald Trump last year presented a so-called “Middle East plan”, which allows Israel to annex 30 percent of this territory, which has been under illegal occupation – according to international law – since 1967.

Joining our programme to discuss this contentious issue is Dr Evan Cohen, former international media advisor to Israel’s prime minister, and Ashraf al-Ajrami, a former minister for the Palestinian authority.

But first here’s our report, which looks at the landlocked territory in question: the West Bank.

Palestinians rally against Israeli annexation as West Bank goes on Covid-19 lockdown

Issued on: 01/07/2020

A Palestinian man wears a mask during a rally against Israel's West Bank annexation plans in the Jordan Valley village of Bardala on June 27, 2020. © Jaafat Ashtiyeh, AFP

Text by:FRANCE 24

Thousands of Palestinians protested in Gaza on Wednesday against Israel's plans to annex parts of the West Bank, where Palestinian authorities announced a new five-day lockdown amid a worrying resurgence of the coronavirus.

Israel's centre-right coalition government had set July 1 as the date from which it could begin implementing US President Donald Trump's Middle East peace proposal.

While no major announcement was expected on the kick-off date, the office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said talks with US officials "were continuing on the application of sovereignty".

Netanyahu was also discussing annexation with his security chiefs, it added, noting that "further discussions will be held in the coming days".

In Gaza City, several thousand protesters gathered, some brandishing Palestinian flags and placards condemning Trump at a rally.

"The resistance must be revived," Gaza protester Rafeeq Inaiah told AFP. "Israel is afraid of force."

Smaller demonstrations were held in the West Bank cities of Ramallah and Jericho, attended by a handful of left-wing Israeli politicians opposed to annexation.

"We want to affirm our support for peace," former Labour party official Ophir Pines-Paz told AFP.

The Trump plan, unveiled in January, offered a path for Israel to annex territory and Jewish West Bank settlements, communities considered illegal under international law.

Netanyahu supports the Trump plan – which has been roundly rejected by the Palestinians – but the right-wing premier has not laid out his intentions for enacting the US proposals.

Hamas, the Islamist group that controls Gaza, fired some 20 rockets from the coastal Palestinian enclave into the Mediterranean Sea on Wednesday, a move aimed at dissuading Israel from moving forward, Hamas sources told AFP.

Hamas, which has fought three wars with Israel since 2008, says that Israeli annexations in the West Bank, which borders Jordan, would be a "declaration of war".

Growing global opposition

France's foreign minister said on Wednesday that any Israeli annexation in the occupied West Bank would be in violation of international law and would have consequences.

"Annexation of Palestinian territories, whatever the perimeters, would seriously throw into question the parameters to resolve the conflict," Jean-Yves Le Drian told a parliamentary hearing.

"An annexation decision could not be left without consequences and we are examining different options at a national level and also in coordination with our main European partners," he added.

Writing in Israel's Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper on Wednesday, Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson said that although he was a "passionate defender of Israel", he viewed annexation as "contrary to Israel's own long-term interests."

"Annexation would represent a violation of international law," he said.

Australia, in a rare criticism of Israel, warned against "unilateral annexation or change in status of territory on the West Bank".

Most European states and the United Nations oppose annexation, as do Gulf Arab states, with which Israel has increasingly sought warmer ties.

Jordan, one of only two Arab nations that has diplomatic ties with Israel, has warned that annexation could trigger a "massive conflict" and has not ruled out reviewing its 1994 peace treaty with the Jewish state.

Amnesty International's deputy Middle East chief Saleh Hijazi said: "International law is crystal clear on this matter – annexation is unlawful", adding that if Israel moves forward it "points to the 'law of the jungle.'".

Covid-19 second wave

Israel's defence minister and alternate prime minister Benny Gantz has said annexation must wait until the coronavirus crisis has been contained, amid a sharp spike in new Israeli and Palestinian cases.

The Palestinian Authority on Wednesday announced a five-day lockdown across the West Bank after total confirmed coronavirus infections in the territory more than doubled following the easing of previous restrictions.

"Starting from Friday morning, all governorates of the West Bank... will be closed for a period of five days," government spokesman Ibrahim Melhem said, adding that pharmacies, bakeries and supermarkets were exempt.

The latest data from the Palestinian ministry of health said that as of Wednesday morning, a total of 2,636 people had tested positive for Covid-19 since the illness was first recorded in the West Bank, compared with just 1,256 a week ago.

Last week, after the easing of a previous coronavirus lockdown in late May, Palestinian health minister Mai al-Kaila said the territory had entered a second wave of infections "more dangerous than the first".

Most infections were traceable to Palestinians working in Israel or Arab Israeli visitors to the West Bank, Kaila said.

There have been seven deaths from the virus in the territory.

Israel has also recorded a surge, with 25,547 confirmed cases on Wednesday morning, up around 15 percent from a week earlier.

The Palestinian Authority imposed a full West Bank lockdown after the first coronavirus cases were identified on 5 March, lifting it at the end of May.

(FRANCE 24 with AFP)

Germany, France urge Israel to reconsider West Bank annexation plans

The foreign ministers of France and Germany have demanded Israel halt plans to annex parts of the West Bank.

 Israeli spies have reportedly called for the plans to be expedited, with the world distracted the pandemic.


German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas and his French counterpart, Jean-Yves Le Drian, have urged Israel to renounce its plans to annex parts of the West Bank.

"Our goal is still to prevent any annexation in violation of international law in the first place," said Le Drian, after meeting with Maas in Berlin on Friday.

The pair announced intensive talks between European Union partners and neighboring countries such as Jordan.

Maas said Israel's annexation plans were "of great concern" to him and Le Drian and that in the coming days, no effort would be spared to bring together the parties involved for talks.

Maas said the issue of annexation should be brought to the forefront once more, and that it was still possible to use "the opportunity and the time window" before a possible annexation.

Israel's new government is expected to present its strategy on July 1 for implementing the Middle East "peace plan" drawn up by the Trump administration. The plan allows for Israel to annex large parts of the West Bank, including the Jordan Valley, which Israel occupied in 1967.

Palestinians are completely opposed to the plan, fearing it will trigger a new wave of violence in the region.

Le Drian stressed that an annexation would increase "instability in the Middle East" and would violate international law. He said the two-state solution was still the only option, adding that close cooperation with European partners was necessary to achieve this goal.

Read more: UN panel: Israel annexation of West Bank 'violates international law'

Israel: Annex now, as world occupied with coronavirus

Israel's Ministry of Intelligence has reportedly compiled a document listing reasons for the immediate annexation of West Bank areas.

According to dpa news agency, the document finds that the support of US President Donald Trump means the timing is good.

"It is unclear what US support will look like after the November elections," the document reportedly says.

The ministry reportedly found that the threat of violence was low, with the Palestinian Authority and Hamas both against conflict and no expectation of "severe unrest" in Jordan.

It also found that the international community was preoccupied with the fight against the coronavirus.

On Thursday, Jordan's foreign minister, Ayman Safadi, unexpectedly visited the West Bank and warned against the annexation plans.

"Annexation is unprecedented for the peace process, and it will kill the two-state solution and will destroy all the foundations of the peace process,'" Safadi said after meeting with his Palestinian counterpart in the city of Ramallah.

He said the plans would "deprive all peoples of the region of their right to live in security, peace and stability."

aw/msh (AFP, dpa, Reuters, AP)


Germany rejects Israel's West Bank annexation plans as illegal
The German parliament has called on Israel to halt its plans to annex settlements in the occupied West Bank. However, it has ruled out the use of sanctions against Israel.


Germany called on Israel not to annex the West Bank on Wednesday, saying the plans were "in contradiction with international law."

The motion was brought in the Bundestag by the three parties in Chancellor Angela Merkel's broad coalition and was approved without opposing votes. All parliamentary groups, aside from the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, warned that Israel's plans to annex parts of the West Bank would jeopardize Israel's security and hopes of a two-state solution.

Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said the plan threatened the stability of the entire Middle East.

"Peace cannot be achieved by unilateral steps," Maas said.

In a dissenting voice, the AfD's Anton Friesen said the annexation was in Israel's national interest.

Read more: What will Israel's West Bank annexation plans mean for the region?

No sanctions

However, lawmakers said threatening Israel with sanctions over the matter would have "no constructive effect." 

The move, taken just as Germany takes over the EU presidency, greatly reduces the chances of European Union sanctions as it requires unanimous support from EU member states.

The document said, "Discussions on unilateral sanctions or threats of sanctions have no constructive effect" on the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.

Plans pushed back

Israel was due to begin annexing settlements in the West Bank and the Jordan Valley on July 1, but the US-backed plans have been pushed back. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said talks with his security chiefs were ongoing.

Annexation forms part of the plans of US President Donald Trump's administration, which also includes the creation of a demilitarized Palestinian state with a capital outside of Jerusalem. Palestinians have firmly rejected this plan. 

The EU has also strongly opposed the US plan, mounting a diplomatic campaign against the project. Germany's Maas traveled to Israel to raise concerns about the plans. 

Also on Wednesday, French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said any Israeli annexation would be a violation of international law and would have consequences.

"Annexation of Palestinian territories, whatever the perimeters, would seriously throw into question the parameters to resolve the conflict," Le Drian told a parliamentary hearing. "An annexation decision could not be left without consequences and we are examining different options at a national level and also in coordination with our main European partners." 

The UK chimed in as well, with Prime Minister Boris Johnson saying annexation would violate international law and harm Israel's drive to improve relations with the Arab world.

"Annexation would represent a violation of international law," Johnson said in an opinion piece for Yedioth Ahronoth, Israel's top-selling daily.

"Annexation would put in jeopardy the progress that Israel has made in improving relationships with the Arab and Muslim world," Johnson wrote, calling for justice and security for both Israelis and Palestinians.

Read more: How will Arab states react to Israel's annexation plans?

Protests in Gaza

Thousands of people in Gaza protested against the plans on Wednesday, some brandishing Palestinian flags and placards condemning Trump.

"The resistance must be revived," Gaza protester Rafeeq Inaiah told the AFP news agency. "Israel is afraid of force."

There were smaller demonstrations in the West Bank cities of Ramallah and Jericho, which some left-wing Israeli politicians attended. 

Meanwhile, Hamas, the Islamist group that controls Gaza, fired 20 rockets in the Mediterranean Sea as a show of force.

aw/sms (AP, AFP, Reuters, dpa)


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Palestinian rivals Hamas, Fatah threaten Israel's annexation plans
The rival groups have called for unifying resistance against plans to annex parts of the West Bank, long considered part of a future Palestinian state. But analysts say the show of unity is unlikely to result in action.


Rival Palestinian factions on Thursday pledged unity against Israeli plans to annex part of the West Bank.

"We will put in place all necessary measures to ensure national unity," said Jibril Rajub, secretary general of the Fatah Central Committee, in a virtual press conference with Beirut-based Hamas official Saleh al-Arouri. "Today, we want to speak in a single voice."

The Israeli government, led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, has signaled its intention to move forward with plans to annex territory that has been set aside for a future Palestinian state. The territory in question includes Israeli settlements in the West Bank.

Israeli officials have suggested that the announcement would happen in July, but not before US President Donald Trump has given his approval.

Read more: What will Israel's West Bank annexation plans mean for the region?

The Trump administration has spearheaded a new plan to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, although many of its proposals violate internationally-recognized resolutions, such as border delineations for a UN-sanctioned two-state solution.

'Resistance'

Both Fatah and Hamas have outright rejected the US-led plan, saying it undermines the prospect of peace. Hamas' al-Arouri said the annexation plans would only serve to unify Palestinian resistance.

"We should put aside all differences and agree on a strategy," said al-Arouri. "We will use all forms of resistance against the annexation."

Read more: How will Arab states react to Israel's annexation plans?

However, Middle East analysts have suggested that the show of unity is unlikely to translate into broader cooperation between the rival factions.

"I doubt the annexation challenge will help these two factions to end their split and unify again," former Palestinian Authority official Ghassan Khatib told news agency AFP. "They'll agree about the significance of the annexation … but I don't think they'll go beyond that."
Since 2006, Hamas has been at odds with Fatah, which runs the Palestinian Authority, a body tasked with governing the Palestinian Territories.

That same year, Hamas won a majority in parliamentary elections, placing it in a position to lead the Palestinian government. However, fighting broke out between the two factions, eventually leading to armed conflict that forced Israel to withdraw from the Gaza Strip. Hamas has since been in control of the coastal enclave.

ls/rs (AFP, dpa)

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