Iraq: Rebuilding Mosul for the future

The Iraqi city of Mosul was captured by the Islamic State group in 2014. 

Much of its cultural heritage was destroyed during the occupation. 

Three year's after Mosul's liberation, the city is now being rebuilt.

Locals hope rebuilding the city's cultural artifacts will foster a new solidarity

In the summer of 2014, the Islamic State group (IS) conquered Iraq's second largest city of Mosul. It was here in June that same year that the organization's then-leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghadi, proclaimed an Islamic Caliphate.

In late 2016, Iraqi, US, Kurdish Peshmerga and other ground forces — backed by an international anti-IS air force — launched a campaign to retake the northern Iraqi city. After nine months of fierce fighting, the coalition succeeded in driving IS forces from the heavily fortified city. In July 2017, Iraq's then-prime minister, Haider al-Abadi, was able to declare Mosul's liberation.

The people of Mosul suffered greatly during the brutal IS reign. Hundreds of young men who refused to join the militant group were executed. Locals were used as human shields during the campaign to retake the city. According to the UN, over 5,000 families were abducted for this purpose.
IS sought to wipe out Mosul's cultural heritage

During the occupation, IS destroyed shrines, church statues and tombs, and ripped crosses from Church roofs. The militants also tore down bell towers and altar domes.

IS set churches ablaze, and blew up Shiite mosques and Sufi shrines. The extremists even set out to erase vestiges of Mosul's ancient past. What little that was spared was later destroyed in the battle to retake the city.

The Grand al-Nuri Mosque was one of the many historic sites destroyed in Mosul

The extremists wanted to erase northern Iraq's cultural legacy, archaeologist Richard R. Zettler of the University of Pennsylvaniatold DW. He is in charge of the Iraq Heritage Stabilization Program, which brings together the Iraqi government and various civil society groups in an effort to rebuild Mosul's historic architecture. The initiative is supported by Germany's Gerda Henkel Foundation.

"The people of Mosul and the surrounding towns feel a strong connection to their region's heritage," says Zettler. Nineveh, the most important city of the Assyrian empire, was located where Mosul is situated today. "Mosul residents are very proud to be descents of the Assyrian kings, who ruled over much of the Middle East in the first millennium before Christ," says Zettler. "IS did everything it could to wipe out whatever traces of this ancient past were still visible in the region."

IS also persecuted ethnic and religious minorities, thereby aggravating tensions among different social groups within Mosul, says political scientist Irene Costantini, who teaches at Bologna University. With support from the Gerda Henkel Foundation, Costantini is researching what rebuilding Mosul means from a sociological and political perspective.

She says different minorities in Mosul formed armed groups in response to IS' reign of terror. "Instead of contributing to a greater sense of security, locals perceived this as a further source of insecurity," the researcher says.

The Iraq Heritage Stabilization Program aims to rebuild Mosul's historic architecture

Transitional justice and a program of national reconciliation are now needed to restore trust within Iraqi society, says Constantini. But, she adds, "these are long term processes that depend on the continued support of local and national political decision-makers."

Rebuilding and repairing cultural heritage sites will play an important role in this context. Doing so will help restore locals' sense of identity. There is also hope that joining forces to rebuild what was wiped out can also help bring different societal groups together and forge a shared consciousness of the pain endured under IS rule. This is a key condition for coming together and, hopefully, fostering a new, shared identity.
Restoration efforts no longer a political priority

Many of the region's historic edifices can be rebuilt, says Zettler. "It is possible to restore or rebuild Mosul's mosques, churches, shrines, historic houses, gates and city walls." But the archaeologist says that rebuilding churches in Mosul's old city center will have symbolic significance only. "Only very few Christians driven from the city will return."

Costantini says that efforts to rebuild and restore cultural sites are no longer at the top of the country's political agenda. The researcher says undoing damage wrought by IS in the entire area once under its control would cost an estimated $88 billion (€73 billion) — much more money than currently pledged by authorities.

As Iraq faces an ongoing governmental and economic crisis — not to mention the coronavirus pandemic — restoring its cultural heritage is no longer a top priority, says Costantini.

Rebuilding Mosul will take much time and patience

Despite all this, Mosul residents are supporting the reconstruction efforts. "Cooperation with people in Mosul and surrounding towns is great," says Zettler. Nevertheless, conditions are difficult, as locals inhabit a largely destroyed city in which there is a lack of residential and public buildings.

"They are enthusiastic about reconquering their historic and cultural heritage," says Zettler. "They see both as decisive for their future and are happy for the employment opportunities provided by these restoration efforts." He says the initiative has several effective partners on the ground. "Without them, we could hardly make this happen."

This article was translated from German.

KULTURE

FROM GUN RUNNER TO GRAVE ROBBER

Heinrich Schliemann, the man who discovered Troy

Heinrich Schliemann established archaeology as the science that we know today. The German adventurer and multimillionaire, who died 130 years ago, discovered Troy and what he thought was the Treasure of Priam.


HEINRICH SCHLIEMANN: THE MAN WHO DISCOVERED TROY
Millionaire with a love of antiquity

Heinrich Schliemann, born in 1822 near the German city of Rostock, did not have a lucky start in life. Due to financial hardship, he broke off his studies as a young man and began a business apprenticeship. He quickly made a career using his skill and talent for languages. He built his fortune in Moscow, selling ammunition to the tsar's army. Then he began to educate himself and travel.
PHOTOS 12345678


Heinrich Schliemann was a complex character, part dreamer and part genius in disguise. Many of his contemporaries regarded him as a utopian, as he traveled around in Turkey equipped with little but a beat-up edition of Homer's Iliad. Schliemann was determined to discover the site of ancient Troy — and so he did.

For the longest time, the German public used to make light of Schliemann's achievements, as his biggest rival, the top archaeological expert Ernst Curtius, repeatedly mocked him in a bid to polish his own professional profile. Schliemann was, however, much more appreciated in Britain, where the German researcher has always been celebrated as the man who discovered the ancient city of Troy — a place that up to that point had been shrouded in mystery.

Schliemann went on to invent research methods in the late 19th century that are still in use today. His work helped shape the face of archaeology unlike any other.

A businessman and adventurer

From his early childhood, the world of antiquity always fascinated Schliemann. Yet his career path had initially pointed him in a different direction. Raised alongside eight other siblings in a pastor's family in the eastern part of the Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Schliemann started out as a tradesman, as his family could not afford to send him to higher education.

He ended up in Amsterdam, where within one year, he learned to speak not only Dutch, but also Spanish, Italian and Portuguese, to be complemented by Russian later on. His extraordinary gift for foreign languages paved the way for a different career prospect: archaeology.


THE LEGENDARY WORLD OF AGAMEMNON
A golden portrait for eternity

In 1876, German archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann discovered spectacular golden masks in a grave. One of them became known as the "Mask of Agamemnon," even though later research determined that the masks were some 400 years older than the king. The masks are highlights of the exhibition "Mycenaean Greece: The legendary world of Agamemnon."
PHOTOS 12345678910

After then moving to Russia, Schliemann became rich dealing with raw materials for the production of ammunition. He used his fortune to study Ancient Greek and Latin in Paris.

In 1868, he went on an educational trip to the Greek island of Ithaka, where he decided to look for the palace of Ulysses. From there, he traveled to the Marmaris Sea to make his way inland and start the quest for Troy. During his entire journey, Homer's Iliad was Schliemann's one and only true companion, the one book he considered his indispensable guide to discovering Troy.
Following Homer's footsteps

The search for the ancient city of Troy had never ceased for over thousands of years. But, in all that time, no one had ever been able to prove that Homer's saga of the Trojan War had actually occurred — until 1871, when Heinrich Schliemann, then 49 years old, discovered the ruins of the city under the Hisarlik hill in the Troas region in the northwest of present-day Turkey. Schliemann had by no means been the first person to believe that the city described by Homer was hidden under this particular location.

Before Schliemann, the British archaeologist Frank Calvert had already begun excavations in the very same region. The two Troy-obsessed researchers ran into each other by sheer coincidence. Calvert had actually acquired the land around Hisarlik so he could continue with his work, but he lacked the funds to continue with his excavation attempts, which, at that point, had run into a dead end.

Calvert persuaded Schliemann to continue where he had stopped working. After running into a number of initial impasses, Schliemann stubbornly went on with the excavations until in 1872 he hit meter-high ruins belonging to a prehistoric city. Schliemann came to the conclusion that these walls had once formed part of the fortification of Troy.

It had been a difficult journey for both men, as the precise identification of the findings was rendered all the more difficult due to the long history of the city, which had first surfaced in records in 3000 BC.


GREECE'S LARGEST ANCIENT TOMB: AMPHIPOLIS
Female statues keep watch

The most recent finding at the Amphipolis excavation site in northern Greece were two female statues, known as caryatids. Wearing long robes and thick curly hair, they guard the second entrance to the tomb, which dates back to 300-325 BC - the era of Alexander the Great. The interior of the tomb has not yet been explored, but experts suspect the contents may still be intact.
PHOTOS 12345678

Errors in classification

Among his most significant discoveries in Troy, Schliemann struck a cache of gold and other artifacts, which he subsequently baptized "the treasure of Priam" in 1873. He smuggled the gold treasure out of the country and gave it to the German government to showcase. But the treasure got lost in the throes of World War II, only to later resurface in Russia, where it is now being kept at the Pushkin Museum.

It later turned out that Schliemann's claim to the treasure had been wrong all along. His findings did not amount to the treasure of Priam, but were rather a relic from an unknown culture that had flourished 1,250 years before ancient Troy.

This wasn't the only time that the German explorer had erred: At the Greek archaeological site of Mycenae, where Schliemann carried out excavations from 1874 to 1876, he drew a number of wrong conclusions based on his work. Schliemann wrongfully identified a golden mask as having belonged to the ancient Greek military leader Agamemnon.

Despite his errors and wrong conclusions, the world continued to venerate Heinrich Schliemann as one of the most significant archaeologists of all times.

He died in Naples on December 26, 1890.

This article has been adapted from German.

WAR ON WOMEN

Is Croatia going the way of Poland on reproductive rights?

In Croatia, lawmakers and activists have been debating abortion legislation for three decades. The church, conservative politicians and pro-life activists now want to see rules tightened as they have been in Poland.


The anti-abortion movement is strong in Croatia

Since 1991, when Yugoslavia fell apart and Croatia became an independent state, conservative elements in the country have been trying to overturn the liberal abortion law introduced in the communist era. This legislation from 1978 allows Croatian women to have an abortion up to the 10th week of pregnancy without having to give reasons or fulfill any additional conditions. That is the theory. In practice, however, implementing the law has been somewhat tricky, as it was amended in 2003 to give doctors the right to refuse the operation on grounds of conscience.

Sanja Kovacevic from the organization Platform for Reproductive Justice concedes that Croatian women's rights activists did not see the dangers of this amendment in time and failed to take appropriate action. She says it was not until the conservative Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) came to power again that they realized the change to the legislation could be problematic. "There is a certain clique in medical circles and associations that cooperates with the conservative organizations in the country," she says.

Sanja Kovacevic from the Platform for Reproductive Justice speaks of 'gynecological violence' against women

'Gynecological violence' toward women

A growing number of Croatian women are now traveling to neighboring Slovenia to have abortions. Leftist-liberal activists are in no doubt that the powerful Catholic Church and the ruling HDZ are to blame for this. Having an abortion is increasingly stigmatized in Croatia, Kovacevic says, while women's freedom to take decisions about their own bodies is being called into question more and more.

Kovacevic says that religious instruction is given higher priority than sex education in Croatia. She has harsh words for what is happening in her country: "Women are experiencing a kind of gynecological violence." According to her, when women go to their local hospital and say they want an abortion, they are turned away and often have to endure insults and moral lectures to boot.

These claims are borne out by the results of a study in the hands of the Croatian commissioner for gender equality, Visnja Ljubicic. The research was carried out in 30 state-run hospitals and clinics in which abortions should be possible — in theory, at least.

"In 2014, 54% of the medical personnel made use of their right to refuse, and in 2018, 59%. In Slovenia, by comparison, only 3% of medical practitioners exercise the right," Ljubicic says

Visnja Ljubicic says anti-abortion information material has been laid out in some hospitals

Ljubicic also recounts that women have often complained about finding disturbing anti-abortion material in hospitals, such as brochures and posters. She says this material was mostly removed at her intervention.

Although Ljubicic is aware that both the right to abortion and the right of doctors to refuse to perform one are enshrined in Croatian law, she says this does not mean that one right has precedence over the other. "It cannot be that an individual right is used as a collective right to block an entire medical institution," she argues. She offers a practical solution: "If all the employees at a state-run clinic exercise this individual right, the clinic has to hire a doctor from outside who carries out the abortions."
Good or bad news from Poland?

Reports that the already strict abortion laws in Poland have been tightened further have shocked Croatian women's rights activists. But in the conservative circles that are fighting for a ban on abortions in Croatia, they have provoked enthusiasm.

The best-known Croatian pro-life activist, Zeljka Markic, welcomes the decision by the Polish Constitutional Court as a "recognition of the scientific realization that life begins with conception."

Markic, who chairs the association In the Name of Family, said the ban has made Poland a "beacon" for the other EU member states with regard to children's and human rights. She says this applies "especially to a country like Germany, which has experienced in its recent history what it is like when the right to life is not absolute but depends on a person's nationality, religion or state of health."

For Markic, the right to abortion is not just a right that affects women. "For me, it is a decision by women and men. Every child has a father and a mother. And the men should be allowed to play a part in the decision." She does not believe the surveys showing that a majority of Croats are against an abortion ban and believes that every person is obliged to protect human life "from conception to death."

Zeljka Markic says life must be protected from conception on

Right to abortion declared constitutional

Conservatives in Croatia have tried to overturn the 1978 law at the Constitutional Court. But in 2017, the court rejected their case and ruled that the existing law was constitutionally valid. At the same time, however, the government was tasked with amending the old law and building in preventive measures so that abortion remains an exception and does not become the rule. This task was to have been completed by 2019 but nothing has been done to this day.

Women's rights activists in Croatia reckon with a hard fight against the new law but are sure they will win. Kovacevic says that while Croatia has similarities with Poland in that the Catholic Church also plays a big role there, she does not believe that it will take the Polish path. She and her fellow activists feel that their cause has been strengthened by the 2017 ruling from the Constitutional Court: that the right to abortion is valid under the constitution.

VIDEO

• https://p.dw.com/p/3n9qT

This article has been translated from German.

BACKGROUNDER

Argentina's Catholics, evangelicals unite against abortion bill


Issued on: 27/12/2020 - AFP

Aerial view of anti-abortion activists demonstrating against a bill to legalise abortion outside the Argentinian Congress on November 28, 2020 Ivan PISARENKO AFP

Buenos Aires (AFP)

At the entrance to Argentina's Congress is a plaque reminding legislators that Our Lady of Lujan is the patron saint of the country's political parties -- a not-so-subtle nod to religion in a nation considering whether to allow abortions.

As Argentina's Senate prepares to vote on a bill that would legalize the practice, the Catholic Church has joined forces with evangelical Christians to fight the measure tooth and nail.

The bill, which aims to legalize voluntary abortions at up to 14 weeks, was passed by the Chamber of Deputies on December 11 and will be debated and voted on in the Senate on Tuesday.

Two years ago a similar bill passed the lower house but was defeated in the Senate following a determined campaign by both Catholics and evangelicals.

Argentina's constitution guarantees freedom of religion and a 1994 reform removed the requirement that the president be Catholic.

However it retains a reference to God in its preamble and its second article guarantees government support for the Catholic Church.

"The Catholic Church in Argentina has great sway. There's a very strong Catholic culture in the political world," sociologist Fortunato Mallimaci, who wrote a book on what he says is the myth of Argentine secularism, told AFP.

"Religious groups look for state support and the state, when it feels weak, looks for support from religious groups. Today the Catholic Church wields more political than religious clout," he said.

Catholicism is a strong force in Argentina, the homeland of Pope Francis.

The state pays a salary to archbishops and subsidizes Catholic schooling, which accounts for 36 percent of education in Argentina, according to Mallimaci.

- Francis stays silent -

However, Catholicism has been losing influence as evangelical Christianity gains ground.

According to a 2019 poll by a government agency, 62.0 percent of Argentines identify as Catholic, 18.9 percent as non-religious and 15.3 percent as evangelical.

The Catholic Church's sway can be seen in Argentina's delay compared to other countries in adopting a number of laws: divorce was legalized only in 1987, sex education introduced in 2006, gay marriage approved in 2010 and a gender identity law passed in 2012.

Abortion is currently only allowed in two cases: rape and a danger to the mother's life.

"There is an opposition and huge rejection from the Catholic Church, which weighs heavily" on the chances of the law passing, constitutional lawyer Alfonso Santiago told AFP.

However, Santiago believes the relationship between the government of President Alberto Fernandez, who sponsored the abortion bill, and the Catholic Church will remain strong regardless of which way the vote goes.

"I don't think there will be a break in collaboration on other issues. It didn't happen before" when, for example, same-sex marriage was approved, he said.

While Francis has in the past likened abortion to hiring an assassin, he's remained silent over the current debate.

- Protest strength -

"The problem for the Catholic Church if abortion is legalized is that it will be up to it, and not the state, to ensure that its faithful comply with a prohibition that will be only religious," said Mallimaci.

A 2020 government poll found that 22.3 percent of Catholics in Argentina believe that a woman should have the right to an abortion if she wants one.

Meanwhile 55.7 percent said it should be permitted only in certain situations while just 17.2 percent supported a blanket ban.

Since 2018, evangelicals have come to the fore in protesting legalization.

"They have the momentum of the reborn," said Mallimaci, pointing to the light blue handkerchiefs brandished by evangelicals at their protests, as a counterweight to the green ones sported by abortion rights activists.

"Catholics don't mobilize in that way."

Despite their constant growth, evangelical churches in Argentina "don't have the same political weight as in other countries, such as Brazil where they can count on a parliamentary bloc."

Their strength, however, lies is in street protests and they will be out in force Tuesday in front of Congress, face-to-face with abortion rights demonstrators.

From bean to bar, Haiti's cocoa wants international recognition


Issued on: 27/12/2020 - 

A worker sorts cocoa beans in the workshop of the Makaya chocolate company in Petionville, Haiti Valerie Baeriswyl AFP

Port-au-Prince (AFP)

Although small in the face of South America's giants, Haiti is slowly developing its cocoa industry, earning better incomes for thousands of farmers and refuting the stereotype that culinary art is the preserve of wealthy countries.

Haiti's annual production of 5,000 tonnes of cocoa pales in comparison to the 70,000 tonnes produced per year by neighboring Dominican Republic, but the sector's development is recent in the island nation.

Feccano, a federation of cocoa cooperatives in northern Haiti, became the first group to organize exchanges in 2001 by prioritizing farmers' profits.

"Before, there was the systematic destruction of cocoa trees because the market price wasn't interesting for farmers who preferred very short-cycle crops," said Guito Gilot, Feccano's commercial director.

The cooperative now works with more than 4,000 farmers in northern Haiti.

By fermenting its members' beans before export, Feccano has been able to target the market for fine and aromatic cocoa.

"Feccano's customers pay for quality: they don't have the New York Stock Exchange as a reference," said Gilot.

- Just-in-time collection -

Smelling potential, Haiti's private sector finally began investing in the cocoa industry, which until then had been supported solely by non-governmental organizations and humanitarian efforts.

By setting up its fermentation setter in 2014 in Acul-du-Nord, 15 kilometers (nine miles) from Haiti's second city Cap-Haitien, the company Produit des iles (PISA) entered the market. But the logistical challenges are many.

"The producers we work with farm less than a hectare, often divided into several plots whereas, in Latin America, a small producer already owns four or five hectares," explained Aline Etlicher, who developed the industry at PISA.

"We buy fresh cocoa, the same day as the harvest so the farmer no longer has the problems of drying and storing that they would have if they sold it to an intermediary," said the French agronomist.

In recent months, this just-in-time bean collection from all sites has been more challenging because many roads were regularly blocked due to socio-political unrest.

Maintaining organic and fair trade certifications for the cocoa is delicate, but the Haitian style has made its mark abroad.

"Today there are bars sold in the United States that are called Acul-du-Nord," Etlicher said proudly.

"With our customers, we are part of the 'bean to bar' movement of chocolate makers who transform the cocoa bean into the chocolate bar," she said, adding that by cutting out the middleman, Haitian producers' revenues have doubled.

And on the other end of the chain, bean processing remains local.

- 'Plant your cocoa' -

For master chocolatier Ralph Leroy, making a rum ganache -- Haitian, just like all the products he uses -- was not an obvious choice.

After years in Montreal, he returned home to Haiti as a haute-couture stylist.

His shift to cocoa began when he made clothes out of chocolate for a culinary trade show. The training he then underwent for a year in Italy fueled his passion as much as his pride.

"The first week, I think I was insulted when the professor said, 'Chocolate is made for Europe. You there, plant your cocoa, we buy the cocoa and do the work,'" he recalled.

Today, Leroy runs the chocolate company he founded in 2016, Makaya, and the edible sculptures that come out of his workshop are a huge sensation at parties. His company now has about 20 employees who share his passion.

"Even in cooking schools, we don't learn this. I learned everything here and I am very, very proud," said Duasmine Paul, 22, head of Makaya's laboratory.

Echoes of car horns reach the ears of Makaya employees carefully sorting cocoa beans, a side effect of the chaotic traffic that paralyzes Haitian capital Port-au-Prince at the end of the year.

From his workshop, where he also concocts chocolate-based cocktails, Leroy sees as sweet revenge the great marketing of his bars.

"The greatest pleasure is when, before traveling, Haitians come here to buy a lot to offer abroad. It's become their pride. And also when Europeans come and buy all the stock... I tell myself that I am doing a good job," he says with a burst of laughter.

© 2020 AFP

Archaeologists uncover well-preserved ‘fast food’ counter in Pompeii

Issued on: 26/12/2020

This picture released on December 26, 2020 by the Pompeii Press Office shows a thermopolium, a sort of street "fast-food" counter in ancient Rome, that has been unearthed in Pompeii, decorated with polychrome motifs and in an exceptional state of preservation. The counter, frozen by volcanic ash, had been partly unearthed in 2019 but the work was extended to best preserve the entire site, located at the crossroads of rue des Noces d'Argent and rue des Balcons. © Luigi Spina, AFP

Text by: NEWS WIRES

Researchers said on Saturday they had discovered a frescoed thermopolium, or fast food counter, in an exceptional state of preservation in Pompeii.

The ornate snack bar counter, decorated with polychrome patterns and frozen by volcanic ash, was partially exhumed last year but archaeologists extended work on the site to reveal it in its full glory.

Pompeii was buried in a sea of boiling lava when the volcano on nearby Mount Vesuvius erupted in 79 AD, killing between 2,000 and 15,000 people.

However, archaeologists continue to make discoveries there.

The Thermopolium of Regio V at what was a busy intersection of Silver Wedding Street and Alley of Balconies was the Roman era equivalent of a fast food snack stall.

Previously unearthed was a fresco bearing an image of a Nereid nymph riding a seahorse and gladiators in combat.

In the latest stage of their work, archaeologists uncovered a number of still life scenes, including depictions of animals believed to have been on the menu, notably mallard ducks and also a rooster, for serving up with wine or hot beverages.

Scientists were also able to glean precious new information on gastronomic habits in the town dating from the eruption, which engulfed Pompeii and the neighbouring town of Herculaneum as they tried to flee only to be engulfed by pyroclastic lava currents or hit by falling buildings.

The team found duck bone fragments as well as the remains of pigs, goats, fish and snails in earthenware pots. Some of the ingredients had been cooked together rather as a Roman era paella.

Crushed fava beans, used to modify the taste of wine, were found at the bottom of one jar.

Witness to antiquity

“As well as bearing witness to daily life in Pompeii, the possibilities to analyse afforded by this thermopolium are exceptional because for the first time we have excavated a site in its entirety,” said Massimo Osanna, director general at the Archaeological Park of Pompeii.

Amphorae, a water tower and a fountain were also found alongside human remains, including those of a man believed to have been aged around 50 and discovered near a child’s bed.

“The counter seems to have been closed in a hurry and abandoned by its owners but it is possible that someone, perhaps the oldest man, stayed behind and perished during the first phase of the eruption,” Osanna told Ansa news agency.

The remains of another person may be those either of an opportunist thief or someone fleeing the eruption who was “surprised by the burning vapours just as he had his hand on the lid of the pot that he had just opened”, added Osanna.

The thermopolium—the word comes from the Greek “thermos” for hot and “poleo” to sell—was very popular in the Roman world. Pompeii alone had around 80.

Pompeii is Italy’s second most visited site after the Colisseum in Rome and last year attracted around four million tourists.

(AFP)

Archaeologists uncover ancient street food shop in Pompeii

VIDEO Excavations in Pompeii

Philip Pullella
Sat, December 26, 2020

ROME (Reuters) - Archaeologists in Pompeii, the city buried in a volcanic eruption in 79 AD, have made the extraordinary find of a frescoed hot food and drinks shop that served up the ancient equivalent of street food to Roman passersby.

Known as a termopolium, Latin for hot drinks counter, the shop was discovered in the archaeological park's Regio V site, which is not yet open the public, and unveiled on Saturday.

Traces of nearly 2,000-year-old food were found in some of the deep terra cotta jars containing hot food which the shop keeper lowered into a counter with circular holes.

The front of the counter was decorated with brightly coloured frescoes, some depicting animals that were part of the ingredients in the food sold, such as a chicken and two ducks hanging upside down.

"This is an extraordinary find. It's the first time we are excavating an entire termopolium," said Massimo Ossana, director of the Pompeii archaeological park.

Archaeologists also found a decorated bronze drinking bowl known as a patera, ceramic jars used for cooking stews and soups, wine flasks and amphora.

Pompeii, 23 km (14 miles) southeast of Naples, was home to about 13,000 people when it was buried under ash, pumice pebbles and dust as it endured the force of an eruption equivalent to many atomic bombs.

"Our preliminary analyses shows that the figures drawn on the front of the counter, represent, at least in part, the food and drink that were sold there," said Valeria Amoretti, a site anthropologist.

Amoretti said traces of pork, fish, snails and beef had been found in the containers, a discovery she called a "testimony to the great variety of animal products used to prepare dishes".

About two-thirds of the 66-hectare (165-acre) ancient town has been uncovered. The ruins were not discovered until the 16th century and organised excavations began about 1750.

A rare documentation of Greco-Roman life, Pompeii is one of Italy's most popular attractions and a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

BIGGUS DICKUS
Pompeii archaeologists uncover ancient homophobic insult to tavern owner

Giada Zampano
Sat, December 26, 2020

The Thermopolium of Regio V, one of the oldest snack bars in Pompeii

 - Luigi Spina/Luigi Spina

Archaeologists excavating a snack bar in the ruins of Italy’s Pompeii have uncovered “exceptional” frescoes, and obscene graffiti likely directed at the establishment’s seventh century owner.

The volcanic ash which buried the town during the eruption of Mt Vesuvius in AD79 has preserved an intimate historical record of the Roman town 14 miles southeast of Naples, and the lives of its 13,000 inhabitants.

One of these inhabitants was called Nicias and was likely a freed slave from Greece, according to excavators who recently uncovered an inscription insulting the man. 


“NICIA CINAEDE CACATOR” reads the scrawled graffiti on a fresco of a chained dog painted onto the bar of the Thermopolium of Regio V, a cheap street food eatery. 

“An inverted s****er” is how archaeologists rendered the slur, though the adjective carries a homosexual connotation from its derivation from the ancient Greek term  for catamite.

“NICIA CINAEDE CACATOR” reads the scrawled graffiti on a fresco

NICI EFFEMINATE defecation

“This was probably left by a prankster who sought to poke fun at the owner, or by someone who worked in the thermopolium,” the archaeological park said in a statement highlighting the full range of scientific study that has been applied to understanding the crude inscription and its surrounding context.

“The materials which have been discovered have indeed been excavated and studied from all points of view by an interdisciplinary team composed of professionals in the fields of physical anthropology, archaeology, archaeobotany, archaeozoology, geology and vulcanology,” said Massimo Osanna, head of the Pompeiiarchaeological park.

Over the years, archaeologists at Pompeii have excavated more than 80 thermopolia, Latin for hot drinks counters, an ancient version of Italy's “tavole calde,” selling ready-to-eat meals popular among the working classes.

A partial excavation of the Regio V last year uncovered a spectacular fresco depicting blood-soaked gladiators in combat, and the latest artworks revealed include a nymph riding a sea-horse, mallard ducks hanging ready for the pot and a live rooster.

Duck bones were found alongside the avian frescoes, suggesting that at least some of the well-preserved paintings depicted available menu items. Archaeologists also found remains of goats, pigs, fish and snails, illustrating a wide variety of food on sale. 

Human remains were also found, alongside the bones of a tiny dog, which archaeologists said was evidence of selective breeding for size.

The site will be opened to the public in the near future, Italian Culture Minister Dario Franceschini said on Saturday. "It will be an Easter present for visitors,” he said.

Trump's pardons for Blackwater guards met with outrage, disgust


President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump depart the White House on Wednesday on a trip to spend the Christmas holiday at the Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Fla. Photo by Chris Kleponis/UPI | License Photo

Dec. 24 (UPI) -- The move by U.S. President Donald Trump to pardon and free four private security guards who killed more than a dozen Iraqi civilians in 2007 has been met with outrage from the victims' families and many others.

In a new round of pardons Wednesday night, Trump excused Blackwater Worldwide guards Dustin Heard, Evan Liberty, Nicholas Slatten and Paul Slough. They were found guilty in 2014 of launching the attack, unprovoked, at Baghdad's Nisour Square 13 years ago -- which killed 14 civilians, including two children, and injured 17 others.

All four were sentenced to at least 12 years in prison. Slatten, who started the shooting, was given a life sentence.

In offering justification for the pardons, Trump questioned the merits of the Justice Department's prosecution of the privately contracted security guards and claimed the pardons are "broadly supported by the public."

Many view the new round of pardons, which also excused crimes committed by political operatives Paul Manafort and Roger Stone, as the most galling of Trump's presidency so far. Relatives of the victims and surviving victims reacted with disgust.

"They are terrorists," Jasim Mohammed Al-Nasrawi, an Iraqi police officer who was injured in the attack, said of the four Blackwater guards.

"I am still not 100% recovered from my head wound, which [was] sustained in the gunfire by Blackwater guards in 2007, and have not been completely compensated for the attack. I will not waive my right to this case, I am not giving up."

RELATED Judge sentences 3 Blackwater guards to prison for 2007 Iraqi attack

Iraq's foreign ministry said Trump's pardons don't "take into account the seriousness of the crime[s] committed."

The father of a 9-year boy who was one of the two children killed in the attack said Trump "broke my life again."

"He broke the law. He broke everything. He broke the court. He broke the judge," he told the BBC.

"Before [this] I felt that no-one [was] above the law."

United Nations Human Rights Office spokeswoman Marta Hurtado said Trump's move "contributes to impunity and has the effect of emboldening others to commit such crimes in the future."

"The U.N. Human Rights Office calls on the U.S. to renew its commitment to fighting impunity for gross human rights violations and serious violations of international humanitarian law, as well as to uphold its obligations to ensure accountability for such crimes."

"President Trump has pardoned a child murderer," said Paul Dickinson, an attorney who represented some of the victims.

"When the White House statement says the situation turned violent, the situation turned violent because of what those men did -- not because of anything that happened around them. While they may have served honorably, they committed heinous crimes that day."

Republican Sen. Ben Sasse of Nebraska reacted with a stern one-sentence statement.

"This is rotten to the core," he said.

#BDS #BOYCOTTISRAEL
U.S. rule change labels goods from West Bank 

area as 'Made in Israel'


Palestinian protesters oppose the U.S. administration of President Donald Trump during an event in Rafah in southern Gaza on January 12, 2018. File Photo by Ismael Mohamad/UPI | License Photo

Dec. 24 (UPI) -- The Trump administration has ordered that all goods produced in a key area of the occupied West Bank be labeled as "Made In Israel" for customs purposes, granting de facto recognition of Israeli sovereignty.

In an update to its rules published Wednesday in the Federal Register, U.S. Customs and Border Protection declared that items manufactured in "Area C" of the West Bank -- which makes up 60% of the occupied territories and encompasses the majority of Israeli settlements -- must be marked as ''Product of Israel" or ''Made in Israel."

Goods made in areas A and B will identify "West Bank" as the point of origin, while those manufactured in the Gaza Strip will be marked as "Gaza," the rules now state.

Under the Oslo Accords, Area C was placed under direct Israeli military rule, while areas A and B are controlled by the Palestinian Authority.

RELATED Israel pays $1.1B in back tax payments to Palestinian Authority

U.S. Secretary Mike Pompeo first announced the changes while visiting Israel last month. The new policy alters U.S. practice since 1995, which has required products made in the West Bank and Gaza to be labeled as such.

"We will no longer accept 'West Bank/Gaza' or similar markings, in recognition that Gaza and the West Bank are politically and administratively separate and should be treated accordingly," the State Department said.

The European Union, meanwhile, continues a policy under which member states must label exports produced in Area C as having been made in the Israeli settlements.

RELATED Pompeo says Israel boycott a 'cancer,' visits West Bank settlements

A United Nations Security Council resolution in 2016 calls on all member nations to "distinguish, in their relevant dealings, between the territory of the State of Israel and the territories occupied since 1967."

The Palestinian Authority has urged the international community to boycott products made in the West Bank settlements, and on Thursday called the U.S. decision on labeling a "war crime.

U.S. plans to open consulate in Western Sahara, Pompeo says

The Moroccan government has mostly controlled the area, but a small portion has been managed by the partially recognized Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic, a self-proclaimed sovereign state established by the Polisario Front in the 1970s.

U.S. Secretary Mike Pompeo announced Thursday that the United States plans to open a consulate in Western Sahara after President Donald Trump recognized Morocco's sovereignty over the region earlier this month. File Photo by Kevin Dietsch/UPI | License Photo

Dec. 24 (UPI) -- The United States will open a consulate in Western Sahara, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced Thursday.

"Pleased to announce the beginning of the process to establish a U.S. consulate in Western Sahara and the inauguration of a virtual presence post effective immediately!" Pompeo wrote on Twitter Thursday afternoon.

"We look forward to promoting economic and social development, and to engage the people of this region."

In a statement, Pompeo added that the virtual presence post in Sahara will be managed by the U.S. embassy in Rabat.

The virtual post will focus on "promoting economic and social development" in advance of the establishment of a fully functioning consulate.

Thursday's announcement came after President Donald Trump recognized Morocco's sovereignty over Western Sahara as part of a deal to normalize relations between Morocco and Israel.

The Moroccan government has mostly controlled the area, but a small portion has been managed by the partially recognized Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic, a self-proclaimed sovereign state established by the Polisario Front in the 1970s.

Elderly hospitalizations spike after hurricanes, 

study shows


Based on a new study, researchers say civic leaders should plan for increased hospitalizations after hurricanes -- especially of seniors -- to better care for influxes of patients. File Photo by PO3 Paige Hause/U.S. Coast Guard/UPI | License Photo

Hospitals are swamped with older patients after hurricanes, a new study finds.

Researchers analyzed data on hospitalizations for adults 65 and older in the month following eight of the United States' largest hurricanes in recent years.

In this age group, post-hurricane increases in hospitalizations for any reason ranged from 10% after Hurricane Irene in 2011 to 23% after Hurricane Sandy in 2012.

Adults 85 and older were significantly more likely to be hospitalized, as were poor older adults.

RELATED Louisiana struggles to recover after Laura, Delta hurricane landfalls

Even after the researchers deleted the first three days after hurricanes Irene and Sandy, which might have accounted for injury and trauma-related admissions, older adult hospitalizations remained significantly higher after hurricanes.

"We can surmise that the stronger the hurricane, the greater the impact will be on individuals and communities," said study lead author Sue Anne Bell, assistant professor of nursing at the University of Michigan.

"But even a small storm can cause great damage to a community that is not prepared," she said in a university news release.

Given that the United States has more than 100 disasters a year, steps to support the health of older adults is a key aspect of disaster preparedness, Bell said.

She also pointed out that older adults need to prepare for disasters by taking small, regular steps.

"Include in your grocery budget a few items each month to start building a supply of food and water," Bell suggested. "A gallon of water is less than a dollar, for example. Buying a can opener and a few canned goods can be a good start, and the next time you go to the grocery, think of another item or two to add to your stash."

RELATED Climate disasters rising at 'staggering' rate since 2000

Another suggestion is to let your family, friends and neighbors know your evacuation plans if an emergency occurs. "Now is a great time to plan a family Zoom meeting and talk about those plans," Bell suggested.

In a second study, her team found a decline in health care providers in counties affected by Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

Compared to 2004, those counties had 3.6 fewer primary care doctors, 5.9 fewer medical specialists and 2.1 fewer surgeons for every 10,000 residents by 2010.

The availability of nurse practitioners didn't change and helped to offset the decrease in physicians.

The findings show that communities' disaster plans should include guidelines to attract and retain health care providers, according to Bell.More information

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has more on emergency preparedness and response.

Copyright 2020 HealthDay. All rights reserved.

upi.com/7063227

Female jockey makes history 

as British steeplechase longshot winner

Frost credited eight-year-old Frodon for her success.

Female jockey Bryony Frost made history and won a longshot victory 

on Frodon, who was given 20-to-1 odds before the steeplechase race.

British jockey Bryony Frost, pictured riding Silent Steps, won the King George VI Steeplechase race at Kempton on Saturday. File Photo by Peter Powell/EPA

Dec. 26 (UPI) -- Female jockey Bryony Frost made history and won a longshot victory in the British King George VI Chase at Kempton Saturday on Frodon, who was given 20-to-1 odds before the steeplechase race.

Frost credited eight-year-old Frodon for her success.

"The mechanics, his athleticism, how he deals with his obstacles. You struggle to keep up with him because he's 10 strides ahead of you the whole time. My brain is constantly trying to keep up with him," Frost, 25, told the Guardian.

Frodon quickly pulled ahead of stablemate Clan Des Obeaux, the favorite and prior twice-time winner of the King George, and Waiting Patiently ridden by jockey Brian Hughes, which came in third and second respectively.

Frost and Frodon easily won the contest clearing 18 jumps and winning by more than 2 1/4 lengths.

The Boxing Day race with a $150,000 prize to the winner, was held under pandemic conditions with few spectators in the 20,000 seats at Kempton. Trainer Paul Nicholls sat in the empty Royal Box watching as two other horses from his stables, Cyrname and Real Steel, dropped behind Frodon.

Nicholls said he was not expecting Frodon to win, "although he's a very good horse on his day and loves it round here," Nicholls said. "He's one of those horses you can never underestimate. He's tough and he's genuine. He likes a battle and he's beaten some good horses there fair and square."

Frost and Frodon first showed they were a winning team after victory in the 2019 Ryanair Chase at Cheltenham.

"I cannot stress how much this horse means to me -- he is my life," Frost said of Frodon Saturday. "You dream as a little girl to ride a horse like this," she added.

How Ugandan Nasa scientist Catherine Nakalembe uses satellites to boost farming

Sat, December 26, 2020,

Catherine Nakalembe

As a keen badminton player Ugandan Catherine Nakalembe wanted to study sport science at university but a failure to get the required grades for a government grant set her on a path that led her to Nasa and winning a prestigious food research prize, writes the BBC's Patience Atuhaire.

When Dr Nakalembe tried to explain to a Karamojong farmer in north-eastern Uganda how her work using images taken from satellites hundreds of kilometres above the Earth relates to his small plot, he laughed.

While she uses the high-resolution images in her pioneering work to help farmers and governments make better decisions, she still needs to get on the ground to sharpen up the data.


In other words, from space you cannot tell the difference between grass, maize and sorghum.

Dr Nakalembe talks to farmers about how they can use an app to send in information about their crops

"Through a translator, I told the farmer that when I look at the data, I just see green.

"I had printed a picture, which I showed him. He was then able to understand that… you need to see the farm physically to make those distinctions," the academic tells the BBC.

She is a softly spoken woman with a radiant demeanour, and it is hard to picture her trekking for hours in the heat of semi-arid Karamoja, looking to tease out the granular distinctions that can only be spotted on the ground.

This is especially important in farming areas dominated by small holders who may be planting different crops at different times, leading to a huge number of variables. That complexity makes it almost impossible for most authorities to monitor.

Dr Nakalembe's work has helped people in the semi-arid Karamajong area

Dr Nakalembe, an assistant professor at the University of Maryland'sgeographical sciences department in the US, uses the satellite data to study agriculture and weather patterns.

 
That information is combined with data gathered on the ground about the crops and their condition to build a model that learns to recognise patterns to help make predictions.

It was this that won her the 2020 Africa Food Prize alongside Burkina Faso's Dr André Bationo for his work on fertiliser.

The scientist, who also heads the Africa section of Nasa's food and agriculture programme, explains: "From the air, you can see which area is built-up, bare, has vegetation or water.

"We are also able to tell what is cropland or what is forest. Because we have a 30-year record of what cropland looks like, we can tell what is healthy, what isn't or which part has improved."
'A lifeline for rural families'

Using information gathered on the ground by researchers or sent in by farmers themselves, she can then distinguish between crop types and create a map that shows whether the farms are thriving compared to the same crop elsewhere in that region.

The model has been used in places like the US where mechanised farming takes place on an industrial scale. The information can help inform decisions about when to irrigate or how much fertiliser should be used.

But even a farmer in Uganda, or elsewhere on the continent, using just a hoe and working for long hours on their small plot will find this information valuable.

"Remote sensing makes it possible to monitor large swathes of land using freely available data.

"You can give a forecast; if you combine satellite estimates of rainfall and temperature, you can tell that it is going to rain in the next 10 days and farmers should prepare their fields. Or if there is no rain, they don't have to waste their seeds and can wait a few weeks," Dr Nakalembe says.

Dr Nakalembe works with local officials to help improve farming policies

In much of the continent, where farms are often small fragmented plots far from sources of information, this data can be translated into local-language text messages, radio programmes or passed on through agricultural extension workers.

It is also evidence that governments can use to plan for disaster response in case of crop failure or flash floods, and save communities from famine.

Early research by Dr Nakalembe enabled 84,000 people in Karamoja avoid the worst effects of a highly variable climate and a lack of rainfall.

"She worked with us in 2016, to develop tools that predict the incidence of drought," says Stella Sengendo, who works on disaster risk in the prime minister's office.

"We use these to estimate the number of households that are likely to be affected by severe dry spells. We then developed a programme that extends funds to families, through the local government.

"Locals do public works and earn money during the dry season. They save 30% and use 70% for daily consumption," Ms Sengendo explains.

The 5,500 Uganda shilling ($1.50, £1.12) a day is a lifeline for families in a region that has only one harvest season a year. And about 60% of these workers are women, who, studies have shown, suffer the worst effects of climate change.

Accidental environmental scientist

Brought up in the capital, Kampala, by a mother who runs a restaurant and a father who is a mechanic, Dr Nakalembe never pictured herself working with satellites.

She played badminton with her sisters and wanted to pursue sports science as a degree, but without the required grades to get a government grant, she turned to environmental science at Makerere University.

Having never left Kampala except for the occasional family event, she applied to work with the Uganda Wildlife Authority to earn credits for her course.

"Mapping appealed to me. I went to Mount Elgon in the east. I still have pictures from my very first field work because it was really exciting," she says, beaming.

"I have always had the same personal statement: to gain knowledge and apply it back home"", Source: Dr Catherine Nakalembe, Source description: Winner, Africa Food Prize 2020, Image: Catherine Nakalembe

The Nasa scientist, who now travels throughout Africa training government departments on how to develop food security programmes, went on to Johns Hopkins University for a masters in geography and environmental engineering.

She says: "I have always had the same personal statement: to gain knowledge and apply it back home.

"The PhD program at the University of Maryland allowed me to get into remote sensing, but most importantly, come and work in Uganda and around the continent."

The trailblazing researcher also mentors young black women to encourage them to get into environmental sciences.

"In the diaspora, I go to meetings and I am the only one who looks like this. It feels lonely when it is a new country or space.

"In East Africa, I meet a lot of people with whom we can share experiences and our struggles. I would like to see more black women in this group," says Dr Nakalembe, sounding determined.

Winning the prize came as a shock to Dr Nakalembe

The news that she had won the 2020 Africa Food Prize this September came to her in a patchy phone call. She did not know that she had been nominated, and wondered why her colleagues insisted she kept her phone close.

When the call finally came, she was asked to hold for former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, who barely got through the congratulations before the line was disconnected.

"It was like going to the hospital for a headache and then being told you're having a baby.

"When I called my family, my sister thought I was being scammed. My mother said the same thing she always says whenever I achieve something: 'Webale kusoma' ('thank you for studying hard' in Luganda)," she says.

The euphoria from the win has clearly yet to wear off, judging by the big grin with which she talks about the prize.

"Imagine, I now have a Wikipedia page.

"When I introduce myself lately, I have to remember to say: 'I am also the 2020 Africa Food Prize Laureate'. And I've got my giant trophy which weighs about 5kg. So, I know I am not dreaming," she quips.