The forgotten victims of the Beirut explosion: domestic workers

Nesrine Malik

Dumped on the streets after Covid-19 hit, hundreds of nannies are now starving amid the ruins of last month’s blast

An Ethiopian migrant worker waits outside her country’s embassy in Beirut. Photograph: Joseph Eid/AFP/Getty Images

Sun 6 Sep 2020 

It is just over a month since the Beirut port explosion, and the footage from that day remains as shocking as it was when it first began to appear on our TV screens and social media. In fragments of video, the world saw Beirut life freeze in confusion at the unfamiliar sound of the explosion, then shatter as its impact hit. Among those bits of film we saw one scene, captured on domestic CCTV, that was replicated across the city – an African nanny instinctively scooping children up out of harm’s way, and protecting them with her body.

Beirut's devastating blast has not shaken the ruling class's grip on Lebanon

Gilbert Achcar

Read more

Many of these nannies are now sleeping on the streets of Beirut. Most are starving. Even before the explosion, an economic crisis exacerbated by the coronavirus pandemic meant that Lebanese employers could no longer pay their domestic workers. And so they made them gather their belongings, drove them to their embassies, and dumped them outside. Last June alone, more than 100 Ethiopian domestic workers were left outside their home country’s consulate. They live out of suitcases, and share mattresses. Some still try to maintain the discipline of wearing masks even as they sleep cheek by jowl on the unsanitary pavement.

Last week I spoke to Christine, a West African nanny and domestic worker who didn’t want to use her real name for fear of reprisals from her employer. A veteran of the Beirut labour market, she told me that she was trying to raise some money to help abandoned African women go back to their countries of origin. But that journey can’t be the priority. First, the women sleeping in the streets need to eat. If there is any money left over, it will be spent on shelter.

Travel from Lebanon to destinations in Africa is expensive, so the golden ticket home is reserved for the very sick who need to be with their families. She counts herself as one of the lucky ones, as her “madam” has kept her on, giving her a place to stay, and only reducing her salary by half.

The consulates, even when they are predisposed to helping, have to negotiate a labyrinth of Lebanese government bureaucracy, already infamous for its corruption and inefficiency. In order to secure the necessary paperwork for exit, hefty fees are levied by the ministry of labour, and then there are the travel costs. Ethiopian migrant workers are often told to try to return to their employers.

At the heart of this human rights crisis is a system of migrant labour that remains a stain on many countries in the Arab world. Known as kafala, or “sponsorship”, it effectively hands the fate of workers to their employers, who often withhold their passports to maintain control, and then demand that fees paid to employment agencies be repaid if workers want to leave before their contracts are up. This forces some workers to run away and become undocumented.

Anna, a nanny from the Philippines, told me how she managed to slip away from her abusive employer by layering three sets of underwear, tops and trousers on top of each other. That way she managed to bring with her a change of clothes without carrying a bag. She had lost so much weight by then, she jokes, that she could wear that much stuff without raising suspicion. She left everything else, including her passport, behind.

The cruelty of this kafala system isn’t an unfortunate outcome of bureaucracy, it is the result of a racist hierachy in which black workers find themselves at the bottom. Of all the nationalities that jostle and hustle for a living in the Middle East and the wider Arab world, dark-skinned African women are the cheapest to hire, the most desperate, and the most abused.

All migrant workers in Lebanon are struggling, Christine told me, but African women suffer the most because “we are not considered human beings, everybody ignores us. We are invisible.” Employers who can no longer pay their workers’ salaries can still house and feed them, but they choose not to, even though many maids and nannies offer to work for free.

As with any crisis, the most vulnerable are pushed off the cliff edge. Lebanon is struggling with a corrupt and incompetent political class, and now the aftermath of an explosion that would challenge the most robust infrastructure. The size of the rebuilding process that Beirut faces means that hungry African women sleeping rough on Beirut’s streets are rendered invisible twice – first by Lebanese society, which treats them as subhuman, and again by a global community that cannot see so many layers down into Lebanon’s ranking of victims.

For now, Beirut’s migrant workers are sticking together and sharing whatever meagre resources they have. They also try to warn others to stay away from the country. Christine fears they will still come in any case, because they believe they may be the lucky ones. “When you are poor you think, ‘Let me try,’ she says. “We just want to try.”

• Nesrine Malik is a Guardian columnist and the author of We Need New Stories: Challenging the Toxic Myths Behind Our Age of Discontent

Julian Assange: WikiLeaks founder arrested over 18 new allegations as he appears in court to fight US extradition

The new US indictment, filed in June, contains 18 charges and was handed to Assange moments before he appeared at the Old Bailey

Monday 7 September 2020 15:21, UK

Image:Supporters of Assange gathered outside the Old Bailey


Julian Assange has failed to get new allegations against him thrown out as he battles extradition to the US.

The WikiLeaks founder, 49, appeared at the Old Bailey in London after being held for months on remand at high-security Belmarsh Prison.

He was re-arrested in the court's cells on Monday over new charges contained in a US indictment.

It details a further 18 charges, lodged in June, which accuse him of plotting to hack computers and obtain and disclose national defence information.

Image:An artist's impression of Assange in the dock at the Old Bailey on Monday

They allege that he conspired with army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning to crack a scrambled password, known as "hash", to a classified US defence department computer.


The charges also offer further details of alleged hacking plotters that Assange and his WikiLeaks colleagues are said to have recruited.

The 49-year-old spoke only to state he "does not consent to extradition" and confirm his name.

Assange, who is wanted in the US for publishing hundreds of thousands of classified documents in 2010 and 2011, was clean-shaven with short hair and wore glasses, a dark suit, maroon tie and white shirt.

If convicted, he faces a maximum possible sentence of 175 years in jail.

\Image:Fashion designer Vivienne Westwood was outside court

His lawyer, Mark Summers QC, said the "fresh allegations at the 11th hour" were brought without warning or explanation, which meant they had no time to prepare a response.

He highlighted the difficulties Assange faced in speaking to his lawyers in the midst of ongoing restrictions.

"It would be an impossible task for the defence to deal with these fresh allegations in any meaningful way in the time that has been afforded to them, and that time is a matter of weeks in respect of which we are provided absolutely no explanation for the late arrival of these matters."

He added: "What is happening is abnormal, unfair and liable to create injustice if allowed to continue."

Image:Julian Assange's father was also at the central London court

But District Judge Vanessa Baraitser rejected the defence's bid to "excise" the allegations, saying: "These are issues which must take place in the context of considering the extradition request and not before it."

Outside court, hundreds of protesters gathered in support of Assange, including his father John Shipton and fashion designer Vivienne Westwood.

She said: "I'm an activist, I am very frightened, I've lost days and years of sleep worrying about Julian Assange.

"Julian Assange is the trigger, he is shining the light on all the corruption in the world."

Image:Assange has spent months on remand at Belmarsh Prison in south London

His father described the proceedings as an "abuse trial", which his defence claims has been targeted by Donald Trump's re-election campaign for "political reasons".

His partner, Stella Moris, who he shares two children with, was in the public gallery after delivering an 80,000-signature petition against his extradition to Downing Street.

Dozens of witnesses are expected to be called to give evidence at the Old Bailey over the four-week hearing, with the judgment likely to be delivered at a later date.

Assange has been on remand in Belmarsh Prison since last September after serving a 50-week sentence for breaching bail conditions while he was in London's Ecuadorian embassy for nearly seven years.

Assange’s legal battle to avoid US espionage trial resumes in London

Issued on: 07/09/2020

Text by: NEWS WIRES


A London hearing resumes on Monday to decide if WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange should be extradited to the United States to face trial over the publication of secrets relating to the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

The 49-year-old Australian, who is currently being held on remand at a high-security jail, faces 18 counts from US prosecutors that could see him jailed for up to 175 years.

The hearing at the Central Criminal Court, the Old Bailey, is due to last three to four weeks. It had been due to go ahead in April but was delayed due to the coronavirus outbreak.

Any ruling is "almost certain" to be appealed by the losing side, according to John Rees, of the Don't Extradite Assange Campaign, raising the prospect of more time behind bars for the former hacker.

Rees told AFP that Assange -- who has become a figurehead for press freedom and investigative journalism -- had a "very strong defence" but was concerned the case was "highly politicised".


Assange's French lawyer talks to FRANCE 24 as London extradition hearings resume
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A previous hearing in February was told that US President Donald Trump had promised to pardon Assange if he denied Russia leaked emails from the campaign of Hillary Clinton, Trump's opponent in the 2016 election.

Assange faces charges under the US Espionage Act for the 2010 release of 500,000 secret files detailing aspects of US military campaigns in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Washington claims he helped intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning to steal the documents before recklessly exposing confidential sources around the world.

At the February hearing, Assange's lawyer, Edward Fitzgerald, said his client would not get a fair trial in the United States and would be a suicide risk.

James Lewis, representing the US government, said WikiLeaks was responsible for "one of the largest compromises of classified information in the history of the United States".

"Reporting or journalism is not an excuse for criminal activities or a licence to break ordinary criminal laws," he added.

'Extradition will be a death sentence'

Assange's partner and the mother of his two young sons, South African-born lawyer Stella Moris, attempted to secure his release in March, claiming he was in danger inside prison during the coronavirus lockdown.

"The life of my partner, Julian Assange, is at severe risk," she said, arguing that Covid-19 was "spreading within (the) walls" of Belmarsh prison in south London.

In an interview published in The Times newspaper on Saturday, Moris, 37, said: "For Julian, extradition will be a death sentence."

She said she feared he would take his own life, and that his sons, who were conceived during his asylum in Ecuador's London embassy, would grow up without a father.

Assange appeared weak and confused during his February court appearance, apparently forgetting his date of birth. He also told district judge Vanessa Baraitser he had not understood what had happened in the hearing.

His legal team has repeatedly warned about his health and an independent UN rights expert said in November that his continued detention was putting his life at risk.

Meanwhile, the Council of Europe rights group warned that Assange's extradition would have a "chilling effect" on press freedom.

Other high-profile supporters of Assange include the Pink Floyd co-founder Roger Waters, "Baywatch" star Pamela Anderson, designer Vivienne Westwood, and Greece's former finance minister Yanis Varoufakis.

The saga began in 2010 when Assange faced allegations of sexual assault and rape in Sweden, which he denied.

He was in Britain at the time but dodged an attempt to extradite him to Sweden by claiming political asylum in Ecuador's embassy in London.

For seven years he lived in a small apartment in the embassy, but after a change of government in Quito, Ecuador lost patience with its guest and turned him over to British police in April 2019.

Swedish prosecutors confirmed last year they had dropped the rape investigation, saying that despite a "credible" account from the alleged victim there was insufficient evidence to proceed.

(AFP)

As British show-trial resumes: The working class must defend Julian Assange!

By Oscar Grenfell
7 September 2020

https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/09/07/assa-s07.html

The latest stage in the decade-long persecution of Julian Assange begins today, with the final three weeks of British court hearings for the extradition of the WikiLeaks publisher to the US, where he faces 175 years in prison for exposing American war crimes, human rights violations, coups and meddling operations around the world.

Whatever the court decides will likely be subject to years of legal appeal, but the scenario that Assange has warned of for the past ten years—that he risks being hauled before a secret US court, prosecuted for lawful publishing activities and thrown into a hellhole run by his CIA persecutors—is all too real.

The innumerable pundits and media commentators who derided these warnings as a conspiracy theory and promoted the slanders used to undermine public support for Assange have fallen silent. The legal travesty underway in the land of the Magna Carta either goes unmentioned in the official press, or is discreetly buried in brief columns halfway through the papers.

The hearings are only proceeding because the attempt of the British state to kill Assange by exposing him to the danger of coronavirus infection has so far failed.

Throughout the pandemic, Assange has been held in the maximum-security Belmarsh Prison, where he has been denied a mask or any other protection, even as dozens of inmates and staff have contracted COVID-19. A bail application has been contemptuously dismissed, despite the fact that Assange has been convicted of no crime, as have warnings that his health continues to deteriorate.

Assange, facing the most consequential legal proceedings of his life, has been unable to meet with his lawyers for the past six months. Weeks before the resumption of the trial, US prosecutors filed a superseding indictment, based on the lies and slanders of FBI informants, over a year after they were required to submit their final charge sheet. The transparent purpose was to inundate Assange’s legal team with tens of thousands of documents, after they had finished preparing their case, to prevent even the possibility of a defence.

As a matter of law, the US extradition request should have been thrown out as soon as it was submitted.

It violates innumerable treaties, laws and international conventions, including a ban on extraditions from Britain to the US for political offenses, prohibitions on the refoulement of those who have secured asylum to their persecutors and an absolute proscription on subjecting anyone to the likelihood of cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment, which Assange would unquestionably face in the US.

The WikiLeaks founder’s defence is expected to submit detailed evidence establishing that the CIA illegally surveilled Assange when he was a political refugee in Ecuador’s London embassy. His legal meetings were intercepted, in a flagrant breach of attorney-client privilege, and his infant child was spied upon, in a violation of fundamental human rights.

Despite the lawlessness, the hearings proceed, with the backing of the entire British political, media and legal establishment. The case is overseen by a judge whose husband has the closest ties to the intelligence agencies and the military. The Conservative government and the Labour opposition explicitly support the show-trial. The unions and the pseudo-left are opposed to any defence of Assange.

The line-up is proof that the only viable political strategy to fight for Assange’s freedom is one based upon the independent mobilisation of the working class against all of the official parties and the profit system that they defend.

Assange’s dire plight cannot be understood in isolation. It is one of the sharpest expressions of a turn to authoritarianism and censorship by governments around the world, amid a breakdown of capitalism, an escalation of imperialist militarism and the emergence of major class struggles.

The very governments persecuting Assange are at war with the population. In Britain, the US and Australia they have pursued a homicidal response to the pandemic, based on exposing millions of workers to a deadly virus so that capitalist production and corporate profits can continue.

Ordinary people are being made to pay for the economic crisis accelerated by the pandemic. Mass unemployment, the gutting of welfare and jobless payments and a stepped-up assault on wages and conditions goes hand in hand with government handouts of trillions of dollars to the banks, financial speculators and oligarchs.

The class war at home is accompanied by escalating war abroad, exemplified by continuous US provocations and threats against China and Russia, which risk a global nuclear conflagration.

None of this is compatible with democratic norms. Well aware that their criminal policies are inflaming mass social and political opposition from below, the ruling elites are responding with the blunt instruments of repression.

The US authorities, who want to destroy Assange, have, for the past three months, overseen state violence against mass protests in opposition to police killings. The turn to dictatorial methods is epitomised by Trump’s threats to illegally deploy the military against domestic opposition and his attempts to cultivate a fascistic movement.

His nominal opponent, Democratic Party presidential candidate Joe Biden, is rallying support from war criminals and the intelligence agencies. Biden’s program is internet censorship, military confrontation with Russia and China and trillions more for Wall Street.

The unanimity of the ruling elite in the assault on democratic rights is summed-up by the fact that the two official candidates in November’s US presidential election, Biden and Trump, both support the prosecution of Assange, which is a frontal assault on the press freedom enshrined in the US Constitution by the American Revolution. A similar bipartisanship is evident in every other country.

Desperate illusions that a section of the political establishment would come to Assange’s aid now take on the character of hopeless delusions.

Former British Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, who occasionally claimed to be a socialist, refused to defend Assange and has handed over control of the party to the Blairites. Bernie Sanders, who said that he was waging a “political revolution” through the big business Democratic Party, but would not even mention Assange’s name, is Biden’s most enthusiastic supporter.

The promotion of such bankrupt figures, including by organisations like the official Don’t Extradite Assange campaign group, has only served to demobilise and disorient the latent mass support for the WikiLeaks founder, and direct it behind the very forces responsible for Assange’s persecution.

Experience has shown that the social force that can and must take forward the fight for his freedom is the international working class. All over the world, teachers, auto workers, medical staff and many others are entering into struggle against the governments and corporate elites that have imperilled their lives during the pandemic, and attacked their social and democratic rights.

The persecution of Assange is not only aimed at silencing forever a courageous journalist and publisher who has exposed historic war crimes. It is an attempt to intimidate this emerging movement and establish a precedent for far broader victimisations and frame-ups.

But just as the working class will not accept the turn towards dictatorship, so it must defend Assange.

The World Socialist Web Site appeals to workers, students and young people to become active in the fight to block Assange’s extradition and secure his unconditional release. The fight for his freedom is your fight! It is inseparable from your struggles against inequality, the corporate onslaught on social conditions and the capitalist system that is responsible for the global crisis.

We encourage the broadest meetings and discussions in neighbourhoods, schools, universities and workplaces, along with public protests and rallies, where it is safe for them to be held. Resolutions should be adopted at workplaces, demanding an end to the persecution of Assange and calling on other sections of the working class to join this struggle.

UPDATED

Masked men reportedly seize senior Belarusian opposition figure Maria Kolesnikova in Minsk

Issued on: 07/09/2020 

Maria Kolesnikova is one of the campaign partners of opposition candidate Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, who claimed victory against President Alexander Lukashenko in a disputed election on August 9. © TUT.BY/AFP

Text by:NEWS WIRES

Unidentified men in black on Monday morning grabbed Maria Kolesnikova, a leading Belarusian opposition figure, and pushed her into a minibus, her campaign team reported, citing witnesses.

Kolesnikova was one of the campaign partners of opposition candidate Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, who claimed victory against long-ruling President Alexander Lukashenko in disputed polls on August 9.

She sits on the Coordination Council that is calling for a peaceful transfer of power amid weeks of post-election demonstrations.

Unidentified men seized Kolesnikova in central Minsk and drove her away in a minibus marked "Communications," witnesses told the headquarters of the campaign team she heads, which also reported that her phone was switched off.

There was no immediate comment from Minsk police.


A witness named as Anastasia told the Tut.by news website that she saw men in masks push Kolesnikova into a minibus and take her cell phone at around 10:00 am (0700 GMT) on Monday.

Мария Колесникова похищена в центре Минска неизвестными.https://t.co/iP93RO8JoP pic.twitter.com/w9kJgwoLHm— TUT.BY (@tutby) September 7, 2020

Belarusian authorities have already detained several members of the Coordination Council and questioned others including Kolesnikova in a probe into an alleged attempt to seize power.

Kolesnikova, 38, is the only one of the trio of women who fronted Tikhanovskaya's campaign to remain in Belarus, as the growing opposition movement holds huge demonstrations despite an intimidating show of force from Lukashenko, who insists on his legitimacy and has called on Russia for help.

Tikhanovskaya has taken shelter in neighbouring Lithuania and her other campaign partner, Veronika Tsepkalo, is now in Ukraine.

Kolesnikova, a trained flautist and music teacher, got into politics through running the campaign of another opposition politician, ex-banker Viktor Babaryko, who attempted to stand for president against Lukashenko but was jailed and barred from running.

When Tikhanovskaya, an English teacher and translator with no political experience was unexpectedly allowed to run for president, Kolesnikova and Tsepkalo backed her and spoke with her at rallies.

The women came up with signature gestures: for Tikhanovskaya a raised fist, for Kolesnikova a heart formed with her fingers and for Tsepkalo a victory sign.

Kolesnikova and other members of Babaryko's campaign team last month announced the creation of a new opposition party called Together.

(AFP)

Belarus opposition leader Maria Kolesnikova 'snatched from street' in Minsk

Kolesnikova on council calling for a peaceful transfer of power amid post-election protests

Maria Kolesnikova pictured last month. Unidentified men seized her in central Minsk and drove her away in a minibus, witnesses say. Photograph: Tatyana Zenkovich/EPA


Luke Harding and agencies
Mon 7 Sep 2020 

Unidentified masked men snatched the leading Belarusian opposition figure, Maria Kolesnikova, from the street in the centre of the capital, Minsk, on Monday and drove her away in a minivan, witnesses told local media.

Kolesnikova was one of the campaign partners of the opposition candidate Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, who claimed victory against the long-ruling president, Alexander Lukashenko, in disputed elections on 9 August.

Kolesnikova was reportedly seized soon after 10am local time while walking close to Minsk’s national art museum. Three other members of the opposition coordination council have also vanished, in what appears to be a targeted attempt by the authorities to wipe out the protest movement.

Kolesnikova is the most prominent political figure still inside Belarus.

Lukashenko’s victory – in a poll widely seen as rigged – has sparked mass protests. On Sunday, more than 100,000 people marched on the president’s residence, calling on him to quit. Riot police wearing balaclavas arrested 633 people. Gangs of pro-government thugs beat up protesters on their way home.

It is unclear who abducted Koselnikova. Her coordination council colleagues who have disappeared include Anton Rodnenkov, Ivan Kravtsov and Maxim Bogretsov. Her press team is also missing.

Speaking to the local news website Tut.by, a woman identified as Anastasia said she spotted Kolesnikova in the street. She said she was about to go up to her and to thank her for her work when she changed her mind, thinking Kolesnikova looked exhausted.

She said: “Then I noticed a dark minivan with the slogan “Svyaz” on the side parked up not far from the museum. I carried on and then heard the sound of a telephone falling on the tarmac. I turned round and saw people in civilian clothes and masks dragging Maria into the van. The phone flew out of her hand. One of them picked it up, jumped into the van and they drove off.”

Her telephone did not answer, Tut.by reported.

Kolesnikova’s press aide, Rodnenkov, confirmed her abduction but vanished himself around 40 minutes later, it reported. Kolesnikova’s allies said they were checking the report of her detention. Police in Minsk were cited by Russia’s Interfax news agency as saying they had not detained her.

Before the election, Kolesnikova had joined forces with the opposition presidential candidate Tikhanovskaya who later fled to Lithuania, and with Veronika Tsepkalo, who has also since left the country. Another leading activist, Olga Kovalkova, arrived in Poland on Saturday, saying she had been told she would face arrest if she stayed in Belarus.

Senior Belarus opposition figures have accused the EU of failing to respond to Lukashenko’s brutal crackdown on peaceful protesters. Andrei Sannikov, who stood against Lukashanko in the 2010 presidential election, and was subsequently jailed, said sanctions were urgently needed.

Earlier on Monday, central bank figures showed Belarus had burned through nearly a sixth of its gold and foreign exchange reserves, or $1.4bn (£1.06bn), in August, as it fought to prop up its rouble currency during the wave of unrest.
Veronika Tsepkalo (left), Svetlana Tikhanovskaya (centre), and Maria Kolesnikova display their signature gestures at a press-conference in Minsk in July. Photograph: Tatyana Zenkovich/EPA

Kolesnikova had announced on 31 August that she was forming a new political party, Together, with the team of jailed opposition figure Viktor Babariko with whom she had previously worked.

Kolesnikova, a trained flautist and music teacher, got into politics through running the campaign of another opposition politician, the former banker Viktor Babaryko, who attempted to stand for president against Lukashenko but was jailed and barred from running.

When Tikhanovskaya, an English teacher and translator with no political experience, was unexpectedly allowed to run for president, Kolesnikova and Tsepkalo backed her and spoke alongside her at rallies.

The women came up with signature gestures: for Tikhanovskaya a raised fist, for Kolesnikova a heart formed with her fingers, and for Tsepkalo a victory sign.

Kolesnikova and other members of Babaryko’s campaign team last month announced the creation of a new opposition party called Together.

MISOGYNIST Philippines president pardons HOMOPHOBIC US marine in transgender killing

Issued on: 07/09/2020 -

US Marine Lance Corporal Joseph Scott Pemberton has been granted an absolute pardon by Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte for the killing of a trangender woman in 2014

TED ALJIBE POOL/AFP/File


Manila (AFP)

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has granted an absolute pardon to a US marine convicted of killing a transgender woman, officials said Monday, drawing condemnation from rights groups.

Lance Corporal Joseph Scott Pemberton has been in prison since the October 2014 killing of Jennifer Laude, whom he met at a bar while on a break from military exercises in the northern city of Olongapo.

A local court ruled last week that Pemberton qualified for early release due to good behaviour, but was still being held due to an appeal.

Duterte's pardon clears all legal obstacles to his release, despite him serving just half his 10-year sentence.

Duterte's spokesman Harry Roque, a lawyer who represented the Laude family during the trial, confirmed Duterte's decision.

"The president has erased the remaining punishment against Pemberton... He can now go home because of the pardon," Roque told reporters.

The Laude family lawyer condemned the decision, calling it a "mockery" of the country's justice system.

"This is another injustice -- not only to Jennifer Laude and family but a grave injustice to the Filipino people," Virginia Suarez said in a statement.

"This is a travesty of Philippine sovereignty and democracy."

The pardon has renewed anti-American sentiment in the Southeast Asian nation, where groups have long called for removal of US military presence.

Edre Olalia, of the National Union of Peoples' Lawyers, called the pardon "a brazen and shameless sell-out" of country's sovereignty.

The pardon came despite Duterte shifting away from the US to seek closer relations with China since assuming power in 2016.

He will address the nation on Monday night after meeting his Cabinet and he is expected to speak on the issue, Roque said.

© 2020 AFP

Philippines pardons US Marine for killing transgender woman

President’s move to free Joseph Scott Pemberton condemned as ‘shameless mockery of justice’

Cpl Joseph Scott Pemberton during his trial in 2015, at which he was convicted of homicide. Photograph: Ted Aljibe/AP

Associated Press in Manila
Mon 7 Sep 2020 

The Philippine president has pardoned a US Marine in a surprise move that will free him from imprisonment for the 2014 killing of a transgender Filipino woman that sparked anger in the former American colony.

Teodoro Locsin Jr, the Philippine foreign secretary, tweeted that Rodrigo Duterte had “granted an absolute pardon” to L/Cpl Joseph Scott Pemberton “to do justice”, but did not elaborate. Duterte was to deliver televised remarks on Monday night where he would discuss Pemberton’s case, a presidential spokesman, Harry Roque, said.

A leftwing human rights group, Karapatan, immediately condemned the pardon as a “despicable and shameless mockery of justice and servility to US imperialist interests”.

Pemberton was convicted of homicide and has been serving a prison sentence of six to 10 years for the killing of Jennifer Laude in a motel in Olongapo city, north-west of Manila. His lawyer, Rowena Garcia-Flores, told the Associated Press that Pemberton had already been aware of Duterte’s decision when she called him.

“I heard the news,” Garcia-Flores quoted the 25-year-old Pemberton as saying. “I’m very happy.”

Meeting Pemberton in detention a few days ago, she said he had expressed his willingness to apologise to the Laude family, even belatedly.

Roque, who once served as a lawyer for the Laude family, said the presidential pardon would mean the immediate release of Pemberton from detention.

“The president has erased the punishment that should be imposed on Pemberton. What the president did not erase was the conviction of Pemberton. He’s still a killer,” Roque said.

Last week, the regional trial court in Olongapo, which handled Pemberton’s case, ordered authorities to release him early from detention for good conduct, but Laude’s family appealed against the order, blocking the marine’s early release. Roque said the Department of Justice was planning to block Pemberton’s early release with a separate appeal.

The court order rekindled perceptions that US military personnel who fall foul of Philippine laws can get special treatment under the allies’ visiting forces agreement (VFA), which provides the legal framework for temporary visits by US forces to the country for large-scale combat exercises.

Pemberton, an anti-tank missile operator from New Bedford, Massachusetts, was one of thousands of US and Philippine military personnel who participated in joint exercises in the country in 2014.

He and a group of other marines were on leave after the exercises and met Laude and her friends at a bar in Olongapo, a city known for its nightlife, outside Subic Bay, a former US navy base.

Laude was later found dead in a motel room where witnesses said she and Pemberton had checked in. A witness told investigators that Pemberton said he had choked Laude after discovering she was transgender.

In December 2015, a judge convicted Pemberton of homicide, not the more serious charge of murder that prosecutors sought. The Olongapo court judge said at the time that she had downgraded the charge because factors such as cruelty and treachery had not been proven.

Pemberton has been serving his sentence in a compound jointly guarded by Philippine and US security personnel at the main military camp in metropolitan Manila. The place of detention was agreed to under the terms of the VFA, although Laude’s family had demanded that he be held in an ordinary jail.

Garcia-Flores said his detention had been shortened by authorities under a Philippine law that allows the reduction of prison terms for good conduct. A lawyer for the Laude family, Virginia Suarez, said the law could not apply to Pemberton, who has been detained alone in a military camp and given other special privileges under the VFA.

The case has led to calls from some in the Philippines to end the US military presence in the country, with which Washington has a mutual defence treaty.

REAL LIFE CARTOON 

Pensioner blows his house up while trying to kill a fly with electrified bug swatter

• The man, 80, blew up the kitchen and the roof of his home in the Dordogne
• He used an electric tennis racquet-like contraption to attempt to swat the fly
• But gas had been leaking into his house and the electricity caused an explosion
• The pensioner escaped with a burned hand and has been treated in hospital 
• THE FLY SURVIVED!
• NO INDICATION IF THE ZAPPER CAME FROM ACME CO. 

By PETER ALLEN IN PARIS FOR MAILONLINE

PUBLISHED: 7 September 2020 

A French pensioner blew up his kitchen while trying to kill a fly that was disturbing his dinner.

The incident took place in the Dordogne village of Parcoul-Chenaud, north east of Bordeaux, on Friday.

Irritated by the fly, the 80-year-old, who has not been named, took out an electronic bug zapper.

A French pensioner blew up his kitchen and the roof above it while trying to kill a fly with an electronic zapper (stock image)

The contraption – which looks like a tennis racquet – is designed to burn insects the moment there is contact.Share

'On this occasion, gas was leaking into the man's house,' said an investigating source. 'The very hot zapper ignited the gas, causing a sudden explosion.

'The man was lucky to get away with a burned hand after diving on the floor, but the kitchen was destroyed along with part of the roof.'

The fly had been disturbing the man while he was eating dinner but the gas had been left on, causing an explosion when he used the electronic swatter

The man was treated in hospital in Libourne following the disaster, which happened at around 7.45pm.

He has not been allowed to return to the house, and is instead staying in a local campsite until repairs are carried out.

It is not known whether the fly survived the blast, but it appeared that it had at least escaped being incinerated by the zapper.

In 2007, a two-year-old Thai boy ended up in hospital in Bangkok with severe burns caused by an electric zapper.

The child's father had been using the device to kill a mosquito in a workroom containing flammable adhesive glue that had ended up on the floor.

After the insect made contact with the metallic mesh screen, an electrical arc was generated, and the insect was incinerated.

The boy then placed the hot swatter on to the floor, which ignited the glue and then the boy's clothing.

Hungarian researcher wins prize for process that could restore sight
2020/9/7 
©Deutsche Presse-Agentur GmbH

Presentation of the Koerber Prize in Hamburg - Botond Roska, a Hungarian physician, speaks during the presentation of the Koerber Prize, endowed with one million euros (1.18 million USD), at the Hamburg town hall. - Axel Heimken/dpa

Work on a procedure that might one day help restore sight to the blind earned a Hungarian researcher a 1-million-euro (1.18-million-dollar) prize in Germany on Monday.

Botond Roska, who works in the Swiss city of Basel, has found a gene therapy that reprogrammes cells in the human eye so that they can perform the work of the light-sensitive receptors needed for human vision, according to the Koerber Foundation, the prize-giver.

The procedure could reactivate the retinas of the blind.

Roska said that for now, the therapy creates a level of vision akin to watching an old black-and-white film. Clinical tests have begun on blind volunteers.

"Roska's research has woken up hope that new treatment methods might restore the ability to see in the blind," said Hamburg Mayor Peter Tschentscher at the award ceremony.

The Koerber Foundation's prize has been awarded annually since 1985, honouring scientists whose work has applied futuristic techniques to the life and physical sciences.

Roska began his career in medicine "after a detour," said Tschentscher. The scientist first studied the cello, but had to give up the instrument following an injury, after which he began to pursue medicine and mathematics.

UPDATED

Hundreds arrested as Hong Kong police swoop on protests over postponed poll

Issued on: 06/09/2020  

   

Riot police carry away a man to detain him during a demonstration opposing postponed elections, in Hong Kong, China September 6, 2020. REUTERS - TYRONE SIU

Text by:NEWS WIRES

Nearly 300 people were arrested by Hong Kong police on Sunday as riot officers swooped on democracy protesters opposed to the postponement of local elections

Sunday was meant to be voting day for the city's partially elected legislature, one of the few instances where Hong Kongers get to cast ballots.

But the city's pro-Beijing leader Carrie Lam suspended the polls for a year -- citing the coronavirus -- angering the pro-democracy opposition who had been hoping to capitalise on seething anti-government sentiment.

Hundreds of riot police flooded the district of Kowloon in a bid to thwart online calls for flash mob protests to mark the suspended vote.

Throughout the afternoon officers were heckled by people shouting slogans such as "Give me back my vote!" and "Corrupt cops!" as officers conducted multiple stop and searches and ordered crowds to disperse.


In a Facebook statement, police said at least 289 people were arrested, mostly for unlawful assembly.

One woman was detained under a new security law Beijing imposed on the city for chanting independence slogans, the force added.

Live images showed three prominent pro-democracy politicians -- Leung Kwok-hung, Figo Chan and Raphael Wong -- were among those held.

The protests came hours after the police's newly formed national security unit arrested Tam Tak-chi, another democracy activist and radio DJ, for "uttering seditious words" -- a colonial-era offence.

Tam is the latest in a long line of government critics to find themselves facing prosecution in recent months for their involvement in protests.

When they announced the arrest on Sunday morning, police did not explain what Tam may have said that was considered seditious.

Beijing's Liaison Office in Hong Kong called the protest organisers "heartless", with a spokesperson adding: "there is zero tolerance for any act that violates the national security law".

The office also vowed that "we will absolutely not allow Hong Kong to be chaotic again".

The territory's government condemned the protesters' "unlawful and selfish acts" in a statement issued on Sunday evening.

"The first priority for Hong Kong currently is to unite as one and fight the virus together with concentrated resources," a government spokesperson said.

Beijing has initiated a widespread crackdown against its critics in Hong Kong after the financial hub was rocked by seven straight months of huge and often violent pro-democracy protests last year.

Rallies have been all but outlawed this year with authorities citing both security concerns and wielding emergency anti-coronavirus laws to ban public gatherings.

In late June, Beijing also imposed its new security law, which bans anything authorities perceive to be secession, subversion, terrorism and collusion with foreign forces.

At least 22 people have been arrested under the new law since it came into effect, sending a chill through the city.

On Friday, UN rights experts warned the broadly worded provisions in the legislation posed a serious threat to political freedoms and the right to protest.

Under a deal agreed with Britain ahead of the 1997 handover, authoritarian China agreed to let Hong Kong keep certain liberties and autonomy for 50 years.

Critics say that deal has been demolished by the security law and the increasingly intense crackdown on the city's democracy supporters.

Beijing denies freedoms are being eroded and portrays the anti-government protests as a western-backed plot to destabalise the mainland.

(AFP)

Hong Kong police arrest 289 at protests over election delay


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People, sitting on the ground, are arrested by police officers at a downtown street in Hong Kong Sunday, Sept. 6, 2020. About 30 people were arrested Sunday at protests against the government's decision to postpone elections for Hong Kong's legislature, police and a news report said. (AP Photo/Vincent Yu)

HONG KONG (AP) — About 290 people were arrested Sunday at protests against the government’s decision to postpone elections for Hong Kong’s legislature, police said.

The elections were to have taken place Sunday but Chief Executive Carrie Lam on July 31 postponed them for one year. Lam blamed an upsurge in coronavirus cases, but critics said her government worried the opposition would gain seats if voting went ahead on schedule.




Police said that 289 people had been arrested, mostly for unlawful assembly. One woman was arrested in the Kowloon district of Yau Ma Tei on charges of assault and spreading pro-independence slogans, the police department said on its Facebook page. It said such slogans are illegal under a newly enacted national security law.

Anti-government protests erupted last year over a proposed extradition law and spread to include demands for greater democracy and criticism of Beijing’s efforts to tighten control over the former British colony. The coronavirus and the tough new security law have diminished the demonstrations this year, but smaller groups still take to the streets from time to time.

The ruling Communist Party’s decision to impose the law in May prompted complaints it was violating the autonomy promised to the territory when it was returned to China in 1997. Washington withdrew trading privileges granted to Hong Kong and other governments suspended extradition and other agreements on the grounds that the territory of 7 million people is no longer autonomous.



Also Sunday, police fired pepper balls at protesters in Kowloon’s Mongkok neighborhood, the South China Morning Post newspaper reported.

In the nearby Jordan neighborhood, protesters raised a banner criticizing the election delay, the Post said.

“I want my right to vote!” activist Leung Kwok-hung, popularly known as Long Hair, was quoted as saying. The newspaper said Leung was later arrested.

Hundreds arrested at protests in Hong Kong to mark postponed election

2020/9/6
©Deutsche Presse-Agentur GmbH
Anti-government protest in Hong Kong - A protester takes part in an anti government protest after the government delayed a Legislative Council election for one year citing the coronavirus (COVID-19). - Jayne Russell/ZUMA Wire/dpa

Hundreds of people were arrested in Hong Kong during a protest against the new national security law, as citizens demanded the right to vote on the day the 2020 Legislative Council elections were originally due to take place.

Police said they had made 289 arrests by 9 pm (1300 GMT), of which 270 were for illegal assembly.

At least two prominent activists, Figo Chan of the group Civil Human Rights Front and veteran legislator and democracy activist Leung Kwok-hung, known as "Long Hair," were among those arrested.

Videos posted on Twitter showed clusters of protesters being apprehended by police, with one group of young men being pepper sprayed.

Elsewhere, a riot police officer could be seen haphazardly firing pepper balls at the ground, while a colleague attempted to hold him back by the arm.

Protestors gathered, shouting, "Five demands, not one less," and called for Beijing to release 12 activists who were recently detained in China after they were caught trying to flee by boat to Taiwan.

According to local media group iCable, a bus driver was detained for "careless driving." Roads were blocked, congested and overrun with chaos from the sheer number of protesters and police on the street, which caused major traffic congestion.

Video footage posted by Hong Kong University of Science and Technology Radio on Twitter showed a 12-year-old girl trying to run away from riot police, only to be tackled to the ground by five officers.

In response to the incident, police issued a statement which said the girl was apprehended as she fled and was being treated with suspicion. The police said they used minimal force but video footage appears to show an officer charging into her, bringing her crashing to the ground.

Police then expressed concern about the participation of "underage girls in prohibited groups" and urged minors to stay away, in a post on their Facebook page.

Police said protesters chanting slogans constituted breaches of the public order ordinance and a disease control regulation.

Over the course of the day, officials raised a blue warning flag and purple national security violation flag for those chanting banned slogans and refusing to move.

They also used pepper balls which are fired by guns and break open releasing an iritant into the air, and pepper spray, which causes temporary blindness, massive irritation and makes breathing difficult.

Earlier this year, Chief Executive Carrie Lam triggered emergency powers to postpone the 2020 Legislative Council elections vote until 2021, citing a surge in Covid-19 cases.

Hong Kong has recorded 4,879 cases of the novel virus, with 94 deaths.

Ahead of the protests, officials had warned that they would deploy large numbers of riot police around the city.

Tempers have been running high since the authorities added the national security law into an annex of the city's mini-constitution, the basic law, in June.

Protests like Sunday's have not been seen since the introduction of the new law, which critics say has severely impinged on the rights and freedoms of those living in the city.

Lam has ignored requests to scrap the new law and to let the elections go ahead.