Afghans who worked for France get a chance at asylum – and spark an exodus



Issued on: 30/06/2021 

Armed men at a gathering to announce their support for Afghan security forces and the anti-Taliban fight on the outskirts of Kabul, Afghanistan, June 23, 2021.

 © REUTERS
Text by: Bahar MAKOOI


Anxiety is mounting in Afghanistan ahead of the September 11, 2021, withdrawal of US troops and as a fresh Taliban offensive makes sweeping territorial gains. A French foreign ministry initiative to grant asylum to Afghans who worked for French governmental and non-governmental organisations has sparked an exodus – as well as criticisms for sending the wrong signal at a critical time.

The French NGO Afrane was founded shortly after the 1979 Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan and, for more than 40 years, the organisation has worked on the ground, providing Afghans access to education.

But today, officials and volunteers at Afrane (Amitié franco-afghane, or Franco-Afghan friendship) are anxious about their operations in Afghanistan.

"The situation in Afghanistan has become extremely worrying," said the NGO's vice-president, Étienne Gille. "The departure of Afrane’s Afghan staff is imminent."

In a matter of a few weeks, the NGO lost almost all of its 23 Afghan employees, who are about to leave the country under a French foreign ministry operation that enables Afghans who have worked for France and their families to obtain asylum.


The vast operation, launched in early May, concerns around 600 Afghans. Afrane’s employees and their families account for around 80 of the overall figure.

Just months before President Joe Biden’s September 11 deadline for a US troop pullout, the Taliban have intensified their offensives on the ground.

The Islamist movement is now present in almost every province and is encircling several major cities in what looks like a repeat of their 1990s takeover and the establishment of a draconian Islamist regime. More than 50 of the country’s 370 districts have fallen into Taliban hands since Biden announced the withdrawal of US troops in May, according to the UN.

The Taliban’s recent blistering assault on the strategic northern city of Kunduz and the fall of districts surrounding the city, effectively laying siege to the provincial capital, has underscored Afghanistan’s grave security concerns.

“Most districts that have been taken surround provincial capitals, suggesting that the Taliban are positioning themselves to try and take these capitals once foreign forces are fully withdrawn,” UN special envoy for Afghanistan Deborah Lyons told the Security Council last week.

Operations shut, European allies displeased

The Taliban’s lightning offensive is causing anguish among Afghans who have worked with French NGOs on projects across the country. The foreign ministry’s offer for Afghans who have worked for France to obtain asylum has sparked an exodus.

If the project is completed by mid-July, only French staff will remain at the embassy in Kabul and its satellites across the country will be virtually closed as they will not be able to function, according to a report in the French daily Le Monde.

While the operation displays France’s commitment to Afghans who have worked on French governmental and non-governmental projects, it also risks being perceived by Afghan President Ashraf Ghani’s government as a sign that Paris has concluded the government in Kabul will not be able to face the pressure of the Taliban and that the Islamists' eventual victory is certain, noted Le Monde.

Some of France’s European partners have also expressed their embarrassment over a decision they consider “precipitous and uncoordinated”, Le Monde noted. The German embassy in Kabul, for instance, considers itself bound by cooperation agreements that France has also signed. Berlin intends to continue its activities on the ground, a German diplomat who declined to be named told the newspaper, noting, "We do not cooperate with a regime, but with a country.”

‘Unilateral decision’ contrary to ‘Afghanistan’s interests’

The French initiative has also drawn criticism from NGOs on the ground.

In early June, an umbrella group of French NGOs, COFA (Collective of French NGOs in Afghanistan) – of which Afrane is a member – wrote a letter to French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian denouncing a “unilateral decision that is contrary to Afghanistan’s interests”.

Gille is among the NGO officials who believe the massive exodus of Afghans who have worked with the French plays into the Taliban’s narrative and amounts to abandoning the country.

Afrane has built a substantial network of Afghan teachers since the 2001 US-led mission in Afghanistan, supporting 48 schools with 96,000 students spread over four provinces. A number of maths, science and local language teachers were enrolled in a teachers’ training programme, and the mass exodus jeopardises the organisation’s activities.

"This is an unprecedented situation for us, which reveals the population’s anguish. We understand that our employees want to take advantage of this opportunity, presented by France as a 'now or never' offer," explained Gille.

But he also mourned the country’s loss of skilled human capital: "Afghanistan will lose peaceful and open-minded people. At the moment, the most educated are looking to leave, the intellectual core of the country is being drained and this risks impoverishing Afghanistan."

Despite these setbacks, Afrane plans to stay in Afghanistan and to recruit and train new teachers in order to resume its educational activities with Afghan students as soon as possible.

"We are determined to continue our projects as long as the situation allows it, because it is our very essence, as humanitarians, to act when conditions are difficult – and I would even say especially when conditions are difficult," Gille insisted.

‘Expect a very difficult period’

The Taliban’s resurgence risks plunging Afghanistan into a brutal civil war, one which criminal gangs and Islamic State (IS) group affiliates could exploit to kidnap foreigners.

At Doctors Without Borders (MSF), the situation on the ground is "reassessed on a daily basis, as it has been for the past 40 years of our presence in Afghanistan", said a press officer.

The NGO has paid a heavy human price for its Afghan operations in recent years. In 2015, a US air strike hit an MSF hospital in Kunduz, killing 42 people including 14 staffers. Last year, an attack on an MSF maternity hospital in Kabul’s Shiite-dominated Dasht-e-Barchi district killed at least 16 patients. Following the attack, MSF withdrew from Dasht-e-Barchi, the NGO's last operation in the Afghan capital.

"These tragic events show that MSF's presence in Afghanistan as a humanitarian medical actor with the population cannot be taken for granted,” noted Emmanuel Tronc, who led MSF missions in Afghanistan from 1997 to 2016.

"With the departure of the Americans, we must expect a very difficult period."

The recent fighting in Kunduz province has forced MSF to reduce its team in the provincial capital. "After the 2015 bombing, the hospital is being rebuilt in Kunduz, a whole part of it has already been opened for patients,” explained Sarah Chateau, MSF’s Afghanistan programme manager.

But about 20 expatriate staff and their Afghan colleagues have been "placed in hibernation" due to the security situation. "We were surprised by the intensity of the bombing in Kunduz. We are in the process of setting up a team specialised in emergencies, with a surgeon and an anesthetist,” said Chateau.

MSF is currently preparing for emergency care response scenarios, readying its medical teams to treat the wounded.

Meanwhile, the number of Afghans fleeing their country is increasing, particularly towards the Iranian border, according to Chateau. "Our MSF colleagues in Iran have been summoned by the Iranian authorities, who have noted the arrival of 12,000 to 20,000 Afghans in a few weeks in Iran. They are expecting an influx and are talking about 50,000 to 150,000 migrants who could arrive soon."

This article has been translated from the original in French.

THE LIZARD KING
50 years after his death, Paris remembers Jim Morrison


Issued on: 01/07/2021
Jim Morrison's grave is notoriously difficult to find, a deliberate decision of the family who feared a deluge of fans Philippe LOPEZ AFP/File

Paris (AFP)

He occupies a small, tucked-away corner of a Paris cemetery, but many thousands still seek it out: half a century since his death, Jim Morrison remains a fabled presence in the City of Light.

The death of The Doors' frontman on July 3, 1971 was one of the key signs that the optimism of the 1960s was coming to a grim end.

Today, the Lizard King lies in the Pere-Lachaise cemetery at the eastern end of the city.


Even with Google Maps, it can be tricky to find -- a deliberate decision of the family who rightly feared a deluge of fans.

"It's a cemetery that he particularly loved. He often came walking here," says rock critic and Doors aficionado Sophie Rosemont.

"He would have wanted to be buried next to Oscar Wilde," she said, referring to the other famous tenant of the cemetery, but the spot would have been too prominent.

The grave's seclusion has not prevented millions from paying their respects over the decades -- the photo of another rock legend, Patti Smith, posing here is itself iconic.

Its headstone is protected by barriers that will no doubt be under threat again this week.

- 'Didn't die here' -

Morrison's last home was an apartment on the third floor of 17 rue Beautreillis in the bohemian district of the Marais.

It was owned by model Elizabeth "Zozo" Lariviere, and Morrison moved there with his girlfriend Pamela Courson, hoping to escape the madness of his fame in the United States and dedicate himself to writing.

He would survive just three months in Paris.

The official version is that he died in his bath tub of cardiac arrest, aged 27.

But on the facade of his old building, someone has left a note: "Jim Morrison didn't die here" -- a sign that another story has long been making the rounds.

Journalist Sam Bernett has investigated the case over the years, and argues that the rock legend overdosed in the toilets of a nightclub, the Rock'n'Roll Circus, that he helped run.

"His face was grey, his eyes closed, there was blood under his nose and a white foam around his slightly open mouth and in his beard, he was not breathing," Bernett writes in "The End: Jim Morrison".

Singer and sixties icon Marianne Faithfull backed that story in an interview with Mojo magazine, saying the fatal dose came from dealer-to-the-stars Jean de Breteuil, whom she was dating at the time.

- 'Friends of Jim' -

The club at 57 rue de Seine -- long gone -- "was a fairly crazy place", says Rosemont.

"It was frequented by intellectuals, hippies, little thugs, big thugs, bourgeois folks, stars like Mick Jagger...."

As she is speaking at the site to AFP, an American introduces himself.

Pete has been coming here regularly since 1991 around the anniversary of Morrison's death, holding meetings with other "friends of Jim in cafes around Pere-Lachaise".

Other stops on the pilgrimage might include Place des Vosges and the book kiosks that line the Seine where Morrison liked to wander, trying to stay as anonymous as possible.

And also the famous English-language bookshop Shakespeare and Company.

"It's a place that Morrison very quickly became attached to. He didn't speak very good French, even if he loved Rimbaud, Beaudelaire, Mallarme a lot," says Rosemont.

This brought him regularly into the Left Bank, near the home of his friend, the film-maker Agnes Varda, and Cafe La Palette where he liked to drink, and where a few glasses will no doubt be raised to his name on Saturday.

© 2021 AFP

DISASTER CAPITALI$M

Dead Children found beneath collapsed Florida building as death toll rises

Issued on: 01/07/2021 - 

Rescue personnel continue the search and rescue operation for survivors at the site of a partially collapsed residential building in Surfside, near Miami Beach, Florida, U.S. June 30, 2021. © REUTERS/Marco Bello

Six more bodies have been found in the shattered ruins of a collapsed Miami-area condominium tower in the past 24 hours, the mayor of Miami-Dade County said on Wednesday, bringing the confirmed death toll to 18 nearly a week after the building fell.

Nobody has been pulled alive from the mounds of pulverised concrete, splintered lumber and twisted metal since the early hours of the disaster in the oceanfront town of Surfside, adjacent to Miami Beach.

Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava told a news conference 147 people remained missing and feared trapped in the ruins of the Champlain Towers South condo. She said two of the 18 confirmed fatalities were children, aged 10 and 4.

"The loss of children is too great to bear," Levine Cava said. "Our community, our nation and the world all are mourning with these families who have lost loved ones."

Officials have said they still harbour hope of finding survivors. Surfside Mayor Charles Burkett said in an interview he had promised families that rescue crews were "not leaving anyone behind" as teams dig deeper into the rubble.

"We've not gotten to the bottom. We don't know what's down there," he said. "We're not going to guess. We're not going to make a life-or-death decision to arbitrarily stop searching for people who may be alive in that rubble."

He said every day the mound of wreckage is visibly shrinking, indicating progress.

Two teams of dogs were helping to scour the pile - one trained to sniff out survivors, the other to detect cadavers.

Investigators have not concluded what caused nearly half of the 40-year-old high-rise to crumple into a heap as residents slept in the early hours of last Thursday.

But in 2018, the engineering firm Morabito Consultants prepared a report ahead of a building safety recertification process, finding structural deficiencies in the 12-floor, 136-unit complex that are now the focus of inquiries.

As recently as April, the condo association's president warned residents in a letter that severe concrete damage identified by the engineer around the base of the building had since grown "significantly worse."

On Wednesday, the relatives of a missing resident, Harold Rosenberg, filed a lawsuit in Florida's 11th Circuit Court against the Champlain Towers South Condominium Association Inc; Morabito Consultants Inc; and SD Architects P.A., a firm the lawsuit says was retained by the association to repair the building.

The lawsuit says the defendants "ignored obvious and shocking warning signs and indications that a catastrophe was imminent" and sought unspecified damages to be paid to the estate of Rosenberg, presumed dead, for negligence.

"Given the location of his residence, Harold Rosenberg is likely located at the very bottom of the mountain of rubble that search-and-rescue personnel have only begun to chip away at," the lawsuit said. "Hope is dwindling by the day."

The architect's firm could not be immediately reached for comment.

Brett Marcy, a spokesman for Morabito, said in a statement that the firm's 2018 report "offered detailed findings and recommendations regarding extensive and necessary structural repairs for the condo building."

Both Marcy and Maria Stagliano, a spokesperson for the condo association, said in separate statements that they could not comment on claims made in pending litigation but were working with investigators to understand why the building collapsed.

(REUTERS)

Murder of the Dead by Amadeo Bordiga 1951

Haitian journalist, activist killed in suspected revenge attacks in Haiti

Issued on: 01/07/2021 -

Haitians demonstrate on December 10, 2020, in Port-au-Prince, on the occasion of International Human Rights Day, demanding their right to life in the face of an upsurge in kidnappings perpetrated by gangs. © AFP - Valerie Baeriswyl

At least 15 people, including a journalist and an opposition activist, were killed in Haiti in overnight violence suspected to be revenge attacks after the death of a police officer, officials said Wednesday.

Photographs of reporter Diego Charles lying dead on the ground and of political activist Antoinette Duclair dead in her car circulated on Haitian social media.

"In reaction to the assassination of Guerby Geffrard (the police officer killed), his allies concocted this morning's shootings which resulted in the death of 15 peaceful citizens," national police chief Leon Charles told a press conference.

Charles said an investigation into the violence in the capital Port-au-Prince had been opened "to trace all the perpetrators and co-perpetrators of the crimes committed."

Geffrard, spokesperson for a police union that is in open conflict with the police force, was shot hours before the shooting spree in the same city district.

Charles' statements sparked criticism from journalists and civil rights organisations, who doubt their truth.

"To come out and simply say, 'We know the double murder of Diego Charles and Antoinette Duclair came from this union,' we think that is acting with great haste and above all great casualness," said Marie Rosy August Ducena of the National Network for the Defense of Human Rights, a non-governmental organisation.

Locals angered by the violence protested by dumping flaming tires in the road.

The brother of a famous Haitian singer was also among the victims of the shooting.

Prime Minister Claude Joseph's office released a statement expressing his condolences.

"These horrible crimes and these reprehensible actions cannot go unpunished in a democratic society," Joseph said.

Worsening violence

Violence has been sharply on the rise in Haiti this year, with gun fights between rival groups prompting many residents of poor districts of the city to flee their homes.

"We are in a situation where human rights are being denied and life is being trivialised... We cannot continue to count bodies every day," said Ducena.

Journalists also expressed their concerns about the deaths.

"We are dismayed by this murder, which lengthens the list of journalists killed in the past three years," said Jacques Desrosiers, head of the Haitian Journalists Association.

"As they always do, judicial authorities will announce investigations that lead nowhere," said Desrosiers. "We are used to that."

In 2000, Haiti's most prominent journalist, Jean Dominique, was murdered in a case that remains unsolved to this day.

"There was no justice for Jean Dominique, as there will be none for Diego. We are left to fend for ourselves," said Assad Volcy, director of Gazette Haiti, an online news outlet for which Charles worked.

More recently, photojournalist Vladjimir Legagneur went to the now gang-plagued Martissant neighborhood of the capital on a reporting assignment in 2018 and was never heard from again.

Police have still not published the results of DNA tests performed on a body found a few days after Legagneur vanished.

Probes into the killing of two journalists in 2019 also yielded nothing.

Thousands of residents of Martissant have become refugees in their own city, living in sports centers or temporary accommodation in private homes because of the gang violence.

Undermined by insecurity and political instability, Haiti is struggling to emerge from a string of seemingly never-ending crises, which of late have resulted in a surge in kidnappings and gang violence.

(AFP)

Sudan protesters call for government to resign over harsh economic reforms

Issued on: 01/07/2021 - 

Sudanese march during a demonstration in the capital Khartoum urging the government to step down on June 30, 2021. © Ashraf Shazly, AFP

Hundreds of Sudanese protesters took to the streets of major cities on Wednesday to demand the government's resignation over IMF-backed economic reforms seen as too harsh, AFP correspondents said.

"We want the fall of the regime" and "No to (IMF) policies", shouted demonstrators who massed outside the presidential palace in Khartoum.

The protests erupted a day after the International Monetary Fund approved a $2.5 billion loan and debt relief deal that will see Sudan's external debt reduced by some $50 billion.

Public discontent has mounted over the reforms that slashed subsidies on petrol and diesel, more than doubling their price.

The dozens who had gathered in Khartoum burned tyres and brandished banners that read "Bread for the poor", before they were dispersed by police who fired tear gas, an AFP correspondent reported.

In a statement later Wednesday, Sudan's interior ministry said 52 police officers were wounded in clashes with protesters in several parts of Khartoum.

Security forces also used tear gas against demonstrators who attempted to join the protests from Omdurman, the capital's twin city across the Nile.

'Blood for blood'

In Kassala, in Sudan's east, dozens of protesters demanded justice for people killed in demonstrations that toppled autocratic president Omar al-Bashir in April 2019.

"Blood for blood, we will not accept compensation," some of them chanted.

Sudan has been led by a transitional civilian-military administration since August 2019.

The government has vowed to fix the country's economy, battered by decades of mismanagement, internal conflict and international sanctions under Bashir.

On Wednesday, Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok praised Sudan's people for their "patience" and "endurance".

"We are on the right track," the premier said in a televised speech after the IMF announcement of the debt relief deal.

Ahead of the protests, Sudanese authorities said they arrested 79 people suspected of links to Bashir's regime for allegedly planning violence.

Wednesday's demonstrations coincide with the anniversary of an Islamist-backed military coup which brought Bashir to power more than 30 years ago.

(AFP)

ALMO DENIES RAMPANT FEMICIDE
Abused Mexican women face hard battle for justice

Issued on: 01/07/2021 - 

Marisela Oliva has bruises on her arms and uses a walking frame because of abuse by her ex-partner CLAUDIO CRUZ AFP


Tlalnepantla de Baz (Mexico) (AFP)

Battered and bruised from the last beating by her ex-partner, Marisela Oliva waits alone outside a court in the Mexican capital for a hearing to decide if he will walk free.

Her only aim is to see justice served -- no easy feat in a country where 94 percent of crimes against women go unpunished, according to a government commission set up to tackle the problem.

"If the authorities release him, where will I go to protect myself? Where am I going to hide if I'm facing death threats?" said the 58-year-old, who uses a walking frame due to her injuries.

Her case is just one of thousands like it in Mexico, which has been facing a scourge of gender violence.

The government reported 423 femicides between January and May of this year, an increase of 7.1 percent from the same period of 2020, when 967 cases were recorded for the whole year.

Even getting to court was a struggle for Oliva.

Police in the central State of Mexico treated her case as a lovers' tiff and did not bother to take a full statement, she said.

It was only with the help of an activist she contacted that the wheels of justice slowly began to grind into motion.

"What's the justice system waiting for? That he kills me?" she said.

The hearing resulted in the man being kept in preventive custody.

- 'They doubt our word' -

Daniela Sanchez, a 37-year-old government worker, is seeking justice for the years of physical and psychological abuse that she said her ex-partner inflicted on her.

She feels that she is facing a wall of impunity.#photo1

"From the first moment we approach the authorities, they doubt our word and the marks on our bodies," Sanchez said.

Mexico lacks an institutional framework capable of "responding to a phenomenon as complex" as violence against women, said Fatima Gamboa, co-director of the civil organization Equis Justicia.

In most cases judicial authorities fail to identify possible situations or behavior that put women at risk, or to issue the necessary protection orders, the group's analysis suggests.

"Justice is not administered with a gender perspective," Gamboa said.

The government has launched several initiatives aimed at preventing violence against women.

They include legal centers that officials say have advised 100,000 people this year, as well as shelters for women at risk.

In Mexico City, all murders of women are initially investigated as femicides.

- 'Exhausting' -

A 34-year-old woman, who gave her name only as Gris, said the legal struggle against her ex-partner had drained all her energy.

When he was drunk he broke into the small kitchen that she had set up with other women to escape unemployment and violence.

He is accused of beating them and destroying furniture, but the response of the authorities has disappointed Gris.

The police took 45 minutes to arrive, the attacker is still free and the case was classified as domestic violence, she said.

"It's sad, exhausting. You don't eat," Gris said.

Even when violence is fatal, it can be hard for relatives to get justice.

Monica Borrego's daughter Yang Kyung Jun died aged 21 in 2014 -- killed, she believes, at the hands of a man already facing accusations of attempted femicide.

The case was initially closed as a suicide even though the body bore signs of violence.

The family had to fight to have the case reopened, resulting in the suspect recently going on trial.#photo2

She remembers one official who dismissed her as a "hysterical mother."

Two years after the death, Margarita Alanis lost her 31-year-old daughter Campira Camorlinga, a mother of two.

The two women believe the same man was behind both killings and tried to make them look like suicides.

"Campira wouldn't have been killed if he had been arrested after what he did to Yang," said Alanis, who believes the Mexican judiciary does not take femicides seriously.

© 2021 AFP

Turkey formally withdraws from treaty to prevent violence against women

Issued on: 01/07/2021

Activists during a protest against Turkey's withdrawal from an international accord designed to protect women, in Istanbul, Turkey, June 19, 2021. © Umit Bektas, Reuters


Turkey officially withdrew on Thursday from an international treaty to prevent violence against women, enacting a decision that drew condemnation from many Turks and Western allies when President Tayyip Erdogan announced it in March.

Thousands were set to protest across Turkey, where a court appeal to halt the withdrawal was rejected this week.

"We will continue our struggle," Canan Gullu, president of the Federation of Turkish Women's Associations, said on Wednesday. "Turkey is shooting itself in the foot with this decision."

She said that since March, women and other vulnerable groups had been more reluctant to ask for help and less likely to receive it, with COVID-19 fuelled economic difficulties causing a dramatic increase in violence against them.

The Istanbul Convention, negotiated in Turkey's biggest city and signed in 2011, committed its signatories to prevent and prosecute domestic violence and promote equality.

Ankara's withdrawal triggered condemnation from both the United States and the European Union, and critics say it puts Turkey even further out of step with the bloc that it applied to join in 1987.

Femicide has surged in Turkey, with one monitoring group logging roughly one per day in the last five years.

More stringent implementation needed

Proponents of the convention and related legislation say more stringent implementation is needed.

But many conservatives in Turkey and in Erdogan's Islamist-rooted AK Party say the pact undermines the family structures that protect society.

Some also see the Convention as promoting homosexuality through its principle of non-discrimination on grounds of sexual orientation.

"Our country's withdrawal from the convention will not lead to any legal or practical shortcoming in the prevention of violence against women," Erdogan's office said in a statement to the administrative court on Tuesday.

This month, Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights Dunja Mijatovic sent a letter to Turkey's interior and justice ministers expressing concern about a rise in homophobic narratives by some officials, some of which targeted the convention.

"All the measures provided for by the Istanbul Convention reinforce family foundations and links by preventing and combating the main cause of destruction of families, that is, violence," she said.

(REUTERS)

Women face period poverty as Lebanon's economic crisis deepens

Issued on: 01/07/2021 - 

A Lebanese woman inspects prices of female sanitary pads at a shop in the capital Beirut on June 23, 2021. © Jospeh Eid, AFP


With prices soaring in crisis-hit Lebanon, Sherine can no longer afford sanitary pads. So instead each month, she is forced to make her own using baby nappies or even rags.

"With all the price hikes and the frustration of not being able to manage, I'd rather stop having my period altogether," the 28-year-old told AFP, tears rolling down her cheeks.

The price of menstrual pads, the vast majority of which are imported, has risen by almost 500 percent since the start of a financial crisis the World Bank has dubbed likely one of the world's worst since the 1850s.

Packs of sanitary towels now cost between 13,000 and 35,000 Lebanese pounds -- between $8.60 and $23 at the official exchange rate -- up from just 3,000 pounds ($2) before the economic crisis.

With more than half the population living in poverty, tens of thousands of women are now on a desperate hunt for affordable alternatives.

Sherine initially turned to cheap sanitary pads that she said caused skin irritation, but even those have become too costly.

"Right now, I'm using towels and pieces of cloth," she said.

"At first, I felt defeated," the young mother told AFP, her hair tied up in a bun.

"But I chose to put my daughter first. I would rather buy her milk. As for me, I can make do."

But that has often meant repurposing some of the diapers a charity shop has given her for her toddler, cutting each in half to create two separate pads.

She said the process has been one of trial and error.

In the beginning, "I was always having to check if (blood) had leaked and stained my pants," she said.

Newspaper, toilet paper

The Lebanese pound has lost more than 90 percent of its value against the dollar on the black market since the autumn of 2019, and Lebanese earning salaries in the local currency have seen their buying power plummet.

The government has subsidised essential goods including medicine, fuel and flour to ease the blow, but has come under fire for failing to include pads on its list.

In the absence of state support, the Dawrati (My Period) initiative was launched last year to address rising period poverty in Lebanon.

The group distributes free menstrual products to women in need, including some who were once members of the fast-vanishing middle class.

"Middle-class women also need them -- like a bank employee whose salary in Lebanese pounds is no longer enough to get by," said co-founder Line Masri.

According to Dawrati, half of women suffering from period poverty are using newspaper, toilet paper or old rags instead of pads, while two-thirds of adolescent girls have no means of purchasing sanitary products.

Yet the association is struggling to keep up.

"We aren't able to meet demand... because donations have declined significantly," Masri said.

At a Beirut charity store initially set up to distribute free clothes to the needy, employee Izdihar said a growing number of women were struggling to manage their periods.

Izdihar said she even sometimes had to resort to giving baby diapers from the store to her three daughters, aged 12 to 14.

Her youngest, who started menstruating this year, was having trouble adapting.

"She's stopped leaving the house when she has her period," Izdihar said.

Syria 'all over again'

Activists are seeking to produce viable alternatives to disposable pads.

In the Shatila Palestinian refugee camp in Beirut, international NGO Days For Girls and local partner WingWoman Lebanon are training refugee women to stitch reusable sanitary pads out of colourful cloth.

Each includes a protective shield and absorbent liner, and can be washed and reused for up to three years.

The project already distributes them to Lebanon's most vulnerable communities, including in Syrian refugee camps.

Rima Ali, a Syrian mother of six, was among dozens learning to make the pads.

The 45-year-old, who fled the war in Syria nine years ago, said she used to buy only the cheapest pads for herself and her three daughters, but they had become prohibitively expensive.

With her family running through around six packets a month, reusable pads seemed like a much better option.

"Back in Syria, there were some rough days when we couldn't even afford to buy bread," she said. "We used to cut up material to use" instead of sanitary pads.

"I never thought we would have to relive it all over again."

Prototype flying car travels between Slovakian cities


June 30 (UPI) -- A Slovakian company took its prototype flying car for a test flight between two cities, spending a total 35 minutes in the air.

Klein Vision announced its AirCar Prototype 1 spent 35 minutes flying between the cities of Nita and Bratislava on Monday, marking the first successful intercity flight for the company.

The company said the AirCar reached a maximum cruising speed of 118 mph and the trip was about half as long as a typical drive between the two cities.

"AirCar is no longer just a proof of concept," Klein Vision co-founder Anton Zajac said in a news release. "It has turned science fiction into a reality."

The AirCar, which contains a 160 horsepower BMW engine, is designed to convert into a sports car in a button-operated process that takes about 3 minutes to complete.

The company said it is now working on the AirCar Prototype 2, which will feature a 300 horsepower engine and is expected to cruise at up to 186 mph with a range of 621 miles.

Detergent maker helps NASA explore space laundry

NASA astronaut Jessica Meir exercises in space in 2020, where doing laundry currently is impossible. Photo courtesy of NASA

ORLANDO, Fla., June 25 (UPI) -- A detergent maker and NASA are teaming up to research how astronauts could do laundry in space, especially on Deep Space missions, using minimal energy and water.

Procter & Gamble has signed a pact with NASA, known as a Space Act Agreement. Under the pact, NASA seeks laundry solutions in space, while the detergent, Tide, gains publicity and furthers product development. Both parties pay their own costs.

NASA wants to avoid shipping hundreds of pounds of clothing to astronauts, who wear them for a few days before discarding. The space agency eventually disposes of the worn clothing in a cargo spacecraft that burns up in the atmosphere, researcher Mark Sivik said in an interview.

"We can't continue to send out large quantities of garments, so we're researching ways to clean clothes more effectively," said Sivik, a staff scientist for Ohio-based Procter & Gamble. "NASA is asking, 'Are there ways to actually do laundry in space?'"

The company has taken on the project to gain knowledge and experience by testing potential new products in microgravity, Sivik said. Many firms pay NASA thousands of dollars to conduct such research in space.



Lack of gravity in space means water, clothes and soap don't behave the same as on Earth.

Since shipping water to the orbiting laboratory is expensive, water is recycled and conserved as a precious commodity, Sivik said. That would become nearly impossible on a long trip to Mars, which at a minimum is 34 million miles away.
Astronauts are required to exercise nearly two hours per day to offset the effects of microgravity on their muscles and bones, during which time their clothing gets sweaty, Sivik said.

The project will send to the space station in December a detergent that contains enzymes to break down dirt in clothes naturally -- to see how it behaves after six months in microgravity. Then, in May, a spacecraft will carry spot stain removal pens and wipes to determine their effectiveness in space.

At some point, the space agency hopes to test a washing machine in space, Sivik said.

"We've done a lot of development on the use of cold water and minimal water usage, and we're looking at using a machine that combines the washer and dryer in one unit," he said.

A laundry solution that uses less water in space could have benefits on Earth, as well, Mike Ewert, a NASA life support and thermal systems analyst, said in an email.

"Using less water in space is important for recycling reasons, and using less water on Earth is important as more areas become water stressed in the future," due to population growth and climate change, Ewert said.

Laundry machines for the surface of the moon or Mars may require only minimal alteration, while such machines may have to be drastically altered to function properly in microgravity, he said.

"A washer and dryer may be added to missions when the benefits, such as throwing away less clothing, outweigh the resources needed to clean them," Ewert said.

The crew of SpaceX's Dragon capsule Endeavour, seen in black shirts, boarded the International Space Station on April 24 boosting the population of the orbiting laboratory to 11 for the first time in years. Photo courtesy of NASA

CRIMINAL CAPITALI$M
Robinhood to pay $70M for 'misleading' customers, systems outages

FINRA said Robinhood changed the way stocks are traded, but failed to play by the rules. Photo by John Angelillo/UPI | License Photo

June 30 (UPI) -- The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority on Wednesday fined trading app Robinhood $57 million and ordered it to pay $12.6 million in restitution for "misleading" customers and systems outages last year.

The watchdog said Robinhood also approved trade options for customers even when it was "not appropriate" to do so.

"This action sends a clear message -- all FINRA member firms, regardless of their size or business model, must comply with the rules that govern the brokerage industry, rules which are designed to protect investors and the integrity of our markets," said Jessica Hopper, executive vice president and head of FINRA's Department of Enforcement.

"Compliance with these rules is not optional and cannot be sacrificed for the sake of innovation or a willingness to 'break things' and fix them later. The fine imposed in this matter, the highest ever levied by FINRA, reflects the scope and seriousness of Robinhood's violations, including FINRA's finding that Robinhood communicated false and misleading information to millions of its customers."

The Menlo Park, Calif.-based trading app was created in 2013 with an apparent mission to upend the status quo among U.S. trading companies. It began offering commission-free trades on its mobile app in 2015, forcing other companies to drop fees to compete.

The FINRA announcement noted outages on the Robinhood app between January 2018 and February 2021, most notably in March 2020.

"Robinhood's inability to accept or execute customer orders during these outages resulted in individual customers losing tens of thousands of dollars, and FINRA is requiring that the firm pay more than $5 million in restitution to affected customers," FINRA said.

The FINRA fines are unrelated to Robinhood's shuttering of trades earlier this year during the so-called meme stock trading involving GameStop shares.

Robinhood posted to its website Wednesday that it's made changes -- including adding more customer support and offering better information -- to its app and process.

"Our customers are at the forefront of every decision we make and we're committed to making continuous improvements so that investing can be accessible to all," the company said.

CRIMINAL CAPITALI$M
Juul agrees to pay $40M to settle accusations its ads targeted teens


As part of the settlement, Juul can only sell its products over-the-counter in North Carolina stores and must use third-party age verification systems for online sales. Photo by sarahjohnson1/Pixabay


June 28 (UPI) -- E-cigarette manufacturer Juul Labs has agreed to pay $40 million to the state of North Carolina to help mitigate vaping by underage users, according to a settlement announced Monday.

The settlement ends years of accusations by state officials that Juul, through its marketing practices, helped fuel a substantial increase in vaping among teenagers.

As part of the settlement, Juul can only sell its products over-the-counter in North Carolina stores and must use third-party age verification systems for online sales.

Also, Juul will no longer sell sweet or fruit-flavored vape pods in North Carolina -- and must send teen "mystery shoppers" to 1,000 stores each year to see if products are being sold to minors.

RELATED 'Ice' flavored e-cigarettes may increase nicotine dependence risk in vapers


"For years Juul targeted young people, including teens, with highly addictive e-cigarettes," North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein said in a statement.

As part of the deal, Juul does not admit to any wrongdoing.

"We seek to continue to earn trust through action," the company said in a statement.

RELATED Study: Youth vaping down, but 1 in 5 U.S. teens still using e-cigarettes

"This settlement is another step in that direction."

The settlement to North Carolina will be paid out over six years and go toward combating youth vaping.

"We support the [state's] desire to deploy funds to generate appropriate science to support North Carolina's public health interventions to reduce underage use," Juul added.

RELATED Investigation discredits studies suggesting lower COVID-19 risk for smokers

Dozens of prosecutors have investigated Juul and its marketing practices in recent years. The Federal Trade Commission is also suing Juul after Altria, the largest U.S. tobacco company, for withdrawing its e-cigarette Mark Ten from the market in exchange for part of Juul profits.

Thirteen states, including California and New York, have filed similar suits against Juul. The Food and Drug Administration is expected to announce in the coming months whether Juul vaping products are a danger to public health.

Amnesty: National Security Law turning Hong Kong into 'human rights wasteland'



Hong Kong enacted the Beijing-backed National Security Law on June 30, 2020, after protests erupted in the city in 2019. File Photo by Stephen Shaver/UPI | License Photo

June 30 (UPI) -- Hong Kong's National Security Law overrides existing protections in the city against civil rights violations and has led to more than 100 arrests since it was enacted a year ago, according to Amnesty International.

"In one year, the National Security Law has put Hong Kong on a rapid path to becoming a police state and created a human rights emergency for the people living there," said Yamini Mishra, Amnesty International's Asia-Pacific regional director.

"From politics to culture, education to media, the law has infected every part of Hong Kong society and fomented a climate of fear that forces residents to think twice about what they say, what they tweet and how they live their lives," Mishra said.

"Ultimately, this sweeping and repressive legislation threatens to make the city a human rights wasteland increasingly resembling mainland China."

Amnesty also said the law casts a long shadow over Hong Kong's existing laws designed to safeguard civil rights.

"There is clear evidence indicating that the so-called human rights safeguards set out in the NSL are effectively useless, while the protections existing in regular Hong Kong law are also trumped by it," the group said.

Hong Kong authorities have arrested hundreds of protesters since the law went into effect. Among those arrested 118 people have been detained for security law violations, according to Amnesty International.

Press freedoms came under attack this month when local authorities ordered the shutdown of newspaper Apple Daily and the arrests of its editor and top executives.

China's foreign ministry condemned the Amnesty International report Wednesday.

Chinese spokesman Wang Wenbin said the human rights watchdog had engaged in "malicious, deliberate smears and distortion of facts."

Hong Kong society has been "brought back to the right track" because of the law, Wang said.

The security law punishes activities considered "terrorism" and "collusion with foreign forces." Advocating for Hong Kong's independence can lead to life imprisonment.

China free of malaria for the first time since 1940s


The World Health Organization declared Wednesday that China is malaria-free after a 70-year effort of targeted action against the disease that reportedly affected 30 million in the 1940s. File Photo by Anawat Sudchanham/Shutterstock


June 30 (UPI) -- The World Health Organization declared Wednesday that China is malaria-free after a 70-year effort of targeted action against the disease that reportedly affected 30 million Chinese residents in the 1940s.

It's the first country in the WHO Western Pacific Region to receive the award in over three decades. Forty countries and territories globally have been granted malaria-free certification from the WHO.

"China's tireless effort to achieve this important milestone demonstrates how strong political commitment and strengthening national health systems can result in eliminating a disease that once was a major public health problem," Dr. Takeshi Kasai, regional director of the WHO Western Pacific Regional Office, said in a press release. "China's achievement takes us one step closer towards the vision of a malaria-free Western Pacific Region."

China started targeting the disease in the 1950s by providing antimalarial medicines for those at risk and treatment for those who contracted it. China also reduced mosquito breeding grounds and increased its use of insecticide spraying in homes.

The "523 Project" was launched in 1967, beginning research into new treatments for malaria. Over 500 scientist across 60 institutions were part of the project. In the 1970s, China discovered one of the most effect antimalarial drugs -- artemisinin.

China extensively tested insecticide-treated nets to prevent malaria in the 1980s. By 1988, more than 2.4 million nets were distributed nationwide, leading to substantial reductions in malaria.

Two years later, cases plummeted to 117,000 and deaths were reduced by 95%. Within another 10 years, the number of cases fell to 5,000.

China provides basic healthcare free of charge, allowing its residents to access affordable services for the diagnosis and treatment of malaria regardless of legal or financial status.

RELATED China firm wins patent on malaria vaccine

112-year-old Puerto Rican dubbed world's oldest living man


Puerto Rican man Emilio Flores Marquez was dubbed the world's oldest living man by Guinness World Records at the age of 112 years, 326 days. Photo courtesy of Guinness World Records

June 30 (UPI) -- Guinness World Records announced a new record holder for the world's oldest living man: 112-year-old Emilio Flores Marquez of Puerto Rico.

The record-keeping organization said Marquez, of Trujillo Alto, was issued a certificate as the world's oldest living man at age 112 years, 326 days.

Marquez was born Aug. 8, 1908, in Carolina, Puerto Rico. He was the second of 11 children born to his parents.

"My dad raised me with love and taught me to love everyone. He always told me and my brothers and sisters to do good, to share everything with others," Marquez said.

Marquez was married to Andrea Perez De Flores for over 75 years prior to her death in 2010. The couple had four children, two of whom are still living.

The record for oldest living man was previously held by Dumitru Comanescu, who died June 27, 2020, at age 111 years, 219 days. He had only held the record for under a month prior to his death.

Bubonic plague was killing people thousands of years earlier than known


The skull of a 5,000-year-old hunter-gatherer found in Latvia in the 1800s, pictured, contains the oldest strain of the bacteria causing bubonic plague ever found. Photo by Dominik Göldner/Berlin Society for Anthropology, Ethnology, and Prehistory

The Black Death was stalking people thousands of years earlier than previously known, new evidence reveals.

The oldest strain of Yersinia pestis -- the bacteria behind the bubonic plague that may have killed as much as half of Europe's population in the 1300s -- has been found in the remains of a 5,000-year-old hunter-gatherer, researchers report.

The skeleton of the 20- to 30-year old man was unearthed in the late 1800s in a region of Latvia called Rinnukalns. But the skeleton soon vanished, only to reappear in 2011 as part of an anthropologist's collection.

A genetic analysis revealed the presence of a strain of Y. pestis that likely killed the man, even though scientists think it was less contagious and less deadly than the medieval strain.

RELATED Plague transmission rates increased from the Black Death to the Great Plague

After comparing it to other ancient strains, the researchers concluded that the strain in this hunter-gatherer is the oldest found to date.

It likely belonged to a lineage that emerged about 7,000 years ago, a few hundred years after Y. pestis split from its predecessor, Yersinia pseudotuberculosis, according to the authors of the study published Tuesday in the journal Cell Reports.

"What's most astonishing is that we can push back the appearance of Y. pestis 2,000 years farther than previously published studies suggested," said senior author Ben Krause-Kyora, head of the aDNA Laboratory at the University of Kiel in Germany.

RELATED Think 2020 was bad? Historians say 536 was worst year ever to be alive

"It seems that we are really close to the origin of the bacteria," he added in a journal news release.

The researchers also found that the newly identified strain lacked the gene that enables fleas to act as vectors to spread the bacteria to and between humans. It likely took thousands of years for Y. pestis to develop all the mutations needed for flea-based transmission.

Learning more about the history of Y. pestis could provide new insight into human genetics, according to the researchers.

RELATED Study: Cancer far more common in medieval times than thought

"Different pathogens and the human genome have always evolved together. We know Y. pestis most likely killed half of the European population in a short timeframe, so it should have a big impact on the human genome," Krause-Kyora said.

"But even before that, we see major turnover in our immune genes at the end of the Neolithic Age, and it could be that we were seeing a significant change in the pathogen landscape at that time as well," he added.More information

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has more on plague.

Copyright © 2021 HealthDay. All rights reserved.

New beetle species found in the fossilized feces of ancient dinosaur ancestor

Scientists found several well preserved specimens of a new beetle species inside the fossilized feces of an ancient dinosaur ancestor. Photo by Qvarnström et al./Current Biology


June 30 (UPI) -- Scientists have discovered of a new beetle species preserved in fossilized feces deposited by Silesaurus opolensis, an ancient dinosaur ancestor. It's the first time scientists have found a new insect species inside a coprolite.

Researchers detailed the tiny beetle species, Triamyxa coprolithica, in a new paper, published Wednesday in the journal Current Biology.

Silesaurus opolensis lived some 230 million years ago, around the time some of the earliest dinosaur species appear in the fossil record.

The reptile was not itself a dinosaur, but a so-called dinosauriform. The slender, speedy reptile stood 7.5 feet tall and ate lots of insects, especially beetles.

The fossilized feces described in the new study, which scientists attributed to Silesaurus opolensis, featured numerous beetle parts and several intact specimens -- all representative of the same species.

The well-preserved specimens allowed scientists to compare the new beetle genus and species to more modern genera.

The analysis showed the beetles found in the coprolite belonged to a previously unknown extinct lineage of the suborder Myxophaga. Today, the new beetle's closest relatives colonize mats of algae in marshy environs.

"We were absolutely amazed by the abundance and fantastic preservation of the beetles in the coprolite fragment. In a way, we must really thank Silesaurus, which likely was the animal that helped us accumulating them," study co-author Martin Qvarnström, researcher at Uppsala University in Sweden, said in a press release.

Researchers linked the ancient fossilized feces with Silesaurus opolensis after analyzing the shape, size and contents of the coprolite. Silesaurus opolensis is one of the most well studied dinosauriforms. More than 20 specimens have been recovered from ancient deposits in Poland.

Paleontologists estimate the ancient dinosaur ancestor used its bird-like beak to rummage through the dirt in search of grubs and insects.

Because the newly named beetle species was so small, scientists suspect Silesaurus opolensis was likely targeting larger beetles species that happened to share habitat with Triamyxa coprolithica.

"I never thought that we would be able to find out what the Triassic precursor of the dinosaurs ate for dinner," study co-author Grzegorz Niedwiedzki, a palaeontologist at Uppsala University, said in the release.

Researchers said they hope the discovery will motivate other paleontologists to subject coprolites to advanced imaging and analysis.

Coprolites could help scientists reconstruct the evolution of ancient insects and provide new insights in the diets of extinction insectivores, they said.

BARBAROUS PRACTICE
Study: More evidence spanking kids doesn't work, causes harm

By Alan Mozes, HealthDay News

Is spanking good for parents? Is spanking good for kids? Is spanking good for anyone? No, no and no, according to a big new review of prior research.

"Zero studies found that physical punishment predicted better child behavior over time," said study co-author Elizabeth Gershoff, a professor of human development and family sciences at the University of Texas at Austin.

She and her team sifted through the findings of 61 U.S. studies and eight international investigations. All examined how childhood behavior changed -- for better or for worse -- after children were exposed to physical punishment of some sort, including spanking.

"We reviewed all studies of physical punishment that looked at children's behavior at two or more points in time," explained Gershoff.

RELATED  Spanking on the decline among American parents, survey says

"This allowed us to determine if physical punishment predicted changes in children's behavior. If physical punishment was effective, we would see improvements in children's behavior over time. Unfortunately, we found the opposite," she said.

"We found that physical punishment increases child aggression and other behavior problems over time," Gershoff said. "It does not improve children's attention, cognitive [thinking] abilities, social relationships or social skills."

The study team members said their conclusion held up regardless of a child's sex, race or ethnicity, and whether or not a caregiver also engaged in more positive parenting behaviors.

RELATED Pediatricians group strengthens recommendation against spanking

The team also concluded that more was worse: The more often a child is exposed to physical punishment, the greater the negative impact on their behavior and psyche.

The findings are clear, said Gershoff: "Physical punishment is harmful to children's development and well-being. There is no evidence that it has any positive outcomes whatsoever."

Many countries have already come to that conclusion. Sixty-two countries have banned the practice outright, in line with an advisory issued by the United Nations, according to the study authors.

RELATED Teen violence down in countries that ban spanking, study says

                  

Still, in many corners of the world, such behavior is commonplace. In the United States, it is legal for parents to punish their children physically in all 50 states, the authors said. And corporal punishment in schools remains legal across 19 states.

The study team also points out that globally 63% of all children between ages 2 and 4 -- roughly 250 million kids -- are routinely exposed to physical punishment by their caregivers.

But the review found that children are not the only victims in this dynamic. Caregivers who inflict physical punishment on children may see their own behavior deteriorate over time, as their physical interventions escalate and they become increasingly violent, the researchers said.

"The term 'discipline' comes from a Latin word meaning 'to teach,'" Gershoff said. "As parents, we have the important job of teaching children about the world, including guiding them to choose behaviors that do not harm others.

"Punishments of any kind do not on their own teach children how we want them to behave; that job requires the harder work of talking with children to explain what behaviors we expect of them and why," she added.

Dr. Robert Sege, a pediatrician specializing in child abuse, seconded those thoughts. He was not part of the study review.

"The most important relationship in our lives is typically between parent and child. And spanking introduces violence and fear into that relationship, where it's not called for and doesn't belong," said Sege, who is affiliated with Tufts Children's Hospital in Boston. He is also a spokesperson for the American Academy of Pediatrics.

"Spanking is also ineffective. Numerous studies have shown that it doesn't really work," Sege added. Instead of promoting self-control, "spanking promotes children thinking how to avoid getting spanked," he said.

The pediatricians' group advises parents to talk to pediatricians about how to use effective discipline with their children, said Sege. "We advise parents not to spank their children, and not to belittle them verbally," he added.


The findings are in the this week issue of The Lancet.More information

There's more on spanking at the Global Partnership to End Violence Against Children.

Copyright © 2021 HealthDay. All rights reserved.

U.N. report: COVID-19 hit on global tourism worth $4 trillion for 2020, 2021

Travelers are seen at Ben Gurion International Airport near Tel Aviv, Israel, on June 23. Photo by Debbie Hill/UPI | License Photo

June 30 (UPI) -- A lull in international tourism brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, which is costing global economies trillions of dollars, probably won't return to normal levels for another two years, according to a joint United Nations report published Wednesday.

The assessment, compiled by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development and World Tourism Organization, projects that sagging tourism will amount to a combined total of $4 trillion in global economic losses for 2020 and 2021.

The report expects international tourism to stagnate for the rest of this year, except for a few Western markets. Further, it says a return to prepandemic tourism could take another two years, or more.

It notes that the rate of COVID-19 vaccinations is playing a major factor in the return to normal. The availability of coronavirus vaccinations remains uneven worldwide, which the report says could account for up to 60% of the economic losses.

"The world needs a global vaccination effort that will protect workers, mitigate adverse social effects and make strategic decisions regarding tourism, taking potential structural changes into account," UNCTAD Acting Secretary-General Isabelle Durant said in a statement.

The experts say vaccinations are limited in developing countries where tourism losses have worsened. Rates also widely vary from country to country; as high as 60% in some nations and less than 1% in others.

"Tourism is a lifeline for millions, and advancing vaccination to protect communities and support tourism's safe restart is critical to the recovery," UNWTO Secretary-General Zurab Pololikashvili said in a statement, emphasizing that most developing nations heavily rely on money generated from tourism.

RELATED U.S. economy grew 6.4% in 1st quarter; 2nd-largest gain of COVID-19 era

A loss in tourism also results in losses in other sectors like food, beverages, retail trade, communications and transport, the assessment says.

For example, international tourism in Turkey typically contributes to about 5% of its gross domestic product. With the disruption, it could see a loss of $33 billion. In 2020, foreign tourist arrivals in Turkey plummeted by almost 70%, the groups said.

The groups performed three simulations to show possible global tourism outcomes for 2021. The worst of the three shows an overall decline of 75%, worth $2.4 trillion. The best of the three showed a loss of $1.7 trillion.

The countries that performed the worst across all three simulations were Turkey, Ecuador, South Africa, Ireland and Switzerland. The regions that performed the worst were Central America, East Africa, Southeast Asia, North Africa and the eastern European Union.

STALINIST VACATION

North Korea calls attention to new beachside 'holiday camp'

A North Korean publisher is promoting the Thongchon Holiday Camp for Diplomatic Corps in new material made available Monday. Image screenshot of Thongchon Holiday Camp brochure/Foreign Languages Publishing House

June 28 (UPI) -- North Korea is highlighting a beach resort in new publicity material that promotes the Thongchon Holiday Camp for Diplomatic Corps in Kangwon Province, in a move that appeared to be targeting international travelers.

Pyongyang's Foreign Languages Publishing House issued a new pictorial that features a pristine beach with aqua-blue water, where guests can "regain youthful vigor," South Korean news agency Yonhap reported Monday.

"Thongchon Holiday Camp for Diplomatic Corps is located in Thongchon County, Kangwon Province, DPRK," the publicity material stated. "It is a comprehensive service center which receives dozens of people at a time and provides medical treatment and other services."

The brochure said that the camp provides "holiday makers various kinds of services such as sea bathing and mud therapy in the natural environment and pure anionic air."

Pictures also showed stately dining rooms, dishes "prepared with just-caught sea creatures" and other hotel-style food options.

According to the bilingual brochure, the resort is equipped with a modern gym, body fat analyzer machines, billiard halls, karaoke facilities and an outdoor restaurant.

Tourism, mainly from neighboring China, was a significant source of revenue for the regime before the coronavirus pandemic.

Kim Jong Un prioritized the construction of resorts before COVID-19. His emphasis on the economy has prevailed after a difficult 2020.

Workers' Party paper Rodong Sinmun said Monday in an editorial that the ruling party must serve the people. The article also condemned the "abuse of power and corruption" among Party officials.

Kim is rarely blamed in North Korea for policy shortcomings even though he has said his past economic plans were a failure. State media images recently showed a visibly thinner Kim and reactions from North Koreans.

KCTV released footage Friday of a North Korean man who said he was "heartbroken" over Kim's weight loss, CNN reported. Experts have said discussing the leader's health is a taboo subject. The footage did not run again, according to the report.

North Korea defined by 'hybridity,' South Korean analyst says in new book



A South Korean academic’s new book argues that different systems co-exist in North Korea in which marketization has occurred from below, but the government has rejected reforms that would open the country more to the outside world. File Photo by Stephen Shaver/UPI | License Photo

June 25 (UPI) -- A new book on North Korea from a South Korean academic proposes studying the country's "hybridity" to better understand North Korean society.

Koh Yu-hwan, a professor of North Korean studies and director of the Institute of North Korea at Dongguk University in Seoul, says in his new book that North Korea can best be understood when studying the effects of mixture upon North Korean identity and culture, Hankyoreh reported Friday.

Koh's book, Social Change and Hybridity in North Korea, available only in Korean, says most theories of North Korean society assumes that marketization is the foundation of new changes.

Marketization theory asserts that if privatized trade continues and new entrepreneurs emerge, these economic developments lead to political openness.

Koh argues in his book that marketization theory may not be sufficient to understand contemporary North Korea. Recent history indicates that even though a marketization from below is taking place, the direction of the North Korean leadership suggests Pyongyang has not changed since the Cold War.

The author instead proposes hybridity may best capture what is occurring at multiple levels of North Korean society, where different systems exist side by side. Social Change and Hybridity is the first volume in a six-book series from Koh.

The books will examine the emergence of informal relationships in North Korea amid the more formal and officially recognized relationship between state and citizen, according to Hankyoreh.

Changes in North Korea are taking root among these networks of informal relationships. Post-socialist transactions, including bribes, are reshaping society and how North Koreans relate to one another. Those developments will be covered in future books of the series, according to the Hankyoreh.

Informal markets in North Korea have played an important role in replenishing the food supply, according to defectors.

Thae Yong-ho, the former North Korean diplomat now lawmaker in Seoul, told KBS Friday that North Korea's current food shortage does not compare to the famine of the 

Markets have taught the North Korean people the ability to "self-sustain" and it is unlikely mass starvation will occur as in the past, Thae said, according to the report.

Reports: Rebel Tigray forces enter regional capital in Ethiopia



Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed is shown speaking during a question and answer session in parliament, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on November 30, 2020. File photo by EPA-EFE/STR


June 28 (UPI) -- Rebel forces have entered the capital of the Tigray region of Ethiopia, dealing a blow to Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed's efforts to regain control of the restive region, multiple reports indicated Monday.

Soldiers of the dissident Tigray Defense Forces entered the regional capital of Mekelle in northern Ethiopia late Monday night, Bloomberg reported.

Ethiopian government troops retreated from the city as thousands of residents sympathetic to the rebels celebrated by waving flags and shooting off fireworks, according to the New York Times.

Ethiopian broadcaster Fana Corp. reported Abraham Belay, head of the Tigray regional government installed by Abiy nine months ago following a military assault, has called for a cease-fire.

Ongoing fighting in Tigray, which started in November between the government and Tigray political rivals to Abiy, has forced more than 2 million from their homes and killed thousands, along with sparking famine fears.

Shortly after the assault began, the prime minister said government forces had taken control of Mekelle and declared the fighting over. But the TDF has since regrouped and in recent days claimed it had scored major victories against the Ethiopian Defense Forces.

Following those claims, an airstrike on a crowded market northwest of Mekelle last week killed and injured scores of people, including many civilians, according to United Nations and witnesses.

The government denied responsibility for the airstrike, but the incident has resulted in increased international pressure on Abiy to end the conflict and enter into negotiations with Tigray's ousted leaders.

PRIVATIZED MEDICINE USA
Walmart rolls out first private-brand 

analog insulin for diabetes



The company says the new insulin will be available at Walmart pharmacies this week and at Sam's Club next month. File Photo by Brian Kersey/UPI | License Photo


June 29 (UPI) -- Walmart announced Tuesday that it is launching its first-ever private-brand insulin that it says will save customers on the diabetes treatment.

The company said the ReliOn NovoLog Insulin will be available at Walmart locations this week and Sam's Club in mid-July.

The insulin is manufactured by Denmark-based Novo Nordisk.

Customers will need a prescription for the rapid-acting insulin analog, which is used to control blood sugar in adults and children.

The brand will offer insulin vials for about $73 and a FlexPan for $86, Walmart said. The retailer said the brand will save shoppers 50% to 75%.

"We know many people with diabetes struggle to manage the financial burden of this condition, and we are focused on helping by providing affordable solutions," Walmart Health and Wellness Executive Vice President Dr. Cheryl Pegus said in a statement.

"We also know this is a condition that disproportionately impacts underserved populations."

Walmart already sells a lower-price insulin, but it's an older formulation that is typically not as effective as newer, analog versions.