Thursday, May 19, 2022

Google honors disability justice activist Stacey Park Milbern with Doodle

Google honors disability justice activist Stacey Park Milbern with Doodle
Google is paying homage to queer,Korean-American disability justice activist Stacey Park Milbern, with a new Doodle. Image courtesy of Google

May 19 (UPI) -- Google is celebrating queer, Korean-American disability justice activist Stacey Park Milbern with a new Doodle on what would have been her 35th birthday.

Google's homepage features artwork of Milbern by San Francisco-based guest artist Art Twink. The company is paying homage to Milbern in honor of Asian Pacific American Heritage Month.

Milbern is credited with co-founding the disability justice movement and for dedicating her life to advocating for marginalized communities.

The activist was born in Seoul, South Korea, in 1987, but grew up in Fort Bragg, N.C. She started pursuing disability justice at the age of 16 and helped start the movement with other activists in 2015.

At 24, Milbern moved to the San Francisco Bay Area and became the Director of Programs at the Center of Independent Living. She was later added to the President's Committee for People with Intellectual Disabilities and served as an advisor to the national administration in 2014.

She died at the age of 33 in May 2020.

"I want to leave a legacy of disabled people knowing we are powerful and beautiful because of who we are, not despite of it," Milbern is quoted as saying.

Google also released a video that explores the making of the Doodle and Milbern's career as an activist.

Illinois becomes first state in Midwest to ban sale, possession of 'ghost guns'

Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker is seen after signing the bill banning "ghost guns" during a ceremony at St. Sabina Church's gymnasium in Chicago, Ill., on Wednesday. 
Photo courtesy Chicago Police Department/Twitter/UPI


May 19 (UPI) -- Illinois on Wednesday became the first state in the Midwest to enact a ban on ghost guns -- those that are manufactured privately and without serial numbers, which authorities are seeing more often in crimes.

Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed a bill into law prohibiting the sale and possession of ghost guns, which are often sold as a set of parts to be assembled at home.

Ghost gun opponents have argued that the weapons allow owners to circumvent background checks and cannot be traced by conventional means.

"The people creating, selling and purchasing these firearms know that they're working to circumvent common-sense gun laws that ensure guns stay out of the hands of traffickers, abusers, and convicted criminals," Pritzker said in a statement after signing the law.

"We are seeing these unseralized guns being built in basements by those who should never have had access to such dangerous weapons and then used to commit heinous crimes, and it must be stopped to keep Illinoisans safe."


A "ghost gun kit" is seen during an event at the White House on April 11, when President Joe Biden announced federal actions to fight gun crime. 
Photo by Chris Kleponis/UPI

Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot, who supported the bill, said ghost guns are being found more often at crime scenes in the nation's third-largest city and they have been difficult for investigators to resolve. Chicago in recent years has seen a spike in gun violence.

"This is a crisis moment for us around violence in general, but also around the proliferation of these ghost guns," Lightfoot said according to the Chicago Sun-Times.

RELATED  DOJ is using all its tools to fight gun crime, AG Merrick Garland tells police chiefs

"Folks, we gotta wake up. The gun manufacturers are getting rich while we are burying boys and girls and elders all over this country without any consequences for the people who are part and parcel of the problem. And that's also the gun manufacturers."

The bill was passed in the face of opposition from the National Rifle Association, which urged its members last month to contact Pritzker and ask him to reject the law.

"[The ban] essentially ends the centuries-old practice of individuals building lawful firearms for personal use," the NRA's Institute of Legislative Action said in a statement.

RELATED Biden names new ATF head, announces rule to control selling of 'ghost guns'

"This only harasses and inconveniences law-abiding hobbyists who like to build their own firearms. It is already illegal under state and federal law for prohibited persons, such as felons, to possess any firearms, whether commercially made or home built."

A month ago, President Joe Biden announced new federal measures to fight the proliferation of ghost guns and called on states to prohibit sales and possession of the controversial weapons.

US gun production has almost tripled over the past 20 years and 'ghost guns' are on the rise

Grace Kay
Thu, May 19, 2022

Gun sales on Black Friday 2021 soared, ranking among the top ten highest days for gun-related background checks.Keith Srakocic/AP

US gunmakers made almost three times as many firearms in 2020 as 2000, a new federal report said.


The number of untraceable "ghost guns" is also on the rise in the US, the report said.


The expansive report is part of Biden's efforts to stop illegal gun sales.


US gunmakers made 11.3 million legal firearms in 2020 — almost triple the 3.9 million guns that were produced 20 years prior, said a federal report that was released on Tuesday.


Three days after a mass shooting in Buffalo, New York, left 10 people dead and three more injured, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives released the first comprehensive analysis of gun sales in over 20 years. The report is a part of President Joe Biden's work to stop illegal gun sales.

The report showed that in 2020 — the same year gun sales surged — firearm-related homicides in the US hit their highest level in 26 years, data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention indicated. In 2020, the agency reported 19,350 firearm homicides, 35% more than the previous year.

The data is not altogether unexpected. Last year, Insider reported that the FBI processed 39.7 million firearm background checks in 2020. Background checks are not a direct representation of the number of guns sold, as the data includes checks related to concealed-carry permits and suppressor sales, in addition to gun sales. But they're still an important indicator of sales, and the number of background checks was the most the agency had ever seen since it started recording the data in 1998. The National Shooting Sports Foundation estimated at the time that about 8.5 million people bought their first gun in 2020.

The ATF report also provided data on "ghost guns," which are firearms that can be bought online or 3D-printed and assembled at home. They are virtually untraceable and can be purchased without a background check. The agency said that police discovered over 19,000 ghost guns in 2021 — 10 times as many as were found in 2016.

Last month, Biden announced efforts to crack down on ghost guns, requiring the gun kits be recognized as "firearms" under the Gun Control Act and treated the same as other commercially assembled firearms. The new rule is set to go into effect next year.

Most gun-related crimes in the nation are caused by guns that are made legally in the US but then stolen, the report said. It said 39,147 firearms were reported stolen by gun stores between 2016 and 2020. That number doesn't include guns that were taken from individuals, which would likely push the number even higher. The Wall Street Journal reported in April that gun thefts had surged over the past two years.

The ATF also reported a shift in consumer interest in guns as semiautomatic handguns began to outsell rifles as early as 2009, which indicates a potential shift in gun purchases for hunting sport versus for physical defense.

"We can only address the current rise in violence if we have the best available information and use the most effective tools and research to fuel our efforts," Deputy Attorney General Lisa O. Monaco said in the press release from the Department of Justice. "This report is an important step in that direction. The Department will continue to gather the data necessary to tailor our approach at the most significant drivers of gun violence and take shooters off the streets."

Ghost Guns: What They Are, and Why They Are an …

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/09/us/politics/ghost-guns-explai…

2021-04-09 · Proponents of stricter gun laws have been pushing for action on ghost guns to address the growing problem before it becomes a full-blown catastrophe. In Philadelphia, for instance, 250 ghost guns ...


Ghost Guns’: Firearm Kits Bought Online Fuel Epidemic of Violence

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/14/us/ghost-guns-homemade-firearms.html

2021-11-14 · Two years ago, a 16-year-old student walked into Saugus High School, north of Los Angeles, and killed two teenagers with a .45-caliber semiautomatic pistol assembled from a kit



'Ghost guns,' handguns growing concern in Saskatoon, police firearms report says

Theresa Kliem - cbc.ca

Handguns and untraceable firearms are a growing concern in Saskatoon, the city's Board of Police Commissioners heard Thursday during a discussion of the Saskatoon Police Service's first firearms report.


© Robert Short/CBC
Twenty-two of the 54 gunshot incidents reported in 2021 involved handguns, compared to 10 involving rifles and 12 involving shotguns, a Saskatoon Police Service report says.

The report is connected to the development of a Saskatoon Police Service gun crime strategy.

"When you start looking at national trends with respect to firearms and firearms activity, being a major centre, we know that there's going to be … firearms coming into our community and leaving our community," said Patrick Nogier, the service's superintendent in charge of the criminal investigation division.

Last year, police in the city recorded 168 incidents involving firearms.

While the number was the same as in 2020, it still reflects a 17 per cent increase compared to the five-year average of 143 occurrences, according to the report.

In 2021, officers responded to 54 gunshot incidents in Saskatoon, meaning incidents where someone actually pulled the trigger on weapon.

In 70 per cent of these events, there was a person who was shot, or being shot at.

The other 30 per cent include reports of gunshots that were not directed at a specific person or group, as well as shots fired at a home or business, the report says.

In 23 of the 54 incidents, police say they don't know the motivation behind firing the shots. However, 28 per cent of the gun crime events were gang motivated or associated, they say.

The report further showed that none of the seven homicides in the city in 2021 came as a result of illegal gun activity.
Handguns pose 'significant threat'

In total, police seized 590 firearms in 2021. Of those, 66 per cent are considered "crime guns" and 34 per cent were firearms turned over to police by the public without any association to a criminal event.

Of the 392 crime guns, 210 — 54 per cent — were handguns, the report says.

Those weapons are particularly dominant when it comes to crimes involving guns being fired, which Nogier said is concerning.

Twenty-two of the 54 gunshot incidents in 2021 involved handguns, compared to 10 involving rifles and 12 involving shotguns, the report says.

"Being able to access a handgun and hide a handgun and predominantly use a handgun poses a significant threat in the community," said Nogier.

"When you start seeing what's being taken and being reported as thefts from residences, we're not seeing a lot of handguns. So where are the handguns coming from?"

There were 39 stolen firearms reported in 2021. The vast majority were long guns such as rifles, while only 13 per cent were handguns, according to the report.

That suggests that handguns are being transported into Saskatchewan or manufactured locally, said Nogier.

Ghost guns an emerging problem

Another emerging concern across Canada are "ghost guns," or untraceable guns, due to 3D printing becoming more readily available to the public, the report says.

In January, officers in the city executed a search warrant for 3D-printed firearms and components.


"These are guns that do not show up and you cannot track or trace," said Nogier.

"We know that this is going to be a potential threat for us."

Looking south of the border, as an example, officers in California took roughly 35,000 firearms off the street in 2021, he said — 30 per cent of which were ghost guns.

"Historically what we experience in Canada is roughly 10 per cent of what they experience in the States with respects to gun activity," he said.

"In California, next year, they're anticipating that 50 per cent of the guns that they will be dealing with are ghost guns."

Nogier added this raises some alarms in regard to what might happen in this community.

The findings in the report generally raise concerns for police officers, he said.

"There is more of an awareness from our front-line personnel that when they do pull a vehicle over that's been suspected of being involved in criminal activity, the likelihood of guns has never been higher now than it has been in the last two decades," said Nogier.

But in spite of some of the troubling numbers in the report, he told CBC that it's not intended to create fear in the city.

"We want to make sure that we get in front of it rather than have to react to problems that might arise," he said.

  • https://www.thestar.com/news/world/2022/03/25/canada-takes-aim-at...

    2022-03-25 · Canada takes aim at ‘ghost guns’ made with 3D printers The widespread availability of printers that can make illegal guns is one of the biggest rising concerns of law enforcement in Canada and the...

    • Email: ekeenan@thestar.ca
    • Ghost gun proliferation needs federal attention - Brandon Sun

      https://www.brandonsun.com/opinion/editorials/ghost-gun-proliferation...

      2022-03-11 · Here in Canada, ghost guns, like all 

    • Legal status of 3d printed guns in Canada - LCP …

      https://www.lcp-law.com/legal-status-of-3d-printed-guns-in-canada

      The Federal Government has already proposed tightening Canada’s firearm law by introducing gun bill C-71. The bill intends to enhance existing background checks along with changing how vendors document the sale of firearms. The bill does …


    • Hyundai to invest $16.5B in electric vehicles

      By Kim Hye-ran & Kim Tae-gyu, UPI News Korea

      Hyundai Motor’s electric vehicle brand Ioniq 5 cars are assembled in a South Korean factory. Photo courtesy of Hyundai Motor

      SEOUL, May 19 (UPI) -- Hyundai Motor, South Korea's largest automaker, announced plans to invest $16.5 billion through 2030 to expand its electric vehicle business, along with its sister company Kia.

      Through the investment, the Seoul-based company said Wednesday it would be able to produce 1.44 million units of electric cars a year by 2030 in South Korea alone.

      Globally, the company plans to build an annual capacity of 3.23 million EVs, which is a tenfold increase from its current capacity of 350,000 units.

      Hyundai is scheduled to come up with 18 EV models through 2030, including its luxury brand Genesis and EV-specific Ioniq models. Kia is set to release 13 EV models by then.

      Hyundai and Kia said they hope to achieve a combined market share of 12% by 2030.

      Last year, Hyundai said it would channel $7.4 billion in the United States by 2025 to manufacture EVs and upgrade its production facilities in the world's No. 2 automotive market.

      It remains to be seen whether Hyundai Motor and Kia would be capable of attaining their goal of the 12% EV market share by 2030, as global carmakers are driving up competition in the market, according to experts.

      "Hyundai Motor and Kia have chalked up an early success in the EV market by building a dedicated EV platform. In particular, Hyundai's Ioniq 5 has won so many awards over the past year," Daelim University automotive Professor Kim Pil-soo told UPI News Korea.

      "However, global powerhouses in the car business are going all out to secure their competitive edge in the EV business. The competition will be really strong," he said.

      The Ioniq 5 was voted World Car of the Year at the 2022 World Car Awards, a program conducted by automotive journalists from across the world.

      Global automakers, including Mercedes-Benz, Volkswagen and General Motors, have joined the transition toward electric models.
      THE PARTY OF NO NOTHINGS
      House Democrats pass bill against gas price gouging with no Republican votes

      Rep. Kim Schrier, D-Wash., co-sponsored a bill to fight gas price gouging. Photo courtesy of Dr. Kim Schrier/Facebook


      May 19 (UPI) -- The U.S. House on Thursday passed a bill to prevent gasoline price gouging bill without a single Republican vote in favor. The vote was 217-207.

      The bill sponsored by Rep. Kim Schrier, D-Wash., and Rep. Katie Porter, D-Calif., would make it illegal to sell gas at an excessive price during an energy emergency.

      "At a time when people in my district and across the country are feeling the pain of high prices at the gas pump, Congress needs to be doing all we can to bring down costs," Schrier said in a statement.

      Schrier said the FTC needs to have the power to investigate and crack down when there's evidence of real gouging.

      RELATEDDespite expensive gas, about 40M in U.S. expected to travel Memorial Day weekend

      House Republican Whip Steve Scalise wrote to Republican members that the bill was an "attempt by the Majority to distract and shift blame" for high gas prices. Scalise wrote that there was no evidence of gas price gouging.

      The Consumer Price Gouging Prevention Act of 2022 would give the president the power to issue an emergency declaration that would make it unlawful to hike gasoline and home energy prices "in an excessive or exploitative manner."

      It would also give the FTC more tools to crack down on price gouging, allowing the FTC to prioritize enforcement action on big oil and gas companies.

      RELATED Gas prices hit new record high in U.S.; up 26 cents over past month

      The Thursday afternoon national average gas price was $4.58 cents per gallon for regular, according to AAA. The price for diesel was $5.57 per gallon.

      Rep. Lizzie Fletcher, D-Texas, was one of four Democrats who voted against the bill.

      "The Consumer Fuel Price Gouging Prevention Act would not fix high gasoline prices at the pump, and has the potential to exacerbate the supply shortage our country is facing, leading to even worse outcomes," Fletcher said in a statement. "For these reasons, I voted no on this legislation today."

      RELATED Rising oil costs, demand push gas prices in U.S. back up near peak level in March

      Market analysts have said Russia's Ukraine invasion and the pandemic recovery are the primary drivers of higher gas prices.

      President Biden ordered the release of a million barrels of oil a day from the strategic reserve in an effort to lower gas prices at the pump.
      House panel weighs reforms for clemency amid backlog of 17,000 petitions

      One lawmaker on Thursday emphasized that roughly 2 million people are imprisoned in the United States -- the highest incarceration rate of any country.
       File Photo by f11photo/Shutterstock

      May 19 (UPI) -- A House panel convened a hearing on Thursday to examine the presidential clemency system, just days after a bipartisan group of lawmakers in the chamber demanded information on a backlog of 17,000 people who are seeking relief under the process.

      The House judiciary subcommittee gathered to weigh possible reforms at a hearing that came a few weeks after President Joe Biden issued his first round of clemency.

      In opening remarks, subcommittee Chair Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Texas, noted that Congress should encourage presidents to routinely use executive clemency powers by fixing what she called "an apparently broken system."

      Lee added that presidential clemency is a useful tool to right wrongs of the criminal justice system and overcome "misguided policies that led to mass incarceration."

      RELATED Biden issues first 3 pardons, including one for Secret Service agent who guarded JFK

      Rather than address the merits of presidential clemency powers, Rep. Andy Biggs, R-Ariz., cited a spike in U.S. violent crime over the last two years and criticized Democrats for what he said was "an agenda of totally reforming the justice system."

      "Now may not be the time, despite what the Biden administration and many of my colleagues believe to release drug traffickers and dealers back into our communities and neighborhoods," he said.


      Over his eight years as president, Barack Obama issued a total of 212 pardons and commuted 1,715 sentences. 
      File Photo by Shawn Thew/UPI

      Rep. Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass., said her bill -- the Fix Clemency Act -- would replace the Justice Department's pardon attorney with an independent clemency board with a goal of expediting backlogged clemency petitions.

      RELATED House Democrats call on Biden to commute all federal death sentences

      She emphasized that roughly 2 million people are imprisoned in the United States -- the highest incarceration rate of any country -- and said they disproportionately affect Black, Latino, indigenous, disabled and LGBTQ communities.

      "This is a shameful legacy. People, locked in cages throughout this nation. Real people, their families and friends, are serving their sentences alongside them," Pressley said. "I know this all too well, growing up with an incarcerated parent."

      Lawmakers who favor reforming the system said that Congress must reject the "unjust status quo" and disrupt the cycle of treating trauma with trauma. Reforming the clemency process, they said, is an essential part of the solution.

      RELATED Beto O'Rourke's plan to legalize marijuana includes clemency

      "After decades of draconian mandatory sentencing policies, far too many non-violent federal offenders, disproportionally people of color, remain in prison serving what we know now are unnecessarily harsh sentences," Rep. Gerrold Nadler, the judiciary committee chairman, said.

      Nadler added that clemency is the only remaining relief for thousands of petitoners and that the committee is obligated to evaluate and upgrade the system.

      In a letter to the pardon attorney, Pressley and Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon joined Republican Reps. David Joyce and Kelly Armstrong in asking for a full report on the clemency backlog within a couple weeks.

      RELATEDTrump grants presidential pardons, commutations to seven people

      Biden granted clemency for 78 people during his first round last month. Former President Barack Obama issued 212 pardons and commuted 1,715 sentences during his two terms in the White House and former President Donald Trump issued 143 pardons and 94 commutations.




      COULD APPLY TO LUCY
      New York court expected to decide if zoo elephant deserves human right

      Happy and Patty are shown at the Bronx Zoo. File Photo courtesy of Wildlife Conservation Society

      May 19 (UPI) -- New York's highest court is expected to rule in the case of Happy, an Asian female elephant at the Bronx Zoo, to determine if she should be free from unlawful captivity similar to humans.

      Steven Wise, animal rights attorney and president of the Nonhuman Rights Project (NRP), an animal rights group, has argued that Happy is autonomous, cognitively complex and deserves the same legal protection humans have against unlawful imprisonment.


      "What we're saying is that she has a right to bodily liberty and that that makes her no longer a thing," Wise told The Washington Post. "She's a person."

      Happy's attorneys have offered as evidence of her intelligence that she passed a self-awareness, mirror self-recognition test in 2005. An article in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) journal noted that such ability has long appeared limited to humans and apes.

      They have also argued that Happy is lonely and not happy in 1.15-acre captivity and are seeking to move her from the Bronx Zoo to one of the country's two elephant sanctuaries where they say she would have more space and interaction with other elephants.

      The Bronx Zoo, on the other hand, has argued that Happy is treated compassionately, has had contact with another elephant, and has bonded with zookeepers.

      "At the Bronx Zoo, we are focused on what is best for Happy, not in general terms, but as an individual with a unique and distinct personality," Wildlife Conservation Society's Bronx Zoo said in a statement. "Their concern is winning a legal argument, not what is best for Happy."

      RELATED World's oldest scientific zoo celebrates 194th anniversary

      Happy's attorneys' legal argument has focused on the writ of habeas corpus, which is used to determine if a person's imprisonment is unlawful.

      The Bronx Zoo argued in its statement that this is a misuse of the writ of habeas corpus.

      "The court should not issue a writ of habeas corpus in a case such as this --where the holding of the elephant is not illegal; the relief sought is not actual release from confinement; and the writ is filed regarding a non-human animal. Habeas corpus is a summary proceeding with one remedy intended for people: release from illegal confinement."

      RELATED Endangered okapi at Oklahoma City Zoo is pregnant

      Currently, Happy's living space at the Bronx Zoo is separated by a fence from the zoo's other elephant, and Mary Dixon, a zoo spokeswoman, said Wednesday that the two elephants touch trunks, smell each other, and communicate, the Post reported.

      The New York Court of Appeals is expected to make a decision in the coming months.

      Happy, who was born in the wild in 1971, has lived at the Bronx Zoo since 1977, according to a profile on the NRP website.

      RELATED Louisville Zoo announces birth of Hartmann's mountain zebra

      According to the New York Times, she was probably captured from Thailand, along with six other calves, possibly from the same herd.

      Happy was imported to the United States in the early 1970s and sold for $800 to the now-defunct Lion Country Safari in Laguna Hills, Calif., which named the calves after Snow White's seven dwarfs, according to the NRP profile. Happy was later relocated to the still operational The Lion Country Safari in Loxahatchee, Fla., before she was moved to the Bronx Zoo in 1977 with Grumpy, who was attacked by two other elephants there and euthanized in 2002.
      Wives, mothers worry for 'innocent' men netted in Salvadoran gang crackdown

      Oscar BATRES
      Thu, 19 May 2022


      Hundreds wait desperately for news at La Esperanza (Hope) prison in San Salvador 


      President Nayib Bukele declared a 'war' on gangs after 87 people were killed in 72 hours of violence in March 

      Relatives and rights groups have denounced the arrest of many, including minors, with no gang links 

      A poll by Cid Gallup found that a majority of Salvadorans support Bukele's crackdown


      For three days, Ofelia Hernandez and her two small children have camped outside a Salvadoran prison where her husband is being held -- one of tens of thousands arrested since March in President Nayib Bukele's "war" on gangs.

      She claims her husband is innocent; an honest laborer caught in an indiscriminate dragnet and whose family cannot make ends meet without him.

      Hernandez's husband, 55-year-old mason Pedro Segovia, was apprehended on May 3 in the city of San Miguel, 139 kilometers (86 miles) east of the capital San Salvador, where he has been held ever since.

      He was arrested, she said, on suspicion of collaborating with gangsters.

      With her children, Hernandez, 25, traveled to "La Esperanza" prison where she waits for news with hundreds of others outside its high, grey walls.

      "I need to find out if they are going to give him to me, or what, because I need him at home," Hernandez told AFP.

      For food, she and her children rely on hand-outs from others gathered outside the prison in what has become a make-shift camp.

      They sleep on the sidewalk, on plastic or cardboard, under the stars.

      - 'Perfect storm' -

      Bukele announced a state of emergency in late March following a bloody weekend in which 87 people -- many civilians, according to the government -- were killed in gang-related violence.

      Since then, the police and military have been rounding up suspected gang members using emergency powers that have done away with the need for arrest warrants.

      The small Central American country has also increased sentences for gang membership five-fold, to up to 45 years.

      The wave of detentions is unprecedented in the country of 6.5 million people that has suffered decades of violent crime driven by powerful gangs such as Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) and Barrio 18.

      So far, 31,500 suspected gangsters have been detained.

      With another 16,000 already behind bars before the campaign started, the government claims to have made a big dent in gang membership, thought to number some 70,000 in total.

      But relatives and rights groups have denounced the arrest of many, including minors, with no gang links.

      Amnesty International has said Bukele's state of emergency "has created a perfect storm of human rights violations."

      On Wednesday, UN human rights chief Michelle Bachelet recognized that dealing with gang violence is a "very, very challenging issue", but added "it should be done in compliance with international human rights laws."

      - 'It is painful' -


      The El Faro news site published the results of an investigation this week that claimed the wave of violence in March came after the government broke a pact with the leaders of MS-13 and Barrio 18.

      Last year, the US Treasury Department said Bukele's government had agreed a truce with the gangs in exchange for privileges for their imprisoned leaders.

      The government has denied any such negotiations.

      Another woman, 54-year-old Elizabeth Hernandez, insists her son was arrested without cause.

      "For me the president has done an injustice... taking boys who have nothing to do with the others [gang members]," she told AFP outside the jail, where she said she had received no news.

      "It is painful. I don't sleep and I don't eat knowing that my son is suffering."

      Hernandez claimed to have seen a man released from jail whose "forehead was all beaten up."

      Lucia Conner, for her part, begged Bukele "to exercise his conscience and release anyone who does not deserve it, who is unjustly imprisoned" -- including, she said, her son.

      A recent poll by Cid Gallup found that a majority of Salvadorans support the crackdown.

      "They (the gangs) have messed with people a lot," a soldier guarding the prison told AFP.

      He pointed to a large scar left by a cut to his throat which he said was made by a gang member.

      "Those who are gangsters, let them rot in jail," he said.

      Experts say mass arrests are but a stop-gap as long as so many Salvadorans have no feasible exit from a life of penury.

      With a poverty rate of 30.7 percent and sky-high unemployment that pushes ever more people to emigrate, a career as a gangster is one of few options available to those who remain.

      They eke out a living by extorting protection money, and from drug dealing that brings them into regular conflict with one another.

      ob/mav/gm/mlr/caw
      Hive mind: Tunisia beekeepers abuzz over early warning system

      PUBLISHED : 20 MAY 2022
      Tunisian beekeeper Elias Chebbi uses a SmartBee device that remotely monitors his hives

      TESTOUR, Tunisia: Elias Chebbi inspected a beehive in a field in Tunisia, minutes after a buzz on his phone warned him of a potential problem.

      The 39-year-old beekeeper opened a flap in the hive to reveal a low-cost, locally made sensor dedicated to measuring key environmental variables. An app on his phone then warns him if action needs to be taken.

      "Thanks to this, I can relax," he said. "It tells me remotely everything that's happening."

      Chebbi has two of the sensors, entirely produced in Tunisia by the only company of its kind in North Africa.

      He periodically places one in each of the 100 or so hives he keeps, on a grassy hillside an hour's drive from the capital Tunis.

      The devices, each costing under 300 Tunisian dinars (around 92 euros), send live updates on temperature, humidity and the weight of the hive to a central computer.

      It then analyses the data and helps him react quickly to potential problems -- as well as selecting the most resilient, productive queens for breeding.

      That is a major asset as bee colonies face multiple threats, including climate change and increasingly common collapses of entire hives.

      Chebbi remembers being stung by a sudden heatwave in 2013, before he started using the system, when he lost around a quarter of his hives.

      "I had big losses, 26 hives, because of humidity and the sudden change in temperature," he said.

      But since he started using the SmartBee system -- developed in 2020 by a group of young Tunisian engineering graduates -- his losses have dropped dramatically, to under 10 percent of his hives in a given year.

      He has also boosted his honey production by 30-40%.

      Today, Khaled Bouchoucha, 34-year-old CEO of manufacturer Beekeeper Tech, says the sensors gather "a huge amount of information on the bees' yield and the threats they face".

      The gadgets "gather reliable data in real time, so beekeepers can make good decisions and avoid collapse of their hives", he said.

      This data is then fed wirelessly to the company's cloud computing system, which analyses it to identify potential problems.

      If it does, it sends a warning to the beekeeper to intervene -- by cooling overheating hives, adding insulation to those that are dangerously cold, or providing sugar solution to those whose weight shows that they have not produced enough honey to survive the winter.

      Beekeeper Tech has sold over 1,000 of the systems, mostly in Tunisia and neighbouring countries.

      Bouchoucha says customers are swarming to the app and the firm's workers are preparing another 1,500 orders for customers in Libya, Algeria, Saudi Arabia and even New Zealand.

      Bee populations around the world are facing disaster from overuse of pesticides, mites and temperature extremes due to climate change.

      That also spells catastrophe for humans, as we depend on pollination by bees for over a quarter of all the food we consume.

      According to the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization, three quarters of the world's main crops depend on pollinators -- but the insects are in decline worldwide, mostly due to human activities.

      Beekeeping itself is also a vital livelihood for many.

      In Tunisia, with its population of 11 million, the sector employs some 13,000 people and produces some 2,800 tonnes of honey every year, according to its agricultural union.

      The FAO marks a World Bee Day every year on May 20 to raise awareness about "the essential role bees and other pollinators play in keeping people and the planet healthy."

      The SmartBee app offers more than an early warning system.

      The data it collects also tells beekeepers about the health and productivity of each hive, its resistance to changes in climate.

      Mnaouer Djemali, chief scientific officer at the National Agronomic Institute of Tunisia and a co-founder of Beekeeper Tech, said data from the hives "enables us to measure the profitability of each queen" and to select the best for breeding.

      "That can help us boost our food security and sovereignty," he said. "We are sorely in need of that in a world full of diseases and wars."
      Jordan's 'Fierce Savage' kicks down martial arts gender constraints


      Fayyad says she won't give up Mixed Martial Arts until she's old, at which point she'll turn to something less intense, like jiujitsu (AFP/Roy ISSA)

      Joseph Abi Chahine
      Thu, May 19, 2022

      It's no mystery why Jordanian Lina Fayyad has been nicknamed "Fierce Savage" -- watching as she lands successive blows in the cage, it's clear she is poised to take mixed martial arts by storm.

      With her long maroon hair and small frame, she cuts an unusual figure in the world of MMA, and perhaps even more so within the country and region from which she hails, where women are virtual strangers to the sport.

      "At the beginning, I heard a lot of criticism that continues until today," the 33-year-old told AFP from the Mediterranean island of Cyprus, where she is undergoing and overseeing training boot camps.

      "When someone sets their sights on a goal, nothing will stop them from achieving it."

      In a region where social and cultural restrictions often bar women from pursuing sports professionally, Fayyad's journey has not been straightforward.

      "There were a lot of obstacles that stood in my way: injuries, criticism -- I would get kicked out of sports clubs because I'm a girl and men refused to participate in training with me," she said.

      "It used to bother me at first but now I don't care."

      - Jordan's only female fighter -

      Encouraged by her father, a boxer, Fayyad entered the world of martial arts at the tender age of 10, then practised taekwondo starting at 12, before moving on to a roster of other sports.

      "I earned three gold medals in kickboxing in the Arab championships and a gold medal in Muay Thai world championships," she said.

      She shifted to MMA in 2017, and has since won two of the three fights she has taken part in.

      But aside from her drive for competition -- which is high -- Fayyad is compelled by the need to send a message to her fellow countrywomen.

      "I am the only woman who practises MMA in Jordan," she said. "I get a lot of nice comments from women and they are really encouraged when they see me.

      "I feel like I am somehow responsible because I want to prove that Arab women can reach their goals," she continued.

      "If I had listened to criticism and become a housewife, I would not be happy. I want to make use of the advantages God gave me to achieve more."

      In a training hall in the Cypriot capital Nicosia, Fayyad prepares for her next fight in June -- provided she recovers from recent fractures in both her feet.

      But as with other obstacles, she doesn't let her injuries get in the way.

      "I will stop when I get old," she said -- but by "stop", she means she will simply shift to a more age-appropriate sport, like jiujitsu.

      "I often hear that I'm a 'fierce savage' in the cage, and it's true, I'm not afraid. The nickname represents me."

      jac/jsa/dwo
      'Straight to your soul': Japan's taiko reinvents drum tradition






      Yoshikazu Fujimoto has been a member of taiko troupe Kodo for decades
       (AFP/Charly TRIBALLEAU)

      Sara HUSSEIN
      Thu, May 19, 2022, 7:43 PM·4 min read

      In a hall on Japan's Sado island, 71-year-old Yoshikazu Fujimoto strikes the imposing drum mounted before him, producing a boom so powerful that it reverberates through the floorboards.

      Fujimoto is a veteran performer of Japanese taiko drumming, a musical form with roots in religious rituals, traditional theatre and the joyous abandon of seasonal festivals called matsuri.

      But for all its ancient pedigree, taiko as a stage performance is a fairly modern invention, developed by a jazz musician and popularised in part by one of Japan's most famous troupes: Sado island's Kodo.

      Fujimoto is the oldest of the 37 musicians that make up the group, which recruits members through a rigorous two-year training programme.

      It was founded partly to attract people to Sado, off Japan's west coast, and tours internationally, spreading the gospel of taiko.

      "Taiko itself is like a prayer," said Fujimoto, who came to Sado in 1972 to join the group that evolved into Kodo.

      "It used to be said that the area reached by the sound of a drum made up a single community," he said.

      "Through taiko... I want to become part of a community with the audience and send a message of living together, a message of compassion."

      It has been a life-long project for Fujimoto, who is a specialist performer of the o-daiko, an enormous single drum mounted on a stand that is struck by a musician standing with his back to the audience and arms raised overhead.

      The effect is an all-encompassing wall of sound that seems to enter the ribcage and vibrate through its bones.

      And it is highly physical, with Fujimoto grunting in exertion as the muscles in his almost-bare back flex beneath the straps of his tunic with every strike.

      - 'One with the sound' -


      "I become one with the sound," he said. "Playing taiko makes me feel I'm alive."

      Kodo's performances range from the sombre power of the o-daiko solo to ensemble pieces featuring flute and singing, and even comic interludes that encourage audience participation.

      Taiko simply means drum in Japanese, and performers use two main types.

      The first is made from a single, hollowed tree trunk with cow or horsehide nailed over each end. The second uses hide stretched over rings attached with ropes to a wooden body.

      They have been part of rituals and theatrical artforms like noh and kabuki in Japan for centuries.

      But drumming in those contexts is often a solemn practice,while modern taiko performance is closer to folk festivals where troupes often made up of local residents play in streets or fields to unite the community, drive away malign influences or pray for a good harvest.

      "Contemporary taiko drumming took a lot of inspiration from this local festival drumming and combined with more formal traditional performing arts to evolve into what we see as taiko drumming today," explained Yoshihiko Miyamoto, whose company Miyamoto Unosuke has made taiko for over 160 years.

      Key to that evolution was jazz drummer Daihachi Oguchi, who moved festival drumming onto the stage in the 1950s and 60s.

      Then in 1969, musician Den Tagayasu moved to Sado to found a taiko troupe that he hoped would attract young people to the island and revitalise it.

      - 'Straight to your soul' -

      Fujimoto left his native Kyoto to join the group known as Ondekoza, and when they split he stayed and helped found Kodo.

      Joining now involves an arduous two-year training programme, where apprentices aged 18-25 live in dorms, without phones or televisions.

      "The day starts at 5am, when we get up and immediately go out to stretch. Then we start cleaning and polishing the floors," said Hana Ogawa, a 20-year-old who completed the trainee programme this year.

      After cleaning, the trainees go for a run and then spend the entire day practising, with breaks only for food. They have one day off a week.

      It might not be for everyone, but Ogawa, who decided to join Kodo after seeing them perform in high school, has no regrets.

      "I'm happy every day, because I love taiko and I pursued this one goal and achieved it, so it's a dream come true," she told AFP.

      Taiko drumming has been growing in popularity at home and abroad in recent years, with troupes established in Europe and the United States and a steady rise in overseas orders for Miyamoto's store.

      "Taiko has the power to connect people with its sound," he said.

      "Especially in this contemporary age, you hear the sound of machines everywhere, but taiko uses this raw hide and the drum bodies made by wood," he added.

      "It's like a sound of nature, it's very organic. I think that's one of the reasons it comes straight to your soul."

      sah/kaf/lto