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World

Experts Fear Surge in Cocaine Supply to US as Colombia Mulls Ending Coca Eradication

To destroy the raw material for cocaine, Colombian police crop dusters have sprayed herbicide on more than 4 million acres of the country's coca fields over the last two decades. But the controversial U.S.-backed program could soon be grounded in the wake of a new World Health Organization finding that glyphosate, the active ingredient in that herbicide, may cause cancer. Citing the WHO report, President Juan Manuel Santos on Saturday urged the country's National Narcotics Council, which is made up of government ministers, to phase out aerial spraying within a few months, a decision that the council could make as soon as Thursday. "The risk does exist," Santos said. "We need a system that is more efficient and less damaging.", But amid signs that cocaine production is once again surging in Colombia, a top U.S. counterdrug official staunchly defended aerial eradication. He also dismissed the WHO report on glyphosate the key ingredient in Monsanto's Round-Up herbicide used by agro-industry around the world as bad science. "Glyphosate is today perhaps the world's most commonly used herbicide," William R. Brownfield, who heads the U.S. State Department's Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, told TIME. "There is not one single verified case of cancer being caused by glyphosate.", However, a March report by the cancer-research arm of the WHO noted that glyphosate has been linked to tumors in mice and rats and that there is some though limited evidence that people working with glyphosate face a greater risk of developing non-Hodgkin lymphoma. The report by the International Agency for Research on Cancer concluded that glyphosate "is probably carcinogenic to humans.", Unlike the controlled agricultural use of glyphosate, the Colombian aerial eradication program uses a higher concentration of the herbicide which is sprayed over populated zones and sometimes lands on people, says Adam Isacson of the Washington Office on Latin America think tank. The result has been a flood of health complaints. A nationwide study of hospital visits that was conducted by the Drug and Security Research Center at the University of the Andes in Bogota found a higher incidence of skin rashes, respiratory problems and miscarriages in coca-growing regions sprayed with glyphosate between 2003 and 2007. "This is very solid evidence," says Daniel Mejia, who directs the center and is also president of the Colombian government's drug policy advisory commission. In the coca fields of southern Colombia, peasant farmers these days tend to blame all their ailments on glyphosate. Leaning on his machete, Nittson Cuacialpud says he developed a permanent case of face acne a few years ago after crop-dusters swooped over his one-hectare coca field near the town of La Hormiga. His neighbor, Sandra Trejo, remembers getting hit by a rain of herbicide which made her hair sticky. But she says it was hard to tell whether glyphosate was dangerous. La Hormiga and surrounding communities lack clean drinking water, overall health conditions are poor, and farmers handle a wide variety of powerful weed killers and precursor chemicals when growing coca and processing the leaves into cocaine. "People get sick, but we don't know why," Trejo says. Despite the growing controversy over glyphosate, it's an awkward time for Colombia to be holstering a key drug war weapon. Last week, the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy released data showing the coca crop in Colombia had expanded 39 between 2013 and 2014 the country's first big jump in drug cultivation since 2007. That translates into an increase in potential cocaine production from 185 tons to 245 tons. Although the 2014 White House numbers are not yet in for Peru and Bolivia, the world's two other big cocaine producers, the sudden spike in Colombia is troubling. "A 39 jump in coca cultivation will likely increase cocaine supplies, thus lowering street prices," Isacson said. Brownfield pointed out that many areas of Colombia, such as the southern border with Ecuador, national parks and Indigenous reserves, have recently been placed off limits to aerial eradication and that coca growers have taken advantage. During its peak years in the mid-2000s, Brownfield said the spray program helped reduce Colombia's coca crop by 60,, Yet critics slam aerial eradication as costly and counterproductive. In fact, Colombia is the only country that allows it. In Peru and Bolivia, coca plants are uprooted by anti-drug agents with shovels and machetes. In Colombia, similar efforts have left 62 people dead and hundreds injured because left-wing FARC guerrillas, who are deeply involved in drug trafficking, often protect the fields with land mines and snipers. That's why Colombia opted for air raids. But in a 2011 study, Mejia estimated that keeping 1 kilogram of cocaine out of the United States costs 163,000 in coca eradication efforts. By contrast, that cost dropped to 3,600 per kilo by attacking smugglers getting the drugs into the U.S. There has also been diplomatic and legal fallout. In 2013, Colombia paid a 15 million settlement after Ecuador filed a lawsuit in the International Court of Justice claiming that the herbicide drifted across the border, causing environmental damage, livestock deaths and health problems in humans. In calling for an end to aerial eradication, President Santos insisted that other counter-narcotics efforts would continue. However, his overriding strategy is to disarm the FARC guerrillas. The two sides are negotiating in Cuba to end the 51-year-old war and if a final peace treaty is signed, the government has agreed to halt aerial eradication while FARC has promised to get out of the illegal drug trade. So in spite of his strong support for the air raids, Brownfield, a former U.S. ambassador to Colombia who was once doused in glyphosate while observing a spray operation and remains cancer free, acknowledges they may end soon. "Change is not necessarily a bad thing," he says.

World

How Theresa May Blew a Huge Lead in the UK General Election

The decision to call a general election must have made sense at the time. Prime Minister Theresa May was well aware she had heavily outscored her chief opponent, the Labour Party's Jeremy Corbyn, on personal ratings since entering 10 Downing Street in July last year. Polls put her Conservative Party ahead of Labour by as much as 21 in mid-April. But she inherited a House of Commons majority of just 12 when David Cameron stood down after the Brexit' vote. Even a tiny rebellion among her lawmakers could ruin policy and put Brexit negotiations at risk. So, despite having frequently ruled out a snap election, May decided over the Easter weekend she needed a bigger majority and a personal mandate allowing her to crush rival parties who were challenging what they saw as her plans for a "hard Brexit", whereby the country would not only leave the E.U. but also the bloc's lucrative single market. She bit the bullet and went to the country, a U-turn that in hindsight seems like the first crack in the facade of her carefully crafted "strong and stable" leadership image. Now, with a week to go before voting, the election has become tighter than she could have possibly imagined. By May 25, Labour had slashed the Conservatives' lead to just five points, according to a YouGov poll for The Times newspaper. On Wednesday, those same pollsters revealed more detailed research that showed the Conservatives could lose 20 seats and Labour gain 30. It's hard to overstate what a disaster that would be for the Conservative Party or "Tories." Although they would remain the biggest party by some distance, this would result in a hung Parliament. May would then have to enter a difficult coalition with a third party that wanted a less severe Brexit or try and run the country by minority government. Although many politicians and pundits are dubious about this outcome, talk of a Conservative landslide has now all but disappeared. Even before the result, lawmakers in Westminster are wondering where it all went wrong for the Tories. The opposition has plenty of suggestions. Clive Lewis, Labour's former shadow defense secretary, says Conservative "hubris" has been "partly responsible" for their recent problems. He says this confidence led May to producing a manifesto full of "harsh and draconian policies.", May's greatest mis-step was over social care. May wanted to introduce a system whereby care for the elderly would be paid for by the government selling their house after their death. Although the policy allowed for 100,000 128,500 to be kept for the person's family, there was no cap on how much could be taken. If a house was worth 1m, for example, nine-tenths of that value could conceivably end up in the hands of the state rather than relatives. There was a huge public outcry on what became known as the dementia tax'. In what looked like a desperate backtrack, May announced an as-yet-unspecified cap on what the government could reap from the scheme. "After the dementia tax, the media smelt blood," Lewis says. "Other policies started unraveling. She had called the election for firstly the cushion of a bigger majority and secondly to create a legacy. The second of those is certainly shot.", May deliberately set up the election as a presidential-style fight between herself and Corbyn a sensible approach, suggests Mark Spencer, a Conservative lawmaker who is confident a vast majority of the electorate distrusts the veteran leftist leader. "I won't sleep comfortably if Corbyn is negotiating for us on Brexit," he says. The Prime Minister believed her long service in the Home Office the U.K.'s interior ministry played well against Corbyn, who is unpopular among his own lawmakers for leftwing views, such as scrapping the nuclear deterrent, and his apparent closeness to certain terrorist organisations, like Hamas. The contrast became especially acute after the terrorist attack on Manchester on May 22, when May accused her opponent of blaming the attack on U.K. foreign policy in the Middle East. Yet apart from one significant mistake on Tuesday, when he proved unable to put a cost on Labour's plans to offer free childcare to two-year-olds during a radio interview, Corbyn has run a smooth election campaign. "Jeremy Corbyn has surpassed people's expectations, which were very low," says a senior Labour politician who requested anonymity to speak freely. "Given airtime, people have realised he's not so bad.", Corbyn's confidence is such that he has made a late decision to take part in a leaders' television debate tonight, an event both he and May had previously shunned. He has challenged May to do the same in a clever effort to either make her look cowardly or force her into yet another change of mind. , The Labour leader's move underscores May's issues with presentation. Vince Cable, a Liberal Democrat who served alongside May in Cameron's coalition cabinet of 2010-15, tells TIME "Her operating style is to act from a bunker in the Home Office. She's not good on economic and social issues and all of these weaknesses have been exposed in this campaign She is going to be damaged for failing to get the spectacular result they'd hoped for.", Cable agrees with pollsters who have estimated a Conservative majority of around 60. Historically, that is a strong victory, but not the milestone of 100 that many Conservatives had privately predicted. "The campaign has been lackluster and there's been chronic misjudgements," says Cable. "They need to energise their own supporters.", A member of the government speaking on condition of anonymity admits that Labour "always turns out its core vote the Conservatives don't always". However, the source argues that any increase in the party's majority will "strengthen" May, no matter how small. John Rentoul, chief political commentator at The Independent and a visiting professor at King's College, London, agrees. "If she gets a majority at all it will be her majority and a mandate for Brexit. Psychologically a narrow victory wouldn't be great, but people are over-egging that.", Even when May called the election with such a huge lead Professor John Curtice, a political scientist at Strathclyde University, says he argued the decision was "not a risk-free exercise.", A large lead in a popular vote doesn't necessarily translate to a huge parliamentary majority, he says. "Everybody forgets that the Conservatives had a seven point lead over Labour in 2015 and only ended up with a majority of 12. The Prime Minister has not had the best of elections, the manifesto was like telling people about the bad medicine they would have to swallow for the next five years and that has not gone down too well.", Curtice says that if May ends up with a majority of only, for example, 30 she will have not "freed herself" from potential rebellions, particularly a cadre of lawmakers who are particularly anti-E.U. and want no concessions made in Brexit negotiations. "And her colleagues will be thinking, what the hell was that?" Curtice adds. "May's political authority and political strategy is undoubtedly on the line."

World

2 More Medical Schools in Japan Have Admitted to Discriminating Against Women

Two more medical schools in Japan have admitted to systematic discrimination against female students this week, the latest institutional scandal to hit the industry after Tokyo Medical University was accused of rigging examination results to suppress the number of women in the student body. Juntendo University and Kitasato University on Monday conceded that they had set different passing scores for female and male applicants in entrance exams, as well as prioritized male candidates. Female applicants were held to a different standard because "women mature faster mentally than men and their communication ability is also higher when they take the entrance exam," Juntendo University's medical school dean said, according to Japanese newspaper Asahi Shimbun. He added that "in some ways, this was a measure to help male applicants.", In August, Tokyo Medical University was found to have manipulated exam scores to exclude female students for more than a decade, prompting backlash and a government investigation into entrance exam processes at medical schools across the country. An investigation found that the university had reduced all medical school applicants' initial test scores by 20, before inflating the scores of male applicants' exams. The institution initially defended the policy by arguing that women were more likely to leave the medical profession to pursue motherhood, creating a staffing shortage in the sector. Juntendo University President Hajime Arai apologized for the discriminatory testing practices, and Kitasato University's officials have said they will introduce an external committee to address the issue. The latest news of the academic discrimination comes amid government efforts to raise the profile of women in Japan's workforce. As of 2017, women made up 43 of the laborers, according to the World Bank. In the same year, Japan ranked 114th out of 144 countries in the World Economic Forum's Global Gender Gap Report. Despite Shinzo Abe's pledge to create "a society in which all women shine," the Japanese Prime Minister himself faced criticism in October after a reshuffle left only one woman in his 19-member cabinet.

World

Putins Confessions on Crimea Expose Kremlin Media

It was an awkward test for many Russian journalists. Last spring, their President tried to mislead themand the rest of the worldby denying that he had sent troops to conquer Crimea. Even as they witnessed Russian forces sweeping that Ukrainian peninsula, reporters on the Kremlin's payroll were obliged to go along with Vladimir Putin's claims. But a year later, the President came clean. In a documentary aired last weekend, he admitted ordering his troops to seize Crimea weeks before it was annexed into Russia on March 18, 2014. "I told all my colleagues, there were four of them, that the situation in Ukraine has forced us to start working on returning Crimea to Russia," Putin says in the film, recounting a late-night meeting with his security chiefs in late February 2014. "We can't leave that territory and the people who live there at the mercy of fate.", The confession didn't leave any good options for Russian newsmen like Dmitri Kiselyov, who runs the Kremlin's media conglomerate Rossiya Segodnya and hosts a prime-time news and analysis show on state TV. He could either admit to misleading viewers last year and, in effect, blame Putin for the deception, or he could deny that any deception had occurred. , Confronted this week with the dilemma, Kiselyov stuck to denials. "Vladimir Putin never changed his position," he told TIME on Wednesday at the headquarters of his media corporation in Moscow. "Look, he never said that our troops aren't there, because we always had a base there," Kiselyov said, referring to the Russian naval base in the Crimean city of Sevastopol. Pressed on the identity of the troops who had surrounded and in some cases besieged Ukrainian military bases in Crimea last March, Kiselyov said "The troops surrounding them were local self-defense forces, but not Russian troops.", It was an odd position to take. Although critics of the Kremlin have often accused Russian state media of distorting facts and misleading viewers, this is the first time that such a momentous distortion has been so clearly and demonstrably false, contradicting not only the version of events presented in most independent media but also out of sync with Putin's own statements. In early March 2014, Putin was asked during a press conference to identify the troops who were fanning out across Crimea, driving Russian military vehicles but wearing no identifying markers on their uniforms. "Why don't you take a look at the post-Soviet states," Putin answered, according to a transcript on the Kremlin website. "There are many uniforms there that are similar. You can go to a store and buy any kind of uniform." The journalist persisted Were they Russian soldiers or not? "Those were local self-defense units," Putin said. Compare that line to his confession in the documentarywhich was titled, Crimea Homeward Boundand it is clear that Putin did change his position. Not only does the President admit in the film to ordering his security forces to take control of Crimea last spring, but he also claims to have overseen the operation personally. "Our advantage was that I was personally dealing with it," he says. This came on top of Putin's admission last April, a month after the annexation, that "Russian servicemen did back the Crimean self-defense forces," and that in doing so, they acted in "a civil but a decisive and professional manner." Moreover, the dramatic re-enactments of the seizure of Crimea shown in the documentary this month clearly depict the invading troops as Russian military, not local self-defense units. Yet Kiselyov still continues to deny that Russian troops ever intervened in Crimea. "They were near by, at the base," he tells TIME. "If there had been a conflict there, they would have intervened. But they did not intervene.", He is not the only senior figure in the Kremlin's media empire to take this peculiar stance. Last fall, TIME put a similar round of questions to Margarita Simonyan, the editor in chief of RT, the state-funded television network that broadcasts around the world in English, Spanish and Arabic. She also stuck to the claims that Putin made in March of last year about the Russian troops in Crimea being local self-defense forces. Asked about the apparent change in Putin's story after that, she replied, "He never said that we fooled you He did not admit that earlier statements were untrue.", Since the annexation of Crimea, a similar debate has been raging over the role that Russian troops have played in the war in eastern Ukraine, where more than 6,000 people have been killed amid fighting between Ukrainian military forces and Russia's proxy militias. Even as Russian and foreign journalists have documented the presence of Russian military hardware and servicemen on those battlefields, Putin has repeatedly denied sending any of his forces to fight alongside Ukrainian separatists, which the Kremlin has also referred to as local self-defense forces. Asked on Wednesday whether Putin might be similarly deceiving the public on this question, just as he did last year with the invasion of Crimea, Kiselyov replied that he was "100 sure" that there are no Russian troops in eastern Ukraine. And what if a year from now the President admits in another documentary that he did send his forces to fight in those regions? "So far that hasn't happened," Kiselyov said. But if it does, Russians shouldn't expect their fourth estate to admit to spreading falsehoods. It is apparently easier to stick to their denials.

World

George W Bush Defends Iraq Invasion Following Chilcot Report

Former President George W. Bush says the world is a better place without Saddam Hussein in power following the release of a lengthy inquiry into the Iraq war. A spokesperson for Bush released a statement Wednesday afternoon after the release of the Chilcot report on Britain's role in the war, according to the Guardian. "Despite the intelligence failures and other mistakes he has acknowledged previously, President Bush continues to believe the whole world is better off without Saddam Hussein in power," the spokesperson said in a statement. Bush is said not to have read the report in full as of yet, according to the statement. He went on to defend former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who has been accused of overselling the war in Iraq to the public in the United Kingdom. "Bush is deeply grateful for the service and sacrifice of American and coalition forces in the war on terror. And there was no stronger ally than the United Kingdom under the leadership of Prime Minister Tony Blair," Bush's spokesperson said. The 2.6-million-word report, overseen by retired civil servant John Chilcot, is some seven years in the making and concluded that military action for the U.K. "at that time was not a last resort."

World

26 People Confirmed Dead as Rescuers Continue Search for Survivors of Laos Dam Disaster

Rescue teams are continuing to search through submerged villages to locate missing people after part of a newly constructed dam in southern Laos collapsed on Monday night, sending walls of water into the surrounding rural towns. The disaster has rendered nearly 7,000 people homeless in Attapeu, an agrarian province near the border with Cambodia and Vietnam, according to state media. Twenty-six people have been confirmed dead, according to the state's official news agency, KPL. Many fear the final toll will be much higher. Prime Minister Thongloun Sisoulith called the disaster the worst to hit Laos in decades. When a portion of the 1 billion Xe Pien-Xe Namnoy hydroelectric project gave way on Monday, flash floods quickly swamped seven villages in the surrounding countryside. Unsuspecting villagers took refuge on rooftops and scrambled up trees as the water swallowed their town. At a press conference on Wednesday, Sisoulith said 131 villagers are on the official missing persons list. Earlier in the day, the state-run Vientiane Times reported more than 3,000 villagers, or nearly half of those affected, await rescue. District governor Bounhom Phommasane told the Times that the priority is bringing survivors to dry land. "A second step for us will be to recover and identify the deceased, but for now we hurry to find those who are still alive in the area," he said. Rescue efforts have been complicated by heavy rain, which is forecast to continue for the rest of the week, exacerbating the flooding. The main South Korean company behind the development of the dam, SK Engineering Construction, said it is investigating what caused the auxiliary dam, known as Saddle D, to collapse. After reportedly noticing serious fractures on the structure on Sunday, the consortium building the dam advised 12 endangered villages to immediately evacuate. Just hours before the impending disaster, it issued a letter warning that millions of tons of water would cascade downstream if the dam failed. Advocacy group International Rivers said the disaster in Attapeu reveals the "inadequacy of warning systems to prevent loss of life.", "Communities were not given sufficient advanced warning to ensure their safety and that of their families," the group said in a statement. "This event raises major questions about dam standards and dam safety in Laos, including their appropriateness to deal with weather conditions and risks. ", As Laos increasingly relies on tapping its network of rivers for exportable hydropower, International Rivers warned that climate change is simultaneously making unpredictable weather events more common, a combination that poses "grave safety concerns to millions who live downstream of dams.", The government has declared the flooded area a disaster zone and called for emergency aid supplies to assist the survivors. The International Red Cross, UNICEF and Save the Children are among those who have joined the response effort. "This is a terrible tragedy and we still don't have a clear picture of its scale. Hundreds or even thousands of families are likely to have been left homeless, while some have lost loved ones. Many children are still missing and we are gravely concerned for their wellbeing," Save the Children's deputy country director Vilasack Viraphanh said in a statement.

World

Why You Dont Need to WorryMuchAbout Europes Far Right

It's not surprising that the near-election this week of Norbert Hofer as president of Austria would generate a fresh round of worries over the rise of the right in Europe. Hofer would have been the first European far-right head of state since the end of World War II, and while the left-leaning Alexander Van der Bellen managed to eke out a win, Hofer's clear popularity is a clear concern. But let's take a deep breath and a step back to avoid exaggerating the danger this phenomenon represents for the future of Europe. I've written here and elsewhere about the rise of populist right-wing parties in multiple European states. The migrant crisis has exacerbated a deepening anti-E.U. feeling across the continent, and political opportunists are reaping the benefits. Let's note, however, that in Europe's most important countries, there are clear limits to the far right's influence. Germany's Alternative fur Deutschland AfD, Britain's United Kingdom Independence Party UKIP, and France's Front National FN are all having a real impact on debate in these countries, but they're a long way from holding real power. Next year, Angela Merkel will likely win re-election as Germany's chancellor, even if the need to draw votes from AfD hardens her approach on some issues. The FN's Marine Le Pen is unlikely to become France's president. The Conservative Party will continue in power in Britain, and UKIP will remain at the political margins. Read More These 5 Facts Explain Why Venezuela Could Be on the Brink of Collapse, And it's not surprising that mainstream parties performed poorly in Austria's election. This is a country that has flirted with the far right before. Jorg Haider, a man made famous by his praise for the Nazis and his fascist-inspired taste in clothes and flags, led the Freedom Party into Austria's governing coalition in 2000back when the unwelcome migrants were coming from Eastern Europe, not the Middle East. The E.U. responded with sanctions. This country of just 8.5 million people is near the front lines of a new migrant crisis. In 2015, Austria received about 90,000 asylum requests from migrants from the Middle East and Africa, the second highest total per capita in Europe, feeding a deepening sense of insecurity that was further fueled by populist demagogues. That said, Van der Bellen, the man who actually won the election, represents the Green Party. Read More These 5 Facts Explain What Obama Wants From Europe, Austria's Freedom Party, the Danish People's Party, the Swiss People's Party, Hungary's Jobbik, The Sweden Democrats, True Finns and others will continue to exploit the fear that those in power are no longer accountable to citizens or represent their true interests. But pragmatism, not right-wing populism, remains at the core of European policymaking.

World

Cancer Wages Its Own War Against Syrian Refugees

It was just before Syrian civilians started rising up against their government in 2011 that Fayhaa al-Dahr, 22, from the northern city of Raqqa, noticed a strange swelling in her neck. Doctors advised surgery to excise the tumors growing on her vocal chords, but even though Syria has one of the best government-subsidized medical systems in the Middle East, the operations and the follow-up treatment would be expensive. To pay for al-Dahr's care, her father sold some land than had been in the family for generations. When another tumor appeared, he sold more land. By the time the third tumor was taken care of, there was no more land to be sold, and the uprising had turned into a war that made it impossible for al-Dahr to travel to the capital for her chemotherapy appointments. When a rocket destroyed her home in December, al-Dahr and her family saw no choice but to take refuge in neighboring Lebanon. At least there, they believed, al-Dahr could continue her treatments. They were wrong. Lebanon is host to some 1.1 million Syrian refugees, part of an exodus of 2.9 million seeking shelter from a war that has claimed more than 160,000 lives and has wrought untold damages to the middle-income country. Unlike refugees fleeing conflicts in Africa, where diseases of poverty such as diarrhea, malaria or cholera take their toll, Syrian refugees are afflicted with chronic and costly illnesses like diabetes, heart disease and cancer. The international humanitarian agencies that provide for refugees the world over simply do not have the funds to treat these diseases, leaving many, like al-Dahr, without access to proper medical care. Her cancer has metastasized, and she now has a tumor in her upper thigh so excruciating, she says, "I am living on painkillers.", A recent study published in The Lancet Oncology journal documented a high demand for cancer treatments among refugees from the recent conflicts in Iraq and Syria, with host countries and refugee organizations struggling to find the money and the medicines to help. Cancer, writes Dr. Paul Spiegel, Chief Medical Expert at United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees UNHCR, is likely to play a much greater role in refugee care going forward. "Cancer diagnosis and care in humanitarian emergencies typifies a growing trend toward more costly chronic disease care. Something that . is of increasing importance because the number of refugees is growing.", As it is, the UNHCR warned on July 3 that the organization had received only 30 percent of its 3.74 billion budget for Syrian refugee programs for this year, a shortfall that would see many vital programs, including health care, slashed. Al-Dahr's doctor in Damascus had warned her of the consequences of missing chemotherapy appointments, and when she first arrived in Lebanon, she did try to continue her treatment. But the costs1,900were twice what she paid in Damascus. Her family was able to borrow enough cash to pay for one round in January, but when her Lebanese doctor called a few weeks later to remind her of her follow up, she knew she couldn't afford another session. "He was very worried about me, and called several times to beg me to come, but there was nothing we could do and nothing he could do." The doctor may have been willing to volunteer his time and expertise, but the drug and hospital costs are immutable. "It's a sad story," says Dr. Dr. Elie Bechara, an oncologist in Beirut who works with other doctors to treat refugees pro-bono. "We are overwhelmed by these cases from Syria. Sometimes we are standing still, watching, and we are not able to help them. It is frustrating.", Lebanon boasts some of the finest medical facilities in the Middle East, but nearly 90 are privately run, and most of them are for profit. UNHCR has spent tens of millions of dollars on treatment for refugees at private hospitals, but funds are limited. With the rising number of refugees 1.5 million, a third of the Lebanese population, are expected to have registered by the end of the year costs too will rise, forcing UNHCR to choose between funding emergency care and primary health clinics that can save thousands of lives and spending thousands of dollars to save one life. Last year UNHCR covered medical treatment for 41,500 refugees in Lebanon, but each of those cases was judged on specific criteria the cost of the intervention against the chances of a positive outcome. "It's a horrible decision to have to make," says Spiegel. "If there is a poor prognosis, we can't go that route. It doesn't mean the patients won't get treatmentthey may search elsewhere, and sometimes embassies or private donors step inbut we can't afford to help where there is no hope.", Palliative care, at least, is not that expensive, adds Spiegel. "We never say, There is nothing we can do, go away.' We just say we can't treat the cancer but we will treat the consequences." Al-Dahr falls into that category. Instead of chemotherapy, she gets painkiller injections at her local pharmacy, and she tries not to dwell on her illness. "When you don't know what is going to happen, it is better to stay in the present," she says. "Thinking about the future only brings more problems.", Given the funding shortages, cases like al-Dahr's are likely to become more common, says Spiegel. "Syria is our biggest and most expensive operation to date, and there is a question of how long donors will continue supporting it as things get worse. If we continue like this, there will be more like this woman who will not be able to receive treatment.", Like a cancer patient with a poor prognosis, Syria is starting to look like a hopeless cause, and thus less likely to receive aid. With reporting by Hania Mourtada / Anjar, Lebanon

World

2 Teenagers Arrested for Theft of Auschwitz Artifacts

Two British teenagers were arrested in Poland on Monday for stealing historic artifacts from Auschwitz-Birkenau, the largest former Nazi death camp, which was converted into a museum at the close of World War II. The teenagers, who have not yet been named by authorities, could face up to 10 years in prison, local police told the BBC. According to a museum spokesman, they are believed to have stolen items including buttons and pieces of glass. In 2010, a Swedish man was convicted of plotting to steal the infamous "Arbeit macht frei" "Work sets you free" sign from the gate of the camp. More than 1 million people, mostly Jews, as well as gay people and gypsies, were killed at Auschwitz between 1940 and 1945. In 1947, the site was converted to a museum and saw more than 1.2 million visitors in 2012.

World

Venezuelas New Opposition Leader Jess Torrealba Takes on the Chavistas

In October 1958, the heads of the major political parties in Venezuela met at Punto Fijo, the Caracas home of former president Rafael Caldera. At the summit the political brokers agreed to share power between themselvesno matter who actually won future elections. For the next 40 years, Venezuela was essentially governed by a pair of conservative parties in what became called the puntofijismo. The left was sidelined and the poor largely ignored. The country, though, was prosperous and stableup to a point. Hugo Chvez came on the scene soon after the economy fell apart, partly thanks to a prolonged slump in oil prices that took a serious toll on Venezuela, a major crude producer. He campaigned for the presidency in the late 1990s, promising to end the puntofijismo and give a voice to the poor. "I am a product of history," Chvez liked to say. He tirelessly toured the country's less wealthy areas and went on to win the 1998 election in a landslide, redefining Venezuelan politics. A decade and a half later, however, Chvez is dead and his successor Nicols Maduro's popularity is waning. One recent poll put Maduro's approval ratings in the thirties, thanks in part to Venezuela's annual inflation of more than 60, shortages of the most basic consumer products and one of the world's highest murder rates. Yet, despite the widespread discontent, the country's opposition still struggles to gain ground, limited in part by its perceived links to a failed old guard. Enter Jess Torrealba, affectionately known as Chuo, a new executive-secretary of the Mesa de la Unidad Democrtica MUD, Democratic Unity Roundtable, the umbrella group which represents political parties opposed to the government. Torrealba was chosen in part because he is able to engage with the country's poorsomething the elite members of the anti-Chvez opposition have repeatedly failed to do. "I'm from the barrio," he told TIME, adding that he has seen the failures of the socialist government first hand. "Those of us who were poor have stayed poor those in the middle classes have become poor." His job is to direct the disparate opposition and help pick the eventual presidential candidate that will take on Maduro in the coming years. Torrealba is a former Communist Party member, community leader and a presenter of the TV show "Radar of the Barrios," a program where h gave the poor a chance to voice their anger. He is aiming to attract people like bread vendor Ernesto Lpez, who wears a Chvez t-shirt in the Caracas slum of 23 de enero. Lpez demonstrates the long odds Torrealba will facethere is little chance the 60-year-old will vote for the opposition, even though Lpez, like many in his neighborhood, isn't happy with Maduro's performance. "At least we don't have the dictatorship of puntofijismo," Lpez said. "They wanted to rob Venezuela's riches for themselves and we don't want to return to that.", Torrealba insists he does not want to go back in time to the days of conservative rule. "A return to the past is neither desirable nor possible," he said. Torrealba is hoping to make electoral headway for the Venezuelan opposition in National Assembly elections late next year. A good showing in that vote would pressure the government and bolster a potential recall referendum against Maduro in 2016. If not, the opposition would have to wait until 2019 for the next presidential election. "It's embarrassing that in 21st century Venezuela, we're debating communism versus capitalism, as if the Berlin Wall hadn't fallen, as if the Soviet Union hadn't gone through perestroika," said Torrealba. Torrealba, 56, was born in Catia, a poor sector in the west of Caracas. He worked as a journalist and teacher as well in activism and, in line with his working class credentials, is more gruff in dress and character than many of his colleagues in the MUD. He wants to take advantage of Venezuela's natural resources, including the world's largest oil reserves. Chvez hoped to channel oil wealth to the poor by launching welfare programshowever, critics say much of the money was largely squandered through inefficiency, incompetence and corruption. "We should be looking to construct a Venezuela that has a quality of life similar to the Nordic countries, though with a Caribbean twist," he said, giving a nod to prosperous Norway, which avoided the "oil curse"where countries with bountiful natural resources tend to underperform economicallythat has befallen so many oil-rich nations. Henrique Capriles, who twice lost presidential elections against Chvez and Maduro over the last two years, understood that he had to shed his wealthy image in order to attract those who were disaffected by Chvez and Maduro. Despite his family's wealth, on the campaign trail Capriles would wear a tracksuit, ride into the country's slums on his motorbike and play basketball with the locals. "I'm not the candidate of the old establishment," he told TIME in February 2012, before winning opposition primaries. He lost to Maduro by less than a quarter of a million votes in April last year. He still considers himself the opposition's leader and may well go on to be the MUD's presidential candidate again. But Torrealba will have his work cut out. Silvana Lezama, 20 years old and studying communications at the leafy Montevila University in Caracas, took part in anti-government protests earlier this year, but isn't impressed by the opposition's new leader. "We need a leader that motivates us and I don't feel motivated at all by Torrealba," she said. Luis Vicente Len, a local political analyst, added "It's a tough challenge but Torrealba is capable." Few protesters were interested in the MUD-led opposition that was personified by characters like Capriles and Lpez. They just wanted a change, with little notion of how it would come about. Torrealba must tap into both the energy of protesters and the disaffected poorand convince them that the days of puntofijismo are long gone.

World

After Days of Deadlock ASEAN Releases Statement on South China Sea Dispute

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations ASEAN released a watered-down joint statement regarding territorial disputes in the South China Sea on Monday, neglecting to refer to a recent court ruling against Beijing, following pressure from China. Foreign ministers from the 10-member bloc met in Laos the first time of such meeting since the U.N.-backed Permanent Court of Arbitration in the Hague ruled emphatically in favor of a complaint launched by the Philippines against Beijing. China has decried the ruling as a farce, and vowed to ignore the court's decree that Beijing's so-called nine-dash line, which claims around 90 of the South China Sea, has no legal basis. The Philippines originally wanted the ASEAN communiqu to cite the Hague ruling, but Cambodia objected, leading to days of deadlocked negotiations. In the end, Manila dropped its demands and a joint statement was published Monday. "We remain seriously concerned about recent and ongoing developments and took note of the concerns expressed by some ministers on the land reclamations and escalation of activities in the area, which have eroded trust and confidence, increased tensions and may undermine peace, security and stability in the region," the ASEAN statement said. Read More Just Where Exactly Did China Get the South China Sea Nine-Dash Line From?, Other than the Philippines, ASEAN nations Vietnam, Malaysia and Brunei are locked in separate disputes with Beijing over contested rocks and reefs in the busy trade corridor, through which 5 trillion of cargo passes annually. Although officially resolved, the deadlock highlighted the ineffectiveness of ASEAN as an institution, as well as China's growing clout over the region. Cambodia has no claim in the South China Sea and relies heavily on China for trade and investment. In 2012, a joint communiqu on the dispute was similarly blocked by Cambodia, and other members such as Laos and Malaysia are perceived as weak on the South China Sea issue due to Chinese pressure. "ASEAN is a multilateral body and there are enough players that are either in Chinese pockets or just don't want to be in the fight," Bridget Walsh, a Southeast Asia specialist at National Taiwan University, tells TIME. "They have to prioritize their foreign policy and it's certainly not sticking their neck on the South China Sea.", China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi said that Beijing supported Cambodia's objections to the initial joint statement, reports Reuters. "China greatly approves of Cambodia and other ASEAN countries taking charge of impartiality and safeguarding fairness," Wang said. On Monday, U.S. National Security Adviser Susan Rice arrived in Beijing for talks with Chinese officials in the highest-level visit by a White House staffer since the Hague decision, which Washington has backed and urged China to abide by. "To the extent that we are able to surface those challenges in candor and openness, I'm confident that we will be able to work on them as we have many others in the past," Rice said, reports the Associated Press.

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New Zealand Announces Plan to Ban SingleUse Plastic Bags

New Zealand has become the latest country to ban single-use plastic bags in an effort to tackle plastic pollution. On Friday, New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced plans to phase out single-use plastic bags over the next year in order to "look after our environment and safeguard New Zealand's clean, green reputation," the New Zealand Herald reports. "Every year in New Zealand we use hundreds of millions of single-use plastic bags a mountain of bags, many of which end up polluting our precious coastal and marine environments and cause serious harm to all kinds of marine life," Ardern said. "Just like climate change, we're taking meaningful steps to reduce plastics pollution so we don't pass this problem to future generations.", New Zealand retailers will have six months to stop providing the single-use bags, or face fines of up to NZ 100,000 66,000, the Guardian reports. Citing a petition signed by 65,000 people, Ardern said eliminating plastic pollution was in line with public opinion. "It's also the biggest single subject schoolchildren write to me about," she said. Read More See How Many LEGO Skyscrapers You Could Build With a Year's Worth of Ocean Plastic Waste, New Zealand is one of the highest producers of urban waste per capita in the developed world, according to figures from the World Bank. Every year, 8 million metric tons of plastic end up in the oceans, according to a 2015 study, and that figure could increase by ten-fold over the next 10 years if action is not taken. Some studies predict that by 2050, the world's oceans will be filled with more plastic mass than fish mass. According to the U.N. New Zealand joins more than 60 countries that have introduced bans and levies on single-use plastics, including India and the United Kingdom.

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One Week On Indonesia Quake Survivors Begin to Worry About the Future

When Amirudin stopped running, he thought he had stopped moving. The shop across the street, a mango tree, his aunt's house everything looked like it was rushing past him as he stood on a block of asphalt clinging to his infant daughter. About five seconds later, when everything stopped, he realized he had ridden a strip of road like a surfboard as a river of mud engulfed half of his village. "I thought we were doomed, like it was the apocalypse," the 35-year-old tells TIME, recalling the 7.5-magnitude earthquake that struck the coast of Indonesia's Sulawesi island on Sept. 28. In this small village about an hour south of Palu, the city that bore the brunt of the quake and tsunami, the ground split apart like a paddy field in the dry season. One villager captured a video of the earth crumbling into a honeycomb-like pattern and wobbling as though the pieces were tossed onto a waterbed. One week after the disasters, at least 1,558 people have been confirmed dead, and the toll is expected to rise as rescuers continue to comb through the wreckage. A mass grave has been dug into the side of a mountain to bury hundreds of unidentified bodies. Indonesia, a Southeast Asian archipelago seated on the seismically volatile Pacific "Ring of Fire," is prone to disaster, but this one had a distinct quality. Survivors here in Sibalaya and several nearby areas described a phenomenon known as liquefaction, whereby an earthquake blends underground water and sand into sludge, loosening the earth above. The remaining half of Sibalaya now terminates at a dead-end road that stops at a concrete cliff overlooking a swamp of debris. Everything seems normal right up to the edge then suddenly all that lies ahead is wasteland. A soccer field that used to be on one side of the road is now on the other. A row of houses, including Amirudin's, floated some 600 meters away and collided in a pile-up of lumber and corrugated iron. Across Palu province, more than 70,000 people have been left homeless. In the city, many have gathered in displacement camps. In more remote places like Sibalaya, they wait by the side of the road for a truck or a helicopter to bring them relief which happens rarely. The worst affected areas were all but cut off in the immediate aftermath of the disaster. Even under normal circumstances, Palu is an eight-hour drive from the nearest major city of Mamuju, and about 20 hours by road to the island's capital Makassar. For two whole days after the tragedy, looters stripped the city's shops bare. But after a week of suffering in near-isolation, aid is now beginning to trickle into the region. "Much more assistance is coming in now," says Col. Verianto, who oversees aid delivery from a military command center in the devastated Palu neighborhood of Sigi. The first aid deliveries arrived on Sunday, Verianto says, and have increased in the days since. But aid alone can only do so much in Palu. Power is still out in most of the city, as is running water. Aid workers say it is highly unlikely that the worst-hit areas of the city can ever be rebuilt, and that tens of thousands of displaced people face a future of living in camp-like conditions for years. Many are trying to leave. Outside the airport, hundreds of newly homeless people wait hours in the sun for one of a few hundred seats on a flight to the capital that have begun taking off each day. Others were moved by rumors that another disaster is imminent. "I heard people say that it will happen again," says Dewi, 30, while waiting for an outbound flight with her youngest daughter. She watched her street fall into a sinkhole, and doesn't want to risk seeing it repeated. "I decided to leave because someone said there will be another one, a bigger one, and Palu will sink into the mud.", For Amirudin, there is nowhere to go. His village is so remote that rescuers didn't have enough fuel to drive his critically-injured relative to a hospital she died of her injuries almost a week after the quake. Others escaped with their lives, if nothing else. After the ground stopped gliding, he looked around to find a few neighbors and their families had survived on another chunk of the road. The first thing he noticed was that none of the children had been crying. Although they were shocked, they were safe. "I felt very grateful," he says. "I just sat there with my daughter for a few minutes, looked around and said to the others, Let's calm down, let's pray.'"

World

Cadbury Dropped Easter From Its Egg Hunt and Prime Minister Theresa May Is Furious

U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May has railed against the omission of the word "Easter" from an annual egg hunt organized by chocolate maker Cadbury and charity the National Trust, condemning it as "absolutely ridiculous.", Cadburywhich is owned by American multinational Mondelezand the National Trust rebranded the name of the event from Easter Egg Trail' to the Great British Egg Hunt.' Both organizers do however refer to Easter in their promotional advertising for the annual hunt, which is held in around 250 National Trust sites in Britain. "I think the stance they have taken is absolutely ridiculous," May a committed Christian told ITV News on Tuesday during a visit to Amman, Jordan. "I don't know what they are thinking about frankly. Easter's very important It's a very important festival for the Christian faith for millions across the world.", The change to the hunt's title also prompted Church leaders on Monday to accuse Cadbury of "airbrushing faith" from the chocolate hunt. "To drop Easter from Cadbury's Easter Egg Hunt in my book is tantamount to spitting on the grave of Cadbury," Archbishop of York John Sentamu, told the Telegraph of the confectioner's Quaker founder, John Cadbury. The National Trust denied it was downplaying Easter. Its spokesperson told the BBC that the word Easter' is mentioned dozens of times on their website. "Cadbury proved consistently popular with our members and visitors. As part of its wider marketing activity at Easter, Cadbury's will always lead on the branding and wording for its campaigns," the National Trust said. Cadbury said in a statement that the phrase Easter has been used in its marketing for "over 100 years" and they "will continue to do so in our current campaignsWe invite people from all faiths and none to enjoy our seasonal treats."

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This Is What Brits Are Asking Google About Theresa Mays Surprise Election

Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May has announced her intention to call a snap general election on June 8 and the U.K. isn't quite sure how to process the information. According to Google Trends, one of the U.K.'s most-searched questions following May's shock announcement has been "When was the last general election?", which is a pretty understandable question when you consider that it has been less than two years 712 days to be precise since the country last endured a national vote for Prime Minister, whose term is ordinarily five years. Other questions that make the list include "What is a snap election?", "What does general election' mean?" and "Who can vote in a general election?", Google Trends has also released the top five most searched terms relating to the Prime Minister. As one would expect, "What party is Theresa May from?", "Why has Theresa May called a general election?" and "How can Theresa May call an election?" make the list. However, rather surprisingly, the most searched question has been "How old is Theresa May?," which feels fairly irrelevant.

World

See Kim Jong Un Celebrate Ascent of North Koreas Highest Peak

North Korean state media released a collection of celebratory images of leader Kim Jong Un at the summit of the country's highest peak. The state-run Rodong newspaper reported that Kim climbed Mt. Paektu on Saturday with a group of fighter pilots and other party and military leaders. The country's media is keen on portraying the supreme leadera member of this year's TIME 100in action, such as when video surfaced of him flying a small plane. North Korean propaganda says Mt. Paektu, which rises some 9,000 feet, was the birthplace of Kim Jong Il, the current leader's father though historians say he was actually born in Soviet Russia. "When one climbs snow-stormy Mt. Paektu and undergoes the blizzards over it, one can experience its real spirit and harden the resolution to accomplish the Korean revolution," the Rodong report said. "Climbing Mt. Paektu provides precious mental pabulum more powerful than any kind of nuclear weapon and it is the way for carrying forward the revolutionary traditions of Paektu and giving steady continuity to the glorious Korean revolution."

World

Syrian Regimes Success Helps Jihadist Groups Grow

The executioner is a young boy. Carrying a knife in one hand, he leads his prisoner, a bearded man in an orange jumpsuit, into a clearing beneath two rows of trees. "These are the soldiers you spend money on," he says in English. He forces the prisoner onto the ground, and then cuts his throat. That scene unfolded in a video produced the propagandists of the Islamic State of Iraq and Greater Syria ISIS. The victim was a jurist affiliated with the Levant Front, one of the rebel groups that is now fighting both ISIS and Russian-backed Syrian regime forces. Prior to his execution, the video assails the Levant Front for failing to adhere to Islamic law and for cultivating ties with the West. The video, which surfaced on February underscores the rapidly shifting dynamics of the civil war in Syria. The Assad regime and its allies have made swift advances against rebel groups in recent weeks, imperiling the rebel-held city of Aleppo, but those advances to not portend an end to the war. Rather, analysts and Syrian opposition figures say, the regime's successes against the rebels will offer an opportunity for jihadi groups to assert themselves, filling the vacuum wherever more moderate groups are defeated. Jihadi groups like ISIS and Jabhat al-Nusra, an affiliate of al-Qaeda, will continue to fight even if mainstream opponents of the regime are defeated or driven out of their strongholds. If the regime continues to advance, it could open a new phase of the conflict, in which ISIS and other extremist groups eclipse the revolutionary opposition to the Assad regime. It is a scenario feared by opposition groups who warn that the regime aims to eliminate the rebels and position the government as a bulwark against extremism. "It's not as if the war is winding down or ending. It's not as if the regime is reasserting control over all of Syria," said Noah Bonsey, a senior Syria analyst with International Crisis Group, speaking via phone from Istanbul. "What's crucial here is that the pragmatic, mainstream opposition actors on the ground are being eliminated in this process, and with them goes any opportunity of a negotiated political solution.", The regime's most dramatic advance came last week when pro-Assad forces, aided by Russian airstrikes, cut a key supply route into Aleppo. Tens of thousands have fled as residents fear the city could soon be surrounded. Recent victories by the regime and allied militias bring it one step closer to retaking Aleppo, which had been the largest city in pre-war Syria and was captured by rebels in 2012. Parallel to recent victories in Aleppo, the regime has gained ground in southern Syria, retaking the town of Sheikh Miskin on January 26, cutting rebel supply lines in the area. The recapture of the town was also a symbolic victory in the south, a region where mainstream armed groups such as the Southern Front had held the upper hand over extremists. Many of the mainstream and Islamist rebel groups fighting Assad are also opposed to ISIS, and losses on the rebel side could offer an opportunity for the jihadists to attempt to expand their territory. Faced with an overwhelming assault by pro-Assad forces, some rebel fighters could also join jihadist groups, seeing them as the hegemonic force among the groups arrayed against the regime. "If anything it pushes people back against the wall. Some will say, maybe ISIS is an option, so I think ISIS is not uncomfortable with this, so they'll be around for the foreseeable future," said Paul Salem, vice president for policy and research at the Middle East Institute in Washington. Regardless of the fate of the rebels, analysts say the Assad regime is not capable of winning the war outright. The regime faces a severe shortage of local troops, and as a result is now relying on Russian air power, as well as fighters from Iran, Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, as well as the Lebanese group Hezbollah. Vast sections of the country remain beyond the regime's reach and under the control of ISIS, rebels, and Kurdish groups. "The regime and its backers can't win this war militarily. They don't have the manpower to defeat all of their armed opponents, establish control of the country and hold it. That's not within the realm of possibility," said Bonsey. "However, defeating the state-backed armed opposition may be realistic."

World

Why Bankrupt Oil Companies Are Still Pumping

A central tenet in the thesis by analysts about the oil markets rebalancing has been that as prices declined, oil companies would be forced into bankruptcy. That in turn would lead to declining production, and eventually a rebalancing of supply and demand in the market, followed by higher prices. That process is already taking longer than many expected, and it looks like more time is needed. That additional time to balance the market is being driven by an unexpected factor bankrupt oil companies are still pumping. As oil prices have declined, the number of bankruptcies and distressed oil majors has quickly risen into the dozens. In fact, a recent Reuters analysis suggests little effect on production from when companies enter bankruptcy. Reuters cited Magnum Hunter as a primary example of this reality. , While Magnum Hunter filed for bankruptcy in December 2014, the firm has scrambled even in Chapter 11 to keep its oil flowing, resulting in OG production rising by roughly one-third between mid-2014 and late 2015. The firm has used the protection bankruptcy courts to help stave off creditors while keeping the pumps flowing full tilt. Nearly all of Magnum Hunter's 3000 wells are still producing crude, and that makes sense for several reasons. First, daily costs for operating wells remain well below current spot prices. While drilling new wells is not economical, it is perfectly logical to keep exploiting existing wells. Fracked wells usually start to see a significant decline in production after about two years of operations. So eventually Magnum Hunter and other companies will see their production fall, but two years can be a very long time to pump. OilPrice.com Lithium War Heats Up After Epic Launch Of Tesla Model 3, Second, creditors want to extract maximum value from the company and the best way to do that in the current environment is to keep the oil flowing. Bid-ask spreads on oil assets for sale are simply too wide for most companies to be interested in selling assets while in Chapter 11. Instead, creditors maximize the present value of their assets by continuing to pump oil. This oil can either be stored leading to a large risk free profit, or it can be sold on the spot market. Either way, Magnum Hunter and other bankrupt producers are acting in the best interests of their creditors by continuing to pump. Unfortunately, those actions are not in the best interests of the broader industry or energy sector stock investors. Third, management at bankrupt producers also have little reason to do anything other than keep the crude flowing. In the current energy market, getting a job is very difficult, especially for top managers coming from a bankrupt producer. As a result, managers rationally want to make sure they stay useful in Chapter 11 and that means trying to convince creditors to keep the company operating rather than converting to a Chapter 7 liquidation. Not all OG firms should be kept operating some firms are better off being liquidated but creditors often lack the necessary industry expertise to be able to distinguish between firms that have a future after emerging from Chapter 11, and those that don't and are better off in a Chapter 7 sale. And again, management has very little incentive to put themselves out of a job by recommending Chapter 7. On the whole then, while the oil markets are slowly making progress in rebalancing, the process is slower than most investors would like. Bankruptcy alone cannot rebalance the oil markets. Instead, natural well depletion and a lack of new investment are the driving forces that are reducing production over time. Those forces will continue in the future, but for now investors will just have to be patient and not get ahead of themselves.

World

Justin Trudeau Announced a 650 Million Plan for Sexual and Reproductive Health on Womens Day

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced on Wednesday that his government will spend 650 million on sexual and reproductive health initiatives around the world over three years. The plan, which was announced on International Women's Day, will focus on closing gaps in reproductive health services, putting money into contraceptives and family planning and sexuality education. "For far too many women and girls, unsafe abortions and a lack of choices in reproductive health mean that they either are at risk of death, or simply cannot contribute and cannot achieve their potential," Trudeau said during an event to commemorate International Women's Day, the Toronto Star reported. Canadian women used the day to call for improvements in child care services, an end to gender-based violence and equal pay between men and women, The Canadian Press reported. Trudeau, who announced the new initiative with International Development Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau, has pledged to advocate for women's rights both in Canada and around the globe.

World

Vladimir Putin Plays the Piano While Visiting China

Russian President Vladimir Putin, known for his displays of sporting prowess, showed an artistic side on Sunday by playing two Soviet-era tunes on a piano during a visit to China. Putin, who was in Beijing for the One Belt, One Road conference, sat down at the baby grand piano while waiting to meet China's President Xi Jinping at the state Diaoyutai residence. According to Associated Press, the 64-year-old played Evening Song by Vasily Solovyov-Sedoi and Moscow Windows by Tikhon Khrennikov, tunes that were respectively considered unofficial anthems for Leningrad now known as St. Petersburg and Moscow. The seemingly casual performance was captured by a cameraman and was widely circulated on Russian media outlets. This is not the first time the Russian leader has flaunted his musical skills. Putin performed Fats Domino's Blueberry Hills at a charity concert in 2010, which was attended by actors Sharon Stone, Kevin Costner and Grard Depardieu.

World

Hong Kongs Final Protest Site Has Been Cleared

The 79-day occupation of Hong Kong's streets by pro-democracy protesters met a rather lackluster end on Monday morning, as police cleared the last of three protest sites in a matter of hours. The clearance of the Causeway Bay camp, a small street occupation that was partly set up to accommodate the spillover from the main camp in the Admiralty district, began at around 10 a.m. with a 20-minute warning from police telling the protesters to clear out. The authorities moved in soon after, and hurriedly cleared barricades, tents and protest artwork in a process devoid of the drama of the Admiralty clearance four days earlier or the conflict that accompanied the removal of the Mong Kok protest site across the harbor in Kowloon the week before that. The Causeway Bay site, over the course of the past few weeks, had dwindled to a hundred-meter stretch of road held down by less than a hundred protesters. Most of these vacated the area before the police moved in, except for 20 who remained seated in the streets and were subsequently arrested. The streets were then cleaned, swept and washed down before traffic resumed later in the afternoon. A final small group of tents in the area behind Hong Kong's Legislative Council building was also cleared without incident later in the afternoon, the South China Morning Post reported. The clearances marked the end of a two-and-a-half month occupation of Hong Kong's streets by protesters demanding the right to freely elect their leader, known as the chief executive, after the Chinese government said it would screen candidates for the next election in 2017. The protests ended without the Beijing or Hong Kong governments acceding to any of the protesters' demands, and the highly unpopular current chief executive, Leung Chun-ying, said Monday morning that the movement had caused a "serious loss" to the city's economy and rule of law. The protesters, however, are determined not to give up. "I think there is still hope, because many people still come out and support us," 19-year-old protester Tommy Lam told TIME on Sunday night, hours before the Causeway Bay site was cleared. "Whatever the police do, we will still continue fighting for true democracy."

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Italy Searching for 5 Terror Suspects After FBI Warning

Italy is hunting for five terror suspects after the FBI alerted the country to potential attack plots. "Since yesterday afternoon, our security forces have been working to find five people," Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni said Thursday, AFP reports. "The minister of the interior has explained many times that we are at a very high level of alert covering symbolic sites, places where people gather, from stadiums to cathedrals, and St. Peter's in particular, which were, among others, the places highlighted by the FBI yesterday," he continued. "We always take such signals of alarm very seriously, especially when they come from the United States.", The U.S. embassy in Rome also posted a security message on Wednesday urging vigilance among American visitors to Italy the State Department has not, however issued an official travel warning for the country. The message identifies St. Peter's Basilica in Rome and The Duomo and La Scala in Milan as potential targets. The warnings come after Nov. 13 terror attacks in Paris left 129 people dead.

World

The US Is Finally Making a Friend of Vietnam

A few years ago I traveled from Hanoi to Saigon by train during Vietnam's national holiday to commemorate the end of the "Anti-American Imperialism War." Along the way, I stopped by numerous battlefields that many young American men from my father's generation had hoped to avoid. Over the course of the first evening in the meal car, my fellow travelers mostly former Vietnamese soldiers heading south to pay respects to their fallen comrades shared rice wine with me to mark our new friendship. As we raised our glasses, my hosts made boisterous toasts to the improved relations between our countries. "To Ho Chi Minh!" "To Obama!" "To Forrest Gump!" The Vietnam War was not forgotten, but there was a sense that the bitterness of the past had long since subsided. When the U.S. first deployed combat advisers to Indochina in the early 1960s, the military buildup in southern Vietnam was largely predicated on bridling the expansion of communism in Southeast Asia, particularly that propagated by China. Today, while China has become a de facto capitalist nation, it remains authoritarian and is increasingly hawkish. So once again, Washington seeks to contain the Middle Kingdom. Though this time, it's primarily through the Obama Administration's "pivot" to Asia, and the U.S. may have a new and willing partner former foe Vietnam. Shortly after its conflict with the U.S. ended, Vietnam fought a brief but bloody war with China in 1979 that killed some 50,000 people. Since then, relations between the two have been, if not friendly, at least courteous. As China has risen as a growing global power, the leaders in Hanoi have sought Beijing's guidance on how to modernize and tried to model their country after China. But now Vietnam and China are again at loggerheads, this time over Beijing's claim to vast swaths of the South China Sea, sparking maritime disputes not just with Hanoi but other Asian governments. What had been a slow burn flared earlier this month when China provocatively moved a massive state-owned oil platform well within Vietnam's exclusive economic zone. Naval vessels from both sides engaged without firing and then withdrew. But back in Vietnam, the reaction was explosive. Hundreds of factories thought to be Chinese-owned were razed in the industrial parks north of Ho Chi Minh City and Ha Tinh. An unspecified number of Chinese nationals were reportedly killed, prompting Beijing to send a small armada to Vietnam on May 19 to evacuate any of its citizens wanting to leave. On Thursday, Vietnam's Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung said Hanoi was reviewing all its defense options, including legal recourse under international law. Many Asian countries welcome the U.S. pivot as a counterweight to China. While most are old American friends like Japan, South Korea and the Philippines, Vietnam is a striking new partner. Ties have steadily improved over the years. Today, the U.S. is Vietnam's third biggest trading partner and its largest export market. High-level visits from the likes of then U.S. Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta and myriad defense memorandums have smoothed the way for stronger ties. In July the two governments inked the U.S.-Vietnam Comprehensive Partnership, aimed at boosting bilateral relations in several sectors, including "defense and security.", "Washington sees Vietnam as the most strategic-thinking of all the ASEAN countries," says Ernest Bower, Southeast Asia expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. "Vietnam has stepped up its game in amazing ways over the last five years. It's incredible.", The U.S. still has a 30-year-old arms embargo in place against Vietnam, but perhaps not for long. "It's our assessment that U.S.-Vietnam ties have been steadily improving in recent years to the point that a lifting of the arms embargo is now conceivable," says James Hardy, the Asia-Pacific editor at IHS Jane's Defence Weekly. Nearly 40 years ago, the U.S. fled Vietnam in abject humiliation symbolized most potently by the hasty exit by helicopter of American personnel from the embassy's rooftop in Saigon. But in 2014, the U.S. looks increasingly less like the foe and more like the friend.

World

Malaysias Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim Awaits Sodomy Appeal Verdict

Malaysia's opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim returns to court next week to learn whether he will be jailed on sodomy charges. On Tuesday, Malaysia's Federal Court will hear Anwar's appeal of his March conviction for engaging in homosexual acts, charges both Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International say amount to "politically motivated persecution.", Speaking to TIME on Friday, Anwar said his chances "didn't look good.", "Most of Malaysia does not believe that I will get a fair trial or a decision based on the facts of the law," he said. "But I want to show young people that my conviction is a small price to pay in the struggle for freedom and justice.", Anwar was originally arrested on July 16, 2008, after a former male aide alleged the pair had engaged in consensual sexual relations criminalized under Malaysia's colonial-era "sodomy law." The High Court then acquitted Anwar on Jan. 9, 2012, ruling that DNA samples vital to the prosecution case could have been contaminated. On March 7, 2014, the Court of Appeal overturned the acquittal and sentenced Anwar to five years imprisonment. The hearing was originally scheduled for April but was curiously moved forward a month. This meant Anwar was disqualified from running in the Kajang district state assembly election on March 23. Phil Robertson, Asia director of Human Rights Watch, has urged the Malaysian authorities to drop the case or risk making a "travesty of the country's criminal justice system.", "Prosecuting Anwar for something that should never be considered a crime shows how far the government is prepared to go to remove a political opponent," he said. Anwar's imprisonment has been stayed during his appeal, but if convicted he faces five years in prison plus a mandatory five-year prohibition on running for office, effectively ending the 67-year-old's political career. Malaysia's May 5, 2013, general elections saw the Pakatan Rakyat People's Alliance coalition led by Anwar win 50 of the popular vote. However, this only translated to 89 parliamentary seats due to the "first past the post" electoral system. The incumbent National Front coalition government of Prime Minister Najib Razak gained 47 of the vote but 133 seats., Anwar and independent observers have alleged electoral irregularities and widespread gerrymandering, and thousands took to the streets to demand an investigation. Najib's administration strenuously denies any impropriety.

World

Six US Marines Killed in Nepal Helicopter Crash Identified

The six U.S. Marines who died in a helicopter crash while supporting earthquake relief efforts in Nepal were identified Sunday morning. Capt. Dustin R. Lukasiewicz of Nebraska Capt. Christopher L. Norgren of Kansas Sgt. Ward M. Johnson IV of Florida Sgt. Eric M. Seaman of California Cpl. Sara A. Medina of Illinois and Lance Cpl. Jacob A. Hug of Arizona were all killed when their UH-1Y Huey helicopter went down near Charikot, Nepal, Tuesday, according to the U.S. military. Two Nepalese service members identified by the Nepalese Army as Tapendra Rawal and Basanta Titara, according to The Associated Press also died in the crash, Read the rest of the story from our partners at NBC News

World

QampA JeanClaude Juncker on Brexit Russia and Trumps Highly Unfriendly Remarks on the EU

As President of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker is the head of the European Union's executive branch and its public face. Speaking days before he confirmed he would not be standing for a second term in office, the former Prime Minister of Luxembourg talked to TIME about the best way to counter Russian propaganda, how the E.U. is partly to blame for the rise of populism across Europe, and President Donald Trump's "highly unfriendly" remarks about the E.U, TIME President Trump has been openly critical of the E.U. and said in a recent interview that "others will leave" after Britain's vote to quit the bloc. What was your reaction?, Juncker I don't think anyone else is tempted to take the same route. We were a little bit disappointed listening to President Trump's first declaration when he was congratulating the British for having taken that decision, and more or less inviting others to do the same. That was highly unfriendly and not helpful at all. , What is the best way for Europe to respond?, Do we have to respond? If we invited Ohio to leave the United States, would they respond? I don't think so, so we don't have to respond to that. We have to show to the world as far as the future of the European Union is concerned that we are united. The person tipped to be the next U.S. ambassador to the E.U, Ted Malloch, said you were "a very adequate mayor of some city in Luxembourg" and suggested you returned there. What do you think of Mr Malloch?, I was not a mayor, I was a prime minister, but for him that doesn't make a difference. We are listening to what he is saying, and if he wants to be an ambassador for the U.S. in the European Union, he has to improve his knowledge and watch his words from time to time. How are you explaining the benefits of a strong and unified E.U. to a skeptical Trump administration? , As complicated and complex and as difficult as we are, the unity of Europe is a pre-condition for a better organized world, and if the European Union would fail or decompose or other members left, the U.S. would have a more difficult role to play in the world. How damaging would it be if the U.S. removed their sanctions on Russia now?, There is no other way than having the US and the European Union acting and moving together. That will happen. I don't think there will be a unilateral decision of the U.S. without having consulted the Europeans. President Trump has also said more European countries must meet the NATO goal of 2 of GDP spent on defense. Is there some common ground there?, The President is right when he asks Europeans to pay their share. That is not new and we are ready to do this. But it cannot be done overnight. If the Germans had to invest 2 of their GDP in the defense effort, this would request from the German budget 24 billion expenditure. The British Prime Minister Theresa May has suggested the U.K. act as a bridge between the E.U. and the U.S. Would you welcome that? , To put it brutally, we don't need the United Kingdom government to organize our relations with the U.S. and in fact according to President Obama, Britain is weaker being outside the European Union than being a member of the European Union. That is the case. On Brexit, how confident are you that a deal can be reached on the status of Britons currently living in the E.U. and vice-versa?, I can't imagine that we would punish European citizens living in Britain, or that we would punish British citizens living in Europe. They are friends. I'm not in a punishing mood. I am quite confident that we will easily resolve this problem. Are there opportunities for the E.U. in the current global uncertainties?, The supposed stepping away by the U.S. administration when it comes to international trade relations, and the fact that the British are leaving the European Union, is opening new avenues in trade. We have oceans of opportunities before us. Nobody should believe that we will not use these opportunities. We will use them fiercely. There are elections in France, Germany and The Netherlands this year, and in all three populists are making gains. Why do you think they are getting support?, I think this is largely due to our faults. I think the European Union and the Commission gave the impression that we are in command of everything. We were trying to have influence in so many things which are better in the hands of national, local and regional authorities. Are you concerned about Russian meddling in the upcoming elections in Europe?, I'm certain that the Russians are trying by all the means they have to have a propaganda influence on European and international affairs. We have to react to this. Fake news has to be countered by real facts. With the E.U. facing so many challenges, has it lost sight of its original aims?, We are not proud enough of what we have achieved. This was a continent of divisions, of wars, of conflicts, of divergences, differences When I am in Asia, in Africa, people admire what we have managed to do. Europe is beautiful seen from other continents. What are you doing to win back trust?, We are focusing on the big issues. That is the way we are trying to re-convince European citizens of the value of the European Union. But if traditional parties are following the populist parties, that is a major danger. If traditional parties are saying exactly the same thing, then we are lost. We have to say the contrary. The populists are spreading slogans. We have to offer solutions and answers.

World

Secretary of State Pompeo Thinks Nuclear Deal Possible After Meeting With Kim

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said he'd assessed North Korean leader Kim Jong Un during their meeting over the Easter weekend and concluded that there's at least a chance for the U.S. to strike a denuclearization deal. "My goal was to try and identify if there was a real opportunity there," Pompeo said during an interview on ABC's "This Week" on Sunday. "I believe there is.", President Donald Trump said on Saturday he expects his historic meeting with Kim will take place "over the next three or four weeks" and that details of the summit are still being ironed out. Pompeo was CIA director when he met with Kim and was confirmed by the Senate as the top U.S. diplomat on April 26. He said he found Kim to be "well prepared" and ready to talk about how to achieve U.S. objective of "complete, verifiable, irreversible denuclearization.", "There is a lot of work to do, but I am very hopeful that the conditions that have been set by President Trump give us this chance," Pompeo said. The two officials also talked about obtaining the release of American detainees in North Korea when Kim and Trump meet, Pompeo said. Mindful of previous times the North Korean regime has not followed through on promises, Pompeo said the U.S. is not going to take Kim at his word and will require concrete action. "We're going to negotiate in a different way than has been done before," Pompeo said. "We're going to require those steps that demonstrate that denuclearization is going to be achieved.", "We have our eyes wide open," he added. "As the president said, only time will tell.", Speaking to reporters on Sunday while traveling in the Middle East, Pompeo minimized concerns that a possible decision by the U.S. to abandon the Iran nuclear deal would sour North Korea on negotiations with the U.S. "I don't think Kim Jong Un is staring at the Iran deal and saying, Oh goodness, if they get out of that deal, I won't talk to the Americans anymore,' " Pompeo said en route to Israel from Saudi Arabia, according to pool reports. "There are higher priorities, things that he is more concerned about than whether or not the Americans stay in the" Iran agreement, he said.

World

Watch Live Secretary of Defense Mattis and the NATO Secretary General Discuss the Fight Against ISIS

U.S. Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis and NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg are holding a joint press conference Thursday morning after a meeting about counter-ISIS actions. Watch live at 825 a.m. ET as the Defense Secretary and NATO leader appear together after the Belgium meeting in the live video above. Stoltenberg welcomed Mattis to the NATO headquarters for meetings in Brussels on Wednesday. Mattis told NATO that it needed to spend more on defense, and linked America's level of commitment to the NATO on that condition being met. "If your nations do not want to see America moderate its commitment to this alliance, each of your capitals needs to show support for our common defense," Mattis said Wednesday, the New York Times reports.

World

Unilateral Action by Trump on North Korea Will Simply Add to an Already Intractable Problem

When U.S. President Donald Trump dispatched 59 Tomahawk missiles against Syria on Thursday evening ostensibly in response to a chemical-weapons attack attributed to Syrian President Bashar Assad, which activists say claimed 86 lives his guest maintained remarkable composure. Dining with Trump at the Mar-a-Lago resort at the time of the strike was Chinese President Xi Jinping. Trump has repeatedly told Xi that the Chinese leader needs to do more to rein in rogue state North Korea's nuclear program. In a Financial Times interview published April 2, Trump claimed that "China has great influence over North Korea." He added he was prepared to act unilaterally against the regime of Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un if Beijing refused to cooperate. "If they do help that will be very good for China," said Trump, "and if they don't it won't be good for anyone.", On Sunday, with the Syria strikes still ringing in Xi's ears, Trump accented his threats by dispatching the U.S. Navy Carl Vinson Strike Group an aircraft carrier and other warships to the Korean Peninsula. "The No. 1 threat in the region continues to be North Korea, due to its reckless, irresponsible and destabilizing program of missile tests and pursuit of a nuclear weapons capability," said U.S. Pacific Command spokesman Dave Benham. The message was received loud and clear on Sunday, China's state-backed Global Times newspaper carried an editorial entitled, "After Syria Strikes, Will North Korea Be Next?", It wouldn't be the first time that a Middle Eastern conflict has shaken China into action over North Korea. In February 2003, U.S. President George W. Bush told his then Chinese counterpart, Jiang Zemin "If we could not solve the problem diplomatically, I would have to consider a military strike against North Korea." Just a month later the U.S. invaded Iraq, and Jiang clearly feared a similar intervention in China's backyard. By August, China was chairing the six-party nuclear-disarmament talks involving North and South Korea, the U.S. Russia, Japan and China and kept them going for six years through sheer diplomatic will despite numerous occasions when principle stakeholders stormed out. It was an unprecedented about-face for China, which had previously shunned any global leadership or mediation role. John Park, director of the Korea Working Group at the Harvard Kennedy School, says Trump's current language and behavior "feels like a walk down memory lane I'm wondering if this is an attempt to repeat Bush's playbook.", Of course, today's Korean Peninsula is radically different from 2003, not least because Pyongyang's nuclear program is significantly more advanced. Supreme Leader Kim Jong Il, the father of Kim Jong Un, had enough conventional weaponry trained on Seoul just 30 miles from the DMZ to devastate the South Korean capital. But Kim Jong Un has sufficient nuclear material for more than a dozen atomic bombs. There is no weathering that storm. And while the elder Kim was willing to publicly embrace at least the rhetoric of nuclear disarmament even as he enhanced his country's nuclear capabilities in secret his son insists nukes are "nonnegotiable." A Pyongyang spokesman said Thursday's strike on Syria "proves a million times over" that North Korea is correct to strengthen its nuclear program. There are also real doubts over what leverage Beijing still has over the Kim regime. Communist China's founder Mao Zedong famously described the neighbors as "as close as lips and teeth," and his eldest son died fighting in the Korean War. Today, though, mutual animosity is intense. For North Korea, China's market reforms make it a traitor to the goal of a global socialist utopia Beijing sees Pyongyang as petulant and unpredictable. Even though Beijing made its position clear to Pyongyang by supporting unprecedented U.N. sanctions following a fourth North Korean nuclear test last February, there has since been a fifth test, as well as a slew of missile launches. After Beijing banned coal imports from North Korea depriving the regime of a cash earner worth 1 billion in 2015 a furious North Korea accused China of "dancing to the tune of the U.S." and began timing missile launches at provocative moments for Beijing. There were launches during China's most important political convention the annual meeting of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference in March, and immediately before the last week's Xi-Trump summit. Additionally, "North Korea has insulted in personal terms, using extremely vulgar language, the President of China," says Scott Harold, an East Asia expert at RAND Corp. "Everyone knows how Xi Jinping was called out by Kim Jong Un.", China is in a bind. It does have significant sway over North Korea's economy being responsible for 90 of Pyongyang's trade but if it squeezes too hard, it risks imposing deprivation, and possibly even famine, on millions of ordinary North Koreans. If resulting instability caused the collapse of the regime, waves of refugees would pour into China. Even worse, a U.S.-allied South Korea would lay claim to the entire peninsula, presenting the possibility of U.S. troops and armaments being deployed right on China's doorstep. Beijing could do more in terms of enforcement, like ramping up domestic law-enforcement efforts to target the syndicates of corrupt Chinese officials and North Korean businessmen who supply materials for nuclear and missile development. "That's where a lot of the procurement is happening," says Park. But that would only slow rather than solve the problem. "The bottom line is that nobody has a solution to what is going on in North Korea," says Carlyle Thayer, emeritus professor at the Australian Defence Force Academy. "What do you force China to do? Once again, Trump has put himself out beyond the ability to deliver."

World

Prison Inmates in Thailand Fight Foreigners for Their Freedom

Moo doesn't seem like someone with 23 years of a 24-year sentence left to serve. His career as a driver for a drugs gang ended when he was nabbed piloting a carload of yaba, a methamphetamine derivative that translates literally as "crazy drug." Now the 22-year-old spends 13 hours each day with four other men confined along to a 1.5 x 3.5 meter cell. "I made a big mistake," says Moo. "And I've paid the price for what I did.", Yet Moo is remarkably upbeat when we meet him in Bangkok's high security Klong Prem Prison, notoriously dubbed the "Bangkok Hilton" by overseas residents. His levity is due in part to a unique quirk in the Thai correctional system that allows inmates to use their pugilistic potency to shave years off their sentence. "From now on I only want to do things that can enhance my life such as using my boxing skills," Moo says. Muay Thai Thai kickboxing tournaments have been a fixture of prison regimes in the Southeast Asian nation for centuries. The tradition of holding bouts behind bars started in 1767 when the Burmese took thousands of Thai soldiers prisoner after the downfall of Thailand's then capital Ayutthaya. While incarcerated, the best Thai boxers were coerced into fighting Burmese combat experts. The ultimate champion, as legend tells it, was a Thai named Nai Khanomtom, who was granted his freedom after besting one of the Burmese monarch's top fighters. This ancient tradition of favoring prisoners skilled in the ring is alive and well in Klong Prem and other Thai prisons. But while inmates fight literally for their freedom, international Muay Thai fighters from around the world are now flocking to enjoy a truly unique experience, as well as earn peerless bragging rights. "It was a special feeling to test my Muay Thai skills out in a Thai prison," says Alexei Vignol, a 20-year-old from Lyon in France who was narrowly beaten in Klong Prem recently. "I guess you could say that it is intimidating to fight criminals inside a high security facility, but if you get scared by that then you shouldn't be a boxer.", The incorporation of foreigners has been spearheaded by an independent organization named Prison Fight. Billing itself as a charity, Prison Fight provides sport equipment, modest financial rewards inmates' winnings are squirrelled away in a prison account and used to provide for their families and, most importantly, offers the successful a realistic chance at getting their sentences reduced. "We do this to give the fighters an experience and also to give something back to the country," adds Kiril Sokur, the Estonian businessman behind the Prison Fight enterprise. "Giving these guys the prisoners the opportunity to prove their talents is important. They may be criminals but they are also human beings so staging the fights is good karma for us.", During a recent visit to Klong Prem, we encountered an atmosphere that was surprisingly convivial. As training took place in the ring set up in the prison yard, prisoners clowned around with each other, shadow boxing and dishing out playful clouts. One wiry, grinning inmate with intricate tattoos covering his entire torso, was a particularly energetic presence. "That's Chui," said Nikki. "He's a hitman.", Section 5 is for Klong Prem's lifers. It is also the unofficial Muay Thai wing of the prison. Criminals with previous boxing experience like Moo and his cellmates are placed here upon entering Klong Prem. Guards, meanwhile, scout out candidates from other wings for a possible transfer. A long, wide central corridor that separates the cells is used for twice-daily hour-long running sessions. A boxing ring and rudimentary training equipment dominates the outside yard. We find Moo with his cellmate Pod at the side of the ring. The friends are regarded as two of the best fighters in Klong Prem and both were little troubled by their foreign opponents at the Prison Fight event. "I wouldn't say it was easy," says Moo. "Muay Thai is in our blood though. We understand the techniques and we understand the mentality.", "It helps us focus our minds," adds Pod, 35, who collected debts in Bangkok's infamous Nana Plaza red-light district and has served eight years of a life sentence for murder. "Life here is really boring. The days are long and always the same. Boxing provides distraction and there's also the chance of getting your time shortened if you become a champion.", Despite the historical context, granting convicted felons parole for sporting prowess is still controversial. Healthy distraction in the prison yard is one thing, but why should convicted drug runners and murderers earn their freedom with their fists?, "Muay Thai fighters command a lot of respect in Thailand," says Surawuth Rungrueng, the guard responsible for encouraging the development of boxing in Klong Prem. "It encourages discipline and focus, which is something that that these guys lost somewhere on the outside.", Sentence reduction is not automatic and if a prisoner behaves badly he won't be put forward, no matter how skilled he is. "But if a prisoner shows real commitment to improving himself then we are willing to offer incentives," says Surawuth, Needless to say, the prisoners seize the opportunity. Moo and Pod, relaxed a few minutes ago, burn with intensity inside the ring hooded eyes fixed, they rain vicious kicks and punches upon the body padding that protects their sparring partners. Chui, the grinning hitman, is also a blur of ferocious movement next door. "Most of them will be here until their hair grows grey," admits Surawuth. "The respect Muay Thai affords them is one of the things they can hold onto." And a little hope never hurt anyone.

World

Women in the Philippines Have Had Enough of President Dutertes Macho Leadership

As Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte prepared for his State of the Nation Address SONA on Monday, his third since assuming power in 2016, protesters took to the streets in and around Manila. Police expected around 40,000 protesters against his administration and 40,000 in favor of the controversial leader. Among those anti-government protesters are women's rights activists, who have increasingly been speaking out against the Duterte administration. Since taking office in June 2016, the 73-year-old leader has ordered soldiers to shoot female rebels "in the vagina," made inappropriate comments about his female Vice President's legs, joked about raping Miss Universe, and equated having a second wife to keeping a "spare tire" in the trunk of a car. , "When he says these things, he's sending out a message to all men out there that I get away with it, so you can,'" says Inday Espina-Varona, a 54-year-old journalist and one of several co-founders of the BabaeAko movement. Translated as I Am Woman,' the social media campaign began in May after Duterte declared that the next Chief Justice of the Philippines could not be a woman. For some, the Philippines' position in World Economic Forum's top ten countries in the world for gender equality merely masks deeper cracks in society. The country of 103 million may have had two female presidents, but Duterte has nevertheless managed to capitalize on a deeply-entrenched strain of misogyny. Just as women across the U.S. have come together to protest President Donald Trump's comments, including his boast about grabbing women by the pussy, women in the Philippines have now mobilized to call out sexism in the Duterte administration. Both veterans and newcomers to the Philippine women's rights movement took part in Monday's march in Manila, along with several other rights groups in their own version of a SONA. "We knew we had to get together to answer him," says 55-year-old actress Mae Paner, another co-founder of BabaeAko. Under the hashtag, women across the Philippines uploaded videos of themselves to social media platforms calling out Duterte's sexist rhetoric. Among them were high-profile female leaders, including Congress representatives, former Solicitor General Florin Hilbay, and a former cabinet member of the Duterte administration, Judy Taguiwalo. That did nothing to stop Duterte, who kissed a married woman in front of an audience of overseas Filipino workers on June 4 in Seoul, South Korea. Although the woman later said that there was "no malice" in the kiss, the stunt was condemned by politicians and women's rights groups as an abuse of power. The kiss prompted the women's movement to take to the streets eight days later, with some calling for his resignation. "That kiss has been framed as a playful gesture of a father to one of his children, which resonates with many women who feel they have to tolerate this behavior as it is more costly to point out," says Sharmila Parmanand, PhD candidate in Gender Studies at the University of Cambridge. "There is still this very overt sexualization of women, and the infrastructure to combat sexism is struggling against a political culture that is still very patriarchal.", Although a recent McKinsey report also showed that the Philippines leads the Asia-Pacific Region on gender equality in the workplace, many women still say there's a long way to go more generally. "We have to look at what type of gender equality are we talking about when there are all these festering pushbacks against the status of women in Philippine society," Maria Tanyag, research fellow at Monash University's Gender, Peace and Security Department in Melbourne, tells TIME. The Catholic Church wields a strong influence in the country, where abortion and divorce are still illegal. Activists are pushing to raise the country's age of consent up from 12 years old, which is the lowest in Asia, and despite the passing of a landmark reproductive health bill under the previous administration, observers say the country's sexual education framework still falls short. And a series of blunders in the past year illustrate broader underlying sexist attitudes, including a marketing campaign run by San Miguel beer that was criticized for promoting rape culture, a callout for game show contestants with "sexy legs," and a police-issued rape prevention poster that advised women not to "dress provocatively.", To his critics, Duterte's sexism has emboldened others. The president has not shied away from using gendered insults and threats, particularly against female critics both in the Philippines and abroad. Vice President Leni Robredo, a political opponent of Duterte, has slammed his "tasteless" remarks about her legs and "short skirt." Senator Leila de Lima, a strong critic of the drugs war, filed a lawsuit against Duterte in 2016, alleging sexual harassment and slut shaming after he alluded to owning a sex tape of her and her driver. The President has even made lewd comments about foreign representatives, such as a United Nations representative whom he derided as a "daughter of a whore" after she investigated extrajudicial killings as part of the country's war on drugs. "It was really that impact of Duterte coming into power and making terrible statements about women that fueled my fire. I saw that there was something that needed to be done," says Mich Dulce, a co-founder of Grrrl Gang Manila, a feminist collective created in March 2017. It holds regular safe space meet-ups for women and girls in the Philippine capital on themes such as Feminism 101' and Toxic Masculinity,' tied together with music performances, demonstrations and talks in local schools and workplaces about the barriers women face. "It's just like Trump, where people who didn't care before are looking for ways to make a change," says 37-year-old Dulce, who also fronts an all-women feminist punk band called The Male Gaze. "We are not the only group or collective that came out of that timeit's part of a whole conscious collective, where we are all reacting to the same things," agrees fellow co-founder Marla Darwin. , Official from the administration have dismissed criticisms of sexism and misogyny as "over-acting" and taking Duterte too seriously. Presidential spokesman Harry Roque has used this defense of Duterte's behavior multiple times, imploring critics to "not take the words of the President literally, but of course, we should take the President's word seriously." Another top aide has condemned the BabaeAko movement as "clearly political," and Duterte himself has batted away backlash against the incident in Seoul by saying critics were "just jealous.", Duterte is not the first strongman leader in Philippine politics, but his comments reflect something deeper about his style of government and the kind of leader he wants to be. For many Filipinos, President Ferdinand Marcos' dictatorship and brutal rule through martial law in the 1970s remains a fresh memory. And today, Duterte has Southeast Asian strongman compatriots in the form of Cambodia's Hun Sen and Thailand's Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha, as well as Russian President Vladimir Putin and U.S. President Donald Trump further afield. "We are seeing the exaggeration of masculinity to serve a purpose to legitimize certain foreign and domestic policies," Tanyag tells TIME, speaking of this broader trend. Indeed, Duterte's macho leadership may have a more pragmatic basis, particularly regarding the war on drugsarguably the centerpiece of his domestic policies. Philippine authorities say 4,500 drug suspects have been killed since July 2016, although human rights observers estimate that the number is closer to 12,000. "There is this macho mindset of the war on drugs being justified because it protects women and children," Parmanand says, calling this rhetoric "benevolent paternalism." In fact, the drug war has had a major impact on women and children, whether because of losing family members or facing financial difficulty due to lower family incomes as a result of extrajudicial killings. Beyond the drug war, Dutete's leadership has displayed hallmarks of "hypermasculinity" elsewhere, Tanyag says. In May 2017, the southern island of Mindanao was placed under martial law after ISIS-backed militants seized the city of Marawi. Despite the government declaring victory over the extremists in October, Duterte was granted the power to extend martial law in the region for a further year the following month, with critics arguing against increased powers for the military. According to Tanyag, this kind of reaction from the president shows that he "prioritizes violence, domination and aggression" in his leadership. As Duterte's leadership becomes a major cause for concern, women of all ages have come together to protest. "His actions are reversing so many of the gains we had worked so hard for," says Teresita Quintos Deles, one of the country's most prominent civil society advocates and chair-convener of EveryWoman, a coalition of women's rights organizations from across the Philippines. Speaking ahead of Monday's march, Deles sounded energized, looking forward to marching with women from all sections of Philippine society. "I thought I had fought the fight of my lifetime already," Deles says, referring to her activism for women's rights and peacemaking after the ouster of President Marcos and under the leadership of President Aquino. "I didn't think I would have to do this again at the age of 69, but we are back marching in the streets again, and the happy thing is that is it intergenerational.", Members of Grrrl Gang Manila, as well as the BabaeAko founders are also marching, with supporters wearing purple and fuchsia to mark the traditional colors of the Philippine women's movement. "Young Filipinas are taking up action and recognizing that yes, there is a thread that criss crosses the generations, and that sisterhood is real," says Deles. "More and more people are saying that this can't be the end of our story."

World

How to Sound Smart About Brazils Presidential Election

Brazil is bracing for the second-round of its presidential elections on Sunday, which pit far-right candidate Jair Bolsonaro colorfully nicknamed the "Trump of the Tropics" against center-left Fernando Haddad, the torchbearer for one of Brazil's most successful establishment parties, the Workers' Party. Bolsonaro, a man who openly derides minorities and pines for the days when Brazil was a military dictatorship, nearly won the presidency outright earlier this month after securing 46 percent of the vote in a crowded field he needed 50 percent-plus-one to avoid the runoff he's highly likely to complete the political victory this weekend. Aside from the fact that Brazil is Latin America's largest economy, a Bolsonaro victory would matter because Brazil is a posterchild for the growing fury and anger directed at establishment political classes globally. Brazil has long had issues with corruption at the highest levels of government, but matters reached a fever-pitch in recent years with the epic Lava Jato corruption scandalcentered on a Brazilian construction giant bribing public officials in exchange for lucrative government contractsthat has ensnared scores of sitting politicians and led to the impeachment albeit indirectly of previous Brazilian president Dilma Rousseff. Virtually no establishment political party in Brazil emerged unscathed, opening the door for a relatively-unknown congressmen from Rio with a history of cringe-inducing remarks against LGBTQ people and women to position himself as a crusading, politically-incorrect outsider that would shake up Brazilian politics. But he also walked the anti-establishment walk, forgoing any political support from mainstream parties and funding his campaign entirely through personal donations corporate donations are prohibited in Brazil. Bolsonaro is further propelled by the fact that folks in Latin America more broadly, and in Brazil specifically, have come to conflate poor public services with corruption given that Brazil has plenty of both, this election is Bolsonaro's to lose. Bolsonaro's victory is all but assured, but his party still has nowhere near the numbers it needs in Brazil's fractured Congress to move legislation forward by itself. That means compromise with some of the 30 other parties in Congress will be needed over the long term, so Brazil is heading for more politics-than-usual than Bolsonaro would like to admit. Over the short-term, expect markets to rally a little with the election of a pro-business candidate, and then for political realities to set in. 46. That's the percentage of congressional seats contested on Oct. 7 that were won by incumbents. That's the lowest congressional reelection rate since 1998. Brazilians want political change, and not just at the top. That makes sense given that 95 percent of Brazilians think the country is heading down the wrong path. "I'm not saying Bolsonaro is a good thing. He's not my second choice, even my third choice, but he's the least worst option we now have." An asset manager in So Paulo describing his grudging support for Bolsonaro. And thinkthis quote was given ahead of the first-round of elections, when there were literally 13 candidates on the ballot. That electing Bolsonaro means that Brazil is turning right-wing. It's not it just so happens that the candidate who best espouses the current anti-corruption/anti-establishment furor of today's Brazil is on the right. If you look at the seats in Congress Bolsonaro's party will control 52 out of 513 in Brazil's lower house, and 4 of 81 seats in the upper house, it's hard to argue that Brazil's electorate is undergoing a dramatic and sustained political shift to the right. This rundown of the most inflammatory statements Bolsonaro has made in the recent pass. That Brazilians will elect a person with such an objectively-offensive history give a sense of the political desperation they are feeling in 2018. Brazil is not a country whose politics are undergoing a fundamental shift. But Bolsonaro shows that in today's political environment, the messenger is often a heck of a lot more important than the message. Before the first round, 44 percent of Brazilians said they'd never vote for Bolsonaro. Which means 44 percent of Brazilians are about to get a president they absolutely despise. Remind you of anywhere?

World

How Pope Francis and Mother Teresa Are Linked

One October day in 2012, Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio of Buenos Aires celebrated a traditional Mass for thousands of children in the Argentinean capital. A nun from Calcutta was on his mind. "Who told us that we can find Jesus in those most in need?" he asked the children gathered in the Parque Roca stadium. "Mother Teresa!" they replied. "And what did Mother Teresa have in her arms? A crucifix? Noa child in need," he taught them. "So we can find Jesus in each person who is in need.", At the time, Bergoglio could never have imagined that in a few short years, he would make Mother Teresa a saint. Six months after he spoke to the children that day, the archbishop from Buenos Aires was anointed the Bishop of Rome. Now, as Pope Francis, he has named Mother Teresa for canonization, and she will forever be remembered as a Francis saint. And yet Pope Francis could just as easily be called a Mother Teresa pope. Their mission fields were continents apart, but their lives have been woven together for years. Both served in religious orders, she as the founder of the Missionaries of Charity and he in the Society of Jesus. Both devoted themselves to the poor and drew attention to those whom society has cast to the marginsTeresa is known as a saint of the gutters and Francis as a pope of the slums. At their cores, they share a purpose in their public service and personal spirituality to act as a channel of God's mercy. And as Francis ushers Teresa into sainthood, her mission will continue to define his papacy. It is impossible to think of Mother Teresa and Pope Francis without remembering their service to the suffering, especially the poor. From the beginning of his papacy, Pope Francis has sought to bring the poor to the world's attention, fighting for their rights in halls of power from the U.S. Congress to the United Nations. Like Mother Teresa before him, he fights the "culture of waste" that favors production over human life. During a one-day visit to Mother Teresa's homeland of Albania in September 2014, Pope Francis made a point of visiting a center for disabled and needy children. And when he kissed the face of a disfigured man in Saint Peter's Square, a photo of the moment captured the world's imagination. His actions routinely call to mind the words of Mother Teresa "I see God in every human being," she once said. "When I wash the leper's wounds, I feel I am nursing the Lord himself. Is it not a beautiful experience?", Read More Mother Teresa The Life and Works of a Modern Saint, This shared mission of compassion for the suffering is deeply rooted in the saints who have shaped Pope Francis and Mother Teresa's respective lives. They share a special devotion to Mother Teresa's namesake, Saint Thrse of Lisieux of the Little Flower, a 19th-century French nun known for her simple spirituality. Mother Teresa found in Saint Thrse inspiration to do the ordinary with deep love, and both women spoke openly of their experience of finding faith in darkness, not just light. Pope Francis has also found inspiration in Saint Thrsewhenever he has a concern, he once said, he turns to her in prayer, asking her for a rose as a sign of God's presence and calling in his life. When he travels, he carries a copy of one of Thrse's books. And in 2015, Pope Francis made Teresa's parents the first married couple to be jointly named saints. Just as Pope Francis is devoted to Mother Teresa's namesake, Mother Teresa was devoted to his. Every day after she celebrated the sacrament of communion, she prayed a prayer attributed to Saint Francis of Assisi, the 13th-century patron saint of the poor. The words became a staple of her public lifeshe recited them often, including when she accepted the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979 and when she spoke at the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington in 1994. The words reveal her mission and the direction Pope Francis has hoped to take the global church, Lord, make me a channel of Thy peace that, where there is hatred, I may bring love that, where there is wrong, I may bring the spirit of forgiveness that, where there is discord, I may bring harmony that, where there is error, I may bring truth that, where there is doubt, I may bring faith that, where there is despair, I may bring hope that, where there are shadows, I may bring light that, where there is sadness, I may bring joy. Lord, grant that I may seek rather to comfort than to be comforted to understand than to be understood to love than to be loved for it is by forgetting self that one finds it is by forgiving that one is forgiven it is by dying that one awakens to eternal life. Their shared roots in this saint from Assisi run deeper than advocating for the disenfranchised. Saint Francis was a pioneer for peaceful Christian-Muslim relations. In 1219, during the Fifth Crusade, Francis traveled through enemy territory to meet with Sultan Malik al-Kamil of Egypt, a nephew of the great warrior Saladin. Initially Francis had hoped to convert him, but the men met as equals, and they sought peace during a time of great strife. The constitution of Mother Teresa's Missionaries of Charity states a profound respect for all religions and notes that it does not impose Catholic faith on others even as its sisters reach out. Mother Teresa talked about how people of all religions belong to the same family. "There is only one God and He is God to all," she wrote in her book A Simple Path. "I've always said that we should help a Hindu become a better Hindu, a Muslim become a better Muslim, a Catholic become a better Catholic.", In this tradition, Pope Francis, again, is walking in Mother Teresa's footsteps. Albania, the nation with which Mother Teresa identified by origin, is a majority Muslim nation, and when Francis visited in 2014, he spoke of persecution not just of Christians but also of their Muslim brothers and sisters. Francis has washed the feet of Muslim migrants. He brought Syrian Muslim families back with him on his plane to Rome from a refugee camp in Greece. He even welcomed the influential Sunni religious authority Sheikh Ahmed al-Tayeb of Al-Azhar to the Vatican in May 2016, and the two discussed shared commitments to peace and to the rejection of violence and terrorism. "The meeting is the message," Pope Francis said when they met. In a global environment where fear often rules, these are more than gestures. Pope Francis is continuing the theology of encounter that was the core of Mother Teresa's message. Father Brian Kolodiejchuk, postulator of the cause for Mother Teresa's canonization, knows this perhaps better than anyone elsehe has compiled a collection of her previously unreleased writings, titled A Call to Mercy Hearts to Love, Hands to Serve. "She'd make a difference between looking and seeing. That is what he does," Kolodiejchuk says. "These little gestures, some of them speak louder than words.", It is a vision for the future that pushes the Catholic Church to be its best. Pope Francis spoke early of his vision of the church as a field hospital after battle, to heal wounds and warm hearts toward God. "I dream of a church that is a mother and shepherdess," Francis said in 2013. "The church's ministers must be merciful, take responsibility for the people and accompany them like the Good Samaritan, who washes, cleans and raises up his neighbor. This is pure Gospel.", For millions, Mother Teresa was that example, decades before Francis captured the world's attention. Hers was a mercy, like the Good Samaritan's, that pushed boundaries. When she started her mission in the late 1940s, for example, she wrote to the archbishop of Calcutta, outlining her goals for the sisters' workeven including having them drive a bus. "She was ahead of her time on that one," Kolodiejchuk says. "Just the conception of the sisters, to have them dressed in the sariin the time and context, that was very radical.", Although their missions overlapped, Pope Francis and Mother Teresa met only briefly. In 1994, Mother Teresa was invited to audit a meeting of the bishops at the Vatican. She sat, Francis recalled later, right behind him during the sessions. "I admired her strength, the determinedness with which she spoke, never letting herself be fazed by the assembly of bishops. She said what she wanted to say," Francis said. Then he added, joking "If she had been my superior, I would have been scared!", That commitment to mercy at all costs is a reminder of what Pope Francis wants for his church. It is no accident that he will canonize Mother Teresa during his declared Jubilee Year of Mercy, a dedicated time for Catholics all over the world to return to the church and experience God's mercy anew. Just as Mother Teresa will be remembered from here on out as the Saint of the Jubilee, so will Francis's works of mercy be ever marked by her mission.

World

How to Help the Wild Boars Soccer Team and Other Kids in Thailand

Nearly six months after they were dramatically rescued from a flooded cave in northern Thailand, the Wild Boars soccer team has a message for the thousands of people who helped save them "Thank you.", TIME spent a day with the 12 boys and their assistant coach in early December, and they said they have recovered and are ready to give back. Their parents have launched the Wild Boars Education Fund to raise money for all of the team's members to complete their education so they will be better equipped to help others in need. "We are so touched by your kindness," says 13-year-old Phanumat Saengdee, who goes by the nickname Mix. "I want to be strong and capable when I grow up, so that I will be able to help a lot of people.", The boys, all between the ages of 12 and 16, and their coach live in the small town of Mae Sai, near the Myanmar border. Some are from poor migrant families four of them were stateless until Thai authorities granted them citizenship after their ordeal and several belong to ethnic minority groups. With interests ranging from art to science to zoology, they aspire to go to college in larger cities while they pursue their dream of becoming professional soccer players. There are also several organizations working to support the disadvantaged in Thailand. ADRA Thailand, a country office of the U.S.-based humanitarian network Adventist Development and Relief Agency, partners with the U.N. refugee agency to assist stateless people, while The Border Consortium provides food, shelter and camp management support for 90,000 refugees from Myanmar who remain in nine camps spread along Thailand's border. "We received help from so many people, in the future we want to be strong enough to help others in return, just like they helped us," says Adul Sam-on, 14, who himself migrated from eastern Myanmar's Wa State so he could get a better education in Thailand. Adul, who speaks four languages, was the only member of the team who could communicate with divers in English when they were discovered on a rocky ledge in July after nine days in the dark. It took rescuers another nine days to get them all out. "I'm humbled and grateful for everyone's care and support," says 13-year-old teammate Mongkul Boonpiem, nicknamed Mark. "Thank you very much. I will do my best to help people when I grow up."

World

Germany Stops Exporting Arms to Saudi Arabia After Killing of Jamal Khashoggi

Germany announced plans to stop exporting arms to Saudi Arabia in the wake of the killing of dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi, Agence France-Presse reports. Speaking to reporters in Berlin on Sunday, Chancellor Angela Merkel announced the arms freeze and said she will continue working with international allies to coordinate their response to Khashoggi's murder inside a Saudi consulate. "I agree with all those who say when it comes to our already limited arms exports to Saudi Arabia that they cannot take place in the current situation," Merkel said, according to AFP. Germany last month approved 416 million euros 479 million worth of arms exports to Saudi Arabia for 2018. Berlin's previous military exports to the kingdom primarily consisted of patrol boats, AFP reports. After repeating her earlier condemnation of Khashoggi's killing, Merkel said there is "an urgent need to clear up" what happened to the prominent commentator on Saudi affairs. Khashoggi went missing after he entered the Saudi Arabian consulate in Istanbul on October 2 to retrieve marriage documents. After weeks of denying knowledge of Khashoggi's whereabouts, Riyadh admitted that he had been killed in the consulate. But the Saudi's claim that the 59-year-old Washington Post columnist died in a fistfight contradicted Turkey's accounts that he was tortured, killed and dismembered by members of the crown prince's entourage. "We are far from seeing everything on the table and the perpetrators being brought to justice," Merkel said. While Khashoggi was a U.S. resident, President Donald Trump has implied that the White House has little obligation to investigate the incident, emphasizing that the journalist was not a U.S. citizen. Trump has also insisted that killing not interfere with U.S. arms sales to Saudi Arabia, citing a 110 billion deal with Riyadh he announced last year.

World

ISIS Uses Social Media to Lure British Muslim Girls Think Tank Says

The Islamic State of Iraq and Greater Syria ISIS is deploying social media and the promise of adventure to enlist young British Muslim girls to wage jihad in the Middle East, a counterextremism think tank said Monday. Police are currently searching for three young British Muslim girls they believe might have traveled to Syria to join ISIS after apparently being seduced by the group's fanaticism. The trio, ranging in ages from 15 to 16, boarded a flight to Istanbul from London last week without notifying their families, Reuters reports. Turkey is a common waypoint for young extremists aiming to reach neighboring Syria. ISIS uses social-media tools like Twitter, Facebook and Ask.fm as recruitment channels, according to the Quilliam Foundation, which estimates women account for approximately 10 of the 600 British Muslims so far recruited. The foundation released a 2014 report saying "the promise of an Islamist utopia" drew women lacking agency in their own lives in the West. "Many of these girls are not allowed out, or to do certain things in society," said Quilliam's managing director Haras Rafiq. "When they are online, they are being targeted with messages of empowerment.", "These girls are going abroad because they are not really achieving what they consider to be much in Britain," Rafiq added. Reuters

World

Patient Kills Doctor at Berlin Hospital

German police say a patient fatally shot a doctor before killing himself on Tuesday at the Benjamin Franklin campus of the Charite university hospital in Berlin. Police told Reuters that there were "no signs at all" of a link with Islamic militancy. The incident took place in the jaw surgery area of an outpatient clinic in Berlin's southwestern district of Steglitz. The patient pulled out a gun while the doctor was treating him. "In the course of the consultation, the patient pulled out a gun and fired several shots at the doctor. The attacker then directly turned the gun on himself and died as a result of the shots," spokesman for Berlin police Winfrid Wenzel told Reuters. Investigators are currently trying to determine the motive for the shooting. Reuters , ,

World

EU Leaders Gather for Refugee Summit as UNHCR Declares Humanitarian Crisis

Leaders from the European Union and Turkey are convening an emergency summit in the Belgian capital Brussels on Monday, in order to address the continent's rapidly escalating refugee problem. The meeting comes after U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees spokesman Babar Baloch declared a "humanitarian crisis" on the Greek-Macedonian border, where some 13,000 people are living in temporary shelters designed for 2,000, or out in the open. They are hoping to cross Macedonia to reach Western Europe, but local authorities are only allowing 250 people to enter the country each day, al-Jazeera reports. It said that Baloch had described the gravity of the situation as "a wake-up call for the E.U. leaders.", The summit's objective is to contain the flow of migrants into Europe, with E.U. leaders offering Turkey more than 3 billion to house them and reportedly rehabilitate those who fail to find asylum in Europe, the BBC says. More refugees arrived in Europe by boat during the first six weeks of 2016 than during the first four months of last year, according to the UNHCR. At least 18 people drowned off the Turkish coast on Sunday in an attempt to reach Greece.

World

Sister of Suspected ISIS Executioner I Will Kill Him Myself if Its True

The sister of the man believed to be the new "Jihadi John" said she will "kill him myself" if he indeed turns out to be an ISIS executioner. Siddhartha Dhar is being widely reported in the British media as the masked militant depicted in an ISIS propaganda video killing five hostages, after the BBC cited an unnamed source saying Dhar is the focus of a probe into the video. His sister, Konika Dhar of London. told the Press Association that the voice in the video sounds like her brother's, but she questioned the resemblance of some of the masked person's features to her brother's. "If it is him, bloody hell am I shocked?" she said. "I am going to kill him myself. He is going to come back and I am going to kill him if he has done this.", Konika Dhar told the Press Association that she has not heard from her brother in more than a year and that she "doesn't even know who he is.", "He was a very pleasant boy," Dhar told the Telegraph. "I know it may be hard to believe but he still is, and I still believe that he still can be that person."

World

Kim Jong Un Isnt the Only Wild Card In the North Korea Crisis

On the morning of Sept. 3, America's top military, intelligence and diplomatic officials were summoned to present Donald Trump with their assessment of the mounting crisis on the Korean Peninsula. Events were moving fast. Over the course of the previous week, North Korea's ruler Kim Jong Un had launched a missile on a 1,700-mile flight over Japan and publicly displayed what he claimed was a hydrogen bomb that could be placed atop an intercontinental ballistic missile. Then, the North announced that it had tested its largest nuclear device to date, a weapon whose power unleashed shock waves measuring 6.3 on the Richter scale. That Kim had the means to annihilate an American citysomething U.S. Administrations had worked for more than 20 years to preventseemed no longer a specter but a reality. And yet two hours before Trump got his full download from the brass, he launched a rhetorical attack against America's most vulnerable ally in the region, South Korea. "South Korea is finding, as I have told them, that their talk of appeasement with North Korea will not work, they only understand one thing!" Trump tweeted just before 8 a.m. Meanwhile, senior officials were already in contact with the anxious staff members of the South's President, Moon Jae-in, to arrange a call between the leaders. Their conversation, on Sept. 4, greenlighted billions of dollars more in military aid from the U.S. as well as boosted South Korea's defense capabilities. One U.S. official said the tweet had little impact because governments have learned not to take Trump's tweets at face value. In fact, that is precisely the problem, and one without precedent. Americans may have become inured to Trump's rhetorical attacks on political enemies and allies. But in the dangerous world of nuclear deterrence, where it might take just 30 minutes for a nuclear-tipped missile to reach the West Coast from North Korea, the stakes are very different. Trump has traded in his reality show for policy decisions that could mean life or death for hundreds of thousands of people. Some Korea experts say that at this point, the best outcome of the crisis may be to find a way to live with a nuclear North Korea. But even getting to that undesirable standoff would require clarity and unity with allies, and Trump's murky goals and message are little comfort. "We will not be putting up with what's happening in North Korea," Trump said on Sept. 6. The dangerous uncertainty is not all on Trump. U.S. intelligence has long been unclear about both the capabilities and intentions of Pyongyang. Few expected Kim to gain the ability to target mainland American cities with powerful, missile-delivered nukes so soon. And while most analysts see the North Korean regime's pursuit of nuclear weapons as a means to preserve power and ward off threats, no one knows how reckless the 33-year-old leader may be, especially if he feels backed into a corner. Trump's ad lib diplomacy may be partly in response to that dearth of good information. During meetings with his war Cabinet in the White House basement during his first seven months in power, Trump routinely excoriated advisers about why they didn't know more, pointing to the money that U.S. intelligence services had spent in providing incomplete information, say Administration officials. But Trump's freelancing isn't helping. Top aides say they have little sense of what the boss wants to see from them or from partners such as China and South Korea. The Sept. 3 tweet caught U.S. officials, who were up all night sifting through intelligence reports and policy options, by surprise. "They have no strategy at the moment," says one top adviser to Republican leadership on Capitol Hill. Trump's nominal allies in the Administration and on Capitol Hill are trying to turn the message to friends and foes abroad in the direction of stricter economic sanctions, a bolstered military deterrent and diplomatic leverage to force Kim to slow his rush to nuclear-power status. Whether Trump will heed their advice and whether Kim will take into account the quirks of American foreign policy at this particular moment are open questions. With nukes now potentially targeting the U.S. the stakes in the fight over clarity and unity of message could not be higher. With reporting by CHARLIE CAMPBELL/BEIJING and ZEKE J. MILLER/WASHINGTON

World

Pentagon Russia Violated Ukrainian Airspace

The Pentagon said Friday that Russian warplanes entered Ukrainian airspace several times in the last 24 hours, USA Today reports. "We call upon the Russians to take immediate steps to de-escalate the situation," said Army Col. Steve Warren, a Pentagon spokesman, according to USA Today. The violation of Ukrainian airspace threatens to escalate an already tense showdown in eastern Ukraine, where Ukrainian military and police are conducting operations against pro-Russian separatists, raising concerns of a Russian intervention. Russia has amassed thousands of troops along the border, a month after Russia annexed the southern Crimean peninsula. Ukraine's acting president Oleksander Turchinov said earlier Friday that his country would treat any incursion by Russian troops across the border as an invasion, Reuters reports. , USA Today

World

Has the Oil Price Rally Gone Too Far

Oil speculators are growing more confident that prices are gaining ground on the back of rising demand and shrinking supply. U.S. gasoline demand is at a record high for this time of year, with the four-week consumption rate for gasoline above 9.3 million barrels per day mb/d. That is important because the summer months typically see higher consumption than in the spring, so demand could continue to rise. At the same time, production is falling. Weekly EIA data shows that output has declined to 8.95 mb/d, sharply down from a peak of nearly 9.7 mb/d in April 2015. The converging of supply and demand has speculators increasing their bullish bets on crude oil. Net-long positions for the week ending on April 19 rose to their highest level since May 2015. Short positions fell for the week and long positions jumped. "Investors are looking for larger exposure to crude oil and showing a continuing willingness to buy on the dips," Tim Evans, an energy analyst at Citi Futures Perspective, told Bloomberg. Oilprice.com Why The Saudi Aramco IPO Will Not Be Enough, Not everyone is convinced. A group of investment banks cautioned not to get too excited about the rally. Barclays said in a report on Monday that it is "not yet convinced that prices will remain here or go even higher." Morgan Stanley said the rally had more to do with macro factors as well as speculators trying to profit. There are some temporary production outages in several OPEC countries that could be resolved in the coming months, bringing some supply back to the market. The outage in Kuwait from a workers strike was short-lived, and the Kuwait state-owned oil company hopes to boost production to above 3 mb/d by June. Iran has also added around 1 mb/d to production since January when western sanctions were removed. Speculators could be overextending themselves. Any time there is a run up in bullish bets, the chances that long positions could start to be trimmed rises. Speculators could realize that the rally has run out of steam and then decide to pocket their profits. The liquidation could then spark a correction, forcing prices back down. As Morgan Stanley put it, "a macro unwind could cause severe selling given positioning and the nature of the players in this rally.", The potential for a correction is mirrored by the fact that the fundamentals still look rather grim, with possible bearish indicators looming on the horizon. Oil storage levels set a new record last week at 538 million barrels in the United States and many analysts expect that figure has room to grow. "Still-elevated inventory levels, the return of some disrupted supply, further boosts to Saudi and Iranian supply, and increased non-OECD product exports all have the potential to move prices lower over the next several months, especially if broader macro sentiment shifts," Barclays wrote. Then there is the possibility that some U.S. shale companies bring production back online as oil prices inch higher. The backlog of drilled but uncompleted wells, colloquially known as the "fracklog," could start to be worked through as they become profitable again. "Once we start approaching 45 and above, the risk of a much sharper pullback starts to increase as a lot of shale becomes profitable again," Angus Nicholson, an analyst at IG in Melbourne, told Bloomberg. "It'll bring more supply back into the market. This happened last year when a swathe of output hit the market after a price gain and subsequently led to oil dropping to record lows." There is a lot of uncertainty surrounding the exact price level that starts to trigger completions, and some analysts believe the price threshold could be much higher. Still, the fracklog will weigh on any price rally. Oil companies themselves are not convinced that prices could move higher. The Wall Street Journal reported on several producers that have decided to lock in some of their production at hedged prices, foreclosing the opportunity to profit if prices rise but protecting themselves from another downturn. Energen Corp. for example, locked in around half of its 2016 production at about 45 per barrel recently, even though it spurned the chance to hedge its output last year as it waited for a stronger rebound. The story is the same for EV Energy Partners, a company that recently secured hedges at 40 per barrel even though a year ago it refused to do so at 50 per barrel. A range of other companies are following suit. Similarly, airlines are stepping up their hedges, locking in oil at around 40 per barrel. As usual, the oil markets are rife with confusion and uncertainty. The longer-term looks a little clearer supply is falling and demand is rising. The market will have to balance out the only debate is over how quickly that happens. In the short-term, though, there is no consensus on whether prices move up or down.

World

Women Forced to Work in Wartime Brothels Were Not Sex Slaves Japans Foreign Minister Says

Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida said on Monday that women forced to work in Japanese military brothels during World War II should not be called sex slaves. "The term sex slaves doesn't match the facts," Kishida said according to the Japan Times. During World War II, Japan forced thousands of women euphemistically called comfort women into military brothels. Most were South Korean other victims came from China, the Philippines, Indonesia and Taiwan. Japan and South Korea reached a landmark settlement on the issue in December, after decades of diplomatic deadlock. As part of the deal, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe apologized and Tokyo offered an 8.5 million victim-support fund. The Japan Times

World

South Koreas Rights Commission Will Investigate Allegations of Rampant Sexual Abuse in Sports

SEOUL, South Korea South Korea's human rights commission plans to interview possibly thousands of adult and child athletes about a culture of abuse in sports after a wave of female athletes came forward to say they had been raped or assaulted by their coaches. The yearlong investigation will cover 50 sports and include children competing for elementary, middle and high schools, Park Hong-geun, an official from the National Human Rights Commission, said Wednesday. He said the commission aims to interview all minor and adult athletes competing for scholastic and corporate league teams in speedskating and judo, which have been marred with sexual abuse allegations. The investigation, pushed by dozens of government officials and civilian experts, could start as early as next week and could extend beyond a year if needed. It will be the commission's largest-ever inquiry into sports. "Education processes will be a key part of the investigation because there are situations where athletes find it hard to disclose what they have been through or even recognize they had been abused or sexually harassed," Park said. "We will have to discuss with the schools and teams to figure out how to proceed with the investigation in each sport, but we plan to build it mostly around face-to-face interviews.", South Korean competitive sports in recent weeks have been hit by a growing MeToo movement, which highlights deep-rooted problems over a brutal training culture and highly hierarchical relationships between coaches and athletes. It began with two-time Olympic short-track speedskating champion Shim Suk-hee accusing her former coach of repeatedly raping her since she was 17. The coach, Cho Jae-beom, was the national team coach shortly before the Pyeongchang Olympics last year and is now serving a 10-month prison term for physically assaulting athletes, including Shim. Cho's lawyers said he denies sexually assaulting Shim. A group representing speed skating athletes said Monday there were at least five more female skaters saying they were sexually abused by their male coaches, but did not reveal their names because of privacy concerns. Encouraged by Shim, female athletes in judo, taekwondo, soccer and wrestling have also accused their male coaches of sexual harassment or assault since. Experts say abusive treatment of female athletes has long been a problem in South Korea's elite sports, which are predominantly run by men. Athletes often skip school to compete in athletic events and must live in dormitories, giving coaches often-overbearing control and leaving athletes undereducated and more vulnerable. South Korea has long associated national pride with achievement in the Olympics and other international sporting events, leaving problems overlooked as long as the athletes succeed. After a previous inquiry into school sports, the human rights commission in 2010 recommended safeguards to the Korean Sport and Olympic Committee, including instructions and proposals for preventing abuse and providing better education. Choi Young-ae, the commission's chairwoman, criticized the KOC for ignoring the guideline for years, which she said worsened the abuse facing athletes today. "Physical and sexual violence in South Korean sports does not happen incidentally, but is generated consistently under a structure," she said in a news conference on Wednesday. "A culture that puts medals and other awards over everything else has been exonerating violent behaviors and such violence has been closely associated with the sexual violence that occurs.",

World

Doctors Without Borders Releases PostBombing Footage and Calls for Investigation

Footage released by Doctors Without Borders Wednesday shows the organization's facility in Kunduz, Afghanistan, in shambles after a U.S. military airstrike. The organization released the video as its leaders called on a United Nations investigatory body to lead a fact-finding mission on the bombing, which killed 22 people. "Today we say enough. Even war has rules," said Jason Cone, U.S. executive director of Doctors Without Borders, at a press conference. "This was just not just an attack on our hospitalit was an attack on the Geneva Conventions.", The video released by Doctors Without Borders, known internationally by its French acronym MSF, shows the group's hospital as a fully functional facility before Saturday's bombing and a rubble-filled shell following the bombing. At Wednesday's press conference, Cone described a grisly scene as staff continued to care for patients even as they were under attack. "In Kunduz, our patients burned in their beds. Our doctors, nurses and other staff were killed as they worked," he said. "Our colleagues had to operate on each other.", Since the strike this past weekend, U.S. military officials have admitted the bombing was a mistake and apologized. But explanations for how and why the strike was authorized have evolved. Cone said his organization's request, which calls on the International Humanitarian Fact-Finding Commission to investigate, was aimed at uncovering unbiased information in the face of changing explanations. The commission requires the authorization of one of 76 signatory states to investigate. Cone stressed that hospitals have a protected status under international humanitarian law and suggested that Saturday's attack flouted those laws. Asked whether the facility may have been treating enemy combatants, Cone dismissed the question as irrelevant. "We treat anyone who is a victim of conflict," he said. "That's what we do. That's our reason to exist."

World

Russia Just Gave Edward Snowden a Longer Asylum

Edward Snowden will be allowed to remain in Russia, where he has been living under asylum ever since disclosing classified information about the National Security Agency, for a "couple more years," a Russian government official said Wednesday. Snowden has been staying in Russia since the country granted him asylum in 2013 after he leaked confidential secrets on the NSA's surveillance programs. The former NSA contractor has been hoping President Obama grants him a pardon before leaving office in January. Russia extended Snowden's "residence permit" in the country for at least two more years, Maria Zakharova, a spokeswoman for the Foreign Ministry, said on Facebook. Obama on Tuesday commuted the sentence of Chelsea Manning, a former U.S. Army soldier who admitted to leaking secret government documents to WikiLeaks.

World

Netanyahus Wikipedia Page Replaced With Palestinian Flag

In a sign of the information war taking place alongside the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, the biographical information on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Wikipedia page was briefly replaced with a large image of a Palestinian flag Tuesday afternoon. Some observers noted on social media that the flag was on Netanyahu's page for nearly an hour before getting switched back. Wikipedia works through consensus editing Nearly anyone can make a change to a Wikipedia page, but records of each change are kept and pages can be quickly re-edited or reverted to an earlier version if enough Wikipedia editors or users see fit to do so. The latest wave of violence between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip began about three weeks ago. Netanyahu ordered the Israeli military to invade Gaza late last week, and the death toll on both sides of the conflict has been increasing.

World

Angela Merkel Seeking ReElection Calls For Burqa Ban

Angela Merkel called for a ban on the burqa, a full-face veil worn mainly by Muslim women, in order to prevent "any parallel societies developing" as her party re-elected her leader to seek a fourth term as German Chancellor. "In communication between people, which is of course essential to our living together, we have to show our faces," she told delegates at the annual Christian Democrats CDU party conference in the northwestern city of Essen. "So the full veil should be forbidden wherever legally possible.", Merkel was re-elected chairman of the CDU at Tuesday's annual conference, and will seek re-election as Chancellor in a vote scheduled for fall 2017, where her ruling coalition is expected to face a challenge by right-wing populists Alternative fr Deutschland AfD. The party has gone further in calling for limits on shows of Islamic faith, proposing a ban in May on all minarets as well as the burqa, because "Islam is not compatible with the constitution," Reuters reports. Her comments come as other European countries, in particular France, have politicized or put prohibitions on the garb worn by Muslim women. Conservatives allied with Merkel had earlier called for a partial ban on burqas in schools, universities and when driving. TIME's 2015 Person of the Year has been criticized for her open-door policy to refugees that saw around a 1 million asylum seekers enter Germany, a move that threatens to erode support in the party vote and, potentially, at the national polls. However, she is expected to handily win re-election according to a Nov. FG Wahlen poll, 64 of Germans said it's a good thing that Merkel is running again.

World

Bank Queues Across India Swell as Millions Rush to Exchange Old Currency Notes

For Rishab, a young man in his 20s who works as a carpenter in New Delhi, the announcement could not have come at a worse time. On Tuesday evening, in an unscheduled television address, India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the country's two highest denomination currency notes worth 500 and 1,000 Rupees or roughly 7.5 and 15 respectively would be rendered worthless within hours. The idea to clampdown on hoarders of ill-gotten cash and currency counterfeiters, who, if they wanted to continue using their stockpiles of dirty cash, would have to go to the bank to convert their money. In doing so, they would end up under the government's scanner. New 500 and high-denomination 2000 Rupee notes would, Modi said, replace the old, easier to fake, cash. And in the meantime, ordinary Indians left with worthless paper in their wallets could, after a day's holiday to allow banks to prepare for the change, head to their local branch to exchange or deposit the old money. "I was paid for my last job on Monday," says Rishab, who declined to give his second name. He had been doing some woodwork for a new family home, and like most Indians, he was paid in cash. Four days work yielded him an income of two thousand rupees. "It was all in 500 Rupee notes. I have money, but I can't do anything with.", Read More India Scraps Larger Rupee Banknotes to Fight Corruption and Counterfeit Currency, He was talking while waiting, on Friday morning, in a long bank queue that had spilled out of a New Delhi branch and snaked around the block. It was his second day there he had come on Thursday, the day banks reopened, but failed to exchange his old currency because of the rush at the branch. He does not have a credit card, nor does he have any money in his bank account, which he only opened last year amid a nationwide government campaign to open bank accounts for poorer Indians. "There's nothing left at the end of the month," he explains. He lives on cash and the cash in his pocket is now worthless. Worse, waiting in line for two days, he says, means that he is not working on those days. He'll have even less than usual left at the end of the month. Rishab's story is not unusual. Ever since Modi's surprise announcement, ordinary Indians up and down the country have been scrambling to adjust to the changes. The currency notes affected by the new policy account for roughly 87 of all notes in circulation across India, which functions on cash. A 2015 Tufts University study found that less 10 of Indians had ever made payments with anything other than cash the same report said the value of notes and coins as a proportion of India's economic output, or GDP, was just over 12 significantly higher than the likes of Brazil and South Africa, where it is under 4. Despite the disruption caused by its move, the government is hoping it helps reduce large stocks of unaccounted for wealth in India, which has long been blighted by widespread corruption and tax evasion. In fact, such is the scale of the problem, that India ranks as one of the world leaders when it comes to the export of illicit cash in a 2013 report, Global Financial Integrity, a Washington-based nonprofit that tracks the flow of dirty money around the world, estimated that some 344 billion in unaccounted for funds had been siphoned off from the Indian economy between 2002 and 2011. Questions remain about the long-term impact of the move. The most obvious worry is about what happens when the 1000 Rupee notes are replaced with the newer 2000 Rupee denominations, with critics saying that the step might only make it easier to stash illicit funds in the future. Yet the public reaction appears, for now, to be largely positive. Despite long queues at banks and inconvenience caused, there is little sign of panic. Instead, many are hoping the gambit works. "Black money as illicit funds are known in India only benefits the rich," says Rishab, as others around him in the bank queue nod in agreement. "This is good. Yes, it's hard for us. But what else can the government do? I don't mind waiting if it helps end corruption and the black money problem."

World

SuperThin Models in France Now Need a Doctors Note

Employers of models in France could face a fine without a doctor's note proving the models are of healthy weight, according to a new law passed Thursday. Employers could be fined up to 81,000 and jailed for six months if models do not have certification from a health professional, CNN reports. The law also requires that ads featuring models whose bodies have been altered feature the label "photograph altered" rule-breakers would face a fine of 40,600 or up to 30 of related advertising expenses. "Images of the body idolizing excessive thinness or wasting, and stigmatizing curves, undeniably contribute to unhappinessespecially among many young girls," said the legislation. "The appearance of some models helps to spread potentially dangerous stereotypes for fragile populations.", An earlier version of the bill would have required all modeling agencies to receive medical documentation from their models certifying that their Body Mass Index was at least 18. This draft was criticized by some who claim that BMI is not the most accurate method of judging health.

World

Hong Kong Democracy Protesters Are Being Targeted by Malicious Spyware

A computer virus that spies on Apple's iPhone and iPad operating system is targeting pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong, according to tech experts. Known as Xsser, the malicious software is capable of harvesting data including text messages, photos, data logs and passwords from mobile devices, Lacoon Mobile Security said Tuesday. The spyware is hosted on the same Command and Control domain as an existing fake program for the Android operating system that was disguised as a protest-organizing app and distributed around Hong Kong last week. "Cross-platform attacks that target both iOS and Android devices are rare, and indicate that this may be conducted by a very large organization or nation state," said Lacoon in a statement. Tens of thousands of people have paralyzed key areas of the city over the past few days in support of greater electoral freedom, much to the chagrin of the central government in Beijing. ,

World

Kenya Defends Its Deportations of Taiwanese to China

Kenya says it stands by its decision to deport groups of Taiwanese to China a move that has sparked outrage in Taiwan, where the deportations are regarded as tantamount to abduction. "They came from China and we took them to China," Kenya's interior ministry spokesperson Mwenda Njoka said, according to Reuters. Taiwan has been self-ruled since 1949, and regards itself as a sovereign nation. But China considers the island part of its territory. Kenyan foreign minister Amina Mohamed told Reuters "We believe in the One China' policy.", China has billions of dollars invested in Kenya. Kenya originally held dozens of Taiwanese and Chinese on suspicion of involvement in telecommunications fraud, for which some have been cleared. But conflicting reports have emerged on what has happened since. According to Taipei, eight Taiwanese were deported on Friday and 37 on Tuesday, including those who had been cleared of wrongdoing by the Kenyan courts. Nairobi said eight Taiwanese were deported to China on Monday and 16 on Tuesday. During the Tuesday deportations, Reuters reported, Kenyan officers used teargas to force the Taiwanese out of holding cells and onto a plane, Taiwan's foreign ministry added that one of the deportees also holds U.S. citizenship. The U.S. State Department said it would look into the situation. Beijing has been spreading its dragnet around the world in recent years, in pursuit of ethnic Chinese on its radar regardless of their nationality. Gui Minhai, a Chinese-born Swedish citizen who published books critical of Chinese leaders, was believed abducted by communist agents from his Thai apartment in 2015. His colleague Paul Lee, also called Lee Bo and a British citizen, was widely believed to have been kidnapped in Hong Kong last December, although he has since maintained, apparently under coercion, that he gave himself up freely to mainland Chinese authorities. Reuters

World

Whats Next for Mosul After It Was Liberated From ISIS

Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi has announced that Mosul is officially free from ISIS, despite a few dozen militants making a last stand. The sound of gunfire rang out from the Old City Monday and plumes of smoke rose above the historic structures. ISIS militants have vowed to fight to the death in the few streets they still control. It took ISIS just days to take Mosul in June of 2014, but it has taken Iraqi forces more than eight months of hard fighting to win it back. That fight, backed by militia and heavy air strikes by the US-led coalition, has left Mosul in ruins and done little to repair the sectarian tension among Iraqis. Iraq's army and police now control most streets of the country's second largest city, along with militia fighters. They hold their weapons next piles of rubble and bent metal that were once Mosul's homes, shops, institutions and government buildings. Most of the structures still standing are littered with bullet and mortar holes. The bridges that use to connect the east and west sides of the city, over the Tigris River, are destroyed. The United Nations warned Monday that an end of fighting in the city would not relieve the humanitarian crisis in the country. The organization says it will take billions of dollars and years to rebuild the city. Until then, most of nearly 1 million civilians displaced by the fighting will languish in camps in northern Iraq. Those that remain in the city complain of a lack of water and electricity, even in areas reclaimed months ago. Today, men and boys gathered around a water tap in eastern Mosul washing their faces and filling buckets to take home. "There's no water, no electricity and no work," says Taha Mohammed Ibrahim. The fighting has damaged much of the city infrastructure and while many shops and markets have reopened many more have not. Ibrahim says that every few days city water does arrive in his home, but the smell is so bad his family doesn't use it. Posters celebrating the army's defeat of ISIS line the streets of eastern Mosul. Another reads "Mosul is the city of peaceful coexistence.", Like many here, Ibrahim is happy the government is back in control, after years under the ISIS militants. But he's worried about a return to the sort the oppression many Sunni residents felt under Baghdad's rule before ISIS came. "We would queue for hours at checkpoints," says Ibrahim. "Security forces would just arrest innocent people.", At screening center nearby families arrive from Mosul's Old City. Men and older boys are separated from women and children. They are questioned and two men on laptops checked their names against a database of those wanted by security forces. "Ninety percent of these people are ISIS families," says Lieutenant Colonel Jabbar Mustafa, who is in charge of the center. Those believed to be ISIS are sent to a prison in a nearby town, and the rest transferred to packed displacement camps. Human rights groups have accused security forces of torture and arbitrary detentions in centers like these, though Mustafa denies that. The resentment of the Shia-led government in Baghdad, that facilitated ISIS' quick advance across Iraq in 2014, still festers. Many Sunnis in Mosul, and the surrounding villages welcomed ISIS three years ago, describing Iraqi forces' presence like an occupation of the city. Rebuilding Mosul will be expensive, but rebuilding trust among Iraqis will be even more difficult. Sunni leaders say little has been done to address the grievances of their community. "We need to start a new page where the Sunnis will be real participants in the political process," says Intisar Al-Jabbouri, a member of the Iraqi parliament from Mosul. "They need to be seen as equal citizens of Iraq and not as second degree citizens.", Jabbouri says the government must to work to rebuild the trust and co-existence that she says they once had in Mosul and national reconciliation is key. But that hasn't been a priority as Iraqi forces fought hard to push ISIS out the country's cities and villages. "It needs time and a big effort," she says. "But if that doesn't happen it may lead to a civil war."

World

Germans Will Be Asked to Stockpile Food and Water in Case of a Catastrophe

Germany is planning to urge its citizens to stockpile food, water and other supplies in the event of a catastrophe or armed attack. According to a report by German broadcaster Deutsche Welle DW, citing the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung newspaper, the move would be the first of its kind since the end of the Cold War. The proposal is reportedly contained in a government civil-defense-strategy document, which says that people should stock 10 days worth of food and a sufficient supply of water, energy, money and medicine that would allow them to stay put long enough for the government to respond. The mood in Germany has been unsettled recently following a number of horrific incidents. In the latest violence, on July 24, a Syrian suicide bomber injured 15 people at a music festival in the central German town of Ansbach. The same day, a Syrian refugee killed a woman and injured two others with a machete in Reutlingen. Just days previous, an ISIS-inspired attacker was shot dead after stabbing several people on a train in the south of the country. The huge influx of refugees Germany accepted more than a million last year has sparked fears among many Germans that terrorists have entered the country under the guise of seeking asylum. Further details about Germany's civil-defense strategy will be released on Wednesday, DW says, adding that its release comes amid "a raft of new security measures in the country.", DW

World

Saudi Women In the Drivers Seat

On Sept. 26, Saudi Arabia's King Salman lifted a ban on female drivers, reversing a long-held tradition of the patriarchy. GREEN LIGHT, Women have been forbidden from driving in Saudi Arabia for decades, with offenders fined, jailed or even beaten. But beginning next summer, licenses will be issued to any woman who applies for one, with no need for permission from a male guardian. The announcement follows decades of civil disobedience by female protesters demanding the right to drive. CHANGING GEARS, The change of policy comes as Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman attempts to modernize and diversify the kingdom's oil-reliant economy. Boosting the workforce with women is his ultimate goal. But moves toward gender equality risk riling conservative Saudi clerics, who adhere to a rigidly patriarchal interpretation of Sunni Islamic teachings. STUCK IN REVERSE, Licenses are a step in the right direction, but the kingdom still subjects women to plenty of other stringent rules. They are bound by a restrictive dress code, and guardianship laws give male relatives the right to prevent their wives, sisters or daughters from doing basic tasks like traveling, opening a bank account or having certain medical procedures.

World

Obamas Rebalancing to Asia Falters in Sleepy Laos

It may have been Barack Obama's first trip to sleepy Laos and indeed, the first by any sitting U.S. President but American foreign policy still haunts this landlocked Southeast Asian nation. U.S. forces covertly dropped 2 million tons of ordnance here during the Vietnam War, making this communist backwater of barely 7 million people the world's most heavily bombed country. Today, unexploded cluster bombs and mines intended to disrupt North Vietnamese supply routes continue to kill and maim especially in rural areas, where curious children stumble across tennis ball-sized munitions. At this week's Association of Southeast Asian Nations ASEAN summit, Obama attempted to exorcise some of these ghosts. "Given our history here, I believe that the United States has a moral obligation to help Laos heal," Obama told an audience in the Laotian capital Vientiane, committing an additional 90 million over the three years toward removing unexploded ordnance. Read More How Deadly Weapons Continue to Rule Daily Life in Laos, But as Obama tried to heal old wounds, new ones opened illustrating both the lingering and fresh challenges of his faltering "rebalancing" to Asia. On Tuesday, new Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte expressed "regret" that he called Obama a "son of a whore," after the U.S. Commander in Chief stated his intention to raise the 2,000 extrajudicial killings of Duterte's "drug war" during talks. Although Obama downplayed the spat, his team canceled the scheduled meeting. It was high drama unfamiliar to Vientiane, a low-rise city of French-built boulevards studded with Buddhist temples, where Soviet hammer and sickle flags flutter outside iPhone repair shops. ASEAN's most isolated state is also one of its most authoritarian, though Laos was thrown into the international spotlight when it was made bloc chair for 2016. This also made it the venue for Obama's last attempt to woo a region increasingly beholden to rival superpower China before he departs the Oval Office. Read More The Killing Time Inside Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte's War on Drugs, Faced with a mounting budget deficit, and with the fracking revolution making disentanglement from a roiling Middle East a real possibility, the White House announced a political, military and economic "rebalancing" to Asia in 2012. But four years later, the reality is simmering conflict in the South China Sea, entrenched authoritarianism across Southeast Asia and stillborn efforts to boost business ties. Moreover, critics say that Washington's preoccupation with countering Beijing's influence has undermined support for core American values, such as democracy, electoral rigor and human rights. "The rebalancing is a complete failure on multiple levels," says Bridget Welsh, a Southeast Asia expert at National Taiwan University. "Obama has left a worsening authoritarian legacy. But they couldn't care less because it's all about China.", Certainly, Southeast Asia has regressed politically over the course of the "rebalance," with the notable exception of Burma officially called Myanmar, which has moved toward qualified democracy. A military junta has run Thailand since a May 2014 coup d'tat. Malaysia's opposition leader is once again behind bars, while Prime Minister Najib Razak stands accused of embezzling 700 million of state funds. He denies any wrongdoing. Singapore, Vietnam, Cambodia, Brunei and Laos remain autocratic, with the 2012 disappearance of award-winning Lao activist Sombath Somphone still unexplained in the latter. Read More The New Head of the U.S. Pacific Command Talks to TIME About the Pivot to Asia and His Asian Roots, Yet the White House has pushed increased engagement with all these states. In May, Obama lifted a 50-year-old arms embargo with Vietnam. He did this even though key civil-society leaders were detained on their way meet him in Hanoi. Obama raised the issue, though still inked the deal. "This was a necessary step politically as the conservatives in Vietnam basically made it nonnegotiable," says Carlyle Thayer, emeritus professor at Australia's University of New South Wales. Of course, that deal was never really about Vietnam. Washington needed enhanced relations with Hanoi to counter China's expansive territorial claims and militarization of rocks and reefs in the South China Sea. And for Obama, that fact looms larger than detained activists. "We should not mistake our foreign policy as an instrument to bring about improvements in human rights," says Stapleton Roy, a former U.S. ambassador to China and Indonesia. "We can only play a marginal role from outside.", Read More Mahathir Mohamad on Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak He Should Step Down', The military component of Obama's "rebalance" always came first. Owing to drawdowns in Iraq and Afghanistan, the White House has managed to reduce overall military spending while still remaining committed in the Asia-Pacific. The goal to have 60 of U.S. naval forces in that theater has almost been reached. Enhanced troop and ship rotations have been agreed with Philippine naval bases, while Singapore and East Malaysia are also hosting U.S. vessels. Even the navy of Cambodia, a staunch ally of Beijing, was recently entertained on a U.S. aircraft carrier. But to soften the military aspect of the "rebalance" there needed to be an economic component. This is the Trans-Pacific Partnership TPP free-trade pact, which has been signed by a dozen nations, including four in ASEAN so far. Yet the deal has stalled in Congress, and both candidates for November's presidential elections Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump are TPP skeptics. "TPP is a major setback as that was the attempt to offset the military side of the rebalance," says Thayer. Read More Just Where Exactly Did China Get the South China Sea Nine-Dash Line From?, Without TPP, U.S. investment in Asia will struggle to compete. Anthony Nelson, a director at the U.S.-ASEAN Business Council, says American companies have 226 billion invested in ASEAN, which is more than they have in China, India and Japan combined. However, China had 400 billion invested in ASEAN in 2015. "There's no question that the Chinese are closer and incredibly important partner of every ASEAN country," says Nelson. Beijing has the wherewithal to build dams in Laos, oil pipelines in Burma and rail routes through Indonesia. And, because of its geographical proximity, China directly benefits from the enhanced connectivity. Unable to compete in grand infrastructure projects, the U.S. must foster a trade environment where American companies can source materials and manufacture across much of Asia with minimal tariff restrictions. Other than his opposition to TPP, a Trump presidency will be a leap into the unknown for regional engagement, with the Republican candidate vowing to cut "a good deal" with North Korea as well as to force allies to pay for U.S. defense assistance. Clinton, by contrast, made significant inroads during multiple trips to the region as Obama's Secretary of State. "When Clinton was Secretary of State, soft power issues were more on the agenda, and she actually promoted things like women's rights," says Welsh. Read More China's Xi Jinping Talks Up One Belt, One Road' as Keynote Project Fizzles, But even Clinton will find herself constrained by America's problematic legacy in Asia. Other than the Laos campaign, there were carpet bombing in Cambodia, the use of Agent Orange in Vietnam, and CIA support for Indonesia's coup under Suharto in the 1960s. In May, Obama became the first sitting U.S. President to visit Hiroshima, where the U.S. dropped an atomic bomb in 1945. Japanese opposition to U.S. military bases is building. When Duterte lashed out at Obama, he spat "We have long ceased to be a colony.", Of course, Beijing also has baggage with its neighbors, and anti-Chinese resentment is building, especially over the East and South China Seas. This week, Duterte raised alarm at Chinese barges with cranes being spotted in the disputed Scarborough Shoal, suspecting that Beijing may attempt to militarize the reefs as it has already done in the similarly disputed Spratly Islands. Despite previously advocating reconciliation with China, and agreeing to top-level talks in Manila and Beijing, Duterte said any confrontation over the islands would be "bloody.", Read More New Silk Road Could Change Global Economics Forever, As such, repairing relations between the U.S. and Philippines after this latest spat will take on new significance even if that requires ignoring the bullet-riddled corpses piling up on Philippine streets. For Roy, this is justified for the greater good of preventing a region being dominated by Beijing. "Our presence encourages responsible rather than coercive behavior by China," he says. "That's essentially what the rebalancing' strategy is all about.", Welsh sees things differently "We should be working to distinguish why the U.S. is different from China, which has to do with the idea of human rights and democracy."

World

North Korea Is Fortifying the Spot Where a Solider Made a Dramatic Dash to the South

North Korea has fortified the spot on its border with South Korea where one of its soldiers made a dramatic defection dash earlier this month. The Charg d'Affaires at the U.S. Embassy in Seoul, Marc Knapper, posted a photograph that showed a group of workers digging a trench where the defector jumped out of his vehicle and bolted across the demilitarized zone, or DMZ. "The North Koreans have planted two trees and are digging a trench at the spot where their soldier crossed the MDL military demarcation line," Knapper wrote. , , The United Nations released security camera footage of the escape last week, which showed a soldier running out of a vehicle after getting stuck in a ditch. He is then seen being shot by other North Korean soldiers as he runs across the joint security area JSA. Later, he is dragged to safety by South Korean forces after collapsing near a wall. The defector was shot five times during his defection run. He is currently in stable condition and is undergoing operations to remove parasitic worms and treat his wounds, Lee Cook-jong, a surgeon at Ajou University Hospital, told The Guardian.

World

Barricades Are Down but Politics Have Hardened a Year After Hong Kongs Umbrella Revolution

Commemorative mass gatherings are a part of Hong Kong's DNA. Every year on June 4, tens of thousands of people throng the city's iconic Victoria Park in memory of those killed in Beijing's Tiananmen Square Massacre. It is the only part of China where the infamous gunning down of peaceful democracy campaigners in 1989 is even discussed, let alone marked by a sea of candlelit solemnity. July 1, the day in 1997 that Hong Kong was handed back to China by the British after more than 150 years of colonial rule, has also become a fixture in the city's political calendar. Thousands use it as a day of protest, to make their voices heard on a range of political issues from LGBT rights to better treatment for migrants workers and ethnic minorities, in a way that would never be permitted in mainland China. Monday, however, marks a new anniversary in China's most open city of its most epoch-making mass gathering yet. On Sept. 28, 2014, thousands of angry protesters flooded onto the broad sweep of Harcourt Road in Admiralty district the city's political heart, being home to the Hong Kong government's headquarters, the legislature and the local People's Liberation Army garrison. It was the first time since Tiananmen that so many people had come together on Chinese soil to call for greater political freedom. What brought them onto the streets was the imprisonment of 17-year-old Joshua Wong, 24-year-old Alex Chow and about a dozen of their student-activist comrades. They had been arrested and subdued using pepper spray after scaling the fence outside the Legislative Council Complex two days earlier, in a symbolic bid to reclaim the square outside it. Speaking to TIME a year later, and standing just a few meters away from the fence itself, Wong, now 18, calls it "the best decision I made in the past few years." Without his ascent of the fence and subsequent detention, he explains, the mobilization of the masses for a street occupation that would last the next three months might never have happened. By the time he returned to Admiralty on Sept. 29, after about 46 hours in custody, nearly 100,000 people had filled the streets, with similar street occupations materializing before the gaze of startled tourists in the city's popular shopping district, Causeway Bay, and across Victoria Harbour in Kowloon. Tear gas was fired repeatedly by the police against the Admiralty protesters during the night, further inflaming their already heightened passions and prompting thousands more to emerge in a show of solidarity. "It's really a picture that I will never forget," says Wong, the bookish young activist who quickly became known as the most prominent face of the ensuing pro-democracy protests and who was named as one of TIME's Most Influential Teens of 2014. "It is really one of the elements that motivate me to continue to fight in the future.", The arrest of Wong and the other students blew the head off a conflict that had been building for a month. On Aug. 31 last year, the Standing Committee of China's National People's Congress the communist government's rubber-stamp legislative body handed down a controversial ruling stating that although Hong Kong's people would be able to directly elect their leader, known as the chief executive, for the first time ever in 2017, only candidates screened and approved by a 1,200-member committee loyal to Beijing would be able to stand for election. "The decision indicated that China was not prepared to make any concessions, so we had to move on to organize the occupation," says Benny Tai, a University of Hong Kong law professor who was working independently of Wong and the others. He originally floated the idea of a civil disobedience movement called Occupy Central With Love and Peace. It was to be a smaller protest he envisaged around 10,000 people at the most and it was scheduled, provocatively, for China's National Day on Oct. 1. But the spontaneous appearance on the streets of more than 10 times that number on the night of Sept. 28, and the surge of support for the arrested student leaders, compelled him to declare an early start to his protest. "We saw thousands and thousands there much more than we expected," Tai tells TIME. "The determination was much stronger than we expected. Even when they faced tear gas and pepper spray, they did not retreat.", Occupy Hong Kong would go on for the next 79 days, and took on another name, the Umbrella Revolution or the Umbrella Movement, depending on who you ask, after the umbrellas protesters used as shields against the eye-watering chemicals being sprayed by the police. The protesters occupied downtown districts with elaborate tent villages that won international admiration for their peacefulness and order. The largely student inhabitants set up study zones and recycling centers. Volunteers swabbed out nearby public restrooms and kept them stocked with toiletries donated by the public. Artists installed sculptures and outdoor exhibitions. At the Admiralty village the area was quickly dubbed Umbrella Square a strip of grass by the side of the road was turned into an organic herb garden. The plate glass windows of expensive boutiques and showrooms, which would have been the targets of stone-throwing anarchists elsewhere, were left unmolested by the polite and well-spoken Hong Kong undergrads. Tourists flocked to the protest sites for photos and office workers, during lunch hour, would take their sandwiches and bento boxes and sit unselfconsciously among the protesters, savoring a city center without snarling traffic or choking fumes. But as momentous as the protests were, they ended up achieving virtually nothing in terms of tangible results. The main demand of the protesters a revision of the 2017 election rules fell on deaf ears in Beijing, while current Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying, seen by opponents as a servant of China's authoritarian government rather than of the people he was appointed to lead, remains in power despite widespread calls for his resignation. After almost three months without result the protests began to lose steam, popular support and direction, and were unceremoniously and anticlimactically cleared in mid-December. Protest leaders like Wong and Tai, however, say that even if their immediate aims were not achieved, the Umbrella Revolution brought about the political awakening of a generation. "The ruling class has dominated the future of the new generation," says Wong, who is still three years shy of being able to contest political office and is just about eligible to vote. "If we hope to decide our future ourselves, the first step for us to do is to get more bargaining power.", Tai says many people who were somewhat "wishy-washy" about politics are now more committed toward the goal of genuine democracy. "A lot of Hong Kong people have been changed by the Umbrella Movement, and it's not limited to the younger generation," he says. "They are transformed.", The big question, now, is how this vibrant metropolis, with its millions of politically sophisticated citizens, cements its place in a 21st century China that seems only interested in exerting more control. Nobody seems to have an answer. Holding Out for Genuine Democracy, Hong Kong is governed by a miniconstitution called the Basic Law, drafted during the run-up to the handover of sovereignty. It outlined that it would be returned to the Chinese government as a "Special Administrative Region" under a principle known as "one country, two systems." This means that Hong Kongers supposed to enjoy a more open economy and far greater freedom of speech than their counterparts in mainland China. It also promises a "high degree of autonomy" and eventual "universal suffrage." The problem that lies at the root of the pro-democracy movement, however, is that Hong Kong and China define those two terms extremely differently. "It's not as if you just call anything universal suffrage you cannot treat people as if they are all damn fools," says Hong Kong lawmaker Emily Lau. "It's more than one person, one vote. It has to have one person, one vote, but in the process the voters must have a genuine choice.", Lau, chairwoman of Hong Kong's Democratic Party and a prominent pro-democracy crusader who was also briefly arrested during the Umbrella Revolution, echoes a commonly held belief that Beijing has reneged on its promise to allow Hong Kong a fully democratic election. "It's only those who are supported by Beijing, those who are tolerated by Beijing, who will be able to stand, and those that Beijing doesn't like will not get a look-in," she says. "So it's not genuine democracy.", Despite the widespread public repudiation of the limited voting mechanism put forth by Beijing, the Hong Kong government attempted to enforce it in mid-June this year in the form of an electoral reform bill. However, Lau and 26 other pro-democracy lawmakers from various parties known collectively as the pan-democratic camp unanimously rejected the bill in a Legislative Council vote. When they realized that they were four votes short of the two-thirds majority required for the reform to pass, several pro-Beijing lawmakers staged a confused walkout in the hope that it would stall the proceedings, but it did not because voting had already begun. In the end, only eight pro-Beijing legislators were left in the chamber to vote for the bill. Its failure means that Hong Kong will revert to its previous system of electing the chief executive through a 1,200-member election committee comprised primarily of the city's pro-Beijing elites, a result many lament as a significant setback for the city's political progress. "Even though the political reform package wasn't ideal, it still meant a step forward in terms of maintaining the democratic momentum in Hong Kong," Lau Siu-kai, a sociologist at the Chinese University of Hong Kong and former head of a government think tank called the Central Policy Unit, tells TIME in a telephone interview. "The loss of this momentum is very unfortunate," he adds. "Personally I'm disappointed," says James Tien, honorary chairman of the pro-establishment Liberal Party and one of the eight legislators who had voted in favor of the bill. "I think having your chance for 5 million people to elect the chief executive, even with three candidates screened by Beijing, is better than the current situation.", That's not how the democrats see it. "They want to thrust it down our throats, this electoral reform package, which can do nothing but use our votes to legitimize a vetting process," says Alan Leong, leader of the pro-democracy Civic Party, in an interview with TIME. "I'm glad that by vetoing this electoral reform proposal, we are able to keep our dignity," he adds. A Bold Call for Self-Determination, Whenever the Hong Kong soccer team takes to the field at home nowadays, a resounding chorus of boos fills the stadium. The fans' jeers are not directed at the much loved athletes but at "March of the Volunteers," the Chinese national anthem which Hong Kongers are now supposed to adopt as their own. China has vehemently protested the practice, and the sport's governing body FIFA has threatened to impose sanctions that might require the Hong Kong squad to play a November home game against the Chinese national side in an empty stadium. The spectators' behavior is just one of the ways in which a long-standing disdain for the mainland and its citizens has manifested itself since the Occupy Hong Kong protests ended late last year. Weekend protests at shopping malls in Hong Kong-China border areas, directed against Chinese "parallel traders" who buy up essential goods like diapers and milk powder in bulk to resell in the mainland, resumed earlier this month following a six-month hiatus. A spate of similar protests earlier in the year prompted the government in April to place a limit on the number of weekly visits citizens of Chinese border city Shenzhen could make to Hong Kong. Protests in late June also targeted organized groups of Chinese street musicians singing in Mandarin rather than Hong Kong's primary language, Cantonese. Both sets of sometimes violent demonstrations were reportedly initiated by so-called localists pro-Hong Kong radicals who advocate a spectrum of separation between Hong Kong and China, ranging from greater autonomy to complete independence. "It will take awhile to counter this sort of negative sentiment toward the motherland on the part of some of our younger people, although I think the bulk of them know that so-called Hong Kong independence is a nonstarter," says Regina Ip, a pro-establishment legislator and chairperson of the New People's Party. Although politicians and analysts are mostly dismissive of the localists and deem their goal highly unrealistic, many of them admit that the larger anti-China sentiment is and should be a concern of the Beijing government. So should the long-term determination of the city's young. Student leader Wong, and his supporters, are already stressing the need to look decades into the future at the year 2047, when the 50-year transition period stipulated by the handover agreement between China and Britain expires. In an essay for TIME, Wong argues that what freedoms Hong Kong has by then will be lost unless they are firmly entrenched in a culture of democracy and autonomy. And the development of that culture, he writes, "involves getting a consensus from both the local and international community that Hong Kongers shall have the right to determine their city's future.", He adds "Hong Kongers should not only focus on universal suffrage, but also fight for the city's right to self-determination.", It is a startling call. The communist government has faced calls for self-determination from Tibetans, and Muslim Uighurs in the far-flung region of Xinjiang. But this demand is being made by Han Chinese students in a city rightly regarded as one of China's great showpieces. It strikes at the heart of the unity and consensus that the central government is so anxious to enforce. For now, however, most eyes are focused on the 2017 chief executive election. If the incumbent gets re-elected, Occupy Hong Kong founder Tai says, "that will cause more people to feel dissatisfied with the existing system and the tipping point may come.", If Leung does not come back to serve a second term, however, the attention will be directed toward the next chief executive. The prevailing notion across the political spectrum is that Hong Kong's next leader needs to strike a firmer balance between making the city's standpoint clear to the Chinese government and conveying Beijing's diktats to the people. The Liberal Party's Tien, who, despite being pro-Beijing, has been one of Leung's most vocal critics, says China needs to ensure the next appointee "is not a yes' man that simply takes orders from Beijing, but is willing to fight for the 7 million people of Hong Kong to express our views to the Beijing leadership.", The question is whether China will allow an individual like that to assume power. "Beijing will only choose a particular person as the chief executive only after it has formulated a strategy towards Hong Kong and decided on the role of the chief executive in that strategy," says Lau of the Chinese University. "A chief executive without Beijing's blessing is not going to be able to govern Hong Kong.", Another big question is whether Hong Kong gradually losing its unique position as China's financial hub, with so many other mainland cities on the make will be in a position to push back when the next opportunity for reform comes in 2022. "When you talk to China in five years or 10 years, do we still have today's bargaining power?" Tien asks. "Maybe they won't even give us the same reform, they'll give you something less because they've moved even further in terms of everything that they want or because Hong Kong's contribution will be even less.", As it asserts its position as the world's next superpower on the global stage, China will likely be increasingly less receptive to Hong Kong's demands and more inclined to simply dictate terms. "When we came to power, we thought we could allay the fears and build a better working relationship with the central government," says Jasper Tsang, the current president of Hong Kong's Legislative Council who will end his term next year. "But recently the opposite has been happening every time we push forward Beijing tightens up, and it's begun a kind of vicious circle."

World

The Longest Meals

Beating a record set by the Italian city of Naples, chefs in California made the longest pizza on the planet on June 10. The pie stretched 1.2 miles, weighed more than 7 tons and could feed 10,000. Here, other foods of record-smashing length. SUNDAE, Nashville, Mich. built a 3,656-ft. ice cream sundae, made of 5,400 lb. of ice cream, berries, syrup and cream in September 2016, beating a record set months earlier by nearby Ludington. SAUSAGE, Retailer Carrefour and meat producer Aldis made the world's longest sausage in Ploiesti, Romania, in December 2014. The 38.9-mile wurst weighed 45 tons. SANDWICH, Four movable ovens were used to bake bread for a 2,411-ft. sandwich in Beirut in May 2011. The sub was then filled with chicken breast, tomato, pickles and spices.

World

Unwed Indian Moms Applying for Childs Passport Are Asked if They Were Raped

Unwed mothers in India applying for a passport for their child will have to reveal how the child was conceived and specify whether they were raped, a lawyer representing the Indian government told the Bombay High Court on Thursday. The revelation came during a petition hearing by a 21-year-old woman who was denied a passport that had her stepfather's name on it, the Times of India reported. The regional passport officer refused to accept the name of her mother instead, saying she needed a court order appointing the stepfather as her legal guardian. According to the Times, one of the two judges hearing the case asked as an aside "We were wondering what happens in the case of an unwed mother?", Advocate Purnima Bhatia, representing the government, responded by saying mothers without husbands must file an affidavit that mentions how the child was conceived, whether the mother was raped, and why she does not wish to reveal the father's name. According to Mumbai-based women's-rights lawyer Flavia Agnes, only the third of those conditions would be in any way justifiable. "These are ridiculous rules the government is making," Agnes tells TIME. "Why should she say whether she was raped or whether she had consensual sex?", According to the Times, Bhatia told the bench that the rules were detailed in the passport manual, which could not be shown to the court as it was a classified document. The judges reportedly responded by saying that the manual came under internal instructions and so could not be classified, and also did not have the force of the law. Agnes says she has clashed with passport authorities in the past, over issues like divorced women prevented from continuing to use their former spouse's name or married women not being allowed to continue using their maiden names. She plans to take this issue up as well, whether it escalates or not. Sunitha Krishnan, founder of women-and-children's-advocacy organization Prajwala, says the Foreign Ministry's response is "deeply disturbing" and speaks to a larger malaise in Indian society. "It's so painful that a woman has to keep justifying and defending her position," she says, citing her long battle to get children of prostitutes admitted into schools that insisted on a father's name. "When an unwed mother is asked dehumanizing questions like have you been raped, I don't know which era we're living in," adds Krishnan. "I don't think a man would ever be asked such questions."

World

US Citizen Among Dead in Mali Hotel Attack

An unnamed U.S. citizen was killed in the attack on the Radisson Hotel in Bamako, Mali on Friday, the State Department has confirmed. No details about the victim's identity have been released. At least 27 people were killed when heavily armed attackers stormed the Radisson on Friday morning, shouting "Allahu Akbar!" and taking hostages, the New York Times reports. Some 125 guests and 13 employees were inside the hotel when 12 gunmen attacked after pulling up with fake diplomatic license plates, according to multiple reports. According to Al-Jazeera, an Al-Qaeda splinter group has claimed responsibility for the attack. Secretary of State John Kerry earlier condemned the attack. "All those responsible for these recurring terrorist attacks must be held accountable," he said. "These terrorist attacks will only deepen our shared resolve to fight terrorism.",

World

The Worlds StreetFood Capital Is Banning Street Food

A month after Bangkok was voted the world's best destination for street food, the Thai capital's administration has announced that all of the city's food vendors will be swept from the streets. In a bid to improve safety and cleanliness the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration BMA said that vendors would be banned from the city's streets by the end of the year, the Nation reports. And the next areas to be targeted for cleanup the internationally renowned street-food hot spots Yaowarat Chinatown and Khao San Road. "The BMA is now working to get rid of the street vendors from all 50 districts of Bangkok and return the pavements to the pedestrians," Wanlop Suwandee, chief adviser to Bangkok's governor, said on Monday. "The street vendors have seized the pavement space for too long and we already provide them with space to sell food and other products legally in the market.", The move appears to fly in the face of CNN's glowing appraisal of Bangkok's street-food scene, which voted it the best in the world for a second year. It also runs contrary to a 2015 marketing campaign under the auspices of the Tourism Authority of Thailand called "Pray for Anna," which extols the moreish virtues of Thailand's street food. , Nation

World

Public Lynching of Teenager in Bangladesh Brings Hundreds of Protesters to the Streets

The brutal murder of a 13-year-old boy last week, publicly beaten to death by a group of men, has sparked widespread protests in Bangladesh, with hundreds taking to the streets of the northeastern city of Sylhet on Sunday. A video of the beating taken by a bystander has gone viral in the South Asian nation and prompted mass outrage and calls for justice, the BBC reported, citing local media. The men are shown laughing and taunting young Samiul Alam Rajon as they hit him repeatedly with a metal rod, while he begs them to stop and asks for a glass of water. They also tied him to a metal pole, and threatened to upload the video to Facebook. An autopsy report found over 60 injury marks on Rajon's body, and concluded that he died of a brain hemorrhage from injuries to the head. Three of the men, including the prime suspect who had fled to Saudi Arabia, have been detained by the police, and a special squad has been formed to investigate the case. The brutal killing appears to be a case of mob justice, with the men reportedly accusing Rajon who worked with his family selling vegetables of trying to steal a cycle rickshaw. The mob was spotted and chased by a few locals while trying to dump Rajon's body in a nearby landfill, with one being caught and handed over to authorities. The other two were taken into custody in the subsequent days. "It is a sad and unfortunate incident," Bangladesh's Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal told a local news outlet. "The rest will be arrested soon. None will be spared.", BBC

World

Bakery Apologizes for Replacing Jesus With a Sausage Roll in Nativity Scene

British bakery chain Greggs has apologized after an ad which depicted a Nativity scene in which baby Jesus was replaced by a sausage roll in the manger didn't go over so well with some customers. The ad was intended to promote the bakery's Advent calendar, Merry Greggmas, which offers coupons, gift cards and food vouchers every day in December. Some customers called for a boycott over the ad. , Others just wished Greggs had used a different food item. , "We're really sorry to have caused any offence, this was never our intention," a Greggs representative told The Northern Echo.

World

Myanmar Says Its Soldiers Are to Blame For the Deaths of 10 Rohingya Found in a Mass Grave

In a rare admission of guilt, Myanmar's military said that its soldiers were responsible for the deaths of 10 Rohingya Muslims found in a mass grave in the country's western Rakhine state. The results of an internal military investigation found that soldiers, along with local villagers, were culpable for the deaths of the Rohingya, who the military labeled "terrorists," according to a statement posted to the Facebook page of Myanmar's Commander-in-Chief. James Gomez, Amnesty International's Southeast Asia and Pacific director, said the acknowledgement marked "a sharp departure from the army's policy of blanket denial of any wrongdoing.", "However, it is only the tip of the iceberg and warrants serious independent investigation into what other atrocities were committed," he said in a statement. The mass grave was discovered last month in cemetery in Inn Din village, about 30 miles north of the state capital Sittwe, prompting the military to open an investigation. Previous internal inquiries have cleared the military of wrongdoing in Rakhine state, where an extensive campaign of violence has driven more than 650,000 Rohingya refugees into Bangladesh. The U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad al-Hussein said the campaign amounts to ethnic cleansing that could include "elements of genocide.", Myanmar contends that the operations are legitimate counterinsurgency measures in response to attacks by Rohingya militants on border guard posts in August. Read more Rohingya Refugees Myanmar's Crisis Is Bangladesh's Burden, , According to the inquiry, the 10 Rohingya were arrested as part of a "clearance operation" after security forces were reportedly attacked by a group of about 200 on Sept. 1. In a statement, the military said that due to the fighting they could not transport the men so the detainees were executed by soldiers and local villagers instead of being handed over to police. "Villagers and members of the security forces have confessed that they committed murder," the military said in the statement, promising that those responsible would be "dealt according with the law.", Amnesty's Gomez called the explanation for the killings "appalling" and reiterated calls for a U.N. fact finding mission to be granted access to northern Rakhine to investigate the alleged atrocities. Members of the body, formed in March last year, have been repeatedly denied visas to enter Myanmar. Two Reuters journalists who were also investigating the incident were arrested last month for allegedly acquiring "important secret papers" from two police officers. On Wednesday, the reporters, Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo, were charged with violating Myanmar's Official Secrets Act, which carries a penalty of up to 14 years in prison.

World

Strongman Hun Sen Has Cambodias Economy Sewn Up Says Report

Hun Sen is only 63, but Cambodia's Prime Minister is already one of the world's longest-serving leaders. Since 1985, this former Khmer Rouge soldier who defected and joined a Vietnamese-backed liberation force in the late 1970s has clung to the top of his country's politics, by hook or by crook. He technically lost the country's U.N.-backed elections in 1993, but managed to engineer a situation in which the country had two Prime Ministers for a time. Hun Sen soon left his co-Prime Minister in his wake, and went on to lead the Cambodian People's Party to four subsequent elections. The victories were not without allegations of vote rigging and intimidation, but Hun Sen has also relied on a system of patronage, blood ties and marital connections that align the country's business elites, media, police force and the military behind him. That system is the subject of unique piece of research published on Thursday by Global Witness, the London-based watchdog that calls out grand corruption, environmental abuses and state crimes around the world. In Hostile Takeover The Corporate Empire of Cambodia's Ruling Family, the group dives into government data on businesses registered in Cambodia, and unearths a "huge network of secret deal-making, corruption, and cronyism which is helping to secure the prime minister's political fortress." Altogether, the group claims, Hun Sen's family have interests in at least 114 local companies with a combined share capital over 200 million adding that the sum is likely a vast understatement of the family's true wealth. Global Witness alleges that Cambodians who help to prop up his rule are more likely to be granted government contracts, and receive impunity from prosecution for either the infractions of their companies or their criminality as individuals. "In addition to the Hun family having complete control of the political apparatus of Cambodia, which they've had for a long time, they are exploiting that control to gain almost total economic control of Cambodia," Global Witness co-founder Patrick Alley tells TIME. The report's real bite is in the details. Three of Hun Sen's children jointly own a power company that sells electricity to the national grid. Two of the country's biggest gas station chains are run by companies owned in whole or in part by members of the extended Hun family. Three popular TV stations, a radio station and one of the most-read Khmer-language newspapers are all run by Hun Sen's eldest daughter, Hun Mana, who also has shares in the largest mobile phone network and owns a leading bottled-water firm. A number of international brands have links to the Huns, according to Global Witness. The local distributors of Apple's iPhone, Nokia products, Canon cameras and LG Electronics are all part of the family. Hun Sen's niece operates the Australian franchise chain Gloria Jeans Coffees and the Hard Rock Cafe in Cambodia. The Prime Minister's younger sister, meanwhile, holds major stakes in the companies that import Johnnie Walker whisky, Hennessy cognac, Durex condoms and Nescafe. These foreign companies are not accused of breaking any laws, but are asked to consider whether it is wise to have dealings with the family of a ruler who is dogged by allegations of human-rights abuses. Seen together, it becomes clear that the reach of the family's business mean that most Cambodians are buying from them, or using their services in some way, on a daily basis. "Amongst the cruelest ironies of the Hun Sen model of dictatorship is that many Cambodians particularly the country's growing middle class will struggle to avoid lining their oppressors' pockets multiple times a day," the report says. This all goes some way to explain why Hun Sen, whose official salary is reportedly less than 14,000 a year, owns multiple palatial residences, and takes credit for making large personal donations to domestic causes. Out of 27 Hun family members contacted by Global Witness, only one gave a substantial response. Sok Puthyvuth a son-in-law of the Prime Minister who is also the son of Sok An, one of Hun Sen's deputies and a major power broker wrote to the group's investigators that, rather than abusing his connections to build his business, "I take seriously the challenge of building a responsible and respected private sector group." He adds "I understand that I live in the shadows of my family.", The allegation that Cambodia is a kleptocracy is not new. Sustained economic growth and impressive figures for poverty relief have given Hun Sen's rule a sheen of respectability on the world stage, however. He recently got his first official invite to the U.S. and shook hands with President Obama during a summit for Southeast Asian leaders in Sunnylands, Calif. in February. Last month, Hun Sen struck a statesman-like pose at a World Economic Forum event in Malaysia, where, in a fine tailored suit, the Prime Minister expounded on regional economic integration. "I would hope our report reminds people what we're actually talking about here," says Alley. "The fact is, Cambodia is a de facto dictatorship and it's likely to be a dynastic one," he adds. Hun Sen's eldest son, Hun Manet already a lieutenant general in Cambodia's army is rumored to be set to succeed Hun Sen, although the elder has pledged to stay in power until he's at least 74. Global Witness is calling for the Hun family to declare all its assets, and for Hun Sen to step aside from his controlling roles in Cambodia's regulatory and investment bodies and its anticorruption unit all of which means Hun Sen has the country's economy "sewn up," says Alley. Despite the appearance of total control, however, Hun Sen's grip has appeared to slip of late. The opposition, which formed a united front in 2013 to make big gains in national elections that year, is able to sidestep the ruling-party-dominated traditional media using Facebook. In response, more than 20 government critics, including opposition lawmakers, have been jailed in the past year, but Hun Sen's winning streak could be coming to an end. "Interestingly, young Cambodians have increasingly discussed and vocally criticized the unfair and unjust practices in the society such as prevailing corruption, nepotism and power abuses since the last national election 2013," Ou Ritthy, a political blogger based in Phnom Penh, tells TIME. "The young become the hopeful agents of political change in Cambodia and the ruling party is likely to lose the upcoming national elections 2018 if the electoral management is free, fair and genuine.", After the report's publication Thursday, Hun Mana responded on Facebook, accusing Global Witness of "trying to tarnish my Father reputation sic" ahead of the elections. "Anyhow, we thank you for your destructive efforts, which as a consequence will help my father in the coming election as they are all lies and deceitful to confuse the public about what my Father has accomplished," she wrote, warning that local media organizations could be "liable" for publishing the report's allegations.

World

China Has Finally Told Hong Kong It Is Holding the 3 Missing Booksellers

Chinese authorities have confirmed that they are holding all five men linked to a Hong Kong publishing house who went missing in recent weeks. The Hong Kong Police Force said in a statement Thursday that it had had received a response from the public security department in China's Guangdong province that said Lui Por, Cheung Chi Ping and Lam Wing Kee were under investigation, and that "criminal compulsory measures were imposed on them." The three were previously unaccounted for having gone missing during visits to mainland China. Read Next Hong Kong's Existential Anxieties Continue to Mount in the Face of China's Encroachment, The three men "were suspected to be involved in a case relating to a person surnamed Gui, and were involved in illegal activities on the Mainland," the Hong Kong police statement said, referring to Gui Minhai, one of the two other booksellers already known to be held in China. All five men are connected to publishing company Might Current Media, which produces books containing salacious allegations about the private lives of Communist Party leaders. Co-owner Gui went missing while staying at his home in Thailand, only to turn up last month on Chinese state TV giving an apparently scripted confession to an 11-year-old drunk driving incident. Gui's partner, Lee Bo, has confirmed that he is "assisting" an investigation in mainland China, where he has been visited by his wife. Lee went missing while in Hong Kong, sparking fears that the Chinese government was undermining the territory's semiautonomous status. Read Next Inside the Secretive and Fearful World of the Chinese Exile Community in Thailand, Chinese state security also passed their Hong Kong counterparts a letter from Lee declining a request to meet with him. "He Lee would contact Police should he need to meet with Police," the statement said, adding that the handwriting in the letter had been authenticated by Lee's wife. Hong Kong police also said they had asked the Chinese authorities for more information on Lui Por, Cheung Chi Ping and Lam Wing Kee's situation, "and to pass on a message to Lee Bo that Police still wanted to meet with him as soon as possible.", Amnesty International called for the Chinese government to explain what charges the men face and disclose where they are being held. "The latest official disclosures about the last three missing book publishers are anything but satisfactory," William Nee, China researcher for Amnesty International, said in a statement. "The Chinese authorities need to end their smoke and mirrors strategy and come clean with a full and proper explanation."

World

South Korea Rolls Out the Red Carpet for Ivanka Trump as She Arrives for Olympics Closing

SEOUL, South Korea Ivanka Trump received a red-carpet welcome in South Korea on Friday as head of the U.S. delegation to this weekend's closing ceremony for the Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang. The daughter of President Donald Trump made a brief statement, broadcast live on TV, at the airport before heading to a dinner with President Moon Jae-in in the presidential compound in Seoul. A high-level North Korean delegation will also attend the closing ceremony, but the South Korean government said it's unlikely that Ivanka Trump will meet the North Koreans or defectors from North Korea. Speculation is high in South Korea that she might deliver a message from President Trump on North Korea. She said at Incheon airport that "we are very, very excited to attend the 2018 Olympic Winter Games to cheer for Team USA and to reaffirm our strong and enduring commitment with the people of the Republic of Korea.", South Korean media said Moon would emphasize the importance of holding U.S.-North Korea talks in the dinner with Ivanka Trump and other members of the U.S. delegation. Moon hopes to make the Olympics an avenue for peace on the divided Korean Peninsula. While the games appear to have paved a way for possible rapprochement between the two Koreas, U.S. and North Korean officials have yet to make direct contact. Earlier this week, the U.S. government said Vice President Mike Pence had been set to meet North Korean officials during his visit to South Korea for the opening ceremony, but that the North Korean side canceled at the last minute. Moon met Kim Yo Jong, the sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, and Kim Yong Nam, North Korea's nominal head of state, a day after the opening ceremony and urged North Korea to do more to engage in a dialogue with the United States. For now, there are no signs that Ivanka Trump will meet Kim Yong Chol, vice chairman of North Korea's ruling Workers' Party Central Committee, who is to attend the closing ceremony. The White House has emphasized that the purpose of her visit is to celebrate the achievements of the athletes, noting that she is a winter sports enthusiast herself. She is expected to attend the games on Saturday before Sunday's closing ceremony.

World

Russian Air Strikes in Syria Are Gradually Weakening ISIS and Rebels Report Says

Russia's protracted aerial bombing campaign in Syria has resulted in significant setbacks for rebel insurgents as well as the Islamic State of Iraq and Greater Syria extremist group, according to a new report by Reuters. The air strikes over the past four months have resulted in Syria's authoritarian President, and Russian ally, Bashar Assad gradually regaining his grip on the country, with government forces recapturing the northwestern town of Salma in a major victory last week. For ISIS, the military pressure is compounding a drop in oil prices that has severely dented the militant group's smuggling operations and prompted it to slash pay for its fighters, Reuters reports. According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an independent monitoring group, close to 900 of the 3,000 people killed by Russian air strikes since September 2015 belong to the terrorist organization. Read the full report here.

World

Why Oscar Pistorius Release to House Arrest Does Not Guarantee His Freedom

After serving 12 months behind bars for killing Reeva Steenkamp, his girlfriend, South Africa's two-time Paralympian, Olympian and international celebrity Oscar Pistorius will be released to house arrest on Tuesday to serve out the rest of his five-year sentence. Whiling around the years in his uncle's luxurious Johannesburg mansion may not sound so bad after time in jail, but the self-described adrenaline junkie is still likely to chafe at his court-mandated restrictions continued psychotherapy, consistent monitoring and a short leash. Not all details of Pistorius' parole have been released, but he will be barred from having a firearm, and, according to correctional services minister Michael Masutha, he will be required to meet with the family of Steenkamp, his dead girlfriend, "if and when they agree to meet him.", The South African Olympic Committee and the International Paralympic Committee say they are willing to let him compete once his full sentence is served, but until then Pistorius will be barred from the races that gave his life meaning and rocketed him to international fame as a double amputee who became the first disabled athlete to qualify for the Olympics in 2012. It was only nine months after Pistorius competed in both the Olympics and the Paralympics in London that the celebrity athlete returned to the headlines in the gruesome killing of his girlfriend and reality TV star Steenkamp. In the early hours of Valentines Day, 2013, Pistorius shot Steenkamp four times through the locked bathroom door of his bedroom. He claimed in his 2014 trial that he had mistaken her for an intruder. Prosecutors claimed that the athlete's notorious temper had gotten the best of him in a couples' spat and that he shot with intent to kill. The court ruled culpable homicide, similar to manslaughter, and sentenced Pistorius to five years. The light sentence produced outrage, affirming a wide spread belief in South Africa and beyond that celebrity and privilege often tips the scales of justice away from women. "Reeva Steenkamp's life clearly weighs less heavily in the judicial balance than Pistorius' access to freedom," said Polly Neate, Chief Executive of the UK-based Women's Aid foundation to end domestic abuse. "This is a devastating indication of the lack of value placed on women's lives. Until this changes, we will never progress towards to a culture which values women's lives enough to make them safer.", Under South African laws, prison terms are usually reduced once one-sixth of the sentence has been served with good behavior. "He's not out' on parole he's having his sentence converted to a house arrest sentence," Criminal lawyer David Dadic told the Guardian. "He's now confined to a house for a period. They'll confine him essentially to what he would be doing in prison but in the confines of his own house." Pistorius will be released from correctional supervision on October 20, 2019, unless a pending appeal finds him back in court and tried again for murder. At that point he will be 32. Pistorius had been due for parole in September, at the conclusion of one-sixth of his sentence, but at the last minute Justice Minister Michael Masutha blocked his release, saying it had been made "prematurely." At question was not his behavior in prison, which by all accounts was exemplary, but the process. At the time Steenkamp's parents said that 10 months in jail was "not enough," but at this most recent announcement of Pistorius' release, on Friday, they appeared to have accepted that their daughter's killer was one step closer to freedom. "Nothing will bring Reeva back," the lawyer for Steenkamps' family told CNN. "her parents are not surprised at all by this announcement. They expected this.", They are also expecting one more thing On November 3, the prosecution will try to overturn the culpable homicide verdict in appeal in South Africa's Supreme Court, arguing that Pistorius would have known that whoever it was that he was firing at behind the bathroom door could be killed. If the prosecution wins this time around, Pistorius faces up to 15 years. He will go from the relative freedom of house arrest back into the confines of jail, with little hope of returning to reach for Olympic, or Paralympic glory, again.

World

These Nine Sins Get Chinese Tourists Added to the Nations Travel Blacklist

Chinese tourists get a bum rap. The resurgent Asian superpower sent around 120 million people abroad last year the largest cohort in the world and among that multitude are naturally a few bad apples, swiping life jackets, fighting on planes, and defecating, defecating, defecating. Even if such behavior is the exception rather than the rule, it clearly does not please the Chinese Communist Party top brass, who this week set out nine sins that are sufficient to get citizens added to the travel "black list." Being added to the list means a ban on traveling abroad for a lengthy period anywhere between two and 10 years. China had already thought necessary to print an etiquette guide for tourists traveling abroad, with helpful hints like "don't wear a pig T-shirt in Dubai" and "don't snap your fingers at waiters that's for dogs." But for those newbie Chinese travelers who didn't get the memo, the shortened must-not-do version is below, Of course, it's not just mischief overseas that can get Chinese into trouble one of the first names blacklisted was 18-year-old Li Wenchun, who was snapped sitting on the head of a Red Army warrior statue in hallowed Maoist turf in northern Shaanxi province. Still, for some the prospect of being blacklisted is not harsh enough punishment when national pride is at stake. "I think we should put on even more severe punishments, then our people won't humiliate ourselves in other countries, and foreigners won't laugh at us," posted one user of China's Twitter-like microblog Weibo. "We travel for fun, not for losing face."

World

For 40 Lucky Children an Escape From Congos Diamond Mines

Lungudi Village chief Mbumba Hubert doesn't know exactly how many children live in his village of 10,300 residents in southwestern Democratic Republic of Congo, but he does know that only 20 are going to school. To a man who knows the value of an education he is after all chief, in part because of his studies it's a devastating figure. "In these days, an education is essential. How will our people progress if our children are not educated?" he asks, as scores of children peer through the bamboo slats of the local church. While the area boasts three schools on papertwo government schools and one religious institutionnone of them are functioning. The blackboards are missing, the teachers are absent and there are no chairs. All that Lungudi has is a white tent recently erected on a freshly poured concrete platform paid for by a jewelry company based in San Francisco. Inside the tent 20 students, boys and girls ranging in age from nine to 14 are carefully copying French phrases from the blackboard as the teacher explains the difference between verbs and nouns. They cram together on low wooden benches and balance TutuDesks a broad flat board developed by South Africa's Archbishop Desmond Tutu to help impoverished children learn to read and write on their knees. Even though every school day launches with the clamor of parents begging that their children be allowed to study, there is only room for 20 students selected on the basis of stringent criteria. The Brilliant Mobile School, as it is called, is not meant to compete with government institutions. Instead it offers children that have dropped out of school the opportunity to catch up. They must be far enough along in their studies to be able to complete a 3rd-grade education within seven months, and, as a program funded by one of the U.S.'s best-known ethical diamond jewelry companies, Brilliant Earth, they must be at risk of working in the local diamond mines were it not for the school. They are all poor. Many are orphans. And in a region where the only source of income comes from the mines, most know better how to recognize a rough diamond than to read a textbook. In terms of natural resources, Congo, with its wealth of copper, diamonds, gold and tantalum a vital component of your mobile phone is one of the richest countries in Africa. Yet little of that mineral wealth is invested back into the communities that mine it. As a result, Congo is also one of the least educated countries on the continent, with more than a third of the population unable to read or write, according to the United Nations Children's Fund UNICEF. Government statistics state that every primary-school age child is enrolled in school, but completion rates tell a different story. Only 54 complete primary school, according to UNICEF. Albert Kiungu Muepu, head of the Congolese NGO that is running the Mobile School program on behalf of the Diamond Development Initiative DDI, an industry body dedicated to investing diamond wealth into programs that strengthen the communities that mine them, says that kids are not finishing school in his region because government teachers often don't bother to show up to class. When they do, they demand payment from their students, to pad meager government salaries. Parents who can't afford the fees have no choice but to pull their children out of school. Which is one of the reasons behind another grim Congolese statistic 42 of the country's children between the ages of 5 to 14 are involved in some kind of labor. In Tshikapa province, the source of many of Congo's diamonds, that work is usually in the mines. Older children dig, younger ones sift through gravel looking for rough diamonds, and the youngest sell fruits and cakes to the miners. The lust for diamonds and the lack of decent schooling is creating a crisis in a province that should be among Congo's richest, says Laurent Kambalemba, mayor of the provincial capital. "Parents don't value the education of their children. They put their children in work in the mines because they think that finding a diamond will solve all their problems, and give them great wealth.", When I met with Congolese government mining officials in the capital, Kinshasa, to report a story about the diamond industry, they insisted that children no longer worked in the mines. To be fair, the numbers have gone down, especially in Tshikapa province, where in January civil society groups passed a law prohibiting children from working in the mines. The problem was that the law only solved half the problem, says Muepu, who was one of its biggest lobbyists. "Even though we have succeeded in making it illegal to employ these children in the mines, there is still not the slightest attempt at providing these children education or development opportunities. The schools don't exist, or if they do they are in bad condition, or they cost too much money.", That is where the mobile school initiative came in. The program provides tented classrooms, uniforms, qualified teachers and a nutritious meal three days a week. Brilliant Earth, which does not use diamonds from Congo in its jewelry, has invested 35,000 in the Lungudi school, one of two schools that make up the pilot project. "We are really hopeful," says company co-founder Beth Gerstein. "We are literally taking kids out of the mines. So being able to provide education and food and figure out how we can better the lives of these individuals is really empowering." Brilliant Earth would love to source diamonds from Congo's artisanal miners, says Gerstein. But at the moment there are too many obstacles in the way of making sure that each diamond was mined in a way that meets the company's stringent ethical standards most of Brilliant Earth's diamonds come from Botswana and Canada. In the meantime the company is doing what it can by funding the mobile school program. Other companies have signed on Signet has just committed to fund six more schools over the next three years the first two will open by the end of the year. DDI director Dorothee Gizenga says that they are considering opening a second in Lungudi, given the demand. "Our work is only a drop in the ocean. We need to do more, and will do more, if we can.", Even two schools with room for 40 students is tiny compared to the overwhelming need. Mbuya Mwanza, clad in a charity donation T-shirt emblazoned with the Gatorade-style logo of the Hugh Goodwin Elementary School, in El Dorado Arkansas, was one of the scores of children milling outside the school tent in Lungudi pining for a chance to study. At 15, he was too old to be accepted into the original program, even though he has no mother and his father is blind. That may change with an additional school, says Gizenga. Instead of school, he goes to the mines in hopes of earning enough money to eat. He wants to study so he can become a nurse, but has resigned himself to the work. "When you have studied, you can earn money easily. But when you are in the mines looking for diamonds, it is very rare that you find money easily." He should know. It's been three months since he last found one.

World

Baghdad Bombings Kill at Least 7 Injure 15

A string of blasts in Baghdad on Sunday killed at least seven people and injured 15 others, UPI reported. Two attacks in central Baghdad left three dead, while an improvised explosive device and a car bomb killed two soldiers and two civilians south of the center of the Iraqi capital. The attacks came two days after police said a suicide bombing at a wedding southwest of the city killed 17 people and injured 35, and as conflict between state and international forces and the Islamic State of Iraq and Greater Syria ISIS continues in Anbar province west of Baghdad. Iraqi troops and U.S. aircraft have pushed a campaign against suicide bombers and other ISIS assets in the restive province, whose capital, Ramadi, has been occupied and claimed by the extremist group since May of this year.

World

A Vietnamese Prisoner Inseminated Herself and Got Pregnant to Escape the Death Penalty

Four Vietnamese prison guards have been suspended for negligence after a detained female drug trafficker became pregnant in an attempt to avoid the death penalty. Nguyen Thi Hue, 42, is expected to give birth in April after inseminating herself in August 2015 with semen she bought from a fellow inmate at a northern Vietnamese prison, the English-language website of the state-owned Thanh Nien newspaper reported. Investigators she paid the 27-year-old inmate the equivalent of more than 2,200. Under Vietnamese law, pregnant women or women whose children are younger than three years old cannot be legally executed, only sentenced to life in prison. Female inmates have exploited this loophole before, Thanh Nien said. In 2007, a drug smuggler gave birth on death row after having sex with another inmate. She avoided the death penalty two corrections officers were jailed for permitting the intercourse to take place. Thanh Nien

World

The Attack on Karachi Airport Shows That Nowhere in Pakistan is Safe

Insurgent violence exploded in Karachi again on Sunday. Armed militants rocked Pakistan's largest city in an attack that was as gruesome as it was symbolic as terrorists proved their ability to penetrate deep into the country's commercial nerve center, far from their tribal strongholds. At least 28 people were killed during the fighting at Karachi's Jinnah International Airport after militants disguised as policemen stormed one of the facility's terminals. "The ghastly attack on Karachi airport is symbolic, for it aimed to convey a message to the Pakistani state as it plans to fight the Pakistani Taliban," Raza Rumi, a U.S.-based Pakistan analyst and senior fellow at Jinnah Institute, told TIME. "The choice of Karachi is also strategic as the act of terror gained global attention.", Conflicting reports swirled early on Monday as authorities claimed to have killed at least 10 militants in the retaking of the hijacked terminal, while accounts of fresh gunfire continued to raise doubts over whether all the terrorists had been cleared from the besieged building. Pakistani officials identified the militants as foreigners, with reports surfacing that the gunmen were ethnic Uzbeks or Chechens. No independent confirmation of the militants' nationalities has been confirmed. The Pakistsani Taliban, or Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, took little time in taking credit for the assault. "It is a message to the Pakistan government that we are still alive to react over the killings of innocent people in bomb attacks on their villages," Shahidullah Shahid, a Taliban spokesman, told Reuters. Shahid also claimed the assault was payback for the killing of the group's former leader Hakimullah Mehsud, according to the Pakistan affiliate outlet of Newsweek. Mehsud was killed during a U.S. drone strike in Pakistan's tribal areas last November. "The Pakistani Taliban are now far more dangerous, lethal and well equipped than the Afghan Taliban," said Hassan Abbas, a senior advisor at the Asia Society and author of The Taliban Revival. "The airport attack shows their depth and networking in Karachi and even penetration in the Karachi airport. They entered from the gate which is used by top government and foreign dignitaries supposedly the most secure.", Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's government rolled out a preliminary peace process earlier this year to kickstart talks with the rebel outfit, aimed at bringing an end to seven years of insurgency that has claimed thousands of lives. However, the process has been continually bucked by ongoing attacks from the group, along with the military's recent targeting of insurgent strongholds in Pakistan's federally administered Tribal Areas. In late May, the Pakistani military ordered a series of airstrikes targeting Taliban hideouts in Northern Waziristan, killing 30 militants. On Monday, the Taliban's spokesperson rejected Islamabad 's peace talks as a "tool of war."

World

How Germany Has Resisted the Influence of ISIS

During his lunch break one day at the end of March, Dirk Sauerborn, a senior police officer in the German city of Dsseldorf, agreed to appear on a children's television program called Nine , which was devoted that week to the subject of terrorism. In their tagline for the episode, the show's producers posed a question about the bombings that had struck a week earlier in Brussels, leaving more than 30 people dead. They asked "Who would do such a thing?" It fell to Sauerborn to provide an answer that German kids could understand. For him this was part of the job. Tall and lean, with grey sideburns and a rigid posture, Sauerborn runs a police outreach program called Wegweiser, or Signpost, whose aim is to prevent the radicalization of Muslim youth. The program was created two years ago to counter the online recruitment efforts of the Islamic State of Iraq and Greater Syria ISIS, the terrorist group that has claimed responsibility for the Brussels bombings and the related attacks in Paris last November. In looking for targets or as Sauerborn calls them, "clients" the program has found itself in direct competition with ISIS for the hearts and minds of European Muslims. On Friday, authorities in Belgium arrested two more suspects in connection with the Brussels bombing. Both of them are Belgian citizens reportedly radicalized while growing up in a poor, immigrant neighborhood of Brussels exactly the type of men Sauerborn tries to steer away from radicalism before they turn violent. , "We work on prevention," he told me recently at the Signpost headquarters in Dsseldorf, a grey office sparely decorated with Islamic prayers and inspirational posters. "We approach young people who are thinking about it, who are playing with the idea of going to Syria" to join ISIS, he says. "We give them a mechanism to judge what they are hearing in the ISIS propaganda, and to say, Hey, this can't be right.'", It is difficult to gauge the impact of these efforts, in part because, as Sauerborn puts it, "prevented crimes do not show up in the statistics." But judging by one important measure the number of Germans who have died in Islamist attacks on German soil the authorities seem to be doing something right that number currently stands at zero. This doesn't mean Germany is immune to Islamic radicalism. The terrorist cell behind 9/11 was based in the German city of Hamburg, and its ringleader Mohammed Atta is thought to have masterminded the plot from his apartment there. But in the 67-year history of the Federal Republic of Germany, only one homegrown jihadist has ever managed to kill anyone inside the country. His name is Arid Uka, a lonely young man from Kosovo who was radicalized online and, in the spring of 2011, shot two U.S. servicemen dead at an airport in Frankfurt. No German citizens died in that attack, nor in any other act of Islamist violence that has ever taken place in Germany. Among the larger nations of Western Europe, that record is unique. And it seems even more remarkable when you consider that Germany, even before the arrival last year of more than a million asylum seekers from the Muslim world, had the largest Muslim population in the E.U. numbering 4.8 million as of 2010. France, by comparison, has almost the same number 4.7 million but its problems with extremism have been far worse. There have been at least six deadly Islamist attacks in France since 2012, killing a total of 160 people including the 130 killed in Paris last November, when ISIS militants went on a citywide rampage. From across the border, Germans have watched the death toll climb with a sense of foreboding. In a nationwide poll conducted in December, two-thirds of respondents said they expect an ISIS attack in Germany at some point this year. While traveling abroad, Germans have become victims of ISIS eight German tourists were among the dead in an Istanbul bombing in January that was claimed by the extremist group. But so far their country has somehow managed to avoid such violence on its territory. "It has been a lot of luck," says Hans-Peter Friedrich, a former Interior Minister in Chancellor Angela Merkel's government who oversaw the national police from spring 2011 to late 2013. To some extent, luck does help explain Germany's record with terrorism. In December 2012, for instance, a bomb left in a gym bag at a train station in Bonn, the former capital of West Germany, failed to explode only because of a flaw in its construction. Other attacks were averted thanks to Germany's close cooperation with U.S. spy agencies, which provided tips and intelligence to their German colleagues. "That was a very important factor," says Friedrich. But Germany also acted early to counteract Islamist propaganda, dating back to before ISIS even emerged as a global terror network. Soon after the deadly shooting at Frankfurt airport in spring 2011, the government instituted a program that may seem counter-intuitive it began making Islamic studies available to students of all ages, particularly around North-Rhine Westphalia, Germany's most populous region and home to its largest Muslim communities. Teachers in this region, whose capital is Dsseldorf, were given a "crash course" in the new Islamic curriculum, which was designed with the help of local imams and religious experts, says Ali Bas, a regional lawmaker who lobbied for this initiative and helps oversee its implementation. As of this year, 17,000 students in the region were taking courses on Islam, a small fraction of the roughly 300,000 Muslim students in the region but double the number at the start of 2015. By next year, Bas expects the program to grow at an even faster pace, as the first group of teachers are due to complete their degrees in Islamic education and join the faculties of schools across the region. One of their aims, says Bas, is to make young Muslims feel accepted, "to give them the feeling that they are important in our society." The broader intention, he says, is to undermine the work of ISIS recruiters, who typically stoke feelings of alienation and social resentment. "Accepting this religion is, for us, a very important aspect of making younger people stronger against extremism," says Bas, who is an ethnically Turkish Muslim. The Signpost program, which Sauerborn established in 2014, takes a more targeted approach. With three offices around North-Rhine Westphalia, it offers parents and teachers a place to turn for advice when they see signs of radicalization among young men. In many cases, the program's counselors go to the schools and hang-outs of devout Muslims in Dsseldorf and other cities to offer guidance, not only on questions of religion but also on social or financial issues, like finding a job or resolving a conflict with a teacher. German converts to Islam are also invited to seek help from Signpost counselors, who often try to ensure that a convert does not become estranged from his family. "We'd call his mother and say, Look, he's just a Muslim,'" says Sauerborn. "'That's not a crime. That's his choice. That doesn't mean he's being radicalized.'", The hardest part of the program's mission is winning the trust of the Muslim community, especially among young men who might already feel persecuted or unjustly scrutinized by the authorities. The Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, Germany's domestic intelligence service, pays the salaries of all of the program's counselors, defines their responsibilities and oversees their work. But the agency does not use them as informants, says Sauerborn, who sits on the executive board of the Dsseldorf police department. "There is no information exchange, and on that point the Federal Office is very consistent," he says. "They have never asked for personal information about the people we work with. They just want us to be here to meet their needs.", One of the program's counselors agreed to talk to TIME, but only on the condition of anonymity so as not to alert other members of the Muslim community that he works for the German intelligence service. Over the past two years, he says he has worked with about 30 young men in Dsseldorf, some of whom had plans to travel to Syria and join ISIS. "They think they need to go there and defend Islam, because of these propaganda videos and everything they've been told," he says. In their attempts to dissuade such people, "we don't say directly that ISIS is wrong, that it's all lies. We have to speak with the people in such a way as to analyze the situation, to see what Islamist groups they are attached to, what they want to do in Syria. And then we try to provide concrete help.", In one typical case the counselor handled earlier this year, a teacher called the Signpost hotline to report that a 13-year-old boy was showing clear signs of radicalization. The counselor then visited the his school several times to talk to him, not only about the tenets of Islam but about the boy's feelings of animosity toward his German teachers and fellow students. "It turned out the boy felt discriminated against, as though nobody really understood him," says the counselor. "All I did was make myself available, as a Muslim, to talk through these things.", Bas, the local lawmaker, says this type of "role-model function" is the most useful social service the government can provide in trying to combat Islamic extremism. But it is no silver bullet. Over the past few years, about 800 Islamists have still left Germany to fight in Syria or Iraq, according to police statistics reported in local media. Relative to its population, that is far lower than the number of ISIS fighters who have come from Germany's neighbors. Some 1,800 have reportedly joined or tried to join ISIS from France, and another 450 have come from Belgium, whose Muslim community is about one-eighth the size of Germany's. Neither France nor Belgium has yet created a program like Signpost, though Sauerborn wishes they would. "It's an important mission," he told his young audience on the children's television show. "We try to do everything possible to take them in a good direction, away from extremism." The message seemed simple enough, even for the kids that Sauerborn and his colleagues in the police force see as their most important "clients.", "If we can reach them early and develop some trust," he told me after taping the show, "that's the best chance we have to intervene." It is a very narrow window of opportunity, and it would take far more resources than Signpost currently has to take full advantage of it. But with their hotline and their little office on the second floor of an apartment building, the police in Dsseldorf are at least trying to compete with ISIS on its ideological turf.

World

Germans Happily Pay More for Renewable Energy But Would Others

While Germany is breaking world records for the amount of sustainable energy it uses every year, German energy customers are breaking European records for the amount they pay in monthly bills. Surprisingly, they don't seem to mind. In the first half of 2014, Germany drew 28 percent of its power generation from renewable energy sources. Wind and solar capacity were hugely boosted, now combining to generate 45 terawatt hours TWh, or 17 percent of national demand, with another 11 percent coming from biomass and hydropower plants. This proves that Germany's controversial Energiewendepolicy is on target to meet highly ambitious goals by 2050 as much as a 95 percent reduction in greenhouse gases, 60 percent of power generation from renewables, and a 50 percent increase in energy efficiency over 2010. All well and good, but the economics of renewable energy don't usually allow for such a smooth transition. As part of the Energiewende, the costs of associated subsidies have been passed on to German customers, who pay the highest power bills in Europe. Fifty-two percent of the power bill for retail businesses in July 2014 is now made up of taxes and fees. The average bill for a household has reached 85 euros a month, 18 euros of which is the renewable energy levy. The reaction to such fees should have been furious. It hasn't been. A 2013 survey revealed that 84 percent of Germans would be happy to pay even more if the country could find a way to go 100 percent renewable. So how can this model of high targets, high fees and high public support find traction in other countries? The answer is, with difficulty. Germany's national engagement toward renewable energy came after a period of prolonged public education, opening up to locally owned wind and solar infrastructure, and investment support. To be sure, other major countries are finding success in the renewable sphere, but not in quite the same way. While renewable installations in the U.S. may account for 24 percent of the world's total, they only accounted for 13 percent of the country's power generation. This compares to Germany, which has more than 12 percent of global installed renewable capacity, but takes 28 percent of its power from it. Spain, China and Brazil trail behind, with 7.8 percent, 7.5 percent and 5 percent of global capacity respectively. Brazil's model has similarities to Germany's, with the government carrying out public auctions for contracts and putting out favorable investment terms for foreign companies looking to set up renewable energy projects. Spain was doing well as wind became its largest source of power generation in April 2013, but economic woes have seen Madrid begin to double back on its commitments. Political gridlock in Washington, D.C. means renewable energy in the U.S. has been boosted by state and private efforts. Arizona now has the biggest solar power plant in the world, while California has the largest geothermal plant in the country. In Mexico, the country's solar potential and the improving cost-effectiveness of PV technology has seen projects like the 30MW Aura Solar I crop up. But the national electricity regulator, CFE, has been slammed for taking up to six months to connect residential PV installations to the grid. Perhaps the most ambitious plans come from China, which is busy working to transform its reputation from an energy pariah to a respected renewable leader. However, these are being mandated at a central level, with little to no attention being paid to the opinions of the Chinese public. And there's the rub. The German public is a willing participant in the government's efforts, happy to face higher bills in exchange for a cleaner and more energy-efficient future, paying an average of 90 euros a month in 2013. It is true that Germans' power bills are the highest in Europe, but the trade-off is known, increases are announced and negotiated months in advance, and surprises are few. In the UK, which was proud of having among the lowest electricity rates in the EU, the government has been hard-pressed to explain to customers just why Scottish Power, Southern Electric, and British Gas have all raised prices, while the Labour Party has promised a 20-month price freeze if it wins 2015 elections. The UK has left its coal and nuclear infrastructure to stagnate, reversed Blair-era commitments to renewable sources and opened vast swathes of the country to fracking exploration. Ask them, and Germans might tell you that a pricey electricity bill might actually save everyone from a few headaches down the line. Fracking Fluids May Be More Toxic Than Previously Thought, As Radioactive Water Accumulates, TEPCO Eyes Pacific Ocean As Dumping Ground, New Study Says U.S. Underestimated Keystone XL Emissions

World

Bin Ladens Will Shows a Terror Leader Left Behind by Contemporary Jihad

It's been a tough few days for jihad's old guard. On March 1, Osama bin Laden's last will and testament were published, in a trove of documents that had the aging terrorist lamenting the brutality of those who had come after him. And March 5 brought the death of Hassan al-Turabi, the man who first gave al-Qaeda a place in the world by inviting bin Laden to bring his fledgling terror organization to Sudan, the East African country Turabi's party had taken over. This was the early 1990s, the salad days of a particular type of political Islam, as militancy was giving way into terror. Shi'ite clerics had taken over Iran in 1979, and the National Islamic Front took power in Khartoum 10 years later. Turabi, with his Ph.D. from the Sorbonne and cheerful, nattering oratory, set out to make to make the African nation the incubator for a new Islamic order. Each year, he brought to Khartoum groups ranging from the militant Palestinian party Hamas to Egyptian Islamic Jihad for annual confabs. Those summits had the full attention of the few counter-terrorism experts then focused on the issue that would reshape the post-Cold War worldbut few others even knew they were going on. It's a world either man might claim to have made Turabi by having embraced the Saudi exile, and bin Laden, of course, for mounting the 9/11 attacks that cascaded into events that have kept the entire Arab world in turmoil, and the West perpetually on edge. But they turned out to be yesterday's men, overtaken even before their deaths by events more brutal than either of them claimed to be comfortable with. Turabi was the first to separate himself from violent extremism, first of all by separating himself from bin Laden. "All Osama could say was jihad, jihad, jihad," Turabi later complained about his onetime guest, who on May 18, 1996 the Khartoum government abruptly kicked out of Sudan, at the insistence of the U.S. government. The Saudi extremist boarded a charter flight to Afghanistan, from which he plotted the embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania, the attack on the USS Cole, and, of course, the catastrophe of 9/11. Left behind in Sudan were bin Laden's houses, businesses, racehorsesand almost all of his cash. Read More How Bashar Assad Is Trying to Win the Peace in Syria, It was never nearly as much as widely believed. After 9/11, when it seemed al-Qaeda could do anything, estimates of its founder's personal fortune routinely ran to 300 million. But the Saudi government had locked up most of his inheritance shortly after he began advocating their overthrow, for allowing U.S. troops to remain in the Kingdom after the First Gulf War. When I talked in November 2001 with businessmen in Sudan, where bin Laden had spent five years, they figured from how excited his business guys would get over a deal that might clear a couple of hundred grand that his actual worth was more like 30 million. And, sure enough, in the last will and testament made public by the U.S. government, bin Laden himself puts the figure at "about 29 million."*, Almost all the money, he noted, remained in Khartoum. The Sudanese government had refused to hand it over, or to fork over millions it owed him for building a major highway. Bin Laden's will named the executor who had been charged with getting the money back from the Sudanese who in the past he had likened to thieves. The chore earned the executor a one-percent finder's fee. Except for a few meager bequests to kintwo pounds of gold for each male, one for each female, worth about 40,000 and 20,000 respectively at today's pricesbin Laden directed that most of might be recovered from Sudan be spent "on Jihad.", But not just any jihad. The emir of al-Qaeda had very specific, even delicate views, on holy war. "11. Avoid publishing pictures of prisoners after they were beheaded," bin Laden writes in a letter to a subordinate in Pakistan's tribal region. Also "Do not publish pictures of the martyrs who were badly injured, which may terrify the younger generation and the Muslim youth who want to join jihad.", The letter is undated, but it's fair to say it's from a different time, before ISIS. "12. Avoid displaying some prisoners wearing inappropriate clothes.", "You know too well that Islam forbids Muslims from killing one another," he wrote in another letter. "God has repeatedly warned those who kill without a just cause.", High in his redoubt in Abbotabad, Pakistan, unwilling to trust the Internetthe porn that months ago was reported found in the house was on discs or flash drivesthe world's most famous terrorist became, of necessity, a man of letters. In visits to Sudan after he left, it was possible to get a sense of bin Laden's life when he lived freely in Khartoum. Those who knew him, including Turabi's sons, said he swam laps across the Nile, played soccer with neighborhood kids, and, on Friday, went to see his horses race at the track plugging his fingers in his ears when the fanfare played, believing as he did that the Koran forbade the enjoyment of music. The 113 documents posted on Bin Laden's Bookshelf, as the Director of National Intelligence dubbed the repository, also offer something like intimacy. "I also ask you to send me Fatima's luggage, whatever my daughter was wearing, even her wristwatch, where I can smell her aroma," reads one passage from the latest digital tranche, referring to a dead relative either of bin Laden or the person writing to him. Read More Syria's Lost Cause, Turabi, who lived to 84, never quite renounced his earlier militancy, but as a politician first he was tethered to a different world. He spent time in prison, as the ruling coalition in Khartoum splintered, and made news for supporting the International Criminal Court's 2008 indictment of his old ally, President Omar Bashir, for war crimes in Darfur. Turabi himself championed the imposition of Shari'a law that aggravated the horrific civil war with what is now the nation of South Sudan, but his sons insisted their father sought a governing Islam that was both political and ecumenical, urging activists to avoid the sectarianism into which much of the Mideast has devolved. Bin Laden may never have mellowed. But the extremism he articulated so carefully at his keyboard comes off as less extreme in the brutal world that he made possible. A micro-manger with time on his hands, he dispensed bonuses and offered pointed advice to "brothers" in Pakistan's tribal regions to stay indoors "except on a cloudy overcast day" in order to avoid U.S. Predator drones. His precise instructions for the delivery of a ransom payment involve "exchanging vehicles in the tunnel between Kohat and Peshawar," and getting rid of the suitcase the money came in "due the possibility of it having a tracking chip in it." The courier who faces the risk of the exchange, he adds, "should not be from the leadership.", "In reference to al-Jufi," he wrote one day in 2008, referring to an individual who apparently has run afoul of the rules, Bin Laden counsels mercy, "a reconciliation council" as opposed to the more ominous option "an investigation. We do not want to appoint the devil in charge of him in these circumstances.", As ISIS would make clear enough in a couple of years, everything is relative, even terror. Or, as Osama bin Laden himself put it, "Some harm is less than other harm."

World

In India 150 Million People Will Be Voting For The First Time This Year

It's Thursday afternoon at the Youth Ki Awaaz Voice of the Youth office in New Delhi, and around ten young undergraduates are in deep discussion, brainstorming ideas for a voting drive known as the Youth Elect 2014 campaign. It's been a busy month, with most of them putting in at least 35 hours a week stolen from their social lives and impending examinations in May to organize Google Hangouts, opinion surveys, and other initiatives to help young voters make informed choices for the elections, which began on April 7. The 2014 elections will see around 150 million voters, between the ages 18-23, head to the voting booths for the first time. As a voting class, young Indians have traditionally been apolitical. This year, however, they seem unequivocal about change. "One of the biggest demands by young people is their participation in governance," says Anshul Tewari, the 23-year-old who in 2008 founded Youth Ki Awaaz, as a platform for young people to discuss issues important to them. "They want to be a part of the system that decides for them.", Events of the recent past anti-graft protests in 2011 and mass demonstrations against sexual violence, sparked by the horrific Dec. 16 gang-rape and murder of a 23-year-old medical intern in New Delhi have transformed this one-time dispassionate generation into a politically sensitized group. There have been other catalysts too. "Expenses are running out of hand," says Azad Singh, a 23-year-old state gold-medal wrestler and first time voter from New Delhi. Rising inflation means his special athlete's diet is bleeding him dry. We're not talking about expensive protein shakes and supergreen food supplements, but a few kilograms of almonds every month and four liters of milk a day. Which is a lot of milk, but it ought to be within the grasp of somebody who self-describes as "middle class." He says "I want a leader who can fix all these.", Young people want better security for women "I am a young girl who is teased by lecherous men everyday on the roads," says 20-year-old Anwesha Dhar, a student of English from Kolkata. They want a sustainable development model "Small towns and villages grapple with poverty and ignorance every day," says Mayank Jain, 20, final year student of business studies at Delhi University. They wnat basic human rights "Child labor, malnourishment, trafficking are all pervasive and appalling and need immediate action," says Meghana Rathore, 20, a political science student from New Delhi. Issues like gay rights too, which hadn't bothered young Indians much in the past, are important this year. The Supreme Court made gay sex a criminal offense in 2013, overturning an historical judgment by a lower court that had decriminalized homosexuality in 2009. "There has to be a change in the way society looks at us," says a 20-year-old, gay student of fashion design, Shadwal Srivastava. "That can only come from raising awareness and stopping the comic and often trivial portrayal of gay people in television and movies.", It is a heartening sign for the Indian democracy that first time voters like Srivastava are more forthcoming with their ideas on politics, politicians and their expectations. Wooed by political parties across the board as an important vote bank, they have been swayed equally by anger against the ruling Congress party, the rise of the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi, and the emergence of neophytes like Arvind Kejriwal, a middle class Indian who claims to represent the common man with his anti-graft Aam Aadmi Party. "A few years back I thought my vote didn't matter," Srivastava says. "Today I know better. If we want change, we will have to work towards it.",

World

It May Be Too Late for Japans PM to Fix the Worlds Third Largest Economy

Tokyo is abuzz with speculation that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is about to dissolve the Diet, as the country's legislature is known, and call a snap election. He by no means has to take such action. It has only been two years since his Liberal Democratic Party, or LDP, swept to power in a massive landslide, and the opposition is in such disarray that there is little doubt Abe would be returned to office in a new election. Nevertheless, Abe apparently feels the need for another vote of confidence from the public, likely in part to bolster support for his radical program to revive Japan's economy, nicknamed Abenomics. The problem is that it could already be too late. Abenomics is a failure, and Abe isn't likely to fix it, no matter how many seats his party holds in parliament. When Abe first introduced Abenomics, many economists most notably, Nobel laureate Paul Krugman believed the unconventional program would finally end the economy's two-decade slump. The plan the Bank of Japan BOJ, the country's central bank, would churn out yen on a biblical scale to smash through the economy's endemic and destructive cycle of deflation, while Abe's government would pump up fiscal spending and implement long-overdue reforms to the structure of the economy. Advocates argued that Abenomics was just the sort of bold action to jump-start growth and fix a broken Japan, and we all had reason to hope that it would work. Japan is still the world's third largest economy, and a revival there would add another much-needed pillar to hold up sagging global economic growth. However, I had my concerns from the very beginning. In my view, Japan's economy doesn't grow because there is a lack of demand. Pumping more cash into the economy, therefore, will not restart growth. Only deep reform to raise the potential of the economy can do that by improving productivity and unleashing new economic energies. Unless Abe changed the way Japan's economy works and I doubted he would all of the largesse from the BOJ would at best come to nothing. In a worst-case scenario, Abe's program could turn Japan into an even bigger economic mess than it already is. So far, Abenomics has disappointed. GDP shrank a hope-dashing annualized 7.1 in the quarter ending June. Inflation, meanwhile, is nowhere near the BOJ target of 2, and is slowing. Nor has Abenomics brought significant benefits to the general populace. Job creation and wage increases are sluggish and, with prices increases, the welfare of the average salaried worker has suffered. Meanwhile, an increase in consumption tax earlier this year made necessary by the need to shore up the government's shaky finances further burdened Japanese households and led to a drastic decline in consumer spending. The response of policymakers has been to double down on Abenomics. On Oct. 31, the BOJ surprised markets by greatly expanding its unorthodox stimulus program, known as quantitative easing, or QE. As part of that, the BOJ will increase its annual purchases of Japanese government bonds by 60 to a staggering 700 billion. More of the same, however, will just have the same result a short-term boost to sentiment with little lasting effect. In fact, the program is only perpetuating Japan's bad habits. The extra BOJ cash is weakening the yen the Japanese currency has tumbled by nearly 7 against the dollar just since the bank's announcement which hands Japan Inc. companies more competitiveness without forcing them to undertake any actual improvements. The problem with Abenomics, therefore, remains the same. More yen printed by the BOJ can't fix Japan on its own, and can't replace the fundamental changes necessary to raise the economy's potential growth. If anything, the BOJ's latest action only buys Abe a bit more time to implement his pledged reform program, known at the "third arrow" of Abenomics. So far, though, the third arrow has remained in his quiver. In June, Abe unveiled the latest elements of the plan, which included everything from lowering the corporate-tax rate to spur investment, to enlisting more women into the male-dominated workforce, and bringing further change to an unproductive and outdated agricultural sector. It would be unfair to say that Abe has made no progress on his promises. The number of working women, for instance, has been on the rise under his administration. But many important reforms remain stalled. Abe had announced the formation of "special economic zones," which would be crucibles of experimentation with the deep deregulation necessary to spark entrepreneurship and investment, but their implementation has crept along at a glacial pace. Serious reform of the country's distorted labor market seems to have slipped off the table. Abe is also foot-dragging on opening the economy to more competition by holding up the completion of the U.S.-sponsored Trans-Pacific Partnership free-trade pact over an unwillingness to expose Japan's overly protected farmers to imports. The big question is whether another election will somehow lead to faster reform. In theory, a fresh mandate could give Abe the added political clout he needs to press ahead more boldly. However, Abe already controls both houses of the Diet, so if he wanted to move more quickly on reform, he could. That has left some analysts wondering what difference an election may make. "A snap election could have the virtue of giving the government a stronger mandate as it struggles to push ahead with structural reform," commented Mark Williams and Marcel Thieliant of research outfit Capital Economics. But since Abe's party has already been in a strong position, "an election would not make much practical difference to his ability to get things done.", Abe continues to insist he is a reformer and will follow through on his grand pronouncements. "Make no mistake, Japan will emerge from economic contraction and advance into new fields and engage in fresh challenges," Abe recently wrote in the Wall Street Journal. "There is no reason for alarm.", Alarm bells should be ringing in Tokyo, however. Even if Abe gets the "third arrow" in the air, it could still miss its target. Many of the reforms Japan needs will take years to implement. Meanwhile, the other two arrows of Abenomics may already be running their course. There was opposition within the BOJ to its latest decision to boost QE an indication that the bank can't be counted upon to keep the printing presses rolling forever. Nor can Abe dodge the need to stabilize the government's debt and deficits indefinitely. The government's debt is 240 of the country's GDP the largest among major advanced economies. He's right now weighing whether or not to hike the consumption tax yet again. Imposing it could deal another blow to growth postponing it would undermine what little credibility Abe had as a fixer of the nation's finances. In the end, repairing Japan requires more political will than Abe has shown. Maybe a new election will help him find it. But don't hold your breath.

World

Hundreds Now Dead in India Pakistan Floods as Rescue Efforts Slammed

Updated 306 a.m. EST, The devastating floods resulting from Kashmir's worst rains in half a century claimed more lives on Tuesday, with the total death toll now breaching 400 and local people decrying officials for failing to adequately deal with the catastrophe. Several thousand people are still trapped on rooftops in the restive Himalayan region waiting to be rescued, reports Reuters, and local residents have criticized both the Indian and Pakistani authorities for a lackluster response to the crisis. Indian news channel NDTV reported that some rescue workers were even attacked by furious locals. , Although India's metrological department had forecast heavy rains in Kashmir last week, the Central Water Commission in charge of issuing flood advisories apparently did not warn the local authorities. "We were all caught off guard because there was not a single warning issued by the weather office. The flash floods took us by surprise," an official from India's National Disaster Response Force NDRF told Reuters in New Delhi on the condition of anonymity. Mohammad Irfan Dar, a New Delhi-based independent filmmaker who originally hails from Srinagar, tells TIME that efforts to organize private relief donations have been thwarted by the authorities. "In Delhi, most of us are focused on raising awareness, organizing relief and gathering supplies," he said. "The biggest challenge we are facing is the lack of communication from the state.", Dar's says he knows of between 300 and 500 relief volunteers across the Indian capital, some of whom have been dispatched to Kashmir to coordinate efforts there. Air India has offered to take essential supplies for free but only has limited capacity. "Drinking water, especially, is a huge problem right now," he adds. India's armed forces and the NDRF have commissioned 61 aircraft and helicopters along with 170 boats, 40 of which were flown to the affected area on Tuesday. Across the border, the Pakistani army and navy have 12 helicopters and more than 250 boats performing rescue and relief operations, according to local newspaper Dawn. , At least 217 Indians have been killed and more than 47,000 evacuated, say officials, while the Pakistani authorities report at least 231 fatalities. Srinagar, the capital of both Kashmir and the north Indian state of Jammu, remains mostly submerged along with over 2,000 surrounding villages, although the Times of India has reported a few breakthroughs, such as the restoration of landline communications near the city's airport and the clearing of the first road link since the floods began.

World

French President Franois Hollande May Not Stand for ReElection

France's President Franois Hollande said Thursday that he may not stand for re-election in 2017 if he fails to cut unemployment by the end of his term. "If I cannot manage it by the end of my term in office, do you really think I would go before the French in 2017?" he said in a televised interview with French TV channel TF1. Hollande admitted that it was a mistake to promise that he could bring down the rise in joblessness, which currently stands at 11. But the 60-year-old vowed to "go to the end" to reform France's weak economy. A poll released Thursday shows the Socialist Party leader has an approval rating of just 12.

World

2015 Was an Extraordinarily Safe Year for Flying Report Finds

The number of commercial airline accidents drastically decreased in 2015, making last year one of the safest for flying in the past five years, officials said. There were 136 passenger deaths from four plane accidents last year, which is less than a quarter of fatalities from 2014, when 641 people died in airline tragedies, CNN Money reports. Over the last five years, there was an average of 504 deaths per year, according to the International Air Transport Association IATA report. The figures were released Monday by the IATA. "In terms of the number of fatal accidents, it was an extraordinarily safe year," IATA's Director General and CEO Tony Tyler said in a statement. "And the long-term trend data show us that flying is getting even safer.", The deadly Germanwings 9525 and Metrojet 9268 crashes in 2015 were not counted in the data since they were caused deliberately by "unlawful interference," officials said. The Germanwings crash was apparently caused by the pilot's suicide while the Russian jet was brought down by a bomb.

World

Experts Say Its Unlikely US Will Launch a Strike on North Korea

President Donald Trump drifted into dangerous waters last week when he dispatched a strike fleet near the Korean peninsula, stoking fears that the U.S. could carry out an attack on North Korea's nuclear facilities, a move that would not be welcome in the region. Northeast Asia now hangs on tenterhooks as the war of words between Washington and Pyongyang threatens to escalate into a very real conflict one that would be disastrous but, experts say, unlikely. On Saturday, North Korea will celebrate one of its most important national holidays, the 105th anniversary of the birth of its founding father Kim Il Sung, prompting all manner of speculation about how its erratic leader might mark the occasion. More than 130 foreign journalists are now in Pyongyang on a rare invitation to visit the hermetic state, where they for the most part have reported that all is quiet in the capital. Anxiety abroad is high, however, as North Korea is expected to soon carry out its sixth nuclear test, progressing toward its stated aim of developing a nuclear-armed intercontinental missile that could reach U.S. soil. President Trump, as well as his counterpart Xi Jinping in China, has warned Pyongyang against further testing, but those calls may well be ignored. "It's not a matter of if, it's when," a White House advisor told Agence France-Presse, adding that the U.S. is assessing possible "military options" to counter North Korea's weapons program. Officials in Beijing and Seoul have sought to temper the concern. South Korean Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se told lawmakers this week that he was confident the U.S. would consult regional allies before acting against Pyongyang, while Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi urged a return to diplomacy, telling reporters that "military force cannot resolve the issue.", Read More Why President Trump Could Never Go It Alone on North Korea, Over the past week, Trump has made clear that he is not reluctant to authorize military force, even without congressional approval, making his Asian allies more than a little nervous. As Vice President Mike Pence prepares to visit Seoul on Sunday as part of his first official trip to Asia, reports that the U.S. was ready to "launch a preemptive strike" in response to the threat of a nuclear test confused even experts, who say such an act would be not only irresponsible, but also unlawful. A preemptive strike seeks to stop a known and immediate threat, hence it would be one in which the U.S. acted on intelligence of a North Korean plan to attack another sovereign nation. Experts say at present, there is no sign of such a threat. According to Daniel Pinkston, a lecturer at Seoul's Troy University, "an unprovoked attack against U.S. allies would trigger the very thing that North Korea wants to avoid more than anything." He tells TIME that "North Korea knows that if they go into a full scale war, they lose." The conversation isn't really about a "preemptive" strike, rather it currently hinges on two questions will Pyongyang carry out another test in defiance of international conventions and the warnings of other nations and how might the U.S. respond to such a challenge?, A nuclear test is just that a test not an imminent security threat to the U.S. or its allies, says John Delury, an associate professor at Seoul's Yonsei University. He adds that a serious military response would not be proportional and would not be chosen by any "responsible American President." Responding to a test with a strike, which would likely target North Korea's nuclear testing facilities and achieve very little, would be construed as an act of war. No one knows exactly what would play out if the U.S. launched an attack on North Korea. Most experts agree, however, that the outcome would be very deadly. While a strike on North Korea's testing facilities would likely result in very few casualties, Pyongyang would be compelled to launch a "very serious military response," Delury says. "North Korea would retaliate in a way that would probably inflict serious loss of life," he tells TIME. His colleagues agree. "They would have a number of options," Sean O'Malley, a professor of international relations at Busan's Dongseo University, tells TIME. "One would be an artillery barrage sent toward Seoul." He and other experts say the South Korean capital, home to more than 10 million people, would be the most likely target for a retaliatory strike, while U.S. military installations in South Korea could also be high on Pyongyang's list. An estimated 28,000 U.S. troops are stationed in a number of military bases in the South, many at the southern Busan air base. South Korea, located only about 120 miles south of Pyongyang, is also host to an estimated 150,000 to 200,000 American expatriates, who would most likely have to be evacuated in the event of conflict. "My natural instinct," O'Mally tells TIME, "if Trump stays with long-held policy, is that he won't strike without notifying South Korea and Beijing.", In short, they are very worried. Seoul and Beijing have spoken in no uncertain terms against any military escalation, favoring a return to diplomacy, which Pyongyang has signaled it is open to albeit under conditions deemed unacceptable by Washington. Japan, also host to U.S. troops, is feeling the pressure as well. CNN reports that Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Friday told lawmakers that "the security situation around our country is getting increasingly severe," warning without providing evidence that he believes Pyongyang is now capable of delivering warheads loaded with the nerve agent sarin, a chemical weapon. Trump has promised a presidency that delivers decisive results. But amid the fear and speculation, North Korea's nervous neighbors want words over actions. Those that lie directly in the line of North Korean missiles would prefer that the U.S. military stand down and the State Department step up. "What's gotten completely lost in our discussion is, why isn't the U.S. looking for diplomatic ways out of this?" asks Delury, of Yonsei University. "The State Department's job is to travel around, to go there and to talk including to people we don't really like."

World

China Warns of Serious Damage to US Military Relations Over Hacking Charges

The Chinese Foreign Ministry has summoned U.S. Ambassador Max Baucus to voice its displeasure over the arraignment of five Chinese army officers accused of hacking into American companies, and China's Defense Ministry cautioned on Tuesday that the charges will cause "serious damage" to the two countries' military relations. Chinese hacking is focusing on major American producers of nuclear and solar technology, according to a U.S. grand-jury indictment. However, Beijing has long vehemently denied Washington's claims that its military is stealing American trade secrets, and in a statement issued on Monday insisted that the charges were based on "fabricated facts" and that "China is steadfast in upholding cybersecurity.", The statement said, "The U.S. by this action, betrays its commitment to building healthy, stable, reliable military-to-military relations and causes serious damage to mutual trust between the sides.", China says it will suspend cooperation with the U.S. in a joint cybersecurity working group, which was set up last year after allegations surfaced of military involvement in commercial espionage. AP

World

Are Indians As Nonchalant About Rape as This Video Suggests

Two weeks ago, India woke up to the gruesome image of two teenage girls who had been raped and left hanging from a mango tree in rural Uttar Pradesh. This shocking act was just the latest in a series of outrages, since the Dec. 16, 2012, murder and gang rape of a student in New Delhi, that have sparked nationwide angst and given India worldwide notoriety for sexual violence. But with rape and assault taking center stage once again, how many Indians would actually try to help a woman being attacked? A group called YesNoMaybe staged a social experiment to find out, filming a van in the Indian capital from which harrowing female screams were emanating. The video, which has already garnered more than 850,000 hits on YouTube, showed many people walking past nonchalantly, ignoring desperate pleas for help. One or two, it must be noted, were determined to intervene including a 78-year-old security guard who tried to bash the vehicle's doors with his stick. There is hope.

World

Liberias Ministry of Sound

It seems like any typical Friday night in Monrovia. Out on the streets traffic snarls around the intersections, and taxis and buses are crammed with commuters on their way home after a long week. The ubiquitous sidewalk video bars are filing with patrons settling in to watch European club football on open air screens Chelsea and Barcelona are favorites here, and the base is starting to thump at Code 146, the Liberian capital's hottest live music club. Blake, the house DJ, is priming the audience with promises of a new band. Then he opens with an unusual mike check for a bar known best for getting down "Let's get started, but let's respect the rules. So no too much rubbing, no too much hugging, no too much sweating, no too much drinking. You have to be cautious.", At first glance it's hard to tell that Monrovia is the epicenter of an Ebola outbreak that has killed nearly 3,000 people and sickened thousands more in the West African nations of Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea. But a closer look reveals what Ebola has wrought. No one shakes hands any more, and the shared taxis, which used to careen around town with as many as five passengers stuffed in the back, are only allowed three, by a new government decree. Public buses are limited to four passengers per row. The video bars, which used to cram as many as 12 football fans to a bench for the big games, are stopping at eight. And at Code 146 the smell of old beer and fresh marijuana is nearly masked by the pervasive scent of chlorine emanating from a hand washing station placed prominently near the dance floor. "Ebola is real," Blake shouts over the microphone, as he launches into a rap about a guy who called it a myth. "And now he's dead.", Not exactly the most uplifting way to launch into an evening of dance and revelry, but, says the bar's owner Takun J, "We have a responsibility as musicians to spread the message about Ebola." Takun J is one of the country's most well known singers, his style a reggae-tinged Liberian hip-hop dubbed Hipco. He is working on a new song about Ebola, and hums a few refrains as he gets ready for the evening show. "Musicians have the ear of the people," he says. "Everyone loves Takun J, so when I talk about Ebola, everyone knows it's serious." He pauses for a moment, then grins. "They will listen to me more than to the President.", Takun's efforts, along with a widespread education campaign conducted by various NGOs, seem to be having an impact. "When the crisis first started, I would say 30 took Ebola seriously and 70 of the people didn't believe it was real," says Matthew G. Slermien, head of a teenage empowerment program in the Monrovia slum of Westpoint. "Now those numbers are reversed." Slermien's project, Adolescents Leading Intensive Fight Against Ebola ALIFE, has trained 142 young women and men to go through the community educating residents about Ebola and how to protect themselves. "People are starting to listen," says ALIFE volunteer Hazel Toe. It's not perfectthe organization doesn't have the money to distribute chlorine or buckets or gloves to the slum dwellers who can't buy their ownbut it's a start, she says. "Once people start listening, the rest will follow." That's what DJ Blake and Takun J are hoping as well.

World

Polish Women Are Going on Strike to Protest a Proposed Abortion Ban

Tens of thousands of Polish women are expected to miss work on Monday to protest a proposed law that would totally ban abortions in the predominantly Catholic country. According to the Guardian, citing the strike's Facebook event post, the protest is inspired by a similar movement in Iceland during the 1970s, in which women refused to work and perform domestic duties in order to draw the country's attention to wage gaps and larger problems of gender inequality. Bloomberg reports that demonstrators are protesting by wearing black and sending wire hangers to the country's right-wing Prime Minister Beata Szydlo, who is a devout Catholic and supports the stricter abortion legislation. Although Poland already forbids abortions except in cases of rape or when the mother's or fetus' life is in danger, the new law threatens to ban abortions completely and impose a five-year jail sentence on women who undergo the procedure. In March, Poland's ruling conservatives also announced plans to reinstate a prescription requirement for the morning-after pill, which became available without a prescription after a decision by the European Commission authorizing such sales last year. According to a poll cited by the Guardian, 50 percent of Poles support the strike. "A lot of women and girls in this country have felt that they don't have any power, that they are not equal, that they don't have the right to an opinion," said Magda Staroszczyk, one of the strike coordinators, to the Guardian. "This is a chance for us to be seen, and to be heard.",

World

What To Know About the Brussels Terrorist Attacks

At least 34 people were killed and 190 wounded when three explosions hit Brussels on Tuesday morning, the first two at Zaventem airport and the third on a subway train near European Union headquarters, according to the Associated Press. Belgian federal prosecutor Frederic Van Leeuw called all three explosions terrorist attacks, and ISIS later claimed responsibility for them, the AP reported. Belgium raised its terror threat to the highest level for "a serious and imminent threat.", Here are the key details to know, Three explosions targeted transportation hubs in Brussels, Two blasts hit Brussels airport, around 8 a.m. local time. The first explosion tore through the departure hall, while the second happened minutes later in another area. Images and videos shared on social media showed shattered windows, fallen ceiling tiles and broken glass scattered around the departure hall, while a plume of smoke was also seen rising from the terminal as passengers fled the area. A third bomb was later deactivated at the airport, according to the AP. Belgian Health Minister Maggie de Block said at least 11 were killed and 81 were injured at the airport. The third blast hit Maelbeek station in the city center, a short walk from many European Union offices, around 910 a.m. Brussels Mayor Yvan Majeur told reporters that the bomb on the subway train killed at least 20 and injured more than 100 people, the AP reported. Read More Eyewitness Accounts from Inside Brussels Airport, ISIS claimed responsibility for the attacks, ISIS claimed responsibility for the attacks on Tuesday. The group said its members opened fire in the airport and said "several" detonated suicide belts, the AP reported. On Wednesday, Belgian police sources named the two suicide bombers as brothers Khalid and Brahim El Bakraoui, according to a public broadcaster. The brothers were previously known to Belgian police, and Khalid El Bakraoui is believed to have rented an apartment, where police found the fingerprints of Paris terror suspect Salah Abdeslam, the BBC reports. Police are now hunting a third man who was pictured with the two brothers at Brussels Airport on Tuesday, but is believed to have escaped the airport. Local newspaper DH has identified the wanted man as Najim Laachraoui, according to Reuters. Laachraoui has been named by police as an accomplice of Abdeslam and a bomb maker. Chemical products, an ISIS flag and a new explosive device containing nails were found during raids taking place throughout the country after the attacks, the AP reported. Transportation in the city came to a standstill, Hundreds of travelers were stranded in Brussels, as all of the stations in the city's bus, tram and subway networks were shut down in response to the attacks. The airport, museums and international train services were also shut down, halted or diverted. The Brussels Airport CEO said the airport would remain closed until Wednesday. While cities across the world boosted security measures, U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson said in a statement that there is "no specific, credible intelligence" of any similar plots against the U.S. World leaders reacted with compassion and unity, International leaders responded to the attacks with calls to strengthen alliances and combat the deadly threat of ISIS. "What we feared has happened," Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel said. "In this time of tragedy, this black moment for our country, I appeal to everyone to remain calm but also to show solidarity.", Heads of state in the 28-nation European Union pledged to fight terrorism with "all necessary means" after the attacks, the AP reported. In a statement, the leaders pledged to be united in "the fight against hatred, violent extremism and terrorism" and said the attacks "only strengthens our resolve to defend European values and tolerance from the attacks of the intolerant.", Speaking from Cuba, U.S. President Barack Obama called the world to unite "in fighting against the scourge of terrorism." Other leaders, including French President Francois Hollande, Russian President Vladimir Putin and U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron, condemned the attacks and expressed their condolences to Belgium. The attacks follow the capture of Salah Abdeslam, Salah Abdeslam, the sole surviving alleged perpetrator of the November attacks in Paris, was captured Friday in Brussels, the culmination of a manhunt that lasted more than four months. The city has been on high alert since the November attacks, after which Abdeslam fled to Brussels. Prosecutors said it's not possible at this time to establish any links between the attacks in Brussels and those in Paris, the AP reported. Belgian Interior Minister Jan Jambon said that while authorities knew more attacks were a possibility, they "could not have imagined something of this scale" and had no information about the planning of the Brussels attack. International community showed solidarity on social media, Brussels residents offered lodging or a ride to those left stranded after the city went on lockdown, using the hashtag ikwilhelpen "I want to help" in Dutch. Facebook also activated its Security Check for users located in Brussels. Both the social media hashtag and the Security Check were implemented in November's terrorist attacks in Paris. Social media users expressed their solidarity with Belgium by sharing images of a crying TinTin the cartoon character is a national symbol for Belgium. The French cartoonist known as Plantu shared an image for Le Monde of the personified versions of the French and Belgium flags annotated with dates corresponding with each country's deadly attacks. Read More Brussels Bombing Reveals Europe's Security Dilemma

World

Auschwitz Survivor on Nazi Trial Verdict The Pain Never Goes Away

A 94-year-old former Nazi SS guard was convicted on Friday of 170,000 counts of accessory to murder, but Auschwitz survivor Irene Weiss said she is still plagued by the many questions left unanswered in the long-awaited trial. Weiss, who now lives in Virginia, was one of several survivors who journeyed to the small city of Detmold, Germany this year to testify as a witness in the case against Reinhold Hanning, who the Associated Press reports was sentenced on Friday to five years in prison for serving as an Auschwitz guard from January 1942 to June 1944. Weiss, who is Jewish, was 13 when she entered the concentration camp with her family during Hanning's tenure. "It really seemed like he talked about his experience there as an observer," Weiss, 85, said in an interview with TIME on Friday."We heard about it. Wewho came in there totally not knowing what awaited uswe heard about it. He didn't hear about it. He was a part of it.", Weiss was driving in her car when she heard news of the conviction announced on the radio. She said she's glad the court "did the right thing" in reaching its verdict, but she was disappointed by the lack of information Hanning shared during the trial. "I would like to know more about his emotional state. How does one suppress that? I don't suppose it's comparable to survivors' experience because we cannot suppress it. We can never ever suppress it," she said. "If he were open to such questions, or if he offered some of these things, it would be so helpful to all of us to understand how a person can be convinced to do such a job day after day.", Hanning spoke briefly toward the end of his trial, offering an apology. "I want to say that it disturbs me deeply that I was part of such a criminal organization," he told the court, according to the AP. "I am ashamed that I saw injustice and never did anything about it, and I apologize for my actions. I am very, very sorry.", Weiss said there are several questions she still has for him How did he feel? Was there a quota of people to kill? How did he fall in line and get used to it? Did he get used to it? Did he ever feel a sense of common humanity toward prisoners? What was his daily assignment? Did he know how many trains to expect each day? Did he sleep well?, She said his answers could have comforted survivors and added to society's understanding of human nature. "These things can happen again. We know that," Weiss said. "It's on the edge of possibilities in every country, and we see that a lot of hate has emerged in many European countries and elsewhere, so this lesson of history has to be learned.", She said it's important to talk about the Holocaust in order to educate younger generations, who will soon learn about it from history books without the benefit of living witnesses. "As far as closure for me, the pain never goes away. In fact, it has become a part of me. This is who I am, the person whose family was torn apart," Weiss said. "How does one close that chapter? To the day I die, that goes with me."

World

Trump Reaches Out to Asia Allies Over North Koreas Nuclear Threat

U.S. President Donald Trump on Sunday stepped up outreach to allies in Asia to secure their cooperation to pressure North Korea over its nuclear and missile programs. Trump spoke to the prime ministers of Thailand and Singapore in separate phone calls about the North Korean threat and invited both of them to Washington, U.S. officials said. "They discussed ways to maintain diplomatic and economic pressure on North Korea," one U.S. official said of the calls, speaking on condition of anonymity. Trumps calls to the two Asian leaders came two days after North Korea test-launched another missile that Washington and Seoul said was unsuccessful but which drew widespread international condemnation. Trump talked on Saturday night with Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte, who was also invited to the White House. Duterte has been criticized by human rights groups for an anti-drug campaign in which more than 8,000 people have died. A week ago, Trump spoke with the leaders of China and Japan on the North Korea issue. "We need cooperation at some level with as many partners in the area as we can get to make sure that we have our ducks in a row," White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus told ABC's "This Week" earlier on Sunday. "So if something does happen in North Korea, that we have everyone in line backing up a plan of action that may need to be put together with our partners in the area," he said. "We have got to be on the same page.", Priebus said the conversations were prompted by the "potential for nuclear and massive destruction in Asia" and eventually in the United States. The U.S. president, who warned in an interview with Reuters that a "major, major conflict" with North Korea was possible, did not elaborate on any U.S. response to the test. "You'll soon find out," he said on Saturday. Trump has stressed he would not broadcast military options to preserve an element of surprise. His secretary of state, Rex Tillerson, said on Friday all options remained on the table. Pyongyang's missile test came as the USS Carl Vinson aircraft carrier group arrived in waters near the Korean peninsula, where it began exercises with the South Korean navy on Saturday about 12 hours after the failed launch, a South Korean navy official said. Priebus said Trump was in regular contact with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and that the president had become "very close" to Chinese President Xi Jinping. Trump, for whom China was a virtual punching bag during the 2016 presidential campaign over trade, told CBS that any trade disputes with the Asian economic giant took a back seat to securing its cooperation on North Korea. China, North Koreas only major ally and its largest trading partner, has expressed increasing concern about Pyongyang's pursuit of nuclear weapons and long-range ballistic missiles in violation of U.N. resolutions. But it has warned against escalation. "Trade is very important. But massive warfare with millions, potentially millions of people being killed? That, as we would say, trumps trade," Trump said in the "Face the Nation" interview. Similarly, concerns over human rights in the Philippines, where critics cite extrajudicial killings in Duterte's war on drugs, take a back seat to possible confrontation in Asia. "There is nothing right now facing this country and facing the region that is a bigger threat than what is happening in North Korea," Priebus said in the ABC interview. Thailand Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha, a former general, heads a military-dominated government that took power in a 2014 coup. His government had strained relations with Trumps predecessor, Barack Obama. H.R. McMaster, Trumps national security adviser, was asked if Washington must respond to the latest test, especially after Vice President Mike Pence told allies during a trip to Asia this month that the "era of strategic patience is over.", "Well, yes, we do have to do something," McMaster said on "Fox News Sunday." He said that may mean ratcheting up U.N. sanctions and also being prepared for military operations. It was unclear whether the consultations meant Washington was preparing imminent action against Pyongyang. The United States may just be lining up the largest coalition possible in the region to present a united front against North Korea, said professor Jens David Ohlin, an international law expert at Cornell Law School. "It's the only option on the ground to do this multilaterally rather than try to solve it on our own," he said. Adam M. Smith, a Treasury Department sanctions expert in former President Barack Obama's administration, said the lesson from trying to contain Iran's nuclear ambitions was that the more multilateral the pressure, the more effective it was. He said it was notable that Trump was talking to the money centers in Asia Singapore and Japan and reaching out to some countries in the region, including the Philippines, that have been unwilling to go beyond what was required by U.N. sanctions. "It makes a lot of sense, I think, to try to expand the net, and not just rely on Bejiing," Smith said. "I think this is sort of a good start on multilateralization.", Senator John McCain, a leading Republican on foreign policy, said he did not believe Trump was considering a pre-emptive strike on North Korea. That would put U.S. ally South Korea in immediate danger, he said on CNN's "State of the Union.", "But to say you absolutely rule out that option, of course, would be foolish. But it has to be the ultimate last option," McCain said.

World

Governor of Chinas Sichuan Province Suspected of Corruption Official Says

The governor of China's Sichuan province is under suspicion for corruption, a senior official said Friday. Wei Hong, who has been the top official in the south-western province for around three years, is rumored to have committed "severe disciplinary violations" a commonly-used Chinese euphemism for graft, reports the BBC. The governor's suspected misconduct was announced by Wu Yuliang, deputy chief of the Chinese Communist Party's Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, at a press conference Friday afternoon. China's anti-corruption campaign has gained momentum under current President Xi Jinping, with several top officials being indicted in recent years. BBC

World

Zimbabwe Schools Ban Breakfast Cereals After Students Use Them to Make Beer

A boarding school in Zimbabwe banned several breakfast cereals after students used them to brew beer. At least three schools in the south of the country have sent warnings to parents about bringing cereals from home, according to Zimbabwe's Chronicle newspaper. Students are said to create a powerful alcoholic beverage by combining cereals, typically made with sugar and sorghum, with yeast and brown sugar and then allowing the mixture to ferment in sunlight. Last term, officials at one high school sent text messages to parents, saying their children would not be allowed back with either the powdered cereal Morvite or oatmeal porridge. Other schools followed have reportedly followed their lead, according to the Chronicle. Local chemist Michael Dube told the Chronicle that the homebrew could pose a health risk to the students. "The danger of doing this is that there is no method to control the alcohol content," he said. "Their beer might have high alcohol levels, which may be a threat to their health.", Underage drinking is a growing problem for Zimbabwe, as many young adults engage in "Vuzu" sex parties, said to be home to drug and alcohol abuse. Last month, police raided and arrested 224 students, some as young as 13, at a rowdy Vuzu party in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe's second largest city.

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London Mayor Says There Is Little Doubt Ebola Will Reach the UK

London's mayor said Sunday there is "little doubt" of Ebola reaching the U.K. adding that any government "promises" to the contrary don't "really make any sense.", In a television interview, London Mayor Boris Johnson told the BBC that British airport screenings for the virus are "far from a perfect solution" for safeguarding the U.K. The screenings will home in on arrivals from Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone and will include questions about passengers' recent travels, plus a "possible medical assessment," the BBC says. "I have little doubt that eventually there will be a case of Ebola in this country and probably this city," Johnson told the BBC. The Guardian reports that British officials had at first shied away from instituting health checks at U.K. airports but changed their minds after a Spanish nurse treating two missionaries ill with Ebola in Madrid became the first person to contract the virus on European soil. Meanwhile, the U.S. over the weekend began screening airline passengers entering the nation through JFK airport, also singling out arrivals from the three African countries weathering the epidemic the hardest, the Wall Street Journal reports. Passengers with passport information indicating recent visits to those countries there are no direct flights between them and the U.S. will undergo temperature checks, consultations with disease-control officials, and, if warranted, possible isolation, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says. Four other U.S. international airports Washington Dulles, Newark Liberty, Chicago O'Hare and Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta will also begin screenings this week. About 94 of passengers who arrive in country from the above trio of West African nations pass through those five American airports, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Even so, public-health officials in both the U.S. and U.K. have cautioned against putting too much faith in the screenings, which they say are not foolproof. The bi-continental airport screenings follow a Liberian man's death from Ebola in Dallas on Wednesday, after he flew into the U.S. from his homeland last month. The patient, Thomas Duncan, did not yet have Ebola symptoms at the time. A Dallas nurse who treated Duncan has since become the first reported case of Ebola contracted within U.S. borders. Johnson, the London mayor, told the BBC that the U.K.'s best shot at managing Ebola is advanced preparation for handling a case there. "All I can tell you is that to the best of my knowledge we have fantastic preparations in London for this," he said. We have very good health care in this city, considerably better, alas, than they have in Africa.", BBC

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Indian Election Favorite Modi Denies Shying Away From Gujarat Riots Issue

Prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi has denied keeping quiet over the violent riots that took place in Gujarat in 2002. "I was not silent," the candidate for the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party BJP told Asian News International ANI in an April 16 interview. "I have said what I had to say. Now, I am in the people's court, and I am waiting to hear from them, and their verdict.", For years, Modi's rise through India's political ranks has been shadowed by communal violence that took place during his first year as the chief minister of Gujarat, a post he continues to hold today. In 2002, more than 1,000 people were killed in riots that swept the western Indian state. The majority of the victims were Muslim. Though many have accused Modi, as chief minister, of not doing enough to stop the violence, Indian courts have never found him criminally culpable, and have cleared him of any wrongdoing. In the dozen years since, Modi's reputation for effective administration and good economic management have helped put him where he is today at the helm of the national party that polls suggest will have the strongest performance this election. Many give Modi direct credit for the BJP's momentum over the past few months. But he continues to face questions about not apologizing for the riots, or to speak during the campaign at greater length about a difficult and polarizing period of India's recent history. In response to a recent demand from the ruling Congress Party that he apologize, Modi told a local television station that Congress should "account for their own sins first," according to NDTV. Modi has said that he was shaken by the violence that took place during his early days in office. In a July interview with Reuters, Modi's response to whether he regretted the 2002 violence made waves when he compared his feeling for the loss of life to being a passenger when somebody runs over a puppy on the road. "If I'm a chief minister or not, I'm a human being," he said. "If something bad happens anywhere, it is natural to be sad.", Modi told ANI this week that he has given up discussing the riots with the media. In the past, he has walked out of an interview when pressed on the subject. "I answered every top journalist in the country from 2002-2007, but noticed there was no exercise to understand truth," he said. He also suggested that the media's negative attention has, in fact, given his career a boost "If the media had not worked to malign Modi," he said, "Then who would known about Modi today?"

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Pistorius Prosecutor Your Story Cannot Possibly Be True

Chief prosecutor Gerrie Nel was unrelenting on Tuesday, as he ended his cross-examination of Oscar Pistorius by painstakingly examining details from the night when the sprinter shot and killed his model girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp. On the fifth and final day of cross-examination in Pretoria, South Africa, Nel insisted that the Olympian's version of events last Feb. 14 that he mistook the 29-year-old model for an intruder was false, and insisted that the couple had argued before Pistorius shot her through the bathroom door. "I put it to you that your version of events is so improbable, that it cannot be possibly reasonably true," said Nel. "I disagree," replied the defendant. Pistorius maintains that Steenkamp was in bed when he woke in the night and went to fetch a fan from the balcony. He then claims to have heard a noise from the bathroom apparently the opening of a window. Presuming it was an intruder, he grabbed his gun and shot through the toilet door, killing his girlfriend, he says, by mistake. But Nel cast doubt whether Steenkamp could have opened the bathroom window, entered the adjoining toilet cubicle and voided her bladder during those moments. "Mr Pistorius, on my understanding there would not have been enough time for her to have done that," said Nel. "I disagree," replied the defendant. Nel also asked why somebody as neat as Steenkamp would have left her jeans inside out, as they were pictured in police photographs, unless she was in a frantic hurry. "It indicates that fact that she had to take it off quickly and did not have time," he said, "When I got home Reeva was in her pajamas, she had just arrived minutes before me from the gates," replied Pistorius. "I don't know why she left her jeans inside out.", "I put it to you that it was because of your argument," said Nel. "She wanted to leave, there was an argument, she had to get undressed quickly.", Nel asked Pistorius to demonstrate the breaking down of the toilet door in court and explain the moments after he found Steenkamp critically injured. "I got the cricket bat and ran back to the toilet and tried to hit the door. I remember the first time I hit the door I was screaming," said Pistorius. "I was overcome with terror and despair.", "You weren't screaming at Reeva because she was hiding in the toilet, were you?" challenged Nel. Having gained access to the toilet, Pistorius described cradling his blood-soaking girlfriend during her last moments. "I sat over her, I crouched down over her and I put my arm underneath her and I checked to see if she was breathing or had a pulse," he said, voice quivering. "I pulled her around onto me and then I heard her breathing and immediately tried to pick her up and bring her out of the toilet. I wasn't able to pick her up.", Nel summed up by saying that Pistorius had fired four shots through the toilet door knowing Steenkamp was inside, and that he had armed himself solely for the purpose or hurting her, but afterwards became overwhelmed after realizing what he had done. "It's more getting more and more improbable and you're tailoring more and more of the evidence as we go along," said Nel. Pistorius stands charged with murder, first-degree murder and culpable homicide. He denies all charges but faces a minimum of 25 years in jail if convicted. The case continues.

World

Watch Some of the Most Inspiring Nobel Peace Prize Speeches in History

The Nobel Peace Prize, one of five Nobel prize categories created by Swedish chemist and engineer Alfred Nobel, is one of the world's most prestigious awards and has been recognized internationally since its conception in 1901. Winners of the prize, from Martin Luther King, Jr. to Malala Yousfzai, are recognized for their outstanding philanthropic endeavors, including human rights, environmental conservation, and women's education. Watch some of the most memorable Nobel Peace Prize speeches in the video above.

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Facing Jail Democracy Activist Joshua Wong Says Hong Kong Is Under Threat

Joshua Wong is a free man, and a very young one, when he arrives Wednesday afternoon in front of a plaza in Hong Kong that he calls Citizen's Square. But he may not be free for much longer. On Thursday, the 20-year-old faces a prison sentence for kicking off massive pro-democracy protests here three years ago. "I am not really ready for it," he told TIME in an exclusive interview. On Sept. 26, 2014, Wong and a small crowd of fellow student activists stormed the forecourt of Hong Kong's government headquarters to oppose what they viewed as political and social encroachment by China. Originally an open plaza, the forecourt was fenced off in 2014 to prevent protesters, from democracy activists to land rights campaigners, from assembling there. That night, Wong and others were pepper-sprayed amid scuffles with police, and at least a dozen students were arrested. Two days later, partly in response to clashes at the forecourt which protesters began calling "Civic Square" or "Citizens' Square" tens of thousands of mostly young people flooded the Central and Admiralty neighborhoods, Hong Kong's seats of power. There, they vastly swelled already-planned protests against Chinese interference in Hong Kong elections, and stayed on the streets for 79 days of mostly peaceful occupation. Wong's remarkable role in the protests is the subject of the Netflix documentary Joshua Teenager vs. Superpower. Of all the events that made the movement that was later dubbed the Umbrella Revolution, it was this first act that may haunt Wong. On Aug. 19, 2015, he and two of his peers, with whom he founded the political party Demosist, were charged with unlawful assembly and inciting unrest for their role in storming the government forecourt. They were convicted on July 20, 2016 and sentenced to 80 hours of community service. On Thursday, Wong, along with Nathan Law, 23, and Alex Chow, 26, face a judicial panel that has been asked by prosecutors to imprison them on the grounds that their sentence was too lenient and sent the wrong message to other activists. In September last year, Law became, at 23, the youngest lawmaker ever elected to Hong Kong's legislature, but he was ousted by pro-Beijing colleagues over claims that he disrespected China during his oath-taking ceremony. If he is imprisoned for more than three months, he will be legally disqualified from running for political office for five years as will Wong and Chow. That the courts have even agreed to reassess the trio's sentences after they have already been dealt and served has sounded alarm bells that China, of which Hong Kong is a semi-autonomous territory, may be putting pressure on what has long been cherished as an independent judiciary. On Wednesday, an anxious but resolute Wong met with TIME outside the very same plaza he stormed three years ago. With less than 24 hours before the judges' decision, he spoke candidly about his belief that he has become a target of political prosecution, his goal of a democratic and self-ruling Hong Kong, and his hopes that his hometown will stand its ground to remain what he calls the freest territory of China. His interview has been edited for length and clarity. The court is about to revisit its punishment for your role in the events of Sept. 26, 2014, when you and other student activists stormed the forecourt at government headquarters. Could you also revisit those events for us?, Three years ago, we organized an action to reclaim Citizens' Square and to ask for free elections and democracy in Hong Kong. We were against the interference of the Communist Party of China. Today we're facing a verdict that comes from the Chinese government. They will probably send me to prison for more than half a year. What I want the international community to realize is that Hong Kong is already under authoritarian rule. This is a long-term battle, and we ask for long-term support. Hong Kong is now under threat. Looking back on that action, is there anything you would have done differently if you could do it over?, I have no regrets at all. We were against patriotic education an attempt by local authorities to impose a pro-Beijing curriculum on local schools, which is why we took the square. Three years ago, the government set up a barrier to block our freedom of assembly. So we organized an action to reclaim the square to remind people that it's time to take back their rights. This was the first place I was arrested, and it's the reason I will be sent to prison, but I do not regret it at all and I will still keep fighting for democracy. Given that you've already served a sentence for this case, and given that revising the sentence would legally derail your stated aim of running for political office, do you view the appeal on your sentencing as a political act?, Last summer I was sentenced to 80 hours of community service tomorrow Thursday I will face nearly a year-long sentence with immediate imprisonment. It just proves that the Hong Kong courts just obey China. This is meant to be a threat. If imprisoned, many will view you and your colleagues as Hong Kong's first political prisoners. What does this say about the independence of Hong Kong's judiciary, which you have referred to as one of the "core values" of the territory?, Judicial independence is under threat because of the Department of Justice's loyalty to China. I hope people will realize that. One decade ago, people described Hong Kong as a place without democracy but with rule of law. Now Hong Kong has already transformed into an authoritarian regime. We won't be the first political prisoners in Hong Kong on Tuesday, the courts sentenced 13 activists to jail terms of 8 and 13 months for storming the legislature on a protest over rural development projects. We're just the first from the Umbrella Movement. The government reviewed this case against us because they hope to send us to prison and block our chances of running in elections. I believe the Department of Justice is reviewing my sentence because they hope I don't run in an election. Do you view Hong Kong as a barometer of freedom elsewhere in Asia, and do you view the way you're being treated as an omen for democratic norms and rule of law in the broader region?, Hong Kong is the city with the highest degree of freedom of all the Chinese territories. In the Asia Pacific, I think Hong Kong should be in the spotlight to make people realize that China is still violating human rights. I hope the experience of Hong Kong will urge global solidarity and make people care about Hong Kong. Now it's a place where youngsters like her or him or me gestures at passersby are sent to prison. What impact do you think your experience with the courts will have on the many young people in Hong Kong and elsewhere that have become more politically active in recent years?, In the past few years there has been an uprising, a new political awareness among my generation. However, political prosecutions and sentences are increasing. We are in a time of darkness for my hometown. But in a dark era like this, with the repression of the Beijing regime, youngsters must fight on the front line to ask for democracy. I just want to say that if Nathan, Alex and I are in prison, and we cannot stand on the front line, there's no reason for anyone else to take a step backwards. It's safe to say that most observers predict that you are going to prison. You're only 20 years old. Are you afraid?, I am not really ready for it. And when, after I have been sent to prison, I can only meet my parents twice per month for half an hour. I will miss them, and I will miss my home. No one wants to be sent to prison, including me. I'm tired, and I'm scared, but I will still keep on fighting.

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We Must Not Be Afraid Ariana Grandes Manchester Charity Concert Still On Despite London Attack

The show will go on. Following the terror attack in London on Saturday night, which left seven dead and 48 people injured after three men plowed into crowds with their cars and attacked with knives, Ariana Grandes manager Scooter Braun announced that Sunday's Manchester One Love charity concert would still go ahead as scheduled. "After the events last night in London, and those in Manchester just two weeks ago, we feel a sense of responsibility to honor those lost, injured and affected," Braun said in a statement on Twitter Sunday. "We plan to honor them with courage, bravery, and defiance in the face of fear. Today's One Love manchester benefit concert will not only continue, but will do so with greater purpose.", "We must not be afraid, and in tribute to all those affected here and around the world, we will bring our voices together and sing loudly," he continued. "I am pleased to say we have the full support of Greater Manchester police and the government and are assured the safety of all those attending is the highest priority. All artists involved have been unwavering in their support this morning and are determined to carry on with the show," he added. "We ask the strong city of Manchester and the world to join us in making a statement that hatred and hatred and fear will never win. Today we stand together. Thank you.", , Assistant Chief Constable Garry Shewan of the Greater Manchester Police said in a statement that they were taking added security measures in the wake of the London attacks and that the threat level remains at severe. "We're deeply saddened to hear about last night's horrific attacks in London and our thoughts are with everyone affected, including the emergency services responding to the incident," Shewan said. "There are two large-scale events taking place in Greater Manchester today and we would like to assure people that these will still take place, but with additional security in place to ensure the safety of everyone. "We have dedicated resources at both events, with a significant number of officers from both GMP and colleagues from other forces, some of which will be armed. There will be additional security checks taking place and everyone will be searched, including bags. We would ask people not to bring bags if they can, as this will help speed up entry. "I'd like to remind people that the threat level remains at severe, which means an attack is highly likely.", The Manchester One Love concert was organized to raise funds for the victims of the Manchester terror attack which left 22 dead and 116 people injured. On May 22, a British man, identified as 22-year-old Salman Ramadan Abedi, set off a bomb outside after one of Grande's shows as concertgoers many of whom were children and teenagers were exiting Manchester Arena. Abedi was also killed in the explosion. Grande will be joined by a host of other musicians, including Miley Cyrus, Katy Perry and Coldplay for the event. It will air live on Freeform in the U.S. and will stream on Grande's YouTube and Facebook pages.

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These Are the Top Contenders for the 2015 Nobel Peace Prize

With the Nobel Peace Prize winner due to be announced at 6am ET on Friday, speculation is running rampant about which do-gooders might be taking home the prestigious award. British bookmaker William Hill said it had seen a flurry of last minute betting on the prize, awarded almost every year since 1901 to the candidate who the Nobel committee decides has "done the most or the best work for fraternity between nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses". "We have never had such a volatile Nobel Peace Prize market there seem to be a number of camps all of whom are convinced that the candidate they are championing is going to be the winner," said William Hill spokesman Graham Sharpe. Based on bets placed at William Hill, these are the five people with the highest odds of winning the prize tomorrow morning, 1. Angela Merkel, German Chancellor Angela Merkel is odds-on favorite to win the prize tomorrow morning. This year she has steered Germany through Europe's migrant crisis, adopting a stance of of openness and compassion to the influx of refugees, and helped keep the European Union together as Greece struggled to stay solvent. 2. Mussie Zerai, Mussie Zerai is an Eritrean priest who founded the humanitarian organization "Habeshia," which helps refugees fleeing war and persecution. Zerai receives distress calls from migrants at sea, then alerts the Coast Guard to their location. 3. Pope Francis, Pope Francis named TIME's Person of the Year in 2013 had another high-profile year, releasing a sweeping encyclical on climate change in June, and helping repair relations between the United States and Cuba before visiting both countries in September. He has maintained calls for compassion towards immigrants both in the U.S. and in Europe. 4. Denis Mukwege, Denis Mukwege is a Congolese gynecologist who founded Panzi Hospital in Bukavu, where he specializes in treating women who have been raped. He was considered a favorite for the Nobel Peace Prize last year, as well. 5. Novaya Gazeta, Novaya Gazeta is an independent newspaper in Russia. The paper, which was started with Nobel Peace Prize money won by Mikhail Gorbachev in 1990, was praised this year for its balanced coverage of the crisis in Ukraine. Others on bookmakers' lists include UN Secretary-General Ban-Ki Moon, exiled U.S. whistleblower Edward Snowden and the World Health Organization.