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First law protecting consumers’ brainwaves signed by governor

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COLORADO GOVERNOR Jared Polis on Wednesday signed into law the first measure passed in the US that aims to protect the data found in a person’s brainwaves.

Sponsors of the bill said it was necessary as quick advances in neurotechnology make scanning, analyzing and selling mental data increasingly more possible — and profitable.

State representative Cathy Kipp, a sponsor of the legislation, said in a statement that while advancements in the neurotechnology field hold great promise for improving the lives of many people, “we must provide a clear framework to protect Coloradans’ personal data from being used without their consent while still allowing these new technologies to develop.”

State senator Kevin Priola, another of the bill’s sponsors, said that neurotechnology “is no longer confined to medical or research settings” and that when it comes to consumer products, the industry “can currently operate without regulation, data protection standards, or equivalent ethical constraints.”

The Neurorights Foundation, a nonprofit promoting the ethical development of neurotechnology, said Colorado’s bill, which it supported, was the first of its kind in the US

The foundation on Wednesday released a report assessing the neurotechnology industry’s data privacy protections, which it said were often weak or nonexistent.

The Colorado law notes that neuratechnologies used in a clinical setting are already covered by medical privacy laws, so the new measure is aimed at consumer products available outside of a hospital.

Big tech firms — including Facebook and Instagram’s parent company Meta Platforms, along with Elon Musk’s Neuralink — are developing technology that can detect brain activity then potentially put it to commercial use. Mined brain data has endless potential, be it to better target ads, exploit human moods, sell more stuff or regenerate lost brain function.

The US Food and Drug Administration last year approved human studies for Neuralink’s brain implants, which had previously been tested on animals.

Earlier this month, the CEO of Synchron, a rival to Neuralink, told Reuters the company is preparing to recruit patients for a large-scale clinical trial required to seek commercial approval for its device.

Elsewhere around the world, other governments have been working to increase consumer protections when it comes to neurotechnological products. — Reuters

Deadly heatwave in West Africa warns of climate change-driven scorchers to come

MIKEERSKINE HZ0-UNSPLASH

NIAMEY — On a hospital bed in Niger, a 96-year-old woman lay motionless attached to a drip — one of thousands of possible victims of West Africa’s worst heatwave in living memory, which a report said on Thursday was linked to fossil fuel-driven climate change.

In late March and early April, days and nights of extreme heat above 40° Celsius (104°F) gripped many West African countries. Temperatures soared so high in Mali and Burkina Faso they equated to a once in 200-year event, according to the report on the Sahel region by World Weather Attribution (WWA).

The severity of the heatwave led WWA’s team of climate scientists to conduct a rapid analysis, which concluded the temperatures would not have been reached if industry had not warmed the planet by burning fossil fuels and other activities.

“In a pre-industrial climate, we wouldn’t expect to see heat waves at this intensity at all,” WWA statistician Clair Barnes told Reuters.

“It was the hottest that anyone in living memory has had to deal with (there),” she said.

Despite a lack of data, WWA estimates there were hundreds or possibly thousands of heat-related deaths, and it warned such extreme heat will become much more common without greater global efforts to reduce planet-warming emissions.

On the current trajectory, if fossil fuel emissions do not fall “we would expect to see heatwaves like this maybe ten times more frequently, so potentially up to ten times a year,” Mr. Barnes said.

“It’s something that people are going to have to adapt to and learn to live with.”

Given the growing threat, the group recommends that countries formulate heat action plans that would warn citizens when extreme temperatures are imminent and offer guidance on how to prevent overheating.

ELDERLY AT RISK
The plight of the nonagenarian in Niger illustrates the threat such extreme temperatures pose, particularly to older people in countries where access to air conditioning or even electric fans can be limited.

Standing at the hospital bedside on Monday, daughter Zeynabou Toure described how her mother quickly sickened in the heat at the start of April, prompting them to rush to hospital.

They were among an unusually high number of patients seeking care at the facility in Niger’s sun-baked capital Niamey, said doctor Andia Abdoul-Kader.

“We have seen more and more cases of dehydration,” he told Reuters in his office. “It really affects the elderly… four to five liters of water need to be replenished for the patient to return to normal.”

While Abdoul-Kader has not recorded excess deaths, Gabriel Toure Hospital in the capital of neighboring Mali reported 102 deaths, likely heat-related, in the first four days of April. This compares to 130 deaths it recorded in total for the whole of April last year.

“This indicates an exceptional situation this year,” said one of the hospital’s department heads, doctor Djibo Mahamane Django, in an online video post on April 5. — Reuters

Gun-shy Australia, reeling from knife crime, weighs public security settings

REUTERS

SYDNEY — Two stabbing attacks in Sydney which killed six people and injured shoppers and an Assyrian bishop during his service have shocked Australians and sparked calls for greater public security despite some of the world’s toughest gun laws.

The deadly attack at a busy Westfield shopping mall in affluent Bondi Junction last Saturday has shone a spotlight on longstanding complaints from the country’s 155,000 security guards who say they are so poorly equipped, they are disincentivized to act.

One of the dead was a security guard, on his first shift at the mall, who intervened.

“At least the cleaner’s got a broom, but a security guard won’t be carrying anything except a radio,” said Ben Reis, a casual security guard from Newcastle, in a phone interview.

“I’ve been in a shopping center and I’ve caught people stealing and I can’t do anything, I can just watch them walk,” he added.

The attacks have also lifted the lid on growing public unease about non-gun violence that drove the state government of New South Wales, of which Sydney is the capital, to double prison terms for public knife crimes months earlier.

New South Wales Premier Chris Minns has said it would be “irresponsible not to look at” toughening knife laws further, although he didn’t specify how. He said the state would review whether security guards could carry handcuffs, pepper spray or batons although he ruled out guns or tasers.

Roland Springis, a security guard who has worked in malls, has collected more than 3,000 signatures in three days for a Change.org petition calling for more protective equipment.

“We don’t have anything,” said Mr. Springis.

Queensland state Premier Steven Miles said the Bondi attack added weight to the argument to extend warrantless stop-and-searches by police, local media reported.

A new law in that state lets police use hand-held metal detectors, or wands, to search people on public transport for suspected weapons and “we’ve been actively considering whether to expand the public spaces that police can wand in to include shopping centers,” Mr. Miles said.

As part of the Bondi Junction mall reopening on Friday, all 37 Westfield shopping centers nationally will have an increased security presence, local media reported, citing the operator of the chain’s Australian malls, Scentre.

“Everyone is saying it could have been them, it could have been any of us,” said Mala Webber, who runs a digital marketing business down the road from the Bondi mall and was on her way to pay respects at a rememberance ceremony at the mall on Thursday, although she was not ready to go inside.

“People are definitely a bit more uneasy,” added Ms. Webber, who cancelled a family trip to the mall on the day of the attack because of a sick child.

TOUGH GUN LAWS
Political leaders and policy experts pointed to the stabbings as reminders about how much worse a public attack could be if it was easier for the perpetrator to get a gun.

Australia introduced tough new gun laws in 1996 after the “Port Arthur Massacre,” the country’s deadliest mass shooting, when a lone man with no police record used military-style weapons to shoot dead 35 people in and around a cafe at a historic former prison in Tasmania.

Australia banned all semi-automatic rifles and all semi-automatic and pump-action shotguns. Some 650,000 unlicensed firearms were surrendered under a gun amnesty program, and licensed gun owners are now required to take a safety course.

Since then, total gun homicides in the country have halved while the overall number of homicides has flatlined, according to Australian Institute of Criminology data, even as the population has increased 50%.

Australia now has less than one-third the number of annual homicides per capita in the United States.

But the proportion of homicides caused by a knife or other sharp implement has risen to 43% in the five years to 2021, the latest year data is available, from 34% in the five years before the 1996 laws, according to institute data shared with Reuters.

On Saturday, during busy afternoon shopping at Westfield Bondi Junction, a mentally ill 40-year-old man with a knife killed six people before being shot dead by police.

On Monday, a teenage boy stormed an Assyrian Christian church service in the city’s outer suburbs and was arrested for stabbing a priest mid-sermon and several bystanders. All victims survived the attack which the authorities said was terrorism motivated by suspected religious extremism.

“If the crimes committed over the past days had been committed with easily accessible high powered firearms, there is no doubt the number of victims would be far greater,” said Justin Wong, principal lawyer at Streeton Lawyers, a criminal law firm. — Reuters

Filipinos love concerts, but venue infrastructure gaps are a threat to the experience

Photo from https://www.pexels.com

Countries with better, bigger, and more competitive concert venues have reaped economic benefits, especially with the massive and significant influence of popular international acts like pop superstar Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour and Coldplay’s World Tour in consumer behavior and spending.

Driving tens of thousands of ‘Swifties’ and concert enthusiasts, the success of these concerts was an economic stimulus for countries worldwide, including Southeast Asian countries such as Singapore and Japan. Filipino fans alike had to spend big and travel miles to watch the exclusive performance of superstar Swift in Singapore’s National Stadium while others went to Japan’s Tokyo Dome and Sydney’s Accor Stadium in Australia. The massive concert gigs boosted the respective country’s economies, benefitting entertainment, hospitality, retail, and transport industries significantly.

Photo from https://www.pexels.com/

While Singapore’s strategy for a Southeast Asia exclusive Swift performance piqued interest and likewise piqued its neighboring countries, the strategic move sparked conversations and brought to light what the Philippines can improve on in terms of concert venues.

1. Location is key

The Philippines doesn’t lack in big venues. In fact, it boasts of venues that can rival Singapore’s National Stadium and Japan’s Tokyo Dome. Accessibility to the location as well as public transportation and nearby commercial establishments are key.

2. Concert Experience

An empty Singapore National Stadium, viewed from the front stage. — Photo by Stanley Quek

Singapore’s pride, the National Stadium, has innovative features such as the world’s largest free-spanning dome, a retractable roof and comfort cooling technology for spectators’ convenience. Its innovation, strategic location, and efficiency bring positive and immersive experiences for enthusiasts and concert fans, making it a magnet for entertainment acts from all over the world. A similar concert venue and experience is something that Filipino concertgoers are hoping the country can replicate.

3. World-class concert amenities and facilities

Architectural “Eyecon” SM Mall of Asia Arena prides itself on having exceptional world-class amenities unique in the Southeast Asia region. — Photo from SM MOA Arena official website

Accessing the venue’s amenities and facilities should offer a premium music experience for concert enthusiasts or convenience in a sporting event.

FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023 held in SM Mall of Asia Arena — Photo from SM MOA Arena official website

Take for example the SM Mall of Asia (MOA) Arena — a flexible indoor arena developed in 2012 by leading integrated property developer SM Prime — that has been a top-of-mind venue for all sorts of events and offers a unique concert experience. With a full house seating capacity of 20,000, it has been a haven for thrilling sports events, remarkable OPM shows, and unforgettable international superstar performances.

Meanwhile, the SMDC Festival Grounds in Parañaque City is likewise an enormous outdoor venue that can accommodate at least 50,000 people. Ed Sheeran’s Mathematics Tour and Rivermaya The Reunion were among the performers that have graced the stage recently.

4. Achieving Filipinos’ concert dreams

An artist’s render, visual sketch of the proposed concert venue at Pasay 360 project

One of the most forward-looking plans of SM Prime is its 360-hectare smart city development which is envisioned to bring in a centerpiece to the country’s entertainment and sporting events — larger in capacity and a more enhanced venue infrastructure that would attract legendary icons in the entertainment scene and compete against Southeast Asia and the world’s best. It will feature an estimated 70,000-capacity stadium and concert arena connected to one of the island’s main destination paradises called Central Park. The sizable arena is envisioned to be the Philippines’ biggest concert venue, with world-class facilities and sustainable features, comparable to other big concert venues worldwide. Once that’s built, Filipinos won’t have to fly overseas because they can watch top-tier performances right from the comfort of their home country.

Without a doubt, Pinoys live and breathe entertainment shows. In fact, Filipinos are the 4th top concert spenders in Asia-Pacific according to digital payments company Visa, proof of how passionate we are about concerts. By investing in the development of modern, smart, and accessible concert venues, Filipino concert enthusiasts can continue to embrace and celebrate live performances with the convenience, comfort, and enjoyment they deserve. Beyond entertainment, well-curated, smart, and innovative concert facilities can further drive economic benefits to the Philippines’ national and local economies, including ancillary local spending in retail, tourism, and hospitality.

 


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Japan ‘two-faced’ for seeking closer ties while warning of China threat, Chinese state media says

President Joe Biden, President Ferdinand Marcos of the Philippines and Prime Minister Kishida Fumio of Japan are briefed in the Blue Room, Thursday, April 11, 2024, before their trilateral meeting in the East Room of the White House.(Official White House Photo by Adam Schultz)

 – An editorial in a Chinese state-controlled newspaper on Thursday admonished “two-faced” Japan for inaccurately portraying it as a regional security threat while chasing more stable bilateral ties, warning of Chinese measures if Tokyo acted recklessly.

In his address to the US Congress last week, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida called China’s military actions “an unprecedented and the greatest strategic challenge” to the world, and vowed deeper strategic cooperation with Washington, placing China and Russia’s military actions as top threats.

In an editorial on Thursday, the ruling Communist Party’s official newspaper said Japan claimed to be promoting bilateral relations but was also attempting to provoke confrontation by exaggerating China as a threat, describing Japan as “typical of a ‘two-faced person’ with no credibility”.

People’s Daily in the editorial accused Japan of exaggerating the security threat as an excuse for its own military build-up.

The editorial also said US and Japanese discussions on Taiwan, which China claims as part of its territory, were a “gross” interference in China’s internal affairs.

Japan’s foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment on the editorial.

Tokyo’s moves to strengthen ties with its former World War Two enemy to counter Beijing have increasingly hindered the outlook for any near-term rapprochement between Japan and China, whose ties have come under strain over issues from Japan’s release of treated radioactive water into the ocean to China’s detention of Japanese citizens on suspicion of espionage.

Japan and China have also clashed over mutual maritime claims in the East China Sea, as well as China’s actions against the Philippines’ territorial claims in the South China Sea.

To bolster the economic and trade aspects of their relationship, Japanese business leaders travelled to China in January for their first visit since 2019.

Japan relies heavily on China, where Japanese companies have for years invested in manufacturing supply chains and forged relationships with local partners.

“If the Japanese side remains obsessed with ulterior motives and misconceptions about China, and acts recklessly, the Chinese side will resolutely make necessary responses,” the editorial said. – Reuters

Adam Neumann moves to buy back WeWork as it seeks funds to exit bankruptcy, FT reports

WeWork Inc. founder Adam Neumann has made a fresh push to buy back the firm even as it seeks hundreds of millions of dollars to emerge from bankruptcy and avoid a sale, FT reported on Thursday.

The shared office space provider was running short of cash and needed as much as $400 million in fresh funding to have a chance of emerging viably, FT said, citing two people familiar with the matter.

Alex Spiro, an attorney for Mr. Neumann’s real estate firm Flow told FT that the company and its financial partners were prepared to beat any other offer that WeWork has received by 10%.

Adam Neumann had submitted a bid of more than $500 million to buy back WeWork, Reuters reported last month citing a person familiar with the matter.

WeWork did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

The SoftBank-backed company said earlier this month that it aims to emerge from Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the US and Canada by May 31 and had negotiated more than $8 billion, or over 40%, reduction in rent commitments from landlords. – Reuters

Philippines says decision to strengthen ties with Japan, US a ‘sovereign choice’

President Joe Biden and President Ferdinand Marcos of the Philippines greet Prime Minister Kishida Fumio of Japan in the Blue Room, Thursday, April 11, 2024, before their trilateral meeting in the East Room of the White House.(Official White House Photo by Adam Schultz)

 – The Philippines’ decision to ramp up ties with Japan and the United States at a recent summit was a “sovereign choice” for the country, its foreign ministry said on Thursday in response to China’s comments opposing the trilateral meeting.

US President Joe Biden hosted Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida in Washington last week where the three leaders jointly expressed their “serious concerns” over China’s actions in the South China Sea.

The Philippine foreign ministry said the trilateral grouping would promote peace and economic growth in the Indo-Pacific and should not be considered a threat. China’s “excessive maritime claims and aggressive behavior”, on the other hand, are undermining the peace and stability in the region, it said.

“The source of tension in our region is well known to all. China should reflect upon its own actions in the South China Sea,” the ministry said.

Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said last week it opposes “forming exclusive circles in the region” and any “acts that stoke and drive up tensions”.

Mr. Mao also accused the US of clinging to the “Cold War mentality” of threatening rivals by coalescing with regional allies.

“Unwarranted references to the Cold War sensationalize the situation and misrepresent the peaceful purpose of the trilateral cooperation,” Manila said in response.

The Chinese embassy in Manila did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Relations between Manila and Beijing have soured over the past year over maritime run-ins in disputed atolls and shoals in the South China Sea as well as heated exchanges between their officials.

China claims almost the entire South China Sea, a conduit for more than $3 trillion in annual ship commerce. Its territorial claims overlap with waters claimed by the Philippines, Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei.

In 2016, the Permanent Court of Arbitration in the Hague said China’s claims had no legal basis, a decision Beijing has rejected. – Reuters

In a rebel-held Myanmar town, fragile unity pushes junta to the brink

Flag of Myanmar | STOCK PHOTO | Image by www.slon.pics on Freepik

 – Myawaddy, a critical trading post in Myanmar that rebel forces seized from the ruling junta last week, offers a glimpse of dynamics playing out across the Southeast Asian country as its vaunted military reels from battlefield losses.

At the border town’s outskirts, the site of the most intense fighting, abandoned homes sat next to buildings pockmarked with bullet holes, gas stations damaged by blasts and structures flattened by airstrikes, Reuters reporters saw on a visit this week.

Rebels who fought against junta troops in Myawaddy described a demoralized military that was unwilling to hold its ground.

“We managed to seize three bases and control the area in a very short period of time,” said Saw Kaw, a commander of a rebel unit involved in the battle for Myawaddy. “Then, they fled.”

Guards from ethnic militias until recently loyal to the military administration roamed streets in the town – normally a conduit for over $1 billion of annual border trade with nearby Thailand. Those fighters stood aside when forces led by the Karen National Union (KNU) laid siege in early April.

Reuters gained rare access to rebel-held territory on Monday and interviewed seven resistance officials for this story, alongside three Thai officials with detailed knowledge of the conflict and four security analysts.

They provided insight into the delicate diplomacy between armed groups with longstanding rivalries as they seek to hold key population centers and keep the junta they want to topple on the backfoot.

The fall of Myawaddy means that Myanmar’s two most important land border crossings are in resistance hands, after the rebels last year claimed control of Muse, near the Chinese border.

Rebel successes have now cut off the cash-strapped junta from almost all the country’s major land borders, with the economy in free-fall and poverty doubling since 2017, according to U.N. data.

The Thailand-based Institute for Strategy and Policy-Myanmar (ISP) think-tank said in an estimate after Myawaddy’s fall that the junta has been deprived of 60% of land-based customs revenue.

It leaves the junta, which has failed to repel any major rebel offensive since October, in its weakest position since its 2021 coup against Aung San Suu Kyi’s elected civilian government, according to analysts.

Neighbors such as Thailand, who were previously focused on engaging the junta, have started to rethink their stance on the conflict.

Thai Vice Foreign Minister Sihask Phuangketkeow told Reuters on Wednesday that Thai security officials have been in communication with the KNU and other groups and that they were “open to more dialogue,” particularly on humanitarian issues.

“We don’t blindly side with the Myanmar military but because we want peace we have to talk to them,” he said.

A junta spokesperson did not respond to calls from Reuters seeking comment.

Junta chief Gen. Min Aung Hlaing has accused rebel groups of seeking to undermine Myanmar’s unity through armed insurgency and his government has called resistance fighters “terrorists.”

The Democratic Karen Buddhist Army and Karen National Army (KNA), the forces still patrolling parts of Myawaddy and its vicinity even after they abandoned the junta, did not return requests for comment. The groups have not pledged loyalty to the resistance.

 

PATCHWORK OF FIGHTERS

At the western edge of Myawaddy, Col. Nadah Htoo, a senior commander of Brigade 6 of the KNU’s armed wing, one of Myanmar’s oldest ethnic fighting forces, was thinking about next steps after leading the patchwork of resistance fighters that defeated the army in roughly a week.

Surrounded by armed guards as he chewed betel leaves and peered over his Louis Vuitton sunglasses, Nadah Htoo described ongoing talks with other ethnic armed groups about fighting the junta locally. Reuters has also reported that recent coordination between rebel armies in other parts of Myanmar has taken place at an unprecedented level.

For decades, the country of 55 million has been riven by insurgencies along its borderlands, where some two dozen ethnic armed groups operate. Many of them are part of, or supporting, the resistance.

Nadah Htoo and another resistance official acknowledged the challenges of maintaining cooperation over the course of what both expect will be a difficult war against a better-armed military.

“We have to constantly coordinate so there won’t be any mistake,” the colonel told Reuters. He declined to be photographed or filmed until the operation ended, citing security concerns.

In Myawaddy, Reuters observed at least three armed groups coordinating to maintain control, reflecting recent rare cooperation among rebel forces that share a common enemy in the junta but otherwise have different interests.

Most of the rebels who took Myawaddy were ethnic Karen, though they fought along some ethnic Burman members of the national resistance, said rebel commander Saw Kaw.

“The first thing (is that) we don’t kill each other,” said spokesman Saw Taw Nee of tensions between his KNU and other ethnic Karen groups that were allied to the junta until this month. “And then we start from that.”

 

MEANING OF MYAWADDY

Last October, three rebel groups, including the powerful Arakan Army (AA), led Operation 1027, a major offensive that saw the resistance take wide swathes of military-controlled areas along the border with China.

“After 1027, we saw the AA in Arakan starting to push. When the AA eased, then we decided to push,” said KNU’s Nadah Htoo, describing how different rebel groups were hitting the military with successive offensives across multiple areas.

The junta “is fighting the war on too many fronts,” said Lalita Hanwong, an assistant professor at Thailand’s Kasetsart University.

“If you look back from the beginning of Operation 1027, the towns that the resistance forces seized have never been regained.”

In the battle for Myawaddy, KNU-led forces encircled the town and pushed the local junta administration to the point of collapse before taking over, said Nadah Htoo.

Reuters couldn’t independently verify the tactics he described. The KNU’s armed wing has previously surrounded junta positions before launching decisive assaults.

Some 200 junta troops remain trapped near a bridge between Myawaddy and Thailand, Nadah Htoo told Reuters, saying they could either surrender to the Thais or the KNU.

The colonel and Bangkok-based security analyst Anthony Davis expect the junta to attempt to retake Myawaddy in the coming weeks to hinder resistance access to an important nearby highway that cuts through the heart of Myanmar.

Some army reinforcements have already been repelled by the KNU en route to the town, and Nadah Htoo said KNU’s political administrator would only take control of Myawaddy after the military operation concluded.

The junta is keen to regain control of Myawaddy, a critical trading centre and its main gateway to Southeast Asia, Davis said.

Around 14% of Myanmar’s total trade via land borders between April 2023 and March 2024 – totaling about $1.15 billion – went through Myawaddy, according to government data.

Control of territory near the borders can also be lucrative: the U.N. and the British government have in the last year accused senior KNA leaders of using territory near Myawaddy to run scam centers and illegal casinos.

Reuters could not determine how resistance forces have deployed the customs revenue collected at border points they control. The ISP think-tank said trade at some crossings was suspended.

 

END GAME

Losses around Myanmar’s frontiers have increasingly pushed the army into Myanmar’s Buddhist-dominated heartland, once fertile army recruiting ground.

The junta is now ensnared there in a low-intensity conflict with hundreds of militia groups known as People’s Defence Forces (PDFs), many of whom are aligned with the KNU and a shadow administration that includes members of the deposed civilian government.

The junta remains a formidable opponent likely to retain control over government and the heartlandunless there was a mutiny or external intervention, Morgan Michaels of the International Institute for Strategic Studies wrote in a March analysis.

However, military setbacks closer to central Myanmar could cut off the junta’s access to key transport arteries and deal a major psychological blow to its army, already bleeding troops, said Davis, adding that it could “accelerate its retreat and potential collapse.”

Either way, KNU officials, rebel fighters and analysts foresee more violence and no easy victory, even as the resistance pushes to coordinate operations and retain momentum.

“In our country (there are) so many groups and so many differences,” said Saw Taw Nee. “We will take time and we will be united.” – Reuters

Anti-LGBTQ+ laws in Ghana and Uganda feel the heat from sanctions

CHANDLERVID85-FREEPIK

 – A ruling this month by Uganda’s Constitutional Court to water down a tough anti-LGBTQ+ law may have stemmed from concern to avoid further international sanctions over the controversial legislation, rights activists and analysts say.

The court’s decision to strike out several of the law’s most contentious clauses came weeks after a similar law passed by Ghana appeared to have hit a roadblock amid Finance Ministry warnings it could derail $3.8 billion in international aid.

Steven Kabuye, a Ugandan LGBTQ+ activist, said the court’s April 3 ruling appeared aimed at appeasing international donors who had raised particular objections about the affected clauses on the grounds that they created barriers to health services such as HIV/AIDS care.

“Most of these donors came out openly and said they won’t fund the (health) sector unless it’s inclusive,” Mr. Kabuye told the Thomson Reuters Foundation by phone from Canada, where he has been living since he was stabbed in a homophobic attack in Uganda earlier this year.

Uganda’s Anti-Homosexuality Act was enacted in May 2023, imposing the death penalty for “serial offenders” and up to 20 years in prison for the “promotion of homosexuality” – be it publishing pro-LGBTQ+ material or providing financial support to LGBTQ+ rights groups.

The United States and the World Bank responded by imposing sanctions on the East African country.

But this month’s ruling struck down two of the law’s most controversial measures – the death penalty for anyone who transmits a terminal illness, such as HIV/AIDS, through gay sex, and a “duty to report” suspected homosexual acts to the police.

Major HIV/AIDS donors including UNAIDS had warned that the “duty to report” clause could have required health professionals to report LGBTQ+ patients – putting progress on fighting the disease in “grave jeopardy”.

Uganda’s health sector is highly reliant on international funding. At the end of March, Health Minister Jane Ruth Aceng told parliament 85% of healthcare funding came from foreign donors.

Asked about the suggestions that the court had been swayed by fears over the possible loss of such donors, a spokesperson for the Ugandan judiciary said “the decision (is) very clear, based on the law and objective principles of state policy”.

Critics of Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni say judicial independence has significantly eroded during his long rule.

 

SANCTIONS BACKLASH

Despite the watering down of the law, Mr. Kabuye said the fact that many of its draconian measures remained in force showed sanctions – and the threat of more – had only been partially effective.

“The sanctions that have been put in place have not been enough to force Uganda to respect queer rights,” he said.

The possibility of similar international sanctions did not stop lawmakers in Ghana from passing a tough anti-LGBTQ+ bill in February.

But President Nana Akufo-Addo has not yet signed the legislation into law and said last month the West African country would not backslide on its human rights record.

At the same time, the Finance Ministry said the bill could lead to a loss of $3.8 billion in World Bank financing over the next five to six years if it became law, derailing a $3 billion loan package from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Mr. Akufo-Addo has not spoken publicly about the bill’s potential economic impact, and a senior presidency official has said it should not be passed to the president for assent until two legal challenges against it are settled.

The risk of economic sanctions is probably what stopped Mr. Akufo-Addo from immediately signing the bill into law, said Patrick Asuming, an Accra-based economist and senior lecturer at the University of Ghana Business School.

“Usually, the threat of sanctions works more than the sanctions themselves,” Mr. Asuming said.

International sanctions on African countries are controversial, with critics saying they can backfire by hitting the poor and causing public anger over Western meddling in a nation’s affairs.

When the World Bank halted new funding to Uganda in August, Museveni responded in a defiant tone.

“It is … unfortunate that the World Bank and other actors dare to want to coerce us into abandoning our faith, culture, principles and sovereignty, using money. They really underestimate all Africans,” he said.

Robert Amoafo, advocacy manager at LGBTQ+ rights group Pan Africa ILGA said “direct sanctions on key advocates” of anti-LGBTQ+ legislation were likely to be more effective than broad-based sanctions.

They can be a tool for prompting deeper consideration by lawmakers, he said.

“It will let people start reflecting (over) whether (what) we are going to do is good or not,” Mr. Amoafo said.

They could also push African countries to seek closer economic ties with countries that are less concerned about anti-LGBTQ+ legislation, Mr. Asuming said.

The memo from Ghana’s Finance Ministry advising the country’s president not to sign the anti-LGBTQ+ bill into law also recommended “engagement with conservative countries, including the Arab countries and China” to secure additional financing.

“It is clear that China is becoming a huge partner for African countries and that has completely changed the balance of how we see western sanctions,” Mr. Asuming said.

“Obviously, the Chinese do not really impose conditions on anti-LGBTQ+ laws.” – Reuters

Brazil’s proposal to tax super-rich gains momentum amid G20, next steps in July

Account Assets Audit Bank Bookkeeping Finance Concept

 – Brazil’s proposal to tax the super-rich globally gained momentum among Group of Twenty members on Wednesday, with France’s finance minister and the head of the International Monetary Fund backing a coordinated push to generate new revenue and build a better common future.

Brazilian Finance Minister Fernando Haddad said Brazil, current president of the Group of Twenty (G20), was aiming to build international consensus on the taxation of wealth this year, and would push for a joint declaration at a meeting of G20 finance ministers and central bankers in July.

“The G20 declaration that we are going to propose aims to politically back these initiatives,” he told an event during the spring meetings of the IMF and the World Bank, underscoring the importance of winning support from the biggest economies.

His French counterpart Bruno le Maire, who had already expressed support for the Brazilian proposal, told the event that moving to tax the rich was the logical next step for a series of global taxation reforms launched in 2017, including agreement on a global corporate minimum tax. He said the G20 should aim to reach an agreement on taxing the rich by 2027.

Mr. Le Maire said any proposal should be based on the best practices of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development to ensure trust in the evolving system.

IMF chief Kristalina Georgieva said closing tax loopholes and ensuring that the richest paid their fair share would mobilize funds urgently needed for sustainable and inclusive growth.

She said IMF research showed that ending tax avoidance by corporations could generate an additional $200 billion a year in revenue, while implementation of a global corporate minimum tax would result in an additional $150 billion. The IMF also estimated that setting a minimum floor for carbon pricing could boost revenue by $1.4 trillion a year, she said.

“When policymakers have the will, there is a way, and we have put out what the way is,” she said.

Mr. Haddad told Reuters that Wednesday’s G20 working dinner would discuss how using funds raised through the new taxes could address combating hunger and the green transition.

He said Nobel Prize-winning economist Esther Duflo would take part in the dinner, along with Gabriel Zucman, director of the European Tax Observatory, who is compiling a report on the matter in time for the next G20 finance track meeting in July.

“If we can achieve consensus on this by the end of the year, it’s such an extraordinary thing … it’s historic,” he said.

Mr. Zucman has proposed that very-high-net-worth individuals – some 3,000 people in the world who have at least $1 billion in assets – pay at least the equivalent of 2% of their wealth in income tax each year. That would generate $250 billion per year – half of the annual revenue projected as necessary for developing countries to address climate change challenges, he said.

Joseph Stiglitz, another Nobel Prize-winning economist, told a separate event that climate change and inequality are global problems and need to be addressed on a global agenda.

Taxing the rich also made sense because that was where the money was. “You can’t squeeze money out of the poor, and the bottom 50% don’t have any money,” he said.

“We need to establish new norms where the very wealthy contribute their fair share,” he said. “The notion that society has to have a certain minimum level of fairness and equity is truly important for social cohesion and the functioning of democracy.”

Ms. Duflo told the same event that one critical reason to support taxation of the rich was that people in poor and developing countries were dying due to climate change, largely driven by the consumption patterns of richer nations.

“I’m very confident that the taxation of the billionaires will happen at some point,” she said. “It might not be at this very moment, it’s a journey.”

Susana Ruiz Rodriguez, regional tax coordinator for Oxfam, said it was the first time that taxing the super-rich was being discussed at the IMF-World meetings, although 2% was a very modest target. Oxfam estimates that an annual wealth tax of more than 8% across all countries would have been needed to keep billionaires’ wealth constant over the last two decades. – Reuters

EU leaders back new Iran sanctions after attack on Israel

REUTERS

 – European Union leaders decided on Wednesday to step up sanctions against Iran after Tehran’s missile and drone attack on Israel left world powers scrambling to prevent a wider conflict in the Middle East.

The summit in Brussels is the first meeting of the EU’s 27 national leaders since Saturday’s attack, more than six months into the war between Israel and the Iran-backed Palestinian militant group Hamas.

Israel has signaled it will retaliate but has not said how. EU leaders condemned the Iranian attack, reaffirmed their commitment to Israel’s security and called on all sides to prevent more tensions, including in Lebanon.

“We feel it’s very important to do everything to isolate Iran,” said summit chairman Charles Michel, adding the new sanctions against the Islamic Republic would target companies involved in the production of drones and missiles.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said it was important that Israel “does not respond with a massive attack of its own.”

Italy spoke separately ahead of G7 talks in favour of sanctions against arms suppliers linked to the attack against Israel, as well as those behind attacks on ships in the Red Sea.

Iran launched its assault in response to an April 1 strike on its embassy in Damascus which it blamed on Israel. Tel Aviv started its broader military offensive in Gaza after Hamas’ deadly attack on Israel on Oct. 7.

 

ISRAEL AND UKRAINE

EU foreign ministers are due to continue the sanctions work on Monday as the United States and its Western allies hope new steps against Iran will help limit any Israeli retaliation.

The EU already has multiple programs that target Iran for human rights abuses, the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, and Tehran’s support for Russia’s war in Ukraine.

Germany, France and several EU states are looking at expanding a scheme that seeks to curb the supply of Iranian drones to Russia to include the provision of missiles and cover deliveries to Iranian proxies in the Middle East.

Belgium backed introducing sanctions against Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps but Mr. Scholz said that required further legal checks. The bloc’s top diplomat has said that could only happen if a national authority in the EU found that the group had been involved in terrorist activity.

Analysts say Iran is unlikely to face more severe economic punishment because of worries about boosting oil prices and angering top buyer China.

With the Middle East capturing much of the EU’s attention, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy appealed for more help in holding the line against Russia, which unleashed an invasion against its neighbor more than two years ago.

“Here in Ukraine, in our part of Europe, unfortunately, we do not have the level of defense that we all saw in the Middle East a few days ago,” Mr. Zelenskiy told the summit, after Israel and allies mostly shot down the incoming drones and missiles.

“It reflects our current key need – the need for air defense,” he said, according to an EU official, repeating his calls for speedier deliveries of the weapons and ammunition previously promised to Ukraine. – Reuters

Microinsurance Master: CARD Pioneer is global microinsurance benchmark

Photo shows CARD MRI Founder Dr. Jaime Aristotle Alip and Pioneer Group Head and Microinsurance Network Chair Lorenzo Chan, Jr.

Belgium-based Microinsurance Master recognized CARD Pioneer Microinsurance, Inc. (CPMI) as the global benchmark for its successful approach in protecting the low-income market segment through simple, affordable, and accessible microinsurance solutions.

Microinsurance Master Founder Bert Opdebeeck said there is no other organization in the world that champions microinsurance like CPMI. “No wonder they are the only microinsurance company that was able to achieve a massive reach in the Philippines,” Opdebeeck revealed.

Opdebeeck recently held the Microinsurance Master Acceleration Program for the fourth time in the Philippines out of six runs to-date because the story and business model of CPMI is an ideal benchmark for the global delegates who are senior insurance executives from 14 different countries.

“CPMI is a perfect case study because they have the mileage and track record which prove that the customer-centric approach to microinsurance is actually powerful,” Opdebeeck said.

One of the key highlights of the two-week program was the panel discussion between Pioneer Group Head Lorenzo Chan, Jr. and CARD MRI Founder Dr. Jaime Aristotle Alip, where they shared the beginnings of CPMI, the challenges they faced, and their successful customer-centric microinsurance business model, driving enrollments beyond 20 million in 2023.

Chan, who is also the global Microinsurance Network chairperson, revealed that CPMI’s game-changing microinsurance business model was founded on good faith and trust. “It took both Pioneer and CARD MRI, to take a leap of faith and trust in each other as they sought to disrupt traditional industry standards to better serve customers and look beyond the short term,” Chan said.

Dr. Alip shared that it is crucial to act with urgency in releasing claims to low-income customers at their time of need in order to gain trust. “We wanted a maximum of five days for customers to receive their insurance claim, which was unheard of in the industry, when we started. Pioneer was able to deliver that despite the huge risks at that time. Today, our target is from eight to 24 hours because of digitalization,” Dr. Alip said.

In 2023, CPMI premiums reached P1.5 billion and paid a total of P314 million in microinsurance claims to the low-income segment.

Opdebeeck said the delegates were in awe of the dynamics between Chan and Alip, and appreciated the insights on how to disrupt the industry to better serve customers from the low-income sector. “They also gained a deep understanding on how their approach laid the foundation for the success of CPMI. No other insurer worldwide has achieved such penetration when it comes to microinsurance. And that’s why we always like to come back and learn from them,” Opdebeeck said.

 


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