LGBT campaigners in Georgia have canceled a planned Pride march after opponents attacked activists and journalists and the government and church spoke out against the event.Hundreds of violent counter-protesters took to the streets of Tbilisi against the Pride march scheduled for the evening.At least 15 journalists were attacked by mobs at different locations, including two RFE/RL reporters, while covering the Tbilisi Pride events.Videos showed anti-LGBT groups waving Georgian flags scaling the Tbilisi Pride headquarters, tearing town pride flags, and ransacking the office.In a statement announcing the march had been called off, Tbilisi Pride accused the government and church of emboldening a “huge wave of hate” against the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community and failing to protect citizens’ rights.Earlier on July 5, Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili said it was inappropriate to hold a Pride march, arguing that it would create confrontation and was “unacceptable for a large segment of the Georgian society.”He also claimed that the “radical opposition” led by exiled former President Mikheil Saakashvili’s United National Movement was behind the march and sought to create “unrest.”The Georgian Orthodox Church had also called on supporters to gather against the Pride march. Videos of the mobs showed some priests joining the protests.Opponents of the march push a man as they block off the capital’s main avenue to an LGBT march in Tbilisi, Georgia, July 5, 2021.Tbilisi Pride organizers said that although they could not go out “in a street full of violence” supported by the government and church, they would continue to advocate for LGBT rights.
“We would like to tell the supporters clearly that the fight for dignity will continue, this is an indispensable process that despite the hate groups, the Patriarchate and the government’s resistance, will not stop,” they said.Condemning the violence, the U.S. and EU diplomatic missions in Georgia, as well as the embassies of 16 other countries, issued a joint statement calling on the Georgian government to protect people’s constitutional right to gather peacefully.”We condemn today’s violent attacks on the civic activists, community members, and journalists, as well as the failure of the government leaders and religious officials to condemn this violence,” the joint statement said. Rights groups also condemned the violence and accused the government of supporting hate groups.”Violent far-right crowds supported by Church & emboldened by incredibly irresponsible statement of PM @GharibashviliGe gathered in Tbilisi center to prevent Pride March, attacking journalists & breaking into Pride office,” wrote Giorgi Gogia, the associate director for Europe and Central Asia at Human Rights Watch.
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Month: July 2021
Asia Industry Group Warns Privacy Law Changes May Force Tech Firms to Quit Hong Kong
An Asian industry group that includes Google, Facebook and Twitter has warned that tech companies could stop offering their services in Hong Kong if the Chinese territory proceeds with plans to change privacy laws.
The warning came in a letter sent by the Asia Internet Coalition, of which all three companies, in addition to Apple Inc, LinkedIn and others, are members.
Proposed amendments to privacy laws in Hong Kong could see individuals hit with “severe sanctions”, said the June 25 letter to the territory’s privacy commissioner for personal data, Ada Chung Lai-ling, without specifying what the sanctions would be.
“Introducing sanctions aimed at individuals is not aligned with global norms and trends,” added the letter, whose contents were first reported by the Wall Street Journal.
“The only way to avoid these sanctions for technology companies would be to refrain from investing and offering their services in Hong Kong, thereby depriving Hong Kong businesses and consumers, whilst also creating new barriers to trade.”
In the six-page letter, AIC managing director Jeff Paine acknowledged the proposed amendments focus on the safety and personal data privacy of individuals. “However, we wish to stress that doxxing is a matter of serious concern,” he wrote.
During anti-government protests in Hong Kong in 2019, doxxing – or publicly releasing private or identifying information about an individual or organisation – came under scrutiny when police were targeted after their details were released online.
The details of some officers’ home addresses and children’s schools were also exposed by anti-government protesters, some of who threatened them and their families online.
“We … believe that any anti-doxxing legislation, which can have the effect of curtailing free expression, must be built upon principles of necessity and proportionality,” the AIC said.
Facebook did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment, while Twitter referred questions to the AIC.
Google declined to comment.
The former British colony of Hong Kong returned to Chinese rule in 1997 with the guarantee of continued freedoms. Pro-democracy activists say those freedoms are being whittled away by Beijing, especially with a national security law introduced last year cracking down on dissent. China denies the charge.
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After Pressuring Telecom Firms, Myanmar’s Junta Bans Executives from Leaving
Senior foreign executives of major telecommunications firms in Myanmar have been told by the junta that they must not leave the country without permission, a person with direct knowledge of the matter said.A confidential order from Myanmar’s Posts and Telecommunications Department (PTD) in mid-June said senior executives, both foreigners and Myanmar nationals, must seek special authorization to leave the country, the person said.A week later, telecom companies were sent a second letter telling them they had until Monday July 5 to fully implement intercept technology they had previously been asked to install to let authorities spy on calls, messages and web traffic and to track users by themselves, the source said. Reuters has not seen the orders.The directives follow pressure on the companies from the junta, which is facing daily protests from its opponents and a growing number of insurgencies to activate the spyware technology.A spokesman for the military did not answer multiple requests for comment. The junta has never commented on the electronic surveillance effort, but announced soon after seizing power its aim to pass a cybersecurity bill that would require telecoms providers to provide data when requested and remove or block any content deemed to be disrupting “unity, stabilization, and peace.” It also amended privacy laws to free security forces to intercept communications.The travel ban comes after intensified pressure from military officials to finish the implementation of the surveillance equipment. The source, who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals, said the ban was meant to pressure telecoms firms to finish activating the spyware technology, although the order itself does not specify a reason.Three other telecoms sources, also speaking on condition of anonymity, said the authorities had stepped up pressure on the companies to implement the intercept, but declined to elaborate further. Two sources said companies had been warned repeatedly by junta officials not to speak publicly or to the media on the intercept.Telenor declined to comment. There was no immediate response to requests for comment from Ooredoo, state-owned MPT and Mytel, a joint venture between Vietnam’s Viettel and a Myanmar military-owned conglomerate.Months before the Feb. 1 coup, telecom and internet service providers were ordered to install intercept spyware to allow the army to eavesdrop on the communications of citizens, Reuters reported in May.Reuters was not able to establish how broadly the surveillance technology has been installed and deployed, but four sources said Norway’s Telenor ASA and Qatar’s Ooredoo QPSC had yet to comply in full.Among the military’s first actions on Feb. 1 was to cut internet access and it has still not been fully re-established, with telecoms given regular lists of websites and activist phone numbers to block.The moves have left the future unclear for Myanmar’s telecom sector, which had been one of the fastest-growing globally. Telenor said on Friday it is evaluating the future of its operations in the country, with a source telling Reuters it is eying a sale of its Myanmar unit.
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Zimbabwe Villagers Fight Chinese Coal Mining Project Near Wildlife Reserve
Conservationists in Zimbabwe are trying to rally opposition to a Chinese coal mining project planned in a district within the country’s biggest national park. Critics say locals and wildlife will be affected and are urging authorities to move away from coal production toward renewable energies.
Most Dinde villagers in Hwange district say they are opposed to the coal mining project by Beifa Investments, but many are unwilling to speak up for fear of retaliation.
One of the few willing to express his concern was Morris Sibanda. Morris Sibanda one of Dinde community in Zimbabwe’s Hwange district says he is opposed to the coal mining project by Beifa Investments. (Columbus Mavhunga/VOA)“My fears are – one: we shall be evicted. Secondly, we have a river called Nyantuwe [where] we get water. That’s our main source of water. Definitely, if this mine succeeds, my fear is that toxic acids maybe found in the river. We don’t have boreholes; we have no anything,” Sibanda said.
About 600 families fear being displaced if the coal project goes ahead. Other villagers are worried that the project will take away grazing land for their cattle and wildlife.
But Beifa Investments continues with its exploration project. Zimbabwe’s government says Dinde’s people were consulted before the company was allowed to start mining.
Amkela Sidange, the education and publicity manager for the government’s Environmental Management Agency, says an environmental impact assessment (EIA) report addressed and cleared all of Dinde’s concerns. Amkela Sidange, an official with Zimbabwe’s Environmental Management Agency, says an environmental impact assessment (EIA) report addressed and cleared all public concerns about the coal mining project by Beifa Investments. (Columbus Mavhunga/VOA)“An EIA for exploration was done and public consultation was also done. Their fears are all taken care of. In fact, as long as the EIA was done, it is being monitored by the agency. So, nothing is going to be done which is outside what the agreement was in the EIA for exploration,” Sidange said.
Farai Maguwu is the director of the Centre for Natural Resource Governance, a local NGO opposed to the Dinde coal mining project, partially because there are no clear plans on where the villagers will be taken if they are displaced. Maguwu said there are also environmental concerns.
“Zimbabwe is intending to have a green economy by 2030. We are also aiming to reduce carbon emissions by 33% by 2030. But that will not happen as long as the country continues to invest in dirty energy as what is about to happen in Dinde. We will not allow the government to be talking left and walking right,” Maguwu said. Giraffes are seen in Zimbabwe’s Hwange National Park, the country’s largest wildlife sanctuary, July 01, 2021. (Columbus Mavhunga/VOA)Sibanda, like most villagers around here, says he does not know what tomorrow will bring.
The villagers fear that more coal projects will be approved and encroach onto Hwange National Park, also the country’s largest wildlife sanctuary.
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North Korea Faces Worsening Economic Woes Amid COVID Lockdown
North Korea’s coronavirus lockdown has taken a major toll on its economy. Its leader, Kim Jong Un, has hinted at a humanitarian crisis. Some fear the situation could get much worse, as VOA’s Bill Gallo reports from Seoul.
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Euro Zone Business Activity Soared in June as Lockdowns Lifted
Euro zone businesses expanded activity at the fastest rate in 15 years in June as the easing of more coronavirus restrictions brought life back to the bloc’s dominant service industry, a survey showed on Monday.
But that surge in growth has come at a cost as inflationary pressures mounted due to labor shortages and disruptions to supply chains caused by the pandemic.
IHS Markit’s final composite Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI), seen as a good gauge of economic health, jumped to 59.5 last month from May’s 57.1, its highest level since June 2006.
That was ahead of the 59.2 “flash” estimate and well above the 50 mark separating growth from contraction.
“The index was at its 15-year high, confirming that the recovery in bloc’s economy is well underway. At the same time, backlogs and producer price pressures show no signs of abating,” said Mateusz Urban at Oxford Economics.
“The services PMI sub-index posted an increase. This indicated that the sector has benefited from easing of restrictions and increased consumer optimism on the back of advancing vaccination campaign.
An acceleration in vaccination programs on the continent has meant governments have allowed more of the services industry to re-open and the sector’s PMI soared to its highest reading since July 2007.
Activity in Germany’s service industry grew in June at its fastest pace since March 2011 while in France the sector boomed following the easing of COVID-19 restrictions.
Meanwhile, in Britain – outside the euro zone and the European Union – the post-lockdown bounce-back for services firms eased only slightly in June but price pressures jumped by the most on record.
World stocks clung close to record highs on Monday as worries about the Delta variant of COVID-19 offset the positive sentiment from surging euro zone business activity.
Price riseA PMI covering euro zone manufacturers, released last week, showed factory activity expanded at its fastest pace on record in June but that they faced the steepest rise in raw materials costs in well over two decades.
Those inflationary pressures were also felt by the services industry and the composite input prices index bounced to the highest in nearly 21 years.
Although inflation risks are skewed to the upside the European Central Bank was expected to maintain its loose monetary policy and look through higher inflation expectations for a while before it acts, a Reuters poll found last month.
With demand surging, and amid hopes of further easing of restrictions leading to a more normal way of life, optimism about the coming year improved. The services business expectations index climbed to 72.7 from 71.2, its highest since August 2000.
Investor morale in the euro zone rose for the fifth month in a row in July, its highest level since February 2018, lifted by reopening restaurants and retailers as well as tourism as coronavirus cases fall, another survey showed on Monday.
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North Korea Faces Worsening Economic Woes amid COVID Lockdown
North Korea’s coronavirus lockdown has taken a major toll on its economy. Its leader, Kim Jong Un, has hinted at a humanitarian crisis. Some fear the situation could get much worse.North Korea may be the only nation to claim it is COVID-19-free. But even it now admits a worsening pandemic-related crisis.Sorry, but your browser cannot support embedded video of this type, you can
Staff of the Pyongyang Primary School No. 4 spray disinfectant in Pyongyang, North Korea, June 30, 2021.It’s not clear North Korea has vaccines from anywhere else, either, puzzling observers like Yang Moo-jin.Yang said he says he doesn’t know why North Korea has refused vaccines, adding North Korea isn’t known to have any particular aversion to vaccines, like some do in the West.North Korea’s basic predicament is that it wants to keep the border closed to protect from the virus but must open it to get vaccines.It’s a situation that may not threaten Kim’s rule but will get riskier the longer it lasts.
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Pope Convalescing in Hospital After Intestinal Surgery
Pope Francis was spending his first morning convalescing on Monday in a Rome hospital following intestinal surgery under general anesthesia and reportedly doing well. The Vatican has given scant details about the operation Sunday evening in Gemelli Polyclinic, a major Catholic hospital in the Italian capital.An Italian cardinal told reporters he had been informed that the pope was doing well. “Our prayer and our closeness are very great,” Cardinal Enrico Feroci said at Rome’s airport where he was catching a flight. The Italian news agency ANSA quoted him as saying that he had heard earlier in the morning from another cardinal, Angelo De Donatis, “and he told me that the pope is well.” De Donatis is the vicar of the Rome diocese.Francis is staying in special, 10th floor suite that the hospital keeps available for use by a pontiff, after Pope John Paul II stayed there several times for various medical problems.He is expected to stay hospitalized for several days.Twice daily updates on Pope Francis’ condition are expected to be issued by the Vatican, with the first coming later Monday morning.The Vatican said late Sunday that Francis, 84, responded well to the surgery on the lower part of his colon.But it didn’t say just what the surgery entailed or how long it lasted.Francis had developed a diverticular stenosis, or narrowing, of the sigmoid portion of the large intestine.The Vatican has said the surgery was planned, although it only announced the hospitalization after Francis had checked into Gemelli.Doctors not connected to the pope’s hospitalization have said it is common to perform a re-sectioning of the affected part of the bowel in such cases.Get-well messages continued to arrive for the pope. Italian Premier Mario Draghi’s office said the leader “expresses affectionate wishes for a rapid convalescence and quick healing.”
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Suspected Ransomware Group Demands $70 Million
Hackers suspected of being behind a massive ransomware attack have made a demand of $70 million in cryptocurrency in exchange for unlocking all of the affected systems.The demand appeared Sunday on a dark web site used by the Russia-linked REvil gang.The cyberattack Friday hit the systems of hundreds of companies and public agencies across the world.It involved a breach of the Miami-based software company Kaseya, which called the attack “sophisticated.”Kaseya said in a statement it had a detection tool available for customers to see if their systems were infiltrated, and that it hoped to begin bringing its data centers back online by the end of Monday.The FBI said REvil was responsible for a late May ransomware attack that shut down the operations of JBS, the world’s largest meat processing company.U.S. President Joe Biden on Saturday referred to his meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin last month, suggesting the United States would hold Russia responsible if it were linked to the attack.“If it is, either with the knowledge of and/or a consequence of Russia, then I told Putin we will respond,” Biden told reporters. This report includes information from the Associated Press and Reuters
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More than 100 People Missing After Massive Landslide in Japanese Seaside Resort City
In Japan thousands of emergency workers are digging through the rubble of a central seaside city neighborhood that was demolished by a massive landslide in a desperate search for survivors.As many as 130 homes and buildings were destroyed Saturday when the disaster struck the hot springs resort city of Atami, located about 90 kilometers southwest of Tokyo.At least three people are confirmed dead and as many as 80 others are believed to be missing.Saturday’s landslide was triggered by several days of torrential rains, which forecasters was more rainfall than Atami usually records for the entire month of July. The disaster comes just days before the opening ceremonies of the Tokyo Olympics, which has been overshadowed by the rising number of COVID-19 infections across the nation. This report includes information from the Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters
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Researchers Developing Quake-Resilient Bridges in New Zealand
Researchers in New Zealand have developed new technology that could make bridges more resilient to earthquakes. Their so-called ‘low-damage solution’ has a series of rocking bridge columns that move with seismic shocks, leaving bridges with little to no damage compared to conventional building methods.More than 900 bridges were damaged during the Kaikōura earthquake on New Zealand’s South Island in 2016. Roads and railway lines were also destroyed, disrupting the transport network. Researchers at the University of Canterbury have said that although current designs prevent the collapse of bridges, significant repairs might be needed. They’ve developed flexible columns made of high-strength steel that move during an earthquake. They act like giant rubber bands to bring bridge supports back into position. Conventional steel bars are also used to dissipate seismic energy, reducing the impact of a powerful tremor. Alessandro Palermo, a professor in Structural Engineering and Materials at the University of Canterbury, says the technology makes bridges more resilient.“This special steel, which is usually placed in the middle of the column, is actually working as a rubber band. So, during the earthquake this high-strength steel is actually trying to bring the pier back to the original position,” Palermo said. “And we are actually trying to combine these resilience-solutions – seismic resilience-solutions – with accelerated bridge construction. How can we actually build bridges faster and at the same time (be) resilient? This system allows (us) to do that.” In February 2011, the New Zealand city of Christchurch was hit by a magnitude 6.3 earthquake. 185 people were killed and several thousand injured.A decade later, rebuilding work continues.Each year, more than 15,000 earthquakes are detected in New Zealand. Only about 150 are large enough to be felt, but building homes, offices and bridges that can withstand major tremors is a priority.
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In Crosshairs of Ransomware Crooks, Cyber Insurers Struggle
In the past few weeks, ransomware criminals claimed as trophies at least three North American insurance brokerages that offer policies to help others survive the very network-paralyzing, data-pilfering extortion attacks they themselves apparently suffered. Cybercriminals who hack into corporate and government networks to steal sensitive data for extortion routinely try to learn how much cyber insurance coverage the victims have. Knowing what victims can afford to pay can give them an edge in ransom negotiations. The cyber insurance industry, too, is a prime target for crooks seeking its customers’ identities and scope of coverage. Before ransomware evolved into a full-scale global epidemic plaguing businesses, hospitals, schools and local governments, cyber insurance was a profitable niche industry. It was accused of fueling the criminal feeding frenzy by routinely recommending that victims pay up, but kept many from going bankrupt. Now, the sector isn’t just in the criminals’ crosshairs. It’s teetering on the edge of profitability, upended by a more than 400% rise last year in ransomware cases and skyrocketing extortion demands. As a percentage of premiums collected, cyber insurance payouts now top 70%, the break-even point. Fabian Wosar, chief technical officer of Emsisoft, a cybersecurity firm specializing in ransomware, said the prevailing attitude among insurers is no longer: Pay the criminals. It’s likely to be cheaper for all involved. “The ransomware groups got way too greedy too quickly. So the cost-benefit equation the insurers initially used to figure out whether or not they should pay a ransom — it’s just not there anymore,” he said. It’s not clear how the single biggest ransomware attack on record, which began Friday, will impact insurers. But it can’t be good. Pressure is building on the industry to stop reimbursing for ransoms. In May, the major cyber insurer AXA decided to do so with all new policies in France. But it is so far apparently alone in the industry, and governments are not moving to outlaw reimbursement. AXA is among major insurers that have suffered ransomware attacks, with operations in Thailand hard-hit. Chicago-based CNA Financial Corp., the seventh–ranked U.S. cybersecurity underwriter last year, saw its network crippled in March. Less than a week earlier, the cybersecurity firm Recorded Future published an interview with a member of the Russian-speaking ransomware gang, REvil, that is skilled in pre-attack intelligence-gathering and happens to be behind the current attack. He suggested it actively targets insurers for data on their clients. CNA would not confirm a Bloomberg report that it paid a $40 million ransom, which would be the highest reported ransom on record. Nor would it say what or how much data was stolen. It said only that systems where most policyholder data was stored “were not impacted.” In a regulatory filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, CNA also said that its losses might not be fully covered by its insurance and “future cybersecurity insurance coverage may be difficult to obtain or may only be available at significantly higher costs to us.” Another major insurance player hit by ransomware was broker Gallagher. Although it was hit in September, only this past week (June 30) did it disclose that the attackers may have stolen highly detailed data from an unspecified number of customers — from passwords and Social Security numbers to credit card data and medical diagnoses. Company spokeswoman Kelli Murray would not say if any cyber insurance policy contracts were on compromised servers. Nor would she say whether Gallagher paid a ransom. The criminals, from the RagnarLocker gang, apparently never posted information about the attack on their dark web leak site, suggesting that Gallagher paid. Of the three insurance brokers that ransomware gangs claimed to have attacked in recent weeks, posting stolen data on their dark web sites as evidence, two, in Montreal and Detroit, did not respond to phone calls and emails. The third, in southern California, acknowledged being hobbled for a week. By the time the Colonial Pipeline and major meat processer JBS were hit by ransomware in May, insurers were already passing higher coverage costs to customers. Cyber premiums jumped by 29% in January in the U.S. and Canada from the previous month, said Gregory Eskins, an analyst at top commercial insurance broker Marsh McLennan. In February, the month-to-month jump was 32%, in March it was 39%. In a bid to turn back ransomware-related losses — Eskins said they amounted to about 40% of cyber insurance claims in North America last year — policy renewals are carrying new, stricter rules or lowered coverage limits. “The price has to match the risk,” said Michael Phillips, chief claims officer at the San Francisco cyber insurance firm Resilience and a co-chair of the public-private Ransomware Task Force. A policy might now specify that reimbursement for extortion payments can’t exceed one-third of overall coverage, which typically also encompasses recovery and lost income and can include payments to PR firms to mitigate reputational damage. Or an insurer may cut coverage in half, or introduce a deductible, said Brent Reith of the broker Aon. While some smaller carriers have dropped coverage altogether, the big players are instead retooling. Then there are hybrid insurers like Resilience and Boston-based Corvus. They don’t simply ask potential customers to fill out a questionnaire. They physically probe their cyber defenses and actively engage clients as cyber threats occur. “We’re monitoring and making active recommendations not just once a year but throughout the year and dynamically,” said Corvus CEO Phil Edmundson. But is the overall industry nimble enough to absorb the growing onslaught? The Government Accountability Office warned in a May report that “the extent to which cyber insurance will continue to be generally available and affordable remains uncertain.” And the New York State Department of Finance said in a February circular that massive industry losses were possible. Both insured and insurers, stingy about sharing experiences and data, shoulder the blame for that, the U.K. Royal United Services Institute said in a new report. Most ransomware attacks go unreported, and no central clearinghouse on them exists, though governments are beginning to pressure for mandatory industry reporting. As a business sector, insurers are not especially transparent. In the U.S. they are regulated not by the federal government but by the states. And for now, cyber insurers are mostly resisting calls to halt reimbursements for ransoms paid. In a May earnings call, the CEO of U.K.-based Beazley, Adrian Cox, said “generally speaking network security is not good enough at the moment.” He said it is up to government to decide whether payments are bad public policy. CEO Evan Greenberg of the leading U.S. cyber insurer, Chubb Limited, agreed in the company’s annual report in February that deciding on a ban is government’s purview. But he did endorse outlawing payments. Jan Lemnitzer, a Copenhagen Business School lecturer, thinks cyber insurance should be compulsory for businesses large and small, just as everyone who drives must have car insurance and seat belts. The Royal United Services Institute study recommends it for all government suppliers and vendors. While he considers banning ransom payments problematic, Lemnitzer says it would be a “no-brainer” to compel insurers to stop reimbursing for them. Some have suggested imposing fines on ransom payments as a disincentive. Or the government could retain a percentage of any cryptocurrency recovered from ransomware criminals, the proceeds going to a federal ransomware defense fund. Such measures could bite into criminal revenues, said attorney Stewart Baker of Steptoe and Johnson, a former NSA general counsel. “In the long run, it probably means that resources that are currently going to Russia to pay for Ferraris in Moscow will instead go to improve cybersecurity in the United States.”
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’Racist’ Facial Recognition Sparks Ethical Concerns in Russia, Analysts Say
From scanning residents’ faces to let them into their building to spotting police suspects in a crowd, the rise of facial recognition is accompanied by a growing chorus of concern about unethical uses of the technology.A report published on Monday by U.S.-based researchers showing that Russian facial recognition companies have built tools to detect a person’s race has raised fears among digital rights groups, who describe the technology as “purpose-made for discrimination.”Developer guides and code examples unearthed by video surveillance research firm IPVM show software advertised by four of Russia’s biggest facial analytics firms can use artificial intelligence (AI) to classify faces based on their perceived ethnicity or race.There is no indication yet that Russian police have targeted minorities using the software developed by the firms — AxxonSoft, Tevian, VisionLabs and NtechLab — whose products are sold to authorities and businesses in the country and abroad.But Moscow-based AxxonSoft said the Thomson Reuters Foundation’s enquiry prompted it to disable its ethnicity analytics feature, saying in an emailed response it was not interested “in promoting any technologies that could be a basis for ethnic segregation.”The IPVM findings — seen exclusively by the Thomson Reuters Foundation — have sparked concern among civil rights groups, who say racial profiling is common in the country and note that authorities have already used AI to identify and detain anti-government protesters.“The findings underline the ugly racism baked into these systems,” said Edin Omanovic, advocacy director at Privacy International, a rights charity based in London.“Far from being benign security tools which can be abused, such tools are deeply rooted in some of humanity’s most destructive ideas and purpose-made for discrimination.”The Russian interior ministry and NtechLab did not reply to requests for comment.The other three companies expressed skepticism about their technology’s current capacity to enable abuse, but said they are aware of ethical concerns related to its use.Vadim Konushin, CEO of Tevian, also known as Video Analysis Technologies, denied current uses of its tool by police could entrench discrimination, and VisionLabs said its ethnicity analytics software was developed for internal research purposes only.Ethnicity analytics Race detection is part of a broadening range of analytics offered by facial recognition companies that allow clients to detect physical features like hair color and facial expressions, and deduce information such as a person’s age, gender and emotions.The software developed by AxxonSoft, Moscow-based Tevian and VisionLabs, a Russia-founded firm headquartered in the Netherlands, all categorize people walking past their cameras into roughly the same groups: Asian, Black, white and Indian.The categories for Axxonsoft’s Face Intellect tool included the outdated and offensive terms “Mongoloid” and “Negroid,” which the company put down to a translation error. The terms have now been removed from the company literature.NtechLab, which is partially funded and owned by the Russian government, lists “race” among the features its software can detect.The findings come as facial recognition firms are feeling increased pressure across the globe over the technology’s potential to undermine human rights and civil liberties.In June, a group of 50 investors managing more than $4.5 trillion in assets urged companies to make sure their facial recognition products are developed and used in an ethical way.That same month, more than 170 rights groups signed an open letter calling for a global ban on the use of facial recognition and remote biometric recognition tools that enable mass and discriminatory targeted surveillance.While ethnicity analytics are developed by dozens of firms worldwide — most prominently in China — Russian companies have a significant presence in the facial recognition market, with reported revenues of up to $40 million and expansion abroad, according to IPVM.Rights removed The potential for facial recognition technology to cause harm has come to the fore in China, where AI firms have developed tools that can detect, track and monitor Muslim minority Uyghurs, said Matt Mahmoudi, AI and human rights researcher at Amnesty International.United Nations officials have said China is transforming the Xinjiang region, where many Uyghurs live, into a “massive internment camp,” with the tracing tech seen by rights groups as key to the crackdown.The Chinese embassy in Washington, D.C., has said cameras operating in public places in Xinjiang did not “target any specific ethnicity” and authorities have said the camps in the region provide vocational training and help fight extremism.In Russia, where rights groups say migrants, particularly from Central Asia, are often subjected to racial profiling, arbitrary detentions and violence, authorities’ potential use of race-detection was worrying, said Mahmoudi.“Minorities who might have been equated with a level of deviance or criminality may fall subject to having their rights, for example their freedom to assemble, removed as a result of the extensive usage of this technology,” he said.A spokesperson for Moscow’s Department of Technology, which manages the city’s surveillance system, said via email that video analytics were used to improve safety and find offenders.They did not reply to questions on race detection software, only saying the city uses algorithms from various independent developers.‘Frightful’ future AxxonSoft, which is known as ITV in Russia, and Tevian said law enforcement agencies used their products for criminal investigations, usually to find suspects based on descriptions.NtechLab’s website says its FindFace software underpins Moscow’s facial recognition system, which authorities say has helped cut crime and enforce coronavirus lockdown restrictions.Some of the Russian firms said they were aware of how their tech could be used to lead to discrimination.Anton Nazarkin, global sales director at VisionLabs, said that while the tool was marketed on the firm’s website, the company has never licensed it because of ethical and legal concerns, as it might contravene European data protection laws.Azret Teberdiev, head of marketing for AxxonSoft, whose website says it has more than 2 million cameras installed worldwide, said ethnicity analytics were included in its product “inadvertently” when integrating third-party software.The company has pledged to disable the feature after being contacted by the Thomson Reuters Foundation.“We consider such functionality as not aligning with the ethical standards of our company,” Teberdiev said.Tevian’s Konushin said while facial recognition technology is still too rudimentary to target specific ethnic minority groups, its potential is worrisome.“What frightens (me) the most is a theoretical use case, when all people are automatically being racially profiled, and law enforcement officers are signalled to check up on ethnic minorities,” he said.“If algorithms improve a lot, it could theoretically become possible — which is frightful.”
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Biden Opens White House to Fourth of July Guests
At his first large event since his inauguration, President Joe Biden hosted a party at the White House in honor of the Fourth of July holiday Sunday.
“America is coming back together,” Biden said.
“Today, we’re closer than ever to declaring our independence from a deadly virus.”
The White House was open to hundreds of invited guests Sunday, serving up hamburgers and other dishes.
Among the guests were essential workers who helped with the response to the COVID-19 pandemic as well as military families.
In his remarks to his guests Sunday, Biden encouraged those who have not yet been vaccinated against the coronavirus to do so.
“My fellow Americans – it’s the most patriotic thing you can do,” he said.Attendees listen as President Joe Biden speaks during an Independence Day celebration on the South Lawn of the White House, in Washington, July 4, 2021.The administration had set a goal of having 70% of American adults vaccinated by the holiday. The nation got close: about 67% have had at least one shot.
Sunday also marked one of the first times that fencing, which had been erected around the White House during the anti-police violence protests in 2020 and in the wake of the January 6th assault on the Capitol, was removed. Visitors can now walk up to the North Lawn fence in front of the White House.
Though the event is the largest since Biden took office in January, the crowds are much smaller than White House Independence Day events in previous years.
With fireworks and gatherings, Americans celebrated their country’s 245th Independence Day this year with a sense of renewal as new cases of COVID-19 continued to drop but also with the reminder that more than 600,000 in the U.S. — the most of any country — have died of the disease.
Some information for this report came from Reuters.
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UN, African Union Peacekeepers Hand Over 14 Darfur Bases to Sudan
Fourteen bases that had been run jointly by the United Nations and the African Union in Sudan’s Darfur region for 13 years are now under Sudan’s control and to be used by local populations.
The recent official handover comes in accordance with a framework agreement signed on March 4 between the United Nations and African Union Mission in Darfur (UNAMID) and Sudan.
The U.N. Security Council voted last year to turn over the sites to the Sudanese government, but M’Baye Babacar Cissé, U.N. assistant secretary-general, said the repatriation of equipment and staff from Darfur had been going on for four months.
“The main beneficiaries in fact were the local communities and the IDPs (internally displaced persons) and the teams’ sites were supposed to be used as vocational training centers, education centers, clinics, health centers or community activity centers,” Babacar told VOA’s South Sudan in Focus program.
Eight of the 14 sites were stripped bare by looters from the local communities in Darfur. But some of the sites are serving locals, Babacar said, referencing the former outposts known as Zalenji and Kalma.
Zalenji “is now [under] the University of Zalenji,” where early occupation of the sites by the university of the same name prevented looting, he said.
“… Kalma was transferred to the IDPs and now they are the ones managing Kalma as [a] health center,” Babacar told VOA.
UNAMID repatriated its peacekeeping equipment to its respective countries along with about 6,000 staff members who had performed peacekeeping operations in Darfur since December 2020. Some of those operations, however, were interrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic, Babacar said.
“We had at the end of December 2020 programmatic activities as well as state liaison projects that were implemented by the U.N. agencies that were not completed because of the COVID crises that affected the operation.”
The pandemic interrupted some community projects that were directly under the supervision of Civil Affairs of UNAMID, including water projects and community engagement workshops with youth, women and local traditional leaders.
The U.N. diplomat said Sudan’s transitional government now has the responsibility of protecting civilians against attacks in Darfur.
“The government is committed to putting together a joint force to protect the local community and the U.N. will continue to support that end, but we will no longer have a physical protection mandate,” Babacar told VOA.
During UNAMID’s 13-year mandate, it had more than 97,000 peacekeepers including military and police in Darfur, drawn from 110 countries. It will leave behind a small contingent estimated to be 1,000 to 1,500 individuals.
Hundreds of people have been killed or wounded this year in Darfur, an area plagued by deadly violence for decades during the administration of former President Omar al Bashir.
Dozens of people were killed in January shortly after the peacekeepers announced their phased withdrawal from the region. Arab militias attacked a displacement camp in El Geneina, the capital of West Darfur. Five days of fighting between Arab and Masalit tribesmen in April left 87 people dead and more than 190 people wounded, according to the Sudanese Doctors Committee in West Darfur. Carol Van Dam Falk contributed to this report.
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Blast Rocks Caspian Sea Sector Near Azerbaijani Gas Field
A strong explosion shook the Caspian Sea area where Azerbaijan has extensive offshore oil and gas fields and a column of fire rose late Sunday, but the state oil company said none of its platforms were damaged. The cause of the blast was not immediately determined, but state oil company SOCAR said preliminary information indicated it was a mud volcano.The Caspian Sea has a high concentration of such volcanoes, which spew both mud and flammable gas. SOCAR spokesman Ibrahim Ahmadov was quoted by the Azerbaijani news agency APA as saying the blast took place about 10 kilometers (6 miles) from the Umid gas field, which is 75 kilometers (45 miles) off the coast of the capital, Baku.
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Indonesian Hospital Loses 63 COVID Patients in Oxygen Shortage
Dozens of COVID-19 patients died in Indonesia over the weekend when a hospital in Yogyakarta ran out of oxygen.
The Dr. Sardjito General Hospital tried switching oxygen cylinders during the outage but failed to save 63 of its COVID patients as cities across the country are facing a surge in coronavirus cases.
“The hospital switched to oxygen cylinders, including the 100 cylinders donated by the Yogyakarta regional police. However, all efforts were too late,” hospital director Rukmono Siswishanto said in a statement Sunday morning.
Siswishanto said that he had informed multiple authorities including the minister of health that the hospital was due to run out of oxygen on Saturday evening.
The surge of daily new cases in Indonesia has pushed hospitals to build makeshift intensive care units and dedicate new quarantine centers. At least three new cemeteries for those who had COVID-19 have been set up in the capital of Jakarta.
In one neighborhood of Jakarta, residents in need of oxygen line up as early as 6 a.m. to fill tanks for their loved ones.Indonesians, fortunate to have their own oxygen tanks, line up at an oxygen supply station in Tebet, Jakarta, July 4, 2021, after a hospital ran out of supplemental oxygen, asking patients’ families to bring their own. (Indra Yoga/VOA-Jakarta)Over the past week, Indonesia has seen its highest number of new cases and deaths from the coronavirus. The country recorded 3,298 deaths over the past week, according to the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center.
In India, officials have announced that thousands of residents have been given fake vaccines. Officials say the shots were given in fake vaccine camps set up in several cities, including Mumbai and Kolkata. Officials say six people, so far, have been arrested in connection with the fake shots.
India’s health ministry said Sunday that it had recorded more than 43,000 new COVID-19 cases in the previous 24-hour period.
In Iran, officials are shutting down a number of businesses as the Delta variant continues to spread and vaccination rates continue to lag. Barely a third of Iran’s population has been vaccinated against the virus.
Meanwhile, Britain, which has fully vaccinated nearly half of its population, is expected to announce an end to mask requirements.
British media reported Sunday that Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s plans for “Freedom Day” on July 19th will scrap legal mask requirements, in addition to fully opening businesses and social interactions currently restricted.
VOA’s Indonesian Service contributed to this story. Some information came from the Associated Press and Reuters.
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45 Killed in Philippine Military Plane Crash
At least 45 people were killed and 50 injured Sunday when a Philippine military aircraft carrying troops crashed and burst into flames after missing the runway in the country’s south, officials said.Nearly 100 people, most of them recent army graduates, were on the C-130 Hercules transport plane which was trying to land on Jolo island in Sulu province around midday.Some of the soldiers were seen jumping out of the plane before it hit the ground and exploded into flames, said Major General William Gonzales, commander of the Joint Task Force-Sulu.It was one of the country’s deadliest military aviation accidents.”This is a sad day, but we have to remain hopeful,” Gonzales said in a statement.”We enjoin the nation to pray for those who are injured and those who have perished in this tragedy.”A search was still under way for 17 missing people.Photos of the crash site released by the Joint Task Force-Sulu showed the damaged tail and the smoking wreckage of the fuselage’s back section laying near coconut trees.Images published by local media outlet Pondohan TV on its Facebook page showed the wreckage engulfed in flames and a plume of thick black smoke rising above houses located near the site.Armed Forces Chief General Cirilito Sobejana said the aircraft was carrying troops from Cagayan de Oro on the southern island of Mindanao when it “missed the runway” as it tried to land on Jolo.The plane tried to “regain power but didn’t make it”, he told local media.The four-engine plane crashed near a quarry in a lightly populated area, First Lieutenant Jerrica Angela Manongdo said.Western Mindanao Command chief Lieutenant General Corletan Vinluan told AFP the aircraft overshot the landing strip and broke into two according to initial reports.Air force spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Maynard Mariano said the cause of the crash would be investigated, while armed forces spokesman Major General Edgard Arevalo told DZBB radio that it was being treated as an accident rather than an attack.Most of the passengers had recently graduated from basic military training and were being deployed to the restive island as part of a joint task force fighting terrorism in the Muslim-majority region.They were supposed to report for duty on Sunday, Gonzales said.The military has a heavy presence in the southern Philippines where militant groups, including the kidnap-for-ransom outfit Abu Sayyaf, operate.Deadly accidentsC-130s have been the workhorses of air forces around the world for decades, used to transport troops, supplies and vehicles. They are also often deployed to deliver humanitarian assistance and disaster relief.The Hercules that crashed Sunday has the same tail number as one acquired from the United States and delivered to the Philippines earlier this year. Senator Richard Gordon said it was the fourth military aircraft accident this year with “mass casualties.””Are we buying defective crafts… (with) the people’s money?” he tweeted. Presidential spokesman Harry Roque described the accident as “very unfortunate”, and the U.S. embassy Charge d’Affaires John Law offered “sincerest condolences” to the families of the victims.Sunday’s accident comes after a Black Hawk helicopter crashed last month during a night-time training flight, killing all six on board. The accident prompted the grounding of the Philippines’ entire Black Hawk fleet.
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US: No Plans to Close Embassy as Fighting Rages in Afghanistan
The U.S. embassy in Afghanistan Sunday told the host nation the United States had “no plans to close” the diplomatic mission as stepped up Taliban attacks fuel nationwide security concerns while U.S.-led foreign troops near a complete withdrawal from the country.
The U.S. assurance comes in response to reports suggesting Washington is preparing emergency evacuation plans for the diplomatic staff in Kabul.
The embassy in the Afghan capital “is open and will remain open,” the mission wrote on Twitter. It pledged to maintain a “robust diplomatic presence” in the country as directed by President Joe Biden “to carry out the range of work we do with the government and people of #Afghanistan.” (1/4) The U.S. Embassy in Kabul is open & will remain open. As directed by President Biden, we will continue to have a robust diplomatic presence in Kabul to carry out the range of work we do with the government and people of #Afghanistan. We have no plans to close the Embassy.— U.S. Embassy Kabul (@USEmbassyKabul) July 4, 2021
The statement noted that the embassy was aware of the security challenges of operating in the country and “constantly planning for contingencies & how to mitigate risks to our people and programs.”
It said the embassy would adjust “our presence as necessary” to address the challenges and was confident it could work in a “safe manner to the benefit” of Afghanistan and the bilateral relationship.
“As President Biden and Secretary [of State Antony] Blinken have said, while the U.S. military presence in Afghanistan is ending, the U.S. embassy will continue our diplomatic, humanitarian, and security assistance programs in Afghanistan. Taliban Capture at Least a Dozen Districts as Afghan Fighting RagesMore than 300 Afghan border troops escaped the fighting in Badakhshan by fleeing into neighboring TajikistanThe Afghan uncertainty and chaos have intensified since Friday, when U.S. officials announced all coalition troops vacated the main Bagram Air Base, about 60 kilometers north of Kabul, after handing its control to local forces. The America commander in Afghanistan, who is directing the withdrawal process, says Taliban advances and attempts to regain control of the country are worrisome.
“You look at the security situation and it’s not good.” he said. “The Taliban is on the move,” Gen. Austin Scott Miller, told ABC’s “This Week” show broadcast Sunday. He said the Taliban is “gaining strength” and that “we should be concerned.” Miller also said, “The loss of terrain is concerning.”
The Taliban have rapidly extended control to about a quarter of Afghanistan’s roughly 419 districts since U.S. and NATO allies formally began withdrawing their last remaining troops from the country two months ago.
U.S. officials said last week the retrograde process has largely been completed and the rest of the process is expected to be finished by August, slightly earlier than the original deadline of September 11 set by Biden.
The Taliban have captured nearly 20 districts in recent days, with pro-government security forces either retreating to other areas or surrendering to the Taliban in most of the cases. More than a dozen of them are located in the northeastern border provinces of Badakhshan and Takhar.
On Saturday, more than 300 Afghan government forces fled the fighting in Badakhshan and took refuge in the neighboring central Asian state of Tajikistan.
Afghan President Ashraf Ghani spoke Sunday to Tajik President Emomali Sharipovich Rahmonov. A presidential spokesman in Kabul said Ghani thanked the Tajik leader for allowing the Afghan soldiers to take shelter on humanitarian grounds.
Insurgent advances in Badakhshan have brought the Taliban close to the gates to the provincial capital, Fayzabad. The development prompted the Afghan government to send in reinforcements to protect the city. Hundreds of commando forces have stationed in Faiz Abad, Badakhshan provincial center today. They protect the lives and properties of Badakshan’s residents and will not allow the Taliban terrorists to harm people. pic.twitter.com/sEV6bDhjbM— Fawad Aman (@FawadAman2) July 4, 2021 The Taliban have also made significant battlefield advances in southern Helmand and Kandahar provinces, next to the border with Pakistan.
Afghan officials said national security forces have killed “hundreds” of Taliban fighters in recent days, stressing the need to retake districts that have fallen to the Taliban.
Local media Sunday quoted the commander of Afghan special forces as saying, “Strong belts have been created for the protection of major cities, highways and border towns” across the country.
Maj. Gen. Hibatullah Alizai blamed “political, regional and social issues” for the evacuation of dozens of districts by Afghan forces in recent days. He did not elaborate.
“Our main goal is to inflict as many casualties as possible on the enemy…. (and) to protect major cities, highways and key border towns that are important for our major cities and the country,” the private TOLO news channel quoted Alizai as saying.
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The Successful Journey of a Flying Car
A car with wings recently completed a test flight in Slovakia. Its designers say the successful journey brings us one step closer to flying cars, but experts aren’t so sure that’s happening any time soon. VOA’s Arash Arabasadi has more.Produced by: Arash Arabasadi
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Pope Francis Goes to Rome Hospital for Intestinal Surgery
The Vatican says Pope Francis has gone to a Rome hospital for scheduled surgery for a stenosis, or restriction, of the large intestine. The brief announcement Sunday afternoon didn’t say when the surgery would be performed but it said there would be announcement when the surgery is complete. Just three hours earlier, Francis had cheerfully greeted the public in St. Peter’s Square in keeping with a Sunday tradition and told them he will go to Hungary and Slovakia in September. A week earlier, Francis, 84, had used the same traditional appearance to ask the public for special prayers for the pope, which, in hindsight might have been hinting at the planned surgery at Rome’s Gemelli Polyclinic.
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Demolition Experts Preparing to Raze Remainder of Collapsed Florida Condo
Demolition experts are preparing to demolish the remainder of the partially collapsed condominium along the ocean in South Florida, fearing that it is unstable and could fall on its own in the face of high winds from an advancing tropical storm.Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said the building was “tottering,” as officials on Saturday suspended operations in the search for anyone still alive from the sudden, middle-of-the-night collapse of a large part of the 12-story condominium June 24.The death toll stands at 24, with 121 people still unaccounted for, and no one has been found alive since the earliest hours of the search.The demolition workers were boring holes into the concrete of the remaining portion of the condo in Surfside, Florida, north of Miami, to position explosives that will raze the tower.The timing for the demolition has not been disclosed, but is likely to be soon, with Tropical Storm Elsa roiling the waters in the Caribbean and forecast to hit Florida by Tuesday morning.Residents of the remaining portion of the Champlain Towers South have long since evacuated it and officials are not allowing them back in to retrieve any belongings, assessing it as too dangerous.Miami-Dade Assistant Fire Chief Raide Jadallah told relatives of the missing people that the search in the rubble of the collapsed portion of the building had to be suspended as a safety measure because the drilling to place the explosives could itself make the building fall.”It’s just going to collapse without warning,” he said.DeSantis said, “We have a building here in Surfside that is tottering. It is structurally unsound.”“And although the eye of the storm is not likely to pass over this direction, you could feel gusts in this area,” the governor said.The remaining portion of the building could be taken down on Monday, with the search for more survivors resuming when it is considered safe to do so.Some information for this report came from the Associated Press.
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29 Killed in Philippine Military Plane Crash
At least 29 people were killed and 50 injured Sunday when a Philippine military aircraft carrying troops crashed and burst into flames after missing the runway in the country’s south, officials said.Nearly 100 people, most of them recent army graduates, were on the C-130 Hercules transport plane which was trying to land on Jolo island in Sulu province around midday.Some of the soldiers were seen jumping out of the plane before it hit the ground and exploded into flames, said Major General William Gonzales, commander of the Joint Task Force-Sulu.It was one of the country’s deadliest military aviation accidents.”This is a sad day, but we have to remain hopeful,” Gonzales said in a statement.”We enjoin the nation to pray for those who are injured and those who have perished in this tragedy.”A search was still under way for 17 missing people.Photos of the crash site released by the Joint Task Force-Sulu showed the damaged tail and the smoking wreckage of the fuselage’s back section laying near coconut trees.Images published by local media outlet Pondohan TV on its Facebook page showed the wreckage engulfed in flames and a plume of thick black smoke rising above houses located near the site.Armed Forces Chief General Cirilito Sobejana said the aircraft was carrying troops from Cagayan de Oro on the southern island of Mindanao when it “missed the runway” as it tried to land on Jolo.The plane tried to “regain power but didn’t make it”, he told local media.The four-engine plane crashed near a quarry in a lightly populated area, First Lieutenant Jerrica Angela Manongdo said.Western Mindanao Command chief Lieutenant General Corletan Vinluan told AFP the aircraft overshot the landing strip and broke into two according to initial reports.Air force spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Maynard Mariano said the cause of the crash would be investigated, while armed forces spokesman Major General Edgard Arevalo told DZBB radio that it was being treated as an accident rather than an attack.Most of the passengers had recently graduated from basic military training and were being deployed to the restive island as part of a joint task force fighting terrorism in the Muslim-majority region.They were supposed to report for duty on Sunday, Gonzales said.The military has a heavy presence in the southern Philippines where militant groups, including the kidnap-for-ransom outfit Abu Sayyaf, operate.Deadly accidentsC-130s have been the workhorses of air forces around the world for decades, used to transport troops, supplies and vehicles. They are also often deployed to deliver humanitarian assistance and disaster relief.The Hercules that crashed Sunday has the same tail number as one acquired from the United States and delivered to the Philippines earlier this year. Senator Richard Gordon said it was the fourth military aircraft accident this year with “mass casualties.””Are we buying defective crafts… (with) the people’s money?” he tweeted. Presidential spokesman Harry Roque described the accident as “very unfortunate”, and the U.S. embassy Charge d’Affaires John Law offered “sincerest condolences” to the families of the victims.Sunday’s accident comes after a Black Hawk helicopter crashed last month during a night-time training flight, killing all six on board. The accident prompted the grounding of the Philippines’ entire Black Hawk fleet.
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Semenya Misses Tokyo, May be Forced out of Olympics for Good
This could be it for Caster Semenya and the Olympics. Forced out of her favorite race by World Athletics’ testosterone rules, the two-time Olympic champion in the 800 meters took a late shot at qualifying for Tokyo in the 5,000 meters, an event not affected by the hormone regulations. She came up short. Now 30, Semenya’s hopes of making it back to the Olympics are dwindling. The South African once said she wanted to run at top track events until she was 40. Now, her future ambitions depend on a final, long-shot legal appeal of the testosterone rules or transforming from the world’s dominant middle-distance runner into a successful long-distance athlete. That’s going to be hard for her. Semenya is the athlete that has perhaps stoked the most controversy in track and field over the last decade. If there are no more appearances on the biggest stage, it’s been a career like no other. In 12 years at the top, Semenya has won two Olympic golds and three world championship titles, but her success has come amid near-constant interference by track authorities. She has only competed free of restrictions of one type or another for three of those 12 years. Why can’t Semenya defend her 800 title in Tokyo In 2018, world track and field’s governing body introduced rules it said were aimed at female athletes with conditions called differences of sex development, or DSDs. The key for World Athletics is that these athletes have testosterone levels that are higher than the typical female range. The track body argues that gives them an unfair advantage. Semenya is the highest-profile athlete affected by the regulations, but not the only one.The rules demand that Semenya lower her testosterone levels artificially — by either taking birth control pills daily, having hormone-blocking injections or undergoing surgery — to be allowed to run in races from 400 meters to one mile. Semenya has simply refused to do that, pointing out the irony that in a sport where doping is such a scourge, authorities want her to take drugs to be eligible to run at the Olympics. “Why will I take drugs?” Semenya said in 2019. “I’m a pure athlete. I don’t cheat. They should focus on doping, not us.” But she can run the 5,000? Yes. Strangely, World Athletics decided to only enforce the testosterone rules for track events from 400 meters to one mile, raising criticism from Semenya’s camp that the regulations were specifically designed to target her because of her dominance.It means Semenya can compete in the 100 and 200 meters and long-distance races without lowering her testosterone levels. Field events are also unregulated. After a brief go at 200 meters, Semenya attempted to qualify for Tokyo in the 5,000 meters, running races in Pretoria and Durban in South Africa and, most recently, at international meets in Germany and Belgium last month. She never came within 20 seconds of the Olympic qualifying mark. The court battle Semenya continues to fight against the testosterone regulations in court. She has launched three legal appeals against the rules, calling them unfair and discriminatory, and appears determined to wage her legal fight to the very end. Having failed in appeals at the Court of Arbitration for Sport and the Swiss supreme court, Semenya has now lodged an appeal with the European Court of Human Rights. Semenya’s first appeal at sport’s highest court revealed a bitter battle between her and track authorities, centered on World Athletics’ claim in the closed-doors hearing that she was “biologically male.” Semenya angrily refuted that, having been identified as female at birth and having identified as female her whole life. She called the assertion “deeply hurtful.” Other athletes affected The issue won’t disappear with Semenya. Just this week, two 18-year-old female athletes from Namibia were barred from competing in the 400 meters at the Tokyo Olympics after they underwent medical tests and it was discovered they had high natural testosterone levels. One of them, Christine Mboma, is the world under-20 record holder. The two runners that finished second and third behind Semenya at the 2016 Olympics, Francine Niyonsaba of Burundi and Margaret Wambui of Kenya, have said publicly they also are affected by the testosterone regulations and have been banned from the 800, too, unless they undergo medical intervention. Niyonsaba has qualified for the Olympics in the 5,000 meters. What now? Semenya has been clear that the rules won’t force her out of track and she’ll keep running and keep enjoying the sport, even if she can’t go to the biggest events. “Now is all about having fun,” she said at a meet in South Africa in April. “We’ve achieved everything that we wanted‚ all the major titles‚ inspiring the youth.” “For me, it’s not about being at the Olympics,” she said. “It’s being healthy and running good times and being in the field for the longest.”
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