Some 1.6 million people in Rakhine, Chin, Magway, Sagaing, and Kachin states are in dire need of assistance after Mocha’s 250 kilometre per hour wind gusts destroyed homes, farmland and livestock.
Speaking from hard-hit Rakhine State capital Sittwe, UN Development Programme (UNDP) Resident Representative in Myanmar, Titon Mitra, said that time was of the essence as food reserves were being “completely wiped out”, water sources needed to be urgently decontaminated and the monsoon was just “a matter of weeks away”.
“The international community has to be given widespread access to the affected communities. And that’s a very urgent requirement,” he said.
Last month, the UN launched a $333 million Flash Appeal for Myanmar. While some assistance is coming through, Mr. Mitra said that it was “not anywhere near sufficient” for the time being due to a lack of access and support in rural areas remained “far from adequate”.
“Some regional donors have already provided some support and that’s been channelled through the military logistics as CSOs (civil society organizations) and UN organizations have got limited access at the moment,” Mr. Mitra said.
‘Depoliticization, demilitarization’ of aid
The UN official highlighted that a distribution plan has been submitted to the military authorities, stressing that “it needs to be cleared very soon, so international organizations with their CSO partners can move freely”.
More than two years since Myanmar’s generals staged a military coup, sparking widespread ongoing civil unrest and violence, Mr. Mitra insisted that “this really is a time for the depoliticization and the demilitarization of aid, because the needs are absolutely immense”.
Rural livelihoods in jeopardy
The recovery may take years, he added, pointing out that the majority of those affected were already “the poorest of the poor”.
Concerns are also mounting fast about the future of rural livelihoods, as some 1,200 square kilometres of land flooded due to Mocha, while rains combined with storm surges devastated agriculture and fisheries.
A local resident cleans up the extensive damage to his shop caused by Cyclone Mocha in Sittwe, Rakhine state, Myanmar.
Looming food security crisis
Mr. Mitra warned that the provision of relief itself was “not enough” and that if people are unable to plant food crops within the next few weeks, there could be a “major food crisis” emerging in the coming months.
“Households have completely lost their seed stocks. So we are anticipating, unless there’s an effective response, that food availability and affordability will become huge issues,” he insisted.
Earlier this week, the UN included Myanmar in a list of 18 “hunger hotspots” where critical food insecurity is projected to intensify.
‘Cycle of suffering’
Already before Mocha hit, 80 per cent of people in Rakhine were living in poverty and 200,000 were internally displaced. In 2022, half of the state’s population were cutting down on meals due to the economic crisis, according to UNDP data.
If swift action by the international community did not materialize, “we risk perpetuating an unending cycle of suffering”, Mr. Mitra warned.
John Gilbert (from FLC CGIL) addresses protesters outside Minister Bernini's offices. Photo credit: Henry Rodgers
Lettori case // 7 of Ireland’s 13 MEPs have signed aRule 138 parliamentary question to Commissioner for Jobs and Social Rights, Nicolas Schmit, asking if the Commission will immediately refer the long-running Lettori discrimination case to the Court of Justice of the European Union(CJEU) for what would be a fifth ruling in the line of litigation which extends back to the seminal Allué ruling of 1989.
The question was occasioned by Italy’s failure to comply with the ruling in enforcement case C-119/04 within the two-month period given by the Commission in its January press release announcing the movement of infringement proceedings to the reasoned opinion stage. Rather than paying the settlements due to Lettori for decades of discriminatory treatment as requested by the Commission, Italy, in a Decree Law of 04 May, “instead legislated for additional time to come up with additional legislation to supposedly meet Treaty obligations it has infringed for over 3 decades”, as the Irish MEPs word it in their question.
In a speech before the European Parliament on Wednesday, Dublin MEP Clare Daly, who drafted the parliamentary question, strongly denounced the ongoing discrimination against Lettori. The points covered in her speech are in continuity with points she has raised in a series of telling questions on the Lettori case to the Commission over the mandate of the present parliament.
7 MEPs co-sign the question to the EU about the Lettori
MEP Daly’s influential, penultimate question, co-signed by 7 of her Irish parliamentarian colleagues and placed shortly before the opening of the infringement proceedings, is framed within the context of the benefits and the accompanying responsibilities of EU membership. Placing the circumstances of the longest-running breach of the parity of treatment provision of the Treaty before the EU conscience, her words, which succinctly define the core principle at stake in the Lettori case, are worthy of citation:
“Italian universities receive generous funding from the EU. Italy has received the biggest share of the Recovery Fund. Surely, the ethic of reciprocation demands that Italy obey the rule of law and implement the most recent CJEU ruling in favour of the lettori: case C‑119/04.”
In one of her first acts in office newly elected FLC CGIL General Secretary Gianna Fracassi wrote to Commissioner Schmit, also calling for the immediate referral of the Lettori case to the CJEU. That FLC CGIL would ask the European Commission to prosecute the country of which it is the largest trade union for discriminatory treatment of non-national workers is most probably a novelty in supranational trade union representations, and the step provides authoritative backing for the Lettori campaign. The letter, which was copied to Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Italy’s Minister for Universities, Anna Maria Bernini, has also been sent to all of Italy’s MEPs.
FLC CGIL Union sides with the Lettori
As a percentage of the overall FLC CGIL membership, the Lettori component is negligible. That the union has come to side so strongly and so publicly with the Lettori is due to the tireless work and painstaking persuasion of John Gilbert, a Lettore at the University of Florence. Instrumental in organizing the December protest outside the offices of Minister Bernini, his well-received address to his colleagues on that occasion touched on many of the points raised in the recent FLC CGIL letter to Commissioner Schmit.
If the FLC CGIL request to the Commission to prosecute the country in which it is legally established is novel, the conduct of “La Sapienza” University of Rome-based Asso.CEL.L, an official complainant in the Commission’s infringement proceedings, is atypical of unions too. A policy of not taking contributions has freed Asso.CEL.L from any need to self-promote and in the process won it the confidence of Lettori nationwide.
Its well-designed website, which receives thousands of hits and attendant downloads per year, seeks to educate visitors to the site about what has become a test case of the enforceability of Treaty provisions in the face of opposition from an intransigent Member State. The Census page shows university-by-university the results of the national survey conducted with FLC CGIL, which documented to the Commission’s satisfaction the non-payment of the settlements due to Lettori under CJEU case law.
This Census is alluded to in the Irish parliamentarians’ question to the Commission. Containing details on the beneficiaries of the ruling in Case C-119/04, their years of service, the more favourable parameters won before local Italian courts, it is a data bank with reference to which the settlements due to the Lettori could easily be calculated and made. It is in this context that the good faith of the recent Decree Law, which yet again defers to future legislation the arrangements for the payments of the settlements to Lettori, must be questioned.
Awaiting the interministerial decree
Lettori, 7 MEPs demand Commissioner Schmit for Justice at EU Court 3
As yet another Pilar Allué Day (the annually commemorated date of 30 May 1989 and Allué’s first victory before the CJEU) goes by, lawyers for Asso.CELL and FLC CGIL still await the publication of the Interministerial Decree promised in the Decree Law of 04 May.
While a press release announces that Minister for Universities and Research, Anna Maria Bernini and Minister for Economy and Finance, Giancarlo Giorgetti, have signed the Interministerial Decree to provide settlements for reconstruction of career, much to the frustration of the Lettori the text of the legislation itself has not been made public.
Whether the reconstruction of career due is in strict accordance with the CJEU ruling in Case C-119/04 , or whether the Interministerial Decree will be yet another measure by means of which Italy again attempts to evade its obligations to the Lettori under the Court case law thus still remains to be seen. Given the track record of misinterpretation of the Court’s ruling, Lettori commemorating Pilar Allué Day this week were understandably sceptical.
Under the Rules of Procedure of the European Parliament, the Commission now has 6 weeks within which to reply to the Irish parliamentarians’ question.
Influencers in France can now be jailed if found to have broken new promotion rules after a law was officially passed, CNN reported. The tough new laws aim to protect consumers from misleading or false commercial practices online. They restrict the promotion of lottery games and betting and ban the advertising of goods such as tobacco. For the first time in Europe, this role is defined by law. On Wednesday, the cross-party legislation passed unanimously in a vote in the Senate after moving through the rest of parliament. Influencers are online personalities who have a large following and can set trends. Some of them encourage people to buy the products they advertise, but often don’t declare that they accept money in exchange for promoting them. French lawmakers said they had sought to “clarify the contours” of commercial activity and specify the “responsibilities and obligations” of influencers amid a rise in the number of defrauded online individuals.
Under their new laws, “participants with commercial influence” will not be able to advertise lottery or gambling games on platforms that do not have the capacity to prohibit access to minors.
Along with tobacco products, the advertising of cosmetic surgery, as well as some financial products and medical devices, will be banned. Violations can mean a sentence of up to two years in prison or a fine of up to €300,000. However, there are concerns about the authorities’ ability to monitor compliance with the new rules – especially when influencers’ accounts are visible in France but the person is physically outside the country’s jurisdiction. There are believed to be more than 150,000 influencers in France, according to data from its Ministry of Economy, Finance and Industrial and Digital Sovereignty.
Photo by Atypeek Dgn: https://www.pexels.com/photo/french-flag-against-blue-sky-5781917/
The icon of the Virgin Bogolyubskaya was stolen from the Church of St. John the Evangelist in the center of Moscow, just 350 meters from the building of the Federal Security Service (FSB) on Lyubyanka Street, Russian media reported. However, an interesting clarification is that until about two weeks ago, the icon was located in the church of the Ukrainian city of Khartsysk on the territory of the separatist Donetsk People’s Republic, from where it was illegally exported. It was written in 2011. On May 9, 2023, the icon began to flow abundantly, believers took this as a sign and were convinced that it heals. Then the icon was taken temporarily to Moscow.
Now the icon has been taken by several women who have been captured on video. It is assumed that among them there are those who came from the occupied Mariupol. It is also reported that one of the women called the rector of the temple, Father Pavel, and explained that the icon was hers and that’s why she took it. Russian police have launched an investigation:
“Everything was fine until May 30th. It was then that three “demonesses” catched on the security video came to the church on New Square and violated the eighth commandment. According to information from the authorities, one of them has already found a bad name in Mariupol. There she deceived people, posing as a “sister of mercy”, and also robbed temples. For destructive activities, the security service of the Donetsk People’s Republic recommended that she leave the territory and not discredit either the Russian Orthodox Church or Russia. As you can see, it didn’t work.”
Evaluating what has been done to fight against sexual harassment by EU institutions and countries, MEPs call for better reporting procedures and support for victims.
On Thursday, MEPs adopted the report by 468 votes in favour, 17 against and 125 abstentions. The report highlights that, although governments and organisations have made changes to tackle sexual violence and to support victims since the MeToo movement went viral in 2017, in some EU countries there has been little or no progress.
Parliament calls on member states to pro-actively introduce legislation and policies that tackle sexual violence and harassment. These are not currently defined and criminalised at EU level, which means that those affected do not have the same rights across different member states. MEPs want a common EU approach, reiterating their call for the EU to identify gender-based violence as a new area of crime and for sexual harassment to be a criminal offence.
Employers should take measures to provide a safe working environment, taking into account remote working and the lessons of the COVID-19 pandemic, say MEPs. Member states should ensure that all workers, at the start of their contract, receive information on anti-harassment procedures and policies in place.
EU institutions need more stringent sanctions and faster procedures
Since 2018, measures to prevent and tackle harassment in the European Parliament have been strengthened, but MEPs say more needs to be done to raise awareness of reporting procedures and support available to victims to prevent all forms of harassment. Sexual and psychological harassment cases in Parliament are still under-reported, MEPs point out, because victims do not use the existing channels for multiple reasons. Procedures in harassment cases can take years, causing unnecessary harm to the victims, they say. Parliament’s two Advisory Committees dealing with harassment complaints should conclude cases brought before them as quickly as possible, and at the latest within six months.
MEPs welcome the anti-harassment training offered in Parliament, but are concerned that only 36.9% of Members have attended so far this term – 260 Members out of 705. They call for a public list on the Parliament’s website of Members that have completed the training and those who have not.
EU institutions should conduct an external audit on the situation of harassment in their institutions, the text notes, including a review of existing procedures and systems that deal with cases of harassment, to make the outcome of the results public and to make reforms based on these recommendations.
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EP Vice-President and lead MEP steering the report through Parliament Michal Šimečka (Renew, Slovakia), said: “I welcome the fact that all the democratic groups in the European Parliament take the issue of sexual harassment in the EU seriously, which has resulted in immense support from MEPs during the vote. We owe it to victims and to all European citizens to lead by example, by adopting better support mechanisms and more efficient anti-harassment policies. This proposal is a testament to the broadly shared vision of a harassment-free EU.”
Japan is preparing technology that will allow it to “harvest” electricity from the Sun and send it to Earth. The technology was tested once in 2015, and in 2025 the first larger-scale test is expected, reports Engadget.
In 2015, scientists from the Japanese space agency JAXA managed to send 1.8 kilowatts of energy over 50 meters away. The small test proved the applicability of the technology, which Japanese scientists have been developing since 2009.
Over time, the project has grown into a public-private partnership, being developed by JAXA scientists, experts from universities and private companies. The test in 2025 envisages putting into orbit a group of small satellites. They will collect solar energy and send it to ground stations.
The satellites will convert the energy into microwaves. This makes it easy to transmit them over long distances and means they can be used 24/7 whether it’s cloudy or not.
The concept dates back to 1968. Several countries are trying to implement it, and so far Japan seems to be at the forefront. Even if the 2025 test is successful, it will only be the beginning of the technology becoming mainstream. Much more work will be needed to perfect the equipment, as it is currently very expensive: generating 1 gigawatt of electricity this way costs about $7 billion.
Photo by Bhupendra Singh: https://www.pexels.com/photo/photography-of-hand-during-sunset-760680/
Egypt has announced plans to build an artificial river 114 kilometers long. The project, estimated at $5.25 billion, will improve food security and increase the country’s agricultural exports.
The national project called “New Delta” is now under construction in the Western Desert. The main objective of the project is to expand the area of agricultural land in Egypt. According to Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Said Hussein Khalil Sisi, the New Delta project will be the largest construction project in the history of modern Egypt. The course of the river will pass along the new Rawd Al-Farag-Dabaa road.
On Thursday, Parliament backed a draft bill to increase European production of missiles and ammunition for Ukraine.
The Act in Support of Ammunition Production (ASAP) aims to accelerate the delivery of ammunition and missiles to Ukraine and to help member states restock their arsenals. By introducing targeted measures, including €500 million in financing, ASAP aims to ramp up the EU’s production capacity to address the current shortage of defence products, specifically ground-to-ground and artillery ammunition, missiles and their components.
The European Commission will identify, map, and continuously monitor the availability of these defence products, their components, and the corresponding raw materials inputs. The proposal establishes mechanisms, principles, and temporary rules to secure the timely and lasting availability of these defence products for their buyers within the European Union.
The effectiveness of this regulation will be evaluated by mid-2024, taking into account the evolution of the security context. Based on the results, the extension of these measures and the allocation of additional budget may be considered.
The European Commission tabled the ASAP legislation on 3 May 2023, and MEPs agreed the same month to trigger Parliament’s urgent procedure process to speed up the bill’s approval.
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The EP’s negotiating team leader Cristian Bușoi (EPP, RO) said: “Today’s decision marks a significant step forward for the security and defence of our Union, and particularly in our steadfast support of Ukraine in the face of the ongoing Russian aggression. It will boost our capacity to respond to security challenges. It is a victory for Europe and for our collective security. Parliament is now ready to negotiate with Council and we hope to reach an agreement as soon as possible.”
Next steps
The legislation was adopted with 446 votes to 67, with 112 abstentions. MEPs will now start negotiations with Council, with the aim of reaching a political agreement, which MEPs would then vote on in plenary in July.
Romania creates a consultative scientific and ethical council in the field of artificial intelligence (AI), reports the Ministry of Research, Innovation and Digitization (MCІD), cited by Romania Іnѕіdеr.
The newly created council unites skilled specialists “who can offer their expertise for the benefit of the public, for the development of the AI cloud in Romania”.
Above all, the new world will have the task of controlling and protecting the artificial intelligence, which destroys it before it can be of benefit to society.
The group consists of the Romanian researchers and innovators of leading companies, as well as the specialists in the field of living sheep. Therefore, they have extensive experience in the research and development of AI technologies.
The rapid development of AI could lead to the automation of a quarter of jobs in the US and Europe, which could leave around 300 million people without a job. and their job. This is the reason for the investigation of Goldman Sachs.
The Investment Bank has announced that “genetic” AI systems such as RTG, which can create behavior indistinguishable from human-made ones, will probably A boom in manufacturing that could increase annual global GDP by 7% per year period of 10 years.
Against this background, however, the technology may also lead to “significant job shifts”, exposing about 300 million jobs in Europe and the United States to peak automation.
Illustrative Photo by ThisIsEngineering: https://www.pexels.com/photo/code-projected-over-woman-3861969/
Pride Month provides an opportunity to celebrate the resilience, diversity, and achievements of LGBTQI individuals, UNAIDS said in a press release, while also reflecting on continuing struggle for full equality, dignity and recognition.
This momentous occasion also serves as a reminder of the important collective commitment to human rights, equality, and the urgent need to decriminalize same-sex relationships, the agency continued.
Cleiton Euzebio, Senior Advisor for Communities and Key Populations, UNAIDS said, “As a gay man, and as an activist for social justice for all, I am so proud to work for the UN’s Joint Programme to end AIDS.
“The UN is standing with communities, supporting them in leading the HIV response, confronting stigma, and building societies where every person is valued. This month and every month, may everyone feel pride in who they are.”
Thanks in large part to efforts led by key populations, the world has seen substantial progress in the HIV response, said UNAIDS, creating the real possibility that AIDS can be eradicated once and for all.
But discrimination, violence, and stigma against LGBTQI people persist in many parts of the world, limiting access to essential services, including HIV prevention, treatment, care, and support.
Barrier to justice, equality, health
The agency said that criminalization of same-sex relationships remains a significant barrier to achieving social justice and equality for LGBTQI individuals, and to ensuring health for all.
Laws that criminalize consensual same-sex activity perpetuate stigma, contribute to violence and discrimination, and obstruct access to vital healthcare services, the agency reminded, calling on all governments to urgently repeal discriminatory laws and policies, and to work towards creating an enabling legal and social environment that respects and protects the rights of LGBTQI people.
Decriminalizing same-sex relationships, is a crucial step in the collective push to ends the AIDS pandemic, said UNAIDS.
Progress is real
Significant gains have been won in advancing LGBTQI rights in many parts of the world, including the decriminalization of same-sex relationships in several countries in recent months, from Angola to Singapore to Barbados.
However other countries are imposing harsher criminal laws on same sex relationships, including only this week, Uganda, where the so-called Anti-Homosexuality Act” came into force, with some offences incurring the death penalty, and a sentence of up to 20 years in jail, merely for promoting gay rights.
The High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, added his congratulations in a festive tweet, calling on the whole international community to appreciate the richness and diversity of the LGBTIQ+ community, “and honour their immense contributions to the human rights movement.”
