The system is ‘murdering us’ – Memphis residents protest killing of Tyre Nichols
SUNDAY, JANUARY 29, 2023
Protesters marched through Memphis, Tennessee on Saturday to demand justice for Tyre Nichols, the Black motorist who died after being beaten by police following a traffic stop on January 7th.
Nichols repeatedly cried, “Mom! Mom!” as the five Memphis police officers now charged with his murder pummeled him with kicks, punches and baton blows, a video released by the city on Friday (January 27) showed.
Protesters chanted, “Whose streets? Our streets!”, “Say his name! Tyre Nichols”, and, at one point, surrounded and catcalled a police car that was monitoring the march.
Nineteen-year-old Memphis resident Trinity Williams said abuses by police made her feel unsafe in her own city.
“It’s supposed to be a system that protects us, that provides safety for us. But instead, it’s killing us, murdering us, innocent lives who just began their adulthood. So this isn’t fair,” she said. “I go around Memphis, scared, every single night, and I shouldn’t be scared.”
Protesters also hailed as a small victory the disbanding announced by the police department on Saturday of the SCORPION unit, the specialized police unit that included at least some of the Memphis officers involved in the fatal beating of Nichols.
But protest organizer Amber Sherman said that is only a first step and other, similar specialized units also need to be eliminated.
“Just by ending that unit, that’s a good move. But then you still have these same task forces that are doing that same terrorism, assaulting people, over criminalizing… the poor and low-income neighbourhoods,” she said.
The video from police body-worn cameras and a camera mounted on a utility pole were posted online a day after the officers were charged with second-degree murder, assault, kidnapping, official misconduct and oppression in Nichols’ death.
The officers, all Black, were dismissed from the police department last week. Nichols, 29, was hospitalized and died of his injuries three days after the confrontation in the city where he lived with his mother and stepfather and worked at FedEx.
Towanna Murphy said Tyre Nichols’ killing has resonated with her because she has a son around the same age.
“It’s hard because I have a 29-year-old and to hear a 29-year-old call for his mama. That changes the whole narrative. He didn’t do anything,” she said, holding back tears.
The four video clips released on Friday chronicle an aggressive escalation of violence directed at a motorist who police had initially said they pulled over for reckless driving. The police chief has since said the cause for the stop has not been substantiated.
The beatings appeared to continue far beyond a point where Nichols could pose any threat to police. At one stage, two officers hold him upright as another punches him repeatedly in the face, while other officers on the scene stand by without intervening.
The ordeal captured in the video has transformed Nichols, the father of a 4-year-old, into the latest face of a US racial justice movement galvanized by the 2020 killing of George Floyd at the hands of police in Minneapolis.
Nichols’ death marked the latest high-profile instance of police officers accused of using excessive force in the deaths of Black people and other minorities in recent years.
President Joe Biden said he was “outraged” and “deeply pained” after watching the video.
Nichols’ family and Biden appealed for calm in Memphis, a city of 628,000 where nearly 65% of residents are Black.
Protests under the banner of the “Black Lives Matter” movement against racial injustice erupted globally following the May 2020 murder of Floyd, a Black man who died after a white Minneapolis police officer knelt on his neck for more than nine minutes.
Funeral held for married couple killed in Jerusalem synagogue shooting
SUNDAY, JANUARY 29, 2023
A funeral was held for an Israeli husband and wife on Saturday after they were killed in a synagogue attack in Jerusalem.
Eli, 48, and Natali Mizrahi, 45, were among seven Israelis killed by a Palestinian gunman in a synagogue on the outskirts of Jerusalem on Friday (January 27) in an attack that heightened fears of a spiral in bloodshed, a day after the deadliest Israeli raid in the West Bank in years.
Police said the gunman arrived at around 8.15 p.m. and opened fire, hitting a number of people before he was killed by police. TV footage showed several victims lying in the road outside the synagogue being tended to by emergency workers.
Friday’s attack outside a synagogue was the deadliest in the Jerusalem area since 2008. The gunman, Khaire Alkam, was a 21-year-old Palestinian from East Jerusalem. Among the dead was a 14-year-old boy, police said.
No group has claimed responsibility for the shooting and Alkam’s father told Reuters his son had no links to militants. He struck in an area that Israel annexed to Jerusalem after capturing it in the 1967 Middle East war in a move not recognised internationally.
Shimon Israel, 56, who lives nearby, said his family were starting their Sabbath dinner when they heard shooting and screaming. He opened the window and saw his neighbour running along the street to get the police.
“I told him ‘Eli, don’t go there. Eli don’t go.’ He got married only a year ago. A good neighbour, like a brother. He ran. I saw him fall there,” Israel told Reuters.
“Natali, his wife, ran after him. She saw someone here and was trying to resuscitate him. The terrorist came and shot her from behind and got her too,” he said.
According to Israeli Media, Eli and Natali were married just two years ago.
Friday’s shooting, on International Holocaust Remembrance Day, was condemned by the White House and UN Secretary-GeneralAntonio Guterres, who urged “utmost restraint”. It came days before a planned visit by US Secretary of StateAntony Blinken to Israel and the West Bank.
Philippines rank 2nd to worst in Grade 5 students’ reading, math skills in Southeast Asia
FRIDAY, JANUARY 27, 2023
As most Grade 5 students in the Philippines and its poorer neighbours do not have the minimum reading and mathematical skills expected at the end of primary education, the United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef) stressed the need to “harness the potential” of early childhood education (ECE).
Through the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the UN in 2016 called for access to quality basic education for all children, including some 30 million learners in the Philippines, to lead students to relevant learning outcomes and equip them with required skills, especially in language and mathematics.
But based on the results of the Southeast Asia Primary Learning Metrics 2019 (SEA-PLM), only 10 % of students in the Philippines met the minimum reading standard and 17 % met the minimum mathematical standard expected at the end of primary education, as provided in SDG 4.1.1—Education Proficiency.
Grade 5 students in the Philippines received an average score of 288 in reading assessment, behind Vietnam (336), Malaysia (319), Myanmar (292) and Cambodia (290). The Philippines was ahead only of Laos, where students got an average score of 275.
While 288 means a Filipino Grade 5 student can read a range of everyday texts fluently and comprehend their meaning, only 10 % achieved the minimum proficiency level, which is the ability to understand texts with familiar structures and manage competing information.
The average score of Filipino Grade 5 students in mathematics assessment was also 288, indicating that they can generally apply number properties and units of measurement, but only 17 % had the ability to perform mathematical operations, including fractions, and interpret tables and graphs.
The Philippines and Myanmar, where students also got an average score of 288, were behind Vietnam (341), Malaysia (315) and Cambodia (289), and were ahead of Laos, where Grade 5 students received an average score of 279.
When it comes to writing assessment, Filipino Grade 5 students also received an average score of 288, behind Vietnam (327), Malaysia (318) and Myanmar (298), and ahead of Cambodia and Laos, where students got an average score of 285 and 283.
This suggested that a student in the Philippines can produce very limited writing with fragmented ideas and inadequate vocabulary as some 46 % fell to the lowest proficiency band in writing – those who have limited ability to present ideas in writing and can produce a few sentences with very limited content.
What’s wrong? Unicef stated in its latest policy brief that the Philippines supports one year of kindergarten education for all five-year-old children as mandated by the Kindergarten Education Act of 2012, which provides for the institutionalization of kindergarten education as part of basic education in the Philippine Educational System.
Likewise, the Early Years Act of 2013 mandated the Early Childhood Care and Development (ECCD) Council to coordinate ECCD programs offered by government agencies, including the provision of pre-school education for children who are three to five years old.
Early childhood education (ECE), it said, “offers a vital foundation for lifelong learning by nurturing children’s foundational and transferable skills that prepare them to participate in primary education and beyond.”
ECE likewise lessens the risk of school failure.
Based on the SEA-PLM National Report of the Philippines, Grade 5 students who attended an ECE program before entering primary school perform better in reading, writing, and math assessments, compared to those who have no ECE experience.
Almost 95 % of children who had two years of ECE were able to read words even before primary education, compared to only 88 % who did not have ECE experience.
At least 92 % of those with two years of ECE were able to do simple addition, compared to only 87 % who did not attend ECE programs.
But despite the benefits of ECE experience and the government policies that support it, the program is still “limited” in the Philippines as only 66 % of five-year-old children were enrolled in kindergarten, while only 47 % of children three to four years old were in preschool.
“It is imperative to ensure all Filipino children have access to quality ECE,” Unicef said.
Disparity in access Factors such as gender, socio-economic status (SES), location, and school type set apart students’ ECE participation. While location and gender disparities in ECE attendance are relatively small, there are more marked gaps by SES and school type.
While 93 % of students from the highest-SES families attended at least a one-year ECE program, the figure is 83 % for students from the lowest-SES households.
Likewise, 54 % of children from the highest-SES families participated in an ECE program for two years or more, compared to 39 % from the lowest-SES students.
“This is consistent with global evidence that access to ECE has a strong association with household factors,” Unicef said.
When it comes to school types, 95 % of students from private schools participated in at least a one-year ECE program, compared to 84 % of students from public schools. More than 62 % of students from private schools received two years or more of ECE, compared to 41 % of students from public schools.
“The disparity in ECE attendance by urban-rural divisions is not so apparent,” Unicef said.
Eighty-six % of students from urban areas received ECE for one year or more, compared to 85 % among those from rural areas. However, children from urban areas have a slightly greater advantage in attending ECE programs for more than two years. Half of the students who live in urban areas participated in a two-year ECE program.
There is also a small gender disparity in ECE participation, although girls have a slightly greater advantage than boys. Specifically, 88 % of girls received at least a one-year ECE program, compared to 83 % of boys. Almost an equal share of girls (44 %) and boys (43 %) attend an ECE program for two years or more.
Give ECE access to all According to Unicef, it is “critical to increasing participation in kindergarten so that all children are physically, socio-emotionally, and intellectually prepared for primary education.”
To achieve this, while the analysis shows that children from low-SES families and public schools are at a relative disadvantage in accessing ECE, data collection needed to be strengthened at the school level to identify the profile of children who are not attending kindergarten and the barriers they are facing in accessing the services.
“At the same time, as the disparity in ECE attendance by SES is prominent, household factors may play a strong role in children’s access to ECE. In this sense, parents from low-SES families should be capacitated in their responsibilities to send their children to ECE,” it said.
Then in areas where it is difficult to reach public schools, partnerships with non-government service providers may play a crucial role in ensuring access to kindergarten.
Likewise, Unicef stressed that alternative kindergarten models and catch-up programs may supplement access in this regard.
‘Right age’ to go to school Unicef said starting education at the right age will also give a head start in learning and could help achieve higher success in school, with data suggesting that children who received ECE are more likely to attend primary education at age 6, which is the official primary school starting age in the Philippines, compared to those who did not attend ECE.
It stressed that students who entered primary education at a later age perform significantly worse in reading, writing, and mathematics than peers who joined at the right age.
Based on results of the SEA-PLM, which is a large-scale regional learning assessment program to assess learning outcomes of Grade 5 students in Southeast Asia, students who entered primary school at age 6 received a 288 score in reading assessment, compared to those at age 7 (286) and 8 or older (275).
Then in writing assessment, Grade 5 students who entered primary school at age 6 got a score of 289, higher than those who entered primary school at age 7 (284) and 8 or older (273).
Likewise, students who entered primary school at age 6 received a score of 288 in math assessment, compared to those who entered primary school at age 7 (286) and 8 or older (276).
Academically engaging parents needed It was revealed that Grade 5 students whose parents were more involved in their academic activities had higher scores in reading, writing, and mathematics.
But among the six SEA-PLM participating countries, Filipino children had the largest gap in test scores between those with the highest-engaging parents and the lowest ones, implying that parents’ involvement in academic activities is essential in children’s school performance.
Unicef said although gender disparity remains relatively small, girls are slightly more likely to have the most academically engaging parents than boys. Specifically, 22 % of girls are supported by the highest-engaging parents in learning, compared to 16 % of boys.
When it comes to geographic location, parental engagement in academic activities is more prominent in bigger municipalities and cities, with 26 % of children from urban areas having the highest-engaging parents, compared to 15 % of children from rural areas.
“There is also a marked disparity by school type at the expense of children from public schools. Thirty-four % of children in private schools are supported by highly engaging parents, while the figure is only 17 % for children in public schools,” Unicef said.
However, disparity by SES appears more significant than disparity by gender, location, and school type as 33 %of children from the highest-SES families have the most academically engaging parents, compared to 8 % of those from the lowest-SES households.
‘Upgrade teachers’ knowledge, skills’ Based on the results of the SEA-PLM, instructional training enables teachers to acquire sufficient knowledge and skills to deliver quality education and is essential to promoting student achievement.
However, data suggest that most teachers in Grade 5 did not receive pre-service training in teaching foundational skills in the classroom.
This, as among teachers with less than two years of teaching experience, only 7 % had training in math before they entered the classroom, followed by 8 % in reading, and 13 % in writing.
“The figures essentially remain unchanged even among teachers with longer teaching experience” as only about 5 % to 6 % of those with more than two decades of teaching experience had received pre-service training in reading, writing, and mathematics.
In-service training opportunities are also still limited for early career teachers, with only about 6 % of teachers with less than two years of experience having in-service training in writing, 14 % in mathematics and 17 % in reading.
But Unicef said teachers are likely to receive in-service training in foundational skills throughout their teaching career.
Security guard killed in shooting at Azerbaijan’s embassy in Iran
FRIDAY, JANUARY 27, 2023
A gunman shot dead a security guard and wounded two other people at Azerbaijan’s embassy in Iran on Friday, in an attack Baku branded an “act of terrorism” that it said was the result of Tehran failing to heed its calls for improved security.
Police in Tehran said they had arrested a suspect and Iranian authorities condemned the incident but played down talk of any political motive for the attack.
The incident comes amid increased tensions between Azerbaijan and Iran, which is home to a large ethnic Azeri minority after Baku appointed its first-ever ambassador to Israel this month.
“The attacker broke through the guard post, killing the head of security with a Kalashnikovassault rifle,” Azerbaijan’s foreign ministry said.
A video posted on social media appeared to show a gunman running past a guard post and forcing his way into the embassy building, firing through a door.
Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian, quoted on a government site, said that based on evidence and initial observations the gunman’s motive was “completely personal.”
“Necessary security measures have been taken to continue normal activities at the embassy and diplomats of the Republic of Azerbaijan in Tehran,” he said.
However, the Azeri foreign ministry said it planned shortly to evacuate its embassy staff from Tehran. It also summoned the Iranian ambassador in Baku to express its anger and demand justice.
In a strongly-worded statement, the ministry said an “anti-Azerbaijani campaign” in Iran had contributed to the attack, without elaborating, and accused Tehran of long ignoring its appeals to bolster security at the embassy.
“Unfortunately, the latest bloody terrorist act demonstrates the serious consequences of the failure to give the necessary attention to our constant appeals in this regard,” it said.
In a separate statement on Twitter, Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev demanded swift punishment for those involved in the “act of terrorism.”
Aliyev has complained in the past about Iran’s treatment of its Azerbaijani minority, saying for example that Azeris have no schools where they can study in their own language.
The superintendent of criminal affairs in Tehran, Judge Mohammad Shahriari, quoted the assailant as saying his wife went to the Azerbaijan embassy and had never returned home, according to Iran’s Tasnim news agency.
When the assailant contacted the embassy, he never got an answer and believed his wife was still inside.
Iran’s police chief said on television that the man’s wife was from Azerbaijan.
Azerbaijan, a secular Muslim former Soviet republic which borders Iran, has friendly ties with the United States and Israel and has had difficult diplomatic relations with the Islamic Republic.
Israel has had an embassy in Baku since the early 1990s and has been a significant military backer of Azerbaijan in recent years. It has also provided diplomatic support for Baku in its standoff with Armenia over the Nagorno-Karabakh region.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards carried out major military drills along the country’s borders with Armenia and Azerbaijan amid fears of renewed fighting between the two South Caucasus states last year.
US says it ‘hacked the hackers’ to bring down ransomware gang
FRIDAY, JANUARY 27, 2023
The Federal Bureau of Investigation hacked a prolific ransomware gang called Hive to disrupt its operations and rescue its victims, senior US officials said on Thursday.
In a joint announcement by US Attorney General Merrick Garland, FBI DirectorChristopher Wray, and Deputy US Attorney General Lisa Monaco, the officials said government hackers broke into Hive’s network and put the gang under surveillance, surreptitiously stealing the digital keys the group used to unlock victim organizations’ data.
“Using lawful means, we hacked the hackers,” Monaco told reporters. “We turned the tables on Hive.”
News of the takedown first leaked on Thursday morning when Hive’s website was replaced with a flashing message that said: “The Federal Bureau of Investigation seized this site as part of coordinated law enforcement action taken against Hive Ransomware.”
Reuters was not immediately able to locate contact details for Hive.
Hive was one the most prolific among a wide range of cybercriminal groups that extort international businesses by encrypting their data and demanding massive cryptocurrency payments in return.
In an alert distributed in November, the FBI said that cybercriminals tied to Hive had victimized more than 1,300 companies worldwide and raked in approximately $100 million in ransom payments.
Ex-Memphis officers arrested on murder charges in death of Tyre Nichols
FRIDAY, JANUARY 27, 2023
Five former Memphis police officers were charged on Thursday with murder in the death of Tyre Nichols, a Black man who died three days after a traffic stop, prosecutors said.
Nichols, a 29-year-old father, died in a hospital on Jan. 10, three days after sustaining injuries during his arrest by the five police officers. Officials are expected to release bodycam footage of the traffic stop on Friday evening.
“We all want the same thing. We want justice for Tyre Nichols,” Shelby County District Attorney Steve Mulroy said at a news conference.
Director of the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation David Rausch who saw the video said it was ‘absolutely appalling…this was criminal.’
The five officers, who are all Black, have been charged with second-degree murder, aggravated assault, aggravated kidnapping, official misconduct and official oppression, Mulroy said.
The Memphis Police Department on Friday identified them as Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley, Emmitt Martin III, Desmond Mills, Jr., and Justin Smith, who are aged between 24 and 32. Each had served with the department for about 2-1/2 to five years.
They were dismissed from the force last Saturday for violating multiple departmental policies, including using excessive force, failing to intervene and failing to render aid. They were taken into custody on Thursday morning, county jail records showed.
After Nichols was stopped in his vehicle, there was “an altercation” in which officers used pepper spray on Nichols, Mulroy said. Nichols fled on foot.
“There was another altercation at a nearby location at which the serious injuries were experienced by Mr Nichols,” Mulroy said. The initial Memphis Police Department statement about the death had said an ambulance was called because Nichols “complained of having a shortness of breath” and that he was taken to the hospital in critical condition.
Mulroy said he would not comment on the legality of the initial traffic stop. He said the investigation would continue and he would not rule out additional charges.
The Embassy of Israel organized an intimate gathering to commemorate International Holocaust Remembrance Day, a day designated by the UN (January 27) to commemorate and honour the victims of the Holocaust.
Six million Jews including one million children and five million others belonging to ‘unwanted group’ were systematically and brutally killed by the Nazi regime during WWII.
The event was held under the theme “Jewish Resistance during the
Holocaust: Marking 80 Years since the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising”. The theme, chosen by Yad Vashem, Israel’s official Memorial to the Victims of the Holocaust, aims to commemorate a less-knows side of the Holocaust; stories of remarkable acts of heroism and bravery. Among all stories of heroism, perhaps the most well-known incident is the uprising of the Warsaw Ghetto – enclosed districts that isolated Jews from the non-Jewish population – in Poland, in 1943.
This was the first, largest and longest-lasting urban rebellion against Nazi Germany. The uprising became a symbol of the battle of the few against the many, and of the freedom and power of the human spirit.
Ambassador of Israel, Orna Sagiv, lit six candles in memory of the six million victims. Menahem Fogel, the former spokesperson of Yad Vashem, shared the personal story of his father who was forcefully drafted to a working force supporting the Nazi army, fled and became an officer in the Russian military, fighting the Nazi Regime. Miss Monsicha Rungchawannont, a history blogger and an author spoke of the importance of retelling past events to future generations. Music students from the College of Music, Mahidol University, performed during the ceremony.
Although the Holocaust happened more than 80 years ago, the lessons from the atrocities are just as relevant today as they were then; hatred, intolerance, massacres and horrific incidents are still taking place around the globe.
During the ceremony, Ambassador Sagiv said, “We remind current and future generations that it is up to us to fight so these atrocities can never happen again. Let us teach and direct our youth to prevent and resolve conflicts, and learn from mistakes in the past”.
Indonesia to accelerate oil and gas exploration amid high prices
THURSDAY, JANUARY 26, 2023
Publicly listed mining firm PT Merdeka Copper Gold has allocated capital expenditure (capex) of Rp 2.28 trillion (US$160 million) for the exploration of work in East Java, Maluku and Gorontaro provinces.
Corporate secretary Adi Adriansyah Sjoekri revealed the projects were gold and silver mining in Tujuh Bukit, East Java; copper mining in Wetar Island, West Maluku; and gold mining in Gorontalo.
“All of the expansion projects will be completed this year so that they will optimally contribute to the company’s performance soon,” said Adi, recently.
Merdeka’s gold production in 2018 grew by 17.57 % to 167,506 ounces from 142,468 ounces in 2017. It targeted to increase its gold production to between 180,000 and 200,000 ounces of gold by the end of 2019.
“Up to the first quarter of this year, our company has produced 46,515 ounces of gold,” Adi said, adding that the average price of gold in 2018 was $1,269 per ounce, or 0.89 % higher than the $1,257 per ounce average price in 2017.
Apart from exploring new blocks, Adi said the company was also in the process of expanding the existing mining in Tujuh Bukit, East Java.
Japanese government set to legalize medical marijuana
THURSDAY, JANUARY 26, 2023
The government is poised to allow the use of medical marijuana to treat patients with intractable diseases, according to the outline of bills revealed on Tuesday.
The government is considering submitting bills including one to revise the Cannabis Control Law during the current Diet session.
The proposed revision would also criminalize the use of marijuana.
In countries including the United States and Britain, medicine made from cannabis plants is used to treat patients with intractable epilepsy and other diseases for which existing drugs are ineffective.
Cannabis plants contain a substance that has an intoxicating effect, which is one of the reasons why the use of marijuana in medicine is prohibited in Japan. The proposed revision would enable such patients to use drugs made from cannabis plants.
The use of marijuana, there are currently no penalties for using it because farmers who cultivate cannabis with permission from prefectural governors might intake substances from the plant during harvesting.
Marijuana has been dubbed a “gateway drug” as it is said to lead to other forms of drug abuse. The government intends to strengthen the crackdown on marijuana to prevent abuse of the drug among young people, which is becoming a social problem.
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